Bosnia: Man sentenced to 45 years for war crimes

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) ? A court in Bosnia on Friday convicted a Montenegrin man of multiple counts of murder, torture, rape and looting during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, and sentenced him to 45 years in prison ? the highest sentence ever issued in the country.

Judge Zoran Bozic said that Veselin Vlahovic, killed 31 people, raped a number of Bosniak and Croat women and tortured and robbed non-Serb residents of a Sarajevo suburb while fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. Among other crimes, the judge described how Vlahovic cut the throats of two brothers in front of their mother, then killed her and raped the men's wives.

"We are happy with the maximum sentence," said Boris Grubisic, the spokesman for the Prosecutor's office.

He said that during the trial some of the 112 witnesses described the rape of heavily pregnant women and mothers being raped in front of their children. Grubisic said that Vlahovic committed the crimes over several months. Although he received the maximum sentence, the prosecution still plans to appeal because he was acquitted on six counts.

Vlahovic's layer Radivoje Lazarevic said he also will appeal the sentence because he believes that some of the 60 counts on which Vlahovic was convicted were not proven.

Vlahovic, 43, showed no reaction when the judge pronounced the verdict.

In 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to Sarajevo, they mistreated non-Serb residents of the areas that they controlled. Vlahovic was the commander of a paramilitary unit that went from house to house looking for Muslims and Catholics, then looted their homes, tortured and often killed entire families.

Edina Kamenica, a Muslim woman who lived in one of the Serb-held neighborhoods, followed the trial carefully. She said Vlahovic ? known as "the monster from Grbavica" ? came to her door.

"He asked if there were any Turks inside and if I had answered 'yes' I would have be alive," she said.

During the war Serbs often referred to Muslim Bosnians as Turks because of their hatred of the Turkish-Ottoman empire that ruled over the Balkan peninsula for 500 years.

Bakira Hasecic, the head of an association of victims of wartime rape, said the sentence was the best satisfaction that so far came from Bosnia's war crimes court, but added that Vlahovic was such a monster that even the maximum sentence was not enough for him.

Vlahovic fled to neighboring Serbia and Montenegro after the war. He was jailed in Montenegro for armed robbery but escaped from prison. Spanish police then found him in 2010 living in the town of Altea. He was extradited to Bosnia the same year although he is also wanted in Spain for robbery and assault with a firearm.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bosnia-man-sentenced-45-years-war-crimes-111616575.html

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The justice who will decide gay marriage

Supreme Court Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy (R) and Stephen Breyer await the start of a hearing on Capitol??

Few things were certain after the Supreme Court's first foray into the issue of gay marriage earlier this week?except that conservative-leaning swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy will control the outcome.

The four liberal and the four conservative justices appeared to split right down the middle on how (and whether) to decide the constitutionality of both Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Kennedy?who in the past authored the court's two most important opinions affirming gay rights?seemed to be on the fence in both cases.

The most likely scenario: Kennedy will form a coalition with the liberals to strike down Proposition 8 and DOMA without substantially addressing the plaintiffs' claims that gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry and have those marriages treated equally to opposite-sex marriages by the law.

The hope for a "nation-wide ruling on same-sex marriage was clearly dashed on Tuesday," said Doug NeJaime, a professor at Loyola Law School.

Gay rights advocates had pinned their hopes on the 76-year-old Sacramento native and Ronald Reagan appointee, based on his striking down of a state anti-sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) and a Colorado statute that prohibited local governments from passing anti-discrimination laws protecting gay people in Romer v Evans (1996).

But in both cases, Kennedy appeared unsympathetic to the argument that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marriage. He repeatedly noted that same-sex unions are historically new and that there's not much "sociological" evidence about them and their offspring. He did, however, express sympathy for the children of same-sex couples, saying he believed their voices were "important" and that they were harmed because their parents were not allowed to wed.

Kennedy did seem far more open to striking down both anti-gay marriage laws on procedural grounds. While this would have a much more limited effect than a broader decision, it would still be a victory for the gay rights movement.

In the Proposition 8 case about California's 2008 voter-approved gay marriage ban, Kennedy dropped a bombshell early into oral arguments when he wondered aloud whether the Supreme Court should have ever agreed to hear the case in the first place. (At least four justices must vote to take on a case, which happens privately in the judges' chambers.)

"I just wonder if?if the case was properly granted," Kennedy said to attorney Ted Olson, who was arguing for the ban to be struck down. Kennedy later asked attorney Charles Cooper, who was arguing on behalf of Proposition 8, why the Supreme Court should hear the case at all.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor took up Kennedy's line of argument, asking Cooper why they couldn't let the issue of same-sex marriage "percolate" longer before making such a major decision.

Kennedy appears to be weighing dismissing the case altogether, and Sotomayor's questioning suggests he may be able to get the four liberal justices to join him. If they dismiss the case, the lower-court decision stands allowing gay marriage in California, but no other state would be affected. If that's the route the court goes, it's possible Kennedy would write the opinion without substantially addressing the plaintiffs' claims that they have the same right to marry as people of another sexual orientation.

Interestingly, Kennedy's comments in Wednesday's DOMA oral arguments also suggest he may take a way out that doesn't require him to rule on the substance of whether the law discriminates against gay couples. DOMA defines marriage at the federal level as only between opposite-sex couples, denying federal benefits and obligations to same-sex married couples in the nine states that allow it. Kennedy appeared very intrigued by the argument that DOMA improperly intrudes into the states' domain of marriage, characterizing the law as potentially in "conflict" with states' rights.

Chief Justice John Roberts also pursued this line of questioning, repeatedly asking the attorneys arguing against DOMA if they believed it was a violation of federalism. Neither attorney would take the bait, however, instead sticking with the reasoning that DOMA discriminates against same-sex couples.

"The chief justice got both parties to the case to admit that they don't think there's a federalism issue here," said Chapman University law professor John Eastman. Eastman is the chairman of the anti-gay marriage group the National Organization for Marriage. "I don't know whether that persuaded Justice Kennedy that he was going down the wrong line."

NeJaime said it's possible Kennedy could write an opinion striking down DOMA on federalist grounds, while the four liberal justices joined in a concurring opinion that struck it down as discriminatory. (If Kennedy sides with the liberals, he could assign the opinion to himself since he is the most senior justice of that group.) If so, Kennedy's decision could say nothing substantial about gay rights, merely sticking to the argument that it's an overreach of federal power.

"You could end up with two decisions from Kennedy that basically allow same sex marriage in some ways but do nothing on the substance," NeJaime said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/kennedy-decide-gay-marriage-cases-201558362--election.html

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Rogers' more reasonable unlocking policy takes effect

See where an appropriate amount of public pressure will get you? As promised, Rogers' long-due rational unlocking policy is in full effect. You can now pay $50 to have Rogers unlock a device bought on contract if it's either fully paid off or has been on the network for 90 days, making it easier to take your phone on a vacation -- or to a rival carrier, if you also pony up any relevant cancellation fees. Likewise, you won't have to make a phone call now that retail staff have resources to unlock devices in-store. We can't say that the gesture delivers more freedom than buying already unlocked hardware like the Nexus 4, but those lured into a contract by a sweet deal on an iPhone 5 or HTC One won't have to feel completely fenced in for the whole three years.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Mobile

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Y! Sports: US draw at Azteca?equals win

Brad Guznan (1) celebrates with Herculez Gomez after a 0-0 draw against Mexico. (USAT Sports)MEXICO CITY ? Four days ago, the United States' road to the 2014 World Cup looked perilous. After Tuesday night's 0-0 tie against Mexico, the Americans are back on track.

Fans inside Estadio Azteca went to great extremes to gain an advantage for the home team, directing highly dangerous green laser pointers at U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan. The laser pens, which doctors say can cause blindness, found Guzan as he prepared for goal kicks throughout the first half of the CONCACAF qualifier. But he wasn't the only target.

Forward Herculez Gomez also had a laser beam pointed at him early in the contest, although his back was turned at the time.

U.S. soccer officials were looking into the matter as of late Tuesday night and an official complaint to world governing body FIFA is possible.

"You deal with that," said Guzan. "It's obviously not ideal, but it happens in these kinds of places. When did I notice it? When did I not notice it? It is part of the environment when you come down to place like Azteca, so you can't let it affect you."

Chicharito yells at a referee after Mexico's 0-0 draw against the U.S. (USAT Sports)Despite the disruption, the U.S. defense held firm in the face of sustained pressure from a Mexican team desperate to kick-start its own qualifying campaign after two successive draws. The displeasure of the home fans was made further evident at the final whistle, when it booed its own team and launched a shower of beer cans and cups onto the field, as well as at the contingent of traveling American fans.

Mexico was aggrieved to be denied a penalty kick in the 77th minute when Maurice Edu collided with Mexico's Javier Aquino just outside the U.S. goal. No whistle was blown, and instead of a prime scoring chance, Mexico was awarded what turned into a harmless corner kick.

The home squad had several more golden chances to score in the waning minutes, but they either booted them wide or were thwarted by Guzan, who was outstanding in place of the injured Tim Howard.

Jurgen Klinsmann's visitors were on the back foot for the majority of the contest, with Mexico enjoying a series of clear chances to give itself the lead. Yet despite open opportunities for Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Giovani Dos Santos and Andres Guardado, there was no way through for the Mexican attacking machine.

If the U.S. appeared to be playing for the tie, it was for good reason. Never has the United States beaten Mexico in a World Cup qualifier on its home turf, and only once in six tries (in 1998) had it even earned a draw.

While the result was only enough to put the Americans into a three-way tie for second place in the six-team CONCACAF pool (from which three nations are certain to qualify), it has now crossed off two of its most difficult road games and is perhaps in the best position of all the six teams.

"We are in really good shape now," said DaMarcus Beasley, pressed into action at left back instead of his more familiar midfield role. "The next game is always important, but getting points away from home like this is huge. You don't qualify for the World Cup on one night or with one game, but this feels like a big step."

The U.S. now takes a break from international action until June, but following its disastrous opening-game defeat in Honduras, will feel far more confident about it chances of reaching the World Cup for the seventh straight time.

More video on Yahoo! Sports:

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/soccer--u-s--plays-to-a-draw-in-mexico-city--which-equals-a-win-050218061.html

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Hello all

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Welcome to Role Play Gateway, and welcome back to role play!

Isn't fun what role play is all about? Telling a fantastic story, weaving a world, fleshing a character, collaborating and making something awesome.

So you love to write? You should get right back into role play, no matter how "good" or "bad" you think you are. Check out Roleplayers Wanted - It's like the casting call for role play! There are endless role plays being advertised, looking for someone to join in on the fun or fill a role. I sometimes use that thread to advertise for "in character events" that happen in the huge sandbox role play that is The Multiverse. It's a great place to start if you just want to make a character, find a planet, and begin roleplaying. Yes, The Multiverse is that huge! PLANET.

So you love to read? Have you checked out the Creative Realm, specifically the writing section?
I personally recommend this story, called Freefall by member Saarai. Everything on that forum is worth a read, of course. Click around! You'll be pleasantly surprised by the high level of pure epic that seeps from this community.

Love sharing creative ideas? Here's the interest check.

Interest Checks is a place to post your ideas, hopes and desires for RP that you are hoping to create or the kind of game that you?d like to join. In short, it?s just for ideas and finding other members that like your ideas and would be interested in the same sort of RP.

My name's lost! It's nice to meet you Elektrin. Do you like ice cream?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/RBKgZPM3_b8/viewtopic.php

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Knox saga still not over for Italian courts

ROME (AP) ? It's not over yet for Amanda Knox.

Italy's top criminal court dealt a stunning setback Tuesday to the 25-year-old college student, overturning her acquittal in the grisly murder of her British roommate and ordering her to stand trial again.

"She thought that the nightmare was over," Knox's attorney, Carlo Dalla Vedova, told reporters minutes after conveying the unexpected turn of events to his client, who had stayed up to hear the ruling, which came shortly after 2 a.m. West Coast time. "But she's ready to fight."

Now a student at the University of Washington in Seattle, Knox called the decision by the Rome-based Court of Cassation "painful" but said she was confident that she would be exonerated.

The American left Italy a free woman after her October 2011 acquittal ? but only after serving nearly four years of a 26-year prison sentence from a lower court that convicted her of murdering Meredith Kercher. The 21-year-old exchange student's body was found in a pool of blood, her throat slit, in a bedroom of the house the two shared in Perugia, a university town 100 miles north of Rome.

Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's Italian boyfriend at the time, was also convicted of the Nov. 1, 2007, murder, then later acquitted. His acquittal was also thrown out Tuesday and a new trial ordered.

Italian law cannot compel Knox to return for the new trial and Dalla Vedova said she had no plans to do so.

In any case, the judicial saga is likely to continue for years. It will be months before a date is set for the new trial, to be held in Florence instead of Perugia because the small town has only one appellate court, which already acquitted her.

Prosecution and defense teams must also await details of the ruling explaining why the high court concluded there were procedural errors in the trial that acquitted Knox and Sollecito. The court has 90 days to issue its explanation.

Another Knox defender, Luciano Ghirga, said she was gearing up psychologically for her third trial. Ghirga said he told Knox: "You have always been our strength. We rose up again after the first-level convictions. We'll have the same resoluteness, the same energy" in the new trial.

Still, it was a tough blow for the former exchange student, whose parents mortgaged both their homes to raise funds for her lengthy, expensive defense.

"It was painful to receive the news that the Italian Supreme Court decided to send my case back for revision when the prosecution's theory of my involvement in Meredith's murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair," Knox said in a statement.

She said the matter must now be examined by "an objective investigation and a capable prosecution."

"No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity," Knox said.

Prosecutors alleged that Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex game gone awry. Knox, then 20, and Sollecito, then 24, denied wrongdoing and said they weren't even in the apartment that night, although they acknowledged they had smoked marijuana and their memories were clouded.

An Ivory Coast man, Rudy Guede, was convicted of the slaying in a separate trial and is serving a 16-year sentence.

Sollecito, whose 29th birthday was Tuesday, sounded shaken when a reporter reached him by phone.

"Now I can't say anything," said the Italian, who has been studying computer science in the northern city of Verona after finishing an earlier degree while in prison.

Later, Sollecito said in a statement that he was "saddened" by the high court decision and will "continue to fight for my innocence, hopeful and confident that truth will prevail."

A local Italian news report quoted Sollecito's current girlfriend as saying he and Knox spoke by phone and described him as being psychologically destroyed.

His lawyer, Luca Maori, said neither Sollecito nor Knox ran any danger of being arrested. "It's not as if the lower-court convictions are revived," he said, noting that the high court didn't determine "whether the two were innocent or guilty."

For those familiar with the U.S. legal principle of "double jeopardy" ? which holds that no one acquitted of a crime can be tried again for it ? the idea that the Italian justice system allows prosecutors to appeal acquittals is hard to absorb.

Knox attorney Dalla Vedova dismissed the "double jeopardy" concern, maintaining the high court ruling hadn't decided the defendants' guilt or innocence, but merely ordered a fresh appeals trial, which he said was unlikely to start before early 2014.

The appeals court that acquitted Knox and Sollecito had criticized virtually the entire prosecution case, especially the forensic evidence that helped clinch their 2009 convictions. It noted the murder weapon was never found, and said DNA tests were faulty and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.

In arguing for overturning the acquittals, prosecutors said the Perugia appellate court was too dismissive of DNA tests on a knife they maintained could have been used to slash Kercher's throat as well as DNA traces on a bra belonging to the victim and tests done on blood stains in the bedroom and bathroom.

The court on Tuesday also upheld a slander conviction against Knox. During a 14-hour police interrogation, she had accused a local Perugia pub owner of carrying out the killing. The man was held for two weeks, based on her allegations, before being released for lack of evidence.

Her defense lawyers say Knox felt pressured by police to name a suspect so her own interrogation could end.

Because of the time she served in prison before the acquittal, Knox didn't have to serve the three-year sentence for the slander conviction. The court on Tuesday ordered her to pay 4,000 euros ($5,500) to the man, as well as the cost of the lost appeal.

Whether Knox ever returns to Italy to serve more prison time depends on a string of ifs and unknowns.

"Questions of extradition are not in the legal landscape at this point," another Knox attorney, Theodore Simon, said on NBC TV.

If she is convicted by the Florence court, Knox could appeal that verdict to the Cassation Court. Should that appeal fail, Italy could seek her extradition from the United States.

Whether Italy actually requests extradition will be a political decision made by a future Italian government. It would then be up to U.S. officials to decide whether they will send Knox to Italy, and Dalla Vedova said U.S. authorities would carefully study all the case's documentation to decide whether she had received fair trials.

U.S. and Italian authorities could also come to a deal that would keep Knox in the U.S.

For now, Knox has a memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard," coming out April 30, for which publisher HarperCollins reportedly paid her $4 million. She still plans to appear in a prime-time special with Diane Sawyer to promote the book, according to ABC News.

In her statement, Knox took the Perugia prosecutors to task, saying they "must be made to answer" for the discrepancies in the case. She also said "my heart goes out to" Kercher's family.

The Kercher family's attorney, Francesco Maresca, called Tuesday's ruling "what we wanted" and relayed a message from the late woman's sister, Stephanie.

"To understand the truth about what happened that night is all we can do for her now," the family's message said.

__

AP writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/knox-saga-still-not-over-italian-courts-232718443.html

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More fat, less protein improves canine olfactory abilities

Mar. 27, 2013 ? From sniffing out bombs and weapons to uncovering criminal evidence, dogs can help save lives and keep the peace. Now, researchers have uncovered how to improve dogs' smelling skills through diet, by cutting protein and adding fats.

Such a diet, say the researchers, appears to help dogs return to lower body temperatures after exercise, which reduces panting and, thereby, improves sniffing.

The findings could change how detection dogs are fed and boost their detection abilities, says Joseph Wakshlag, associate professor of clinical studies and chief of nutrition at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. Wakshlag, who collaborated with researchers at Auburn University, is presenting the findings at the Companion Animal Nutrition Summit in Atlanta, held March 22-24.

The study, funded with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, also found that detection dogs are more reliable detectors than previously thought. The study is the first to be conducted in the world's only detection dog research facility designed in conjunction with a military dog trainer. The Alabama facility, which provides expert detection dogs to police and military forces, flushes out fumes between tests, ensuring a fresh field each time.

"Previous studies from other facilities, which lack this feature, had suggested detection dogs signaling for suspect substances are about 70 percent accurate," said Wakshlag. "The lower numbers may have been due to study design flaws which our new study overcame. Dogs tested in the new facility signaled with 90 percent and above accuracy. We also found we can push detection performance even further with the right kind of food."

Bucking conventional thinking, the group found that less protein and more fat in the dogs' diet helped trained dogs perform better in exercise and detection tests. During an 18-month period, they rotated 17 trained dogs through three diets Wakshlag selected: a high-end performance diet, regular adult dog food, and regular adult dog food diluted with corn oil. Measuring how different diets affected each dog, they found that dogs eating the normal diet enhanced with corn oil returned to normal body temperatures most quickly after exercise and were better able to detect smokeless powder, ammonia nitrate and TNT.

"Corn oil has lots of polyunsaturated fats, similar to what you'd find in a lot of nuts and common grocery store seed oils," said Wakshlag. "Past data from elsewhere suggest that these polyunsaturated fats might enhance the sense of smell, and it looks like that may be true for detection dogs. It could be that fat somehow improves nose-signaling structures or reduces body temperature or both. But lowering protein also played a part in improving olfaction."

Wakshlag designed the high-performance and corn-oil diets to have the same amount of energy from fat (57 percent). But the corn oil diet had less protein: 18 percent compared with 27 percent in the regular and high-performance diets.

"If you're a dog, digesting protein raises body temperature, so the longer your body temperature is up, the longer you keep panting, and the harder it is to smell well," said Wakshlag. "Our study shifts the paradigm of what 'high-performance' diet can mean for dogs. It depends on what you want your dog to do. A sled dog or greyhound may need more protein to keep going. But detection dogs tend to exercise in shorter bursts and need to recover quickly and smell well. For that, less protein and more fat could help."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/UxahAFKiSzU/130327102652.htm

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New assault report similar to Steubenville case

Joan Toribio carries the ball during a game last fall (Torrington High School/Facebook)

On paper, it sounds awfully familiar.

Two high-school football players are accused of sexual assault. Their fellow high-school students take to social media to defend the pair, taunting and blaming the victims. An athletic director brushes aside the allegations?along with separate hazing, felony robbery and assault charges against the school's athletes?as "not any different than any other community." Administrators are reluctant to immediately address the accusations and make it appear like a coverup. The online hacktivist group Anonymous pledges to expose the truth, and publicly shame those who engage in cyberbullying and victim-blaming.

Except this isn't Steubenville, Ohio?it's Torrington, Conn., where two 18-year-olds, Edgar Gonzalez and Joan Toribio, stand accused of second-degree sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls. The investigation has led to the arrest of a 17-year-old male for an alleged assault on one of the 13-year-old girls last fall, police say, and more arrests could be forthcoming.

Gonzalez and Toribio, who live in the same Torrington apartment complex, were arrested last month on the sexual assault charges stemming from separate incidents that occurred around the same time period in February, a Torrington police official said Wednesday. Both pleaded not guilty.

The investigation is ongoing, Torrington police say, and more arrests could be forthcoming.

"It's very involved," Torrington Police Lt. Mike Emanuel told reporters on Wednesday. "It's very difficult to follow, even for us."

The victims and their alleged attackers knew each other, Emmanuel said. "The reason that this is a sexual assault is that there is more than a three-year age difference. That's what we have to keep in mind."

When asked if the sexual contact was consensual, Emanuel said, "Statutorily it is not consensual."

Joan Toribio and Edgar Gonzalez (Torrington Police)

Gonzalez, who had already been facing felony robbery charges related to a March 2012 incident, is being held at a New Haven correction center; Toribio, who was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, was released on $100,000 bond and is being electronically monitored.

Sealed by a Litchfield court, the case had been kept under wraps by school officials until this week, when the Register Citizen reported that "dozens of athletes and Torrington High School students, male and female," taunted the victims on Twitter:

Students flocked to social media in the days surrounding the arrests of Gonzalez and Toribio, with several students offering support for the two football players and others blaming the victims for causing the incident. References included calling a 13-year-old who hangs around with 18-year-olds a ?whore,? and claiming the victims ?destroyed? the lives of the players.

"Even if it was all his fault," Mary J. Ramirez, whose Twitter handle is @LoryyRamirez, wrote, "what was a 13 year old girl doing hanging around 18 year old guys[?]"

?I wanna know why there?s no punishment for young hoes,? Twitter user @asmedick wrote, according to the paper.

Torrington school officials said on Wednesday that they would investigate the apparent cyberbullying.

"We?re doing everything we can to provide the safety [the alleged victims] need in schools,? Kenneth Traub, Torrington's Board of Education chairman, said Wednesday.

As was the case in Steubenville, Anonymous has gotten involved, launching "Operation Raider," a reference to the nickname of the Torrington High School football team.

?#OpRaider is the new #OpRollRedRoll," the group tweeted late Wednesday. "Torrington better take note of #Steubenville because they?re about to go on blast. #endrapeculture"

Toribio and Gonzalez on the field last fall (Torrington High School/Facebook)

High-school football takes on an elevated importance in Torrington, a small town in northwest Connecticut. "Like Steubenville," Doug Barry wrote on Jezebel.com, the case in Connecticut "hinges in large part on the seemingly disproportionate influence a school?s football program has on the surrounding community."

Despite the felony robbery charges, Gonzalez was allowed to play football last fall.

?I reeled the kid in after that, and he walked the line," Dan Dunaj, Torrington's former head football coach, told the Register Citizen. "As a coach I was doing something right.?

Dunaj resigned in December amid an ongoing investigation into a hazing incident involving four football players last fall.

"If you think there's some wild band of athletes that are wandering around then I think you're mistaken," Torrington High School Athletic Director Mike McKenna told the Register Citizen. "If you look at crime statistics these things happen everywhere and we're not any different than any other community."

In an editorial published on Thursday, the Register Citizen blasted "the posture of denial and defensiveness" Torrington school officials have taken in response to the case:

The first step in recovering from this is admitting you have a problem. And after reading the social media accounts of average, "good" students at Torrington High School, it's clear that Torrington students need an urgent education about blaming the victim, bullying and harassment, what "consent" means, why statutory rape is rape, period, and where football should stand in relation to their education and the rest of life. Let's hope that starts today.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/torrington-steubenville-rape-assault-victim-twitter-163530296.html

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Postmaster Launches An Easy To Use API To Help Businesses Optimize Their Shipments

Postmaster, a TechStars Cloud company based in Austin, Texas, just launched a new API in beta that will allow businesses to optimize their small parcel shipments. You’d think that shipping is pretty much a solved problem at this point. In reality, it’s still hard for developers to easily hook their applications into the APIs of major shippers and understand who offers the most efficient and cost-effective shipping options for their specific needs. Postmaster, on the other hand, provides developers with a single, easy-to-integrate REST API that allows companies to quickly compare rates across FedEx, UPS and USPS (more coming soon) and optimize their shipments for cost and time in transit. While large companies like Amazon use sophisticated algorithms to optimize their shipments, most small businesses don’t have access to this data. Amazon, for example, knows when it can use basic ground shipping from one of its warehouses to get a parcel to you in two days instead of using a more expensive service. Postmasters allows anybody to route packages intelligently. As Postmaster CEO and co-founder Jesse Lovelace told me earlier this week, one of the main pain points about integrating with existing shipping solutions isn’t just that they tend to be very old-fashioned APIs, but also the need to get the labels you print certified by them. This can take a long time, and it adds unnecessary complexity for a small business. ?Carrier integration can be extremely cumbersome. Postmaster wants to not only make this process easier than ever before, but by harnessing shipping data and analytics, ensure that every shipment is optimized, routed and billed as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible,” Lovelace also said in the announcement today. In addition to providing businesses with access to rates and shipping labels, Postmaster also provides tracking services over SMS, email and webhooks, as well as address validation. The company currently offers client libraries for Ruby, Python and PHP, with .NET, Java and Go libraries coming soon. For now, the service is squarely focused on developers, but the team is also planning to launch a more consumer-focused product soon that may allow users to quickly compare shipping rates without the ability to print out labels.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/W9oHo3efaLk/

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Bacteria with vuvuzelas: Microbes use a channel protein as a syringe for toxins

Mar. 20, 2013 ? The bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens is a constant companion of some roundworms. These worms assault insect larvae, thereby infecting them with the bacteria; the pathogens then attack the cells of their victims with a deadly cocktail of various toxins. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund working together with colleagues from Freiburg University and Jacobs University Bremen, have discovered that the bacteria use an important toxin complex like a syringe. It makes its way into the host cells via constricted vesicles in the cell membranes, and modifies their structure from within. Part of the toxin complex then forces its way inside the cell through the vesicle membrane by means of a vuvuzela-like protein channel, and kills the cell.

Important toxins of Photorhabdus luminescens are counted among the ABC toxins, which consist of the three protein components TcA, TcB and TcC. The toxin complex first docks at receptor molecules on the membrane of the host cell and is sucked inside the cell in small membrane blisters called vesicles. The TcC components then make their way into the cell fluid and demolish the cell's protein skeleton. What has remained unclear to date, however, was how the protein managed to get through the vesicle membrane.

Now, for the first time, scientists have been able to decode the structure of Photorhabdus luminescens' ABC toxins using cryoelectron microscopy and single particle analysis. This shows that the bacterium's TcA protein consists of five subunits that together form the shape of a bell. "Inside the bell, the subunits form a channel that has one wide and one narrow aperture, so that it looks like the notorious vuvuzela horn used by South African football fans," explains Stefan Raunser of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology.

As soon as the pH value of the environment rises or falls, for example when the fluid in the vesicles turns acid, the outer shell of the toxin opens, unblocking the central channel. "Now the channel is pushed through the cell membrane like the needle of a syringe," says Raunser. TcB and TcC are drawn into the area between the channel and the shell, where TcC is unpacked and loses its original structure. "It may be that a drop in electrical tension or some specific unpacking proteins such as TcB are necessary for TcC to exit the vesicle and enter the cell, where it can unleash its deadly effects."

The results show that the TcA of roundworm bacteria is similar in shape to the toxins of the plague pathogen and other bacteria. "This may mean that these findings will also reveal the workings of bacteria that induce disease in humans," says Raunser. The findings could also help in the development of pest-resistant crops.

In addition to the ABC toxins, plague pathogens have developed another transport system that also occurs in the pathogens of dysentery and typhus. Known as the type III secretion system, it also looks like a syringe. However, the body of the syringe is embedded in the bacterial membrane, with the needle pointing outwards. The bacteria use these nanosyringes to inject material directly into their host cells.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Christos Gatsogiannis, Alexander E. Lang, Dominic Meusch, Vanda Pfaumann, Oliver Hofnagel, Roland Benz, Klaus Aktories, Stefan Raunser. A syringe-like injection mechanism in Photorhabdus luminescens toxins. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature11987

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/--eQ8UX6vGA/130320155127.htm

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Students flock to intramural sports for competition, recreation | UWIRE

Posted on19 March 2013.

The Shabboms, in red, play ZBT, in blue, in an intramural basketball game Monday night. PHOTO BY ELVIN WONG/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

Despite not having a large advertising campaign, Boston University Intramural Sports? manages to attract thousands of students to participate in sports from basketball to broomball, officials said.

?Our goal is basically just to give everyone an opportunity to play if they want to play,? said Graduate Assistant for Intramural and Club Sports Greg Huntoon. ?Whether they want to do it competitively or recreationally, we give that option for everyone.?

Manager of Intramural and Club Sports Scott Nalette said in an email that BU Intramural Sports has over 7,000 non-unique BU student, faculty and staff participants a year. Non-unique participants are counted multiple times if they play multiple intramural sports.

?Intramural sports are very popular at BU,? Nalette said. ?Most sports feature a short round-robin type regular season followed by a playoff bracket for the top teams ? everyone from first-year students to staff members who have been playing for 30 years enjoy the program.?

While people participate in intramural sports for many reasons, Nalette said the biggest incentive is competition. Participants also look for camaraderie and exercise in intramurals.

?They generally leave having found all three [reasons] as well as a better sense of belonging on campus by participating in such a staple program,? Nalette said. ?? They love having a fun and affordable option to stay competitive, but in a friendly [environment] right on their campus.?

Huntoon said the intramurals participation levels have remained consistent in recent years, though renovations have slowed growth.

?The only times we ever see a major shift is sometimes when our spaces are cut into,? he said.? ?A couple years ago, they were doing renovations at Walter Brown [Arena] so that cut into our broomball league ? as a result, we?re just now starting to get more the number of teams we expect ? usually we get around 100 teams in the broomball league.?

Huntoon said of the various sports offered, the soccer league is one of the most competitive.

?Our soccer league usually within a day of registration opening is full, so that?s really competitive,? Huntoon said. ??We get teams who don?t register in time and they have to wait and hope a spot opens up in the league.?

Daniel Phillips, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, said he enjoys both playing and refereeing intramural sports with friends.

?I?m a pretty competitive person so I take it seriously when I?m playing, but you have to remember that everyone is out there having fun and it?s pretty casual,? Philips said. ?I?ve played a lot of organized sports, so it?s nice to have something that?s a little more low-key and where the focus is more on just having fun with your friends.?

He said the hardest part about refereeing is removing oneself from the game.

?Even as a spectator, you get too invested into the game and you?re going to get tunnel vision on what?s going on,? Phillips said. ?You have to see everything and you have to be unbiased and it takes a little bit to get used to, and sometimes you have to deal with people who aren?t happy with you.?

Andrea Son, a second-year?Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences?graduate student, said she had been playing volleyball since high school and joined intramural volleyball to meet people.

?I played intramural sports all through undergrad and coming here I wanted to get involved,? Son said. ?It was great to meet my classmates better through joining the team and forming the team with them.?

Numan Aksoy, a CAS freshman who played both club and intramural soccer, said he loves playing soccer everywhere and with anyone he can find.

?You don?t really need to try out for anything, so if you have any friends that want to play with you or if you just want to get together with some friends and play together a sport that you guys all have in common, it?s a fun way? Aksoy said. ?And it?s only once a week and it?s a great activity.?

?

Source: http://uwire.com/2013/03/19/students-flock-to-intramural-sports-for-competition-recreation/

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Automakers Tap Into Growing Hispanic Market | RV Business

Many automakers used to view Hispanic-oriented marketing as a way to drum up extra sales when their marketing budgets allowed. Often their efforts amounted to little more than dubbing Spanish over actors speaking English in TV commercials, according to a report by Automotive News.

Today, they know not to overlook or underestimate what has become America?s fastest growing minority group, a demographic now responsible for most of the nation?s population growth and one that is expected to become the largest ethnic group in California next year.

U.S. auto sales to Hispanic consumers increased 27% last year, double the industry sales pace, according to registration data collected by R.L. Polk & Co. With industry growth slowing, Hispanics represent one of the biggest opportunities to gain share.

?If any [automaker] is not focusing on or putting their good-faith efforts toward Hispanic marketing, then I would have to question whether they?re truly in the marketing business,? Fred Diaz, head of Chrysler Group?s Ram truck brand, told Automotive News.

Simply giving Hispanics lip service is not enough. To tap into this market, automakers have realized they need to create large-scale campaigns showing a deep understanding of Hispanic cultural nuances, while dealers sponsor local soccer organizations, seek bilingual employees and offer sales documents in Spanish.

Some dealers have tapped into a new program being expanded nationally this year called AutoAmigo, which promises a ?hassle-free? vehicle-buying experience for Hispanics who might otherwise be hesitant because of language barriers or negative experiences.

Hispanics in the United States now number some 52 million, more than the population of Canada. Although 16.5% of U.S. inhabitants, Hispanics last year accounted for about 11% of new U.S. personal vehicle registrations, or about 1.2 million units. Polk projects their share to be almost 13% by 2016.

?If manufacturers are looking to invest in growth, they don?t need to look any further than the Hispanic market,? said Marc Bland, head of diversity and inclusion at Polk.

To read the entire article click here.

Source: http://www.rvbusiness.com/2013/03/automakers-tap-into-growing-hispanic-market/

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Venture wants to name the closest exoplanet

L. Calcada / N. Risinger / ESO

An artist's conception shows the planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple-star system that's closest to Earth. Alpha Centauri B is the most brilliant object in the sky, with Alpha Centauri A at lower left and our own sun visible as a bright speck at upper right.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The closest known exoplanet is currently called Alpha Centauri Bb, but the folks behind Uwingu want you to come up with a cooler name.

"It might be Pandora. Who knows?" said planetary scientist Alan Stern, Uwingu's co-founder and chief executive officer.

As fans of the James Cameron sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" know, Pandora is the name of the moon in the Alpha Centauri system where the movie's action takes place. In science fiction, planets beyond our solar system have colorful names. But in reality, exoplanets merely have designations that are based either on the name of the star they orbit (like Alpha Centauri Bb) or on the name of the probe that discovered the world (like?Kepler-37b)

The International Astronomical Union, which usually takes the lead role in naming celestial objects and features, has held back on creating an exoplanet-naming process. So Stern and his partners?set up Uwingu to fill the vacuum?? and make some money in the process.

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Starting today, Uwingu is taking nominations for Alpha Centauri Bb's new name, at a price of $4.99 per suggestion. For 99 cents per vote, Uwingu's registered users can pick their favorite name. The name that has the most votes when the contest ends on April 15 will be crowned the people's choice. It won't carry any weight with the IAU, but Stern is hoping that the name will stick.

"There are people in the world who think astronomers own the sky, and what we're effectively saying is, it's the people who own the sky," Stern said.

The user who suggests the winning name will receive recognition and prizes from Uwingu. There'll be additional yet-to-be-specified prizes for runner-ups, and for those whose name suggestions reach the 100-, 1,000- and 10,000-vote level. Uwingu already has a list to start with, since it's been in the exoplanet-naming business for several months.

"Older names will be grandfathered in, but I think the new ones will soar past these," Stern told NBC News. (The current top vote-getter is Heinlein, a name that pays tribute to the science-fiction master Robert Heinlein.)

Proceeds from the contest will be distributed according to Uwingu's formula, which puts money into a fund to be given out as grants for research and education. Uwingu is structured as a profit-making venture, so Stern and his partners will get some of the money, too. Stern realizes that having people pay to suggest planetary names that have no official standing may be controversial, and he's willing to take the heat.

"Just spell our name right," he said.

His supporters include one of the world's foremost planet-hunters, Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy, who is one of Uwingu's advisers. In an email,?Marcy told NBC News he thought the idea of naming Alpha Centauri Bb sounded "marvelous."

"It should be fun and creative," Marcy said. "It hurts no one, and generates funding for research. What a perfect antidote to the modern crunch on funding in pure research!"

Uwingu's critics include Caltech astronomer Wladimir Lyra, who came up with his own proposal for naming extrasolar planets a few years ago. He's not crazy about the pay-for-play naming system. "What I would advocate is a classical way of naming the planets from our own myths, the way we name features on planets in our own solar system," Lyra told NBC News. "We can draw upon the expertise that the IAU has for naming things."

As long as people understand what they're buying ??and what's not for sale ??Uwingu's contest looks like an interesting and harmless experiment. Heck, it might even push the world's astronomers to reach consensus on names for the most prominent exoplanets. But what do you think? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.

More about exoplanets and their names:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/19/17361947-uwingu-venture-wants-to-give-alpha-centauri-bb-a-snappier-planet-name?lite

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Lindsay Lohan's Mug Shots Through the Years

It seems that Lindsay Lohan might never learn her lesson. After receiving her latest sentence of 90 days of locked-down rehab on March 19, the notorious party girl posed for her sixth mug shot in six years!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/not-again-lindsay-lohan-adds-sixth-jail-mug-shot-photo-her-collection/1-a-528937?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Anot-again-lindsay-lohan-adds-sixth-jail-mug-shot-photo-her-collection-528937

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Steubenville verdict fires up Twitter

Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond in the courtroom before their trial (AP/Pool Photo)

The news that two high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, were found guilty of raping an intoxicated 16-year-old girl lit up Twitter on Sunday, with many users?most of them women?celebrating the verdict while calling for more work to be done to transform America's rape culture.

GUILTY verdict in #Steubenville! Let's hope this serves as a lesson nationally?only yes means yes.

? Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 17, 2013

These young men have forced a young woman to relearn trust, dignity, self worth and sexuality. And demonized her afterwards.

? Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) March 17, 2013

Full justice will not be realized for survivors until we stop blaming victims and destroy the culture that feeds this. #Steubenville

? Lily Bolourian (@LilyBolourian) March 17, 2013

There are a lot of tears in the courtroom. Wonder where the tears were for the victim that night? #Steubenville

? Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 17, 2013

When I was in college guys used to joke "passed out equals consent" and it made my stomach turn. So glad for the Steubenville verdict.

? Erin Drummond (@ebdrummond) March 17, 2013

Solidarity w/ Jane Doe. Happy for verdict, but it doesn't stop today. She has to live with this when media coverage stops. #steubenville

? Katie Hnida (@KatieHnida) March 17, 2013

Steubenville young men were found guilty ... But it still doesn't fix the problem of society devaluing women.

? Esha Hand (@handesha) March 17, 2013

CONGRATULATIONS, JANE DOE! Justice in Steubenville is in your favor! Next stop: civil court!

? Roseanne Barr (@TheRealRoseanne) March 17, 2013

The verdict came a day after the victim testified she did not remember anything from the night of the attack, but was "embarrassed and scared" to learn what happened to her via text messages from witnesses, Instagram photos and a YouTube video.

#Steubenville rape case had more undeniably damning evidence than many other high profile cases--texts, tweets, photos. Hard to ignore.

? Irin Carmon (@irincarmon) March 17, 2013

#Steubenville case looked at "10s of 1000s of texts found on 17 phones seized." May texting do away with he-said-she-said trials forever.

? Selena Ross (@seleross) March 17, 2013

Steubenville community leaders would have covered up this abuse as they had before, but bloggers and Anons shined a light on it. Well done.

? Random Pinko (@anon_pinko) March 17, 2013

The case "drew wide attention for the way social media spurred the initial prosecution," the New York Times said, "and later helped galvanize national outrage"?outrage that was evident to anyone scanning tweets with the #Steubenville hashtag on Sunday.

Going to have stop commenting on #steubenville case now, as every time I think about it, I cry. I have so much respect/love for the victim.

? Emma Jayne (@EmmaJaynewithaY) March 17, 2013

You will not reduce, redefine, diminish, or take away from what you did. And what you did was rape her. #Steubenville

? Kimberly Hurtt (@MrsHurtt) March 17, 2013

Too much sympathy in court being shown for these disgusting little rapists. It is not a tragedy when a rapist is found guilty.#Steubenville

? Radical Feminist (@RadicalFeminist) March 17, 2013

"She Never said no" is such a hideous defense, and one of the many sad examples of how much work needs to be done. #Steubenville

? Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) March 17, 2013

I wish I had heard the judge utter one word--one word--about respecting women and girls and the issue of consent. #Steubenville

? Truly S. (@hotincleveland) March 17, 2013

"Those poor boys' lives are ruined!" ? exactly what you should not be thinking after the #steubenville guilty verdict.

? Matt Binder (@MattBinder) March 17, 2013

So many feelings as a survivor of intoxicated, teenage rape about Steubenville. The howling for blood makes me really sad.

? Suzan Eraslan (@SuzanEraslan) March 17, 2013

Don't feel sorry rapists: Stop airing the men crying. Those were adult actions, they should've been tried as adults. #Steubenville #stopVAW

? Kimberly S. Brusk (@peaceforus4ever) March 17, 2013

The five-day trial put a spotlight on the football culture surrounding Steubenville High School, a point of pride for a city hard hit by the collapse of the steel industry.

The community of #Steubenville should now do some soul-searching about how they treat their boys like gods. It won't.

? Abraham Lincoln (@Mr_Lincoln) March 17, 2013

I guess the question coaches should ask themselves is this: "Is rape culture part of my locker room?"

? Joel D. Anderson (@blackink12) March 17, 2013

#Steubenville coach and adults also #guilty, protecting the rapists, demonizing the victim

? Progressive Voices (@progvoice) March 17, 2013

Sign across the street from Steubenville Courthouse: "Be a parent, not a best friend."

? Maggie Jordan (@MaggieJordanACN) March 17, 2013

Drink responsibly? Children should not be drinking anyway, and if they do should not get raped, no matter how drunk they get. #Steubenville

? Mark Hoggan (@Markho23) March 17, 2013

Breaking: Rape is wrong even if you are good at sports. #Steubenville

? Katy, Esq. (@kayteeod) March 17, 2013

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/steubenville-verdict-twitter-163715978.html

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China's Premier Li meets the press ? but no unscripted questions, thank you

China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang addressed the foreign and domestic press for the first time today in an event carried live on national TV.

By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / March 17, 2013

Chinese premier Li Keqiang gives a press conference on Sunday.

Andy Wong/AP

Enlarge

China is unlike any other country in the world when it comes to press conferences: You generally learn more from the questions that are asked than from the answers that officials give.

Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

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That rule of thumb proved valid again Sunday as new Prime Minister Li Keqiang met the press for the first time. He seemed confident and relaxed, but like his predecessors, he answered only questions that journalists had submitted in advance, and that his press office had approved.

At Chinese press conferences you learn which topics the government thinks are important and what message it wants to transmit to the citizenry from the questions that the authorities allow. But you don?t get much fresh information from the answers.

Mr. Li?s responses were, for the most part, pretty bland. We did not learn much that we had not already known before we filed into the elaborately decorated ballroom in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square for the premier?s annual press conference carried live on national TV.

But a softball question from People's Daily, the official organ of the ruling Communist party, ("What are the government?s goals and the top priorities on its agenda?") allowed Li to stress his intention of raising incomes and strengthening the social security net ? a major worry for many Chinese ? and of making China a fairer country.

That will have gone down well with the hundreds of millions of citizens who have learned from experience that you don?t get far in this country without the right connections.

The Chinese state radio correspondent tossed him a question about the government?s plans to combat official corruption, another huge gripe among ordinary Chinese, which gave the new prime minister a chance to pledge his ?unshakeable resolve? to root out dishonesty in government.

Overseas reporters had a chance to put their questions, too ? an American was permitted a carefully worded query about US-China relations, including a reference to US allegations that the Chinese government is behind a lot of cyber-espionage; a Frenchman was allowed to ask about the foul air we have been breathing in Beijing for the past 10 weeks; a Russian asked about the future of Sino-Russian relations.

None of them elicited anything that could be mistaken for news, however. He batted away the question of hacking with the standard line that China too is a victim of hackers, and complained ? with a smile ? that he detected ?a presumption of guilt? in the reporter?s question that he did not accept.

The authorities were especially nervous on Sunday about what foreign reporters might ask because the press conference was being broadcast live on television, and they did not want any embarrassments.

Having attended six of these annual charades, and knowing how they work, it still astonishes me that the leader of a country such as China, which aspires to a serious place at the top table of world affairs, does not dare to take unscripted questions from journalists. Li talked a lot about reform this morning; he could do worse than start with the way the government relates to the local and foreign press.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/25ZZkXdOJqE/China-s-Premier-Li-meets-the-press-but-no-unscripted-questions-thank-you

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Deaths in Libya from alcohol poison reaches 87

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? Libya's health minister says the death toll from drinking homemade alcohol that contained poisonous methanol has risen to 87.

Minister Nouri Doghman says 1,044 people have been harmed.

He said Sunday that 15 people were blinded, and others went into comas or suffered kidney failure. He said some people admitted themselves to the hospital too late, contributing to the increasing toll.

The deaths were first reported a week ago.

The dead range in age from 19 to 50 years old.

The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in the conservative North African country. Like illegal drugs elsewhere, some Libyans turn to black market dealers to buy alcohol, which is often cooked in homes or deserted farms.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deaths-libya-alcohol-poison-reaches-87-195314557.html

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Feedly picks up over 500,000 Google Reader defectors

It looks like Feedly's promises of a "seamless transition" worked. The newsfeed service recently reported that more than 500,000 Google Reader users have joined its ranks following the announcement that the popular aggregator will close this summer. It multiplied its bandwidth ten times over, added new servers to cope with the sudden influx and hopes to keep the service up as much as possible as more users pour in. In an effort to keep its new clientele happy, Feedly has promised to listen to suggestions and add new features on a weekly basis as well. But if it doesn't, don't worry; we suspect there'll be many more alternatives pitching for your RSS feeds over the coming weeks.

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Man sought in grandparents' deaths in Wash. state

This photo provided by the King County sheriff?s office shows Michael "Chad" Boysen. King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West says 26-year-old Boysen was released Friday, March 8, 2013, after serving nine months on a burglary conviction. Now, Boysen is accused of killing his grandparents in Renton, Wash., since he was released. (AP Photo/King County Sheriff?s Office, Cindi L. West)

This photo provided by the King County sheriff?s office shows Michael "Chad" Boysen. King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West says 26-year-old Boysen was released Friday, March 8, 2013, after serving nine months on a burglary conviction. Now, Boysen is accused of killing his grandparents in Renton, Wash., since he was released. (AP Photo/King County Sheriff?s Office, Cindi L. West)

The house where the bodies of an elderly couple were found Saturday, March 9, 2013, is shown Monday, March 11, 2013, in Renton, Wash. Washington state authorities are looking for Michael "Chad" Boysen, accused of killing the couple, who are his grandparents, in Renton, Wash., just hours after he was released from prison. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The house where the bodies of an elderly couple were found Saturday, March 9, 2013, is shown Monday, March 11, 2013, in Renton, Wash. Washington state authorities are looking for Michael "Chad" Boysen, accused of killing the couple, who are his grandparents, in Renton, Wash., just hours after he was released from prison. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

SEATTLE (AP) ? A multistate manhunt is under way for a man accused of killing the Seattle-area grandparents who picked him up after his release from a Washington state prison, hosted a party in his honor and offered him a room for the night.

Michael "Chadd" Boysen, 26, is considered extremely dangerous and has tried to obtain guns, police said Monday.

"I can't stress how dangerous this guy is," King County Sheriff John Urquhart said at a news conference. The sheriff said Boysen had made threats against family members and law enforcement officials, but he did not elaborate.

"We have to catch him as soon as we can," Urquhart said.

Authorities would not say who told them about the threats. Sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said civilians brought the information to detectives' attention only after the 82-year-old man and 80-year-old woman were killed.

The bodies were discovered by Boysen's mother Saturday evening. She had been called by a family member who became concerned that the Taylors didn't answer their door.

Family members are under police protection, KING-TV reported.

Boysen was released from prison Friday after serving several years for robbery. His grandparents picked him up from a prison at Monroe, north of Seattle, and hosted a family "welcome home party" for him that night, Urquhart said.

The grandparents were killed later Friday or early Saturday at their Renton home. Authorities believe Boysen also stole their car.

The sheriff said the grandparents were not shot, but he declined to provide other details about their killings, pending autopsies.

The King County medical examiner's office has not yet formally identified the victims or said how they died.

Friends and family identified the couple to TV stations as Robert R. and Norma J. Taylor. They were members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, neighbor Ronna Smith told KOMO-TV.

Detectives believe Boysen is trying to find weapons, and Urquhart said authorities do not believe he had a gun when he left the crime scene. Boysen had been searching the Internet for "gun shows" across the Northwest and Nevada, the sheriff's office said.

Boysen had been in prison since 2006 on three robbery convictions in King County, said Judy Feliciano of the state Corrections Department.

Boysen's grandparents had fixed up a room in their home for him to sleep in his first night out of prison, West said. Boysen was planning to stay elsewhere after that.

"We are at a loss as to why he killed them," Urquhart said. "We don't know what the motive is."

Boysen is white, 5-foot-10, about 170 pounds and has hazel eyes and brown hair in a photo released by police. He may be driving his grandparents' red, 2001 Chrysler 300, with Washington license plate 046XXU.

A warrant has been issued for Boysen's arrest. If he's stopped anywhere in the country, law enforcement officers will know he's a wanted man, state Corrections Department spokesman Chad Lewis said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-12-US-Washington-Fugitive/id-f7705dafc30d40d3a2f43b037a40bb67

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Teen Fiction: Vigilante Green

This is a regular column featuring original poetry and fiction by and for teens, provided by Figment, the online community writing site for young readers and writers.

On an ordinary Friday afternoon, Gracie Jones declared war.

War on corsages, limos, and rent-a-tuxes. War on glitter, up-do's, and mall-bought makeovers. War on the idea of a single king and queen to be crowned the rulers of a dancehall monarchy.

War on Prom.

One week to go.

One week until she'd take arms against the tyranny of an age old high school tradition.

She'd make the most of guerilla preparation, while the pretty boys asked pretty girls to be their dates, and the plainer girls stayed hopeful.

The battle began with a dress, and hers had to shine with the colors of revolution.

"Green," Gracie thought, "It had to be green."

But not just any green, vigilante green.

Dress picking was meant to be quick and painless. Gracie didn't need sequins or shimmery fabric, just something simple. Not a single store in twelve malls had simple, and nobody'd heard of vigilante green. Everything was sequined, everything shimmered, everything sucked. So, Gracie turned to sewing.

Betsey Ross sewed the American flag, Gracie Jones would stitch her own prom dress. And it would be perfect.

By the time she'd finished, her dress looked more patchy than perfect, but the patches gave it charm.

***

On Monday morning, the siege began. Gracie dragged her black chucks through white halls slathered in pink posters put up by the prom committee. Sequined, shimmery posters. The colors of oppression. "The tyrants," Gracie thought.
Gap-toothed Tyler, passed Gracie a note in History class. She didn't read it till lunch. How dare he interrupt the chapter on the French Revolution.

"Vive la Prom," he'd said. "Yay, or Nay?"

Gap-toothed Tyler wasn't aware of Gracie's revolution, he was only aware of Gracie. He hung on every word she'd said in history, fell in love with her in French class, and hadn't stopped falling since.

He'd gone almost four years, stuck in the study buddy zone, until he passed the note. Prom would change everything, he thought. She'd be his queen and he'd be the luckiest guy in his high school.

He'd hoped to see her open the note, watch the apples of her cheeks royal flush with girlish delight, and hear a thundering "Yes" escape her lips. She left class without so much as a word.

He didn't see how ever so slightly green she turned when she read his note. She was Gracie Bonaparte, the spirit of a teenage Joan of Arc. She walked alone, she worked alone. Unless, he wanted to run errands of course.
"I abstain. Meet @ Party Smart after school. Need your help."

Gap-toothed Tyler gap-tooth grinned at her text. He'd help her with errands and she'd hand him her heart. Plain, simple, effective. His battle began at Party Smart.

***

She bought 250 plastic tiaras, and 250 paper crowns. Gap-toothed Tyler footed the bill. Gracie smiled at him as he lugged two garbage bags of nonsense across the parking lot to his car.

He drove her home twenty minutes in the opposite direction of his house. He didn't care. He enjoyed the drive. Gracie thought his car smelled like old Twizzlers. He'd had a stash under the front seat for months now. He offered her one, she took it, and ate the whole thing just to be polite. He'd always known she was a lady, underneath her punk rock tank tops and green military jackets.

Gap-toothed Tyler parked outside Gracie's house underneath a broken street lamp. Gracie said the flickering made her feel like a moth on the nights she'd sit outside and look at the stars. Gap-toothed Tyler wanted to kiss her even though she smelled like old Twizzlers. She got out with her crowns and tiaras in hand before he could try.

"What about prom?" he asked.

"I'm going as Robin Hood, you can come along if you agree to the role of Little John," she said.

Gap-toothed Tyler flashed a gummy grin.

"Sure! Pick you up at 6," he said.

Gracie didn't tell Gap-toothed Tyler about her plan. Not yet, but soon.

Gap-toothed Tyler went home happy. Gracie went home hopeful.

***

It rained on prom day. A great sign for Gracie. Prom committee Kyle was out with the flu. Gracie volunteered to hang the net of balloons over the gym for him. Gracie was good with her hands and not afraid of heights so getting the gig was simple. After school, she brought a bag of balloons, along with her crowns and tiaras and dumped them all together in the net over the gym. The prom committee didn't know about the crowns and tiaras. Vive la revolution.

Gap-toothed Tyler picked up Gracie at six. She was the prettiest Robin Hood he'd ever seen. She thought he made a handsome little John. They both kept that a secret. Gracie gave Gap-toothed Tyler a CD. "Robin Hood and Little John" was the only song. She told him to give it too the DJ. Gap-tooth Tyler would do whatever she asked.

Gracie stole the "Prom King and Queen" vote box when no one was watching. She found the entrance to the stage, snuck past the band, and waited till they stopped playing. Gap-toothed Tyler paid the DJ to put on "Robin Hood and Little John".

When the music started, Gracie cried "Vive la revolution" and set the vote box on fire in front of everyone. There wouldn't be a king or queen this year. There would be five-hundred. Gracie ran off stage and pulled the line to the net with her many colored balloons. The balloons floated beautifully in their own time, while the paper crowns and plastic tiaras fell into the open hands of her senior class.

Vive la Revolution.

Gracie and Gap-toothed Tyler walked out with applause at their backs. Cheers from the pretty boys, and pretty girls on the dance floor and the plainer boys and plainer girls on the bleachers. They'd be in the principal's office on Monday. Maybe they'd get suspended, maybe they wouldn't. They didn't care, they were bold, ballsy, and green. Vigilante green.

***

Gap-toothed Tyler drove Gracie home. He parked in the driveway and sat with her under the flickering street lamp so they could watch the stars. He pulled an old bag of candy out of his pocket. Him and Gracie talked and chewed until their teeth turned licorice red. When Gracie kissed Gap-toothed Tyler, he turned licorice pink.

She didn't mind that he tasted like old Twizzlers.

Vive la revolution.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/teen-fiction-vigilante-gr_n_2857434.html

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