Whitney Port wants ‘first-ever fan-supported fashion show'

Reality star turned designer Whitney Port has made an online plea for donations to what she has dubbed the "first-ever fan-supported fashion show at fashion week in New York."

The former The Hills star launched Whitney Eve in 2008, with the label making its debut runway show at New York Fashion Week earlier this year.

According to the star, she needs $50,000 towards production costs such as models, hair, makeup and a DJ.

"I'm doing something that's never been done before: the first-ever fan-supported fashion show at fashion week in New York," explains Port in an accompanying video plea.

The celebrity is making her plea via crowd-funding site Indiegogo, a competitor to Kickstarter, and certain publications have cited their disapproval at the scheme.

"Whitney Port seems an unlikely candidate for charity. The Hills, the reality show that launched her to fame, paid her a reported $20,000 per episode," reports Jezebel.
However, fashion blog Styleite concedes the concept is an interesting one.
"It's an interesting idea, and it would be very interesting if more independent designers decided to follow suit, but we doubt it will be a game-changer," writes the publication.

Port explains there will be benefits for fans who make a donation, with "perks" for funding her show including the chance to attend a model fitting or having a one-on-one phone call with Port about the show concept.

For more information on the crowd-funding campaign and the complete list of perks, go to http://crowdfunding.indiegogo.com/WhitneyEveNYFW

Meanwhile, see her video plea at http://youtu.be/2vLGVlQb6kI

The Recruit (2003)

The Recruit is a 2003 American spy thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, and Bridget Moynahan. It was released on January 31, 2003 in North America by Touchstone Pictures.
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 43% of critics gave positive reviews based on 163 reviews with an average score of 5.5/10. Metacritic gave it an average score of 56 out of 100 from the 36 reviews it collected.

Plot: James Clayton (Colin Farrell), a computer programming expert at MIT, is recruited by senior CIA instructor Walter Burke (Al Pacino) to test for a position with the agency. After witnessing an extraordinary demonstration of Clayton's computer skills, Burke further tests the intelligence of Clayton with an open puzzle encoded on the sports page of a common newspaper, the solution of which gives to Clayton Burke's telephone number. Clayton agrees to be recruited, in part, to find information concerning his father who he suspects was a CIA operative that disappeared when Clayton was a child. After passing numerous psychometric, psychoanalytical, aptitude, and polygraph tests, Clayton is taken to The Farm, a CIA training facility. There, Burke and other instructors teach the candidates the skill sets of espionage, covert operation protocols, and intelligence gathering techniques. During a surveillance exercise, Clayton and fellow recruit Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan) are kidnapped by men apparently from a foreign intelligence service.
Clayton is brought to an isolated cell and tortured for several days but refuses to give up the names of his CIA instructors. When the interrogators provide evidence that his defiance is contributing to Layla's suffering, Clayton relents and names Burke. The rear wall of the cell then opens to reveal Burke, Layla, and the other recruits sitting in the lecture theater at The Farm, having witnessed the entire event; the kidnapping being just another training exercise. Clayton is cut from the program, but Burke arrives at his hotel the next morning to advise Clayton his dismissal was a fake and he has been appointed to be a non-official cover (NOC) operative. Burke assigns Clayton to spy on Layla, claiming the CIA has evidence she's a mole for a foreign intelligence service attempting to steal a top secret computer virus from the CIA's database. Clayton is provided a job as a low-level CIA data-entry processor and enters a romantic relationship with Layla. He eventually uncovers proof that she is removing the virus piece-by-piece using a USB flash drive.

Shadows in the Silence (Angelfire, #3) by Courtney Allison Moulton

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

British explorer heads to pirates’ 'treasure island'

A Briton will visit “treasure island” where 19th century pirates stashed stolen gold. 

It eluded Franklin Roosevelt, Sir Malcolm Campbell and Errol Flynn, but now an explorer from Melton Mowbray could be on the trail of a multi-million-pound hoard of gold, silver and jewellery stolen by pirates and buried on a treasure island.

Shaun Whitehead is leading an archaeological expedition to Cocos Island, the supposed hiding place of the “Treasure of Lima” – one of the world’s most fabled missing treasures.

The haul – said to be worth £160 million – was stolen by a British trader, Captain William Thompson, in 1820 after he was entrusted to transport it from Peru to Mexico.

He is said to have been stashed his plunder on the Pacific island, from where it has never been recovered.

An original inventory showed 113 gold religious statues, one a life-size Virgin Mary, 200 chests of jewels, 273 swords with jewelled hilts, 1,000 diamonds, solid gold crowns, 150 chalices and hundreds of gold and silver bars.

The site, credited by some as the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, is uninhabited and around 350 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, of which it is a part.

It has also been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site for its unspoilt environment and variety of wildlife and it has taken around 18 months of negotiations with the authorities to secure permission to go there on an exploratory mission.

Although there have been no official expeditions to the island for more than a quarter of a century, Mr Whitehead will join an impressive a line of notable adventurers and explorers who been attracted by the lure of the “Lima loot”.

They include Roosevelt, the American president from 1933 to 1945, who travelled there with friends in 1910, Campbell, the racing driver, who went there in the 1920s, and Flynn in the 1940s.

Another explorer, August Gissler, a German, spent 19 years living on the island hunting the treasure but returned with just six gold coins.

However, Mr Whitehead’s team is equipped with technology that has never before been used on the island. He has also established the most likely spots around the island on which to focus his efforts.

Mr Whitehead, who has previously led a project to explore uncharted shafts inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, said: “Given the amount of treasure, it would have been too heavy to carry far from sea level and stories suggest the use of caves. We can also rule out where others have looked, dug up and detected – like on the beaches.

“If it is there, it will be in a natural cave which was hidden by one of the many landslides that occur on the island.

"It is not a case of following a map and “X” marking the spot. It is about using a bit of logic to establish the likelihood of some areas where it could be.”

The team’s research will concentrate on the areas around three of the island’s four bays, which have been most used by visitors.

The team plan to use a small, unmanned helicopter, fitted with specialist cameras, to fly above the nine mile square island, which will enable them to make a computer-generated 3D map of the landscape.

They will then use a snakelike robot that can be dragged across the parts of island and, using ground penetrating radar, detect voids and cavities up to a depth of around 60ft. This data will be added to the 3D map to identify any likely concealed caves.

After this, a team will use a specialist “keyhole” drill, which can reach more than 100ft, to dig down into the cave. A probe camera can be sent down through the 1in diameter.

The 10-day expedition will also involve extensive archaeological, geological and ecological research and Mr Whitehead is at pains to stress they are not simply going there on a treasure hunt.

The team, of around 15, involves researchers from the University of Costa Rica and the Senckenberg Insitute – a natural history research organisation based in Germany.

“This is a scientific survey, including archaeological, geological and biodiversity aspects,” Mr Whitehead said.

“Unlike previous trips we are not going to dig vast holes or do anything destructive at all. The real treasure of the island is its natural beauty. Anything else we find there is simply a bonus.”

The island, which is said to have been the inspiration for Jurassic Park, the book and film about an island on which dinosaurs are recreated, is home to hundreds of unusual species.

Honey may ease nighttime coughing in kids: study

A spoonful of honey before bed may help little kids with a cough, says studies.

Parents also reported that after giving honey to kids, their coughing was less frequent and less severe.

Coughs are one of the most common reasons kids go to the doctor, said Dr. Ian Paul, a pediatrician from Pennsylvania State University in Hershey.

But, he said, "The therapies for cough and cold symptoms… have problems in that they re not very effective, or not effective at all, and they have the potential for side effects."

Many over-the-counter cough and cold products have a "do not use" warning for kids under four. One of the concerns with the medications is parents accidentally giving kids too much, or kids getting into the drugs themselves.

"As opposed to many of the other things we give - medications and medicines that do have side effects - honey over age one is almost completely safe," Paul, who wasn t involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

Researchers from Israel randomly assigned 300 kids, aged one to five, to one of four different nighttime cough treatments. Half an hour before bedtime, parents gave their children 10 grams of one of three types of honey - including eucalyptus and citrus-based honey - or syrup made from dates that was also sweet but honey-free.

Do harsh office rules improve quality of work

Allison Linn’s study shows how employees respond to random workplace policies.

There was the boss who wouldn’t let people eat at their desks and the retailer who informed employees that they could not leave any reading materials in the break room.

And then there was the human resources department who informed an employee she could only take three bathroom breaks a day, instead of her usual five or six.

Alison Green has heard a lot of crazy stories about random workplace policies in the course of writing her blog, Ask a Manager.

And, she and other experts expect, such rules have become even more common in recent years, as both employees and their bosses have come under pressure to do more and more work with fewer resources.

The culprit, many say: Bad, or badly trained, managers.

“We don’t know how to deal with (problems) so we create these arbitrary rules,” said Laurie Ruettimann, a human resources consultant who writes the blog The Cynical Girl.

Green notes that most managers don’t sit around thinking about what kind of draconian policy they can implement that will annoy and frustrate their workers.

Often, she said, these strange policies are a ham-handed attempt to solve a real problem, such as an employee who acts inappropriately or one who is slacking off on the job.

The better thing to do would be to deal with that employee, and that problem, directly. But Green said employers are sometimes afraid to confront an employee directly about their bad performance, or are warned by employment lawyers that they might be open to a bias claim if they single one person out.

“Rather than dealing with it in a smart, thoughtful way, they deal with it with a blanket policy,” she said.

In some cases, the policy can be a passive-aggressive way of trying to get their employees to work harder or do a better job. When Ruettimann worked in human resources at Pfizer, she said two married employees asked their managers separately if they could have a flexible schedule so they could coach soccer.

One got approval, and one didn’t. Ruettimann said the employee who wasn’t awarded the flexible schedule wasn’t thought to be doing a good enough job to deserve it. But instead of checking with the employee regularly about his performance, he was denied the perk.

Rather than implementing random rules - such as no checking e-mail at work or no chatting with your co-workers – Ruettimann said managers should be regularly telling their employees whether they are doing a good job and how they could be doing better.
As an HR manager, Ruettimann said she also was sometimes approached by employees who wanted her to create a blanket policy to solve a specific problem, such as banning music at work because one employee was playing music too loudly.

Her response was always to tell the offended party to deal with the bad behavior directly, rather than going through HR.

“I don’t want to be a mom and that’s not why I got into human resources,” she said. “I can do that on my own time.”

If you unlucky enough to receive an all-company e-mail outlining some strange new policy, Green suggests trying to figure out what caused the policy to be implemented in the first place.

It may not result in the policy going away, but at least you’ll understand why you suddenly are being told you can’t do something that you find perfectly reasonable.

“Doing that can really help your quality of life just because you’ll stop fuming,” she said.

It may also turn out that your boss is willing to give you some wiggle room on the policy. But if you do get a verbal OK to break the rules, she suggests following up with a casual e-mail verifying that you have come to that side agreement.
As for the bosses out there, you may want to take the advice author Lisa Bodell offered in a recent Wall Street Journal article.

She suggested holding a meeting and asking your employees to tell you what stupid rules are making it tough for them to do their jobs. Then, she said, get rid of the worst ones.

Headline August 7th, 2012 / Right Now The Industry Is Set Up To Grow Cancer And Alzheimir's!

"Right Now The Industry Is Set Up To Grow Cancer And Alzheimir's!"

The solution that McDonough has in mind is a five-year car that allows for industry to 'transform the technology' at high speed toward the Cradle to Cradle concept. The five year car is a car whose materials are all coherent and tagged. 

In fact all materials in the car have 'passports.' So we know where they come from, and we know where they are going -back to the automakers - after five years of utility, so the car could be recycled and updated with the latest in safety and efficiency. 

All done with the same -in effect- lease from the auto company. They keep making the cars out of the same stuff. But in order to pull this very brave and bold step off, we need a huge amount of R and D- and that too very fast. 

For only then we can produce gut remodeling of industry so that the system will become so well designed that there is no need to restrain industry. Regulation is a sign of design failure. With expertise and focus things can be designed so well that there is no need for regulations. 

How about cars that spew out good emissions? Factories that make clean water. Then growth is good. Then the question becomes: What do we want to grow? Right now the industry is set to grow Cancer and Alzheimer's.

So are the government and industry willing to sign on to that as the right kind of job creation program? If so, we clearly need an alternative plan! The first sweeping change calls for is to have is to have solar energy brought to scale: which is generally accepted as a viable plan. 

The idea is to see solar power cheaper than coal. Then the forces of the market will deliver us a solar powered world. But we are not just talking about solar collectors on our roofs, explains McDonough. Think of square miles of marginal land covered with them. 

The order of magnitude that we have to scale up to is immense. So can we achieve it? Of course we can!! In U.S. alone we make over a trillion parts every year. We do very complicated things. When we think about how simple it could be make solar collectors -flat sheets in the sunshine- this is not a complex thing, to capture solar energy. 

So McDonough since many years, has started getting into some weird, unexpected areas. Like, helping design colonies on the Moon and Mars! And just today, the American Spacecraft, landed on Mars! Amazing achievement for the World! Stay tuned.

Good night & God bless! 

SAM Daily Times - The Voice of the Voiceless

The End of the Age of Aquarius

By Wajiha Malik

Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

Aquanaut  Sylvia Earle is a marine biologist and deep-sea explorer who heads Mission Blue, a worldwide alliance for ocean protection. Last week, she co-led the last scheduled mission to the Aquarius Reef Base off Key Largo, Fla., the world's only undersea lab. She says the oceans need protecting more than ever—don't pull funding.

"It's 50 years since underwater habitats for people were first pioneered by Jacques Cousteau, so part of the purpose is to celebrate the past, while also conducting what may be the last experiments on the corals and sponges around Aquarius. It's also about looking to the future: How we can inspire people about why the oceans matter." Sylvia Earle said.

The first time that I lived underwater, in 1970, I didn't fully appreciate that every fish, every shrimp, every lobster is different. Fish have personalities: Some are more reserved, some are just so curious. You get to know them, get to know their faces.

"It's all about knowing. People can't care if they don't know. Even here in Key Largo, people are blissfully unaware that this world-class facility exists in their backyard. The space program has a voice, and people can more readily see what goes up in the sky. When a submarine sinks into the water or when divers go below the surface, they disappear".She said.

Climate Change Study Ties Recent Heat Waves To Global Warming

WASHINGTON — The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist.

The research by a man often called the "godfather of global warming" says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1 in 10, according to the study by NASA scientist James Hansen. He says that statistically what's happening is not random or normal, but pure and simple climate change.

"This is not some scientific theory. We are now experiencing scientific fact," Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview.

Hansen is a scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a professor at Columbia University. But he is also a strident activist who has called for government action to curb greenhouse gases for years. While his study was published online Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, it is unlikely to sway opinion among the remaining climate change skeptics.

However, several climate scientists praised the new work.

In a blunt departure from most climate research, Hansen's study – based on statistics, not the more typical climate modeling – blames these three heat waves purely on global warming:

_Last year's devastating Texas-Oklahoma drought.

_The 2010 heat waves in Russia and the Middle East, which led to thousands of deaths.

_The 2003 European heat wave blamed for tens of thousands of deaths, especially among the elderly in France.


The analysis was written before the current drought and record-breaking temperatures that have seared much of the United States this year. But Hansen believes this too is another prime example of global warming at its worst.

-  AP

22 year-old soccer player has died

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus Crew midfielder Kirk Urso died Sunday morning at a central Ohio hospital, and no cause of death has been determined, a county coroner said.

Urso, 22, was pronounced dead at 1:50 a.m. at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Franklin County Coroner Dr. Jan Gorniak said. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

Police were called to a bar in the city at about 12:50 a.m. and Urso was taken from there to the hospital, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Police officials did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking details on the circumstances.

Urso played in six games this season and was sidelined by groin surgery in May. He was not with the team Saturday for its 1-0 loss to D.C. United in Washington, team spokesman Marco Rosa said.

The team withheld detailed comment, and the hospital said privacy laws ruled out any comment.

"The thoughts and prayers of the entire Columbus Crew and Hunt Sports Group are with the Urso family in this time of need," a team statement said.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said the league would hold a moment of silence at games Sunday. "Major League Soccer mourns his death and sends our condolences to his family," he said.


Urso was in his first season with the Crew. In a team profile last month of Crew rookies, he said he was frustrated with injuries.

"To go from getting picked up late in the draft, to starting and contributing, and then to be out completely and hurt — it's really frustrating. Injuries are just a part of (soccer)," he said.

A native of Lombard, Ill., Urso played on North Carolina's NCAA title-winning team last fall and for the U.S. under-17 World Cup team in 2007.

With the NCAA title, Urso said it helped erase years of frustration for him and the other UNC seniors.

"My whole college career has been awesome, but there was something extra about this team," Urso said. "To cap it off with this is something I'm going to remember the rest of my life."

-  AP

Alaska Airlines Passenger Calls Airline 'Worst Of Humanity'

BEND, Ore. -- A longtime Oregon concert promoter sparked an online backlash against Alaska Airlines with a Facebook post describing what he called "the worst of humanity."

Cameron Clark of Bend wrote to his Facebook friends Friday that he saw a disabled man miss a flight because numerous airline personnel refused to give him extra assistance, even after Clark intervened and asked employees to help. Clark said the man told him he has late-stage Parkinson's disease.

The airline sees the incident differently and says employees did their best to accommodate the passenger. Officials posted on Facebook that the man's ticket was refunded, and he boarded a new flight Saturday morning. A spokesman said the man never said he was disabled and airline employees, smelling alcohol, believed he was intoxicated.

In his Facebook post, Clark said the man appeared to be in his 70s and told him that he missed a limited window of time he had to meet his daughter in Bellingham, Wash.

Clark wrote: "what happened to our collective sense of decency, of compassion, of our disposition to help those in need of extra help. alaska airlines. you broke a man's heart today. you maintained your policy, and ignored an opportunity to do the right thing. you broke my heart too."

Clark told KTVZ in a written statement that he never intended for his post to become viral, but the many people who responded to the story and put pressure on Alaska Airlines to "show that the best of humanity is alive and well. that light exists. that accountability is possible."  (Huffingtonpost.com)

Why women live longer than men?

Researchers have found a genetic clue of why women generally live longer than men.

The research, published in the journal Current Biology and conducted by Lancaster University in Britain reported that a set of DNA inherited only from the mother can be harmful to males and speed up male aging.

After carrying experiments with fruit flies, researchers said the results point to numerous mutations within mitochondrial DNA that affect how long males live, and the speed at which they age.

Mitochondrial DNA, which is found in many species including human, is inherited through the mother only. So there is no evolution pressure from the male side to sieve out those mutations that are just harmful to male, and the unaffected females will continue to pass on those mutations to their sons.

The accumulation of those mutations could eventually lead to the difference of longevity between male and female. That theory was named "Mother s Curse" by some researchers.

Generally women outlive men by about five to six years. By age 85 there are roughly six women to every four men and by age 100 the ration is more than two to one.

World's Youngest Bodybuilder

By Zarnish Hussain
Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

Giuliano Stroe (born July 18, 2004) is a 7-year-old gymnast of Romanian descent. Giuliano Stroe has been lifting weights and learning gymnastics since he was two-years-old. In 2004, he was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records after setting the record for the fastest ever ten metre (33 feet) hand-walk with a weight ball between his legs.

On February 24, 2010 he broke the world record for number of 90 degree push-ups (which is an exercise where push-ups are performed without letting your feet touch the ground). Stroe managed 20 90 degree push-ups beating his previous record of 12, live on Romanian TV.

Whitney Port wants ‘first-ever fan-supported fashion show'

By Saeeda Zaib
Trends Correspondent, SAM Daily Times

Reality star turned designer Whitney Port has made an online plea for donations to what she has dubbed the "first-ever fan-supported fashion show at fashion week in New York."

The former The Hills star launched Whitney Eve in 2008, with the label making its debut runway show at New York Fashion Week earlier this year.

According to the star, she needs $50,000 towards production costs such as models, hair, makeup and a DJ.

"I'm doing something that's never been done before: the first-ever fan-supported fashion show at fashion week in New York," explains Port in an accompanying video plea.

The celebrity is making her plea via crowd-funding site Indiegogo, a competitor to Kickstarter, and certain publications have cited their disapproval at the scheme.

"Whitney Port seems an unlikely candidate for charity. The Hills, the reality show that launched her to fame, paid her a reported $20,000 per episode," reports Jezebel.

However, fashion blog Styleite concedes the concept is an interesting one.

"It's an interesting idea, and it would be very interesting if more independent designers decided to follow suit, but we doubt it will be a game-changer," writes the publication.

Port explains there will be benefits for fans who make a donation, with "perks" for funding her show including the chance to attend a model fitting or having a one-on-one phone call with Port about the show concept.

Artists protest death by crisis cuts in no country for culture

For the austerity-seeking government, it's a target for crisis taxes and cuts like any other. For actors, artists and audiences, it's Spain's moral lifeblood, bleeding away in the recession.
The subsidized arts sector in Spain - including big film, which gave the world Pedro Volver Almodovar - is in peril from a sales tax spike that will drive away audiences, top cultural figures say.

"They are generally killing the cultural activity in this country," said Javier Bardem, as the No Country for Old Men Oscar-winner joined in a street protest in Madrid.

"It's a country that produces great culture and is very well recognized outside our frontiers," said the 43-year-old and one of Spain's best-known actors. "But what they are doing is to really minimize the cultural industry in this country."


Economists warn measures such as the rise in sales tax from September 1 will hit consumption and hurt the economy further. Spaniards have already been curbing spending on cultural pursuits and the industry warns the tax rise will be the final blow.

"I go out much less," said Cristina Rial, 28, a Madrid resident. Jobless, like one in four Spanish workers, for the past year, she has cut weekly outings to concerts and shows to virtually none.

"I have to eat and live. Everything else is a luxury," Rial said. Artists say the subsidy cuts threaten the intangible long-term benefits of culture in a country still marked by its 1936-1939 Civil War, which saw one of its greatest poets - Federico Garcia Lorca - shot dead by the soldiers of fascist dictator General Francisco Franco. The next four decades of dictatorship and censorship drove its most influential film maker Luis Bunuel into exile.

"It's like going back in history," said Carlos Iglesias, 56, an actor and film director, who was at the Madrid protest.

"A great effort has been made to recover the level of culture we had before the [civil] war. Now all this progress could be lost. A country without culture is a dead country."

The reform - the latest in tens of billions of euros in savings announced by Madrid - raises sales tax on cultural shows from its current preferential rate of 8percent to a full 21percent.

If passed on to the consumer, it could add more than a euro to the price of a seven euro (HK$67.25) cinema ticket and several euros to a more expensive theater ticket. Tax on bullfight and professional football tickets will rise from 18 to 21 percent.

- AFP

Student Group Urges B.C. To Scrap Student Loan Interest

The Canadian Federation of Students B.C. is calling on the province to follow the examples of PEI and Newfoundland by eliminating interest on student loans.

On Friday, the Prince Edward Island government announced it was eliminating interest on provincial student loans in a bid to make post-secondary education more affordable.

Federation spokesperson Zach Crispin says the average degree costs $27,000 in B.C., and interest on a loan that size can cost up to $8,000 over 10 years.

Crispin says the expense is hurting B.C.'s ability to educate its workforce.

"We've been calling for elimination of interest on student loans for a long time," he said.

"It's something that governments in Canada have been doing right now and it's something that is widely agreed on in the post-secondary education sector," he said. "So there's simply no reason why the [B.C.] government isn't taking this action."

It would cost B.C. $34 million a year to eliminate the interest on student loans. The government says interest relief programs are available to help students repay loans.


"[Eliminating the interest] would go a long way to making sure that British Columbians don't go into debt so that they can get an education," Crispin said, noting that three out of four new jobs require some form of post-secondary education.

Federal student loans account for about 60 per cent of a student’s borrowing, so a change at the provincial level wouldn’t mean students would be paying zero interest.

As of March 2011, $1 billion in student loans provided by B.C. was outstanding.

Murray thrashes Federer to win gold

Andy Murray won gold for Great Britain in the men's singles at the Olympic tennis
by beating Roger Federer in three sets. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images

Britain's Andy Murray completed an astonishing recovery from last month's Wimbledon heartache to thrash Switzerland's Roger Federer and claim Olympic gold on Centre Court.
Exactly four weeks after Federer had beaten him to take a 17th grand slam title on the same court, reducing Murray to tears in the process, the Scot returned with an army of flag-waving fans to demolish the world number one 6-2 6-1 6-4.
With the din shaking the tennis citadel to its foundations, Murray clambered into the seats to embrace his girlfriend, parents and coaching team before sprinting back to the hallowed turf, leaping into the air as the crowd went wild.
"This is the biggest win of my life," world number four Murray, who is still to win a grand slam title, told the BBC.
"This is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final ... I felt so fresh."
A crestfallen Federer walked off the court where he won seven Wimbledon crowns, knowing defeat had virtually ended his chances of completing the "golden career slam" - all four grand slam titles and the Olympic singles crown - as he will be 34 when the Games moves on to Rio de Janeiro in four years.
The decibel level went up another notch as the players returned to court for the medal ceremony - this time Murray holding back the tears with more success as "God Save the Queen" rang out for Britain's 16th gold of the Games.
Apart from going 15-40 down in the first game of the match Murray was as close to perfection it is possible to be on a tennis court, producing a display of power, precision and touch that not even Federer could match.
From the moment that Murray moved 4-2 ahead in the first set he barely gave Federer a look-in, rattling off nine games in a row to seize complete control of the final.
Murray went for the jugular in the third set, breaking for a 3-2 lead with a searing backhand and marched on to victory with chants of "Andy, Andy" ringing around the court.
Federer offered a little late resistance but was powerless to prevent his worst loss at Wimbledon since 2002 when he was beaten in straight sets by Croatia's Mario Ancic.
Juan Martin del Potro won the bronze medal for Argentina after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic.
Murray can later become the first British tennis player to win two gold medals at the same Games since John Boland in 1896 if he triumphs in the mixed doubles final with Laura Robson.   (buenosairesherald.com)

Chemo 'can backfire, boost cancer'

Scientists have found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B
which boosts cancer cell survival.  Picture:  Supplied 

CANCER-BUSTING chemotherapy can cause damage to healthy cells which triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumour growth and resistance to further treatment, a study has found.

Researchers in the United States made the "completely unexpected" finding while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body when they are easy to kill in the lab.

They tested the effects of a type of chemotherapy on tissue collected from men with prostate cancer, and found "evidence of DNA damage" in healthy cells after treatment, the scientists wrote in Nature Medicine.

Chemotherapy works by inhibiting reproduction of fast-dividing cells such as those found in tumours.

The scientists found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B which boosts cancer cell survival.

"The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected," study co-author Peter Nelson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle said.

The protein was taken up by tumour cells neighbouring the damaged cells.

"WNT16B, when secreted, would interact with nearby tumour cells and cause them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy," Dr Nelson said.

In cancer treatment, tumours often respond well initially, followed by rapid regrowth and then resistance to further chemotherapy.

Rates of tumour cell reproduction have been shown to accelerate between treatments.

"Our results indicate that damage responses in benign cells ... may directly contribute to enhanced tumour growth kinetics," wrote the team.

The researchers said they confirmed their findings with breast and ovarian cancer tumours.

The result paves the way for research into new, improved treatment, said Dr Nelson.

"For example, an antibody to WNT16B, given with chemotherapy, may improve responses (kill more tumour cells)," he said in an email exchange.

"Alternatively, it may be possible to use smaller, less toxic doses of therapy."  

-  AFP

Mario Monti fears financial crisis could rip Europe apart

ITALIAN Prime Minister Mario Monti fears that tensions sparked by the eurozone crisis have turned countries against each other and could tear Europe apart.

Asked about resentment in Italy towards Germany and complaints of German arrogance in its handling of the debt crisis, Mr Monti told German news magazine Der Spiegel that he was "concerned".

He said he had talked with Chancellor Angela Merkel about growing resentment in Italy not only towards Germany and at times Ms Merkel herself but also towards the European Union and the euro, according to an advance copy of Der Spiegel.

But he said the problem went far beyond the relationship between Germany and Italy.

"The pressures, which have accompanied the eurozone in recent years, already bear the traits of a psychological breakup of Europe," Mr Monti said. "We must work hard to contain it."

And he warned that if the euro became a reason for Europe to drift apart, "the foundations of the European project" would be destroyed.  (AFP)

Bolt scorches to 100 metres gold

New Olympic record ... Usain Bolt wins gold in the men's 100m

Usain Bolt retained his Olympic 100 metres title in spectacular style on Sunday when the Jamaican scorched down the track in 9.63 seconds, the second-fastest time ever run.

Bolt's 9.58 seconds in winning the 2009 world championship title is the only quicker time and Sunday's brilliant display as he made up a massive early deficit proved he had completely recovered from the hamstring problems that had given a sliver of hope to his rivals.

World champion Yohan Blake made it a Jamaican 1-2 when he won silver in 9.75 seconds and 2004 champion Justin Gatlin of the United states grabbed bronze in 9.79 as the first seven all broke 10 seconds. Asafa Powell pulled up injured.

Bolt will now bid to complete an unprecedented double-double by retaining his 200 metres title and will also seek a sixth sprint gold in the 4x100metres relay.

Compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also retained her women's title to give Jamaica a flying start in their sprint showdown with the United States.

Mummies arise to help battle tuberculosis

Mummies found in Hungary could help fight
tuberculosis

Medical cures are often found in the strangest places. Point in case: In Hungary, an army of mummies – 265 naturally preserved creatures from the past – are helping local scientists find new ways to fight tuberculosis.
Buried between 1731 and 1838 in the crypt of a Dominican church in the town of Vac, the mummies were discovered during 1994 renovations at the church.
The mummified bodies reportedly include surgeons, three nuns, 30 priests and the wife and child of the local postmaster. It's hoped that these ancient creatures, now resting in cardboard boxes at the Hungarian Natural History Museum, could help cure tuberculosis.
Test results revealed that a shocking 89 percent of the mummies, from babies to over 65 years of age, were infected with tuberculosis. Around 35 percent died from the deadly disease.
"What was probably the most exciting and most comprehensive study was the one about tuberculosis. In some of the individuals, the traces of the mutations on the bones caused by tuberculosis are evident to the naked eye," Idilko Pap, head of the Department of Anthropology of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, told The Associated Press. “So we thought it would be worthwhile to study not only the individuals on whose body the traces of tuberculosis mutations can be seen, but the others as well.”
Strains of tuberculosis found in the mummies will enable scientists to study tuberculosis pathogens dating back to the days before the development of antibiotics, and prior to the disease becoming widespread during the Industrial Revolution.
"Their immune system was likely better than ours. If we could locate some gene sections and discover why they were more resistant to tuberculosis than us, than that could be of great assistance to modern medical science," Pap said.
Nearly 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis in 2010, and some 9 million new cases were reported, according to statistics released by the World Health Organisation.
The mummy-related tuberculosis studies are being conducted in cooperation with experts from University College London and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Radioactive cesium found in Japan’s fish, seawater

Harmless traces of radioactive cesium have been discovered in fish and seawater in several areas of Japan, as the country continues to debate whether their fish is safe to consume and anti-nuke protests grow in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) stated that radioactive cesium, presumably from the crippled Fukushima I nuclear plant, was found in seawater and fish in several regions of the country, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported from Tokyo.

The aquatic radiation was detected in central Japan (Shizuoka Prefecture), the western part of central Honshu (Niigata) and the country’s northeast (Iwate).

The concentrations of radioactive particles are very small, and pose no health risks to humans, MEXT said. The ministry believes that cesium may have traveled to the area in rainfall.

Radioactive cesium is a human-made radioactive isotope produced through the nuclear fission of the element cesium. It has a half-life of 30 years, making it extremely toxic.

Earlier this year, low levels of radioactive cesium were found in fish just off Japan’s east coast, which was believed to have originated from the Fukushima plant.

The Ministry continues to closely monitor and verify traces of radiation in seawater and fish following the 2011 nuclear disaster at the Fukushima-Daiichi complex.

How safe is Japan’s fish and seafood?

Many countries restricted their food imports from Japan in the wake of the catastrophe. India suspended food imports from Japan for three months in April 2011, fearing radioactive contamination. The EU imposed tighter radiation controls on its imports of food and animal feed from Japan.

The full extent of the spread of radioactive contamination in Japan remains unclear. The discovery of radioactive Japanese fish and seawater could further damage Japan's flagging seafood industry.

Reports of contaminated seafood are worrisome for the country, since contaminated seawater and fish move in uncontrollable and untraceable paths.

Low levels of nuclear radiation from the Fukushima disaster were detected in bluefin tuna off the California coast in May of this year, suggesting that fish are carrying the contaminants across the Pacific Ocean faster than wind or water. US researchers carried out a study showing the tuna were responsible for transporting radionuclides from the 2011 Fukushima disaster across the entire North Pacific Ocean.

The highest levels of cesium in fish were detected in March, a year after the accident, when a landlocked masu salmon caught in a Japanese river was found to have 18,700 Becquerel of cesium per kilogram, or 187 times Japan’s legal limit for radiation in seafood. (A Becquerel is a unit of radioactivity equal in which one nucleus decays per second).    (rt.com)

Cows also 'have regional accents'

Cows moo with a regional twang

Cows have regional accents like humans, language specialists have suggested.

They decided to examine the issue after dairy farmers noticed their cows had slightly different moos, depending on which herd they came from.

John Wells, Professor of Phonetics at the University of London, said regional twangs had been seen before in birds.

The farmers in Somerset who noticed the phenomenon said it may have been the result of the close bond between them and their animals.

Farmer Lloyd Green, from Glastonbury, said: "I spend a lot of time with my ones and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl.


"I've spoken to the other farmers in the West Country group and they have noticed a similar development in their own herds.

"It works the same as with dogs - the closer a farmer's bond is with his animals, the easier it is for them to pick up his accent."

Peer pressure

Prof Wells felt the accents could result from their contemporaries.

He said: "This phenomenon is well attested in birds. You find distinct chirping accents in the same species around the country.

"This could also be true of cows.

"In small populations such as herds you would encounter identifiable dialectical variations which are most affected by the immediate peer group."

Dr Jeanine Treffers-Daller, reader in linguistics at the University of the West of England in Bristol, agreed that the accent could be influenced by relatives.

She said: "When we are learning to speak, we adopt a local variety of language spoken by our parents, so the same could be said about the variation in the West Country cow moo."  (BBC.co.uk)