Panasonic's new Lumix GM1 is the first camera in a new line of mirrorless, interchangeable-lens cameras that will prioritize style and portability over blockbuster features. Damn, this thing is freaking tiny like a point-and-shoot.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/panasonic-gm1-a-pint-sized-adorable-mirrorless-camera-1446860537WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said economic growth slowed in a few key regions of the United States from September through early October, as businesses grew worried about a budget impasse that led to a partial government shutdown.
Overall, the economy continued to expand at a "modest to moderate" pace, according to the Fed survey released Wednesday. Eight of the Fed's 12 banking districts reported the same growth rate as they had reported in August through early September. But four districts — Philadelphia, Richmond, Chicago and Kansas City — said growth had slowed.
Businesses around the country remained optimistic about the future and consumer spending continued to increase, helped by strong auto sales. But many businesses noted greater uncertainty because of the federal shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, and a looming deadline to raise federal borrowing limit.
Boston, in particular, reported that the tourism industry was worried about the impact of a prolonged shutdown. And several Districts reported that businesses were cautious about hiring.
Senate leaders announced Wednesday that they had an agreement to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after the 16-day shutdown. The House was likely to approve the measure, too, leading many to anticipate passage in both chambers before the end of the day.
Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said that the Fed's survey showed that there had been only limited damage to the economy at least through the first week of the shutdown.
"Hopefully ... the damage and the hurt have been generally contained," she said.
The Fed's survey, known as the beige book, will be used by central bank policymakers in their next meeting on Oct. 29-30. Economists believe the Fed maintain its $85-billion-a-month in bond purchases to offset the impact of the shutdown.
Some economists had presumed that the latest beige book would play a greater role at the October meeting because the shutdown had delayed most other economic reports.
But Pierre Ellis, an economist with Decision Economics, said the government is now expected to reopen and should be able to release some of the delayed data before the Fed meets. That would give policymakers a better handle on the economy's health.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House dismissed the latest fiscal proposal offered by Republicans who control the House of Representatives on Tuesday, calling it a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party conservatives.
With time running out toward a Thursday deadline to avert a historic U.S. debt default, House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, proposed an alternative to a Senate plan that would affect Obama's signature healthcare law.
White House spokesman Amy Brundage said Obama has vowed repeatedly that lawmakers "don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation's bills."
"Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place," she said.
Brundage said Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been working in a good-faith effort to end the fiscal stalemate and "it's time for the House to do the same."
(Reporting By Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland; editing by Christopher Wilson)
China's official state news agency, Xinhua, has launched a fierce editorial broadside against the United States, saying Washington's current fiscal woes show the need for "a de-Americanized world."
"As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world," ran the op-ed, which was carried in English, but widely reported in the Chinese-language media.
PHOTOS: Inside Hollywood's Surprise Trip to 'China's Oscars'
China is run with an iron fist by the Communist Party, and dissent is not tolerated, and official Chinese official media have been quick to use the U.S. shutdown as evidence of the shortcomings of the democratic system.
At the same time, some of the spiky commentary comes out of China's fears that its debt holdings in American government bonds could be under threat because of the crisis on Capitol Hill.
"Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies," said the commentary.
The op-ed ran in Sunday's (Oct. 13) Global Times newspaper, which is the official organ of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The Global Times later reported on the follow-up to the article, saying that U.S. media were guessing as to the real intention of the article and saying that the piece had gotten Washington worried.
STORY: Business Group Vice-Chaired by Bob Iger Views China With 'Tempered Optimism'
Beijing is the largest overseas holder of U.S. government debt and has issued many warnings about the danger of a U.S. default. The Treasury reckons China holds some $1 trillion in treasuries, and it also has additional U.S. agency debt.
Premier Li Keqiang told Secretary of State John Kerry last week (Oct. 10) that Beijing was "highly concerned" about Washington’s debt ceiling problem and its failure to resolve its debt crisis.
"The U.S. government has gone to all lengths to appear before the world as the one that claims the moral high ground, yet covertly does things that are as audacious as torturing prisoners of war, slaying civilians in drone attacks and spying on world leaders," it said.
"Under what is known as the Pax-Americana, we fail to see a world where the United States is helping to defuse violence and conflicts, reduce poor and displaced population and bring about real, lasting peace."
Too often we open a journal, scan the title of a scientific paper – for instance, “Gongylonema pulchrum in a Resident of Williamsburg, Virginia, Verified by Genetic Analysis” – and dismiss it. We think “Yeah, yeah, infection in a small Virginia town” – and turn the page.
Later we may regret that.
Later we may realize that if we’d actually read the paper– or at least read between the lines – we would have discovered a story worth our time. Perhaps the story of a biologist who pulled a nematode out of his cheek with a pair of forceps. Really good forceps, according to the paper: “#5 super fine tip, Roboz Surgical Instrument Co. Inc.” forceps.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The forceps come later in the story.
Let’s rewind to September 2012. It was about then- according to this recently published report (paywall) in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine – that an “otherwise healthy, 36-year-old man” felt a rough patch in his mouth, a scaly little area in his right cheek. It didn’t hurt. But then it didn’t stay there either. He started testing for it with his tongue. It traveled. It moved to the back of his mouth, then forward, coiled backwards again. In the language of science: “These rough patches would appear and disappear on a daily basis, giving the patient the indirect sense that there was an organism moving within the oral cavity.”
Or in the English language: “Yuck.”
In the interests of transparency, the science journalist confesses that “yuck” was her reaction. Not so for the scientist, apparently. As the paper also tells us, the patient was “coincidentally trained as an invertebrate biologist.” A little journalistic investigation finds that this is scientific code for “Jonathan D. Allen,” who is one of the coauthors of the paper.
Further investigation leads to a phone call with Prof. Allen. He works at the College of William and Mary’s biology department. He’s fascinated by crawly little lifeforms. “Yuck” never crossed his mind.
“Wow, this is really interesting,” thought Allen. And then 1) I hope it’s not fatal and 2) I hope it’s publishable. Although the journalist may have listed those in the wrong order. After all, Allen did email his colleagues with the subject line: “A paper in my mouth.”
In mid-December, as the paper tells us: “The patient was able to visualize the rough patch in the mucosa of his lower lip after migration of the worm towards the opening of the mouth.” In other words, in the midst of giving a final exam, Allen realized that the creature had journeyed to the front of his mouth. As soon as the exam was over, he rushed to the men’s room, pulled down his lip, and saw the coiling structure of a tiny worm-like creature just under the inner skin.
Was he thrilled? He took pictures (which you will find in the paper). He pulled down his lip to show his colleagues (those who would look). He took more pictures. He used the images to do internet research (yes, Google) and made a tentative identification of the creature in his mouth as a parasitic nematode best known for inhabiting the mouths of livestock.
And then he called his doctor. Who referred him to an oral surgeon. Who didn’t believe him.
Really.
Referring back to the paper: “Upon presenting the oral surgeon with photographic evidence (Figure 1A and B) and a detailed description and preliminary diagnosis of gongylonemiasis, the surgeon disputed the patient’s self-diagnosis, claiming this was simply normal discoloration of the skin.”
Referring back to my notes: “My jaw just dropped,” Allen said. But he couldn’t change the surgeon’s mind. “I said, ‘Look, I study these things for a living’. And he said, ‘Well, I look in people’s mouths every day.” The scientist and surgeon did not part on a happy note. “I paid my co-pay and left. It was totally depressing.”
And he stayed depressed – “I’d lost faith in the medical profession” – until he woke up about 3 a.m. the following morning. The spot had moved toward the front of his mouth again. He realized could remove the worm himself.
Of course, he needed help. No surgeon can work alone. He woke up his wife (Margaret Pizer, a communications specialist for Virginia Sea Grant) so that she could shine a flashlight in his mouth. With those #5 super fine tip Roboz Surgical Instrument forceps, he gently scraped the lining of his mouth until he was able to pull out the nematode. It came coiling out, a little less than an inch in length. It was not a happy parasite. “It was writhing.”
His surgical assistant wasn’t too thrilled either. “She said, ‘That’s really gross’.”
Referring to the paper: “The living and highly active parasite was transported to the patient’s research laboratory at the College of William and Mary.”
Referring to my notes: Still in his pajamas, Allen hurried to campus. He had the live parasite in a vial, floating in his spit. When he got to the lab, he took further measurements and then dropped it into a container with an ethanol solution to preserve it.
And referring one more time to the paper (the one you should have stopped and read): “The long transparent worm was readily identified as a nematode belonging to the genus Gongylonema.”
Allen discovered that he was the 13th known human in the United States to be infected by the nematode. He’s still trying figure out how he acquired his companion – he speculates that the worm could have been in his wellwater or in something he ate, possibly in a box of raisins. Globally, there’s no clear pattern to such cases except that they are rare. Scientists have identified some 50 or so cases of human infection; the first was reported in 1996 in Japan.
So Allen wanted to be sure that this was indeed the parasite that he’d extracted from his cheek. A colleague from Eastern Virginia Medical School, who specialized in genetic analysis came forward to help him make a more detailed identification. Aurora Esquela-Kerscher fell completely into spirit of the research. No Gongylonema for her laboratory. She suggested they call the nematode “Buddy.” As in: Let’s use PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to amplify Buddy’s DNA, detail the exact genetic sequence, and verify his identification. Which is what they did; this was, in fact, the first paper to do genetic analysis of this over-friendly little nematode.
“It’s the only paper I’ve ever published in a medical journal,” Allen says. “It’s a fun story to tell and it grosses my students out. But also I’m at a college where we train a lot of pre-med students. We always debate what they need to know, how to give them the ability to think critically and to see things that are not normal.”
In other words, a good scientific paper will remind you that your definition of “normal” is way too narrow. Okay, now you can turn the page.
Image: Buddy, the nematode, suspended in ethanol solution, courtesy of Jonathan D. Allen, Department of Biology, College of William and Mary.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli nonprofit group has awarded a $1 million prize to a U.S.-based research team that is developing technology that allows paralyzed people to move things with their thoughts.
Israel Brain Technologies presented the award on Tuesday to BrainGate. The group is based at Brown University in Rhode Island and collaborates with Massachusetts General Hospital and other institutions.
BrainGate is developing a brain implant that can read brain signals and allow the paralyzed to move robotic limbs or computer cursors.
Brown University neuroscientist John Donoghue, who accepted the award, says BrainGate has created "the technology to pick up the brain signal and get it to the outside."
The nonprofit Israel Brain Technologies seeks to turn Israel into a global hub of brain technology. President Shimon Peres presented the award Tuesday.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-10-15-Israel-Brain%20Prize/id-c36ef1dc591d45a8b7b5d26e2dfa3fae
The image that accompanied Apple’s October 22 media event invite.
Apple sent out invites to its next product-filled media event this morning, which will be held on October 22 in San Francisco. The invite teases us with “We still have a lot to cover,” written below a colorful, fall inspired Apple graphic. We’re expecting Apple to announce a number of new additions to its lineup Tuesday, including highly-anticipated iPad updates.
Signs point to a redesigned fifth generation iPad that is styled like a larger version of the iPhone 5/5s rather than previous iPads. The iPad mini is also expected to get a major upgrade with the addition of a high-resolution Retina display.
What else could we see next week? We should get a closer look at OS X Mavericks, the next big update to Apple’s desktop operating system. Along with that, the MacBook Pro should get an upgrade for 2013. We could also get a better look at the Mac Pro, which we got a sneak peek of at WWDC this summer. As with last month’s event, we don’t think Apple is going to spend any stage time on the iPod line.
Apple already updated its iMac line for this year with faster processors and 802.11ac WiFi.
We’ll be there October 22 at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to share everything Apple unveils. Stay tuned!
The incredibly versitile action launcher Launch Center Pro has been updated to version 2.0, bringing a host of new features, including an all-new design for iOS 7. The app is even more powerful than before, with Dropbox actions and expanded x-callback support. Users can now pick between light, dark, and classic themes, and choose new glyphs, colors, and styles for their action icons. Users can select web clips and photos to use as icons as well.
The new features make Launch Center Pro even more powerful, starting with Dropbox actions. These include things like uploading the last photo taken from within Launch Center, copying a file to your clipboard, and grabbing links to your Dropbox files. Additionally, Launch Center Pro can be backed up to and restored from Dropbox, so you can easily recover your configurations if you ever lose your data. The app also supports multiple prompts for a single action, and users can now launch actions from external apps.
Several enhancements have been made to existing features as well. Support for x-callback has been improved, and there are many more actions that Launch Center Pro can trigger. The Action Composer has also been optimized for iOS 7. Launch Center Pro is now compatible with TextExpander on iOS 7 as well. There's now a welcome video that pops up the first time you use the app, walking you through the basic feature set.
Launch Center Pro 2.0 requires iOS 7, and is a free update for existing Launch Center Pro users. New users can grab it from the App Store for $4.99.
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Everything makes you fat! Gluten-free food is the key to eternal youth! You need to poop ten times a day or you’ll die! You’ll find tons of equally ridiculous health claims around the internet, and you’ll actually believe some of them. Today we’re taking a look at 10 common myths and uncovering the truth.
Source: http://lifehacker.com/10-health-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-scienc-1443659706/@barrett
2 hours ago
Justin Lubin / NBC
Team Christina's Jacquie Lee and Briana Cuoco battle it out on "The Voice."
"The Voice's" universe was in a hot dense state Monday night, when two coaches fought to keep Briana Cuoco, the younger sister of "Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco.
The Battle Rounds are all about the steals, and Christina Aguilera started the fracas when she picked Jacquie Lee over Cuoco (thus costing her any chance at a guest gig as Penny's long-lost cousin on the hit CBS sitcom). In response, both CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton pushed their buttons.
CeeLo spoke first. "I believe that there's a story in your voice and I want to help nurture your niche, so I think you could do very well here on Team CeeLo," he said. Then he turned to Blake and said, "Beat that."
That got Adam Levine cheering — but sadly for him, Blake could, indeed, beat that. And without even bringing his A game.
"I have a feeling how you performed that song that you're probably a songwriter, and how you really connect with the lyrics like that, it's almost as possible not to be," he said.
What? What kind of sales pitch is that?! That's not a desperate plea — it's a statement of fact. But it was enough for Cuoco, even though CeeLo had also pushed for her at the blind auditions.
"I wanted to steal Briana because I think that she can shape-shift so to speak and be different things. But I got other steals, and I got other chicks up my short sleeves," CeeLo said.
Aw, CeeLo. Don't be mad. Maybe you can at least get the consolation prize and write a new "Big Bang Theory" theme song to replace the Barenaked Ladies version. After all, it's not like they ever tried to help Cuoco's singing career.
"Why is Adam such an idiot?"
Blake now has to wait until the Knockout Rounds before he can push his button again. He'd previously started the night off by swiping Nic Hawk from Adam after Nic lost his sing-along to wedding singer Grey.
"Aw, Adam, you screwed up so bad!" Blake said once the results were announced, causing Nic to break down in tears.
"Why are you stealing Nic Hawk?" host Carson Daly asked.
"Why is Adam such an idiot?" Blake replied. "Why don't you ask me that?"
"You delivered an excellent vocal performance and you did all that other crap that you do," Blake then told Nic. "Will you teach me how to dance?"
"Hell yeah, I'll teach you how to dance," Nic said.
That might be a tougher task than winning "The Voice" — but it'll definitely be an interesting pairing to watch going forward.
"If there ever was an odd couple, it's me and Nic," said Blake. "I think this is gonna be a lot of fun."
Love for Anthony
The other contender for top battle of the night was from Team CeeLo, with Anthony Paul taking on Caroline Pennell in a duet of "As Long As You Love Me." The song may be Justin Bieber, but the dark arrangement suited Caroline's unique vocal stylings and caused CeeLo to get downright poetic in his praise.
"There's something so surreal about your voice," he said. "It encourages me to dream with my eyes open."
"CeeLo! I love that line," responded Christina. "That's beautiful,"
Maybe that swayed her heart, because after CeeLo picked Caroline and urged the other judges, "Steal him … someone!" Christina pushed her button and got him.
"Christina stole Anthony, and it's bittersweet. I think that I was wrong pairing them together," CeeLo said.
Cher + Adam?
Blake and guest mentor Cher only had one battle on Monday's show, but it was enough to make Blake a little jealous of one of his fellow coaches.
Blake urged both Justin Chain and Shelbie Z to bring their best to their battle, noting how much Adam would love to steal one of his country singers.
"I love Adam!" Cher said.
"Oh you do?" Blake said, then challenged, "What's your favorite song he does?"
That gave Cher pause. "Oh, they're all so good," she said.
So maybe she doesn't have any Maroon 5 songs on her iPod. But that might explain why Blake stole Nic, who said at the auditions that Adam might be too good-looking to work with. Best to keep those with a crush on his fellow coach nearby.
But Adam didn't return the favor by stealing Justin, and the country crooner went home after Blake stuck with Shelbie.
The motivation behind this show, Founder Stories, is to get inside the head of a founder to see what makes them tick, to unearth the wisdom they've collected through the trials of building something from scratch. My most recent guest, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Ping Identity, Andre Durand, is a serial entrepreneur who has the ability to step back from the day-to-day grind and reflect on what he learns about business and himself.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/F8QPtbX6dEs/
Speaking to what would traditionally be the target audience for custom Android ROMs at the Big Android BBQ, Steve Kondik of the newly-incorporated CyanogenMod, Inc. spent a little time laying out the future prospects for the company. As we would expect this close to the announcement of its plans, we were given much of the same information.
Yes, a so-called "one click" installer is on its way. As are several new and inventive features like cloud backup and secure messaging. The Oppo N1 will even be released in short order as the first phone to ship (at least in some capacity) with CyanogenMod pre-loaded.
And even with 8.2 million users of its custom firmware, there are clearly still hurdles in CyanogenMod's future.
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At its core, the shutdown is part of a much bigger battle to restrain the federal government. It is spending $3.6 trillion per year without a budget, and its expenditures are expected to increase rapidly in the years ahead.
Meanwhile, the government has piled up $17 trillion in debt and $60 trillion more in unfunded spending promises. The Federal Reserve will borrow $1.1 trillion in 2013 alone to buy bonds—and it reserves the right to borrow unlimited amounts for future bond purchases without congressional or presidential permission.
