Art of Building contest to support Haiti school project

The Chartered Institute of Building has today announced that its annual Art of Building international digital photography competition is now open for entry. The contest will raise much-needed funds for a major project to build hurricane and earthquake resilient schools in Haiti, organised by development and disaster relief organisation, Article 25.

Applicants from around the world explore and capture the art of building, then submit their photograph to the Art of Building competition website. The winner will scoop a prize of £2,000 and will be chosen by public vote from 12 finalists. The photographs will then be auctioned to raise funds for the Haiti initiative.

The standard of the construction hit by an earthquake directly affects the casualty rate. As Robin Cross, chief executive at Article 25 explains: “Earthquakes don’t kill people… buildings do.” CIOB Art of Building manager, Saul Townsend, added: “The Article 25 initiative aims to return Haitian children to safe schools and set a blueprint for future school buildings throughout the country. By taking part in the competition, this year’s entrants could find their photography and vision being used to touch someone else’s life.”

Entries to the competition will be split into four categories: Building Inspiration, Between People and Buildings, Creative Visions and Young Photographer of the Year.

For more details about the competition and to enter, click here

EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules Upheld By Federal Court

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) had announced in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, triggering controls on automobiles and other large sources. But the administration has always said it preferred to address global warming through a new law. A federal appeals court in USA is upholding the first-ever regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming.

The rules, which were challenged by industry groups and various states, will reduce emissions of six heat-trapping gases from large industrial facilities such as factories and power plants, as well as from automobile tailpipes.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said that the Environmental Protection Agency was "unambiguously correct" in using existing federal law to address global warming. The court on Tuesday denied two challenges to the administration's rules, including one arguing that the agency erred in concluding greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

The court dismissed arguments against two other regulations dealing with pollution from new factories and other industrial facilities, saying that no one challenging the rules could show they had been harmed by them.

Industry groups vowed to fight on. Environmentalists, meanwhile, called it a landmark decision for global warming policy, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Republican-controlled House.

Repressive drug policies feeding HIV

The report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy - that came as as Canada's Conservative government comes under fire for passing tough-on-drugs legislation - said that The war on drugs has failed, and millions of new HIV infections and AIDS deaths can be averted if action is taken now.

The war on drugs has led to increased availability, lower prices and higher potency of drugs, as well as a heightened role of organized crime, the report warns.

The report urges a halt to the practice of arresting and imprisoning people who use drugs but don't harm others. It also calls for more substitution and heroin-assisted treatment programs and an end to "wasteful" spending on law enforcement measures that divert money from prevention and treatment programs.

War-on-drug policies lead to high-risk behaviour by driving people underground, away from testing and prevention services such as sterile syringes and creates fear of police and stigma, the report suggests. It also spreads violence and leads to mass incarceration.

Online Testing For Students Holds Promise, Perils

TOWNSEND, Del. -- On a recent afternoon at Townsend Elementary School here, a little boy squinted at a computer screen and gripped his mouse. He was stuck. Half of the screen contained an article about rainforests. The other half was filled with questions, some multiple-choice, some not.

One question asked the boy to pick two animals that belonged in the rainforest from a list of pictures and written descriptions. Then he was supposed to drag the animals across the screen onto the rainforest background. Next, he had to move two correct descriptions of rainforest characteristics into boxes. He raised his hand.

"I don't understand," he whispered to his fourth-grade teacher.

"Read the directions again," she whispered back.

Delaware is one of a handful of states that has moved all of its testing online. On a recent visit to Townsend, students were filing into the computer lab throughout the day to take tests. But if a multi-state effort to create better tests is successful, the vast majority of American schoolchildren will be taking standardized math and English tests online in three years.

Some education reformers and technology experts are hailing the move, which has the backing of the Obama administration, as a revolution. They are promising more well-rounded tests, less frequent cheating and immediate feedback for both students and teachers, as students' answers are transmitted quickly over the Internet to states and the results are then sent back to districts.

But other educators and experts point to a host of potential problems. Shrinking school budgets could make it difficult for districts to purchase new equipment, and states that pioneered online tests have dealt with network meltdowns. Some worry that the move to online testing could take time away from learning.

The online format allows states to give standardized tests--once just a weeklong ordeal at the end of the year--as often as four times a year. It's an opportunity that early adopters like Delaware have already embraced.

"This is so thrilling and exciting for those of us who work with schools," said Joe Willhoft, executive director of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of two groups developing the new tests. "Not only will we have the end-of-the-year test, but we will also have tests that teachers can use throughout the year that can help students."

Townsend Elementary, which is located in the Appoquinimink School District, gives students additional computer-based tests each year that teachers say are more fine-tuned than the state exams. "It used to be testing week," said Charles Sheppard, the principal at Townsend. "Now we just test."

Forty-four states and Washington, D.C., plan to adopt new tests by the 2014-15 school year under a program funded by the Obama administration. The states have divided into two groups that are sharing $330 million from a federal competition to develop different versions of the online tests, which will be tied to a set of common standards established in 2010.

But states that have already experimented with online testing, including Virginia and Wyoming, provide a cautionary tale against shifting to computer-based tests too rapidly.

Wyoming switched from paper-and-pencil to online tests in 2010, but technical problems popped up everywhere. Online testing was such a debacle that voters threw the state superintendent out of office and the state sued NCS Pearson Inc., the company hired to design and administer the test. The state went back to old-fashioned paper exams.

In Virginia, by contrast, the switch to online tests went more smoothly. Over the course of a decade, Virginia expanded online testing incrementally, starting in high school and moving down to earlier grades. The state also invested nearly $650 million in new technology.

But despite its careful rollout, in 2007, nearly 10,000 students were unable to complete online exams--administered by Pearson Educational Management--after a series of technical glitches.

Bryan Bleil, Pearson's vice president for online and technology implementation, says the company is working with states and districts to help them make the transition to computer-based testing--ensuring they have enough Internet bandwidth, for example, to handle the cyber traffic during testing times.

The company stands to gain as states contract out work on test development. In January, Pearson won a $500,000 contract from the state groups developing the tests to create a "technology readiness tool" for districts, to help them determine whether they have enough computers, for example.

The states in the two groups adopting online tests will launch them in a fraction of the time that Virginia took. And unlike Virginia, many don't have money to put toward technology upgrades.

Maryland, which has administered science tests online for four years, plans for all of its tests to be taken on computers in three years. But Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education, says his state has asked test-makers to keep paper-and-pencil exams as a backup. "We don't have enough hardware," he said.

Kayleen Irizarry, assistant superintendent for elementary and secondary education in D.C.'s state education office, said glitches are "always a concern." So next year, some schools in the city may pilot low-stakes exams on computers in preparation for the district-wide launch.

Yet the test developers hope that eventually, technology in schools will improve enough to allow for more challenging and stimulating tests. In these new exams, a student might be asked to use a mouse to move the sides of a shape on screen into an isosceles triangle, highlight the main idea of a passage, or write an essay about two articles supplemented by their own online research.

In Delaware, however, the rainforest question, where students simply click and drag their answers across the computer screen, is "as adventurous as we've gotten," said Michael Stetter, the state director of accountability resources.

Even if the move to more sophisticated tests takes a while, advocates for the new online exams point to other benefits. If a roomful of students switches a wrong response to the right one on the same question--suggesting someone might be coaching them--the computer can easily flag the pattern as possible cheating.

"The big blowups we've had with cheating, it's just not going to happen," said Doug Levin, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association.

The shift to computer-based testing also corresponds with a push to make students digitally literate. And instantaneous scoring by computers will allow teachers, students and parents to see test results right away, rather than having to wait weeks or months after the school year has ended.

Don Davis, principal of Brick Mill Elementary, in Delaware's Appoquinimink district, has mixed feelings about the tests, including whether they might widen the achievement gap for low-income students who don't have computers at home. But, he said, "It's better than what we used to have."

Original source here

Recession-hit graduates 'working as cleaners and porters'

Rising numbers of graduates are being left jobless or forced to work as shelf stackers, labourers, cleaners and road sweepers in the economic downturn, official figures show.

More than 20,000 degree students – almost one-in-10 – who left university last summer were without a job six months later, it was revealed.

Figures show that the number of unemployed graduates has increased by around 1,300 in 12 months and more than 9,000 in just four years.

At the same time, more university leavers are also taking up “elementary” positions because of a shortage of well-paid graduate jobs during the recession, it was revealed.

Last year, some 10,270 graduates found work as labourers, couriers, office juniors, hospital porters, waiters, bar staff, cleaners, road sweepers and school dinner servers.

This was almost double the number in 2007 before the recession struck.

Lecturers warned that the disclosure – in data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency – represented further evidence of the “incredibly challenging” jobs market facing former students.

It comes as separate figures released by the Department for Education also showed an increase in the number of 16- to 18-year-olds out of school and without a job or training place.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the figures were “further bad news for students”.

“People working hard at university face an incredibly challenging jobs market when they graduate and the government should be doing more to stimulate jobs and growth,” she said.

“We already have huge numbers of people on the dole and while the prime minister attacks people on benefits he is doing little to help them get off benefits and on with their lives.”

But David Willetts, the Universities Minister, insisted that getting a degree was still a worthwhile move, with graduates likely to earn significantly more over their lifetime than people qualified to A-level or GCSE standard.

In the future, universities will be required to set out details of graduate employment rates – and average future salaries – to give prospective students more information when applying for courses, he said.

“We must ensure that graduates enter the labour market equipped to succeed," he added.

Figures from HESA show that nine per cent of degree students were “assumed to be unemployed” six months after leaving university last summer – the same as in 2010.

But with more students now in the university system, the overall number of jobless graduates increased – from 19,335 to 20,622. In 2007, just 11,020 were without a job.

Of those in work, 14 per cent of ex-students were in sales and customer service positions, including sales assistants, market traders and call centre staff. Nine per cent were in administrative jobs and seven per cent were in elementary occupations, figures show.

However, almost a third of working students – around 47,350 – went into associate professional and technical jobs, covering laboratory technicians, nurses, paramedics, interpreters, police officers and the armed forces. This was the largest single category.

Separate data from the DfE showed a rise in the number of 16- to 18-year-olds officially classed as “NEET” – not in education, employment or training – at the end of 2011.

Figures showed 154,710 school leavers in England fell into the category, figures show, compared with 146,430 a year earlier. In all, it represented 8.1 per cent of teenagers against 7.5 per cent in 2010.

Tim Loughton, the Children's Minister, said the number of NEETs had been "too high for too long", adding: "This is not a new problem".

"Today's figures are also a clear sign that the education system needs to do more to equip young people with the knowledge and skills employers that colleges and universities want," he said.

"But we are determined to tackle it. We are spending a record £7.5billion on education and training, including high-quality apprenticeships. And we are spending £126million over the next three years on extra targeted support for 55,000 16- and 17-year-olds most in need of education and training."

Original source here

The 'strategic partners’ who offer Chinese students a route to UK

For tens of thousands of Chinese students, the route to a British education begins at one of the universities’ “strategic partners” or “official agents” in Shanghai and Beijing.

The agents are promoted on the universities’ websites, potentially directing a valuable stream of business towards a select few companies operating in offices across Asia.

The Daily Telegraph discloses how these agents, acting for dozens of universities, were apparently prepared to relax entry requirements in the increasingly aggressive push for students.

Universities are competing for Chinese students, with vice chancellors regularly found globe-trotting. When David Cameron travels to “developing nations”, senior university figures are usually to be found on the official plane.

The presence of international students on British campuses helps enrich the university experience - and boost the country’s economy and international status. But there are growing fears that this may have been accompanied by a decline in academic rigour as some universities struggle to balance their books.

Over the past few weeks, undercover Daily Telegraph reporters have visited agents in Shanghai and Beijing, posing as representatives of a fictional Chinese businessman whose daughter wanted to attend a British university.

At seven agents, the daughter was offered a place at top universities, despite A-level grades that were below the usual entry requirements stated in the prospectuses for British students. Several agents offered to draft personal statements and advice was handed out on navigating a way through the tightening British immigration system.

At Index Education Services, which sends 300 students a year to study in Britain, a fictional A-level student with three Cs was told by an agent that she would be able to study maths at the University of Kent, which usually requires 320 A-level points to study mathematics, the equivalent to ABB.

“She needs to write, but we can also write a personal statement and reference letter. We also do that,” said the agent.

A few days later the reporters visited Wiseway in Shanghai, which is a company listed on many British university websites as an “official” representative in China. An agent said the student could study economics or business degrees at Leeds or the economics or accounting and finance courses at the University of East Anglia.

A spokesman for Index Education said it was an “official representative for over 70 British universities … therefore we are able to offer professional counselling to students when they come to us”.

However, she said it was not responsible for university admissions. “Offers should be made directly by the admissions team based at the university,” she said. Fonton said the information it had given to the reporters about where the student could study was correct, but it was up to the universities to decide whether they accepted a student. Johnny Chan, the deputy general manager of Wiseway in Shanghai, said the agent “might have replied that it was quite possible” for the student to get a place at the universities, but that the company “does not have admission authorities”.

Lisa Zhang, the head of the iLongre office in Shanghai, said the agent thought the student’s grades were higher than BBB and that it was up to the university if they accepted the student.

A spokesman for the University of Leeds said: “Wiseway is not an official representative of the University of Leeds, and as such we cannot be held responsible for any claims made by them. We will deal with these allegations. We would never make an offer of BBB for any student for these courses.”

Gavin Douglas, the head of student recruitment at the University of Sheffield, said “Agents are not empowered to make offers to applicants but provide information to prospective students and their families on the ranges of courses available, entry requirements and accommodation and so on. It is not correct to imply that the university has a different set of standards for students recruited from overseas. The requirements published on the university’s website are typical offers and for the 2012 entry are listed as requiring ABB at A-level (or equivalent) for the majority of Management School undergraduate courses, with other courses listed at BBB.”

A spokesman for the University of Kent said, “The published entry level for maths at Kent is ABB. UK/EU students wishing to apply to the university for 2012 entry will be asked to meet this requirement as will any international students.

“The university admits all students on the basis of academic ability. It is not in the interests of the university to admit students, be they UK or international, without the academic ability to complete the programme.”

Original source here

Knox Journalism Students' Work Wins Top Statewide Awards

An award-winning investigation by Knox College journalism students, The Maytag Project, earned two additional top statewide prizes in June at the annual joint convention of the Illinois Press Association and the Illinois Associated Press Editors Association. The students' work competed against work produced by professional journalists, and judges described The Maytag Project as taking a "truly unique approach to a huge regional story."

One of the prizes is the highly coveted Sweepstakes Award, which the Illinois Associated Press Editors Association presents for best reporting/writing entry across all categories. The Maytag Project received the Sweepstakes Award in its division, newspapers with circulations of up to 15,000.

The Maytag Project, which was published in the Galesburg Register-Mail newspaper as "Maytag Employees in Transition," also garnered a first place award from the Illinois Press Association in the Enterprise Series category. In the IPA contest, the Maytag investigation competed against entries from newspapers with circulations of 10,000 to 40,000.

The Illinois Press Association, referred to as the IPA, and the Illinois Associated Press Editors Association, referred to as the AP, are the major professional organizations for Illinois newspapers. They oversee separate yearly contests for news and photography, attracting entries from professional news outlets of all sizes in Illinois.

The Maytag series examined what happened to employees who were laid off after a local manufacturing plant closed.

"We found that while there was the expected devastation among workers after the plant closing, seven years later most had successfully reinvented themselves," said Marilyn Webb, distinguished professor of journalism, chair of Knox's journalism program, and director of The Maytag Project. "Workers' average family incomes matched what others in Knox County were earning and a third of the workers were actually doing better than they had before."
According to judges in the AP contest, "The Register-Mail recognized that a plant closing isn't just about unemployment numbers; it's about people, their hopes and dreams and putting their lives back together. The newspaper pulled no punches in assessing the impact of the closing, but went the extra step in moving the story forward when it looked at how workers were rebuilding their lives."

Judges in the IPA contest also offered praise in their written comments, calling the series a "truly unique approach to a huge regional story (that) really stood out." They added: "A very complex project to manage, but information that's truly exclusive ... outstanding overall execution."

(Photo at top of page: The three statewide journalism awards recently presented for The Maytag Project. Photo at right: A close-up of the Sweepstakes Award, presented for best reporting/writing entry.)

Mark Ridolfi, editorial page editor at the Quad-City Times and lecturer in journalism at Knox, said the students' work reflects their liberal arts education, enabling them to "examine an issue from a lot of different sides and produce engaging content."

"What is fascinating is that in this era of journalism, what these students have done is create a new model for small- and medium-sized daily newspapers" that otherwise wouldn't have the resources to tackle a topic in such a comprehensive way, he added.

"Maytag Employees in Transition" appeared in The Register-Mail in March 2011 as a 17-part, six-day series.

Earlier this year, it won first place in the Enterprise Series category of the 2012 Illinois AP contest, competing against professional daily newspapers with circulations of 15,000 or less.

Knox College students and faculty collaborated for more than a year on the necessary research, data analysis, interviews, photography, and writing that culminated in The Maytag Project.

According to The Register-Mail, 902 union workers were displaced when Maytag's refrigeration plant in Galesburg closed in 2004. At one time there had been 3,000 people working at the plant. When the layoffs were announced in 2004, 1,600 union employees eventually lost their jobs. The 902 were among the last wave to go. The study only addressed the post-Maytag lives of union employees because researchers did not have access to a list of management workers.

The project grew out of a spring 2010 Knox College course in which students profiled several former Maytag employees years later to see how they were faring. Researchers aimed to dig deeper. The following summer, Knox faculty in sociology, economics, and education developed a survey in consultation with several former Maytag employees and Knox students in their senior year.

Surveys were sent to 425 randomly selected former Maytag workers, and 133 surveys were returned in time for the survey analysis.

That fall, students in an in-depth reporting class analyzed and interpreted the data, chose topics suggested by the results, interviewed former Maytag employees on a wide range of topics, and published articles with their own bylines as the Knox News Team.

Students in photography classes at Knox took portraits of workers in their new lives, publishing as part of the Knox News Team as well.

Richard Stout, professor of economics and chair of Knox's Department of Economics, was principal data analyst for The Maytag Project. The photo director was Michael Godsil '76 and '04, Knox instructor in art (photography). Knox graduate Ryan Sweikert '10 served as assistant data and editorial director. Diana Beck, Knox professor of educational studies, was the project's social research associate. Borzello Fellows in Journalism were Sweikert, Annie Zak '11, Alison Ehrhard '11, and Levi Flair '10.

The Maytag Project was supported by a gift from Robert Borzello, a 1958 Knox College graduate and publisher in England noted for his work on ethics in news reporting. The project also received funding from the Mellon Foundation.

(Photo below: Marilyn Webb, at right, works with students on The Maytag Project.)





Original source here

Former Trinity Rowing Captain Peter Graves '07 Named To 2012 U.S. Olympic Team

Hartford, Conn. - Peter Graves '07, former captain of the Trinity College men's rowing team and the College's 2007 Senior Male Athlete of the Year (George Sheldon McCook Trophy), has been selected by USRowing to represent the United States in the quadruple sculls at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. The Olympics run from July 28 to August 5 and the rowing events will take place in Eton, England on Dorney Lake.

The United States men's quadruple sculls lineup at the Olympics will consist of Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio), Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.) and Wes Piermarini (West Brookfield, Mass.). Selection for team was determined based on lineup evaluations, national selection regatta results and training camp performance in Chula Vista, Calif., under U.S. head coach Tim McLaren. In total, 12 crews will represent the United States in London. For more information about important USRowing dates, the 2012 Olympic Games selection process and Olympic athlete bios, visit www.usrowing.org.

At Trinity, Graves led the Bantams to varsity-eight gold medals in the 2004 and 2005 Head of the Charles Regattas in Cambridge, Mass., the 2005 San Diego Crew Classic, the 2005 Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta, and the 2006 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) National Regatta. His Trinity crews captured three consecutive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) from 2005 to 2007. As a freshman, Graves was a semifinalist in the double sculls at the 2004 Henley Royal Regatta, and he won a gold medal in the event in 2005 in the USRowing National Championships.

Graves is in elite company at Trinity, joining two former standout Bantams that went on to represent the United States in the Olympics. Alex Guild'61 was a member of the U.S. National Soccer team in the 1960 Olympics, and Christine Smith Collins '91 won a bronze medal with rowing partner Sarah Garner in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, while competing in the women's lightweight double skulls race.

Graves, the son of Lynne and Harry Graves, majored in economics at Trinity. His father, Harry, older brother Tom, and younger brother John all rowed for Trinity. John also played soccer for Trinity, where he was the recipient of the prestigious George Sheldon McCook Award in 2010.

This is not the first time Peter Graves will be representing the United States in an international rowing competition. In 2009, he finished 16th overall in the double skulls at the World Rowing Championships. In 2006, Graves and Brian deRegt '09 were each selected to the U.S. Rowing Under-23 National Team. The duo represented the United States at the 2006 FISA World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium, where Graves finished 16th overall in the double skulls. Graves won the double sculls at the 209 and 2011 World Championships Trials, and the championship double at the 2008 Head of the Charles.


Original source here

Headline June 29th, 2012 / ''...Is This A Game Of Chance?.. Sire!..''

"...Is This A Game Of Chance?.. Sire!.."

She is pretty and looks to be thirty something, hails from, Indiana, and for ten years has come to Las Vegas annually, for four day binges. She plays roulette and blackjack when she chooses to lose. When she wishes to win, she works five days a week at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange playing small stocks. 

I ask her if she ever plays the huge Chicago commodities market. She recoils in horror at the idea,--that's too risky. She is addicted to the puzzles of probability, and that feeds her love of roulette. She is like so many other players who feel they have a handle on the odds when in fact they do not understand how much the odds are stacked against them. 

Roulette players are infamous in this regard; every player figures that if a number does not come up on the wheel for an hour or so, then the chances of its coming up have vastly increased. Probability theory, however, posits that the wheel has no memory, and past spins have no bearing on future spins. 

In short, nothing you can observe or know can ever alter the odds, and the odds are always in favour of the house. The players somehow know this fact but never believe it. None of us do; that is why people play the roulette and the house wins.

She is a sensible woman with a quick mind, and New York-New York which opened at midnight on Jan 3, 1997, is so cutting edge that it does not even have a poker table. It is virtually wall-to-wall machines. She is appalled by its meagre accoutrements, a small glen of roulette, bacarat, blackjack and craps in the squalor of Central Park and the rest is wilderness of machines. 

She has a card from the casino that will give her some perks, a meal here, a Pizza there, and if she engages this card with a machine, she will be tracked for all her doings. If possible, nothing is left to chance. And she will never learn that at the end of the day the payout is a Dog. Haha! 

So, reverts this brilliant write and observes: Our rich past has always created a tension within us. We are a people of virtue and hardwork given to the pleasures of the flesh and the jug. Sometimes our very appetite become unendurable, and in those episodes of rapture over manners and morals we smite the demon within ourselves. 

In the history of American Gambling, the signal moment occurred in 1835, in Vicksburg, Mississipi, when the town collectively looked into the mirror and realized that it had become the veritable vice and gambling capital of the great river. So it lynched five gamblers, tarred and feathered a bunch more and gave up its evil ways, atleast until sundown.

But now, but now, I tell this beautiful lady that we are sitting in the future, the new economy, the lottery economy. Hahaaa! Just so, remarkable! Thanks !WOW! And catch ye all morrow. 

Good Night And God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless

Are we breeding a generation of app-loving, web-addicted digital illiterates?

Sang-Jin Bae thinks something is amiss with computers. He should know. He's used them for decades as a technical director for Disney'sLittle Einsteins and as an animation production supervisor for shows at places such as Nickelodeon. He even teaches. His animation classes are some of the most popular at New York University's ritzy Tisch School of the Arts.

To Mr. Bae, the problem is not the computer. It's the people using them.

"When kids come into my class they divide into three groups," he says. There are the pure geeks who love technology. There are those trying to understand. And then there is the biggest group: "Those who couldn't care less."

As remarkable as it is to consider, this hip, articulate 36-year old computer whiz makes a heck of an argument that the computer age is entering a dark new era: the age of the digital illiterate.

Today's teens grew up on SMS and Facebook. Everything is being presented to them all the time. Web companies love it, since kids are addicted to their products. But, he says, "They expect less and less from the Web and the software they use."

Mr. Bae is not just talking about obscure, high-end animation tools. Instead, he sees an essential dumbing down of bedrock computing skills.

"The kids I have, and that is roughly two dozen of the brightest young digital artists a semester, often have no idea what Microsoft Word is. They can't tell a Mac from a PC. And forget Excel," he says. He struggles to get his students to use basic computing etiquette.

"They will not use e-mail," he says. They can't manage a crowded inbox. "It's a constant struggle to have them simply stop SMSing me."

And investors face a whole world of hurt as they consider the new world of digital illiteracy. If you view the software biz through Mr. Bae's eyes, it's clear "simple is the new black" in the world code.

The biggest software simpleton of all, of course, is Microsoft. Its latest OS, Windows 8, jettisons the most profitable and complex user interface of all time – the desktop and pull-down windows – for the stripped-down tile-based "Metro" interface. Simplicity seems to also now define the Microsoft culture. The word "simple" appears no less than nine times in a single blog post by Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live division.

Serious visual-effects packages are stepping down the simpleton software highway as well. Take San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk.

"They make a visual manipulation tool called Maya," Mr. Bae says. "And the new package has automatic features for animating hair. That used to be a specialist's job. But nobody wanted to deal with it. The idea was to make it easy enough for a nontechie to use."

Dozens of photo apps also vie to be the super-simplest. The most impressive, to me, is Trey Ratcliff's 100 Cameras In 1. This smartphone photo tool boils photography down into anybody-can-chew bites. According to Ratcliff's travel site, StuckinCustoms.com, this app was recently downloaded 1 million times.

Duke Gigapixel Camera Offers Extreme Details Of Your Pictures

If you think holding over 20-megapixel camera from Nikon or Canon is enough power you’re equipped with for photographing great sights around then you might be right in one aspect, but in every aspect for sure.

The Aware-2, built by Duke University is gigapixel camera device that enables you to zoom-in on any part of the picture, after it has been taken, with immense detail. With it, you do not need to pre-focus an object, just shoot it and focus it later with extreme amount of detail to call it your Masterpiece.

But there is one problem right now, you cannot take it out with your on expeditions since its 100 pounds weight and two-oven sized body requires lots of space to cover. A consumer version is expected to come out some seven years later, if you can wait that long.

The researchers from Duke University used 100 microcameras each with 14MP sensor. It only takes B&W pictures but Dr. Brady, the team leader, believes that a 10 gigapixel color version of this remarkable camera device will be ready by the year-end. And then, they will go on to build a 50 gigapixel camera.

Source:http://www.etechmag.com/2012/06/27/duke-gigapixel-camera-offers-extreme-details-pictures.html

Google X Lab Built Neural Network With 16000 Processors, It Recognizes Cats

Scientists from Google X Lab, who are responsible for Glass Project, and from Stanford University have caused yet another breakthrough in building a Neural Network by connecting 16,000 computer processors to do something unexpected.

The neural network has more than a billion interconnections with each simulating human brain. To put their innovation to a test, the team of scientist handpicked, but randomly, 10 million videos from YouTube and held back to see how this network performs.

It outdone the expectations of everyone by doubling its accuracy (15.8 percent) as compared to the previous networks of such kind. Out of 20,000 different images it recognized the face of cat with zero training from its makers and that was a nail biting moment for all.

Once Burned (Night Prince, #1) by Jeaniene Frost

She's a mortal with dark powers...

After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...

He's the Prince of Night...

Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.

White Collar (TV series)

White Collar is a television series created by Jeff Eastin, starring Matt Bomer as con-man Neal Caffrey and Tim DeKay as Special Agent Peter Burke. It premiered on October 23, 2009. In December 2009, White Collar was renewed for a second season that began on July 13, 2010. On September 27, 2010, the USA Network renewed White Collar for a third season with 16 new episodes, which premiered on June 7, 2011. The series was renewed for a fourth season on August 25, 2011; the season is scheduled to begin on July 10, 2012.

Overview: Neal Caffrey, a con man, forger and thief, is captured after a three-year game of cat and mouse with the FBI. With only months left while serving a four-year sentence, he escapes from a maximum security federal prison to find Kate, his ex-girlfriend. Peter Burke, the FBI agent who initially captured Caffrey, finds him and returns Caffrey to prison. This time, Caffrey gives Burke information about evidence in another case; however, this information comes with a price: Burke must have a meeting with Caffrey. At this meeting, Caffrey proposes a deal: he will help Burke catch other criminals as part of a work-release program. Burke agrees, after some hesitation. Through the successful apprehending of several white collar criminals, Caffrey has proven to Burke that he will help him, and that he will not try to escape again. This begins an unconventional but successful partnership.

UNWTO gearing up for World Tourism Day 2012

Launching the World Tourism Day 2012 (27 September) campaign, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, has called on all tourism stakeholders to “play their part in reaching the United Nations goal of achieving sustainable energy for all by 2030”.

World Tourism Day (WTD) 2012 will be celebrated under the theme ‘Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development’, inviting everyone involved in tourism – from governments to businesses and tourists themselves – to learn more about the sustainable energy initiatives in place in the tourism sector, debate what more should be done and advance the use of sustainable energy in tourism. 

“Tourism is leading the way in some of the world’s most innovative sustainable energy initiatives,” says Mr. Rifai in his official WTD message. “Energy efficient upgrades to aircraft, the shift to renewable fuel for aviation and cruise liners, energy technology solutions in hotels, as well as countless other initiatives are placing tourism at the forefront of the clean energy transformation.”

These initiatives are crucial for sustainable development, continues Mr. Rifai, helping to cut tourism’s carbon emissions, enabling businesses to grow and create jobs, and bringing modern and affordable energy services to some of the world’s most vulnerable communities – goals in line with the 2012 UN International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. 

The Secretary-General’s message is part of the WTD 2012 campaign, which also includes the annual WTD photo competition, the upcoming Twitter competition and access to resources on the relationship between tourism and energy. This year, UNWTO is also inviting everyone to visit the ‘online energy school’, as part of Hotel Energy Solutions, a UNWTO-initiated project designed to help hoteliers cut their carbon emissions and costs. The launch of the WTD  campaign comes one week after governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups meeting at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) committed US$ 323 billion to achieving sustainable energy for all by 2030.

Official WTD celebrations will take place on 27 September in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain, and include a Think Tank on the 2012 theme with the participation of top experts and policy makers in the field of tourism and energy. The Think Tank will be one of hundreds of events taking place around the world in celebration of WTD.

traveldailynews.com

Erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" breaks UK record

(Reuters) - E.L. James' erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey", dubbed "mummy porn" by the British media, has become the country's fastest paperback to reach one million sales, trade figures showed.

The story, the first in a trilogy, took just 11 weeks to reach the milestone, 25 weeks faster than the previous record holder, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", according to figures from publishing tracking company Nielsen BookScan.

It also beat its own seven-day record for an adult paperback, shifting 397,889 copies in a week and smashing the 205,130 copies it sold a few days earlier.

Both other titles in the trilogy have also seen sales surge, in one of publishing's biggest stories since J.K. Rowling's seven-book "Harry Potter" series wound up in 2007. "Fifty Shades Darker" sold 245,801 while "Fifty Shades Freed" sold 212,832.

In one week alone, the total of copies sold across the trilogy was around 856,000 copies, or more than twice the number of books sold from the rest of the BookScan top 50.

According to Random House publishers, global sales for the series is in excess of 20 million, with North American sales comfortably topping 15 million.

"Fifty Shades of Grey," about a passionate relationship between naïve literature student Anastasia Steele and manipulative entrepreneur Christian Grey, was first published in 2011 and was James' first novel.

Movie rights to the trilogy were bought up by Universal and Focus Features, U.S. media reported in March.

James, a former television executive whose real name is Erika Leonard, lives with her family in London.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; editing by Patricia Reaney)

reuters.com

Android apps to run on Apple Macs via Bluestacks program

Owners of Android smartphones now have a way to run their favourite apps on an Apple Mac computer.

Start-up Bluestacks has produced a software wrapper that lets the phone apps run on a desktop Apple machine.

The release follows an earlier software tool that helped Android apps make the jump from a phone to a Windows PC.

Bluestacks said the software was for people that wanted a consistent experience with their favourite apps, no matter where they used them.

Playing games

So far, only 17 Android developers, including Handy Games, Creative Mobile and Pulse, have signed up to make their apps available to run on a Mac.

Bluestacks said more developers were signing up to get their apps working with the company's software.

The latest estimates suggest there are about 400,000 Android apps available.

In a statement, Bluestacks head Rosen Sharma said its software was helping to "break open" the closed ecosystem surrounding Apple's computers.

Making apps that looked good on desktops could also help developers produce programs that worked well on tablets, he said.

Stuart Miles, founder and head of technology news website Pocket-lint, said the Bluestacks software would likely prove popular with keen users of Android apps.

"The appeal is likely to be more for gamers," he said. "So your favourite Android game, you could have that on your desktop at work."

It might fill another gap, he said, because there was currently no easy way to run apps for the iPhone on a Mac desktop computer.

In addition, it might also mean that people can get hold of free versions of iOS apps by going to an Android site, downloading it and running it on a Mac. If more developers sign up it could mean they can get popular programs, such as Angry Birds, for free instead of buying them from Apple's Mac store.

A test, or alpha, version of the Bluestacks Mac software is now available for download on the company's website.

bbc.com

Google unveils Nexus tablet made by Asus and Project Glass pre-orders

The device is made by the Taiwanese company Asus rather than the firm's own Motorola hardware unit. It runs the new Jelly Bean version of Android.

An 8GB version will be sold for $199 (£127) from mid-July pitching it directly against Amazon's Kindle Fire.

The firm also showed off its internet-connected augmented reality glasses revealing the first models would ship in 2013.

The announcements were made at Google's I/O developers' conference in San Francisco.

Multi-cored

The 7-inch (17.8cm) Nexus tablet features a quad-core CPU (central processing unit) and a 12-core GPU (graphics processing unit).

Having so many cores means the machine can ramp up its processing power when dealing with complicated graphics or running several programs at once, but can use less at other times to extend battery life.

It is a similar size to Amazon's tablet and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 7.0.

But it has a significantly smaller screen than Apple's bestselling 9.7-inch (24.6cm) iPad. At 340g (12oz) it is also lighter to hold.

The machine features Google's Chrome browser as its default option - the first Android device to do so.

RelationshipsThe Google Play site said the 8GB model would sell for £159 in the UK, and the 16GB version for £199.

The news follows Microsoft's announcement last week that it plans to sell its own family of tablets called Surface which will run Windows 8.

Tudor Aw, technology sector head at KPMG Europe said it marked a shift towards Apple's business model which recognised the advantage of being involved in both hardware and software.

"Following hard on the heels of a similar announcement by Microsoft last week [this] demonstrates that gaining a strong marketshare of the tablet market will be critical to tech players if they want to maintain a strong relationship with their end customers - both consumers and business users," he said.

"Tech players recognise that given the increasing importance of tablet devices, they can no longer risk selling their software and services solely through other people's products."

But one analyst, from Forrester Research, said the Nexus 7's success was not guaranteed.

"Google's real tablet problem is the lack of compelling tablet-optimised apps and Google has yet to address how to motivate developers to fill the gap," said Frank Gillett.

"I also expect Amazon will update the Kindle Fire before October at the latest, and that will have more compelling content thanks to the retailer's Prime subscription package which includes movies, books and other content.

"I was surprised Google didn't offer a similar deal to monetise its hardware."

bbc.com

                                                    

The iPhone at 5: From uncertainty to runaway hit

If Steve Jobs was spoiling for a chance to cross up his critics, the keynote at 2007's Macworld conference could not have been a better venue.

After months of speculation, Apple's chief executive used the annual confab to introduce theiPhone, a product that Apple's loyalists -- they called it "the Jesus phone" -- were sure to embrace.

It was sleek, it was simple. It had Apple written all over it. There was just one problem. It was expensive, and it wasn't launching for another six months. More importantly, for the iPhone to live up to Jobs' -- and investor -- expectations, Apple would have to attract a wide audience for this, its first entry into the phone business.

With the benefit of five years' worth of hindsight -- the iPhone hit the market running five years ago tomorrow -- those reservations now seem laughable. But it wasn't so clear at the time.

In fact, some believed that Apple had reached too far. At $599, they pointed out that the iPhone was a relative luxury good and far more expensive than most smartphones in the market. What's more, the device lacked a physical keyboard, required a computer with Apple's iTunes to even get it up and running, and had a special indented headphone jack that required many owners to purchase after-market adapters. There was also no speedy 3G wireless or a battery that could be removed -- both of which were considered crucial if Apple wanted to lure in corporate users.

It was also available only on certain carriers, though mainly just AT&T in the U.S. More than anything, there were simply concerns whether Apple could navigate successfully into new and potentially treacherous new territory without getting tossed onto the shoals.Then there was the software, which was entirely new and unproven. Based on Apple's OS X software for desktops, what would later become the iOS was missing any way for users to install additional applications -- something rivals had offered for years. Critics also took aim at the iPhone's inability to handle some basic things, like send MMS, copy and paste text, or multitask.

The skepticism was, perhaps, best summed up by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interviewwith USA Today just two months before the iPhone went on sale:

For most other companies, you might have assumed this would have been the proverbial kiss of death. This wasn't most other companies. Apple has since gone on to sell more than 218 million iPhones, while raking in an estimated $150 billion in revenues.

Almost overnight, the iPhone transformed Apple's corporate image. It helped turn a company known primarily as computer maker with a popular portable music player and digital media service into a dominant player in the cellphone business. The arrival of the iPhone also turned out to be bad news in bells for rivals with years more experience, including the likes of Microsoft, Palm, Nokia, and Research In Motion, who appeared hopelessly out of touch and lead-footed as shoppers voted with their pocketbooks for Apple's iPhone.

cnet.com

Milan menswear splashes color on grey times

MILAN (Reuters) - Menswear designers showcased colorful jackets, mid-thigh shorts and sockless loafers in Milan this week to impress men who need more than grey suits to shine in tough economic times.

The Milan fashion shows that ended on Tuesday brought fresh ideas to an industry starting to feel the pinch of the euro crisis.

Star shoemaker Ferragamo, renowned for its classic elegance, surprised the well-heeled audience at an all-white Milan stock exchange with models in colored suits and sneakers.

Trend-setter Prada explored new colored, geometric patterns and Roberto Cavalli swapped his signature animal prints for a butterly theme.

A tribute to the sunny Italian summer came from Gucci, whose men looked like holidaymakers in watermelon, green and sky blue suits.

"My starting point was a blatant desire for color to evoke summer," said Gucci's creative director, Frida Giannini.

Armed with new ideas, fashion executives shrugged off concerns about a slowdown in Europe as Asian shoppers continue to travel. But some acknowledged there were challenges ahead, even in the fast-growing Eastern markets.

"China is growing, but not uniformly. The southern coast for example is growing less than second- and third-tier cities," Ferragamo CEO Michele Norsa said on the sidelines of the show.

Gianluca Brozzetti, chief executive of the Roberto Cavalli group, said store locations in China had become difficult to find and very expensive.

Italian fashion sales will fall 5.2 percent to 60.5 billion euros this year, industry estimates say, a small decline compared with the 15 percent drop during the 2009 crisis, but a blow to an industry that makes around 70 percent of its sales in Europe.

Medium-term industry forecasts suggest the global luxury sector will grow at between 7 percent and 9 percent this year, down from the double-digit figures seen in the past two years.

Asia-driven menswear, however, remains a safe spot for fashion firms. Consulting firm Bain & Co estimates menswear sales will grow 14 percent a year, nearly double the pace of luxury womenswear.

REAL MEN
In Milan, fashion executives and designers put a brave face on the challenging times. Italian businessman Diego Della Valle called for "real men" to stand united against the crisis.

"We need normal, quality men. We need to act together for change," the head of luxury shoemaker Tod's said at the launch of "Italian portraits", which featured pictures of self-confident businessmen in informal suits and leather loafers.

Italian fashion doyen Giorgio Armani created sporty jackets and pleated trousers for a new relaxed "American Gigolo" look that seduces with natural elegance. "Excess leads nowhere," he said.

Glamorous fashion house Versace, however, shocked its audience with daring men in gladiator sandals and boxing belts. Trouser suits came with sleeveless jackets and metallic shirts - a theme also seen at British brand Burberry, where collars shone under the natural light flooding the catwalk.

It was up to celebrity designers Dolce & Gabbana to bring glamour back down to earth, with more than 70 ordinary Sicilian men, all first-timers on the runway, modeling striped shirts amid rows of green cacti.

Bale signs new Spurs deal

Gareth Bale has signed a new four-year contract with Tottenham Hotspurs, ending speculation over future amid interest from abroad.


Talks with continue on Thursday with Andre Villas-Boas who remains in advanced negotiations to becomeTottenham's new manager. The 34-year-old Portuguese is contractually free to take a job in England, following his sacking at Chelsea in February, on July 1. It is hoped an official announcement can be made next week.

While Spurs have secured Bale, the chances of Luka Modric remaining are rapidly receding with the midfielder expected to ask for a transfer when he returns from holiday next week, although he has been given extra time off after playing in Euro 2012.

Real Madrid are preparing a cash-plus-player offer for Modric, involving the exciting Turkish midfielder Nuri Sahin who has been told he can leave.
Chelsea continue to closely monitor Modric’s situation but Spurs, who value the player at £50 million, would rather sell to an overseas club.
It remains to be seen if Spurs are interested in Sahin but, at 23, he fits the profile of the players they want to sign.



Spurs are, meanwhile, still extremely confident that they had gazumped Liverpool to sign 22-year-old midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim after an £8 million fee was agreed.
Spurs are also very hopeful that they will sign the Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen this summer, despite a hitch over the 15 per cent of the £9.5 million transfer fee he is due, as the club begins an overhaul of their squad.

Regal Federer dazzles, Stosur knocked out

Britain's Prince Charles made a rare, if fleeting, visit to Wimbledon on Wednesday but lingered long enough to see Roger Federer produce another regal performance on Centre Court and move serenely into the third round.

Swiss Federer, bidding for a record-equaling seventh men's singles title at the All England Club, aired his full repertoire of shots to outclass Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-3 6-2 in front of an appreciative Royal Box and 15,000 entranced fans.

With raindrops hovering around south west London, Centre Court's roof slid shut to enable defending champion Novak Djokovic to reach the third round with a straight-sets win over American Ryan Harrison.

Djokovic completed a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory just before 10 p.m. local time to set up a clash with 28th seed Radek Stepanek or German Benjamin Becker, one of several matches unfinished on a day of frustrating delays.

Women's top seed Maria Sharapova was poised to follow suit but bad light halted her progress against Tsvetana Pironkova when she led 7-6 3-1 having fended off set points on Court One.

Pironkova, Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2010, made an inspired start and Sharapova recovered from 2-0 and 5-2 down to take the first set 7-3 on the tiebreak.  -  Reuters

Spain reach Euro 2012 final after shootout

Cesc Fabregas was the hero again as Spain kept alive their hopes of defending the European title with a dramatic shootout win in Dontesk.

Joao Moutinho and Bruno Alves missed for Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo a frustrated, unused fifth penalty-taker.
The match finished 0-0 after extra-time with neither side doing enough to win.

The shootout start was nervy as goalkeepers Rui Patricio and Iker Casillas denied Xabi Alonso and Moutinho respectively in the first round.

Andres Iniesta calmly put Spain in front, only for Pepe to keep Portugal on terms with a clinical low finish. Spain defender Gerard Pique found the bottom left-hand corner of the net, but Nani responded by firing his spot-kick high into the roof of the net to make it 2-2.

But when Spain's Sergio Ramos nonchalantly chipped his penalty beyond Patricio and Alves hit the bar for Portugal, it was left to Fabregas, who had scored the winning penalty in the Euro 2008 quarter-final win over Italy, to send Spain into the final, drilling his penalty in off the left-hand post.

The world champions have now won their past nine knockout games at major tournaments without conceding a goal, and their past 19 competitive matches.

Spain will face either Germany or Italy on Sunday and remain on course for an unprecedented third successive tournament victory.

French

l'organisation geo politique mondiale

Oumar Ly Dieme
Correspondant, SAM Daily Times

Le monde fonctionne aujourd'hui comme un tout qui intègre les Etats,les sociétés et les entreprises dans un système complexe de relation et de hiérarchies économique politique et culturelle. En quelques siècle l’humanité est passe du stade de cellule autonome plus ou moins isole au stade de système monde dans lequel il n'existe plus d'espace indépendant: c'est la MONDIALISATION

Le monde est donc organisé en réseaux interconnectes les uns aux autres. Neanmoins cela ne signifie point que le monde s'uniformise. Au contraire, la Mondialisation dessine une nouvelle geographie avec ses espaces moteurs ( des centres) et ses espaces plus ou moins integrés ( des peripheries).