রবিবার, ৩১ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Versatile music producer Phil Ramone dies at 79: report

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Phil Ramone, a versatile music producer who won 14 Grammy Awards and worked with a glittering roster of stars like Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Paul Simon, died in Manhattan on Saturday, the New York Times reported. He was 79.

Ramone's son, Matthew, confirmed the death to the newspaper but did not release a cause.

Born in South Africa, Ramone was raised in Brooklyn, New York. In the late 1950s he co-founded an independent studio called A&R Recording in New York.

His first Grammy was for his sound engineering on the 1964 jazz-bossa nova album "Getz/Gilberto" by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto.

He went on to win a total of 14 Grammy Awards, including album of the year honors for producing Paul Simon's top-selling 1975 release "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Ray Charles' 2004 duets album "Genius Loves Company."

Tony Bennett, whose series of "duets" albums were produced by Ramone, said in a statement that Ramone was a "very gifted musician and producer."

"It was a joy to have him work with me in the recording studio on so many projects, as he had a wonderful sense of humor and a deep love of music," Bennett said.

Neil Portnow, president and chief executive of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, said in a statement Ramone had made "countless significant contributions" to the music industry.

"Our industry has lost an immense talent and a true visionary and genius, and The Academy has lost a very dear and close friend," he said. "Everyone who encountered Phil came away a better person for it, professionally or personally."

Ramone was an early advocate of the compact disc. He played a key role in the introduction of the CD when the 1978 Billy Joel album "52nd Street," which Ramone had produced, was re-released in 1982 as the first commercially available album on CD.

He showed a passion for all forms of entertainment, applying his musical talents to projects in film, theater and television. He worked as a music supervisor on the popular 1983 film "Flashdance" and the 1985 dance movie "White Nights."

The Times reported that, although some media sources had said he was 72, public records and his family confirmed that Ramone was 79.

Ramone was not associated with the punk band The Ramones, whose members all adopted pseudonyms using the surname Ramone.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/versatile-music-producer-phil-ramone-dies-79-report-234022565.html

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Kidsquash Completes 8th Season with Smiles | Tariq Mohammed's ...

March 30, 2013 ? 11:21 pm

Since the 2004 pilot of Kidsquash, we marked the completion of the 8thKidsquash season with ten students from the Greater Boston community. They played in a friendly round robin under the supervision of Laura Gemmell, a Harvard senior and 4-time All-American on the women?s varsity squash team, Octavio Chiesa, a volunteer peer coach and myself.

Beginner junior squash players make progress at Kidsquash.

Beginner junior squash players make progress at Kidsquash.

From October 2012 to March 2013, Kidsquash students gathered for Saturday morning recreational squash clinics. Thanks to donations from the Harvard Athletics Department, we were able to recognize 4 students who are newcomers to the sport with Harvard squash apparel. These students were ? Megan Yoh (Best Female Player), Seamus Buckley (Most Improved Player), Will Gladstone (Most Valuable Player) and Samuel Esquivel (Sportsmanship Award).

Many thanks to Luke Hammond, Lead Coach for Kidsquash , Mike Way, Head Squash Coach at Harvard and Coach Bajwa, Founder of Kidsquash for their guidance and support of the program. Also, thank you to Kidsquash parents and sponsors for making it a great season!

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Source: http://tariqmohammed.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/kidsquash-completes-8th-season-with-smiles/

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Sequoia Capital In Singapore After A Year, Has Yet To Invest In A Local Startup

Singapore skylineWhen Sequoia Capital India landed in Singapore quietly in 2012, the buzz around town was that a big-name US fund being in the country was going to really jolt the market and provide serious cred to the startups here. The Indian team running operations here, however, appears to have spent the last year of its time in the island state helping startups in its India portfolio expand into Singapore, rather than directly investing in startups here. However, the company just moved into a fancy?new co-working space called?The Co, and is its anchor tenant, so it could be a sign that it?s trying to get closer to local startups. Previously, it?operated out of a service office in High Street. Singapore is a popular choice as a base for foreign companies looking to expand into Southeast Asia, because it’s a mature market with plenty of infrastructure available. But as a tiny country, it’s not often the main addressable user base, and startups originating from Singapore are also taught to have expansion plans charted. Early last year, Sequoia Capital India MD, Shailendra Jit Singh, expressed interest in having the fund?s companies expand into the region. Sequoia Cap in the US also appeared to have been eyeing activity in Singapore for a while?it had its first offsite meeting in the country in 2011, and was in discussion with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about its presence here. The Prime Minister?s Office oversees its R&D arm, the National Research Foundation (NRF), which has been busy backing local venture capital firms here over the past few years. Its Technology Incubation Scheme is a program that distributes seed funding to startups picked by 11 NRF-appointed VCs. The NRF matches investment values in the proportion of 85 percent to 15 percent?the larger portion dished out by the government. This allows the VCs here to provide bigger sums of seed capital to startups, with much of the risk absorbed by the NRF. Former NRF projects head, Yinglan Tan, was also pulled over to Sequoia Capital India?s team in July last year, where he is now a venture partner based in Singapore. When I ran into Tan in Manila a couple of months ago, he was evasive about Sequoia’s activities in Singapore, but was happy to try to set up meetings with their existing portfolio companies in Singapore?all Indian-based startups, except for Airbnb and Evernote. Some of these companies

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9RLBrFSLBM8/

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90% Caesar Must Die

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (4)

There's barely a wasted moment in the film, which runs a brisk 76 minutes and contains no female roles.

There's an intensity and emotional accuracy to the performances that's just stunning, particularly Striano's Brutus, as he longs for death and release.

It's an arresting, playful and moving film ...

Prison theatricals are nothing new in the movies, but Caesar Must Die, a quasi-documentary featuring hardened convicts acting out Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is in a class by itself.

Ranks among the most involving adaptations of Shakespeare ever put on screen ...

What works best is what's readily accessible, the startling power of performers who understand the drama all too well.

As they find issues and themes they can relate to, the action is never remotely static despite the frequent nature of the close-ups and the plastic sword.

The problem with the film, which somewhat inexplicably won the Golden Bear at Berlin last year, is that it scarcely transcends the basic novelty of its premise.

The juxtaposition of Shakespearean text and prison cell life is a particularly poignant one.

It is difficult to understand exactly where documentary ends and fiction begins, but the finale, again in colour, of the triumphant first night of the production can't fail to move.

It's never anything less than interesting, though I felt it didn't quite fulfil its potential, and the repetition of material at the beginning and end is disconcerting.

It is uncanny how Italy's film-makers keep failing to nail, or effectively to satirise, their country's strident political shortcomings.

Deeply felt melancholy lingers long after the credits roll.

Delivers a compelling and considered take on immemorial themes.

[It] has plenty of wit and punch, although compared to the best of the medium - Man On Wire, for instance - it sometimes comes off as guileless and clunky.

[An] inventive, urgent and humane prison drama, in which real-life Mafia and Camorra prisoners act in a version of Julius Caesar.

If you're looking for an adventurous thought-provoking film, "Caesar Must Die" more than fits the bill.

In just 76 minutes, the Taviani brothers treat us to a deeply affecting adaptation of this ancient play, embedded with even deeper meaning on account of its unconventional stars.

Here's an extraordinary melding of the actualities of modern man with his ancient past. Sadly, humankind hasn't made much progress when it comes to controlling its ambitious and testosterone-tinged impulses. Happily, human frailties make great art.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/caesar_must_die_2012/

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US appeals court grants Hobby Lobby full hearing (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295540664?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Sex offender missing after being expelled from mental health facility ...

staff report ? Published March 29, 2013 Modified March 29, 2013

The Olympian

Timothy Adam Ashford, who, on Thursday we reported to have absconded from his registration requirements after being expelled from a Behavior Health Rehabilitation mental treatment facility in Olympia, was apprehended by Olympia Police Thursday afternoon.

Ashford has been arrested for a charge of failure to register as a sex offender, and is being held at Thurston County Jail.

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/03/29/2483804/sex-offender-missing-after-being.html

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Millennials poised to redefine the auto market

For most automakers, baby boomers are the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that still drives the industry, the biggest buying group in terms of raw vehicle sales and, in particular, the generation spending the most for each of the cars they buy.

But manufacturers are preparing for the arrival of a new group that could soon not only outnumber the boomers but also demand some big changes in the type and size of vehicles the industry produces. Generation Y, also known as the millennials, offer both tantalizing opportunities and major challenges, according to executives at this year?s New York International Auto Show.

Slideshow: The 2013 New York Auto Show

Millennials are becoming ?the new face? of American auto buyers, asserted Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.?s global sales and marketing chief, during his keynote speech at the auto show. ?And we?ll be surprised,? he added, ?by what they choose.?

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, there are more than 80 million American consumers approaching age 30, which means that each year millions more are moving into the new vehicle buying demographic. Indeed, according to the recent ?Gen Y in the Driver?s Seat? study by consulting firm Deloitte, they already represent about 40 percent of the nation?s potential car buying population ? though they are still well outnumbered by boomers when it comes to the number of new vehicles sold each year.

Chevy Rolls Out New 2014 Camaro

In fact, that ?potential? doesn?t necessarily translate into the same mindset toward buying and owning cars that was seen when boomers came of age. Nearly a third of American 19-year-olds haven?t bothered to get a driver?s license, according to a new study, continuing a downward trend that finds fewer and fewer millennials plugging into the American car culture.

?Virtual contact reduces the need for actual contact,? suggested Michael Sivak, co-author of the study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. ?We found that the percentage of young drivers was inversely related to the availability of the Internet.?

In 1983, well before the advent of texting, e-mail and online gaming, 83 percent of American 19-year-olds were licensed. By 2010, found UMTRI, that was down to around 70 percent.

Another study, jointly carried out by General Motors and Viacom?s MTV Scratch unit, found just 32 percent of 3,000 American millennials surveyed saying they were interested in cars ? though it also showed 69 percnet viewing the purchase of a car a ?milestone? in becoming an adult.

Which brand millennials turn to is also up in the air. Auto data-tracking service Edmunds.com finds that Japanese makers have steadily lost ground with millennials at the expense of Detroit and Korean makers ? a sharp reversal of the trend when baby boomers were first entering the new car market.

?Don?t think we have the millennials figured out," Ford senior marketing executive Amy Marentec recently said, but she added that domestic automakers are beginning to show signs of ?cracking the code.?

The market data suggest that younger buyers are generally more interested in green technology than their parents? generation, something that could drive demand for hybrids, plug-ins and battery vehicles. On the other hand, the higher cost for such technologies is so far restricting sales.

Millennials are downsizing, several executives said. That?s one of the reasons why Audi has such big hopes for the next-generation A3 sedan it showed reporters during a sneak peek in New York. It will become ?the third leg? for the brand, said Audi of America chief Scott Keogh, and should drive other makers to rethink the future of their bigger products.

Booming Sales Put Volkswagen of America Back in the Black

Keogh also emphasized that the new generation of buyers ?isn?t willing to compromise,? even though they?re on a tighter budget than boomers. They expect that even entry-level products have a much higher level of refinement ? and advanced features like infotainment systems capable of accessing social media services.

The new generation has ?an incredible taste for luxury,? echoed Ford?s Farley, adding that millennials now expect to get more for less, no longer expecting that they have to pay a substantial premium for high-line brands. ?And as the price of luxury cars drops,? he said, ?don?t be surprised if they make luxury cars their first (new vehicle) purchase.?

For the industry, delivering on those expectations could be challenging. It could strain resources in the short-term, but those brands which can meet the demand could come to dominate the new generation much as marques like Toyota, Nissan and Honda were the favorites of the boomers.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/millennials-poised-redefine-auto-market-1C9144290

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PFT: Bills sign Kolb for maximum $13 million

ReichGetty Images

New Dolphins DT Vaugn Martin says he had offers from the Pats, Eagles, Chargers, Chiefs, and Seattle.

Former Bills QB Frank Reich will hold his annual Call to Courage Award Breakfast on April 6; this year?s event includes a 20-year look back at the greatest comeback in NFL history.

WR Danny Amendola will wear No. 16 with the Pats, if it?s available.? (For now, it isn?t.)

The Jets won?t be hosting the Honey Badger before the draft, a fact that typically has little bearing on whether the player will be picked by the team in question.

Ravens secondary coach Teryl Austin is upbeat about the teams defensive backfield.

The Bengals will now try to find a safety, via free agency or the draft.

The Browns have ?very mild interest? in free-agent WR Domenik Hixon.

Former Steelers OL John Wiley died this week at the age of 92.? (He played in the first publicly-televised college football game, which was broadcast in 1939 by NBC.)

Former Texans LB Connor Barwin took out a newspaper ad thanking a variety of folks who helped his career in Houston ? including Jaguars QB Blaine Gabbert and ?my cleaning lady.?

Over the next couple of months, new Jaguars coach Gus Bradley will establish his vision for the team.

Colts QB Andrew Luck is among the candidates for the cover of an overhyped, underperforming football video game that inexplicably continues to sell millions of copies every year.

Someone actually believes that Ryan Fitzpatrick is an upgrade over Matthew Hasselbeck at backup quarterback for the Titans.

The Broncos hope to play as fast as possible on offense in 2013.

The Chiefs have explained the convoluted title of the man who once used the phrase ?programmatic non-fit? with a straight face.

Here?s a look at the Raiders? draft options with the third overall pick in 2013.

The agent for former Chargers LT Marcus McNeill says McNeill isn?t considering a comeback.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo talks about his new contract in a video that includes an image of Romo in front of a collection of trophies many think he?ll never touch and Romo?s young son rebuffing owner Jerry Jones? high-five attempt.

RB Tim Hightower?s workout with the Giants will occur early next week.

The Eagles reportedly have some lingering interest in OT Eric Winston.

The Redskins reportedly are eyeballing Miami CB Brandon McGee and Nevada safety Duke Williams.

The contract signed by new Bears OL Matt Slauson is worth more than the minimum salary.

Lions Hall of Famer Lem Barney has sued a former employer after he was fired for signing too many autographs.

CB Loyce Means, out of football in 2012, could be signed by the Packers early next week.

Should the Vikings focus on improving their front four?

The supposedly ultra-talented Falcons have a major hole at cornerback.

The effort to upgrade the Panthers? stadium with public money?continues to face opposition.

New Saints LB Victor Butler says that he was simply looking for a ?chance to compete and be a part of a winning team.?

How good will the Buccaneers? offensive line be in 2013, and beyond?

The Cardinals won?t be going to Flagstaff for training camp.

The Rams are ready to pull the plug on this year?s Pro Day circuit.

So who will be No. 2 on the depth chart behind Colin Kaepernick?

The Seahawks have put together 25 thinks to like about CB Richard Sherman on his 25th birthday.? (?Humility? is not on the list.)

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/30/kolb-deal-worth-a-maximum-of-13-million/related/

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Email Marketing As Business Growth Partner

In the modern business world, new business competitors are emerging every day. Every business owner wants to reach the maximum number of potential clients and customers. The most noteworthy thing for increasing the customer base is to build cordial and personalized relationships with our customers.

Internet marketing provides us with the ultimate platform to take our business to reach new heights. It helps a lot by making alignment in the way that customers make purchases and thus influence their decisions. As we all know the maximum number of customers research on websites and social media sites before making their purchase. It provides them a platform to perform product comparisons on the basis of quality and prices. It plays a pivotal role in making excellent relations with customers.

Email marketing services have created a revolutionized growth in the whole business world. Businesses are achieving excellent benefits through this service.

The foremost thing is that the marketing services through emails have to be creative and resourceful to guarantee overall business growth. There are many email marketing companies making the industry stiff with competition. However, these all marketing services aimed at the guaranteed success of our business and follow the basic marketing principles. At the initial stage, we should set small and realistic goals. This finalises our business success in the market. Our business will surely achieve high growth because of these marketing activities, but there always be effective and cost-efficient ways to market services and products.

The email marketing services are far better than web-based email programs because it provides us with bulk of useful services such as automatic list generation and management, email marketing statistics, and scheduled emailing.

There are various companies available that helps your business growth through website development and overall marketing. They also help in putting your entire traditional business online. They provide assistance in transition and adoption of modern business practices making use of the web technology power. They also leads to the development of create intuitive designs and high-end cloud applications for web, mobile mediums, print, multimedia, social media and E-commerce.

Email marketing is basically concerned for marketing our commercial messages around a group of people via emails. Every email is sent to each potential or current customer so as to enhance the business using email marketing. It also involves the use of email to send ads, solicit sales, request business, or donations, and is meant for building the trust, loyalty and brand awareness. Email marketing can be done for either current customer database or cold lists. It not only enhances the relationship of a merchant with its previous and current customers but also proves vital in convincing current customers. It forces them to purchase new things thus also acquiring more and more customers. This really proves very useful in encouraging customer trust and loyalty, thus benefitting our business.

So be ready to experience an easy and effective way to connect with millions of your customers. Let them also to share and their views regarding your product over their huge networks. The real Growth starts now.

Source: http://www.informationbible.com/article-email-marketing-as-business-growth-partner-296779.html

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Burke leads UM rally over Kansas, 87-85 in OT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Trey Burke kept alive Michigan's deepest NCAA tournament run since the Fab Five era nearly 20 years ago with a shot the Wolverines won't soon forget.

Call it the Fab 3.

The sophomore standout scored all 23 of his points in the second half and overtime, including a long, tying 3-pointer in the final moments of regulation as Michigan rallied to beat Kansas 87-85 in the South Regional semifinals Friday night.

"Great shot," said Glenn Robinson III, who made it possible with a key bucket during a 14-4 run over the final 2:52 of regulation. "It was deep, too. He always makes that in practice."

Ben McLemore had 20 points to lead the Jayhawks (31-6), who looked to be on their way to a third straight regional final before Michigan's improbable rally. Instead, they became the third No. 1 seed to fall in this tournament, joining Gonzaga and Indiana.

"Well, this will certainly go down as one of the toughest games that obviously we've been a part of and I've been a part of," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "But props to Michigan for making all the plays late."

That's for sure.

The fourth-seeded Wolverines (29-7) were down five when Tim Hardaway Jr. missed a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, but Robinson won a scramble for the ball and hit a reverse layup to force Kansas to win the game at the free-throw line.

The Jayhawks couldn't do it. Burke's tying shot ? he pulled up from well beyond the arc just left of the key ? came with 4.2 seconds left after Elijah Johnson missed a free throw and Michigan got the rebound.

Moments earlier, with 21 seconds remaining, Johnson had hit two from the line to keep the Kansas lead at five. Burke had scored on a layup to get Michigan back to within three.

"We never had the mindset that we were going to lose the game," Burke said. "When we were down 14, we knew anything could still happen. It's March, anything can happen."

Michigan went to back-to-back championship games a generation ago with the Fab Five, led by Chris Webber, Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose. But the folks in Ann Arbor will be talking for years about the shot by Burke under the huge video board in Cowboys Stadium, just down the road from where Howard and Rose played their last game together with Ray Jackson and Jimmy King in a regional final loss to Arkansas in 1994.

The Wolverines will play Florida in the regional final Sunday. The third-seeded Gators beat 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast 62-50.

"Just to be able to get this program back to the Elite Eight, it feels good," Burke said. "But we want to go further."

The lead changed hands five times in overtime ? the first OT game of the tournament ? the last when Mitch McGary, who led Michigan with 25 points and 14 rebounds, hit a short jumper with Johnson in his face to put Michigan ahead 83-82.

The Jayhawks got a stop and had about 9 seconds to tie or win, but a jumbled possession ended with Naadir Tharpe missing a running jumper at the buzzer.

"We played like we were trying to hold onto something instead of just continuing to play," Johnson said.

Burke had eight points in the closing 14-4 run that tied the game, then gave Michigan its first lead since early with another long 3-pointer to make it 79-78 early in overtime. He hit a jumper on the next possession as well. After failing to score in the first 20 minutes, Burke ended his drought by scoring eight straight points early in the second half to momentarily cut the deficit to two.

"In the second half, Coach told me to be more aggressive, so I looked for my shot more," he said.

But Kansas restored a 10-point lead built on controlling the paint, this time with a 3-pointer and a tomahawk dunk on a breakaway by McLemore and a three-point play from Johnson.

Johnson, who picked up three fouls in just three minutes of playing time in the first half, gave Kansas its biggest lead at 68-54 with a 3-pointer from the corner with just under 7 minutes left.

Travis Releford had 16 points for the Jayhawks, while Jeff Withey had 12 points and eight rebounds.

McLemore didn't score again after going to the bench with his fourth foul with 8 minutes remaining.

"We had chance to seal the game, but we made some bonehead plays late," Releford said.

Kansas pushed out to a 10-point lead early by dominating around the basket. McLemore's first basket was the first outside the paint as the Jayhawks scored 34 of their 40 first-half points from inside while shooting 69 percent.

Withey put Kansas ahead 29-19 with a turnaround shot that had McGary shrugging at a teammate and saying, "I'm trying."

McGary wasn't having nearly as much trouble on the offensive end, leading the Wolverines with 11 points and five rebounds in the first half. He picked up where he left off in the third round against Virginia Commonwealth, when he had season highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Michigan pulled within 40-34 at the half when Nik Stauskas hit a 3-pointer and had chance for a four-point play when McLemore bumped him on the shot. But he missed the free throw.

No matter. In the end, Burke was Fab-u-lous and the Wolverines are one win away from the Final Four.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/burke-leads-um-rally-over-kansas-87-85-024557238--spt.html

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What Amazon Really Paid For Goodreads - Business Insider

Bloomberg Businessweek just published a very strange article trying to guess how much Amazon paid for Goodreads, a social network where people share what books they're reading.

In essence, the writer, Kyle Stock, tried to find comparables in recent IPOs and private financings to arrive at a value per user for social websites, comparing Goodreads to Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. He came up with a figure of $880 million, which he rounded up to $1 billion.

Three problems with that:

  • Amazon did not disclose a price for the acquisition. Had it been as high as $880 million, let alone $1 billion, the company would likely have had to disclose it as a material transaction. (Stock acknowledges the materiality issue in an aside, but that observation should have prompted him to rethink the entire premise of his story.)
  • Investors value different companies in different ways. Instagram, for example, was valued so highly by Facebook not because of its revenues?it had none?but because it threatened Facebook's core photo-sharing franchise. LinkedIn, by contrast, is valued highly by investors not primarily based on its number of users but how well it monetizes them through diversified revenue streams.Technology consultant Anil Dash tore Stock apart in a comment on the piece:"This valuation is preposterous, because the methodology is preposterous. There is zero evidence that either the markets or investors use some arbitrary 'multiply users by a dollar amount' calculation to determine a valuation for these companies. Using such a formula to arrive at an absurd number is especially egregious here because people will now use the authority of this publication to say 'Businessweek reports that Goodreads sold for a billion dollars,' though that's almost certainly not the case."
  • Lastly, AllThingsD's Kara Swisher actually talked to some sources and asked them how much Amazon paid for Goodreads, which raised almost $3 million from angel investors and True Ventures. They told her the real number was $150 million.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-goodreads-purchase-price-2013-3

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Meet Cyro, the robotic jellyfish that will haunt your dreams

Engineers at Virginia Tech are working on a gigantic, synthetic robo-jellyfish, which could eventually have military applications.?

By Matthew Shaer / March 29, 2013

Students at Virginia Tech tinker with Cyro, a robotic jellyfish.

Virginia Tech

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If you're frightened of the ocean, or the creatures that lurk beneath the waves, we recommend that you read no further.?

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According to the Los Angeles Times, engineers at a Virginia Tech lab are working on a giant, synthetic, robo-jellyfish, which one day could autonomously patrol the high seas. The project, which is funded by a?$5-million grant from the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research, has already yielded one workable prototype: a 170-pound monster nicknamed Cyro.?

Geek.com reports that Cyro measures more than five feet in length, and behaves very much like its organic counterpart:?

Cryo consists of a central core of components in a waterproof shell connected to eight moving arms. Draped over this is a large and soft piece of white silicone, which comes into contact with each of the arms and remains flexible. Combined, the arms and silicone act as a propulsion system mimicking how real jellyfish move around.

A video produced by Virginia Tech indicates that Cyro could eventually be used to keep tabs on ecologically-sensitive underwater areas or to help clean up oil spills. Jellyfish, after all, are extremely efficient swimmers ? they require less energy than, say, a large fish to keep moving. Still, we stand by our original point. Regular jellyfish are scary enough. Robotic jellyfish? The stuff of horror flicks ? or at least spy movies.?

"Imagine," writes Matt Peckham of Time Magazine, "a fully-realized version of such a robot running underwater surveillance missions for the U.S. Navy ? the marine version of a weaponless drone, in other words, perhaps poking around someone?s oceanfront property (or, heaven forbid, employed in a civilian capacity by ignoble paparazzi to stalk celebrities)."?

In related news, here's a compendium of horror movies that include jellyfish. Among them: The 1965 epic "Sting of Death."?

For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/2sohwer2BmE/Meet-Cyro-the-robotic-jellyfish-that-will-haunt-your-dreams

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Thinking, Reading, Writing, and Speaking Skills Are Better ...

Six years ago, the video ?Shift Happens? (2007) was featured at our school?s professional development day. I clearly remember one take-away:

We are currently preparing students for jobs that don?t exist using technologies that do not exist in order to solve problems we don?t even know are problems yet.

The video was created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod.?The slides provided statistics on the rapid exponential growth in population and in information, highlighting the differences between the present and what was successful in the past, specifically England?s position on the world stage in 1900. Several slides are alarming in calling attention to the building tsunami of information available to students with examples such as ? there is more information in a week?s worth of the?The New York Times?than what an average person knew in the 1700s?. Since 2007, there have been several updated versions of ?Shift Happens? uploaded to YouTube; there have also been many imitations.

I thought of this video this week when I drove past a sign on a large office building: Strategic Information Technologies.

?What does that mean?? I asked my friend Catherine, ?Is the technology stategic because of geography? Strategic because of a choice of software or hardware?? I continued, ?I don?t know what a ?strategic information technologist? does?Is this one of the unknown new jobs were are ?preparing? our 21st Century students to take?? I referenced the video.

?That?s ridiculous! The people who ?prepared? us for the 21st Century were not worried about what new jobs would be?available?in our future. In fact,? she continued, ?they taught us what they knew?what they thought we should know, and we are doing just fine.?

I was startled. Could a ?Shift Happens? video place a misguided emphasis on adjusting skills and content in order to prepare students for the unidentified problems they?don?t even know are problems yet?

?After all,? she continued, ?We are the generation that created these new technologies that we didn?t know would exist today.?

When I reflect on her statement I think about how my favorite teachers in grades K-12 ?(Sister Ella, Mrs. Rowland, Miss Montessi) were not obsessed with preparing me for some unidentified job in the future. Instead, their collective obsession was to prepare me with basic skills and content so that I could be a productive member of?society? I was taught to think, to read well, write well, speak well, know math, appreciate history, recognize science, and, since I attended Catholic school, recite my?Catechism.

Perhaps, educators cannot predict the future for their students, but educators can address trends. For example, in 1957, the American public began to reconsider how the role of public education may contribute to winning the Space Race with the Soviets once Sputnik had been released. The investments in education made as a consequence resulted in increased scientific advancements and many spin-off technologies. In contrast, however, predictions such as those at the?1964 NY World?s Fair of a future with flying cars, jet packs, vacation trips to Mars and beyond, underwater cities, and robot laborers have never came to fruition.

Similarly, Karl Fisch?s video alerted educators to the rapid changes in education and the global implications in preparing students for the real world. He wrote:

??it?s a different world out there. A world whereanyone?s?ideas can quickly spread if they happen to strike a chord.?

This was certainly true of the ?Shift Happens? video which had great success without??a large company or a huge public relations effort to make an impact.? Fisch continued:

This is just one of the reasons that I believe our schools need to change. They need to change to reflect this new world, this flatter world, this information-abundant, globally connected, rapidly changing, technology super-charged world that they are going to spend the rest of their lives in.

Fisch made no silly ?predictions? like those at the NY World?s Fair. Instead, his video served to bring attention to trends that require an increase in the skills of ?communication and sharing information.

In order to communicate and to share, students from grades K-12 must think, read well, write well, and speak well regardless as to what predictions are being made about new industries or technologies.?In trying to anticipate the future, educators must not discount how the generations of students who learned these important skills became the graduates who are now responsible for evolving changes of the present.

Shift is not an entirely new enterprise on the world stage, for example, ?the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution are all examples of global ?shifts?. In the six short years since the ?Shift Happens? video, Facebook has replaced MySpace as the world?s most?formidable?social network; Twitter has evolved into a powerful communication tool. The role of educators is not ?to predict the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or company that will spawn new jobs or dominate an industry or the next ?shift?. Instead, the role of educators must be to teach the skills of thinking, reading, writing, and speaking well that contributed to the ?shift? that is happening for our students. There is no surprise that ?Shift Happens?, and the students who are prepared to think, to read well, to write well, and to speak well will not be surprised either.

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Source: http://usedbooksinclass.com/2013/03/30/thinking-reading-writing-and-speaking-skills-are-better-predictors-when-shift-happens/

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শনিবার, ৩০ মার্চ, ২০১৩

Kenyan election results upheld by highest court, rival concedes

Ben Curtis / AP

A supporter of losing presidential candidate Raila Odinga gestures as he protests with others in the rain in front of riot police guarding the Supreme Court in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, March 30, 2013.

By Edmund Blair and Humphrey Malalo, Reuters

Kenya's Supreme Court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's presidential election victory on Saturday and his defeated rival quickly accepted the ruling, dousing fears of a repeat of the tribal bloodletting that blighted the country's last vote.

The decision cleared the way for Kenya's richest man to take the top job in east Africa's biggest economy, but left foreign powers with the headache of dealing with a leader charged with crimes against humanity at The Hague.

After the judgment, police fired shots in the air and teargas at hundreds of stone-throwing youths in the western city of Kisumu, a stronghold of defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who had challenged Kenyatta's win. Protesters looted shops and burned tires in the street.

But shortly after, Odinga made a nationally-televised statement, accepting the court's unanimous decision.

"The court has now spoken," Odinga told a news conference. "I wish the president-elect, honorable Uhuru Kenyatta, and his team well."

Kenya's outgoing president had called for calm ahead of the judgment which came five years after another ballot dispute triggered violence that left more than 1,200 dead.

"It is the decision of the court that the third and fourth respondents were validly elected," Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said in court, referring to Kenyatta and his running mate for deputy president, William Ruto.

He said the court had done its duty at a historic moment. "It is now for the Kenyan people, their leaders, civil society, the private sector and the media to discharge [their duty], to ensure that the unity, peace, sovereignty and prosperity of the nation is preserved," he added.

After a week of hearings, the six judges of the court had unanimously decided the March 4 vote was conducted in a free, fair and credible manner in line with the constitution, he said.

Peaceful voting in this year's vote, and the fact the dispute was played out by lawyers not machete-wielding gangs, has already helped repair Kenya's image as a safe haven for investors and tourists.

Paramilitary police, some on horseback, formed a security cordon around the court before the ruling. Police chief David Kimaiyo has repeatedly said he would not allow public rallies.

Kenyatta comfortably beat Odinga in votes won, but only narrowly avoided a run-off by edging above the 50 percent threshold.

Western donors are watching the fate of a regional trade partner and a country they see as vital to stability in a volatile area. They had also said before the victory was confirmed that a Kenyatta win would complicate relations.

He is facing charges at the International Criminal Court of crimes against humanity, accused of helping incite the violence after the 2007 vote. Kenyatta denies the charges and has promised to cooperate with the court to clear his name.

Western nations have a policy of having only "essential contacts" with indictees of the court. They say that will not affect dealings with the Kenyan government as a whole, but will worry the issue could drive a long-time ally of the West closer to emerging powers such as China.

David Cameron, prime minister of former colonial power Britain, wrote to Kenyatta to congratulate him and encouraged Kenyans to accept the decision of the court.

Neighboring African states have also been keeping a careful eye on proceedings after they were hit by the knock-on effects when vital trade routes through Kenya were shut down five years ago.

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Hubble observes the hidden depths of Messier 77

Friday, March 29, 2013

Messier 77 is a galaxy in the constellation of Cetus, some 45 million light-years away from us. Also known as NGC 1068, it is one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies. It is a real star among galaxies, with more papers written about it than many other galaxies put together!

Despite its current fame and striking swirling appearance, the galaxy has been a victim of mistaken identity a couple of times; when it was initially discovered in 1780, the distinction between gas clouds and galaxies was not known, causing finder Pierre Mechain to miss its true nature and label it as a nebula. It was misclassified again when it was subsequently listed in the Messier Catalogue as a star cluster.

Now, however, it is firmly categorised as a barred spiral galaxy, with loosely wound arms and a relatively small central bulge. It is the closest and brightest example of a particular class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies -- galaxies that are full of hot, highly ionised gas that glows brightly, emitting intense radiation.

Strong radiation like this is known to come from the heart of Messier 77 -- caused by a very active black hole that is around 15 million times the mass of our Sun. Material is dragged towards this black hole and circles around it, heating up and glowing strongly. This region of a galaxy alone, although comparatively small, can be tens of thousands of times brighter than a typical galaxy.

Although no competition for the intense centre, Messier 77's spiral arms are also very bright regions. Dotted along each arm are knotty red clumps -- a signal that new stars are forming. These baby stars shine strongly, ionising nearby gas which then glows a deep red colour as seen in the image above. The dust lanes stretching across this image appear as a rusty, brown-red colour due to a phenomenon known as reddening; the dust absorbs more blue light than red light, enhancing its apparent redness.

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ESA/Hubble Information Centre: http://www.spacetelescope.org

Thanks to ESA/Hubble Information Centre for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Drones over America: How unmanned fliers are already helping cops

It was getting dark, and the sheriff of Nelson County, N.D., was in a standoff with a family of suspected cattle rustlers. They were armed, and the last thing anybody wanted was a shoot out.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which monitors police radio chatter, offered to help. Their Predator was flying back to its roost at the Grand Forks Air Force base and could provide aerial support. Did the sheriff want the assist?

Yep.

"We were able to detect that one of the sons was sitting at the end of the driveway with a gun. We also knew that there were small children involved," Sheriff Kelly Janke told NBC News, remembering that tricky encounter in the early summer of 2011. "Someone would have gotten seriously injured if we had gone in on the farm that night." He decided to wait.

The next day, the drone gave them an edge again by helping them choose the safest moment to make a move. "We were able to surprise them ? took them into custody," Janke said. They also collected six stolen cows.

Rodney Brossart, the arrested farmer, sued the state, in part because of the cop's use of a drone. But a district judge ruled that the Predator's service was not untoward.

When advocates express concern about government drones threatening people's privacy, the Brossart case is one they bring up. It's one of the first instances of a flying robot doing a cop's dirty work, and this kind of intervention is likely to be more and more commonplace, as the FAA fulfills a congressional mandate to increase its granting of drone permits ? certificates of authorization, or COAs.

Cops and flying robots
At the moment, there are only 327 active COAs, all held by these organizations, and all for unarmed crafts, of course. A tiny sliver of these permits are in the hands of law enforcement agencies, and from them, we're seeing the first glimpses of drone use in policing and emergency response.

"The FAA has approved us to cover a 16-county area," Sheriff Bob Rost of Grand Forks County, N.D., said of their COA. "To look for missing children, to look for escaped criminals and in the case of emergencies." In the spring, they will use two mini-copter drones ? a trusty DraganFlyer X6 and an AeroVironment Qube ? to check on flooded farms.

The police department in Arlington, Texas, also recently got FAA clearance to fly their drones after two years of testing. The two battery-powered Leptron Avenger helicopter drones won't be used for high-speed chases or routine patrol, the department explains. In fact, the crafts will be driven in a truck to where they're needed, and when they're launched to scope out incidents, local air traffic control will be informed.

In Mesa County, Colo., the police department has used drones to find missing people, do an aerial landfill survey and help out firefighters at a burning church. For them, it's seen as a cost-cutting technology.

"It's the Wal-Mart version of what we'd normally get at Saks Fifth Avenue," said Benjamin Miller, who leads the drones program in Mesa County, comparing drones to manned helicopters that would otherwise give police officers help from the sky.

In Seattle, the police department received an FAA permit ? but had to give back its drones when the mayor banned their use, following protests in October 2012.

Protests and red tape
"Hasn't anyone heard of George Orwell's '1984'?" the Seattle Times quoted a protester as saying. "This is the militarization of our streets and now the air above us."

Protesters, not just in Seattle, seek more legal definition of what a drone can or can't do, and debate whether or not current laws sufficiently protect citizens from unauthorized surveillance and other abuses.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks of police drones as an inevitability ? "We're going to have them," he recently said in a radio interview ? while those on the police (and drone) side say the fears are unfounded.

"This hysteria of [a drone] hovering outside your backyard taking a video of you smoking a joint, it's just that ? hysteria," said Al Frazier, an ex-cop from Los Angeles who is now an assistant professor of aeronautics at the University of North Dakota, and a deputy at the Grand Forks sheriff's office.

The reason the sky isn't lousy with drones already mostly has to do with red tape. The FAA's highly restricted drone application for government agencies is supposed to take about 60 days, though unofficially, we're told it's much longer. COAs are also very strict about where, when and by whom a drone is flown.

"I think there are many agencies who would like to use [drones] for public good, but they're stymied by the process," Frazier said.

That's likely to change ? and soon. Last February, Obama signed a mandate that encourages the FAA to let civil and commercial drones join the airspace by 2015. This will take new regulations from the FAA for safe commercial drone flight, and it may take some convincing of local anti-drone activists (who sometimes don't differentiate between drones great and small). It may even require the passing of a few new privacy laws.

Folks like Frazier and Miller don't see the permit process getting easier any time soon but eventually ? inevitably ? and for better or worse, your local police department will get its drone.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Related:

The drones are coming ... but our laws aren't ready

Anticipating domestic boom, colleges rev up drone piloting programs

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Business, labor close on deal for immigration bill (The Arizona Republic)

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PFT: Brad Childress joins Chiefs' coaching staff

Philadelphia Eagles v Dallas CowboysGetty Images

Given Friday?s events, it?s clear that the suggestion that the Cowboys couldn?t have used the franchise tag on Tony Romo in 2014 came from the Romo camp as part of an effort to break whatever final hurdle(s) existed between the team and the player.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, it never was going to be issue.

The glitch that would have resulted in the final years of Romo?s contract voiding after the window for using the franchise tag had closed came, we?re told, from a deal that was done in 2011 to help create cap space.? At that time, Romo, the Cowboys, and his agents agreed to commence the process to make Romo a Cowboy for life, and to get it done before the start of the final season of his current contract.

In the end, Romo was never going to leave the Cowboys.? So it didn?t matter if there was no franchise tag to be used.

?Tony has a special relationship with Jerry [Jones], Stephen [Jones], and the Cowboys organization.? The parties truly view it as a long-term partnership and they truly trust each other,? the source said.? ?Tony values being a Cowboy for life.?

Moreover, the guaranteed money in the new Romo deal ($55.5 million) hints that the franchise-tag formula was a factor in the negotiations.? With a salary of $11.5 million in 2013 and franchise-tag numbers of $20.16 million and $24.19 million, respectively, in 2014 and 2015, Romo would have made $55.85 million over the next three years, if he had gone one year at a time under the franchise tag.

Either way, the Cowboys have gone all in with Romo.? Today?s deal simply puts even more chips in the middle of the table.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/28/childress-joins-chiefs-staff-as-spread-game-analyst/related/

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AAXA LED Showtime 3D


The AAXA LED Showtime 3D is a versatile and highly portable mini-projector, able to display a range of content. At heart it's a multimedia projector, though it does a decent job with data images as well. It is a DLP-based projector with an LED light source, rated at 450 lumens of brightness, and has native WXGA (1,280 by 800) resolution.

The Showtime is a small projector that can fit (barely) in an outstretched hand. It measures 1.4 by 5.9 by 5.4 inches. I weighed it on our postal scale at 1.1 pounds for the projector alone, and 1.7 pounds with the power adaptor. Behind the lens is a focus ring; I found it a bit tricky to bring it to a good focus. In back are the ports: VGA; HDMI; USB type A for running content from a USB thumb drive; composite audio/video in (for which a cord is included); and audio-out.

You control the projector with the small IR remote that's provided. From a main menu you can run music, video, images, and text from a USB thumb drive, switch between connections (VGA, composite video, HDMI, and 3D (HDMI), and change settings.

Although 3D is part of the projector's name, it isn't central to the projector. 3D-ready DLP projectors are commonplace, but they still require active-shutter 3D glasses (which aren't included with the Showtime) and a quad-buffered 3D graphics card. But it's a nice feature to have available, particularly in such a small and lower-brightness projector.

Performance
I tested the Showtime in our studio, doing the official tests in theater-dark conditions but also viewing images and video in varying conditions of ambient light. It does well for its low rated brightness; the image was able to stand up to a fair amount of ambient light without it looking degraded. The image filled our test screen (about 60 inches diagonal) from about 8 feet away.

I did our data image testing (using the DisplayMate suite of projector tests) over a VGA connection to a computer, and then repeated the tests over an HDMI connection. With VGA, the image was suitable for typical business presentations, at least in a small room with low or no lighting. Text was reasonably good, with text readable down to the smallest size (though a bit fuzzy at the two smallest sizes). Colors looked reasonably bright considering the projector's relatively low brightness. White areas showed a trace of a greenish tint. There was a trace of rainbow artifacts (little red-green-blue flashes) in images that tend to bring them out.

Even though I set my laptop to the projector's native resolution, I saw traces of what seemed to be scaling artifacts (indicating a resolution mismatch between projector and image source). We've noticed the same phenomenon in many lower-brightness LED-based WXGA projectors we've tested, including the Editors' Choice 3M Mobile Projector MP410 ($599 direct). If it has an effect on normal data images, it's usually in the form of blurred type, which doesn't seem to be a problem with the Showtime, at least over VGA.

When I switched the connection to HDMI, though, the artifacts were worse; This was true both at 720p, the resolution to which it automatically rescaled the images to when I switched the connection to HDMI, and when I went in and reset my computer to 1,280 by 800. Data image quality was somewhat degraded over HDMI, so I'd suggest you stick to VGA for data presentations.

Video Quality
Video image quality was suitable for short to mid-length clips as part of a presentation. The rainbow effect, which we frequently see in DLP projectors, was more apparent in video than in data images. It could be enough of a distraction to people who are sensitive to it that I'd hesitate to use this projector for full-length movies, though you could use it for such in a pinch.

Colors were bright and well-saturated, at times to the point of punchiness. Reds in particular seemed exaggerated. Some people prefer their colors on the garish side, but at times I found it a bit distracting. This effect persisted even when I adjusted the color setting from Normal to Cool.

The audio from the Showtime's pair of two-watt speakers is of decent quality and is reasonably loud.

The AAXA LED Showtime 3D is a versatile projector, able to display data presentations and play movies, games, audio files, and other content. It is 3D capable, though it requires a quad-buffered 3D graphics card and active-shutter 3D glasses. As an LED projector, it should have long (20,000 hour) lamp life.

It's brighter than the Editors' Choice 3M Mobile Projector MP410 a 300-lumen LED-based model. The MP410 is slightly lighter, can also display a range of multimedia content (though it's primarily a data projector), and has a bit better image quality for both data and video.

The BenQ Joybee GP2 is also dimmer than the Showtime at 200 rated lumens. But it has a wide range of connectivity options, adding a USB type B port for connecting to a computer via cable; an SD card slot; and a dock that fits an iPhone or iPod touch and lets you play content from these devices.

The AAXA LED Showtime 3D is fairly bright for its size and has usable image quality for both data and video. It can display a variety of content and is 3D capable. It's worth considering if you're looking for a multimedia projector with some data presentation chops.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/BZE2tO3O24c/0,2817,2417095,00.asp

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Hasty embrace for some lawmakers on gay marriage

FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

FILE - In this May 11, 2010 file photo, Kay Hagan, D-N.C. speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2012 file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. is seen in St. Louis. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson. File)

FILE - In this March 28, 2012 file photo, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2012 file photo, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. speaks in Billings, Mont. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/Matt Gouras, File)

FILE - In this March 21, 2013 file photo, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. For years, American opinion on gay marriage has been shifting. Now Washington is tripping over itself trying to catch up. In less than two weeks, seven sitting senators _ all from moderate or Republican-leaning states _ announced their support, dropping one by one like dominos. Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back gay marriage than risk being the last to join the cause. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

(AP) ? As the Supreme Court considered two landmark cases on gay marriage this week, the flood of activity across the street in the Capitol was not lost on Chief Justice John Roberts.

"As far as I can tell, political leaders are falling all over themselves to endorse your side of the case," Roberts told lawyers urging the court to rule that married gay couples should receive federal benefits.

Roberts was hardly exaggerating. In the span of two weeks, seven senators have announced support for gay marriage, despite representing moderate or Republican-leaning states where such a move long has been considered a major political risk. One by one they fell like dominos, declaring on Facebook or quietly issuing a statement to say that they, too, now support gay marriage.

Taken together, their proclamations reflected a profound change in the American political calculus: For the first time, elected officials from traditionally conservative states are starting to feel it's safer to back same-sex marriage than to be among the last to join the cause.

For some Democrats, like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the reversal would have been almost unfathomable just a few months ago as they fought for re-election. The potential risks were even greater for other Democrats like North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, already top GOP targets when they face voters next year in states that President Barack Obama lost in November. It was less than a year ago that voters in Hagan's state approved a ban on gay marriage.

Those four Democrats and two others ? Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia ? were swept up in a shifting tide that began to take shape last year, when Obama, in the heat of his re-election campaign, became the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential contender in the next presidential election, followed suit in mid-March.

As support among party leaders builds, rank-and-file Democrats appear wary of being perceived as hold-outs in what both parties are increasingly describing as a civil-rights issue.

"They're reflecting what they're seeing in the polls ? except the most extreme of the Republican base," former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who supports gay marriage, said in an interview. "From a purely political perspective, if you want to be a leader of the future, you look at the next generation. They are overwhelmingly in favor of this."

Reince Priebus, the national chairman of the Republican Party, cautioned in a USA Today interview that the GOP should not "act like Old Testament heretics."

Among Republicans, whose party platform opposes gay marriage, the shift in position has mostly been limited to former lawmakers and prominent strategists. Still, a distinct change in tone was palpable this month when Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a whom presidential candidate Mitt Romney vetted last year as a potential running mate, declared his support, citing a personal conversion stemming from his son coming out to him as gay.

Rather than blast Portman for flouting party dogma or failing an ideological litmus test, Republican leaders shrugged, indicating that even if Republicans, as a party, aren't prepared to back gay marriage, they won't hold it against those in their ranks who do.

In the Republican-controlled House, where most members come from districts heavily skewed to one party or the other, GOP leaders are not wavering publicly from their staunch opposition. When the Obama administration stopped defending in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars legally married gay couples from receiving federal benefits, it was House Republicans who took up the mantle. Democrats said Thursday that Republicans have spent as much as $3 million in taxpayer funds to defend the law, now being challenged at the Supreme Court.

"It's like immigration. The party realizes they are on the losing side of some of these issues," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican. Kolbe came out as gay in 1996 while in office and will mark another milestone in May when he and his longtime partner marry in Washington.

"They want to make the shift, but you have got to do it in a politic and strategic way," Kolbe said. "It's a matter of how and when you take down one flag and run up the other."

Kolbe and Whitman joined dozens of other prominent Republicans in signing a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down the law barring federal recognition of gay marriages. But with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still defending the law and social conservative groups vowing payback for those who abandon it, prospects are slim that Congress will move any time soon to repeal it on its own.

"It's sort of a bandwagon effect among the cultural elite," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes gay marriage. "Some of these politicians who have changed their position, those who live in more conservative states, may pay for that shift with a defeat in their next election."

If public opinion continues to move in the direction it has been for the past 15 years, what's true for the next election may not be true just a few years down the line ? even for Republicans.

When Gallup first asked in polls about gay marriages, in 1996, just 27 percent felt they should be valid. That figure climbed to 44 percent two years ago, and reached a majority by November, when 53 percent said gay marriages should be recognized. Among independents, a key barometer for politicians, support has jumped 23 points to 55 percent, including a six-point gain since 2010.

Even among Republicans, support has grown by 14 percentage points since 1996, although there's been no significant movement among Republicans since 2010, when 28 percent backed legal marriage.

"A lot of Republicans have come to the conclusion we can't live one life in private but advocate another life in public," said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "We all know families who are loving parents of the same gender who are raising great kids."

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AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-29-Gay%20Marriage/id-4e66d2c043654a96b291ede31bb8a8b9

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