Hospitals, cancer centers now getting women drunk at 'mammogram ...

(NaturalNews) The cancer industry has apparently become so desperate to recruit new customers that it is now resorting to what can only be described as a type of medical date rape. A number of hospitals and cancer centers across the country are reportedly now holding community-driven "mammogram parties," a deceptive cancer marketing scheme that basically entails deliberately getting women tipsy or drunk on alcohol with their friends and neighbors in order to entice them into getting medically molested via mammograms.

The horrendous bait and switch tactic is taking place under the guise of "saving lives," as it is specifically designed for women who feel uncomfortable with getting mammograms, and who would otherwise avoid getting them if it were not for the added pressure of being wined and dined in a comfortable and relaxing environment. Women are being encouraged to "grab their girlfriends" for a night out at the local cancer center, during which time they take turns getting blasted with ionizing radiation in between munching down fancy cheeses and chocolate fondue, and sipping down delectable wine.

"It may be a good way to improve compliance and make having a mammogram more enjoyable," claimed Dr. Julie Silver, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, to ABC News about the disturbing mammogram party phenomenon.

It is interesting that Dr. Silver would use the word "compliance" in conjunction with mammograms, as the word is generally used in reference to someone giving an order or command to do something. This, combined with the fact that cancer centers which hold "mamm" parties are basically having to induce inebriation in order to convince many women to get mammograms, shows how slyly coercive the cancer industry is becoming in its quest to recruit new cancer patients.

With thousands of women waking up to the fact that mammograms are much more dangerous than we are all being told, and a cause of cancer in and of themselves, it is hardly surprising that the cancer industry has sunk to unconscionable new lows. And yet at the very same time, getting women drunk in order to compress their breasts for a radiation screening is technically a form of rape, or at the very least, molestation with alcohol and ambiance representing the date rape drugs of choice.

Even worse is the fact that many insurance companies are now covering the costs associated with holding mamm parties, which include not only food and beverage costs, but also all the massages and other luxurious spa resort amenities that increasingly characterize many of the gatherings. Whatever it takes to get women to subject themselves to radiation blasts is fair game, in other words, and it appears as though the specious strategy is quite a success.

"I am having fun," explained one woman attending a recent mamm party in Nevada to KTVN Channel 2 News in Reno. "Way better than the last time I came here and had [a mammogram]. This time it didn't hurt. Maybe it was the glass of wine I had before I went."

Sources for this article include:

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Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/041024_mammogram_parties_medical_date_rape_crimes_against_women.html

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Snowden believed to be in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) ? A former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing highly classified surveillance programs was believed to have landed in Russia on Sunday ? possibly as a stopover before traveling elsewhere ? after being allowed to leave Hong Kong.

Edward Snowden was on an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong that arrived in Moscow shortly after 5 p.m. (1300gmt) Sunday and was booked on a flight to fly to Cuba on Monday, the Russian news agencies ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported, citing unnamed airline officials. The reports said he intended to travel from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. There was also speculation that he might try to reach Ecuador.

The WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group said it was working with him and that he was bound for an unnamed "democratic nation via a safe route for the purpose of asylum."

Snowden did not leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport with the other passengers and was not seen by a crowd of journalists waiting in the arrivals lounge. Interfax reported that he was spending the night in the transit zone of the airport because he did not have a visa to enter Russia and had rented a room in a capsule hotel.

The car of Ecuador's ambassador to Russia was parked outside the airport, spurring the speculation that Snowden intended to seek asylum in the Latin American country. But in Ecuador, a high-ranking source at the presidency said there was no information about whether Snowden would seek asylum there. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak on the issue.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said last week that if Snowden asked for asylum, Ecuador would study the request.

Snowden had been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks after he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs. WikiLeaks said it was providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from the group.

WikiLeaks' founder, Julian Assange, who has spent a year inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about sex crime allegations, told the Sydney Morning Herald that his organization is in a position to help because it has expertise in international asylum and extradition law.

The White House said President Barack Obama has been briefed on Sunday's developments by his national security advisers.

Snowden's departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and gave a pointed warning to Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.

The Department of Justice said only that it would "continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel."

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that Snowden left "on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel."

It acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law." It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government "has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."

The statement said Hong Kong had informed the U.S. of Snowden's departure. It added that it wanted more information about alleged hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies which Snowden had revealed.

Hong Kong's decision to let Snowden go on a technicality appears to be a pragmatic move aimed at avoiding a drawn out extradition battle. The action swiftly eliminates a geopolitical headache that could have left Hong Kong facing pressure from both Washington and Beijing.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, has a high degree of autonomy and is granted rights and freedoms not seen on mainland China, but under the city's mini constitution Beijing is allowed to intervene in matters involving defense and diplomatic affairs.

Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the U.S., but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.

Russian officials have given no indication that they have any interest in detaining Snowden or any grounds to do so. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia would be willing to consider granting asylum if Snowden were to make such a request.

Russia and the United States have no extradition treaty that would oblige Russia to hand over a U.S. citizen at Washington's request.

The Cuban government had no comment on Snowden's movements or reports he might use Havana as a transit point.

The Obama administration on Saturday warned Hong Kong against delaying Snowden's extradition, with White House national security adviser Tom Donilon saying in an interview with CBS News, "Hong Kong has been a historically good partner of the United States in law enforcement matters, and we expect them to comply with the treaty in this case."

Michael Ratner, Assange's lawyer, said he didn't know Snowden's final destination, but that his options were not numerous. "You have to have a country that's going to stand up to the United States," Ratner said. "You're not talking about a huge range of countries here."

Ratner added that a country's extradition treaty with the U.S. is "not going to be relevant" because the country he ends up going to will likely be one willing to give him a political exemption.

Snowden's departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from the former NSA contractor that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation's cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.

He told the newspaper that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has massive cellphone companies. China Mobile is the world's largest mobile network carrier with 735 million subscribers, followed by China Unicom with 258 million users and China Telecom with 172 million users.

Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country's major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called "network backbones" in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the reports of Snowden's departure from Hong Kong to Moscow but did not know the specifics. It said the Chinese central government "always respects" Hong Kong's "handling of affairs in accordance with law." The Foreign Ministry also noted that it is "gravely concerned about the recently disclosed cyberattacks by relevant U.S. government agencies against China."

China's state-run media have used Snowden's allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.

A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden's disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have "put Washington in a really awkward situation."

"Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes ... an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on," it said. "It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."

____

Chan reported from Hong Kong. Sylvia Hui in London, Paul Haven in Havana, Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, and Anne Flaherty and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wanted-us-leaker-snowden-believed-moscow-161850018.html

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Snowden not on flight to Cuba, whereabouts unclear

MOSCOW (AP) ? Confusion over the whereabouts of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden grew on Monday after a plane took off from Moscow for Cuba with an empty seat booked in his name.

In a live TV press conference, the founder of the WikiLeaks secret-spilling organization, Julian Assange, insisted he couldn't go into details about where Snowden is, but said that he was safe.

Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador, Iceland and possibly other countries, he said.

An Aeroflot representative who wouldn't give her name told The Associated Press that Snowden wasn't on flight SU150 to Havana, which was filled with journalists trying to track him down. AP reporters on the flight couldn't see him either.

Security around the aircraft was heavy prior to boarding and guards tried to prevent the scrum of photographers and cameramen from taking pictures of the plane, heightening the speculation that he might have been secretly escorted on board.

The Interfax news agency, which has extensive contacts with Russian security agencies, cited a source as saying that Snowden could have flown out in a different plane unseen by journalists.

Others speculated that Russian security agencies might want to keep Snowden in Russia for a more thorough debriefing.

Snowden has not been seen since he arrived in Moscow on Sunday from Hong Kong, where he had been hiding for several weeks to evade U.S. justice and left to dodge efforts to extradite him.

After spending a night in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, he had been expected to fly to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.

Interfax quoted an unidentified "well-informed source" in Moscow saying that Russia has received a U.S. request to extradite Snowden and responded by saying it will consider it. But the same source said that Russia can't detain and extradite Snowden since he hasn't crossed the Russian border.

Justice Department officials in Washington did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Experts said it was likely that the Russians were questioning Snowden, interested in what he knew about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.

"If Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24 television.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that it would be "deeply troubling" if Russia or Hong Kong had notice of Snowden's plans and that it would affect their relations with the United States.

The controversy over Snowden could further hurt U.S.-Russian relations, already strained over arguments about Syria and a ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children.

The Kremlin has previously said that Russia would be ready to consider Snowden's request for asylum.

Aeroflot said earlier that Snowden had registered for the flight using his American passport, which the United States recently annulled.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government had received an asylum request, adding Monday that the decision "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world." The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks also said it would help Snowden.

Ecuador has rejected the United States' previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping Assange avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.

But Assange's comments that Snowden had applied in multiple places opened other possibilities of where he might try to go.

WikiLeaks has said it is providing legal help to Snowden at his request and that he was being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from the group.

Icelandic officials have confirmed receiving an informal request for asylum conveyed by WikiLeaks, which has strong links to the tiny North Atlantic nation. But authorities there have insisted that Snowden must be on Icelandic soil before lodging a formal request.

Snowden gave documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, often sweeping up information on American citizens.

Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.

Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong to face espionage charges but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.

The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong.

During conversations last week, including a phone call Wednesday between Attorney General Eric Holder and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong officials never raised any issues regarding sufficiency of the U.S. request, a Justice representative said.

The United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington's position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S., a State Department official said.

U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, "Given our intensified cooperation after the Boston marathon bombings and our history of working with Russia on law enforcement matters ? including returning numerous high-level criminals back to Russia at the request of the Russian government ? we expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."

Still, the United States is likely to have problems interrupting Snowden's passage. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.

It also wasn't clear Snowden was finished disclosing highly classified information.

Snowden has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Snowden has asked for legal advice from former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, the judge's office said Monday. Garzon told The Associated Press earlier that he was considering the case but had yet to speak directly to Snowden.

"Before making any decision in this regard it is my intention to study and assess the case in depth as well as to communicate with Mr. Snowden," Monday's statement read.

Garzon is best known for indicting a totalitarian ruler, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, in 1998, and trying to put him on trial in Madrid for crimes against humanity.

But has been suspended from office in Spain for starting an investigation into killings committed during the Spanish Civil War and the early years of the Franco dictatorship.

___

Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace and Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Matthew Lee and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Lynn Berry and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-not-flight-cuba-whereabouts-unclear-141749907.html

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Sanofi plans late-stage diabetes combo drug tests in 2014

By Nadia Damouni and Siddharth Cavale (Reuters) - Tensions started rising at Men's Wearhouse Inc over the past six months, as founder and executive chairman George Zimmer increasingly butted heads with his handpicked CEO over the clothing retailer's strategy. CEO Doug Ewert wanted to sell the company's K&G Fashion Superstore business, while Zimmer wanted to keep it, two sources familiar with the situation said. Zimmer also objected to rising compensation for top executives, including Ewert, while the board thought it was appropriate, the sources said. Zimmer, who is known to U.S. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sanofi-plans-stage-diabetes-combo-drug-tests-2014-121543793.html

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Police again search home of Patriots' Hernandez

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? State police officers and dogs searched the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez again Saturday as they continue to investigate the killing of a semi-pro football player whose body was found about a mile away.

The search of Hernandez's sprawling home and vehicle in North Attleboro began in the afternoon and lasted for more than three hours. Locksmiths and several officers were involved, including one with a crowbar.

Detectives and uniformed officers who searched the home, its backyard and playhouse did not comment to reporters on what they were looking for or what caused them to return to the house located not far from where the Patriots practice and about a mile from where a jogger found the body of Odin Lloyd on Monday.

Lloyd family members said Friday that he had been dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee for about two years. They said the two men were friends who were together the night Lloyd died.

Authorities have ruled Lloyd's death a homicide.

A spokeswoman for the Bristol District Attorney's office declined to comment on the investigation Saturday. A state police spokesman referred questions to the district attorney's office.

An attorney for Hernandez has said he would not comment on the searches.

Three search warrants were issued in the investigation earlier last week but have not been returned, meaning they're not public. No arrest warrants were filed in state courts by the time court closed Friday, Attleboro District Court clerk magistrate Mark E. Sturdy said. Courts were closed Saturday.

Police previously searched in and around the home as they try to figure out who killed Lloyd.

Police in nearby Providence, R.I., said they had assisted Massachusetts state police and North Attleborough police with activity related to the Hernandez investigation at a strip club named Club Desire. It was unclear if they believed Lloyd and Hernandez might have been at the club in the days before Lloyd died.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James has said the team does not anticipate commenting publicly during the police investigation. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was waiting for the legal process to take its course.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez out of Florida in 2010. Since then, he has combined with Rob Gronkowski to form one of the top tight end duos in the NFL. He missed 10 games last season with an ankle injury and had shoulder surgery in April but is expected to be ready for training camp. Last summer, the Patriots gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-again-search-home-patriots-hernandez-205013835.html

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U.S. files espionage charges against Snowden over leaks (reuters)

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The Perfect Weekend Bag Transforms Into a Pre-Stocked Hanging Shelf

If you hate living out of your suitcase when you travel, but are also just too damn lazy to hang stuff up or fill a drawer, these Rise & Hang bags are the perfect solution to your biggest traveling gripe. The $99 Weekender bag uses the company's patented collapsible shelving system, so all you need to find is a secure place to hang it and you're instantly unpacked.

The Weekender does require a little extra planning in the packing phase, instead of just balling everything up and cramming it into your bag. But the payoff is that everything will be easy to find?and mostly unwrinkled?when you get to your destination. And as an added bonus, your clothing is less susceptible to infiltration by bed bugs and other unwanted traveling companions while it's hanging. [Rise & Hang Travel Gear via Fancy]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-perfect-weekend-bag-transforms-into-a-pre-stocked-h-514033884

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From the ashes of a start-up, Amazon builds a grocery business

9 hours ago

Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters

The online grocery start-up Webvan may have been the single most expensive flame-out of the dot-com era, blowing through more than $800 million in venture capital and IPO proceeds in just over three years before shutting its doors in 2001.

Twelve years later, though, Webvan is rising from the dead ? in the form of an online grocery business called AmazonFresh.

Four key Amazon executives ? Doug Herrington, Peter Ham, Mick Mountz and Mark Mastandrea ? are former Webvan officials who have spent years analyzing and fixing the problems that led to the start-up's demise.

Kiva Systems, the robotics company that Amazon bought last year for $775 million in one of its largest-ever acquisitions, was built on ideas and technologies originally developed at Webvan and is a key part of the AmazonFresh strategy.

Even Webvan's old Web address, webvan.com, is now part of the Amazon empire.

"We had a lot of Webvan DNA in the room and we drew on that experience a lot," said Tom Furphy, who helped start AmazonFresh with Herrington and Ham before leaving to become a venture capitalist. "That was a good formula for building the business responsibly."

Amazon declined to comment for this story, or make any AmazonFresh executives available for interviews.

Former Amazon and Webvan officials say Amazon drew three big lessons from the Webvan debacle: Expand slowly, limit delivery to areas with a high concentration of potential customers, and focus relentlessly on warehouse efficiency.

The opportunity for Amazon is huge. The grocery business in the United States generated $568 billion in retail sales last year, with online accounting for less than 1 percent, and it's among the last major retail sectors that the online giant has yet to tackle.

But the risks are large as well. Groceries are a notoriously low-margin business, and the aggressive expansion of discounters like Walmart has made the business even more cutthroat than it was in Webvan's day.

And competition in the online grocery business is heating up. FreshDirect and Peapod have been plugging away for years, while traditional grocery chains like Safeway also do online ordering and delivery. Walmart is testing its own fast delivery service in some markets in the United States now.

Slow expansion
AmazonFresh now serves Seattle and Los Angeles, and it plans to launch in the San Francisco Bay Area later this year. If these cities go well, Amazon is eyeing 20 new markets for 2014.

But the big plans belie what has been one of Amazon's most cautious entries into a new business since founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos started selling books online in the 1990s.

The grocery service started in just two Seattle neighborhoods, Medina and Mercer Island, in 2007, and then slowly spread to other Seattle communities over the next five years. It didn't expand beyond Seattle until June 10 of this year, when it launched in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles roll-out is similarly modest, covering only a few zip codes initially. "We know customers value this service but the economics remain challenging," an Amazon spokeswoman said when describing the L.A. launch.

Webvan ? which ironically was also the brainchild of a book-seller, Louis Borders ? expanded to nine major metro areas just 18 months after it began serving the San Francisco Bay Area, former executives recall. (Borders, co-founder of the now-defunct Borders Books & Music, declined to comment for this story.)

Webvan began its big expansion in Atlanta while the San Francisco service was still "wobbly," recalls Krishna Hegde, Webvan's vice president of deployment and systems engineering.

After the Atlanta launch in April 2000, Hegde said he recommended that the company slow down. But Mark Zaleski, president of operations, argued the company should press on because of promises made to Wall Street investors, Hegde said. Zaleski could be not be reached for comment.

Webvan "committed the cardinal sin of retail, which is to expand into a new territory ? in our case several territories ? before we had demonstrated success in the first market," said Mike Moritz, a Webvan board member and partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the company's venture capital backers. "In fact, we were busy demonstrating failure in the Bay Area market while we expanded into other regions."

Delivery density
Webvan not only launched in many cities, it also offered service across entire metro areas. That resulted in the company's delivery trucks making many trips where they only dropped off a few orders.

"The biggest failure of Webvan was delivery density," said Gary Dahl, vice president of distribution at Webvan from 1997 to 2001. In the Bay Area, he said, Webvan made money delivering in San Francisco and Oakland, but lost a lot of money delivering in suburbs such as Orinda and Moraga.

"Mean travel time between delivery stops is the key to success in the home delivery business," Dahl explained. "Travel one block in San Francisco and you have passed 200 people, travel one block in Moraga and you have passed about six people."

AmazonFresh has tackled this problem by only delivering to densely populated areas of Seattle, and it's taking the same approach in LA, according to Keith Anderson, an executive at consulting firm RetailNet Group.

"If you drive into certain neighborhoods in Seattle you will see a lot of front doors with AmazonFresh totes," he said. "That's because Amazon expanded gradually into specific neighborhoods and tried to deliver to lots of homes in those specific areas."

FreshDirect covers more than 80 percent of the New York metro area, but it took the company about a decade to expand its delivery network this wide. Last year, FreshDirect launched in Philadelphia.

Kiva robots prove key
Webvan also suffered severely from weaknesses in the design and technology of its giant warehouses. At its first facility, there was a single conveyor belt that snaked about five miles through the building bringing items to workers, who would then pick and pack the products into totes, Webvan Chief Technology Officer Peter Relan said.

When the conveyor belt broke, the operation would grind to a halt, he recalled.

Mick Mountz, an MIT-trained Webvan executive, oversaw the picking and packing process, along with Mark Mastandrea, and together they tried out lots of technology to make the warehouse run more efficiently, according to Relan.

For each $100 bag of groceries, it cost Webvan about $30 to pick and pack; the company had to get that down to $10 to make the process economically viable.

Mountz came up with a solution based on multiple robots that would bring products from different parts of the warehouse to human workers for picking and packing. Unlike a conveyor belt, if a robot broke down it could be fixed while the other robots continued their work.

However, Webvan had spent so much on its original warehouse ? about $100 million, according to Relan ? that the company was loath to completely change the process in favor of robots.

After Webvan went bust in 2001, Mountz founded Kiva Systems, which designed and built robots that now zip around the warehouses of retailers including Staples, Walgreen and Gap.

Amazon bought Kiva in 2012 for $775 million. Mountz is still running Kiva, while Mastandrea became director of delivery experience at AmazonFresh in March.

"When there are a large number of products and the shapes and sizes vary, as they do in grocery, you still need a human at the end to do the picking and packing," said Ajay Agarwal of Bain Capital Ventures, which was an early investor in Kiva. "The Kiva System is the best solution out there for that combination of warehouse technology and human workers."

Amazon has one other thing Webvan never had: a huge, existing customer base. While Webvan had planned to expand into delivery of other goods once it had developed a base of grocery customers, Amazon is going the other way, and can help defray the cost of delivering groceries by delivering books or electronics at the same time.

There are other advantages that have accrued over time. The spread of cloud computing services ? pioneered by Amazon's Web Services business ? makes it cheaper to run online businesses, while consumers are more comfortable buying online through faster Internet connections.

Online shoppers who type "webvan.com" into an Internet browser today will find a website selling more than 45,000 non-perishable grocery items. In the top right-hand corner, it says Webvan is "part of the amazon.com family" and consumers can use their existing Amazon accounts to buy.

"Amazon purchased the name a couple of years ago," Dahl said. "Maybe they will revive it if sales are slow in the Bay Area."

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Claudia Parsons)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2d5d4617/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cashes0Estart0Eamazon0Ebuilds0Egrocery0Ebusiness0E6C10A339299/story01.htm

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Get the Most Out of Your Home Appliances (Without Taking Them Apart)

When was the last time you had to salt your perishables, got dishpan hands, or beat your laundry against a washboard? Chances are, not recently. Your home appliances do so much for you, shouldn't you return the love? Here's how to keep your domestic machine in peak condition without putting on a tool belt.

The Refrigerator

Refrigerators are pretty basic machines; there are really only about five major components to them. And to know how to take care of them, it helps to first know how they work.

Refrigerators utilize a compressor pump to condense hot refrigerant vapor, and cycle it through a series of heat-exchanging condenser coils on the exterior of the machine, where the lower ambient air temperature dissipates the heat and cools the vapor back to a liquid. The refrigerant then flows through a series of internal heat exchangers, known as evaporator coils, where it sucks up thermal energy, expands back into a gas, gets pumped back out to the condenser coils, and the process restarts.

Long story short: The longer and more often the compressor runs, the faster it will wear out, so maintaining the fridge's thermal integrity (aka "close the door, you're letting all the cold air out") is essential.

Every three months, give the door seals a scrubbing with some warm, soapy water. While you're washing them, inspect the gaskets for wear or cracking. Also, give the fridge a once-over to make sure it's still level, and run a vacuum with a brush attachment over the fan and condenser air inlets to prevent dust bunnies from accumulating. If your fridge has one of those fancy in-door water dispensers, be sure to swap out the filter twice a year to prevent it from clogging, and empty the ice bucket monthly to prevent old cubes from absorbing odors.

The Dishwasher

Dishwashers spare your hands from scrubbing by heating a small basin of water to about 130 degrees F, and shooting it from water jets attached to a spinning arm in the bottom of the machine. Hot, sudsy water blasts your flatware clean before rinsing it in the same matter.

Like the refrigerator, making sure everything remains watertight is key. Once every three months or so, give the door gasket a good cleaning with a bit of warm soapy water to remove any grit or grime that might prevent it from sealing. Also, check that the water jets in the spinning arms are clear of obstructions. If they're not, clean out the goop with a toothpick or needle-nose pliers. And while you've got your head in the dishwasher, check the wastewater drain grill (it's under the spinning arms, in the floor of the washer) for obstructions, clearing them as necessary.

The Washing Machine

While washing machines are great at getting dirt out of your clothes, they aren't so great at getting the dirt they got out of your clothes out of themselves. If your clothes come out dingy after a cycle, it may be time to clean your cleaner.

For older top-load washers, let the clothing-free tub fill with a full load's worth of hot water, add a quart of bleach, and let it agitate for a minute before pausing the cycle. Let the bleach solution soak in for about an hour before you complete the wash cycle. Next, repeat the process with a quart of white vinegar (which removes odors).

For front-loading washers, dissolve four tablespoons of baking soda in four cups of warm water (you can also use a quarter cup of vinegar in a quart of water if you prefer). Soak a washcloth in this solution and go to town on the tub to remove dirt residue from the inside of the tub. Then, run a rinse cycle to finish.

The hoses that carry water into and out of the washer may be constructed from heavy gauge rubber but they aren't indestructible. Check them occasionally for signs of wear?blisters, cracks, sponginess?and replace them as necessary. Or don't, and just wait for one to burst and shower you with scalding water.

Finally, give the washer a nudge now and again to make sure that all four feet are flat on the ground to eliminate vibration. Most washers are equipped with adjustable, front leveling legs?just rotate the leg to adjust its height and secure it using a lock nut. Many washers also have self adjusting rear legs?tilt the machine forward on its front legs to automatically extend the rears.

[Repair Clinic - Apartment Therapy - House Logic - Nat Geo - Top Image: Santiago Cornejo / Shutterstock]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/get-the-most-out-of-your-home-appliances-without-takin-512332890

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Ginobili's surprise start sparks Spurs

SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? Manu Ginobili had 11 points and six assists in a surprise start to spark the San Antonio Spurs to a 61-52 halftime lead over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

Tim Duncan had 13 points and six rebounds for San Antonio. Danny Green scored 13 points and tied Ray Allen's finals record with his 22nd 3-pointer of the series for the Spurs, who entered their last home game of the series tied with the Heat at two games apiece.

LeBron James scored 16 for the Heat and Dwyane Wade added 14 points, but the Heat missed 21 of their first 29 shots to fall behind by 17 points early in the second quarter.

Game 6 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night in Miami.

Kawhi Leonard had nine points and five rebounds and Tony Parker scored 11 points on that tender right hamstring for the Spurs. San Antonio shot 61.8 percent for the half, closing on a 15-2 run.

Chris Bosh had 10 points and five rebounds for the Heat. Miami missed 12 of its first 17 shots and looked a little stunned by Ginobili in the early going.

Green hit three straight 3s in the middle of the second quarter to tie Allen's record. The Spurs led 47-30 on Duncan's two free throws before the Heat finally showed some fight.

Wade scored on two strong takes to the basket and James, who started 2 for 6 with no rebounds and one assist in the first 18 minutes, threw down a dunk in transition. Allen had a four-point play and James squeezed past Duncan for a reverse to complete a 12-0 run and get back into the game.

Ginobili's three free throws and a layup by Parker just before the halftime buzzer gave the Spurs some more breathing room.

Nowhere to be found in the first four games, and for most of these playoffs, Ginobili had his fingerprints all over the opening of Game 5. He hit a step-back jumper, had two pretty assists on a backdoor cut from Green and a thunderous dunk from Duncan and knocked down two free throws for an early 9-4 lead.

Ginobili's 3-pointer from the wing made it 15-10, bringing the nervous crowd to its feet. The awakening was a welcome sign for the Spurs, who desperately missed their playmaking daredevil. He was averaging only 7.5 points and shooting 34 percent in his first four games.

The Heat reclaimed momentum in Game 4 thanks to a shuffle of the starting lineup by coach Erik Spoelstra, who moved sharp-shooter Mike Miller into the starting lineup in Udonis Haslem's place, giving Miami a smaller lineup that spaced the floor better and gave James and Wade room to operate.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made a move to match that on Sunday night, putting the struggling Ginobili in for center Tiago Splitter.

The crowd roared for Ginobili when he was introduced last, with one banner reading "We still Gino-believe!"

Wade had endured a similarly quiet start to these finals before erupting for 32 points and six steals in Miami's Game 4 victory that evened the series. That carried over to the opening quarter of Game 5, when Wade's assertive play helped Miami withstand Ginobili's initial haymaker.

Wade's trademark euro-step on the break and two free throws kept the game tight and James hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 17 with under 5 minutes to play in the period.

The two teams entered Game 5 riding a pendulum of momentum that was swinging wildly back and forth over the previous three games. A classic, air-tight Game 1 victory by the Spurs gave way to three blowouts ? Miami by 19 in Game 1, San Antonio by 36 in Game 3 and the Heat by 16 in Game 4.

The volatility made it difficult for either team to feel like it had a grip on expectations heading into the pivotal Game 5, but the Heat did appear to finally assert themselves with a dominant performance from their three All-Stars on Thursday night.

James, Wade and Bosh broke out of a series-long malaise to combine for 85 points, 30 rebounds and 10 steals, finally finding a way to get to the rim against the paint-clogging Spurs defense. Then they sleep-walked through much of the first half on Sunday to give the Spurs some hope.

The one common thread that has held this series together is the ability of each team to respond after appearing to be on the ropes. With Parker's right hamstring ailing, Ginobili's struggles and the Heat's three stars starting to roll, the Spurs were in serious trouble.

There was so much more riding on this game for the Spurs than the Heat, who reclaimed homecourt advantage with their decisive victory in Game 4. Under the current 2-3-2 format that was adopted in 1985, no visiting team has won both Games 6 and 7 on the road in the finals.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ginobilis-surprise-start-sparks-spurs-004851289.html

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AT&T issues Wireless Emergency Alerts update to iPhone 4S, 5

AT&T has begun rolling out Wireless Emergency Alerts updates for iPhone 4S and 5, so you won't be the last folks to know if the entire northern hemisphere is about to be covered in ice à la Day After Tomorrow. You'll receive a notification from the carrier when your update is ready, but only if you're using iOS 6.1 or higher. Once installed, AMBER and Emergency alerts are automatically sent to your phone unless you switch them off via Settings. However, should you be tired of Obama, just know that there's no way to switch off Presidential alerts. WEA messages are always free of charge, so you don't have to worry about going over your texting limit when notified that you need to get the hell out of dodge.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qA4QjnZBmfw/

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New Gmail Tweak Lets You Schedule Calendar Events With Just a Click

If like millions of people you use Gmail to schedule meetings, and Google Calendar to keep track of them, this little interface improvement in Gmail is going to save you a bucket of time and headaches.

The scheduling workflow in Google products is messy. You're constantly switching between email messages and your calendar to see if a proposed meeting place and time is convenient. And going back and forth is a huge time suck.

Luckily, Google used its data crunching prowess to devise a fix to this silly problem. Google will now start parsing your emails for dates, and lightly highlight what it identifies as events in your email. If you click on one of those dates, a little dialogue will pop up showing you the day and what else you've got going on. If the time works, you can schedule it up?all without ever taking your eyes of the message.

The update is rolling out to US English users over the next week, with expanded language support on its way. It can't come soon enough. [Google]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/brilliant-gmail-tweak-lets-you-schedule-calendar-events-487737922

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New evidence on how fluoride fights tooth decay

Public release date: 1-May-2013
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

In an advance toward solving a 50-year-old mystery, scientists are reporting new evidence on how the fluoride in drinking water, toothpastes, mouth rinses and other oral-care products prevents tooth decay. Their report appears in the ACS journal Langumir.

Karin Jacobs and colleagues explain that despite a half-century of scientific research, controversy still exists over exactly how fluoride compounds reduce the risk of tooth decay. That research established long ago that fluoride helps to harden the enamel coating that protects teeth from the acid produced by decay-causing bacteria. Newer studies already found that fluoride penetrates into and hardens a much thinner layer of enamel than previously believed, lending credence to other theories about how fluoride works.

The report describes new evidence that fluoride also works by impacting the adhesion force of bacteria that stick to the teeth and produce the acid that causes cavities. The experiments performed on artificial teeth (hydroxyapatite pellets) to enable high-precision analysis techniques revealed that fluoride reduces the ability of decay-causing bacteria to stick, so that also on teeth, it is easier to wash away the bacteria by saliva, brushing and other activity.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the Federal State of Saarland.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Public release date: 1-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

In an advance toward solving a 50-year-old mystery, scientists are reporting new evidence on how the fluoride in drinking water, toothpastes, mouth rinses and other oral-care products prevents tooth decay. Their report appears in the ACS journal Langumir.

Karin Jacobs and colleagues explain that despite a half-century of scientific research, controversy still exists over exactly how fluoride compounds reduce the risk of tooth decay. That research established long ago that fluoride helps to harden the enamel coating that protects teeth from the acid produced by decay-causing bacteria. Newer studies already found that fluoride penetrates into and hardens a much thinner layer of enamel than previously believed, lending credence to other theories about how fluoride works.

The report describes new evidence that fluoride also works by impacting the adhesion force of bacteria that stick to the teeth and produce the acid that causes cavities. The experiments performed on artificial teeth (hydroxyapatite pellets) to enable high-precision analysis techniques revealed that fluoride reduces the ability of decay-causing bacteria to stick, so that also on teeth, it is easier to wash away the bacteria by saliva, brushing and other activity.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the Federal State of Saarland.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/acs-neo050113.php

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Want to slow mental decay? Play a video game

May 1, 2013 ? There may be a way for older people to prevent natural aging of their minds, and it could be as simple as playing a video game.

That's according to a study from the University of Iowa, which found that elderly people who played just ten hours of a game priming their mental processing speed and skills delayed declines by as many as seven years in a range of cognitive skills.

"We know that we can stop this decline and actually restore cognitive processing speed to people," says Fredric Wolinsky, professor in the UI College of Public Health and lead author on the paper published May 1 in the journal PLOS One. "So, if we know that, shouldn't we be helping people? It's fairly easy, and older folks can go get the training game and play it."

The study comes amidst a burst of research examining why, as we age, our minds gradually lose "executive function," generally considered mission control for critical mental activities, such as memory, attention, perception and problem solving. Studies show loss of executive function occurs as people reach middle age; other studies say our cognitive decline begins as soon as 28 years of age. Either way, our mental capacities do diminish, and medical and public health experts are keen to understand why in an effort to stem the inexorable tide as much as possible.

Wolinsky and colleagues separated 681 generally healthy medical patients in Iowa into four groups -- each further separated into those 50 to 64 years of age and those over age 65. One group was given computerized crossword puzzles, while three other groups were exposed to a video game called "Road Tour." Briefly, the game revolves around identifying a type of vehicle (displayed fleetingly on a license plate) and then reidentifying the vehicle type and matching it with a road sign displayed from a circular array of possibilities, all but one of them false icons. The player must succeed at least three out of every four tries to advance to the next level, which speeds up the vehicle identification and adds more distractions, up to 47 in all.

The goal, naturally, is to increase the user's mental speed and agility at identifying the vehicle symbol and picking out the road sign from the constellation of distractors (which are rabbits, by the way).

"The game starts off with an assessment to determine your current speed of processing. Whatever it is, the training can help you get about 70 percent faster," says Wolinsky, who has no financial stake in the game.

The groups that played the game at least 10 hours, either at home or in a lab at the university, gained at least three years of cognitive improvement when tested after one year, according to a formula developed by the researchers. A group that got four additional hours of training with the game did even better, improving their cognitive abilities by four years, according to the study.

"We not only prevented the decline; we actually sped them up," Wolinsky says.

Improving people's processing speed is considered important for a host of reasons. One widely accepted benefit is widening a person's field of view. "As we get older, our visual field collapses on us," Wolinsky explains. "We get tunnel vision. It's a normal functioning of aging. This helps to explain why most accidents happen at intersections because older folks are looking straight ahead and are less aware of peripherals."

Recognizing this, the National Institutes of Health in the late 1990s commissioned the largest cognitive training study of its kind, called ACTIVE. The national, multi-site trial, in which Wolinsky was involved, showed the elderly's memory, reasoning and visual processing speed could be improved with interventions, thus slowing the aging of their minds. But the ACTIVE study had its limitations: Among them, the control group didn't get any training and the primary goal was to assess the effects on seniors' field-of-view vision.

Wolinsky's team added an active control group -- those doing the crossword puzzles. The researchers found those who played the "Road Tour" game also scored far better than the crossword puzzle group on tests involving executive function beyond field-of-view vision, such as concentration, nimbleness with shifting from one mental task to another and the speed at which new information is processed. The improvement ranged from 1.5 years to nearly seven years in cognitive improvement, the study found.

"It's the 'use it or lose it' phenomenon," Wolinsky says. "Age-related cognitive decline is real, it's happening, and it starts earlier and then continues steadily. The good news is we can do something about it. The question is will we?"

The NIH funded the work, out of a Research Challenge grant from the NIH director's office as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (grant numbers 5 RC1 AG035546 02 and 1 RC1 AG035546 01).

Contributing authors include Michael Jones and Megan Dotson, from the UI's College of Public Heath, and Mark Vander Weg and M. Bryant Howren, from the Iowa City VA Health Care System.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Iowa. The original article was written by Richard C. Lewis.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Fredric D. Wolinsky, Mark W. Vander Weg, M. Bryant Howren, Michael P. Jones, Megan M. Dotson. A Randomized Controlled Trial of Cognitive Training Using a Visual Speed of Processing Intervention in Middle Aged and Older Adults. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (5): e61624 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061624

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/MOCi3S4edRY/130501192918.htm

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May Day protests: From Bangladesh to Europe, angry workers rally in the tens of thousands (+video)

But this year's May Day demonstrations come on the heels of the tragic Bangladesh factory collapse, a potent symbol for many of the importance of workers' rights.

By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / May 1, 2013

Workers and protesters hold a huge banner march to the government office during a May Day rally in Hong Kong, Wednesday. Hundreds of workers, local labor right groups, and striking dockworkers join the annual rally to demand better wages and working conditions.

Vincent Yu/AP

Enlarge

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a raucous crowd descended on the city center with signs and drums, chanting and waving banners demanding the death penalty for the owner of a factory where more than 400 people died in a building collapse last week.

Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown

Correspondent

Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?

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As marches take place around the world to mark Labour Day, in the Spanish capital hundreds gathered to protest against the economic crisis that has driven the country?s unemployment rate above 27 percent.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, some of the tens of thousands of demonstrators marching through the city came dressed as ants ? complete with bright red outfits and antennae ? to depict the exploitation of workers.?

And in Greece, trains, buses, and ferries sat vacant and hospitals nearly empty as thousands of public sector employees walked off the job in a one-day strike.

Each year, May 1, better known as May Day, is marked with labor rallies and strikes around the world. And this year's holiday came at a particularly prescient moment in many parts of the world.?

From Europe, where the bite of austerity has left many facing down unemployment and reduced benefits, to South and Southeast Asia, a region cluttered with precariously-built factories similar to the one that collapsed last week in Bangladesh, demonstrators gathered to vent outrage and demand reform.

?My brother has died. My sister has died. Their blood will not be valueless,? yelled one Bangladeshi protestor through a crackling loudspeaker, according to the Associated Press.

As the march wove through downtown Dhaka, rescue workers in the industrial suburb of Savar continued their search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of Rana Plaza, which collapsed suddenly on April 24 with thousands of garment workers inside.

The disaster at the factory, which manufactured clothing for several low-end Western retailers, touched off global outrage about the working conditions of garment workers across the developing world. In Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, workers rallied for higher wages and safer working conditions. In Manila, Philipines, where labor unions are banned, workers marched to demand the right to organize. And in Hong Kong, thousands turned out in support of striking dock workers, calling for wages that would help close the income gap between the country?s rich and its poor.

And that was all before Europe woke up.

There has "never been a May 1 with more reason to take to the streets,? one Spanish union leader told Reuters during a march in Madrid this morning, where protestors carried signs reading "austerity ruins and kills" and "reforms are robbery.? (Read the Monitor's feature about how Spaniards are increasingly flocking to the countryside to cut costs and find new jobs.)

In Greece, where the government recently announced that it would lay off 180,000 civil servants over the next two years ? the first such cuts in 100 years ? a strike shut down public transit across Athens. ?

And in France, which saw unemployment rose again last month, marchers carried banners reading, ?It?s too much! Alternatives exist? and ?Where are the real socialists in our government??

An exception to the doom and gloom of this year?s May Day was Russia, where a festive celebration of the holiday harks back to Soviet times. Indeed, many of those who gathered in the streets of Moscow were buoyant, Euronews reported.

?The atmosphere is excellent. It?s a holiday for us, the beginning of something new, bright, and joyful,? one demonstrator told reporters.

May 1 is a national holiday in some 80 countries around the world, and its ties to labor advocacy date back to 1886, when American police killed 10 protestors at a rally for an eight-hour workday in Chicago?s Haymarket Square. International socialist organization and labor unions declared it a day of commemoration and action soon after.

Ironically, however, May Day is not celebrated in the United States. In the early 1890s, fearing the ?socialist? overtones of the holiday, President Grover Cleveland quickly declared an alternate holiday, beginning the American tradition of celebrating Labor Day on the first Monday of September.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/WmYU4gZ7dUc/May-Day-protests-From-Bangladesh-to-Europe-angry-workers-rally-in-the-tens-of-thousands-video

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Warren Buffett: Private Equity Porn Shop - Business Insider

This week is the annual shareholder meeting for Berkshire Hathaway, the gigantic conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett.

Buffett has a way of explaining complicated finance topics so that they're fun and understandable.

Carleton English of Belus Capital Advisors points us to this gem of a quote from 2008 where he takes a jab at private equity.

Someone had asked the Oracle of Omaha why people sell their companies to him instead of private equity firms.? This is the type of question that you might hear later this week.? Here's Buffett's response:

?You can sell it to Berkshire, and we?ll put it in the Metropolitan Museum; it?ll have a wing all by itself; it?ll be there forever. Or you can sell it to some porn shop operator, and he?ll take the painting and he?ll make the boobs a little bigger and he?ll stick it up in the window, and some other guy will come along in a raincoat, and he?ll buy it."

According to Bloomberg, Buffett delivered this doozy during some Q&A with a 300 executives in Toronto.

He's basically explaining that there is more than one way for a company to get to a certain market value.

Private equity often involves a lot of debt, a lot of cuts, and usually a lot of risk before a company is turned around and sold back on the market.

Berkshire and Buffett, on the other hand, often take a more passive approach.? Typically, Buffett seeks out what he considers to be undervalued, yet well run companies.? And then he just waits for them to get to their intrinsic values.

Anyways, we hope this weekend's events in Omaha yield some more great quotes.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-private-equity-porn-shop-2013-4

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1% inspiration, 99% glucose-rich perspiration (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Easyjet app update brings mobile boarding passes and Passbook support

Passbook enabled apps in the UK are still a rarity, but we can now add another one to the list. UK based low-cost airline, Easyjet, has updated their iPhone app bringing with it mobile boarding passes and Passbook support. This ties in with a new Easyjet initiative whereby all their airport check-in facilities are to be closed, and replaced by online check-in methods.

The mobile boarding passes are initially in a trial phase, with six airports -- those at Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nice, London Stansted and Southend -- taking part. Eventually this will likely increase pending a successful trial and the co-operation of the remainder of Easyjet's partner airports.

Online check-in can be done from within the app itself, or online, with a mobile boarding pass then downloading to your iPhone which you are able to add to Passbook. At present only one boarding pass is possible per device, though Easyjet does say that they're hoping to increase this very soon.

• Free - Download Now

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

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Earthquake measuring 5.7 strikes northwest Pakistan: USGS

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - For Rafael Nadal to bridge a 7,000-point gap with Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings looks like a tall order, even for a player of his qualities, yet he could still threaten the Serb's hopes of ending 2013 as world No.1. With the French Open looming large on the horizon, Nadal is back in the claycourt groove as he continues his comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for seven months. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/earthquake-measuring-5-7-strikes-northwest-pakistan-usgs-073559420.html

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Maternal and Child Health Measurement Research ... - Grants.gov

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The synopsis for this grant opportunity is detailed below, following this paragraph. This synopsis contains all of the updates to this document that have been posted as of 04/30/2013 . If updates have been made to the opportunity synopsis, update information is provided below the synopsis.

If you would like to receive notifications of changes to the grant opportunity click send me change notification emails . The only thing you need to provide for this service is your email address. No other information is requested.

Any inconsistency between the original printed document and the disk or electronic document shall be resolved by giving precedence to the printed document.

Document Type:	Grants Notice
Funding Opportunity Number:	HRSA-13-259
Opportunity Category:	Discretionary
Posted Date:	Apr 30, 2013
Creation Date:	Apr 30, 2013
Original Closing Date for Applications:	Jul 01, 2013 ??
Current Closing Date for Applications:	Jul 01, 2013 ??
Archive Date:	Aug 30, 2013
Funding Instrument Type:	Cooperative Agreement
Category of Funding Activity:	Health
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards:	1
Estimated Total Program Funding:
Award Ceiling:	$300,000
Award Floor:	$0
CFDA Number(s):	93.110 ?--? Maternal and Child Health Federal Consolidated Programs
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement:	No

Eligible Applicants

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Independent school districts
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
?

Additional Information on Eligibility:

As cited in 42 CFR Part 51a.3(b), only public or nonprofit institutions of higher learning and public or private nonprofit agencies engaged in research or in programs relating to maternal and child health and/or services for children with special health c

Agency Name

Health Resources & Services Administration

Description

The purpose of the Maternal and Child Health Measurement Research Network (MCH-MRN) is to support a forum that will create a national agenda for health measurement research by producing an evolving compendium of available high quality measures of maternal and child health, and by identifying gaps in existing measures for future development purposes.? The MCH-MRN will thus provide national leadership in enhancing and developing a set of culturally competent health measures for: MCH programmatic planning; screening; service provision; interventions that promote physical and psychosocial health and well-being; and clinical decision-making for primary and secondary prevention of disease, injury, and behavioral issues among at-risk mothers, children (including children with special healthcare needs), adolescents, and families.? The MCH-MRN will address health measurement research for at-risk mothers, children (including children with special health care needs), adolescents, and families, with a focus on programmatic applications.? The MCH-MRN will have a strategic focus on health measurements among at-risk MCH populations, which will complement existing investments by other HHS agencies, such as NIH and AHRQ.? The goals of the research network are as follows: 1)????? To establish a Research Network comprised of interdisciplinary experts who represent the MCH lifespan and who are active in the measurement of health and well-being of at-risk MCH populations;? ? 2)????? To formulate a national research agenda with regard to existing and needed health measurements for MCH populations with high relevance to MCHB programs; 3)????? To collaborate in the development, validation and implementation of new MCH health measures that address identified gaps, using external public and private funding sources; 4)????? To translate and apply Network findings into a variety of practices, policies, and processes, such as Title V programs; home visiting programs; Healthy Start Programs; services for children with special health care needs; services that promote child, adolescent, and family health; state and local health departments; community safety net programs; and other public health programs serving MCH populations, particularly those that represent underserved communities, such as low socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic minorities, and rural communities.? ?? Some possible tasks to be achieved during this project period include: 1)????? Identifying national priorities for health measurement research in MCH populations; 2)????? Collaborating synergistically with other Federal investments in measurement research to ensure the inclusion of MCH populations and underserved communities; 3)????? Compiling and evaluating the quality of existing health measures for MCH populations in general and with a special emphasis on at-risk MCH populations, to be disseminated to the public via website, which will serve as a portal of a comprehensive, dynamic electronic compendium of measures.? Attention should be paid to the measurement?s purpose,? psychometric quality, targeted population, setting or conditions (e.g, clinical versus public health, stages of lifespan, health conditions, special populations, Title V performance measures); 4)????? Fostering and implementing the translation of knowledge into practice in order to provide MCH populations, researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders with useful clinical and public health information; 5)????? Contributing to the scientific literature and disseminating Network findings through development of a website, peer-reviewed publications (2-3 publications per year), webinars, meetings, and other related activities that will facilitate the transfer of Network findings broadly; 6)????? Providing an electronic copy of any products supported by award funds including guidelines, publications, books, pamphlets, slide sets, CD-ROMS, curricula, assessment tools, videos, etc., to be made available to the general public and to? the MCH Research Program; 7)????? Building the capacity to advance and implement critical research that will address the gaps and promote the research agenda identified by the Network, through both MCHB and other funding sources;? 8)????? Accelerating the impact of measurement research into programs, policies, and processes for the reduction of health disparities among at-risk MCH populations. Consistent with HRSA?s mission as the access agency to provide services to underserved populations, applicants for the MCH-MRN should describe network activities that will address the needs of underserved populations, such as low-income, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, individuals who have limited access to services, and/or other underserved populations as defined by the applicant.? The Maternal and Child Health Bureau?s intent is to ensure that research activities are responsive to the cultural and linguistic needs of special populations, that services are family-centered and accessible to consumers, and that the broadest possible representation of culturally distinct and historically underrepresented groups is supported through programs and projects sponsored by the MCHB.

Link to Additional Information

https://grants.hrsa.gov/webExternal/SFO.asp?ID=8bb8fa7b-f7c0-419f-ad50-2d3e2adea49c

If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact:

CallCenter@HRSA.GOV
CallCenter@HRSA.GOV
Contact HRSA Call Center at 877-Go4-HRSA/877-464-4772 or email CallCenter@HRSA.GOV

Synopsis Modification History

There are currently no modifications for this opportunity.

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Source: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=232474

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