Manatee's superintendent choice has military background

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 7:11 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 9:32 p.m.

MANATEE COUNTY - At a special meeting Wednesday, the Manatee County School Board chose a former military man with no ties to Florida education as its top choice to rebuild a district in turmoil.

Rick Mills, the Minneapolis Public Schools chief executive officer and former chief area officer for Chicago Public Schools, told school officials he would enact a ?100-Day Transition Plan? upon arrival.

Mills, who vetting groups praised Wednesday for bringing stability to struggling school districts, said his plan would begin with outlining goals around student achievement and building relationships with a community lacking trust in its leaders.

?I think I bring leadership and a skill set that matches the needs of the district and where the district needs to go,? Mills said by telephone Wednesday night. ?I think it?s a good fit.?

Some observers had speculated that the School Board, which voted with closed ballots before their choices were announced, would need several votes to reach consensus.

But after brief presentations from groups that helped interview the six candidates, board members Julie Aranibar, Karen Carpenter and Bob Gause formed a majority-rule for Mills.

Members David Miner and Barbara Harvey voted for former deputy superintendent of Marion County Diana Greene, who was overwhelmingly supported by members of the public that spoke vehemently of the need for Greene?s strength in curriculum and closing achievement gaps.

The board took a final vote after Mills accepted the position via telephone. Only Barbara Harvey opposed the final decision.

Mills, who has more than 24 years in military experience, was recruited by a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools to transition to education in 2001.

He started as the director of various military academies and rose to area superintendent by 2009. His plans for the district have referenced building a culture of collaboration, one in which dysfunction will be eliminated and performance consistently reviewed.

Former school board candidate Linda Schaich personally vetted Mills for the Citizens Advisory Group and spoke in support of the candidate Wednesday.

?I talked to some of the people he worked with,? Schaich said. ?They felt that the systems and procedures (he set up) would carry on after he left.?

Mills spoke of his plan for structure in Manatee County on Wednesday.

?I believe in building highly effective cohesive teams that are highly motivated to produce the best result," Mills said. "That gives you the structure to make sure everyone is going in the same direction."

Expect these teams to involve a complete alignment of resources, professional development and district policies, Mills said.

Mills, whose military experience outweighs his experience in public education, did not go without criticism from the groups that presented Wednesday.

?As structured as he is with his military background, he wasn?t very warm and fuzzy,? said Citizens Advisory Group Richard Conard. ?His educational background is not as deep as some of the candidates.?

But despite those who voiced concern that his leadership style could be polarizing, Mills says he has no doubts that his military background has fortified success in transforming organizations.

?It?s given me a blended set of skills sets for structure and management," Mills said. "Many of the skills I learned in the military were around strategic planning."

The district will enter into negotiations with Mills immediately, and expects to finalize a contract at a board meeting scheduled for Monday. Board members want Mills to report to work in early March, as interim Superintendent David Gayler has previously stated that he will stay in his position no longer than March 29.

?We feel he is a consensus builder," said Bruce Mohr, who spoke for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. ?He's not afraid to make a decision."

Mills will take the helm of a school district that has been reeling since former superintendent Tim McGonegal resigned in September after acknowledging a $3.4 million budget deficit. A subsequent audit found widespread miscalculations and oversights in the budgeting process, including more than $5 million in routine employee benefits that was never accounted for.

The audit also found that financial oversight was in such disarray that in one month district coffers went from a reported revenue surplus of nearly $18 million to a deficit of $15 million.

That was followed by the disclosure this month of allegations that an assistant football coach at Manatee High School is being investigated for possible inappropriate behavior with students. That investigation has widened to look into whether school district officials may not have reported suspected incidents of such behavior as required by law.

Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20130220/article/130229959

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US security firm alleges massive Chinese hacking

BEIJING (AP) ? Cyberattacks that stole massive amounts of information from military contractors, energy companies and other key industries in the U.S. and elsewhere have been traced to the doorstep of a Chinese military unit, a U.S. security firm alleged Tuesday.

China's Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as "groundless," and the Defense Ministry denied any involvement in hacking attacks.

China has frequently been accused of hacking, but the report by Virginia-based Mandiant Corp. contains some of the most extensive and detailed accusations to date linking its military to a wave of cyberspying against U.S. and other foreign companies and government agencies.

Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a drab, white 12-story office building run by "Unit 61398" of the People's Liberation Army.

The unit "has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations," Mandiant wrote. By comparison, the U.S. Library of Congress 2006-2010 Twitter archive of about 170 billion tweets totals 133.2 terabytes.

"From our observations, it is one of the most prolific cyberespionage groups in terms of the sheer quantity of information stolen," the company said. It added that the unit has been in operation since at least 2006.

Mandiant said it decided that revealing the results of its investigation was worth the risk of the hackers changing their tactics and becoming even more difficult to trace.

"It is time to acknowledge the threat is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively," it said.

In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, the Defense Ministry firmly rejected any involvement in hacking, saying Chinese law forbids all activities harming Internet security.

"The Chinese government has always firmly combated such activities and the Chinese military has never supported any form of hacking activity," the ministry said. "Statements to the effect that the Chinese military takes part in Internet attacks are unprofessional and are not in accordance with the facts."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not directly address the claims, but when questioned on the report Tuesday, he said he doubted the evidence would withstand scrutiny.

"To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional," Hong told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference.

Reiterating a standard China government response on hacking claims, Hong said China itself is a major victim of such crimes, including attacks originating in the United States.

"As of now, the cyberattacks and cybercrimes China has suffered are rising rapidly every year," Hong said.

Mandiant's methodology used in the investigation was sound, said Massimo Cotrozzi, managing director of KCS Group, a London-based international cyber investigation consulting firm that was not involved in Mandiant's research.

"No one as yet has provided the world conclusive evidence of a link between the Chinese military and the attacks. This report is the nearest thing to conclusive evidence that I have seen," Cotrozzi said.

Mandiant said its findings led it to alter the conclusion of a 2010 report it wrote on Chinese hacking, in which it said it was not possible to determine the extent of government knowledge of such activities.

"The details we have analyzed during hundreds of investigations convince us that the groups conducting these activities are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them," the company said in a summary of its latest report.

It said the hacking was traced to the 2nd Bureau of the People's Liberation Army General Staff's 3rd Department, most commonly known as unit 61398, in the Shanghai suburbs.

News of the report spread Tuesday on the Chinese Internet, with many commentators calling it an excuse for the U.S. to impose greater restrictions to contain China's growing technological prowess.

Graham Cluley, a British cybersecurity expert who was not involved in Mandiant's research, said people in the computer industry believe China's government is behind such attacks but have been unable to confirm the source.

"None of us would be very surprised or be uncomfortable saying we strongly suspect the Chinese authorities are involved in spying this way," said Cluley, a senior technology consultant for security firm Sophos in Britain.

"I think we are seeing a steady escalation" of sophistication in hacking, Cluley said. "This is really the new era of cybercrime. We've moved from kids in their bedroom and financially motivated crime to state-sponsored cybercrime, which is interested in stealing secrets and getting military or commercial advantage."

___

Associated Press writers Gillian Wong and Joe McDonald contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-security-firm-alleges-massive-chinese-hacking-103033322.html

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Two-year sentence for failing to protect Belarus from teddy bears

Studio Total via EPA

A Swedish advertising agency parachuted the 879 teddy bears over a residential area in Minsk, Belarus, on July 4, 2012.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

A Belarusian border guard was sentenced to two years in prison Monday for failing to report a border crossing by a Swedish plane that parachuted hundreds of teddy bears into the country carrying pro-democracy protest messages.

The sentence was announced by the Belarusian Supreme Court, which said the unnamed officer would be sent to a maximum-security facility, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

---

The Associated Press and?Charter 97, an independent news service opposed to the government of dictator Alexander Lukashenko, also reported the announcement.

The strife over the stuffies eventually escalated into a diplomatic war between Belarus, a former Soviet republic of about 10 million, and Sweden. Each nation expelled the other's ambassador?after the parachute drop on July 4, which is also Belarus' Independence Day. Sweden has long been open about its desire to see democracy take root in Belarus.

Belarus didn't publicly acknowledge the airdrop until two weeks later, when Lukashenko criticized the military for allowing the plane to enter Belarusian airspace. He also fired the foreign minister and the generals in charge of air defense and the border patrol.

Authorities also arrested two civilians: a journalism student who put pictures of the teddy bears on his website and a property manager who offered an apartment to the plane's Swedish pilots, two of four pro-democracy advertising agents who dreamed up the stunt. ?They told NBC News last year that they hoped the diplomatic spat would increase pressure on Lukashenko.

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/18/17007798-guard-gets-two-years-in-prison-for-failing-to-protect-belarus-from-teddy-bears?lite

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bank of india, kopali branch jharkhand jamshedpur - Rascal staffs

I am an account holder of this nonsense bank of jamshedpur.
I have already know the system of this bank from my senior students but due to my scholarship , i opened my account in this bank due to the college condition for filling up the scholarship form for diploma.
My college name is Al_kabir polytechnic jamshedpur.
And my branch is electronics and communication engineering.

At the 1st day of my admission in the college.
I applied for opening an account in college's local bank.
And they told me to come after 20 days to take your passbook.
But i regularly went after the time period but i got my passbook after 38 days.
But this is just one part of the fool and the poor bank.
Again i applied for Atm card and i got it in 3 months .
What a magic no !
They said me to come after 1 month but i got my atm in 3 month because i am i hindu boy.
And all the residents of the area and the bank staff's are muslim , even the manager.
I remember that my friend who is muslim have applied for opening account after 15 days when i have applied.
But he got his passbook in just 16 days.
He didn't applied for atm but he got atm in 38 days.
When we all hindu boys go to ask any question from bank. The only answer they know to say that come tuesday or friday.
Now can they tell us that how can we come to bank while our class going on.
And even when we go to bank without attending our class. Then they tell that no no today that staff is absent. Come tomorrow or 1 week later.
What is this ! The rascals.
All are the rascals.
I complaint this in the banks online complaint but i didn't get any answer and help.
Now i am just running to bank for atm pin but yet the dialogue is unchanged "come tomorrow "

Now can you pls tell me that how can i check my account balance to assure whether my scholarship has come or not.

Source: http://www.consumercomplaints.in/banks/bank-of-india-kopali-branch-jharkhand-jamshedpur-c807723

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MANET Manager for Android allows cellular network-free communication

Apps like WhatsApp are certainly useful, however, they only work when a user has an active Internet connection. What happens when this connection gets cut off? You can probably imagine. In?

More: MANET Manager for Android allows cellular network-free communication

This entry was posted in Android Authority and tagged app, app news, back, communications, google, order, smartphone, span, user, wireless by Admin. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://androidnewsgator.com/2013/02/16/manet-manager-for-android-allows-cellular-network-free-communication/

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PFT: Bills re-sign Jackson; 'open competition' at QB

AP

Former Jets quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh admits that QB Tim Tebow wasn?t used ?as much as we should have, probably.?

A pair of Bills season-ticket holders had a Bills-themed wedding.? (The party was crashed by a Giants fan.? Then a Redskins fan.? Then two Cowboys fans.)

Mel Kiper thinks that the Patriots should add WR Tavon Austin to replace Wes Welker, if Welker is allowed to walk.? (And we realize that we lost at least 49.6 percent of you at ?Mel Kiper thinks.?)

The Dolphins have signed CFL LB Lee Robinson.

Ravens RB Ray Rice hopes and prays the team will find a way to keep FB Vonta Leach.

Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander will attend Competition Committee meetings in Indy to discuss chop blocks and holding.

Steelers minority owner Rita M. McGinley, 94, died on Friday.

The Browns? official website has weighed in on the question of whether owner Jimmy Haslam will be less involved in the team now that he is working in Tennessee again.? (And since it?s the Browns? official website, you really don?t need to read it to know the bottom line.)

Texans G.M. Rick Smith will receive the Charlie Ward Tribute to Excellence Award on Saturday night.

Jaguars defensive coordinator Bob Babich will use a 4-3 defense with some 3-4 elements.

The Colts have only eight players on the roster from their Super Bowl XLIV team; three of them will become free agents.

Steve Hoffman, a 23-year NFL assistant, will serve as assistant special-teams coordinator with the Titans.

One of the age-discrimination lawsuits pending against the Chiefs has gone to trial.

Broncos LB Joe Mays, lost for the season in Week Eight with an ankle injury, hopes to be ready to go for the start of OTAs.

So what can the Chargers learn from the Ravens?

The all-time Raiders interception list is led by the guy who draped himself in Stickum, at a time when it was socially acceptable to do so.

Giants RB Andre Brown is preparing to be the starter.

The Redskins will have to adjust their asinine ?70 high schools? argument to 69.? (Shut up, Beavis.)

The Cowboys trust Bill Callahan (enough not to sabotage a Super Bowl . . . if they ever get there again).

Eagles coach Chip Kelly likes the continuity that tight ends coach Ted Williams, who has been with the team since 1995,? brings to the table.? (Or maybe Kelly was enamored with the idea of giving employment to a frozen head.)

Several Packers greats will be signing autographs this weekend at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa.

The Bears? new offense will reflect a compilation of multiple systems.? (Is ?compilation? the FCC-approved alternative to ?clusterf?k??)

The Lions won?t raise ticket prices for 2013.

The Vikings? sixth-round pick won?t go to Washington because QB Donovan McNabb didn?t play enough in 2011 to satisfy the play-time threshold that would have sweetened a sour deal.

Panthers LB Luke Kuechly is slightly more inconspicuous at Boston College than QB Cam Newton is at Auburn.

The Buccaneers have a huge advantage over the rest of the NFC South when it comes to cap space.

Saints QB Drew Brees may have let the cat out of the bag regarding the return of WrestleMania to the Superdome.

It?s unlikely that the Falcons? ?give us a new stadium or we?ll move . . . to the suburbs? tactic will get anyone worked up.

With the Cardinals projected at more than $3 million over the cap, G.M. Steve Keim knows some tough decisions are coming.

Was the Seahawks defense in 2012 the best in franchise history?

49ers LB Aldon Smith has added MMA training to his offseason repertoire.

The Rams are accepting applications for the fifth Annual Playground Build/Community Improvement Project.? (At least Titus Young will have someplace to hang out.)

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/15/tarvaris-jackson-re-signs-with-bills/related/

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Gun victims, academics join Senate firearms clash

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A woman whose Chicago police officer brother was fatally shot in 2010 says it's time for Congress to pass laws keeping guns from criminals. Another woman says firearms restrictions prevented her from protecting her parents when they were killed in a 1991 mass shooting in a Texas restaurant.

The two were among several witnesses taking opposing sides Tuesday as the Senate holds its second hearing on gun curbs since December's shooting deaths of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn. This time, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee is examining the constitutionality and effectiveness of federal firearms limits.

"We need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unstable," the subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in a brief interview Monday. "I hope everyone will acknowledge that within our Constitution is not only an individual right to bear arms, but the collective right of Americans to be safe."

A Republican on the panel, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said existing gun laws are not being effectively enforced. He cited the often ignored requirement that states make mental health records available to the federal background check system.

"I'm still interested in somebody identifying which of these laws would have prevented any of these horrific incidents," Cornyn said Monday. "I'm not interested in just doing something that's symbolism."

President Barack Obama wants Congress to enact new curbs, including bans on assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines and a requirement that all gun buyers be subject to background checks, not just sales by federally licensed dealers. Obama is expected to push anew for his plans in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Most Democrats have been more receptive to Obama's proposals than Republicans, most of whom ? along with the National Rifle Association ? have opposed the president's plan.

The universal background check has the broadest support and is expected to be a centerpiece of legislation Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hopes to write in the next few weeks. The assault weapons ban is given little chance of enactment, and passage of a ban on large-capacity magazines also seems doubtful.

Other witnesses testifying Tuesday included Timothy J. Heaphy, the Obama-appointed U.S. attorney for the western district of Virginia, and two legal experts.

In prepared testimony, Suzanna Gratia Hupp described being in Luby's restaurant in Killeen, Texas, when a gunman crashed his truck through the front window, emerged and fatally shot 23 people, including her parents, and wounded many others. Hupp says she had left her gun in her car because Texas law barred her from bringing it into the restaurant.

"I can't begin to get across to you how incredibly frustrating it is to sit there, like a fish in a barrel, and wait for it to be your turn, with no hope of defending yourself," said Hupp, now a Republican Texas state official and gun rights advocate.

She added, "The only thing the gun laws did that day was prevent good people from protecting themselves."

Taking a different view was Sandra J. Wortham, whose brother, Thomas E. Wortham IV, was shot dead outside their parents' home by robbers, though he and his father, a retired police sergeant, fired back.

"The fact that my brother and father were armed that night did not prevent my brother from being killed," Wortham said in prepared testimony. "We need to do more to keep guns out of the wrong hands in the first place. I don't think that makes us anti-gun. I think it makes us pro-decent, law-abiding people."

Laurence H. Tribe, the liberal Harvard Law School professor, said in his prepared testimony that nothing Obama has proposed "even comes close to violating the Second Amendment" right to bear arms.

Tribe said more sweeping proposals to take guns away from citizens "have been decisively taken off the table" by Supreme Court rulings in 2008 and 2010 that overturned handgun bans by the District of Columbia and other state and local governments.

Differing from Tribe was attorney Charles J. Cooper, who has long defended gun rights and represented the NRA.

Cooper said those same Supreme Court rulings "establish that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms." He said Obama's proposed assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans were unconstitutional because gun rights "cannot be circumscribed by appeal to countervailing government interests."

Highlighting the political appeal of the gun fight, numerous Democrats were inviting people affected by gun violence to sit in the visitors' galleries during Obama's nationally televised State of the Union speech. One GOP lawmaker invited Ted Nugent, the aging rock-and-roller and vocal gun-rights supporter.

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat shot in the head two years ago in Tucson, and her husband, Mark Kelly, will attend the address. Earlier in the evening, the two scheduled a fundraising event for their new political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions, which favors firearms curbs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-victims-academics-join-senate-firearms-clash-074426424--politics.html

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33-How Much Does It Cost?? - Sturken Auto Body

?to fix my (fill in the blank)?? This is a question we get all too frequently in the automotive repair business.

The first question that any competent service writer would ask is, ?How do you know that is the problem?? The answer to that question can vary quite a bit but it usually involves a friend or family member?s opinion. Or, sometimes it?s ?that?s what the guy at the parts store said it was,? or my favorite is, ?that?s what the tow truck driver said.?

How do these folks know these things?? Are they highly skilled, trained automotive technicians?? Perhaps they just moonlight as tow truck drivers or counter
salesmen.? Modern automobiles have so many systems and sub-systems that even problems that seem simple, aren?t.

The modern technician needs to have as much input from the vehicle?s daily driver as
possible.? This conversation can last from 5-15 minutes and then add on a test drive.
And, this is before anyone lays a hand on the car.? From there the car has to be inspected on a lift or in a service bay.?? Next it needs to be analyzed for where things (conditions) are currently, and then we try to duplicate or replicate the
issues.? Then and only then can we figure out what is wrong and what course of action might be necessary to fix it.

So how much does it cost?? Still don?t know yet.? Now we may need to ask you a few more questions confirming our findings and perhaps getting some more information
regarding previous repairs at other shops. At this point we can finally do all of the remaining research and quote you a price.

?How do other shops quote prices,? you ask?? My response is always the same.? I don?t
know.? And how could they?? They know nothing about your car?s condition or history.? Think about it.? Do you want to know what?s wrong with your car or do you want to guess or hope?? I don?t know about you, but my money, time, and my family?s safety is far more important than getting a cheap price for a repair or replacement of a part on
my car.

Think about it like this.? If you call three places and ask for a price you will get three different answers (or if the shops are smart, no answer).? What do the prices mean? Absolutely nothing!? Because none of these shops know anything about your car?s specific condition.? They just throw a price out there hoping that you will bite and they get the job.? But what happens when you actually get there? The price almost always changes.? You probably didn?t tell them the right things or they may say, ??the parts cost
more than we thought?.? At that point you are in for a ride, as we call it in the industry.? You took the low price and now you are hooked.

So what are your options?? First, find a repair shop that you can trust.? Explain the symptoms or problems as best you can.? Go for a test drive if possible to duplicate the issues. Don?t be in a hurry if it is an intermittent issue.? It often takes time to duplicate problems and even longer to find the causes.? And, by all means, respect the professional shops time and be prepared to pay a reasonable inspection fee in addition to the repair cost. (At times the diagnosis is harder than the repairs.)

In regards to the aforementioned ?How much does it cost?? the answer from the repairman?s side should always be, ?Not a penny more than it should.?? If we schedule an appointment to inspect the car, more than likely we will be able to give you an accurate quote.? Until that time, it?s anyone?s guess as to how much ?it? costs.

For a complete analysis of your car,
truck or RV, call Sturken Auto today.
(408)285-7195.

Why guess when it comes to repairing your car?

Source: http://sturken.com/blog/uncategorized/33-how-much-does-it-cost/

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Trash Talk: Can Kelly restructure Vick too?

Eagles fans shouldn't expect an East Coast version of Colin Kaepernick

Trash Talk

By Michael Ventre

NBCSports.com contributor

updated 3:59 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2013

Michael Ventre

Chip Kelly apparently wasted little time in choosing his quarterback for his first year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Michael Vick and the team agreed to a new restructured deal on Monday.

Now if Kelly and the Eagles can only restructure Vick, they might have something.

On the surface, Vick is the type of mobile athletic QB that Kelly favors. Maybe Kelly won?t install his entire Oregon offense in Philly, but the Eagles? version will certainly have elements of it. And Vick is in place already.

But this doesn?t solve the basic Vick problem, which is actually twofold: He isn?t a great passer, and he isn?t durable.

Vick is 32 and missed six games last season with a concussion. He threw 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Eagles were 4-12 last season, last in the NFC East. It?s not fair to pin all the blame on Vick. But he definitely deserves a heaping helping. And while Kelly is a masterful and innovative coach, there?s only so much any coach can do with somebody whose most notable trait is a tendency to turn the ball over.

So Chip Kelly or no Chip Kelly, Eagles fans won?t be witnessing an East Coast version of Colin Kaepernick. It?ll be more like the maddeningly ineffective Vick they grew accustomed to seeing under Andy Reid. Vick will be slightly improved, because Kelly will bring fun and energy to a team badly in need of those ingredients, and therefore Vick will benefit.

Yet this signing of Vick simply says, ?He?ll do until we can find a permanent replacement.? Nothing more.

Choosing your words
George Carlin used to do a hilarious routine about how the words we use tell a lot about us. One example in particular involved a speech given by an anti-porn crusader. I can?t repeat it here, because I don?t want to be responsible for a blushing pandemic. Suffice to say that the anti-porn crusader in question is unnaturally obsessed with the very topic he decries.

This leads me to the new report by the Paterno family that makes an effort to clear the name of the late Joe Paterno and the former head coach?s involvement in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State. Words: They tell a lot about us.

The title is the most obvious, and it is already being derided in media outlets throughout the land: ?The Rush to Injustice Regarding Joe Paterno.? Now if I were advising the family, I would have gone with something drier and less judgmental, like: ?An Analysis of Joe Paterno and the NCAA Investigation at Penn State.? Because what they have now reads more like: ?The Real Truth about Joe Paterno, Not The Garbage You?ve Been Fed By That Big Fat Liar Louis Freeh.?

But there are other terms used in the Paterno family?s report directed at the Freeh report, like ?failure,? ?rank speculation,? ?innuendo? and ?subjective opinions? that, given the circumstances, sound more like insults a fourth-grader might hurl at another fourth-grader.

In short, the language used in the Paterno report is so biased that it?s hard to take it seriously as an effort to refute bias.

Time to let it go
Somebody needs to remind Bob Knight that Myles Brand is dead.

Brand is the former president of Indiana University who sent Knight packing after a series of incidents that included an ex-player who claimed the coach once tried to choke him in practice and another involving Knight grabbing the arm of a freshman.

Since then, Knight has been Michael Corleone to Indiana?s Fredo. He won?t even consider patching things up between he and the school where he accomplished most of his great coaching feats. His most recent dig took place when the Hoosiers visited Ohio State and Knight ? once a Buckeye player ? delivered a message from the video board that said, ?I used to coach a little bit, and there?s nothing better than Ohio State basketball.?

Knight wouldn?t even attend his own induction into Indiana?s athletic hall of fame.

C?mon, Bob. Lighten up, for heaven?s sake. All the people you have a vendetta against are gone. Brand died in 2009. All the new people like you. Most of the students, and probably even some of the faculty, like you. Indiana University is an institution, and it?s bizarre to hold a grudge against an institution. It?s like refusing to use a sink because the faucet once came on suddenly and splashed water on your pants.

Bob Knight is known for a lot of things, most of which are positive. He was a terrific basketball coach and he helped a lot of people.

And it?s possible that the cantankerous, unreasonable, petty Bob Knight could fade from memory, if the decent Bob Knight would only step in and let him.

The party (should be) over
Johnny Manziel is tiring me out!

The star Texas A&M quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner seems to be everywhere: courtside at basketball games, at the Super Bowl, at Mardi Gras. He poses for photos more often than Kate Upton. He is probably maintaining a larger profile than Tim Tebow did when he was in college, only because Tebow?s act was more reserved, whereas Manziel?s is more rowdy.

I don?t have a problem with the kid enjoying himself. I just wonder if he?ll eventually become too exhausted by the pressure of sudden stardom to play football.

After all, Johnny Football is only a freshman. He?ll enter the fall as a sophomore with one Heisman already in the can and the prospect of becoming only the second college player since Ohio State?s Archie Griffin to win the hardware twice. That?s a lot of scrutiny.

It might be wiser for Johnny to drop out of sight and eschew the fruits of fame in favor of a fanatical devotion to improving as a quarterback. And I admit, he might be doing that, too. He might be a coach?s dream in the offseason. Maybe he?s just mixing in some partying to break the monotony of film work and conditioning.

But he?s creating the perception that he?s a one-man ?Animal House.? And that?s not good, because before he knows it, he?ll be done with his junior year, and NFL scouts will be holding up a picture of Johnny with a cocktail in one hand and a goofy hat to match his smile at some raucous social gathering and they?ll ask, ?Want to explain this??

Maybe Johnny should have a little chat with Matt Leinart, another former Heisman winner who liked to enjoy himself, about how perceptions die hard in sports.

A game of pepper
Antawn Jamison of the Lakers said he believes Michael Jordan could still average in double figures today at the age of 50. I bet the Lakers would be more impressed if Jamison (8.0) would do it at age 36. ?

How would you like to be the doctor assigned to evaluate the Felix Hernandez physical so he could get a $175 million extension from the Seattle Mariners? I bet he goes through a couple of extra tongue depressors at least. ?

Mike Piazza writes in his new autobiography that he once took karate lessons to prepare himself to someday fight Roger Clemens. In a bout between the two, I have to think that Clemens? weight advantage would be negated by Piazza?s mask and chest protector. ?

Rapper Lil Wayne claimed he was kicked out of the Heat-Lakers game on Sunday in Miami because he was rooting for the Lakers. Maybe they kicked him out because his rooting contained explicit lyrics. ?

Saw a photo of Bill Murray?s mustache at Pebble Beach. Enough years have gone by that now he?s looking like the head greenskeeper at Bushwood rather than the assistant. ?

There is a report that the New Orleans Saints have placed a gag order on newly hired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. So basically they put a bounty on his mouth.

Michael Ventre is a regular contributor to NBCSports.com. Follow him on Twitter.

? 2013 NBC Sports.com? Reprints

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PFT: Michael Vick will remain an Eagle in 2013 after all, agreeing to a restructured one-year deal Monday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50772652/ns/sports-nfl/

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Health, Beauty & Fitness: Massage tables for two
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Health, Beauty & Fitness: Massage tables for two. Cupid has arranged a couples massage for St Valentine s Day. Picture: Contributed. By Gaby Soutar Published on Saturday 9 February 2013 00:00. How is that pressure for you??, says one of our therapists.

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S.Africa's FirstRand eyes retail banking in Nigeria: CEO

LAGOS (Reuters) - South Africa's FirstRand will use Thursday's launch of its new merchant banking business in Nigeria as a springboard to move into retail and commercial lending in Africa's second biggest economy, the bank's chief said.

South Africa's number two lender won Nigeria's first merchant banking license in more than a decade last November and opened its doors in Lagos on Thursday.

Now it wants to expand its operations in Nigeria, organically or through an acquisition, First Rand Chief Executive Sizwe Nxasana told Reuters in Lagos during the launch of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Nigeria.

"We are looking at having a universal banking operation in Nigeria ... growing on the back of our investment banking operations into the retail and commercial banking," he said.

"Our appetite for Nigeria is growing and we are going to be looking at opportunities that will put us in a position where we are becoming a seeded player ... in other words among the top five banks in Nigeria in the next few years."

FirstRand has been looking for an entry into Africa's most populous country for years. It ended talks last year to buy a majority stake in Nigeria's Sterling Bank after they both failed to agree on price.

Nxasana said FirstRand was still interested in acquiring one of the three banks, Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank and Enterprise Bank that were nationalised two years ago, but could also enter retail operations on its own.

FirstRand in November had said it could spend more than $300 million to buy a retail and commercial bank in Nigeria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-firstrand-eyes-retail-banking-nigeria-ceo-060046765--finance.html

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Survival of the fittest: Predator wasps breed at the expense of spider juveniles

Feb. 4, 2013 ? Two wasp species, Calymmochilus dispar and Gelis apterus, have been recorded as parasitoids on ant-eating spiders in a study published in the open access journal ZooKeys. The host spider, Zodarion styliferum, belongs to the largest genus of predominantly ant-eating spiders. Their distribution area includes Europe, Asia and North Africa, significantly with at least 35 species reported for the Iberian Peninsula only, marking a record in numbers in Portugal, where this study was conducted.

Available data on the biology of the host spider shows that all species of the genus Zodarion are compulsory ant eaters. What is interesting is that these spiders perform aggressive mimicry, i.e. disguise as ants to help them in their hunt and to capture their prey. These crafty hunters are often nocturnal wanderers and mainly active in twilight.

During the day, these spiders remain hidden in carefully built igloo-shaped stone retreats that are attached to the underside of rocks or dead wood. The igloos provide protection against unfavourable environmental conditions and enemies such as ants.

Despite these evolutionary advancements in the fight for survival, however, the Z. styliferum spider turns out to be an easy victim for wasp species in their strive for reproduction.

The predatory wasp attacks during daylight when the spiders are inactive. The females of the parasitoid species attack the hosts in the shelter of their igloo, penetrating the walls with their long ovipositors. When collected for this study, the wasp larvae were attached to the abdomen of an immobilised spider juvenile, which they used as food for their own development.

Apart from feeding on the juveniles, the peculiar home of the ant-eating host provides another convenience for the parasites. The larva of G. apterus makes a cocoon inside the spider igloo before pupation. The other species (C. dispar), however, does not create a cocoon. Rather, it takes advantage of the already built spider igloo to help protect the bare larvae inside.

Such parasitoid behavior is common among wasp species. The author of the original research article, Dr. Korenko from the Department of Agroecology and Biometeorology of the Czech University of Life Sciences explains: "Several groups of Hymenoptera develop on spider hosts feeding on the flesh of the spider or on its eggs. The parasitoids attack a number of spiders ranging from ground dwelling and fast moving hunters like wolf spiders to web spiders such as orb-web weavers that stay on webs during most of their life."

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Journal Reference:

1. Stanislav Korenko, Stefan Schmidt, Martin Schwarz, Gary Gibson, Stano Pekar. Hymenopteran parasitoids of the ant-eating spider Zodarion styliferum (Simon) (Araneae, Zodariidae). ZooKeys, 2013; 262 (0): 1 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.262.3857

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/strange_science/~3/mWFwIXxSmtM/130204102432.htm

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How US military can be 'band of brothers and sisters'

IDF

Arielle Werner, 21, originally of Minnetonka, Minn., is a combat soldier with Israel's co-ed Caracal Battalion. "Women in combat can only bring good things," she said. "Two halves of a whole together can only be good."

By F. Brinley Bruton, Staff Writer, NBC News

Even before she moved to Israel, Minnesota-born Cpl. Arrielle?Werner was certain she possessed what it took to fight on the front lines.?

"I realized that I couldn't be the passive Minnesotan," said the 21-year-old member of Israel's?majority female Caracal Battalion, a combat unit which patrols the volatile border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.?"I knew this was the place for me.?My friends back in the States are shocked ? now I?m the wild combat soldier."

The self-described "peace keeper of the family" said she is prepared to "give everything" on the battlefield.?

That's the sort of gung-ho attitude that military brass appreciate in any soldier -- but it isn't an attitude many expect from a woman.

There have long been barriers to women?at war, never mind those assigned to fight at the tip of the spear. But the U.S. government's announcement on Jan. 24?that it was dropping?its ban on women in combat units changed everything. (While not officially in combat units, American women have long served side-by-side with male?service-members -- in fact, 152 women died while being deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

Despite living in a country "where some still think women should stay in the kitchen," Werner feels accepted by male colleagues.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's decision to lift the 20-year ban on women serving in combat will open some 237,000 combat-related positions to women. Initially, women will be assigned to combat communications, logistics and drivers. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

"There is a little bit of a glass ceiling (but) ... you see women every day getting higher and higher," said Werner, who is originally from Minnetonka, Minn. "As long as you want to succeed and want to get stronger ? you?re able to handle everything."

While many worry whether society has the stomach to accept women being killed, and being killers, Werner is in no doubt about her place on the battlefield. ?And she doesn't mince words about her fellow females in the co-ed Caracal Battalion.

"These girls are tough," she said.

Werner, who has been on stationed on the border since October, admitted that she has noticed differences between the sexes.

"Guys are able to really to put a tough face on things (while) girls really take time to put emotion into something," she added.?"Women in combat can only bring good things. Two halves of a whole together can only be good."

Not practical or not relevant?
As the U.S. military implements its?new and controversial policy ahead of a January 2016 deadline, it will be seeking lessons from Israel and the handful of other countries that currently do not bar women from front-line combat. They include all of Scandinavia, Australia, Eritrea, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Poland and Romania.

Despite examples set by these countries, one of the biggest worries remains that integration will undermine the essential cohesion of the so-called band of brothers that has long defined the?camaraderie?among fighting men.

"(In the British military) the argument always comes down to the pure practicalities of the effectiveness of the unit rather than if a woman can't do it," said Amyas Godfrey, a former infantry officer and associate fellow at British security think tank the?Royal United Services Institution (RUSI).

Atef Safadi / EPA, file

Israeli female soldiers take positions during clashes with Palestinian protesters from the West Bank village of Nabi Salah on Dec. 28.

The United Kingdom is almost alone among Western European countries in not allowing women into?front-line?combat roles.

"It comes down to 18-to-22-year-old boys not being able to ignore the fact that there is a woman in their midst," he said. Integrating combat units and concentrating on making space for women also "doesn't fit with the practicality of closing with and killing the enemy," he said.

Norwegian Brigadier Odin Johannessen, who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan and commanded military units for 12 years, disagreed with the idea that men and women could not be trained to serve together.

"In mixed units, what is most important is to become a soldier," said the 51-year-old who formerly ran the Norwegian Army Academy in Oslo. "That you are a good soldier tends to be the most prized factor of all, if you are a male or female doesn?t matter."

"It's called a band of brothers. I would rather rephrase it to a band of brothers and sisters," he added.?

Johannessen's exposure to military women colored the rest of his career.

"My first day in the military I met Sgt. Bente Karlsen and she has been present in my mind for my entire service for the professional way she led us," he said. ?

Karlsen had the essential ability to convey instructions and orders, but also clearly cared about the young men under her command, Johannessen said.?

"She was a brilliant sergeant?and showed me that it matters not if you are male of female," he said.?

Norway has no official restrictions on women joining any of its?operational?units, although no women are members of its special forces. Nine percent of combat roles in Norway are made up of women, and the?armed forces' aim to increase that the proportion of females in military positions to 15 percent.

'Masculine warrior culture'
With its "no-exclusion policy," Canada is also recognized internationally as one of the few militaries to have officially removed all barriers to women. Canadian women have served and died on the front line in Afghanistan, and make up four percent of the roles in Canada's so-called combat arms divisions, and 14.8 percent of military roles overall.?

Getty Images, file

Canadian Master Corporal Tera Avey of Edmonton, Alberta, a mother of two and one of three female combat soldiers, wakes up on March, 2002 in the rocky Shahi Kot mountains in Afghanistan. Hundreds of American and Canadian troops were lifted into the mountainous region at high altitude to search and destroy Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

Karen Davis, a gender integration expert for Canada's armed forces, acknowledges?that women have to adapt to the "masculine warrior culture" of combat units.

But when Canadian men and women were sent to fight on the front lines in Afghanistan, fears that women's presence would hurt all-important unity did not bear out, she said.

"What we learned when we went into Afghanistan is that Canadian soldiers are trained to do a job, no matter if they were men or women," Davis said, adding that proper and rigorous training before deployment helped make this happen.

Whether women can or should be treated and tested differently from their male counterparts is at the heart of any discussion on how to integrate military operations, especially front-line combat troops.

In Israel, where women have formed part of the military since before the founding of the state and face?conscription, the training process "accepts differences between men and women and just deals with them," according to Capt. Eytan Buchman, a spokesman for the?Israel Defense Forces.

"Everybody comes in with their own baggage and?physiological?differences," he added.

Johannessen, for his part, advises trainers and commanders to not give women under their command special treatment.?

"Say there are two females in the unit. If you want to do it wrong, pay special attention to them," he said. ?

To this end,?gender-neutral physical standards?are also essential, he said.

According to Davis, Canada's success at integrating women also came about as a result of a rigorously enforced non-fraternization policy. And the onus for making sure relationships don't happen lies not just on the women, but also the men throughout the chain of command, she says.

But beyond policies and rules, Norway's Johannessen says that more women make militaries better and smarter.

Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

View images of the women deployed as the second Female Engagement team in Afghanistan

"Men and women are looking at a problem from different positions," he said. "Having the?possibility?for a different view is many times better."

While integrating women into combat can be down to well-thought-out polices, effective leadership and rigorous training -- natural attributes for any well-run military organization -- an important lesson is that change will most likely not come quickly or implemented uniformly.

Gender integration expert?Davis?admits that even her own thinking changed radically from the time she joined an all-female land-bound unit in the Canadian Navy in 1978. At the time, she agreed that women did not belong in many roles in the military. But in 1985 that changed: Davis was asked to be one of two women to go to sea for 12 days on a formerly all-male ship.

"I came back questioning everything," Davis said. "I had joined and completely accepted everything I had been told, but in fact none of it was rational, it could all be dismantled."?

Related:

Female veterans cheer new era: 'It's about time!'

Women in the infantry? Forget about it, says female Marine officer

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/02/16751945-how-the-us-military-can-become-a-band-of-brothers-and-sisters?lite

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Remains of the Day: Social Network Path Settles FTC Charge and New Privacy Risk

Path faces several privacy issues, Verizon launches a prepaid plan for 3G smartphones, Microsoft releases new Bing apps, and Netflix is unlocked on Xbox for one weekend only.

• Path Social Networking App Settles FTC Charges it Deceived Consumers and Improperly Collected Personal Information from Users' Mobile Address Books Mobile-only social network Path has a new privacy risk: the app uses metadata from uploaded photos to find location data, which it then will publish even if you've disabled location settings in the app. Path has stated that they were unaware of the issue and has submitted an update to Apple for review. Today also saw Path agree to settle FTC charges that its users were deceived and had personal information collected from their phone's address books without consent. The company will pay an $800,000 civil penalty and delete any information collected from children under 13. They will also establish a comprehensive privacy plan and submit to privacy assessments every other year for the next 20 years. [CNET]
• Smartphone Options for the Budget-Minded Today Verizon launched prepaid plans for smartphones. Customers can choose between unlimited talk/text with 500MB of data for $60/month or $70 for the same with 2GB of data. The data plans are 3G-only. [Verizon]
• Bing Launches Five ?Apps for Office,' Extending its Data Banks Into the Desktop Productivity Suite Today Microsoft released five Bing 'Apps for Office' available for free in the Office Store. The new apps allow users to include data from Bing in their Office documents in different ways. The apps include Maps, Finance, News Search, Dictionary, and Image Search. [The Next Web]
• Xbox to ?Unlock' its Netflix App This Weekend, Granting Access to All Subscribers For a Mere Three Days If you own an Xbox 360 and want to stream Netflix from it, normally you have to pay $60/year for Xbox Live Gold to use the app in addition to the $7.99/month Netflix already costs. However, this weekend Microsoft will be dropping the restriction in order to promote Netflix's new original series House of Cards?which means you can access Netflix without being an Xbox Live subscriber for this weekend only. [The Next Web]
• Apple TV Said to Start Carrying HBO App Later This Year Apple TV is rumored to have an HBO Go app by the middle of next year. The app would still require users to have an HBO subscription. [Bloomberg]

Photo by photastic (Shutterstock), a2bb5s (Shutterstock), and Feng Yu (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/WNXSzEnsdVI/remains-of-the-day-social-network-path-settles-ftc-charge-and-new-privacy-risk

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South Africa hope to retain No 1 Test spot

If the South Africa-Pakistan series is drawn level at 0-0, it would be enough for the Proteas to guarantee themselves the No.1 spot at the April 1 cut-off date for retaining the ICC Test Championship mace and prize money for the top-ranked team.

South Africa is currently placed at

the top of the table with 124 ratings points, six ratings ahead of England.

South Africa would thus have an opportunity to not only become richer by $450,000 (`2.4cr) but also to retain the Reliance ICC Test Championship mace, irrespective of how the other series before the cut-off date pan out.

There are three more series lined up before the April 1 cut-off date. India hosts Australia for a four-match series from Feb 22, NZ plays the first of a three-match series against England on March 6 in Dunedin, and West Indies plays Zimbabwe in the first of a two-match series on March 16.

Only a 3-0 series win for Pakistan could see South Africa slip to third position with 117 ratings points, pushing England to the top with Australia in second place.

India are placed fifth in the table with 105 rating points behind arch-rivals Pakistan (109 points). A total of $3.8 million (`20.2cr) in prize money will be shared among the top four sides on April 1, 2013, 2014 and 2015, after the ICC Board approved a proposal earlier this year to substantially increase incentives in the form of prize money to promote Test cricket in the period leading up to the ICC Test Championship event in 2017.

Previously, the top team in the ICC Test rankings received a cheque for $175,000.

Amla?s time

SA batsman Hashim Amla has an opportunity to claim the No.1 ranking on the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career when he takes to the field against Pakistan in the first Test of the three-match series in Johannesburg from February 1. On the bowlers? chart, Dale Steyn is just five points away from breaking the 900 points barrier for the second time in his career.

Source: http://feeds.hindustantimes.com/~r/HT-Cricket-TopStories/~3/GoclOpDkk0w/story01.htm

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