FGoria: RT @ReutersEconAsia: China's audit office has uncovered 530 billion yuan ($84.21 billion) worth of irregularities with local government debt

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RT @ReutersEconAsia: China's audit office has uncovered 530 billion yuan ($84.21 billion) worth of irregularities with local government debt FGoria

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Kepler Telescope Spots Tiniest Exoplanets Yet

At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, scientists talked about mapping dark matter, measuring the 'graininess' of spacetime, and discovering the smallest exoplanets ever, using the Kepler space telescope. Ron Cowen, who reported on the meeting for Nature, discusses those findings.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/13/145175261/kepler-telescope-spots-tiniest-exoplanets-yet?ft=1&f=1007

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Reddit and Union Square Ventures Go to Washington to Explain Why DNS and Search Engine Blocking Will Break the Internet

Rep. Issa. (issa.house.gov)

Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures and Alexis Ohanian of Reddit, Breadpig, Hipmunk and Google+ are headed to Washington to testify as witnesses?for an ?Oversight Hearing on DNS and Search Engine Blocking? on Jan. 18 called by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a fierce opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act and a cosponsor of the similar but completely different Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act. Of SOPA, he?s said: ?Butchering the internet is not a way forward for America.?

SOPA allows for Hollywood, record labels and other intellectual property holders to cut off U.S. users? access to the servers hosting the bad content. That happens by basically removing the DNS entry for the infringing site. The law also applies to sites that link to infringing sites, which would give search engines a primary spot on the collateral damage list.

Opponents have pinpointed DNS and search engine blocking as failure points of the legislation.?We know SOPA is bad because it counteracts the protection from user-submitted content made sacred by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, a law whose protections are credited for much of the innovation on the web. But DNS?the protocol and registry that translates natural language domain names into IP addresses?is a little more technical, so Betabeat asked?New York tech godfather Anil Dash who helped Betabeat out with an explanation.

?So you type?dashes.com<http://dashes.com> in your browser,? Mr. Dash Gchatted. ?It tells your computer to do a DNS lookup?that says ?oh, that?s 173.255.248.204??and then it goes and gets the page or pictures. But, here?s the thing. If you cut off a site at DNS,?first of all, a user can just put in the IP address?and probably still get to the site. But even if that?s not the case, it can break all kinds of other parts of the web.?

In addition, law allows for the takedown of sites just for linking to infringing content, he said, meaning a search engine result page that surfaces pirated copies of Beyonce?s album could be as liable as a site like nodata.tv, which exclusively curates and links to pirated music.

But SOPA only applies to websites?outside U.S. jurisdiction, we said, now that the ?foreign sites amendment? has been appended. ?Right,? Mr. Dash said. ?Google.ca> is obviously a Canadian domain, but it?s still an American company. Or, with the linking provision?bit.ly,http://bit.ly> is an American comany?with a Libyan domain name.?So theoretically everything with a bit.ly or t.co could be theoretically a link outside of U.S. jurisdiction.?

Yeah, that seems problematic, we said.

?A wee bit, yes.?

Adrianne Jeffries is a reporter for Betabeat and The New York Observer. GPG public key: 222D2F697E12899D. Follow Adrianne on Twitter or via RSS. ajeffries@observer.com

Source: http://www.betabeat.com/2012/01/09/reddit-and-union-square-ventures-go-to-washington-to-explain-why-dns-and-search-engine-blocking-will-break-the-internet/

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Junior Dos Santos VS Alistair Overeem Prediction

Reem is my British brother from another mother by Junior is too nice. Plus his footwork and silky hands will be too much. I'd be shocked if he didn't use his feet to avoid kicks and Muay Thai work in close. I think he'll use his feet to keep the fighting continously in the boxing zone.

With these guys though, one strike changes everything. It doesn't mean they have better power or chin but simply who executes.

Source: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=372847&goto=newpost

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Ford?s Jim Farley on the importance of putting your brand in the hands of customers

Origination language not set

January 6th, 2012

During Blogworld Expo in Los Angeles, I was given the opportunity to interview Jim Farley, Ford?s Group Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales and Service live on stage. The discussion was focused on a powerful theme, putting your brand in the hands of customers. Certainly for any business, large and small, the idea of empowering customers to shape and steer your brand can be perceived as both frightening and dangerous. But here, Farley brings a refreshing perspective on why businesses, including Ford, need to engage customers in a more human and genuine manner. He looks beyond marketing to bring executives, employees and customers together in building a stronger brand, more relevant products and services, and investing in meaningful relationships to ultimately create a remarkable business?a business that matters beyond its goods.

?My responsibility is to teach the organization something they?re not willing to learn. If I get fired because of it or if I don?t fit, I should not have been there any way. We live in a new paradigm?with a new opportunity.? ? Jim Farley

I think you?ll enjoy this video. Please take a moment to watch and share?

Season Two:

S2E1: How Mercedes Benz Successfully Uses Social Media to Engage
S2E2: Technorati?s Richard Jalichandra on the State and Future of Social Media
S2E3: Guy Kawasaki on the Art of Enchantment
S2E4: Adly CEO Arnie Gullov-Singh on the Social Era of Celebrity Endorsements
S2E5: Filmmaker and Webby Awards Founder Tiffany Shlain
S2E6: Jim Louderback, Revision3 CEO on the Future of Broadcast and Web Television ? Part 1 of 2
S2E7: Jim Louderback, Revision3 CEO on the Future of Broadcast and Web Television ? Part 2 of 2
S2E8: Marcel LeBrun of Salesforce Radian6 on the Future of Social Media Monitoring
S2E9: Our Digital Society in the Next 30 Years: An Interview with John Battelle
S2E10: How Social Customer Service is Changing the Culture at Comcast
S2E11: Dunkin? Donuts Uses Social Media to Improve Customer Relationships and Experiences
S2E12: USA Today?s Jon Swartz on Disruptive Technology?s Impact on Business and Culture

Season One on YouTube

Now on iTunes!

Photo Credit: Isaac Brekken for The New York Times

Source: http://mojofiti.com/briansolis/2012/01/06/ford%E2%80%99s-jim-farley-on-the-importance-of-putting-your-brand-in-the-hands-of-customers/

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Ind. Dems end boycott, GOP plans initial vote (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? A divisive labor bill is back in Republican hands after Indiana House Democrats on Monday ended a three-day boycott of the chamber to stall the measure.

Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said the right-to-work bill will get a committee vote Tuesday morning and could make it out of his chamber by the end of the week if Democrats continue to attend House sessions.

Indiana House Democrats returned to the Legislature after spending three days blocking the contentious bill but did not promise to stay long enough to allow a final vote on the measure. House Democratic Leader Patrick Bauer told The Associated Press that Democrats were returning "just for today."

The Democrats' return put the issue of Republican vote-wrangling back on the table, at least for a day. Bosma needs 51 votes to pass the measure. Although Republicans outnumber Democrats 60-40 in the House, some Republicans such as Rep. Ed Soliday of Valparaiso have said they plan to vote against the measure.

Bosma said he is confident he will be able to lock in the votes needed to pass the measure. "We'll just keep calm and carry on," he said, echoing the British World War II motto he has adopted for the right-to-work battle.

Republicans want to make Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact right-to-work legislation, which bans employment contracts that require employees to pay mandatory union fees for representation. Supporters claim it would bring more jobs to Indiana, where the unemployment rate has crept back up to around 9 percent in the recent months. Opponents say it is a move aimed at breaking unions in Indiana and claim it would depress wages for all workers.

House Democrats stalled work at the opening of Indiana's 2012 legislative session last week by denying Republicans the 67 members on the floor they need to conduct any business.

The measure is expected to find an easy path through the state Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 37-13.

National right-to-work advocates came close in November to making New Hampshire the first right-to-work state since Oklahoma passed the measure in 2001 but could not find the votes to override a veto from Democratic Gov. John Lynch. The issue had been largely dormant since the late 1940s and '50s but has enjoyed a resurgence following the GOP's sweep in statehouses across the nation in 2010.

Indiana Republicans approved new $1,000-per-day fines for prolonged absences after a five-week walkout by Democrats last year over the same issue.

Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, said that if House Democrats stay in session the right-to-work measure could make it to the governor's desk as soon as two weeks from now.

But if they use a start-and-stop approach to stall the measure further, Republicans will be ready with the same fines they levied last year, he said.

"So if their idea is, come in one day be gone two days, come in a day be gone two, that's not going to fly for very long at all," he said.

The measure could reach Gov. Mitch Daniels' desk before the Feb. 5 Super Bowl in Indianapolis. Daniels has made the labor bill one of his top priorities for the 2012 session and appeared in television ads pushing the measure. Last week, the NFL Players Association called the bill "a political ploy designed to destroy basic workers' rights."

Daniels has kept his involvement to mainly wholesale lobbying pitches, talking with newspaper editorial boards and filming television ads for the measure, but said he will personally pitch House lawmakers if needed.

"I'm willing to in case there are some who are on the fence," Daniels said.

Some Republican lawmakers, such as Rep. Bruce Borders of Jasonville, say they are looking at exempting Indiana's construction workers from the ban but have not said definitively whether they will support the bill.

"I'm still keeping my powder dry," Borders said last week.

Bosma did not discount the idea of carving the Indiana State Building and Construction Trades from the measure, noting that he pushed for that exemption last year.

"I'm a little leery about that approach, but I know there are some people interested in that," Bosma said, adding that he would oppose efforts to put the measure on the ballot for voters in 2013.

___

Tom LoBianco can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/tomlobianco

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120109/ap_on_re_us/us_indiana_right_to_work

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Obama pledges 'Change will come'

President Barack Obama walks on stage to speak at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, Chicago. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama walks on stage to speak at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, Chicago. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama greets a small crowd after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

President Barack Obama shakes hands during a campaign event Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, Chicago. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

An audience members applauds President Barack Obama as he speaks at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, Chicago. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama scooped up hometown campaign cash Wednesday and promised supporters that change can still come if they work even harder this time around.

Coming the day after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's convincing win in New Hampshire's GOP primary, which established him as the clear front-runner to take on the president in the fall, Obama's visit home was all about summoning his backers' enthusiasm for the fight ahead.

"If you're willing to work even harder in this election than you did in the last election, I promise you, change will come," Obama said at the first of three evening fundraisers, a large event at the University of Illinois at Chicago

"You can't back down ? not now. We won't give up ? not now," Obama said. "We've got to send a message we are going to keep pushing and fighting for the change that we believe in."

Obama's team has castigated Romney at every turn as a political opportunist willing to alter his views ? on abortion, the environment and gay marriage ? to serve his political purpose.

Without naming Romney, Obama said he had led an administration of principle that has tried to invigorate the economy and kept its promises.

"I'm not a perfect man. I'm not a perfect president, but I promise you this ? and I've kept this promise ? I will always tell you what I believe and I will always tell you where I stand."

"If you stick with me, we're going to finish what we started in 2008," Obama said.

Obama's campaign has hauled in more than $150 million through September, but Democrats say they will need to compete with Republican-leaning outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to back specific candidates.

Obama's event at the University of Illinois had ticket prices starting at $44 per person. He was also attending a pair of pricier fundraisers Wednesday, with tickets beginning at $7,500 for one event and $35,800 per couple for the other. Those events were at the homes of Fred Eychaner, a Chicago media mogul, and Stuart Taylor, a Bear Stearns executive.

Obama arrived in Chicago Wednesday on an unseasonably warm early evening, and his motorcade zipped along a barren Lakeshore Drive, cleared of rush-hour traffic, to his downtown campaign headquarters.

The White House said Obama wanted to show his appreciation to his campaign staff with the surprise visit ? the president's first to the headquarters ? but the White House kept the moment private. Reporters traveling with the president were not allowed to witness the visit by Obama, who has insisted he is focused on governing, not campaigning.

A White House statement said Obama thanked his staffers for their hard work and encouraged them, saying that he hoped to run "a campaign that embodies the values we're fighting for."

Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee set a combined fundraising goal of $60 million for the final three months of 2011. The campaign is expected to release its fundraising report before the end of the month.

Romney's campaign said Wednesday it had collected $56 million for the primary through Dec. 31 and has more than $19 million in the bank, far outpacing his opponents' fundraising.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-11-Obama-Fundraisers/id-e69aa5839c1c4a45978a84a0a62be466

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Funny facial features tell monkeys who's who

Monkeys in Central and South America have amazingly diverse faces, from the white-mustached visage of the emperor tamarin to the boiled-lobster-red skin of the bald uakari. Now, research reveals that New World monkeys rely on facial coloration mostly to recognize their own species.

"We found that species that live in smaller groups have evolved more complex patterns of facial color," study researcher Sharlene Santana wrote in an email to LiveScience. "This (more complex faces) is also true for species that share their habitat with many other closely related species."

In other words, the less likely a monkey is to run into one of its own, the more complicated its facial patterns. For example, bald uakaris have a striking, but simple, pure red face. These monkeys live in large communities that can number up to 100 individuals. In contrast, the three-striped night monkey, or owl monkey, lives in small family groups with mates and offspring only. These nocturnal monkeys sport masklike white-eye markings against a background of black fur, a much more complicated pattern.

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For monkeys who live in small groups, complex patterns may offer more ways to differentiate between species, which is important given how rare it is for one of these monkeys to meet one of its own. For monkeys living in larger groups, simple facial patterns might allow for better recognition of individuals and better communication via facial expressions ? an important skill in a big community. [Gallery: Monkey Mug Shots]

The evolution of a face
While biologists have long suspected that facial colors arise due to some evolutionary pressures, Santana's research is the first to pin down the specific culprits.

She and her colleagues gathered monkey "mug shots" of 129 New World species (monkeys native to Central and South America) and ranked them on color pattern complexity, skin pigmentation, and length and color of facial hair. They then analyzed the patterns in terms of the social life and ecology of each species, accounting for evolutionary relationships that would lead to similarities in patterns between close relatives.

They found that habitat puts pressure on facial evolution, such that species that live in the dark, humid forests of the Amazon have darker "beards" and darker hair near the crowns of their heads, a feature that likely helps them blend in with their surroundings and elude predators. Species that live in areas with lots of ultraviolet radiation from the sun have darker eye masks, perhaps to keep down glare. Monkeys that make their homes far from the equator, in chillier climates, have longer hair on the faces, probably for warmth.

Craziest faces
The researchers also unraveled the evolutionary pressures of social interactions, finding that species made up of more isolated individuals had the most elaborate facial patterns. Some particularly fancy monkeys included the black-capped squirrel monkey, with its black muzzle and white eye mask, and the Kuhl's marmoset, which features long tufts of black hair emanating from its ears.

These quirky facial-color patterns make these monkeys stand out from other species, and in that way they allow their kin to easily spot them in the wild. Species that live in larger groups of 100 or more monkeys likely have a greater need to recognize individual monkeys; the researchers speculate that perhaps rather than color patterns, the monkeys check out facial expressions or the sizes of various facial features to particular individuals. That might be easier to do with simpler facial features.

The researchers plan to extend the facial complexity study to other primates and other mammals to see if the connection between social behavior and faces holds up. They also hope to learn more about how primates recognize faces within their own species.

"Our results shed some light about the cues primates may use to recognize the species an individual belongs to," Santana said, "but more research is needed to further link this finding to how primates use facial characteristics to recognize particular individuals."

You can follow LiveScience? senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience? and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45950176/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Aha Radio partners with Subaru and Honda, brings social media to 2013 vehicles

At last year's CES, Aha Radio brought its hyper-connected social media ways to two high-end Pioneer head units. This year, however, the service is about to make a bigger splash by announcing it'll be built into select 2013 Subaru and Honda vehicles. Equipped autos will have access to "thousands of personalized, web-enabled stations" like MOG, Rhapsody and Slacker, appearing as a selectable source alongside more traditional AM, FM and satellite radio options. And naturally it'll integrate with Aha's iPhone and Android apps. If a new vehicle isn't to your liking, Kenwood will also start integrating the service into head units later in 2012. We'll get hands-on with the above system in a Subaru's new BRZ soon, but to tide you over, two PRs await the break.

Continue reading Aha Radio partners with Subaru and Honda, brings social media to 2013 vehicles

Aha Radio partners with Subaru and Honda, brings social media to 2013 vehicles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Jit84ZGA-Xw/

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GHANAIAN AMONG TOP TEN MOST WANTED WAR CRIMINALS BEING SOUGHT FOR IN CANADA?

Canada is currently giving meaning to what pertains in our own Ghanaian proverb which goes like this, ?wo dwane awurade a wohye nase? to wit ?you can run but cannot hide from God'.

The country is hunting for top ten most wanted war criminals and street thugs who have fled deeper underground to avoid arrest and deportation by Canadian police and the border agents reports Toronto Sun, January, 8 2012.

The news took many Ghanaians resident in Toronto and for that matter the whole of the country by surprise as it made mention of a Ghanaian as one of the ten most wanted fugitives being sought for removal from the country.

What surprised fellow Ghanaians was the reason why these ten most wanted men were being sought? ?WANTED.TOP TEN MOSTED WANTED WAR CRIMINALS AND STREET THUGS? was the reason as the banner headline read.

But still many people could not understand why this Ghanaian was second on the list of these top ten most wanted war criminals and street thugs challenging that Ghana is a peaceful democratic country.

The story read, Kiemtor Alidu, 57, of Scarborough was a supporter of Ghana's military dictatorship from 1982 and 1985.

It was reported that this man was the vice chairman of a people's defense committee, a quasi police force that kept an eye on political dissidents under which more than 100 people were murdered because his colleagues fingered them as threats to the regime.

Wow, so he is being sought for the reason that he was part of a military dictatorship that overthrew a constitutional government but fled the country several years back fighting to stay in Canada since then?

Suppose the country is still under military junta, one could easily say possibly he might be fleeing from assassination attempts but six successive general elections afterwards this man is being sought for as a fugitive to be deported? Hmmmmm.

Again, former president John Agyekum Kufuor, initiated the National Reconciliation Commission NRC, to right the wrongs after which the country was united.

So which court of law is going to prosecute Kiemtor Alidu when successfully deported to Ghana and which law is going to be applied in dealing with his case? One may ask.

That is not a question for Canada which is the destination of a quarter of million people seeking a new home each year who are attracted by the prize of Citizenship, strong democracy and stable government to answer as all that is seeking is to remove all fugitives from the country.

A visit to the Canada Border Services Agents, [CBSA] website reveals that some 1,400 hardened criminals and 20,000 others sought on immigration warrants in the Greater Toronto Area are already being hunted for removal from the country.

Recently, there have been hot arguments in Ghana as to whether the government should expunge the indemnity clause from the statute books.

Whether the government is able to expunge it or not, persons suspected to have committed certain crimes should they attempt to seek their stay in certain foreign destinations including Canada would be sought for and removed from the country.

A case in point is Leon Mugesera, a designer and architect of the 1994 genocide that led to the 800,000 Tutsi being massacred by the ruling Hutus. He is being deported from Canada after fighting to stay in the country since 1996.

Source: http://www.modernghana.com/news/371018/1/ghanaian-among-top-ten-most-wanted-war-criminals-b.html

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