Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown

Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown is a 2011 martial arts film starring Evan Peters, Michael Jai White, Dean Geyer, Alex Meraz, Todd Duffee, Scottie Epstein and Jillian Murray. It is a sequel to the 2008 film Never Back Down. The film made its world premiere at the ActionFest film festival in Asheville, North Carolina, on April 8, 2011. The film was released on DVD on September 13, 2011 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film marks White's directorial debut.

Plot: After losing a fight, boxer Zack Gomes (Alex Meraz) is informed by a doctor that he has sustained a partially detached retina, and he may risk permanent blindness should he receive another hit to the head. On his way out of the hospital, he overhears the receptionist talking about MMA while viewing the website for an upcoming underground event known as "The Beatdown". Talented MMA fighter Tim Newhouse (Todd Duffee) struggles to help his family when they are in debt following the death of his father. Former high school wrestler Mike Stokes (Dean Geyer) is the new kid in college and deals with issues involving his father leaving his mother for a man. Comic book store clerk Justin Epstein (Scottie Epstein) is walking home when he is run down and cut by bullies. However, he is saved by Tim and his martial arts master Case Walker (Michael Jai White), who are training in a vacant lot.

Mike gets kicked off the college wrestling team for starting a brawl and knocking out a teammate who made degrading comments about his father. Afterwards, he goes to see Max Cooperman (Evan Peters), who had previously contacted him about entering the Beatdown. Outside Max's dorm room, Mike meets Zack with both taking an instant disliking to each other. As part of their tryout, they brawl for a bit and Max tells them that while they are good, they need to get better. Max proceeds to refer them to Case, who is described as being a Kyokushin karate black-belt, a former collegiate wrestler and a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert who was set to become a phenomenon in the MMA world years ago.

They find Case at his home in an old junkyard with a makeshift gym where Tim and Justin are already training. Case is at first reluctant to train either of them, but he states that he will teach each of them differently and they must follow his orders without question. A few weeks into training, they each get into an argument over their reasons for training and deserving to be there more, the worst of it being Justin and Zack hurting each other physically, leaving them to settle it themselves. Max goes into Case's trailer and offers him the chance to make some money and at the same time, help him promote the Beatdown. Later on, Case is harassed by police officers, who threaten him for violating his probation. Because of this, the team builds a new gym where they can train and hold the Beatdown tournament. Danger strikes when Justin snaps from constant bullying, goes rogue and decides to not only attack his personal enemies but also the group itself by framing their mentor and setting him up to go to jail. The rest of the group find out what has happened to Case and decide to band together and take on Justin at the Beatdown to avenge their mentor. With each facing their own trials to reach the final match, it comes down to only one of them versus their own. Mike defeats Zack, while Justin injures Tim in the restroom - thus eliminating him from the tournament.

Watch Behind the scenes with Solange Knowles

US retailer Madewell has revealed a behind-the-scenes insight into its Fall 2012 campaign shoot starring fashion icon Solange Knowles.

As the little sister label of J. Crew, Madewell is known for teaming up with quirky it-girls and Knowles follows in the footsteps of the likes of Alexa Chung in modeling for the brand.

The younger sister of R&B diva Beyoncé, Solange has made her mark in the Brooklyn hipster scene, where she is best known as a DJ.

Despite having chart success in 2008, the 26-year-old has left pop stardom to her sibling and can be regularly seen on the front row during fashion week season.

The fashionista's previous modeling gigs include a campaign for beauty brand Rimmel London in 2011 and being named band ambassador for Armani Jeans in 2008.

See Knowles presenting colorful prints and fun hats for Madewell here: http://youtu.be/eJoA97Cotfg

Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls, #3) by C.C. Hunter

Step into Shadow Falls, a camp for teens with supernatural powers.  Here friendship thrives, love takes you by surprise, and our hearts possess the greatest magic of all.



Kylie Galen wants the truth so badly she can taste it. The truth about who her real family is, the truth about which boy she’s meant to be with—and the truth about what her emerging powers mean.  But she’s about to discover that some secrets can change your life forever…and not always for the better.



Just when she and Lucas are finally getting close, she learns that his pack has forbidden them from being together.  Was it a mistake to pick him over Derek? And it’s not just romance troubling Kylie. An amnesia-stricken ghost is haunting her, delivering the frightful warning, someone lives and someone dies. As Kylie races to unravel the mystery and protect those she loves, she finally unlocks the truth about her supernatural identity, which is far different—and more astonishing—than she ever imagined.

Carbon monoxide's disturbing heart rhythm unraveled

Carbon monoxide causing damage to heart rhythm has been found by the researchers.

The way that even low levels of carbon monoxide can be fatal, by disrupting the heart s rhythm, has been unravelled by researchers in Leeds.

They found that levels common in heavy traffic could affect the way the heart resets itself after every beat. Their study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine showed a common angina drug may reverse the effect.

The British Heart Foundation said the research was a promising start.

Carbon monoxide is produced by faulty boilers, cigarettes and car exhausts.  It is deadly at high levels as it "shoulder-barges" oxygen out of the blood, meaning less is transported around the body. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 50 people in the UK each year and many more around the world.

However, studies have suggested that even low levels, such as that found in built-up cities with lots of traffic, may also damage the heart.

The University of Leeds research team found that the gas kept sodium channels, which are important for controlling the heartbeat, open for longer.

Disrupting the sodium channels can disrupt the heart s rhythm, leading to cardiac arrhythmia, which can be fatal.
In collaboration with researchers in France they tested an angina drug - which also affects the sodium channels - on rats. 

Prof Chris Peers, from the University of Leeds, told the media: "It was very exciting for us. When we monitored rats exposed to levels of carbon monoxide similar to heavy pollution, they had the same heart problems and we could reverse them.

Dr Helene Wilson, a research advisor at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This study is a good example of research being used to better understand the underlying causes of an abnormal heart rhythm and in this case it has uncovered the ability of an old drug to perform a new trick. 

Food stamps don't alter kids' sugary drink choices: study

(USA) Study says that having food stamps doesn't encourage families with kids to buy more drinks.

Despite hopes that the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can steer people toward healthier eating choices, there s no evidence the program currently influences - for better or worse - how many sugary drinks kids consume, according to a new study.

When children from families participating in the federal assistance program for poor families, commonly known as food stamps, were compared to peers not in SNAP, there was no significant difference in how much milk, soda and fruit juice the kids drank.

The findings don t mean that banning the use of food stamps to buy sweetened beverages, as some have proposed, wouldn t cut down on their consumption.

But the results do suggest at least that having food stamps doesn t encourage families with kids to buy more unhealthy drinks, according to the report in the August issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

In short, "SNAP does not affect beverage consumption among low-income children," said Meenakshi Fernandes, the study s author and a senior analyst at the health and policy research organization Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SNAP provides - on average - about $284 per month for people with low incomes to use at grocery stores on food. Purchases of alcohol, tobacco and other non-food items are not permitted.

US win medal count, and British celebrate as well

United States won 46 gold, 29 silver and 29 bronze to top London Olympics medals table.

By any measure, the 2012 London Games will be considered a booming success for the United States.

When the U.S. men s basketball team won the Olympic title Sunday, it clinched the 46th gold medal for Americans in London, marking the highest total the nation has ever taken home from a "road" Olympics. The U.S. winners of 104 medals overall in London, easily the most of any nation won 45 golds at Paris in 1924 and Mexico City in 1968.

"It means everything," U.S. basketball player LeBron James said.

The final numbers for the Americans in London won t go down as record-setting, not coming close to the 83 gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and the 239 total from St. Louis in 1904, when U.S. athletes won roughly seven out of every eight medals awarded.

Different eras, different dynamics.

Many thought this would be the Olympics where the Chinese went home with more medals than the Americans, and that didn t come close to happening. China won 38 golds, its most ever on foreign soil, but finished 17 medals behind the U.S. overall and took a major step back from when it served as the host team four years ago.

"We are immensely proud of the success that our athletes had in London," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun said Sunday.

Host country Britain also had plenty of celebrate at these games: 29 gold medals, 65 medals overall, riding the wave of home-field energy for its best Olympic showing in more than a century to deliver on a promise of greatness in 2012 and possibly set the stage for continued emergence down the road.

New iPhone app checks heart rate by face reading

The Cardiio app is able to detect face’s variations and use them to determine 3 beats per minutes.

Aerobic fitness is one of the best ways to get — and stay — in shape. It requires getting your heart rate up, but it s also important to keep track of your pulse so that it stays within a helpful range and you don t end up over-doing it. A new app from a pair of MIT graduates can help you do it using only your iPhone or iPod touch.

Rather than rely on a cumbersome sensor band, the Cardiio app (download for iPhone) uses the iPhone s front-facing iSight camera to scan your face and determine your pulse. This works because as your heart rate increases, more blood is pumped to your face, and as it is the amount of ambient light your face reflects decreases. The Cardiio app is able to detect these variations in reflectiveness and use them to determine your pulse within three beats per minutes, according to its creators, husband and wife PhD team Ming-Zer and Yukkee Poh.

The app sells for $4.99 and user reviews on the iTunes Store are largely very positive so far, with comments praising its accuracy and ease-of-use. Now, if only they could come up with an app that could scan our faces and display our cholesterol levels, we d be all set.

Dollar rises after weak data from China

The dollar rose against most major currencies on weaker-than-expected trade data from China.

China said on Friday that its exports rose 1 percent over a year earlier. That s below the 5 percent economists expected. Import growth fell to 4.7 percent from 6.3 percent the previous month, also below expectations.

China is the world s second-largest economy. Friday s weak data is a reminder that the global economy may be slowing down. Traders tend to buy the U.S. currency, which is considered a safer bet, when they think economic conditions are getting worse.

The euro slipped to $1.2294 late Friday from $1.2296 late Thursday.

The dollar fell to 78.26 Japanese yen from 78.57 yen, to 0.9766 Swiss franc from 0.9768 Swiss franc and to 99.19 Canadian cents from 99.21 Canadian cents.

The British pound rose to $1.5673 from $1.5635.

Spotted Lamb Adopted By Dalmatian (VIDEO)

A spotted lamb on a South Australian farm has been adopted by a Dalmatian after the little ewe was abandoned by its mother, the Associated Press reports.

"I just thought it was hilarious, I just laughed," said farm owner Julie Bolton of the unlikely pair.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the dog, which doesn't have puppies of her own, has taken a particular liking to the spotted lamb -- "cleaning it and licking it and mothering it" whenever she can.

For her part, the lamb -- a cross between a pure-bred white Dorper ram and a cross-bred Dorper and Van Rooy ewe -- has happily welcomed all the attention.

"It's a benefit to the lamb," Bolton's husband and fellow farm owner, John, told the AP of the spotty bond.

Dr. Kersti Seksel, a veterinary specialist in behavioral medicine, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that "it's not unusual for dogs to surrogate all manner of animals, including lambs."

Headline August 14th, 2012 / CONFIDENTIAL

''CONFIDENTIAL.....F.Y.I. AND DESTROY!'' 

From 1929 to 1971, Monsanto's Anniston works produced PCBs as industrial coolants and insulating fluids for transformers and other electrical equipment. One of the wonder chemicals of the 20th century, PCBs were exceptionally versatile and fire resistant, and became central to many American industries as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, and sealants. But PCB were toxic. 

A member of a family of chemicals that mimic hormones, PCBs have been linked to damage in the liver and in the neurological, immune, endocrine, and reproductive systems. Monsanto shutdown PCB production in Anniston in 71, and the company ended all its American operations in 77. Also in 1977, they closed down the PCB plant in Wales. 

What had Monsanto known, --or what should it have known about the potential dangers of the chemicals it was manufacturing? There is evidence lurking in court records indicating that this company knew quite a lot. The evidence that Monsanto refused to face questions about their toxicity is quiet clear to History.

Ten years later, a biologist conducting studies for Monsanto in streams near the Anniston plant got quick results when he submerged his test fish. As he reported to Monsanto, according to The Washington Post, ''All 25 fish lost equilibrium and turned on their sides in 10seconds and all were dead in about 3 minutes''. So, when F.D.A.turned up high levels of PCBs in fish near the plant in 70, Monsanto swung into action to limit the damage. 

The main heading of this post actually got writer in an internal memo by the company official Paul B Hodges to review steps under way to limit disclosure of info. One element of the strategy was to get public officials to fight Monsanto's battle: ''Joe Crockett, Secretary Albama Water Improvement Commission, was to handle the problem quietly without release of the info to the Public at this time,'' according to this memo. 

Despite Monsanto's efforts, the info did get out, but the company was to blunt the impact. And just so in conjunction read this: To be sure more and more agricultural corporations and individual farmers are using Monsanto's G.M. seeds. Till 80s no genetically modified crops were grown in the US. 

In 2007, the total was 142 million acres planted. Worldwide the figure was 282 million acres. Many farmers believe that G.M seeds increase crop yields and save money and are convenient. By using Monsanto seeds, a farmer plants his crop, then treats it later with Roundup to kill weeds. That takes the place of labor-intensive weed control and plowing. 

Monsanto, by the way, portrays its move into G.M. seeds as a giant leap for mankind!! But then is it a small step for them? Stay tuned, as Student Angel Mother signs off for abstracting great challenges and great opportunities! Let's see if we measure up!

Good Night & God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice of the Voiceless

Aggressive Dog Breed Owners Are More Hostile Than Other Dog Owners, New Study Suggests

Owners of aggressive dogs are more likely to be
 aggressive themselves, a new study finds.

Your canine companion might be saying more about you than you realize, new research finds.

Owners of stereotypically aggressive dog breeds such as Germen shepherds and Rottweilers are more likely to be hostile and aggressive themselves compared with owners of typically laid-back pooches such as Labrador retrievers, according to a new study.

In this study, aggressive dog-breed owners scored higher in the personality trait of psychoticism, which is marked by anger, hostility and aggression. (Psychoticism is different than psychopathy, a personality disorder characterized by manipulativeness and lack of empathy.)

"This might imply (although has yet to be proven) that people choose pets that are an extension of themselves," study researcher Deborah Wells, a psychologist at Queen's University Belfast, told LiveScience in an email.

Dogs and personality

The research, published in the October 2012 issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences, is not the first to find personality differences in dog owners based on breed. Toy-dog owners, for example, score high on the personality trait of openness, characterized by appreciation of new experiences, according to a study presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference in London in April. The same study found that owners of pastoral and utility breeds such as collies and corgis were the most extroverted. [See What Your Dog's Breed Says About You]


Likewise, a study published in May in the journal Anthrozoos found that people with more argumentative personalities are more likely to choose bull terriers or other breeds with a reputation for aggression than more agreeable types.

Aggressive owners, aggressive breeds

Wells and her colleague Peter Hepper, also of Queen's University Belfast, recruited 147 dog owners from obedience classes in Northern Ireland and asked them to fill out a personality questionnaire. Only owners of German shepherds, Rottweilers, Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers were included in the questionnaire.

"We deliberately wanted to focus on breeds that are commonly owned, but at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of public perception of temperament — both Germans shepherds and Rottweilers are commonly perceived to be aggressive, while labs and retrievers (breeds frequently used to advertise organizations such as Guide Dogs for the Blind) are more likely to regarded in a nonaggressive light," Wells said.

Of the personality traits studied, the only difference between breed types that emerged was in psychoticism, such that owners of stereotypically aggressive breeds were more aggressive themselves than owners of more relaxed dogs.

The study still leaves open the question of whether aggressive people choose aggressive dog breeds and then intentionally train them to be vicious, Wells said. Other factors beyond personality, such as allergies and size, can also influence dog-breed choice, she added.

"Just because someone with a higher psychotic tendency owns a breed that is widely perceived to be aggressive, does not necessarily mean that animal is a threat to society," Wells said.

-  Huffingtonpost.com

Protesters rally against fracking at Schlumberger

Horseheads, N.Y. — Gathered at the doorstep of one of their stated enemies, a large group of fracking protesters rallied against the controversial drilling technique Saturday, saying it’s up to ordinary people to save the environment.

“We’re not going to ask the politicians,” organizer Sam Law said. “The politicians can take the lead from us. We don’t need permission to protect our community.”

Law and approximately 100 other protesters gathered late Saturday morning at the entrance of Schlumberger, the world’s leading oilfield services company, in Horseheads. The group’s goal was to shut down operations at Schlumberger, and the rally included signs, speakers and chants, including, “We won’t stop until they stop,” and “Our air and water are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back.”

Saturday afternoon, Law posted the following on his group’s website: “Protesters were prepared to risk arrest blockading trucks from entering the single-entry gate into the facility, but at this point, the goal of the demonstration has been accomplished without arrests: Schlumberger has been shut down.”

Law said 15-20 of the protesters were willing to get arrested blocking truck traffic to Schlumberger.

State troopers and Horseheads police officers arrived at the rally around 11:30 a.m., but they treated the rally as a peaceful protest.

Officers made contact with the protesters, then observed from a distance. Law said the group had no contact with Schlumberger representatives.

Even with police watching the rally, protesters seemed unfazed.

“We’re here to say: ‘This is our homeland, and we will protect it,’” said Sandra Steingraber, an ecologist and author.

Said protester Kat Stevens: “This is the place that makes the destruction of Pennsylvania possible.”

Beyond supporting drilling operations in Pennsylvania, Schlumberger is a nuisance to Horseheads residents because of the silica dust it spreads, the noise it makes and its bright overnight lights that “make Yankee Stadium look dim,” protester Ruth Young said.

The group said finding new sources of energy is important, but the focus should be on going green.

“The sooner this fracking bridge to nowhere is gone, the sooner the workers can be trained for the green-collar economy,” Young said.

The rally was organized by Shaleshock Direct Action Working Group, a coalition of community members from Chemung, Cortland, Schuyler, Seneca, and Tompkins counties. The organization’s mission is to “defend people, land and water from hydro-fracking.” Its website can be found at dontfrackwithus.org.

(the-leader.com)

Union chief: Teachers should prepare for strike

Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teacher's
Union and members of her negotiationg cabinet
 meet with the media

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis rattled the bargaining sabers Thursday, saying so many big issues remain on the negotiating table that teachers need to be prepared for a September strike.

Lewis said there was “no chance’’ the teachers contract that expired June 30 will be resolved by Monday, when classes begin for about a third of the system on year-round school calendars.

After concluding their 41st day of contract talks Thursday, Chicago Public School and CTU negotiators “haven’t even gotten to compensation yet,’’ Lewis said.

“We haven’t gotten to the big sticking points because we’re trying to get the little ones off the table,’’ Lewis said. “I see slow progress.’’

Read More Here

Facebook 'like' in U.S. court over free speech

WASHINGTON —Freedom of speech on Facebook is at the heart of an appeals court case in Virginia involving an elected sheriff who fired staff members who “liked” his rival on the social networking site.

The American Civil Liberties Union this week associated itself with the case in Newport News city, contending that the “like” button on Facebook is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

A US District Court judge ruled earlier this year that liking someone on Facebook was “insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection,” and that Sheriff B.J. Hampton was thus not breaking the law when he fired six staffers in his office who had “liked” his opponent in a 2009 election.

Liking a political candidate on Facebook just like holding a campaign sign is constitutionally protected speech,

It is verbal expression, as well as symbolic expression. Clicking the ‘like’ button announces to others that the user supports, approves or enjoys the content being liked.

Facebook itself joined the debate this week as well, saying its “like” feature was “the 21st century equivalent of a front-yard campaign sign” and intended to stir conversation and discussion.

 Facebook said believe that the First Amendment protects everyone,  regardless of how an individual expresses his or her thoughts,

Facebook has become “a means of communication for so many Americans and people across the world,” she noted, and the appeal in Virginia to be heard in September therefore represents such an important case.

Android extends dominance in smartphones worldwide

NEW YORK — Research firm IDC said, There were four Android phones for every iPhone shipped in the second quarter, That’s up from a ratio of 2.5 to 1 in the same period last year.

  
The success of Samsung’s Android phones helped Google’s operating system extend its dominance in the smartphone market.
  
Samsung Electronics Co and other phone makers shipped nearly 105 million Android smartphones in the April-June quarter, giving Android 68% of the worldwide market, up from 47% last year.
  
The market share for Apple Inc’s iPhone, powered by its iOS software, fell slightly to 17%, from 19%. But the company shipped more iPhones than a year ago. Apple is the No. 2 smartphone maker, behind Samsung, and is likely to get a boost when it releases its new iPhone model as expected this fall.
  
But in recent years, Google has mounted a serious challenge with Android and benefits from having several manufacturers as partners, including Samsung, HTC Corp and Motorola Mobility, which Google ended up buying this year.
    
Samsung’s Galaxy S III phone received good reviews when it was released late in the second quarter. It also benefits from the company’s strategy of making various devices that target a range of consumers. By contrast, Apple targets only the high-end market with its iPhone.

 

IDC estimates that Samsung shipped 50.2 million smartphones in the quarter, though that includes a few million phones running the Bada system based on Linux. Apple shipped 26 million iPhones.
  
Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 42% to 154 million in the second quarter. Combined, Android and Apple had 85% of the market, up from 66% a year ago.

  
But it’s still possible for rivals to gain share because smartphones represent fewer than 40% of all cellphones shipped in the quarter. However, such efforts will become increasingly difficult as smartphone penetration increases,
  
Microsoft and RIM are both coming out with new versions of their operating systems Windows in October and BlackBerry early next year. The share of Windows phone grew to 3.5%, from 2.3%, in the latest quarter, largely because of its adoption by Nokia. Windows was the fifth-largest phone operating system but was gaining on No. 3 BlackBerry and No. 4 Symbian.

Heroic dog Amanda rescues her five puppies from fire in Chile

Brave dog Amanda carries one of her five puppies from the flames that destroyed their home
and places them in the safety of a fire truck. Source: AP

INCREDIBLE photos have emerged of a heroic dog who risked her life over and over again to rescue her puppies from a house fire.

The brave mutt, named Amanda, sprang into action after a car bomb triggered a blaze at a home in Santa Rosa de Temuco, Chile, reports Soy Chile.

She carefully carried each of her puppies one by one from the house to the safety of a fire truck, before heading back into the burning building to rescue the rest of her litter.

Once all five puppies were safe, she lay down beside them, shielding them with her body for extra protection.

Veterinarian Felipe Lara said that Amanda had fiercely protected her puppies when vets removed them to check on their health, and especially wanted to stay beside a puppy that suffered severe burns and later died.

Teijin to establish polyester chemical recycling joint venture in China

TOKYO —Teijin Ltd will establish Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials Co, a joint venture with Jinggong Holding Group, in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, one of China’s largest production bases for fiber products.

Through the joint venture, Teijin said it will chemically recycle polyester, as well as manufacture and sell the resulting fibers, with the aim of establishing a closed-loop recycling system in China leveraging its advanced proprietary chemical recycling technology and the business expertise it has cultivated in the global expansion of ECO CIRCLETM, its existing closed-loop recycling system for polyester.

The new plant will chemically recycle polyester fiber scraps and used polyester products into DMT (dimethyl terephthalate) with quality comparable to that derived directly from petroleum. The DMT will be used for the production of polyester resin, as well as value-added polyester fiber, leveraging the Teijin Group’s polymer and fiber-spinning technologies.

Australians are leaking cash

AUSTRALIAN households are set to spend almost $70,000 each this year on everyday expenses - a whopping $642 billion across the country.

MoneySmart says "spending leakage" could be costing millions of dollars.

However, cutting back on chocolates, bought lunches and the odd glass of alcohol can save about $3000 a year, according to a new free mobile phone application, to be launched today.

"Cups of coffee are also examples of spending leaks. They are the little things you regularly spend money on that add up over a long period," MoneySmart and Australian Securities and Investments Commission senior executive Robert Drake said.

The app is an extension of the watchdog's online budget planner, used by 20,000 people a month.

"The individual feedback has been really heartening. People have told us they had been struggling from pay day to pay day and constantly worrying if they had enough money. Now they know where they stand," Mr Drake said.

"Just that reduction in stress is really important."

Financial Counselling Australia chair Carmel Franklin said it was often the spur-of-the-moment spending, not the big-ticket items, that could add up to hundreds each month.

"There are always more opportunities to spend money then we have income coming in," she said.

"Tracking your spending makes us realise just how much we spend on those coffees, bits and pieces."

Small changes can mean big rewards, according to MoneySmart.

The average Australian household spends $44 weeks on clothing, $32 on lunches, $32 on alcohol, $31 on takeaway food, $13 on cigarettes, $12 on lollies and chocolates and $11 on haircuts. Download the app free at iTunes or www.moneysmart. gov.au.

-  Herald Sun

Favourite holiday destination Bali claims Australian life every nine days

Tourists enjoy themselves at a Bali nightclub. Source: Herald Sun

AN Australian dies in Bali every nine days on average and hundreds more need consular help while in the nation's favourite overseas holiday destination.

Australian consular officials say alcohol and drugs fuel many of the accidents and nightclub fights that are among the biggest causes of trouble for thousands of Aussies.

Information released to the Herald Sun by the Foreign Affairs Department reveals 39 Australians died in Bali in 2011-12.

Another 93 sought consular help in hospital, while 36 were arrested, 18 jailed and eight needed support after being attacked.

The consulate is advised of all deaths but refused to detail their causes for privacy reasons.

It is advised of hospital admissions and arrests only where those involved seek to have Australian officials contacted.

Neither Bali's main Sanglah Hospital nor its police headquarters could say how many Australians were admitted or arrested in the past year.

"The most common reasons for illness or hospitalisation amongst young people who travel to Bali are injuries due to motorbike (scooter) accidents and nightclub fights," a DFAT spokesman said.

He said traffic accidents were the biggest cause of deaths after natural causes or existing conditions.

The spokesman cautioned that many people involved in scooter accidents failed to realise that travel insurance covers the rider and any passenger only if the rider holds a valid motorbike licence.

He said lack of insurance, lack of coverage for existing illnesses or cash to pay medical bills were also key reasons Australians sought consular help.

"We have recently seen a marked increase in cases involving young male travelers, 20-30, with mental health issues," he said.

Consular officials are regularly called on by Australians who have overstayed their tourist visas and it is also common for Australians to be reported missing, often when travelers fail to report a change in circumstances to fellow travelers.

The Aussies arrested in 2011-12 were all men, aged 18-65, for offences ranging from drugs and fights to domestic violence and thefts.

-  Herald Sun

WikiLeaks' website vicitim of sustained attack

THE secret-busting organisation WikiLeaks says it's been the victim of a sustained denial-of-service attack which has left its website sluggish or inaccessible for more than a week.

The group said the assault intensified around the beginning of August and has since expanded to include attacks against affiliated sites.

Denial-of-service attacks work by overwhelming websites with requests for information. WikiLeaks has said it's been flooded with 10 gigabits per second of bogus traffic from thousands of different internet addresses.

Josh Corman, with online content delivery company Akamai, characterised that as "a bit larger" than attacks commonly seen in the past few years.

-  AP

US Navy ship collides with tanker in Gulf

Damage to the US guided-missile destroyer USS Porter following a collision with the Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker 
M/V Otowasan in the Strait of Hormuz on August 12, 2012. Photo: AFP Source: AFP

A US Navy guided missile destroyer has been left with a gaping hole on one side after colliding with an oil tanker just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The collision left a breach about three by three metres in the starboard side of USS Porter. No one was injured on either vessel, the US Navy said in a statement.

The collision with the Panamanian-flagged and Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan happened early on Sunday local time.

Photos released by the navy showed workers standing amid twisted metal and other debris hanging down from the hole.

The cause of the incident is under investigation, the navy said, though the collision was not "combat related".

There were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan, the navy said.

Navy spokesman Greg Raelson said the destroyer is now in port in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

"We're just happy there were no injuries," he said. "An investigation is under way."

- AAP

Italy puts palazzos up for sale

Castello Orsini-Odescalchi

It’s no longer necessary to be a doge to own a palazzo in Venice as the Italian government plans to sell up for 350 historic building including palaces and castles in an effort to cut the country’s budget deficit.

The government hopes to raise as much as €1.5 billion through the historic property sales, according to the Agenzia del Demanio, the agency that manages the state's real estate assets. Currently the Italian state owns properties worth about 42 billion euro, according to a report by Edoardo Reviglio, chief economist of bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

The city of Venice is going to sell 18 properties, including the 18th century Diedo Palace, which served as a criminal court for years. The price tag for the palace is 19 million euro. Milan intends to sell more than 100 buildings, including the Palazzo Bolis Gualdo. The city hopes to get as much as 31 million euro for that palace.

Among the other properties put up for sale are army barracks in Bologna and Soriano nel Cimino's Orsini Castle in the Lazio region. The former prison was built by Pope Nicholas III in the 1270s.

Earlier this year, the island of Sardinia sold many of the lighthouses that used to attract thousands of tourists. The island’s autonomous government said it could no longer afford the cost of maintaining as well as restoring the lighthouses. Many of them were converted into hotels, galleries, and museums.

UN launches plan to protect oceans, tackle sea levels

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a new initiative on Sunday to protect the world’s oceans from pollution and over-fishing and to tackle rising sea levels which threaten hundreds of millions of people across the globe.


United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the "Oceans Compact" initiative sets out a strategic vision for the UN system to more effectively tackle the "precarious state" of the world's seas.

Ban highlighted the "grave threat" from pollution, excessive fishing and global warming.

"Our oceans are heating and expanding," he said in a speech to a conference marking the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"We risk irrevocable changes in processes that we barely comprehend, such as the great currents that affect weather patterns.

"Ocean acidification (from absorbed carbon emissions) is eating into the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the world's most vulnerable people."

Remote Chinese province sends 51,000 students to inland high schools

Xinjiang

URUMQI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Far west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has enrolled 8,330 students for inland high schools this year, bringing the total number of Xinjiang students sent to inland high schools to 51,000, local authorities said Friday.

Educational authorities in Xinjiang started sending high school students, especially ethnic Uygurs, to schools in inland regions in 2000, aiming to give Uygurs living in the country's remote western regions easier access to quality education and greater opportunities.

A middle school of Keketuohai town in Fuyun county of
Xinjiang Autonomous Region was holding an emergency
 evacuation drill on June17, 2010.

Eighty-five schools in 44 inland cities have joined the program, and enrollment has grown from 1,000 students in 2000 to 8,330 this year, said Sun Qi, a government official in Xinjiang.

Sun said 76 percent of the students enrolled this year are children of farmers and herdsmen.

Xinjiang, which accounts for one-sixth of China's total land area, holds rich oil reserves but remains relatively poor.

A similar program has helped 70,000 Tibetan students study at inland middle schools and colleges since 1985.

Xinjiang

Cool! Shanghai bomb shelter turned night club

These days, restaurants and bars are always looking for new, edgy ways to attract customers. How’s this for a creative concept - a historic bomb shelter-turned-night club? Shanghai’s literal "underground" music club offers a unique night out.
It may look like any other building, but the simple entrance disguises one of Shanghai’s newest trends -- transforming disused bomb shelters into imaginative new spaces. Once through the door, guests are led through a labyrinth of tunnels down to the dance floor of "The Shelter," an underground music haven popular with Chinese and foreigners alike. The club, six metres below ground, is now one of the city’s most popular hot spots, luring the likes of DJ Premier, who produces music for US rapper Jay-Z.
Gary Wang, Founder And Co-Owner of "The Shelter" Club, said, "The most important thing is that we can play the music we like in this place. Of course we were lucky that it is a bomb shelter and it fits the kind of music we play and the mood we want."

 guests are led through a
labyrinth of tunnels down to the dance floor of
"The Shelter," 

The club plays a mix of Reggae, Drum ’n Bass and Soul spinning on the turntables. The windowless venue sometimes even throws "pitch-dark" parties, shutting down all the lights and even Wi-Fi connections, leaving only the music on.
Barry LU, Shanghai resident, said, "I had wanted to come here last week because I was attracted to the music here. When I was walking through the tunnel, the place was already rocking."


Hundreds of thousands of bomb shelters were built across China in the 1960s and 1970s to prepare for possible air raids from the Soviet Union. The shelters were rented out by the government after tensions with the Soviet Union eased in the mid 1970s.
Jin Dalu, Professor of Shanghai Academy Of Social Sciences, said, "Of course, for the five, six percent of the shelters that are still usable today, they have to be of a certain standard. They must have electricity and water supply, as well as proper ventilation."
Most of the bomb shelters in the city have been torn down to make way for the city’s sprawling subway network. The Shelter is one, however, that lives on with a new purpose.  (http://english.cntv.cn)

The Camera They’re Using to Show Synchronized Swimming Is an Amazing Tech Innovation

The Twinscam shows synchronized swimming as it's never been seen before. Screenshot courtesy of NBC.

Synchronized swimming has never looked so good. As I watched the Russians crush the competition, I also marveled at NBC’s split-screen shots, which simultaneously showed the swimmers’ torsos above water and their legs below it.  This perspective came courtesy of the Twinscam, which was invented by Japanese broadcaster NHK in 2010.  It’s a solution to a common problem in the Olympic water events: Because of the way light refracts and reflects differently above and below water, we’ve only been able to see shots that show one point of view at a time. The heavy image processing needed for a camera that could do both has also made live broadcasting impossible until very recently.

The Twinscam tricks the viewer by using two cameras, one above the water and one below. The camera then combines the feeds from each to make it look like one shot. As the Russians approached technical perfection, the Twinscam’s separate lenses were doing their own synchronized dance, zooming and sweeping right along with them and sending a combined feed to an international audience. The result was stunning; Instead of switching back and forth, we saw what these athletes were doing below the water to support and create the show above.

There’s a long tradition of the Olympics driving technological development. We can count color television, high definition, and 3-D among the advances that were tested early on at the Olympic Games. Innovation goes in the other direction, too: Reuters photographers covering the London Olympics got their underwater robotic camera heads from a German engineer who designs components like the one that showed us just how much oil was spurting into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

I can imagine Twinscam having a future in everything from nature documentaries to military surveillance. But even if it’s just used for synchronized swimming, it’s still given us an unprecedented opportunity to appreciate the beauty of a graceful sport. The awesome DiveCam, seen below, hasn’t been deployed in many non-diving situations since its debut in 1996.

And its cousin, the SkyCam, is basically the reason the NFL arguably looks better on the TV than it does in real life. The inventor of DiveCam and SkyCam, Garrett Brown, is better known for his first big invention: the Steadicam, which you can thank for the smooth, terror-inducing shots in The Shining. Perhaps Twinscam will get some cinema love of its own. Jaws 5, anyone?

-  Slate.com

A-level grade inflation to end with results this week

A-level results released this week are set to finally end the “grade inflation” which has bedevilled the exam system.

Grades for 300,000 18-year-olds will be released on Thursday. But for the first time they have been set under newly-published rules designed to stop the number of teenagers gaining top grades from going up year after year.

Exam board chiefs said the new regime has put an end to the pattern of annually-increasing grades.

Critics had warned that the value of the “gold standard” exam was being eroded, while Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, claimed the system was becoming “discredited”.

Earlier this year Ofqual, the regulator which maintains the integrity of exams, conceded for the first time that it was “virtually impossible to justify” what it termed “persistent grade inflation”.

Under new guidelines issued by Ofqual to examiners in June, this week’s A-level scores will be pegged to the cohort’s GCSE performance.

A-level results going back over the last two year, and their corresponding GCSE results, will also be taken in to account. Exam boards are also able to employ other statistics, such as results in similar subjects, for instance, French, German and Spanish.

Simon Lebus, the chief executive of Cambridge Assessment, which owns the OCR exam board, said: “A regime which gives such close emphasis to the use of statistics is going to be less supportive of grade inflation.

“The difference now is that there is much more emphasis on producing results that meet the predicted range of outcomes.

“You would expect outcomes to remain consistent year to year unless there are changes in terms of the cohort or the syllabuses, or in terms of other extraneous factors.

“The challenge is to balance statistics and academic judgement. Other things being equal, you might expect to get a flatline.”

While “flatlining” grades will end the annual row over grade inflation, they could lead to complaints by schools that grades are being artificially held down.

The release of the results on Thursday will spark the annual scramble for university places among teenagers who missed out on the grades they needed for their first-choice university.

The number of surplus places on offer in the clearing system is expected to be higher than usual after this year’s increase in tuition fees led to an 8 per cent drop in university applications.

The A-level pass rate has risen for 29 years in a row and is now around 98 per cent, fuelling concerns about the “dumbing down” of exams.

In the early 1980s, less than 10 per cent of pupils achieved an A grade. Last year, the proportion of A and A* grades awarded was 27 per cent.

Nearly 9 per cent of candidates were awarded the A* grade, introduced in 2010 to “stretch and challenge” the very brightest pupils.

Ofqual introduced new rules last summer, without publicity, in an attempt to ensure exam boards set “justifiable” grade boundaries for A-levels.

The 2011 results subsequently showed a slowing-down in the rate of grade inflation. In June this year Ofqual wrote to exam boards with further guidance that is set to have an even greater impact.

Similar changes have been made by Ofqual to the GCSE grading system, and the results are expected to show a slowing-down in grade inflation when they are published later this month.

Professor A C Grayling, the philosopher and master of New College of the Humanities, a private university which opens in London in September, said there was no question that there had been grade inflation and that A-levels needed reform.

“We need to have a proper look at it but it can’t be left to ministers or institutions alone,” he said. “Most of school education up to GCSE is the acquisition of the basics.

"At A-level you should be acquiring something more complex - the capacity to think well, to work through an idea, to look laterally at things.

“Except that with the introduction of AS levels you have year on year preparation for exams. The constant cry you hear from teachers and pupils is, 'Is that going to be in the exam because if it isn’t, I don’t want to know about it.’

"We have squeezed out the air of curiosity.”

The college, which charges fees of £18,000 a year, has indicated that it will take “Oxbridge rejects” in the clearing system.

Sixth formers with offers from Oxford, Cambridge and other Russell Group universities who drop a grade and are not accepted are invited to attend an “open weekend” at the college in Bloomsbury to be interviewed.

Leading universities, such as Birmingham, East Anglia and Exeter will be bidding for high-achieving students in clearing to take advantage of new Government rules which allow unlimited recruitment of sixth formers who achieve AAB grades or better.

Lower-ranking institutions are already publishing degree course vacancies, nearly a week before A-levels are issued. Bath Spa and Kent have vacancies in more than 50 courses. London South Bank, Lincoln and Plymouth all have places available.

Aberystwyth University is offering a “clearing bursary” of up to £450 in discounts on accommodation fees and benefits such as sports memberships.

Original source here

University of Leicester receives record £7m donation

The University of Leicester has been given a £7m donation - its biggest gift since it was established in 1921.

The money, which has come from the John and Lucille Van Geest Foundation, will be used for both laboratories and a fund for studies into heart disease.

About £2.5m is being used to build a biomarker facility, housing three new mass spectrometers to measure proteins, lipids and metabolites in blood.

The lab will be near the Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glenfield Hospital.

The rest of the money, £4.5m, will be used to set up the Van Geest Foundation Heart and Cardiovascular Diseases Research Fund.

It is hoped this fund will allow researchers from the University of Leicester compete for funding for the most "exciting and cutting-edge studies that will advance the fight against cardiovascular disease for years to come", a university spokesperson said.

Original source here

School Principal Chases Away Man With Gun on School Campus

Donevin Hoskins, the principal at Towers High School in Decatur, Ga. U.S, may have prevented a tragedy when he noticed a man on campus carrying a loaded 9 millimeter pistol, WSBTV reports.

The station reports that Hoskins asked the suspicious-acting man to leave, and told police he saw the mysterious man drop a skull cap with the gun inside. The men got into a physical confrontation over the weapon, leading the suspect to flee the school grounds, according to WSBTV.

Investigators told WSBTV they still have not identified the man.

Hoskins is not alone in his chivalry. In a tragic February incident at Chardon High School in Ohio, three students died from a school shooting. Thomas "T.J." Lane, a 17-year-old student, opened fire in the 1,100-student school. Two other students were inured.

Lane's rampage ended, however, when assistant football coach and study hall teacher Frank Hall chased the shooter out of the building.

"Coach Hall, he always talks about how much he cares about us students, his team and everyone," Chardon student Neil Thomas told CNN. "And I think today he really went out and proved how much he cared about us. He would take a bullet for us."

In a separate April incident involving guns on school campus, Manuael Ernest Dillow, a Virginia high school teacher, was arrested for allegedly lining his students up and firing a blank fun at them.

While investigators would not clarify why Dillow discharged the weapon ant students, KSDK-TV reports the teacher faced 12 felony charges for brandishing a firearm on school property.

Original source here

KC teachers get glimpse of students' reality

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The school bus full of teachers lumbered onto 27th Street from Prospect Avenue.

"Keep an eye out for children you see along the way," they'd been told at the start of their police-led tour of Kansas City neighborhoods.

"They're going to be in your classrooms Monday."

There were several of their possible students, sweeping into view, looking comfortable in a mean afternoon sun. Teenagers with smiles and cellphones, hanging out on the corner.

As the bus growled on up 27th Street, four of the first five houses unfurling outside the bank of windows were boarded. Weeds swarmed the porches and sidewalks as if there'd been no drought.

Kansas City Police Officer Patrick Byrd, with his thumb triggering the public address microphone in his hand, was telling some neighborhood history.

The busload of teachers from the former Central High School — now the Central Academy of Excellence — had previously heard the officer talk of the frequent drug houses marking the paths their students walk.

The lone individual loitering in front of one of the convenience stores, he'd noted, may well be waiting for his next "open air drug sale" to walkups and drive-by buyers.

And up here, he said as the bus approached Benton Boulevard on 27th, was where someone had been shot in an altercation with police officers, sparking a riot several years ago.

"You as teachers need to pay attention to the kids in class," he said. "A lot of times you're the only stability they have."

Jason Roberts appreciated the reminder.

He's a fourth-year history teacher from Columbus, Ohio, readying for his second year at Central.

"We come to Central with that middle-class security," he said. "The bus ride tells us that is not the reality in which our students live."

The bus ride Thursday for relatively new teachers was filled with educators like Roberts and second-year English teacher Nicole Bozzella, who said they wanted the chance to teach students such as these.

Roberts had thought himself destined to teach advanced history to suburban high school students until he did his student teaching in Chicago.

Bozzella, from Bethesda, Md., was pursuing a degree in governmental affairs in college when she leaped toward teaching.

Instead of hurling her idealism at "fixing" things "with policy," she said, she aimed herself at classrooms in neighborhoods like Central's.

She's beginning her second year, she said, knowing that her students can learn, that they want to learn and that "they want everyone to be proud of them."

The trip was not meant to discourage the teachers, but to fortify them.

When Vice Principal Thomas Shelton at the head of the bus shouted, "Is anybody rethinking their options?" the teachers laughed.

Shelton, a former police officer, said he has served these Kansas City neighborhoods throughout his working life.

See that Days Inn motel going by?

"Some of our students live there," he said.

And not all of those boarded homes are always vacant. Students live in them, too.

Do the teachers notice how many of the students don't want to leave school? They will be there ahead of breakfast in the morning, Shelton said. And they'll be there until the last of the staff leave in the afternoon.

"There's a reason for that," he said. "They don't have a place to go."

Central Principal Linda Collins put her teachers on the bus, she said, "to ride the city. To see where our children live."

She wanted them to understand, she said, why "they don't look like you, don't talk like you and don't think like you. Because they have other things on their minds."

And Roberts stepped off at the end of the ride more dedicated to the power "of teaching and learning."

"It really is the main thing," he said. "When we teach, there is an extreme possibility for excellence."

Original source here

Students Freed Despite Hazing Claim

Police have agreed to release seven senior high school students pending an investigation into their roles in alleged hazing during an orientation program at a private school in South Jakarta. 

Sr. Comr. Imam Sugianto, the South Jakarta Police chief, said on Tuesday that the move had been made in an effort to resolve the case through discussions involving the suspects and victims, the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).

“We feel that they’ve already learned a valuable lesson from being locked up in jail for two days,” he said. “Through the current dialogue, we’re trying to reach an agreeable resolution on this matter. All sides will be able to express their views during this mediation.”

Sr. Comr. Rikwanto, the Jakarta Police spokesman, said that as part of the discussions, police had agreed not to hold the students in custody, while the school was deciding what punishments to hand out.

The suspects, identified only by their initials, are all 12th-graders at the Don Bosco school in Pondok Indah. They are accused of forcing new students to carry large rocks above their heads, forcing them to drink beer, threatening them at knife-point, beating and kicking them, and burning them with cigarettes.

“Even though the alleged incident occurred outside scheduled school orientation events, it was still done as part of the orientation program,” Rikwanto said.

The school held an assembly on Tuesday in which the students involved in the incident and their parents vowed to bring an end to the culture of bullying and hazing in school.

Gerald Gantur, the school’s head of student affairs, said he hoped that the 12-step declaration signed by the students and parents would help resolve the current scandal and prevent future ones. “We have tried to resolve this problem according to the principles of our institution,” he said.

The declaration includes a formal public apology from the perpetrators to the victims. It also stipulates that the perpetrators may be detained by police for future bullying incidents.

In addition, the culprits have agreed to undergo counseling for 20 days and to take part in a school-wide anti-bullying campaign. In return, the victims are not pressing charges against their attackers.

Original source here