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Numero Uno Web Solutions (NumeroUnoWeb.com), a fast-growing global Internet marketing firm that caters to small- and mid-sized business-to-consumer companies, is pleased to announce its top social media marketing strategies for e-commerce web sites.

Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) March 30, 2013

Numero Uno Web Solutions (NumeroUnoWeb.com), a fast-growing global Internet marketing firm that caters to small- and mid-sized business-to-consumer companies, is pleased to announce its top social media marketing strategies for e-commerce web sites.

?Social media has revolutionized the way businesses market and communicate their brand, and it opens up an exciting new dimension in online marketing. But it takes more than a new Facebook page to succeed in the social media marketplace,? says Nadia Iaboni, Digital Solutions Manager at Numero Uno Web Solutions.

As the experts at Numero Uno Web Solutions note, in less than 10 years, social media sites like Facebook have evolved from simple meeting places into some of the most important online marketing and communication tools a small- and medium-sized business can utilize. Unlike traditional marketing channels, with social media, consumers are in control; sharing testimonials and brand experience, which can directly impact the way others spend their money. At the same time, thanks to social media, small- and medium-sized businesses have the opportunity to directly engage with their customers in real time.

The web marketing experts state that while social media channels can be an important part of any search engine optimization (SEO) marketing campaign, small- and medium-sized businesses need to understand why people use the different outlets, so they can better reach their audiences. Social media should not be thought of necessarily as a direct sales channel. People do not use social media to discover a brand; rather, they use social media to communicate and express themselves.

?To help a brand gain traction on social media sites and be more shareable, it?s more advantageous to provide entertaining, interesting blog posts, facts, videos, images, and infographics than it is a hard sales tactic,? adds Iaboni. ?Knowing an audience means creating relevant content that people care about. That?s why its important businesses tie the brand to content that users will want to pass along.?

?Posting fresh, interesting, shareable content on social media channels can help businesses become an authority in their field. By enhancing brand awareness, businesses can build trust and reinforce the company?s authority status. And, as a result, that business could be the first company a consumer thinks about when the need arises,? Iaboni concludes.

According to Numero Uno Web Solutions? top tips, effective social media marketing has to incorporate SEO with content strategy. Social media can be an excellent marketing channel, but only if it?s properly integrated with an SEO campaign. It doesn?t matter how many Facebook likes a company gets if it doesn?t translate into sales.

To learn more about how Numero Uno Web Solutions can help small- and medium-sized businesses excel at social media marketing, visit the company?s web site at http://numerounoweb.com/sitescore/.

Numero Uno Web Solutions is one of the top Internet marketing firms due to constant innovation and overall customer satisfaction. For more information on Numero Uno Web Solutions, and to discover how the company can help maximize your company?s search engine optimization and online presence, visit http://numerounoweb.com/sitescore/. Or call Numero Uno Web Solutions toll-free at 1-855-SEO-XPRT (1-855-736-9778).

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/3/prweb10584157.htm

Source: http://pressreleases.bloginteract.com/2013/03/torontos-premier-online-marketing-and-seo-company-numero-uno-web-solutions-announces-its-top-social-media-strategies-for-e-commerce-sites/

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WASHINGTON - President Obama caught a little bit of hoops fever Saturday afternoon, stopping by the Marquette-Syracuse NCAA men's college basketball tournament game at the Verizon Center.

The basketball-loving president didn't pick Marquette or Syracuse to make it to the Elite 8 in his bracket, but instead, thought Miami and Indiana would make it to that level. The president had picked Indiana to win it all, but the team was knocked out by Syracuse in the Sweet 16.

The president said he picked Syracuse to win other games at the urging of Vice President Joe Biden, who attended Syracuse for law school.

"Biden told me that if I didn't pick em' he wouldn't talk to me," Obama said while filling out his bracket with ESPN.

Earlier this week, the president acknowledged that his bracket is "busted." Three of his Final Four teams are still in the tournament.

While at the Verizon Center, the president talked with Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, also known as RGIII, according to a tweet from a reporter.

This post was updated.

Mike Rosario

Mike Rosario (3) dunks against Florida Gulf Coast during the second half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Mike Rosario, Michael Frazier II

Florida's Mike Rosario (3) and Michael Frazier II (20) react during the second half of a regional semifinal game against Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Mike Rosario

Florida's Mike Rosario (3) reacts during the second half of a regional semifinal game against Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Scottie Wilbekin, Bernard Thompson

Florida's Scottie Wilbekin (5) is defended by Florida Gulf Coast's Bernard Thompson (2) during the second half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, right, talks to Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo after their regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke won 71-61. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Tyler Thornton, Adreian Payne

Duke guard Tyler Thornton (3) grabs a rebound as Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) misses a dunk during the second half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke won 71-61. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Tyler Thornton, Derrick Nix, Adreian Payne

Duke guard Tyler Thornton (3) and Michigan State forward Derrick Nix (25) reach for a rebound as Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) misses a dunk during the second half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke won 71-61. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Branden Dawson, Tom Izzo

Michigan State forward Branden Dawson (22) reacts as he walks past head coach Tom Izzo during the second half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke won 71-61. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Scottie Wilbekin, Sherwood Brown

Florida's Scottie Wilbekin (5) shoots as Florida Gulf Coast's Sherwood Brown (25) defends during the second half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Tyler Thornton

Duke guard Tyler Thornton (3) reacts after a regional semifinal against Michigan State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke won 71-61. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Scottie Wilbekin, Chase Fieler

Florida's Scottie Wilbekin (5) and Florida Gulf Coast's Chase Fieler (20) go after a loose ball during the second half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Rasheed Sulaimon, Adreian Payne

Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon grabs a rebound in front of Michigan State forward Adreian Payne during the second half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Michael Frazier II, Eddie Murray, and Scottie Wilbekin

Eddie Murray (23) is defended by Florida's Michael Frazier II (20) and Scottie Wilbekin (5) during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Casey Prather

Florida's Casey Prather (24) shoots in traffic during the first half of a regional semifinal game against Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Mike Krzyzewski

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and players on the bench react during the second half of a regional semifinal against Michigan State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Eddie Murray, Erik Murphy

Florida Gulf Coast's Eddie Murray (23) dunks as Florida's Erik Murphy (33) defends during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Tom Izzo

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Denzel Valentine

Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine (45) reacts during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) reacts as he dunks during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. Watching at left is Duke's Mason Plumlee (5). (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Billy Donovan

Florida head coach Billy Donovan during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee, Rasheed Sulaimon

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) reacts as he dunks during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. Watching are Duke players Mason Plumlee (5) and Rasheed Sulaimon (14). (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Casey Prather, Christophe Varidel

Florida's Casey Prather (24) dunks as Florida Gulf Coast's Christophe Varidel (5) defends during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Casey Prather, Christophe Varidel

Florida's Casey Prather (24) shoots over, Florida Gulf Coast's Christophe Varidel (5) during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) goes up with a shot against Duke forward Mason Plumlee during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. Watching is Duke's Ryan Kelly (34). (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Scottie Wilbekin, Brett Comer

Florida Gulf Coast's Brett Comer (0) is defended by Florida's Scottie Wilbekin (5)during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Adreian Payne, Rasheed Sulaimon

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne, right, grabs a rebound against Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Keith Appling, Seth Curry

Michigan State guard Keith Appling (11) blocks a shot by Duke guard Seth Curry (30) during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Billy Donovan

Florida head coach Billy Donovan during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

A Florida Gulf Coast cheerleader takes the court during the first half of a regional semifinal game against Florida in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Adreian Payne

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) reacts during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Chase Fieler

Florida Gulf Coast's Chase Fieler (20) reacts against Florida during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Seth Curry

Duke guard Seth Curry (30) reacts during the first half of a regional semifinal against Michigan State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Will Yeguete, Eddie Murray

Florida's Will Yeguete (15) and Florida Gulf Coast's Eddie Murray (23) go after a loose ball during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Will Yeguete, Eddie Murray

Florida's Will Yeguete (15) and Florida Gulf Coast's Eddie Murray (23) go after a loose ball during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Andy Enfield

Florida Gulf Coast head coach Andy Enfield reacts to action against Florida during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Denzel Valentine, Tyler Thornton

Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine and Duke guard Tyler Thornton (3) scramble for a loose ball during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Adreian Payne, Ryan Kelly

Michigan State forward Adreian Payne (5) drives the ball past Duke forward Ryan Kelly during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Naadir Tharpe, Ben McLemore

Kansas' Naadir Tharpe, left, and Ben McLemore right react in the lockeroom after losing 87-85 to Michigan in overtime of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Tom Izzo

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts as he directs his team during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Elijah Johnson, Kevin Young, Perry Ellis, Jamari Traylor

Kansas' Elijah Johnson, left, Kevin Young (40), Perry Ellis (34) and Jamari Traylor (31) sit in the lockeroom after losing 87-85 to Michigan in overtime of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Patric Young, Chase Fieler, Erik Murphy

Florida's Patric Young (4), Florida Gulf Coast's Chase Fieler (20) and Erik Murphy (33) go after a loose ball during the first half of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Mike Krzyzewski

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski talks to his players during a time out in the first half of a regional semifinal against Michigan State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Branden Dawson, Rasheed Sulaimon

Michigan State forward Branden Dawson (22) blocks a shot by Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon (14) during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Keith Appling

Michigan State guard Keith Appling (11) reacts to a call during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Fred Richardson III (5)

Oregon guard Fred Richardson III (5) scores past the defense of Oregon forwards E.J. Singler (25) and Ben Carter (32) during a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. Louisville won 77-69. (AP Photo/ The Oregonian, Bruce Ely) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT; THE MERCURY OUT; WILLAMETTE WEEK OUT; PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP OUT.

Tom Izzo

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo directs his team during the first half of a regional semifinal against Duke in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Derrick Nix, Tyler Thornton

Michigan State forward Derrick Nix (25) and Duke guard Tyler Thornton (3) fight for a rebound during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Keith Appling, Quinn Cook

Michigan State guard Keith Appling, left, and Duke guard Quinn Cook battle for a loose ball during the first half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Mike Krzyzewski

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski directs his team during the first half of a regional semifinal against Michigan State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Corey Person, Trey Burke

Michigan's Trey Burke, second from left, is lifted by Corey Person after beating Kansas 87-85 in overtime of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas.(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Glenn Robinson III, Caris LeVert, Nik Stauskas

Michigan's Glenn Robinson III (1), Caris LeVert (23) and Nik Stauskas (11), celebrate after beating Kansas 87-85 in overtime of a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 29, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/duke-michigan-state-seth-curry-big-night_n_2985053.html

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undefined Several months ago, I asked this question on Hometalk: "Does anyone out there use a Swiffer? Do you like it? Do you not like it? Do you have an ecological alternative? Is it the best thing since sliced bread, or could you live without it?"

The answer I got were inconclusive, but leaned toward the negative. I wanted to know because I was considering buying a Swiffer. I needed a quick, easy, simple wood floor cleaning tool. I wanted to combine the process of sweeping and mopping so that I could spend less time cleaning my floors.

Here is what I learned on the negative side: If you have pets, people say that the Swiffer will not adequately pick up pet hair. However, I do not have pets. I wasn't sold on the idea that it wouldn't be enough to clean up after two adults. All I usually have to clean up from my floor is dust bunnies and hair. Others said that the Swiffer scratches their wood floors. As a renter, I want my security deposit back, so I am wary of anything that might scratch my floor. Also, I worry about creating more solid waste...some folks took the environmental angle.

But then there were the Swiffer proponents. One person said, "I use a swiffer every time I clean ...I use the duster for floors and also the furniture duster ...I could not clean house without my swiffers ...love, love, love, them." Of the 58 responses to my question, it seemed to be divided by folks like her and folks who were very anti-Swiffer.

A tile contractor near Denver suggested using a damp towel to clean tile and to clean hardwood floors. I do that already, and it's OK, but I am looking for an ever faster, more convenient solution. Question: Is it wrong to want something more convenient than wetting a towel? Am I lazy, or just busy?

Flooring contractors suggest cleaning a hardwood floor with just water. I am still not sure what the best solution for me is, and I want to hear from you in the comments. Do YOU use a Swiffer? Should I use one?

Chaya Kurtz writes for Networx.com.

Source: http://www.networx.com/article/should-you-buy-a-swiffer

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NEW YORK (AP) ? Authors Guild president and best-selling novelist Scott Turow is condemning Amazon.com's purchase of Goodreads, a leading book recommendation website.

In a statement posted Friday on the Guild home page, Turow called the acquisition a "textbook example" of how a monopoly is built. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. announced Thursday that it had bought Goodreads, a favorite Internet stop for readers to review and discuss books. Founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, Goodreads has 16 million subscribers.

Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler is defending the sale, which has set off a debate about Amazon's market power. In a blog posting Thursday on Goodreads, Chandler said that Goodreads would continue to operate independently and that Amazon's resources would help his company reach more readers.

___

Online:

www.authorsguild.org

www.goodreads.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/authors-guild-head-blasts-amazon-buy-goodreads-214458275.html

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Joe Alblas / AP

"The Bible" didn't always stick to its inspiration.

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

?The Bible? miniseries has truly brought in divine ratings for The History Channel these past few weeks. Despite at least one major road bump (Satan appeared in a black hooded robe and was promptly compared to President Barack Obama), the episodes -- which selectively feature certain stories in both the Old and New Testaments -- have been well received by millions of viewers every week. But as the series comes to a close Sunday, it?s worth asking ? just how accurate was the series, in the end?

Telling the story of The Bible is a tricky business, said biblical scholar Dr. Peter E. Enns, who teaches Biblical Studies at Pennsylvania?s Eastern University. But it was clear, he notes, that series creators Mark Burnett and Roma Downey had an agenda ? and that every episode they told had one goal: To get to the climax of Jesus?s life and death.

??They were focusing on the final stage of the Bible story, which is Christ?s appearance,? he said. ?It?s all a buildup to that. They take a celebrity approach to The Bible, and highlight the figures people know and present them in ways that make it seem that when you get to Jesus, you?ll feel that this was how it was meant to be all along.?

That can lead to some problems with the series; for Enns, there were some clear issues with ?The Bible."

Telling Samson?s story
Samson is a ?minor character in the Bible,? said Enns, but gets a lot of screen time in the series. Why? He?s a precursor to Christ, said Enns: He gave his life for the community, is unjustly treated, chained and blinded. ?We?re seeing Jesus in preview form,? he said.

Joe Albas / A&E Television Network

Samson's major role in the series is probably because of his similarities to Christ.

Ninja angels
Jesus again got a preview in the scene where three visitors meet Abraham on their way to destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. ?In the Bible, these three figures are clearly angelic divine figures, but it?s ambiguous,? said Enns. Instead, since one is referred to as ?Lord,? the miniseries transformed him into a proto-Jesus, never clearly seen in the show, but highlighted as Christ. ?In the Old Testament, that?s completely out of bounds,? said Enns. The other two angels are also problematic: ?When the two angels in true ninja fashion take out swords and start swing-kicking, that?s a gratuitous moment.?

Joe Albas / A&E Television Network

The Warrior Angel could have doubled as a ninja.

Sarah wants to save her son
Sarah running after her husband Abraham and son Isaac as Abraham takes him to be sacrificed to God was ?stupid,? said Enns. ?It?s what a mother would do, but Sarah is nowhere to be found in that sequence. They turn the scene into an ?I want to save my boy!? moment rather than a test of faith.?

Joe Alblas / A&E Television Network

Sarah's role in Abraham's aborted sacrifice of Isaac is extended in the miniseries.

Too many Caucasians
Arguably, ?The Bible? was more multicultural than many versions have been in the past. But in 2013, the portrayal of characters with Scottish and British accents and clear European looks was just wrong, said Enns. ?You have Mary who looks like someone you?d bump into at the water cooler and she speaks wonderful American English," he said. "It does not do justice to the foreignness of the story.?

Joe Alblas / A&E Television Network

Mary, seen here with Joseph, looked too all-American, said a biblical scholar.

Sympathy for the Devil
While not precisely an inaccuracy, Enns gave a thumbs-down to the image of Satan and the resemblance to the president ? a comparison he made after watching the episode. ?What I thought was if the resemblance was not intentional, someone should have pointed it out,? he said. ?It was a very unwise decision to leave it there like that. So many people noticed it immediately that it makes it hard to imagine no one on set did.?

All of that said Enns knows that retelling The Bible is a tricky business. ?It?s impossible to please everybody with a show like this,? he said. ?You talk about God, you?re going to make enemies, especially with the sacred book.?

The series finale of "The Bible" airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on The History Channel.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/03/29/17492225-one-scholar-takes-issue-with-the-bible-5-things-the-series-got-wrong?lite

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By Michele Kambas

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Big depositors in Cyprus's largest bank stand to lose far more than initially feared under a European Union rescue package to save the island from bankruptcy, a source with direct knowledge of the terms said on Friday.

Under conditions expected to be announced on Saturday, depositors in Bank of Cyprus will get shares in the bank worth 37.5 percent of their deposits over 100,000 euros, the source told Reuters, while the rest of their deposits may never be paid back.

The toughening of the terms will send a clear signal that the bailout means the end of Cyprus as a hub for offshore finance and could accelerate economic decline on the island and bring steeper job losses.

Officials had previously spoken of a loss to big depositors of 30 to 40 percent.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday defended the 10-billion euro ($13 billion) bailout deal agreed with the EU five days ago, saying it had contained the risk of national bankruptcy.

"We have no intention of leaving the euro," the conservative leader told a conference of civil servants in the capital, Nicosia.

"In no way will we experiment with the future of our country," he said.

Cypriots, however, are angry at the price attached to the rescue - the winding down of the island's second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki, and an unprecedented raid on deposits over 100,000 euros.

Under the terms of the deal, the assets of Laiki bank will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.

At Bank of Cyprus, about 22.5 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros will attract no interest, the source said. The remaining 40 percent will continue to attract interest, but will not be repaid unless the bank does well.

Those with deposits under 100,000 euros will continue to be protected under the state's deposit guarantee.

Cyprus's difficulties have sent jitters around the fragile single European currency zone, and led to the imposition of capital controls in Cyprus to prevent a run on banks by worried Cypriots and wealthy foreign depositors.

"CYPRUS EURO"

Banks reopened on Thursday after an almost two-week shutdown as Cyprus negotiated the rescue package. In the end, the reopening was largely quiet, with Cypriots queuing calmly for the 300 euros they were permitted to withdraw daily.

The imposition of capital controls has led economists to warn that a second-class "Cyprus euro" could emerge, with funds trapped on the island less valuable than euros that can be freely spent abroad.

Anastasiades said the restrictions on transactions - unprecedented in the currency bloc since euro coins and banknotes entered circulation in 2002 - would be gradually lifted. He gave no time frame but the central bank said the measures would be reviewed daily.

He hit out at banking authorities in Cyprus and Europe for pouring money into the crippled Laiki.

"How serious were those authorities that permitted the financing of a bankrupt bank to the highest possible amount?" Anastasiades said.

The president, barely a month in the job and wrestling with Cyprus's worst crisis since a 1974 war split the island in two, accused the 17-nation euro currency bloc of making "unprecedented demands that forced Cyprus to become an experiment".

European leaders have insisted the raid on big bank deposits in Cyprus is a one-off in their handling of a debt crisis that refuses to be contained.

MODEL

But policymakers are divided, and the waters were muddied a day after the deal was inked when the Dutch chair of the euro zone's finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said it could serve as a model for future crises.

Faced with a market backlash, Dijsselbloem rowed back. But on Friday, European Central Bank Governing Council member Klaas Knot, a fellow Dutchman, said there was "little wrong" with his assessment.

"The content of his remarks comes down to an approach which has been on the table for a longer time in Europe," Knot was quoted as saying by Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad. "This approach will be part of the European liquidation policy."

The Cyprus rescue differs from those in other euro zone countries because bank depositors have had to take losses, although an initial plan to hit small deposits as well as big ones was abandoned and accounts under 100,000 euros were spared.

Warnings of a stampede at Cypriot banks when they reopened on Thursday proved unfounded.

For almost two weeks, Cypriots were on a ration of limited withdrawals from bank cash machines. Even with banks now open, they face a regime of strict restrictions designed to halt a flight of capital from the island.

Some economists say those restrictions will be difficult to lift. Anastasiades said the capital controls would be "gradually eased until we can return to normal".

The government initially said the controls would stay in place for seven days, but Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said on Thursday they could last "about a month".

On Friday, easing a ban on cheque payments, Cypriot authorities said cheques could be used to make payments to government agencies up to a limit of 5,000 euros. Anything more than 5,000 euros would require Central Bank approval.

The bank also issued a directive limiting the cash that can be taken to areas of the island beyond the "control of the Cypriot authorities" - a reference to Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus which considers itself an independent state. Cyprus residents can take 300 euros; non-residents can take 500.

Under the terms of the capital controls, Cypriots and foreigners are allowed to take up to 1,000 euros in cash when they leave the island.

(Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Gilbert Kreijger in Amsterdam; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyprus-no-intention-leaving-euro-president-095234615--business.html

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Which of These Apple Patents Will Ever See the Light of Day?

The patent office publishes oodles of Apple patent applications each week. It also grants a ton of them, allowing Apple to protect its IP against competitors. Whether it actually uses any of that IP in its products is another matter ...

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/03/apple-patents-realistically/

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What happens now?

By Robert Marquand,?Staff writer / March 27, 2013

South Korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday. North Korea said Wednesday that it had cut off a key military hotline with South Korea that allows cross border travel to a jointly run industrial complex in the North.

Ahn Young-joon/AP

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North Korea's edgy game of war talk continued?at ever higher volumes today with the announcement that it will cut off the last military hotline with South Korea.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Marquand

Staff writer

Over the past three decades, Robert Marquand has reported on a wide variety of subjects for?The Christian Science Monitor, including American education reform,?the wars in the Balkans, the Supreme Court, South Asian politics, and the oft-cited "rise of China." In the past 15 years he has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in Paris, Beijing, and New Delhi.?

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?Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep North-South military communications,? said the regime, according to the Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang.

The severed line of communication comes as the North, under young and new President Kim Jong-un, has said it is moving into its highest military alert status and has threatened to target Hawaii and Guam with rockets, after last month conducting its third nuclear test.?

The escalating rhetoric has brought a new agreement between US and South Korean officials that would dictate military action should the North cross the border, shell islands, or harm shipping in the kind of low-level actions Pyongyang has attempted in recent years.?

US military officials called the North Korean statement ?bellicose.??Many have expressed doubt that North Korea?s rockets have the range to reach US bases in Guam and Hawaii, but a few, including the?editor of Jane?s Defense Weekly, estimated they could reach US military bases in Japan, according to USA Today.?

Yesterday the small, poor state that is anchored by devotion to the Kim family dynasty, and is now nearly entirely dependent on China for basic sustenance but has also devoted considerable resources to its military, repeated a longstanding threat to turn Seoul into a ?sea of fire,? among other similarly colorful threats.

Earlier this year, the North said it would no longer answer?a hotline at the Demilitarized Zone. The hotline that the country is now threatening to shut down linked the two Koreas at the?Kaesong industrial park, created in the North during the warming winds of unification in the 2000s. The economic complex has long been a symbol of the potential for North-South cooperation.?

The New York Times today notes the North?s threat on the hotline follows comments from?Park Geun-hye,?the newly elected president of South Korea, that North Korea needed to end its nuclear threats in order to gain better traction with the South:

?If North Korea provokes or does things that harm peace, we must make sure that it gets nothing but will pay the price, while if it keeps its promises, the South should do the same,? she said during a briefing from her government?s top diplomats and North Korea policy-makers. ?Without rushing and in the same way we would lay one brick after another, we must develop South-North relations step by step, based on trust, and create sustainable peace.?

Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, a veteran Korea watcher once based in Seoul, tells The Christian Science Monitor that Pyongyang's main grievance appears to be recent UN sanctions targeted at the North.

Mr. Snyder argues that the meaning of the North?s sudden blustery behavior will only become clearer ?once the question of the consolidation of [Kim Jong-un?s] power becomes clearer.?

Agence France-Presse today said that a significant meeting among party elites and power brokers in the closed world of Pyongyang is about to take place.

"They will discuss how to handle the nuclear issue, inter-Korean relations and North Korea's long-standing demand for a peace treaty with the United States," Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told AFP.

Comparisons between the new Kim and his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the patriarch of North Korea, are flowing freely, since there is a resemblance between the two. But Snyder notes that too little is yet known of the young Kim, who took over from his father Kim Jong-il last year, and that his youth is not necessarily a plus in such a high-stakes game.

?Right now the song is the same, but the volume is a lot louder. We don?t know his risk tolerance yet ? does he understand the game he is playing??

The US-South Korea military agreement follows a recent scrapping by the North of the historic legal armistice that effectively ended the Korean war in the 1950s. It came on the anniversary of the infamous sinking of the Choenan Navy vessel in 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 46 South Korean sailors, something that has had powerful emotional resonance in the South. (The Choenan was raised from the ocean floor, and forensics by the South claim the vessel was torpedoed by the North, something the North denies.)?

USA Today quotes an Asia watcher who feels the key to dealing with Pyongyang runs through Beijing:

US diplomats should talk to their Chinese counterparts and say, "Your ally North Korea is acting in a very belligerent and destabilizing way," said [Richard] Bush, who heads the Brookings Institution Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies. "They're acting in ways that are contrary to the principles you [China] have laid out. The situation is somewhat dangerous. You need to restrain your ally."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/_YEoSdvzQGU/North-Korea-turns-up-volume-by-silencing-final-military-hotline

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Stocks in the S&P 500 are now at record low valuations; the market trades as cheaply as it did in 1980 as measured by price-to-earnings, or PE, ratios, trading at a PE ratio of 15.4 times earnings.

While retail stock investors have largely been stuck on the sidelines, the stock market has made new highs. But despite the upward surge, things aren't as rosy for Wall Street as one might suppose.

Although individuals have added almost $20 billion to U.S. stock funds so far this year, the amount is just 3.5 percent of the withdrawals since 2007, Investment News.com?reported, and compares with $44 billion placed with fixed-income managers in 2013, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Fund inflows tend to buttress the beliefs of those who think the stock market?s short-term bull run can continue. As the old adage goes, individual investors don?t make money in the market, they just borrow from the institutions for a while.

The lack of participation by retail investors in the continuing rally would seem to indicate we have yet to hit a top -- because the retail money has yet to hit the market.? And that?s the line of reasoning I would have used 10 years ago. ?But a lot has changed in 10 years.

There?s a growing sense of alienation between Wall Street and Main Street. Much of the alienation has to do with the lack of the right type of oversight on money and markets. That lack of confidence, which is largely political in nature, hurts PEs.

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder, for example, announced he'd have difficulty prosecuting too-big-to-fail management, not because there was no violation of the laws, but simply because it might affect the economy at home and abroad.

"I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions become so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute -- if we do bring a criminal charge -- it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," Holder told senators this month. "I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large."

So in other words, people like former Barack Obama economic capo, Democrat Jon Corzine, will be off the hook after his firm, MG Global, ?misplaced? $1.6 billion in customer-segregated accounts in one of the top 10 bankruptcies in the country?s history.

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2013/03/30/cyprus-by-other-means-n1553236

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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) ? Anxious Cypriots patiently waited in long lines to get at their accounts on Thursday after banks opened for the first time in nearly two weeks, following an international bailout to save the country's financial system.

Fearing a run on its banks, the tiny Mediterranean country has imposed daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros ($384) for individuals and 5,000 euros for businesses ? the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history.

Financial strains are building on families and businesses, and the recession in Cyprus is likely to deepen. The mood outside banks was calmer than feared. Many people said the withdrawal limits were probably necessary to keep a bad situation from spiraling out of control.

Flower shop owner Christos Papamichael was among some 30 people waiting patiently for bank doors to open at noon Thursday. "Everything has been paralyzed ... No one thinks of buying flowers," he said.

Banks had been shut in Cyprus since March 16 to prevent people from draining their accounts as politicians scrambled to save the country's stricken financial sector. ATM machines were working, but with a limit on daily withdrawals.

An initial plan to seize up to 10 percent of all Cypriot deposits caused an international uproar and was scrapped. But in order to secure 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in loans from other euro countries and the International Monetary Fund, Cyprus agreed Monday to wind down its second-largest bank and seize billions from accounts holding more than the insured limit of 100,000 euros.

European financial markets, which have been on edge for weeks, rose slightly on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.4 percent, while Germany's DAX index rose 0.1 percent.

Government and bank officials had feared that up to 10 percent of the country's deposits could be siphoned off when banks opened Thursday ? but that did not appear to happen. Guards from private security firms reinforced police outside some ATMs and banks in the capital, Nicosia. No problems controlling crowds were reported.

The limits on withdrawals and other capital controls are expected to be relaxed gradually. Analysts say it's anyone's guess how people and businesses will react once that happens.

Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said that, according to central bank estimates, the controls would be fully lifted in a month. Some analysts say it could last longer.

President Nicos Anastasiades expressed in a statement his "warm gratitude and deep appreciation towards the Cypriot people for the maturity and spirit of responsibility they have shown at a critical time for the stability of the Cypriot economy."

However, many Cypriots were left frustrated and confused by the closures and controls and concerned about the effect on their businesses and livelihoods.

"No matter how much information there was, things were changing all the time," said Costas Kyprianides, a grocery supplier in Nicosia.

For years, the banking sector has been the lifeblood of the Cypriot economy, attracting money from across Europe ? and especially Russia ? thanks to high interest rates and loose regulation. The country's deposits ballooned to more than seven times its economic output. But Cypriot banks ran into trouble after taking massive losses on Greek government bonds.

Now, the country's second-largest bank, Laiki, is to be split up, with its healthy assets being absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. Savers with more 100,000 euros ($129,000) in either Bank of Cyprus and Laiki will face big losses. At Laiki, those could reach as much as 80 percent of amounts above the 100,000 insured limit; those at Bank of Cyprus are expected to be much lower.

As part of the country's capital controls, no checks can be cashed, although they can be deposited. Anyone leaving the country, whether Cypriot or a visitor, can only take up to 1,000 euros ($1,290) with them in cash.

The country's general accounting office said pensions and other social security payments, together with salaries for government employees, will be in bank accounts next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many Cypriots struggled Thursday to understand what exactly they could and couldn't do with their money. Television talk shows addressed viewers' queries, which ranged from how they would pay college tuition for children studying abroad to how to handle check payments.

People also wondered whether they would be able to access their salaries, many of which were due this week.

Some analysts are concerned that, if kept in place long, Cyprus's measures will go against the fundamental principle of the single currency: Free and easy movement of money around the euro's 17 members.

In a statement Thursday, The European Commission said "the free movement of capital should be reinstated as soon as possible".

Not every account in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus will be hit with big losses. Deposits held by the central government, local authorities such as municipalities, universities and development projects being co-funded by the European Union will not face a so-called haircut.

Government welfare and pension fund accounts in Laiki will be treated in the same way as those in the Bank of Cyprus, "thereby ensuring most of the deposits," said Constantinos Petrides, undersecretary to the president.

Some individuals and businesses had moved their money out of Cyprus well before the banks closed their doors last week.

According to ECB figures, deposits in Cyprus' banks slipped 2.2 percent last month, to 46.36 billion euros ($59.36 billion), the lowest figure since May 2010 and down from a peak of 50.5 billion euros ($64.67 billion) in May 2012. The figure excludes deposits from other banks and the central government.

"I anticipated, not this to happen, but I anticipated issues last year, when Greece had a question of whether it will remain in euro and the consequences of that," said Athos Angelides, who runs a business importing and distributing hair salon products. "So luckily we transferred money in the middle of last year over to the UK."

The stock market, which has been closed since March 15, stayed shut. It will remain closed on Friday and Monday, when most of Europe is closed for the Easter celebrations. Cyprus follows the Orthodox calendar and does not celebrate Easter until May this year.

____

Elena Becatoros in Nicosia and David McHugh in Frankfurt contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cypriots-anxious-banks-reopen-limits-205528049--finance.html

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Sometimes annoying just isn't annoying enough. For DIY enthusiast and self-described "maker of awesome" Sarah Petkus, the incentive to irk was merely a happy by-product of her latest goggle design. The steampunk-ish effort, chronicled on Petkus' blog Robotic Arts, combines some artfully arranged scrap metals with an integrated optical theremin that lets the wearer manipulate an incredibly unpleasant tone just by waving their hands and adjusting the amount of light fed into the sensors. Since the volume control and speaker are housed inside the eyepieces, the goggles are little more than a head-mounted accessory. But that shouldn't stop cosplay types (or sociopaths) from strapping on a set and tweaking the nerves of unfortunate passers-by. That's if Petkus gets around to selling the "eyewear." For the public's sake, we hope this inventive mod remains a one-off. Head past the break for a video demo of this cringe-inducing, gesture-controlled cacaphony.

Filed under: Wearables, Alt

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Via: Adafruit

Source: Robotic Arts

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/28/diy-theremin-goggles-steampunk/

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Rep. Don Young might not be the only member of Congress in need of some sensitivity training.

After the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Arizona Wildcats Thursday night in the college basketball tournament with a tie-breaking 3-pointer from LaQuinton Ross with 2.1 seconds left on the clock, Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, tweeted: "It's official. Ohio State is the luckiest team in the tournament. #TrailOfTears."

That #TrailOfTears hashtag quickly drew a negative response on Twitter, prompting Braley to delete the tweet within an hour. It was archived, nevertheless.

Braley, who is serving his fourth term in the House, then attempted to clarify his intent with a tweet-pology in the wee hours of the morning, explaining that he was identifying with the pain of Iowa State fans who suffered defeat at the hands of Ohio State last week.

"The 'tears' I was referring to were the tears of [Iowa State] Cyclone fans. I have removed the tweet & apologize to anyone who was offended," Braley, 55, tweeted.

The Trail of Tears is the route thousands of Cherokee traveled by foot, horse, wagon or steamboat from 1838 to 1839 after the U.S. government forcefully removed them from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee to live in Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma.

The National Park Service says that hundreds of Cherokee died during the grueling trek, while thousands more perished after being displaced.

The Braley story was first reported by the Des Moines Register. Braley is hoping to replace Iowa's retiring Sen. Tom Harkin in the U.S. Senate.

Braley's comment comes amid the furor created by Alaska congressman Young's referring to Latinos as "wetbacks" in an interview with public radio station KRBD published Thursday.

A much needed update makes Springpad feel fresh again

A large update brings Springpad up to version 4.0 today, with some notable improvements. The once cumbersome left toolbar has been simplified, and many of its previous controls are now intuitively integrated into the foreground of the app.

There are now three main screens: home, notebooks, and search. The home screen displays individual springs (notes). A slider can be moved to show only your springs, your springs and those of collaborators, or your springs and springs you follow. The notebooks screen is relatively unchanged, with the addition of notebooks being followed at the bottom. The search screen lets you search through your own springs, or find other people's springs and notebooks. Homemade Cadbury Creme Egg recipe anyone? Best of all, adding new springs is a breeze with the new static add button on the bottom right of each screen.

It seems Springpad has taken a few notes (no pun intended) from Google Keep. This leaner, meaner design makes Springpad much more enjoyable to use. Hit the Google Play link at the top to give it a spin for yourself.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/vtDV0c2hOvE/story01.htm

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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar President Thein Sein has said his government will use force if necessary to quell deadly religious rioting affecting several towns since last week.

In his first public comments on the violence, Thein Sein warned in a televised speech Thursday that he would make all legal efforts to stop political opportunists and religious extremists trying to sow hatred between faiths.

The recent religious unrest began March 20 with rioting by Buddhists targeting minority Muslims in the central city of Meikhtila that left at least 40 people dead and drove about 12,000 from their homes. The unrest spread this week to several towns about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the country's biggest city, Yangon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/myanmar-president-first-remarks-religious-riots-says-force-124609583.html

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ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An Iraqi war veteran who suffered permanent brain damage in a 2008 motor vehicle accident in Florida has won a $26 million jury verdict, his lawyer said on Thursday.

"He's got a huge hole in his right frontal and temporal lobes," said Alexander Clem of the law firm Morgan & Morgan in Orlando.

Dustin Brink, 31, hit his head on the asphalt pavement in Kissimmee, Florida, after his motorcycle was clipped by a car driven by Juan Pereles, said Clem. Pereles and his father, Juan de Los Santos, who owned the car, were named in a lawsuit filed in 2010.

Brink, who was not wearing a helmet, lost all brain functions such as the ability to plan, organize and sequence activities, and filter his thoughts, Clem said.

Clem said the jury, which delivered its verdict late on Wednesday, held Pereles and Brink each 50 percent responsible for the damages.

Pereles' attorney Michael LeRoy of the Fulmer, LeRoy, Albee, Baumann firm could not be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Kevin Gray)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/florida-jury-awards-26-million-war-veteran-injured-000853796.html

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pembyni · Mar. 27, 2013

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Two new studies have highlighted a negative impact on bees' ability to learn following exposure to a combination of pesticides commonly used in agriculture. The researchers found that the pesticides, used in the research at levels shown to occur in the wild, could interfere with the learning circuits in the bee's brain. They also found that bees exposed to combined pesticides were slower to learn or completely forgot important associations between floral scent and food rewards.

In the study published today (27 March 2013) in Nature Communications, the University of Dundee's Dr Christopher Connolly and his team investigated the impact on bees' brains of two common pesticides: pesticides used on crops called neonicotinoid pesticides, and another type of pesticide, coumaphos, that is used in honeybee hives to kill the Varroa mite, a parasitic mite that attacks the honey bee.

The intact bees' brains were exposed to pesticides in the lab at levels predicted to occur following exposure in the wild and brain activity was recorded. They found that both types of pesticide target the same area of the bee brain involved in learning, causing a loss of function. If both pesticides were used in combination, the effect was greater.

The study is the first to show that these pesticides have a direct impact on pollinator brain physiology. It was prompted by the work of collaborators Dr Geraldine Wright and Dr Sally Williamson at Newcastle University who found that combinations of these same pesticides affected learning and memory in bees. Their studies established that when bees had been exposed to combinations of these pesticides for 4 days, as many as 30% of honeybees failed to learn or performed poorly in memory tests. Again, the experiments mimicked levels that could be seen in the wild, this time by feeding a sugar solution mixed with appropriate levels of pesticides.

Dr Geraldine Wright said: "Pollinators perform sophisticated behaviours while foraging that require them to learn and remember floral traits associated with food. Disruption in this important function has profound implications for honeybee colony survival, because bees that cannot learn will not be able to find food."

Together the researchers expressed concerns about the use of pesticides that target the same area of the brain of insects and the potential risk of toxicity to non-target insects. Moreover, they said that exposure to different combinations of pesticides that act at this site may increase this risk.

Dr Christopher Connolly said: "Much discussion of the risks posed by the neonicotinoid insecticides has raised important questions of their suitability for use in our environment. However, little consideration has been given to the miticidal pesticides introduced directly into honeybee hives to protect the bees from the Varroa mite. We find that both have negative impact on honeybee brain function.

"Together, these studies highlight potential dangers to pollinators of continued exposure to pesticides that target the insect nervous system and the importance of identifying combinations of pesticides that could profoundly impact pollinator survival."

This research is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative, joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

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Journal References:

Mary J. Palmer, Christopher Moffat, Nastja Saranzewa, Jenni Harvey, Geraldine A. Wright, Christopher N. Connolly. Cholinergic pesticides cause mushroom body neuronal inactivation in honeybees. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1634 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2648
S. M. Williamson, G. A. Wright. Exposure to multiple cholinergic pesticides impairs olfactory learning and memory in honeybees. Journal of Experimental Biology, 2013; DOI: 10.1242/jeb.083931

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/UKb6bYahUk4/130327133347.htm

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Saturn's rings are one of the most recognized features of the solar system, but scientists don't know how they got there. New data suggest they're older than some theories suggested.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / March 28, 2013

This image of Saturn and its rings was captured by the Cassini spacecraft.

Space Science Institute/JPL-Caltech/NASA/Reuters

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New evidence from the US-European Cassini mission to Saturn suggests a very early birth for ices in Saturn?s spectacular system of rings and moonlets, dating back to shortly after the planet itself formed.

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The results deepen a mystery that has bedeviled Saturn watchers since Galileo first spotted what later would be interpreted as rings in 1610: How did the rings form? And, more recently, what sustains the ring system?

?No one actually knows why the rings can survive for 4.5 billion years,? says Scott Kenyon, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. ?At the moment, we don?t have a good model? that explains this longevity.

The apparently implausible life span of the ring system has led some researchers to propose that the system didn?t form shortly after the planet did.?

Instead, it might have formed perhaps 100 million years ago. The raw material for the rings and moonlets could have come from the debris spawned by a collision between close-in moons, or between a close-in moon and a comet.

But the recent-ring scenario has had a troubled existence.?

In 2007, for example, scientists reported evidence from Cassini?s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer indicating that the rings had significant age differences and that the material in the rings was constantly being recycled as moonlets collided. Some of the debris later would form into new moonlets.?

That evidence didn?t support a single, recent violent encounter between objects as a source of material for the ring system.

Now, researchers using another of Cassini?s instruments, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), have uncovered further evidence for this recycling as they have mapped changes in the composition of the ring material and moonlets that form a 40,800-mile-wide band around the planet.

Perhaps more important, Cassini has uncovered far more water ice in the system than comets could deliver.

The system ?is very ice rich,? says Bonnie Buratti, a researcher at NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and a member of the VIMS team.

To Dr. Kenyon, the results showing ices throughout the system speak to a primeval origin.

?All of the stuff inside the really major moons is composed of the same stuff as the major moons,? he says. ?That?s really nice to know because that tells you the rings are 4.5 billion years old.?

But that still leaves the question of longevity.

Left to their own devices, the moonlets would migrate ever farther from Saturn, leaving the ring system within perhaps 100 million years or so.

Cassini has revealed that moonlets form from material that accretes at the outer edges of the rings, explains Phillip Nicholson, an astronomer at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and a member of the team reporting the VIMS results this week in the Astrophysical Journal.

One possible solution to the conundrum would be to give the ring system more initial mass than researchers have presumed.

Modeling work by Robin Canup, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., has suggested that some 2 million to 5 million years after it formed, Saturn had ? and devoured ? several moons the size of Titan, the planet?s largest existing satellite. But these other Titan-scale moons orbited too close to the planet to survive.

As they were drawn to their doom, the tidal forces Saturn exerted on the last victim stripped a thick icy crust and mantle from the moon?s rocky core. The ice broke up to begin forming a ring, while the core continued its death spiral into the planet.

Such a ring would have hosted far more mass than today?s rings do, according to the study, published in 2010.

The ring in the modeling also mimicked observed ring behaviors: losing mass over time while forming moons at the outer edges of the ring, for instance. The moons it formed were similar in mass to the icy moons out to and including Tethys.

The hope is that a knowledge of the composition of ring material and the moonlets in Saturn?s ring system will shed light on the ring-forming process.

Cassini launched as the Cassini-Huygens mission in October 1997 and began orbiting Saturn in July 2004. The following December, the spacecraft released the European Space Agency?s Huygens probe toward a successful landing on Saturn?s moon Titan. Since then, the orbiter has been touring the planet?s moons and rings, giving researchers an unprecedented look at the Saturn system.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/YDcKbK9a5PE/Where-did-Saturn-s-rings-come-from-Mystery-gets-a-new-clue

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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Mike Rosario

Mike Rosario, Michael Frazier II

Mike Rosario

Scottie Wilbekin, Bernard Thompson

Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo

Tyler Thornton, Adreian Payne

Tyler Thornton, Derrick Nix, Adreian Payne

Branden Dawson, Tom Izzo

Scottie Wilbekin, Sherwood Brown

Tyler Thornton

Scottie Wilbekin, Chase Fieler

Rasheed Sulaimon, Adreian Payne

Michael Frazier II, Eddie Murray, and Scottie Wilbekin

Casey Prather

Mike Krzyzewski

Eddie Murray, Erik Murphy

Tom Izzo

Denzel Valentine

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee

Billy Donovan

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee, Rasheed Sulaimon

Casey Prather, Christophe Varidel

Casey Prather, Christophe Varidel

Adreian Payne, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly

Scottie Wilbekin, Brett Comer

Adreian Payne, Rasheed Sulaimon

Keith Appling, Seth Curry

Billy Donovan

Adreian Payne

Chase Fieler

Seth Curry

Will Yeguete, Eddie Murray

Will Yeguete, Eddie Murray

Andy Enfield

Denzel Valentine, Tyler Thornton

Adreian Payne, Ryan Kelly

Naadir Tharpe, Ben McLemore

Tom Izzo

Elijah Johnson, Kevin Young, Perry Ellis, Jamari Traylor

Patric Young, Chase Fieler, Erik Murphy

Mike Krzyzewski

Branden Dawson, Rasheed Sulaimon

Keith Appling

Fred Richardson III (5)

Tom Izzo

Derrick Nix, Tyler Thornton

Keith Appling, Quinn Cook

Mike Krzyzewski

Corey Person, Trey Burke

Glenn Robinson III, Caris LeVert, Nik Stauskas

Saturday, March 30, 2013

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Friday, March 29, 2013

A much needed update makes Springpad feel fresh again