Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/06/galaxy-tab-3-available-july/
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Get Your Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 on July 9th
Summer Payroll maintenance: It's time to tidy up! ? Business ...
Summer is the perfect time to perform simple payroll maintenance tasks. Here are some items you can check off your to-do list.
? Confirm that all monthly, quarterly and annual balances are accumulating properly; pay attention to adjustments.
? Scan the computer you use to make tax deposits for viruses and sweep them out. Review and winnow the number of employees who have access to this computer.
? Ask your corporate tax department whether payroll taxes are accumulating properly. Ask corporate to provide you with more timely information, if necessary.
? Review your communications? techniques with employees; if you?re still getting too many questions, it may be time to adapt your methods to the media employees actually use.
? Inquire whether the company paid off an employee?s child support obligation and tax that amount; you may treat the payment as supplemental wages.
? Work with Accounts Payable to create a system for processing employee payments made outside the payroll system (e.g., business expense or moving expense reimbursements).
? Reject and return to the sender child support withholding orders that aren?t on OMB-approved forms.
? Review cellphone reimbursement policies for reasonableness. If something seems out of kilter, ask to see several months of employees? bills and adjust your reimbursement accordingly.
? Ensure that the company?s policy regarding paying accrued vacation to terminating employees is enforced consistently and complies with state law.
? Check T&E policies for reimbursing em??ployees? local lodging expenses. Reminder: You may reimburse employees? local lodging expenses if there?s a bona fide reason to require them to stay overnight at a local hotel (e.g., to participate in training activities).
? Check that employees aren?t working through meal breaks, that employees who can?t take meal breaks notify their supervisors and pay employees who work through their meal breaks.
? Audit your lock-in letter procedure to ensure that employees receive their copies within 10 days, and that the payroll software postpones any increase in withholding for 45 days or the date indicated in the IRS? letter.
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RCI? Stirs up a Crowd at the Shanghai World Travel Fair ...
Shanghai (June 24, 2013) ? RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange and part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands (NYSE: WYN), partnered with four of its affiliated resorts in China to participate in the Shanghai World Travel Fair 2013, held on May 9-12, 2013. RCI worked with affiliated resorts Club Vac, Iconic Vacation Club, Shanghai Freedom Vacation Club and Shanghai Runner Vacation Club as part of its continuous efforts to promote the benefits of vacation ownership.
Shanghai World Travel Fair is one of the most influential tourism events in China. It is designed to be a platform for both domestic and international tourism players to showcase their travel services to the vast market in China. The recently-concluded fair featured more than 500 exhibitors from more than 50 countries and welcomed a total of 77,000 visitors.
This was the first time RCI partnered with its affiliated resorts to participate in a consumer travel event, and the combined presence generated great interest in vacation ownership. Visitors to the booth received a goodie bag, travel vouchers and a chance to win one of several prizes for completing a simple survey. A total of 30 prizes were given away at the booth, generating positive attention from both the media and the general public.
?The World Travel Fair is an effective avenue to generate publicity and positive interest for both RCI and our affiliates,? said Gavin Cheong, director of business development for RCI. ?It is a win-win collaboration and we look forward to working together with our affiliates to participate in future events.?
As Chinese consumers? disposable income continues to rise, Chinese citizens are increasingly travelling for leisure purposes. There is great potential for China?s vacation ownership market to grow and benefit consumers, developers, and supporting industries. Today, RCI is leading the industry to build cohesiveness, credibility and momentum with players in the vacation ownership industry. The company is working alongside Chinese government bodies to capture the opportunities and to facilitate the industry?s healthy growth and sustainable development.
For more information, visit www.RCIAffiliates.com.
About RCI
RCI is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange with more than 4,000 affiliated resorts in approximately 100 countries. RCI pioneered the concept of vacation exchange in 1974, offering members increased flexibility and versatility with their vacation ownership experience. Today, through RCI? Weeks, the traditional week-for-week exchange system, and RCI Points?, the industry?s first global points-based exchange system, RCI provides flexible vacation options to its approximately 3.7 million RCI subscribing members each year. RCI?s luxury exchange program, The Registry Collection?, is the world?s largest program of its kind with more than 200 affiliated properties either accessible for exchange or under development on six continents. RCI is part of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals and the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands (NYSE: WYN). For additional information visit our media center, rciaffiliates.com or The RCI Blog. RCI also can be found on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
SOURCE: RCI
Source: http://www.insidethegate.com/2013/06/rci-stirs-up-a-crowd-at-the-shanghai-world-travel-fair/
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Dog Buries Dead Puppy In Astounding Act Of Mourning (VIDEO)
Melbourne Zoo?s newest primate baby, a three week-old Colobus monkey, is held in the arms of her mother Clover, in Melbourne on June 29, 2011. Keepers have not been able to determine the sex of the newborn monkey which is pure white and won?t display any black markings until it?s several months old. Black and White Colobus Monkeys, native to Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya, have seen their populations suffer from the fur trade during colonial times, but now the greatest threats to their survival are the loss of their habitat and the bushmeat trade, the large-scale hunting to supply meat to towns and cities. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)
A lynx born on June 10, 2011, is pictured with its mother on June 30, 2011, at the Amneville's zoo, eastern France. (CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
An unnamed baby baboon is seen in his mothers arms at the Hagenbeck Zoo on April 18, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)
A Siberian tiger (Panthere tiger altaica) mother Niva carries one of her newborns at the Budapest Zoo and Botanic Garden in the Hungarian capital on July 4, 2011. Three eight-week-old Siberian tigers, Virgil, Thrax and Manu, were presented to the press for the first time with their health checkups and ID chips implanted by the chief doctor of the zoo. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)
An eight-day old black-capped capuchin offspring holds on to its mother in an enclosure at the Serengeti animal park in Hodenhagen, western Germany, on May 14, 2012. (HOLGER HOLLEMANN/AFP/GettyImages)
Lion mother Princess licks one of her white lion babies on July 17, 2012 in Kempten, southern Germany. Lion mother Princess gave birth to six white lion cubs on July 11, 2012 at the Circus Krone. (OBIAS KLEINSCHMIDT/AFP/GettyImages)
Sydney Wildlife World's new baby joey koala 'Boonda', clings to its mother 'Elle' on June 28, 2011. Koalas are under threat due to a shortage of suitable habitat from mass land clearance, with Sydney Wildlife World launching KOALA HQ in July, to help raise much needed awareness regarding the importance of conserving one of Australia's most iconic and adored marsupials. (GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)
Sydney Wildlife World's new baby joey koala 'Boonda' (C), clings to its mother 'Elle' on June 28, 2011. Koalas are under threat due to a shortage of suitable habitat from mass land clearance, with Sydney Wildlife World launching KOALA HQ in July, to help raise much needed awareness regarding the importance of conserving one of Australia's most iconic and adored marsupials. (GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)
Baby 'Kipenzi' sits in her mother 'Kriba's' arms at the Taronga Zoo on January 25, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. The baby western lowland Gorilla, 'Kipenzi' was born to mother 'Kriba' and father 'Kibabu' on January 15th. Western lowland Gorillas are on the critically endangered list. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
A wild macaque baby monkey suckles milk from its mother (L) in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur on September 2, 2012. The long-tailed macaques can be found in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP/GettyImages)
Newly born twin baby orangutans cling to their mother at an enclosure at the Foundation for Sustainable Ecosystem in Medan, North Sumatra province on January 27, 2011. Orangutans are far more genetically diverse thatn thought, a finding that could help their survival, say scientists delivering their full DNA analysis of the critically endangered ape. The study, published January 27 in the science journal Nature, also reveals that the orangutan -- 'the man of the forest' -- has hardly evolved over the past 15 million years, in sharp contrast to Homo sapiens and his closest cousin, the chimpanzee. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
A black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) born in captivity a month ago, hangs on the back of its mother at the zoo in Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, on March 7, 2011. It is the second time there is a birth of this species in captivity in Colombia. (LUIS ROBAYO/AFP/Getty Images)
A Titi Pigmeo (Cebuella Pygmaea) born in captivity ten days ago, hangs from the back of its mother at the Santa Fe zoo in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on May 13, 2011. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)
A mother polar bear plays with one of her three cubs born in last November, at the Moscow Zoo, on March 22, 2012. (ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images)
A one-month-old baby lion-tailed macaque clings to its mother at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten Zoo August 23, 2011. The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is an Old World monkey that is endemic to the Western Ghats of south India, it ranks among the rarest and most threatened primates. Some 3000-3500 of these animals live scattered over several areas in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)
Johti, 44-years old Asiatic Elephant (Elephas Maximus), plays with her newborn female baby at Ostrava's Zoo on May 31, 2011. The baby elephant was born on April 15. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
A three-month-old Crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus) sits next to its mother in their enclosure on July 8, 2011 at the zoo in Mulhouse, northeastern France. Every year there are about 250 to 350 births at the Mulhouse zoo. Some young animals, once weaned, can be introduced in protected zones of their original region. If not, they go to other zoos to make up other families. Genetic mixing is necessary for the animals' health and the survival of the species. (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)
A three-month-old Pied tamarin (Saguinus Bicolor) is pictured with its mother in their enclosure on July 8, 2011 at the zoo in Mulhouse, northeastern France. Every year there are about 250 to 350 births at the Mulhouse zoo. Some young animals, once weaned, can be introduced in protected zones of their original region. If not, they go to other zoos to make up other families. Genetic mixing is necessary for the animals' health and the survival of the species. (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)
A three-month-old Crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus) sits next to its mother in their enclosure on July 8, 2011 at the zoo in Mulhouse, northeastern France. Every year there are about 250 to 350 births at the Mulhouse zoo. Some young animals, once weaned, can be introduced in protected zones of their original region. If not, they go to other zoos to make up other families. Genetic mixing is necessary for the animals' health and the survival of the species. (SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images)
A baby Pygmy hippopotamus stands next to her mother in an enclosure at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo on July 24, 2011. The baby hippo was born on June 22 at the zoo. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
A baby baboon only a few days old clings to its mother in an enclosure at the 'ZOOM' Zoo in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on March 12, 2012. (PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
A Danta (Tapitus terrestris) born in captivity ten days ago, stands by its mother at the Santa Fe zoo in Medellin, Antioquia department, Colombia on May 13, 2011. (RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)
'Luk Chai' (L) and his mother 'Thong Dee' (R) arrive for Luk Chai's second birthday celebrations at Taronga Zoo in Sydney on July 4, 2011. The 830kg infant was the first Asian elephant to be born in Australia and is considered to be a milestone in the zoo's Asian Elephant Conservation Program. (TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP/Getty Images)
This photo taken on December 2, 2011 shows a lamb feeding on her mother as a flock of sheep graze along a road in the outskirts of Beijing. Agricultural authorities in China have recently begun testing sheep after media reports claimed the livestock had been fed an illegal additive meant to make their meat leaner, claiming that clenbuterol, commonly known as 'lean meat powder' in China, was detected in live sheep in Lijin county, a major sheep meat production base in Shandong province. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images)
A white tiger cub is pictured beside its mother Lisa on December 5, 2011 at the zoological park of Cerza in Hermival-les-Vaux, northern France. The three-year-old Lisa gave birth on October 8, 2011 to two white tigers belonging to a relatively rare species. (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images)
Two Pumas cubs and their mother called ''Xochitl'' remain at the National Zoo in Masaya department, Nicaragua on January 25, 2012. (ELMER MARTINEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
A merino lamb lies next to its mother moments after its birth at the Educational and Reserach Station for Animal Breeding (Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt fuer Tierzucht und Tierhaltung, or LVAT) in Brandenburg state on January 27, 2012 in Gross Kreutz, Germany. Hundreds of lambs have been born at the LVAT in recent weeks in the midst of the station's lambing season. Many of the lambs will be sold just before Easter, when they will have grown to a weight of over 40kg, as lamb is the traditional German Easter meal. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Eighteen-day-old pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis) makes his first public appearance with its 29-year-old mother Dina at the Bratislava zoo on May 24, 2011. The father is four-year-old Paul brought from the Berlin at the age of one. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
A two week-old Eastern Bongo calf stands beside her mother at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on April 13, 2012. Eastern (or Highlands) Bongos are critically endangered with as few as 75 remaining in small groups of 6 to 12 animals in their Kenyan upland range. Bongo are one of the largest species of antelope in the world and are recognised by their striking russet colour and large antlers which extend over their backs. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)
A baby giraffe calf named Mugambi explores alongside his mother Etosha the compound at the Hagenbeck Zoo on April 18, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. The male calf was born on March 13 with a weight of 55 kilos. (Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)
Baby polar bear Anori is accompanied by her mother Vilma as she explores her enclosure at the zoo in Wuppertal, western Germany, on April 19, 2012. Anori was born on January 4, 2012. Anori has the same father as world famous polar bear Knut, who died in 2011. (PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Bristol Zoo's baby gorilla Kukena holds onto his mother's arm as he ventures out of his enclosure at Bristol Zoo's Gorilla Island on May 4, 2012 in Bristol, England. The seven-month-old western lowland gorilla is starting to find his feet as he learns to walk having been born at the zoo in September. Kukena joins a family of gorillas at the zoo that are part of an international conservation breeding programme for the western lowland gorilla, which is a critically endangered species. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
A ring-tailed lemur baby is carried by its mother through their enclosure at the Serengeti animal park in Hodenhagen, western Germany, on May 14, 2012. In the wild, the monkeys live in South America. (HOLGER HOLLEMANN/AFP/GettyImages)
One-day-old giraffe Bashu is groomed by its mother Iwana at the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, on 20 June 2012. (ED OUDENAARDEN/AFP/GettyImages)
A baby beluga whale swims close to her 11 year old mother called Parara, at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama in suburban Tokyo on June 30, 2012. The one a half meters in length baby beluga was born at the aquarium on June 28. (YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/GettyImages)
Jumaane, a 4-month old male African baby white rhinos stays close to his mother, Shova in its enclosure at the Singapore Zoo on July 17, 2012. Singapore Zoo currently has eight of these majestic creatures in its collection, and with the most number of white rhinos bred in a single zoo in Southeast Asia. So far 13 baby white rhinos have been born here, with some have been sent to Indonesia, Australia, Thailand and South Korea as part of the Zoo?s ex-situ conservation efforts through its worldwide exchange programme .White rhinos are considered near threatened in the wild on the IUCN?s Red List of Threatened species. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/GettyImages)
Baby capuchin monkey Bonita sits on her mother and bites in a piece of paper at the zoo in Cologne, western Germany, on August 2, 2012. In the wild, capuchins live in Central and South America. (OLIVER BERG/AFP/GettyImages)
Baby capuchin monkey Bonita sits on her mother at the zoo in Cologne, western Germany, on August 2, 2012. In the wild, capuchins live in Central and South America. (OLIVER BERG/AFP/GettyImages)
Young leopards from Sri Lanka, born in the bioparc of Doue-la-Fontaine, play with their mother Iris on September 2, 2012. The Sri Lanka leopard is the largest feline in the island country that shares its name. Rare in captivity, it is threatened by the destruction of its habitat. Three young panthera live in the Zoo of Doue-La-Fontaine, Ciuttai, Cingha and Lanka are the children of Iris (6 years) and Bonhomme (12 years). (FRANK PERRY/AFP/GettyImages)
A new born male dolphin and its mother Roxane swim on September 4, 2012, the day after the birth, at the Brugge Seapark. (KURT DESPLENTER/AFP/GettyImages)
A five months of old male baby golden brushtail possum named Cooper (R) eats his meal next to his mother named Cascade at the Wild Life zoo in Sydney's central district on September 14, 2012. Joey's birth in April is the fourth succesful captive breeding program by Wild Life on the rare golden brushtail possum whose unique color is due to low levels of melanin in their skin and makes them highly visible to predators in the Australian wilds. (ROMEO GACAD/AFP/GettyImages)
One month-old baby mandrill Aron clings to his mother Sandra in their cage at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo on September 28, 2012. The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a primate of the Old World monkey (Cercopithecidae) family,closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the drill. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GettyImages)
One month-old baby mandrill Aron clings to his mother Sandra in their cage at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo on September 28, 2012. The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a primate of the Old World monkey (Cercopithecidae) family,closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the drill. (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/GettyImages)
Goliath (L), a baby rhinoceros born on September 18, looks on in his pen next to his mother on October 4, 2012, in the zoological park of Peaugres, central France. Goliath is the first rhino to be born in a French zoo this year and the third in Europe. (PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/GettyImages)
A mother toque macaque, which is a kind of monkey from Ceylon, holds her male baby at Zoo Berlin on October 23, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The baby monkey was born on August 23. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A mother toque macaque, which is a kind of monkey from Ceylon, holds her male baby at Zoo Berlin on October 23, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The baby monkey was born on August 23. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A baby hippopotamus born November 23 swims with its mother at Zoo Berlin on December 7, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The baby hippo is a boy and has two sisters. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A baby anteater (Myemecophaga tridactyla), born in captivity last December 6, is pictured next to its mother at Amneville Zoo, on December 20, 2012 in Amneville, eastern France. (JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
Four-week-old Jamil (R) a greater one horned rhinoceros stands beside his mother, Behan, at an enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo on January 8, 2013. The rhino, one of Whipsnade's newest arrivals weighed in a 59 Kg at birth. The young rhino made its first pubic appearance, stepping out from his paddock for the first time ready to be counted in the annual zoo stocktake. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)
A White-Cheeked Gibbon mother sits and her baby (R) look on at the Beijing Zoo on January 21, 2013. The zoo grounds were originally a Ming Dynasty imperial palace and finally opened to the public in 1908. The zoo's history states that during the WWII, most of the zoo's animals died of starvation with only 13 monkeys and one old emu surviving the war. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
A drill monkey mother Kaduna holds her one week young Drill baby in the primate enclosure in the zoo of Munich Hellabrunn, southern Germany, on January 31, 2013. The Drill monkey baby was born in the zoo on January 24, 2013. The Drill's are in danger of extinction in Africa. (CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/23/dog-buries-dead-puppy-mourning-video_n_3487456.html
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Veterans' uphill road back, struggle with suicide
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Five years ago, Joe Miller, then an Army Ranger captain with three Iraq tours under his belt, sat inside his home near Fort Bragg holding a cocked Beretta 40mm, and prepared to kill himself.
He didn't pull the trigger. So Miller's name wasn't added to the list of active-duty U.S. military men and women who have committed suicide. That tally reached 350 last year, a record pace of nearly one a day. That's more than the 295 American troops who were killed in Afghanistan in the same year.
"I didn't see any hope for me at the time. Everything kind of fell apart," Miller said. "Helplessness, worthlessness. I had been having really serious panic attacks. I had been hospitalized for a while." He said he pulled back at the last minute when he recalled how he had battled the enemy in Iraq, and decided he would fight his own depression and post-traumatic stress.
The U.S. military and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acknowledge the grave difficulties facing active-duty and former members of the armed services who have been caught up in the more-than decade-long American involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The system struggles to prevent suicides among troops and veterans because potential victims often don't seek counseling given the stigma still associated by many with mental illnesses or the deeply personal nature ? a failed romantic relationship, for example ? of a problem that often precedes suicide. Experts also cite illicit drug use, alcohol and financial woes.
The number of suicides is nearly double that of a decade ago when the United States was just a year into the Afghan war and hadn't yet invaded Iraq. While the pace is down slightly this year, it remains worryingly high.
The military says about 22 veterans kill themselves every day and a beefed up and more responsive VA could help. But how to tackle the spiking suicide number among active-duty troops, which is tracking a similar growth in suicide numbers in the general population, remains in question. The big increase in suicides among the baby boomer population especially ? linked by many to the recent recession ? actually began a decade before the 2008 financial meltdown.
Compounding the problem, the VA ? which administers health and other government benefits for veterans ? has a huge backlog of disability, medical and other claims resulting from service in the military. Eric Shinseki, head of the VA and a former Army general, promises to have the backlog erased ? but not before 2015. The Pentagon and Veteran Affairs are working to install compatible computer systems to speed up the process. And the VA just reported it had cut the backlog of claims pending more than 125 days by 15 percent in recent weeks.
John Hansman, of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says the problem among military men and women stems from a support system that falls far short of the needs of a military and its veterans.
"One of the big problems now is that we are trying to play catch-up on 10-plus years of war. People have gone back and forth seven, eight, nine times. And now you have a force that is stretched to its limit," Hansman said.
"It's not just people who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan who are killing themselves. About 50 percent are people who've never deployed before. So there's this broader issue going on in the military. Are there even the health services in the military to take care of the troops who have deployed, who have no first-hand knowledge of war and trauma."
Miller had plenty of first-hand experience.
"I was really good at combat. I was really good at that job. It was when I was in the States that I had a problem," he said from his home in Old Town, Maine, where he and his second wife are working toward doctorates in history at the University of Maine.
He said symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome began building as did the effects of a number of concussions that caused mild traumatic brain injury. He had gone through elite Ranger training twice and became a jump-master in the 82nd Airborne. He ignored his symptoms because he didn't want to leave combat and his job as a platoon leader. When he finally sought help from the military during his last rotation in the United States, he found what he said was a "19th century" attitude.
"I remember a psychologist telling me 'officers don't get PTSD.' It was a real affront."
A few days after he nearly killed himself on July 3, 2008, Miller mustered out of the service and resumed treatment for PTSD at a VA facility in Richmond, Virginia.
The treatment was helpful but his feelings about the VA are "really mixed. My take is they are a bunch of really well-meaning people. I don't know that it's resourced for the tasks." Also huge numbers of veterans ? a tiny portion of the larger population ? live in small towns, far from the cities where veteran services are available.
The American public, largely untouched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan because an all-volunteer military did the fighting, is gradually becoming aware of the problems faced by active-duty troops and military veterans. Now, some in Congress and President Barack Obama are trying to improve on the country's ability to take care of those who have signed up to fight.
None of that, however, undoes the anguish of such people as Ashley Whisler, whose brother Kyle killed himself Oct. 24, 2010. He had been driving convoys of supplies to U.S. troops from Kuwait shortly after the American invasion in 2003. He hanged himself in his home in Brandon, Florida, seven years after leaving the military. He had returned to his family in Michigan then moved to Florida, married and had a daughter. He and his wife separated before reconciling. He worked in a tattoo parlor, tended bar and began showing increasing signs of PTSD. He hanged himself while his wife and daughter slept.
Ashley Whisler said her brother spoke of fears of being ambushed when he was driving to work in Florida. After Kyle killed himself, her brother's friends told her how Kyle repeatedly called to talk about the horrors he had witnessed in Iraq and of how he couldn't sleep if there was a thunderstorm.
While she and her parents don't directly blame the military or the VA for Kyle's death, she does not let the department off the hook.
"These guys are coming back from the war and just being thrown back into society without any kind of transition or any kind of support. It's very difficult," she said.
Joe Miller says his military training, in the end, kept him alive.
"I had a gun in my hand. The second I cocked the weapon, I was back in Ranger mode and Ranger mode is not to kill yourself."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/veterans-uphill-road-back-struggle-suicide-050711276.html
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NSA Surveillance Scandal: Snowden On the Run, Asks Ecuador for Asylum
Edward Snowden is reportedly seeking political asylum in Ecuador after arriving to Moscow today. Meanwhile, the US has revoked his passport. The former NSA contractor has been on the run since he first revealed details of Verizon's participation in a telecommunications industry program to store information on all telephone calls, and then broke news of the NSA/Silicon Valley PRISM system that watches over the whole Interent. Developing...
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O3b space constellation to launch
24 June 2013
Last updated at 06:01 ET
An innovative new space network goes into orbit on Monday.
O3b will put a series of satellites 8,000km above the Earth to provide communications to those parts of the world that have poor fibre optic infrastructure.
With backing from blue chip companies such as Google, O3b believes its novel system can change the broadband experience for millions of people.
The network's first four satellites will launch from French Guiana.
They will ride a Soyuz rocket from the Sinnamary spaceport, with lift-off scheduled for 15:53 local time (18:53 GMT).
It will take just over two hours for the Soyuz's Fregat upper-stage to raise the satellites to their operational altitude.
O3b will handle primarily voice and data traffic for mobile phone operators and internet service providers. It will pick up this traffic as the spacecraft pass overhead and then relay it to ground stations, or teleports, for onward connection to global networks.
Although other satellites routinely do this, O3b is taking a markedly different approach.
By flying in a Medium-Earth Orbit of 8,000km, its satellites will be a quarter of the distance from Earth than is the case with traditional geostationary (GEO) telecommunications spacecraft, which sit some 36,000km above the planet.
This should reduce substantially the delay, or latency, of the signal as the voice or data traffic is routed via space.
"The network was designed to avoid much of the difficulty that satellite connectivity provides today which is this delay," said O3b CEO Steve Collar.
"We've all been on a satellite call and you have that 600 milliseconds delay, which doesn't sound like much but it's enough to make that connection almost unusable. It's just as much of a problem on data networks. If you are on the internet and are searching for a site, it affects your behaviour if you get slow responses. You'll stop using the service. We wanted to fix those problems and the only way to fix them is to bring the satellites closer to Earth."
O3b is promising round-trip transmission time of a little more than 100 milliseconds.
The satellites will operate in the high-frequency Ka-band and have the capability to deliver 10 beams, at 1.2Gbps per beam, to each of O3b's seven operational regions.
The company expects to start services at the end of the year, once it gets eight spacecraft in orbit, but the intention is to put up perhaps as many as 20 eventually.
It has taken about six years to put the O3b project together. Important backers include not only Google but SES, one of the big players in the traditional satellite communications business.
O3b was born from founder Greg Wyler's frustration with the difficulty of connecting a modern teleco in Rwanda to the global fibre optic network, and the constraints that placed on performance.
O3b actually stands for "other three billion" - the number of people whose poor communications experience is expected to improve over the coming decade. O3b sees itself as an important agent of that change.
"There are two billion people in the world that are connected to the internet today; there are five billion who are not; and three billion who will be in the course of the next 10-15 years," said Mr Collar. "The other three billion is our target - that's who we're trying to reach, and that's where our name comes from."
The Jersey, Channel Islands-based outfit has raised more than $1bn to build its space and ground infrastructure.
O3b's largest debt facility, over $0.5bn, is provided by HSBC, ING, CA-CIB and Dexia, and is underwritten by the French export credit agency, Coface. The agency is supporting three new space constellations, all of them built by Thales Alenia Space.
The 700kg spacecraft that TAS is building for O3b are based on the 24 spacecraft it has just finished for the Globalstar satellite phone network.
One of the challenges of running the system is tracking platforms as they move across the sky.
"The constellation will be spread equally around the equator which means you have to pick the satellite up as it comes over the horizon and follow it to the other side; and as soon as it goes out of visibility there is already another satellite waiting to be picked up," explained Philippe Nabet, the TAS programme manager on the O3b project.
"There will be three antennas at the ground stations - two to track the satellites; the third is a spare."
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23028083#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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San Onofre closure generates mixed feelings
The picturesque beach city of San Clemente has hummed along for decades just up the highway from the ominous concrete domes of the San Onofre nuclear plant.
To residents, there were always reminders of their neighbor's presence ? the quarterly emergency siren tests and the potassium iodide tablets that local agencies kept on hand to distribute to residents in the 10-mile emergency planning zone around the plant.
But for the most part, the 63,000 residents of this city on the southern edge of Orange County ? known for its proximity to legendary surf spots and the rolling coastal hills of Camp Pendleton Marine base ? went about their daily lives for years with little thought of the nuclear generating station four miles down Interstate 5.
The tide began to shift in 2011, however, when a tsunami inundated Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to equipment failures and meltdowns at three reactors and raising new concerns about the safety of Southern California's own coastal nuclear plant. A year later, a tube in one of San Onofre's newly installed steam generators leaked a small amount of radioactive steam, setting off a chain of events that led to Edison's announcement this month that the facility will be retired for good.
Residents in San Clemente greeted the news with a mix of feelings ? relief; sadness that the jobs of hundreds of utility workers who lived, shopped, and ate and drank in town will be lost; and worry about replacing the plant's energy and about the nuclear waste that will remain at the site.
"Every year, I have to sign a waiver so if something happened or leaked while the kids are in school, we give the school permission to give them iodine tablets," said Alicia Lopez, a mother of three who waits tables at the OC Tavern, a restaurant and sports bar in San Clemente that is popular with San Onofre workers.
"That's crazy," Lopez said. "I had to ask my pediatrician if I should do it. I'll be glad when we don't have to deal with that."
But Lopez's relief was tempered with regret at the thought that many of her longtime customers will lose their jobs as the plant is mothballed.
Over the next year, the plant's workforce will be cut from 1,500 to about 400 ? who will be charged with securing the plant during the potentially decades-long decommissioning process.
Daniel Dominguez, business manager for Utility Workers Union of America Local 246, said the employees were disappointed but will now focus on keeping the facility safely shut down:
"We're all professionals," he said. "It's unfortunate the plant was shut down, but it is what it is."
A plant employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said many workers hadn't expected a decision on the plant's fate until later in the year and were caught off guard. The plant's workforce has already been cut by about 700 in the last year.
"We just went through a very painful reduction in force," he said. "Some people just barely made it through, and they celebrated."
The employee said he expected that many of his colleagues would leave Southern California to find jobs elsewhere with comparable pay. With San Onofre gone, the two nearest nuclear plants are Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo and Palo Verde in Arizona.
San Clemente officials said about 400 of the plant's employees live in the city. On top of that, contractors stay for months at a time during the plant's regular refueling outages and other projects ? including the steam generator replacement that ultimately led to the plant's permanent closure.
Eric Moser, general manager at the Best Western Casablanca Inn in San Clemente, said San Onofre contractors made up about 3% to 4% of the hotel's overall business; but during the winter months when the plant generally scheduled its refueling outages, they could account for 30% or more.
Some suggested that the plant's closure could boost property values. Median home prices in San Clemente are about half that of nearby Laguna Beach, according to real estate firm DataQuick, and lower too than in neighboring Dana Point, which also is within San Onofre's emergency planning zone but a few miles farther from the plant.
"We have disclosures we have to give to people. Sometimes it's an issue, sometimes it's not," said Debbie Ferrari, who owns a local real estate business and has lived in San Clemente since 1981. She said it is difficult to determine whether the plant has been a factor in real estate decisions.
"We might have more people willing to come here now that it's closed, and willing to pay a higher price."
San Onofre's first reactor began operating in 1968, and Units 2 and 3 followed in the early 1980s. Unit 1 was shut down in 1992 rather than undergo expensive upgrades. The other two units were expected to continue generating power at least until 2022, when the plant's license expired. But the leak and unusual wear on hundreds of other tubes led to a complex regulatory process that had dragged on for 16 months while the plant sat idle. With no end in sight, Edison threw in the towel.
There have always been those who viewed the plant with suspicion.
In 1970, residents argued that an expanded plant would be in danger of sabotage because then-President Nixon's home ? the so-called Western White House ? was about 11/2 miles away. A decade later, about 15,000 people attended a festival in Laguna Niguel, calling for San Onofre to be shut down and replaced with renewable energy.
San Clemente City Councilwoman Lori Donchak said community concerns about the plant surged after the Fukushima disaster. The council sent letters to federal officials asking them to find a permanent off-site storage place for spent fuel before relicensing the plant. But city officials stayed out of the more recent debate over restarting the plant.
"I felt like we should let the experts decide how to operate this thing and how to do the restart," said Mayor Bob Baker, who characterized the activists opposed to the plant as a "very vocal minority."
Activists celebrated the plant's closure but expressed lingering concerns about the waste that will be left behind, perhaps indefinitely.
"We'll probably never do anything more important in our lives," said Gary Headrick, co-founder of the group San Clemente Green, who along with his wife has devoted his life since 2009 to shutting down the plant.
Gene Stone, 66, a local activist who launched an effort to outfit residents with portable Geiger counters so they could post real-time radiation readings online, called the permanent closing of the plant a "good step" for safety, but said: "The bad news is the easy part is over. We need to work to make sure it's decommissioned properly. There's no way in the world that we will allow this to be a nuclear waste dump."
abby.sewell@latimes.com
anh.do@latimes.com
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Series of bomb attacks in Iraq kill at least 42
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A series of evening bombings near markets in and around Baghdad and other blasts north of the capital killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens of others Monday in the latest eruption of bloodshed to rock Iraq.
The attacks were the latest in a wave of violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives since the beginning of April. Militants, building on Sunni discontent with the Shiite-led government, appear to be growing stronger in central and northern Iraq.
The violence came as tens of thousands of Shiites poured into the holy city of Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, for the annual festival of Shabaniyah, marking the anniversary of the birth of the ninth-century Shiite leader known as the Hidden Imam. Tight security measures were in force to try to prevent insurgent attacks on the worshippers.
One of the deadliest attacks came at night when two bombs placed near a market blew up less than a minute apart in Baghdad's mostly Shiite neighborhood of Husseiniyah, killing ten people and wounding 30 others.
Police said the second bomb went off among a group of people who had gathered at the scene to help the victims of the first blast.
Bassem Hazim, a merchant from Husseiniyah, said he was preparing for night prayers when he heard an explosion. He went out to see what happened.
"As we came near the blast site, a second bomb went off in the crowd. We helped carry some wounded people to the hospital. All the shops closed and all the shoppers fled, he said, but "government officials are busy with trips abroad and contracts while the country is bleeding."
Earlier, police said that two car bombs exploded within minutes on a commercial street in the mixed neighborhood of Jihad in western Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 21 others, police said.
Also, four people were killed and nine others were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a line of shops in the Shiite-dominated area of al-Shurta al-Rabeaa.
Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim said that al-Qaida is avoiding direct confrontation with the security forces and instead are choosing civilian targets.
"By attacking soft targets like markets, al-Qaida wants to send a message that they are still active and still capable of striking anywhere in Iraq," he said.
Police said car bomb exploded near a supermarket on a main commercial street in the Shiite Karrada neighborhood, killing five people and wounding 16.
Just after sunset, police said a car bomb went off near an outdoor market in the Shiite suburb of Nahrawan, killing four civilians and wounding 15 others.
Minutes later, a car bomb went off near a market in the Shiite-majority neighborhood of New Baghdad. Police said that three people were killed and 10 others were wounded. Minutes later, a second car bomb hit a bus stop in the same neighborhood, killing two people and wounding eight others.
Also, two people were killed in a car explosion in the Christian-Shiite neighborhood of Garage al-Amana in southeastern Baghdad.
In the morning, a provincial police officer in Ninevah said a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into an army patrol in the city of Mosul, killing a soldier and a police officer. He said that seven people, including two civilians, were wounded. Mosul is 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Another officer said a second bomber blew set off his explosive-rigged belt inside a university campus in the city of Tikrit, killing a police officer. The city is 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad.
Two medical officials confirmed casualty figures. All spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to release information to reporters.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but security forces and Shiite residents are frequently targeted by al-Qaida's Iraq branch.
___
Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/series-bomb-attacks-iraq-kill-least-42-193647756.html
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About the Author
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Sunday, June 23, 2013
Afghanistan reaffirms support for peace talks
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan's government reaffirmed support Sunday for possible talks with its Taliban foes, but demanded full explanations on how the group was allowed to raise its flag in Qatar and display other symbols that have stalled the U.S.-led effort.
The ongoing dispute over the Taliban compound in Doha ? which the Afghan government said appeared as something akin to an embassy in exile instead of a political outpost when it opened ? underscore the extreme difficulties in just trying to launch dialogue after nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan.
On Sunday, Taliban spokesman, Shaheen Suhail, reasserted the Islamic movement's dismay over the controversy and made it clear that the Taliban had made no offers or concessions following U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's warning a day earlier that their newly opened office could be forced to close if the spat remained unresolved.
The Afghan peace process, which has made little headway since it began several years ago, is hobbled by distrust among the major players, with the Taliban steadfastly refusing to talk to the Afghan government. While talks with the Taliban remained stalled, there are signs of increasing efforts to get them back on track. U.S.-backed talks broke down nearly two years ago in a dispute over the release of five Taliban detainees held in U.S. custody at a military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
With Afghan presidential elections and the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops looming in 2014, the long-stalled Afghan peace process has taken on added urgency. The Taliban have refused to negotiate with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, saying the U.S. holds effective control in Afghanistan, but the Americans are hoping to pave the way for talks between the two sides to begin before pulling out most of its forces.
Militants, meanwhile, persisted with their campaign of violence.
A roadside bomb killed seven Afghan national policemen around midday in the central province of Oruzgan, said district official Faiz Mohammad.
Two foreign troops also were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, the NATO-led coalition announced, without providing further details.
The Obama administration said last week that the talks would begin with bilateral meetings between the Americans and Taliban representatives 'in a few days,' then eventually extend to include the Afghan government.
However, the Taliban's use of its old flag and a sign bearing the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which the movement used during its five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion, at Tuesday's office opening in the Qatari capital brought sharp complaints across all party lines in Afghanistan.
The main U.S. envoy trying to spearhead the talks, James Dobbins, met with Qatari officials in Doha and planned to travel to Kabul on Monday in apparent bids at shuttle diplomacy.
Kerry used a stop in Qatar on Saturday to urge the Taliban to make good faith efforts to open talks and begin what he called the "difficult" road ahead. He also warned the Taliban may have to close their office if they don't negotiate in good faith.
Under pressure from Qatar, the Taliban lowered the flag and removed the sign.
In comments made hours before Kerry arrived in Doha on Saturday, Suhail had urged all sides to try to move the peace process forward and said negotiations were the way to a peaceful end to the conflict in his homeland. He said members of the Islamic movement are still having an internal discussion over whether to keep the flag lowered and rename their office the "Political Bureau of the Taliban Afghan in Doha," approved by both the U.S. and Qataris prior to Tuesday's official opening.
Security was boosted at the office on Sunday, but there were no apparent signs of meetings or other diplomatic activity, and no flag was visible from the street.
Suhail said in a telephone call on Sunday that the Taliban had been ready for talks with the United States followed by a dialogue involving all Afghan groups. He did not say what the Taliban thinking was as a result of the latest flap. However he made it clear that the Taliban have not changed their position on the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan nor have they offered to allow foreign troops after 2014.
"Any side in the negotiations can bring their items to the table. Once talks start the Americans are free to bring their items to be discussed and we are free to bring our items to be discussed," said Suhail. "We have not said anything about foreign troops. Everyone, the American and Taliban side, are free to bring to the table whatever negotiation points they want."
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said Sunday that Karzai's government remains willing to send a peace delegation to Doha to negotiate with the Taliban ? but only after it receives explanations over the office opening and assurances that the site does not suggest a diplomatic revival by the Taliban.
"The Afghan government remains fully committed to pursuing a process of peace negotiations with the armed opposition, including the Taliban, but within the confines of the conditions and the principles and the assurances that we have established," Mosazai told reporters in Kabul.
Karzai also suspended negotiations with the U.S. over a security agreement that would allow U.S. forces to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 as he demanded that the offending sign and flag be removed.
Both the U.S. and the Qataris said the Taliban had agreed on the pre-approved name but violated the pact at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
In an emailed statement Sunday, however, Taliban spokesman Muhammad Naeem said the use of the flag and name was "done with the agreement of the Qatari government."
"The statement which states that by using the name and raising the flag, the Islamic Emirate somehow violated an agreement... is completely false," Naeem said in an English-language statement.
The Qatari government had no immediate response.
The Afghan spokesman Mosazai said, however, that Afghanistan is still waiting for a full explanation from Washington and guarantees the Taliban will not attempt to revert to its formal name again.
He also suggested that after "initial contacts" between the Taliban and the United States, the Afghan government expects to lead official peace talks and would push to move them to Afghanistan.
The U.S. has already assured Karzai that the Taliban's use of its formal name and flag was in violation of agreements made in preparation for the opening of the office and that it was not acceptable, the Western official in Kabul said.
He also emphasized that idea has always been the idea that peace talks would be led by Afghans with other countries simply involved as facilitators.
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi dismissed the U.S. role in peace talks, saying only negotiations among Afghan factions can help stabilize the country.
"Talks with a role by foreigners will not bear any fruit," he said.
Iran once considered the Taliban an enemy, but relations have improved as Tehran expanded its influence in Afghanistan over the past decade.
___
Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-reaffirms-support-peace-talks-200751481.html
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Feds to get more options in vision, dental plans - Federal Times Blogs
June 21st, 2013 | OPM | Posted by Sean Reilly
Email: sreilly@atpco.com
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Starting this January, federal employees and their families will have an expanded lineup of both vision and dental insurance plans to choose from, the Office of Personnel Management announced this afternoon.
The number of dental plans will increase from seven to 10, according to a news release, while the number of vision carriers will rise from three to four. The last time OPM opened up the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) to new entrants was 2006. Premium rates and coverage will be announced later this year before Open Season begins, acting Director Elaine Kaplan said in the release.
?I am pleased that we were able to increase the number of carriers participating in the program, and now we will be offering more choices and flexibility for enrollees. . . ,? Kaplan said in the release.
The new vision insurer is ?Aetna; the three new dental carriers are ?Blue Cross Blue Shield, Delta Dental and Dominion Dental, OPM spokesman Joe Resnek said by phone. OPM made its selection yesterday after starting the application process in January. Here are the full lists of insurers (as of 2014) for both categories:
DENTAL??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? VISION
Aetna????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Aetna
MetLife??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Blue Cross Blue Shield
United Concordia??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? VSP
GEHA?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? United Healthcare
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Delta Dental
Triple S
Dominion Dental
Humana
Emblem Health
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Why Do Americans Have the Worst DVRs?
American DVRs are inferior to European ones for one very important reason.
Photo by Thinkstock
It took a few minutes shy of forever to get to the end of Game 1 of hockey?s Stanley Cup Final, but at least for non-Bostonians, it was worth the wait. Four hours and 38 minutes after the game began, Andrew Shaw finally scored the winning goal to push the Chicago Blackhawks past the Boston Bruins in the third overtime. The game?s not-so-sudden death didn?t come quite quickly enough for one unlucky hockey watcher. As that anonymous fan explained on Reddit, adding an extra two hours to the end of his DVR recording seemed like a smart move. But in the end, those buffer hours left him just six seconds shy of seeing the winning goal. Ain?t that a puck in the teeth.
I can relate. In the interest of sleep and sanity, I time-shifted the early rounds of the NBA playoffs, catching up on the previous night?s games each morning. Alas, my recording of Game 1 of the NBA?s Western Conference semis, in which the Spurs beat the Warriors 129?127 in double overtime, ended just before the final shot went in the air. (I think the Warriors could still pull this one out!) As a savvy DVR user, I of course padded my recording by an extra hour, just in case the game extended beyond its scheduled end time. But an hour, or even two, sometimes isn?t enough. That?s the peril of taping live sporting events. A long fifth set, a bee delay, or yet another period without the puck going in the net?all can lead to a game overspilling its programming window by hours. Worst of all, the sporting events most likely to be ruined in this manner are precisely the ones we most want to watch to the end: those extra-long, extra-tense games that go into overtime or extra innings.
It?s easy to imagine a universe in which DVRs worked better. Rather than forcing TV watchers to pad their recordings manually, broadcasters could send a signal to cable and satellite providers when a program begins and another when it ends. Your DVR would grab these signals, ensuring that it starts each recording when it should start and ends it when should end?not at some (often-wrong) scheduled time, but at the real time. This wouldn?t just solve ball, stick, and puck problems. It would also benefit everyone who?s suffered the pain of missing the last joke on 30 Rock because the show runs just a little bit beyond its allotted time.
Here?s the good news: This hypothetical DVR utopia actually exists, and a lot of people are living in it. The bad news for me and my fellow Americans: The United States is trapped in the bowels of DVR hell, and we?re not going to escape any time soon.
Now, let us take a journey to this magical land where DVRs work as they should. Our tour guide is Raj Patel, the chief solutions architect for the United Kingdom?s Freesat, a partnership between ITV and the BBC that provides free satellite TV service to 1.7 million homes. Patel explains that broadcasters supply Freesat and certain other international television providers with what?s called ?present and following? information?that is, the identity of the program that?s airing right now and the one that?s scheduled to air next. Even if a program (like, say, a sporting event) is supposed to end at 10:30 p.m., the broadcaster will not change that present and following data until the game is actually over. A customer?s DVR, in turn, will not stop recording until it?s been signaled that the present and following information has changed. This feature is called ?accurate recording,? and that?s exactly what it is. It means you?ll never miss the end of a game?not even a Champions League final that goes into extra time.
This isn?t a special feature reserved exclusively for couch potatoes with British accents. NorDig, the body that specifies digital TV standards in Scandinavia and Ireland, also mandates that DVRs come equipped with accurate recording technology. This feature is also available in Australia, where the TV provider Freeview calls it ?intuitive recording? and brags that ?you will never miss the end of a recorded show again? thanks to a system in which each show gets a unique reference code.
Why do Brits and Aussies get to watch impeccable recordings of ?football? while red-blooded, American football gets cut off by our inferior American DVRs? It?s not because the technology somehow doesn?t work on our side of the pond. Based on interviews with multiple people at various industry stakeholders, I believe that accurate/intuitive/non-terrible recording would be feasible in the United States. The reason it doesn?t exist, I believe, is that American broadcasters and service providers don?t want it to exist. But we need to make our voices heard. The time is now to save our country from substandard DVR technology.
Broadcast standards aren?t uniform across the world. Europe, Australia, India, parts of Africa, and a bunch of other places comply with the DVB standard, while North America goes by something called ATSC. But Dave Arland, a spokesman for ATSC, says there?s nothing about the North American broadcast standard that would prevent any company here from implementing accurate recording.
Similarly, a source at a major U.S. television service provider?who refused to go on the record, perhaps fearing an onslaught of marauding customers?told me the company?s DVRs are capable of accurate recording. The issue, the source said, is that the broadcasters would need to provide them with real-time data on the start and end times of live events. That?s already happening in the United Kingdom and other places with accurate recording, but not in North America.
Robert Duvall stops in on 'Whitey' Bulger trial
BOSTON (AP) ? Academy Award winner Robert Duvall is one of the spectators at the racketeering trial of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.
Duvall sat in the back of the Boston courtroom Friday.
The 82-year-old Duvall has had a long TV and film career, including starring roles in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II." In those mob epics, he played Tom Hagen, a lawyer and adviser to the Corleone family.
He won a best actor Oscar in 1984 for his role in "Tender Mercies."
He has been shooting a movie, "The Judge," in Shelburne, Mass., this month. Duvall plays the title character in the film, which also stars Robert Downey Jr., Billy Bob Thornton and Vincent D'Onofrio.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/robert-duvall-stops-whitey-bulger-trial-153609891.html
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