Monday, December 31, 2012

Haiti's president performed a duet with Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias in a cele...

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Books on Science: ?Discord? ? Sound, Noise and Our Elusive Quest for Quiet

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In his new book, ?Discord,? Mike Goldsmith offers surprising facts about sound and traces our relationship with noise through the centuries.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/discord-sound-noise-and-our-elusive-quest-for-quiet.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Hugo Chavez Condition 'Delicate' After 'New ... - Business Insider

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Hugo Chavez has suffered "new complications" following his cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said Sunday, describing the Venezuelan leader's condition as delicate.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details about the complications, which he said came amid a respiratory infection. Maduro spoke in a televised address from Cuba.

Maduro had arrived in Havana on Saturday in a sudden and unexpected trip to visit Chavez. He said on Sunday that he would remain in Havana "for the coming hours" but didn't specify how long.

The vice president spoke with a solemn expression alongside Chavez's eldest daughter, Rosa, and son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, as well as Attorney General Cilia Flores.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hugo-chavez-condition-delicate-after-new-complications-following-surgery-in-cuba-2012-12

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Video: Florida State's Lonnie Pryor

Heather Dinich
Heather Dinich

Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.

Andrea Adelson
Andrea Adelson

Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/50588/video-florida-states-lonnie-pryor

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Does Photographic Memory Exist?

Image: JAMIE CARROLL iStockphoto

  • How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

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I developed what appears to be a photographic memory when I was 16 years old. Does this kind of memory truly exist, and, if so, how did I develop it?

?Peter Gordon, Scotland

Barry Gordon, a professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (and no relation), offers an explanation:

The intuitive notion of a ?photographic? memory is that it is just like a photograph: you can retrieve it from your memory at will and examine it in detail, zooming in on different parts. But a true photographic memory in this sense has never been proved to exist.

Most of us do have a kind of photographic memory, in that most people's memory for visual material is much better and more detailed than our recall of most other kinds of material. For instance, most of us remember a face much more easily than the name associated with that face. But this isn't really a photographic memory; it just shows us the normal difference between types of memory.

Even visual memories that seem to approach the photographic ideal are far from truly photographic. These memories seem to result from a combination of innate abilities, combined with zealous study and familiarity with the material, such as the Bible or fine art.

Sorry to disappoint further, but even an amazing memory in one domain, such as vision, is not a guarantee of great memory across the board. That must be rare, if it occurs at all. A winner of the memory Olympics, for instance, still had to keep sticky notes on the refrigerator to remember what she had to do during the day.

So how does an exceptional, perhaps photographic, memory come to be? It depends on a slew of factors, including our genetics, brain development and experiences. It is difficult to disentangle memory abilities that appear early from those cultivated through interest and training. Most people who have exhibited truly extraordinary memories in some domain have seemed to possess them all their lives and honed them further through practice.

Various parts of the brain mature at different times, and adolescence is a major time for such changes. It's possible Mr. Gordon's ability took a big jump around his 16th birthday, but it's also possible he noticed it only then. Mr. Gordon might want to have formal testing, to see just how good his memory is and in what areas. Then we can debate the nature-nurture question from harder evidence.

This article was originally published with the title I developed what appears to be a photographic memory when I was 16 years old. Does this kind of memory truly exist, and, if so, how did I develop it?.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=175e21dc78e8e1e980a9e44c0b10c953

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Immigration reform: Is 'amnesty' a possibility now?

Congress seems primed to address immigration reform in 2013, and even a path to citizenship ? which critics deride as 'amnesty' for illegals ? may be on the table. The shift in the national conversation came suddenly. Here's why.?

By David Grant,?Staff writer / December 28, 2012

Maurcio Martell and his family stand on the porch of their home in Bessemer, Ala. The Martells are among some 12 million illegal immigrants living in the US whose lives could be affected if Congress takes up immigration reform in 2013.

Dave Martin/AP

Enlarge

The momentum of President Obama's resounding victory in November's election ? with a big push from Latinos and other minority groups ? has catapulted immigration policy to the top of Washington's 2013 agenda, making reform not only possible but also likely.

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The shift in the political conversation has been so dramatic that even a pathway to citizenship for some of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States ? long rejected out of hand by most Republicans and some Democrats ? could be part of the deal.

The task is momentous. It involves weighing the wishes of industries from agriculture to high-tech, as well as the sensitivities of opening the door to immigrant workers at a time when unemployment remains high.

The past only reinforces the potential difficulties ahead. In 1986, Republicans felt betrayed when Democrats stripped the enforcement provisions from a bill that offered citizenship to some 3 million illegal immigrants. By 2005, the issue had become so politically toxic to conservatives that they blocked President George W. Bush's push for a new round of immigration reform.

Yet with Election 2012 highlighting the electoral consequences of America's changing demographics, the next year appears to be ripe for compromise. How reforms might take shape could be a major point of contention between the parties, but lawmakers on both sides suddenly see an opportunity for what could be their most expansive achievement of 2013.

"It has to be in 2013," says Rep. Ra?l Labrador (R) of Idaho, an immigration lawyer who thundered into Congress in the tea party wave of 2010. "If we wait until 2014, it's going to be election time. And you know how efficient we are here during election time."

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill. In the Senate, a "Gang of Eight" ? led by longtime immigration reformers Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) of New York and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina ? has added freshman Sens. Michael Bennett (D) of Colorado and Mike Lee (R) of Utah, while potential 2016 presidential aspirant Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida leads his own initiative.

1?|?2?|?3?|?4?|?5

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/w_nTLQRpfSA/Immigration-reform-Is-amnesty-a-possibility-now

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News Corp buys regional sports channel in Ohio

(Reuters) - News Corp said on Friday it bought SportsTime Ohio, a Cleveland-based regional sports network that broadcasts Cleveland Indians baseball games.

The company did not disclose financial details. A source close to the matter said on Friday the deal was worth roughly $230 million, which Reuters first reported on December 3.

The network, owned by the Cleveland Indians baseball team, also airs programming on the Cleveland Browns National Football League team, college football and high school sports.

Fox said it a statement it also struck a separate long-term TV rights agreement to air Cleveland Indians baseball games. Fox will pay the team about $40 million per year for more than 10 years as part of a new agreement, according to the source close to the matter.

Fox already owns a regional sports channel in Ohio, called Fox Sports Ohio, which is available in 5 million homes. It held the rights to Cleveland Indians games until 2006.

Fox Sports, which operates or holds stakes in 20 regional sports networks, provides sports programming to more than 67 million subscribers.

New York-based News Corp has been stepping up efforts to control the rights to key sports teams in response to Time Warner Cable Inc's $3 billion deal in February 2011 to carry the Los Angeles Lakers basketball games on its Time Warner SportsNet Channel.

Last month, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp said it would buy a 49 percent stake in the YES network, a sports channel controlled by the New York Yankees baseball team, a deal that sources said was valued at $3 billion. Reuters has reported that Fox is also negotiating a 25-year extension of its existing agreement to carry Los Angeles Dodgers baseball games and could pay as much as $6 billion for those rights.

News Corp is planning to separate its publishing and entertainment assets into two publicly traded companies next year. News Corp's regional sports networks, film and television businesses, which currently include the 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcasting network and Fox News channel, will be part of the renamed parent company that will be called Fox Group.

News Corp shares were trading 9 cents lower, or 0.3 percent lower at $24.81 per share.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Dan Grebler and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news-corp-buys-regional-sports-channel-ohio-155915617--finance.html

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Saudi Arabia says man shot dead in Shiite oil area

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) ? A security official in Saudi Arabia says a man was killed in clashes with police in an oil-rich eastern region, where the country's Shiite minority has been holding protests against the Sunni ruling monarchy.

The official says a police patrol spotted a number of alleged rioters burning tires near police headquarters in Qatif late Thursday. He says police responded with gunfire when fired upon.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Local websites said the man killed in the exchange of fire was 18 years old.

More than a dozen people have been killed in clashes since late last year in Qatif, the kingdom's main oil export hub where a majority of residents are Shiite Muslims.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-says-man-shot-dead-shiite-oil-164743958.html

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Friday, December 28, 2012

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Streaming Audio and Video has always been available towards the large corporate sites and techies. Now you can utilize inexpensive software to generate your own streaming audio or video the same as the professionals without the need of knowledge of programming required. Lets face it when a person concerns your website what would they rather [...]

Thousands of Syrians have already taken refuge in Turkey, while others are waiting before making the decision to cross Hundreds of Syrians have been massing on the northern border with Turkey, preparing to cross over if the army advances further into the area after seizing the city of Jisr al-Shughour. Syrian military sources have told [...]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? A sun-powered robotic explorer named Juno rocketed away Friday on a five-year journey to Jupiter, the solar system?s most massive and ancient planet. Hundreds of scientists and their families and friends watched from just a few miles away, cheering and yelling, ?Go Juno!? as the NASA spacecraft soared into a clear [...]

Greg Stokes and David Chaney have both left their jobs in the wake of the Colombia prostitution scandal. NBC News? Kristen Welker reports. By NBC News and msnbc.com staff Updated at 6:53 p.m. ET: A 12th Secret Service agent is under investigation in the Colombian prostitution scandal, the agency said Friday. Meanwhile, three more agents [...]

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Graphic Design Trends | Design | Creative Bloq

Graphic Design Trends

For many designers, the word 'trend' has a negative connotation, tarred with images of blind imitation of whatever's hot at any given time, rather than genuine innovation and independent creative thought.

So rather than serving you up seasonal, flash-in-the-pan trends that you'd frankly be a fool to follow, here we've provided an essential overview of 20 longer-lasting styles and movements that have genuine impact on creative professionals.

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Notable in 2012 is the trend for pared-back minimalism, which cuts through the noise with considered use of white space, clean type, bold, simple shapes and limited colour palettes, rather than ladling on special treatments and effects ? and we've covered several applications of this here. Likewise, the current consumer desire for authentic, unique products that give a sense of heritage rather than bland mass-production manifests itself in several smaller ways too. You'll find a few wildcards in there, too ? so read on for your snapshot overview of the design trends from 2012.

Back to basics

 Duane Dalton
Graphic Design Trends: Moby Album Anatomy by Duane Dalton

Reacting against a modern-day existence in which we?re overloaded with information, data and constant updates about the world around us, this trend for refined, ultra-simplified design boils communication down to its bare bones, stripping out unnecessary fuss and complications to leave graphic artwork in its purest form. It takes confidence and skill to design in this pared-back way ? there?s nothing to hide behind ? and the few elements need to work extra hard.

?

Build your own type

 Christine Gertsch
Graphic Design Trends: Modono by Christine Gertsch

DIY type systems? basically enable you to compile your own letterforms using so-called ?modular construction kits?, and then test and play around with the resulting alphabet for interesting results. Many such kits come in hybrid forms, combining multiple elements in various ways for true versatility. Christine Gertsch?s Modono project, for instance, provides a series of horizontal, vertical, diagonal and corner components that can be used to make monospaced characters of different weights and colours.

?

Timeless heritage

 Anagrama
Graphic Design Trends: Bricos by Anagrama

In order for a new brand identity to stand out in an already densely populated marketplace, it needs to be timeless, clean and communicate clearly. Many consumers are embracing global brands that demonstrate a truly international aesthetic ? designers are often achieving this by looking to how great brands of the past for inspired use of bold colour stripes and simple fonts, similar to examples of now-iconic airline branding that has really stood the test of time.

?

Handwritten type

 Marion Deuchars
Graphic Design Trends: Royal Mail Stamps by Marion Deuchars

With polished digital perfection everywhere, the raw, flawed product of the human hand is becoming increasingly appealing, especially in contrast to overly slick digital design that?s too clean and crisp to have a soul of its own. Starting in reaction to the homogenisation of type in emails, texts and tweets ? where the personality of handwriting is stripped away ? hand-written type adds a real sense of authenticity to a piece of design, as well as a whimsical edge.

?

Type from objects

 Jonas Buntenbruch
Graphic Design Trends: F*ck Experimental Type by Jonas Buntenbruch

Pushing the idea of DIY type systems a little further, some designers are manipulating everyday objects into playful, spontaneous typographic designs. Compiled from any number of gathered, scavenged and collected objects, these alphabets are truly unique and individual. One example is Jonas Buntenbruch?s provocatively titled ?Fuck Experimental Type? piece, which utilises ?found? objects from his workspace to create the phrase ? including pens, coins, scissors and a banana.

?

The incomplete look

 Anagrama
Graphic Design Trends: MTLL by Anagrama

Some typographic branding work has been pared back beyond its core elements, stripping out parts of letterforms for a more subtle, sophisticated approach that communicates using the least information possible. When the right balance is struck, missing elements in logos leave the viewer to fill in the blanks as the brain automatically solves the puzzle. Anagrama?s work for architectural firm MTLL, for instance, strips out the lines from the ?M? to help convey its dedication to finding simple solutions.

?

Back to Bauhaus

 Proud Creative
Graphic Design Trends: Promax Beyond by Proud Creative

This particular trend is characterised by simple, strong, graphic patterns that chime with the Bauhaus aesthetic: it?s all about straight edges, angular shapes and bold colours. Triangles, circles and hexagons replace more ornate patterns for a real sense of clarity, purity and authority ? enhanced by widespread use of saturated primary colours. In some cases, shapes are also layered into abstract typography in a style that blends classic Bauhaus Modernism with 1980s graphic design.

?

Old school calligraphy

 Triboro Design
Graphic Design Trends: Penny Sparkle Album Artwork by Triboro Design

Pushing against the ubiquity of particular typefaces, this trend develops the trend for rough, hand-drawn lettering even further. Rather than settle for the unnatural smoothness of standard off-the-shelf script fonts, designers are developing their own type using calligraphic techniques, imitating the authenticity of hand-inked lettering. This kind of unique craftsmanship is particularly in vogue, and the visual style of a hand-written personal letter suggests that time, effort and skill have been invested in a piece of graphic design.

?

Moir? patterns

 Here Design
Graphic Design Trends: Barbershop by Here Design

?

Comprising two or more grid-like patterns that are overlapped to create a simple optical illusion, moir? techniques are being used extensively in branding work in particular ? providing an engaging, eye-catching way to attract consumers? attention. From simple black-and-white effects to bold uses of stripes and bright primary colours, such as Here Design?s branding work for music and sound design company Barbershop, moir? designs make simple shapes and colours work doubly hard.

?

Artisan authenticity

 Planet Creative
Graphic Design Trends: Another Shirt Please branding by Planet Creative

With giant multinational brands dominating the high street and efficient mass-production stripping any sense of variation out of the products they sell, consumers are consciously seeking out an independent, artisan aesthetic for a refreshing change. For designers, it pays to make the effort to communicate the heritage of a brand ? as well as reveal the ?craft story? behind a product ? to tap into this widespread desire for a genuine connection with the process by which things are made.

?

Source: http://www.creativebloq.com/top-20-graphic-design-trends-2012-1212327

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

A Look Inside the Business of Organized Cybercrime | Security Bistro

Posted on by Anthony M. Freed

Ever consider adding ?malware developer? or ?botnet master? to your curriculum vitae? With the increasingly sophisticated nature of Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS), there just might be a recruiter out there looking to help you land a new job and put those nefarious skills to use. A new report which delves into the makeup of organized cybercrime reveals that the structure of some of the most successful syndicates is almost indistinguishable from those of legitimate enterprise operations, and the basic goal is the same: Profitability in a highly competitive landscape.

Network security vendor Fortinet released the 2013 Cybercrime Report which details how cybercrime has evolved an operational hierarchy which mirrors those of large commercial enterprises, including an executive class, middle management, marketing, and an ever expanding workforce with highly specialized skillsets.

?Today, as any commercial enterprise, cybercrime has evolved into a complex, highly organized hierarchy involving leaders, engineers, infantry, and hired money mules. Looking from the outside in, there?s little to distinguish cybercrime organizations from any other business,? the report states.

Key to the success and profitability of the syndicates examined in the study include the development of a strategic business model which is overseen by an executive class. Once the model is in place, middle management begins the process of recruiting staff to execute the operation through the establishment of affiliate programs, and the services are then ready to be openly marketed through online forums and underground communities.

?Crimeware syndicates, in order to survive, must possess a comprehensive business model and monetization strategy because even an illegal company needs to ?pay the bills? in order to function on a day-today basis,? the report notes.

Some of the CaaS offerings being actively advertized by the criminal syndicates include:

  • Consulting services such as botnet setup ($350-$400)
  • Infection/spreading services (~$100 per 1K installs)
  • Botnets & Rentals [Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) $535 for 5 hours a day for one week], email spam ($40 / 20K emails) and Web spam ($2/30 posts)
  • Quality Assurance vs. Detection (Crypters, Scanners ? $10 per month)
  • Affiliate Programs ($5k per day is possible)
  • Onshore & Offshore Hosting ? Virtual Private Servers ($6 per month),
  • Bulletproof/Fast Flux hosting and (VPNs & reverse proxies ($3 per month)
  • Blackhat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ($80 for 20K spammed backlinks)
  • Inter-Carrier Money Exchange & Mule services (25% commission)
  • CAPTCHA Breaking ($1/1000 CAPTCHAs)?Done through recruited humans
  • Crimeware Upgrade Modules: Using Zeus Modules as an example, (from $500 to $10K)

The Fortinet report points out that while collaborative efforts between law enforcement agencies internationally have proven to be somewhat effective in dismantling some of the largest criminal operations, it is up to individual organizations in the private sector to take proactive measures to ensure that an effective security strategy is in place in order to make the success of these operations that much more challenging for the syndicates.

?As history has shown, collaborative efforts have toppled some of the world?s most powerful botnets and crime rings and will continue to do so. While new cybercrime syndicates will continue to emerge and proliferate, organizations that arm themselves with a solid, multi-layered security strategy and security best practices are doing their part in the effort to reduce the effectiveness of cybercrime,? the study concluded.

Source: http://www.securitybistro.com/blog/?p=4617

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White House Lashes Out at 'Congressional Stupidity'

With only days to come up with a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, the White House said "congressional stupidity" was damaging the economy but an agreement can be reached if Republican leaders don't get in the way.

President Obama cut his Hawaiian vacation short and headed back to Washington today while the Senate is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday. House Speaker John Boehner said previously that he would give House members a 48 hour notice of any upcoming vote, which means that the soonest the House could consider a bill would be Saturday - just two days before a deadline to make a deal or trigger a rise in taxes and steep budget cuts.

Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders issued a statement today following a conference call saying, "The House has acted on two bills which collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff if enacted. Those bills await action by the Senate. If the Senate will not approve and send them to the president to be signed into law in their current form, they must be amended and returned to the House."

While Boehner put the onus on the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a White House official used testy language to put the responsibility back on Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"What we need is for the Senate Minority Leader not to block a vote and for Boehner to allow a vote," a White House official told ABC News. "The hits from our economy are not coming from outside factors they're coming from Congressional stupidity."

Reid's plan would serve as a Democratic counterpart to Boehner's plan B, which failed to gain enough support for a vote last week. Boehner left the ball in the Senate's court after withdrawing his plan Thursday.

Any plan from Reid is expected to include extending the Bush tax cuts for Americans making $250,000 or less.

Related: What if Bush tax cuts expire?

This has been a sticking point for the left and the right throughout discussions. Democrats believe that lower- and middle-class families should keep the tax cut, while letting it expire for households making more than $250,000. Republicans counter that no Americans should be forced to pay higher taxes come Jan. 1, though Boehner's plan would have required those making more than $1 million to lose the cut.

Reid could also propose cuts to tax deductions to generate more federal revenue.

Related: Can the mortgage deduction survive the fiscal cliff?

Michael Ettlinger, vice president for economic policy at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said that would make his plan very similar to Obama's.

"I think this is likely to go smaller more than bigger as they try to gather votes in the Senate," Ettlinger told ABC News Wednesday. "The Democratic vision of things is fairly clear. Where the Senate Republicans are willing to go is less so. That's going to be the issue."

Dan Holler of conservative policy advocacy group Heritage Action for America expects the plan to include an extension of unemployment benefits, something he says would be "extremely counterproductive for the economy."

Democrats "see it as one of the most stimulative things you can do," Holler told ABC News Wednesday. "Heritage has great research to go ahead and say this doesn't really help."

Related: Fiscal Cliff negotiators search for cuts without sacrifice.

In addition to an immediate measure to stop taxes from going up, Holler suggested there would be a mechanism to compel leaders to do more further down the road, a method he said has not historically been effective at reducing the deficit.

"I think Republicans are going to look at the entire package skeptically," Holler said of Reid's expected plan.

Boehner press secretary Michael Steel told ABC News the speaker's office "will take a look" at Reid's proposal once he brings it up for a vote or shares his ideas with the House.

Garnering consensus among both parties will be difficult for any plan now. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is trying to bring D.C. politicians together with every coffee cup sold in the District.

Critics have called into question Boehner's ability to bring his own party together.

"It seems that, in the House now, Boehner has no control over his extreme right-wing faction," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on MSNBC Wednesday. "You have, over in the House, a situation where the Republicans are saying, 'Hey, we don't think billionaires should pay a nickel more in taxes, but we do think there should be devastating cuts in programs that are impacting working families who are already hurting as a result of the recession.' So that's the problem that we have."

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiscal-cliff-deal-reids-court-203700007--abc-news-politics.html

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Benefits of higher oxygen, breathing device persist after infancy

Dec. 26, 2012 ? By the time they reached toddlerhood, very preterm infants originally treated with higher oxygen levels continued to show benefits when compared to a group treated with lower oxygen levels, according to a follow-up study by a research network of the National Institutes of Health that confirms earlier network findings, Moreover, infants treated with a respiratory therapy commonly prescribed for adults with obstructive sleep apnea fared as well as those who received the traditional therapy for infant respiratory difficulties, the new study found.

In the original 2010 study, of infants born between 24 to 27 weeks of gestation, investigators in the Neonatal Research Network found:

  • Infants were more likely to survive if they had received higher oxygen levels, although they were at higher risk of an eye condition that can impair vision or lead to blindness.
  • Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a treatment typically reserved for adults with obstructive sleep apnea, was as effective as standard therapy with a ventilator and surfactant (a sticky substance that coats the inside of the lungs).

For the current study, the researchers checked on the children's progress, comparing the groups' survival rates and cognitive and motor development 18 to 22 months after they were originally due to be born. The re-evaluation of the original study treatment groups examined:

  • Children treated with oxygen saturation levels that were either low (85 percent to 89 percent) or high (91 percent to 95 percent).
  • Children treated with CPAP therapy and those treated with a ventilator and surfactant.

The researchers compiled the results of their analysis in terms of a combined primary outcome. This primary outcome took into account two possibilities: whether an infant either died in the first or second year of life or had a neurodevelopmental impairment -- any of a number of conditions affecting the nervous system. These included cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing loss or low scores on tests of infant mental and motor development. The researchers selected this outcome because infants who died before 18 months of age could not be classified as having a neurodevelopmental impairment.

In terms of the primary outcome, the researchers found no differences between the groups.

When the researchers looked at outcome measures separately, however, they did observe differences. The researchers documented higher survival rates among children who received oxygen with higher saturation rates. The study's original findings showed that survivors in this group also had a greater risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity, an eye condition that can impair vision or cause blindness. Although those receiving higher oxygen levels were more likely to have had corrective eye surgery, by the time the children reached 18 to 22 months corrected age-- their age had they been born at the approximate time they were due. The researchers found that there was no difference in the rate of vision problems between the two groups.

"CPAP for infants has been available since the 1970s. This is the first study to compare surfactant treatment to CPAP in a large group of infants, and these results reassure us that CPAP is as good a choice in the first hour of life as traditional methods for very preterm babies who need help breathing," said senior author Rosemary D. Higgins, M.D., of the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), one of two NIH institutes supporting the study. "We've also confirmed that higher oxygen targets improve survival and don't appear to threaten survivors' vision in the longer term."

The study also received funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Their findings appear in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Yvonne E. Vaucher, Myriam Peralta-Carcelen, Neil N. Finer, Waldemar A. Carlo, Marie G. Gantz, Michele C. Walsh, Abbot R. Laptook, Bradley A. Yoder, Roger G. Faix, Abhik Das, Kurt Schibler, Wade Rich, Nancy S. Newman, Betty R. Vohr, Kimberly Yolton, Roy J. Heyne, Deanne E. Wilson-Costello, Patricia W. Evans, Ricki F. Goldstein, Michael J. Acarregui, Ira Adams-Chapman, Athina Pappas, Susan R. Hintz, Brenda Poindexter, Anna M. Dusick, Elisabeth C. McGowan, Richard A. Ehrenkranz, Anna Bodnar, Charles R. Bauer, Janell Fuller, T. Michael O'Shea, Gary J. Myers, Rosemary D. Higgins. Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in the Early CPAP and Pulse Oximetry Trial. New England Journal of Medicine, 2012; 367 (26): 2495 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1208506

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/tbSrFj34dG8/121227110759.htm

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Self Improvement Times: Best Tips On Improving Self Esteem ...

Improving ones self esteem is in many people's mind. There are two main factors on improving your self esteem, it's either you actively pursuing it or you subconsciously working on it. You may first want to identify what makes you feel awkward or shy when you are interacting with people.

Improving self esteem is easier when you have a subliminal audio to listen to. There are subliminal messages hidden underneath relaxing music and the messages are contained with positive affirmations that only your subconscious mind can understand. So, while you are physically working on your self esteem, your subconscious mind is also helping you at the same time.

Here are some easy ways on improving your self esteem:

1. Set a viable goal for yourself. Visualize how you want to feel and start acting like that when you are interacting with people. Try to think that you are the person that you are interacting with. Can you picture an interesting person? Set a believable goal for yourself, for example: within the next two weeks, when you interact with people you feel like you are a good conversationalist.

2. Be positive. When you want to practice your self esteem, begin the conversation. If you are in a crowd like a party, begin introducing yourself to a person who is alone. This is a way to slowly improve your self esteem and you won't feel that you are left behind. Now, prepare for your meeting. Take a deep breath and stand with a good posture so you feel more confident. If you have difficulty approaching people, you may use subliminal messages with positive affirmations. These positive affirmations will make you feel important and that you are a good person in general. When you give importance to yourself then improving you self esteem will be easier.

3. Extend a firm handshake and look directly in the eyes of the person. The firm handshake and the direct eye contact signify self esteem. Your handshake should say that you are really glad meeting that person and your eye contact should say that you are interested meeting that person. Approach the person by saying something positive to her like "I love your earrings".

4. Always listen. Listen to your conversation and respond visibly. If you are in the process of improving your self esteem then you could practice in the mirror so you know how you look when you are actually meeting a person. Again, clear your mind before creating a conversation so you could have more space for listening. You can clear your mind more effectively if you use the subliminal audio that has subliminal messages for mind clarity.

5. Respond. Visibly respond to the person like nodding or smiling, this way you can create good aura for the both of you. If you respond, you may begin in "I agree" or "I have the same experience". You can get a more positive response through subliminal messages' that release self esteem messages to your subconscious mind.

6. Feel good about yourself. Always feel that you are important, value yourself. A subliminal audio that imparts positive affirmations can always help you on improving your self esteem. When you feel good about yourself then people will see you as a happy person and they will be more interested in you.

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Source: http://selfimprovementtimes.blogspot.com/2012/12/best-tips-on-improving-self-esteem.html

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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Their lucrative deal will allow one of their most successful tracks ?fire? to be used in the title sequences of every match over the next three years. If this was only a deal for the UK, it would still be incredibly valuable but the league plans to use the song on every game it shows in the 200 countries it broadcasts..

You know how the word-association game goes: Someone says a word, and you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. If a friend said ?fantasy sports,? you probably answer, ?football.? So, you might be surprised to learn that fantasy sports actually started with baseball back in the early 1980s.

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Air Bagan survivor tells of terrifying landing

Members of Myanmar Fire Brigade team gather near a damaged Air Bagan passenger plane in Heho, Shan State, Myanmar, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. The Air Bagan flight packed with Christmas tourists crash-landed on a road in central Myanmar on Tuesday, killing two people and injuring 11, officials said. Four foreigners were among the injured, state television reported. It said the fatalities included an 11-year-old passenger believed to be a Myanmar citizen and a man riding a motorcycle on the road where the plane came down. (AP Photo)

Members of Myanmar Fire Brigade team gather near a damaged Air Bagan passenger plane in Heho, Shan State, Myanmar, Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. The Air Bagan flight packed with Christmas tourists crash-landed on a road in central Myanmar on Tuesday, killing two people and injuring 11, officials said. Four foreigners were among the injured, state television reported. It said the fatalities included an 11-year-old passenger believed to be a Myanmar citizen and a man riding a motorcycle on the road where the plane came down. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? Survivors of a Christmas Day crash-landing of an airliner in Myanmar told terrifying tales of escape Wednesday as carrier Air Bagan said it had found the plane's black box and was investigating the accident that killed two people.

Details of the crash remain unclear, though the airline and officials have blamed heavy fog for the aircraft's crash into a rice paddy field where it burst into flames. Two died and 11 were injured, including four foreigners.

The aging Fokker 100 jet was carrying 71 people, including 48 foreigners, from the city of Yangon via Mandalay to Heho airport, which is the gateway to the popular tourist destination Inle Lake.

"We felt the first bump, then a few big bumps and then (started) sliding very fast," said 31-year-old Australian advertising executive Anna Bartsch. Her boyfriend, Stuart Benson, described the landing like "a roller coaster" ride.

The plane came to a stop and they felt relief ? and then panic.

"In my window I saw the flames, and it was hot and we knew straight away we didn't have much time to get out," Bartsch said during an interview at a Yangon hotel where the airline lodged passengers after evacuating them from the scene.

Passengers rushed up the aisle to the front door, which was initially stuck shut, she said.

"We didn't know then that the wings had come off," Bartsch said.

The door was quickly forced open and passengers raced from the plane, some in shock and some suffering smoke inhalation, she said. Once on safe ground, Bartsch said she saw the pilot and co-pilot with bloodied faces and other people with serious burns.

"It's amazing that the injuries were not more serious," she said. "It could have been much worse."

Air Bagan said late Tuesday that the plane's black box will be sent to Singapore to study the cause of the accident.

Air Bagan has said "the plane hit electrical cables about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Heho airport as it descended and landed in rice fields."

The Information Ministry said the pilot mistook a road near the airport for the runway before stopping in a nearby rice paddy. It was unclear if the plane made its crash landing on the road or the rice field.

All fatalities were Myanmar citizens, including a man riding a motorcycle where the plane came down and a tour guide aboard the plane. There were earlier reports of an 11-year-old child also among the dead.

The accident has raised concerns about the safety standards of Myanmar's overburdened airlines as foreign visitors have flocked to the country which is emerging from a half-century of military rule.

Air Bagan is one of a half dozen private airlines that fly domestic routes in Myanmar. It is a unit of Htoo Trading Company, which is owned by business tycoon Tay Za.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-26-Myanmar-Airplane%20Accident/id-ccbd232a0c8346bb80f27ed63637d830

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Overhyped, Overpriced: 2012?s Insanely Expensive Gear

Overhyped, Overpriced: 2012′s Insanely Expensive Gear
The most audaciously priced gear that caught our eye in 2012.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/I4B9J4DMFWU/

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

PFT: John Fox makes case for Peyton as NFL MVP

John Fox, Peyton ManningAP

The NFL Most Valuable Player award seems to be a two-man race heading into Week 17, with Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning the contenders. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier has already gone on the record as saying there?s no doubt that Peterson is the MVP, and it?s not surprising that Fox has now come out to vocally support Manning.

Fox said at his press conference today that he believes Manning deserves the honor because Manning has had to adjust to a new team and new teammates and has made that adjustment flawlessly in his first season in Denver.

?Obviously I might be a little biased and with all due respect to everybody involved, I think what?s unique about Peyton . . . he?s done it in a new city with a new team,? Fox said. ?At that position, in my personal opinion, that?s what separates him from the rest of the field.?

Peterson and Manning each have one more game to attempt to impress the panel of 50 voters the Associated Press assembles to vote on the MVP award, but they appear to be neck and neck through 15 games of the season. Peterson, who has gained 1,898 yards this season, has a huge opportunity to bolster his case by surpassing the the 2,000-yard mark on Sunday, and maybe even breaking Eric Dickerson?s all-time record of 2,105 yards, while potentially leading the Vikings to the playoffs with a win over the Packers. Manning doesn?t have any high-profile statistical benchmarks to meet on Sunday, but he does have the opportunity to lead the Broncos to home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, if they win on Sunday while the Texans lose.

My bet is that if Peterson tops 2,000 yards and the Vikings beat the Packers, Peterson gets the nod. If Peterson falls short and the Vikings lose, that will open the door to Manning winning the MVP for the record fifth time.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/24/john-fox-makes-his-case-for-peyton-manning-for-mvp/related/

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Olivia Black to Pawn Stars: Give Me Back My Job!

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Monday, December 24, 2012

Easy Payday Cash Loans & 12 Month Pay Day Loans

What happens if a baby business buyer misses or fails to pay a baby business loan? The acknowledgment isn't pretty, and in fact, the baby business buyer could be sued by the coffer that gave him the accommodation if he does not pay - even if the business goes bankrupt. How can this happen?

Banks will usually sue a baby business in adjustment to compensate absent accommodation amounts, abnormally if it helps them with equity. If the coffer sues immediately, it shows that they are as well aggravating to get advanced in the creditor band in case of defalcation proceedings. The next big catechism -- what happens if you are backward with your accommodation transaction -- say for 30 days? The acknowledgment depends on the antecedent and agreement of your loan. Many lenders ambition to stop the ascent baby business absence rates. In fact, the U.S. Baby Business Association (SBA) had a absence baby business accommodation amount of about 15 percent of its outstanding accommodation guarantees by the average of 2010. This agency if you accept a accommodation backed by the SBA, your lender ability seek the affirmed allotment of the loan, because of apropos about accretion absence rates.

The a lot of important affair to bethink is if you accept a affirmed loan, again you are 100 percent answerable to pay it back, acceptation that you'll charge to advance a banking plan if you apprehend not able to pay aback the loan. Try to advance a plan that is based on costs and cost-savings options afore speaking to a lender, such as factoring. If you accept a business that has accounts receivables, you could be sitting on your next accommodation payment! Factoring is an advantage for to access the banknote breeze of your business today. As well accumulate in apperception that the coffer will be affected to sue if you don't eventually accomplish transaction arrange to pay aback the loan.


Most lenders would adopt to yield a adjustment or even renegotiate the loan. Accumulate your promises, and if you cannot, acquaintance the coffer aboriginal and acquaint them you are in the action of searching into balance factoring to vash in aboriginal on some of your company's invoices from barter for the accommodation payment. The endure affair you wish to accede is defalcation to accord with your baby business failure. So in lieu of this tactic, accede accounts receivable factoring, because it just able-bodied may be the alone way to save your business adequately quickly, and again you can appropriately restructure your debt payments afterwards you are current.

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Source: http://www.shvoong.com/business-management/investing/2344622-easy-payday-cash-loans-12/

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Cancer Donor Hoax Cost 20-Year-Old His Life, Mom Says

A Washington teenager who died of a rare form of cancer would still be alive today, his family says, had they not fallen victim to a hoax perpetrated by a stranger who promised to send $250,000 to help cover his medical bills.

Thomas Doty, who recently celebrated his 20th birthday, died on Dec. 19 after a three-year battle with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer.

"I honestly 100 percent believe my son would be here if that time had not been wasted," his mother, Tiffany Doty, told ABC New affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle.

Earlier this year, family friend Johnathan Hillstrand, who is the star of the show "Deadliest Catch," stepped in and made a video. Soon after, the Doty family heard from a generous benefactor who said she was a nurse from Indiana.

Doty said she felt the stranger was "an answer to our prayers," she wrote in a Dec. 7 post on HealThomas.com, recounting the experience. She put the family's fundraising efforts on hold and began making arrangements to get her son to San Diego for costly, but potentially life-saving alternative treatments.

Every day the check went undelivered, precious time in Thomas' fight was lost, Doty said.

The family was met with a barrage of excuses.

"They came in the form of emails, forged Ally Bank statements, certified cashier's checks produced and altered by [the woman] herself, while trying to prove she had sent the $250,000, and countless forms of communications via phone calls, texts, and emails telling us the 'Check was in the mail' and that she would even cover the costs to save our home from the looming foreclosure with Chase Bank," Doty wrote.

After eight weeks of back and forth, it became apparent the strangers' promise was empty. The community rallied around Thomas, helping to raise money to send him to San Diego for treatment.

Despite improvements, the lost time took a toll on the young man, his mother said. He died on Dec. 19.

"She went to great lengths and just broke Thomas' spirit," Doty told KOMO. "Like he needed something ? one more disappointment in his life."

Hillestrand tweeted the news of Thomas' death and thanked everyone who had helped.

"Thomas doty was pure in heart and good!" he wrote. "People like you restore my faith in humanity. I Will miss you my friend."

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/cancer-donor-hoax-cost-20-old-life-mom-203433550--abc-news-topstories.html

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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Urban advocates say new gun control talk overdue

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2009 file photo, pallbearers carry the casket of 4-year-old Roberto Lopez Jr., outside Our Lady of Angels Church in Los Angeles. The boy was shot in the chest a week earlier as he walked with his 5-year-old sister in a gang-plagued Echo Park neighborhood. In the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Conn., there is now much political discussion about gun control. For urban advocates, this new emphasis on gun control is long overdue. (AP Photo/Mark Boster, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2009 file photo, pallbearers carry the casket of 4-year-old Roberto Lopez Jr., outside Our Lady of Angels Church in Los Angeles. The boy was shot in the chest a week earlier as he walked with his 5-year-old sister in a gang-plagued Echo Park neighborhood. In the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Conn., there is now much political discussion about gun control. For urban advocates, this new emphasis on gun control is long overdue. (AP Photo/Mark Boster, Pool, File)

FILE - In this April 1, 2008 file photo, anti-gun literature is displayed in the window of a school bus leaving downtown Chicago after a rally to remember classmates killed by gun violence in the school year and a call for stiffer gun control measures. In the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Conn., there is now much political discussion about gun control. For urban advocates, this new emphasis on gun control is long overdue. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2011 file photo shows a bullet hole in a window of a car at a liquor store parking lot in Oakland, Calif., after a shooting. A hail of gunfire along the Oakland street left eight people wounded, including a 1-year-old boy. In the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Conn., there is now much political discussion about gun control. For urban advocates, this new emphasis on gun control is long overdue. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - In this June 30, 2006 file photo, an investigator views one of three gunshot victims on 49th Street in South Los Angeles. A gunman toting an assault rifle got out of a vehicle and shot to death 10-year-old David Marcial, the boy?s 22-year-old uncle and a 17-year-old neighbor. David?s 12-year-old brother, Sergio, survived. In the wake of the Dec. 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Conn., there is now much political discussion about gun control. For urban advocates, this new emphasis on gun control is long overdue. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

For years, voices have cried in the urban wilderness: We need to talk about gun control.

Yet the guns blazed on.

It took a small-town slaughter for gun control to become a political priority. Now, decades' worth of big-city arguments against easy access to guns are finally being heard, because an unstable young man invaded an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., with a military-style assault rifle and 30-bullet magazines. Twenty young children and six adults were slain.

President Barack Obama called the tragedy a "wake-up call." Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday with Obama's cabinet and law-enforcement officers from around the country to launch a task force on reducing gun violence. Lawmakers who have long resisted gun control are saying something must be done.

Such action is energizing those who have sought to reduce urban gun violence. Donations are up in some places; other leaders have been working overtime due to this unprecedented moment.

The moment also is causing some to reflect on the sudden change of heart. Why now? Why weren't we moved to act by the killing of so many other children, albeit one by one, in urban areas?

Certainly, Newtown is a special case, 6- and 7-year-olds riddled with bullets inside the sanctuary of a classroom. Even in a nation rife with violence, where there have been three other mass slayings since July and millions enjoy virtual killing via video games, the nature of this tragedy is shocking.

But still: "There's a lot of talk now about we have to protect our children. We have to protect all of our children, not just the ones living in the suburbs," said Tammerlin Drummond, a columnist for the Oakland Tribune.

In her column Monday, Drummond wrote about 7-year-old Heaven Sutton of Chicago, who was standing next to her mother selling candy when she was killed in the crossfire of a gang shootout. Also in Chicago, which has been plagued by a recent spike in gun violence: 6-year-old Aaliyah Shell was caught in a drive-by while standing on her front porch; and 13-year-old Tyquan Tyler was killed when a someone in a car shot into a group of youths outside a party.

Wrote Drummond: "It has taken the murders of 20 babies and six adults in an upper-middle class neighborhood in Connecticut to achieve what thousands of gun fatalities in urban communities all over this country could not."

So again: What took so long? The answers are complicated by many factors: resignation to urban violence, even among some of those who live there; the assumption that cities are dangerous and small towns safe; the idea that some urban victims place themselves in harm's way.

In March, the Children's Defense Fund issued a report titled "Protect Children, Not Guns 2012." It analyzed the latest federal data and counted 299 children under age 10 killed by guns in 2008 and 2009. That figure included 173 preschool-age children.

Black children and teens accounted for 45 percent of all child and teen gun deaths, even though they were only 15 percent of the child/teen population.

"Every child's life is sacred and it is long past time that we protect it," said CDF president Marian Wright Edelman in the report.

It got almost no press coverage ? until nine months later, when Newtown happened.

Tim Stevens, founder and chairman of the Black Political Empowerment Project in Pittsburgh, has been focusing on urban gun violence since 2007, when he said Pennsylvania was declared the worst state for black-on-black violence.

In the days since the Newtown killings, Stevens has felt sadness, emotional turmoil ? and a bit of vindication at the new movement on gun control.

Stevens said America still would have been spurred to action if the Newtown victims had been black. He recalled the way that the Birmingham, Ala., church bombing during the civil rights movement, which killed four black girls, galvanized the nation in 1963.

"But in all honestly, because (Newtown) was a suburban, very small quiet town where normally people feel nothing happens, that does make some degree of difference," Stevens said. "It made a statement to the nation that if such profound tragedy can happen there, it obviously can happen anywhere."

Drummond, the columnist, said in an interview that even many people who live in violent urban areas, which are predominantly black and Hispanic, have almost come to accept gun deaths.

At community meetings in her own East Oakland neighborhood, where a half-dozen people have been fatally shot in the past six months, Drummond has heard residents pose more questions about weed removal or gutter cleaning than stopping the violence.

"If a white cop kills a black man, there's this huge outcry. But when you have the vast majority of young black men being killed by other young black men, you don't get that kind of response," said Drummond, who is black.

"In order to look at that you have to look at yourself," she said. "You have to say there are issues in this community."

Big cities have long dealt with the perception that gun violence is an urban problem. John Feinblatt, who works for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and is chief policy advisor for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization, said that Newtown has spurred action because of the age and number of victims, and that they were killed in school.

"There is no doubt that something has changed," Feinblatt said. "America's heart has been broken."

At the Violence Policy Center, a national organization that combats gun violence, an unprecedented surge of donations has arrived since the Newtown killings, as well as many emails from people asking how they could help, said executive director Josh Sugarmann.

Why hasn't this happened before, during decades of urban violence?

"There's an element of race to it," said Sugarmann, who has been working against gun violence since 1983. "There's a belief among all too many people about young black males, if you're shot you're in a gang or someplace you shouldn't be, or a bad kid doing things you shouldn't be doing. But in Chicago, there are reports of kids walking to school getting gunned down."

"The fact that these killings can't shape people's view that something needs to be done," he said, "is incredibly disturbing."

___

Jesse Washington covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. He is reachable at www.twitter.com/jessewashington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-22-School%20Shootings-Urban%20Gun%20Violence/id-cea2307e5c644394b7f534dc461b7d3c

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