One step closer to a quantum computer

Apr. 30, 2013 ? Professor Weimin Chen and his colleagues at Link?ping University, in cooperation with German and American researchers, have succeeded in both initializing and reading nuclear spins, relevant to qubits for quantum computers, at room temperature.

The results have just been published in the journal Nature Communications.

A quantum computer is controlled by the laws of quantum physics; it promises to perform complicated calculations, or search large amounts of data, at a speed that exceeds by far those that today's fastest supercomputers are capable of.

"You could say that a quantum computer can think several thoughts simultaneously, while a traditional computer thinks one thought at a time," says Weimin Chen, professor in the Division of Functional Electronic Materials at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at LiU, and one of the main authors of the article in Nature Communications.

A traditional computer stores, processes and sends all information in the form of bits, which can have a value of 1 or 0. But in the world of quantum physics, at the nano- and atomic level, other rules prevail and a bit in a quantum computer -- a qubit -- can have any value between 1 and 0. A spin-based qubit makes use of the fact that electrons and atomic nuclei rotate around their own axes -- they have a spin. They can rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise (equivalent to 1 and 0), and in both directions simultaneously (a mix of 1 and 0) -- something that is completely unthinkable in the traditional, "classical" world.

An atomic nucleus consists of both protons and neutrons, and the advantage of using the nuclear spin as a qubit is that the nucleus is well protected, and nearly impervious to unwanted electromagnetic disturbance, which is a condition for keeping the sensitive information in the qubit intact.

The first step in building a quantum computer is to assign each qubit a well-defined value, either 1 or 0. Starting, or initiating, the spin-based qubits then requires all the atomic nuclei to spin in the same direction, either 'up' or 'down' (clockwise or counterclockwise). The most common method for polarising nuclear spin is called dynamic nuclear polarisation; this means that the electrons' spin simply influences the nucleus to spin in the same direction. The method requires strongly spin polarised electrons and functions superbly at lower temperatures. Dynamic nuclear polarisation via conduction electrons has, however, not yet been demonstrated at room temperature -- which is crucial for the method to be useful in practice for the development of quantum computers. The main problem is that the spin orientation in the electrons can easily be lost at room temperature, since it is sensitive to disruptions from its surroundings.

Link?ping University researchers Yuttapoom Puttisong, Xingjun Wang, Irina Buyanova and Weimin Chen, together with their German and American colleagues, have now discovered a way of getting around this problem.

Back in 2009, Chen and his research group presented a spin filter that works at room temperature; the filter lets through electrons that have the desired spin direction and screens out the others.

With the help of the spin filter, they have now succeeded in producing a flow of free electrons with a given spin in a material -- in this case GaNAs (gallium nitrogen arsenide). The spin polarisation is so strong that it creates a strong polarisation of the nuclear spin in extra Ga atoms that are added as defects in the material -- and this takes place at room temperature. This is the first time that strong nuclear spin polarisation of a defect atom in a solid is demonstrated at room temperature by spin-polarised conduction electrons.

"We prove experimentally that the measurable magnetic field from the nuclei, as well as the strong polarisation of the nuclear spins in the material at room temperature, comes from the dynamic polarisation of the nuclear spin in the extra added Ga atoms," says Chen.

The researchers have also shown that the polarisation of the nuclear spin happens very quickly -- potentially in less than a nanosecond (one-billionth of a second).

The method proposed also has the advantage of making use of free electrons. This makes it possible to control the polarisation of the spin in the nucleus electrically; in this way the information lying in the spin can both be initiated and read.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Link?ping Universitet.

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Journal Reference:

1. Y. Puttisong, X.J. Wang, I.A. Buyanova, L. Geelhaar, H. Riechert, A.J. Ptak, C.W. Tu, W.M. Chen. Efficient room-temperature nuclear spin hyperpolarization of a defect atom in a semiconductor. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1751 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2776

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/6O3ktbwqZO0/130430092420.htm

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Mild iodine deficiency in womb associated with lower scores on children's literacy tests

Apr. 30, 2013 ? Children who did not receive enough iodine in the womb performed worse on literacy tests as 9-year-olds than their peers, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

Iodine is absorbed from food and plays a key role in brain development. Even mild deficiency during pregnancy can harm the baby's neurological development.

"Our research found children may continue to experience the effects of insufficient iodine for years after birth," said the study's lead author, Kristen L. Hynes, PhD, of the Menzies Research Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia. "Although the participants' diet was fortified with iodine during childhood, later supplementation was not enough to reverse the impact of the deficiency during the mother's pregnancy."

The longitudinal study examined standardized test scores of 228 children whose mothers attended The Royal Hobart Hospital's antenatal clinics in Tasmania between 1999 and 2001. The children were born during a period of mild iodine deficiency in the population. Conditions were reversed when bread manufacturers began using iodized salt in October 2001 as part of a voluntary iodine fortification program.

The study found inadequate iodine exposure during pregnancy was associated with lasting effects. As 9-year-olds, the children who received insufficient iodine in the womb had lower scores on standardized literacy tests, particularly in spelling. However, inadequate iodine exposure was not associated with lower scores on math tests. Researchers theorize iodine deficiency may take more of a toll on the development of auditory pathways and, consequently, auditory working memory and so had more of an impact on students' spelling ability than their mathematical reasoning ability.

"Fortunately, iodine deficiency during pregnancy and the resulting neurological impact is preventable," Hynes said. "Pregnant women should follow public health guidelines and take daily dietary supplements containing iodine. Public health supplementation programs also can play a key role in monitoring how much iodine the population is receiving and acting to ensure at-risk groups receive enough iodine in the diet."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Endocrine Society, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. M. Rebagliato, M. Murcia, M. Alvarez-Pedrerol, M. Espada, A. Fernandez-Somoano, N. Lertxundi, E.-M. Navarrete-Munoz, J. Forns, A. Aranbarri, S. Llop, J. Julvez, A. Tardon, F. Ballester. Iodine Supplementation During Pregnancy and Infant Neuropsychological Development: INMA Mother and Child Cohort Study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2013; 177 (9): 944 DOI: 10.1093/aje/kws333

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/YXFHSgC61_g/130430131451.htm

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Germ-zapping 'robots': Hospitals combat superbugs

Using ultraviolet light, a machine disinfects a hospital room at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., Wednesday, March 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Using ultraviolet light, a machine disinfects a hospital room at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., Wednesday, March 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Claes, 62, who contracted a superbug while in the hospital, poses for a photograph while recovering at home in New York, Monday, April 8, 2013. Claes caught a bad case of a diarrheal illness caused by Clostridium dificile, while he was a kidney patient last fall at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Michael Claes, 62, who contracted a superbug while in the hospital, shows a bottle of one of his daily medications on Monday, April 8, 2013 as he recovers at home in New York. Claes caught a bad case of a diarrheal illness caused by Clostridium dificile, while he was a kidney patient at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital in fall 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Using ultraviolet light, a machine disinfects a hospital room at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., Wednesday, March 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Using ultraviolet light, a machine disinfects a hospital room at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., Wednesday, March 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? They sweep. They swab. They sterilize. And still the germs persist.

In U.S. hospitals, an estimated 1 in 20 patients pick up infections they didn't have when they arrived, some caused by dangerous 'superbugs' that are hard to treat.

The rise of these superbugs, along with increased pressure from the government and insurers, is driving hospitals to try all sorts of new approaches to stop their spread:

Machines that resemble "Star Wars" robots and emit ultraviolet light or hydrogen peroxide vapors. Germ-resistant copper bed rails, call buttons and IV poles. Antimicrobial linens, curtains and wall paint.

While these products can help get a room clean, their true impact is still debatable. There is no widely-accepted evidence that these inventions have prevented infections or deaths.

Meanwhile, insurers are pushing hospitals to do a better job and the government's Medicare program has moved to stop paying bills for certain infections caught in the hospital.

"We're seeing a culture change" in hospitals, said Jennie Mayfield, who tracks infections at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Those hospital infections are tied to an estimated 100,000 deaths each year and add as much as $30 billion a year in medical costs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency last month sounded an alarm about a "nightmare bacteria" resistant to one class of antibiotics. That kind is still rare but it showed up last year in at least 200 hospitals.

Hospitals started paying attention to infection control in the late 1880s, when mounting evidence showed unsanitary conditions were hurting patients. Hospital hygiene has been a concern ever since, with a renewed emphasis triggered by the emergence a decade ago of a nasty strain of intestinal bug called Clostridium difficile, or C-diff.

The diarrhea-causing C-diff is now linked to 14,000 U.S. deaths annually. That's been the catalyst for the growing focus on infection control, said Mayfield, who is also president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

C-diff is easier to treat than some other hospital superbugs, like methicillin-resistant staph, or MRSA, but it's particularly difficult to clean away. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers don't work and C-diff can persist on hospital room surfaces for days. The CDC recommends hospital staff clean their hands rigorously with soap and water ? or better yet, wear gloves. And rooms should be cleaned intensively with bleach, the CDC says.

Michael Claes developed a bad case of C-diff while he was a kidney patient last fall at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. He and his doctor believe he caught it at the hospital. Claes praised his overall care, but felt the hospital's room cleaning and infection control was less than perfect.

"I would use the word 'perfunctory,'" he said.

Lenox Hill spokeswoman Ann Silverman disputed that characterization, noting hospital workers are making efforts that patients often can't see, like using hand cleansers dispensers in hallways. She ticked off a list of measure used to prevent the spread of germs, ranging from educating patients' family members to isolation and other protective steps with each C-diff patient.

The hospital's C-diff infection rate is lower than the state average, she said.

Westchester Medical Center, a 643-bed hospital in the suburbs of New York City has also been hit by cases of C-diff and the other superbugs.

Complicating matters is the fact that larger proportions of hospital patients today are sicker and more susceptible to the ravages of infections, said Dr. Marisa Montecalvo, a contagious diseases specialist at Westchester.

There's a growing recognition that it's not only surgical knives and operating rooms that need a thorough cleaning but also spots like bed rails and even television remote controls, she said. Now there's more attention to making sure "that all the nooks and crannies are clean, and that it's done in as perfect a manner as can be done," Montecalvo said.

Enter companies like Xenex Healthcare Services, a San Antonio company that makes a portable, $125,000 machine that's rolled into rooms to zap C-diff and other bacteria and viruses dead with ultraviolet light. Xenex has sold or leased devices to more than 100 U.S. hospitals, including Westchester Medical Center.

The market niche is expected to grow from $30 million to $80 million in the next three years, according to Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm.

Mark Stibich, Xenex's chief scientific officer, said client hospitals sometimes call them robots and report improved satisfaction scores from patients who seem impressed that the medical center is trotting out that kind of technology.

At Westchester, workers still clean rooms, but the staff appreciates the high-tech backup, said housekeeping manager Carolyn Bevans.

"We all like it," she said of the Xenex.

At Cooley Dickinson Hospital, a 140-bed facility in Northampton, Mass., the staff calls their machines Thing One, Thing Two, Thing Three and Thing Four, borrowing from the children's book "The Cat in the Hat."

But while the things in the Dr. Seuss tale were house-wrecking imps, Cooley Dickinson officials said the ultraviolet has done a terrific job at cleaning their hospital of the difficult C-diff.

"We did all the recommended things. We used bleach. We monitored the quality of cleaning," but C-diff rates wouldn't budge, said nurse Linda Riley, who's in charge of infection prevention at Cooley Dickinson.

A small observational study at the hospital showed C-diff infection rates fell by half and C-diff deaths fell from 14 to 2 during the last two years, compared to the two years before the machines.

Some experts say there's not enough evidence to show the machines are worth it. No national study has shown that these products have led to reduced deaths or infection rates, noted Dr. L. Clifford McDonald of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

His point: It only takes a minute for a nurse or visitor with dirty hands to walk into a room, touch a vulnerable patient with germy hands, and undo the benefits of a recent space-age cleaning.

"Environments get dirty again," McDonald said, and thorough cleaning with conventional disinfectants ought to do the job.

Beyond products to disinfect a room, there are tools to make sure doctors, nurses and other hospital staff are properly cleaning their hands when they come into a patient's room. Among them are scanners that monitor how many times a health care worker uses a sink or hand sanitizer dispenser.

Still, "technology only takes us so far," said Christian Lillis, who runs a small foundation named after his mother who died from a C-diff infection.

Lillis said the hospitals he is most impressed with include Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, where thorough cleanings are confirmed with spot checks. Fluorescent powder is dabbed around a room before it's cleaned and a special light shows if the powder was removed. That strategy was followed by a 28 percent decline in C-diff, he said.

He also cites Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., where the focus is on elbow grease and bleach wipes. What's different, he said, is the merger of the housekeeping and infection prevention staff. That emphasizes that cleaning is less about being a maid's service than about saving patients from superbugs.

"If your hospital's not clean, you're creating more problems than you're solving," Lillis said.

___

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/hai/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-04-29-Disinfecting%20Robots/id-c6086ee111ef471fab7ab8279c9a196e

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First Data names JPMorgan executive Bisignano as CEO

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Manchester United will be backed by their owners to "kick on" after securing their 20th league title, manager Alex Ferguson said. United clinched the Premier League crown with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday and Ferguson is already making plans to defend it next year with the support of the club's American owners. "Having spoken with the Glazer family, there is every intention to kick on," Ferguson told reporters. "We possibly need two players. It depends. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-data-names-jpmorgan-executive-bisignano-ceo-201829452.html

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Chamath Palihapitiya Chats About Why Big Ideas Are Harder To Find, But Could Be Easier To Get Funded

The Social+Capital Founder, early Facebook employee and owner of the Golden State Warriors, Chamath Palihapitiya, joined us onstage at Disrupt NY?and gave some brutally honest answers to questions as to why we’re seeing a lull in innovation. I had a chance to talk to Palihapitiya?back stage and we dove deeper into the fact that the Valley should “be ashamed of itself” over the lack of new and big ideas. One of the reasons for this is because it’s easier to hack on things that have already been done. It’s safe. Palihapitiya?says it’s time to go back to the drawing board and go big.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/d5t-070Vbmk/

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One Third (?!) of PA High School Science Teachers Believe in Creationism - And Some Teach It (Little green footballs)

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Minneapolis council member drops DFL endorsement bid (Star Tribune)

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Today in History

Today is Sunday, April 28, the 118th day of 2013. There are 247 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 28, 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

On this date:

In 1758, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born in Westmoreland County, Va.

In 1789, rebelling crew members of the British ship HMS Bounty led by Fletcher Christian set Capt. William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. (Bligh and most of the men with him managed to reach Timor in 47 days.)

In 1817, the United States and Britain signed the Rush-Bagot Treaty, which limited the number of naval vessels allowed in the Great Lakes.

In 1918, Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the archduke's wife, Sophie, died in prison of tuberculosis.

In 1937, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was born in the village of al-Oja near the desert town of Tikrit (he was executed in December 2006).

In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.

In 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty signed in San Francisco the year before took effect. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Allied commander in Europe; he was succeeded by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway.

In 1963, at Broadway's Tony Awards, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" was named best play while "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" won best musical.

In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland told Congress the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam."

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing American hostages in Iran. (Vance was succeeded by Edmund Muskie.)

In 1988, a flight attendant was killed and more than 60 persons injured when part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 tore off during a flight from Hilo (HEE'-loh) to Honolulu.

In 1993, the first "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," promoted by the New York-based Ms. Foundation, was held in an attempt to boost the self-esteem of girls by having them visit a parent's place of work. (The event was later expanded to include sons.)

Ten years ago: On Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday, delegates from inside and outside Iraq agreed to hold a nation-building meeting and fashion a temporary, post-Saddam government. The Soyuz space capsule carrying a U.S.-Russian space crew docked with the international space station.

Five years ago: The first tax rebates were direct-deposited into bank accounts from a $168 billion stimulus package. In a defiant appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, Democrat Barack Obama's longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, said criticism surrounding his fiery sermons was an attack on black churches, and he rejected those who'd labeled him unpatriotic.

One year ago: Syria derided United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as biased and called his comments "outrageous" after he blamed the regime for widespread cease-fire violations. Paticia Medina, 92, a British-born actress who became a leading lady in Hollywood films of the 1950s, died in Los Angeles.

Today's Birthdays: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee is 87. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 83. Director-actor Richard C. Sarafian is 83. Actress-singer Ann-Margret is 72. Actress Marcia Strassman is 65. Actor Paul Guilfoyle is 64. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is 63. Rock musician Chuck Leavell is 61. Actress Mary McDonnell is 60. Rock singer-musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 60. Rapper Too Short is 47. Actress Simbi Khali is 42. Actress Bridget Moynahan is 42. Actor Chris Young is 42. Rapper Big Gipp is 40. Actor Jorge Garcia is 40. Actress Elisabeth Rohm is 40. Actress Penelope Cruz is 39. Actor Nate Richert is 35. Actress Jessica Alba is 32. Actor Harry Shum Jr. (TV: "Glee") is 31. Actress Jenna Ushkowitz (TV: "Glee") is 27. Actress Aleisha Allen is 22.

Thought for Today: "The world does not require so much to be informed as reminded." ? Hannah More, English religious writer (1745-1833).

(Above Advance for Use Sunday, April 28)

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Posnanski: Harvey more than New York hype

Mets' young ace joining ranks of baseball's all-time great pitching phenoms

Elsa / Getty Images

Matt Harvey's numbers in his first 15 starts are the third-best baseball has seen since World War II.

BY JOE POSNANSKI

NBCSports.com

updated 3:28 a.m. ET April 27, 2013

The New York Mets? Matt Harvey might be off to the greatest start for a starting pitcher in more than 50 years. That sounds like a lot of New York hype, but it shows up in the numbers and comparisons. Through 15 starts, the numbers suggest, Matt Harvey has been about as good as anybody starting a career since World War II.

But, really, the wonder of a pitching prodigy like Harvey goes beyond numbers or comparisons. It?s a feeling. There?s something about a pitching prodigy that gets the blood pumping a little faster. There?s something about a pitching prodigy that feels unlimited.

Why? Maybe it?s because the pitcher is unique in sports. He has the ball. He starts every play. He has his own mound. The pitcher is the only athlete in sports that is credited with a win or a loss. You could argue -- I have argued many times -- that it?s silly to credit a pitcher with a win or loss. We do it anyway and have for more than a hundred years. We don?t do that for a quarterback or a point guard or a goaltender or a goalkeeper. *

*Every now and again, you will hear someone talk about a quarterback?s or goaltender?s ?won-loss record,? but that?s a little bit different. The language is different. You might say, ?The Patriots are 136-39 in games that Tom Brady starts.? You would not say, ?Tom Brady completed 30 of 42 passes and earned his fifth victory of the season.? It?s a subtle but important distinction. Pitchers are the only ones who turn plural to singular, the one ones naturally fit the sentence: ?James Shields picked up the win, while David Price took his third loss of the year.?

So, when a young pitcher shows up like Matt Harvey with insane fastballs and exploding sliders ? there?s something magical about it. Something unlimited. A quarterback, even a perfect one, needs receivers, an offensive line, a running game, a shrewd offensive coordinator. A basketball player, no matter how good, cannot take on five defenders at a time. A pitcher, though, has the ball. He is only limited by the imagination.

And so every time a Hideo Nomo or Dwight Gooden or Matt Harvey shows up on the scene, the possibilities are endless. In many ways, I?ve marked my baseball life by the pitching phenoms who kept showing up.

* * *

I have no memory of Steve Rogers when he came up as a 23-year-old pitcher for Montreal. My memories of Rogers come from when he was older, that big mustache, the hair fighting to get out from under his red and blue eMb cap (Les Expos de Montreal Baseball), the glove arm sticking out to the left, the way he kicked the dirt on his follow through so that it seemed he might just fall forward and roll toward home plate.

But when Rogers first arrived on the scene as a 23-year-old former college superstar at the University of Tulsa, he was all but unhittable. He pitched a one-hit shutout at Philadelphia in his second start and followed it with a shutout in New York against the Mets. Through 15 games, he was 9-4 with a 1.32 ERA. Batters were hitting .192 against him.

He was in Montreal, of course, playing for a terrible Expos team. So it seems like his amazing start did not get the fanfare of some of the other phenoms of my lifetime. There was no ?RogersMania.?

Rogers would go on to be a fine pitcher, winning 158 games and leading the league in ERA in 1982. ?He was a five-time All-Star. But to me his pitching years -- and his Expos teams -- were always tinged with a kind of sadness and unfulfilled potential. The Expos should have won championships. Rogers should have won Cy Young Awards. They were good, but it always seemed like they should have been a little better.

* * *

While, I do not remember Steve Rogers? debut, I have very strong memories of The Bird. Every baseball fan my age or older has those memories of Mark Fidrych. I was 9 when The Bird came up to the Detroit Tigers, and that was the perfect age to be for his act. The Bird talked to the baseball (or talked to himself, it was never entirely clear). He smoothed out the mound with his hands. And, of course, he looked like Big Bird, which was why he got the nickname in the first place.

He was like a superhero in a Detroit Tigers? uniform. I?m semi-serious about that. You have to understand that to a boy of the 1970s, the line between comic books and real life people was hopelessly blurred. Was Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man, real or fake? Fake? Well, then, how about Evel Knievel jumping over busses on his motorcycle? Oh, he was real. The Superman ads said, ?You will believe a man can fly,? and Fonzie started jukeboxes by simply hitting them, and Elvis Presley wore capes, and Nolan Ryan threw pitches 102 mph, and Roger Staubach (who they called Captain America) kept bringing the Cowboys back from certain defeat, and Muhammad Ali let George Foreman tire himself out by leaning against the ropes and taking every punch he could throw. What was real anyway?

Then, Mark Fidrych appeared in this blurry world, 21 years old, and he talked to the ball, and he wouldn?t pitch with the same ball that had given up a hit, and he did this little walk around the mound after each out, and it was wonderful. He didn?t have the Nolan Ryan fastball or Sandy Koufax?s curve. Instead, he had voodoo, crazy confidence, a heavy sinker and a rubber arm.

Here is the best baseball statistic you will here today: In Fidrych?s first 13 starts in the major leagues, he threw 120 1/3 innings.? I?ll do the math for you -- that averages out to MORE than nine innings per start. He completed 12 of those 13 games, and that included three different games where he pitched 11 innings.

He won Rookie of the Year, and he should have won the Cy Young Award in 1976 (he didn?t because he didn?t win 20 games), and then he was never the same. He had injuries. Well, what the Tigers did to him, allowing him to complete 24 games in his rookie season and throw a million pitches under duress would be viewed as criminal negligence today. But, like I say, back then the line between superhero and regular guy wasn?t as easy to see. Nobody thought the Fidrych magic would ever end.

* * *

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N. Korea charges U.S. man in plot to overthrow regime

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea announced Saturday that an American detained for nearly six months is being tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he is convicted.

The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in North Korean custody since early November, further complicates already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington following weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions.

The trial mirrors a similar situation in 2009, when the U.S. and North Korea were locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's decision to launch a long-range rocket and conduct an underground nuclear test. At the time, North Korea had custody of two American journalists, whose eventual release after being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor paved the way for diplomacy following months of tensions.

Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media. In North Korean dispatches, Bae, a Korean American, is called Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling of his Korean name.

The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as a tour operator, of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leadership.

"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. "His crimes were proved by evidence. He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgment."

DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. No timing for the verdict issued at the austere Supreme Court in Pyongyang was given.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. government is "aware of reports that a U.S. citizen will face trial in North Korea" and that officials from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang had visited Bae on Friday. She said she had no other information to share.

Because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations, the Swedish Embassy in North Korea represents the United States in legal proceedings.

Friends and colleagues described Bae as a devout Christian from Washington state but based in the Chinese border city of Dalian who traveled frequently to North Korea to feed the country's orphans.

At least three other Americans detained in recent years also have been devout Christians. While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the regime.

Under North Korea's criminal code, crimes against the state can draw life imprisonment or the death sentence.

In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to hard labor for trespassing and unspecified hostile acts after being arrested near the border with China and held for four months.

They were freed later that year to former President Bill Clinton, who flew to Pyongyang to negotiate their release in a visit that then-leader Kim Jong Il treated as a diplomatic coup.

Including Ling and Lee, Bae is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released.

"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the U.S.," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. "The North will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue."

As in 2009, Pyongyang is locked in a standoff with the Obama administration over North Korea's drive to build nuclear weapons.

Washington has led the campaign to punish Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket in December and carrying out a nuclear test, its third, in February.

North Korea claims the need to build atomic weapons to defend itself against the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea and over the past two months has been holding joint military drills with South Korea that have included nuclear-capable stealth bombers and fighter jets.

Diplomats from China, South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Russia have been conferring in recent weeks to try to bring down the rhetoric and find a way to rein in Pyongyang before a miscalculation in the region sparks real warfare.

South Korean defense officials said earlier in the month that North Korea had moved a medium-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory to its east coast.

The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

___

Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Pyongyang; Sam Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Tom Strong in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Lee, AP's Korea bureau chief, at www.twitter.com/newsjean and Sam Kim at www.twitter.com/SamKim_AP.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-charges-us-man-plot-overthrow-regime-185113441.html

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NATO: 4 dead in Afghanistan plane crash

By Terry Daley ROME, April 27 (Reuters) - Udinese beat Cagliari 1-0 on Saturday thanks to a goal from Roberto Pereyra to move above Inter Milan into fifth place in Serie A, which brings a Europa League spot for next season. Pereyra's curling strike after 56 minutes saw Francesco Guidolin's side move up to 54 points, one ahead of Inter who visit relegation-threatened Palermo on Sunday (1300 GMT). Cagliari, who had striker Mauricio Pinilla sent off in added time, remain 10th on 42 points, two points and one place above Bologna, who drew 1-1 at Atalanta in the other early kickoff. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-members-die-afghanistan-plane-crash-163748705.html

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The Originals: Vampire Diaries Spin-off Picked Up!

You guys know I am a Vampire Diaries fiend and so I am super excited that we now have confirmation that The Originals got the spin off!!! On Thursday night the CW ran a special to see how it would do. It brought in 2.2 million viewers and 79% polled requested for it to become a series! The CW listened and coming this fall we will have an awesome spin-off series. I am super excited about the show and the plot line they laid out for us. So if you missed it, here goes:   Klaus went to Louisiana thanks to Katherine who left him some info that some witches were cooking some stuff for him. Turns out that he knocked up Hayley (thanks to the werewolf side) and she is pregnant with his were baby. The witches want Klaus to kill Marcel, a vampire turned by Klaus, and his protege in a sense. Marcel has been running shiz in Louisiana and the witches don’t like it. But they want things done their way, or they will kill Hayley and the baby.   Elijah convinces Klaus to be a family man and so the series is off to a great [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/6oUlkRXwgyU/

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Kathie Lee Gifford Stands Up for Matt Lauer

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Belief in God Can Improve Mental Health Outcomes | Psych Central ...

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on April 26, 2013

A new study suggests belief in God may significantly improve the outcome of those receiving short-term treatment for psychiatric illness.

Researchers followed patients receiving care from a hospital-based behavioral health program to investigate the relationship between patients? level of belief in God, expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.

In the study, published in the current issue of Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers comment that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without.

?Belief was associated with not only improved psychological well-being, but decreases in depression and intention to self-harm,? says David H. Rosmarin, Ph.D., an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The study looked at 159 patients, recruited over a one-year period. Each participant was asked to gauge their belief in God as well as their expectations for treatment outcome and emotion regulation, each on a five-point scale.

Levels of depression, well-being, and self-harm were assessed at the beginning and end of their treatment program.

Of the patients sampled, more than 30 percent claimed no specific religious affiliation yet still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in a higher power was rated as moderately or very high.

Patients with ?no? or only ?slight? belief in God were twice as likely not to respond to treatment as patients with higher levels of belief.

Investigators believe the study demonstrates that a belief in God is associated with improved treatment outcomes in psychiatric care.

?More centrally, our results suggest that belief in the credibility of psychiatric treatment and increased expectations to gain from treatment might be mechanisms by which belief in God can impact treatment outcomes.?

Investigators hope that the study will lead to additional investigation on the clinical implication of spirtual life as more than 90 percent of the U.S. population hold religious beliefs.

Source: McLean Hospital

APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2013). Belief in God Can Improve Mental Health Outcomes. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 26, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/26/belief-in-god-improves-mental-health-outcomes/54121.html

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/26/belief-in-god-improves-mental-health-outcomes/54121.html

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In a first, YouTube to showcase a week of comedy

NEW YORK (AP) ? For a week in May, YouTube will turn into the biggest open mic on the planet.

On Thursday, the Google Inc.-owned site will announce the YouTube Comedy Week, a seven-day cyber extravaganza designed to showcase some of the best comedy across its expansive video platform. From May 19-25, YouTube will be overrun with punch lines, sketches, stand-up routines and ? hopefully ? a lot of laughs.

It's the largest-scale attempt yet by YouTube to program its billions of hours of video and lead viewers to its growing channels of original programming. The video site is planning more event weeks around various themes to be held later this year and beyond.

"This has never been done before on YouTube," Danielle Tiedt, YouTube's vice president of marketing, said in an interview Wednesday ahead of the announcement. "I'm sure we'll learn a lot."

Comedy Week will kick off with a global live stream from Los Angeles' Culver Studios. Throughout the week, new episodes will debut from some of YouTube's most popular channels, comedians will perform and comics will curate lists of their favorite videos.

Among those participating are Sarah Silverman, Rainn Wilson, Michael Cera, Vince Vaughn and Seth Rogen. There will be new videos from Andy Samberg's Lonely Island troupe. Popular comedy destinations with channels on YouTube like The Onion, Nerdist, College Humor and Funny or Die will join in. And YouTube hopes its less famous users will also get in on the act.

The event is just the start of a new approach by YouTube to congregate its disparate stars ? from Hollywood professionals to Internet upstarts ? and to present a unified viewing experience for users. YouTube hopes the theme weeks will spotlight the original programming the site has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in to grow its platform as a kind of next-generation TV.

"We're hoping to do this in a pretty regular rhythm," said Tiedt. "You'll see several of these coming from us, for sure, as we highlight really big areas that we think are amazing areas of strength for YouTube."

The undertaking is months in the works. To executive-produce the weeklong event, YouTube brought in former "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" producer Daniel Kellison, whose production company, HaChaCha, recently launched two comedy YouTube channels: Jash and the Video Podcast Network. The kickoff live stream will be directed and produced by Joel Gallen, a veteran of the MTV Movie Awards.

Kellison says a staff of 40 has been assembled to help in what he calls the "tremendously daunting" task of organizing a sizable portion of the sprawling YouTube realm.

"It's a massive undertaking," he says. "If you try to organize it all and figure it all out, you'll drown. It's not possible. We're just doing the best we can in trying to produce this."

A few missteps are inevitable, Kellison says. But the plan isn't to put on a slickly produced show, but something more lo-fi and relaxed.

"We've been able to go to all these comedians and say, 'Hey, we can do whatever we want and have fun doing it,'" says Kellison. "It's taken on this sort of comedy Woodstock type of vibe."

The duo of Eric Wareheim and Tim Heidecker, known as Tim & Eric, will be performing in the festivities. Wareheim, among the founders of Jash, believes Comedy Week will help raise the bar for comedy on YouTube.

"It's going to be higher production value, everyone taking it a little bit more serious rather than a throwaway Internet short ? make it a place where legitimate stuff can be and change the perception of what YouTube can be," Wareheim says. "Tim and I have been using YouTube for our TV shows, our movies ? for everything ? to kind of promote stuff. Now instead of just as a promotional tool, we're using it to really distribute content."

Getting even a segment of YouTube to synchronize would seem a tall order. But marshaling together Comedy Week reminds Kellison of the chaotic first night of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

"We had Coldplay on the outdoor stage; Warren Sapp coming in after he won the Super Bowl on a helicopter; Jon Gruden canceling; the fire marshal trying to shut us down; Snoop Dogg with the death threats; and a buzzed George Clooney," he recalls. "I imagine this will be very similar."

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-youtube-showcase-week-comedy-120037906.html

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Are Wine, Beer and Distilled Spirits Gluten Free? | Rachel Begun ...

? Earth Day 2013

There has been alot of confusion about the gluten free status of wine, beer and distilled spirits. While probably not the intention of National Alcohol Awareness Month (which is April), I?m using this opportunity to build awareness about the gluten-free status of the various alcoholic beverages.

First, let?s set the stage for who is regulating labeling for alcoholic beverages and what the general rules are:

• The Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulates alcoholic beverages with the exception of beer not made with malted barley and wines and hard ciders with an alcohol content of less than 7% by volume. ?The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates these exceptions.
• Alcoholic beverages made from wheat, rye, barley, their crossbred varieties and derived ingredients, cannot be labeled ?gluten-free.? This includes beer varieties made from malted barley that have been processed to remove the gluten as well as distilled spirits made from wheat, rye or barley that have been distilled to remove gluten protein molecules.
• It will be interesting to see how the TTB responds to FDA?s gluten-free labeling rule, which is expected to come out very soon.

Distilled Spirits

Distilled spirits made from wheat, rye or barley?such as vodka, gin, scotch, whiskey?are considered safe because the distillation process should remove all of the gluten proteins so no reaction should occur. ?However, I consistently remind consumers to consider the mixers they are often served with. ?When ordering mixed drinks in restaurants and bars, I always ask if prepared mixers are used and what ingredients they contain.

Wine

Wine is inherently gluten-free, as it is made from grapes. ?However, some wines are aged in oak barrels sealed with a gluten-containing paste. ?Based on testing, it is believed that the gluten-containing paste imparts less than 20ppm to the wine, the widely-accepted safe threshold for the majority of people with celiac disease.

Bottom Line:

I feel safe drinking wine. ?However, if you prefer knowing whether your favorite wineries are using gluten-containing flour paste to seal their barrels, contact them to ask about their manufacturing practices, just as you would for a food product.

Beer

As mentioned above, beers made from malted barley and then processed to remove gluten cannot be labeled gluten-free here in the U.S. ?That is because the testing process to validate gluten free is not considered reliable for fermented products. ?There are many beers on the market making a gluten-free claim, as they are made from gluten-free grains, such as sorghum and corn. ?Because they are made with gluten-free grains, they are regulated by FDA and can carry the gluten-free claim on the label.

Bottom Line:

For those with celiac disease, I recommend sticking with gluten-free beers made from gluten-free grains and staying away from those made with malted barley but processed to remove the gluten. ?It?s best to err on the side of caution until we have reliable testing for fermented products. ?For those who don?t have to worry about gluten contamination, gluten-free beers made from malted barley might be a good option for you.

?

This entry was posted in Celiac Disease, Gluten Free Lifestyle and tagged alcohol awareness month, alcohol tobacco tax and trade bureau, are distilled spirits gluten-free, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, gluten free, is gluten-free beer okay, is wine gluten-free, national alcohol awareness month, tobacco tax and trade bureau, TTB. Bookmark the permalink.? Earth Day 2013

Source: http://rachelbegun.com/are-wine-beer-and-distilled-spirits-gluten-free

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Safe Harbor Is Safe for Secure Lifetime Income Default Investments ...

Posted by Daniel A. Notto on Apr 24, 2013 in AllianceBernstein, Americas, Defined Contribution | 0 comments

The new frontier in US defined contribution (DC) plans involves qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs) with a secure lifetime income component. Will such vehicles retain their safe-harbor protections? Yes.

That?s not just our opinion on this topic; it?s outlined in the October 24, 2007 Final Rule issued by the US Department of Labor (DOL), ?Default Investment Alternatives Under Participant Directed Individual Account Plans.?

The regulation clearly states that a vehicle that otherwise meets the QDIA requirements will not fail to be a QDIA merely because it?s offered through a variable annuity or similar contract, or makes available such features as annuity purchase rights, death benefits or investment guarantees. Consequently, such a vehicle preserves plan sponsors? fiduciary safe-harbor protection.

Whether lifetime income comes through a QDIA that has a target-date fund structure or a more individualized, managed-account format, the safe-harbor protection remains.

In the preamble to the Final Rule, the DOL notes, ?it is the view of the Department that the availability of annuity purchase rights, death benefit guarantees, investment guarantees or other features common to variable annuity contracts will not themselves affect the status of a fund, product or portfolio as a qualified default investment alternative when the conditions of the regulation are satisfied.?

DOL Encourages Innovation for Better Retirement Outcomes

The DOL often provides guidance to help improve DC plans for better retirement outcomes for workers. We believe that was the case with the Department?s recently issued ?tips??for plan sponsors in selecting target-date funds. February?s tips encouraged plan sponsors to inquire whether a custom or nonproprietary target-date fund would be a better fit for their plan than an off-the-shelf strategy.

Like customization, lifetime income is an innovation that seeks better retirement outcomes?the reason plan sponsors incorporate it within a DC plan?s qualified default. Research, surveys and studies all beat the drum about the damaging effects of behavioral pitfalls that stymie most DC plan participants from achieving good retirement savings results.

It?s likely that Congress understood this when it passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. So, the 2007 Final Rule?s preamble underscores a desire to provide guidance to the retirement industry that?s ?sufficiently flexible to accommodate future innovations and developments in retirement products.?

In all likelihood, the DOL will provide additional guidance that will encourage DC plans to add lifetime income options and the Department will continue to clarify its message as guaranteed lifetime income QDIAs gain momentum. But the intention is already clear: help Americans achieve better retirement outcomes?for as long as they live.

?Target date? in a fund?s name refers to the approximate year when a participant expects to retire and begin withdrawing from his or her account. Target-date funds gradually adjust their asset allocation, lowering risk as participants near retirement. Investments in target-date funds are not guaranteed against loss of principal at any time, and account values can be more or less than the original amount invested?including at the time of the fund?s target date. Also, investing in target-date funds does not guarantee sufficient income in retirement.

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AllianceBernstein portfolio-management teams.

Daniel A. Notto is Senior Retirement Plan Counsel at AllianceBernstein.

Source: http://blog.alliancebernstein.com/index.php/2013/04/24/safe-harbor-is-safe-for-secure-lifetime-income-default-investments/

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CA-NEWS Summary

Many trapped in Bangladesh building rubble as toll tops 220

SAVAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Survivors from a garment factory that collapsed in Bangladesh killing at least 228 people described on Thursday a deafening bang and tremors before the eight-floor building crashed down under them. Many more of the mostly female workers were still feared trapped in the rubble more than 24 hours after the disaster, which has brought renewed attention to Western firms who use Bangladesh as a source of low cost goods.

Iran says it's ready to resume talks with world powers

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran is ready to resume talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program and awaits word from the European Union on timing and details, Iran's deputy nuclear negotiator said on Thursday. Ali Bagheri, in an interview with Reuters in Geneva, said Iran needed 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran research reactor and four others being built, and was continuing to convert some of its stockpile into reactor fuel.

Sharp rise in EU terror attacks and deaths in 2012: Europol

PARIS (Reuters) - The terrorism threat in Europe remains elevated, with a quarter more attacks in the European Union in 2012 than in the previous year, pan-European police force Europol said on Thursday. The annual terrorism report published by Europe's crime-fighting agency, coming less than two weeks after the bombings in Boston, identified 219 completed or failed attacks in 2012 in EU-member states, the majority in France and Spain.

U.N. Security Council approves creation of Mali peacekeeping force

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved on Thursday the creation of a 12,600-strong peacekeeping force in Mali starting July 1, which will be supported by French troops if needed to combat Islamist extremist threats in the West African country. France, aided by some 2,000 troops from Chad, began a military offensive in January to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Mali's Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of Mali.

Letta sees improving chances of forming Italy government

ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta saw "improving" chances of success as he began negotiations on Thursday to form a new government and end a nearly two-month-old stalemate in the euro zone's third-largest economy. The 46-year-old deputy head of the badly fractured center-left Democratic Party (PD), was the President Giorgio Napolitano's surprise choice to head a broad-based coalition.

Friends of Tunisian accused in Canada plot express shock

TUNIS (Reuters) - For the friends of Chiheb Esseghaier, the news that the Tunisian-born student had been arrested over an alleged al Qaeda-backed plot to derail a train in Canada came as something of a surprise. They remembered him during his time in the Tunisian capital as an ordinary student, certainly no Islamist extremist, but perhaps somewhat naive and easily led.

South Korea seeks talks with North to reopen industrial zone

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea proposed formal talks on Thursday with North Korea to discuss restarting a joint factory zone located just north of the rivals' heavily armed border that was suspended in early April, sharply deepening security tensions on the peninsula. It was the first formal proposal aimed at making a breakthrough in a deadlock over the Kaesong factory project, which was the last remaining channel open between the two Koreas until it was forced to close.

Father of Boston bomb suspects plans U.S. trip to bury son

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - The father of two men suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings said on Thursday he would travel from Russia to the United States to bury his elder son. Anzor Tsarnaev and former wife Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, sitting side by side in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala, denied their sons had planted the bombs at the Boston marathon which killed three people and wounded 264, saying they had been framed.

Kurdish militants to begin withdrawal from Turkey in May

QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq (Reuters) - Rebel Kurdish field commander Murat Karayilan ordered his fighters to begin withdrawing from Turkish soil within two weeks and rebase in the mountains of northern Iraq as part of a peace plan with Ankara to end a three-decades-old conflict. The pullout, negotiated by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) chief Abdullah Ocalan jailed on a prison island near Istanbul, offers the best chance yet of settlement of a war that has killed over 40,000 and battered the Turkish economy.

Nearly 50 killed as sectarian violence flares in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 15 policemen and 31 Sunni Islamist militants were killed in clashes on Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, sources said, on the third day of the most widespread violence in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. Gunmen attacked Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Wednesday night and seized western parts of the city after using a mosque loudspeaker to rally Sunnis to join the battle.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-110531079.html

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Disputed premier to stay in Egypt reshuffle

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, widely criticised for failing to revive the economy, will keep his job in a limited cabinet reshuffle to be announced within days, a presidential spokesman said on Wednesday.

Spokesman Ehab Fahmy told a news conference: "It is a limited reshuffle and the prime minister is not included."

Some members of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood have joined the secular, liberal and leftist opposition and hardline Salafist parties in criticising Kandil.

"The reshuffle aims to improve the performance level of ministries ... Talks are still going on with regard to those changes. They will be announced within days. The main criterion for selection will be qualifications," the spokesman said.

The limited scope of the planned shake-up appeared to narrow prospects of any political agreement between Mursi and the main opposition parties, despite U.S., European and International Monetary Fund efforts to seek a broader consensus to help Egypt over a severe economic crisis.

Fahmy said Egypt was close to agreement with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan. An IMF mission failed to conclude a deal during a 12-day visit to Cairo earlier this month but talks are set to continue in the coming weeks, ministers and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde agreed in Washington last weekend.

Fahmy said the presidency was conferring with a range of political groups, including the opposition National Salvation Front, an alliance of secular, liberal and leftist parties, about the composition of the new government.

However, the NSF has denied holding talks about the reshuffle, saying Mursi must first agree to replace Kandil, appoint a neutral, competent government and revoke a disputed prosecutor-general before they will open a dialogue with him.

NSF spokesman Khaled Dawoud demanded that key ministers whose posts could influence the conduct of parliamentary elections later this year be politically neutral. These included the interior, transport, local government, education, information and supply ministries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/disputed-premier-stay-egypt-reshuffle-132432238.html

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On the long road with filmmaker Vanessa Renwick | Oregon ArtsWatch

By BRIAN LIBBY

Although Vanessa Renwick has been making films in Portland for decades now, all the while expanding her vision and technical grasp while portraying a host of characters and places across the West, a retrospective this week at the Hollywood Theatre reminds us that her signature image may be a point-of-view shot from the 1998 film ?Crowdog.? Using a super-8 camera, Renwick simply photographed her own two feet, traipsing down the shoulder of a rural Western highway, following its white line like a grittier yellow brick road.

?Crowdog? chronicles a 1984 hitchhiking trip Renwick made in her early twenties, entirely barefoot, to South Dakota?s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Though her intent was to explore remnants of the FBI?s battles with the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, the film is really a travelogue about camaraderie and solitude. Sometimes on foot, sometimes hitching rides, Renwick and her protective wolf-dog, Zeb, encounter parties both friendly and unfriendly, but the Chicago-born filmmaker never loses her eagerness to connect with the mammoth American landscape. ?Crowdog? always returns to that central image: a pair of dirty feet in rhythmic motion along the road as Renwick and Zeb continue their journey. They?re not in Kansas anymore, but technically Kansas is only a few million steps (or even just one answered thumb) away.

Vanessa Renwick?s feet in ?Crowdog?

Countless Hollywood filmmakers from Robert Aldrich (?Kiss Me Deadly?) to David Lynch (?Lost Highway?) have used the dotted line of an unfolding highway as a kind of hypnotic dream-shot: the road as both escape and absolution. But Renwick makes the unfolding shoulder of the road her own, willing to shrug off the broken glass her bare feet inevitably step upon (she simply kept a pair of tweezers to pick out the shards) or the menacing figures that Zeb is there to scare away. Nothing can keep this woman tied down.

Even now, as Renwick has gone on to become one of Portland?s most respected filmmakers and installation artists (she?s a regular on the city?s gallery scene as much as at the movie theater), it?s almost surprising when I learn she?s in town: The 52-year-old artist?s DNA seems that of the nomad, eager to put more calluses and scars on her feet as if they are her own perverse beauty marks.

Renwick will be at the Oregon Movies, A to Z two-night retrospective of her poetic short films and documentaries called ?Raw, Raucous and Sublime: 33 Years Of Vanessa Renwick,? April 25 and 26, at the Hollywood Theatre (7:30 pm, 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard). The programs offer not only the chance to revisit her impressive and evolving body of work but also a reminder that the term ?experimental film,? under which her films are generally categorized, can be misleading. There is nothing avant-garde about Vanessa Renwick?s films and videos: no esoteric abstraction, no shots continuing for minutes on end, no winking irony, no mystery to what she?s trying to say. Instead, Renwick?s shorts, be they a series of diary entries guided by her narration or a succession of documentary portraits about fellow outsiders (a kooky Centralia garbage artist, a Satan worshiper, jockeys at Portland Meadows), are straightforward in structure and earnest in tone.

****

Renwick was part of a small wave of Portland experimental film talents who gained notoriety in the late ?90s and early ?00s such as Miranda July, who would go on to direct Sundance Film Festival favorites like Me and You and Everyone We Know, and Matt McCormick, who founded the Peripheral Produce screening series and the PDX Film Fest. At these screenings ?Renwick?s work first found acclaim, as she went on to win the PDX Fest?s central event, the Peripheral Produce Invitational, numerous times.

?Vanessa Renwick was a powerful influence on me in my twenties,? July wrote in a testimonial for Renwick?s new video collection, NSEW. ?Here is a woman who has taught herself how to make movies, following her own rules about what movies can be and creating them in ways that are personal, organic, and sometimes wildly risky. Her body of work is substantial and important, and radiates with love and anger and sense of real joy in the gritty specifics of life (and death) on earth.?

Still from Vanessa Renwick?s ?The Yodeling Lesson?

My first encounter with Renwick?s work, in 2000, wasn?t in a movie theater but in a gallery where I was working at the time. Her film ?The Yodeling Lesson? was playing on a TV set powered by a stationary bicycle. If one was willing to pedal along, onto the screen came the story of a woman riding up a hill on North Mississippi Avenue, past freeway overpasses and warehouses. When she reaches the top of the hill and coasts back down the hill, her clothes suddenly disappear. The rider is unperturbed, as if the freedom of nudity is only the natural expression of her visceral thrill. Like with ?Crowdog,? Renwick seemed to be expressing more than a Zoo Bomber-style sense of wonder about everyday life as protection against its inevitable disappointments and tragedies. She also wanted to take us along.

Over the ensuing years, Renwick has continued evolving as a documentarian and installation artist. One landmark is her 2001 film ?Richart,? co-directed with Dawn Smallman, about Tacoma artist Richard Tracy, a former psychiatric patient whose life was reborn when he decided to become an artist. His entire home and front and back yards are teeming with his assemblages of garbage, but Tracy?s manic personality is its own kind of performance art. ?Every time I have a dream, it?s a solution,? he says in one memorable moment, lying down for a power nap after leading a trio of teenagers through an exercise in decorating automobile hubcaps.

RICHART from Collective Eye Films on Vimeo.

?Vanessa?s seeking, unsatisfied kind of freedom will?never reach the end of the road,? author William T. Vollmann writes, in another testimonial from NSEW. (Vollmann appeared in Renwick?s 1999 film ?The Ugly Movie.?) ?But her movies are not only about herself, or about the borders and patterns she sees. She gives love and recognition to the strivings of other outlaws. The result is a rare public spiritedness.?

Renwick also has created a noteworthy collection of found-footage collages, particularly drawing from the Prelinger Archives, that offer glimpses of people and places far off Hollywood?s path. Especially captivating is ?Britton, South Dakota,? taken from a series of 16mm reels shot by a theater owner, Ivan Besse, during the Great Depression; he?d shoot a few seconds of children and other passers-by outside the theater and then run montages of them for a few moments before movie screenings as a marketing effort to draw customers. Renwick picks up on the distinctive non-narrative quality of the footage, and presents it nearly as-is, without editing it into any kind of story. ?The lack of narrative invites dressing these cinematic dolls with futures, now histories,? Renwick wrote on her website.

?Britton, South Dakota? won the Gus Van Sant Best Experimental Film award at the prestigious Ann Arbor Film Festival. One could also argue that it?s a sequel, or perhaps a prequel, to ?Crowdog? and its barefoot pilgrimage to South Dakota. Be it through everyday life or the world of cinema, Renwick seeks out those without guile.

In recent years, Renwick?s ?Portrait? series has chronicled a series of disappearing places in the Northwest, reflecting upon the temporality of any place we congregate or place meaning. 2005?s ?Portrait #1: Cascadia Terminal,? about a grain terminal in Vancouver, BC, that services up to 300 train cars a day but also was a longtime hang-out place for local kids to imbibe drugs, alcohol and each other?until post September 11 security concerns made it inaccessible. A wordless film driven by Tara Jane O?Neil?s score, combined with the visuals? hybrid look (16mm film embellished with video-based sepia tone after-effects), it was called ?at once soothing and transfixing? by director Michael Almereyda, who gave the film a Judge?s Award at the 2005 NW Film & Video Festival.

2006?s ?Portrait #2: Trojan? is a kind of artful crowd-pleaser or thinking person?s YouTube clip. One of the only Renwick films shot by someone else (veteran Hollywood cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards, who shot Gus Van Sant?s To Die For among many others) and one of her only works on 35mm film, the five-minute short, also wordless with a score by Sam Coomes of indie-rock band Quasi, views the controlled implosion of the Trojan nuclear power plant. There is a sort of liberal glee implied in watching this symbol of 1970s-80s industry collapse, yet in this moment of destruction?particularly watching it in a post-Fukushima world?one also gets a sense of the destructive power of the nuclear reactor itself.

Portrait#2: Trojan from Vanessa Renwick on Vimeo.

Exceptional as ?Portrait #2: Trojan? may be, closer to her essence is ?Portrait #3: House of Sound,? a history of a Portland record store of the same name that became both a film and an installation at the New American Art Union. The film fuses black and white stills and images to evoke the store?s past glories and present-day absence, with audio from a radio broadcast tribute to the shop giving voice to former customers and workers there. The House of Sound, as Renwick conveys, wasn?t just a record store but part of a host of African American-owned businesses, particularly jazz clubs, that flourished in Portland in the years after World War II before urban planning, economics and changing demographics saw them disappear.

?In retrospect, the lost neighborhood has come to seem like a flashing sliver of Harlem itself, a beacon of livelier, more colorful times in a part of town only recently rediscovered by developers,? writes novelist and screenwriter Jon Raymond of ?Portrait #3.? ?Renwick?s response to the loss of the House of Sound is characteristically stalwart and unintrusive. Like a kind of hospice nurse of community architecture, she has quietly tended the patient, dressing its wounds, cleaning its body, making room for relatives to view the remains. She has collected family histories and arranged the services. Here, now, the sign rests, surrounded by votive candles, as ghostly images and voices, remembering, float in the air.?

?Thanks to Renwick, we are at least allowed a moment to mark the passage,? Raymond adds. ?Thanks to Renwick, the preservationist, we are granted the dignity of mourning.?

Vava and Zeb in Vanessa Renwick?s ?Crowdog?

This, above all, may be Renwick?s legacy as Portland filmmaker and artist: She began her career as a diarist and rabble-rouser, but what has carried through, no matter the subject matter, is her profound empathy: for the dispossessed, for the eccentric, for those who dream bigger dreams than they can afford, but who find a way to carve out spaces and lives for themselves?people like Renwick. For if you want to get away on a pilgrimage, you don?t need a car or even a pair of shoes. All you need is the willingness to accept the inevitable if occasional shards of glass under your feet.

Source: http://www.orartswatch.org/on-the-long-road-with-filmmaker-vanessa-renwick/

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