Best Parenting Tweets: What Moms And Dads Said On Twitter This Week

It's always fun -- and a little bit scary -- to show off your former life as a non-parent to your children. Whether you're sharing school pictures or the wedding album, it's amazing to see what kids think of Mommy and Daddy before they were Mommy and Daddy. So what if one of piece of your history was appearing as the ultimate teen heroine in possibly the most classic 80s movie ever? Molly Ringwald answered that question for us this week when she tweeted, "Showing 'Pretty in Pink' to my nine year old for the first time. She's 'Team Duckie.'"

Clearly, we could stop right there and call our beloved brat-packer's statement the parenting tweet of the week, but many moms and dads were in top form on Twitter, thanks in part to Easter planning. Click through the gallery below to see our favorite quips and make sure to follow @HuffPostParents!

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/best-parenting-tweets_n_2981277.html

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Texas DA slain in his home; had armed himself

This undated photo taken from the Kaufman County, Texas, website shows Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. McLelland and his wife were found killed in their house, Saturday, March 30, 2013, two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said. (AP Photo/Kaufman County)

This undated photo taken from the Kaufman County, Texas, website shows Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland. McLelland and his wife were found killed in their house, Saturday, March 30, 2013, two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office, authorities said. (AP Photo/Kaufman County)

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes speaks at a news conference, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Kaufman, Texas. On Saturday, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their home. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

In this Saturday, March 30, 2013 photo, police block off Blarney Stone Road in Forney, Texas, where Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia McLelland were found dead in their home near Forney, Texas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Ian C. Bates) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY

In this Saturday, March 30, 2013 photo, caution tape surrounds the home of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and wife Cynthia McLelland who were found dead in their home near Forney, Texas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Ian C. Bates) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY

Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes, center, speaks at a news conference, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Kaufman, Texas. On Saturday, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were murdered in their home. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland took no chances after one of his assistant prosecutors was gunned down two months ago. McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere he went and was extra careful when answering the door at his home.

"I'm ahead of everybody else because, basically, I'm a soldier," the 23-year Army veteran said in an interview less than two weeks ago.

On Saturday, he and his wife were found shot to death in their rural home just outside the town of Forney, about 20 miles from Dallas.

While investigators gave no motive for the killings, Forney Mayor Darren Rozell said: "It appears this was not a random act."

"Everybody's a little on edge and a little shocked," he said.

The slayings came less than two weeks after Colorado's prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by an ex-convict, and a couple of months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot a block from his courthouse office. No arrests have been made in Hasse's slaying Jan. 31.

McLelland, 63, is the 13th prosecutor killed in the U.S. since the National Association of District Attorneys began keeping count in the 1960s.

Sheriff David Byrnes would not give details Sunday of how the killings unfolded and said there was nothing to indicate for certain whether the DA's slaying was connected to Hasse's.

El Paso County, Colo., sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Joe Roybal said investigators had found no evidence so far connecting the Texas killings to the Colorado case, but added: "We're examining all possibilities."

Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was killed March 19 when he answered the doorbell at his home outside Colorado Springs. Evan Spencer Ebel, a white supremacist and former Colorado inmate suspected of shooting Clements, died in a shootout with Texas deputies two days later about 100 miles from Kaufman.

McLelland himself, in an Associated Press interview shortly after the Colorado slaying, raised the possibility that Hasse was gunned down by a white supremacist gang.

The weekend slayings raised concerns for prosecutors across Texas, and some were taking extra security precautions. Byrnes said security would be increased at the courthouse in Kaufman but declined to say if or how other prosecutors in McLelland's office would be protected.

Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said he accepted the sheriff's offer of 24-hour security for him and his family after learning about the slayings, mostly over concerns for his family's safety. Anderson said also would take precautions at his Houston office, the largest one in Texas, which has more than 270 prosecutors.

"I think district attorneys across Texas are still in a state of shock," Anderson said Sunday.

McLelland, elected DA in 2010, said his office had prosecuted several cases against racist gangs, who have a strong presence around Kaufman County, a mostly rural area dotted with subdivisions, with a population of about 104,000.

"We put some real dents in the Aryan Brotherhood around here in the past year," he said.

In recent years, the DA's office also prosecuted a case in which a justice of the peace was found guilty of theft and burglary and another case in which a man was convicted of killing his former girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter.

McLelland said he carried a gun everywhere, even to walk his dog around town, a bedroom community for the Dallas area. He figured assassins were more likely to try to attack him outside. He said he had warned all his employees to be constantly on the alert.

"The people in my line of work are going to have to get better at it," he said of dealing with the danger, "because they're going to need it more in the future."

The number of attacks on prosecutors, judges and senior law enforcement officers in the U.S. has spiked in the past three years, according to Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the Santa Clara County, Calif., district attorney's office who tracks such cases.

For about a month after Hasse's slaying, sheriff's deputies were parked in the district attorney's driveway, said Sam Rosander, a McLelland neighbor.

The FBI and the Texas Rangers joined the investigation into the McLellands' deaths.

McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, 65, were the parents of two daughters and three sons. One son is a police officer in Dallas. The couple had moved into the home a few years ago, Rozell said.

"Real friendly, became part of our community quickly," Rozell said. "They were a really pleasant, happy couple."

___

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Michael Graczyk in Houston, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and P. Solomon Banda in Denver contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-31-District%20Attorney%20Dead-Texas/id-e209dfb33534498c96ae56a704381e76

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3 killed in 75-vehicle pileup at Virginia-NC line

GALAX, Va. (AP) ? About 75 vehicles crashed Sunday along a mountainous, foggy stretch of interstate near the Virginia-North Carolina border, killing three people and injuring more than 20 others, police said.

Traffic backed up for about 8 miles in the southbound lanes of I-77 in southwest Virginia. Authorities closed the northbound lanes so fire trucks, ambulances and police could get to the wreck.

A series of crashes began around 1:15 p.m. Sunday in the area of Fancy Gap Mountain. There was heavy fog at the time and photos of the scene after the accident showed poor visibility.

"This mountain is notorious for fog banks. They have advance signs warning people. But the problem is, people are seeing well and suddenly they're in a fog bank," said Glen Sage of the American Red Cross office in Galax.

The Red Cross was setting up a shelter at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post for people stranded by the pileup.

Several vehicles caught fire in the wreck, but the blaze was put out, Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.

About 10 people were taken to Northern Hospital of Surry County in Mount Airy, N.C., for mostly minor injuries, said Carol Porey, a supervisor there. The extent of the other injuries wasn't immediately clear.

Authorities did not know how long the interstate would be closed. Tow trucks worked to clear some of the wrecked cars and trucks.

Sage said school buses took about two dozen people to the shelter and more were expected. The site was set up to accommodate 100 people.

Relatives likely would pick up local residents brought to the shelter. People passing through might need to stay overnight, he said.

Motorists were advised to seek alternate routes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-killed-75-vehicle-pileup-virginia-nc-line-195155232.html

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Singer Michelle Shocked sits in at canceled show

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) ? Face covered and mouth taped shut, alternative folk and rock singer Michelle Shocked staged a sit in outside a Santa Cruz nightclub that canceled her show because she made an anti-gay slur at a San Francisco club earlier this month.

The tape across her mouth said "Silenced By Fear." When asked a question, Shocked shook her head vigorously and strummed her guitar while seated on the ground outside popular music venue Moe's Alley. She pointed to a sign inviting people to pick up a Sharpie marker and write on the white disposable safety suit she was wearing.

Earlier in the day, she had tweeted her plans: "Moe's in S Cruz tonight ok? Its an art project 'My Summer Vacation' I want your autograph. Bring Sharpie."

Moe's Alley owner Bill Welch, who talked with Shocked as she strummed her guitar outside his club, had replaced her with bands Beaver Fever and Frootie Flavors.

"We will not be bashing Michelle Shocked," he said. "Rather we will celebrate music, diversity and send some healing Santa Cruz energy her way."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singer-michelle-shocked-sits-canceled-show-033230066.html

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Lindsay Lohan: Under Table, Wasted at Brazil Nightclub

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/lindsay-lohan-under-table-wasted-at-brazil-nightclub/

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Reports of global web slowdown amidst mass cyber-attack overblown

Published time: March 29, 2013 00:11

AFP Photo / Frederic J. Brown

The vast cyber-attack ? dubbed by many to be the biggest in history ? might have caused problems for the anti-spam group it targeted, but has done little to slow down the World Wide Web, experts told RT.

On Wednesday, the non-profit group Spamhaus reportedly suffered a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack which at times peaked at more than 300 billion bits per second (300Gbps) of data ? three times higher than the record attack of 100 Gbps.

Millions reportedly experienced delays with services such as the Netflix video-streaming service, while other sites were said to be unavailable.

Experts spoke of web congestion which could bring banking and email systems to a grinding halt around the world.

Steve Linford, chief executive for Spamhaus, told the BBC on Wednesday that this scale of attack could topple government Internet infrastructure.

"If you aimed this at Downing Street they would be down instantly," he said. "They would be completely off the Internet."

The Dutch-based webhost CyberBunker, which prides itself on providing bandwidth to everything but child pornography and terror-related content, allegedly began carrying out the attack on March 19 in retaliation for being put on Spamhaus? real-time blacklist of sites to be blocked for spreading spam.

However, the scale of the actual attack has come under increased scrutiny as many of the doomsday reports failed to hold water.

?Most users won?t notice anything?

Kaspesky Labs Global Research & Analysis Team told RT that ?the data flow generated by such an attack may affect intermediate network nodes when it passes them, thus impeding operations of normal web services that have no relation to Spamhaus or Cyberbunker.?

However, as the DDoS attack was directed at a specific target and does not directly impact critical infrastructure, ?the majority of global internet users are not likely to notice any disruptions that resulted from this attack. Therefore, the operation is definitely not as grave as it may sound,? Kaspersky continued.

For a cyber-attack to truly ripple across the entire Internet, it would have to occur on a scale which would dwarf the targeted action against Spamhaus, cyber security expert and campaign manager for the UK Pirate Party Andy Halsall told RT.

?A cyber-attack that would have an impact on the entire Internet would really be shocking. But we have to remember that the Internet has a vast amount of capacity. This attack does appear to be massive, but it?s massive on a scale that it?s hitting the organization Spamhaus and causing them some problems ? I know they have a good distributed network ? but it isn?t having the global impact that some people are suggesting it might be having.?

While banks in Europe had reportedly suffered a slowdown in online services as a result of the DDoS attack, Halsall says the actual evidence does not point to any such phenomenon.

?From what I?ve seen on UK traffic, it doesn?t look like UK traffic is massively above what we would expect it to be. However, there are some reports that the attack is being carried out through UK routers and machines which have been hijacked. If that?s the case, then there must be some minimal impact on other users on those networks. But it certainly isn?t having the kind of global impact that some people are reporting. 300Gbps, which is what has been quoted in the media, is a huge amount of traffic, but it?s not a huge amount of traffic in the scale of the entire Internet.?

There have also been no reported spikes or dips in global Internet traffic which would indicate that the ongoing cyber-attack on Spamhaus has had any significant global impact, Sam Biddle wrote in Gizmodo, citing the latest data available from Internet Traffic report.

Biddle further says that reports of massive Netflix outages never in fact materialized.

PR Stunt?

Following the initial accusations leveled at CyberBunker, a spokesman for the firm Sven Olaf Kamphuis told RT in an exclusive interview that the allegations of web access slowing down world-wide may have resulted from a PR stunt effort by a web performance and security company CloudFlare, which had intended to help Spamhaus deal with the problem.

?That was basically just CloudFlare putting itself in the middle,? he explained. ?CloudFlare took on a customer that was under attack in an attempt to make good PR for itself, and it kind of backfired,? Kamphuis said.

?CloudFlare highly underestimated the attack or highly overestimated their capacity and basically their PR stunt worked against them and they caused their other customers collateral damage, they did that themselves.?

As Biddle points out, it was in fact CloudFlare and Spamhaus who were in fact responsible for ?the sky-falling Internet weather report.? CloudFlare, incidentally, is the ?party that stands to profit directly from you being worried that the internet as we know it is under siege,? he argued.

Emboldening hackers

While the peak sizes of the attack against Spamhaus have been noted for their historical levels, Kaspersky said that ?DDoS attacks of this type are growing in terms of quantity as well as scale? partly because of ?the development of the Internet itself (network capacity and computing power).?

Kaspersky also noted that ?failures in investigating and prosecuting individuals behind past attacks? had emboldened cyber-culprits.

Halsall concurred that the year-on-year growth in these attacks reflected increased broadband speeds and ?the capability of the capacity of the hosts themselves which are being compromised."

?If you think about a home computer, two or three years ago it might have had a two megabit connection. Now it might have a hundred megabit connection. That gives hackers and attackers a lot more bandwidth to play with.?

Halsall argues that a primary feature of the Internet as it currently exists facilitates the types of attacks like the one currently targeting Spamhaus.

?The fundamental point is that the Internet wasn?t built with security in mind in a lot of areas. DNS (Domain Name System), the system that?s being used for this attack, has been seen as inherently insecure for a long time. But the technology?s changing. It will take a long time to fix the issues that we do have, but we will get there as these attacks increase, as the kinds of things we?ve seen over the last week happen. People will realize it is important and a priority to deal with them.?

A rash of cyber-attacks has recently made global headlines, bringing the issue to the forefront of both business and governments.

In one case, the hacktivist group Anonymous managed to take down the CIA website, as well as intercept a conversation between the FBI and Scotland Yard, which they later published online.

Financial institutions often become targets for cyber-attacks as well. The websites of several US banks were downed in DDOS attacks, including high-profile attacks against JPMorgan Chase in March and Bank of America in February.?

On Tuesday, Wells Fargo became the latest bank to be targeted by a "denial-of-service" attack, as customers were prevented from accessing services.

The attacks on banks are reportedly becoming more sophisticated and complex, prompting financial institutions to invest more in web security Meanwhile, banks insist that their clients? private information is safe.

?In terms of infrastructural damage, cyber-attacks now are as effective as the weapons of mass destruction, only with one exception: they are cheaper and they are impossible to trace,? RT`s Aleksey Yaroshevsky said.

Earlier this month, top US intelligence officials deemed Cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage a greater potential threat to US national security than Al Qaeda.

Source: http://rt.com/news/web-slowdown-spamhaus-cyberattack-011/

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Risk and reward at the dawn of civilian drone age

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The dawn of the age of aerial civilian drones is rich with possibilities for people far from the war zones where they made their devastating mark as a weapon of choice against terrorists.

The unmanned, generally small aircraft can steer water and pesticides to crops with precision, saving farmers money while reducing environmental risk. They can inspect distant bridges, pipelines and power lines, and find hurricane victims stranded on rooftops.

Drones ? some as tiny as a hummingbird ? promise everyday benefits as broad as the sky is wide. But the drone industry and those eager to tap its potential are running headlong into fears the peeping-eye, go-anywhere technology will be misused.

Since January, drone-related legislation has been introduced in more than 30 states, largely in response to privacy concerns. Many of the bills would prevent police from using drones for broad public surveillance or to watch individuals without sufficient grounds to believe they were involved in crimes.

Stephen Ingley, executive director of the Airborne Law Enforcement Association, says resistance to the technology is frustrating. Drones "clearly have so much potential for saving lives, and it's a darn shame we're having to go through this right now," he said.

But privacy advocates say now is the time to debate the proper use of civilian drones and set rules, before they become ubiquitous. Sentiment for curbing domestic drone use has brought the left and right together perhaps more than any other recent issue.

"The thought of government drones buzzing overhead and constantly monitoring the activities of law-abiding citizens runs contrary to the notion of what it means to live in a free society," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said at a recent hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

With military budgets shrinking, drone makers have been counting on the civilian market to spur the industry's growth. Some companies that make drones or supply support equipment and services say the uncertainty has caused them to put U.S. expansion plans on hold, and they are looking overseas for new markets.

"Our lack of success in educating the public about unmanned aircraft is coming back to bite us," said Robert Fitzgerald, CEO of the BOSH Group of Newport News, Va., which provides support services to drone users.

"The U.S. has been at the lead of this technology a long time," he said. "If our government holds back this technology, there's the freedom to move elsewhere ... and all of a sudden these things will be flying everywhere else and competing with us."

Law enforcement is expected to be one of the bigger initial markets for civilian drones. Last month, the FBI used drones to maintain continuous surveillance of a bunker in Alabama where a 5-year-old boy was being held hostage.

In Virginia, the state General Assembly passed a bill that would place a two-year moratorium on the use of drones by state and local law enforcement. The measure is supported by groups as varied as the American Civil Liberties Union on the left and the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation on the right.

Gov. Bob McDonnell is proposing amendments that would retain the broad ban on spy drones but allow specific exemptions when lives are in danger, such as for search-and rescue operations. The legislature reconvenes on April 3 to consider the matter.

Seattle abandoned its drone program after community protests in February. The city's police department had purchased two drones through a federal grant without consulting the city council.

In Congress, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-chairman of the House's privacy caucus, has introduced a bill that prohibits the Federal Aviation Administration from issuing drone licenses unless the applicant provides a statement explaining who will operate the drone, where it will be flown, what kind of data will be collected, how the data will be used, whether the information will be sold to third parties and the period for which the information will be retained.

Privacy advocates acknowledge the many benign uses of drones. In Mesa County, Colo., for example, an annual landfill survey using manned aircraft cost about $10,000. The county recently performed the same survey using a drone for about $200.

Drones can help police departments find missing people, reconstruct traffic accidents and act as lookouts for SWAT teams. Real estate agents can have them film videos of properties and surrounding neighborhoods, offering clients a better-than-bird's-eye view though one that neighbors may not wish to have shared.

"Any legislation that restricts the use of this kind of capability to serve the public is putting the public at risk," said Steve Gitlin, vice president of AeroVironment, a leading maker of smaller drones.

Yet the virtues of drones can also make them dangerous, privacy advocates say. The low cost and ease of use may encourage police and others to conduct the kind of continuous or intrusive surveillance that might otherwise be impractical.

Drones can be equipped with high-powered cameras and listening devices, and infrared cameras that can see people in the dark.

"High-rise buildings, security fences or even the walls of a building are not barriers to increasingly common drone technology," Amie Stepanovich, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Council's surveillance project, told the Senate panel.

Civilian drone use is limited to government agencies and public universities that have received a few hundred permits from the FAA. A law passed by Congress last year requires the FAA to open U.S. skies to widespread drone flights by 2015, but the agency is behind schedule and it's doubtful it will meet that deadline. Lawmakers and industry officials have complained for years about the FAA's slow progress.

The FAA estimates that within five years of gaining broader access about 7,500 civilian drones will be in use.

Although the Supreme Court has not dealt directly with drones, it has OK'd aerial surveillance without warrants in drug cases in which officers in a plane or helicopter spotted marijuana plants growing on a suspect's property.

But in a case involving the use of ground-based equipment, the court said police generally need a warrant before using a thermal imaging device to detect hot spots in a home that might indicate that marijuana plants are being grown there.

In some states economic concerns have trumped public unease. In Oklahoma, an anti-drone bill was shelved at the request of Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, who was concerned it might hinder growth of the state's drone industry. The North Dakota state Senate killed a drone bill in part because it might impede the state's chances of being selected by the Federal Aviation Administration as one of six national drone test sites, which could generate local jobs.

A bill that would have limited the ability of state and local governments to use drones died in the Washington legislature. The measure was opposed by the Boeing Co., which employs more than 80,000 workers in the state and which has a subsidiary, Insitu, that's a leading military drone manufacturer.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., recently drew attention to the domestic use of drones when he staged a Senate filibuster, demanding to know whether the president has authority to use weaponized drones to kill Americans on American soil. The White House said no, if the person isn't engaged in combat. Industry officials worry that the episode could temporarily set back civilian drone use.

"The opposition has become very loud," said Gitlin of AeroVironment, "but we are confident that over time the benefits of these solutions are going to far outweigh the concerns, and they'll become part of normal life in the future."

___

Associated Press writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-29-Everyday%20Drones/id-2898ef918ddb4166839776f7d86a1295

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Total Recall: Movies Based on Toys and Games

News ? Columns ? Total Recall ? Total Recall: Movies Based on Toys and Games

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With G.I. Joe: Retaliation hitting theaters, we look at some memorable movies based on children's playthings.

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Ariana Grande 'The Way' Video: Singer Releases Music Vid For New Track (WATCH)

Earlier this week, Ariana Grande dropped her new single, "The Way" featuring Mac Miller. Fortunately for fans, the "Sam & Cat" actress and singer didn't make them wait long to watch the video for her new single. She released the fun and flirty video today, after the song reached the top spot on iTunes' list of top downloaded songs. Love the balloons!

What do you think about Ariana's new video? Sound off in the comments below or tweet @HuffPostTeen!

[h/t Teen.com]

Also on HuffPost:

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Earlier this week, Ariana Grande dropped her new single, "The Way" featuring Mac Miller. The "Victorious" actress and singer didn't make us wait long to watch the video for her new single -- she relea...

Earlier this week, Ariana Grande dropped her new single, "The Way" featuring Mac Miller. The "Victorious" actress and singer didn't make us wait long to watch the video for her new single -- she relea...

Filed by Krystie Yandoli ?|?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/ariana-grande-the-way-singer-_n_2971697.html

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GameStick dev unit found at GDC 2013, we go eyes-on

GameStick is here ... er, sort of. The development units are at least here at GDC 2013, quietly hanging out behind a nondescript computer monitor running a few Android games paired with a Nyko wireless controller. That's right, it wasn't running with the proprietary GameStick controller, but a third-party wireless -- we'll go hands-on with the company's internally built controller later this evening, and thusly we didn't want to offer a half-impression with the third-party units available on the show floor. Stay tuned for more, and take a gander at the gallery below for now.

Gallery: GameStick Dev Unit (GDC 2013)

Filed under: Gaming, HD

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Heat start to move on after streak ends

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat forward Shane Battier grimaces after he was called for a foul during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Miami Heat forward LeBron James, center, and guard Mario Chalmers, right, listen to guard Ray Allen during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Their winning streak finally over, the Miami Heat did on Thursday what they had planned to do all along.

They took the day off.

While the circus atmosphere around the team may slow down now ? until the playoffs start, anyway ? the way the reigning NBA champions go about their business over the final 11 games of the regular season probably will not. Miami's epic, historic, sometimes-mindboggling 27-game winning streak ended with a 101-97 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night, and Heat guard Dwyane Wade was among those sounding absolutely relieved afterward.

"It really didn't matter to us," Wade said. "If you get it, it's awesome. If you don't, we still won 27 games in a row. That's pretty awesome. So, we really weren't like, 'We've got to get that record.' Not at all. And now that it's over, I'm glad it's over."

Next up: Friday night at New Orleans, where the Heat will try to return to their winning ways.

Miami's quest for NBA history ended with the Heat six games shy of matching the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers for the league's longest winning streak. The Lakers will keep their record, but the biggest Lakers star of this generation offered the Heat plenty of respect when their run was over.

"I think just as a student of the game, as a fan of the game, you appreciate those kind of streaks and you realize how difficult it is to put together that big of a streak," Lakers star Kobe Bryant said after learning of the Heat loss. "Obviously the Lakers winning 33 in a row was phenomenal, but the Heat's one was just as impressive."

Still, the Heat insist they can get better.

When Indiana beat the Heat on Feb. 1, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra's postgame theme was that his club had to get better. Nearly two months later, when the Heat streak ended in Chicago, much of Spoelstra's postgame remarks had the same theme.

Players understood his point.

"At the end of the day, a win is a win in our league," said reigning MVP LeBron James, who averaged exactly 27 points per game during the 27-game winning streak. "We've gotten better throughout the season. Each and every month we've improved. We've started from behind some games, but for the most part we've played some great basketball. We're not a team that builds bad habits. That's not even who we are so we're not worried about that."

No matter how they did it, no matter how many double-digit deficits they erased or fourth-quarter comebacks they pulled off, the bottom line was Miami enjoyed 7? weeks of dominance.

Entering Thursday, 10 NBA teams hadn't won 27 games yet this season.

"Really proud of the grind of the last few weeks from my guys," Miami forward Shane Battier, who was part of a 32-game win streak at Duke, 22 with the Houston Rockets and now 27 with the Heat, wrote on Twitter early Thursday. "The focus and effort (and luck) was phenomenal."

Battier closed that tweet with two hashtagged words ? onward and upwards.

Whether it was because they were revered or reviled, the Heat probably got more eyeballs on NBA regular-season basketball than any team had in some time, with people watching to root for either the streak continuing or the streak ending.

They were must-see TV, as proven by national networks like ESPN and NBA TV scrambling to pick up Heat games as the streak rolled along. ESPN said the overnight rating for Heat-Bulls was the fifth-best of any regular-season game ever shown on the network.

Media coverage was as intense as any time during the Big Three era in Miami. On Monday in Orlando, the visiting locker room was overwhelmed by reporters. And on Wednesday in Chicago, Wade freely said he was ready for the circus to end.

"I don't know who half you people are," Wade said.

For those who still need streaks to follow, there's plenty of options.

Women's basketball is chock-full of them right now, with Baylor (32), Notre Dame (28) and Delaware (27) all taking streaks that at least match the Heat run into NCAA regional games this weekend. The NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins were seeking for a 14th straight win against Winnipeg on Thursday night. In men's college basketball, Louisville takes a 12-game winning streak into its Midwest Regional semifinal against Oregon on Friday night.

As far as the NBA goes, the longest current winning streak now belongs to the New York Knicks ? a mere six games.

What the Heat did obviously won't be exceeded this season, and probably not for a while. If Miami won every game left on its schedule and swept all four playoff series, they would end the year with another 27-game winning streak.

Don't count on that one happening. Bryant may have tipped his cap to the Heat, but not all the Lakers were exactly heartbroken that their franchise will keep the record.

"We kept the streak," Lakers center Pau Gasol said. "And it's about time that Miami lost."

During the streak ? starting from the moment Miami lost in Indiana on Feb. 1 to the final buzzer in Chicago ? every other NBA team lost at least five times. Nearly two-thirds of the league lost at least 10 games. Orlando lost more than anyone else, falling on 23 occasions. Maybe the biggest sign of Miami's dominance was that 12 teams endured more defeats during the streak than the Heat had lost all season.

Starting Friday, they begin another chapter.

"Now that it's over," Wade said, "let's look back on it as something that was great."

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-28-BKN-Heat-Streak-Over/id-7417fe43e81b43f785e2a9be6957ce0c

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Lakers World Peace out 6 weeks, needs knee surgery

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace will have surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee and miss the next six weeks.

The Lakers announced the timeline on Wednesday. World Peace is scheduled to have surgery Thursday and he won't be ready when the playoffs begin next month, if the Lakers reach the postseason.

They are in eighth place in the West, just a game ahead of Utah and Dallas for the final playoff spot.

World Peace was injured on Monday night against Golden State. He is averaging 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds.

D'Antoni says Jodie Meeks will start Wednesday night against Minnesota in World Peace's place. That means Kobe Bryant will be the small forward.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lakers-world-peace-6-weeks-needs-knee-surgery-193802928--spt.html

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Best Buy founder returns as chairman emeritus

(Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze, who left the board last year and later failed in his effort to take the company private, will rejoin the retailer as chairman emeritus and add two of his former colleagues to the board.

Schulze has nominated former Chief Executive Brad Anderson and former Chief Operating Officer Al Lenzmeier to the board, Best Buy said on Monday. Schulze and the company had a prior agreement that let him nominate two directors.

Schulze, who founded Best Buy in 1966, resigned as chairman last June after an internal probe found he had not informed the board of allegations that former Chief Executive Brian Dunn was having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee.

Schulze then tried to take Best Buy private, an effort that fell apart earlier this year.

Best Buy's shares rose 1.1 percent to $23.04 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/29f7b6ce/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cid0C513180A0A4/story01.htm

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AMD unveils game streaming platform with Radeon Sky Graphics

AMD's taken some time at GDC to unveil Radeon Sky Graphics cards, the backbone of its cloud platform that streams games à la OnLive to PCs, Smart TVs, tablets and mobile devices. According to the outfit, the silicon is built upon its Graphics Core Next architecture, and is powered by its RapidFire tech to provide a "highly efficient and responsive" experience. Other details regarding the initiative are sparse, but it sounds like developers and cloud gaming companies will have to enlist the hardware before gamers can reap its benefits.

Update: Joystiq's gotten word that the Radeon Sky series includes a trio of enterprise-grade graphics cards, with the top-of-the-line Sky 900 model toting 6GB of GDDR5 memory, 3,584 stream processors and sporting a memory bandwidth of 480GB per second.

[Image credit: mnsc, Flickr]

Filed under: Gaming, AMD

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4YVUoL5xcV4/

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Official: US to bring Arab states into peace push

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? The U.S. is seeking to bring Arab countries into efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that broke down more than four years ago, a senior Palestinian official said Monday.

However, gaps are wide on the terms of renewing talks. The Palestinians say Israel must freeze settlement building on lands it captured in 1967 before any negotiations can resume. Israel says the issue of settlements can be addressed in negotiations.

During a visit to the region last week, President Barack Obama sided with the Israeli view.

It is not clear how the U.S. can bring the Palestinians back to the table without a settlement freeze.

Arab countries are now being asked to help, said Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

"U.S. efforts will increase in coming weeks and will include other Arab parties, such as Jordan and Egypt," Abbed-Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio, adding that an Arab League delegation is to visit Washington as part of these efforts.

However, he said there would be no flexibility on Palestinian demands for a settlement freeze.

"For us, the important thing is the substance, such as the full settlement freeze and the recognition of the 1967 borders," he said.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem ? territories Israel captured in 1967 ? but are ready to negotiate border changes, provided the 1967 frontier is the baseline.

Palestinian officials say they cannot return to talks without such a clear framework, arguing that open-ended negotiations will simply provide diplomatic cover to Israel to keep expanding settlements.

"We fear they (the Israelis) would waste time by getting us into a bargaining process over details and steps here and there, and in this way would waste two to three years and then get us to wait for a new U.S. administration," Abed-Rabbo said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is willing to resume talks immediately. However, he has said he will not relinquish control over east Jerusalem and has refused to recognize the 1967 lines as a starting point for talks.

For 10 months during his previous term, Netanyahu curbed settlement building as part of a U.S. push to bring the Palestinians back to the table, but negotiations never got off the ground.

Successive Israeli governments have built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, now home to more than half a million Israelis. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, dismantling almost two dozen settlements there, but sharply restricts access to the territory.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that the Palestinians would wait two to three months to see if a new U.S. push to restart talks will yield results.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-us-bring-arab-states-peace-push-074420439.html

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Arab League gives Syrian seat to opposition

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? In a symbolic blow to embattled Syrian President Bashah Assad, senior Arab diplomats say the Arab League has decided to transfer Syria's seat to opposition forces.

The decision is unlikely to mean much in practical terms to Assad's regime, which has already been abandoned by many Arab states that are siding with rebel forces. But it reflects pressure by key rebel backers ? Qatar and Saudi Arabia ? for a show of Arab solidarity against Assad at a two-day Arab League Summit beginning Tuesday in Doha.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr Kamel said Sunday that Syrian opposition can now send an envoy to the summit.

Earlier, Qatar's prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, urged the new head of the Syrian opposition's interim government, Ghassan Hitto, to attend.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-24-ML-Qatar-Arab-League/id-123299a08a9f4f0c964b4dce69a0d045

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Scientists use DNA to quickly unravel relationship between plants and insects

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Studying the relationship between plants and the insects that feed on them is an arduous task, as it must be done through direct observation. It can take years for a researcher to fully understand the diets of a community of herbivorous insects in a tropical rain forest. Now, five Smithsonian scientists are paving a fast track using the DNA found inside the insects' stomachs, potentially turning years of research into months. This method will help scientists understand the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions more efficiently.

Their findings are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Plants and insects comprise about 50 percent of all known species on Earth, forming the critical foundation of biodiversity in most terrestrial ecosystems. This study focused on 20 species of rolled leaf beetles in Costa Rica and 33 species of flowering plants in the order Zingiberales that the beetles eat and lay eggs on almost exclusively.

Using specialized DNA extraction methods the scientists obtained a mix of DNA both from the actual insect and from the insect's stomach contents. They used DNA markers specific to animals to obtain DNA barcodes for each insect species and markers specific to plants to identify the plant species in each insect's diet.

"What makes this study unique is that we developed DNA extraction techniques and full DNA barcode libraries that allowed us to identify host plants to the species level," said Carlos Garc?a-Robledo, a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian and lead author of the study. "Another unique feature of this study is that we invested several years in the field identifying the diets of insect herbivores using direct observations. This baseline data allowed us for the first time to test the accuracy of DNA barcodes to identify insect diets."

Matched against the data gathered from prior direct observation, the information derived from this DNA stomach-content study was nearly identical, yet had taken only fraction of the time and effort.

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Journal Reference:

1. Carlos Garc?a-Robledo, David L. Erickson, Charles L. Staines, Terry L. Erwin, W. John Kress. Tropical Plant?Herbivore Networks: Reconstructing Species Interactions Using DNA Barcodes. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e52967 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052967

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/0myMhE1ClYY/130325160524.htm

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Obama calls for April debate on immigration bill

President Barack Obama greets new US citizens during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama greets new US citizens during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama watches as the Oath of Allegiance is administered at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama listens as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivers the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. At right is Alejandro Mayorkas, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama challenged Congress Monday to "finish the job" of finalizing legislation aimed at overhauling the nation's immigration system.

With members of the House and Senate away on spring break, Obama made his most substantive remarks on the difficult issue in more than a month, saying he expects lawmakers to take up debate on a measure quickly and that he hopes to sign it into law as soon as possible.

"We've known for years that our immigration system is broken," the president said at a citizenship ceremony at the White House. "After avoiding the problem for years, the time has come to fix it once and for all."

The president spoke at a ceremony for 28 people from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, China and Mexico. Thirteen of the new citizens are active duty service members in the U.S. military. The oath of allegiance was administered by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

While Obama has hosted citizenship ceremonies in previous years, Monday's event was laced with politics, given the ongoing debate over immigration reform on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of eight senators is close to finishing draft work on a bill that would dramatically reshape the U.S. immigration and employment landscape, putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. The measure also would allow tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country.

The president applauded the congressional effort so far, but pressed lawmakers to wrap up their discussions quickly.

"We've got a lot of white papers and studies," Obama said. "We've just got to, at this point, work up the political courage to do what's required."

Immigration shot to the forefront of Obama's domestic agenda following the November election. Hispanics made up 10 percent of the electorate and overwhelmingly backed Obama, in part because of the tough stance on immigration that Republicans took during the campaign.

The election results spurred Republicans to tackle immigration reform for the first time since 2007 in an effort to increase the party's appeal to Hispanics and keep the GOP competitive in national elections.

Obama and the bipartisan Senate group are in lockstep on the key principles of a potential immigration bill, including a pathway to citizenship, strengthening the legal immigration system, and cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants. The White House has largely backed the Senate process, but says it has its own immigration bill ready if the debate on Capitol Hill stalls.

7/87/8?

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-25-Obama-Immigration/id-a072c8b544f046e99fa2d21561e05d4f

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