Yahoo's Marissa Mayer to get $100 million if succeeds

Yahoo disclosed yesterday the pay package of the former Google top executive after she joined Yahoo on Tuesday as Chief Executive Officer. She can receive more than $100m if she can turn the ailing internet company around over the next five years.

The 37-year-old is pregnant — and the board knew all about it when it appointed her. “My maternity leave will be a few weeks long, and I’ll work throughout it.” she said.

Mayer will be paid an annual salary of $1m and will be eligible for a bonus of up to $2m. She will also receive two annual awards of at least $6m in share options and restricted stock units beginning in November And that’s not all. Mayer will be paid a further $30m over the next five years and will receive $14m as compensation for the salary she had to give up at Google.

Her main challenge will be finding ways to generate more advertising revenues from the tens of millions of people who still visit the company's homepage each day.

Ms Mayer has made an estimated $300m during her career at Google which she joined as the company's first female engineer 13 years ago.

Duke U joins online teaching push

DUKE University will begin to offer free courses online later this year through the Coursera portal.

One of the first offerings will be a course in behavioural economics taught by Duke's Dan Ariely, whose books include The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.

Coursera began last year in partnership with Stanford, Michigan, Princeton and Pennsylvania universities. Some 650,000 students in 190 countries have taken its courses.

Duke, based in North Carolina, is among a dozen other universities now joining the venture.

Provost Peter Lange, Duke's chief academic officer, said: "Coursera has the potential to substantially influence how we teach our own students on campus as well as to extend the reach of our faculty and show their intellectual strength on a global scale''.



A biologist at Duke, Mohamed Noor, said he planned to offer his on-campus students both the traditional class and the variant he records for Coursera.

"It's an opportunity to change the classroom around and really engage the students,'' he said.

The new institutions signing up with Coursera, founded by Stanford computer science academics Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, are mostly from the US but include the University of Edinburgh and the EPF Lausanne technical university from Switzerland.

Students receive no credit but do can get a certificate signed by the teacher if they complete the course.

-  The Australian 

Over a third of Fukushima children at risk of developing cancer

A girl holds her petition to ask the education ministry
 to protect children from radioactive contamination at 
Fukushima prefecture. (AFP Photo / Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Over a third of children in Japan's Fukushima region could be prone to cancer if medics don’t apply more effort in treating their unusually overgrown thyroid glands and commit to international health aid and consultations, according to a new report.
The shocking new report shows that nearly 36 per cent of children in the nuclear disaster-affected Fukushima Prefecture have abnormal thyroid growths. This is an extremely large number of abnormalities – some of which, experts say, pose a risk of becoming cancerous.

After examining more than 38,000 children from the area, medics found that more than 13,000 have cysts or nodules as large as 5 millimeters on their thyroids, the Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey states.

In comparison, a 2001 analysis by the Japan Thyroid Association found that fully zero per cent of children in the city of Nagasaki, which suffered a nuclear attack in August of 1945, had nodules, and only 0.8 per cent had cysts on their thyroids, reports the Telegraph.

Radiation enters the body and is distributed through soft tissue, especially in muscle, and then accumulates in the thyroid. It is this accumulation that can potentially lead to cancer.

"Yes, 35.8 per cent of children in the study have lumps or cysts, but this is not the same as cancer," says Naomi Takagi, an associate professor at Fukushima University Medical School Hospital, which administered the tests.

"This is an early test, and we will only see the effects of radiation exposure after four or five years" she added.
But some doctors are outraged that the results are not being sufficiently publicized.   (rt.com)

DepEd sets guidelines for hiring of over 700 mobile teachers

The Department of Education has come up with new guidelines in hiring the targeted 719 Alternative Learning System (ALS) literacy volunteers to better respond to the leaning needs of out-of-school children, youth and adults across the country.

Education Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC said the revised guidelines provide the criteria for selection, hiring and deployment of ALS volunteers as well as their functions and fund allocation.

“We really have to improve the guidelines because of the growing importance of ministering to the learning needs of non-formal learners who are away from the ordinary classroom setting,” added Luistro.

To qualify as an ALS volunteer, applicant must be a licensed teacher (LET passer), a resident of the target community/division and has the ability to speak the local language. Moreover, an applicant mpust be in good physical condition, has good public relation skills and is willing to go through ALS training.

All applications must be received and screened at the division office and a selection committee must be formed by the schools division superintendent. The names of successful applicants must be posted/published by the Division Office. The duration of the contract is 10 months.

Upon hiring, the ALS volunteer must attend an orientation meeting regarding barangay and team assignment, reporting system, schedule of work roles, responsibilities and expected outputs.

An ALS volunteer receives a monthly stipend of R5,000 and a transportation allowance of R2,000 plus a provision of R5,000 for teaching aids.

An ALS volunteer is expected to coordinate with community leaders to identify learners and organize learning groups of 50 learners or more. Further, volunteers must be able to determine the learning needs of learners and conduct evaluation to determine the entry and exit level of learners.

Original source here

Postcode lottery reveals where young people will prosper

The fate of the next generation is in their postcode, according to new research that compares the chances of success across UK regions.

The likelihood of young people going to university and finding full-time work can be predicted according to where they live thanks to a new website.


The data, studied by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, shows those living in Kensington and Wimbledon in London were destined for a good education and career, with 30 in 100 18-year-olds studying at a top 20 university.


However, in Hull, fewer than 0.1 per cent of teenagers can expect to attend an elite university.


The charity launched Compare Futures to show how the area in which children grow up can affect their life chances and opportunities.


According to their findings, gathered by universities, the capital was a tale of two cities with poor prospects for school-leavers in Camberwell and Peckham in south London, and Hackney in east London.

Parts of the West Midlands including Birmingham and West Bromwich, as well as Liverpool and Sheffield, were also areas where the outlook was limited for young people.

Further north, Sixth Formers in Harrogate were seven times more likely to go to a top university than their peers 20 miles away in Bradford.

Those behind the project said it showed that the concept of a postcode lottery was in fact a reality.

Annika Small, CEO, said: "The powerful data available through Compare Futures proves what we've known for a long time – the postcode lottery is not a myth but in fact a harsh and very bleak reality for Britain's young people.

"We'd urge policymakers, youth workers, and other professionals working with young people to take note of the fact that our current system is failing today's youth, and that a fresh approach is required."

Users can enter their postcode into the website and see how their area compares to the national average for employment, education and qualifications.

Richard Garside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, said: "We are taught that life is what you make it, that the able will succeed, regardless of background.

"But the site shows that where you are born and where you grow up has a huge influence on where you end up.

"The site will help young people and their families lobby their MPs to challenge the postcode lottery."

Original source here

UK -- Nick Clegg scheme will pay firm to wake jobless teens

The government is paying a company to wake teenagers up in an effort to get them back to work, under a new scheme.

The firm, in the north-east of England, said it was "just one small part of the mentoring approach we have got".

And young people were also driven to interviews and helped to get into the habit of "turning up on time" to jobs.

Nick Clegg's £126m Youth Contract aims to cut the number of England's "Neets" - 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training.

The deputy prime minister has encouraged the firms chosen to deliver the scheme to be "creative" in their approach to getting poorly-qualified and often troubled youngsters into the workforce.

Pertemps People Development Group, a national training organisation awarded a Youth Contract in the north-east said it had found wake-up calls a useful way "to help young people develop a routine".

'Personal relationship'

Marketing director Paul King said youngsters who didn't have stable families and had dropped out of school "appreciated the fact that that there is someone there who cares for them".

Mentors were encouraged to "build up a personal relationship with these people" and would also drive them to interviews or jobs and instil in them "the importance of turning up on time".

Mr King said lateness was one of the most common reasons for young people being sacked - and ex-offenders were often better organised and more punctual than some of the Neets his organisation was trying to help.

Charities and businesses selected to help the 55,000 Neet youngsters return to college or find jobs will be paid by results.

Another company, in Yorkshire, will use ex-soldiers to deliver motivational sessions to disaffected young people through the Heroes to Inspire campaign.

The organisations get up to £2,200 for every young person helped, but the full amount will only be paid if the youngster is still in full-time education, training or work six months later.

Mr Clegg, who in 2011 vowed to stand up for "alarm clock" Britain - basic-rate taxpayers who get up in the dark to get ready for work - said the firms selected to deliver the scheme should "be as creative and innovative as they can".

Almost one in five young people aged between 16 and 24 are classified as Neet - with the most recent figure standing at 1,163,000.

The three-year programme will focus on 16 to 17-year-old Neets with no A*-to-C GCSEs who are at the highest risk of long-term disengagement.

Mr Clegg's scheme came in for heavy criticism from Labour when it was launched, with shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne saying it would not help 95% of young unemployed people.

Labour called the scheme "too small and much too late" and unions said it would not make up for cuts in other areas.

Chris Keates, leader of the Nasuwt teachers' union, has accused Mr Clegg of being responsible for an increase in Neets by scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance.

Original source here

Free schools have to pass our most rigorous exams

Many applicants have failed to realise how hard it is to set up a new free school.

In these pages earlier this week, Toby Young highlighted the hard work, the opposition to be overcome and the sheer worth of setting up a free school. He did so as one who has broken through to the sunlit uplands of educational success. But what of those groups of parents and teachers whose applications didn’t get through the process?

I help the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, with the vetting of free schools. One applicant I spoke to described how his group fell apart through exhaustion after struggling nine-tenths of the way through the bureaucratic thicket, only to find that the premises they thought they’d got were abruptly sold off by an ideologically hostile local authority. Such antipathy from elements of the educational establishment, particularly the unions, won’t go away, as control is part of their raison d’etre and any freedoms that threaten it – no matter how beneficial to the children they’re supposed to be educating – will be opposed.

But ideological spite is not a major reason for failure. The most common cause is that the applicants simply haven’t thought through how the school is to be set up and run, what it will teach, whether there’s a need for it, what its catchment area will be, and how it can be financially sustained. Virtually all applicants expect to recruit “outstanding” headteachers and staff, but not all consider where these people are to come from and what will attract them to the school. Getting this right takes far more energy and time than most people realise.

The Department for Education has been criticised for being too demanding of applicants, but it is right to err on the side of caution – significant sums of public money are being handed over, and we’re consigning our children to their care.

About a third of this year’s successful applications are from groups wanting to set up faith schools, which highlights another problem area. There is an argument for banning faith applications altogether – why should the state fund faiths to advance themselves when the only example we have here of an almost entirely faith-based educational system (Northern Ireland) is discouraging? This would please the British Humanist Association, but it ignores the fact that we have a long tradition of tolerant and beneficial faith schools to which parents of all faiths and none are keen to send their children. To ban believers from setting up free schools would be to exclude a large number of able, well-meaning and experienced people who can do much to raise levels generally.

The trouble is, as always, when it’s taken to extremes, whether it’s evangelical Christians, totalitarian Muslims or segregationist Jews. Such applications need careful vetting, not because there shouldn’t be far-out religious and ideological beliefs, but because the taxpayer shouldn’t pay to propagate them – and because children should be able to participate in a wider society without having their horizons narrowed by fundamentalism.

That is why Mr Gove is right to insist that creationism – essentially, the assertion that the universe is not evolving but was created much as it is by a single deity and centred on us – must not be taught as part of science. It may be taught in religious education as one doctrine among others, but not as one scientific theory among others, a rival to evolution.

For most of those who failed, the message should be: try again. There will always be mistakes, of course, and things that go wrong, but among the hundred or so groups that got through this year are a reassuringly high number of talented, determined and altruistic people. And there are plenty more out there.

Original source here

US -- Education Department Revamps Broken Disability Review Program

The Education Department proposed new rules on Tuesday to revamp its troubledprogram for forgiving the federal student loans of borrowers who become disabled.

The new regulations came after an investigation last year by ProPublica found that the department's dysfunctional system for evaluating disability was keeping many genuinely disabled borrowers buried in student debt. Under federal law, borrowers who develop severe and lasting disabilities are entitled to get their loans forgiven.

The department's proposed reforms would streamline the application process and improve its communication with borrowers, eliminating many of the bureaucratic hurdles that frustrated applicants in the past.

But the department rejected a key reform that would have allowed many disabled borrowers to bypass its review altogether 2014 tying the Education Department's standard for disability to that of the Social Security Administration, so that Social Security disability findings could be used to discharge loans.

"The most important reform is changing the definition [of disability], and without that it's impossible to have full reform," said Deanne Loonin, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center and the director of its Student Loan Borrower Assistance program. "Given that they chose not to address that, I think they made some other substantial improvements."

Perhaps the most significant change is that all borrowers will now submit a single discharge application to the Education Department. Previously, many applicants had to undergo initial reviews by loan holders and guarantors, who could reject applications before they even reached the department.

The department also announced several reforms intended to improve communications with borrowers, which a federal court in Missouri found in 2009 to be so poor that they violated applicants' due process rights. Individuals seeking a discharge may now nominate a "borrowers representative," such as an attorney or caregiver, who must also receive all communications from the department. Letters that reject disability discharge applications must include detailed explanations for the denial.

Loonin, the student borrowers' advocate, said the changes will be significant 2014 if the department makes sure they're actually implemented.

"We're still having problems with a lot of these things now," she said, noting that some of her clients continue to receive what she calls "rogue letters" that deny their applications without providing an explanation.

The department's refusal to accept disability findings from Social Security also means the department rejected what advocates describe as the single most important, and obvious, fix of the program: Doing so could have enabled a large proportion of applicants to avoid the cumbersome review entirely.

The department has long maintained that its legal standard of forgiving loans 2014 "total and permanent disability" 2014 is fundamentally different from that of Social Security, which can always cut off benefits if a patient recovers. But in 2008, Congress passed a law easing the standard for discharge to full disability for at least five years, aligning it closely with a designation made by Social Security for disabilities that aren't expected to improve. Both standards define disability as being unable to "engage in substantial gainful activity."

Mark Kantrowitz, an author and consultant on student financial aid, said the Education Department still needs to find a way to align its discharge standard with certain Social Security findings "so that disabled borrowers don't have to jump through the same hoops twice."

Tina Brooks, a disabled former policewoman profiled by ProPublica who spent more than five years battling to discharge her federal student loans, said several of the proposed changes would have helped in her struggle. Her biggest concern was whether the department would follow through on its pledge to give specific explanations of denial and communicate clearly with applicants.

"If they are actually are going to say why you are denied, I think it could change the whole program," Brooks said.

The Education Department said that its new rules will ease the burden that the lengthy double review has imposed on borrowers.

"The approach in the proposed rule will streamline the process," the department said. "With the streamlined process, we expect these determinations to be made much more quickly than the Social Security Administration is making determinations."

The regulations noted that the department had adopted its changes after "receiving significant public criticism in February 2011," the month ProPublica published its investigation, in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Chronicle of Higher Education.

The proposed new rules will be open until Aug. 16 for public comments, which will be evaluated by the Education Department for inclusion in the final rule. Final regulations are usually similar to the rules proposed by the department.

Tech and Media Elite Are Likely to Debate Piracy

It’s not often moguls admit they made a mistake.

But lately some of the highest-paid executives at the world’s largest media companies have talked a lot about the lessons they learned from a failed industrywide attempt to pass antipiracy legislation six months ago.

In January, the technology industry led by Google, Facebook and Wikipedia revolted against two bills called SOPA and PIPA — short for Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. The legislation, largely the product of media companies to protect movies, television shows, video games and music against online theft from rogue foreign Web sites, sparked a reaction that quickly shifted from an arcane policy debate to an online consumer rebellion.

Wikipedia went black to protest SOPA and more than seven million people signed online petitions, many of which said the bills would “break the Internet.” Congress, overwhelmed by the popular opposition, quickly backpedaled, leaving the legislation to die.

“They tsunamied the conversation with rhetoric, and we were unprepared to fight back,” Tom Dooley, chief operating officer at Viacom, said of the technology industry. “We’re going to have to find a solution that works better for everyone.”

On Tuesday, the titans of both media and technology will convene in Sun Valley, Idaho, for an exclusive annual conference sponsored by the boutique investment firm Allen & Company. It will be the first time since the piracy debate went viral that top technology and entertainment executives will assemble en masse on neutral ground to discuss major issues affecting both industries.

“There’s an agreement on both sides that there should be some period of time when everyone steps back and reassesses,” said Michael O’Leary, a senior executive vice president for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Continued: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/business/media/tech-and-media-elite-are-likely-to-debate-piracy.html?ref=technology

7 Keyboards to Die For

As Posted on http://www.etechmag.com/2012/07/09/7-keyboards-die.html:

One of the most essential gadget that these tablets lack is the keyboard. The tactile satisfaction that one draws from pounding keys can never be achieved by those capacitive/resistive touchscreens. The clickity clack of the keys makes typing a surreal experience, exactly what its supposed to be, right?

Das Keyboard:  If you want some serious geek cred, you must get your hands on this one. They have not labelled the keys because you of course know where key is; you have typed more than you have talked in your life. And it’s so intimidating for the masses and they totally do not realize that it lets you type at lightening speed.

Asus EeeKeyboard PC: Yes, as the name suggests, it is not just a keyboard, it is a functional PC with a 5”, 800×480 pixel multi touch display screen, and it also connects with any HDTV, monitor or projector.  It is equipped with an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB on an SSD and a Windows Xp OS.

Steampunk Keyboard: Now this one is no technological advancement but just a piece of beauty that I would sure want to own. This one was handcrafted from a normal keyboard by Jake von Slatt. The makingitself is fascinating.

Scrabble Keyboard: Because the game deserves to be made into a gadget. This one is also handmade and can be ordered.

The One Keyboard: Especially for those who keep switching between a regular computer and a tablet. With one touch you can change the destination of the input, so you don’t have to stop work (or your game) to answer an SMS or email. Can be connected to 2 external devices via USB and wirelessly to another. This is pure awesome-ness.

Cool Leaf: Now this one was so great that we have to let of our tactile fascination with keys. This is actually a  large mirror with touch sensitive input sensors. It is so futuristic, it’s captivating.

Logitech Gaming Keyboard G510: This list cannot be complete without a gaming keyboard. This one has a GamePanel LCD which keeps you informed about notifications, players, server info and much more. The keys are back-lit of course but you can also change the color to match with the rest of your gaming gear.

Spike Scores Higher Over Other iPhone External Keyboards

Not more than a week ago when I was searching for a Bluetooth enabled iPad compatible keyboard I also looked for ones for my iPhone 4S. What I came across were some nice and sleek keyboards but they still could have made my smartphone look bulkier if had bought.

Spike might become a right choice for me once I find it functional in my hands, but by its looks and claims it seems to me the best deal in the market yet. It is a non-Bluetooth keyboard appeared on Kickstarter that attaches itself on iPhone 4/4S’ virtual keyboard, and folds back to the attached case with its asymmetrical 360 degree hinge.

Its maker, SoloMatrix, claims to have spent over two years in the development of Spike that with its less than ¼ inch thickness maintains the slim factor of your iPhone.

With a target of $75000 on Kickstarter the first shipment is expected in this October. Pledge $25 or more to have your piece.

Phone Predicts Where You're Going Next : Discovery News

As posted on Discovery News:

What began as flurries of geolocation apps to enhance your social life has now turned into a full-on blizzard. There's Foursquare, Highlight, Glancee, Sonar and Banjo, just to name a few. All alert you to connections you share with people where ever you go.

Standing in line at Cafe Mustache, waiting to order your double-half-caf-soy-latte, updating your Facebook profile on your smartphone? Just 'Liked' Frank Ocean's new album, Channel Orange, on Pitchfork? Guess what? So did that wispy girl in the corner pecking away on her MacBook Pro. Not only that, she's a student at the Art Institute, just like you.

f you're bored by life's happy accidents and this manufactured serendipity is your cup of tea, then you'll be happy to know some researchers in the U.K. could be taking geolocation apps one step further. They've developed technology that may predict where you are going.

Where you've been and where you are may soon become passé, thanks to Mirco Musolesi, a computer scientist at the University of Birmingham who helmed the project. He and his team created an algorithm that tracks your own mobility patterns and adjusts for irregularities by factoring the movements of mutual contacts in your smartphone.

Using 200 people that were willing to be followed, the algorithm proved to be quite accurate. It predicted where a person would be 24 hours later by less than 65 feet. When the same system predicted a person's potential location using only past movements (without the movements of friends), the average margin of error was just under 3,281 feet.

Of the 200 people tracked, all lived withing Lausanne, Switzerland. Many were students and researchers, who Musolesi said are relatively predictable. However, he did say results of the study were insightful.

"We are essentially exploiting the synchronized rhythm of the city," he told Technology Review.

Top designers team with eBay for Christmas

In keeping with the growing tradition of multiple designer teamups, online retailer eBay has joined forces with leading creators including Billy Reid, Ruffian and Tibi for the eBay Holiday Collective.

Set to retail on eBay for the 2012 holiday season, the limited edition Collective will comprise men's and women's apparel, jewelry, travel and electronics accessories and home décor.

Available globally via Fashion Vault, eBay's destination for special events, limited-time sales and exclusives, the collection will go online as of November 12, with WWD reporting July 17 that the items will be priced from $50 to $100.

Joining New York Fashion Week favorites Reid, Ruffian and Tibi in the Collective are also Chris Benz, Fallon, Jonathan Adler and Steven Alan.

The designers will also compile wish lists and gift lists featuring their favorite eBay finds, with gift guides available online and on the eBay mobile app.

The news follows a surprise announcement recently from US retailers Neiman's and Target, which will jointly be offering a limited edition affordable collection comprising items by 24 designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Diane von Furstenberg as of December 1 via their stores and websites.

Meanwhile, earlier this year high street retailer Anthropologie launched a new designer springboard with its Made in Kind online platform, hosting multiple exhibitions each month from creatives including Gregory Parkinson, John Patrick and Samantha Pleet.

Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne

Girl, Interrupted meets Beautiful Creatures in this fast-paced thriller

When sixteen-year-old Faye arrives at Holbrook Academy, she doesn't expect to find herself exactly where she needs to be. After years of strange waking visions and nightmares, her only comfort the bones of dead animals, Faye is afraid she's going crazy. Fast.

But her first night at Holbrook, she feels strangely connected to the school and the island it sits on, like she's come home. She's even made her first real friends, but odd things keep happening to them. Every morning they wake on the floors of their dorm rooms with their hands stained red.

Faye knows she's the reason, but what does it all mean? The handsome Kel tries to help her unravel the mystery, but Faye is certain she can't trust him; in fact, he may be trying to kill her - and the rest of the world too.

Rich, compelling writing will keep the pages turning in this riveting and tautly told psychological thriller.

The Watch (2012)

The Watch is an upcoming science fiction comedy film directed by Akiva Schaffer and written by Jared Stern, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It stars Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, and Richard Ayoade. The film follows Evan (Stiller), Bob (Vaughn), Franklin (Hill), and Jamarcus (Ayoade), a group of neighbors who form a suburban neighborhood watch group and use it as a front to get away from their families. However, when they accidentally uncover an alien plot that threatens the world, they are forced into action.
The film began development in 2008 under producer Shawn Levy as a teen-audience targeted project written by Jared Stern. Between 2009 and late 2010, the project saw different directors and stars join the project, until November 2010, when it moved in a new direction under Rogen and Goldberg who rewrote the script aiming towards an adult-oriented audience. Filming began in October 2011, in the state of Georgia and concluded in January 2012.

Headline July 21st, 2012 / President Kennedy's Assassination!

'The Mountainous Mystery Of:

"President Kennedy's Assassination!"'

In Memorium

The World will never tire of hearing this never-ending story of the killing of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. For once the entire world joined in mourning this horrible tragedy. And in years since, when 1963 kept getting fully released to legend, the ''philosophical crux'' : 'that the sudden death of a man as large in possibilities as this very handsome and brave President, was somewhat less painful, somewhat more tolerable if we perceive his killer as tragic rather than absurd. 

Absurdity, insisted Mailer ''corrodes our species.'' Therefore, to the devotee, which is to say, the reader who has all the books and theories spilled upon a grass knoll in the back of his mind, must read this post. Will now know what the the author meant when he mentions ''the famous morning'' in September 1963 when Lee Harvey Oswald did or did not participate in a black voter registration effort in Clinton, Louisiana. 

Will spot mistakes: Officer J.D.Tippit was shot at the corner of Tenth and Patton, not Tenth and Dalton! And will wonder at things left out: no mention of Billy Lovelady, the man with the disquieting resemblance to Oswald, photographed in the Texas School Book Depository's main entrance at the moment of the shots?? 

The entire world has since come to ask why, and if, Oswald came to kill President Kennedy. For a long long stretch the investigators goal seems as difficult to divine as the assassin's. Stimulated also in part by an ''offer from the Belarus KGB to allow a look into their files on Oswald,'' Author Mailer did go onto setup a 'base camp' Although the materials proved to be less comprehensive than promised, it was a good opening to move into a large and hitherto unrecorded part of Oswald's life. 

A thorough investigation ensued in Minsk and Moscow; dozens of people who had anything to do with Oswald were interviewed for the years of his defection -1959-62. And finding their memories, thanks to years of State oppression, surprisingly fresh. 

After the assassination they had been instructed by the KGB not to speak about Oswald with his wife Marina, and indeed they did not. So, their recall was often pristine; it had not been exposed to time so much as sealed against it. 

In contrast, American memories-- including Marina's, after her many decades here, have been corrupted and internally contradicted here by their owners garrulous freedom: thirty years of talking to everyone from Earl Warren to Oliver Stone to Hard Copy. So Mailer decided to look one more time, at all we knew, through all we didn't! Awesome!

Thanks !WOW! Readers just don't miss the next post!

Good night & God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice of the Voiceless

London Eye Olympic Twitter positivity lightshow launched

Legendary athlete Daley Thompson has launched a lightshow on the London Eye which will be driven by Twitter users' enthusiasm for the Olympics.

The landmark will be lit up each night of the Games in relation to positive or negative London 2012 comments on the social networking site.

EDF Energy, which sponsors the wheel, said it was the world's first social media-driven lightshow.

The show will start at 21:00 BST each day of the Olympics and Paralympics.

'Intuitive algorithm'

The top sporting moments of the day will be projected using different coloured lights

People are being encouraged to tweet their thoughts on London 2012 using #Energy2012.

Experts on "sentiment analysis" developed an intuitive algorithm for the effect, said EDF Energy.

Real-time "social sentiment tracking" splits the tweets into positive and negative conversations and filters them through a programme, which systematically converts them into a lightshow.

If, for example, the nation's energy is 75% positive, three quarters of the wheel will light up.

Continue reading the main story

London 2012 - One extraordinary year

• The BBC's home of 2012: Latest Olympic news, sport, culture, torch relay, video and audio

Each night, the top sporting moments of the day will be projected using different coloured lights.

Thompson, who won gold in the decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics in Moscow and Los Angeles, said he knew what it meant to know the whole nation was behind you.

He said: "We want to make the EDF Energy London Eye a spectacular showcase of national support for the athletes - and one that will inspire them every night of the Games."

Google EC settlement to 'include Android'

Google may have to make changes to its Android phones as part of a settlement deal brokered with Brussels over its alleged anti-competitive behaviour.

The European Commission has been investigating Google since 2010 following complaints from rivals.

Google has proposed making changes to the way it handles search to head off a lengthy court case and large fines.

But Brussels' acceptance of the proposal hinges on the changes being extended to Android, reports the FT.

Contact phase

The Competition Commission in Brussels has been looking into whether Google favours its own results and hinders rivals when it serves up the results of searches. It is also investigating which ads are served alongside results and whether Google is inhibiting marketers' ability to buy adverts elsewhere.

Talks over Brussels' worries and Google's proposals for dealing with them were ongoing and, said the FT, close to a resolution.

However, it said, talks had hit a sticking point brought about by competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia's late inclusion of Android in the settlement deal.

Mr Almunia is known to prefer reaching a settlement through negotiation rather than a trial.

Google's agreement to include Android and ensure the changes it makes to web searches apply to its phones as well would mean that talks continued.

Without this agreement, Mr Alumnia's office was likely to decide to proceed with legal action as early as next week, said the paper.

A spokesman for Mr Almunia's office told the BBC he had no comment to make on the FT story.

"We are analysing the proposals that Google has sent us and we are also discussing with them in order to clarify some aspects," he said. "But we are still in the contact-and-discussion phase.

"We cannot pre-judge what this could lead to, be it a possible settlement or standard procedure," he added.

A Google spokesman said it had no comment to make on reports about Android.

"We have made a proposal to address the four areas the European Commission described as potential concerns," he said. "We continue to work cooperatively with the Commission."

Chris Watson, head of the telecoms practice at legal firm CMS, said the inclusion of Android might signal a shift in the way Brussels views the tech industry.

"What's I find interesting about this is that it shows a convergence of the fixed and mobile telecoms market," he said.

With the late addition of mobile to the talks, he said, Brussels could be signalling that it sees telecoms as a unified market and recognises Google's influence across the sector.

Mini guide to Porto and the Douro, Portugal

There’s a dreamlike quality to Porto – a tumbledown, romantic city of medieval relics, soaring bell towers and stately beaux-arts buildings. Further afield, the wine country of Alto Douro contains some of Portugal’s most appealing countryside.

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Porto’s Unesco-protected riverfront district, the Ribeiria, is a remarkable tangle of historic streets and alleys. The traditional barcos rabelos (flat-bottomed boats) bob at the foot of the pretty hillside, down which medieval buildings, Rococo façades and Gothic churches cascade.

Alto Douro is a place of dramatic landscapes, terraced vineyards, whitewashed estates and quintas (country homes). Numerous vintners offer tasting sessions – try the Quinta Nova vineyard, which has its own restaurant and accommodation (quintanova.com; Largo da Estação 14; tours Tue–Sun, rooms from £95).

The neighbouring city of Vila Nova de Gaia has more than 60 port-making ‘lodges’ on its river banks, many dating from the mid- 18th century. The grand Ramos Pinto offers tours of its ageing cellars (ramospinto.pt; Av Ramos Pinto 30; tours and tastings £1.60).

Porto is home to some of the country’s most impressive azulejo – intricately decorated tiles. The magnificent panels made by Silvestre Silvestri in 1912 cover much of the Igreja do Carmo church (00 351 222 078 400; Praça Gomes Teixeira Cordoaria; Mon–Sat; admission free).

Each weekend, Porto residents make the short trip north to Vila do Conde. The gorgeous beaches are the real attraction – the Praia do Forno and Praia de Nossa Senhora da Guia are as white and wide as you’ll find anywhere on this coast.

Eat and drinkVintage wallpaper, gilded mirrors, polka-dot ceilings and walls of books give a discrete charm to the perfectly lit Casa do Livro bar. There’s a good beer selection, plus local wines and fine spirits. DJs play funk, soul and jazz in the back room (00 351 222 025 101; Rua Galeria de Paris 85; Mon–Sat; drinks from £3).

The best restaurant in Vila do Conde, Adega Gavina is renowned for its seafood. Watch the chef grill a catch of the day on the streetside barbecue before you add the delicious housemade vinaigrette dressing, then munch it down (00 351 917 834 517; Rua Cais das Lavandeiras 56; seafood from £4).

At azulejo-tiled Taberna São Pedro in Vila Nova de Gaia, the nostalgic sounds of traditional fado music fill the air, fish is roasted on pavement grills, and the heady smell of vinho verde (young wine) fills the air (00 351 916 585 046; Rua Agostinho Al Bano 84; plates of sea bass £7).

A Grade in Porto’s Ribeira district keeps the feel of a family-run taverna while serving masterful traditional Portuguese cuisine. Octopus baked in butter and wine, grilled seafood casseroles and sardine stews are specialities (00 351 223 321 130; Rua da São Nicolau; mains from £9).

If you know where to look, you can find sushi to rival Tokyo’s in Portugal’s big cities – which is exactly what the KyoDai Sushi Bar in Porto provides. It’s tiny, so you’ll need to reserve (00 351 936 335 483; Rua dos Mercadores; closed Mon; sushi plates from £16).

SleepSet in one of Porto’s beaux-arts Neoclassical buildings, the Hotel Aliados is great value, offering smart rooms with wooden floors, dark-stained furnishings and views overlooking the plaza of the Avenida dos Aliados (residencialaliados.com; Rua Elísio de Melo 27; from £35).

The whimsical, faux-Gothic Santa Caterina Castle in Porto is a fabulously over-the-top hideaway set in a palm-shaded garden decorated with azulejo. Rooms are split between elegant, period-furnished doubles in the castle, and smaller rooms in the more modern annexe. It even has its own chapel (castelosantacatarina.com.pt; Rua Santa Catarina 1347; from £45).

A fine boutique hotel set on a hill above Vila do Conde, the Villa C Hotel has stylishly minimal rooms, with strippedback design and marble bathtubs. Rooms on one side of the building have superb views, while those on the other afford the chance for people-watching below (villachotel.com; Av Mouzinho de Albuquerque; from £90).

Set in a restored relic that overlooks the Douro, the eight rooms at Guest House Douro have gorgeous wooden floors, queen beds and marble baths. Rooms are split between those with riverside views and ones overlooking the romantic alleys (guesthousedouro.com; Rua Fonte Torina 99–101; from £110).

Named after one of the founders of Vila Nova de Gaia’s most famous port lodges, Taylor’s, The Yeatman was the first top-end hotel in town. Tucked into the Gaia hillside, it has magnificent views, as well as a Michelin-starred restaurant (the-yeatman-hotel.com; Rua do Choupelo; from £170).

When to goSpring and early summer are great times to visit – the weather is routinely warm, but the river breeze means that it never reaches the baking temperatures of high summer. Porto’s biggest festival is the Festa de São João, held on 23 and 24 June – expect music, medieval folk plays and fireworks all night (visitportugal.com).

How to goFrancisco de Sá Carneiro, just outside of Porto, is the main international airport. Flights from Gatwick are available with easyJet (from £95;easyjet.com) and TAP (from £125; flytap.com), while Ryanair flies there from Stansted (from £140; ryanair.com).

Mayer gets $70 million pay package to lead Yahoo

 New Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's compensation package could total more than $70 million in salary, bonuses, restricted stock and stock options over five years, according to a regulatory filing made by the company Thursday.

Mayer's pay package is made up of $1 million in annual salary, as much as $2 million in an annual bonus, and $42 million in stock options and other awards, as well as $14 million in "make whole restricted options" for forfeiture of compensation from Google Inc.

Also, by including some stock grants, Mayer could earn up to a total of $20 million a year, or up to $100 million over five years, a Yahoo spokeswoman told Reuters.

As the first female Google engineer and one of its earliest employees, Mayer's net worth is already estimated to be as much as $300 million.

Yahoo's hiring of Mayer as CEO from Google earlier this week caught analysts and investors by surprise. Mayer, 37, edged out presumed front-runner and acting CEO Ross Levinsohn to become Yahoo's third CEO in a year.

Industry observers believe Mayer's selection over Levinsohn is a signal that Yahoo is likely to renew its focus on Web technology and products rather than beefing up online content.

Her appointment caps a tumultuous year at Yahoo. In May, Scott Thompson resigned as CEO after less than 6 months in the job after a controversy over his academic credentials. Thompson replaced the controversial Carol Bartz, who was fired in September after failing to revitalize Yahoo.

Thompson's total compensation at hire was valued at $27 million. He got no severance but was able to keep the $7 million in compensation he got for leaving Paypal. Bartz got more than $10 million in severance when she was fired last year.

NEW BROOM

A self-described "geek" with a master's degree in computer science from Stanford, Mayer started as CEO on Tuesday, the same day Yahoo announced weak financial results, with flat net revenue and a slight decline in second-quarter profit.

Although she was on the company's sprawling Sunnyvale, Calif, campus, she did not participate in its earnings call. Levinsohn was also absent from the call, which was led by Yahoo's Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse.

Mayer joins Yahoo as something of a celebrity, having already established herself as one of Silicon Valley's leading women, both inside and outside of the office. She is known for her love of fashion and regularly appears on the society pages for hosting parties.

In 2009 she married real estate investor Zachary Bogue --Mayer tweeted that the couple expects their first child, a boy, in October.

Despite its leadership upheaval, Yahoo remains one of the world's most popular websites, with more than 700 million monthly visitors, according to the company.

But revenue growth has stalled amid an industry wide decline in online display advertising prices and competition from Facebook Inc and Google.

After Batman, Warner Bros. hunts for next super hero

Warner Bros. movie "The Dark Knight Rises" is expected to do big business when it hurtles into theatres this weekend, ending an era for one of Hollywood's most-enduring franchises.

For the studio's executives, it's also a superhero-sized challenge to find a new movie franchise capable of wearing Batman's cape.

The Time Warner-owned studio has been Hollywood's King of Franchises for years. In the last decade, it generated worldwide ticket sales of $12 billion from its "Lord of the Rings," "Batman," and "Harry Potter" films.

Eight of the 20 highest-grossing films of all time come from one of those franchises, according to website Box Office Mojo.

"The Dark Knight Rises" will be the last of the Batman series that began in 2005, says director Christopher Nolan.

"Harry Potter," Warner Bros.'s biggest franchise, ended last summer with the largest of eight films, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2," that generated $1.3 billion worldwide.

Franchise films are especially important to studios, who use the big-budget films to create theme park rides, sell toys and spawn TV shows.

Warner Brothers is counting on a pair of "Hobbit" movies to rekindle the magic of "Lord of the Rings", the first of which hits theatres in December.

A reboot of the "Superman" franchise is also scheduled for next summer, "Man of Steel," that is being made by "Dark Knight" producer Legendary Pictures. Nolan, one of Hollywood's hottest directors, is a producer on that film.

The films could pave the way for Warner to unite Batman, Superman and other characters from its DC Comics stable in a "Justice League" movie, said Gitesh Pandya, editor of website Box Office Guru.

That would follow the strategy that brought staggering success to Walt Disney Co with "The Avengers." The movie that brought together a handful of Marvel superheroes has already generated nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide sales.

One problem for Warner Bros. is that not every DC Comics character has been a oversized hit, Pandya said.

Last summer's "Green Lantern" didn't work very well, he said, grossing $219.8 million. Some industry watchers said the movie cost $200 million to produce, though Warner has disputed that figure. Studios receive about half of box office sales.

The 2006 "Superman Returns" also disappointed, Pandya said.

The aim is to create another series like Batman, which won critical acclaim, fan devotion and $1.4 billion in ticket sales for "Batman Begins" in 2005 and 2008's "The Dark Knight."

Opening weekend ticket sales for "Dark Knight Rises," which cost $250 million to produce, should at least match the last Batman film, according to box office forecasters.

That film grabbed $158 million in the United States and Canada, a record at the time and still the highest debut for a movie that wasn't boosted by higher-priced 3D tickets.

Weekend sales could reach as high as $198 million, just shy of the $207 million record set by "Avengers" in May, some industry analysts say.

Even with a big haul for the "Dark Knight" films, "you need the secondary characters" beyond the well-known Superman and Batman, to pull off a massive performance like "The Avengers," said Evercore Partners analyst Alan Gould.

Marvel Studios, now owned by Disney, executed a nearly-flawless multi-year plan to stir excitement for the characters that united in "Avengers," Box Office Guru's Pandya said. Two "Iron Man" movies built a following for that character, and "Thor" and "Captain America" starred in their own films.

Beyond superheroes and the "Hobbit," Warner also intends to bring "The Hangover 3" to theatres next summer, the next instalment in the adult comedy series that has grossed $1 billion.

"We are well on the road to quite a number of franchises," said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros. "We are in great shape."