pulse doorkeeper: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Wisconsin Council on Children and Families: Missed Opportunities ...

The state budget deliberations in the Capitol have been very disappointing so far for advocates urging improvement in early learning and development.? The Joint Finance Committee has now voted on most of the key issues, and there is slim hope that those decisions will be changed by the full legislature. However, there are some bright spots.

This analysis will look at four major goals set for the budget by WCCF and the Wisconsin Early Learning Coalition, and supported by many advocates around the state.? The goals were based on research indicating that quality early learning is effective in preparing children for school and life, with strong returns on investment. Below is a summary of how the four goals have fared so far.

1.??? Restore $35 million in child care funding

WCCF and the Early Learning Coalition urged the Joint Finance Committee to maintain the current child care budget to improve rates and strengthen YoungStar. This did not happen. The Joint Finance Committee cut the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy biennial budget by $35 million over the 2013-15 biennial budget, supporting the Governor?s budget proposal.? Federal funding earmarked for needy children and families that had been funding Wisconsin Shares was transferred as part of a fiscal maneuver that freed up state dollars for other purposes (for instance, lower taxes primarily benefiting higher income families).

Advocates argued that the funds were needed to increase child care payment rates that had deteriorated dramatically and to strengthen YoungStar with support and fiscal incentives. The decision continues a disturbing trend of reductions in the Shares budget, with a drop in the annual budget of over $100 million. The Joint Finance Committee approved an annual Shares budget of $273 million, the lowest since 2003.

2.??? Improve child care rates

WCCF and the Early Learning Coalition urged the Joint Finance Committee to increase child care rates by 7%, improving the base payment rate that has been frozen since 2006. This did not happen.? Not even close.

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However, the seven-year freeze on child care payment rates was officially ended, with a slight $1 million increase in the 2nd year of the biennium (less than a 1% increase), beginning January 1, 2015. However, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other sources, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) expects to have over $5 million to increase rates in the second year.? That would amount to more than a 2% increase, on average, if the boost in rates began in July 2014. Advocates will be monitoring DCF rate decisions closely.

While the freeze was ended, with the $1 million increase in the budget and the additional increase anticipated by DCF, child care payment rates are still way below market rates.? According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the current payment rates, frozen since 2006, are 20% lower than the market rate (set by market rate surveys).? The slight increase from the budget only makes a small dent in the deteriorated payment rates. Policies that dock payments to child care providers when children are absent were not addressed in Committee action. This policy, which particularly penalizes family child care, but also affects many center-based programs, further reduces reimbursement to child care providers. The Joint Finance Committee also approved giving DCF broad flexibility in determining how the maximum payment rates will be established.? It is not yet clear how this will affect rates.

?3.??? Increase support to help programs move to a higher star rating in YoungStar

WCCF and the Early Learning Coalition recommended increase investments in training, scholarships and rewards for credit-based education, on-site technical consultation, and micro-grants to help child care programs improve and move up the YoungStar 5-star quality rating scale.

Joint Finance approved YoungStar services to continue at about a $7 million level, except for a $360,000 annual reduction for the Consortium to rate providers, provide technical assistance and grants for provider improvement, and to administer YoungStar at the local level. However, separate from the state budget bill, Wisconsin has taken opportunity to strengthen YoungStar with federal grant funds from the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge program. In 2012 Wisconsin received a grant of $22.7 million over four years, with $10 million allocated to strengthen YoungStar and improve child care quality. In 2013 Wisconsin has been invited to apply for an additional $11 million to supplement the earlier grant.? The Race to the Top funding provides a great opportunity to further strengthen YoungStar and help children with high needs learn and develop positively.

4.??? Improve the YoungStar tiered reimbursement system

WCCF and the Early Learning Coalition urge to improve the YoungStar tiered reimbursement system by returning to the original schedule of fiscal incentives for higher quality, with particular emphasis on 2-star and 3-star programs.? The original schedule, approved by Joint Finance in 2011, included no change for 2-star programs, a 5% increase for 3-star programs, a 10% increase for 4-star programs, and a 25% increase for 5-star programs.? But there was only minor change, leaving a system that penalized more than reward programs working to improve their quality.

?Joint Finance approved the Governor?s proposal, which kept a policy that penalized 2-star program by 5% and provided no increase for 3-star programs.? As of April 2013, 64% of child care programs were rated 2-star, and 25% were rated 3-star.? The decision would largely continue a tiered reimbursement system that penalizes 2-star programs and provides no incentives for programs that earn 3 stars. The Joint Finance Committee approved the Governor?s proposal to adjust the tiered reimbursement system so that 4-star programs will receive a payment up to 10% higher than the base reimbursement rate.? The increase is estimated to cost $347,700 in the first year of the biennium (beginning January 1, 2014), and $808,000 in the second year of the biennium.? This change is helpful, but it affects only about 3.5% of children and programs participating in YoungStar.

Other Joint Finance Decisions Related to Early Care and Education

???? Reading Readiness Assessment: School districts and independent charter schools must assess 4K, 5K and 1st grade pupils for reading readiness beginning in 2013-14. In 2014-15 pupils in 4K through 2nd grade must be assessed.

???? Electronic Benefit Transfer System: Provided $3.2 million to implement a system that issues Wisconsin Shares benefits directly to individuals participating in the program. DCF must submit a plan to the Joint Finance Committee for approval before spending the funding.

???? Boys and Girls Club of America: Funding was increased for serving children from low-income families.

???? Fingerprint-Based Background Searches of Child Care Providers: Requires fingerprint-based background searches of all child care providers, as well as their employees, non-client residents, and other caregivers.? Changed name-based background checks to be an annual requirement, rather than every three months.

By Dave Edie

Source: http://wiskids.blogspot.com/2013/05/missed-opportunities-for-early-care-and.html

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CPJ: Ethiopia detains reporter on evictions at dam

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The Committee to Protect Journalists says Ethiopian authorities have detained a reporter covering evictions near the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam that is raising tensions with Nile-dependent Egypt.

It says Muluken Tesfahun of the private weekly Ethio-Mehedar has been held since May 4.

The New York-based group says Tesfahun was reporting on the return of thousands of farmers who had been forced from their land near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The government has admitted the March evictions were illegal.

Another journalist who reported on alleged coercion to force government workers to contribute to the $4.3 billion project was tried for terrorism and sentenced to two years' jail.

The dam may affect flows of water to Egypt which has no other water source.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cpj-ethiopia-detains-reporter-evictions-dam-090229074.html

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Good Samaritan rescues 3 after car crashes into swimming pool

A grandmother and her two granddaughters have a good Samaritan to thank for their safe rescue after they drove into a swimming pool.

The scary incident happened on Tuesday afternoon in Yorba Linda, Calif. Neighbor Anita Campbell heard what sounded like an explosion and children crying, and she took action.

She found a car with the 66-year-old grandmother and her two grandchildren, ages 6 and 9, submerged in her neighbor?s pool. The driver had apparently lost control while driving down a hill, crashed through a brick wall and landed in the water.

?I couldn?t get the doors open in the car. Luckily, the two windows on the passenger side were open. I had the girls unbuckle and come out to me,? Campbell told local station KCAL9. Then she got the grandmother to also get out through a window.

?It was just timing. I just felt I needed to get them out of the car as fast as I could,? Campbell added.

The three victims were taken to the hospital and reported to be in stable condition.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/good-samaritan-rescues-3-car-crashes-swimming-pool-163458137.html

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Gene Therapy May Protect Against Flu

Boring? Extremists aren't usually "boring." Annoying, dangerous, holier-than-thou, scary, offensive, disgusting, disturbing, sometimes. Talking to someone who is deeply opposed to biological research, even the biological research that I do, is likely to be less boring than someone who has strong opinions about Kim Kardashian in the latest Tyler Perry movie, but no opinion on genetic modification.

That said, I doubt such a relationship would last long, but "boring" probably wouldn't describe it.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/z937ACm-5tA/story01.htm

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

'The Killing' exclusive look: Linden, Holder meet

Will Harris TODAY contributor

1 hour ago

Image: Linden and Holder on "The Killing"

Frank Ockenfels / AMC

Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) are together again on "The Killing."

Detectives Linden and Holder are back from the dead! Well, in a way. AMC's "The Killing" was canceled in July after its second season ended, only to earn an unexpected reprieve in January, much to fans' delight.

When the show picks up again, a year will have passed since the conclusion of the Rosie Larsen homicide case, and Linden (Mireille Enos) has stepped away from detective work. But when Holder (Joel Kinnaman) is handed a new assignment that has ties to one of Linden?s former cases, he realizes he?s only got one option available to him: He?s got to drag his former partner back into the fray.

In an exclusive clip AMC is sharing with TODAY.com, the former partners come face to face. Check it out:

Given how things were left between them, you can imagine her excitement.

"The Killing" returns with a two-hour premiere on Sunday, June 2 at 8 p.m. on AMC.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/exclusive-look-killing-premiere-linden-holder-together-again-1C10121026

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CSX: Md. train explosion caused by chemical cargo

A fire burns at the site of a CSX freight train derailment, Tuesday, May 28, 2013, in White Marsh, Md., where fire officials say the train crashed into a trash truck, causing an explosion that rattled homes at least a half-mile away and collapsed nearby buildings, setting them on fire. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

This still taken from video provided by James LeBrun shows an explosion outside Baltimore on Tuesday, May, 28, 2013. Baltimore County fire officials say a train derailed in a Baltimore suburb on Tuesday and an explosion was heard in the area. A fire spokeswoman says the train derailed about 2 p.m. Tuesday in White Marsh, Md. (AP Photo/James LeBrun)

This image provided by WBAL-TV, shows a train derailment outside Baltimore on Tuesday, May, 28, 2013. A fire spokeswoman says the train derailed about 2 p.m. Tuesday in White Marsh, Md. (AP Photo/WBAL-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT

ROSEDALE, Md. (AP) ? Train operator CSX Transportation on Wednesday pointed to a hazardous chemical in a rail car as the source of an explosion on a derailed train near Baltimore that sparked a fire, rattled homes and damaged buildings. A company spokesman said officials still weren't sure what caused the sodium chlorate to explode in the first place, but it ignited another chemical in a second car.

Authorities are continuing to look into the cause. Robert Sumwalt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators were examining evidence on the scene and reviewing train video that might show the collision with a garbage truck that set off the incident. But he said they had not reached any conclusions.

CSX spokesman Gary Sease said the sodium chlorate in a derailed car near the front of the train exploded, igniting terephthalic acid in another derailed car. Sodium chlorate is used mainly as a bleaching agent in paper production. Oklahoma State University chemist Nick Materer said it could make for a potentially explosive mixture when combined with an incompatible substance such as spilled fuel.

Another chemist, Darlene Lyudmirskiy, of Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing Corp. in Gardena, Calif., said such a mixture would be unstable and wouldn't need even a spark to cause a reaction.

"If it's not compatible, anything could set it off," she said.

On Wednesday afternoon, workers were using heavy cranes to move the damaged rail cars, and an excavator was picking up broken pieces of track. The mangled truck lay on its side on the side of the railroad tracks, its contents littering the ground. Next to the track, the corrugated metal walls of a warehouse were bent and warped.

Among the buildings that sustained the most damage was a training facility for a plumbers and steamfitters union a few hundred yards away from the explosion site. Only a handful of employees were in the building at the time of the blast, and all but one rushed outside to see what had happened. They heard the crash first, followed by the derailment, then saw a plume of smoke.

Al Clinedinst, the training director for the facility, said he and a colleague drove closer to the derailment scene before the explosion to see if they could help, but they were turned back by the overwhelming heat.

"It was paint-bubbling hot," he said.

Then the explosion shook their truck.

"The blast, the force, it took the wheel out of my hands," Clinedinst said. "It really took a shot."

Sumwalt said late Tuesday that the collision occurred at a private crossing where the only marking was a stop sign. He said it wasn't clear why the truck was crossing the tracks or whether it was authorized to be there.

The truck driver, 50-year-old John J. Alban Jr., remained in serious condition Wednesday at Shock Trauma in Baltimore, a hospital spokeswoman said. Two CSX workers aboard weren't hurt.

In addition to the NTSB, the Federal Railroad Administration is investigating the crash of the 45-car train, which was en route from Selkirk, N.Y., to Waycross, Ga.

Baltimore County spokeswoman Elise Armacost said it wasn't clear whether the truck driver would face charges.

Baltimore County's Public Safety Department said that county, city and CSX hazmat experts did not believe the burning chemicals would produce toxic inhalants. But a National Institutes of Health website says oxidizers such as sodium chlorate may produce irritating, corrosive and/or toxic gases when burned.

Toxic inhalation hazards are a worry when trains carrying hazardous materials derail. They include chemicals such as chlorine, which killed nine people after a derailment of a Norfolk Southern train caused a release of the toxic gas in South Carolina in 2005.

Following a November 2007 derailment involving a freight train carrying hazardous materials near Baltimore's Camden Yards, CSX agreed the following year to provide Maryland officials with real-time information on shipments of toxic inhalation hazards.

The fire was called under control late Tuesday just before midnight, and the fire department remained on scene only in a supporting role.

___

David Dishneau reported from Hagerstown.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-29-US-Train-Derailment-Maryland/id-7c1c216277f247749de369927a78eecc

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Shrink Dreams

Man lying on a sofa while with therapist making notes

Career changes become part of one's life story.

Photo by Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Thinkstock

Whenever I describe my career path to people, they seem a little perplexed. ?Journalism to psychiatry?? they say. ?How?d that happen?? I admit, it isn?t a common path. Young people have always left journalism, of course. Many get tired of eking out a living as a freelancer and seek something more stable. Some find that they don?t like the grind of constantly producing copy. And then there are those who are talented and thriving but nevertheless seek greener pastures. In my brief time in journalism, I saw two very talented twentysomething colleagues leave for law school and another depart for graduate school and then become a successful fiction writer.

But leaving journalism to enter a scientific field such as medicine is unusual. In fact, if you?d told me in college that several years later I would walk away from a budding career in journalism, I would have been surprised. Like most aspiring journalists, I had always been interested in politics and policy, and I wanted to be in the thick of it. Like many before me, I wrote for my college newspaper and parlayed my clips into internships and finally a post-college job. The job was at Slate. I was very fortunate.

But there was something amiss. I liked my job in many ways, but I was getting tired of covering daily politics. It was the summer of 2001, and I was writing a news-summary column for Slate called ?The Week/The Spin.? As this assignment compelled me to write about what was on the front pages, I found myself writing every day about the Chandra Levy-Gary Condit affair, one of those gossipy stories that people in Washington, D.C., occupy themselves with in slow news seasons. I found it draining.

Of course, burnout from the steady stream of dish from inside the Beltway didn?t require that I leave my profession. I could have carved out a new beat for myself. But there was something else going on. I had always been fascinated with folks who have trouble making it in society?with the people who mutter to themselves on the street; with the plucky outcasts in the photos of Diane Arbus; with the neurotic, obsessive narrators of Philip Roth novels; and with everyday people who struggle with grief and anger and trauma and loss.

I also had some personal connections to mental illness and its treatment. My paternal grandmother had been permanently institutionalized with schizophrenia when my father was 7 years old. Although I didn?t know her well, the knowledge that an unfathomable insanity had robbed my father of his mother had a strong effect on me. Moreover, my own experiences in psychotherapy had a profound effect on the way I viewed the world. It allowed me to be more open to new opportunities and to people and provided me with tools that helped me continue to grow, long after the treatment ended. Over time, it made me more flexible and optimistic.

It also made me want to practice the treatment myself. I was 26 years old, and I had been working in journalism for several years. I wasn?t sure I wanted to make a career out of mental health care, but I figured that I would regret it if I didn?t at least explore the option. I started by dipping my toe in the water?I became a weekly volunteer at both a suicide hotline and a homeless shelter. About six months later, I took the plunge. I quit my job at Slate and took a full-time position as a floor worker at the shelter where I had been volunteering. I didn?t have any formal qualifications, but I didn?t really need any: The position paid $10 an hour and didn?t require a college degree.

This position was everything you might expect. I dealt with the mundane?homeless people bickering over plastic folding chairs?to the profound?people withdrawing from heroin on a mattress in a corner, or lying stiff and cold on a bunk bed after morning wake-up, having overdosed the previous night. (You can read a five-day diary I wrote for Slate while working this job.) Of course, the job was tough and caused rapid burnout. After about a year, I managed to secure a position as a case manager at a community mental health clinic. I now had regular working hours and a caseload of patients to follow up with. But I had no formal training in mental health, was making just $12 an hour, and with only a bachelor?s degree in political science, I had hit my career ceiling as a mental-health practitioner.

Ah, the degree. As a job requirement, this was new ground for me. In the world of journalism, degrees are emphasized about as much as clear, jargon-free prose is in medical records. When I was an editorial intern at a magazine in college, recent j-school grads would send in r?sum?s looking to be hired. They thought their degree gave them a leg up, but many editors are disdainful of this academic professionalization of what, to them, is a trade. In journalism, you?re only as good as your clips. In the field of health care, the degree means nearly everything. Degrees determine ?scope of practice??who is allowed to perform which treatments?and who?s the boss of whom in a hospital ward or a clinic.

The medical profession?and doctors love to think of themselves as professionals, never as tradesmen?emphasizes the importance not just of degrees, but of hierarchy. In journalism, a certain combination of talent, hard work, and luck can land you a very good job at a very young age. In a way, that had been my story?I had been hired for a full-time staff job at Slate immediately after leaving college, which was an enviable ?get? for a young, ambitious writer. But in health care, no amount of talent and hustle will let you leapfrog the organizational chart. A crack surgical intern is still just an intern, and until he completes his five (or six or seven) years of residency, he will never wield much influence in his field, no matter how precocious he may be.

So, as a social worker at a community mental health clinic, I had a decision to make. I knew that I liked working with the mentally ill. I enjoyed their stories, I felt privileged by the intimacy they granted me, I could sit with their pain, and I felt I had the ability at least to begin to make things better. But, on a clinical level, I needed some real training. I had gotten as far as I was going to get with on-the-job experience, clinical intuition, and my own reading. And on a practical level, I needed some qualifications to put on my r?sum?.

My choices were a master?s degree in social work, a master?s- or doctoral-level psychology degree, or an M.D. The master?s-level choices didn?t really tempt me. Those degrees were useful for private-practice therapists, but I would be excluded from certain research and administrative career paths. As a former journalist unaccustomed to such hierarchical restrictions, I chafed at this. I didn?t want my degree to limit what I could do with my career.

A psychology Ph.D. or Psy.D. had its appeal, but ultimately I chose the long and winding path?the M.D. I was influenced by many things. For one, my therapist in college had been a psychiatrist, and I held him in high esteem. I also liked the practical bent of medical training. Given the choice between spending five to seven years in a narrowly focused doctoral program, burdened with an esoteric thesis, or spending a similar amount of time learning about treatments for all forms of bodily illness, I preferred the latter. But mostly I knew that much of what interested me about the field of mental health was the interplay between the psyche and the body, between the ?science? of psychopharmacology and the ?art? of psychotherapy, between the mind and the brain. At the end of the day, psychiatry is the discipline that truly allows one to straddle these multiple ways of looking at a person?s mental suffering.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=d51ac5077d4f774536a8e1bccb9d5903

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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Fast-sinking jellyfish could boost the oceans' uptake of carbon dioxide

May 28, 2013 ? The oceans absorb about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by human activities. Since the industrial revolution, they have taken up about half of the human-made CO₂. Billions of planktonic organisms, too tiny to be seen with the naked eye, make this valuable service possible: When carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in seawater, various species convert it to organic carbon and other organic components during photosynthesis. Jellyfish and pelagic tunicates live on smaller plankton and thus consume organic carbon. When they sink to the seafloor at the end of their life cycles, they take the carbon from the surface waters with them, provide it as food to organisms at the bottom or store it in deep water layers after decomposition. As a result, more CO₂ can be dissolved in the oceans. Additionally, calcifying organisms incorporate the inorganic carbon in their calcium carbonate shells directly. They also contribute to the biological pump.

To assess the efficiency of the biological carbon pump, data on sinking velocities of the different species are necessary. Together with colleagues from Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, Dr. Mario Lebrato, Biological Oceanographer in Prof. Andreas Oschlies' group at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, conducted field and laboratory experiments with gelatinous plankton remains. Their latest article in the international magazine "Limnology and Oceanography" describes for the first time the sinking speed of organic remains from jellyfish and pelagic tunicates. Together with a previous article in the same journal that calculated biomass export efficiency for these organisms for the first time, these new data allow robust estimates of global carbon export associated with gelatinous plankton.

For their experiments, the scientists collected different species of scyphozoans (true jellyfish), ctenophores (comb jellies), and thaliaceans (salps) in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. The sinking process was observed and filmed in large transparent cylinders filled with seawater at OceanLab Bremen by Dr. Pedro de Jesus Mendes. Later the proportion of organic carbon and nitrogen of the dry biomass and biomass weight were measured. The work was supported by the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA), the Kiel Cluster of Excellence The Future Ocean, the German project on ocean acidification BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification), and the US National Science Foundation Office for Polar Programs.

"The sinking speed of jelly remains is much, much higher than what we expected, about 500 to 1600 meters per day," Lebrato sums up. "And, what puzzles researchers working on the biological carbon pump: it is higher than that of non-calcifying phytoplankton and marine snow, the main sinking particles and organic carbon sources to the ocean interior." Fast sinking means that the biomass and its constituents reach the deeper ocean layers without major degradation, where microbial decay releases CO₂ that can be stored without direct contact with the atmosphere for millennia. Also, fast sinking provides high quality food resources for benthic organisms, which has already been observed actively feeding on jelly remains. On continental shelves and slope areas, biomass may reach the seabed within a day or less.

Within the studied species, scyphozoans had on average the highest carbon content (26.97 percent), followed by thaliaceans (17.20 percent), and ctenophores (1.40 percent). The jelly carbon content is lower on average than that of phytoplankton or marine snow. But their large populations, occupying at times hundreds of square kilometers in the oceans, combined with a high sinking speed, can deliver large carbon quantities to the seabed.

"Our dataset provides an initial overview and comparison for modelers and experimentalists to use in subsequent studies examining the role of jellies in carbon export and the efficiency of the biological pump," Lebrato says. "We are continuously asked, how much organic carbon and CO₂ do gelatinous plankton sink worldwide, whether their export capacities are similar to phytoplankton and marine snow. And if an increase of jellyfish in the future will enhance organic carbon export and CO₂ sequestration. Until recently, few people believed that jelly organisms could play any major role in the carbon cycle, thus they have been excluded from large biogeochemical research programs. In consequence, the data available up to now are scarce and we are just starting to comprehend the fundamental properties that will allow us to better understand the role of jellyfish and pelagic tunicates in the global carbon cycle."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/mZn38xSmTbM/130528122512.htm

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Tekramspace unveils plan to boost business management ? The ...

Tekramspace, a business solution firm, has concluded plans to put on stream an online portal where businesses and freelancers can work together, post and bid for projects and unlock all the benefits that accrue from such an endeavour.

According to the firm, the portal will help businesses to harness the power of employing a temporary workforce.

A statement by the firm stated that its Managing Director, Mr.AbiodunOwotomo, said this in Lagos.

Owotomo explained that with businesses under increasing pressure to achieve bottom line growth and deliver constant innovation in an overcrowded market and changing global economy, they must explore new and innovative ways to generate sales, display a tight control on costs and constantly update organisational skills in order to survive.

?More and more companies are turning to temporary employees to address these very challenges and gain the benefit of employing a component of flexible workforce either through contract employees or projects,? he said.

Owotomo listed the benefits of working with Tekramspace to include cost savings to the business from more efficient delivery and timely completion of projects.

Savings, according to him, will also be made on pension contributions, health benefits, administrative and other associated costs, which can be substantial in the long run.

Other benefits, according to him, include harnessing of new skills and increased quality of projects.

?Working with Tekramspace is as easy as opening an email account and you can be up and running in a matter of minutes,? he said.

Owotomo added that the initiative was also part of Tekramspace?s efforts to contribute its quota to government?s effort at reducing unemployment in the country.

Anna Kendrick Makes A Deal With The Devil In Exclusive 'Rapture-Palooza' Clip

"Rapture-Palooza" is a new comedy that takes a light, humorous look at the End of Days. Anna Kendrick and John Francis Daley from "Freak and Geeks" star as a couple just trying to cope with the apocalypse, and things aren't that bad until the Anti-Christ shows up. In this exclusive clip from "Rapture-Palooza," Kendrick's character, [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/29/anna-kendrick-rapture-palooza-clip/

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Bell intros Fibe TV Wireless Receiver, takes Canadians multi-room for $199

Some Canadians can get multi-room TV through their providers, but a truly wire-free option has never been on the table -- no doubt a disappointment for backyard viewing parties. Bell is filling that void today with what it says is the first carrier-supplied wireless TV package in Canada. Fibe TV subscribers can now pick up as many as five Wireless Receivers (really, Motorola VIP2502 boxes) to extend their HD viewing and DVR control to the whole home without cables. It sounds easy; the real challenge, we figure, will be getting a Wireless Receiver in the first place. Customers have to live in Montreal, Quebec City or Toronto for Fibe TV to even be an option, while each Wireless Receiver costs either $7 per month or $199 up front.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, HD

Comments

Source: Bell

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/28/bell-intros-fibe-tv-wireless-receiver/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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ASM-IBMR Provides Diploma in Foreign Trade Management

ASM-IBMR offers full time Post Graduate Diploma in Foreign Trade (P.G.D.F.T) to provide excellent business executives to the country to deal with Foreign Trade Management. Students undertaking the course get an adequate understanding on international economic, financial and trade relations, institutions and administrative policies and governing procedures. ASM group understand the growing needs of the country to have excellent personnel who are well versed in foreign trade and international financial theory, policies and procedures to manage the foreign trade properly.

Presently, many candidates prefer Diploma in Foreign Trade Management from ASM-IBMR as they are aware of the increasing job opportunities in the field. Students who successfully complete the course get jobs in various sectors like:

Export-import departments
Governmental organizations
Commercial banks
Financial institutions
Multinational companies in India and abroad

Eligibility Criteria

Candidates of any graduate with 45% marks or those who are appearing for the final graduation exam from an approved university can apply.

Admission Process

Selection process involves an all India level written test and personal interview. Admission is strictly based on the merit. Candidates who have appeared for MAT/ATMA/CAT/XAT/NAT are exempted from IBMR written test; they have the privilege to appear directly for the personal interview.

After the first semester, students have to undertake a 45 days of project in any logistics or international business organization. Successfully completion of this project is crucial to get the course completion certificate.

Source: http://asm-ibmr.blogspot.com/2013/05/asm-ibmr-provides-diploma-in-foreign.html

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Sri Srinivasan goes from basketball court to appeals court (Washington Post)

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Fuel-friendly summer: Four convertibles with good gas mileage

It's now possible to have fun in the sun and get good gas mileage with these four sensible convertibles.?

By Antony Ingram,?Guest blogger / May 25, 2013

The 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI convertible (2005 version shown here) is the only diesel convertible for sale right now, and it gets over 40 mph on the highway.

PRNewsFoto/Volkswagen of America/File

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Many things can signify summer--the weather finally being warm enough to ditch those outer layers of clothing; TV ads taking a distinctly more cheery tone; maybe simply hunting around for your sunshades for the first time in six months.

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The website focuses on the auto industry?s future, the evolution of cars beyond fossil fuels, and the green movement's relevance to car shoppers today. For more stories on green cars, click here.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Chinese FX investments to focus on US real estate | ForexLive

Last week,?we reported China is diversifying its US currency reserves out of Treasuries and into other assets. As part of the shift, they opened an investment office in New York.

The fund, SAFE, controls $3.4 trillion and?is focusing on US real estate, according to Bloomberg sources.

China may acquire properties, invest in real estate funds or buy stakes in
property companies, they said

Source: http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2013/05/27/chinese-fx-investments-to-focus-on-us-real-estate/

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The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Black Hole

Our universe being governed by the whims of a pair of rambunctious children in a higher dimension makes a surprising amount of sense.

NY plane crash passengers ID'd as patient, wife

EPHRATAH, N.Y. (AP) ? Authorities investigating the crash of a volunteer medical flight returned to the site Sunday to scour the woods and a nearby pond for a passenger, who remains missing days after the bodies of his wife and the pilot were found.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Department had initially said the bodies of two passengers were found when the twin-engine aircraft went down Friday night with three people aboard in Ephratah, a small town about an hour west of Albany. But Sgt. Brian Van Nostrand corrected that report Sunday, saying the bodies of the female passenger and the pilot have been found, but crews are still searching for the male passenger.

An Albany attorney who is a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight, a nonprofit group that arranges free air transportation for the sick, identified the two passengers as a cancer patient and his wife.

Terence Kindlon said he and another lawyer, Dale Thuillez, had flown the couple to Boston on Friday morning in Thuillez's plane. Kindlon, 66, said the husband was being treated for glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. He said they seemed like a happy pair.

"We were both former Marines and had been in Vietnam pretty close together in time," Kindlon said. "We hit it right off. He was a nice guy."

The two lawyers flew back to Albany in Thuillez's plane after dropping off the couple in Boston. Kindlon did not name the couple since authorities have yet to reveal their identities.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators who returned to the crash site Sunday aim to retrieve the bulk of the wreckage from the water over the next few days, said agency spokesman Eric Weiss. They are looking for smartphones, GPS devices, computer tablets or other items that could "give the investigators some electronic evidence of what happened in the last minutes of flight," he said.

Wreckage from the crash was dispersed over a large area, with pieces of the plane found as far as 5 miles away.

Plans called for rescue workers to canvass the woods and divers to use sonar to search a big, murky pond where the bulk of the aircraft was submerged. Town Supervisor Todd Bradt has said divers had trouble seeing in the water because it's so muddy, but a piece of the plane was removed earlier.

While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, Kindlon stressed that "the standards for being an Angel Flight pilot are rigorous."

The Piper PA 34 had departed from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass., and was headed to Rome, N.Y., before it crashed just after 5 p.m. Friday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The plane did not issue a distress call before losing radar and radio contact, the NTSB said.

Witnesses described the destruction that started in the air above Ephratah, a sleepy town of about 700 people.

Joan Dudley, owner of Granny's Ice Cream Shanty, which is less than a mile from the crash site, said she and her employees saw the plane flip, then fall apart Friday night.

Parts and pieces of it were flying through the sky, and a body fell out," Dudley said.

They called 911 as they parked their car and ran to the crash site in the rain to see if they could rescue anyone.

"Airplane parts were all over the place," she said. "They were picking them up all over."

Ephratah resident Roger Berry, 75, said he was outside chopping wood when the plane crashed.

"When I heard it, I knew something was wrong," Berry said. "It made one circle and came back around."

Berry said he heard a bang, then saw pieces of the plane fall from the sky. The motor fell 50 feet from his neighbor's bedroom, where she was sleeping, Berry said.

Angel Flight Northeast said it has set up free air transportation and medical care for more than 65,000 children and adults on about 60,000 flights covering more than 12 million miles. It was founded in 1996.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ny-plane-crash-passengers-idd-patient-wife-184910540.html

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Automaker Tesla takes fight to North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? Tesla Motors is fighting a bill in North Carolina that would effectively ban the company from selling its electric cars in the state, pitting it against auto dealers who say the car maker has an unfair advantage selling directly to consumers online.

It's the latest such battle for California-based Tesla, which like other car manufacturers must navigate a patchwork of state laws dictating how its vehicles can be sold. Nearly all states ? 48 ? require manufacturers to sell their vehicles through dealerships to ensure the companies don't undercut their own network of franchised dealers, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Tesla says it is cutting out the middleman by allowing people to view different options in a showroom, but then ordering the car direct from the company online rather than buying from a salesman. That approach also allows it to bypass state laws regarding franchised dealers, which have been in place for decades. However, lobbying groups say franchise dealers invest more locally and provide customer service that Tesla cannot.

The bill in North Carolina was mostly routine, simply updating the law governing the relationship between automakers and dealers. But it also changes the law to subject electronic sales to the same scrutiny. It has been unanimously approved by the Senate; the company is set to sit down with the state lobbying group for dealers, the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association, to discuss a compromise that both sides say is unlikely to be reached. .

Tesla doesn't yet have a showroom in North Carolina, where it has sold about 80 cars to date. The company recently announced the first quarterly profit in its 10-year history, around the same time Consumer Reports gave its Model S electric sedan a near-perfect rating.

Tesla currently operates 29 stores and galleries across 14 states and Washington, D.C. Customers can order a car online at a sales location or at home but not at galleries, which exist purely to showcase cars in states where auto dealers have launched suits or state law restricts the company from discussing sales in person.

Colorado was the first state to take action against the manufacturer's stores, passing legislation in 2010 that halts their expansion. Since then, Minnesota lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed for a similar measure. In New York and Massachusetts, dealers have unsuccessfully sued to shut down the dealer's stores. In Virginia, a judge recently rejected Tesla's request for an exception to laws that prevent manufacturers from operating dealerships in most cases.

But the automaker can sell in every state because transactions legally take place in California. The North Carolina law, however, prevents customers in the state from making electronic purchases directly through manufacturers, said Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development.

"This would be the first place to my knowledge that Internet-based communications with our company would be circumscribed," he said.

The argument from dealers in North Carolina has mirrored those from the national association and in other states: franchise dealers invest more locally, showing commitment to communities and customer service that Tesla can't match.

"It's a consumer protection," said Bob Glaser, president of the NCADA, "and why we say that is a dealer who has invested a significant amount of capital in a community is more committed to taking care of that area's customers."

Tesla has stepped up its advocacy in North Carolina with a Web campaign and a recent showing of its Model S just outside the legislature. The demonstration drew lawmakers, their pages and passersby, who almost uniformly marveled at the touchscreen dashboard and sleek design of the car.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, lauded the ingenuity of the car after watching it automatically start up when she sat down, but she said she doesn't regret joining the 47 other senators who voted unanimously for the bill.

"Dealerships are one of those basic industries that are the roots of a small town," she said. "The model convinced me that, while this is visionary, the reality is it has to evolve to a local presence."

Some have suggested a compromise that would allow Tesla a certain quota of direct sales without going through franchised dealers. But that isn't fair to other manufacturers, said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R- Henderson and the bill's sponsor.

"You can't cut out a category for a brand new company when you've got Kia, Hyundai ? they're in here full blast ? (but) Maserati, Ferrari (and) Rolls-Royce?" he said. "They have dealer presence in North Carolina, and I know they probably don't sell 80 cars."

Apodaca received a state-maximum $8,000 in contributions from the 7,000-member NCADA in 2012. He noted steady contributions from the industry date back years, and he's a top Republican with a pro-business reputation.

Tesla says that its time-intensive customer service model won't translate well to franchise dealers and that most consumers would laugh at the notion that they're better served by the existing system. O'Connell said the dealers' true interest is maintaining total control over retail.

The bill was initially pitched as a way to protect consumers from online transactions that don't offer protections, "but we saw through that veil and the reality has emerged," he said.

Francine Lafontaine, a University of Michigan economist who specializes in franchising, said the laws in place contributed to the collapse a decade ago of web-based manufacturer Build-to-Order, whose founder, Scott Painter, dreamed of selling cheap and customizable cars directly to consumers.

"For someone who is kind of in business and looking at business models, it's not obvious the car industry is so different, but it's the only industry retail-wise that's protected to this extent," she said.

Those laws are likely to stay in place, considering franchise dealers account for about 20 percent of the sales-tax base at the state level and spend millions a year lobbying at the federal level, Lafontaine said. Tesla has shown resiliency, but the company shouldn't expect the roadblocks at the state level to let up easily, she added.

"I'm kind of pleased that Tesla has gotten as far as it's gotten," Lafontaine said. "In some cases I guess it's because it's electric. But they will need that national solution."

The company could try to lobby for a federal law or a ruling from federal courts that would apply across the U.S., O'Connell said. That could include making a case based on the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which says only Congress can regulate interstate commerce. Courts have also held that it forbids discriminating against out-of-state companies.

Steve Schwinn, a professor of constitutional law at the John Marshall Law School, said such a case could prove difficult. He pointed to a 2001 decision in U.S. Circuit Court in a case involving Ford and the state of Texas. The court rejected Ford's claim that the state's law preventing the company from selling used cars through its own website violated the Commerce Clause.

In this case, Tesla would have to prove North Carolina's law discriminates specifically against the automaker, Schwinn said.

"If it is, and it's enough at Tesla, and Tesla is an out-of-state actor, and there's evidence that the legislature discriminated specifically against them, then there's a chance that the landscape might change," he said. "That strikes me as a lot of ifs."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-25-Tesla-Dealer%20Fight/id-f6a7003dc71b487aa9c44157c56c2f5a

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AAXA P300 Pico Projector

If you need a highly portable projector that can run on batteries and also give you a reasonably bright image, the AAXA P300 Pico Projector is a good place to start. Rated at 300 lumens, with a WXGA (1280 by 800) resolution, the P300 is small and light enough to carry without a second thought; it delivers reasonably good image quality; and, at this writing at least, is one of the brightest battery-operated WXGA projectors available. In fact, it may well be the brightest.

The P300 is superficially similar to any number of other 300 and 500-lumen projectors, including the 500-lumen Optoma ML500 and the Editors' Choice 300-lumen 3M Mobile Projector MP410. Unlike most models in that group, however, you can't fairly describe it as merely a variation on a theme, since it's the only one we've seen that can run on batteries. By definition, that makes it the only true portable, even though the rechargeable battery is a $19.99 (street) option.

Basics
As with other 300 and 500-lumen models, the P300 is built around a DLP chip combined with an LED light source. One key advantage of LEDs is that they're meant to last the life of the projector, which helps keep the total cost of ownership down. AAXA rates the light source at 15,000 hours, which is about 5,000 hours less than typical, but long enough that you should be ready to replace the projector long before the LEDs give out.

One other key advantage the P300 shares with the other projectors in this group is portability. It measures just 1.5 by 5.9 by 3.8 inches (HWD), and it weighs one pound with its battery or one pound five ounces with the battery plus the power block. AAXA doesn't include a case, however, so even if you plan to throw the P300 into a briefcase or laptop bag to carry it, you may want to get a case separately to protect against scratches.

Another reason you might want a carrying case is to keep everything together. In addition to the power block, the projector comes with a credit card sized remote, a VGA cable, an AV cable with connectors for stereo and composite video inputs, and a small tripod. You can also get an optional adaptor cable for an iPod, iPhone, or iPad or for the Samsung Galaxy S3 or Galaxy Note 2 ($20 street for either cable).

For maximum portability, you can leave most of these pieces at home, along with your computer or video source, and read files directly from a USB memory key or microSD card instead. According to AAXA, the P300 can read most common audio, video, and image file formats. In my tests, it worked as promised with JPG and BMP files.

Setup is absolutely standard. In addition to a USB A port for a USB key and card slot for a memory card, the P300 offers a full-size HDMI port, a proprietary VGA port for the supplied VGA cable, and an AV port for the combined audio and composite video adaptor. Simply plug in the appropriate cables or memory, turn the projector on, and select which source to use.

There's no zoom, which means the only way to adjust the image size is to move the projector, but that's standard for this size model. A more important issue is that the focus thumbwheel is hard to control precisely. Getting the best possible focus is almost impossible, and getting close to good focus takes more effort than it should.

Brightness
As I've pointed out in other reviews, perception of brightness is logarithmic, which means that 300 lumens looks a lot more than one-tenth as bright as 3,000 lumens, making it easily bright enough to be useful. That said, the P300 isn't as bright as other projectors I've tested with the same rating.

Using AC power, I found the P300 comfortably bright enough for only a roughly 55-inch diagonal image at 1,280 by 800 in a darkened room, or a roughly 30-inch image with moderate ambient light. With batteries, which drop the brightness, I found it bright enough for a roughly 45-inch image with the lights out, or a roughly 25-inch image with a moderate level of light. The bottom line here is that although the P300 isn't as bright as promised, it's brighter than other battery-powered projectors.

On the plus side, unlike DLP projectors that use lamps and color wheels, the P300 delivers the same color brightness as white brightness, so you won't see a lower brightness with color images. (For more on color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, and Why You Should Care.)

Image Quality and Other Issues
Data image quality is more than good enough to be useable. On our standard suite of DisplayMate tests, the P300 scored well on both color quality and color balance, with fully saturated color and suitably neutral grays over the full range from white to black. Details, including small text fonts, suffered from the slightly soft focus, however, with text readable at 9 points but not at smaller sizes.

Video image quality is nothing to write home about, but also usable for long sessions. I saw some hints of posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually) and a minor loss of shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas), but only in scenes that tend to cause these problems. Colors were also a little oversaturated in some scenes, but not by enough to count as a serious issue.

It also helps a lot that the P300 shows very few rainbow artifacts, with light areas breaking up into little red-green-blue rainbows. Even if you see these artifacts easily, as I do, you aren't likely to see them often enough in either data or video images with the P300 to find them bothersome.

One other issue, which is typical for small projectors, is that the audio is simply not loud enough to be useful. If you need sound at a reasonable volume, plan on using a separate sound system.

The best reason to consider the AAXA P300 Pico Projector is if the ability to run on batteries is essential to your needs. If you plan to always use a power outlet, you'll probably be better off with the 3M Mobile Projector MP410 or another model with higher actual brightness. That said, if you need full portability, the AAXA P300 Pico Projector can deliver more than acceptable image quality for both data and video at a usable brightness level while freeing you from having to plug in if you don't want to.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/IV6ODGBYprc/0,2817,2419443,00.asp

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Is now the time to pull out of stock market? - WND

NEW YORK ? All it took to trigger a global stock sell-off was a comment Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke made Wednesday suggesting the Fed would take a look at backing off quantitative easing at one of its ?next few meetings.?

The near-panic selling set off in global markets by a mere suggestion the Fed might quit pumping hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidity into world financial markets should be a warning sign to retirement investors with IRAs, 401(k)s or other funds invested in stocks.

Is now the time for retirement investors to pull out of stock market investments in anticipation of what increasingly appears to be a massive downward stock market adjustment should the Fed significantly ease off buying U.S. government debt?

This may be a difficult decision for many retirement investors to make, especially after the historic gains registered over the past two years in most IRA and 401(k) funds invested in stocks and bonds.

Should the Fed end or significantly reduce QE3, as is widely anticipated for no later than March 2014, interest rates can be expected to rise in the United States, with the likely consequence of setting off a round of losses not only in the U.S. stock market, but also in the U.S. bond market.

Savers and investors in or approaching their retirement years are advised to be cautious, given the limited time remaining in typical life cycle expectations in which to recover losses suffered in investment markets.

Rough waters for retirement savings

For cautious retirement investors who cannot afford to take a loss, the question is not necessarily whether the 15,000 mark is the high point of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the current investment cycle, but whether QE 3 must come to an end, perhaps sooner rather than later.

The safest calculation of cautious retirement investors may be to examine the possibility the current stock market historic highs have been fueled predominately by the massive liquidity pumped into world markets by the Fed since 2009, as opposed to traditional bull markets in which stock market rises have been fueled by gains in economic fundamentals as reflected in strong corporate earnings derived from genuinely strong market demand.

When the Fed pulls out of QE3, panic selling will benefit only those who get out first, most likely the institutional fund managers and professional financial analysts, not typically the individual retirement funds investor.

A long-standing rule of investing is that those who stay in markets to achieve the last possible gains are the ones who may risk taking substantial losses. Individual retirement savings investors holding IRAs, 401(k) plans and other tax-favored retirement instruments, including variable annuities, may be well advised to pull money out of stock and bond investments at this time.

Market gains that individual retirement investors take at this time can be placed in bank CDs or money market funds to preserve gains and wait for a more stable investment environment in which to go back into stock and bond markets.

This is a time when individual retirement savers should seek the advice and counsel of appropriately licensed professional investment advisors with an established track record of success, even in volatile market environments.

Global stock markets plunge

Global markets took Bernanke?s seemingly innocuous comments as a signal the Fed was serious about ending its third round of buying billions of dollars monthly of U.S. government debt, including Treasury bonds and housing bonds. The program that is currently designated Quantitative Easing 3, or QE 3, indicating the current debt buying round is the third such effort the Fed has taken since the DJIA hit a new 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009.

The most severe stock market decline occurred in Japan as a ?flash crash? caused the Nikkei index to plunge 7.3 percent.

Japanese Stock Market Decline, May 23, 2013 (Source: ZeroHedge.com)

Overnight in the U.S., stock markets in Frankfurt, London, Paris and Milan slumped more than 2 percent.

On the market open in the U.S., the DJIA plunged 127 points, before bullish analysts, including some government officials representing the Obama administration, quietly advised institutional investors the Fed had no immediate plans of ending or significantly backing off QE3.

Obama balloons Fed?s holdings of debt

Under Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve has become the world?s largest holder of U.S. government debt.

In January 2013, the Federal Reserve revealed that its holdings of U.S. government debt had increased to an all-time record high of nearly $1.7 trillion.

By comparison, when Obama was inaugurated in 2009, the Fed owned a mere $475 billion in U.S. government debt. Since then, the Fed?s holdings of U.S. government debt have increased by 257 percent.

The Fed?s use of quantitative easing demonstrates it is out of monetary tools, having keep interest rates at or near zero in an attempt to stimulate economic growth for nearly three years.

Market expectations until recently have been that the Fed will attempt to stop before $2 trillion of Treasury debt has been purchased and added to the Fed?s balance sheet.

The U.S. Treasury reports that as of this month, total U.S. public debt outstanding is approximately $16.7 trillion; by comparison, total U.S. public debt outstanding at the end of the presidency of George W. Bush was approximately $10 trillion.

According to official estimates by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, on Sept. 11, 2012, total U.S. debt exceeded U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, for the first time since the end of World War II, with U.S. GDP 2012 estimated at $15.6061 trillion, about $440.5 billion less than the $16.0466 in debt that the federal government had accumulated as of that day.

Coincidentally, Sept. 11, 2012, was the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the day on the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked by terrorists, resulting in the murder of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Novel approach

The use of quantitative easing as a tool of the Fed to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment is a novel and untested approach to monetary policy.

QE3 was announced Sept. 13, 2012, in an 11-to-1 vote of the Federal Reserve Board. The Fed decided to launch a $40 billion per month, open-ended purchasing of U.S. Treasury debt instruments and U.S. agency-generated mortgage-backed securities.

On Dec. 12, 2012, the Fed decided to increase the open-ended purchasing of U.S. debt from $40 billion per month to the current level of $85 billion a month.

Source: http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/05/is-now-the-time-to-pull-out-of-stock-market/

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Is Joffrey like Justin Bieber or Kim Jong-un?

Drusilla Moorhouse TODAY contributor

3 hours ago

Image: Joffrey, Kim Jong-un, Justin Bieber

HBO / Reuters file / Getty file

"Game of Thrones' " Joffrey is a bit like Kim Jong-un and Justin Bieber, isn't he?

Joffrey Baratheon, the cruel boy king on "Game of Thrones," only exists in a fantasy world -- thank the gods!

But if he were real, which contemporary leader would he most resemble? Pundits have compared him to both North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and tween idol Justin Bieber (who only rules the pop charts now, but anything is possible in today's political landscape).

Here's how Joff ranks against today's top dawgs:

Power source: Like the North Korean leader, Joffrey Baratheon was born into his position, not because he earned it. Bieber, on the other hand, earned his success. Or did he? Ask Usher! POINT: Kim Jong-un

Hair apparent: See how the sunlight reflects a golden glow from their privileged heads? OK, Jong-un's a brunette ? for now. Former basketball star Dennis Rodman might have persuaded him that blonds have more fun. POINT: Justin Bieber

Reuters file

The North Korean leader and Rodman check out a game.

Ball boys: Kim Jong-un is so obsessed with the NBA that he invited quirky former pro Rodman to visit North Korea in February. But Bieber spanked Shaq in a basketball game challenge, and he's Mark Wahlberg's first choice to play an inner-city basketball star in a feature film. Joff also dribbles ... spit. Like the Korean dictator, he's a spectator, not a playah. POINT: Kim Jong-un

When subjects attack: When a Belieber recently charged the stage during a live performance, the pop star was saved by a bodyguard. A piano was the only real casualty in that particular incident, but Joffrey didn't fare as well during the deadly Kings Landing riots. The boy king escaped with his life, sure, but also received a facial of human excrement. Kim Jong-un was reportedly the target of an assassination attempt, but if it's not on YouTube, did it really happen? POINT: Justin Bieber

Human rights violations: Is there a crime greater than Justin Bieber's hammer pants? Both Joffrey and Jong-un have a terrible record of abusing their constituents. The young Baratheon has a penchant for torture and blood sports, while the U.N. has urged a probe into the North Korean government's crimes against humanity. POINT: Kim Jong-un

Iron deficiency: Joffrey sits on an iron throne, Jong-un hides behind an iron curtain. And Justin has this. POINT: Justin Bieber

Lethal toys: The "Baby" crooner took heat last year for going gangsta with a prop gun on the set of then-girlfriend Selena Gomez's movie "Feed the Dog." But sadistic Joffrey practices target shooting on innocent victims with his fancy bow and arrow, and the North Korean dictator fires nukes. POINT: Kim Jong-un

Generation whine: When the Biebs is aggrieved, he lashes out on Twitter, lunges at the paparazzi and screams outside his girlfriend's locked gate. Joffrey cries to his mother, bleats at his grandfather, scowls at his uncle and kills people. And baby-faced Kim throws a temper tantrum with short-range missiles. POINT: Justin Bieber

Final verdict: In this contest, Bieber and Kim Jong-un are neck and neck ... but only Kim has the power to command a public beheading. In the name of Ned Stark, we have to call North Korea's supreme leader the "winner" of this contest. Do you agree? Vote in our poll!

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/real-king-thrones-joffrey-more-justin-bieber-or-kim-jong-6C10019246

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