What It Was Like To Fly On The Concorde - Business Insider

This week marks the 37th Anniversary of the maiden commercial flight of the Concorde.

Jump to photos from a flight on the Concorde >>

To properly celebrate, let's relieve history a bit by traveling along with photographer/videographer Joe Corrigan as he remembers his Concorde flights, roundtrip JFK-LHR in July 2003 on the British Airways supersonic birds G-BOAC and G-BOAF:

I don't know quite what it was about Concorde, but ever since I first saw her as a kid, I was mesmerised. That shape, those lines?there was something about her that drew me in. I was 14 the first time I saw her with my own eyes, as my my uncle had discovered Concorde would fly into Sydney, my home town, on a round-the-world charter. Together we headed to the airport to see her land.

That aircraft, F-BVFC, zoomed in and landed with full reverse and later took off with full afterburner as I watched from afar. I was hooked. The experience was not only visual and aural, but earth-shaking. Everything in the vicinity shuddered under the engine power; you could feel Concorde slice through the air and this in itself made it all the more visceral. It became a dream of mine to fly on her, one I never thought likely to come true.

The stars aligned for me when I was 18. Working with a very knowledgeable travel agent, I was afforded the amazing opportunity to join the very exclusive club not just once, but twice. This club was one of supersonic travelers, people who have flown faster than a rifle bullet and viewed the curvature of the earth.

As far as first impressions go, this was like nothing I had experienced before or have since. Check in was in a separate hall at Heathrow Terminal 4 and although I'm not normally one for checking a bag, how could I resist a bag tag from Concorde? From there it was through the Fast Track at Heathrow T4 and into the Concorde Room. Here was the start of the truly elite experience as the Concorde Room was unparalleled in service and amenities. Among other niceties, I enjoyed canap?s, vintage champagne, and an a-la-carte menu for something more substantial, all served on Royal Doulton bone china.

Finally the boarding announcement shook me from my reverie as it was time to start the main event. Onboard I was first struck by the navy blue leather seats with stainless steel trim and lavender and cream blankets. The cabin was cozy and, though a little light on head room, amazingly spacious once seated. I had a bulkhead seat?front row for the flight, of course.

Terence Conran, along with British Airways, did a marvelous job with regards to the customer experience, and the attention to detail in the fit-out was something else. Each seat sported a speedmarque embossed into the leather as well as engraved into the polished seat belt buckle. The underside of the tray table was upholstered in the same soft navy leather, the armrest swiveled 90 degrees when stowed so as to slip unobtrusively between the seats, and the whole seat reclined as one unit so that it cradled you and supported your thighs whilst reclined. Little things on the face of it, but they make a huge difference.

Safely airborne we steadily accelerated to Mach 1 and a cheer went up in cabin since a display ticked away the number for all to see. Our sonic boom came over the ocean so as not to disturb people on the ground, and we continued toward Mach 2 on a climb to 55,000 feet. It was there, in our cruise, that the in flight service began in earnest. Three courses and an excellent wine, champagne and scotch selection all came served up on more fine Royal Doulton bone china. The flatware was designed, once more, by Terence Conran.

So did I appreciate all that was before me? Of course not! On reflection, I made the most of it at the time but I don?t remember the 1988 vintage champagne, or even what I had to eat. I do, however, remember the afterburners lighting two by two, pushing Concorde into the small of my back, as well as looking out the window and down to see a curved earth and then up to see the black abyss.

My only complaint is that it was all over so quickly. Three hours is only just long enough to have a three-course meal of that calibre, but at least I took some photos and enjoyed it all I could...twice.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-was-like-to-fly-on-the-concorde-2013-1

weight watchers fandango kobe bryant google play Christmas Story after christmas sales case mccoy

2nd Most Expensive Home Sale in U.S.? Silicon ... - AOL Real Estate

Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads when we saw the reported sale price of this Woodside, Calif., mega-mansion: $117.5 million! If it's true, it would be the second most expensive home sale ever in the United States. (Billionaire Stanley Kroenke holds the No. 1 spot for his $132.5 million purchase of a Montana ranch last November.)

Bay Area blog SF Luxe came across the shocking discovery, pointing to public records on listings site Redfin showing the astronomical sale price of the 8,930-square-foot home in the middle of Silicon Valley. Our buddies at Curbed, though, expressed a bit of skepticism, saying: "It could also be a fat finger error at the property records office." We can't be totally certain, but there is some evidence that the sale price may be the real deal. A historic Colonial in Woodside went on the market for $85 million last September, and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner coughed up $100 million for a home in nearby Los Altos Hills, Calif.

The mega-mansion, previously owned by private equity bigwig Tully Friedman and designed by starchitect Allan Greenberg, was not publicly listed for sale, according to SF Luxe. The blog did not reveal the buyer, but said that "it's a name with which you are undoubtedly familiar." (Mark Zuckerberg?) The stunning neoclassical home, which sits on nine acres, has 360-degree mountain views.

Check out other massive homes for sale in Woodside, Calif., or search listings in your area.

See also:
Candy Spelling's Closing Price: $85 Million
Most Expensive NYC Apartment Sale Closes at $88 Million

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find foreclosures in your area.
See celebrity real estate.

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/01/25/2nd-most-expensive-home-sale/

the international preppers geraldo obama trayvon martin pietrus cheney tori spelling

The Engadget Interview: Richard Collins, head of Ubuntu mobile products

Don't ask, don't get. That's why we rang up Canonical and requested an early build of Ubuntu for the Galaxy Nexus. (Politely declined.) Next, we asked if maybe the company could speed up development of its dual OS solution for Android, since we're really looking forward to it. (Funny looks.) Finally, we wondered if there was any possibility of dropping by the London HQ and interviewing someone in charge. ("Come on over!") We promptly found ourselves sitting across a desk from Richard Collins, who left the Symbian Foundation 18 months ago to work at Canonical, and who has a very firm grasp of how Ubuntu is going to be hauled into the mobile era. He explains everything after the break, so if you have a big OS-shaped gap in your belly, or if you're just intrigued to hear the proposition of a new player, read on.

Ubuntu for Smartphones

How is Ubuntu on a smartphone really the same Ubuntu we know from desktop PCs?

It's the same code base, with our Unity UI, adapted to provide a very particular experience according to the device it's running on. That makes it straightforward for developers to say, "here's an Ubuntu application that I know works brilliantly on the desktop, I only have to adapt it using the tools that Ubuntu provides in order to make it work on a smartphone."

But legacy desktop apps will still have to be ported?

Legacy apps will have to be adapted. They'll need to compile on ARM processors, but that's not a significant amount of work. When we start launching products, we'll include an SDK which will allow developers to build apps which work on both the smartphone and the desktop interface.

More Info

• Hands-on with Ubuntu for smartphones
• Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth at CES 2013
• Ubuntu core apps project launched

Since Android is also Linux-based, is there any plan for Ubuntu to run Android apps?

Many Android developers already use Ubuntu as their desktop OS and we have a very close affinity with them. We intend to encourage them to make their Android applications run on Ubuntu, but we won't engineer any middleware for running Android apps. Developers are intelligent and capable enough to make their apps run on our devices. We have an active initiative right now to directly help them achieve this. [See More Coverage below.]

Will you have a full app store ready for the launch of your smartphone?

In terms of our first go-to-market product strategy, the intention is not to have an application store full of ready-made applications that are there to download. We have a very definite approach in terms of addressing an important part of the market where users are primarily interested in being able to use a core set of applications.

"The intention is not to have an application store [at launch]"

You're saying people interested in low-cost phones don't need lots of apps?

At launch, we'll have the capability for a mobile app store, but at this stage we don't believe it is essential for the entry-level smartphone market we're targeting. However, we won't just be saying "there's your basic applications, that's all you're going to need." Our strategy includes giving carriers and manufacturers ways of delivering services in conjunction with us -- we plan to give them more influence.

Do you want people buying your entry-level phone, in China for example, to know the Ubuntu brand?

Yes, of course. I want them to associate Ubuntu with a very interesting, relevant and enjoyable experience. The challenge for us is to take the success we have with developers, with enterprises, and take that into the consumer market.

Budget rivals

Are you going after the same market as Mozilla's Firefox OS?

[Mozilla] has a very particular type of technology. We believe that a rich user experience requires a native capability -- it can't be entirely addressed by a phone that only runs web applications. Web apps sit on servers in different parts of the internet, so it's hard for them to interact and share information.

You're also going up against Nokia's Asha series running on S40...

Nokia's S40 is only defined as being a low-end smartphone platform. Ubuntu is engineered to run across different devices, and it's engineered to scale up to higher-end devices.

High-end rivals

What advantages do you have over Android as a smartphone OS?

With Android, it's implicit that if you want to run Google services then there's a levy associated with that. Our model is entirely different. We're working with industry partners who want to have more influence over the way services are provided to end users. We won't try to lock people into licensing our services.

Windows already straddles the divide between x86 and ARM. Has Microsoft stolen a march on you?

"Microsoft generates uncertainty and conflict..."

We compete with them, in that sense. There are ways in which Windows is a very costly OS to build hardware on. We have an alternative approach that is more software-based, more collaborative, more open, and offers more promise for developers who want their apps to run on desktops, phones, TVs and so on.

Microsoft generates uncertainty and conflict in the way it's trying to gain market share. They're in conflict with their own hardware partners. There's a very different stance in the way we propose to work with people.

Ubuntu for Android

Many people are waiting on mobile Ubuntu because they want to see boundaries pushed and the market disrupted. Won't your first phone jar with those types of users?

Not if we're clear about where we want to take Ubuntu. We're planning to very quickly follow our initial launch with a high-end converged device, which will have high-performing system components that will allow Ubuntu to run as a desktop OS when docked. It'll also have full access to the Ubuntu Software Center. So we need to be clear about our roadmap -- we don't have tunnel vision around low-end products.

Speaking of which, are you okay with how long it's taking Ubuntu for Android to come to market?

It takes a long time to release a software-based product and turn it into a hardware-based product. But I can tell you that you might not have much longer to wait before you see something on that side.

Makin' money

You're not going to be like Microsoft or Google, but how will you make money?

The simplest model would be per-unit licensing. Then there's also the fact that hardware manufacturers and carriers don't want to focus on software. They want people like us to manage that on their behalf and it might be possible to commercialize that.

So you'd directly look after the software -- including updates, for example?

Yes, absolutely. There's no fragmentation in terms of the way we will progress our OS. Each update will come on a six-monthly basis and manufacturers will be able to rely on that. They'll be able to deliver their services without worrying about OS versions.

More Info

• Ubuntu for Android -- prototype hands-on
• Ubuntu lands on Nexus 7 slates
• Kite tablet flies Android 4.0 and Ubuntu 12.04

How would those services run regardless of OS version?

Because often those types of services will be web-based. With Ubuntu, web applications can feel more like part of the main operating system. We can make them feel very native.

Will you try to advertize on mobile Ubuntu?

That has to be done in conjunction with carriers and manufacturers. But part of what we're doing with the OS is providing direct access to services that the user has subscribed to, and putting them in the main UI -- like with Amazon.

The Future

Where do you want to be in two years' time?

I want to be shipping in mass volume, in the millions of units, and for Ubuntu to be recognized globally as one of the major platforms. Our analysis says there's the opportunity to gain a 7-8 percent market share by 2016. There's a window of opportunity for a new player to capture that kind of share.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/25/canonical-richard-collins-interview/

jimmy kimmel amzn white house correspondents dinner phoenix coyotes bruce irvin charlie st cloud celtics

Belkin to acquire Cisco's home division, scoop up Linksys in the process

Belkin has just struck a deal to acquire Cisco's Home Networking Business Unit, which will bring Linksys' name, products, technology and employees under its new owner's umbrella. Mothballing isn't in the cards for Linksys, however, as Belkin plans to keep the brand alive and even offer support for its existing products. The two networking titans haven't said a peep regarding a sticker price, but they expect the pact to be finalized in March. Once the transaction is rubber stamped, Belkin figures it'll compose roughly 30 percent of the home and small business networking retail market in the US. Hit the jump for the press release.

Show full PR text

BELKIN ANNOUNCES INTENT TO ACQUIRE CISCO'S HOME NETWORKING BUSINESS UNIT

Acquisition to Bolster Belkin's Position in the Home Networking Market, Building on the Strong Linksys Brand and Innovative Suite of Product and Software Solutions

Playa Vista, Calif. - January 24, 2013 - Belkin, a private company based in Playa Vista, Calif., with operations and sales in more than 100 countries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cisco's Home Networking Business Unit, including its proven products, technology, well-known Linksys brand and talented employees. With global operations, Linksys' main office is located in Irvine, Calif.

"We're very excited about this announcement," said Chet Pipkin, CEO of Belkin. "Our two organizations share many core beliefs - we have similar beginnings and share a passion for meeting the real needs of our customers through the strengths of an entrepreneurial culture. Belkin's ultimate goal is to be the global leader in the connected home and wireless networking space and this acquisition is an important step to realizing that vision."

Belkin intends to maintain the Linksys brand and will offer support for Linksys products as part of this transaction. All valid warranties will be honored by Belkin for current and future Linksys products. After the transaction closes, Belkin will account for approximately 30 percent of the U.S. retail home and small business networking market.

"Linksys pioneered wireless connectivity capability around the globe, and has a strong brand renowned for its premium market position, the strength of its installed base and its proven dependability. Linksys users benefit from peace of mind in their home networking environment. At Belkin we have developed great insight into consumer needs, and the experiences, solutions and products we bring to the market, including our WeMo home automation platform, will help us to grow Linksys' market presence," Pipkin said.

"Linksys is one of the leading home networking providers and has created a market-leading suite of products and services to meet customer needs," said Hilton Romanski, VP Corporate Business Development, Cisco. "While part of Cisco, Linksys has continuously innovated, while strengthening the brand and expanding its market leadership. As part of Cisco's commitment to service providers, we are pleased about this strategic relationship with Belkin to build on Linksys' position of strength."

"With complementary innovation and engineering strategies in the combined organization, Belkin will be able to create new opportunities for consumers, distribution partners and resellers, and will have the strongest retail presence in the U.S. networking marketplace. Belkin also will have access to a large installed base that will be able to upgrade their networking environment to take advantage of new technologies in the smartphone, tablet, notebook and home automation arenas," Pipkin said. "Additionally, Linksys will enhance Belkin's capabilities to meet the needs of the service provider space and small business users."

Belkin and Cisco intend to develop a strategic relationship on a variety of initiatives including retail distribution, strategic marketing and products for the service provider market. Having access to Cisco's specialized software solutions across all of Belkin's product lines will bring a more seamless user experience for customers. Merging the innovation capabilities of Linksys and Belkin provides a powerful platform from which to develop the next generation of home networking technology.

"At Belkin, we're committed to enabling great experiences for users of today's mobile and connected home technologies," Pipkin said. "The acquisition of Linksys and the combination of Belkin's and Linksys' expertise and innovation will position us to meet the demands of today's rapidly evolving advances in technology. We look forward to honoring the heritage of the Linksys brand and investing in the continuing evolution of its product portfolio. Together, we will provide a powerful, simple to use, and reliable wireless and networking platform for the markets we serve."

Specific financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed. The transaction is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in March 2013.

Filed under: Networking

Comments

Source: Belkin

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/dWD0GByMzzI/

lottery tickets mega lottery sag aftra mega mill power ball april fools pranks livan hernandez

Video: Chuck Hagel?s 1997 advice on difficult confirmation hearings on Meet the Press

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/50575305#50575305

lottery tickets mega lottery sag aftra mega mill power ball april fools pranks livan hernandez

Things 2 for Mac is 50% off until January 31st

If you currently have Things 2 for iOS but just couldn't bite the bullet and pay $49.99 for the Mac version, you can now get it for half off but only for a limited time. Things 2 for Mac is currently on sale in the Mac App Store for $24.99 until January 31st.

Things 2 is a beautiful task management suite that's available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It's on the higher end when it comes to price but Things 2 brought with it a slew of great features that make it worth the price tag for anyone who wants to get things done with one of the best task management apps available.

Things boasts a full suite of tools to help you get organized including focus lists, project areas, and more. Instead of just making checklists of items that need to be completed, Things allows you to create projects and work spaces where you can then add items to those individual spaces. Anyone who freelances or has a large number of projects going at once will appreciate the power to organize that Things offers.

If you've been holding off on purchasing Things 2 for your Mac, now is a great time to snag it at half price.

• $24.99 (On Sale) - Download Now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/nuJyMDwL53g/story01.htm

new orleans hornets ghost rider spirit of vengeance hornets prince johan friso windows 8 logo anguilla gone with the wind

Beverage industry, NYC lawyers duel over drinks

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 photo, Luke Husemann, and Christina Nunez, of Baltimore, sip on extra-large soft drinks at a McDonald's restaurant in New York. The city defended its groundbreaking size limit on sugary drinks Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, as an imperfect but meaningful rein on obesity, while critics said it would hurt small and minority-owned businesses while doing little to help health. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2012 photo, Luke Husemann, and Christina Nunez, of Baltimore, sip on extra-large soft drinks at a McDonald's restaurant in New York. The city defended its groundbreaking size limit on sugary drinks Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, as an imperfect but meaningful rein on obesity, while critics said it would hurt small and minority-owned businesses while doing little to help health. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

FILE - In this May 31, 2012 file photo, a man leaves a 7-Eleven store with a Double Gulp drink, in New York. Opponents of the city?s limit on the size of sugary drinks are are raising questions of racial fairness alongside other complaints as the novel restriction faces a court test. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The city defended its groundbreaking size limit on sugary drinks Wednesday as an imperfect but meaningful rein on obesity, while critics said it would hurt small and minority-owned businesses while doing little to help health.

The first courtroom arguments in the closely watched case ended without an immediate ruling. Opponents said they planned to ask a judge to delay enforcement during the suit, which has broached questions of racial fairness alongside arguments about government authority and burdens to business.

The NAACP's New York state branch and a network of Hispanic groups have joined a legal effort to block the first-of-its-kind restriction, igniting questions Wednesday about the groups' ties to the beverage industry.

Beverage makers, restaurateurs, minority advocates and other critics told a judge the upcoming 16-ounce limit was a finger-wagging incursion on consumer choice, rife with inconsistencies that would cost a hot dog vendor business while still allowing New Yorkers to buy belly-buster sodas at the chain convenience store next to him. Opponents' lawyers called it "ham-handed," ''grossly unfair" and just "plain silly."

"New Yorkers do not want to be told what to drink," attorney James Brandt said.

City lawyers acknowledged the rule's limitations. It doesn't apply to all high-calorie drinks or all places that sell them, largely because of the city can regulate only some establishments. But it's still a reasonable and needed move to take on the city's growing weight problem and the diseases linked to it, they said.

"While this may not be a silver bullet that will cure the obesity epidemic, it's rational ... (and) one step that can be taken," said the city Health Department's chief lawyer, Thomas Merrill.

The suit, filed by the American Beverage Association and others, seeks to block the restriction, set to take effect March 12. With no immediate ruling Wednesday, opponents said they planned to ask state Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling to put it on hold until the case is decided. The city will oppose such a move, Merrill said after the hearing.

The latest in a line of healthy-eating initiatives during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, the beverage rule bars restaurants and many other eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces. Violations could bring $200 fines; the city doesn't plan to start seeking those until June.

In explaining the cola crackdown, officials cite the city's rising obesity rate ? about 24 percent of adults, up from 18 percent in 2002 ? and point to studies linking sugary drinks to weight gain. Care for obesity-related illnesses costs more than $4.7 billion a year citywide, and government programs pay about 60 percent of that, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley.

Opponents portray the regulation as government nagging that scapegoats sugary drinks for a multifaceted fat problem, and they say the restriction is unfairly narrow.

Unsweetened juice and milk-based drinks are excluded; health officials say they have nutritional value. The regulation also doesn't cover alcoholic drinks or sales at supermarkets and many convenience stores ? among them 7-Eleven, home of the Big Gulp ? because they aren't subject to city health rules.

The NAACP and the Hispanic Federation, an organization of 100 Northeastern groups, say their concern is that minority-owned delis and corner stores will end up at a disadvantage compared with grocery chains.

It's a complaint voiced behind deli counters in heavily Hispanic East Harlem, where managers such as Yolanda Peralta see the restriction as inequitable.

"We're paying taxes like every other store. ... We should have the same rights that everybody else," Peralta said Wednesday.

But others questioned the advocacy groups' links to the soda companies whose fight they've joined. Among the ties:

? Coca-Cola announced last month it was giving a $100,000 grant to the national NAACP to support a healthy-lifestyles program

? PepsiCo gave the group more than $10,000 in 2010, according to the soda maker's website.

? Former Hispanic Federation President Lillian Rodriguez Lopez left for a job at Coca-Cola in in February.

? The groups were represented Wednesday by a firm that also has represented Coca-Cola. The firm, King & Spalding, is representing the advocacy groups for free, lawyer Ann M. Cook said.

Given that obesity rates are higher than average among blacks and Hispanics, the NAACP should refuse soda makers' money and "reevaluate the position the group is taking in New York City," Michael F. Jacobson, the executive director of the nutrition advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said in a statement Wednesday.

He and Stan Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, noted that tobacco companies' established relationship with African-American leadership organizations in decades past.

The strategy in the soda fight is "straight out of tobacco," Glantz said.

Hazel Dukes, the NAACP's New York president, bristled at the idea that the nearly 104-year-old group was swayed by the soda industry's support.

"No one buys the NAACP," she said in a telephone interview, noting that foundations also have contributed to the organization's obesity-fighting initiatives.

Soda makers' money "is not the issue here," she said. "The issue is fairness."

The Hispanic Federation's current president, Jose Calderon, didn't immediately return calls Tuesday and Wednesday.

Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc. declined to comment on Wednesday and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. referred questions to the American Beverage Association.

The regulation's critics also argue that the first-of-its-kind restriction should have gone before the elected City Council instead of being approved by the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health, a view echoed Wednesday by a lawyer for nine of the 51 council members. The city says the board of doctors and other health professionals had both the authority and expertise to make the decision.

During Bloomberg's 11-year tenure, the city also has made chain restaurants post calorie counts on their menus and barred artificial trans fats in French fries and other restaurant food.

___

Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela, food industry writer Candice Choi and medical writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-23-Sugary%20Drinks-Lawsuit/id-1ae7ec21807a4930b88916d8e73ac320

Kerri Strug Ledecky Nadia Comaneci Rebecca Soni Snoop Lion London 2012 Table Tennis badminton

Budget officials flee San Bernardino amid bankruptcy chaos

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Top budget officials in crisis-hit San Bernardino, California, are quitting the city at a crucial juncture in its quest to seek bankruptcy protection.

A rush to the doors in San Bernardino city hall threatens the city's ability to qualify for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection by robbing it of the people with the experience to answer questions from the court and creditors. If those questions are not answered, the judge could deny bankruptcy protection, experts say.

San Bernardino's interim city manager Andrea Travis-Miller has quit and will start a new job on February 19.

The city's finance chief Jason Simpson is also expected to leave soon, a source inside the city said. The city's head of human resources has also quit, as has its head of code enforcement.

Travis-Miller and Simpson assumed their roles last year and have been the two key figures in bringing to light San Bernardino's fiscal problems.

Travis-Miller and Simpson did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls.

There are few other, if any, officials with a deep understanding of the city's finances. Their loss calls into question whether San Bernardino has the ability to present a viable plan to satisfy creditors, and a bankruptcy court, that it should qualify for bankruptcy protection. All parties meet in court on February 12 to argue that issue.

The two officials have been the central figures in overseeing the city's finances since it filed for bankruptcy protection in August, citing a $46 million deficit for this fiscal year and little leeway to make day-to-day wage payments.

PENSION FUND FIGHTING BANKRUPTCY

The next major decision for the federal judge overseeing the case is whether the city should be granted bankruptcy protection. Such protection safeguards the city from creditor lawsuits until its finances are restructured under the auspices of the court.

The city's biggest creditor, California's public employee's pension fund, has opposed San Bernardino's quest to seek bankruptcy protection. Without it, the struggling city will likely face multiple lawsuits in state court for unpaid bills, at a time when its officials say it can barely make payroll.

At a court hearing on December 21, the judge overseeing the case ordered the city to provide more financial disclosure to its creditors.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) argued in that hearing that San Bernardino officials had provided little financial information since declaring bankruptcy in August, and that its pre-bankruptcy plan - stretching to just 12 pages - was not a good faith effort to show how it intended to deal with creditors.

That plan is in stark contrast to the pendency plan approved in June by Stockton, another California city seeking bankruptcy protection.

Stockton - a city of 292,000 that sits 85 miles east of San Francisco - produced a restructuring plan that ran to 790 pages. It came after over 90 days of mediation with the city's creditors.

San Bernardino, a city of 210,000 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, avoided any discussions with creditors by declaring a fiscal emergency in July.

SITUATION A 'LEGAL DISASTER'

Losing its top two budget officials at such an important stage will only add to San Bernardino's difficulties to achieve bankruptcy protection, said Karol Denniston, a municipal bankruptcy expert with Schiff Hardin in San Francisco.

"This is a situation with all the makings of a legal disaster, because the expectations are that a judicial process can sort out the unsortable," Denniston said.

"The court cannot determine (bankruptcy) eligibility if creditors have not been given sufficient information. Now we have a lack of staff. There is insufficient money," Denniston said, adding that the city has so far failed to come up with a convincing bankruptcy plan.

Michael Sweet, an attorney with Fox Rothschild, said if there are not the people on the ground to provide information about the city's finances, then outside experts will have to be hired to tell the court exactly what the city's assets and liabilities are.

"If they lose their staff, it will become very expensive to find the answers to these questions," Sweet said.

An investigation by Reuters revealed in December that the city paid $2 million in cash-outs to employees for unused vacation and sick time in the three months before declaring bankruptcy.

The case is emerging as a landmark legal battle because the city has taken the unprecedented step of halting payments to Calpers, America's biggest public pension fund.

Because of that move, San Bernardino is potentially testing whether the pensions of government workers take precedence over other payments in a municipal bankruptcy, which could have ramifications for other creditors, including Wall Street bondholders, as more cities and towns have trouble meeting their obligations.

The city has not made its $1.2 million twice monthly payments to Calpers since it filed for bankruptcy last August. It now owes at least $10 million to the pension system in addition to a long-term debt that the city pegs at $143 million.

In a statement, Calpers praised the work of Simpson and Travis-Miller. The pension fund said they were key to an agreement between the city and Calpers last week to delay the next court hearing until February 12 so that the two parties could negotiate further.

"We appreciate Andrea and Jason's leadership at the City of San Bernardino during these difficult times," Calpers said.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/budget-officials-flee-san-bernardino-amid-bankruptcy-chaos-004709845.html

marianas trench camille grammer camille grammer us supreme court breaking dawn part 2 trailer mississippi state chris carpenter

Backed By Skype Co-founder Janus Friis, Futureful Launches On The iPad For Smarter Web Surfing

If you're a fan of content discovery veteran, StumbleUpon, or haven't quite been sold by its new look, then you just might have some love for a new startup out of Helsinki, Finland, called Futureful. A product of Finland's largest, seed-stage startup accelerator, Startup Sauna, Futureful has spent the last three years quietly building a predictive discovery engine that co-founder Marko Anderson says describes as "part toy, part tool" and seeks to provide users with a personal filter for the Web's multifarious content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/m6ya9W8NhEQ/

jon hamm kim kardashian law school rankings ncaa bracket predictions jeff foxworthy heather morris the bachelor finale march madness bracket

Right target, but missing the bulls-eye for Alzheimer's

Jan. 23, 2013 ? Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of late-life dementia. The disorder is thought to be caused by a protein known as the amyloid-beta protein, or Abeta, which clumps together in the brain, forming plaques that are thought to destroy neurons. This destruction starts early, too, and can presage clinical signs of the disease by up to 20 years.

For decades now, researchers have been trying, with limited success, to develop drugs that prevent this clumping. Such drugs require a "target" -- a structure they can bind to, thereby preventing the toxic actions of Abeta.

Now, a new study out of UCLA suggests that while researchers may have the right target in Abeta, they may be missing the bull's-eye. Reporting in the Jan. 23 issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology, UCLA neurology professor David Teplow and colleagues focused on a particular segment of a toxic form of Abeta and discovered a unique hairpin-like structure that facilitates clumping.

"Every 68 seconds, someone in this country is diagnosed with Alzheimer's," said Teplow, the study's senior author and principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UCLA. "Alzheimer's disease is the only one of the top 10 causes of death in America that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed down once it begins. Most of the drugs that have been developed have either failed or only provide modest improvement of the symptoms. So finding a better pathway for these potential therapeutics is critical."

The Abeta protein is composed of a sequence of amino acids, much like "a pearl necklace composed of 20 different combinations of different colors of pearl," Teplow said. One form of Abeta, Abeta40, has 40 amino acids, while a second form, Abeta42, has two extra amino acids at one end. Abeta42 has long been thought to be the toxic form of Abeta, but until now, no one has understood how the simple addition of two amino acids made it so much more toxic then Abeta40.

In his lab, Teplow and his colleagues used computer simulations in which they looked at the structure of the Abeta proteins in a virtual world. The researchers first created a virtual Abeta peptide that only contained the last 12 amino acids of the entire 42-amino-acid-long Abeta42 protein. Then, said Teplow, "we just let the molecule move around in a virtual world, letting the laws of physics determine how each atom of the peptide was attracted to or repulsed by other atoms."

By taking thousands of snapshots of the various molecular structures the peptides created, the researchers determined which structures formed more frequently than others. From those, they then physically created mutant Abeta peptides using chemical synthesis.

"We studied these mutant peptides and found that the structure that made Abeta42 Abeta42 was a hairpin-like turn at the very end of the peptide of the whole Abeta protein," Teplow said.

The hairpin turn structure was not previously known in the detail revealed by the researchers, "so we feel our experiments were novel," he said. "Our lab is the first to show that it is this specific turn that accounts for the special ability of Abeta42 to aggregate into clumps that we think kills neurons. Abeta40, the Abeta protein with two less amino acids at the end of the protein, did not do the same thing."

Hopefully, the work of the Teplow laboratory presents what may the most relevant target yet for the development of drugs to fight Alzheimer's disease, the researchers said.

Other authors on the study included Robin Roychaudhuri, Mingfeng Yang, Atul Deshpande, Gregory M. Cole and Sally Frautschy, all of UCLA, and Aleksey Lomakin and George B. Benedek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Funding for the study was provided by grants from the State of California Alzheimer's Disease Research Fund, a UCLA Faculty Research Grant, the National Institutes of Health (AG027818, NS038328) and the James Easton Consortium for Alzheimer's Drug Discovery and Biomarkers.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Robin Roychaudhuri, Mingfeng Yang, Atul Deshpande, Gregory M. Cole, Sally Frautschy, Aleksey Lomakin, George B. Benedek, David B. Teplow. C-Terminal Turn Stability Determines Assembly Differences between A?40 and A?42. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2013; 425 (2): 292 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2012.11.006

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/xGA4EgL4b6k/130123221409.htm

Gabriel Aubry halle berry cyber monday deals small business saturday small business saturday best cyber monday deals best cyber monday deals

Disappointing iPhone sales send Apple down more than 4 percent

By Poornima Gupta

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc reported quarterly revenue that slightly missed Wall Street expectations as sales of its flagship iPhone came in below target, sending its shares down more than 4 percent.

The world's largest technology company shipped 47.8 million iPhones, lower than the roughly 50 million that Wall Street analysts had predicted. Sales of the iPad came in at 22.9 million in the fiscal first quarter, about in line with forecasts.

Sources this month have pointed to production cutbacks at Apple's component suppliers as a sign that demand may be waning for the iPhone, which accounts for half of the company's sales, and the iPad.

The disappointing numbers come after Apple undershot revenue targets in the previous two quarters. The results will prompt more questions on what Apple has in its product pipeline, and what it can do to attract new sales and maintain its growth trajectory.

Apple said on Wednesday its fiscal first quarter revenue rose to $54.5 billion, below the average analyst estimate of $54.73 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

For the fiscal first quarter it posted net income of $13.07 billion, or $13.81 a diluted share, compared to $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share, a year earlier.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-revenue-misses-iphone-disappoints-213649351.html

michigan state michigan state city creek center andrew luck pro day josh johnson kim kardashian flour matt forte

#SciAmBlogs Tuesday - Climate Change, alpha males, fake Mars mission, Roe vs. Wade, Asteroid Hunter, and more

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

More??

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

---

---

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f167d6de06823af6b975053aa8f27b05

Lilit Avagyan Nashville TV Show VP debate drew brees drew brees sandusky Sam Champion

Helping healthy cells could be key to fighting leukemia, research suggests

Jan. 22, 2013 ? Instead of focusing on the elimination of cancer cells, maintaining a stable population of healthy blood cells in the bone marrow could be the most effective way to fight against leukemia.

Researchers at Imperial College London have shown that keeping healthy blood cells alive could be a more important tool in the fight against leukemia than keeping cancerous cells at bay.

The team used computer modelling to show that maintaining a friendly environment for healthy cells was more effective than targeting the damaged cells directly. This result could change the way leukemia is treated, as cancer treatment has traditionally relied on fighting disease rather than maintaining health.

A better understanding of the processes taking place in the bone marrow could therefore allow doctors to take earlier and more targeted action in combating leukemia.

A cancer of the blood, leukemia is thought to survive and grow through the action of leukemia stem cells (LSCs), which multiply within the bone marrow. Here they face competition for resources with haematopoietic stem cells (or HSCs), which are responsible for producing and maintaining all the different varieties of healthy blood cell within the body.

The paper, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface on January 22, is the first attempt to model competition between these two types of cells using methods borrowed from the world of ecology.

Lead author Adam MacLean said: "The first researchers to model competing populations mathematically were looking at predators and prey -- famously lynx hunting wild hares. Whilst we don't have predator and prey cells, we have two cellular species who directly compete against each other for resources, and our models analyse how that competition plays out within the biological niche of the bone marrow."

The team carried out computer simulations to find conditions that would result in vanishing numbers of leukemia cells. They found that the greatest chance of beating leukemia came from maintaining a healthy population of HSCs, rather than trying to eradicate the LSCs directly.

According to Michael Stumpf, Professor of Theoretical Systems Biology and one of the paper's co-authors, "maintaining health is more likely to eradicate leukemia than fighting leukemia directly without taking care of the healthy stem cells. And that's a slightly surprising result which nobody had explicitly stated before. It allows us to understand these processes in a way that could be important for potential therapeutic responses."

Thanks to a recent funding grant from blood cancer charity leukemia & Lymphoma Research, Dr Lo Celso and her team hope to refine the models outlined in the paper to more accurately simulate conditions in the human body.

Professor Stumpf added: "We want to make the model more useful, and find cases where we can break the model if it's incorrect. Its simplicity means that it's fairly robust, but we hope to reproduce the real complexity of the competition between HSCs and LSCs."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Imperial College London.

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

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/3D00D_0_7Hk/130122231349.htm

google stock google stock china gdp dont trust the b in apartment 23 johnny damon kirk cameron news 10

personal self help - Using Hypnosis Nlp ... - anna.paquin ...

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Source: http://cortezmeyer23.typepad.com/blog/2013/01/personal-self-help-using-hypnosis-nlp-annapaquin.html

college football recruiting rankings ground hog day 2012 aaron carter black history month did groundhog see his shadow soul train don cornelius rod parsley

How Dell could help finance its own buyout - The Term Sheet ...

FORTUNE -- Dell Inc. has its major asset?about $11 billion of cash?located primarily outside the United States. That means that it would face a multi-billion-dollar tax bill if it repatriated the money or borrowed against it.?Therefore, most people have assumed that Dell's cash is essentially useless when it comes to funding a possible buyout, or helping Dell (DELL) pay its post-buyout bills.

However, there may be a way for Dell to borrow ultra-cheaply against its foreign cash without a tax bill. And, by doing so, it effectively would be using the cash to fund its buyout.

The idea, suggested by tax expert Robert Willens of Robert Willens, LLC (with a bit of kibitzing from me) involves borrowing not against the cash itself, but borrowing against the stock of the foreign subsidiary that holds the cash.

Willens says that a U.S. company can borrow in the U.S. against its overseas assets without tax consequences by pledging the stock of its foreign subsidiaries, provided that no more than two-thirds of the subsidiaries' voting power is posted as collateral.

MORE:?Michael Dell's grand plans?

So how would that let Dell borrow against all its cash? Watch:

Dell could use a high-vote, low-vote structure to set up the subsidiary. One class of stock, presumably the high-voting class, would have two-thirds of the subsidiary's voting power, but would hold all the subsidiary's cash. Dell then could borrow against that stock, effectively pledging its offshore cash without triggering a U.S. tax bill.

If Dell defaults on its loan, the lenders could seize the pledged stock, and thus get their hands on the cash. Having the stock seized by lenders would trigger U.S. tax consequences?but the consequences would be for Dell, not for the foreclosing lenders.

More:?Can private equity solve Dell's dilemma?

So the lenders would get the cash and Dell would incur a U.S. tax liability. However, in that case Dell would already be in financial difficulty, perhaps even in Chapter 11. Therefore, that liability wouldn't matter to its lenders -- who already would have been repaid -- and would make the U.S. government one of Dell's many creditors.

Please note that Willens, with a little help from me, has roughed this out on the back of an envelope, so to speak. He's not saying that this would work. What he and I are saying is that this strategy or something similar might be the hidden factor explaining why so many lenders are apparently eager to provide cheap financing to a high-risk-seeming Dell buyout.

There are many potential legal pitfalls for such a strategy, but what the Dell? Maybe someone has figured out how the Dells of the world can effectively bring their offshore, untaxed U.S. cash into the country without forking over 35% to the IRS. If that's the case, that's going to be a lot bigger story than Michael Dell's latest shenanigans. Stay tuned.

Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/22/dell-buyout/

statins chardon sean young juan pablo montoya free pancakes at ihop martina navratilova high school shooting