Decline in available liver transplants expected

Jan. 10, 2013 ? A new study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Health Resources and Services Administration, and published in the January 2013 issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), found that the non-use of donor livers climbed through 2010 due to a worsening of donor liver quality, primarily from donation following cardiac death. Diabetes, donor age, and body mass index (BMI) were also linked to a decrease in use of organs.

"For patients with end-stage liver disease, transplantation is the only option for extending life, but organ availability places constraints on the transplant community," explains Dr. Eric Orman with the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. "One of the methods to increase the donor pool is to include donors with less than ideal health status -- those with fatty livers, older donors, and donation after cardiac death."

In an attempt to increase available livers for transplant, the transplant community has gradually extended donation criteria. However, previous research shows that poor outcomes may occur following transplant of more inferior organs. In fact, studies have shown an increased recipient morbidity and mortality risk with donation after cardiac death (when circulation ceases) than with standard donation following brain death in which donor circulation is sustained.

For the present study researchers used data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) to identify 107,259 deceased donors in U.S. between 1988 and 2010. Donors were 18 years of age and older who had a least one organ (liver, heart, intestine, kidney, lung or pancreas) used for transplantation. The mean donor age was 44 years; 41% were female and 68% were white. Split liver donations and donors with BMI less than 14 kg/m² or more than 50 kg/m² were excluded.

Analysis indicates that 41,503 donations occurred after June 30, 2004 with 82% of livers used for transplant and 18% unused. The number of unused livers decreased from 1,958 (66% of donors) in 1988 to 841 (15%) in 2004, and then increased to 1,345 (21%) in 2010. Liver non-use was independently linked to older donor age, greater BMI, diabetes prevalence and donation after cardiac death -- all of which are on the rise in the U.S.

Researchers reported a four-fold increase in the odds of non-use of livers from donation following cardiac death donors between 2004 and 2010, with the proportion of nonuse climbing from 9% to 28% during the same time period. "Our findings show nonuse of livers for transplantation is steadily rising, and is primarily due to donation after cardiac death," concludes Dr. Orman. "If these trends continue, a significant decline in liver transplant availability would be inevitable."

In a related editorial also published in Liver Transplantation, Dr. Anton Skaro from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill. concurs, "Utilization of livers donated after cardiac death increases risk of biliary complications, greater costs and higher graft failure rates, resulting in a reduction of liver transplants using organs donated after cardiac death in the U.S. since 2006." Dr. Skaro suggests that liver transplantation using organs donated after cardiac death should be encouraged for recipients who would have poor outcomes by remaining on the waitlist.

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Journal Reference:

1. Eric S. Orman, A. Sidney Barritt, Stephanie B. Wheeler, Paul H. Hayashi. Declining liver utilization for transplantation in the United States and the impact of donation after cardiac death. Liver Transplantation, 2013; 19 (1): 59 DOI: 10.1002/lt.23547

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/UybY4obloYI/130110111736.htm

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It?s Official! Britney Spears Not Returning To ?X Factor?

It’s Official! Britney Spears Not Returning To “X Factor”

Britney Spears has announced that she will be leaving the “X Factor” after a single season as a judge alongside Demi Lovato, Simon Cowell, and L.A. Reid. A source close to Spears reveals, “She has made the decision that she won’t be returning. She wants to concentrate on her music.” Spears, 31, received mixed reviews ...

It’s Official! Britney Spears Not Returning To “X Factor” Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/its-official-britney-spears-not-returning-to-x-factor/

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Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl (Author), Harold S. Kushner (Foreword)
4 days in the top 100
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Download: $6.64 (as of 01/04/2013 12:35 PST)

Education & Reference

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

At the time of Frankl's death in 1997,?Man's Search for Meaning?had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found?Man's Search for Meaning?among the ten most influential books in America.?

Beacon Press, the original English-language publisher of?Man's Search for Meaning,?is issuing this new paperback edition with a new Foreword, biographical Afterword, jacket, price, and classroom materials to reach new generations of readers.

• Rank: #12 in eBooks
• Published on: 2006-06-01
• Released on: 2006-06-01
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Source: http://niceeducationreference535.blogspot.com/2013/01/man-search-for-meaning.html

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Sony Xperia ZL hands-on

It's no flagship, but there's plenty to like about the Xperia Z's little brother

In addition to devices we’ll be seeing in the West in coming months, CES gives us the opportunity to get some face time with devices that probably won’t see the light of day in the U.S. or Europe. One of these is the Xperia ZL, which Sony says will be making an appearance in selected markets during the first quarter of 2013.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Pb2ExOEPEfA/story01.htm

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Corsair outs Voyager Air with WiFi storage, NAS, USB 3.0 and repeater all in one

Corsair is very much associated with devices that need a physical connection to work, whether they're thumb drives or memory sticks. It's looking to cut the cord in style through its new Voyager Air. You'll have seen some of what it does with a predecessor like Kingston's Wi-Drive, with media streaming to Android and iOS devices, a WiFi repeater mode and USB 3.0 support, but Corsair's drive goes the extra mile by serving as network attached storage through a gigabit Ethernet link. The 7-hour battery life when completely wireless certainly helps its prospects, at least among its immediate rivals. Corsair plans to ship the Voyager Air by early February in a 500GB version for $199 and 1TB for $229 versions; either price sounds reasonable for a home media server that ultimately doesn't have to stay at home.

Continue reading Corsair outs Voyager Air with WiFi storage, NAS, USB 3.0 and repeater all in one

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Hack Together a DIY Emergency Car Charger with a Cigarette Lighter Adaptor

If you're on a road trip and find that you forgot your car charger for your phone or other USB device, Popular Science shows off how to make one on the fly using a USB cable and any 5-volt car cigarette lighter adapter.

The process is incredibly simple, but you still want to make sure you do it right so you don't blow up your phone. All you need to do is cut the USB cable, and strip the insulation to reveal a red and black wire. Do the same to the 5-volt cigarette lighter adapter (don't use a higher voltage). Finally, twist the black wires together, then the red, and wrap some tape around them to insulate them. When you're done, you've created an emergency car charger that works just as well as anything you'd purchase at a store. Car chargers aren't particularly expensive, but if you're out in the middle of nowhere and need a quick fix, this works great.

Hack Yourself An Emergency Car Charger | Popular Science

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/PRnhE4V4b9g/hack-together-a-diy-emergency-car-charger-with-a-cigarette-lighter-adaptor

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Should Ecommerce Retailers Open Brick-and-Mortar Stores ...

By Rieva Lesonsky

It used to be that if you had a brick-and-mortar retail store, you eventually added ecommerce capabilities. But now that so many retail businesses are starting out as online-only, a new trend is taking place. The New York Times recently reported that a growing number of online-only retailers are opening brick-and-mortar stores to capture more business and enhance their brands. Should you consider this move?

Obviously, this approach isn?t right for every company. Here are some questions to ask if you?re considering whether a brick-and-mortar store is right for you:

• Is your product tactile or unique? Clothing and apparel stores are naturals for this type of brand extension, as shoppers want to touch, feel and try on the merchandise.
• Can you find a small space? Most ecommerce sites that open brick-and-mortar stores aren?t going big, but are considering the retail space as a brand extension or showroom. Others are creating pop-up stores that open temporarily for special occasions such as the holiday shopping season.
• Can you make it special? A real-world store needs to offer an ?experience? to resonate with shoppers, so think about what you can offer in your physical store that you can?t do online.
• Do you have an avid customer base? If most of your shoppers come from one part of the country, such as New York City, it might make sense to open a shop there.
• Are my sales strong enough to support a retail store? A track record of online sales success will give you an edge in getting a lease and financing for opening a store.

While most of the companies mentioned in the Times article are big chains with deep pockets (such as Gap?s Piperlime division and eBay), there are others that started with entrepreneurial roots, such as eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker and apparel company Bonobos. The Times notes that companies that starting out as an online-only retailer gives you a different perspective on brick-and-mortar sales. For instance, at the Bonobos stores, customers make appointments to come in so the shop can operate with very limited staff. Stores operate as ?showrooms? with clothes in all styles, but limited sizes and colors. Customers try items on for size, then clerks order the product online for them and have it delivered the next day.

Increasingly, consumers are expecting online and offline retail to blend together in a seamless experience, and that?s what this new breed of brick-and-mortar stores is doing.

Image by Flickr user jheffreyswidTM Design (Creative Commons)

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Business Development, Customer Service, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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Source: http://www.networksolutions.com/smallbusiness/2013/01/should-ecommerce-retailers-open-brick-and-mortar-stores/

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Kilar to quit as CEO of Hulu by March

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Jason Kilar will step down by the end of March as the chief executive of Hulu, the online video service owned by the parents of ABC, NBC and Fox.

Kilar, 41, broke the news to staff in an email, which he posted on the Hulu blog on Friday. While he didn't state a reason, the video site has been losing money despite posting nearly $700 million in revenue last year. But it's growing fast, and added 200,000 paying subscribers in the last seven days alone, Kilar said. Last month, the company said it had more than 3 million subscribers.

The company's CEO since its founding in 2007, Kilar has at times clashed with Hulu's owners over strategy. Spawned in part as a bid to offset Internet piracy, Hulu got its start showing reruns of ABC, NBC and Fox shows free on the Web with minimal advertising, and added a $10-per-month subscription tier in June 2010 that expanded the back catalog.

The price of a subscription to Hulu Plus was cut to $8 a few months later, but a paid plan is necessary for viewers who wish to watch shows on tablets, phones, or Internet-connected TV sets. It's unclear if Kilar's resignation signals a change in strategy, but it could be a good opportunity for the companies to implement changes.

Two people familiar with the matter said the move was not surprising, partly because Kilar is flush with cash after being paid about $40 million for his stake in the company in a sale that coincided with Providence Equity Partners selling its 10 percent stake for $200 million late last year. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Providence's exit came after the owners decided not to sell Hulu in 2011 following months of entertaining outside offers.

Kilar said in the blog that Richard Tom, senior vice president and chief technology officer, will leave at about the same time. As an entrepreneur who previously helped Amazon get into the video streaming business, Kilar could re-emerge as the head of a new fledgling business. Prior to joining Hulu, Tom spent eight years at Microsoft, where he led a team that created a business application platform for its Office Live online software.

"We are fortunate to have collectively built a culture that matters, a brand that matters, a business that matters," Kilar said in his memo. "It is impossible to state in words how much this team means to me, how much Hulu means to me."

Hulu's parent companies, The Walt Disney Co. and News Corp., lauded Kilar's accomplishments.

"Jason has been an integral part of the Hulu story, transforming it from an interesting idea into an innovative business model that continues to evolve," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement. "We are proud of his achievements, we appreciate what he's built, and we share his confidence in his team's ability to drive Hulu forward from here."

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch added, "Jason and his team have done a great job building Hulu into one of the leading online video services available today and it's incredibly well positioned for the road ahead. We are grateful for Jason's leadership and wish him the best on his next venture."

NBC parent Comcast Corp. is required to be a silent partner in Hulu as part of the government signing off on its purchase of NBCUniversal in January 2011.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-05-US-Hulu-CEO/id-59dc879ff024407b8cca2de2ef6c9358

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Common Blood Pressure Drugs Might Lower Dementia ... - Health.com

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 7 (HealthDay News) ? Taking blood pressure drugs known as beta blockers may reduce the risk of brain changes that can lead to Alzheimer?s disease and other dementias, new research suggests.

?Levels of the Alzheimer lesions were about half or less in persons receiving beta blockers, compared with persons whose hypertension was untreated,? said study author Dr. Lon White, a researcher at the Pacific Health Research and Education Institute in Honolulu. Beta blockers also appeared to reduce the risk of these brain changes more than other blood pressure medications did.

White added a caution, however. ?It would be premature to make any specific recommendations for treatment,? he said, such as suggesting people switch to beta blockers only.

Examples of beta blockers are Inderal (propranolol), Tenormin (atenolol) and Lopressor (metoprolol).

?Our findings will need to be examined in other studies before such recommendations could be made,? White said.

The research does support the idea that treating high blood pressure in midlife must be part of the way to prevent late-life cognitive impairment and dementia, he said.

The study is scheduled to be presented in March at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting in San Diego.

One in eight older American adults has Alzheimer?s, a progressive brain disease, according to the Alzheimer?s Association. Alzheimer?s and other types of dementia affect memory, thinking and behavior.

In the study, White and colleagues evaluated the autopsies of 774 men who were enrolled in the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, a community-based study of Japanese-American men who were between the ages of 71 to 93 when the study began. The study was conducted from 1991 through 2012.

Of the men who were autopsied, 610 had had high blood pressure or had been treated with high blood pressure drugs. The men had taken five common types of blood pressure-lowering medicines. White also looked at two subgroups who took two or more medicines in combination, a common practice for lowering blood pressure.

After adjusting for factors such as the men?s age, their blood pressure levels at the study?s start, their test scores and other factors, White found those who took beta blockers as their only blood pressure-lowering drug had fewer brain abnormalities ? such as lesions associated with Alzheimer?s ? than those who took no hypertension drugs or other types of blood pressure medications.

Those who took beta blockers in combination with other blood pressure-lowering drugs also had fewer brain abnormalities, but the benefit was not as great as in the beta blocker-alone group.

White can?t explain why the beta blockers seem to have a protective effect. ?We have no way to attribute the association with fewer brain lesions to any specific underlying mechanism,? he said.

An Alzheimer?s expert discussed the new findings.

?This is an interesting study, and the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study has been a valuable source of information,? said Heather Snyder, senior associate director of medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer?s Association.

However, she added: ?It?s a small study. I would agree it is premature to draw conclusions about treatment.?

Some people with brain lesions, one of the markers used in the study to gauge risk of Alzheimer?s, do not have cognitive changes, she added.

Until more research is in, she said, those who want to reduce their risk of Alzheimer?s disease should maintain a healthy cardiovascular system by eating a good diet and staying physically active.

White will continue his research. The Alzheimer?s Association has given him a grant to continue the study of the brain tissue. He will examine the tissue for signs of changes known to be linked with Alzheimer?s and evaluate which risk factors during life were linked with the brain abnormalities.

Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

While this study showed an association between beta blockers and a reduced risk of brain changes typical of Alzheimer?s, it did not prove a cause-and-effect link.

More information

To learn more about Alzheimer?s, visit the Alzheimer?s Association.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/01/07/common-blood-pressure-drugs-might-lower-dementia-risk/

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Vets face confusion using GI Bill at state schools

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? In choosing to serve her country in uniform, Hayleigh Lynn Perez knowingly accepted a nomadic life. Now the former Army sergeant says she and thousands of other veterans trying to get a higher education are being penalized for that enforced rootlessness.

Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the federal government will pick up the full in-state cost for any honorably discharged service member wishing to attend a public college or university. But because the often intricate rules governing residency differ from state to state, and even within university systems, many veterans face a bewildering battle to exercise the benefits they've already fought for.

"It is part of our contractual agreement when we join the military," says Perez, who filed a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the University of North Carolina Board of Governors after one of its schools denied her resident status. "It's been paid for ? with blood and sweat and tears and deployments."

Until last year, the Department of Veterans Affairs would cover up to the highest rate charged for in-state students at a public school in that state. But under changes that took effect in August 2011, while veterans can receive up to $17,500 a year for study at private schools, the agency will pay only "the actual net cost for in-State tuition and fees assessed" by the public institution the veteran is attending.

And if that person is deemed a nonresident, the veteran often must pay the difference out of pocket.

"For the first time since the inception of the GI Bill, residency for tuition purposes is now an issue for thousands of veterans," says Jason Thigpen, founder and president of the Student Veterans Advocacy Group. "Invariably, many are left with no home state for tuition purposes as a result of this change."

Army Staff Sgt. Stephen Lee was still in Afghanistan ? his second deployment to the war zone ? when he began looking at colleges. The California native settled on the University of Wisconsin-Madison and had already begun his studies when he learned of the coming changes to his GI Bill benefits.

He was looking at an extra $20,000 a year out of pocket.

"It was a HUGE jump," says Lee, whose military occupational specialty, or MOS, was human intelligence collector. "And that's when I had to start thinking really hard about whether or not I was going to be able to afford school, or whether I'd have to take a year off and work while I tried to get in-state status."

Around that time, the university opted into the Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the GI Bill under which the school and the VA agree to split the difference between the resident and nonresident rate. There was only a limited amount set aside for the program, and students have to reapply each year, but Lee lucked out.

"This uncertainty almost took me out of school," he says. "California's not home for me anymore. At the same time, I didn't have any choice of living in Kentucky or Tennessee. That's where the Army told me I was going. You're kind of in this limbo where you don't know where your state residency lies."

He graduated in May with a bachelor's in political science.

Hayleigh Perez's case is a prime example of how convoluted these situations can become.

Perez, 26, enlisted in 2005 and was stationed at North Carolina's Fort Bragg, where she trained as a radiology technologist. She later did a 15-month deployment to Camp Bucca, Iraq.

While serving, the Iowa native met and married Sgt. 1st Class Jose Perez-Rodriguez, a medic, and the couple bought a home in Raeford, near the North Carolina base. Perez's next assignment took her to Texas, where she mustered out in 2009.

When Perez learned in late 2011 that her husband's orders would bring the family back to North Carolina, where they had continued paying property taxes, she began applying to schools. She was accepted at both Fayetteville State University and UNC-Pembroke.

But while FSU granted her resident status, Pembroke ? which had the courses she most required ? classified her as an out-of-state student. The difference in her out-of-pocket costs: $4,603.50 per semester.

When Perez's appeal to UNC was denied, she and Thigpen's group sued.

"Mrs. Perez provided ample evidence to both UNC System Schools in order to substantiate her domicile as a resident in and of the State of North Carolina," she said in her suit, filed Nov. 8. "Mrs. Perez filed for a residency appeal hearing with UNC Pembroke, was denied any representational assistance and in turn her appeal was denied after being treated with malice and contempt by UNC Pembroke officials ..."

The university system has not yet responded to the complaint, but spokeswoman Joni Worthington denied discrimination against Perez or any other veteran.

"We certainly believe that the university has complied fully with federal and state law," she told The Associated Press. "On the contrary, we have demonstrated a strong commitment to be very supportive of the military, which is obviously very important here in North Carolina."

Under North Carolina law, active-duty service members stationed here are to be considered residents. But Perez had already been discharged by the time she was accepted at the schools and had not yet been back the requisite year.

"The burden of proof is on the student," Worthington says.

Worthington agreed that because of the GI Bill changes, "recipients are financially disadvantaged if they choose to attend a public institution of higher education. We believe the level of tuition benefits available at private institutions should apply to public institutions, as well."

Last year, Thigpen's group helped draft the Veterans Education Equity Act, which would amend Title 38 to extend the $17,500 tuition cap to public institutions. The bill ? introduced by U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. ? never got beyond the subcommittee hearings.

Thigpen says his group will renew its efforts in the next Congress. But some states have already decided to act on their own.

According to Student Veterans of America, nine states have passed legislation to offer in-state tuition rates for veterans, regardless of how long they've lived there. Five other states have legislation pending, says Mike Dakduk, the group's executive director.

In 2011, Arizona amended its laws to grant veterans "immediate classification as an in-state student" ''while in continuous attendance toward the degree for which currently enrolled." and "demonstrated objective evidence of intent to be a resident of Arizona." The Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education changed its rules in 2009 to grant all veterans in-state status.

"These courageous men and women have made great sacrifices in leaving behind their families, their jobs and all that is familiar to them in life to serve our state and our nation," chairman Frank Caprio said at the time. "These veterans deserve our admiration and respect, and aiding their efforts to secure a college degree is one small way we can and should show our appreciation for everything they have done."

In Texas and Wisconsin, veterans who were residents at the time of enlistment retain permanent in-state tuition eligibility in the state university system. The Illinois Veteran Grant program pays for up to 120 credit hours of tuition, but veterans must have lived in Illinois at the time of enlistment and have returned to the state no more than six months after discharge.

Lawmakers introduced a bill in California's General Assembly last February to grant veterans with at least three years' service one year's worth of resident status so they can begin their studies immediately. It died in the appropriations committee without even coming up for a vote.

Veterans can attend Connecticut's state schools tuition-free, provided they've lived in the state at least a year upon enrollment. An attempt in 2011 to amend that requirement failed.

But at the University of Connecticut, a veteran seeking a tuition waiver need only "be domiciled in Connecticut at the time of acceptance."

In Iowa, resident status is left up to the each school's board of regents.

Dakduk says this patchwork of rules has left a lot of veterans bewildered, to the point where many either pay the difference out of pocket, take out loans or just give up.

"By and large, veterans don't complain about it," he says. "They kind of just suck it up and move forward."

Justin Curley refused to just suck it up.

The Missouri native was a medic in the Air Force. But, like many veterans, he learned that those skills didn't automatically translate to a job in the civilian world.

After leaving the service in 2009, Curley moved to New Orleans and applied to the nursing program at Delgado Community College. But because he hadn't been employed in the state for at least one year, the chancellor denied him in-state status.

Curley took out loans to cover the difference, about $3,000 a year. But a friend convinced him to fight, and he launched a petition drive on the site change.org.

"Essentially, because I constantly moved with the Air Force, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System is taking away the veterans benefits I rightfully earned in favor of unwritten policies that are left up to the discretion and judgment of the board and chancellor," he wrote. "To me, that says I'm a resident of nowhere. All because of my service."

In October, Curley met with newly installed Chancellor Monty Sullivan. Not only did Sullivan grant Curley the in-state rate, he refunded his money back to fall 2011.

Curley says recruiters tell a lot of "half-truths" to convince people to enlist. But the most important promise ? that of an education ? shouldn't come with strings, he says.

"There wasn't any fine print," says Curley, 30, who has two more semesters before getting his registered nurse certification. "There wasn't any, 'Well,IF you're considered in-state,' 'IF you're not considered in-state, 'You MIGHT have to pay this,' 'You MIGHT have to pay that.' There wasn't like some little quiet announcer guy in the background saying there are going to be all these stipulations. We were just told this is what it's going to be. ...

"If we contributed to the security of our country, isn't that worth more than having lived in a state in a year?" he asks. "It just seems kind of silly."

In a follow-up email, Worthington noted that because Perez-Rodriguez is currently stationed here, Perez "would be considered an in-state resident were she to re-apply to a UNC institution now." Perez argues that she had already established residency based on her own active-duty service in North Carolina.

Perez dipped into her 3-year-old daughter's college fund to pay for one semester at Pembroke but has since transferred to Methodist University in Fayetteville, a private school. She says the government is covering the entire cost.

Her original plan was to become a physician's assistant. Now, she's going for a master's degree in public policy.

___

Allen G. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org.

Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/(hash)!/AllenGBreed

This story is the latest installment in a joint initiative by The Associated Press and Associated Press Media Editors taking a closer look at this latest generation of war veterans as they return to civilian life, and the effect this is having on them, their families and American society.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vets-face-confusion-using-gi-bill-state-schools-150738291.html

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Adoption And Family: How Everyone Is Affected, Not Just 'Us'

This is the fourth post of "30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days," a series designed to give a voice to people with widely varying experiences, including birthparents, adoptees, adoptive parents, foster parents, waiting adoptive parents and others touched by adoption.

Lessons Learned from an Imaginary Redhead
Written by Elisabeth O'Toole for Portrait of an Adoption

Not long after I married my husband (a tall redhead), my mom and I (both short and brunette) developed a plan. I was going to finally fulfill some long-held desires she?d had for her family -? desires my siblings and I had not successfully satisfied. In the anticipated daughter I would soon be having (yes, it would be a girl), my mother was finally going to get not only a redheaded baby in the family, but, later, a long, lean and very talented basketball player.

I know this sounds like pressure, so I should admit that I had no problem with this assumption. In fact, I?m sure I perpetuated it far more than my mother did. After all, I was fully confident in my ability to produce this child; the child I imagined for us both.

That is not how things worked out.

As readers of Portrait of an Adoption well know, loss is a fundamental and complicated aspect of any adoption. In order for there to be gain ?- of a family, of a child ?- there must first be loss. Birthmothers and birth relatives experience an often great and abiding loss. The adopted child experiences loss ?- no matter at what age he is adopted or under what conditions he was adopted. Communities, foster parents, other children who may remain, and caregivers may experience loss as a result of adoption.

As an adoptive parent, I struggled with the loss of privacy, the loss of control over this aspect of my life -- becoming a parent -- and the loss of my imagined child -? that redheaded basketball player I had expected.

Like most adoptive parents, I was counseled to try to understand the role that loss plays in adoption, and how it may be experienced by others, birthparents and adoptees, especially. And I was advised to acknowledge and grieve loss as an important step toward adoptive parenthood.

I?ve come to believe that it?s also important that we try to consider how others, outside of the immediate adoption triad might also experience loss related to adoption. This is especially common for our closest relatives. Like adoptive parents, it?s not at all uncommon that others have also imagined and anticipated a particular child or experience, both for us and for themselves. When that expectation is unmet, other people may experience aspects of that same loss that many of us triad members do.

A grandfather described for me how his son?s adoption plans meant the end of his family?s genealogical line. And the grandfather?s early resistance to the adoption ?- painful and frustrating for his son -? stemmed from that loss. He needed time to let go of a lifelong (and reasonable) expectation. And he needed to mourn that real and legitimate loss before he could welcome the adoption.

A grandmother described for me her reaction to her daughter?s announcement that she was adopting. The grandmother couldn?t understand her own lack of enthusiasm, even sadness. After all, she told herself, she just wanted her daughter to be happy. And she?d always wanted to be a grandparent. She finally realized part of what was holding her back was her reluctance to let go of a dream she?d had, an experience she had long looked forward to. For years, she?d pictured being with her daughter in a delivery room, present at the very moment of birth of her first grandchild. It was something she and her daughter had anticipated together. That she would not have this experience was a loss related to adoption that both of them had to acknowledge -? and grieve.

Neither of these grandparents, nor their adult children, initially identified the grandparents? ambivalence toward adoption as related to loss. Instead, their loved ones viewed them as unsupportive and negative about adoption. But acknowledging loss and then grieving it were steps these grandparents needed to take. Just as the adoptive parents had.

In my own life as an adoptive parent, I didn?t consider the losses others might have experienced around my family?s adoptions until years after first adopting. I had begun talking to adoptive grandparents and relatives from other families as research for a book I was writing. And so it was, years after my first adoption, I found myself reconsidering my own relatives? reactions to adoption with new eyes. I finally came to recognize that the people around me had lost that redheaded basketball player, too. And I suddenly understood why one family member in particular had reacted to our adoption plans as she had.

At the time, feeling vulnerable and still trying to understand adoption myself, I couldn?t understand or, frankly, have much compassion for what seemed to be her knee-jerk resistance to adoption. I thought this close relative was narrow-minded, overly concerned with appearances and tradition. But after making an effort to consider what this experience had been like for someone who, like me, had long anticipated a particular child and experience, I felt compassion for what I now understood was another person?s response to her own loss. I wish I?d had that insight -- and that vocabulary -- at the time.

Though understanding loss is a standard discussion topic in adoption education, we don?t typically offer others -? who are also impacted by adoption ?- that language of loss. I think we should.

Thinking about loss in this way reinforces for me how adoption is not just about ?us?: my husband and I and our children. Rather, it?s about a larger ?Us?: our parents, our siblings, our close friends and extended families. And as our family ages and our circle expands, adoption includes our kids? friends, their teachers, their caregivers, and the many other people who comprise our family?s adoption circle.

I?ve come to believe that one of the responsibilities we adoptive parents take on when we adopt is to include others in adoption, to bring them in on it. One way we can bring people in is by acknowledging their own perspectives and experiences with adoption, perhaps including loss. Other people -? besides adoptive parents -? deserve the chance to ask questions and to share their concerns and fears about adoption. Other people need and deserve information and preparation for adoption. Because other people are going to love and want to advocate for our children and for adoption, too.

Portrait of an Adoption is hosted by Carrie Goldman, author of Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear. If you have a story you would like to submit as a candidate for next year's series, please email it to her at portraitofanadoption@gmail.com.

Find the Portrait of an Adoption community on Facebook. Follow Carrie Goldman on Twitter.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/05/imaginary-redhead-adoption-story_n_2405298.html

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Your brain on Big Bird: Sesame Street helps to reveal patterns of neural development

Jan. 3, 2013 ? Using brain scans of children and adults watching Sesame Street, cognitive scientists are learning how children's brains change as they develop intellectual abilities like reading and math.

The novel use of brain imaging during everyday activities like watching TV, say the scientists, opens the door to studying other thought processes in naturalistic settings and may one day help to diagnose and treat learning disabilities.

Scientists are just beginning to use brain imaging to understand how humans process thought during real-life experiences. For example, researchers have compared scans of adults watching an entertaining movie to see if neural responses are similar across different individuals. "But this is the first study to use the method as a tool for understanding development," says lead author Jessica Cantlon, an assistant professor in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

Eventually, that understanding may help pinpoint the cause when a child experiences difficulties mastering school work. "Psychologists have behavioral tests for trying to get the bottom of learning impairments, but these new imaging studies provide a totally independent source of information about children's learning based on what's happening in the brain," says Cantlon.

The neuroimaging findings are detailed in a new study published Jan. 3 by the Public Library of Science's open-access journal PLoS Biology, by Cantlon and her former research assistant Rosa Li, now a graduate student at Duke University.

For the investigation, 27 children between the ages of 4 and 11, and 20 adults watched the same 20-minute Sesame Street video. Like the regular program, the recording featured a variety of short clips focused on numbers, words, shapes, and other subjects. The children then took standardized IQ tests for math and verbal ability.

To capture the neural response to the show, the researchers turned to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Unlike X-rays, CAT scans, and other types of brain imaging, fMRI involves no risks, injections, surgery, or exposure to radiation. Using magnetic fields, the scans virtually segment the brain into a three-dimensional grid of about 40,000 pixels, known as voxels, and measure the neural signal intensity in each of those tiny sectors. The study produced 609 scans of each participant, one every two seconds, as they watched Big Bird, the Count, Elmo and other stars of the educational series. Using statistical algorithms, the researchers then created "neural maps" of the thought processes for the children and the adults and compared the groups.

The result? Children whose neural maps more closely resembled the neural maps of adults scored higher on standardized math and verbal tests. In other words, the brain's neural structure, like other parts of the body, develops along predictable pathways as we mature.

The study also confirmed where in the brain these developing abilities are located. For verbal tasks, adult-like neural patterns in the Broca area, which is involved in speech and language, predicted higher verbal test scores in children. For math, better scores were linked to more mature patterns in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), a region of the brain known to be involved in the processing of numbers.

Using normal activities, like TV watching, may provide a more accurate indicator of children's learning and brain development in the real world than the short and simple tasks typical of fMRI studies, the authors argue. Like the Sesame Street video, learning environments in schools are rich in complexity along with the academic lessons, write the authors.

To test that assumption, Cantlon and Li had the children perform traditional fMRI tasks by matching simple pictures of faces, numbers, words, or shapes. During these more limited activities with simple images, the neural responses of the children did not predict their test scores, unlike the more naturalistic task of watching Sesame Street.

Although the study does not advocate TV watching, it does show that "neural patterns during an everyday activity like watching television are related to a person's intellectual maturity," says Cantlon. "It's not the case that if you put a child in front of an educational TV program that nothing is happening-that the brain just sort of zones out. Instead, what we see is that the patterns of neural activity that children are showing are meaningful and related to their intellectual abilities."

Conducted at the Rochester Center for Brain Imaging, the study was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant (R01 HD064636) and by a James S. McDonnell Foundation grant to Cantlon.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Rochester.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Cantlon JF, Li R. Neural Activity during Natural Viewing of Sesame Street Statistically Predicts Test Scores in Early Childhood. PLoS Biol, 2013; 11(1): e1001462 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001462

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/iTybV-joZbs/130103192348.htm

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Fusion Energy?s Dreamers, Hucksters, and Loons

The Cryostat forms the vacuum-tight container surrounding the ITER vacuum vessel and the superconducting magnets, essentially acting as a very large refrigerator. It will be made of stainless steel with thicknesses ranging from 50 mm to 250 mm. The structure is designed for 8,500 m3. Its overall dimensions will be 29.4 meters in diameter and 29 meters in height. The heavy weight will bring more than 3,800 tons onto the scale, making it the largest vacuum vessel ever built out of stainless steel.

Illustration ? 2012 ITER Organization.

Just a few weeks ago, a bunch of fusion scientists used South Korean money to begin designing a machine that nobody really thinks will be built and that probably wouldn't work if it were. This makes the machine only slightly more ludicrous than the one in France that may or may not eventually get built and, if and when it's finally finished, certainly won't do what it was initially meant to do. If you've guessed that the story of fusion energy can get a bit bizarre, you'd be right.

For one thing, the history of fusion energy is filled with crazies, hucksters, and starry-eyed naifs chasing after dreams of solving the world's energy problems. One of the most famous of all, Martin Fleischmann, died earlier this year. Along with a colleague, Stanley Pons, Fleischmann thought that he had converted hydrogen into helium in a beaker in his laboratory, never mind that if he had been correct he would have released so much energy that he and his labmates would have been fricasseed by the radiation coming out of the device. Fleischmann wasn't the first?Ronald Richter, a German expat who managed to entangle himself in the palace intrigues of Juan Peron, beat Fleischmann by nearly four decades?and the latest schemer, Andrea Rossi, won't be the last.

The reason's easy to see: On paper, fusion energy has almost unlimited potential. A fusion reaction releases an extraordinary amount of energy by slamming together light atoms, such as hydrogen, to make heavier ones, such as helium. (Fission is essentially the opposite: breaking apart heavy atoms, such as uranium, to make lighter ones.) Fusion is the same process that powers the sun?and it's so efficient that we'd have enough atomic fuel on Earth to satisfy our civilization's need for energy for, essentially, forever. The problem is that it's really hard to slam those atoms together hard enough. You need incredibly high temperatures, tens or hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, so that the atoms are moving fast enough to get the reaction going. But as you heat your fuel up, you have to keep it contained. A 100-million-degree plasma wants to explode in all directions, but if you're going to keep the reaction going, you have to keep it bottled up. What do you make the bottle out of?

The sun's bottle is gravity. Because the sun is so massive?more than 300,000 times the mass of our planet?it has an enormous gravitational field. It's this field that compresses and constrains the hydrogen fuel and keeps it from flying off every which way. But without a sun-size mass to provide the gravity, you've got to find other ways.

One way?and it works beautifully?is to use an atom bomb as the bottle. On Nov. 1, 1952, America used fusion energy to wipe the Pacific island of Elugelab off the face of the planet. The device at the heart of the "Ivy Mike" test was essentially a big, chilly tank of heavy hydrogen. At one end was a Nagasaki-type plutonium bomb, which, when it exploded, compressed the fuel, heated it to millions of degrees, and kept it bottled up. For a fraction of a second, we unleashed the power of the sun upon the surface of the Earth. The bomb that leveled Hiroshima was the equivalent of about 15 kilotons of TNT. Ivy Mike was about 10 megatons, nearly 700 times as powerful. And there is theoretically no upper limit to how large you can make these devices if you so desire. (The Soviet Union detonated a 50-megaton whopper in the 1960s.)

The design works, but it?s a pretty poor solution to the world's energy needs. It's tough to turn a fusion weapon into a safe supplier of electricity. That isn't to say we haven't tried to harness the H-bomb. Edward Teller, the Strangelove-ian father of Ivy Mike, tried to convince the world that fusion weapons could be used for peaceful purposes, from controlling the weather to nuclear fracking to carving an Alaskan harbor out of bedrock to nuking the moon. Yes, Edward Teller wanted to nuke the moon to, in his words, "observe what kind of disturbance it might cause."

Teller's dream of unlimited fusion energy didn't die with him. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Teller's former stomping grounds, is now the site of a monstrous $4 billion-plus fusion project known as the National Ignition Facility. The idea is to compress and bottle up a pea-sized pellet of hydrogen by using a laser so huge that it would make any red-blooded moon-nuking megalomaniac proud. The putative goal is to generate more energy through fusing hydrogen atoms than the energy that was put in by the laser in the first place. And NIF scientists say that they'll achieve success in 2010 ... rather, they'll achieve success by October 2012 ... rather, NIF has succeeded at the crucial goal of showing that Livermore scientists' predictions of success were all dead wrong.

It's par for the course. Livermore has been predicting imminent success with laser fusion since the late 1970s?always failing miserably at fulfilling every prediction. In fact, critics (myself included) have long said that all the chin music about NIF being a source of fusion energy was nonsense. The laser is designed for studying nuclear weapons, not for generating energy. (And it won't even do the weapons job very well.) Yet scientists at Livermore keep pretending that their hyper-expensive laser research is somehow going to produce fusion energy, even though they've got to go through Rube Goldberg-esque variations of the idea to make it look like they've got a shot at success. (For those keeping score at home, the latest project, too, will be an abject failure if it ever gets funding.)

Livermore is far from alone when it comes to overselling fusion. Way back in 1955, before the invention of the laser, physicists were predicting that fusion energy would be on tap within 20 years. Back then, the only workable method of bottling up a cloud of million-degree hydrogen, short of setting off an atomic bomb, was to use giant magnets. At that time, a number of scientists around the world attempted to design machines that would heat and confine burning hydrogen clouds with powerful electromagnetic fields. They didn't work as predicted; even after decade upon decade of false starts, the magnetic bottles were just too leaky. Yet fusion energy was still always just around the next corner.

Magnetic fusion wasn't just for the Americans, but also for the Soviets, the Germans, the Japanese, the British?everybody who was anybody had a magnetic fusion program that would put power on the grid within the next few decades. At least this was the case until the 1985 Soviet-American Summit in Geneva, when Reagan and Gorbachev agreed that our countries would research fusion energy together. Within a few years, everybody who was anybody was now part of a big multibillion-dollar project to build a giant magnetic fusion bottle known as ITER.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=2b889d45fdd375ffd71542245453d1e3

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Google-FTC Antitrust Settlement Imminent, Microsoft Preemptively ...

Much is already known about the contours of the likely antitrust settlement between Google and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The terms of the settlement were previously ?leaked? (intentionally or otherwise) a couple of weeks ago and critics quickly berated the FTC as having ?rolled over.?

Broadly speaking, the rumors were that Google would make certain ?voluntary changes? and avoid a consent decree (mostly) or any formal finding of antitrust violations. The settlement was supposedly to be announced in mid-to-late December but was delayed amid harsh criticism the FTC received following these settlement leaks. It?s also being reported today that the FTC may be waiting for the European Commission to resolve its parallel inquiry and settlement negotiations with Google.

Regardless of what motivated the delay here?s what we understand and think is going to happen with the FTC settlement, which is now imminent:

• Opting out of snippets: publishers are going to get the broad ability to opt-out of snippets/content excerpts for specialized search results but still remain in the general index. This is much like what Yelp accomplished: remaining in the general index but denying Google the ability to include its content in local pages results. The model may be what Google currently does with News and opting out.
• An ads API: Google will likely enable ad campaigns to be easily ported (via API) to Microsoft?s adCenter or any other third party ad platform. This is a victory for Microsoft.
• Mobile patent licensing on ?FRAND? terms: see discussion below

The first two will probably come without the entry of any consent decree. Various Google critics, including Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner, argue that these ?voluntary commitments? may thus be unenforceable. However that?s not necessarily true.

Section 5 of the FTC Act could provide a basis for future enforcement if Google should fail to make good on its promises. Section 5 prohibits ?unfair methods of competition? and/or? ?unfair or deceptive acts or practices.? The FTC has used this section as the basis of enforcement actions against Google in the past. However without a consent decree the FTC would not be able to fine Google should it not live up to these ?voluntary agreements.?

A third part of the settlement (or perhaps an independent settlement) is expected to include Google?s agreement to license certain ?standards-essential? mobile patents, acquired along with Motorola, to third parties such as Apple, Nokia, Microsoft on ?fair and reasonable? (?FRAND?) terms. This could be perceived as a win for those competitors.

Google had been using mobile patents aggressively to try and block imports of competing products (i.e., Apple iPhone). The company will no longer be able to wield those patents as a ?sword? in the wake of the FTC settlement. In addition, the patents agreement could well come with a consent decree. A consent decree could be the basis of subsequent legal action or litigation and would enable the FTC to levy fines and penalties against Google if violated.

Still, assuming what I?ve said is basically correct, Google dodges a major bullet it would appear. Completely gone is the ?search bias? claim and any potential intervention or involvement with the SERP or Google?s algorithm. The search bias argument was always one of the hardest and most unconvincing parts of any potential case against Google ? though it?s the issue competitors probably care most about.

It remains to be seen what the Europeans do. Because of the greater discretion of their regulators they arguably have a stronger negotiating position than the FTC. The Europeans also seem more intent on exacting bigger concessions from Google than the FTC. Yet a full-blown antitrust action against the company in Europe is unlikely.

US States Attorneys General may still independently pursue antitrust actions against Google irrespective of any FTC settlement. Texas currently has an active antitrust investigation against the company and could later be joined by other states (e.g., New York, California Ohio, Oklahoma) in a combined multi-state action if there were enough legal and political will. Presumably the burdens of proof would be the same for the states as for the FTC in any such action.

Indeed, if the FTC ?lets Google off easy? you can expect Google?s rivals and critics to take the battle to the Attorneys General or possibly the US Department of Justice.

Postscript: Bloomberg reports the formal FTC-Google settlement announcement will come tomorrow:

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is poised to announce that Google has agreed to voluntarily change some business practices and settle allegations it misused patents to thwart competitors in smartphone technology, said the people, who asked not to be named because the decision isn?t public . .? .

As part of its voluntary concessions, Google will make changes in the way it uses content from other websites and allow advertisers to export data to other platforms, the people said.

Related Topics: Google: Antitrust | Google: Legal | Legal: Regulation | Top News

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Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-ftc-antitrust-settlement-imminent-microsoft-preemptively-objecting-143979

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Obama: A deal is in the making, but there's still work to do (Washington Bureau)

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Telepresence robots let employees 'beam' into work

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) ? Engineer Dallas Goecker attends meetings, jokes with colleagues and roams the office building just like other employees at his company in Silicon Valley.

But Goecker isn't in California. He's more than 2,300 miles away, working at home in Seymour, Indiana.

It's all made possible by the Beam ? a mobile video-conferencing machine that he can drive around the Palo Alto offices and workshops of Suitable Technologies. The 5-foot-tall device, topped with a large video screen, gives him a physical presence that makes him and his colleagues feel like he's actually there.

"This gives you that casual interaction that you're used to at work," Goecker said, speaking on a Beam. "I'm sitting in my desk area with everybody else. I'm part of their conversations and their socializing."

Suitable Technologies, which makes the Beam, is now one of more than a dozen companies that sell so-called telepresence robots. These remote-controlled machines are equipped with video cameras, speakers, microphones and wheels that allow users to see, hear, talk and "walk" in faraway locations.

More and more employees are working remotely, thanks to computers, smartphones, email, instant messaging and video-conferencing. But those technologies are no substitute for actually being in the office, where casual face-to-face conversations allow for easy collaboration and camaraderie.

Telepresence-robot makers are trying to bridge that gap with wheeled machines ? controlled over wireless Internet connections ? that give remote workers a physical presence in the workplace.

These robotic stand-ins are still a long way from going mainstream, with only a small number of organizations starting to use them. The machines can be expensive, difficult to navigate or even get stuck if they venture into areas with poor Internet connectivity. Stairs can be lethal, and non-techies might find them too strange to use regularly.

"There are still a lot of questions, but I think the potential is really great," said Pamela Hinds, co-director of Stanford University's Center on Work, Technology, & Organization. "I don't think face-to-face is going away, but the question is, how much face-to-face can be replaced by this technology?"

Technology watchers say these machines ? sometimes called remote presence devices ? could be used for many purposes. They could let managers inspect overseas factories, salespeople greet store customers, family members check on elderly relatives or art lovers tour foreign museums.

Some physicians are already seeing patients in remote hospitals with the RP-VITA robot co-developed by Santa-Barbara, Calif.,-based InTouch Health and iRobot, the Bedford, Mass.,-based maker of the Roomba vacuum.

The global market for telepresence robots is projected to reach $13 billion by 2017, said Philip Solis, research director for emerging technologies at ABI Research.

The robots have attracted the attention of Russian venture capitalist Dimitry Grishin, who runs a $25 million fund that invests in early-stage robotics companies.

"It's difficult to predict how big it will be, but I definitely see a lot of opportunity," Grishin said. "Eventually it can be in each home and each office."

His Grishin Robotics fund recently invested $250,000 in a startup called Double Robotics. The Sunnyvale, Calif.,-company started selling a Segway-like device called the Double that holds an Apple iPad, which has a built-in video-conferencing system called FaceTime. The Double can be controlled remotely from an iPad or iPhone.

So far, Double Robotics has sold more than 800 units that cost $1,999 each, said co-founder Mark DeVidts.

The Beam got its start as a side project at Willow Garage, a robotics company in Menlo Park where Goecker worked as an engineer.

A few years ago, he moved back to his native Indiana to raise his family, but he found it difficult to collaborate with engineering colleagues using existing video-conferencing systems.

"I was struggling with really being part of the team," Goecker said. "They were doing all sorts of wonderful things with robotics. It was hard for me to participate."

So Goecker and his colleagues created their own telepresence robot. The result: the Beam and a new company to develop and market it.

At $16,000 each, the Beam isn't cheap. But Suitable Technologies says it was designed with features that make "pilots" and "locals" feel the remote worker is physically in the room: powerful speakers, highly sensitive microphones and robust wireless connectivity.

The company began shipping Beams last month, mostly to tech companies with widely dispersed engineering teams, officials said.

"Being there in person is really complicated ? commuting there, flying there, all the different ways people have to get there. Beam allows you to be there without all that hassle," said CEO Scott Hassan, beaming in from his office at Willow Garage in nearby Menlo Park.

Not surprisingly, Suitable Technologies has fully embraced the Beam as a workplace tool. On any given day, up to half of its 25 employees "beam" into work, with employees on Beams sitting next to their flesh-and-blood colleagues and even joining them for lunch in the cafeteria.

Software engineer Josh Faust beams in daily from Hawaii, where he moved to surf, and plans to spend the winter hitting the slopes in Lake Tahoe. He can't play pingpong or eat the free, catered lunches in Palo Alto, but he otherwise feels like he's part of the team.

"I'm trying to figure out where exactly I want to live. This allows me to do that without any of the instability of trying to find a different job," Faust said, speaking on a Beam from Kaanapali, Hawaii. "It's pretty amazing."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/telepresence-robots-let-employees-beam-143529632--finance.html

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New, oddball state laws to take effect on Jan. 1

Many new, unusual state laws will take effect when the ball drops at midnight and millions of Americans ring in the New Year, including one that will limit the number of cats in a household.

Turns out 2013 will be unlucky for cat lovers in Wellington, Kan., where the city will be restricting the number of cats in a household to no more than four.

The law was put in place after 231 cats were sent to animal clinics in 2012, Wellington Police Chief Tracy Heath told the Wellington Daily News.

"Those are cats that go to the animal clinic, they're there for the allotted time and then, unfortunately, they are euthanized," Heath told the newspaper.

Another unusual law taking effect at midnight is Public Act 97-743 in Illinois. This law imposes a fine of $1,000 on anyone who pops a wheelie on a motorcycle while speeding. While this law might upset some motorcyclists, the state is now giving them a free pass to go through red lights.

Motorcycles are often not heavy enough to trigger magnetic sensors at traffic lights to inform them a vehicle has pulled up. Motorcyclists usually have to wait for a car to pull up before the light turns green.

The new bill states that after a "reasonable" amount of time, the motorcycle could pass the red light if the coast is clear. The law doesn't apply to cities where the population exceeds 2 million people.

Illinois is also imposing a law cracking down on those who posses, sell or distribute shark fins. For those that haven't looked at a map lately, Illinois is nowhere near an ocean.

Come 12:01 a.m. in Concord, Mass., plastic bottles will be considered contraband. Concord will be the first town in the nation to outlaw plastic bottles.

As of Jan. 1, it will be illegal to flash your headlights in Florida to warn drivers about a speeding trap set by police.

In California, more than 800 laws are about to take effect, including one that allows driverless vehicles on the road. But a human must be present in the passenger's seat of all computer-driven cars.

As for those Californians who are still driving, you can now whip out your proof of insurance on your smart phone if police pull you over.

"What a wonderful thing if you have your proof of insurance all the time," state resident Mike Dobson said. "Maybe we can have our driver's license on there, you know?"

Those who love deep fryers in North Carolina need to take into consideration that it's a misdemeanor to steal unused cooking oil, according to Torbett's Grease Law. It's a felony if the value of the stolen grease - or the grease plus its container - is worth more than $1,000.

If you want to stay out of trouble in Kentucky, don't release pigs into the wild. The state's growing population of feral pigs has caused officials to slap a fine on any person caught releasing hogs into the wild.

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Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/welcomes-oddball-state-laws-122832764--abc-news-topstories.html

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