Without paperwork, school lunch free in Boston

Boston public schools will begin serving free lunches to all students this school year even if families have the financial means to pay, school officials are expected to announce Tuesday.

The meal program, more than a year in the making, is part of an experimental federal initiative that aims to make it easier for students from low-income families to receive free meals by eliminating the need to fill out paperwork, including potentially invasive questions about income.

Cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago have been or will be participating in the free-meal program. Starting next school year, the program will be open to any school district across the country with high concentrations of students from low-income families. The cost of the free meals will be covered by the federal government.

“Every child has a right to healthy, nutritious meals in school, and when we saw a chance to offer these healthy meals at no cost to them, we jumped at the chance,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino in a prepared statement.

- bostonglobe.com

'Education underclass' of children in the UK is still in nappies when they start school

An ‘education underclass’ in Britain is starting school at the age of five with some still in nappies, unable to speak or not even recognising their own name, according to a controversial new study.

Headteachers told researchers that in some cases children from the poorest backgrounds arrived at their first school still behaving like they were 18 or even 12 months old.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank called the evidence it had compiled between 2007 and 2012 “heart-breaking”, and said some children had such terrible early home lives that they were condemned to be at a disadvantage for the rest of their lives.

The study also revealed that many hundreds of thousands of teenagers leave school every year without achieving adequate GCSEs, and that boys from poor, white backgrounds were falling further behind their classmates than any other identified group.

“These children are starting school drastically behind the levels of development expected of their age,” the CSJ, a centre-right organisation founded by former leader of the Conservative party Iain Duncan Smith, said.

“The early years experiences endured by these children have been so abysmal that they begin compulsory schooling absolutely not ready for learning and, potentially, permanently disadvantaged.”

One headteacher told the think tank: “In the last three years we have had to toilet train children who came to school in nappies at age five. Parents ask me how we managed to do it. Many of them just can't be bothered, they think it's our responsibility to do it for them.”

Another said that it was very common for youngsters to start school unable to cope, with three-year-olds who “commonly act like 12 to 18-month-olds”.

“'They don't even have the concentration to talk and say an answer in any kind of sentence,” she said.

“We've had children that don't answer to their name. They don't recognise their name...they're not toilet trained.”

The CSJ largely blames parents for the findings, who the report said were unaware of the key milestones their children should be meeting in advance of starting school.

Sir Robin Bosher, chairman of the group that drew up the report, said that one in ten children he observed was “so unsociable that they hurt others, adults and other young children”.

Sir Robin, who is also director of primary education at the Harris Federation of Academies, said: “Educational failure is too common in our current system. It affects disadvantaged children and makes reform urgent. This is about social justice. We need to do more to make sure all children are given a good education.”

- independent.co.uk

Nokia to sell mobile phone unit to Microsoft

Beleaguered Finnish company Nokia announced Tuesday the sale of its mobile phone unit to Microsoft for 5.44 billion euros ($7.17 billion), bringing to an end its days as a phone maker.

Nokia will grant the US software giant a 10-year non-exclusive licence to its patents and will itself focus on network infrastructure and services, which it called "the best path forward for Nokia and its shareholders."

The company also announced the immediate departure of chief executive Stephen Elop, who was hired from Microsoft in 2010 to turn the company around.

He will be replaced in the interim by Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia's chairman of the board.

Nokia dominated the mobile phone market for 14 years, until it was overtaken by Samsung in 2012 as the top-selling brand, as it struggled to establish winning business models and mobile devices.

Mammals harbour 'at least 320,000 new viruses'

The flying fox is one of many mammals that carry
 viruses that spread to humans

There could be at least 320,000 viruses awaiting discovery that are circulating in animals, a study suggests.

Researchers say that identifying these viral diseases, especially those that can spread to humans, could help to prevent future pandemics.

The team estimates that this could cost more than £4bn ($6bn), but says this is a fraction of the cost of dealing with a major pandemic.

The research is published in the journal mBio.

Prof Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in the US, said: "What we're really talking about is defining the full range of diversity of viruses within mammals, and our intent is that as we get more information we will be able to understand the principles that underlie determinants of risks."

Nearly 70% of viruses that infect humans, such as HIV, Ebola and the new Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), originate in wildlife.

Are computer chips on the verge of a quantum leap?

We swipe, we tap, we scroll and click, but rarely do we pause to think about what goes on in the maze of electronics beneath our fingertips.But next time you are marveling at the computer hardware in your hands spare a thought for the tiny transistors in our computer chips. Without them all our modern gizmos wouldn't work.

"I think transistors really are the unsung heroes of the information age," says Kaizad Mistry, vice president at the world's leading chip maker, Intel. "These tiny little switches, these are the things that our computers, our servers, our smartphones and laptops. 

Since Intel introduced the first commercial microprocessor in 1971, all chip manufacturers have been striving to increase processor speeds by cramming more and more transistors. The tiny switches that control electrical signals onto surfaces no bigger than the size of a fingernail. 

Intel's landmark 4004 chip contained 2,300 transistors, each measuring a few micrometers (a millionth of a meter) across. Today, the most advanced silicon chips contain billions of nano-sized switches controlling the flow of electrical currents.

"The amount of data produced and consumed every day is reaching unthinkable levels, and it increases every day. But that data has to be stored somewhere, and processed by something, So basically, we either keep getting smaller so that we can store and process more information in the same small size for about the same power cost or we will have to start rationing data usage per person because the computing power needed will eventually use more energy than the planet can support," professor Peter J. Bentley added.
In a bid to keep pace with Moore's Law Intel founder Gordon E. Moore's assertion that the number of transistors on a chip should double roughly every two years. Intel have developed new "3-D" or "Tri-Gate" transistors, each one measuring 22 namometers across. 
"For the last 40-50 years, the transistors we've made have conducted electricity along a planar surface of a silicon wafer. A 3-D transistor is a new concept, a new architecture for making tiny transistors. It's just a fundamentally better switch," Mistry says. "What we've done is create these pillars or fins on the surface of the wafer and now the current can flow on all three sides of that fin so in any given footprint you can have more of a current conduction." Intel's Ivy Bridge chip contains an astonishing 1.4 billion transistors that switch on and off more than 100 billion times a second and run 4,000 times faster and use 5,000 times less energy than the 4004 microchip. 

"The Tri-Gate transistors are a very nice redesign of the traditional planar transistor that sits inside the chips," says Bentley. "One of the key problems with keeping up with (Moore's Law) is heat dissipation. Traditional chips are getting way too hot. The Tri-Gate transistor will almost certainly help in that respect as it can operate at lower voltages." Smaller 14 nanometer transistors are currently being developed, with Intel planning a release date in 2014. But it won't be long before computer chip manufacturers will be having to think even smaller. 

"We have just about hit the limits now," Bentley says. "Already we are so small that quantum tunneling -- where electrons magically zip through solid objects because of quantum effects -- can cause real problems in chip design. Go smaller and quantum effects will stop the transistors working at all."

"In practice, there are bound to be many practical limitations, so we've got to spend the next few decades perfecting this radical new technology before we'll really know how far we can push it."

cnn.com

Headline, September04, 2013

''' THESE BEAUTIFUL -BROWN LOCKS-

 OF KEIRA KNIGHTLEY '''

Keira Knightley, A straight A student,  was planning to return to College and lined up a summer job at a local skateboard shop.

''Mum and Dad were actors,'' she says. ''So it's always been: you do a job and get back to the end of the line. And then you work your way up the line. You always have to be prepared for the times you'll be out of work.''

Then, just so as it happens, Fate Intervened.

As it turned out, Keira Knightley's arrival in Hollywood was every bit a modern day fairy tale. Before Bend It Like Beckham was released from the U.S., Gore Vabrinski, the director of the Pirates of the Caribbean, summoned Knightley to Los Angeles  on the strength of a casting director's tape; he passed her on to the film's producer, action-movie mogul Jerry Bruckheimer, who signed her up for his $125 million enterprise.

''There are a lot of beautiful girls around the world,'' Bruckheimer avers, ''But the problem is, they can't turn off who they are when the camera turns on. Keira is very natural in front of the camera  -when she becomes the character, you don't see any of the acting wheels turning.

  

Given her blatant lack of Cool Starlet Persona, it ts perhaps understandable that Knightley feels no gravitational pull toward the centre of the show-business universe. ''I love to visit L.A., but I couldn't live there.'' she says. ''As an actor you're supposed to be simulating reality, and L.A., us based on unreality. Personally, I don't know how I could  'grow artistically' in a place like that.

''Anyway, I couldn't handle the rejection. If you are walking around L.A., you're seeing all those perfect people and you start to think, I've got to be like that. I'll have to be much stronger before I go over there, I think.''

If Keira Knightley's combination of outsider attitude and sultry looks brings to mind the young Winona Ryder, or any subsequent starlet of the ''free spirit'' school, it should be stated that this English actress is of an entirely different kidney. For starters, Knightley confidently maintains eye contact at all times during conversation, and never once brings up her pets and how ''totally human'' they are; there is no talk of ''auras,'' being a ''very spiritual person,'' or even yoga; and her agenda does not appear to include any new found interest in environmentalism or magical-realist novels.

Nor does Knightley seem to evince the desperate yen for higher credibility that is prevalent among her peers. So impoverished is her knowledge of music, it is extremely unlikely that she will end up dating a  Stroke or a white Stripe. She recently asked her friends for lists of their Top 10 albums so that she could buy them up in an effort to acquire some basic pop culture grounding. During her teenage years, the actress's bedroom walls were adorned not by posters of boy hands or grunge rockers but by a single picture of Emma Thompson.

Knightley's drama-geek side lives on, judging by her vocal enthusiasm for Jennifer Jason Leigh, the ultimate actress's actress, who is featured alongside her in The Jacket. Although the film is one of several eminently solid projects on Knightley's slate  -including a Pitate of the Caribbean sequel  -she retains a distinctly actuarial approach to her craft. So strong was her feeling that she would be fired from this movie, she brought only one week's worth of clothes to Scotland.

But let's get real here; while her self-deprecation is an admirable trait, the girl is an utter knockout; she is gorgeous, a sex symbol in the making. The gushing should probably end there -we are, after all talking about a very young actress. Or just one more gush:

''That face!'' exclaims Penny Rose, costume designer on both Pirates of the Caribbean and King  Arthur, ''People just stop and jaws open, But Keira is completely unaware of being a beauty.''

Not everybody in the past, felt inhibited by the young and tender age that accompanied the beauty. A fellow production staffer who has worked with Knightley reports being overwhelmed with inquiries about the actress from sportsmen and fellow actors. As Jerry Bruckheimer reveals, 

''A lot my friends say, 'Oh my God, when can we meet Keira?''' And who knows -Bruckheimer's buddies may even have a shot at buying Knightley a nonalcoholic drink, because she insists that men rarely try to pick her up. 

''Maybe it's because I am too thick to realize,'' says Knightley, ''but very few people have chatted me up. Maybe I am just a sad person and I don't sit at enough bars. But that's O.K.........I have got enough time.''

The ever beautiful Keira Knightley has been getting,  since many years now, calls from some of the biggest Hollywood hitters  This once, London drama geek, is a fairy tale right from day one, after soaring in the breakout indie, Bend it Like. Beckham and opposite Johnny Depp in the box office hit Pirates of the Caribbean. 

The Knightley magic continues.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors, and Teachers of Qatar. See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless : The Organisation To Covet ''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing Shares $3.25 Million Bonus With Employees

It may be Labor Day in America, but a Chinese CEO is getting into the true spirit of the holiday by celebrating his workers in a big way.

For the second consecutive year, Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing plans to give away at least $3 million of his bonus to roughly 10,000 of his company's workers, Bloomberg News reports. Employees across 20 countries will take part in Yuanqing's wealth with 85 percent of payout recipients working in China.

The average payout per worker of $325 is nearly equivalent to a month’s pay for an employee in China.

A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that a majority of the workers who will receive part of the bonus will be hourly employees who are not eligible for other bonus programs.

Yuanqing's generosity may be partly inspired by his company's record sales this year. In the second quarter, Lenovo passed Hewlett-Packard as the world’s number one supplier of personal computers.

HuffPost Teen's Ultimate Senior Year Survival Guide

School has officially started for the graduating class of 2014. This means that, despite any skepticism you may have had, you and your friends managed to survive freshman, sophomore and junior years. Now, all you have to do is get through the final year of your high school existence with your sanity (mostly) intact.

Don't worry. The HuffPost Teen blogging team is here to help.

Over the past year, our teen writers have been sharing thoughtful, personal blogs about what navigating senior year is actually like, which was often totally different from what school advisors, movies or guidebooks told them to expect.

Read 15 of our favorite pieces of advice from HuffPost Teen bloggers, below, and keep in mind the one lesson ALL our bloggers learned: There's no such thing as the perfect high school experience. So, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. You got this.

1. Find your people.

"Don't spend every waking moment of your life trying to be the popular one. If you're likeable and someone people want to be around, they'll naturally gravitate towards you for being you. Have good, trustworthy friends with the same values as you who aren't going to create trouble or unnecessary drama. This can be a huge factor as to whether or not you'll have a great year."
- Isabel Song, "How to Survive High School"

2. You don't need to know what you want to be when you grow up.

"If you were to describe who am now to the person I was three years ago, I would think you're absolutely off your rocker; so why should I trust my foresight into 20, 10, even five years from now? Maybe it's naive of me to think that the universe is a kind place, but it is my firmest hope that if I work hard at whatever it is I am doing at the moment and always watch for when opportunity knocks, I will end up somewhere awesome, regardless of whether I'm a nuclear physicist or starving artist. So to answer my mother, father, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and random family friends I run into at the supermarket, I paraphrase John Lennon: when I grow up, I want to be happy."
- Lana Gorlinski, "In Defense of the Uncertain"

3. Remember that the "best college in America" doesn't exist.

"Forbes doesn't know the best college for you. Google doesn't know. U.S. News & World Report (is that even a real thing?) doesn't know. When you come across articles with titles like this one, remember that you're a person, and that I'm a different person, and that the answer lies only with you. And, yes, I do realize that that makes the process hard, and complicated, and maybe even annoying. But it also makes it interesting."
- Danny Licht, "What Is the Best College in America?"

4. Get to know at least one teacher beyond the classroom.

"Towards the end of junior year you will have to consider which teacher is going to write your recommendation. This rec is not to be taken lightly. If someone is going to speak on your behalf, make sure that they are going to fight for you to the death. 'Hardworking' and 'good input' is not going to make you stand out from 20,000 other applicants. Schedule a lunch to discuss what is important to you outside of the classroom so that the teacher can speak holistically. It is OK to be direct about what you want colleges to learn."
- Riley Griffin, "10 Things I Wish I Had Known Before Senior Year Of High School"

5. Take college admissions counselors' advice, but don't treat it as law.

"College admissions counselors as well as seasoned application veterans of the previous year impart with us the simple, yet worn-out advice: Just be yourself. And be honest, but don't be too honest. 'Write about your interests,' they say. 'Write about the programs you've attended,' they say. But it's not that simple. It's never that simple [...] Here's what we can do: Write our hearts out and hope for the best."
- Theodore Li, "Oh! Just be Yourself"

6. You may not get graded for the creative thing you love, but you should still do it.

"Students obsess over grades. For what? For success? In the end, it is not this modern 'education' that will get you success -- because anyone can memorize more than you and beat you. Instead you need something to set yourself apart from this crowd. The ability to memorize won't help you in real world workforce. The ability to think for yourself, and to create your own ideas and visions, will."
- Andrea Vale, "Easy A"

7. Make an effort to get to know your parents. (Yes, really.)

"I've never been particularly close with my parents and while I know they work hard and care a lot, I've spent my entire high school years wishing I could just be away from them, free to be myself, unrestricted, the way I want myself to be ... When you are away from your parents for the first time, you will discover exactly what and how much they have done for you, no matter what you think about them now."
- Karielle Stephanie Gam, "The Things You Discover When You Are Away from Your Parents for the First Time"
8. Even in the thick of college application season, make time to see your friends.

"Being with my family is great, but I need time away from them too. That's where my friends come in. At times during the college app process, we've all been so busy that we haven't been able to hang out. But now we have more time, so we've been catching up. Usually we go to the movies, or go bowling, or go out to eat (or sometimes all three!)."
- Alberto Rangel, "The Wait"

9. Not everything will happen "according to plan."

"You love planning each step, but keep an open heart and think over all of your options. Sometimes things won't work out. You will be disappointed. Being bitter or regretful is a waste of energy. Snuggle in bed and drink some tea, then go to sleep. Tomorrow, believe everything is possible again."
- Katy Ma, "17 Things I Want Myself to Remember Senior Year"

10. The best way to tackle huge, intimidating projects is to start with baby steps.

"'Argh!' I say when I read one of University of Chicago's supplement essay prompts. 'Argh!' I say again when I see the number of words I have written so far: zero. 'It will all be worth it,' I remind myself, closing my eyes and imagining myself as one of those happy, smiling, frighteningly perfect people in the college brochures. 'It will,' I promise myself, reluctantly opening my eyes and starting to type. I smile when I look at the new word count: two."
- Emily Truong, "Mission: Sanity"

11. Whenever you can, start early.

"I want to keep calm and carry on. I want to rock it. It is going to be a lot of work, but it's nothing I can't handle, because I've been preparing for this since the day I entered high school. As Malcolm X once said, 'Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.' Now he knows what he's talking about."

- Anangie Martinez, "Keep Calm and Apply On"
12. Don't let your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend control your life.

"You have to turn your world upside down (unless you're chill with it as it is. I don't know your life). You have to seek out adventure and make your own opportunities. Yes, sometimes good things can and will just happen to you. But, you can't just expect things to happen. You have to make things happen. This all goes back to the truth that we so often forget: You don't need someone else to complete you."
- Alexis Jane Torre, "Where Your Story Starts"

13. Create your own definition of "success."

"Students need to realize that it's okay not to take an advanced class and instead, enroll in one you truly passionate about. It's okay to do something because you truly love it and want to go into the field you're interested in. It's okay to go to community college; it's cheaper than a UC, has smaller class sizes, and has a two-year UC transfer program! We need to remember that the meaning of success does not lie in how many points you can accumulate or the prestige of the school stamped on your diploma, but what you actually do with the knowledge you attain."
- Reema Kakaday, "'Success' Renders Education Meaningless"

14. Focus on learning, not memorizing.

"I find myself more caught up in getting and maintaining good grades than wanting to learn the subjects I was getting them for. I still have the same interest in going to school, but the need to keep good grades dominates over everything. But with the future weighing down on us, we don't necessarily have to give in to these pressures. Whether this is going to be your first year of high school or your last year, there's still time to make a change and open your eyes to knowledge around you."
- Vanessa Petion, "Making the Grade"

15. Take a deep breath.

"Step back. Relax. Forget it all, even just for an instant -- forget the workload, the exams, the intensive four-year high school plan from your counselor, the classes you're planning to take next semester. Join a club, go outside, take a nap. Take a break. Call a ceasefire in a war that won't be won by surrendering to pressure... but by taking the reins of your own life into your own hands."
- Madelyn Chen, "The Pressure of Pressure"


- Huffingtonpost.com