Just as he did to John McCain in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012, President Obama defeated a lame Republican political team. The GOP's right wing foolishly shuttered the government and threatened default in exchange for an unreasonable and unattainable concession: Scrap Obamacare. He refused. The GOP caved.
It was all so predictable. Not quite so obvious is Obama's response. Faced now with the choice between partisan politics and a risky high ground, the president has an opportunity to leverage this "victory" for a long-term budget deal that raises taxes and tames entitlements. Obama won. Now can he lead?
Breaking Bad, a TV show permanently sculpted onto television's Mount Rushmore, whipped itself from a critically acclaimed yet not exactly ratings dominant TV show into THE bizz-bizz-buzzy pop culture phenomenon of the year as the series raced to its end. How did it happen? According to Breaking Bad's creator Vince Gilligan, illegal downloads help.
Vicki Murley, former web technologies evangelist at Apple, has produced a new iBook on CSS transformations. From the description:
If you're a web developer looking to create content that goes beyond typical gridded layouts, then this is the book for you.
Strong knowledge of CSS transforms is essential for creating interesting layouts and rich animations in web content for ebooks, native apps, and of course websites. This book takes you through each piece of the technology, with interactive examples along the way that illustrate key concepts, illuminate details, and solidify understanding. Whether you're a beginner who is looking to enhance a single web page or an experienced programmer who has gotten an unexpected result when dabbling with CSS transforms, you'll learn something new from this book. "CSS Transforms: An Interactive Guide" also touches on the history of this technology, browser support, and web standards in general. After reading this book, you'll have a complete understanding of the technology.
It was made with iBooks Author which means it looks great, but it's currently limited to the iPad. (Hopefully Apple's still working on making it compatible with the iPhone as well.) However, Murley more than knows her stuff and if you're a web dev looking to up your game, CSS Transforms: An Interactive Guide will certainly do that.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House will reopen for public tours in November after a seven-month hiatus triggered by federal budget cuts.
Starting on November 5, tours of the East Wing and executive residence portions of the White House will resume for three days a week, rather than five.
The popular tours were shut down last March after $85 billion in spending cuts kicked in and Secret Service officials could not provide sufficient personnel for the tours.
Secret Service spokesman Robert Novy said the agency was able to find money for the tours based on appropriations from a budget bill, known as a continuing resolution, that ended a 16-day government shutdown on Thursday.
"In light of the new fiscal year, the Secret Service is confident that, through the continuing resolution, tours can operate on a limited schedule while still meeting operational requirements," he said.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Alcatel-Lucent is offering its enterprise switch users a free software upgrade to converge wired Ethernet networks with wireless from Aruba Networks.
Aruba and Alcatel-Lucent have had a longtime partnership to jointly market and integrate each other's products. This software upgrade is an extension of that and is designed to bring all campus networking products under one view with consistent BYOD management.
The plan is similar to unified access strategies from Brocade and Cisco. Brocade ended a four-year arrangement with Motorola to enter into a new one with Aruba.
The free software provides an interface between Alcatel-Lucent's OmniSwitches, OmniAccess routers, and OmniVista network management system to Aruba's ClearPass access management system, software that allows enterprises to provision and manage mobile devices. The software performs device configuration, guest registration, troubleshooting and monitoring across wired and wireless networks.
Also supported is Aruba's AirGroup Services under ClearPass Policy Manager, which enables end users and IT administrators to self-register Apple devices and set access limits to them.
The software also features automatic configuration of 802.1X security and certificates for laptops, tablets, printers and cameras. Alcatel-Lucent is also offering professional services to support customers deploying the unified access and BYOD management system.
Even though Alcatel-Lucent's unified access software is free, Aruba ClearPass is not: pricing for ClearPass starts at $6,500 for a 500-device Virtual Machine license and $10,000 for an appliance license, both of which include device profiling and policy management. Additional BYOD services, like onboarding and guest access, etc., are priced separately, varying by service and block of license.
Jim Duffy has been covering technology for over 27 years, 22 at Network World. He also writes The Cisco Connection blog and can be reached on Twitter @Jim_Duffy.
Today in international tech news: Huawei says that -- unlike its American counterparts -- it has never been approached by any government for information about citizens. Also: Sources say Lenovo could get into the BlackBerry bidding; the EU plans to curb U.S. data transfers; Edward Snowden says he didn't take any secret NSA documents to Russia; and Italy expands its list of sites ISPs must block.
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, long suspected of being in cahoots with Beijing authorities, said in a report released Friday that no government has ever asked it to divulge information about citizens.
Translation: Anyone concerned about government meddling should be more concerned with Washington's connections to U.S. companies than Beijing's connection to Huawei.
Huawei added that in addition to having a clean sheet on citizen info, it also has escaped pressure to provide access to its technology. The report goes on to call for global standards on security.
However, Lenovo is interested only in parts of the maligned Canadian smartphone maker, according to Reuters.
Whatever Lenovo is keen to purchase, it likely will face a tough security overview before anything is approved. Despite its plunging status in the smartphone pecking order, BlackBerry is still a go-to device for corporate and government communication, and Lenovo being from China might raise eyebrows.
European regulators are finalizing rules designed to restrict questionable transfers of data from the European Union to the U.S.
A compromise draft of regulations on EU-wide data protection standards likely will pass the European parliament committee on Monday. The draft has been in the works for two years, but the gridlock in Brussels appears to have been solved by Edward Snowden's revelations.
If passed, the draft would make it more difficult for U.S. social media outlets and Internet servers to transfer European data to third countries; subject said entities to EU law; and authorize fines -- potentially ranging in the billions -- should a company not comply.
These stiff rules were written into the original draft two years ago but later dropped following U.S. objections. Then came Snowden, whose leaks have galvanized the EU.
The EU's 28 individual national governments currently handle data privacy, which makes it tricky to prevent and regulate EU-to-U.S. data transfers.
The European Commission, as well as each of the 28 governments, would have to approve the new rules before they become law.
Speaking of Snowden leaks... the former NSA contractor said that he did not take secret NSA documents to Russia, where he has been living since June after arriving from Hong Kong.
He also said there is a "zero percent chance" that Russia or China have received documents, claiming that his familiarity with Chinese surveillance -- he did, after all, work at the NSA -- helped him protect his documents from governments.
Instead, he dished everything off to journalists.
Snowden was interviewed by The New York Times through what the Times called "encrypted online communications."
A prosecutor in Bergamo, Italy, has approved court orders that will force Italian Internet service providers to block some of the world's most popular torrent sites.
Italian music industry group FIMI is taking credit for the complaints leading to the orders, which will add ExtraTorrent, 1337x, TorrentHound and H33T to Italy's list of blocked sites.
Italy ordered The Pirate Bay blocked back in 2008, so this is old hat.
Tara Heaton, left, and Crystal Mayfield with guide Fred Williams at a women's antelope hunt in Wyoming. Before the event, both women had hunted almost exclusively with male relatives, not other women.
Irina Zhorov/Wyoming Public Media
Tara Heaton, left, and Crystal Mayfield with guide Fred Williams at a women's antelope hunt in Wyoming. Before the event, both women had hunted almost exclusively with male relatives, not other women.
Irina Zhorov/Wyoming Public Media
The departure time for Wyoming's inaugural Women's Antelope Hunt was set for 5:30 a.m. — but that was before a snowstorm hit. By 6 a.m., the electricity is still out, wind and snow are howling and antsy women in camouflage are eating eggs by candlelight.
Marilyn Kite, Wyoming's first female state Supreme Court justice and one of the people who dreamed up the hunt, is among them.
"We've found it to be just great recreation, lots of fun, and the camaraderie of it is why you do it really," Kite says. "But we also really like the meat."
Women still only make up a small percentage of all hunters, but that number has increased significantly in recent years. Now, organizations like the Wyoming Women's Foundation want to encourage more growth through mentorship.
The group says hunting is an important way to teach self-sufficiency and economic independence — and taking meat home is a part of that, Kite says. "There's a lot of young women who are single mothers, who are trying to provide for their families," she says. "And [hunting is] certainly one way to do it."
Just to show how outnumbered women currently are in hunting, most of the guides on this women's hunt are men. One of them, Fred Williams, says women who try hunting usually do really well with the sport.
"I think women tend to be actually better hunters because they tend to be a bit more patient, and oftentimes are a much better shot, because they tend to be a bit more focused," Williams says.
By 10 a.m., conditions outside have improved and the hunt is on. Williams and his team of two set off for a private ranch to look for antelope.
Tara Heaton, a Navy veteran, already has some experience hunting, but she says this is different. It gives her an opportunity to meet "different women from around Wyoming, and more hunters, because a lot of my friends growing up weren't hunters," she says.
Heaton is partnered with Crystal Mayfield, a single mom. Before today, both women hunted almost exclusively with their dads and brothers.
As the three drive through the snow, they spot some antelope in the distance. They park and start stalking them on foot.
Williams has Mayfield load a bullet in the chamber and they proceed quietly through a snow-covered field strewn with cottonwoods and cows. When they reach a rise overlooking the grazing antelope, Williams preps Mayfield for her shot. She takes aim, shoots — and misses.
In fact, both women miss their shots today. The 35 mph winds don't help. But on the drive back to the ranch, Mayfield says she's not upset. Even missing is easier in the company of women, she says.
"When I missed that shot, I didn't feel like a loser when I went and told [Heaton] that, 'Oh, I missed it,' " she says. "I didn't feel like she was going to be like, 'Oh, you're a huge loser.' ... My brother easily would have been like, 'Oh, I can't believe you missed that. You're stupid.' "
As is typical in Wyoming, the next day is sunny, wind-free and beautiful. Both Heaton and Mayfield get their antelope, and all but two of the 34 participating women come away with a kill.
One first-time hunter says she can't wait to teach her son how to hunt.
'Traffic-light' labeling increases attention to nutritional quality of food choices
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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Contact: Cassandra Aviles cmaviles@partners.org 617-724-6433 Massachusetts General Hospital
A simple, color-coded system for labeling food items in a hospital cafeteria appears to have increased customer's attention to the healthiness of their food choices, along with encouraging purchases of the most healthy items. In their report in the October issue of Preventive Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators describe customer responses to surveys taken before and after the 2010 implementation of a system using green, yellow or red "traffic light" labels to reflect the nutritional quality of items.
"Several small, experimental studies have suggested that 'traffic light' labels can be an effective method of promoting healthier choices, but there have been few real-world studies of customers' perceptions and purchasing behaviors in response to this type of labeling," explains Lillian Sonnenberg, DSc, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Service, the corresponding author of the current report. "Our results suggest that these labels are an effective method for conveying information about healthy and unhealthy choices and for prompting changes in purchasing behavior."
While many restaurants and other food service locations are now posting the calorie content of their standard items and make detailed information such as fat, cholesterol and sodium content available on request, the researchers note that interpreting this information requires knowledge and skills that many do not possess. To find a simpler way to encourage more healthful purchases at the hospital's food service locations, MGH Nutrition and Food Service put together a plan that started with color-coding each item sold in the main cafeteria green for the healthiest items, such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats; yellow for less healthy items, and red for those with little or no nutritional value. Signage encouraged frequent purchase of green items, less frequent for yellow and discouraged purchase of red items. Cafeteria cash registers were programmed to record each purchased item as green, yellow or red, starting three months before the labeling intervention began.
Previous reports from the MGH team have described how the program a second phase of which included rearranging items in refrigerators to bring healthy choices to eye level increased sales of green items while decreasing purchase of red items. The current paper reports results of a survey taken during the month before and the two months after the labeling intervention began in March 2010. Research coordinators approached customers who had just made purchases and asked them to participate in the brief survey. Participants were asked whether they had noticed any nutritional information in the cafeteria or on food labels, which factors most influenced their purchases, how often they consider nutrition information before making food choices, and how often they "choose food that is healthy." After introduction of the color-coded labels, respondents were also asked whether they had noticed the labels and if the labels had influenced their purchases.
During the baseline period before the labeling intervention, 204 individuals completed the survey, and 243 did so in the weeks following. While 46 percent of respondents indicated that health/nutrition was an important factor in their choices at baseline, 61 percent did so after the intervention. The percentage of those indicating that they looked at available nutritional information before a purchase doubled from 15 to 33 percent, although there was no significant difference in the percentage reporting they usually or always choose healthy foods. Respondents who reported noticing the new labels bought a greater proportion of green items and fewer red items than did those who did not notice, and the influence was even stronger among those who indicated being influenced by the labels.
"While our results can't give concrete information about customers' nutritional knowledge, people were more likely to indicate that health and nutrition were important factors in their decision when the labels were in place, and those who noticed the labels were more likely to purchase healthy items," Sonnenberg says. "Although we haven't directly compared these "traffic light" labels to other systems, we can say that these labels appear to be more effective than the standard nutritional labeling available on packaged products. The strategy is simpler for customers to understand at the point of purchase and, once the appropriate labels for each item are determined, is relatively easy to implement."
The labeling system along with second phase of adjusting the positioning of items, which was not included in the current study as now in place at all MGH food service locations. Co-authors of the Preventive Medicine article are Susan Barraclough, MS, RD, LDN, and Emily Gelsomin, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Services; Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH, MGH division of General Medicine; Douglas Levy, PhD, Mongan Institute of Health Policy at MGH; and Jason Riis, PhD, Harvard Business School.
###
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $775 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
'Traffic-light' labeling increases attention to nutritional quality of food choices
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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]
Contact: Cassandra Aviles cmaviles@partners.org 617-724-6433 Massachusetts General Hospital
A simple, color-coded system for labeling food items in a hospital cafeteria appears to have increased customer's attention to the healthiness of their food choices, along with encouraging purchases of the most healthy items. In their report in the October issue of Preventive Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators describe customer responses to surveys taken before and after the 2010 implementation of a system using green, yellow or red "traffic light" labels to reflect the nutritional quality of items.
"Several small, experimental studies have suggested that 'traffic light' labels can be an effective method of promoting healthier choices, but there have been few real-world studies of customers' perceptions and purchasing behaviors in response to this type of labeling," explains Lillian Sonnenberg, DSc, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Service, the corresponding author of the current report. "Our results suggest that these labels are an effective method for conveying information about healthy and unhealthy choices and for prompting changes in purchasing behavior."
While many restaurants and other food service locations are now posting the calorie content of their standard items and make detailed information such as fat, cholesterol and sodium content available on request, the researchers note that interpreting this information requires knowledge and skills that many do not possess. To find a simpler way to encourage more healthful purchases at the hospital's food service locations, MGH Nutrition and Food Service put together a plan that started with color-coding each item sold in the main cafeteria green for the healthiest items, such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats; yellow for less healthy items, and red for those with little or no nutritional value. Signage encouraged frequent purchase of green items, less frequent for yellow and discouraged purchase of red items. Cafeteria cash registers were programmed to record each purchased item as green, yellow or red, starting three months before the labeling intervention began.
Previous reports from the MGH team have described how the program a second phase of which included rearranging items in refrigerators to bring healthy choices to eye level increased sales of green items while decreasing purchase of red items. The current paper reports results of a survey taken during the month before and the two months after the labeling intervention began in March 2010. Research coordinators approached customers who had just made purchases and asked them to participate in the brief survey. Participants were asked whether they had noticed any nutritional information in the cafeteria or on food labels, which factors most influenced their purchases, how often they consider nutrition information before making food choices, and how often they "choose food that is healthy." After introduction of the color-coded labels, respondents were also asked whether they had noticed the labels and if the labels had influenced their purchases.
During the baseline period before the labeling intervention, 204 individuals completed the survey, and 243 did so in the weeks following. While 46 percent of respondents indicated that health/nutrition was an important factor in their choices at baseline, 61 percent did so after the intervention. The percentage of those indicating that they looked at available nutritional information before a purchase doubled from 15 to 33 percent, although there was no significant difference in the percentage reporting they usually or always choose healthy foods. Respondents who reported noticing the new labels bought a greater proportion of green items and fewer red items than did those who did not notice, and the influence was even stronger among those who indicated being influenced by the labels.
"While our results can't give concrete information about customers' nutritional knowledge, people were more likely to indicate that health and nutrition were important factors in their decision when the labels were in place, and those who noticed the labels were more likely to purchase healthy items," Sonnenberg says. "Although we haven't directly compared these "traffic light" labels to other systems, we can say that these labels appear to be more effective than the standard nutritional labeling available on packaged products. The strategy is simpler for customers to understand at the point of purchase and, once the appropriate labels for each item are determined, is relatively easy to implement."
The labeling system along with second phase of adjusting the positioning of items, which was not included in the current study as now in place at all MGH food service locations. Co-authors of the Preventive Medicine article are Susan Barraclough, MS, RD, LDN, and Emily Gelsomin, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Services; Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH, MGH division of General Medicine; Douglas Levy, PhD, Mongan Institute of Health Policy at MGH; and Jason Riis, PhD, Harvard Business School.
###
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $775 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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