Lucas Duplan raises $25 million seed round for Clinkle - Business ...

Clinkle

Clinkle CEO and founder, Lucas Duplan, just raised the largest seed round in Silicon Valley history.

Twenty-one-year-old Lucas Duplan just raised more millions than his age.

The first-time entrepreneur and recent Stanford graduate (he finished a computer science degree in three years) has been working on a mobile payment app for the past two years. He's now been awarded $25 million from a long list of Silicon Valley investors which includes Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Accel Partners' Jim Breyer, Intel, Intuit, former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the founders of Qualcomm and VMware, and many others.

The kicker: The app hasn't launched yet and it isn't going to for a few more months. Duplan's 50-person team raised the entire $25 million ? the largest seed round in Silicon Valley history ? on a mere working prototype and a beta test at Stanford University.

Duplan says his pitch deck didn't move VCs to invest but as soon as he showed them the app they were compelled to back him. He's also secured a number of patents for his technology.

What is Clinkle, the wonder app that made investors open their wallets?

It's hard to say. Duplan declined to share many details prior to Clinkle's launch, which is expected to be released on iOS and Android later this year. All he revealed was this:

"Our goal is to completely modernize how payments work," Duplan says. "What we're trying to do is basically take your phone and have it for the first time be able to rival cash and credit cards. We've developed a way for consumers to download an app, no hardware needed, and achieve scale from a software point of view."

He also said the name Clinkle comes from the sound change makes and its ability to turn into a verb ("Clink this!"). Also, the domain was available.

There are many reasons Clinkle's $25 million seed round is shocking.

First, Duplan is entering a crowded space where there are already clear winners infused with lots of cash, such as Square and PayPal, not to mention credit card companies like American Express. From Duplan's description, it's hard to see why Clinkle is different or easier to use than Square Wallet, which already lets people pay for items in stores dongle-free.?

Second, the product hasn't launched yet. Normally investors give founders in stealth mode a few hundred thousand dollars to see if a startup has legs before writing a massive check.

Third, this is Duplan's first company. He doesn't have clout like Sean Parker had before he raised Airtime's $35 million round, or Bill Nguyen had before raising $41 million for Color Labs. Furthermore, both Color Labs and Airtime failed spectacularly. If serial entrepreneurs can't make startups work with tens of millions of dollars pre-launch, can a young founder who lacks experience do better?

A final worry: After raising so much money, does Duplan have a high enough percentage left in Clinkle to stay motivated and see it through?

Clinkle/Outcast

The only hint we have of what Clinkle will look like is this screen grab.

Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), one of Duplan's lead investors, says he will have no trouble staying motivated. It also explained why $25 million isn't unreasonable for Clinkle.

Clinkle was first introduced to A16Z by Diane Green, the co-founder of VMWare. She suggested Margit Wennmachers, one of A16Z's partners, meet with Duplan, and funding talks spiraled from there.

Because so many people are invested in Clinkle, no one firm had to write a gigantic check. Having a lot of investors is also good for Duplan; as a first-time founder, he's smart to surround himself with industry leaders for guidance.

Also, the payments space is a huge industry to take on. Duplan is going to need a lot of money to make a dent.

"Even if you captured a small fraction of it, that's a very large endeavor," Wennmachers told Business Insider.

"Money is the cornerstone of society," Duplan agrees. "If we couldn't trade it, we'd all be farmers. It's a really, really important area and we've seen how tech has made so many things better. ... But still we're stuck with a piece of plastic and 16 digits and pieces of paper. The margin for error here is zero. That's why you need so much money to do [this kind of startup]. There are fraud and security issues, and we're obsessive about creating the best product possible."

Wennmacher says Duplan's app is brilliantly simple. His team has spent two years perfecting the technology and protecting it from a legal standpoint. The one screen shot Clinkle sent over looks just like a wallet with the option to select a credit card, cash or gift card as payment on the screen (see photo above).

A16Z was also impressed by Duplan's go-to market strategy. Rather than going after merchants (Square's approach), Clinkle is launching on college campuses and targeting early adopters there: the students.

College campuses are where apps such as Lulu and Snapchat are finding success and it's where Facebook famously took off in 2004. There are also fewer merchants to onboard if you stick to smaller communities like universities instead of entire cities.

"Clinkle is very, very different from everything else out there," Duplan insists. "I think we've seen all approaches to date be very niche. Peer-to-peer payments online [like Dwolla and Stripe]. Others let you accept credit card [payments] from phones [Square and Simple]. The really big deal here is just a consumer downloading an app and having that app replace current cash and cards. I don't think there's anything else that will let you do that."

We'll have to wait and see.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/lucas-duplan-raises-25-million-seed-round-for-clinkle-2013-6

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Intel executives increase focus on Atom mobile chip

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp's top executives said on Friday the microprocessor company would speed up development and roll-out of its Atom chips for mobile devices, as the computing world moves away from the traditional personal computer.

The company is also being "cautious" on its Intel television service, as it continues to look at the business model, according to the company's new Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich.

"We believe we have a great user interface and the compression-decompression technology is fantastic," Krzanich said. "But in the end if we want to provide that service it comes down to content. We are not big content players."

In their first sit-down with reporters since their promotions in May, Krzanich and Intel President Renee James said wearable computing would become a key battleground for mobile industry players. They also said they would add new customers to Intel's contract manufacturing business.

The world's biggest chipmaker dominates the PC industry but has been slow to adapt its chips to be suitable for smartphones and tablets. That may change, according to Krzanich.

"We see that Atom is now at the same importance, it's launching on the same leading edge technology, sometimes even coming before Core (Intel's line of PC chips)," said Krzanich.

"We are in the process of looking at all of our roadmaps and evaluating the timing of some of those products," he said. "It's fair to say there are things we would like to accelerate."

(Reporting by Noel Randewich, writing by Bill Rigby; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/intel-executives-increase-focus-atom-mobile-chip-180701262.html

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News in Brief: Experimental type 1 diabetes treatment shows promise

Findings in small group hint that DNA-based vaccine could work

By Nathan Seppa

Web edition: June 27, 2013

Using an experimental DNA-based therapy, scientists might slow the self-destructive immune reaction against insulin-making cells that causes type 1 diabetes. The finding, appearing in the June 26 Science Translational Medicine, represents a promising but preliminary advance toward devising a treatment for the condition, which often strikes in childhood.

Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University and his colleagues injected 26 volunteers weekly with placebos. Another 54 got the experimental treatment, which is designed to dampen the body?s immune reaction against insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas. In diabetes patients, rogue CD8 T cells attack a protein on beta cells called proinsulin, a precursor compound that becomes insulin after modification. The attack sabotages beta cells and insulin production.

The experimental treatment contains replacement DNA for the gene encoding proinsulin. Patients who received the DNA for 12 weeks apparently made altered proinsulin proteins that signal the immune system to rein in the rogue T cells. After five months, levels of the T cells declined in treated patients. The patients also showed stabilization and even improvement in measures of insulin production, suggesting that the therapy might arrest beta cell destruction, the authors say. But both changes didn?t last long after treatment ended.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351254/title/News_in_Brief_Experimental_type_1_diabetes_treatment_shows_promise

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Obama lands in an Africa more skeptical of his presidency

White House predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton left a mark on Africa. Obama in his first term did not. Will his second term bring a different story?

By Mike Pflanz,?Correspondent / June 26, 2013

President Obama arrives with his family at the airport in Dakar, June 26. Obama and his wife Michelle will visit Senegal until the 28th before travelling to South Africa and Tanzania.

Joe Penney/Reuters

Enlarge

Barack Obama landed tonight in Senegal on the first leg of a three-nation Africa tour made both emotional and symbolic by the ailing health of Nelson Mandela, Africa's paramount moral leader for much of the 20th century, who is described as in critical condition at a hospital in Pretoria.?

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The White House is scheduled to visit South Africa Friday, after a visit in Dakar that will include a meeting with Macky Sall, the Senegalese president -- and the trip will then include a brief and private Obama family visit to Slave House, the oceanside portal from which captured Africans were onloaded to ships run by slave traders.?

Next week the White House entourage will visit Tanzania.?

Yet for now the Mandela-Obama dynamic is capturing the most attention: Whether the first black American president can or will possibly meet with the first black and democratically elected president of formerly white-ruled South Africa is highly unclear, and Obama's aides suggest their plans are forming day-by-day.?

The South African leg is resonant with some historical echoes. As we reported yesterday:?

In June 1966, at the University of Cape Town in apartheid?South Africa,?Bobby Kennedy?gave a speech that eulogized the power of the individual to overcome even the most powerful tyranny.

?Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice,? Senator Kennedy told the students, ?he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and ? those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

On Sunday, Obama, a man who has made "hope" his watchword, and whose father was?Kenyan, will give a speech at?the same South African university.?

The speech is eagerly awaited. When Mr. Obama won the 2008 election, Africans erupted into near-unanimous joy that an American of African heritage would for the first time be president of the?United States. Perhaps, many hoped, he would help build "ripples" into "currents" to tackle Africa's entrenched challenges.

?Guys went nuts,? says Octopizzo, a rising hip-hop artist from the slums of Kenya?s capital Nairobi. ?He was seen as a real hero for Africa, because he changed the way people looked at themselves. People used to set themselves standards, goals, and try to pass them. Obama made us build higher standards and set higher goals, and inspired us to reach them.?

But now, five years later, there is disappointment at a lack of substantive new continent-wide assistance programs from the man some in Africa once called a messiah.

Obama?s predecessor, George W. Bush, launched the multi-billion-dollar President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, credited with averting 1.1 million deaths from AIDS in Africa. Obama effectively cut its funding in 2009.

President Bill Clinton was hugely popular among ordinary Africans. He was more so with the African business community for initiating the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which cut or scrapped duty for goods from the continent exported to the US.

So far, however, there have been no such major initiatives from Obama, the son of a Kenyan economist who grew up a poor goatherd. In the meantime, China, Turkey, Brazil, and other emerging nations are sweeping across Africa, gaining influence and lucrative contracts.

?In some parts of the continent, his gloss has not come off, but in many places, it has,? says Steven Friedman, a South African academic specializing in democracy studies.

?There?s no great mystery to it ? he is the first African-American president, whose father was a Kenyan, and perhaps that raised expectations. In fact, it likely made him more reluctant than his predecessors to be some great savior for Africa.

?He?s had major problems at home, but he?s also had to go out of his way to demonstrate that he?s the American president, not the African president, and as a result he?s not done terribly much here.?

Obama has barely visited, in fact, spending only 22 hours in sub-Saharan Africa during a fly-by through Ghana in 2009.

Tomorrow's trip that will include Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania, may either be his only major visit here as president, or the start of a more regular second-term involvement.?

White House officials argue that there have been major engagements with the continent since 2008.

Obama has held meetings with African leaders focused on food security and nutrition. America?s military has been involved in conflicts in Somalia, Mali, Libya, the Central African Republic, and?Uganda. The US remains the world?s largest contributor of humanitarian aid to Africa.

Nonetheless, Obama?s team is acutely conscious of the anticipation ahead of the tour.

?Frankly, there?s been great disappointment that the president hasn?t traveled to Africa until this point, other than a brief stop in Ghana,? Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters in a recent White House briefing. ?Africa is a critically important region of the world. We have huge interests there. We need to be present in Africa."

The stated aims of the visit, to Africa?s west, its south, and its east, are to boost US trade and investment, encourage democracy, advance food security and health, and inspire young people.

For Charles Dokubo, research professor at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, what is expected from Obama?s visit are ?actions, not promises.?

"If he wants to make any difference in Africa, truly we want to see actions that that improve the social provisioning for Africa?s people, not promises," Mr. Dokubo says. "Until Obama brings about something that makes that happen, he is like any other president.?

That misses the point of Obama?s power in Africa, says Rosebell Kagumire, a respected Ugandan rights activist and blogger.

?Obama will always be a role model, especially for our young people who very much look up to him in a place where we?re very short of good role models,? she says. ?He understands the continent and has more links to here than any other US president before him, and his approach is very different from that of a traditional donor who comes with promises to fix everything for us."

Ms. Kagumire continues: ?Obama is almost hands-off, which has been criticized as doing nothing. But in fact it allows us the space to search for our own solutions. He?ll support Africa then, when it?s necessary and when it?s still in US interests. But he?s right that it?s up to Africans, not outsiders, to fix our problems.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/jSy84FdYcq0/Obama-lands-in-an-Africa-more-skeptical-of-his-presidency

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Woman's cancer story influences new law - WANE.com

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (WANE) A Columbia City nurse is working to make it easier to detect breast cancer. She took her story to a state senator, and now, there's a new law.

Carrie Barcus first went to the doctor in January, 2011.

"Pap test, mammogram, chest x-ray, lab work, I mean, she did all the appropriate things, but everything came back negative," said Barcus.

She was worried because she noticed she was losing weight without trying.

"She's like I think it's all stress related, maybe you need to find a less stressful job," said Barcus.

She did and the symptoms didn't go away. That's when she went back to a different doctor later that year.

"Everything was negative again, but this time, I did have a breast lump."

It was Fibrocystic Breast Disease. However, that still didn't explain the way she felt. She went back again, for a third time.

"I said it's not that I want something to be wrong, I just know there is, you don't turn 40 and start losing weight unless you're dying of cancer and so that's when he ordered the breast ultrasound."

She had a tumor.

"The next day, I found out I had cancer."

After doing some research, she found out she had dense breast tissue, something that was in her doctor's records. A mammogram wasn't capable of detecting the tumor, even though it was the size of a golf ball.

"Breast tissue shows up white on a mammogram and tumors show up white, so it's white on white and you can't see it."

According to the American College of Radiology, about 10 percent of women have almost completely fatty breasts. Another 10 percent have extremely dense breasts. The rest are in between, with about 40 percent having scattered areas of density and 40 percent having fairly widespread density.

"Why is the medical field not doing anything for that 40 percent of women?"

She contacted our state senators. Now, there's a new law that will require insurance companies to pay for additional tests and educational information to patients.

"I wanted education, that was my biggest thing, I wanted women to be notified and educated."

Beginning July 1st, any facility that does a mammogram will educate women about breast density.

You have to get a mammogram first, to find out if you have dense breast tissue.

Barcus is cancer free. She and her doctors are closely monitoring her.

Barcus and others who have been affected across the nation will continue working to curtail the law.

According to BreastCancer.org , women with dense breast tissue can be six times more likely to develop cancer.

For more information about dense breast tissue, click here .

?

Source: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/womans-cancer-story-influences-new-law

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Katekyo Hitman Reborn!: The new generation only two spots

we have been RPing for close to a month now and we have a really great group of people we need to fill two more roles the rain Guardian and an OC Guardian if you are interested comes by and take a look if it looks like something you would like to just just character first come first severed roleplay/katekyo-hitman-reborn-the-new-generation-rm

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/5z3oAATe9xg/viewtopic.php

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Cole Real Estate Investments: Evaluate Following IPO - Seeking Alpha

Cole Real Estate Investments (COLE) began trading as a public company on June 20th at $11.50 per share. Through the offering period of October 2008 to February 2012 the formerly non-traded REIT originally known as Cole Credit Property Trust III raised $4.7 billion. Investors in the REIT have not had access to liquidity throughout the offering stage and now have the ability to sell their shares at will. In addition to listing on the New York Stock Exchange, the company initiated a modified Dutch auction tender offer. Assuming certain conditions are met, investors have an opportunity to earn minimum gross returns of 16% for less than a two month holding period.

The Offer

Cole Real Estate Investments is offering to purchase up to $250,000,000 of its common stock outstanding (roughly 3.9%-4.1% of shares outstanding depending on purchase price) at a purchase price not greater than $13 per share and no less than $12.25 per share. The tender offer is in place until 5:00pm EST on August 8, 2013. Shareholders of record may attempt to tender their shares in $0.05 increments:

$12.25 --- $12.30 --- $12.35 ---- $12.40????$13.00

Cole Real Estate Investments will purchase under the tender offer at the lowest price offered until the full offering amount is reached. For example if $250,000,000 worth of stock is offered at $12.25 and you submit a tender offer at $12.80, you will not have your order filled. If the offer is over-subscribed at a specific bid increment, all tendering shareholders at that increment will be paid on a pro-rata basis.

An interesting point to keep in mind is that shareholders with 99 shares or less and tender their shares will be filled first. Larger blocks of shares will be filled second based upon the conditions described above. This gives investors with a small amount of capital a better chance that their order will be filled at $12.25 (assuming the tender offer goes through).

Why A Tender Offer?

While there are many reasons the company is initiating a tender offer, the most obvious that comes to mind is an attempt to keep the share price temporarily propped up. Keep in mind that investors have been holding this illiquid investment for the past five years and this is their first option for cashing in. I believe Cole management is well aware of this and likely assumes that if an investor sees $11.50 on their account statements the day Cole begins trading and coincidently a tender offer to purchase at $12.25 (roughly 6.5% higher), they are likely to hold shares and submit them for the tender offer. This will hopefully give the market (and investors) some time to evaluate the company as an investment rather than simply selling and moving along.

We saw a very similar scenario play out with Chambers Street Properties (CSG) in June. Shares were listed at $10 and stayed relatively stable during the tender offer period. Although some volatility was present, the company was successful in getting investors to hold their shares. The CSG tender offer was to purchase up to 5% of the shares outstanding and according to the results the company received an offer to purchase 30.57% of the shares outstanding. While there is no guarantee the Cole Real Estate Investments tender offer will directly track the performance of Chambers Street Properties, one could use this as a base case scenario.

The Risks

I would point potential investors to the offering document to review the risks associated with this tender offer. Most importantly to keep in mind is Cole has the ability to extend or withdraw the offer up to one day prior to expiration. If you decided to purchase shares and then participate in the tender offer you will want to keep a close eye on the expiration date as the premium may not materialize. I will highlight a few other risks which I believe are noteworthy:

• If an increase or decrease of more than 10% in the market price of the common stock of COLE, Dow Jones Industrial Average, New York Stock Exchange Index, or Nasdaq Composite Index, or Standard & Poor's 500 Index, measured from the close of trading on June 20, 2013, occurs, the tender offer can be called off (this is very critical to watch). COLE closed at $10.90 per share on June 20th and as of the time of this writing has not moved outside the +/- 10% band
• If any entity acquires more than 5% of the company the tender offer may be called off.
• Any lawsuits brought against Cole Real Estate Investments relating to this offer will cause the offer to be called off. Purchasing COLE may result in a total loss of principal.

Return Potential

The return potential on this short term investment depends on several factors. First is your entry price point (for all assumptions below I will use a purchase price of $10.50). Second is the specific bid increment you tender your shares at and if that bid increment is actually filled.

• Assuming you purchase shares at $10.50, submit your tender offer in the proper manner, and Cole Real Estate Investments purchases all your stock at the minimum bid level, $12.25, you would make $1.75 per share. This is a hypothetical gain of 16% (gross) for a two month hold.

Your actual return may be higher or lower depending on your purchase price and where you decide to tender shares. Of course be aware that the offer may not go through at all.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that Cole Real Estate Investments can rescind this offer at any point prior to August 8th. I would urge any investor to keep a close eye on the company's press releases and financial filings to make sure this does not occur.

Disclaimer: This is not an offer to buy or sell any security. Carefully consider your investment goals and objectives before initiating a position in Cole Real Estate Investments and please remember that the value of investments in equity securities, like COLE, will fluctuate in response to general economic conditions and to changes in the prospects of particular companies and/or sectors in the economy. Purchasing COLE may result in a total loss of principal.

Note: All data reported and graphed is pulled directly from Cole Real Estate Investments Investor Relations website.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in COLE over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More...)

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1522412-cole-real-estate-investments-evaluate-following-ipo?source=feed

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Market rises: less on Fed chatter, more on economy

NEW YORK (AP) ? Wall Street got back to focusing on the economy instead of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, sending stocks higher.

Four reports showed a brightening U.S. economy. Housing and manufacturing continued to improve, and consumer confidence hit its highest level in 5 1/2 years.

The major U.S. stock indexes closed higher. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 100.75 points, or 0.7 percent, to 14,760.31. The Standard & Poor's index rose 14.94 points, or 1 percent, to 1,588.03. The Nasdaq composite climbed 27 points, 0.8 percent, to 3,347.89.

The triple-digit rise in the Dow continues a bout of market volatility caused by investors and traders who are worried about the Fed ending its economic stimulus. Last Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he expects the Fed to end its bond buying by the middle of 2014 if it feels the economy can manage without that stimulus.

The Dow then plunged by triple digits on three of the next four trading days, with investors worried that the market would struggle without the Fed propping it up.

Some investors concluded that the recent sell-offs were overblown.

"This is the day where the dust appears to be settling," said Jonathan Lewis, chief investment officer at Samson Capital Advisors in New York.

Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial, guessed that shorter-term traders bought stocks Tuesday because they judged that parts of the market were "oversold."

Among the biggest gainers were big dividend payers like phone and power companies. These are stocks that have been hit the hardest by the recent sell-off.

Long-term investors were likely still sitting on the sidelines, waiting for further signs that markets are becoming less volatile, Krosby said.

The stronger economic news for the U.S. led investors to sell U.S. government bonds, a sign that they're more comfortable putting money in stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for many types of loans, rose to 2.6 percent from 2.54 percent late Monday.

The big economic reports Tuesday revealed.

?Orders for durable goods rose 3.6 percent in May, matching April's gain. The gauge is important because U.S. manufacturing has generally struggled this year as demand for American exports slows in other parts of the world.

? U.S. home prices jumped 12.1 percent in April compared with a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index. That was the biggest year-over-year gain since March 2006. For a fourth straight month, prices rose from a year earlier in all 20 cities in the index. Twelve cities posted double-digit price gains.

? The Conference Board's consumer confidence index jumped to 81.4 in June, the best reading since January 2008. The May reading, however, was revised down to 74.3 from the original estimate of 76.2.

? Sales of new homes rose in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 476,000, the Commerce Department said. That was the fastest pace since July 2008. Though sales of new homes remain below the 700,000 annual rate that most economists consider healthy, the pace has jumped 29 percent from a year ago.

Chris Baggini, senior portfolio manager at Turner Investments in Berwyn, Penn., said investors had used Bernanke's statements last week as an excuse to get out of the market ? something they wanted to do anyway, given its steady run-up for most of the year.

The S&P 500 is up 11 percent for the year. But at its peak last month, it was up 17 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

?Walgreen, the nation's largest drugstore chain, slipped after reporting earnings and revenue that missed analysts' expectations. Walgreen's stock fell $2.83, or nearly 6 percent, to $45.22.

?Barnes & Noble plunged after reporting a loss that more than doubled in the latest quarter. The bookseller struggled to compete with online retailers and its Nook e-book continued to lose money. The stock fell $3.21, or more than 17 percent, to $15.61.

?Clothing chain Men's Wearhouse rose after saying it had fired executive chairman George Zimmer, the company's founder and star of its TV commercials, because he had advocated for "significant changes that would enable him to regain control," according to the company. The stock rose $2, or nearly 6 percent, to $37.13.

__

AP Business Writer Steve Rothwell contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/market-rises-less-fed-chatter-more-economy-192535225.html

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Australia to world court: Ban Japanese whaling

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? Australia is urging the United Nations' highest court to ban Japan's annual whale hunt.

Lawyers for Australia will argue at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday that Japan harpoons minke whales each year in the icy waters around Antarctica in breach of a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

Japan will respond next week by telling judges that the hunt is for scientific research and is allowed under the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

Opponents say the program is a guise for keeping Japan's dwindling whaling industry alive because the whale meat from the hunt is sold for consumption.

The court will take months to issue a final and binding decision.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/australia-world-court-ban-japanese-whaling-062519596.html

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Solar cell record: Conversion-efficiency record for a two-junction solar cell measured under one-sun illumination

June 25, 2013 ? The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Lab has announced a world record of 31.1% conversion efficiency for a two-junction solar cell under one sun of illumination.

NREL Scientist Myles Steiner announced the new record June 19 at the 39th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Tampa, Fla. The previous record of 30.8% efficiency was held by Alta Devices.

The tandem cell was made of a gallium indium phosphide cell atop a gallium arsenide cell, has an area of about 0.25 square centimeters and was measured under the AM1.5 global spectrum at 1,000 W/m2. It was grown inverted, similar to the NREL-developed inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) solar cell -- and flipped during processing. The cell was covered on the front with a bilayer anti-reflection coating, and on the back with a highly reflective gold contact layer.

The work was done at NREL as part of DOE's Foundation Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE), a project of the Department's SunShot Initiative that aims to lower the cost of solar energy to a point at which it is competitive with other sources including fossil fuels.

At the beginning of the F-PACE project, which aims to produce a 48%-efficient concentrator cell, NREL's best single-junction gallium-arsenide solar cell was 25.7% efficient. This efficiency has been improved upon by other labs over the years: Alta Devices set a series of records, increasing the gallium-arsenide record efficiency from 26.4% in 2010 to 28.8% in 2012. Alta's then-record two-junction 30.8% efficient cell was achieved just two months ago. The new record may not last long either, but "it brings us one step closer to the 48% milestone," said NREL Principal Scientist Sarah Kurtz, who leads the F-PACE project in NREL's National Center for Photovoltaics. "This joint project with the University of California, Berkeley and Spectrolab has provided us the opportunity to look at these near-perfect cells in different ways. Myles Steiner, John Geisz, Iv?n Garc?a and the III-V multijunction PV group have implemented new approaches providing a substantial improvement over NREL's previous results."

"Historically, scientists have bumped up the performance of multijunction cells by gradually improving the material quality and the internal electrical properties of the junctions -- and by optimizing variables such as the bandgaps and the layer thicknesses," NREL Scientist Myles Steiner said. But internal optics plays an underappreciated role in high-quality cells that use materials from the third and fifth columns of the periodic tables -- the III-V cells. "The scientific goal of this project is to understand and harness the internal optics," he said.

When an electron-hole pair recombines, a photon can be produced, and if that photon escapes the cell, luminescence is observed -- that is the mechanism by which light-emitting diodes work. In traditional single-junction gallium-arsenide cells, however, most of the photons are simply absorbed in the cell's substrate and are lost. With a more optimal cell design, the photons can be re-absorbed within the solar cell to create new electron-hole pairs, leading to an increase in voltage and conversion efficiency. In a multijunction cell, the photons can also couple to a lower bandgap junction, generating additional current, a process known as luminescent coupling.

The NREL researchers improved the cell's efficiency by enhancing the photon recycling in the lower, gallium-arsenide junction by using a gold back contact to reflect photons back into the cell, and by allowing a significant fraction of the luminescence from the upper, GaInP junction to couple into the GaAs junction. Both the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current were increased.

Silicon solar cells now dominate the world PV market, but researchers see opportunities for new materials. High-efficiency concentrator cells bolstered by lenses that magnify the power of the sun are attracting interest from utilities because the modules have demonstrated efficiencies well over 30%. And there may be commercial opportunities for one-sun or low-concentration III-V cells if growth rates can be increased and costs reduced.

The same cell should work well when lenses are added to multiply the sun's power. "We expect to observe similar enhancements of the solar cell characteristics when measured under concentrated illumination," Steiner said.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/111QVeevMH8/130625141210.htm

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Why Your Nonprofit is Missing Volunteer Recruitment Opportunities ...

Let?s start with a fact: online conversions are essential for business marketers. In today?s web-driven world, conversions are the main purpose of most online campaigns. For those unfamiliar with the term, ?conversion? simply means that someone from the intended audience took action. The action could be calling a phone number, starting a trial, downloading a whitepaper, or signing up for an offer. In the end, the point is for these to result in the ultimate conversion: a sale. Although nonprofits aren?t necessarily trying to sell a product or service, your NPO can benefit from the ?conversion mentality?, but just in a different way. Here?s how.

Thinking like a Marketer ? What Conversions Mean for Your NPO

A conversion may come in many forms for a nonprofit. It could be a simple thing, such as gaining registrations for a newsletter or likes or shares on Facebook. These are great for branding and may actually increase other metrics. Naturally, though, the most typically sought-after conversion is one that ends with a donation. Let?s be honest; these are crucial for most nonprofits.

However, another important conversion often overlooked is the transformation of a website visitor to a volunteer. And it goes without saying that donated time is also a very valuable asset. But what are some best practices to increase volunteer conversions?

Is Your Website Enticing to Volunteers?

Many best practices that apply to business marketing professionals for improving conversions also can be used by nonprofits. Check your website to be sure it includes some standard things common to marketing best practices. For example, one of the cornerstones is having a website that is professionally designed, easy to navigate, and full of useful information (download the slides from our recent webinar with GuideStar). These elements will build trust in visitors, which is essential when selling your call to action. In marketing, you have to tell your prospective customer exactly what you want them to do. Be clear, with a statement like ?click here to volunteer.? It may seem overly simplistic, but it does work.

How to Attract More Volunteers using Landing Pages

You?ve looked over your website in general terms, but now let?s take things a step further. One of the best means of increasing your volunteer conversion rate is to create customized landing pages within your volunteer management system. These can be used to brand events or campaigns, each with a specific branding. Research shows that making this ?message match? can boost conversions by at least 25 percent. Landing pages can also be used to market to certain demographics or manage events at multiple locations.

Perhaps most importantly, however, a landing page can become a customized portal for corporate employee volunteer programs (EVPs), complete with the company?s logo and postings of special volunteer opportunities unique to that group. This trust-building facet shows your organization is ready and willing to go the extra mile to accommodate an EVP and puts both the company and its employees more at ease when visiting your website. (Continue reading about best practices for using volunteer landing pages.)

Stop Missing Out on Volunteer Conversions

Increasing conversion rates can clearly benefit your organization, so don?t be afraid to leverage a few marketing best practices. Business marketers build trust through branding and targeted marketing. You can use these same strategies to drive more volunteer conversions.

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Source: http://trust.guidestar.org/2013/06/25/why-your-nonprofit-is-missing-volunteer-recruitment-opportunities/

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Court: Compensation may be due for permit denial

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court says governments that withhold development permits may owe compensation to property owners.

The 5-4 decision came Tuesday in a case involving a 15-acre plot owned by Coy Koontz in the Orlando area. He wanted permits from the local water management district to develop land classified as environmentally sensitive.

Negotiations over the permits failed when the owner would not agree to conditions that included reducing the size of his project and paying for work on nearby government-owned land. Koontz sued, asserting that the agency's conditions were so strict that they amounted to a taking of his property, which the Constitution prohibits without "just compensation."

The Florida Supreme Court ruled for the agency, but the justices overturned that decision and sent the case back.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-compensation-may-due-permit-denial-152136751.html

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Chinese astronauts land safely after "perfect" space mission

BEIJING (Reuters) - Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Wednesday, touching down in north China's Inner Mongolia after a successful 15-day mission in which they docked with an experimental manned space laboratory.

The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft, China's fifth manned space mission since 2003, completed the final trial docking with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1, critical in Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020.

China Central Television showed the re-entry of the capsule, dangling from an orange parachute, and its landing on flat grasslands shortly after 8 a.m. China time.

China successfully carried out its first manned docking exercise with Tiangong 1 last June, a milestone in an effort to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space station that can house people for long periods.

The Shenzhou 10 was commanded by Nie Haisheng, with Zhang Xiaoguang and female astronaut Wang Yaping also on board.

The astronauts began emerging about 90 minutes after landing, helped out of the nose of the capsule by workers in white jumpsuits and into waiting chairs, smiling and waving to the TV camera.

"It's good to be home," Nie told CCTV. "Space is our dream. The motherland is always our home."

Wang gave a 50-minute televised physics lecture last week on the effects of weightlessness, widely viewed by middle school students around the country.

"This mission made me realize two dreams: my dream of flying to outer space, and my dream of being a teacher," she told CCTV. "If you have a dream, you can succeed."

The Global Times, a tabloid published by the same company that puts out the official Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily, echoed some criticism among the public about the expense of China's space programme.

"Currently, China's passion to develop space technology mainly lingers at the government level. Some even blame the government for political vanity and question whether the money couldn't be spent improving people's livelihoods," the paper said in an editorial, published before the landing.

The mission went "perfectly", Wang Zhaoyao, director of China's manned space programme, said at a news conference in Beijing.

China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia, which decades ago learned the docking techniques carried out by the Shenzhou 10.

China must still master launching cargo and fuel via space freighters and recycling air and water for extended manned missions, state media have said. Plans call for a working space lab, the Tiangong 2, to be put into orbit in two years.

Beijing insists its space programme is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities and said Beijing is pursuing a variety of activities aimed at preventing its adversaries from using space-based assets during a crisis.

(Reporting and writing by Terril Yue Jones and Michael Martina.; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-latest-manned-spacecraft-lands-safely-mission-xinhua-002211086.html

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Supreme Court guts key part of landmark Voting Rights Act

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday gutted a key part of the landmark Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965 to end a century of attempts by former slaveholding states to block blacks from voting.

In a 5-4 ruling with the court's conservatives in the majority, the justices ruled that Congress had used obsolete reasoning in continuing to force nine states, mainly in the South, to get federal approval for voting rule changes affecting blacks and other minorities.

The court ruled in favor of officials from Shelby County, Alabama, by declaring invalid a section of the law that set a formula that determines which states need federal approval to change voting laws.

President Barack Obama quickly called on Congress to pass a new law to ensure equal access to voting polls for all.

"I am deeply disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision today," Obama, the first black U.S. president, said in a statement, adding that the court's action "upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent."

The ruling upended important legal protections for minority voters that were a key achievement of the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s led by Martin Luther King Jr. The decision also placed the burden on Congress - sharply divided along party lines to the point of virtual gridlock - to pass any new voting rights law like the one sought by Obama.

Writing for the majority, conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said the coverage formula that Congress used when it most recently re-authorized the law in 2006 should have been updated.

"Congress did not use the record it compiled to shape a coverage formula grounded in current conditions," he wrote. "It instead re-enacted a formula based on 40-year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day."

The coverage formula therefore violates the sovereignty of the affected states under the U.S. Constitution, Roberts said.

One of the most closely watched disputes of the court's current term, the case centers on the civil rights-era law that broadly prohibited poll taxes, literacy tests and other measures that prevented blacks from voting. In the 1960s, such laws existed throughout the country but were more prevalent in the South with its legacy of slavery.

The Shelby County challengers said the kind of systematic obstruction that once warranted treating the South differently is over and the screening provision should be struck down.

The Obama administration, backed by civil rights advocates, had argued that the provision was still needed to deter voter discrimination.

The ruling is a heavy blow for civil rights advocates, who believe the loss of that section of the law could lead to an increase in attempts to deter minorities from voting. They said 31 proposals made by covered jurisdictions to modify election laws had been blocked by the Justice Department under Section 5 of the law since the measure was re-enacted in 2006.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, accused the Supreme Court of leaving "millions of minority voters without the mechanism that has allowed them to stop voting discrimination before it occurs."

SENATE ACTION

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, on Tuesday pledged to move quickly to try to restore voting rights protections after the ruling.

"I intend to take immediate action to ensure that we will have a strong and reconstituted Voting Rights Act that protects against racial discrimination in voting," Leahy said.

The court, split on ideological lines, did not go so far as to strike down the core Section 5 of the law, known as the preclearance provision, which requires certain states to get approval from the Justice Department or a federal court before making election-law changes.

But the majority did invalidate Section 4b of the act, which set the formula for states covered by Section 5 and was based on historic patterns of discrimination against minority voters.

Although Section 5 is technically left intact, it is effectively nullified, at least for the near future, as Congress would now need to pass new legislation setting a new formula before it can be applied again.

In her dissenting opinion on behalf of the liberal wing of the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Section 5 is now "immobilized."

Ginsburg read a summary of her dissent from the bench, quoting the late civil rights leader King. In her written opinion, she accused Roberts of downplaying the authority Congress has under amendments to the Constitution that were enacted after the U.S. Civil War when slavery was first prohibited but concerns remained about how former Confederate states would treat black people.

Congress approached the 2006 re-authorization "with great care and seriousness," she added. "The same cannot be said of the court's opinion today."

Section 5 of the law required certain states, mainly in the South, to show that any proposed election-law change does not discriminate against black, Latino or other minority voters.

The nine fully covered states were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said of the ruling: "Make no mistake about it, this is a back door way to gut the Voting Rights Act. As long as Republicans have a majority in the House and Democrats don't have 60 votes in the Senate, there will be no preclearance."

"It is confounding that after decades of progress on voting rights, which have become part of the American fabric, the Supreme Court would tear it asunder," Schumer added.

Tuesday's ruling leaves intact Section 2 of the act, which broadly prohibits intentional discrimination in the voting arena. The Justice Department will still be able to intervene to enforce the law in that respect.

ISSUE STILL PROMINENT

The issue of voting rights remains prominent in the United States. During the 2012 presidential election campaign, judges nationwide heard challenges to new voter identification laws and redrawn voting districts. The most restrictive moves ended up being blocked before the November elections.

Just last week, the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona state law that required people registering to vote in federal elections to show proof of citizenship, a victory for activists who said it discouraged Native Americans and Latinos from voting.

Democrats say that and similar measures, championed by Republicans at the state level, were intended to make it more difficult for certain voters who tend to vote Democratic to cast ballots.

In February, Obama, a Democrat, decried barriers to voting in America and announced a commission to address voting issues.

The case is Shelby County v. Holder, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-96.

(Additional reporting by Joan Biskupic and Richard Cowan; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-strikes-down-key-part-voting-rights-141933323.html

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NIH scientists find promising biomarker for predicting HPV-related oropharynx cancer

Public release date: 17-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: NCI Press Office
ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov
301-496-6641
NIH/National Cancer Institute

Researchers have found that antibodies against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may help identify individuals who are at greatly increased risk of HPV-related cancer of the oropharynx, which is a portion of the throat that contains the tonsils.

In their study, at least 1 in 3 individuals with oropharyngeal cancer had antibodies to HPV, compared to fewer than 1 in 100 individuals without cancer. When present, these antibodies were detectable many years before the onset of disease. These findings raise the possibility that a blood test might one day be used to identify patients with this type of cancer.

The results of this study, carried out by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), were published online June 17, 2013, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Historically, the majority of oropharyngeal cancers could be explained by tobacco use and alcohol consumption rather than HPV infection. However, incidence of this malignancy is increasing in many parts of the world, especially in the United States and Europe, because of increased infection with HPV type 16 (HPV16). In the United States it is estimated that more than 60 percent of current cases of oropharyngeal cancer are due to HPV16. Persistent infection with HPV16 induces cellular changes that lead to cancer.

HPV E6 is one of the viral genes that contribute to tumor formation. Previous studies of patients with HPV-related oropharynx cancer found antibodies to E6 in their blood.

"Our study shows not only that the E6 antibodies are present prior to diagnosisbut that in many cases, the antibodies are there more than a decade before the cancer was clinically detectable, an important feature of a successful screening biomarker," said Aimee R. Kreimer, Ph.D., the lead Investigator from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI.

Kreimer and her colleagues tested samples from participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study, a long-term study of more than 500,000 healthy adults in 10 European countries. Participants gave a blood sample at the start of the study and have been followed since their initial contribution.

The researchers analyzed blood from 135 individuals who developed oropharyngeal cancer between one and 13 years later, and nearly 1,600 control individuals who did not develop cancer. The study found antibodies against the HPV16 E6 protein in 35 percent of the individuals with cancer, compared to less than 1 percent of the samples from the cancer-free individuals. The blood samples had been collected on average, six years before diagnosis, but the relationship was independent of the time between blood collection and diagnosis. Antibodies to HPV16 E6 protein were even found in blood samples collected more than 10 years before diagnosis.

The scientists also report that HPV16 E6 antibodies may be a biomarker for improved survival, consistent with previous reports. Patients in the study with oropharyngeal cancer who tested positive for HPV16 E6 antibodies prior to diagnosis were 70 percent more likely to be alive at the end of follow-up, compared to patients who tested negative.

"Although promising, these findings should be considered preliminary," said Paul Brennan, Ph.D., the lead investigator from IARC. "If the predictive capability of the HPV16 E6 antibody holds up in other studies, we may want to consider developing a screening tool based on this result."

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 17-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: NCI Press Office
ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov
301-496-6641
NIH/National Cancer Institute

Researchers have found that antibodies against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may help identify individuals who are at greatly increased risk of HPV-related cancer of the oropharynx, which is a portion of the throat that contains the tonsils.

In their study, at least 1 in 3 individuals with oropharyngeal cancer had antibodies to HPV, compared to fewer than 1 in 100 individuals without cancer. When present, these antibodies were detectable many years before the onset of disease. These findings raise the possibility that a blood test might one day be used to identify patients with this type of cancer.

The results of this study, carried out by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), were published online June 17, 2013, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Historically, the majority of oropharyngeal cancers could be explained by tobacco use and alcohol consumption rather than HPV infection. However, incidence of this malignancy is increasing in many parts of the world, especially in the United States and Europe, because of increased infection with HPV type 16 (HPV16). In the United States it is estimated that more than 60 percent of current cases of oropharyngeal cancer are due to HPV16. Persistent infection with HPV16 induces cellular changes that lead to cancer.

HPV E6 is one of the viral genes that contribute to tumor formation. Previous studies of patients with HPV-related oropharynx cancer found antibodies to E6 in their blood.

"Our study shows not only that the E6 antibodies are present prior to diagnosisbut that in many cases, the antibodies are there more than a decade before the cancer was clinically detectable, an important feature of a successful screening biomarker," said Aimee R. Kreimer, Ph.D., the lead Investigator from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI.

Kreimer and her colleagues tested samples from participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Study, a long-term study of more than 500,000 healthy adults in 10 European countries. Participants gave a blood sample at the start of the study and have been followed since their initial contribution.

The researchers analyzed blood from 135 individuals who developed oropharyngeal cancer between one and 13 years later, and nearly 1,600 control individuals who did not develop cancer. The study found antibodies against the HPV16 E6 protein in 35 percent of the individuals with cancer, compared to less than 1 percent of the samples from the cancer-free individuals. The blood samples had been collected on average, six years before diagnosis, but the relationship was independent of the time between blood collection and diagnosis. Antibodies to HPV16 E6 protein were even found in blood samples collected more than 10 years before diagnosis.

The scientists also report that HPV16 E6 antibodies may be a biomarker for improved survival, consistent with previous reports. Patients in the study with oropharyngeal cancer who tested positive for HPV16 E6 antibodies prior to diagnosis were 70 percent more likely to be alive at the end of follow-up, compared to patients who tested negative.

"Although promising, these findings should be considered preliminary," said Paul Brennan, Ph.D., the lead investigator from IARC. "If the predictive capability of the HPV16 E6 antibody holds up in other studies, we may want to consider developing a screening tool based on this result."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/nci-nsf061713.php

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Greg Louganis: Engaged to Johnny Chaillot!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/greg-louganis-engaged-to-johnny-chaillot/

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Dads whose wives died of cancer turn to NC group - NBC News.com

Men's health

MARTHA WAGGONER / Associated Press WCNC

June 16, 2013 at 4:49 PM ET

When his wife died of cancer at the age of 39, Bruce Ham wondered whether the laughter would ever return to the house he and their three daughters share.

"And it is back. It took a while, but it is back," Ham said, more than three years after the death of his wife, Lisa. "I still miss her. I think about her every day. But I don't cry every time I think about her. I smile and laugh. It's good to be on that side of grief."

A group that organizers say may be the only one of its kind in the country helped him on his journey to that other side. Therapists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said they started Single Fathers Due to Cancer because they saw a need to help men struggling with their own grief and their children's grief.

The group first met in October 2010 after therapists and doctors at the UNC Comprehensive Cancer Support Program realized several young mothers with poor prognoses were being treated there. After they died, "we sat and talked and realized that universal among these women was concern about how their husbands would do after they passed away," said Justin Yopp, a clinical psychologist and a staffer in the program. "We wondered, what's out there for these guys?"

Their research found no support groups for this specific group of grieving parents ? fathers whose wives died of cancer, which is the leading cause of death for U.S. women ages 25 to 54.

Some of the fathers said they tried other support groups but were turned off because they typically were made of women and older people.

"I think I desperately felt like I needed help, but I didn't really know where to turn," said Ham, 47, of Raleigh, who blogs about his life as a single parent and is writing a book titled "Laughter, Tears and Braids." "When I heard about this group, it was much more appealing to me than any other group that I heard about."

Karl Owen, 50, was one of the first two members in the support group. "One of us would say something, and the other one's head would nod," said Owen, a computer programmer who lives in Chapel Hill with his son and daughter. "It became clear there was some value there."

Yopp and his colleague, Dr. Don Rosenstein, started the group with the intention that it would go for seven sessions or so. Instead, the same group of eight to nine men has met once a month for several years. The men are working to start similar groups in other areas. The UNC doctors also plan to start a second group there in the fall.

A psychiatrist at New York University also plans to start a group, perhaps as early as this fall. Dr. James Fraiman said he's interested partially because research shows that children who lose parents when they're young can do well in life if they have support. That support starts with groups such as the one at UNC, he said.

Also, women tend to manage their families ? to be the CEO, as Ham described his wife, he said. "A group like this can help these men support each other so they can be emotionally present for their children," he said. "Emotional presence is key for a family to heal and for them to move forward with their lives."

Research shows young mothers tend to choose aggressive treatment because they want to survive for their children, Yopp said, and that doesn't always leave time to say goodbye. Owen and Ham say they that's how their wives' deaths played out.

Owen's wife, Susan Buchanan, was an environmental scientist who died of lung cancer at age 47. She was one of a fraction of nonsmokers who get the disease. By the time the cancer was caught, it was already in her bones and brain. Owen and his wife had two conversations with Yopp about what to tell their children ? a daughter, now 15, and a son, 13. In one talk, they told the kids Mom might die of cancer, and in the second they said she was dying. The children got to say goodbye, but Owen said he didn't.

"By the time we got to that first conversation with Justin, the combination of brain cancer and radiation had affected her," he said. "She was not the same person she had been."

Lisa Ham died of colon cancer, which was stage 4 by the time it was diagnosed. "It was like a 747 flew by, and she was dead," Bruce Ham said.

He said part of the problem was denial, and part was that doctors wanted the couple to stay optimistic. "They wanted the treatment to be successful because of her stage of life and the fact that she had three kids," he said. "And they probably looked at me and said, 'He can't do this alone.'"

The men in the UNC group spent many sessions talking about cancer, grief and the emotional needs of their children. How much of your own grief do you share with your kids? How do you keep Mom's memory alive without every dinner turning into a grief session?

Three years out, they've moved on to discussing teenager issues, handling the logistics of a single parent and dating. When do you take off your wedding ring? How do you get one child to soccer and another to dance at the same time?

One persistent topic of discussion: raising a teenage daughter. "I feel completely out of my depth helping a teenage girl navigate cliques and social situations in high school," Owen said.

He gets plenty of advice from Ham, whose daughters are 15, 12 and 10. His blog posts include subjects such as the difference between a sports bra and a regular bra and why a girl needs both.

Since his wife's death, Ham said he has spent many days wondering, "What would Lisa do?" What to pack for lunch? Should the kids go to summer camp? He wishes he and his wife had thought to discuss the questions before she died.

Ham describes himself as an involved father before his wife died, but in the sense that he picked up the kids when Lisa told him to and played with them when he got home from work.

"She handled the schedules and the logistics and the planning of our lives," he said. "She knew the other moms and scheduled the play dates. Even our friendships, she cultivated most of those."

The laughter returned through his own hard work and the help he got from the group, where he was comfortable talking about the level of sadness in the house. That helped him uphold his promise to his wife that he would take care of their daughters.

"I realized that I was not raising them and taking care of things as she would have wanted me to," he said. "Realizing my promise to her shook me up."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/dads-whose-wives-died-cancer-turn-nc-group-6C10331945

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Switched On: The five P's of the PS4

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Throughout the history of home game consoles, it's been notoriously difficult for a leader in one generation to maintain its leadership in the next generation. Sony, for example, went from dominance of the sixth-generation console market, knocking Sega out of the hardware business as Microsoft was gearing up for the original Xbox, to a third-place finish in terms of installed base with its seventh-generation entry, the PlayStation 3. Last November, Switched On discussed how Nintendo turned its back on much of what made the Wii a success, at least in that console's early days. Sony, though, seems to have carefully studied the lessons of the PlayStation 3 and has made many changes in the PlayStation 4 to address that console's challenges.

Filed under: Sony

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/16/the-five-p-s-of-the-ps4/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Chamber helps 5th-graders learn personal finance skills | The ...

Fifth graders at Dublin Elementary School recently participated in The Kids? Market Place, an interactive financial literacy program developed by Virginia Cooperative Extension and sponsored by Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce.

This is a ?real world? simulation that teaches basic personal finance skills.?All students were randomly assigned a job and salary and visited twelve stations, with the goal being to visit each station and have money saved in the bank at the end of the activity.?The stations were Bank, Chance, Clothing, Medical, Contributions, Transportation, Animal Shelter, Fun!, Groceries, Personal Care, Furniture, and Housing.

The Chamber wishes to thank the following individuals who manned the various stations and otherwise assisted in the activity:?Betty Alley, Dawn Barnes, Cindy Craft, Brooks Dawson, Brenda Eanes, Dan Grubb, Robert Hiss, Rhonda Hudson, Cynthia Hurst, Chris Lichty, Sheila Nelson, Diana Nunley, Ashley Osborne, Susan Pattison, Carol Smith, Lee Spiegel, Ava Stilwell, Barbara Tuck, Dr. Danielle Vann, Sally Warburton, Dr. John White, Peggy White,?Rhonda Whitehurst, and Iris Williams.

Many of the volunteers reported that they observed many of the students actually learning something about the difference between needs and wants and the purpose of saving money.

Source: http://www.southwesttimes.com/2013/06/chamber-helps-5th-graders-learn-personal-finance-skills/

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The Dram-atic Arts

The bartender is forever customizing an one-person show to meet the spiritual and spirituous needs of a select audience

Photo by Frank Perry/AFP/Getty Images

Hey Bartender is a documentary on the subject of finally being able to get a decent drink around here. In paying homage to the craft-cocktail scene?tracing its origins, cataloguing its attributes, charting the motions of its stars?director Douglas Tirola has created a recipe for a feature-length aperitif. Light and easy, abubble with fizzy celebration, the movie?s group profile of tastemaking drink slingers whets the appetite for deeper study.

This sector of the service industry looks, through Tirola?s lens, a bit like the field of entertainment. Not a few barmen (and -maids and -flies) in the film talk about the profession in terms derived from show business. They hail famous colleagues as rock stars, and describe the movements of two bartenders weaving around another, during a busy shift, as a dance. It is telling that Dale DeGroff?nicknamed King Cocktail and universally recognized as the obstetrician presiding over this bibulous rebirth?began his career in hospitality as an actor/waiter. He did not make it in Hollywood, but his arts training did not go to waste. ?Who you are back there will define the space,? he says of his trade in this documentary. ?You have to be a bit of an actor.?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts half a million bartenders in the U.S., and though the government doesn?t categorize the profession under ?Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries,? it very plausibly might. The dive-bar geezer pouring shots with a surly flourish is offering a solo show, as is the nightclub barmaid popping open a Bud Light grasped between her thigh and calf. Hey Bartender very reasonably asserts that its subjects, with their advanced degrees in mixology, are artists, and it encourages viewers to understand that?independently of the practice of inventing compelling recipes but entwined with the craft of mixing a proper drink?they distinguish themselves in commanding the stage that is the bar.

I attended a screening of the film in the middle of May, not long after NBC had formally introduced Jimmy Fallon as the heir to The Tonight Show. The most iconic late-night program will soon be in the hands of a man who has broadcasted Rachel Maddow?s classic rendition of an Old-Fashioned, Sandra Lee?s ambitious desecration of a gin and tonic, and Questlove?s boozy adventures in liquid nitrogen. It was also around the same time that the MIT Senseable City Lab unveiled Makr Shakr, a bartending robot whose stirring and shaking?are modeled on the gestures of a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater. The signs were auspicious. It was time, I decided, to take some notes toward a theory of the theater of bartending.

May 17: Went to the library. In a tuxedo. The four floors of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library were given over to the opening night party of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, an event combining a professional?s industry conference and an enthusiast?s opulent bar crawl. The 3,000 guests had their pick of 87 cocktails, the most intriguing of which, for our purposes, was a Negroni served next to the south staircase in Astor Hall: the Finger-Stirred Negroni. The finger was attached to an eccentric cocktail eminence who published the essential Joy of Mixology as Gary Regan and sometime thereafter changed his nom d?alcool to Gaz Regan, which he stylizes as ?gaz regan.?

Mixing Negronis for the well groomed masses, Regan spun the sturdy ice cubes with authority while his eyes?one of them adorned with dramatic eyeliner?locked onto the supposed windows to each customer?s soul. Serving an eternal classic and an ephemeral experience, he punctuated each preparation with a sideways flick of his mixing digit, improvising variations on the flourish to suit the seeming mood of each customer.

The Finger-Stirred Negroni would have been gross under any other circumstances. It was delightful. It should be noted that Regan has written that ?tending bar is, to a large degree, performance art.? I savored Regan?s drink as the epitome of (and as a fond commentary on) the intimacy of the relationship between a cocktail bartender and his patron?which is indeed a relationship, even when the customer is one-and-done at a bar at an airport he?ll never connect through again. The bartender is forever customizing an ongoing one-person show to meet the spiritual and spirituous needs of a select audience.

May 21: Went online to research Heywood Gould, who authored of one of the great bad movies of the Reagan Era?the Razzie-winning Cocktail, an anti-classic celebrating its 25^th anniversary this summer.

Gould adapted the screenplay from his own semi-autobiographical novel, bastardizing a cult favorite in the process. The hero of the book is a sozzled 38-year-old misanthrope who describes the grand ruins of 1970s New York and his own life in a lushly scabrous voice. The hero of the movie is Tom Cruise-still-playing-Maverick, flinging bottles as if barrel-rolling a fighter jet. Gould explained how Cocktail?s vodka-juggling, which doesn?t feature in the book, came to be in a recent Chicago Tribune interview:

It was something that we did just to amuse ourselves. At this one bar, Spring Street Bar in SoHo, this guy I worked with, we used to juggle the cans and throw stuff to each other. We'd do it, and people would laugh, and we'd show off, because you are on stage; when you're behind the bar, people are looking at you. And after a while you start to play to that?you can't help it. Or I couldn't help it, anyway. ?

When we were making the movie, I took Tom and Bryan Brown to my friend's bar and started showing them what we used to do, and they picked up on it and invented their own moves. They took it a lot further than we ever did.

That is, they took it further in scope, higher in altitude, lower in taste. As coached by John ?JB? Bandy?the champion of TGI Friday?s inaugural Bar Olympics?Cruise and Brown made flair bartending a thing, much to the consternation of Gould?s former colleagues. When the movie came out, he went downtown and discovered a new set of expectations. ?These drunken bartender friends of mine were not happy: ?On top of making the drink, now I gotta juggle these f--- bottles and put on a show for them?? "

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2013/06/hey_bartender_reviewed_notes_toward_a_theory_on_the_theater_of_cocktail.html

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