HTC Ville gets hands-on en Francais, is presumably practicing its Spanish for MWC (video)

While we're still a few weeks away from annual phone festival, MWC, it's these weeks in the run-up that often draw out blurrycam appetizers of what we'll see over in Barcelona. This time, it's no other than the HTC Edge Ville, that rumored divergent mix of quad-core processing bulk and slimline form-factor: something we don't typically see the unibody-armored HTC family. In the leaked video, you'll be getting a look at a heavily disguised version of Ice Cream Sandwich, covered in contentious (but new!) Sense sauce. The mysterious handset mole is also kind enough to pay a visit to the phone's specification list, confirming, at least if this is the finished article, an eight megapixel camera, 4.3-inch qHD display and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Alas, it looks like this isn't going to be the rumored quad-core debut from the Taiwanese phone maker, although going on past form, it won't shock us if the company reveals a whole line-up of handsets for us to meddle with next month. Take the tour yourself -- it's right after the break.

Update: Looks like the original video has been unceremoniously switched to private. Fortunately, we managed to grab a copy beforehand.

Continue reading HTC Ville gets hands-on en Francais, is presumably practicing its Spanish for MWC (video)

HTC Ville gets hands-on en Francais, is presumably practicing its Spanish for MWC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  HTC-Hub  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/gtrEKpWHbjI/

lori berenson lori berenson the incredibles jon bon jovi dead new jersey plane crash ohio state kobe bryant wife

Rotblat's pursuit of nuclear peace

Edwin Lyman, contributor

NOBEL laureate and eminent scientist Joseph Rotblat was a man of inexhaustible energy, optimism and dedication. In this new biography, author and radiation oncologist Andrew Brown faithfully captures his character. Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience chronicles Rotblat's journey from his beginnings in a prosperous Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland, before the first world war, to his rapid rise from electrician to internationally prominent nuclear physicist, and ultimately his committed opposition to nuclear weapons.

A prot?g? of neutron discoverer James Chadwick, Rotblat had been one of the scientists on the Manhattan Project. Yet he left in 1944, and after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945, his concern about the misuse of nuclear science drove him to become a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons. He went on to pursue a career in medical physics, and with the like-minded Bertrand Russell, organised the first Pugwash conference in 1957 in Canada.

Even as cold war mistrust reached fever pitch, this path-breaking and audacious event brought together Soviet and western scientists to discuss risks from weapons of mass destruction. Its success led to a series of conferences, continuing to this day, that helped lay the groundwork for a number of arms control agreements, including the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. Rotblat and the Pugwash conferences were jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1995.

Brown's great respect for his subject is apparent, but this is no hagiography. He hints at a personality that could be prickly and arrogant, and also takes a closer look at Rotblat's famous resignation from the Manhattan Project. By Rotblat's own account, he lost interest when Allied intelligence was convinced the Nazis had abandoned their own atomic bomb project. Although his moral qualms clearly were a major motivating factor, Brown presents a more complex story.

Whatever his motivations, Rotblat's departure from the Manhattan Project sealed his fate as an outsider: he learned about its "success" from a news report. Still, he was determined to play a major role in establishing policies to control the bomb that he had helped to develop.

His stature as a nuclear physicist enabled him to provide high-level expert advice and his public warnings about the dangers of fallout from hydrogen bomb tests soon rankled with the US and UK nuclear weapons establishments.

At times, Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience seems as much a history of the Pugwash conferences as a biography of Rotblat. Yet Brown makes a convincing case that the two were so closely intertwined that Rotblat deserves some credit for all its accomplishments.

Beyond its successes, the book also details Pugwash's many internecine conflicts - such as whether the organisation should pursue Rotblat's vision of an internationally verified nuclear weapon-free world or a more pragmatic, incremental approach to arms control. Rotblat, who periodically flirted with the idea of world government, was long concerned that the concept of national sovereignty enshrined in the UN charter hindered the international inspection and enforcement necessary to abolish nuclear weapons, and ultimately war itself. Today, when many nations routinely invoke "national sovereignty" to block international initiatives to slow the proliferation of sensitive nuclear facilities, increase the security of nuclear materials and strengthen the safety of nuclear power plants, it is hard to deny that Rotblat had a point.

Though he could do without so much speculation about the feelings of various players, Brown's use of numerous interviews, including one with Rotblat himself, make for compelling reading. Overall, Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience is a fine work that lucidly depicts the challenges faced by Rotblat and his Pugwash colleagues as they relentlessly pursued a more peaceful world.

Edwin Lyman us a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC.

Book Information
Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience: The life and work of Joseph Rotblat
by Andrew Brown
Published by: Oxford University Press
?18.99/$29.95

Follow @CultureLabNS on Twitter

Like us on Facebook

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1c406915/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A120C0A10Crotblats0Epursuit0Eof0Enuclear0Epeace0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

obama state of the union 2012 demi moore hospitalized james farentino somali pirates navy seals navy seal team 6 tim gunn

Man arrested in slayings of SC officer, Ga. woman

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) ? A man accused of killing his girlfriend in Georgia and then gunning down a police officer in South Carolina had been dealing with mental problems before the slayings, the man's father said.

Police in South Carolina said Joshua Tremaine Jones, 26, faces charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the death of Aiken police Master Cpl. Sandra Rogers. He is expected to appear in court in Aiken on Monday, according to Magistrate Judge Tracey Carroll.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said that Rogers was shot Saturday morning while responding to a report of suspicious activity. The 49-year-old had spent nearly 28 years with the Aiken Public Safety department.

Jones was arrested hours later in Batesburg.

James Jones, the suspect's father, told reporters that his son had past run-ins with the law and "was going through some mental problems," though he didn't elaborate on those problems. Jones said his son had run away from home and moved in with his girlfriend. He said his son is from North Augusta and briefly lived in Atlanta.

In neighboring Georgia, The Augusta Chronicle reported Jones also faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Cayce Vice. Police found her body in her apartment Saturday morning after she didn't show up for work at a Five Guys restaurant. She had been shot in the head.

Richmond County sheriff's Capt. Scott Peebles told the newspaper (http://bit.ly/yO5JS7) that the agency had obtained warrants for Jones for murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Peebles confirmed that Vice had filed a complaint against Jones for assault earlier this month.

A phone message left late Saturday for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was not immediately returned.

Jones said that when he returned from work Friday, his son had taken his blue BMW without permission and left. Jones said he and his other son drove around searching but couldn't locate him.

Jones said his heart goes out to the victim' families, and that he's devastated as a father.

"I just went straight to God and said, 'I cannot believe this.' After all that I have taught him, I just never thought that my family would have to deal with something like this," Jones said.

The Aiken public safety department issued a statement Saturday evening praising Rogers as "an invaluable street cop who exemplified the model of a Public Safety Officer," according to WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.

Last month, hundreds of people gathered to mourn another Aiken police officer killed in the line of duty. Officer Scotty Richardson, 33, died in the early hours of Dec. 21 after being shot in the head during a traffic stop at an apartment complex the night before. Aiken is a city of 30,000 that's located about 20 miles northwest of Augusta.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-29-Multi-State%20Slayings/id-84708dbb956a4a3e94370b553ae646c5

teddy roosevelt rita hayworth rita hayworth lakers rumors alfa romeo giulietta alfa romeo giulietta xbox update

Regina Weinreich: Wit's Wit

A conceit, an ironic barb, wit can be searing and funny. In the case of Margaret Edson's Wit, the Tony-winning play now in a Manhattan Theatre Club revival at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre under the fine direction of Lynne Meadow, Wit follows the journey of Vivian Bearing, a name that loosely translates to "enduring life," a college professor specializing in 17th century metaphysical poetry, in the verse of John Donne to be specific, author of Death Be Not Proud. As performed by Sex & the City's Cynthia Nixon, she is a brainy Everyman/woman, precious in what she knows and does, vital in knowledge, commitment, and contribution to life, devastating to lose. And lose her we do. Sorry for the spoiler: She dies at Wit's end.

Those passionate about Wit when it was first produced off Broadway in 1999 with Kathleen Chalfant in the gutsy role were skeptical about the casting of Cynthia Nixon. Slightly younger than Vivian as written, Nixon's bone thin skull, sculptural and cadaverous, and large blue eyes bring a great poignancy, the irony of cancer as an equal opportunity killer ravaging the still prime body, what William Burroughs called "the soft machine." Stage four ovarian cancer kills quickly foiling the medical team from using her for their research. Vivian's doctor (Greg Keller) is a onetime student in her poetry class; his procedures seem slightly less perfunctory, even as he administers her morphine drip.

Vivian's brave resistance is meshed with flashbacks to her lectures, Vivian delivering Donne's smart words ("Death, Thou shalt die!"), while she wears a hospital gown and baseball cap covering hairless head. The hat is a bright orange that matches the color of an ice pop she shares with her nurse (Carra Patterson). Brilliant as she was prior to illness, her academic supervisor (Suzanne Bertish), a sole visitor reads to her from that children's classic, Runaway Bunny, before Vivian -- to paraphrase another poet, Dylan Thomas, goes gently into that good night.

The loss is heartbreaking, of her and of her erudition, and in this small beautifully wrought chamber piece, epic.

A version of this post also appears on Gossip Central.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/regina-weinreich/wit-play-review_b_1238979.html

krzyzewski childish gambino sandusky interview with bob costas sandusky interview with bob costas live oak mark kelly mark kelly

Colicky Edinburgh Zoo pandas removed from display (AP)

LONDON ? Two giant pandas on loan to a Scottish zoo have been removed from display while being treated for colic.

Edinburgh Zoo officials say female panda Tian Tian was treated by a veterinarian for the illness on Saturday, just as her male companion Yang Guang is recovering from a bout diagnosed earlier this month.

Officials say the illness is not serious, but can cause discomfort and requires medication.

The zoo said Tian Tian would be allowed "to relax privately away from public view" over the weekend.

Yang Guang is expected to be back on view Monday.

The 8-year-old pair are the first pandas to live in Britain in nearly two decades. They arrived from China in December and are expected to draw huge crowds of visitors to the zoo.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_sick_pandas

megatron richard simmons war of 1812 war of 1812 jeffrey eugenides jeffrey eugenides volcker rule

Virus outbreak in Riverside, Orange counties worries horse owners

An outbreak of a deadly virus has horse trainers and owners in Riverside and Orange counties fearful for the health of their animals.

On Tuesday, a horse at the Empire Polo Club in Indio was euthanized because of complications from equine herpes virus-1. At Rancho Sierra Vista in San Juan Capistrano, 16 cases of the disease have been identified since Jan. 11 and one horse had to be euthanized.

Both sites have been placed under quarantine by state veterinarians. No horses are allowed to leave or enter, and caretakers must take sanitary precautions.

EHV-1 causes cold-like symptoms and a high fever, then progresses to inflammation of blood vessels in the spinal cord and brain, resulting in muscle weakness and, in severe cases, paralysis of the hind limbs. The prognosis is usually good for horses that can remain standing but very poor for those that can't. Some horses can carry the virus without getting sick, while others can die in as little as 24 hours.

The disease, which is spread by close contact and contaminated equipment, sent equestrians into a flurry last May, when it spread from an event in Utah to nine other states, including California.

Managers at Rancho Sierra Vista declined to comment about the outbreak, but David Provence, a manager at Sycamore Trails Stables next door, said his facility canceled a show last weekend because of the outbreak.

"Nobody would want to come to a horse show with that disease that close by," he said.

Provence is worried that the horses at his stable could get the virus, which has an incubation period of about two to 10 days. "Luckily, so far no one has shown any symptoms," he said. "It's still a knocking-on-wood type of deal."

The polo club has suspended all events, and state animal health officials put the club, stables and surrounding horse properties under a 21-day quarantine.

In the nearby town of Thermal, a weeks-long international hunter-jumper show sponsored by Horse Shows in the Sun has not been affected, said office manager Amanda Lambert.

"We're totally clean here, and we've been in constant contact with" the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said. Organizers have, however, have instituted several sanitary precautions.

Patricia Aiken, owner of Dressage Getaway Inc., has been monitoring state updates since the death of the horse at the polo grounds. Aiken has a 27-acre ranch near the grounds and is holding a three-day dressage competition next month at the Thermal show grounds. If officials quarantine the area, she will be forced to cancel the prestigious event.

"All of my life I've been into horses and never had this situation happened before," Aiken said.

Cindy Hale of Norco, where the town motto is "Horsetown USA," said she is taking no chances with her two horses, Wally and Danny, even though she lives miles away from either outbreak. Now she prefers to ride alone rather than in groups. "You always have to be a little bit vigilant," she said.

Hale, who is also a contributing editor for Horse Illustrated magazine, said she is concerned because of how horses are kept in Southern California, especially at the big equestrian centers.

"Horses are in corrals and stalls side by side," she said. "It's very easy for disease to spread."

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com

ruben.vives@latimes.com

Los Angeles Times staff writer Phil Willon contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/xeoHcyKJF9o/la-me-horse-virus-20120127,0,1531487.story

michigan state capital one bowl 2012 nfl draft order georgia bulldogs football winter classic 2012 rashard mendenhall rachel zoe

Can Too Much Information Harm Patients? [Excerpt]

Features | Health

In his new book, cardiologist Eric Topol explores the ways in which the digital age is transforming medicine

By Eric Topol ?| January 27, 2012

CLICKS AND TRICKS: To what extent are consumers empowered? Eric Topol's new book The Creative Destruction of Medicine examines how the latest innovations in medicine and communication are changing the landscape of health care. Image: Basic Books

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care (Basic Books, 2012), by Eric Topol, a professor of innovative medicine and the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute.

Nearly 7 Billion people on the planet

Over 3 million doctors

Tens of thousands of hospitals

6000 prescription medicines, 4000 procedures and operations

Countless supplements, herbs, alternative treatments

Who gets what, when, where, why and how?

When a 58 year old, active, lean, intelligent financier from Florida came to see me for a second opinion, I should not have been surprised. For Valentine's Day the prior year, his wife's present was a computed tomography (CT) scan for his heart. She heard about it on the radio and also saw heart scan billboards on the highway. There was even a special deal of $100 off for Valentine's.

But her husband didn't have any symptoms of heart disease, didn't take any medications, and played at least two rounds of golf a week. On the other days, he worked out on an elliptical machine for 30 to 40 minutes. Until he got the heart scan.

My patient was told that he had a score of 710?a high calcium score?and his physician had told him that he would need to undergo a coronary angiogram, a roadmap movie of the coronary anatomy, as soon as possible. He did that and was found to have several blockages in two of the three arteries serving his heart. His cardiologists in Florida immediately put in five stents (even though no stress-test or other symptoms had suggested they were necessary), and put him on a regimen of Lipitor, a beta-blocker, aspirin and Plavix.

Now, in my office four months later, this patient is not doing well at all. He is worried that he might have a heart attack if one of the stents becomes clotted. He feels profoundly tired and has muscle aches that are so disturbing he can neither play golf nor do his usual exercise. He complains of marked depression and an inability to have or sustain an erection. A fit individual, who had taken good care of himself and was enjoying his life, was now debilitated and depressed. The cardiology trainee who saw this patient with me asked, "How could this have happened?"

Unfortunately, this individual's story is not so uncommon. Think predator and prey: the physicians and hospital advertise, leading to a high volume of heart scans, billed directly to the patients at some $500 each. Then, should an abnormal score come up, the patient may be quickly referred for first a diagnostic procedure, and then one to implant metal stents in the arteries on the surface of the heart. Naturally the cardiologist who put in multiple stents feels gratified to have saved the patient's life with unsuspected, advanced coronary disease. Overall, however these cases are like riding a train to the last stop, regardless of the most logical destination. All procedures are performed, as likely as not, the outcome is not a saved life but a "cardiac cripple."

I didn't enjoy telling the patient that he should probably not have ever had the stents. I could see the cholesterol buildup in the two arteries on an angiogram he brought with him, but the case was not severe. Of course, it was too late to do anything about the stents, which can't be removed, except to reassure him that he was not in any imminent or real danger, but I could get him off some of his medications, which would help his current symptoms and get him back to golf and exercise.

Mark Twain said, "To a man with a hammer, a lot of things looks like nails that need pounding." Surgeons are notorious for a similar bias: "When it doubt, cut it out." My patient was the victim of the same tendency. As badly as he got pounded, it could have been worse: in 2010 the "Olympic record" of stenting was published. One patient had sixty-seven stents placed throughout his coronary arteries and bypass grafts, in the course of twenty-eight coronary angiograms over a ten-year period.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=296437e988cb56d39523680fe895787e

harry belafonte harry belafonte batman arkham city weather orlando winston churchill winston churchill arkham city