cleaning exosphere: February 2013

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Netgear Centria (WNDR4720)

The Centria WNDR4720 is Netgear's offering in the crop of network devices that serve as both routers and Network Attached Storage (NAS). The WNDR4720 is a dual-band router and a NAS with 2TB of storage (Netgear also offers the WNDR4700; you need to supply your own drive). While the Centria is not a powerful performer as a router?and even weaker in performance as a NAS?the combined functionality makes it an attractive device for creating a robust home network. With this single device you have the means to deploy a wireless network, shared storage, multimedia streaming, and even backup.

The Centria is a competitor to Apple's Time Capsule, which is a NAS/router combo. Like the 2TB version of Time Capsule, the Centria is priced at around $300. Another competitor in the space is Synology's DS213air which also combines routing functionality with a NAS.

If you need a more powerful router than what the DS213air offers, the Centria is the better option of the two.? If you are mostly focused on NAS capabilities, then look to the DS213air.? One other caveat with the Centria: there are some issues with the Desktop Genie app you can install to manage it.

Specs
The Centria's design is the same boxy shape introduced with Netgear's R6300 router. This large device operates upright on a built-in stand. Design is one of the big drawbacks of the R6300, in my view. The bulky case makes placement options within an entertainment center, for example, limited.

The model I tested, the WNDR4720, is an N900 dual-band router with integrated 2TB of storage on a 3.5" SATA HDD. There are two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. The Centria also has four Gigabit LAN ports and a Gigabit WAN port.

On the side of the case are three buttons: WPS, WiFi on/off, and a one-touch backup button. LEDs on the front correspond to each button and are lit when the buttons are activated. On the opposite side of the case is a door that opens to where the HDD sits. It's a bit of an effort of get your fingers around the HDD to pull it out. The drive's backplane sits so far deep into the Centria that it's somewhat difficult to ensure that the drive is seated properly. You'll know if it isn't if you don't see the HDD's LED light up green when the Centria is powered on.

There are also five more LEDs on the bottom front panel, one each, representing status of power, WAN connection, WiFi, HDD status, and USB device connection.

Centria Setup
The WNDR4720 ships with wireless networking pre-configured. In fact, the SSID and password are printed on a sticker affixed to the unit. As soon as I powered the Centria up, I saw two Netgear SSIDs?one for the 2.4 GHz radio and one for 5GHz, in Windows' listing of wireless networks.

You still want to go through the setup process to establish your WAN connection and make sure settings are the way you want. To do this, open a browser from a computer connected to the Centria, to the address routerlogin.net.? This kicks off the Netgear Genie setup wizard.

The setup process has been updated in Netgear's newer device line, as I first noticed when reviewing the R6300. I was impressed that the setup wizard elegantly avoided any possible IP address conflicts with my ISP assigned address by changing the router's IP addressing appropriately.

The setup wizard then checked my internet connection. I received confirmation that I was connected to the Internet and the interface displayed the router's settings including the wireless settings, the HDD state. The wizard then scanned for any connected USB devices.

Setup gives you the option of installing Netgear's newer management apps: the Desktop Genie, for monitoring and repairing your home network, and ReadyShare Vault?a backup app. While I'll dig deeper into each app in separate reviews, I did install the Desktop Genie, since it's relevant to managing the router functionality in the Centria. After installing the desktop version of genie, I encountered a few issues.

Genie Conflicts
When you install the Desktop Genie, you can use the shortcut to it on a desktop to get to the router's settings and monitoring tools. Typically, you would just open a browser to the IP address of the router, and use the device's management software for configuration, which is also called the Netgear Genie. The fact that both are named Genie is confusing.

Desktop Genie is a newer interface for Netgear products introduced in 2011. Instead of having to open a browser and go to the IP address of the device's interface, you can double-click the Genie shortcut on the desktop. The Desktop Genie has more features than the default Genie interface you get by typing in the IP address of the router in a browser.

I found Desktop Genie was problematic to use. When I first opened it, I was greeted with a Login Failed error message, despite the fact I could go into the browser-based interface using the same admin login and password. There was a little help icon to give me more information about the error. The additional information was that I was getting a login failure because "your Netgear router does not yet support all desktop genie features," and that is was something Netgear was working on.

There were areas within Desktop Genie I could access at times, and that I would then would get a login failure message in later tries. For instance, I was able to click a monitoring icon and see a nice real-time graph of my router traffic, but then when I clicked to go into wireless settings, I would get the failure notice.

?Desktop Genie became so prohibitive to continuing my review of the Centria that I closed it and did the rest of the review by just going to the Web interface of the router?the regular Genie, as I refer to it.

As mentioned, I'll dive deeper into the Desktop Genie in a separate review. The app has a lot of promising capability but functions like beta software when used with the Centria. This is despite the fact that the Desktop Genie webpage lists the Centria as a supported router.

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Fidel Castro appears at parliament, leadership speculation continues

Fidel Castro's surprise appearance added to expectations, fueled by his brother, that the usually routine session might shed light on future leadership of the communist-run nation.

By Marc Frank,?Reuters / February 25, 2013

Cuba's leader Fidel Castro and his brother Cuba's President Raul Castro attend the opening session of the National Assemby in Havana, Cuba, Feb. 24. Cuba's parliament reconvened Sunday with new membership and was expected to name Raul Castro to a new five-year-term as president. Raul Castro fueled speculation on Friday when he talked of his possible retirement and suggested he has plans to resign at some point.

Ismael Francisco/AP

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Retired Cuban leader?Fidel?Castro?made a rare public appearance Sunday by joining the opening session of the National Assembly, state media reported amid speculation the gathering could give clues on planning for a future leadership succession.

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Since falling ill in 2006 and ceding the presidency to his brother,?Fidel?Castro?has given up all official positions except as a deputy in the National Assembly. At Sunday's session, he took his seat beside brother President?Raul?Castro, only the second time he has graced the assembly chambers since his illness and the first since 2010.

Fidel?Castro's surprise appearance added to expectations, fueled by his brother, that the usually routine session might shed light on future leadership of the communist-run nation.

In a back and forth with reporters on Friday,?Raul?Castro?joked about his eventual retirement and urged them to pay attention to Sunday's conclave, which is closed to foreign journalists.

"I'm going to turn 82; I have a right to retire already," he said. "You don't believe me? Why are you so incredulous?" he said.

The 612 deputies, who were elected in an uncontested vote Feb. 3, are expected to name a new 31-member?Council of State?with?Raul?Castro?as president, despite his quip.

The National Assembly meets for just a few weeks each year and delegates its legislative powers between sessions to the?Council of State, which also functions as the nation's executive through theCouncil of Ministers?it appoints.

Governments,?Cuba?watchers and Cubans will be watching to see if there are any new, and younger, faces among the Council of State members, in particular its first vice president and five vice presidents, with an average age over 70.

The new government is almost certain to be the last headed up by the?Castro?brothers and the generation that has ruled?Cuba?since they swept down from the mountains in the 1959 revolution that led to a long-running feud with Washington.

Raul?Castro, 81, would begin his second term on Sunday, theoretically leaving him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.

Eighty percent of the parliament's 612 members, with an average age under 50, were born after the Revolution.

EFFORT TO PROMOTE YOUNGER GENERATION

Raul?Castro, who officially replaced his ailing brother as president in 2008, has repeatedly called for senior leaders to hold office for no more than two, five-year terms.

"Although we kept on trying to promote young people to senior positions, life proved that we did not always make the best choice,"?Castro?said at a Party?Congress?in 2011.

"Today, we are faced with the consequences of not having a reserve of well-trained replacements....It's really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century," he said.

The 2011 party summit adopted a more than 300-point plan to "update"?Cuba's Soviet-style economic system, designed to transform it from one based on collective production and consumption to one where individual effort and reward play a far more important role.

Across-the-board subsidies are being replaced by the country's first comprehensive tax code and targeted welfare.

Fidel?Castro, these days referred to as the "historic leader of the revolution," is no longer seen as wielding real power, but he has maintained a public presence through his writings, meetings with important visitors and rare appearances.

Esteban Lazo, member of the political bureau of the Community Party and vice president of the?Council of State, 68, was named parliament president Sunday to replace a retiring Ricardo Alarcon, who served for 20 years.

(Reporting By Marc Frank; Editing by David Adams and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/-Y7R18uKYzc/Fidel-Castro-appears-at-parliament-leadership-speculation-continues

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

The mouth that roared (Offthekuff)

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F-35 fleet grounded after engine crack discovery

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane.

The problem was discovered during what the Pentagon called a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., of an F-35A, the Air Force version of the sleek new plane. The Navy and the Marine Corps are buying other versions of the F-35, which is intended to replace older fighters like the Air Force F-16 and the Navy F/A-18.

All versions ? a total of 51 planes ? were grounded Friday pending a more in-depth evaluation of the problem discovered at Edwards. None of the planes have been fielded for combat operations; all are undergoing testing.

In a brief written statement, the Pentagon said it is too early to know the full impact of the newly discovered problem.

A watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, said the grounding is not likely to mean a significant delay in the effort to field the stealthy aircraft.

"The F-35 is a huge problem because of its growing, already unaffordable, cost and its gigantically disappointing performance," the group's Winslow Wheeler said. "That performance would be unacceptable even if the aircraft met its far-too-modest requirements, but it is not."

The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program at a total estimated cost of nearly $400 billion. The Pentagon envisions buying more than 2,400 F-35s, but some members of Congress are balking at the price tag.

Friday's suspension of flight operations will remain in effect until an investigation of the problem's root cause is determined.

The Pentagon said the engine in which the problem was discovered is being shipped to a Pratt & Whitney facility in Connecticut for more thorough evaluation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/f-35-fleet-grounded-engine-crack-found-212548478--politics.html

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Governors: Looming cuts threaten economic gains

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, center, seen with National Governors Association Chairman Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, left, and Vice Chairman Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, speaks during the opening news conference of the NGA Winter Meeting in Washington, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The nation's governors say their states are threatened if the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, take effect March 1. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, left, leads fellow Democratic Governors Associations members along the driveway of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. From left are, Shumlin, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Vermont Gov. Maggie Hassan, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, center, accompanied by fellow members of the Democratic Governors Associations, speaks outside the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. From left are, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Virgin Islands Gov. John De Jongh, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Hassan, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, center, accompanied by fellow members of the Democratic Governors Associations, looks up to the overcast sky, outside the White House in Washington, Feb. 22, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. From left are, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Virgin Island Gov. John de Jongh, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Hickenlooper, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, accompanied by other members of the Democratic Governors Associations, speaks outside the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Washington's protracted budget stalemate could seriously undermine the economy and stall gains made since the recession, exasperated governors said Saturday as they try to gauge the fallout from impending federal spending cuts.

At the annual National Governors Association meeting, both Democrat and Republican chief executives expressed pessimism that both sides could find a way to avoid the massive, automatic spending cuts set to begin March 1, pointing to the impasse as another crisis between the White House and Congress that spooks local businesses from hiring and hampers their ability to construct state spending plans.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a former congressman, noted that the cuts ? known in Washington-speak as "the sequester" ? could lead to 19,000 workers laid off at Pearl Harbor, site of the surprise attack in 1941 that launched the United States into World War II.

"That will undermine our capacity for readiness at Pearl Harbor. If that doesn't symbolize for the nation ... what happens when we fail to meet our responsibilities congressionally, I don't know what does," he said.

The budget fight came as many states say they are on the cusp of an economic comeback from the financial upheaval in 2008 and 2009. States expect their general fund revenues this year to surpass the amounts collected before the Great Recession kicked in. An estimated $693 billion in revenues is expected for the 2013 budget year, nearly a 4 percent over the previous year.

At their weekend meetings, governors were focusing on ways to boost job development and grow their state economies, measures to restrict gun violence and implement the new health care law approved during Obama's first term.

Some Republican governors have blocked the use of Medicaid to expand health insurance coverage for millions of uninsured while others have joined Democrats in a wholesale expansion as the law allows. The Medicaid expansion aims to cover about half of the 30 million uninsured people expected to eventually gain coverage under the health care overhaul.

Yet for many governors, the budget-cut fight remains front-and-center and fuels a pervasive sense of frustration with Washington.

"My feeling is I can't help what's going on in Washington," Gov. Terry Branstad, R-Iowa, said in an interview Saturday. "I can't help the fact that there's no leadership here, and it's all politics as usual and gridlock. But I can do something about the way we do things in the state of Iowa."

Indeed, right now no issue carries the same level of urgency as the budget impasse.

Congressional leaders have indicated a willingness to let the cuts take effect and stay in place for weeks, if not much longer.

The cuts would trim $85 billion in domestic and defense spending, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of workers at the Transportation Department, Defense Department and elsewhere.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces.

The looming cuts were never supposed to happen. They were intended to be a draconian fallback intended to ensure a special deficit reduction committee would come up with $1 trillion or more in savings from benefit programs. It didn't.

"We should go back and remember that sequestration was originally designed by both the administration and Congress as something so odious, so repellent, that it would force both sides to a compromise. There can't be any question, this is something that nobody wants," said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

Obama has stepped up efforts to tell the public about the cuts' negative impact and pressure Republicans who oppose his approach of reducing deficits through a combination of targeted savings and tax increases. House Republicans have said reduced spending needs to be the focus and have rejected the president's fresh demand to include higher taxes as part of a compromise.

Governors said they are asking the Obama administration for more flexibility to deal with some of the potential cuts.

"We know that the cuts are coming, but we also don't want to suffer disproportionately," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Association.

"We're just saying that as you identify federal cuts and savings, allow the states to be able to realize those savings, too," said Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican and the association's vice chairwoman. "Give us the flexibility to be able to make the cuts where we think it will be the less harm to our citizens."

___

Follow Steve Peoples at: http://twitter.com/sppeoples and Ken Thomas at: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

___

Online:

National Governors Association: http://www.nga.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-23-Budget%20Battle-Governors/id-f7740b83797745bd886ed10816cb8992

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Toxic mice air drop: Dead poisoned mice to target Guam tree snakes

Toxic mice air drop: The US government is about target invasive brown tree snakes in Guam by bombing the island with dead mice laced with?acetaminophen, which is toxic to the reptiles.

By Eric Talmadge,?Associated Press / February 22, 2013

A Brown Tree Snake is held by a US Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist at Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam. The US government is planning to drop toxic mice from helicopters to battle the snakes, an invasive species that has decimated Guam's native bird population.

Eric Talmadge/AP

Enlarge

Andersen Air Force Base, Guam

Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on?Guam's?jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.

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Most of?Guam's?native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on?Guam?now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.

More than 3,000 miles away, environmental officials in Hawaii have long feared a similar invasion ? which in their case likely would be a "snakes on a plane" scenario. That would cost the state many vulnerable species and billions of dollars, but the risk will fall if?Guam's?air-drop strategy succeeds.

"We are taking this to a new phase," said Daniel Vice, assistant state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Hawaii,?Guam, and the Pacific Islands. "There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like?Guam."

Brown tree snakes are generally a few feet (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. Most of?Guam's?native birds were defenseless against the nocturnal, tree-based predators, and within a few decades of the reptile's arrival, nearly all of them were wiped out.

The snakes can also climb power poles and wires, causing blackouts, or slither into homes and bite people, including babies; they use venom on their prey but it is not lethal to humans.

The infestation and the toll it has taken on native wildlife have tarnished?Guam'simage as a tourism haven, though the snakes are rarely seen outside their jungle habitat.

The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol.

The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans.

The upcoming mice drop is targeted to hit snakes near?Guam's?sprawling Andersen Air Force Base, which is surrounded by heavy foliage and if compromised would offer the snakes a potential ticket off the island. Using helicopters, the dead neonatal mice will be dropped by hand, one by one.

U.S. government scientists have been perfecting the mice-drop strategy for more than a decade with support from the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior.

To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a flotation device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the snakes live and feed.

Experts say the impact on other species will be minimal, particularly since the snakes have themselves wiped out the birds that might have been most at risk.

"One concern was that crows may eat mice with the toxicant," said William Pitt, of the U.S. National Wildlife Research Center's Hawaii Field Station. "However, there are no longer wild crows on?Guam. We will continue to refine methods to increase efficiency and limit any potential non-target hazards."

The mouse drop is set to start in April or May.

Vice said the goal is not to eradicate the snakes, but to control and contain them. Just as the snakes found their way to?Guam, they could stow away on a ship, or more likely the cargo hold of an airplane, and begin breeding on other islands around the Pacific or even the U.S. West Coast.

That "snakes on a plane" scenario has officials in Hawaii on edge. The islands of Hawaii, like?Guam, lack the predators that could keep a brown tree snake population in check.

Native Hawaiian birds "literally don't know what to do when they see a snake coming," said Christy Martin, a spokeswoman for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, a partnership of Hawaii government agencies and private organizations.

A 2010 study conducted by the National Wildlife Research Center found brown tree snakes would cause between $593 million and $2.14 billion in economic damage each year if they became established in Hawaii like they are on?Guam. Power outages would cause the most damage, followed by a projected decline in tourism. The cost of treating snake bites would account for a small share.

"Once we get snakes here, we're never going to be able to fix the situation," Martin said.

Though the snakes are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea,?Guam?is much closer to Hawaii and its snake population is much more dense, meaning it is the primary threat for snake stowaways.

So far,?Guam's?containment seems to be working. Only a few brown tree snakes have ever been found in Hawaii, and none over the past 17 years.

"If we continue doing what we are doing, the chance of success is very high," Vice said. "If what we are doing stops, I think the possibility of the snakes getting to Hawaii is inevitable."

___

AP writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report from Honolulu.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/5QKzfHBtQI8/Toxic-mice-air-drop-Dead-poisoned-mice-to-target-Guam-tree-snakes

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Tani Brown: On the Examination of Love

The ancient Greeks had four words for love. They are storge (familial love), philia (friendship love), agape (selfless love), and eros (intimate love). By contrast, the Buddhist tradition teaches the four Brahmaviharas or the four immeasurables: metta (loving kindness), karuna, (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), and upekkha (equanimity). The former are types of affection. By contrast, the latter are attitudes towards affection.

I'm not going to dwell on the anxieties of modern dating like texting, facebooking, and catfishing because it's hard enough just to be myself these days. I'd like to examine the spark that happens in those precious moments when I've met another person that for whatever reason grabbed my unwavering and unconditional affection. The sticky parts, the moments that take real courage to confront this overwhelming feeling I had never felt before.

Love.

This stickiness is beautifully articulated in Gus Van Sant's 1997 film, Good Will Hunting. In the film, Matt Damon plays Will Hunting -- a brilliant but haunted janitor at MIT. It is discovered early on in the film that Will is a mathematical genius when he casually but anonymously solves a complex math problem while cleaning a classroom one night. After a run-in with the law, Will is given the opportunity to avoid jail time by joining MIT's math department and seeing a therapist, the recently widowed Sean (Robin Williams).

As their relationship develops, it is revealed that Will is afraid to explore the complexities and risks of his personal relationships. Will goes through what we all go through -- breaking down the walls built up by childhood trauma and life-changing events which forever shape our conception of love.

The film reaches its pinnacle in a scene in which Sean chides Will over his immaturity and inability to love:

And if I asked you about love, you'll probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone could level you with her eyes... You don't know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much.

Sean posits an important question. Can I love something or someone more than I love myself? Should I love someone more than I love myself?

I've observed my understanding of love evolve over the years. When I was in college, I was madly in love with love. I saw a glimpse of both my best and my worst self, driven by the thrilling vulnerability of meeting someone that could love both the good and bad parts of me. While it was heavy, restless, and all consuming -- as Frank Ocean states, "it was, [while] some things never are." I left college with a tremendous sense of loss, thinking that my best years were behind me and privately enshrined in dorm room walls and empty playing fields.

Upon entering my twenties, that narrow interpretation of love was upstaged by the love for friends and family. I left school and met new people, the kind that look you in the eye and tell you the truth because they no longer have to worry about college formals and sorority gossip.

I learned things I thought I could only understand by being in a romantic relationship -- that loyalty and honesty could also be examined and perfected without intimacy. And I returned home, spent time with my family and remembered the value of unconditional love. It doesn't ask questions or make judgments. It welcomes you home.

Maybe the Greco-Romans were right and there are different types of love. Or perhaps the Buddhists were onto something and it is the mindful way we strive to love that is important. I think both schools speak to the notion of patience. Sitting on it. Letting those feelings wash over you. Knowing it. For me -- it is a mix of all these things. Allowing the love I have for my family and friends seep into the way I treat my partner and my faith and vice versa. Realizing they are all interconnected and requires my fullest attention and affection.

American philosopher Robert Nozick offers a possible answer to the Good Will Hunting dilemma, that is:

People encompass what they love -- it becomes part of them as its well-being becomes partly theirs. The size of a soul, the magnitude of a person, is measured in part by the extent of what that person can appreciate and love.

Maybe I will never love someone or something more than I love myself. But I certainly hope to become a part of that which I love. I wonder if 66 years ago when my grandfather Sat first laid eyes on my grandmother Akiko in Manzanar Internment Camp during World War II he asked this many questions. It seems life was simpler then. My grandmother says he was shy, but a great dancer. He eventually asked her to be his date to a camp dance and they fell in love, got married, and moved to Southern California to begin a life together.

Judging by how fast information moves these days, I wonder if I'll be as lucky as my grandfather. But maybe if time slows down just enough or I have the patience to slow it down myself, I'll continue to find a person, or people, or things that create the enduring spark called love.

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Friday, February 22, 2013

Video: Christie not invited to CPAC

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Tourism's role as foreign exchange earner finds mention in President's address

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Version Information:?Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3634; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3634

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=16026&sid=1

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PS4 Eye promises to unlock your PlayStation at a glance, tips hat to Kinect

Just finished watching Sony's "see the future" of PlayStation event? We hope you didn't blink, you might have missed a quick reveal of the next PlayStation Eye The optical sensor was overshadowed by the reveal of the DualShock 4, but it's nothing to scoff at -- the second generation Eye features two 1280 x 800 cameras, four microphones and an 85-degree field of view. Put together, the setup promises facial recognition, player positioning and depth sensing and enhanced PlayStation Move support. The Kinect-like camera is designed to work with Sony's new controller standard too, recognizing each player by the color of the DualShock 4's LED light bar. Sony says the Eye will allow the PS4 to use face login, and the collection of microphones might make voice control possible as well. No word yet if the new camera device will be a PS4 pack in or sold separately, but if you're interested in mining press releases for details, you'll find one after the break.

Gallery: DualShock 4 and PS4 Eye

Filed under: Sony

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/LDnjZYzFn4Q/

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This is the Modem World: Bring It On, Sony. Please.

Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

The Wii U launch sort of came and went, didn't it? I mean, it's a nice console, but it certainly didn't cause any major waves. In fact, Nintendo only sold 57,000 units in January. For those who don't track game console sales numbers -- and why would you -- that's bad. Very bad.

The Wii U, at least so far, has underwhelmed consumers. There isn't a killer application just yet, and despite some interesting innovation with the touchscreen controller, no one is sitting in his living room, staring at an empty space in his entertainment rack, thinking, "You know what I need? A Wii U."

And now we're all waiting so see what Sony does with the PlayStation 4. Rumors are that they'll do what Sony always does: Pack a ton of technology into a package that will be expensive -- but cost less than it should -- in order to get early adopters on board. It's actually possible that by the time this column is posted, Sony will have already released details about its upcoming hardware and you're too busy oohing and ahhing about frame rates and visual controllers.

Filed under: Sony

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/20/bring-it-on-sony/

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Insert Coin semifinalist: cSpring bipedal robot wants to 'level the playing field' for university research

Check out this Mac-headed robot. It's the cSpring Biped Educational Development Kit from the folks at the similarly-named Cognitive Spring team. According to its creators, the 'bot is an attempt to "level the playing field between universities," letting students tool around with an affordable bipedal robotics platform. cSpring has 12 servos in all -- three per hip, one per knee and two per foot. It's controlled by the Cognitive Shield, a bit of technology developed by the team in order to help bring the 'bot to life. Cognitive Spring will be launching crowdfunding campaigns to bring bot of these products to life.

cSpring's also got a "Kinect-like" camera on-board for sensing its environment, to help users perform what the company's CEO calls "really easy controls." Jump in after the break for a couple of videos of an early cSpring model in action, and click the source link below for more information on all of the above.

Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!

Filed under: Robots

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Source: Cognitive Spring

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/MmFU9iD0YSI/

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Friday, February 15, 2013

Consolidated ramps up its business services strategy with Ethernet ...

With the integration of SureWest well underway, Consolidated Communications (Nasdaq: CNSL) has set a goal of advancing its business service set to extend into the Sacramento, Calif. and Kansas City areas it entered through that deal.

Leveraging a mix of internal and external growth methods, Consolidated has set itself on a path to transform from being a small town telephone provider to a service provider delivering IP-based services for consumers and business customers. ?

Similar to its previous acquisitions like Texas-based TXU and North Pittsburgh Systems Inc., last July's SureWest acquisition is another element in expanding its next-gen service vision.

"You would not necessarily plan to be in the geographies we are in, but what we have seen in our desire to transition our business from a traditional telephone business of 30 years ago to a broadband company, we identified through history organic facility deployment, market expansion opportunities as well as acquisitions that helped us to expand our broadband service opportunities across our consumer, business, and wholesale customer groups," said Bob Udell, chief operating officer of Consolidated, in an interview with FierceTelecom. "SureWest was a perfect fit for that."

A key element that SureWest and the Everest assets it purchased in 2007 will help Consolidated with will be in expanding its business services reach. Similar to other independent telcos, SureWest and Everest extended those facilities to address commercial customers.

"While SureWest was historically more consumer-focused, it has been easy to refocus some of that energy on commercial and wholesale development with a shorter payback lifecycle," Udell said.

Besides network assets, Consolidated appointed Ed Butler, who managed SureWest's sales efforts, to lead its sales operations, for example, in all six states its serves.

Unsurprisingly, a big focus of Consolidated's business drive is focused on Ethernet.

Currently, Consolidated has been growing its fiber and copper-based Metro Ethernet service reach across its ILEC and CLEC territories.

"Even though we started in Ethernet with larger multisite business, it's picking up momentum with more businesses finding that an acceptable platform because it allows us to layer on more user-driven services on top of it," Udell said.

One market where Consolidated has seen success is in Pittsburgh where it began offering a mix of fiber-based Ethernet in addition to Ethernet over Copper (EoC) for smaller businesses that it could make a business case for fiber.

"Ethernet has really reinvigorated our sales force there and our market," Udell said. "We're taking that copper product to our California market this quarter."

Udell added that EoC "gives us a platform for medium to allow small businesses in the sub-$1,000 a month range in spending to integrate voice and data over the same broadband connection and layer on data services and move into the cloud service product line without making it an exclusive business focus of ours."

Related articles:
Consolidated Communications says it's not afraid of Google Fiber
Consolidated Communications-SureWest synergy boosts Q3 revenue to $157M
Consolidated Communications posts Q2 earnings above 2011 figures
Consolidated expands geographic, service reach with the closing of its SureWest acquisition
Consolidated's SureWest acquisition gets shareholder approval

Source: http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/consolidated-ramps-its-business-services-strategy-ethernet/2013-02-14

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Man suspected of stealing lemur, holding it for ransom arrested

File photo of a ring-tailed lemur (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A missing primate. Hapless crooks. A big reward. A no-nonsense sheriff. Behold the tale of Gizmo, the ring-tailed lemur.

When Gizmo was stolen?along with a TV?from his owner, Julie Harris, in Mobile, Ala., last month, the alleged thief, James Edward Welborn Jr., asked his unsuspecting sister to look after it. (He told her it belonged to a friend serving in Afghanistan.)

That's when things got interesting. When Harris posted fliers with the missing lemur's picture and an offer of a substantial reward, Welborn's sister realized what she had in her possession. She asked her brother to come get the lemur, but he sent a friend, Brian Sanders, to pick it up instead. He also had Sanders contact Harris to tell her they had taken her pet?and wanted the money in return for it.

But according to Gulflive.com, a tipster sent the cops Sanders way. Authorities arrested him and returned the lemur to its rightful owner. However, they knew they hadn't caught the actual thief yet, and the search continued. According to the site, "Mobile County detective Bryant Miles contacted George County detective Ben Brown with information that the burglary suspect might be a Lucedale resident."

When Welborn was pulled over earlier this week for a routine traffic violation, he was toast. He was arrested and also stands accused of attempting to hold Gizmo, valued at $1,500, for ransom.

George County Sheriff Dean Howell saw the humor in the ill-fated caper: "This is hands down ... the oddest, funniest [case] I?ve ever worked," he said.

Funny or not, Howell was happy to put the matter to rest. "We don?t put up with any monkey business in George County," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/man-suspected-stealing-lemur-holding-ransom-arrested-220344021.html

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Meteor Fragments Are Said to Rain Down on Siberia; Hundreds of Injuries Reported

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Hundreds of injuries were reported after bright objects streaked through the sky over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Friday, along with a loud boom that damaged buildings.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/world/europe/meteorite-fragments-are-said-to-rain-down-on-siberia.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Hot Wheels' Crazy Carcade Is a Demolition Derby In a Pinball Machine

If you thought it was intense when Hot Wheels cars zoomed around loops, narrowly missing each other at high speed intersections that would make a civil engineer fall to his knees and cry, Hot Wheel's new Carcade might give you a heart attack. And if your favorite speed is "10 mph under the limit," the same applies. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZuJjzEVlYXc/hot-wheels-crazy-carcade-is-a-demolition-derby-in-a-pinball-machine

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PixelCrash Case for Samsung Galaxy S III

Home /
PixelCrash Case for Samsung Galaxy S III

What once was function now is fashion. Camo has evolved.

Inspired by the QR 2-dimensional bar codes that are becoming ubiquitous, this pixelated camo pattern blends in and stands out... at the same time. What better way to fit into the Information Age?

The hard shell case deflects bumps and blows; inside, the soft, smooth-finish interior discourages scratches and abrasions.

Features

Durable protective case
Smooth lining for your phone
Vibrant QR-code-inspired pixelated camo pattern

Fatal error: Call to a member function getParentCategory() on a non-object in /var/www/store.griffintechnology.com/releases/20130208160023/app/code/local/Griffin/Page/Block/Commissionjunction.php on line 111

Source: http://store.griffintechnology.com/pixelcrash-case-for-samsung-galaxy-s-iii

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lern2play Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy: This website allows third-party advertising companies for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisements, "click-throughs" and/or other activities to use Cookies and /or Web Beacons and other monitoring technologies to serve ads and to compile anonymous statistics about you when you visit this website. Cookies are small text files stored on your local internet browser cache. A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. The information do not include any personal data like your name, address, email address, or telephone number. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/lern2play

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Sterne to swerve Africa Open

Richard Sterne: Opted against trying for African double

Richard Sterne has withdrawn from this week's Africa Open after qualifying for the first World Golf Championship event of the year.

The South African's dominant seven-shot victory at the Joburg Open propelled him to 56th in the latest world rankings, earning him a place in the 64-man field for next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

The 31-year-old, whose win in Johannesburg was his first since 2009, is now taking a week off to prepare for his first visit to Dove Mountain in Arizona for four seasons.

Sterne was languishing at 165th in the world rankings only two weeks ago, but he posted top-10 finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic prior to his victory on Sunday.

He becomes the seventh South African to qualify for the Match Play after Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Ernie Els, Branden Grace, George Coetzee and Tim Clark.

Oosthuizen is also missing this week's European Tour event in East London despite lifting the title for the past two seasons.

Source: http://www1.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/8492896/

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Tim Cook Talks Up Apple Software And Services: ?We Are Not A Hardware Company?

Once upon a time, Apple was a hardware company that also maintained a software and media ecosystem since it helped drive purchases of Macs, iPods and more. But over the years, the software and services side of the business has become increasingly important, and CEO Tim Cook even went so far as to state out right that Apple is "not a hardware company." Not once, but twice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7nJO-jqNfDQ/

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26% increase in visits to Ireland from China highlights importance of constructive Opposition - McHugh

Fine Gael TD for Donegal North-East, Joe McHugh, has today (Monday) said that confirmation by the Minister for Justice and the Central Statistics Office (CSO) that the number of visits to Ireland from China increased by 26% in the 12 months that followed the introduction of the Irish Short-Stay Visa Waiver Programme, highlights Fine Gael's constructive role when in Opposition.

Deputy McHugh, who chaired Fine Gael's Border Forum in 2010, said: ?Fine Gael was in Opposition in July 2010, when our Party published a Border Jobs report that called for a short-term joint Irish/British tourism visa. That proposal was part of Fine Gael's 2011 General Election manifesto and it was subsequently included in the Fine Gael-Labour Programme for Government. Minister for Justice Alan Shatter TD went on to formally introduce the Visa Waiver Programme in May 2011?.

"Minister Shatter and the Central Statistics Office have now confirmed that the number of trips from China to Ireland increased by over 26% in the 12 months that followed the establishment of the Visa Waiver Programme. Benefits of the scheme also include ten new tour operator itineraries from India and five new tour operator itineraries from the Gulf region. The Government has extended the Visa Waiver Programme until the end of October 2016.

"The lesson of this success story is that constructive Opposition has an important role to play in politics. I encourage parties in Opposition today in D?il ?ireann to be more positive in their approaches.

"Fine Gael worked constructively in Opposition on building policies to solve the country's problems. Our July 2010 visas plan did not grab any national headlines when it was launched, but nearly three years later the proposal is delivering a real dividend for Irish tourism and Irish businesses. I salute Minister Shatter for delivering on this very successful Visa Waiver Programme in Government."

ENDS

Source: http://www.finegael.ie//latest-news/2013/26-increase-in-visits-to-/index.xml

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Monday, February 11, 2013

Solar industry grapples with hazardous wastes

Chart shows the amount of waste generated from solar companies in California that was shipped to other states for disposal.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Homeowners on the hunt for sparkling solar panels are lured by ads filled with images of pristine landscapes and bright sunshine, and words about the technology's benefits for the environment ? and the wallet.

What customers may not know is that there's a dirtier side.

While solar is a far less polluting energy source than coal or natural gas, many panel makers are nevertheless grappling with a hazardous waste problem. Fueled partly by billions in government incentives, the industry is creating millions of solar panels each year and, in the process, millions of pounds of polluted sludge and contaminated water.

To dispose of the material, the companies must transport it by truck or rail far from their own plants to waste facilities hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of miles away.

The fossil fuels used to transport that waste, experts say, is not typically considered in calculating solar's carbon footprint, giving scientists and consumers who use the measurement to gauge a product's impact on global warming the impression that solar is cleaner than it is.

After installing a solar panel, "it would take one to three months of generating electricity to pay off the energy invested in driving those hazardous waste emissions out of state," said Dustin Mulvaney, a San Jose State University environmental studies professor who conducts carbon footprint analyses of solar, biofuel and natural gas production.

The waste from manufacturing has raised concerns within the industry, which fears that the problem, if left unchecked, could undermine solar's green image at a time when companies are facing stiff competition from each other and from low-cost panel manufacturers from China and elsewhere.

"We want to take the lessons learned from electronics and semiconductor industries (about pollution) and get ahead of some of these problems," said John Smirnow, vice president for trade and competitiveness at the nearly 500-member Solar Energy Industries Association.

The increase in solar hazardous waste is directly related to the industry's fast growth over the past five years ? even with solar business moving to China rapidly, the U.S. was a net exporter of solar products by $2 billion in 2010, the last year of data available. The nation was even a net exporter to China.

New companies often send hazardous waste out of their plants because they have not yet invested in on-site treatment equipment, which allows them to recycle some waste.

Nowhere is the waste issue more evident than in California, where landmark regulations approved in the 1970s require industrial plants like solar panel makers to report the amount of hazardous materials they produce, and where they send it. California leads the consumer solar market in the U.S. ? which doubled overall both in 2010 and 2011.

The Associated Press compiled a list of 41 solar makers in the state, which included the top companies based on market data, and startups. In response to an AP records request, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control provided data that showed 17 of them reported waste, while the remaining did not.

The same level of federal data does not exist.

The state records show the 17 companies, which had 44 manufacturing facilities in California, produced 46.5 million pounds of sludge and contaminated water from 2007 through the first half of 2011. Roughly 97 percent of it was taken to hazardous waste facilities throughout the state, but more than 1.4 million pounds were transported to nine other states: Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Nevada, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

Several solar energy experts said they have not calculated the industry's total waste and were surprised at what the records showed.

Solyndra, the now-defunct solar company that received $535 million in guaranteed federal loans, reported producing about 12.5 million pounds of hazardous waste, much of it carcinogenic cadmium-contaminated water, which was sent to waste facilities from 2007 through mid-2011.

Before the company went bankrupt, leading to increased scrutiny of the solar industry and political fallout for President Barack Obama's administration, Solyndra said it created 100 megawatts-worth of solar panels, enough to power 100,000 homes.

The records also show several other Silicon Valley solar facilities created millions of pounds of toxic waste without selling a single solar panel, while they were developing their technology or fine-tuning their production.

While much of the waste produced is considered toxic, there was no evidence it has harmed human health.

The vast majority of solar companies that generated hazardous waste in California have not been cited for waste-related pollution violations, although three had minor violations on file.

In many cases, a toxic sludge is created when metals and other toxins are removed from water used in the manufacturing process. If a company doesn't have its own treatment equipment, then it will send contaminated water to be stored at an approved dump.

According to scientists who conduct so-called "life cycle analysis" for solar, the transport of waste is not currently being factored into the carbon footprint score, which measures the amount of greenhouse gases produced when making a product.

Life cycle analysts add up all the global warming pollution that goes into making a certain product ? from the mining needed for components to the exhaust from diesel trucks used to transport waste and materials. Not factoring the hazardous waste transport into solar's carbon footprint is an obvious oversight, analysts said.

"The greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting this waste is not insignificant," Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney noted that shipping, for example, 6.2 million pounds of waste by heavy-duty tractor-trailer from Fremont, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area, to a site 1,800 miles away could add 5 percent to a particular product's carbon footprint.

Such scores are important because they provide transparency to government and consumers into just how environmentally sustainable specific products are and lay out a choice between one company's technology and another's.

The roughly 20-year life of a solar panel still makes it some of the cleanest energy technology currently available. Producing solar is still significantly cleaner than fossil fuels. Energy derived from natural gas and coal-fired power plants, for example, creates more than 10 times more hazardous waste than the same energy created by a solar panel, according to Mulvaney.

The U.S. solar industry said it is reporting its waste, and sending it to approved storage facilities ? thus keeping it out of the nation's air and water. A coal-fired power plant, in contrast, sends mercury, cadmium and other toxins directly into the air, which pollutes water and land around the facility.

"Having this stuff go to ... hazardous waste sites, that's what you want to have happen," said Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, a solar advocacy group.

Environmental advocates say the solar industry needs greater transparency, which is getting more complicated as manufacturing moves from the U.S. and Europe to less regulated places such as China and Malaysia.

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a watchdog group created in 1982 in response to severe environmental problems associated with the valley's electronics industry, is now trying to keep the solar industry from making similar mistakes through a voluntary waste reporting "scorecard." So far, only 14 of 114 companies contacted have replied. Those 14 were larger firms that comprised 51-percent of the solar market share.

"We find the overall industry response rate to our request for environmental information to be pretty dismal for an industry that is considered 'green,'" the group's executive director, Sheila Davis, said in an email.

While there are no specific industry standards, Smirnow, head of the solar industry association, is spearheading a voluntary program of environmental responsibility. So far, only seven of the group's nearly 81 manufacturers have signed the pledge.

"We want (our program) to be more demanding, but this is a young industry and right now manufacturing companies are focused on survival," he said.

___

Follow Jason Dearen on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/JHDearen

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-10-Solar%20Panels-Hazardous%20Waste/id-76b355bbe52a4e2bb9cb13868acc339b

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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Police: 4 wounded in shooting on Bourbon Street

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Four people were shot on a very crowded Bourbon Street as revelers partied Saturday night amid the countdown to Mardi Gras, sending people running, police and bystanders said.

Two males and two females were wounded just before 9:30 p.m. local time, New Orleans police spokesman Frank B. Robertson told The Associated Press. He said one male was in critical condition and was undergoing surgery, while the other three were in stable condition. He did not release their ages.

Robertson said detectives were working vigorously to identify a suspect and determine a motive. He did not have any other details.

"They're just piecing together what happened," he added.

The streets were crawling with bar-hopping throngs taking in the last weekend before Fat Tuesday, the enormous party that engulfs New Orleans each year with parades, gaudy floats and costumed merrymakers tossing trinkets and beads to the crowds.

The iconic French Quarter street is home to strip clubs, watering holes and second-floor balconies lined by people who throw beads to revelers below each Mardi Gras season. The street often gets so jam-packed that officers have to control the crowds on horseback.

Patrick Clay, 21, an LSU student, told The Times-Picayune he was standing on the corner of Bourbon Street when suddenly he saw a crowd running and people screaming that there was a shooting.

"Everyone immediately started running and the cops immediately started running towards where people were running from," Clay said. "I was with a group of about seven people and at that point we all just kind of grasped hands and made our way through the crowd as soon as possible."

Afterward, yellow crime scene taped roped off an area of the street littered with trash, plastic bottles and other debris as police stood about. WWL-TV reported that police had obtained surveillance video from one of the establishments as part of the investigation.

"We don't know what happened but they shut down the entire block for an hour," Peter Manabani, an employee at the Rat's Hole bar, told AP as loud music thumped in the background. He said the block reopened shortly before midnight and his establishment was crowded going into the wee hours.

Parades rolled all day Saturday but none on Bourbon Street because the streets are too narrow. One of the biggest Mardi Gras parades, the Krewe of Endymion, rolled down Canal Street and just skirted Bourbon Street a few hours before the shooting. Typically, once the parades end, partygoers head to the French Quarter.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-10-Mardi%20Gras%20Shooting/id-0a5156e0d2cc48aab5738591a51d31e2

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