sport and news

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/17/alabama-lawmaker-proposes-jefferson-county-tax-ar-5813094/

Alabama Lawmaker Proposes Jefferson County Tax

A state representative from Birmingham has proposed a plan that he says will allow Alabama's largest county to escape from bankruptcy.

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/18/new-ged-test-will-be-harder-pass-ar-5801309/

New GED Test Will Be Harder to Pass

Starting next year, the GED test is changing, and will be a challenge for many students.

Undisguised 2015 BMW M3 Sedan Captured on Video by Lucky Motorcyclist

Even prior to the unveil of BMW?s Concept M4 Coupe this summer, it didn?t take a crazy-ass old lady with a crystal ball to figure out what M GmbH?s hotted-up 3- and 4-series would look like. Amplified fender flares, a barely-there lower front fascia that largely serves as one giant intake, quad exhaust outlets, a [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/inWC3EApykc/

Breakfast Topic: Who do you want in the Warcraft movie?

We still don't know very much about the upcoming Warcraft movie -- just that it's about Warcraft and will be released in 2015 -- though we're sure to learn more at BlizzCon. But in the meantime, rumors have started to surface about the film's cast, including the names Colin Ferrell, Paula Patton, and Travis Fimmel. We still don't know anything for sure -- all of these fall solidly into rumor territory -- but while we don't know anything for certain, we can have fun speculating.

So tell us, readers: who would you like to see cast in the Warcraft movie and in what role?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Warcraft Movie

Breakfast Topic: Who do you want in the Warcraft movie? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 29 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/29/breakfast-topic-who-do-you-want-in-the-warcraft-movie-any/

Pediatricians can play vital role in aiding children, communities following violence and disaster

Pediatricians can play an important role in helping children and communities recover following episodes of school and community violence and disaster, while working to prevent and prepare for future tragedies, said David J. Schonfeld, MD, FAAP, a world-renowned expert on school crisis and bereavement. Dr. Schonfeld gave a presentation, "Aurora, Newtown, Boston and Beyond: Violence and Its Impact on Children," during a plenary session at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando. Dr...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/1EC3Zcwuy2c/268080.php

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1832363-cold-hard-fact-for-thursday-october-31-2013

Cold Hard Fact for Thursday, October 31, 2013

Fact: David Ortiz's .688 batting average and .760 on-base percentage in the World Series are the second best in World Series history.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: ESPN Stats & Info

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/31/playstation-4-audio-game-install-details/?ncid=rss_truncated

Official PlayStation 4 FAQ explains what the system can (and can't) do

Sony has built a reputation of releasing numerous updates to its PlayStation platform, and apparently that has carried over to PS4 news ahead of launch. If last week's updates weren't enough, the company posted a massive FAQ (yes, we read all 30 pages, including the list of launch titles) to the ...

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/weather/2013/mar/18/evening-weather-active-inland-wf-14037/

Evening Weather Active Inland

The first half of our night may produce severe weather, especially for inland counties. Large hail and damaging straight line winds are the biggest threats.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/29/drobo-5d-speedy-expandable-thunderbolt-storage-for-professiona/

Drobo 5D: Speedy, expandable Thunderbolt storage for professionals

Data Robotics (now Drobo) was the first company to make expandable RAID storage easy, and with the current Drobo line of BeyondRAID devices they've now made the devices faster through the use of Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 connectivity, as well as the Drobo Accelerator Bay's ability to use an mSATA SSD for fast caching. In this TUAW review, I'll take a look at the Drobo 5D (US$664 on Amazon), a five-bay device designed to give creative professionals fast and inexpensive RAID storage.

Setup

Setup of the device is simple -- I didn't even use the instructions, since from past experience I know that you basically just hook up power, install drives, and connect the device to your Mac. Well, that was fine, but my OS X Mavericks-equipped MacBook Pro did't want to see the Drobo until I re-installed the Drobo Dashboard software a second time.

After that minor annoyance, it was time to use the Drobo Dashboard app to format the drive. Drobo provided three 1 TB drives, a 2 TB unit, and a 3 TB drive to fill the bays in the device. The device also contained an mSATA SSD in the Drobo Accelerator Bay (below). Once formatted, the device had 7.27 TB of storage capacity, of which 4.47 TB was available for data. 931.50 GB was set aside for expansion (if I decided to put, for example, three more 3 TB drives in place of the existing 1 TB drives), and 1.88 TB was used for protection.

What's great about Drobo's BeyondRAID technology is that it's possible to replace failed drives or hot-swap different drives without fear of data loss. I used to own a Drobo Pro, and found it simple to add drives and replace small capacity drives with larger ones at will.

The device not only has Thunderbolt connectors (two), but can also be used with USB 3.0. Cables are included in the box, so it's literally a plug-and-play storage solution. The two Thunderbolt ports are perfect if you wish to daisy-chain Drobo 5Ds and add in a monitor or two...

One last comment, although it really doesn't have anything to do with setup -- the new pricing on the Drobo products is a refreshing sign. It will put the expandability and safety of RAID storage into the hands of many more professionals.

Benchmarks

Benchmarking the Drobo 5D was done with Intech Software's SpeedTools QuickBench 4.0 software. To ensure accuracy in testing, I performed a 100-cycle complete test. This subjects the drive to sequential and random read and write tests with file sizes from 4K to 100 MB, then graphically or textually displays that information to show the "sweet spots" for a specific drive or array. For example, if your work involves shuffling around a lot of very large files, you'll probably want a drive that has peak read/write speeds for files around your average file size.

The tests were performed both with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. Using Thunderbolt, the standard test results (nine different file sizes between 4 KB and 1024 KB) showed average speeds as follows:

Sequential Read: 140.504 MB/Sec
Sequential Write: 93.245 MB/Sec
Random Read: 116.435 MB/Sec
Random Write: 70.410 MB/Sec

For the large test -- transfer sizes between 2 and 10 MB -- the average results were:

Large Read: 341.327 MB/Sec
Large Write: 282.060 MB/Sec

And for the extended test -- transfer sizes between 20 and 100 MB -- the average results were:

Extended Read: 255.953 MB/Sec
Extended Write 262.864 MB/Sec

For USB 3.0, the results were

Sequential Read: 99.533 MB/Sec
Sequential Write: 111.509 MB/Sec
Random Read: 94.895 MB/Sec
Random Write: 80.605 MB/Sec
Large Read: 217.975 MB/Sec
Large Write: 219.885 MB/Sec
Extended Read: 198.243 MB/Sec
Extended Write: 228.985 MB/Sec

These results are all much, much better than what we saw for the first-generation Drobo Pro under FireWire 800. For those tests, there were only two results -- write and read speeds -- and they weren't that good. Write speed was 29.3 MB/Sec, while read speed was 46.0 MB/Sec.

The Drobo 5D is much faster than the old Drobo Pro, especially when using a Thunderbolt connection. It might just be the fast connection, but I'm willing to bet that the addition of the SSD accelerator bay has also provided a boost to performance.

Physical Attributes

In terms of the physical size and weight of the Drobo 5D, it's barely larger than the original Drobo with four bays. The 5D measures in at 10.3 long x 7.3 high x 5.9 wide, and weighs just 8.5 lbs without drives and power supply.

I have to admit that one thing that used to drive me nuts about my original DroboPro was the sound of the device. I could constantly hear the hard drives chattering away. The Drobo 5D appears to be much quieter, as I could barely hear the device even when it was in the middle of read/write testing. Since each bay can be filled with an SSD if you have the money and the inclination, you could really have a silent and fast BeyondRAID array working for you.

Conclusion

Having used a DroboPro for several years, the new Drobo 5D is a refreshing update to the creative professional storage solution. It retains the ease of use and setup of the original Drobo products, but brings an amazing amount of speed to the game.

TUAW will be reviewing some other Drobo products in the near future, including the Drobo 5N NAS network-attached storage product and the Drobo Mini.

Pros

Easy setup and configuration
Easily expandable storage; as drive capacities increase, drives can be replaced with higher capacity gear
Can be set up for single or double-disk redundancy
Drives are hot-swappable
SSD caching provides amazing speeds
Dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining
Quiet operation
New, lower pricing

Cons

May not be fast enough for video professionals

Who is it for?

Anyone with a need for relatively fast, expandable, and reliable storage in vast quantities

Drobo 5D: Speedy, expandable Thunderbolt storage for professionals originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 29 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/newcomers-recovery/312185-25-days.html

25 days!

Just checking in. I have 25 days and chugging along - no desire to drink and I've been able to meet up with people having drinks and not had the urge.

Most remarkable is that I made it through a...

auto sport medical

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Apple R&D expenditures up 32% in 2013

As part of the Apple earnings folderol earlier this week, the company today filed a Form 10-K with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. There's some good news in there for those who want the company to continue to innovate with new and improved products: Apple spent 32 percent more on research and development in 2013 -- US$4.5 billion -- than it did in 2012.

The company revealed that R&D expenses, when compared to net sales, actually remained fairly constant. Since net sales have ballooned, so have R&D costs. Much of the growth in R&D expenses was attributed to additional personnel.

Apple's filing states that, "The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy. As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive."

Also in the 10-K were these tidbits:

The company had 80,300 full-time equivalent employees as of September 28, with more than half (42,800) being employed in the retail operations.
At the end of the company's 2013 fouth quarter, the company occupied about 19.1 million square feet of building space, most of that in the US and about 63 percent of it leased.
Apple owns 1,428 acres of land, which we calculated to be roughly 9.5 percent of the size of Manhattan Island.

Apple R&D expenditures up 32% in 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/30/apple-randd-expenditures-up-32-in-2013/

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/28/major-paynes-underpants-soiling-most-feared-creature-of-all/

Major Payne's underpants-soiling most feared creature of all

Have you ever lain awake in your bed long into the night, visions of horror playing out behind your eyelids every time to attempted to sleep? No? Well, according to this week's Major Payne's Pet Menagerie, you just well might if you attempt to lay claim to the featured battle pet. It -- this Creature of the Void will remain resolutely unnamed on WoW Insider -- may seem harmless, but the good Major assures us that it's really just waiting in the wings to devour our souls when the time is ripe. And there is no riper time than that of Hallow's End!

Beware, ye pet-battlers. Should you call forth upon this unspeakable power, just make sure you're going into the fight armed with the full knowledge of the potential gravity. Check out the full article for in-depth information before you make a terrible mistake, and don't say we didn't warn you.

Filed under: News items, Humor

Major Payne's underpants-soiling most feared creature of all originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/17/army-crash-victims-identified-ar-5813241/

Army Crash Victims Identified

The U.S. Army has identified the five-member crew killed in the crash of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Monday.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/29/drobo-5d-speedy-expandable-thunderbolt-storage-for-professiona/

Drobo 5D: Speedy, expandable Thunderbolt storage for professionals

Setup

Benchmarks

The tests were performed both with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. Using Thunderbolt, the standard test results (nine different file sizes between 4 KB and 1024 KB) showed average speeds as follows:

Sequential Read: 140.504 MB/Sec
Sequential Write: 93.245 MB/Sec
Random Read: 116.435 MB/Sec
Random Write: 70.410 MB/Sec

For the large test -- transfer sizes between 2 and 10 MB -- the average results were:

Large Read: 341.327 MB/Sec
Large Write: 282.060 MB/Sec

And for the extended test -- transfer sizes between 20 and 100 MB -- the average results were:

Extended Read: 255.953 MB/Sec
Extended Write 262.864 MB/Sec

For USB 3.0, the results were

Sequential Read: 99.533 MB/Sec
Sequential Write: 111.509 MB/Sec
Random Read: 94.895 MB/Sec
Random Write: 80.605 MB/Sec
Large Read: 217.975 MB/Sec
Large Write: 219.885 MB/Sec
Extended Read: 198.243 MB/Sec
Extended Write: 228.985 MB/Sec

Physical Attributes

Conclusion

TUAW will be reviewing some other Drobo products in the near future, including the Drobo 5N NAS network-attached storage product and the Drobo Mini.

Pros

Easy setup and configuration
Easily expandable storage; as drive capacities increase, drives can be replaced with higher capacity gear
Can be set up for single or double-disk redundancy
Drives are hot-swappable
SSD caching provides amazing speeds
Dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining
Quiet operation
New, lower pricing

Cons

May not be fast enough for video professionals

Who is it for?

Anyone with a need for relatively fast, expandable, and reliable storage in vast quantities

Drobo 5D: Speedy, expandable Thunderbolt storage for professionals originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 29 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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news Massage St Albans">auto sport medical

Black Woman Recalls Saving White Man With Nazi Tattoo At Klan Rally

Keshia Thomas (pictured below left), a Black woman who protected a White man at a Ku Klux Klan rally back in 1996, recently recalled her…

Source: http://newsone.com/2748401/keshia-thomas-kkk/

Preliminary results find African-American women disadvantaged when it comes to HPV vaccines

Two subtypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) prevented by vaccines are half as likely to be found in African-American women as in white women with precancerous cervical lesions, according to researchers at Duke Medicine. The findings, presented at the 12th annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that African-American women may be less likely to benefit from available HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection with more than 40 subtypes...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/1r3ofr9jTK4/268067.php

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/29/vine-updates-to-finally-allows-your-to-hide-your-friends-stupid/

Vine updates to finally allow you to hide your friend's stupid revines

With great revining power comes great revining responsibility. No one wants you flooding their feed with clips of some cut-rate dachshund you found looking at tags. You can't abuse your privileges without consequences. Thankfully Vine has addressed this issue with its latest update, granting you the ability to block the revine's of certain people you follow from showing up in your feed.

Finally, you'll be able to enjoy your feed and follow even your most revine-happy friends with the peaceful knowledge that you can control your feed a little better than yesterday. And isn't that what compact social media video-sharing is all about? We like to think so.

You can find the new update right now in the App Store. While you wait for it to download, tell us about the most annoying things you've found revined in your feed in the comments below.

Vine updates to finally allow you to hide your friend's stupid revines originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1830944-philip-rivers-week-9-fantasy-outlook

Philip Rivers: Week 9 Fantasy Outlook

Rivers will lead the Chargers on the road to face Washington this week. With two weeks to prepare, he should dissect the Redskins defense 14 days after he helped San Diego rout the Jaguars in Week 7.
Rivers completed 22-of-26 passes for 285 yards in that game to give him 2,132 passing yards, placing him among the league's best 10 quarterbacks. More importantly, he has San Diego above .500 headed into Sunday's game with a 2-5 squad. If he continues his efficient play, the Chargers will be in the thick of the playoff race at the end of the season. While the elite may rest upon locking up homefield advantage, Rivers is likely to remain a fantasy asset through Week 17.

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/17/army-names-crew-killed-helicopter-crash-ar-5813089/

Army Names Crew Killed in Helicopter Crash

The U.S. Army has identified the five-member crew killed in the crash of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Afghanistan.

T'storms Today

Thunderstorms today, with a slight risk of severe weather.

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/weather/2013/mar/18/tstorms-today-wf-14035/

Is acting on delusions autonomous?

In this paper the question of autonomy in delusional disorders is investigated using a phenomenological approach. I refer to the distinction between freedom of intentional action, and freedom of the will, and develop phenomenological descriptions of lived autonomy, taking into account the distinction between a pre-reflective and a reflective type. Drawing on a case report, I deliver finely-grained phenomenological descriptions of lived autonomy and experienced self-determination when acting on delusions. This analysis seeks to demonstrate that a person with delusions can be described as responsible for her behaviour on a 'framed' level (level of freedom of intentional action), even though she is not autonomous on a higher ('framing') level (level of freedom of the will), if, and only if, the goods of agency for herself and others are respected. In these cases the person with delusions is very nearly comparable to people in love, who are also not free to choose their convictions, and who could also be rightly held responsible for the behaviour flowing from their convictions.

Source: http://www.peh-med.com/content/8/1/14

24 Hours of LeMons New Hampshire: The Winners!

The second annual Halloween Hooptiefest 24 Hours of LeMons turned out to be a festival of bent fenders, frozen fingers, and Mercedes-Benz dominance. On Friday, we met the 140-odd teams. On Saturday, we saw the Ziegel Schei�haus car grab and hold an early lead. On Sunday? well, here’s what happened. Ziegel Schei�haus never ran away [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/sFVD0bDI0sA/

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Exploring female competition and aggression

It stands to reason that just as adult males compete for survival and preferred mates, females will, too. But the evolutionary significance of female competition and aggression have been largely overlooked by the scientific world, according to a new study published by The Royal Society. In a collection of papers across a range of disciplines, the latest issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, compiled and edited by Anne Campbell and Paula Stockley, explores how and why females compete...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/YANRNt9ZBdc/268012.php

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/28/rumor-vikings-star-travis-fimmel-to-play-lead-role-in-warcraf/

Rumor: 'Vikings' star Travis Fimmel to play lead role in Warcraft movie

Variety is reporting that Travis Fimmel, who plays Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel series Vikings, is set to star in the upcoming Warcraft movie. A formal offer hasn't been presented yet, but their sources say he will be playing one of the four lead roles in the film. Last month, it was reported that Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) was in negotiations for one of the lead roles. Colin Farrell has reportedly been offered a lead but it's uncertain how likely he is to sign on.

The plot of the movie has been a carefully guarded secret and all we really know is there will be four lead characters. We should find out more at BlizzCon where there will be a panel dedicated to the Warcraft movie with Duncan Jones (Director), Chris Metzen, and Rob Pardo. Warcraft will hit theaters on December 18, 2015.

Filed under: Warcraft Movie

Rumor: 'Vikings' star Travis Fimmel to play lead role in Warcraft movie originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Implementation of a children's hospital-wide central venous catheter insertion and maintenance bundle

Background:
Central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections in children are an increasingly recognized serious safety problem worldwide, but are often preventable. Central venous catheter bundles have proved effective to prevent such infections. Successful implementation requires changes in the hospital system as well as in healthcare professionals' behaviour. The aim of the study is to evaluate process and outcome of implementation of a state-of-the-art central venous catheter insertion and maintenance bundle in a large university children's hospital.Methods/ design: An interrupted time series design will be used; the study will encompass all children who need a central venous catheter. New state-of-the-art central venous catheter bundles will be developed. The Pronovost-model will guide the implementation process. We developed a tailored multifaceted implementation strategy consisting of reminders, feedback, management support, local opinion leaders, and education. Primary outcome measure is the number of catheter-associated infections per 1000 line-days. The process outcome is degree of adherence to use of these central venous catheter bundles is the secondary outcome. A cost-effectiveness analysis is part of the study. Outcomes will be monitored during three periods: baseline, pre-intervention, and post-intervention for over 48 months.DiscussionThis model-based implementation strategy will reveal the challenges of implementing a hospital-wide safety program. This work will add to the body of knowledge in the field of implementation. We postulate that healthcare workers' willingness to shift from providing habitual care to state-of-the-art care may reflect the need for consistent care improvement. Trial registration: Dutch trials registry, trial # 3635.Trial registration: Dutch trials registry (www.trialregister.nl), trial # 3635

Source: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/13/417

Mike Tyson Goes In On Gold Digging Ex-Robin Givens In Memoir

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (pictured right) has led a life that few can even imagine. Tyson made�a fortune but then lost it all as…

Source: http://newsone.com/2747720/mike-tyson-robin-givens/

Seeking clonal origin of lethal prostate cancer

Prostate cancer has variable manifestations, ranging from relatively benign localized tumors to widespread life-threatening metastases. The origin of most prostate cancer metastases can be traced back to the primary tumor; therefore, understanding the mutations in the primary tumor that promote cancer spread is of great interest. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University track the development of lethal prostate cancer in a patient...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/n7LwtnXYBcY/267965.php

These Parents Are Fed Up About Partying Teens

Today parents called into “NewsOne Now” and spoke with�Roland Martin about how they handle situations where they see underage drinking. As reported, Maryland Attorney General…

Source: http://newsone.com/2745901/parents-fed-up-teens/

Reducing the number of household firearms, especially handguns, may reduce childhood gunshot injuries

There are approximately 7,500 child hospitalizations and 500 in-hospital deaths each year due to injuries sustained from guns. In an abstract presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, researchers also identified a link between the percentage of homes with guns and the prevalence of child gunshot injuries...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/yAGfXc_Wtw4/267969.php

Breakfast Topic: How has playing WoW made your life better?

Maybe WoW is just a fun game you play for now, I dunno. Me, though? I can check off a whole host of ways that playing World of Warcraft has made my life better.

WoW is where my friends are. Sure, I have friends who haven't played a game in their lives -- but WoW is responsible for connecting me with multiple networks of friends I wouldn't have met any other way. New faces in our cross-MMO guild, a network of WoW Insider coworkers I've joined at multiple other companies and projects by now, far-flung virtual friendships with players I've played with and interviewed over the years ... These people are the kind of friends who pull out their couches when we road-trip through their area. Good people.
WoW has helped me sort out my personal strengths and my personal preferences. From learning the tasks I'm best suited for as a guild officer to understanding my addiction to the stressful crunch of healing, WoW has funneled me toward the pastimes and projects that suit me best.
WoW pulls the family together. At some point, everyone in my family has played WoW. We like our WoW, and we like cheering each other on. That pretty little draenei shaman thunking down totems and blazing out Chain Lightning on the way up the hill from the farm to the lumbermill, the one who topped the DPS list at the end of the BG? Yeah, you just got pwned by my 12-year-old geeklet -- and probably at least one of us was standing behind her watching the carnage and smirking, too.
WoW has made me a better gamer. The skills I learned bashing my head against the crucible of several ages of raiding or in suboptimal groups cobbled together from whatever our friends were playing that year has definitely tuned up my game.
WoW has become a pervasive part of my professional mix. In 1,651,518 words over 2,359 days (or so our content management system tells me), I've written a lot of material for WoW Insider. For two and a half years, I copyedited virtually everything we published as well. Even today, when much of my work is found elsewhere, it's the rare day that something in WoW Insider gold doesn't pop up on my calendar.

I could go on -- but the point is how WoW has touched your life, not mine. Has WoW brought you together with someone who became the love of your life? Has it helped you keep in touch with far-flung friends? Taught you how to herd cats with a feather? How has World of Warcraft influenced your life for the better?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Breakfast Topic: How has playing WoW made your life better? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 26 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/26/breakfast-topic-how-has-playing-wow-made-your-life-better/

Continue reading Legendary stunt innovator Hal Needham dead at age 82 [w/video]

Report: Legendary stunt innovator Hal Needham dead at age 82 [w/video]

Filed under: Etc., TV/Movies

Watch through the end credits of any movie - an action movie especially - and you're bound to see a whole team of stuntmen involved in the production. But of all the stunties in Hollywood, Hal Needham stood out as one of the most important. And now, we're sad to say, he is no more.

Over the course of his long career, Needham was said to have worked on some 310 movies and 4,500 television episodes. In those prolific decades he broke 56 bones and broke his back twice, but it all paid off.

He eventually worked his way up to the director's chair for such classics as Smokey and the Bandit and The Cannonball Run. A former paratrooper, Needham pioneered many of the stunt procedures used today and even had his own NASCAR team.

Sadly Needham passed away this past Friday at 82, a ripe old age particularly for someone who made his living jumping out of airplanes, crashing cars and lighting himself on fire. Check out a fan-made video down below showcasing some of the highlights of Hal's career.

Legendary stunt innovator Hal Needham dead at age 82 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/28/hal-needham-dead-at-82/

Scientists discover 11 new Alzheimer's risk genes

In what promises to be a major breakthrough in our understanding of Alzheimer's disease, an international group of scientists has discovered 11 previously unknown genes that increase people's risk of developing this most common cause of dementia. The study, undertaken by the International Genomics Project (IGAP) and co-led by Cardiff University, Wales, UK, is published online this week in Nature Genetics. The large group of four teams comes from 145 academic centers around the world and comprises most of the world's experts in the genetics of Alzheimer's...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/gikxqCjvkjo/267998.php

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1828744-is-it-time-for-lakers-nation-to-panic-over-kobe-bryants-injury

Is It Time for Lakers Nation to Panic over Kobe Bryant's Injury?

It's the dawn of the NBA regular season, and in an annual rite of passage, alarms are already going off. For Lakers Nation, the question is whether it's time to panic over Kobe Bryant's injury. Their answer is no, not yet. Still, the 15-time All-Star is under intense scrutiny as he continues his path back from a devastating injury.

Questions and updates are part of the process. Mike Bresnahan, the veteran beat writer from the Los Angles Times recently posted this tweet:

Dave McMenamin from ESPN had a similar update.

On Monday, McMenamin elaborated, saying in fact that Kobe did not have a setback:

Despite the apparent regression in his rehab after the star guard went through sprints on the court while the Los Angeles Lakers were in China, the team's public relations vice president John Black said Bryant has “not suffered any setbacks” along his comeback trail.

The reality is that Bryant has come back faster than most thought possible, and in his typical fashion, may have pushed a little too hard. That's nothing new. Bryant is a notorious gym rat with, arguably, the most intense work ethic in the NBA. Throughout the summer, we were treated to reports about the Mamba being ahead of schedule, including this piece from ESPN's Arash Markazi.

And of course, there was the infamous jump off a high-dive platform into a pool. That was just Kobe being Kobe.

Bryant ruptured his Achilles tendon in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Friday, April 13. It was the tail end of the regular season. In typical fashion, he acted quickly, going under the knife the very next day. The operation was reported to be successful and performed by Dr. Neal ElAttache and Dr. Stephen Lombardi of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Group.

Thus launched a summer of breathless reports and speculation. The most common timetable for recovery, heard time and again, was six to nine months. That would put his return at anywhere from October 14 to January 14, 2014. And that's being optimistic.

Here we are, the end of October, and headlines are blasting like air horns on a big rig. Is an anti-gravity treadmill really cause for panic? In truth, all we're seeing is the usual process of rehabbing an injury. It's often two steps forward and one step back.

Injuries are nothing new. Every team deals with them, and the good ones find a way to compensate. Of course, the calamities heaped upon the Lakers last season were unique. Longtime team trainer Gary Vitti recently expressed optimism about the team's overall health and praised Bryant's pragmatic approach to recovery.

Fine you say, that doesn't really ease the panic. Who's gonna step up and deliver?

First, the team's younger and more athletic this season. They're better suited to Mike D'Antoni's offense. Jordan Farmar is a key addition this year, a welcome addition given Steve Nash's age and health issues. Farmar can pick-and-roll all night long, and when he's not on the floor, Steve Blake is certainly capable of running the offense, knocking down outside shots and playing scrappy defense.

Additionally, Pau Gasol is back and fresh after rehabbing his knees this summer. D'Antoni is calling him a better post player than Dwight Howard, and that's saying something. Gasol is one of the league's most skilled big men and will be a lot more comfortable in his preferred center spot.

Add Nick Young, who brings athleticism and scoring punch, and Shawne Williams, whose best season was with D'Antoni in New York, and you're starting to see a different kind of club.

Nobody's picking the Lakers to go all the way, certainly not without Kobe. But this is a team that seems to have a willing attitude for D'Antoni. Let's let them actually play a few games before writing them off.

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/27/did-mavericks-kill-your-network-drive-access-heres-a-fix/

Did Mavericks kill your SMB network drive access? Here's a fix

Among the issues some people have had with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, one of the biggest gotchas was a loss of access to SMB network shares -- the connection many NAS devices (Network attached storage), Windows PCs or Linux servers use to provide file sharing.

In my case, I got the double foul. My NAS tried to mount forever and failed; same with a Windows 8 PC on my network. The cause appears to be changes made in the networking stack made by Apple. Apple's SMB2 implementation doesn't work with a lot of SMB2 devices -- even networked drives from Windows machines. [SMB2 is actually used by Mavericks for Mac-to-Mac connectivity, unlike older versions of OS X where AFP was the default. -Ed.]

One easy fix involves changing a little bit of text in your server connection URL. Here's how it works: In the Finder, choose the "Go" menu and select "Connect to Server..." (command-K). Type "cifs://yourservername" and hit Return; the server should mount.

CIFS (Common Internet File System) is just another name for the SMB protocol, but using it in the server URL forces the Finder to use the older (not broken) SMB1 implementation, rather than the buggy SMB2. It worked for me with both my NAS and my Windows PC, so there's a good chance it will work for you.

Apple's Support Boards are filled with users pulling their hair out over this one, so we hope the tip is of use to you.

Thanks to Cammodude for the solution here; he also posts a Terminal tip (at your own risk) for permanently forcing Finder to use SMB1 instead of SMB2.

Did Mavericks kill your SMB network drive access? Here's a fix originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 27 Oct 2013 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/alcoholism-12-step-support/312022-daily-reflections-10-29-13-a.html

Monday 28 October 2013

Daily Reflections for 10/29/13

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*

OUR SURVIVAL

Since recovery from alcoholism is life itself to us, it is imperative that we preserve in full strength our means of survival.

TWELVE...

Tea: History And Origin

The second emperor of China, Shen Nung, is believed to have discovered tea when the leaf of the plant Camellia sinensis blew into his cup of hot water (2737 BCE). The first European to encounter tea and write about it was the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Father Jasper de Cruz in 1560. Around 1650, the Dutch [...]

Source: http://www.ca-medicalnews.com/tea-history-and-origin.html

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/17/troubled-carnival-ship-arrives-back-tampa-ar-5813118/

Troubled Carnival Ship Arrives Back in Tampa

A Carnival cruise ship that experienced technical issues with its propulsion system and canceled one stop has arrived as scheduled in Tampa, Fla.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/k-0JN8CDYos/2014-bmw-2-series-228i-m235i-photos-and-info-news

2014 BMW 2-series Debuts: Same Rear-Drive Game, New Even-Numbered Name

Considering BMW?s newfound commitment to the wonders of electrification?witness the new compact i3?you may need some assurance that the brand?s core values remain intact. While we have yet to drive one, the company?s latest debutante, the 2-series, should allow you to take a deep breath. The new 2 replaces the 1-series coupe as the entry-level [...]

Yeast, human stem cells drive discovery of new Parkinson's disease drug targets

Using a discovery platform whose components range from yeast cells to human stem cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have identified a novel Parkinson's disease drug target and a compound capable of repairing neurons derived from Parkinson's patients. The platform - whose effectiveness is described in dual papers published online this week in the journal Science - could accelerate the discovery of drug candidates that address the underlying pathology of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Today, no such drugs exist...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/aCNvy5si2IY/267939.php

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/28/nvidia-shield-update-brings-android-4-3-and-console-mode/?ncid=rss_truncated

NVIDIA Shield update brings Android 4.3, Console Mode and official Gamestream support

NVIDIA promised that we'd see big upgrades to its Shield gaming system today, and it's delivering them in spades. A just-launched Android 4.3 update introduces Console Mode, which lets players steer a TV-connected Shield through a Bluetooth gamepad; NVIDIA supplies a button mapping utility that adds ...

Mystery channel identified that is crucial for hearing

Our ability to hear relies on hair cells, sensory receptors that mechanically amplify low-level sound that enters the inner ear through a transduction channel. Although the transduction channel was characterized more than 30 years ago, researchers have been unable to identify its molecular components. A new study in the Journal of General Physiology could help lead to a definitive identification of this mystery channel. Recent studies have suggested that members of the TMC family of membrane proteins are strong candidates as the components of the hair cell's transduction channel...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/GZ8VzhZXtTg/267907.php

Implementation of a children's hospital-wide central venous catheter insertion and maintenance bundle

Source: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/13/417

Source: http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/newcomers-recovery/311944-could-someone-please-help.html

Could someone please help

I REALLY NEED ALL THE HELP THAT COULD GET IN LEAVING THE DRUGS:a108::a108::a108:

Continue reading The Queue: Plague Quarter

'Sex drive slows' after stem cell transplantation

New research suggests that complications and preparative procedures linked to stem cell transplantation may lead to sexual dysfunction in both men and women. This is according to a study published in the journal Blood. Researchers from the City of Hope Cancer Research Hospital in Duarte, California, say that graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) - a complication that can arise after stem cell transplantation (SCT) when donor cells attack recipient cells - could be a cause of diminished sexual health...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/gJh4r7JoEg4/267958.php

sport sport medical

The Queue: Plague Quarter

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

See that picture above? It's my house. My partner and I have been sick for a week now. Please kill us.

arkaingel001 asked:

Any word on which band will be rocking Blizzcon this year?

Nope, not a peep yet. The closing ceremony is two and a half hours long, though, so there'll almost certainly be something happening.

Filed under: The Queue

The Queue: Plague Quarter originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 27 Oct 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/27/the-queue-plague-quarter/

Source: http://www.totalprosports.com/2013/10/25/tampa-bay-buccaneers-fan-paper-bag-head-gif/

Sunday 27 October 2013

Bucs Fans Bring Their Paper Bags to Raymond James Stadium for Thursday Night Football (GIF)

It appears as though the fans of the 2013 Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been shopping for their gameday outfits at the same place as the 2008 Detroit Lions, because the paper bags could be seen on the heads of spectators throughout Raymond James Stadium during last night’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the Bucs and […]

Tumor factors that block muscle repair offer partial explanation for cancer wasting

A new study reveals that tumors release factors into the bloodstream that inhibit the repair of damaged muscle fibers, and that this contributes to muscle loss during cancer wasting. The condition, also called cancer cachexia, accompanies certain types of cancer, causes life-threatening loss of body weight and lean muscle mass, and is responsible for up to one-in-four cancer deaths. There is no treatment for the condition. The study was led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mnt/healthnews/~3/VyJQfOIl2Go/267883.php

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/27/amazonian-biosphere-3d-printed-coral-reef-11-acre-portrait/?ncid=rss_truncated

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Amazonian biosphere, 3D-printed coral reefs and an 11-acre portrait

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Architects and designers are increasingly looking to nature for inspiration -- and the results are spectacular. Amazon just got the green light to bring an ...

auto sport Massage St Albans">medical rehab

ED: Oral Therapies

Three PDE5 inhibitors are currently approved for use in North America and Eiu-ope: sildenafil australia (Viagra�, Pfizer), tadalafil (Cialis�, Lilly ICOS), and vardenafil canada (Levitra�, Bayer/GSK). Apomorphine (Uprima SL�, Abbot t or Ixense�, Takeda), a dopaminergic agent, is available in Europe but not in the United States. As couples preferred sexual behaviors vary considerably, they [...]

Source: http://www.ca-medicalnews.com/ed-oral-therapies.html

Continue reading Updates on US Connected Realms

Updates on US Connected Realms

By now, several US realms have been successfully connected with Blizzard's new Connected Realms feature. In case you've been out of the loop, Blizzard released an update in regards to the new feature, which seamlessly connects two realms so that they'll behave as one. That means players on realms that are connected can join the same guilds, use one Auction House, and run raids and dungeons with each other -- a pretty big bonus for realms that have been suffering from lower populations. The list of successfully connected realms is as follows:

Auchindoun and Laughing Skull
Black Dragonflight and Skullcrusher
Aegwynn and Gurubashi
Balnazzar and Warsong
Burning Blade and Onyxia
Chromaggus and Garithos
Dalvengyr and Dark Iron
Dethecus and Detheroc
Dunemaul, Maiev, Boulderfist and Bloodscalp
Hakkar and Aegwynn
Rivendare and Firetree

It's a sizeable list -- but if your realm wasn't on the list, not to worry. Blizzard is revving up for more realm connections, and soon. Two new batches of realm connections are on the way, and the first batch of connections will be taking place on Monday, October 28.

Filed under: Realm Status, Blizzard, News items

Updates on US Connected Realms originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 26 Oct 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/26/updates-on-us-connected-realms/

Source: http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2013/mar/17/two-ohio-spring-breakers-killed-florida-crash-ar-5813112/

Two Ohio Spring Breakers Killed in Florida Crash

Authorities say two Ohio women driving home from spring break have died after a traffic crash in the Florida Panhandle.

Daily Update for October 25, 2013

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world.

You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.

No Flash? Click here to listen.

Subscribe via RSS

Daily Update for October 25, 2013 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/10/25/daily-update-for-october-25-2013/

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/25/pinterest-pairs-up-with-getty-images-tells-you-who-shot-your-pi/?ncid=rss_truncated

Pinterest pairs up with Getty Images, tells you who shot your pinned photos (among other things)

Pinterest may be all about pictures (and some ads), but a deal sealed today with Getty Images will provide users with some very important words as well: photo metadata. Why should you care? It means that you'll now get a whole host of info along with any Getty pictures you pin. So, you'll be able to ...

Potential new WoW feature caught on video

We're hedging pretty hard on this one, ladies and gentlemen, partly because I'm trying to rein in my excitement that this could actually be a real video of a new feature. Somehow, Aipok managed to leave what looks like an instance of Temple of the Jade Serpent and zone into Stratholme, taking the option to "Teleport to Instance" while still in an instance himself. Not that weird, right? Well this is when things start getting a bit odd.

Because this has been doing the rounds, I was ready for what was coming. Aipok's health suddenly drops to 11.1k. He wades into the skeletons, as you would, with the confidence of a level 90 in a level 40-ish dungeon, and he dies. Only then, looking through his combat log, does he realize that something is awry. On ressing, his health is even lower, at 5.9k. He opens up his character pane, and all his gear has been downscaled to ilvl 43. His character attributes appear to have been downscaled, too.

Now, this has Aipok in a strange position. Has he just happened upon a very specific and weird bug? Is this an accidental hop into an unrevealed new feature for 6.0? Could players entering old content be downscaled to match it? Or, could this all be an elaborate hoax? Personally, I want to believe, so I'm going to choose to. What's more, Blizzard devs have talked before about this tech being completed. As long as this was optional, and perhaps even if it wasn't, I'd love this. It'd refresh old content and make it a challenge again. And, if you could earn upscaled XP while downscaled, a fun way to reuse old content to level.

But again, remember, this is not an official announcement, or an endorsement, or anything from Blizzard. It's one video of one weird dungeon. It could be a hoax, it could be a bug, it could be nothing at all. I'm excited, though. Are you? And what could it reward?

Filed under: Bugs, News items, BlizzCon

Potential new WoW feature caught on video originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source: http://wow.joystiq.com/2013/10/23/potential-new-wow-feature-caught-on-video/