Friday, October 26, 2012

Morning Eye Candy: Buttoning Up the Family Garden | NYBG

They really do laugh uncontrollably and without cause while working in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. Well, all right, Ivo was probably telling a patently terrible joke at the time this photo was taken. Here?s a big thanks and hello to Annie Novak and Toby Adams, whose tireless efforts have kept us knee-deep in vegetables all through the summer and into fall. They?re buttoning up the Family Garden?s edible options until spring, but we?ll be waiting patiently for the next harvest!

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2012/10/photography/morning-eye-candy-buttoning-up-the-family-garden/

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Assisting Children with High-Functioning Autism: Parenting Tips

If you've recently learned that your youngster has - or might have - High-Functioning Autism (HFA) or Asperger?s Syndrome, you're probably wondering and worrying about what comes next. No mother or father is ever prepared to hear that their youngster is anything other than happy and healthy, and a diagnosis of High-Functioning Autism can be particularly frightening for some parents. You may be unsure about how to best help your youngster or confused by conflicting treatment advice. Also, you may have been told that High-Functioning Autism is an incurable, lifelong condition, leaving you concerned that nothing you do will make a difference.

While it is true that High-Functioning Autism is not something a child simply "grows out of," there are many treatments that can help kids learn new skills and overcome a wide variety of developmental challenges. From free government services to in-home behavioral therapy and school-based programs, assistance is available to meet your youngster's special needs. With the right treatment plan, and a lot of love and support, your youngster can learn, grow, and thrive.

Here is a comprehensive list of things to consider:

1. Accept your youngster, quirks and all. Rather than focusing on how your HFA youngster is different from other kids and what he or she is ?missing,? practice acceptance. Enjoy your kid?s special quirks, celebrate small successes, and stop comparing your youngster to others. Feeling unconditionally loved and accepted will help your youngster more than anything else.


2. Be consistent. Kids with High-Functioning Autism have a hard time adapting what they?ve learned in one setting (e.g., a therapist?s office or school) to other settings, including the home. Creating consistency in your youngster?s environment is the best way to reinforce learning. Find out what your youngster?s therapists are doing and continue their techniques at home. Explore the possibility of having therapy take place in more than one place in order to encourage your youngster to transfer what he or she has learned from one environment to another. It?s also important to be consistent in the way you interact with your youngster and deal with challenging behaviors.


3. Become an expert on your youngster. Figure out what triggers your kid?s ?bad? or disruptive behaviors and what elicits a positive response. What does your HFA youngster find stressful? Calming? Uncomfortable? Enjoyable? If you understand what affects your youngster, you?ll be better at troubleshooting problems and preventing situations that cause difficulties.


4. Caring for a youngster with High-Functioning Autism can demand a lot of energy and time. There may be days when you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or discouraged. Parenting isn?t ever easy, and raising a youngster with HFA is even more challenging. It?s essential that you take care of yourself in order to be the best mother or father you can be. Don?t try to do everything on your own. You don?t have to! There are many places that families of HFA children can turn to for advice, a helping hand, advocacy, and support.
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5. Create a home safety zone. Carve out a private space in your home where your youngster can relax, feel secure, and be safe. This will involve organizing and setting boundaries in ways he can understand. Visual cues can be helpful (e.g., colored tape marking areas that are off limits, labeling items in the house with pictures). You may also need to safety proof the house, particularly if he is prone to tantrums or other self-injurious behaviors.


6. Don?t give up. It?s impossible to predict the course of High-Functioning Autism. Don?t jump to conclusions about what life is going to be like for your youngster. Like everyone else, people with High-Functioning Autism have an entire lifetime to grow and develop their abilities.


7. Don?t wait for a diagnosis. As the mother or father of a youngster with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger?s Syndrome, the best thing you can do is to start treatment right away. Seek help as soon as you suspect something?s wrong. Don't wait to see if your youngster will catch up later or outgrow the problem. Don't even wait for an official diagnosis. The earlier kids with HFA get help, the greater their chance of treatment success. Early intervention is the most effective way to speed up your youngster's development and reduce the symptoms of HFA.


8. Every mother or father needs a break now and again. And for moms and dads coping with the added stress of High-Functioning Autism, this is especially true. In respite care, another caregiver takes over temporarily, giving you a break for a few hours, days, or even weeks.


9. Figure out the need behind the temper tantrum. It?s only natural to feel upset when you are misunderstood or ignored, and it?s no different for kids with High-Functioning Autism. When kids with High-Functioning Autism act out, it?s often because you?re not picking up on their nonverbal cues. Throwing a tantrum is their way communicating their frustration and getting your attention.


10. If stress, anxiety, or depression is getting to you, you may want to see a therapist of your own. Therapy is a safe place where you can talk honestly about everything you?re feeling?the good, the bad, and the ugly. Marriage or family therapy can also help you work out problems that the challenges of life with an HFA youngster are causing in your spousal relationship or with other family members.


11. HFA infants and toddlers through the age of two can receive assistance through the Early Intervention program. In order to qualify, your youngster must first undergo a free evaluation. If the assessment reveals a developmental problem, you will work with early intervention treatment providers to develop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). An IFSP describes your youngster?s needs and the specific services he or she will receive. For High-Functioning Autism, an IFSP would include a variety of behavior, physical, speech, and play therapies. It would focus on preparing HFA children for the eventual transition to school. Early intervention services are typically conducted in the home or at a childcare center. To locate local early intervention services for your youngster, ask your doctor for a referral.


12. Joining a support group is a great way to meet other families dealing with the same challenges you are. Moms and dads can share information, get advice, and lean on each other for emotional support. Just being around others in the same boat and sharing their experience can go a long way toward reducing the isolation many moms and dads feel after receiving the youngster?s diagnosis.


13. Keep in mind that no matter what treatment plan is chosen, your involvement is vital to success. You can help your youngster get the most out of treatment by working hand-in-hand with the treatment team and following through with the therapy at home.


14. HFA kids over the age of three may receive assistance through school-based programs. As with early intervention, special education services are tailored to your youngster?s individual needs. Kids with HFA are often placed with other developmentally-delayed children in small groups where they can receive more individual attention and specialized instruction. However, depending on their abilities, they may also spend at least part of the school day in a regular classroom. The goal is to place children in the least restrictive environment possible where they are still able to learn. If you?d like to pursue special education services, your local school system will first need to evaluate your youngster. Based on this assessment, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) will be created. An IEP outlines the educational goals for your youngster for the school year. Additionally, it describes the special services or aids the school will provide your youngster in order to meet those goals.


15. Learn about High-Functioning Autism. The more you know about HFA, the better equipped you?ll be to make informed decisions for your youngster. Educate yourself about the treatment options, ask questions, and participate in all treatment decisions.


16. Look for nonverbal cues. If you are observant and aware, you can learn to pick up on the nonverbal cues that kids with High-Functioning Autism use to communicate. Pay attention to the kinds of sounds they make, their facial expressions, and the gestures they use when they?re tired, hungry, or want something.


17. Make time for fun. A youngster coping with High-Functioning Autism is still a kid. For kids and their moms and dads, there needs to be more to life than therapy. Schedule playtime when your youngster is most alert and awake. Figure out ways to have fun together by thinking about the things that make her smile, laugh, and come out of her shell. Your youngster is likely to enjoy these activities most if they don?t seem therapeutic or educational. There are tremendous benefits that result from your enjoyment of your youngster?s company and from her enjoyment of spending un-pressured time with you.? Play is an essential part of learning and shouldn?t feel like work.


18. Pay attention to your youngster?s sensory sensitivities. Many kids with High-Functioning Autism are hypersensitive to light, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Other kids are ?under-sensitive? to sensory stimuli. Figure out what sights, sounds, smells, movements, and tactile sensations trigger your kid?s ?bad? or disruptive behaviors and what elicits a positive response. What does your HFA youngster find stressful? Calming? Uncomfortable? Enjoyable? If you understand what affects your youngster, you?ll be better at trouble-shooting problems, preventing situations that cause difficulties, and creating successful experiences.


19. Reward good behavior. Positive reinforcement can go a long way with kids with High-Functioning Autism, so make an effort to ?catch them doing something good.? Praise them when they act appropriately or learn a new skill, being very specific about what behavior they?re being praised for. Also look for other ways to reward them for good behavior (e.g., giving them a sticker, letting them play with a favorite toy, etc.).


20. Stick to a schedule. Kids with High-Functioning Autism tend to do best when they have a highly-structured schedule or routine. This goes back to the consistency they both need and crave. Set up a schedule for your youngster, with regular times for meals, therapy, school, and bedtime. Try to keep disruptions to this routine to a minimum. If there is an unavoidable schedule change, prepare him for it in advance.


21. Under the U.S. federal law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), kids with disabilities?including those with HFA?are eligible for a range of free or low-cost services. Under this provision, kids in need and their families may receive:

  • assisted technology devices
  • medical evaluations
  • parent counseling and training
  • physical therapy
  • psychological services
  • speech therapy
  • other specialized services


Kids under the age of 10 do not need a diagnosis to receive free services under IDEA. If they are experiencing a developmental delay, including delays in communication or social development, they are automatically eligible for early intervention and special education services.


22. With so many different treatments available, it can be tough to figure out which approach is right for your youngster. Making things even more complicated, you may hear different or even conflicting recommendations from other moms and dads ? and even doctors. When putting together a treatment plan for your youngster, keep in mind that there is no single treatment that will work for everyone. Each child with High-Functioning Autism is unique, with different strengths and weaknesses.


23. Your youngster?s treatment should be tailored according to his or her individual needs. You know your youngster best, so it?s up to you to make sure those needs are being met. You can do that by asking yourself the following questions:

  • How does my youngster learn best (e.g., through seeing, listening, or doing)?
  • What are my youngster?s strengths?
  • What are my youngster?s weaknesses?
  • What behaviors are causing the most problems?
  • What does my youngster enjoy and how can those activities be used in treatment?
  • What important skills is my youngster lacking?


24. Know that a good treatment plan will:

  • Actively engage your youngster's attention in highly structured activities
  • Build on your youngster's interests
  • Offer a predictable schedule
  • Provide regular reinforcement of behavior
  • Involve the moms and dads
  • Teach tasks as a series of simple steps


25. Know your youngster?s rights. As the mother or father of an HFA youngster, you have a legal right to:

  • Seek an outside evaluation for your youngster
  • Request an IEP meeting at any time if you feel your youngster?s needs are not being met
  • Invite anyone you want?from a relative to your youngster?s doctor?to be on the IEP team
  • Free or low-cost legal representation if you can?t come to an agreement with the school
  • Disagree with the school system?s recommendations
  • Be involved in developing your youngster?s IEP from start to finish

The Aspergers Comprehensive Handbook: Help for Parents with HFA ans AS Children and Teens

Source: http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2012/10/assisting-children-with-high.html

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

It's official: You can batter a burglar | The Sun |News|Politics

HOMEOWNERS who ?bash a burglar? ? even if they shoot or stab one in the heat of the moment ? will escape prosecution, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling will announce today.

They will be allowed to use ?disproportionate? force while fearing for their safety. However, if householders use ?grossly disproportionate? force, they face being hauled before court.

Mr Grayling will also tell the Tory conference in Birmingham he is binning Ken Clarke?s soft-touch community sentences. Current laws only allow people to use ?reasonable force? against intruders.

In his speech to the Conservative conference, Mr Grayling will say: ?Being confronted by an intruder in your home is terrifying. The public should be in no doubt the law is on their side.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling

Speech ... Justice Secretary Chris Grayling

?That is why I am strengthening the current law. Householders who act instinctively and honestly in self-defence are victims of crime and should be treated that way. We need to dispel doubts in this area once and for all.?

?Grossly disproportionate? force ? carrying out a sustained attack over a long period ? could result in prosecution.

The change follows outrage last month when Andy Ferrie, 35, and wife Tracey, 43, were arrested for injuring two burglars, shot with a legally-owned gun after a break-in at the couple?s remote home in Leicestershire.

Mr Grayling will also pledge that all community sentences must in future contain real punishments, such as a fine or curfew.

And he will condemn soft-touch penalties which have seen thugs sent to work in charity shops. Mr Grayling will say: ?I think every community sentence should contain a proper punishment. I want to restore the public?s faith in them. We inherited a weak, ?soft-option? programme from Labour.

?Yes, we should be looking to rehabilitate. But if someone has committed an offence, they also need to receive a proper punishment for it.?

Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to unveil plans to let victims of anti-social behaviour choose a ?payback? punishment for the offenders. This could be compensation or repairing damage.

Hubby cleared after shooting at thieves

Tracey and Andy Ferrie

Not charged ... Tracey and Andy Ferrie

TRACEY and Andy Ferrie were quizzed for 66 hours after opening fire on four thieves.

Andy used a legally-owned shotgun to warn them away from their cottage near Melton Mowbray, Leics.

The couple were not charged. Two shot burglars were jailed.

- BUILDER Omari Roberts, 25, avoided jail in 2010 after fatally stabbing a teen raider.

An accomplice dropped his claim that Omari ran off before returning to kill the lad in Nottingham.

- MUNIR Hussain, 56, was jailed for 30 months in 2009 after battering a burglar in High Wycombe, Bucks.

He was out a month later after a judge ruled he?d acted under ?extreme provocation?.

Debt crisis worse than we thought says Chancellor, but workers and bosses can unite to boost economy

By TOM NEWTON DUNN, Political Editor

GEORGE Osborne yesterday unveiled a radical new ?shares for rights? plan to open up the jobs market ? while admitting the UK?s finances are worse than he feared.

Addressing the Tory faithful at the Party?s conference in Birmingham, the Chancellor signalled there would have to be yet MORE spending cuts and tax rises before the end of the year.

But in a fresh bid to get growth back into Britain?s shrinking economy, he also revealed a new voluntary deal where workers would ditch a raft of employment law in exchange for a stake in the firm they work for.

Under the plan, employees would give up the right to claim unfair dismissal, redundancy pay-offs and flexible working hours.

In exchange, small business bosses will give them up to ?50,000 of shares ? free of any capital gains tax.

Mr Osborne

?Speaking for workers? ... Mr Osborne yesterday

Rex

The move ? which will be fast-tracked through Parliament ? will free bosses of crippling red tape and allow them to take on more people.

Mr Osborne said: ?Get shares and become owners of the company you work for. Owners, workers and the taxman, all in it together.?

And in a cheeky dig at Labour for pinching Tory slogans at their conference last week, he used Karl Marx?s famous rallying cry for Communism to sum it up: ?Workers of the world unite.?

Anchoring the Tories firmly on the side of ?strivers? rather than scroungers, Mr Osborne added: ?We speak for the worker and all those who want to get on ? this is the mission of the modern Conservative Party?.

Business welcomed his plan, with the Institute of Directors saying it ?could make a real difference to jobs and share-holding?.

But last night critics dubbed it a risky gamble that could make workers rich ? but also see them fired on the spot. John Cridland, the CBI?s director-general, said it was a ?niche? idea and ?not relevant to all businesses?.

Hours before his podium speech, Mr Osborne was hit by yet more grim economic news.

Experts predicted spiralling borrowing because of the world downturn meant his deficit reduction plan has been blown off course for the second year in a row.

Mr Osborne will miss his key target of being able to reduce the debt mountain by 2015, and austerity may now have to last a year longer than expected ? to 2018.

In his speech, the Chancellor dropped a strong hint he would have to outline extra austerity measures in his bi-annual report to Parliament on December 6.

Mr Osborne revealed: ?We face more hard choices this Autumn.

CHANCELLOR tells Tory party faithful that "everyone in our society has had to make a contribution"

?The truth is that the damage done by the debts and the banking crisis was worse than we feared. The economy is healing. That healing is taking longer than we hoped, because the damage was greater than we feared.?

Striking a note of contrition for the ?omnishambles? blunders of the previous six months, the Chancellor also begged followers to trust him again, asking for their ?support and resolve?.

Despite the darkening storm clouds ahead, the 41-year-old Chancellor said he will stick to his deficit cutting plan, no matter how long the pain has to last.

Mr Osborne went on: ?Let the message from this conference be clear: We will finish the job we have started.?

The Chancellor also announced plans for a more generous tax regime to encourage research and development of shale gas in the hope of generating jobs and cheap energy from reserves identified in Lancashire and elsewhere in the UK.

In a bid to balance up an eye-watering fresh round of benefits cuts Mr Osborne also promised to find a way to hike tax rates for Britain?s richest. But the Lib Dems last night vowed to block any attempt to slash a further ?10billion from the benefits bill.

The Chancellor said he and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith had struck a deal to find the massive savings to help cut the deficit.

Workless families who have lots of children could see their payouts cut under the moves. And young people who have never had a job will also lose their housing benefits. But Nick Clegg yesterday said ?nothing in detail? had been agreed on.

And a source close to the Deputy PM went even further by insisting the Party would veto the Tory plans.

Lib Dem’s Nick Clegg

Veto ... Lib Dem?s Clegg

The source said: ?We certainly have not signed up to ?10billion and we don?t agree with the size of that figure.

?It would be madness to rule out welfare cuts in their entirety as it makes up one-third of Government spending.

?But if you ask whether we think it should be ?10billion then the answer is ?no?.?

Meanwhile, Mr Osborne also admitted that increasing benefits by 5.2 per cent this year while many workers are facing wage freezes or small rises had been a mistake. He said: ?It?s not just about the money ? it comes back to fairness and enterprise.

?For how can we justify the incomes of those out of work rising faster than the incomes of those in work??

A report yesterday by the Centre for Policy Studies showed more than half of British households now receive more in State benefits than they pay in taxes.

But there was some good news yesterday, when one of the most influential think tanks in the world claimed the UK?s economy is picking up.

The OECD said growth was back in the UK ? while almost every other major economy was slowing. In a monthly report, the Paris-based organisation said the US was now suffering from ?moderating growth?. And the economies of Germany, France and Italy were ?weakening?.

The survey came as the World Bank separately slashed its predicted growth forecast for East Asia, including China, to an 11-year low.

OECD spokesman Gyorgy Gyomai said: ?There are not tentative signs, but stable signs of a pick up in the UK.

?There has been quite a steady improvement in consumer confidence. Interest rates are low which is a good indicator for the future. It shows the UK is likely to get back to its trend rate of growth. We see the opposite for the Eurozone.?

t.newtondunn@the-sun.co.uk

PandeBoJonium: Rock star reception for 'PM rival' Boris

By GRAEME WILSON, Deputy Political Editor

BORIS Johnson got a rock star welcome yesterday before putting on a show of loyalty to David Cameron.

Amid amazing scenes, cheering crowds chanted ?Boris, Boris? as his train arrived in Birmingham.

The London mayor then had to battle through a scrum of supporters and photographers to reach his taxi.

Boris Johnson fights through crowds at station

Mobbed ... Johnson fights through crowds at station

Later more than a thousand activists gave him a raucous standing ovation at a fringe meeting.

Boris responded by insisting he was fully behind the Prime Minister. Just 24 hours after saying it was ?unverifiable? whether Mr Cameron is a better PM than he would be, he declared: ?No one should doubt my admiration for David Cameron.?

But he went off message by declaring his support for grammar schools and warning ministers not to build a third runway at Heathrow.

Boris Johnson gives thumbs-up

Backing ... Boris

The Picture Library Ltd

Tory big beast Ken Clarke responded by telling him to stop scheming and focus on his job. The Minister without Portfolio added: ?If he really wants to be Prime Minister ? for serious reasons not just because he?ll get his picture in the paper more often ? he has to settle down and demonstrate he can seriously deliver on some complicated subjects.?

In a keynote speech today ? Mr Cameron?s 46th birthday ? Boris will vow to keep London as the motor of the British economy. And he is expected to back Chancellor George Osborne?s economic strategy to beat the recession.

Sun cartoon depicting Boris Johnson

Sun ... cartoon

g.wilson@the-sun.co.uk

myView

By TREVOR KAVANAGH, Associate Editor

THE crowd made it clear BoJo could be leader any time he wanted.

But the question is: Has he peaked too soon?

Ken Clarke spoke of favourites ?going out of fashion?. Aware of the risk, Boris went out of his way to praise his boss.

But he will have to hit the loyalty button a lot more before the PM starts to believe him.

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4579182/Its-official-You-can-batter-a-burglar.html

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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Key to Florida victory might be Jacksonville area

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? Eric Allen was 18 and voting in his first presidential election when he chose Barack Obama over John McCain. Four years older now and looking for a job, he is just the kind of voter Republican Mitt Romney needs to win ? and win big ? in northeast Florida's Duval County and take the most coveted of the toss-up states.

"I voted for him last time just to see the change," Allen says of Obama, "and there was no change."

For Lashawn Williams, the excitement she felt from Obama's first run is still there in spite of an economy in the doldrums. The 39-year-old bank employee is volunteering for the re-election campaign ? and telling those who are frustrated with the president that the blame is misplaced.

"People say, 'Oh, well, he's in there and he's not changing anything and blah, blah, blah.' But he can't do it by himself," Williams says during her lunch break in downtown Jacksonville. "Everything he's tried to do he's gotten resistance from the Republican Party."

The Obama campaign targeted the Jacksonville area with surprising success in 2008, nearly equaling Republican John McCain in Duval County votes as Obama carried the state. Whether Obama can do as well again may determine if he takes Florida a second time ? and with it a second term.

In GOP regions of swing states, Republicans must turn out in huge numbers to overcome Democratic advantages elsewhere. Republican-friendly regions like southeast Ohio and southwest Virginia share northeast Florida's mission of overwhelming Democrats at the polls.

For both campaigns, Florida is one of the keys to winning the White House. It's even more important for Romney, whose paths to Electoral College victory are few without the state's 29 votes. Even though each side has already spent $60 million on TV and radio ads, Republicans are expected to spend even more than Democrats in the campaign's final weeks.

Polling shows a tight race in Florida with Obama slightly ahead in some surveys, making the Democrat's turnout in Duval County essential to his overall strategy.

Sprawling and traditionally conservative, the Jacksonville area went for Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980. After that, Democrats all but conceded Duval County, with its Southern feel and strong military presence. Obama, however, persuaded enough moderate Republicans, conservative Democrats and independents to give his message of hope and change a chance to cancel out the usual Republican advantage there.

The Democratic campaign was more competitive in 2008 in part because it built excitement in Duval County's large black community with voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote efforts to support the nation's first black presidential candidate on a major party ticket.

Duval County has more than 516,000 registered voters out of a total population of about 871,000. The percentage of black residents, 29.8, is nearly double the statewide figure. The campaign will have to keep the same enthusiasm among black voters to keep Duval competitive.

Just as Democrats are spending money on advertising, voter turnout and events ? Obama spoke at a Jacksonville rally in July and Michelle Obama has visited the area twice ? Republicans are trying to put more resources toward restoring the overwhelming turnout they've enjoyed for almost a generation.

"We have to drive up the score here so that we can make sure that we make up ground in other areas," Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus said in Jacksonville in August. "We're going to have a plan in this county to not just win, but to try to win as big as possible. Winning here isn't enough. You have to do great in places you're strong."

The Romney campaign didn't wait for the former Massachusetts governor to secure the nomination to set up a presence in the city. Unlike McCain, who was far outspent, they're matching the huge resources Obama is pumping into the area, said Brett Doster, a Florida-based political consultant who is advising the campaign and ran George W. Bush's 2004 Florida campaign.

Along with a stronger ground game ? Doster says it's bigger and better organized than when Bush carried Duval County by 61,000 votes ? the Romney campaign believes it will be able to win back Republicans who supported Obama.

"We were at a unique time in history. People were frustrated," Doster said. "I do not think they're going to put their faith back in him again."

That's the case with Lynn Fernandez, a shoe repair shop owner and a Republican who voted for Obama four years ago. Now she's voting for Romney. While she blamed Congress for lack of progress in Washington, she's taking it out on the president and hoping, not so optimistically, that a change can break Washington gridlock.

"Whoever gets in there is still going to have a difficult time because we're in such a mess. No matter how hard a president fights, he still has to fight the Senate and Congress," said Fernandez, 58. "I voted for Obama last time. Not that he didn't try. We've dug ourselves in such a big hole it's going to be a long time before we get out of it no matter who gets in there."

Larry Mordecai Jr., a 49-year-old Republican who until recently worked in the mortgage industry, said he was proud to vote for Obama in 2008 because the country was divided and he liked Obama's enthusiasm. He thought he would be an inspirational president. While he hasn't completely made up his mind, Mordecai is leaning toward Romney and wants to watch the debates before making a decision.

"I'm highly disappointed. It's going to take a lot of convincing on President Obama's part to really sway me in that direction," Mordecai said. "I'm not enthusiastic about either party and most of that would have to do with my lack of confidence in Congress."

James Murphy, however, is a Republican who supported Obama in 2008 and will vote for him again. Not that he has anything against Romney, saying, "I think he's a fine man." But he said it's Republicans in general who have convinced him to stick with Obama.

"My mind's been pretty much made up by how the Republicans have acted," Murphy said, adding that the GOP has obstructed Obama from seeking solutions for what's best for the country. "It's reprehensible. It's very much guided by the tea party and the religious right."

___

Follow Brendan Farrington on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bsfarrington

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/key-florida-victory-might-jacksonville-area-072557736--election.html

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Glitch may have led supercomputer to historic chess victory

11 hrs.

A computer glitch might have led to the?supercomputer Deep Blue's famous upset?victory over chess grand master Garry Kasparov in 1997, according to an IBM employee?quoted in a new book.

Deep Blue was defeated by Kasparov in 1996, although the match?did contain the first single-game?victory of a computer?program over a world champion. The 1997 rematch was another story, however: Deep Blue won the deciding final match after three consecutive draws.?But in Nate Silver's new book "The Signal and the Noise," one of?Deep Blue's operators suggests that a glitch in the computer's software might have been at the heart of at least one of the games.

At the end of the first game, Kasparov had forced Deep Blue into an unsalvageable position after 43 moves, and Deep Blue's response was to move its rook in a?way that didn't make any sense to its human opponent. This may have rattled Kasparov, who could not understand the move and may have decided the computer was playing at a higher level than him.

As it turns out, the move really didn't make any sense.?According to an anecdote from the book, initially?recounted by the?Washington Post,?a bug in the program, which the engineers thought had been fixed, made it so that when Deep Blue was cornered, it picked a move completely at random.

Murray Campbell, who worked on Deep Blue and other supercomputers?for years, told Silver:

A bug occurred in the game and it may have made Kasparov misunderstand the capabilities of Deep Blue.?He?didn't?come up with the theory that the move it played was a bug.

Silver's book is about how people and machines make predictions, and why some work and others don't. In Kasparov's case, his internal model?of Deep Blue could have been?thrown off by the bug, making him overestimate the computer's cleverness.

"The Signal and the Noise" goes on sale this week; for a full review of it, click over to the Washington Post.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/glitch-may-have-helped-supercomputer-beat-chess-champ-historic-match-6206532

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Video: Children thrive in Afghanistan orphanage

Judge blocks Pennsylvania voter ID law

A Pennsylvania judge has blocked enforcement of the voter identification law which the legislature enacted and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed last year, meaning the law will not be in effect for the Nov. 6 election.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40153870/vp/49249064#49249064

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Monday, October 1, 2012

Nano-hillocks: Of mountains and craters

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2012) ? In the field of nanotechnology, electrically-charged particles are frequently used as tools for surface modification. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the TU Vienna were at last able to reconcile important issues concerning the effects of highly charged ions on surfaces.

Ion beams have been used for some time now for surface modification as ions are capable of carrying such high energies that a single particle alone can induce drastic changes to the surface under bombardment. Following careful examination, an international team of researchers was at last able to shed light on the reasons why sometimes craters and other times hillocks are forming as a result of this process. Their findings have recently been published in the scientific journal, Physical Review Letters.

Charge instead of speed

"If the goal is to deposit a maximum amount of energy on a tiny spot on the surface, it is of comparatively little use to simply bombard the surface with fast atoms," explains Prof. Friedrich Aumayr of the TU Vienna's Institute of Applied Physics. "Fast particles penetrate deep into the material thereby depositing their energy over a wide range." If, however, you first strip a large number of electrons from individual atoms and then allow these highly charged ions to collide with the material surface, the effects you get are quite dramatic as the energy that was previously required to ionize the atoms is now being released within a very small area of a few nanometers in diameter, and within an ultrashort time.

This can lead to melting of a very small volume of the material, loss of its orderly atomic structure, and, finally, its expansion. The large number of electronic excitations that result from the ion's interactions with the surface has a strong impact on the material and ultimately leads to the atoms being bumped out of position. The end-result is nano-hillock formation -- the appearance of tiny protrusions on the material's surface. If the energy required to initiate melting of the material is insufficient, small holes or defects will form on or below the surface instead.

Elaborate experiments at the HZDR facility for highly charged ions were just as important to obtaining a detailed picture of the processes that take place at the material's surface as were computer simulations and extensive theoretical work. "At our new HZDR facility, we have the capabilities for deliberately forming nano-hillocks and nano-craters on surfaces. In close collaboration with the groups of our colleagues Friedrich Aumayr and Joachim Burgd?rfer at the TU Vienna we succeeded to grasp the underlying physical mechanisms in more detail," explains Dr. Stefan Facsko. Egyptian physicist Dr. Ayman El-Said, who spent two years as a Humboldt Foundation fellow conducting research at HZDR, made substantial contributions to the current body of research in this field.

Assumptions confirmed

The scientists are calling their results the missing important piece of the puzzle to help them understand the interaction of highly charged ions with surfaces. By subjecting the sample to an acid treatment following ion bombardment, they are able to document the extent to which a surface is modified at given energies. The formation of nano-hillocks depends to a large extent on the ion beams' charge state and to a lesser extent on their velocity. The formation of craters, on the other hand, is dependent upon both the charge state and the kinetic energy of the ions. The Vienna and Dresden researchers had long suspected this and were now at last able to produce the necessary evidence obtained from their experiments conducted at the HZDR.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. A. El-Said, R. Wilhelm, R. Heller, S. Facsko, C. Lemell, G. Wachter, J. Burgd?rfer, R. Ritter, F. Aumayr. Phase Diagram for Nanostructuring CaF_{2} Surfaces by Slow Highly Charged Ions. Physical Review Letters, 2012; 109 (11) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.117602

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/~3/gd5gQCNMtOs/121001095858.htm

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Explosive attack on Kenya church kills 1 child

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? The acting police chief in Kenya's capital says an explosive device set off in a Sunday school class killed one child and seriously wounded three.

Moses Ombati said he suspects sympathizers with the Somali militant group al-Shabab were behind the attack at an Anglican church in Nairobi.

Kenya has seen a series of attacks on churches ever since Kenyan forces moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab last year. Kenyan forces kicked the rebels out of their last stronghold, Kismayo, on Friday.

Grenades are often used in the attacks; Ombati is describing the cause of Sunday's attack as an explosive device.

One church member, Julius Macharia Maina, brought four children to the hospital. One child's head was cut open; the others had bruises. Maina described the attack "emotional and very scary."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explosive-attack-kenya-church-kills-1-child-092934491.html

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Video: Ohio Senator?s successful fight against ?dirty, angry money?

Theme parks offer frightfully good fun for Halloween

Halloween is still a month away, but it seems the bloodsuckers and flesh munchers are already on the prowl. For now, though, they?re not showing up on people?s doorsteps, but rather, in theme parks from Orlando to Anaheim.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49248090#49248090

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Hotel Transylvania Wins Box Office, Sets September Record

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Rick Ross vs. Young Jeezy Fight: Caught on Tape!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/10/rick-ross-vs-young-jeezy-fight-caught-on-tape/

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Sunday, September 30, 2012

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