Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295231398?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Michigan, others may regulate amateur MMA fights
LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Jerry "The Moose" Waterson fulfilled a dream last month by stepping into the ring for his first professional mixed martial arts fight, which he won.
His passion has become his full-time job, requiring 40 hours a week of training. But it took the 24-year-old Waterson four years of punching, kicking and grappling his way through Michigan's unregulated amateur system, where nearly anything goes and where fighters are often uninsured or could be infected with HIV or hepatitis.
"It's like the wild, wild west. It's crazy," Waterson said.
Michigan is among about a dozen states in which amateur MMA fights are legal but unregulated. That could soon change, however, as even lawmakers who recoil at the sport's brutality see the wisdom in setting ground rules.
"It is time to teach the beast some manners," said Democratic Rep. Harvey Santana, who is sponsoring legislation that would require promoters of amateur events to get licensed annually, carry up to $10,000 in health insurance for fighters and have a physician on site for fights.
MMA has exploded in popularity since the 1990s, led by its major brand, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and giving rise to an amateur industry that serves as the sport's minor leagues and offers fans a cheap night out or even the chance to get in the ring themselves. Combatants draw from various disciplines, including jiu jitsu, judo, boxing and wrestling, to try to knock out or subdue their opponents.
The sport's brutality ? choke holds are legal and bloodied faces are the norm ? has earned MMA its share of critics, including U.S. Sen. John McCain, who once likened it to "human cockfighting." South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard recently signed off on the establishment of a state commission to regulate MMA, boxing and kickboxing, despite reservations that doing so would legitimize the fights.
Michigan legalized MMA bouts in 2007, and today most states allow professional bouts. They remain illegal in Connecticut and New York, but the state Senate in New York, where amateur fights are legal, this month passed a measure to legalize and regulate the professional sport. When Michigan lawmakers legalized the sport, they stipulated that promoters must be licensed and carry insurance for fighters at pro events. But they didn't set requirements for amateur bouts.
No one tracks all Michigan's amateur fights, but Grand Rapids-area promoter and matchmaker Dru Gardner estimates that there 65 promoters in the state and that there are five events on any given weekend. Rob Fisk, a medic who works many of the fights, said the typical event draws from 500 to more than 2,000 spectators who plunk down $20 each to watch 20-or-so bouts.
While a pro fighter can earn $5,000 for a bout, amateur fighters earn nothing and compete for the thrill or because they harbor hopes of turning pro. In the meantime, amateurs put themselves at risk of serious injury or disease due to the lack of regulation, some lawmakers and promoters say.
Joe Battaglia, who runs a Michigan promotion company, said a fighter goes to the hospital at nearly every one of his events, and that broken noses, ribs and hands are among the most common injuries. Battaglia stopped fighting professionally after suffering a broken neck while training. Fortunately, he was insured.
Many promoters don't provide insurance and many fighters don't have their own, said Al Low, who co-owns the Fight Club Proving Ground gym with Battaglia. Amir Khillah, a pro fighter from Michigan, said he broke his arm in three places in his first bout in 2006. The promoter didn't carry insurance, so Khillah said he made himself a cast out of shin guards and duct tape. His arm is now crooked.
Lawmakers, fighters and promoters also point to a lack of pre-match blood testing, which puts combatants at risk of contracting HIV, hepatitis and other illnesses. The Association of Boxing Commissions, which is made up of the various state fighting commissions, has recommended that members ban amateur MMA fighters from Michigan, for fear of disease. And Bernie Profato, who heads the Ohio Athletic Commission, said he warns fighters that they won't be allowed to compete in Ohio if they fight in Michigan, for fear of spreading disease.
The lack of regulation means Michigan amateurs sometimes can't be protected from themselves. While the Association of Boxing Commissions keeps a database of fighters who have been suspended due to injury, a recent knockout or bad blood work, Michigan promoters aren't required to report to it.
"I know a guy who has been knocked out five times in the last year," said Gardner, the promoter. Someone getting knocked out that often "is a serious liability for the entire sport."
Last year, a 26-year-old South Dakota amateur fighter died a week after a bout from head injuries. Police said there wasn't enough evidence to conclude that the injury was suffered in the event.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's spokesman, Kurt Weiss, said in an email that Snyder supports making mixed martial arts safer and that the governor "will continue to work with the Legislature to find the right approach to ensure that any new regulation will be self-supporting and that need for public health and safety is addressed."
The promoters and amateur fighters calling for regulating the amateur fights made clear that it's for a love of the sport.
Low said many of the young fighters who have taken up MMA at his gym learn discipline, confidence and self-worth.
"I've seen kids coming in here heavy set, out of shape with their heads down and you could barely hear them talk," Low said. "Two years later, they are acting like they are Muhammad Ali."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michigan-others-may-regulate-amateur-mma-fights-070325452.html
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Google spring cleans Reader out of existence, also trashcans some CalDav, Snapseed for Mac
As part of their "spring cleaning" effort, Google today announced the cancellation of several services, including Google Reader, CalDAV API access (unless you're white listed), Snapseed for Windows and OS X, Search API for Shopping, and more. The trashcannings were announced by Urs H?lzle, senior vice president of technical infrastructure on the Google blog:
We?re living in a new kind of computing environment. Everyone has a device, sometimes multiple devices. It?s been a long time since we have had this rate of change?it probably hasn?t happened since the birth of personal computing 40 years ago. To make the most of these opportunities, we need to focus?otherwise we spread ourselves too thin and lack impact. So today we?re announcing some more closures, bringing the total to 70 features or services closed since our spring cleaning began in 2011.
This, of course, has caused wide-spread anger in geek circles, and a more nuanced reaction among the mainstream: "Um, what's Google Reader?" "Dunno, ask a geek!" "You ask them!" "Fine, I'll @{somecelebrity} on TwitterBook for it!"
Apple removed Safari RSS and Mail RSS last year in OS X Mountain Lion. Clearly, people who use and love RSS are not a growth industry, or even a viable target for either company any more. And that makes sense. RSS is the file-system of news, in a post-file system world. It's fantastic infrastructure, but the front end needs to evolve beyond traditional reader apps.
That sucks for those of us who loved the sync capabilities Google Reader provided for iOS newsreader apps like Reeder (pictured above), NetNewsWire, etc. Unless something with Google-level capacity steps up to fill the gap, we likely won't enjoy anything as freely available (in both senses of the word) again. That might also have been part of the problem. Reader was free. It wasn't a product. There was no commercial bond. We got what we paid for.
I'll mourn Google Reader, as I mourned Safari RSS. While RSS will remain -- you can still subscribe to iMore via RSS, and to all the Mobile Nations podcasts -- what does it say when two of the biggest names in tech, and the two biggest names in mobile, shutter their built-in RSS services?
(Ally's going to write up a how-to on exporting Google Reader content, and alternative ways to get RSS, and get your news in general. Keep an eye out for it.)
Source: Google blog
Update 1: Reeder said on Twitter that their app will be fine sans Google Reeder. Whether that means they'll simply abandon sync, find an alternative, or roll their own is unclear.
Update 2: Developer David Smith (Check the Weather) has announced an upcoming, pad service called Feed Wrangler.
Update 3: Developer Marco Arment (Instapaper, The Magazine) argues that the death of Google Reader could bring new life to the RSS market.
Update 4: Flipboard said on Twitter that they have our RSS covered.
Update 5: Dave Winer won't miss Google Reader.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/gUUhWaL-JuQ/story01.htm
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Determining how much heat Earth holds
KamLAND Collaboration
By measuring elusive antimatter particles formed within the Earth's mantle, physicists can determine how much heat forms inside the Earth.
By Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Scientists have tentatively identified several particles lurking deep inside the Earth's mantle that could reveal how much heat the planet produces and confirm that the Earth formed from materials from the sun.
The wacky particles are called geoneutrinos, or the antimatter partners of neutrinos (exotic fundamental particles that can pass right through Earth), that form deep within the Earth's mantle. Every matter particle has an antimatter partner particle?that has an opposite charge, and when the two meet they annihilate each other. The findings were detailed?described Monday in the preprint journal arXiv.org.
Geoneutrinos aren't the only particles scientists are hoping to find inside Earth. ?An experiment using the Earth as a source of electrons recently narrowed down the search for a new force-bearing particle, possibly the so-called unparticle, placing tighter limits on the force it carries.
Giant engine
When Earth formed, the?radioactive elements?thorium and uranium were distributed in Earth's interior at different concentrations within the crust (the planet's outer layer) and mantle. As these elements within the mantle radioactively decay, they give off heat and also form subatomic particles known as geoneutrinos, said study co-author Aldo Ianni, a physicist at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy.
The heat formed from this decay is the engine that drives the motion of the viscous, oozing material that forms the Earth's mantle. That, in turn can shift the tectonic plates,?causing earthquakes. Whereas researchers have models to predict how much heat is generated inside the Earth, measuring it has proved tricky. [50 Amazing Facts About Planet Earth]
That's partly because mantle lies miles beneath the Earth's surface, so "if you want to understand how much heat is produced by these radioactive elements, the only way today to understand how much is this so-called radiogenic heat is through the geoneutrinos," Ianni said.
Tiny particles
To do so, researchers at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, which is nearly a mile below a mountain in Italy, looked for signals in a vast pool of oil-based liquid that scintillates, or produces flashes of light when particles such as protons pass through it. When geoneutrinos pass through the scintillating liquid they bump into protons and emit a positron and then a neutron, creating a distinctive signal, Ianni told LiveScience.
Many of the particles they initially identified actually came from nuclear reactors from power plants. But by measuring the energy levels of the neutrinos, they could isolate the 30 percent that came from the Earth's mantle, Ianni said.
The geoneutrinos are created from the decay of radioactive thorium and uranium in a reaction that gives off a known amount of heat. As a result, how frequently the researchers find the particles can reveal the quantity of the radioactive elements lurking in Earth's mantle, and in turn how much heat they generate. That can help scientists refine their knowledge of plate tectonics, Ianni said.
But it may also confirm the theory that the Earth formed from the sun, Ianni said. Meteorites that come from the solar system's early history contain distinctive ratios of uranium and thorium that very closely mirror the composition of the sun's surface. By comparing that ratio with the amount found inside the Earth, they can confirm the Earth's solar origins.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose.?Follow?LiveScience?on Twitter?@livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Comet Pan-STARRS Is Closest to Sun Today: See It at Sunset
A comet sailing through the inner solar system make its closest approach to the sun and will be at its brightest at sunset tonight, but the glare of twilight may make it tricky to see, NASA says.
The Comet Pan-STARRS will be 28 million miles (45 million kilometers) from the surface of the sun when it swings around the star today, and should be bright enough to see without the aid of telescopes or binoculars, weather permitting. But the comet is also appearing low on the western horizon at sunset so some planning is needed to spot the celestial wanderer with the naked eye tonight.
"Look too early and the sky will be too bright," said Rachel Stevenson, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Look too late, the comet will be too low and obstructed by the horizon. This comet has a relatively small window."
A good time to look is about 40 minutes after sunset. The comet may appear as a sort of exclamation point in the evening sky, with the point being the comet itself and its diffuse tail stretching nearly straight up from the horizon, JPL officials added. [How to see the comet]
Comet Pan-STARRS, officially known as comet C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS, was discovered in June 2011 by astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (or PAN-STARRS), a telescope atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. The comet takes more than 100 million years to orbit the sun and appears to come from the Oort cloud, a vast halo of comets and icy objects at the outer edge of the solar system.
While the comet is making its closest pass by the sun tonight, the best views of the object are still to come. NASA scientists said the comet's proximity to the sun may make it too difficult to spot tonight, but that will change over the next few days.
"As it continues its nightly trek across the sky, the comet may get lost in the sun's glare but should return and be visible to the naked eye by March 12," JPL officials explained. "As time marches on in the month of March, the comet will begin to fade away slowly, becoming difficult to view (even with binoculars or small telescopes) by month's end."
And there is another reason to look for comet Pan-STARRS later this week. On Tuesday (March 12), the moon rises into the cosmic display.
"The comet will be joined in the western sky after dark by the slender crescent moon on March 12, 13, and 14," the editors of StarDate Magazine, a stargazing publication of the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas. "Good naked-eye views of the comet should continue for several nights, with the comet remaining visible through binoculars into April."
Comet Pan-STARRS is one of three comets capturing the attention of stargazers this year. The Comet Lemmon C/2012 F6 is currently visible to observers in the Southern Hemisphere and at times was in the night sky at the same time, allowing stargazers to capture rare photos of two comets in the sky together.
Meanwhile, the Comet ISON is making its way into the inner solar system and could put on a spectacular cosmic display later this year. Officially designated C/2012 S1 (ISON), Comet ISON was discovered in September 2012 by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok using a remotely operated International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) telescope.
Some astronomers have billed Comet ISON as a potential "comet of the century" since it could be brighter than the full moon in daylight when it makes its closest approach to the sun on Nov. 28. At that time, Comet ISON will be much closer to the sun than Comet Pan-STARRS is now. ISON will approach within 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) of the star, making it a true sungrazing comet.
Editor's note:?If you snap an amazing photo of Comet Pan-STARRS, or any other celestial object, and you'd like to share it for a possible story or image gallery, please send images and comments, including location information, to managing editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him?@tariqjmalik?and?Google+.Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/comet-pan-starrs-closest-sun-today-see-sunset-130126478.html
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Speed cited in Ohio crash that killed 8 teens
WARREN, Ohio (AP) ? Investigators were focused on speed as a key factor in the crash of a sport utility vehicle carrying eight teenagers that smashed into a guardrail and flipped over into a swampy pond, killing five boys and the young woman driving.
While citing an unspecified "high rate" of speed, investigators wouldn't speculate on whether alcohol or drugs were involved in the crash about 7 a.m. Sunday on a two-lane road snugged between guardrails just south of this industrial Ohio community.
No one in the vehicle had permission to take it, but there were no theft reports, State Highway Patrol Lt. Brian Holt said. The vehicle was licensed to a resident of Youngstown, about 20 miles away. It wasn't clear how the teens knew each other.
"I can't believe you're gone," Mariah Bryant, 12, wrote in a message taped to a stuffed bear at the scene in memory of her half-brother, Daylan Ray, 15, who was killed.
"I love and miss you so much," said the message, which drew a steady stream of onlookers. The bear was part of a growing memorial of stuffed animals at the roadside.
The Honda Passport veered off the left side of a road and overturned about 60 miles east of Cleveland, State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston said. Investigators say it came to rest upside down in the swamp and sank with five of the victims trapped inside. A sixth, who was thrown from the SUV during the crash, was found under it when the vehicle was taken out of the water.
The two boys who survived escaped from the submerged vehicle and ran a quarter-mile to a home to call 911, the highway patrol said.
Holt said at an evening news conference that speed was a factor, although investigators were still trying to determine the speed at the time of the accident.
"We will not be speculating on alcohol and-or drug usage pending toxicology reports," Holt said.
After the news conference, the gates of an impound lot were opened to show the wreck, with windows smashed and extensive damage to the front end, hood and roof.
Ralston didn't know where the teens were headed when the crash happened and Holt said later it wasn't clear how long they had been out.
"All I know is my baby is gone," said Derrick Ray, who came to the crash site after viewing his 15-year-old son Daylan's body at the county morgue. He said he knew that his son, a talented football player who was looking forward to playing in high school, was out with friends, but didn't know their plans.
Warren Fire Department Capt. Bill Monrean said a cold water rescue team was deployed to the scene and got five teens out of the submerged vehicle.
"Being a cold water rescue situation, cold water extends life," Monrean told AP Radio. "We knew we had a chance; even being in there a while."
Two of the teens, both 15, were brought to a hospital in full cardiac arrest, St. Joseph Health Center nursing supervisor Julie Gill said, and were pronounced dead there. She said they were treated for hypothermic drowning trauma, indicating they had been submerged in cold water.
The two survivors, 18-year-old Brian Henry and 15-year-old Asher Lewis, both of Warren, were treated for bruising and other injuries and released, she said.
All those killed were ages 14 to 19, authorities said. State police identified the others as the 19-year-old driver Alexis Cayson; Andrique Bennett, 14; Brandon Murray, 17; and Kirklan Behner, Ramone White and Ray, all 15. The Highway Patrol said Cayson was the only female in the vehicle.
Rickie Bowling, 18, a friend of Behner, sobbed at the crash scene as she recalled his playfulness and reputation as a cut-up.
"He was one of a kind," she said. "Everyone knew him in the neighborhood. In school, he always made everyone laugh."
Officials opened a school where several of the victims attended to provide counseling for families Sunday night. Superintendent Michael Notar called the crowded closed-door session heartbreaking and said counselors would be available again Monday in schools.
Cheryl Moore, 54, whose nephew is a classmate of some of the victims, emerged from the counseling session and said it was helpful. "I just feel we have to come to grips with what happened today," she said.
All eight were from Warren.
Warren, located near the Pennsylvania state line, is a mostly blue-collar city that was hit by the decline of U.S. steel mills. It has more than 41,000 residents in the industrial Mahoning Valley region.
___
Associated Press writer Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/highway-patrol-high-rate-speed-ohio-crash-063431955.html
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Monday, March 11, 2013
Using the law of attraction to manifest wealth - Self-Improvement ...
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Source: http://alieahmed392.blogspot.com/2013/03/using-law-of-attraction-to-manifest.html
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