No launch of a new flagship is complete without a few new accessories to go along with it. While RIM is still banking big on the NFC-powered Music Gateway, it wasn't about to let the Z10 sit around with no new friends to keep it company. Obviously, a BlackBerry isn't a BlackBerry with out few leather holsters to keep it strapped to your hip. The fancy leather cases (both the "Holster" and the "Pocket") even have a magnet inside them that automatically turns off the display on your Z10 when it's slipped inside. The rotating holster will set customers back $40, while the Pocket, with its fewer moving parts, will cost only $30. There are other cases on the horizon too, the Transform Shell and Flip Shell, which feature build in kickstands and basic protection in standard black or bright red. Both shells will retail for $35 when they hit shelves.
A bit more intriguing is the BlackBerry Mini Stereo Speaker, a tiny speaker phone that pairs using Bluetooth and has a unique "U" shape that allows you to clip it on to a seatbelt or (shudder) a lapel. The little white speaker will launch alongside the Z10 for $99. The charging bundle is pretty simple at first glance -- it contains a spare battery and a separate charging cradle for $50. But, upon closer inspection, you'll realize the charger has a microUSB out, for pushing power to any device with a compatible adapter. We're sure more fun accessories are in the pipeline too, once third parties start updating there product lines.
Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 2013 Once heavy drinking impairs function, a variety of punishment-related threats may motivate people to stop drinking: spouses may threaten divorce, employers may threaten job loss, and courts threaten drunk drivers with losing their driver's license or incarceration. In the face of these threats, many alcohol abusers refrain from drinking, but relapse is very common when the threats of punishment fade, particularly when exposed to alcohol-associated environments (contexts).
A new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that rats may behave in the same way. This is important because a significant amount of addiction research is performed in animals, using models of addiction, before it is translated to work in humans.
"The better our animal models fit human alcoholism, the more our animal research will help us to understand the complexity of the human disorder and to develop new treatments," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
Currently, the most commonly employed techniques to achieve alcohol abstinence in animal work are forced abstinence and/or extinction training, where a lever press that used to consistently deliver alcohol no longer does so. These models of relapse are limited because they do not incorporate behaviors that mimic a human's desire to avoid negative consequences of drinking.
To address this divergence between animal models and the human condition, Nathan Marchant and colleagues developed a rat relapse model in which voluntary alcohol intake is suppressed by punishment in an environment that is different from the original alcohol intake environment.
They showed that when rats were re-exposed to the original alcohol self-administration environment, after suppression of alcohol intake in a different environment by punishment, they immediately relapsed to alcohol seeking.
"A potential clinical implication of this preclinical finding is that abstinence induced by introducing adverse consequences on alcohol intake in inpatient treatment clinics would have a limited effect on subsequent alcohol use in the home environment after completion of treatment," commented Marchant.
As with nearly all such scientific work, the findings themselves are interesting, but they also lead to many more questions. What is the potential influence of medication or other manipulations on this model? Would the model hold up when other drugs of abuse or even food were studied? Does the passage of time have any effect on this model? More work will be undertaken to answer these and other related questions.
###
The article is "Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol Seeking After Punishment in a Rat Model" by Nathan J. Marchant, Thi N. Khuc, Charles L. Pickens, Antonello Bonci, and Yavin Shaham (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.07.007). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 73, Issue 3 (February 1, 2013), published by Elsevier.
Notes for editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Nathan Marchant at +443 740 2704 or Nathan.marchant@nih.gov.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.
Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 129 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 243 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2011 Impact Factor score for Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
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.
Rats, like humans, return to drinking once punishment is removedPublic release date: 30-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 2013 Once heavy drinking impairs function, a variety of punishment-related threats may motivate people to stop drinking: spouses may threaten divorce, employers may threaten job loss, and courts threaten drunk drivers with losing their driver's license or incarceration. In the face of these threats, many alcohol abusers refrain from drinking, but relapse is very common when the threats of punishment fade, particularly when exposed to alcohol-associated environments (contexts).
A new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that rats may behave in the same way. This is important because a significant amount of addiction research is performed in animals, using models of addiction, before it is translated to work in humans.
"The better our animal models fit human alcoholism, the more our animal research will help us to understand the complexity of the human disorder and to develop new treatments," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
Currently, the most commonly employed techniques to achieve alcohol abstinence in animal work are forced abstinence and/or extinction training, where a lever press that used to consistently deliver alcohol no longer does so. These models of relapse are limited because they do not incorporate behaviors that mimic a human's desire to avoid negative consequences of drinking.
To address this divergence between animal models and the human condition, Nathan Marchant and colleagues developed a rat relapse model in which voluntary alcohol intake is suppressed by punishment in an environment that is different from the original alcohol intake environment.
They showed that when rats were re-exposed to the original alcohol self-administration environment, after suppression of alcohol intake in a different environment by punishment, they immediately relapsed to alcohol seeking.
"A potential clinical implication of this preclinical finding is that abstinence induced by introducing adverse consequences on alcohol intake in inpatient treatment clinics would have a limited effect on subsequent alcohol use in the home environment after completion of treatment," commented Marchant.
As with nearly all such scientific work, the findings themselves are interesting, but they also lead to many more questions. What is the potential influence of medication or other manipulations on this model? Would the model hold up when other drugs of abuse or even food were studied? Does the passage of time have any effect on this model? More work will be undertaken to answer these and other related questions.
###
The article is "Context-Induced Relapse to Alcohol Seeking After Punishment in a Rat Model" by Nathan J. Marchant, Thi N. Khuc, Charles L. Pickens, Antonello Bonci, and Yavin Shaham (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.07.007). The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 73, Issue 3 (February 1, 2013), published by Elsevier.
Notes for editors
Full text of the article is available to credentialed journalists upon request; contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or Biol.Psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Nathan Marchant at +443 740 2704 or Nathan.marchant@nih.gov.
The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article.
John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here.
About Biological Psychiatry
Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.
The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged.
Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 129 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 243 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2011 Impact Factor score for Biological Psychiatry is 8.283.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
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.
This Friday is the second season premiere of Tillman the Skateboarding Bulldog's "Who Let The Dogs Out" TV series on The Hallmark Channel! Watch this Friday (check your local listings for times) or set your DVRs to see Tillman, Norman and all his pals - and Feb 8th is the BLOGPAWS episode!
Yep! "Who Let The Dogs Out" filmed at last year's BlogPaws 2012 social media pet blogger conference, a lot of our bloggers and their pets are featured in the show!
The photo of Tillman and Kiko, above, was submitted?by Doreen Disbro. Did you get a pic with Tillman last year? Let's see it!
Join BlogPaws' Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop?posting your pet photo(s) on your blog and linking up below - then start hopping! Visit and leave comments on other blogs to make some new pals and maybe some new followers.
You can add our Blog Hop button to your post and/or to your blog sidebar, either by cutting and pasting the image or using the HTML code below. ??
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Need help? Here it is:?How to Join a Blog Hop - BlogPaws Tutorial
Featured Wordless Wednesday photos are randomly chosen each week from photos posted by BlogPaws Community members.?Please do not email your photos. If you're not a member, you can join us here: BlogPaws Community Center. It only takes a minute.
"It has been a wonderful success for us," says Daniel Graf about Google Maps for iOS. Originally from Switzerland, Graf worked for Leica and Philips, and went on to co-found video service Kyte before landing at Google in 2011. There, he ran the mobile apps lab before taking the role of director of Google Maps for mobile, where he oversees the Android and iOS versions of the iconic mapping app. We recently got the chance to spend a few minutes with Graf at Google's Mountain View headquarters to discuss the iOS app, which launched last December. He's clearly passionate and proud of his work: "It has been an interesting project, because we got the opportunity to start from scratch." Graf explains that the Android version "is actually seven years of history, seven years of product, [...] seven years of user experience. On iOS, we didn't have those seven years so that gave us a chance to take a step back and say. 'Hey, what would be the next-generation mobile mapping experience?'" Read on after the break.
With iOS 6, Apple ended its partnership with Google and experienced some growing pains with its own mapping app. Still, even in iOS 5, the app only offered a fraction of the functionality provided by Google Maps for Android -- lacking voice guidance and 3D views, for example. Graf and his team set out to create an iOS app that wouldn't just catch up with the Android version, but would also showcase the direction the company was taking in terms of user experience. "When Larry [Page] came on board as CEO two years ago, he talked about beautiful experiences and we had very functional and very useful experiences and in term of beauty I think there was work to do," says Graf. "Now two years later if you actually use our product on desktop, on Android, on iOS there's a theme there ... there's a design language there, and I would say actually they're beautiful."
It's not just Google Maps for iOS that's been revamped. Over the past nine months, the company's been busy updating its mobile apps across the board with a more cohesive look and feel. It all started with Google Now -- launched alongside Jelly Bean at Google I/O -- followed by Google+ on both platforms, and more recently GMail and Google Maps on iOS. Interestingly, the Android version has not (yet) been updated to reflect the new design language. The iOS app makes extensive use of info sheets similar to those used in Google Now. "Given the feedback we have gotten from our audience about the user experience here, I would say this is kind of the direction we want to move forward," says Graf. "It's way more use-case driven ... It should actually happen based on your actions."
We asked Graf what challenges his team encountered while building Google Maps for iOS. "With a mapping app, it's actually similar to a gaming app because the map you see here, the 3D rendering we have here, so you need a 3D renderer; you need an engine for that, and that was new for us -- a 3D renderer for iOS." The iOS app is written in Objective C (versus Java on Android) and required fine-tuning: "To get that to a performance [level] where we have it now, that was definitely a technical challenge." But there was another hurdle on iOS: "There's no common login infrastructure like we have on Android -- hopefully that's coming." When pressed whether this is a political issue (related to Apple's stringent app requirements) Graf mentions that "it's a business decision, but it's a technical challenge as well."
Despite being more polished than its Android counterpart, Google Maps for iOS lacks some features, such as Latitude (it's a separate app). Graf admits that "it would be quite interesting to see your friends on the map within Google Maps for mobile." For this version, however, it was important to simplify: "We obviously wanted this app out before the holidays, which we managed to do in December, so there was a lot of time pressure to get it out but we didn't want to make compromises so we said is let's focus on the key use cases which I think we nailed." We inquired about how much Google Maps development is cross-platform. "Of course we have an Android team; we have an iOS team; we have different platform teams and they work very closely together," says Graf. "You do want basically the best experience possible for a platform, so you probably have to develop native." Watch the full video interview above.
run75441: Maggie Mahar writes on future insurance premium increases something consistently arises in the debate on the PPACA. The complete post can be found at healthinsurance.org
The future of YOUR health insurance premiums
Today, many Americans are asking, ?Will my premiums go up in 2014??
There is no simple answer.
According to Families USA, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have a positive effect on the typical family?s budget. Using an economic model that can factor in all provisions of the Act, Family?s USA estimates that by 2019, when the law is fully implemented, ?the average household will be $1,571 better off.? Even high-income families will save: thanks to rules that limit co-pays, and reward providers for becoming more efficient, ?those earning $100,000 to $250,000? will spend $779 less on medical care.? But these are ?averages.? They don?t tell you whether your premiums will rise or fall.
The answer will depend on: your income, your age, your gender, whether a past illness or injury has been labeled a pre-existing condition, who you work for, and what type of insurance you have now:
If you work for a large company:
The ACA will have a ?negligible? effect on your premiums says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This doesn?t mean that your costs won?t climb in 2014. As long as medical product-makers and providers continue to raise prices, premiums will edge up each year.
But in 2012 average premiums for employer-based insurance rose by just 3 percent for single coverage and 4 percent for families, a ?modest increase? when compared to 8 percent to 12 percent jumps in past years. And on average, employee co-pays and deductibles remained flat.
Granted, a 3 percent to 4 percent increase still outpaces growth in workers? wages (1.7 percent percent) and general inflation (2.3 percent) percent). But as reform reins in spending, annual increases for large groups could fall to 2 percent ? or less.
If you work for a small company with more than 50 employees:
Your boss will be more likely to offer affordable benefits, in part because, if he doesn?t, he will have to pay a penalty.
Moreover, he will find insurance less expensive. Today, small businesses pay 18 percent more than large companies because the administrative costs of hand-selling plans to small groups are sky-high. But starting in 2014, businesses with fewer than 100 employees will begin buying insurance in exchanges where they will become part of a large group, and eligible for lower rates.
Finally, some companies with fewer than 25 employees will receive subsidies that cover 50 percent of what they lay out for insurance.
If you work for a small firm where many employees are older, female, or suffer from a pre-existing condition:
Your premiums may well fall. Today, most states let insurers charge small firms more if many of their workers are older or are women.? They also can jack up premiums if just a few workers fall ill or are injured.
This post originally appeared on healthinsurance.org. To find out more about the importance of where you live, whether you are a woman, whether you are young (20-something to 30-something) or older (in your 50-65), your income, and your health status please click there.
Or if you like, you can return to HealthBeat to comment. run75411
There's been hints of a Windows Phone 7.8 update looming for the AT&T-spec Lumia 900, but little sign of a real timetable. As it turns out, owners hoping to move beyond 7.5 might be satisfied very quickly. Engadget has obtained an AT&T memo that claims the upgrade is rolling out on January 30th -- as in, tomorrow. We don't see any tweaks mentioned beyond what Microsoft itself said last year, although any update would most likely include Nokia-specific extras on top of the official package. We've reached out to AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia, and we'll let you know if they provide tangible details. Whatever their answers, we'll know the truth before long.
kdp_embed_default = { doKdpEmbed : function() { // Should only be changed if you are running Kaltura On Prem / Kaltura CE: var service_url = "http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/"; // logic cascade for deciding which entry to load var entry_id = this.getEntryIdFromUrl() || this.getEntryIdFromDataAttr() || this.fallback_entry;
} ) }, onFail : function() { alert("FLASH EMBEDDING FAILED"); }, getEntryIdFromUrl : function() { if(location.hash.indexOf(kdp_embed_default.url_param_name) != -1) { // get the entry id from the url document fragment (aka hash): return location.hash.split("#")[1].substring((kdp_embed_default.url_param_name.length+1)); } else if(location.search.indexOf(kdp_embed_default.url_param_name) != -1) { // get the entry id from the url parameters (aka querystring): return location.search.split("?")[1].substring((kdp_embed_default.url_param_name.length+1)); } else { // use the default video defined in "fallback_entry" below: // return kdp_embed_default.fallback_entry; return false; } }, getEntryIdFromDataAttr : function() { var data_attr_val = document.getElementById(this.placeholder_id).getAttribute("data-entryid"); if(data_attr_val && !(data_attr_val
New brain imaging test -- showing that former Israeli prime minister -- sure roan. In a coma now for seven years. Might be able to hear and understand. The 84 year old Toronto has been in a vegetative state since his stroke and 2006. A team of Israeli and American scientists conducted a two hour test to gauge -- roads tactile stimulation. We tested. Three different -- doesn't consent sort of moved on it is is some talk to him this is the auditorium -- -- -- -- we -- in -- of the family this is the visual. And we touched him and he's nearest -- team. In its hands. And we tested the different -- -- it is indeed in all of the Madonna does the -- Reacted to the external donation. Which means that the information -- into the brain. And walls and realized what was processed within his brain.
Details on how the $50.5 billion package of recovery and related aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy and other federally declared disasters is to be spent:
?$16 billion for Housing and Urban Development Department community development block grants. Of that, $12.1 billion is for Sandy recovery as well as for projects in states with other federally declared disasters in 2011-2013; while $3.9 billion is solely for Sandy-related projects. HUD community development grants can be used for rebuilding roads and hospitals, other infrastructure projects, helping small businesses reopen, restoring utilities and providing rental subsidies. The grants are popular with state and local governments because of their flexibility on how the money is spent.
?$11.49 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief aid fund for Sandy and other disasters. The money is used for shelter, restoring utilities and meeting other immediate needs.
?$10.9 billion for New York and New Jersey transit system recovery projects.
?$5.35 billion for Army Corps of Engineers projects for Sandy-related damages and protections against future storms.
?$2 billion for the Federal Highway Administration's emergency relief program to repair storm-damaged federal highways.
?$476 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, much of it for programs and equipment to improve weather forecasting.
?$274 million for repairing Sandy damages to Coast Guard facilities..
?$235 million for repairs Sandy damages at Veterans Affairs Department facilities.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Yemeni forces intercepted a ship on January 23 carrying a large cache of weapons - including surface-to-air missiles - that U.S. officials suspect were being smuggled from Iran and destined for Yemeni insurgents, officials said on Monday.
Yemen's government said the arms intercepted aboard the ship off the country's coast also included military grade explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making equipment, according to a statement by its embassy in Washington.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the operation was coordinated with the U.S. Navy and that a Navy destroyer was nearby.
A second official told Reuters the intercepted shipment was believed to have been from Iran and destined for insurgents, likely Houthis.
"This demonstrates the ever pernicious Iranian meddling in other countries in the region," said the second U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
Iran denies any interference in Yemen's affairs.
Analysts and diplomats believe that the ascent of the Houthis, named after their leaders' family, has turned Yemen into a new front in a long struggle between Iran and Western powers and the Arab regimes they support.
Gulf Arab governments and Sunni clerical allies accuse Iran of backing Shi'ite communities around the region, and Sanaa has also accused Iran of trying to meddle in Yemeni affairs.
Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi snubbed a visiting Iranian envoy last year to signal "displeasure" with Tehran after Sanaa said it had uncovered an Iranian-led spy ring in the capital.
Earlier this month, the U.S. envoy to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, was quoted accusing Iran of working with southern secessionists. Yemen is also grappling with al Qaeda militants in the north.
Its location flanking top oil producer Saudi Arabia - Iran's Sunni Muslim regional adversary - and major shipping lanes have made restoring its stability an international priority.
Yemen's government said in a statement the shipment was intercepted in Yemeni waters, close to the Arabian Sea. It said Yemeni Coast Guard officials boarded the vessel, which flew multiple flags and had eight Yemeni crew members on board.
"Authorities are continuing to investigate the vessel's shipping route by analyzing navigation records found on board the ship," the statement said.
There is no day going by without me flipping through some magazines or blogs dedicated to architecture and interior design. I can spend hours looking at pictures of nicely appointed homes, apartments and living spaces ? sometimes just for the purpose of dreaming, sometimes for inspiration. Yes, I am an addict and I love it :). This is also the reason, why I am happy to introduce a young Hungarian architect and interior designer, Viktor Csap and his business, Design Tudakoz? (in English: Design Inquiries).
First time I came across Viktor?s portfolio, I was looking at his work executed in small flats. Having been confronted with small living spaces in big cities quite a few times in my life, I kind of wished he would have been around back then to help me with making those spaces look gorgeous and still functional. Today I am glad that this part of the market is developing and architects focus on smaller spaces, too, not only on big houses, villas and residences ? as I think it is a real challenge to make small spaces livable, cozy, appealing and practical at the same time.
Viktor graduated at VIA University in Denmark with BA in Architecture in 2008. After graduation he relocated back to Hungary and started working at the Budapest based Geppetto Design Studio. In 2012 Viktor founded Design Tudakoz? that offers a wide range of services to clients in and around the topic living & working spaces:?from neutral opinion on a project in completion, to few tips on renovating a room or an office, and of course also execution of more complex projects as well as architectural and interior design consultancy services to private & corporate clients. Design Tudakoz? consists of three experts, beside Viktor Csap founder, Panna Piros interior designer and Daniel Borl?i architectural consultant are at clients? services as well as other professionals and partners will be brought along depending on the nature of the project.
A proud father to a 7 months old girl, Viktor also loves winter sports and he would like to do a tour on the Russian tundra sometime later. During his visits in foreign towns and cities he likes the feeling of ?getting lost? and is interested in discovering hidden places that tourist guide books do not talk about. Beside his consultancy services, Viktor also owns an online shop Nooka Hungary, dedicated to sleek, designy accessories.
As I have already mentioned earlier, tastes and preferences vary and can be different, but when I first saw Viktor?s work, I liked his concepts instantly. In some cases the north European influence and inspiration is evident (which I am a huge fan of!), however in other cases his multifaceted taste and ideas come to light, too. I am more than curious to read about Viktor?s future projects. It is great to see young talents believing in themselves and taking the courage of building up their own businesses from scratch. Good luck to Viktor with his future endeavors.
For more information please have a look at Viktor?s portfolio on Behance,?or visit the Design Tudakozo website?and Facebook page?(both website and FB page only in Hungarian).
Source of images: Viktor Csap?s courtesy. Photos by Csaba Barbay | Flashback Photostudio?and Peter Szekely.
The attack of Sept. 11, 2001, has been so pervasive a theme in American politics in the years since that at times we scarcely notice its influence even though it explains so much of what came after that day.
Gary Cameron / Reuters
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) questions Senator John Kerry (Not Pictured) during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Kerry's nomination to be secretary of state, on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 24, 2013.
Sometimes almost forgotten, 9/11 is an experience some Americans may recall only when they travel and must undergo screening from a select few of the army of 45,000 screeners that was created by the actions of 19 suicidal hijackers.
So it was remarkable that three times in the space of two Senate hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, the 9/11 attack percolated through the discussion.
Testifying Thursday morning at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., voiced his regret that one effect of that fateful day has been to make people abroad see American policy simply in terms of killing individual al Qaida leaders and pre-empting terrorist threats.
America?s foreign policy must not be ?defined by drones and deployments alone,? Kerry warned. ?We cannot allow the extraordinary good we do to save and change lives to be eclipsed entirely by the (counterterrorism) role we have had to play since September 11th, a role that was thrust upon us.?
A day before, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her testimony about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, used the 2001 attack to make the case for continued robust American involvement in North Africa.
She warned of the risks of a 9/11-style attack from the group Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
?People say to me all the time, well, AQIM hasn't attacked the United States. Well, before 9/11, 2001, we hadn't been attacked on our homeland since, I guess, the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor. So you can't say, well, because they haven't done something they're not going to do it,? she said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Mali's "progress on democracy" was disrupted by the Kaddafi-supported militant and al-Qaeda loyalists, warning that we must not let the region become a haven for terrorists.
But a bit later Clinton came under assault from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who used 9/11 as his rhetorical theme.
?Ultimately with your leaving (the State Department), you accept the culpability for the worst tragedy since 9/11, and I really mean that,? Paul told Clinton. Democrats on the committee recoiled in anger at what they saw as a cheap exploitation of 9/11.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Clinton, ?I think if some people on this committee want to call the tragedy in Benghazi the worst since 9/11, it misunderstands the nature of 4,000 Americans-plus lost over 10 years of war in Iraq, fought under false pretenses. It was fought under false pretenses, but it was also fought, I think, because we had a misunderstanding of what we could do and what we could manage in that region for what was under our control.?
Murphy, first elected to the House in 2006 as part of the voter backlash against the Iraq war, didn?t mention that Clinton herself, serving in the Senate in 2002, voted for the congressional resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq.
Her vote was one liability during her bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination ? a liability which Barack Obama, a state senator when Congress voted on the Iraq invasion, didn?t have.
The 9/11 attack created the political environment which made possible, and perhaps even inevitable, the congressional vote authorizing Bush to use military force against Iraq.
In his Oct. 7, 2002, speech making the case for using force, Bush repeatedly invoked 9/11. To those American who wondered ?why do we need to confront it (the threat of Saddam Hussein) now?? Bush said, ?There?s a reason. We have experienced the horror of Sept. 11. We have seen that those who hate America are willing to crash airplanes into buildings full of innocent people.? And America?s enemies would be eager ?to use a biological or chemical, or a nuclear weapon.?
Four days later, the Senate voted for the Iraq war authorization, with Kerry, Clinton and then-Sen. Joe Biden among the 77 voting for it.
Just as Murphy had argued at Wednesday?s Senate hearing that Iraq was ?fought under false pretenses,? so, too, Democrats back in 2004 argued that Kerry, Clinton, Biden, then-Sen. Chuck Hagel and the other members of Congress who?d voted for the Iraq war resolution had been deceived.
But some antiwar Democrats argued that ? deception or not ? their party could never beat Bush in 2004 with a candidate who was compromised by having voted for the Iraq war resolution.
It?s impossible to know the answer to that question ? would Howard Dean or Sen. Bob Graham (who voted ?no? on the Iraq war resolution) have defeated Bush in 2004?
We do know that Bush held his party?s 2004 convention in New York City, a target of the 9/11 attack and defeated Kerry in the election.
His second term was an unhappy one for many reasons, but it was Bush ? not Kerry ? who got to the fill the next two vacancies on the Supreme Court.
And 9/11?s effect is also still directly felt in the current wrestling over fiscal policy. As Obama and congressional leaders try to figure out how to pay for ever-growing entitlement programs and reduce budget deficits, Republicans in Congress, but many Democrats, too, are reluctant to significantly reduce a $630 billion Defense Department budget that grew massively in the years after Sept. 11, 2001.
In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a Malian army armored vehicle used by islamist rebels stands charred. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a Malian army armored vehicle used by islamist rebels stands charred. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a videographer films Malian soldiers walking through the rubbles of a former army based leveled during fighting with islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
in this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako Saturday , Jan. 26, 2013, an ammunition belt lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by Islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida-linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French airstrikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a charred flack jacket lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In this image taken during an official visit organized by the Malian army to the town of Konna, some 680 kilometers (430 miles) north of Mali's capital Bamako, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, a jacket lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by islamist rebels. One wing of Mali's Ansar Dine rebel group has split off to create its own movement, saying that they want to negotiate a solution to the crisis in Mali, in a declaration that indicates at least some of the members of the al-Qaida linked group are searching for a way out of the extremist movement in the wake of French air strikes. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
KONNA, Mali (AP) ? French and Malian troops regained control of the airport and bridge of the crucial, northern city of Gao on Saturday, marking their biggest advance yet in their bid to oust al-Qaida-linked extremists who have controlled northern Mali for months, military officials said.
The move comes just two weeks after France launched its military offensive in support of the shaky, central government of this former French colony. It is unclear what kind of resistance French and Malian troops will face in the coming days.
The French military said in a statement on its website that their special forces, which had stormed in by land and by air, had come under fire from "several terrorist elements" that were later "destroyed."
In a later press release entitled "French and Malian troops liberate Gao" the French ministry of defense said they were bringing back the town's mayor, Sadou Diallo, who had fled to the Malian capital of Bamako far to the west.
However, a city official interviewed by telephone by The Associated Press said coalition forces so far only controlled the airport, the bridge and surrounding neighborhoods.
And in Paris, a defense ministry official clarified that the city had not been fully liberated, and that the process of freeing Gao was continuing.
Both officials spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Swooping in under the cover of darkness, the French and Malian forces faced sporadic "acts of harassment" during the day, said Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman in Paris. He had no immediate estimate on casualties.
Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, was seized by a mixture of al-Qaida-linked fighters more than nine months ago, and the battle to retake the city is expected to be tough.
The rebel group that turned Gao into a replica of Afghanistan under the Taliban has close ties to Moktar Belmoktar, the Algerian national who has long operated in Mali and who last week claimed responsibility for the terror attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.
His fighters are believed to include Algerians, Egyptians, Mauritanians, Libyans, Tunisians, Pakistanis and even Afghans.
The French assault began with the capture of the airport, a strategic landing strip that opens the way for easier sorties all over northern Mali.
The further capture of a major bridge leading into the town means that the jihadists "saw their means of transport and their logistics sites destroyed," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.
The operation in Gao comes at the same time as airstrikes in the two other provincial capitals held by the extremists ? the cities of Timbuktu and Kidal, which like Gao fell to the rebels last April, during the chaotic aftermath of a coup in the distant capital. Nearly 30 bombs have been fired from fighter jets over the past two days, said France's military in a communique.
The simultaneous aerial attacks also come at the same time that ground troops are carrying out a pincer movement, with French and African land forces heading to Gao from Niger, where Chad has sent a battalion.
The Pentagon said late Saturday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has told Le Drian the U.S. will aid the French military with aerial refueling missions.
U.S. aerial refueling planes would be a boost to air support for French ground forces as they enter areas of Mali that are controlled by al-Qaida-linked extremists.
The U.S. was already helping France by transporting French troops and equipment to the West African nation.
French and Malian forces are also heading to Timbuktu, via the central corridor that leads straight north from the central Malian city of Segou, via the recently recaptured town of Diabaly.
In an interview Saturday, Col. Shehu Usman Abdulkadir told The Associated Press that the African force will be expanded from an anticipated 3,200 troops to some 5,700 ? which does not include the 2,200 soldiers promised by Chad.
Most analysts had said the earlier figure was far too small to confront the Islamists given the vast territory they hold ? an area larger than Afghanistan.
"Because they've seen that the area itself, northern Mali is too large for that number of troops so there was a need to increase the number and that's why we arrived at 5700," said Abdulkadir, the force commander. "I believe that as time goes on it may be necessary to increase the strength again. Because France pulls out we definitely must have to increase the strength."
Since France began its military operation, the Islamists have retreated from three small towns in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna and Douentza.
For the first time on Saturday, Malian authorities opened the town of Konna to reporters. Although in most places Malians have applauded the arrival of the French, the town of Konna, built around a single, hard-top road, provides a counterweight and reveals the human toll of the operation.
Konna's mayor had earlier said that 11 civilians were killed during the airstrikes. Among them were four relatives of Souleymane Maiga, a young, 20-something man who ran for cover on Jan. 11, the first day of the airstrikes.
He hid between two mud walls separating his compound from that of his neighbor. His aunt, and the four children, including several young girls that were with her, abandoned the pot on an open flame where they were preparing the midday meal and ran inside the house.
French combat helicopters, looking for rebels, strafed the buildings made of nothing more than mud mixed with straw.
"The women were preparing food right here in the shade of this tree, when we heard the noise made by the aircraft. I ran and threw myself between the two walls over there," said Maiga. "After it was over, I went to the house, and when I opened the door, I saw that they were dead. Of the five people inside, only one survived. A toddler. The bodies were one on top of the other. The toddler was crying. The bullets had pierced the door. I tried to find their pulses, but they were gone. I realized it was over. I picked up the child and took him to a relative's house in town."
The zinc door of the modest house is pockmarked by bullet holes, some several inches wide. If you close it behind you, they let in jets of light, which illuminate the unlit interior. The can of tomato paste that the women had just opened in order to make a sauce served over rice, still sits where they left it. It had been partially opened, and now the tomato paste inside has spoiled.
___
Larson reported from Sevare, Mali. Jamey Keaten in Dakar, Senegal; Baba Ahmed in Konna, Mali; and Robbie Corey-Boulet in Abidjan, Ivory Coast contributed to this report.
A college degree
can give one?s earning power a
phenomenal boost. This is a fact many
current students are counting on.
However, one?s college years do not always proceed as
planned. Some students rack up debt but fail to graduate and get the accompanying
benefits. According to a new report,
this is a rather common occurrence: 46 percent of college students fail to graduate
within six years.
But the report, titled ?The American Dream 2.0,? isn?t just
a litany of problems in higher education. It also includes several suggestions
to boost college completion rates. Among them: tie the amount of federal financial
aid a school can offer to its graduation rate. Click
here to read more on the Huffington
Post.
What do you
think? Should colleges have to earn the right to dispense federal aid? And is a
school?s graduation rate a fair way to measure the job it does? Share your
thoughts in the comments section below!
A baby girl born with her heart outside her body has been discharged from the Texas hospital that saved her life.
Audrina Cardenas was born Oct. 15, 2012, with a condition known as ectopia cordis, in which part of the heart grows outside the chest. The birth defect is usually fatal, but Audrina survived a six-hour operation at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston to tuck her heart back into her body. And on Wednesday, she went home ? the scar on her chest visible through a pink protective shield.
CLICK HERE to see other medical marvels.
Eight babies out of every million are born with her condition and 90 percent of the eight are either stillborn or die within the first three days of life.
Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle/AP Photo
Family Struggles With Medical Bills After Son's Accident Watch Video Toddler Survives After Pencil Pierces Her Skull Watch Video
"I was told that it is a very rare condition and that the survival rates are really low and that if she did survive they don't know what kind of life she will have," said Audrina's mother, Ashley Cardenas, who learned of the baby's condition when she was 16 weeks pregnant. "They gave me the option to terminate the pregnancy, continue with the pregnancy and do something called comfort care at the time of delivery, where instead of doing anything painful to her or do surgery they let you spend as much time with her until she passes, or opt for a high-risk surgery to help repair the heart.
Cardenas decided to carry on with the pregnancy despite low chances of Audrina's survival.
"As soon as I made my decision to continue with the pregnancy, the physicians in Midland referred me to Texas Children's Hospital where a team of miracle workers provided the specialized treatment and care my baby and I both needed," she said.
"This risky operation on such an uncommon condition required specialists from a variety of care teams including cardiovascular surgery, plastic surgery and general pediatric surgery," Dr. Charles D. Fraser, surgeon-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital and professor of surgery and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine told ABC News after Audrina's surgery. "I have only seen this condition a few times in my career and these are always very tricky cases; in fact, many of these babies do not survive ... Audrina is a true fighter and we are so excited that this was a good outcome."
"We're not definitive about her prognosis, but so far, so good," Fraser added. "We are very optimistic about the long-term prognosis. The baby will probably have to have operations in the future. Her sternum is about half formed but these are things we can deal with."
Ashley Cardenas expressed her gratitude for the team of doctors that worked tirelessly to save her daughter's life.
"If it wasn't for them and the grace of God, she wouldn't be here," she said.
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Changeling, you are nothing. Your body and mind warped by your captors. No one will look for you. Any shred of humanity in you is gone. You may have gained your freedom, but what will you do with it?
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Well, colour me impressed! This is quite the game, makes me wish I wasn't already invested in a number of different one. I hope this one takes off though, I really enjoyed reading the intro.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2013
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