[OOC] The Haunting of Whispering Oaks

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Cause sought for deadly Fla. highway pileup (AP)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Authorities in Florida were trying to determine Monday what caused the horrific pileup on Interstate 75 south of Gainesville, where a long line of cars and trucks collided one after another on a dark highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were blinded.

At least 10 were killed in the early Sunday pileup and another 18 were hospitalized.

All lanes of I-75 reopened late Sunday, but authorities closed the highway again early Monday due to poor visibility caused by fog and smoke.

Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home hours before dawn Sunday when they were suddenly drawn into the massive wreck.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville man said hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

The interstate had been closed for a time before the accidents because of a mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. The decision to reopen it early Sunday will certainly be a focus of investigators, as will the question of how the fire may have started.

The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile.

At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and urged Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area, just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to him when another vehicle hit that man's car.

The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.

All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.

"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."

Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities. A "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup, police said.

All six lanes of the interstate were closed most of Sunday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. Some traffic was being diverted onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, said. The northbound lanes were reopened at about 5:30 p.m.

At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved, police said. Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.

Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.

Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.

In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.

___

Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_deadly_interstate_crash

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Oil spill brings attention to delicate Gulf coast

TIVOLI, Texas?? For decades, farmers and fishermen along the Gulf of Mexico watched as their sensitive ecosystem's waters slowly got dirtier and islands eroded, all while the country largely ignored the destruction.

It took BP PLC's well blowing out in the Gulf ? and the resulting environmental catastrophe when millions of gallons of oil spewed into the ocean and washed ashore ? for the nation to turn its attention to the slow, methodical ruin of an ecosystem vital to the U.S. economy. Last month, more than a year and a half after the spill began, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a three-year, $50 million initiative designed to improve water quality along the coast.

"I'm not going to say that it's the silver lining," Will Blackwell, a district conservationist with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Services, said of the oil spill. Blackwell is one of many regional officials who have long worked with farmers and ranchers to fence cattle, reseed native grasses and take on other seemingly inane projects that go a long way toward preventing pollution and coastal erosion.

"I'm going to say that it will help get recognition down here that we have this vital ecosystem that needs to be taken care of," he said. "This will keep it at the forefront."

NRCS administrators struggled for years to divide a few million dollars among farmers and ranchers in the five Gulf states. Now, they are getting an eleven-fold increase in funding, money that will allow them to build on low-profile programs that already have had modest success in cleaning crucial waterways by working with farmers and ranchers to improve land use practices.

The nation's focus turned sharply to the Gulf when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up in April 2010. Images of oil-coated birds and wetlands were splashed across newspapers and cable news networks. Coastal wetlands that are habitat to all sorts of wildlife were soiled and oyster beds were wiped out, underscoring the Gulf's ecological and economic importance.

The project is called the Gulf of Mexico Initiative, the first concrete step from a year's worth of meetings, studies and talking by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, a committee formed by President Barack Obama in the spill's wake.

Sometimes, the money is spent on simple projects, such as building fences and installing troughs to keep cattle away from rivers and creeks that flow into the Gulf. The minerals in cow manure can pollute those upstream waters and then flow into the ocean. Those minerals can deplete oxygen in the Gulf, creating "dead zones" where wildlife can't thrive.

Other times, the program pays for expensive farming equipment that turns soil more effectively and creates straighter rows. That helps keep fertilizers on the farm ? where it helps crops ? and out of the Gulf, where the nutrients choke oxygen from the water. This equipment also decreases erosion, which has eaten up hundreds of miles of Gulf Coast habitat in the past century.

Until now, most counties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas got right around $100,000 apiece to spend annually on these programs. The demand was far greater in many areas, but money was hard to come by, Blackwell said, highlighting the popularity of the program in Refugio County, Texas ? the rural area of Southeast Texas he oversees.

The influx of money has many farmers and ranchers ? especially those who have reaped the program's benefits in the past ? eager for more opportunities to improve the environment they rely upon for their livelihood.

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Now, they are hurriedly filling out applications and waiting for officials to rank the paperwork ? those considered to have the greatest possible impact are the most likely to be approved.

"Fifty million dollars sounds like a lot. But when you consider ? Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and Texas, it's not going to be enough," said Glen Wiggins, a Florida farmer applying for help buying new farming equipment.

"But it'll help."

Dallas Ford, owner of the 171-acre Smoky Creek Ranch in Tivoli, Texas, first worked with the NRCS to build fences and strategically located troughs. The fences keep cattle in separate fields and allow him to rotate the cows between the fields, a practice that helps keep grass longer and better able to recover when it rains. The troughs ensure the cattle remain in the area and keep away from Stony Creek ? a bountiful tributary of the Gulf's Hynes Bay.

Ford estimates he has between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of additional work to do on his ranch ? all of which will ultimately improve water quality in Stony Creek ? but he will be able to do it only if he can get another contract with NRCS, which would cover about half the costs.

The cash infusion reminded him of a mentor who once said you could cook anything with time and temperature. In this project, Ford said, time is plentiful ? the temperature is money and manpower.

"We might be able to cook something a little faster," Ford said. "Now, maybe I can get you a nice steak."

About 685 miles away, Wiggins has been buying new tilling equipment to use on his 800-acre peanut and cotton farm that straddles the Alabama-Florida line. The high-tech farming equipment helps him better turn the soil and plant straighter rows, which ultimately prevent erosion and keep nutrients in the soil rather than allowing them to flow downstream and into the Gulf.

Wiggins' land sits on three watersheds ? Canoe Creek and Pine Barren Creek that are part of Sandy Hollow Creek, and Little Pine Barren Creek. With the work he's already done, Wiggins estimates he has reduced erosion by at least 50 percent. Now, he wants to further reduce it, mostly through the use of new equipment that will decrease conventional, and more destructive, tillage of his land.

"I'd like to get it down to zero, but if I could get it to 10 percent conventional tillage, I would be tickled to death," Wiggins said.

He estimated the new equipment will cost about $70,000. The only way he can make that purchase is with NRCS' help ? and now it may be within reach.

"The oil spill has been a powerful force to get people's attention," Wiggins said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46182691/ns/us_news-environment/

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Vignettes from Iraq War veterans (AP)

ST. LOUIS ? They speak of their service matter-of-factly. Yes, the danger was always there. Yes, they saw horrific things. But they had a job to do, and they did it.

Even though the end of the Iraq War was celebrated Saturday with a parade that drew thousands to downtown St. Louis, many of the veterans who participated expect they may be redeployed to Afghanistan or somewhere else in the war on terror. Still, they appreciated the welcome-home

Here are a few of their stories.

___

Army Maj. Rich Radford had two long tours of duty in Iraq under almost constant threat of violence.

Radford, a combat engineer, spent 15 months on his first tour starting in January 2004, then about 10 months when he went back in September 2009. He earned the Bronze Star for his service.

"Every day we were in danger," Radford, 40, said, "because the Iraqis didn't like us, didn't want us in their country. They would sell out our positions, our missions."

Radford, a 23-year military veteran, marched in the parade with his two children, Aimee, 8, and Warren, 12. An image of the father and daughter upon his return home from the second tour of duty is emblazoned on T-shirts and posters associated with the parade, fashioned from a photo taken by Radford's sister of Aimee, then 6, reaching up for her father's hand as family greeting him at Lambert Airport in St. Louis.

"She grabbed my hand and said, `I missed you, Daddy,'" Radford recalled. "That's been my Facebook page picture ever since."

___

Air Force veteran Kevin Jackson got a nice welcome-home with Saturday's parade, something his father never got for his service.

Don Jackson, 63, served in Vietnam. America still stings from the treatment of Vietnam veterans. There was no parade, no rally, when that conflict ended in the mid-1970s. Not that Don Jackson is complaining.

"I didn't need a parade. I was just glad to be home. This is for them," he said, nodding to his son and other young veterans.

Kevin Jackson, 33, is glad to be home, too. He has lost track of how many times he was sent overseas ? three or four tours of duty in Iraq, four or five in Afghanistan.

In Iraq, Jackson's job was to teach Iraqis how to fly three C-130s planes that the U.S. donated to the Iraqi Air Force.

It wasn't easy. First, they had to teach them English. And turnover was constant.

"They'd be there for a couple of weeks then go home on break and not come back," Jackson said. "The bad guys would find out they were working with the Americans and threaten their families. So they wouldn't come back."

___

Gayla Gibson didn't know much about improvised explosive devices before the Air Force sent her to Iraq in July 2003. She spent the next four months as part of the first line of help for soldiers wounded by IED attacks.

"We saw some horrible things," she said. "Amputations. Broken bones. Severe burns from IEDs. It was pretty much every day."

Gibson and other medical technicians helped mend the wounded best they could before they were moved to hospitals in Germany.

"We'd talk to them, try to comfort them," she said. "Mostly we wanted to stabilize them."

Gibson, 38, was thrilled that her hometown of St. Louis was the site of the first big parade to welcome home those who gave much for their country.

"I think it's great when people come out to support those who gave their lives and put their lives on the line for this country," Gibson said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_iraq_war_parade_vignettes

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Capturing Inner Beauty: Medical Imagery That Delves into the Aesthetic [Slide Show]

Web Exclusives | More Science

Norm Barker's photographs lie at the interface of art and science

By Rose Eveleth ?| January 28, 2012

Petri Dishes Image: Norm Barker

February's issue of Scientific American features a beautiful close-up image of a placenta taken by Norm Barker, associate professor of pathology and art as applied to medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Barker specializes in photo-microscopy and natural science photography, and his work appears in the permanent collections of more than 40 museums, including the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History and the Science Museum in London.

Barker's most recent book, Paleobotanical Splendor, documents fossilized plant material. His next opus?to be published later this year?explores medicine and pathology.

Here, SA showcases several more of Barker's photographs, which reveal the hidden beauty of medical implements as well as bodily organs such as muscles, brains, livers and kidneys.

? View the Medical Imagery Slide Show

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=223e3bf51169f11c7c95fc43a587b37a

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US cybersecurity efforts trigger privacy concerns (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.

In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.

While the government may have good intentions, it "runs the risk of establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users' communications," the nonpartisan legal think tank says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report in advance.

Cybersecurity has become a rapidly expanding priority for the government as federal agencies, private companies and everyday people come under persistent and increasingly sophisticated computer attacks. The threat is diverse, ranging from computer hackers going after banking and financial accounts to terrorists or other nations breaching government networks to steal sensitive data or sabotage critical systems such as the electrical grid, nuclear plants or Wall Street.

Privacy has been a hotly debated issue, particularly as the Pentagon broadens its pilot program to help defense contractors protect their networks and systems. Several companies, including critical jet fighter and drone programs, have been attacked, although the Pentagon has said that no classified information was lost.

And there are plans for the Homeland Security Department to use the defense program as a model to prevent hackers and hostile nations from breaching critical infrastructure. Officials have suggested that Congress needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government for cybersecurity purposes.

DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the legislative proposals reflect the administration's commitment to privacy protections and contain standards to minimize contact with personal information while dealing with cybersecurity threats. "DHS builds strong privacy protections into the core of all cybersecurity programs and initiatives," Chandler said, adding that the agency realizes that providing assistance to private companies is a sensitive task that requires "trust and strict confidentiality."

The Constitution Project report recommends that officials limit the amount and nature of personal information shared between the public and private sectors. And it calls for strict oversight of the cyber programs by Congress and independent audits, to ensure that privacy rights have not been violated.

"The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor networks," it said.

In addition, the report raised concerns about the ongoing development of the Einstein 3 program, a government network monitoring system that would both detect and take action against cyberattacks on federal systems. DHS officials have said that extensive privacy protections are in place.

But the report expressed concerns that as DHS and the secretive National Security Agency share information about potential computer-based threats, the NSA could review communications from U.S. individuals without setting up privacy safeguards.

"With more and more people needing to share sensitive personal and financial data over the Internet, it is absolutely vital that, while we are looking to protect our networks against cyberattack, we also preserve our constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy," said Constitution Project committee member Asa Hutchinson, a former DHS undersecretary who also served as a GOP congressman from Arkansas.

Lawmakers who have been wrestling with these issues over the past several years have several bills in the works, and most include some privacy provisions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_hi_te/us_internet_privacy

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Gardening Map Of Warming U.S. Has Plant Zones Moving North

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The new version of the map includes 13 zones, with the addition for the first time of zones 12 (50-60 degrees F) and 13 (60-70 degrees F).

It's official: Gardeners and farmers can count on warmer weather. If that's you, it might be a good time to rethink those flower and vegetable beds for this year's growing season.

That's the word from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which released a new version of its "Plant Hardiness Zone Map" this week, the first update since 1990. The color-coded zones on this map of the United States are widely used as a guide for what perennial flowers will survive in a particular area, or when to plant your vegetables.

Here's how it works: The higher the zone number, the warmer your average low temperature during wintertime.

Now the zones have shifted northward. The new map shows that in much of the country, winters aren't as cold as they used to be, and spring planting comes earlier.

?

So if you're thinking of planting a White Dogwood tree in your front yard, for instance, you may have read that it will thrive in zones 5-8, which covers most of the southern half of the country.

But if you live in northern Iowa ? good news ? you can now plant that tree! You are now in zone 5, instead of 4.

Gardeners in Manhattan, Kansas, may also rejoice over new options now that the town has moved from zone 5 to zone 6. The new version of the map also includes two new zones at the warmed end of the spectrum: zone 12 (50-60 degrees Fahrenheit) and 13 (60-70 degrees Fahrenheit).

The nationwide shift in the planting season provoked lots of questions about just how much to attribute to climate change. USDA officials, while introducing their new map to reporters, insisted that they were making no claims about global warming.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The last iteration of the Plant Hardiness Zone Map, from 1990. In the 2012 map, many zone boundaries have shifted significantly.

Some of the shifting zone boundaries, they said, were the result of more sophisticated mapping. For the first time, the new map takes into account the effects of elevation, large lakes, and whether a place is located in a valley or on top of a ridge. They admitted, however, that most of the changes were due to using temperature data from recent years, which have been relatively toasty.

Unlike previous hardiness maps, the USDA won't sell poster-sized versions of this one. But there's an interactive version, available on the web, where you can explore the map in exquisite detail.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/01/25/145855948/gardening-map-of-warming-u-s-has-plant-zones-moving-north?ft=1&f=1007

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx available now: more battery, same shape

Kevlar-coated phones with a sprinkling of LTE sound like a pretty sweet proposition. Now the Droid Razr's been further sweetened by its new Maxx recast, and Motorola appears to be pretty darn proud of its bordering-on-tablet-territory 3,300mAh battery. Those yearning for a smartphone that'll last longer than daylight hours can hit up the source below -- Verizon's offering it up for $299 on contract, starting today.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx available now: more battery, same shape originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NYC police commissioner's son being investigated

FILE -- A Nov. 3, 2010, file photo shows Greg Kelly at the New York Comedy Festival's Stand Up For Heroes concert in New York. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

FILE -- A Nov. 3, 2010, file photo shows Greg Kelly at the New York Comedy Festival's Stand Up For Heroes concert in New York. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

FILE - New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and son Greg attend the New York City Police Foundations 31st Annual Gala in New York, in this March 3, 2009 file photo. Kelly, son of the city police commissioner, is under investigation by prosecutors and denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, without elaborating on the allegations. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The son of New York City's police commissioner, also a co-host of a popular New York City morning television show, was absent from the program Thursday amid revelations that he was being investigated for a crime involving a woman.

A lawyer for Greg Kelly, the 43-year-old anchor of "Good Day New York" and a former Fox News correspondent, said he is cooperating with the investigation, which is being handled by the Manhattan district attorney because of a potential conflict of interest by Kelly's father, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the nature of the allegation, but The New York Times reported late Wednesday, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, that a woman had accused Kelly of raping her at a Manhattan law office after they met for drinks in October.

The TV host "strenuously denies any wrongdoing of any kind," his lawyer, Andrew Lankler, said in an emailed statement. "We know that the district attorney's investigation will prove Mr. Kelly's innocence." Lankler didn't respond to questions about the focus of the investigation.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the commissioner was recently made aware of an accusation against his son by the woman's boyfriend. The man approached the elder Kelly at a public event.

"He said, 'Your son ruined my girlfriend's life,'" Browne said. "The commissioner said 'Well, what do you mean?' He said he didn't want to talk about it here so the commissioner told him to send a letter."

Browne said he couldn't comment further and referred inquiries to the district attorney's office, which declined to comment.

Messages left for officials at WNYW, the Fox affiliate that hosts "Good Day New York," were not returned.

Kelly joined Fox News in 2002. He covered the Iraq War, including four assignments in Baghdad, and was the White House correspondent from 2005-2007, according to his biography on WNYW's website.

Earlier in his career, he covered politics for local cable news channel New York 1 and was an anchor and reporter for NewsChannel 34, an ABC and NBC affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., his biography said.

He also served for nearly a decade in the Marine Corps and is now a lieutenant colonel in its reserves.

Raymond Kelly has been police commissioner' since 2002. He also served as commissioner in the 1990s.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-26-Police%20Commissioner-Son/id-b0b1045971464b7ca0d926995a8ca5dd

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Seeking discipline, Bucs pick Schiano

AP

Though the Cleveland Plain Dealer still has not acknowledged the move on its website (other than to finally remove his name and face from the roster), Tony Grossi no longer covers the Browns as a beat writer, following the accidental publication of a private Twitter message that called Browns owner Randy Lerner? (pictured) ?pathetic? and an ?irrelevant billionaire.?

Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis tells PFT that the Browns have no comment on the situation.

There?s still no evidence that the Browns pressured the Plain Dealer to make the move.? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, however, both Lerner and president Mike Holmgren refused to accept calls from Grossi after the message was posted and deleted.? We?re also told that a meeting occurred Wednesday between Plain Dealer publisher Terry Eggar and Holmgren.

The Plain Dealer has been nearly as silent as the Browns.? Managing editor Thom Fladung called the Kiley & Booms radio show on 92.3 The Fan this morning to explain the decision, and Fladung?s explanation was less than persuasive, in our opinion.

The decision to remove Grossi from the beat was driven by this ?determining factor? articulated by Fladung:? ?Don?t do something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

That?s a pretty broad ? and vague ? rule.? And that?s the kind of standard that gives a news organization the ability to do pretty much whatever it wants whenever it wants, because there?s pretty much always something to which someone can point as proof of ?something that affects your value as a journalist or the value of your newspaper or affects the perception of your value and the perception of that newspaper?s value.?

Making Fladung?s ?determining factor? even more confusing is the fact that he admitted that Grossi could have deliberately expressed a strong opinion about Lerner in a column published and printed in the Plain Dealer without conseqeuence.? ?Let?s say Tony had written that Randy Lerner?s lack of involvement with the Browns and their resulting disappointing records over the years has made him irrelevant as an owner, that?s defensible,? Fladung said.? ?That?s absolutely defensible.?

What?s indefensible is the failure of the Plain Dealer to acknowledge the fact that Grossi never intended to make the statements available for public view.? He fell victim to the subtle but significant differences between a ?direct message? (which is private) and a ?reply? (which is public) on Twitter.? It was an accident.? A mistake.

Let?s go back to the days of typewriters and shorthand, and let?s say that Grossi?s editor has two boxes on his desk.? One is for article submissions and one is for proposed topics.? And let?s say that Grossi scribbled out a scathing column about Lerner as a proposed topic, but Grossi accidentally put it in the box of actual submissions for print.

That?s the low-tech version of what happened here.? Grossi accidentally put his message in the wrong box.

So when Fladung says he ?felt very strongly? that the Twitter message ?was inappropriate and unprofessional and . . . it?s not the kind of opinion a journalist covering a beat can express,? Fladung presumes that Grossi actually intended to articulate that opinion to the world.? He didn?t.? It was inadvertently blurted out, like a temporary case of Twitter Tourette?s.

Some have suggested that the Twitter blunder provided the Plain Dealer with a vehicle for addressing pre-existing concerns regarding Grossi?s overall job performance.? Undercutting that theory was Fladung?s assertion during the radio interview that Grossi is a ?very good? and ?very successful? beat writer.

I?m continuing to write about this because it?s the kind of mistake that could happen to anyone, and everyone should be entitled to the benefit of the doubt in a case like this, especially when newspapers and other media companies want their writers to engage with the audience through various new technologies and platforms.? It also just ?feels? like an unjust result, whether because the Plain Dealer is being obtuse or because the Plain Dealer is cowering to the Browns or because the Browns are remaining deliberately silent in order to secure the preferred outcome of having Grossi removed from the beat.

Regardless, we?re disappointed in the Plain Dealer, in Fladung, in the Browns, in Lerner, and in Holmgren.? And we hope that one or more of them will snap out of it and do the right thing, or at least let the rest of us know in far more convincing fashion why they believe the right thing was done.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/26/greg-schianos-deal-with-the-bucs-is-done/related/

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Arizona Gov. Brewer gets book critique from Obama (AP)

MESA, Ariz. ? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.

The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."

Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.

Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.

She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."

On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.

"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.

"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."

A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_obama_arizona_governor

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Hotmail App For Kindle Fire Arrives, For Those Clinging to The 1990s [Blip]

Microsoft has just released a free Hotmail app to the Amazon Appstore, claiming to have optimized its existing Android app for the Fire. No doubt it probably works better that the Fires's native email client, which is tolerable at best. What I want to know, though, is who the hell is still using Hotmail? What is this, 1998? [Amazon via The Verge] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/owcNcVr9qbM/hotmail-app-for-kindle-fire-arrives-for-those-clinging-to-the-1990s

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Indiana Right To Work: AFL-CIO Airing Ad Targeting Mitch Daniels During SOTU Response

WASHINGTON -- A labor union is using Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' (R) high-profile speech on Tuesday night to remind viewers of the governor's change of heart on controversial right-to-work legislation.

Daniels will be giving the official GOP response to President Obama's State of the Union message on Tuesday.

In his own state, Daniels and the GOP-controlled state legislature are locked in a standoff with Democrats over right to work, which would bar unions from automatically collecting dues from workers' paychecks at private companies.

The Indiana AFL-CIO will begin airing a new television ad on the issue across the state during evening broadcasts and nationally on CNN and MSNBC on Tuesday in conjunction with the State of the Union.

The ad, called "What," will contrast his current support for right to work with the fact that in the past, he spoke out against such legislation.

"We cannot afford to have civil wars over issues that might divide us and divert us from that path. I have said over and over, I'll say it again tonight: I'm a supporter of the labor laws we have in the state of Indiana," he said in a speech to the Teamsters 135 Union Stewards Dinner on Sept. 23, 2006. "I'm not interested in changing any of it. Not the prevailing wage laws, and certainly not the right to work law. We can succeed in Indiana with the laws we have, respecting the rights of labor, and fair and free competition for everybody."

"As Governor Daniels prepares to give the national Republican response to the State of the Union, this is an opportunity to show the nation just how far he's strayed from the Hoosier values he once claimed to represent," said Indiana State AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott. "He has gone from opposing partisan right-to-work legislation that he said was bad for Indiana to flip-flopping on the issue now that he's more interested in becoming a right-wing darling and doing the bidding of his undisclosed donors."

Daniels' office has admitted that he did once believe Indiana did not need to change its labor laws, but he has since shifted his position.

"[T]wo things in particular have changed his mind and led to his support of right to work legislation: Indiana misses many job opportunities and the significant downturn in the national economy," Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski recently told The Huffington Post.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/indiana-right-work-mitch-daniels-sotu-afl-cio_n_1224651.html

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BearExtender PC Long Range 802.11n USB WiFi Booster

BearExtender PC is a device that addresses the number one bane of wireless networking?weak or dropped signals. This device is a wireless signal booster (or extender), but unlike many wireless extenders on the market it works on the client side rather than with a Wi-Fi router.

It's a clever, little device though it has limitations: it only works on the 2.4 GHz band and it drops the connection when it's 100 feet away from the router. It works ideally at 50-100 feet away from the wireless router and at a price of $44.97, fits into most budgets.

What It Is
BearExtender is an 802.11n long-range wireless adapter that works with Windows. The device is based on the company's earlier BearExtender n3 adapter for Macs. BearExtender's genesis arises from ?University of Berkeley students' inability to connect to the campus' wireless network named "AirBears"?hence, the BearExtender name.

The adapter is a small, flattened device with a clip?it ?resembles a miniature access point. That clip is for attaching it to a netbook to laptop. I clipped it to an iPad and the grip was quite loose. The thinner the laptop, notebook, or any other wireless client, the looser BearExtender's grip. It's also not an ideal design to attach to smartphones, though I supposed someone with enough intent could manage.

Not only does BearExtender clip onto a laptop, but it connects via USB from the mini USB port on the device to a USB port on a laptop. If clipping a device which resembles a mini access point doesn't look odd enough, there's an approximately 8-inch long external 2 dBi gain antenna that screws onto the adapter. The antenna is designed in such a way as to bypass interference from a laptop's casing. The entire contraption is sure to elicit a few curious glances in public.

Users can upgrade to a 5 dBi antenna?which is the antenna I used for testing. BearExtender PC combines two proprietary receivers with a 700mW transmitter capable of theoretical throughput speeds of up to 150 Mbps.

Setup
A setup CD is included with the device. The CD contains installation options for Windows 7, Vista, and XP as well as user manuals. I clicked the install option for Windows 7.

A message appeared on-screen before the installation process began that instructed me to only install the Ralink WAN Utility for Windows driver and not the entire software package. Apparently, BearExenter uses Ralink's chipset. Installation was simple, and you are asked to install either the Ralink utility or only the driver during the setup process. Installing Ralink's entire utility could cause some potential conflict with Windows' native wireless management, so users are wisely advised to install only the driver.

The setup instructions advise installing the driver before connecting the extender to the laptop visa USB. Once I connected the USB cable, Windows detected the device right away. Users are further instructed to disable the laptop's built-in wireless adapter.

Next, you connect to your wireless network the way you normally would. I had my connection to the router set to connect automatically which remembers the passphrase. I had to re-enter my WLAN's password once I disabled the native wireless adapter on my laptop and connected to the signal using BearExtender.

BearExtender offers many resources for user assistance if help is needed during setup. The user manual is very well written and there's telephone as well as 24/7 email support.

Performance
I measured performance using two methods at various distances. The first was a rather informal test that noted the number of signal strength bars Windows 7 displayed as I moved away from the room? both before and when I had BearExtender connected. Second, I used Ixia's IxChariot benchmark testing suite to measure throughput with and without BearExtender.

The testing equipment included a HP Elitebook 8440w which uses a 3x3 Intel Centrino 6300 AGN wireless adapter, Netgear's N600 (WNDR3700) Dual-Band Gigabit router, and an HP Proliant ML300 G6 server running Windows 2008 R2 as a second testing endpoint for throughput.

Windows 7 reported a strong, 5 bar wireless signal up until I got to 50 feet away from the router room. Signal strength then dropped to four bars. ?I was down to 4 bars of wireless strength and crawling internet at 100 feet. Beyond 100 feet, I could no longer connect to the SSID.

With BearExtender, Windows 7 reported 5 solid signal bars up until 100 feet. At 100 feet, the signal wavered between 3 and 4 bars, but the signal persisted, albeit with a slow connection. I could still see and connect to my SSID at 150 feet, but Windows was down to 3 bars with and every time I attempted to connect, my connection dropped.

Here are the throughput results from testing with and without BearExtender:

Throughout did not significantly change until I was 75 feet away from the router. As the table shows, at 75 feet, the laptop's built-in wi-fi adapter barely has a connection to the router. That gets a nice boost with BearExtender PC. Although throughput speed is not overwhelming at 75 and particularly at 100 feet, BearExender does manage to lengthen the router's signal and keep the laptop connected to the wireless network. The network becomes unreachable at 150 feet.

Should You Buy BearExtender?
BearExtender PC can definitely help boost a wireless signal under a few specific conditions: you are only connecting at 2.4 GHz, your signal distance does not exceed 100 feet from a router. Any greater distance than that, are you may still be facing flaky connectivity?although admittedly, I test in a very high RF-interference environment.

If it's critical that you boost a wireless signal in a much larger space, best bet is to go with a traditional booster that acts more as a repeater or consider a powerline product like the Editor's Choice winning Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001) which also extends a home network or Internet connection to dead zones (although not wirelessly).

The best use for BearExtender are smaller spaces with wireless clients that may just need a little extra boost to get wireless to that last bedroom down the hall or into the kitchen. The device's added bonuses are simple setup and affordability. BearExtender PC is a worthy 3 stars as a wireless extender.

?

More Networking Reviews:
??? BearExtender PC Long Range 802.11n USB WiFi Booster
??? Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001)
??? D-Link Powerline AV 500 4-Port gigabit Switch (DHP-540)
??? D-Link DHP501-AV Powerline AV 500 Adapter Starter Kit
??? Netgear Universal Internet Adapter for Home Entertainment-3D (XAVB5004)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/udrzsYRoP5E/0,2817,2399152,00.asp

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Apple Q1 2012 conference call live chat

We’ll be adding notes of interest from Apple’s Q1 2012 conference call after the break, but a lot of the action is going to take place in the live chat

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/JR79HO6fGEY/story01.htm

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Seal, Heidi Klum announce separation

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2011 file photo, Heidi Klum, left, and Seal arrive at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. In a statement Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, the power-couple announced their separation. They say after "much soul searching" they've decided to separate, and blame the breakup on "growing apart." They married in 2005. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2011 file photo, Heidi Klum, left, and Seal arrive at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. In a statement Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, the power-couple announced their separation. They say after "much soul searching" they've decided to separate, and blame the breakup on "growing apart." They married in 2005. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Seal and Heidi Klum have announced that their storybook marriage is coming to the end.

In a statement Sunday night, the power couple announced their separation after rumors swirled over the weekend that a divorce was imminent.

"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul searching we have decided to separate," the joint statement read. "We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children's sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."

The couple married in 2005 and has four children together, including the supermodel's daughter from a previous relationship.

They were one of Hollywood's most high-profile couples, and seemed to have the relationship everyone should envy. They two starred together in the music video "Secret," they renewed their wedding vows each anniversary, boasted of their love in the media, and threw Halloween bashes together where they dressed in outrageous outfits, most recently last year in New York City, where the two engaged in their typical public display of affection for the cameras.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, the "Kiss from A Rose" singer described his wife, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, as his best friend.

"It is really important that we have that understanding because apart from anything else it is really healthy," he said of the "Project Runway" host. "People often talk about the most important thing in a relationship. They say it is really important that you are turned on by your partner and you love each other, which is all really true.I often think that the most important thing, or certainly up there, with love is respect."

TMZ first reported on Saturday that the two planned to divorce this week.

His announcement comes as he releases his new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, which has songs like "Love T.K.O," ''Let's Stay Together" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-People-Seal-Heidi%20Klum/id-125ed5598bf34e74ad5103d09bced8d7

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Darfur peacekeeper killed, three wounded: U.N. (Reuters)

KHARTOUM (Reuters) ? One international peacekeeper was killed and three others wounded in Sudan when gunmen ambushed their patrol in the troubled Darfur region on Saturday, UNAMID peacekeepers said.

The Western region is the scene of an almost decade-long insurgency by non-Arab tribes against the government in Khartoum, which they accuse of political and economic marginalization.

Unknown gunmen attacked the patrol near El Daein in South Darfur and killed one peacekeeper, a spokesman for the joint African Union/U.N. Mission UNAMID said.

Two of the wounded peacekeepers were in critical condition, he said, without giving the nationalities of the peacekeepers.

The United Nations has said as many as 300,000 people may have died in Darfur, where Khartoum has mobilized troops and mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

Qatar brokered a peace deal which Sudan signed this year with the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), an umbrella association of smaller groups. But major other rebel groups have refused to sign the document.

In November, Darfur's main insurgent groups and rebels in two border states said they had formed an alliance to topple Bashir.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/wl_nm/us_sudan_darfur

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Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012

This week may not have been incredibly packed with news in the mobile world, but it was still easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of January 16, 2012:

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012

Mobile Miscellany: week of January 16, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Z1pgMCmQ7mc/

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Megaupload exec's homes raided, luxury cars seized

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Police in New Zealand on Friday raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.

Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees Thursday on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

---

David Rowland / EPA

(L-R) Bram van der Kolk, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and German national Kim Schmitz, also known as Kim Dotcom, are remanded in custody at the District Court on charges in a US copyright infringement investigation in Auckland, New Zealand, 20 January 2012.

With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S. indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.

Although the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom lives in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was gave U.S. prosecutors jurisdiction to act.

New Zealand police served 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the seized cars include a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes. Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.

Pictures posted on Flickr and technology news website Gizmodo showed the haul included a 2010 Maserati and a pink Cadillac. One Mercedes had the personalized license place "MAFIA,"while another had a plated that read "CEO."

A report by New Zealand news website stuff.co.nz said Detective Inspector Grant Wormald from the Organized and Financial Crime Agency NZ (OFCANZ) gave details of the extraordinary raid, which had been planned for several months.

"Police arrived in two marked police helicopters," said Wormald, according to the website. "Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves Mr. Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic locking mechanisms. While police neutralized these locks he then further barricaded himself into a safe room within the house which officers had to cut their way into."

Once they gained entry into this room they found Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a sawed-off shotgun, Wormald said.

"It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door," he added.

New Zealand's Fairfax Media reported that the four defendants stood together in an Auckland courtroom in the first step of the extradition proceedings.

'Nothing to hide'
Dotcom's lawyer raised objections to a media request to take photographs and video, but then Dotcom spoke, saying he didn't mind photos or video "because we have nothing to hide." The judge granted the media access, and ruled that the four would remain in custody until a second hearing Monday.

Dotcom, Megaupload's former CEO and current chief innovation officer, is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.

Two other German citizens and one Dutch citizen also were arrested and three other defendants ? another German, a Slovakian and an Estonian ? remain at large.

Megaupload has retained Washington, D.C. power attorney Bob Bennett in the case, according to a person inside the company. Bennett is best known for representing former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The person within Megaupload spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the company's plans.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?"

The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Wired shut down in protest of two U.S. proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

Retaliation
News of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's and FBI websites. Federal officials confirmed the Justice Department site was down for hours Thursday evening, and that the disruption was being "treated as a malicious act."

A loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed credit for the attacks. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy, estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

Elliot Kember / EPA

The New Zealand mansion rented by co-operator of the file-sharing platform Megaupload, Kim Schmitz, also known as Kim Dotcom.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and, via a representative, declined to comment.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined to comment Thursday. Efforts by the Associated Press to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10199528-megaupload-millionaires-have-homes-raided-5m-in-luxury-cars-seized

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