Low radiation scans help identify cancer in earliest stages

May 21, 2013 ? A study of veterans at high risk for developing lung cancer shows that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) can be highly effective in helping clinicians spot tiny lung nodules which, in a small number of patients, may indicate the earliest stages of the disease. LDCT uses less than a quarter of the radiation of a conventional CT scan.

Results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

"Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and has a poor survival rate," said Sue Yoon, nurse practitioner at VA Boston HealthCare West Roxbury Division. "Most of our veterans in these ages have a heavy smoking history and early screening is desirable to improve outcomes. Our study was undertaken to learn how often we would discover significant abnormalities and how to adapt our existing processes and interdisciplinary approaches to accommodate additional patients."

Conducted according to guidelines set forth by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the study was based in part on the results of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) which found that LDCT resulted in a 20 percent reduction of lung cancer mortality compared to chest x-ray among heavy smokers aged 55 to 74 years.

The study enrolled 56 patients with a median age of 61 to 65 years and who had a smoking history of more than 30 pack years or 20 pack years and one additional cancer risk factor, such as occupational exposure to carcinogens or personal or family history of cancer or COPD.

After reviewing LDCT scans of each patient, the researchers found that 31 patients had a nodule of 4mm or larger or another abnormal opacity, six of which were deemed suspicious for malignancy. The study also found that 34 patients had more than one nodule. Four patients were diagnosed with biopsy-proven lung cancer.

"Our preliminary rate of lung cancer diagnosis after the first round of screening was 7 percent, which was significantly higher than NLST group, which had a preliminary rate of 3.8 percent at its first round," Ms. Yoon said." In addition, detection of nodules larger than 4mm was 55 percent in our group compared to 27 percent in the NLST group."

The difference in nodule prevalence rates between the current study and the NLST are likely due to three primary factors, she noted: First, the current study hadmuch smaller numbers than the multicenter NLST; second, the scanning technology used during the current trial had advanced since the earlier NLST trial was conducted; and finally, the populations studied in the NLST and the current study had significant differences -- for instance, the VA population was predominantly male and most patients had COPD.

While the results of both this study and the NLST suggest regular screening with LDCT technology can help identify patients in the early stages of cancer, establishing and supporting a regular screening program requires significant resources and may not be feasible in all locations or for all populations, Ms. Yoon added. In addition, because the LDCT is highly sensitive, most of the nodules it spots are benign, and are often due to inflammation or scarring.

"Our previous experience with diagnosing and managing a high volume of incidentally discovered pulmonary nodules suggested that a low dose CT scan screening program, in which patients are screened annually, could be a substantial undertaking," Ms. Yoon said. "Considerable effort goes into each step of the process: selecting patients, tracking abnormalities, further selecting patients with suspicious abnormalities for additional diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

"Although we plan to continue and expand the LDCT screening program, this will require additional planning and, potentially, resources," she added. "Currently we are using a gatekeeper approach, to ensure tracking of nodules and other abnormalities that are discovered during screening LDCT."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/pMfimurAfsI/130521152418.htm

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WH visitors log shows Obama met with IRS union chief day before agency began tea party targeting (Michellemalkin)

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BlackRock to acquire real estate investment advisory company MGPA

The planned acquisition of MGPA?s complete business makes BlackRock a truly global real estate investment manager, with pro forma AUM of approximately US $25 billion (approx. ?19.3 billion) as of March 31, 2013 and substantial investment teams in the world?s top six markets, which represent 75% of the commercial real estate investable universe. It adds further best-in-class investment teams and capabilities to the BlackRock platform and demonstrates the Firm?s strong commitment to being a leader in real estate solutions.

?Today?s agreement advances BlackRock?s growth strategy in Asia-Pacific and Europe, where we are seeking to enhance our local offerings and build on the Firm?s real estate experience,? said Jack Chandler, Global Head of Real Estate for BlackRock. ?It further strengthens our ability to offer clients an unrivaled set of solutions to the challenges of a low-return, high volatility environment, including access to MGPA?s top-performing investment teams and exceptional capabilities in key markets.?

MGPA?s offerings complement BlackRock?s existing real estate investment solutions, with virtually no overlap of people or products. The combined platform will also create the potential to accelerate growth of MGPA?s business by leveraging BlackRock?s distribution capabilities for institutional and retail clients.

Jim Quille, MGPA Executive Chairman, commented, ?In BlackRock we have found an excellent asset manager to partner with who has a deep fiduciary culture, industry-leading risk management capabilities, and the same commitment we have to delivering superior investment performance to our clients. We are pleased about the many compelling opportunities this combination offers to both our clients and employees.?

MGPA is focused on real estate funds management, co-investments and separate account mandates for institutional investors, offering products across the risk/return spectrum, including development, and has $12 billion (approx. ?9.3 billion) in AUM as of March 31, 2013. With an on-the-ground presence in 13 offices in Asia-Pacific and Europe, MGPA will augment BlackRock?s real estate investment platform with its pan-Asian and pan-European investment capabilities and complementary geographic footprint.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. The financial impact of the transaction is not material to BlackRock earnings per share. Terms were not disclosed.

MGPA was advised by Berkshire Capital Securities LLC.

Source: FTI Consulting

Source: http://europe-re.com/system/main.php?pageid=2616&articleid=22158

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96% Blancanieves

All Critics (48) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (2)

Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.

It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.

Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.

As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.

Sensuous, mischievous, hotblooded retelling of the old Teutonic fairy tale.

This gorgeous silent film is an unexpected gift from the gods of pure cinema.

The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.

Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.

A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.

Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.

A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.

The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.

May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.

No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.

Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.

... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.

If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).

A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words.

By the time the film arrives at its grand theatrical finale, you're almost prepared for Berger's last great twist. Almost.

this beautifully shot and imaginatively told fairy tale should be seen my many, but only a few will likely get to enjoy it. This is a shame for the audience it is intended for.

This film is simply gorgeous, pure beauty on film, a vision that leaves you breathless and reeling.

Much of the film's emotion is conveyed by Alfonso de Vilallonga's music, which celebrates Spain with uptempo guitar and flamenco when it isn't tipping its hat to Bernard Herrmann during a scene inspired by Hitchcock.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blancanieves/

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Breakup of physician, drug company relationship could improve health care, cut cost

May 20, 2013 ? A new report suggests that improved health care and significant reductions in drug costs might be attained by breaking up the age-old relationship between physicians and drug company representatives who promote the newest, more costly and often unnecessary prescription drugs.

This system, which has been in place for decades, at one time benefited doctors by keeping them up to date on new medications, and always provided generous amounts of "free" samples to get patients started on the newest drugs, as well as other supplies and gifts.

But it's actually a powerful marketing process into which the pharmaceutical industry pours tens of billions of dollars a year, with more than 90,000 drug representatives providing gifts and advice. There is one drug representative for every eight doctors in the United States. This doesn't necessarily serve the best interests of the patient in terms of economy, efficacy, safety or accuracy of information, experts say.

In one of the first reports of its type -- titled "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" -- researchers from Oregon State University, Oregon Health & Science University and the University of Washington outlined the deliberate process that one central Oregon medical clinic went through to remove drug company representatives from their practice. It explored the obstacles they faced and the ultimate, successful result. The findings were just published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

The study found that avoiding conflicts of interest and becoming "pharma-free" is possible, but not easy.

"This is a culture change, one that's already happening but still has a ways to go, especially in smaller private practices," said Dr. David Evans, now with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, and previously a physician at the Madras, Ore., clinic featured in the article.

"The relationship between physicians and drug company representatives goes back generations, and it took a methodical, deliberate campaign to change it," Evans said. "We ultimately decided something had to be done when our medical clinic was visited by drug reps 199 times in six months. That number was just staggering."

Part of what allows the change, the researchers said, is that information on new medications is now available in many other forums. These may have less bias and be more evidence-based than the material traditionally provided by the pharmaceutical industry, which wanted to sell the latest product. In the Madras clinic, the physicians replaced information previously supplied by drug reps with monthly meetings to stay current on new medications, based on peer-reviewed, rather than promotional literature.

"In the past 5-10 years there's been more of a move toward what we call 'academic detailing,' in which universities and other impartial sources of information can provide accurate information without bias," said Daniel Hartung, assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy. "This is being supported by some states and the federal government, and it's a move in the right direction."

Moves to separate the drug industry from the practice of medicine have been more aggressive in large medical teaching hospitals, Hartung said, but much less so in smaller private practice. Of the 800,000 physicians in the U.S., only 22 percent practice in academic settings, the study noted, and 84 percent of primary care physicians still have close relationships with the pharmaceutical industry.

The stakes can be high, the researchers said. In the study example, the "sample cabinet" of medications at the Madras clinic, provided for free by the pharmaceutical representatives, had an average price of $90 for a month's supply of the medications. Less expensive, generic medications were identified for 38 of the 46 sample drugs, which would have cost $22 a month.

The new analysis explored the necessary steps that a private clinic can take to help address this concern, including quantifying the clinic-industry relationship, anticipating clinician and staff concerns, finding new ways to provide up-to-date information, and educating patients and the public.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/qnl5Jy21UwU/130520133749.htm

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Suicide bomber kills 14 at Afghan province council

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A suicide bomber struck outside a provincial council headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing the council chief and at least 13 others, authorities said. The Taliban insurgency quickly claimed responsibility.

Seeking to weaken the Afghan government, Taliban insurgents have been carrying out attacks and assassinations intended to intimidate both officials and civilians ahead of next year's withdrawal of most international troops.

Baghlan provincial council leader Mohammad Rasoul Mohseni was entering the compound in the morning when the bomber ran up on foot and detonated his explosives in the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri, said Baghlan chief of police Asadullah Sherzad.

He said 14 people were killed, including Mohseni, and 11 were wounded.

Mohammad Zahier Ghanizada, a member of parliament from Baghlan, confirmed the council chief's death and added that Mohseni had previously received multiple death threats.

Also killed in the attack were six police bodyguards and seven civilians, Sherzad said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed in a text message to journalists that an insurgent operative carried out the targeted bombing.

"Today at 11 a.m. in front of the Baghlan provincial council office, we have carried out a suicide attack and killed the head of the council," it said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing Monday.

"Such attacks are against all human rights and the principles of Islam," Karzai said in a statement. "Perpetrators of such attacks are enemies of the Afghan nation and the puppets of foreigners."

Karzai left later Monday for a two-day state visit to India, where he is expected to request military aid.

Both Karzai and the U.S. have sought peace talks with the Taliban and other insurgent factions in preparation for most foreign troops leaving next year after more than 12 years of war, but the efforts have borne little fruit. The Taliban seek to re-establish the strict interpretation of Islamic law they imposed for five years before being ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion over its sheltering of al-Qaida's terrorist leadership.

The insurgents last month launched a fierce new spring offensive that has in the past week alone seen the police chief of Farah province gunned down outside his home and twin bombings that killed nine people in an elite gated community for government officials and business owners outside of the southern city of Kandahar. Two bombs also exploded outside the provincial governor's office in Nangarhar province last week, killing one police guard.

Insurgents have also targeted members of the international coalition. A roadside bomb killed four American soldiers last week in the country's south, while another insurgent faction, Hizb-e-Islami, targeted a coalition convoy in the capital of Kabul two days later, killing two U.S. soldiers and four American contractors who were training Afghan troops to take over security.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-14-afghan-province-council-075314027.html

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Drudge Report Falsely Attributes Quote to President Obama: "I'm a Black Man" (Little green footballs)

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Officer who shot NY student faced harrowing choice

In this photo copied from the 2010 Sleepy Hollow High School yearbook, high school student Andrea Rubello is shown. Police said Rubello, a junior at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus. (AP Photo/Sleepy Hollow High School)

In this photo copied from the 2010 Sleepy Hollow High School yearbook, high school student Andrea Rubello is shown. Police said Rubello, a junior at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus. (AP Photo/Sleepy Hollow High School)

This undated photo provided by the Nassau County Police Department shows Dalton Smith of Hempstead, N.Y. On Saturday, May 18, 2013, police identified Smith the alleged home invader involved in the fatal slaying of a New York college student early Friday morning. Police say that Smith, who was currently on parole for robbery in the first degree, was the person attempting to rob the off-campus home where Andrea Rebello was shot and killed. (AP Photo/Nassau County Police Department)

The Tarrytown, N.Y., home of the family of Hofstra University student Andrea Rubello is seen on Friday, May 17, 2013. Police say Rubello was shot and killed Friday, May 17, 2013, during a break-in near the college campus in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jim Fitzgerald)

Hofstra University students gather near the house where another student and an armed intruder were killed during an overnight house break-in next to the campus, Friday, May 17, 2013, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

Officers continue working the scene at the house, left, where a Hofstra University student and an armed intruder were killed during an overnight break-in next to the campus, Friday, May 17, 2013, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The police officer who accidentally killed a Long Island college student along with an armed intruder faced perhaps the most harrowing decision in law enforcement: choosing the split-second moment when the risk is so high that you must pull the trigger.

That's the moment authorities say a Nassau County police officer experienced early Friday morning when a masked man holding 21-year-old Andrea Rebello in a headlock pointed a loaded handgun at him.

"The big question is, how do you know, when someone's pointing a gun at you, whether you should keep talking to them, or shoot?" said Michele Galietta, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who helps train police officers. "That's what makes the job of an officer amazingly difficult."

She spoke Sunday as Hofstra University students honored Rebello, a popular public relations major, by wearing white ribbons at their graduation ceremony.

On Saturday evening, flags on the Hempstead campus were at half-staff and students held a silent outdoor vigil in front of a photo of the young woman. Surrounded by candles and flowers, they sang "Ave Maria."

Rebello's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday in Sleepy Hollow, in Westchester County, north of New York City.

Her life ended in the seconds that forced the veteran police officer to make a fatal decision, but the questions surrounding the student's death are just beginning, along with an internal investigation by the Nassau County Police Department.

The bare facts are simple. Rebello and the intruder, Dalton Smith, died early Friday when the officer fired eight shots, hitting him seven times, with one bullet striking Rebello once in the head, according to county homicide squad Lt. John Azzata.

With a gun pointed at her, Smith "kept saying, 'I'm going to kill her,' and then he pointed the gun at the police officer," according to Azzata.

The officer acted quickly, saying later that he believed his and Rebello's life were in danger, according to authorities.

No doubt, he was acting to try to save lives ? his own and that of the young woman, Galietta said.

"What we're asking the cop to anticipate is, 'What is going on in the suspect's mind at the moment?'" she said. "We're always trying to de-escalate, to contain a situation, but the issue of safety comes in first, and that's the evaluation the officer has to make."

Eugene O'Donnell, a former New York City police officer and professor of law and police studies at John Jay College, said the crucial issue may be whether or not police had deemed it a hostage situation. If so, he said, there are protocols police follow to buy time, slow down, isolate and assess.

But O'Donnell said the officers may have had few options because of "an eyeball to eyeball confrontation between the officer and the offender."

"It may have been too fluid to deteriorate for the officers to do anything else," O'Donnell said. "It underscores that there's no two of these that are exactly alike."

Police tactical manuals are meant to assist officers in making the best decision possible, but in the end, "they're not 100 percent foolproof," Galietta said. "In a situation like that, you can follow procedure, and it doesn't mean it comes out perfectly."

The officer who fired the shots is an eight-year NYPD veteran and has been with Nassau County police for 12 years.

He is now out on sick leave, Azzata said.

Procedurally, the Nassau County district attorney's office would determine whether an officer's use of deadly force was justified. O'Donnell said. A spokesman for the district attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday night.

There are some rules governing the use of force for New York police officers. A subsection of Article 35 of New York Penal Law prohibits against recklessly endangering innocent people.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Eltman in Mineola, N.Y., and Jake Pearson contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-20-US-Hofstra-Student-Shot/id-e2de907a08fa44569fd6c98cce535bff

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Travel: A visit to a Cambodian pepper plantation (+video)

Starling Farms outside of Kampot, Cambodia, grows and harvests by hand the black, red, and white pepper that has become a culinary delicacy among chefs around the world.

By Owen Thomas,?Staff writer / May 19, 2013

A Cambodian worker in a traditional headscarf hoes among the pepper towers at Starling Farms pepper plantation near Kampot, Cambodia.

Owen Thomas

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?Bong ? how much farther?? Our oldest son, Roswell, was asking our tuktuk driver how much longer we?d be bouncing along this potholed dirt road somewhere in Cambodia. In Khmer (pronounced ?k?MAI,?), you address any male older than you as ?bong?: it means ?older brother.?

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A visitor offers a video tour of the Starling Farms pepper plantation.

We were heading toward a pepper plantation that the driver had assured us he knew how to find. There were five of us jammed into the tuktuk ? a four-passenger cart pulled by a motorcycle. (It?s like riding in an escaped carnival ride.) We?d left the riverside city of Kampot in southern Cambodia far behind; past the city center with its giant statue of a durian fruit, past endless low shops lining either side of the asphalt road, and onto a dirt track. We had been bouncing along like this for maybe 20 minutes.

?Ten minutes,? the driver said.

We passed small neat farms, with one-story houses up on stilts, Brahma cows strolling by or lying down, and strutting long-legged chickens. Emerald-green swaths of ? something. Is that what rice looks like? Little children wearing shorts would wave vigorously as we chugged past and shout ?Hello!? They seemed delighted to make a connection. Their lively greetings sounded like bird calls.

But now the landscape was getting scruffier, more hilly. There was more exposed red dirt, and no farms. Where was he taking us?

Ten minutes later we passed a sign for the Starling Farms pepper plantation, and soon bumped to a halt. We?d arrived, our driver indicated, and pointed down the slope. I saw rows of what looked like evenly spaced green towers. As we got closer, we saw that the towers were openwork brick columns, like chimneys, about 10 feet tall. They were wrapped in lush green vines ? pepper plants, which in the wild wrap around the trunks of trees. We spotted the green berries, peppercorns, clumped in strings about three inches long. Most of the berries were small and green, but a few ? no more than three per clump ? were red.

The rows of towers stretched into the distance. We saw a few workers, wearing the typical Khmer head cloths, hoeing among the towers.

?Be careful of the ants,? our driver warned. Leaf-weaver ants can sting, but they also attack other insects. On this certified organic farm, we learned later, further insect control was achieved by soaking in water the leaves of a weed that grows naturally among the plants, and then spraying the concoction on the plants; it?s a natural insect repellent. Workers rub the leaves on their arms to keep biting insects away. All the fertilizer used is organic, too: cow dung, bat guano (from nearby caves), small fish, plant matter ? and more of the insect-repelling weeds. The fertilizer is composted anaerobically in big underground pits, then spread on the plants.

We could go up to the gift shop, our driver said. And just as we approached a rather grand-looking two-story stone home, someone driving a big Land Rover pulled up ? the owner, it turned out. The gift shop was the front room of his house, which overlooked the plantation in the valley below. It seemed a beautiful, tranquil spot.

?I originally bought the land as a getaway from Phnom Penh,? said owner Mark Hanna, a CPA originally from Derry, Ireland. He mostly lives and works in the city, a grueling four-hour drive. In fact, the roads were so bad that he?d considered buying a helicopter, he said, to get back and forth more easily. He?d also considered buying a brick factory ? and now wished that he had. He?d needed a million bricks to make the pepper towers. And now, with building in nearby Vietnam booming, the cost of bricks had gone up 1,000 percent. His wife, Anna (?to be honest,? Mark said, ?she does all the work?), who is Cambodian, plans to expand the plantation. But they?d be using cheaper, less durable wooden towers this time.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/BUyo6DxUDCU/Travel-A-visit-to-a-Cambodian-pepper-plantation-video

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Unemployment rates drop in most states, Illinois climbs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unemployment rates dropped in 43 out of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia in April from a year before, according to Labor Department data released on Friday.

A handful of states, including Illinois, Delaware, Indiana, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New Hampshire saw their jobless rates rise over the year. Illinois' rate fell in April to 9.3 percent from 9.5 percent in March but rose from 8.8 percent a year before.

"April data reflects the unevenness of this recovery," said the director of the Illinois employment department, Jay Rowell, in a statement. "This uneven path forward likely will continue until consumer and business confidence can be sustained at the national level."

Even though Nevada registered the largest rate drop of all the states over the year, it still had the highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.6 percent in April. The state, which reaped economic fortune during the housing boom, saw its rate spike to 14 percent in September 2010, the highest on records going back to 1976, and then steadily drop.

After Nevada the next higher rates were Illinois, Mississippi and California. In California, where the economy is on the mend, the state unemployment rate continued its decline falling to 9 percent from 9.4 percent in March - a record low since December 2011.

North Dakota's unemployment rate, the lowest in country for half a decade, inched up to 3.3 percent. The state is in the grips of a commodities boom, with North Dakota's 28,600 mining and logging jobs in April 321 percent more than five years before.

Still, it was one of seven states where the jobless rate rose over the year. In April 2012, North Dakota's jobless rate was 3 percent, and in March it was 3.2 percent. The increase may be due to its swelling labor force, which also grew since April 2012.

Seasonal factors could also be in play, according to Michael Ziesch, a manager of labor market information for the state, who noted "April rates have historically always posted a decrease from prior month, this year was no exception."

"Current period rates are slightly higher than a year ago and reflect longer winter type weather in the period that delayed many outside projects," he added.

From March, unemployment rates fell in 40 states and Washington, D.C., and were unchanged in seven. Rates rose in two other states besides North Dakota: Louisiana and Tennessee.

On Friday, President Barack Obama visited Maryland in a campaign-style stop on his "Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tour," and was set to appear at a local manufacturer to promote job creation and education.

Situated close to the nation's capital, Maryland is home to federal contractors and employees, and also has a burgeoning technology corridor. Some had warned that its employment would shrink once the across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration took effect on March 1.

In April, its unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent from 6.8 percent a year earlier, the lowest in more than four years, according to Governor Martin O'Malley. Over the last 12 months, 34,600 jobs have been added to payrolls in the state, as well.

Neighboring Virginia, which has also prospered from a strong federal workforce, had an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, also the lowest in more than four years.

At the national level, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to the lowest since December 2008 in April, 7.5 percent, while nonfarm payrolls rose, according to a report released earlier this month.

Over the year, payrolls grew in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Since March, employment increased in 30 states, decreased in 18 and the District of Columbia, and was the same in two.

Texas gained the most jobs over the month, 33,100, followed by New York, 25,300 and Florida, 17,000. Wisconsin lost the most jobs from March at 24,100 followed by Minnesota at 11,400.

At one point during the recession, Michigan's employment conditions were the worst in the nation with the struggling automobile companies that have long anchored its economy laying off hundreds of thousands of people. In April, its unemployment fell to 8.4 percent from 8.5 percent in March and 9.1 percent the year before.

"Michigan labor market indicators were relatively unchanged in April," said Michael Williams, acting director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, in a statement. "However, the number of unemployed in Michigan has declined for three consecutive months."

(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago, editing by Tiziana Barghini and Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/unemployment-rates-drop-most-states-illinois-climbs-185340048.html

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Ridley, Lazer to build cycling-specific wind tunnel

• By Caley Fretz
• Published 1 day ago

Ridley is among five Belgian cycling brands set to break ground on a cycling-specific wind tunnel. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

CHERASCO, Italy (VN) ? Five Belgian cycling brands have attracted 500,000 euros ($641,000) in government funding to build a new collaborative R&D facility focused on aerodynamics and other ?technologies of human power.? Bike brand Ridley, helmet brand Lazer, clothing brand BioRacer, athletic performance center EnergyLab, and Flanders Drive, a ?mobility knowledge center,? will collaborate on the project, which will feature a low-speed wind tunnel and other R&D facilities.

Such a low-speed wind tunnel would be the first in continental Europe.

The collaboration between the five Flandrian sport brands has been dubbed ?Bike Valley,? a reference to the project?s location in the beating heart of Belgian cycling.

The announcement comes hot on the heals of Specialized?s launch on Thursday of a new in-house, bike-specific wind tunnel, which will allow the brand to further improve its aerodynamics research and development efforts, and the timing seems to be no coincidence.

?[Bike Valley] is the only way we can compete on an investment level with the large global multinationals in the bicycling industry,? Marc Hufkens, Bike Valley manager, said in a statement.

Like the Specialized project, the planned Belgian tunnel will be designed around low-speed testing, ideal for the development of cycling equipment.

The concept was conceived by Ridley, a company that was among the first in the cycling industry to develop an aerodynamic road racing frame, the Noah. But without outside help, in the form of its collaborative partners and the government funds, the brand did not have the resources to complete the project.

?Because Ridley and the other Bike Valley partners are Small and Medium Enterprises (with no more than 100 employees) we can only realize such an ambitious project if we can count on the support of the different governments in Belgium and by working together?, said Hufkens.

Even with five partners on board, it was not until the influx of government funding that the project could begin to take off.

?The funding of 500,000 euro is a milestone not to be underestimated,? Hufkens said. ?One can say this is the actual ?go? in establishing Flanders as a worldwide knowledge hub when it comes to cycling in six different domains: sports, industrial activities, tourism and recreation, health, science and technology, mobility.?

FILED UNDER: Bikes and Tech TAGS: Aerodynamics / Lazer Helmets / Ridley

Source: http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/05/bikes-and-tech/ridley-lazer-to-build-bike-specific-wind-tunnel_287230

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National Secular Society - Census analysis shows Christianity in ...

According to census data analysis published yesterday, the number of British-born Christians is falling significantly, whilst the number of young Muslims is on the rise.

The figures suggest Christianity is in long-term decline in the UK; there are 5.3 million fewer British-born people describing themselves as Christians, representing a decline of 15% in just a decade, despite a growth in the overall population, calling into question the establishment of the Church of England.

Notably, the proportion of young people who describe themselves as even nominal Christians has dropped below half for the first time. Younger people also drove a shift away from religion altogether, with 6.4 million more people describing themselves as having no religion than 10 years earlier.

Whilst initial results from the 2011 census, published last year, showed that the total number of people in England and Wales who described themselves as Christian fell by 4.1 million, equaling a decline of 10%, this figure masked the fact that for British-born Christians the decline was even larger. This is because the figures had been bolstered by 1.2 million foreign born Christians, including Polish Christians and evangelical Christians from places such as Nigeria.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, commented: "Realistically, this trend is irreversible, and the number has dropped below critical mass for which there is no longer any justification for an established Church".

Whilst there has been a drop in those subscribing to the Christian faith, the number of Muslims in England and Wales has surged by 75% ? boosted by almost 600,000 more foreign born followers of the Islamic faith. While almost half of British Muslims are under the age of 25, almost a quarter of Christians are over 65. The average age of a British Muslim is just 25, not far off half that of a British Christian.

David Coleman, Professor of Demography at the University of Oxford, told The Times that the findings showed how Christianity was declining with each generation. "Each large age group, as time progresses, receives less inculcation into Christianity than its predecessor ten years earlier," he said.

Professor Coleman contrasted the decline of the Christian faith through the generations with what happens among Muslims. "We have a Muslim faith where most studies suggest adherence to Islam is not only transmitted through the generations but appears to get stronger," he said. "Indeed, there seems to be some evidence that the second generation Muslims in Britain are more Muslim than their parents."

A spokesman for the Church of England acknowledged: "One of the reasons may well be fewer people identifying as 'cultural Christians', that is those who have no active involvement with churches and who may previously have identified as Christian for cultural or historical reasons.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said that the Church was well aware of its parlous position which is why it is so anxious to reinforce its position in education; "The early indoctrination of children is very important for the continuation of any religion," he said. "Christians know this and Muslims know it. The Church of England has far more primary schools under its control than secondary ones. It knows it needs to start the process earlier in order to keep people in the fold.

"Muslim clerics also know that early indoctrination is essential, which explains the widespread use of madrassas ? which, if we are honest, are little more than brainwashing institutions. There is little wonder that young Muslims are more religious than their parents with such heavy-handed, inescapable religious propaganda being forced on them."

Mr Sanderson said that the institutionalisation of secularism should now be an urgent priority for this government. "Within a few generations we are going to have a battle for supremacy between religions, and the non-religious are being further marginalised despite being a growing group. For the safety of us all we need to ensure that no religion can take control of the state again."

Key points

? In 2011, Christianity had the oldest age profile of the main religious groups.

? The number of Christians has fallen and this was largely for people aged under 60.

? The number of people with no religion has increased across all age groups, particularly for those aged 20 to 24 and the 40 to 44.

? In England and Wales, over nine in ten Christians (93%) were White and nine in ten (89%) were born in the UK, though the numbers have fallen since 2001.

? Nearly four in ten Muslims (38%) reported their ethnicity as Pakistani, a 371,000 increase (from 658,000 to over a million) since 2001. Nearly half of all Muslims were born in the UK.

? The majority of people with no religion were White (93%) and born in the UK (93%)

and these groups have increased since 2001.

? People with no religion had the highest proportion of people who were economically active, Christians and Muslims the lowest. Jewish people had the highest level of employment and Muslim people the highest level of unemployment.

? The main reason for Christians being economically inactive was retirement, for Muslims economic inactivity was mainly because they were students, or because they were looking after the home or family.

Source: http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/05/census-analysis-shows-christianity-in-dramatic-decline-whilst-a-youthful-muslim-population-is-on-the-rise

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Syria ex-minister leads rebuilding plan

BEIRUT (AP) ? A six-member U.N. team led by a former Syrian planning minister is drawing up a comprehensive postwar reconstruction plan even as the country's civil war rages on with no apparent end in sight.

A joint U.S.-Russian push to bring together Syria's political opposition and representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime to negotiate a peaceful transition has given their work new urgency.

In a rare interview, the U.S.-educated economist, Abdullah al-Dardari, told The Associated Press that more than two years of fighting have cost Syria at least $60 billion and caused the vital oil industry to crumble. A quarter of all homes have been destroyed or severely damaged, and much of the medical system is in ruins.

Now, he says, the Syrians have to be ready to rebuild when the fighting ends. He says his team has been overwhelmed with requests for a reconstruction plan to support the U.S.-Russian initiative on the off chance it succeeds.

"I see a glimmer of hope," said al-Dardari, who now works for a Beirut-based U.N. development agency. "There appears to be more readiness for a political compromise by different groups in the opposition and by officials in the government."

Earlier this month, the U.S. and Russia agreed on a joint push to get Syria's political opposition and representatives of the Assad regime to negotiate a political transition in Syria. An international conference, possibly to be held in early June, would help launch talks.

Despite much skepticism, the initiative, announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week in Moscow, is the first serious attempt in a year to end Syria's civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people and displaced more than 5 million.

The two sides remain far apart on the terms for negotiations, with the opposition insisting Assad must step down first and the regime unwilling to commit to an open-ended cease-fire. Both say they want to hear more about the agenda and participants before agreeing to talks.

Al-Dardari's plan, known as the National Agenda for the Future of Syria, is being drafted on the assumption that the conflict, now in its third year, will end by 2015 and that Syria will remain territorially united with a central government based in Damascus, regardless of who ends up ruling the country.

"Is that possible? If one looks at the situation today, then the immediate reaction is, 'No, it's not possible,'" al-Dardari said.

"However, I think the human losses and the catastrophic destruction should create sufficient moral pressure on the parties of this conflict ? internal and external, since this has become a proxy war ? to think seriously of a political compromise."

Syria's vicious civil war, in which the government has relied heavily on its air power to crush the rebels, has destroyed towns and wiped out entire blocks of apartment buildings. Centuries-old markets and archaeological treasures ? once a major tourist draw and source of revenue ? have been gutted by flames and gunfire in places like Aleppo and Homs ? an irreplaceable chapter of history wiped out in a few hours of battle.

Factories, oil pipelines, schools, hospitals, mosques and churches have been systematically destroyed.

The fighting has devastated the Syrian economy, halting the country's oil exports and destroying much of its manufacturing industry and infrastructure.

Deep divisions among Syria's opposition and rebel groups are likely to complicate any international effort to help in reconstruction. Syrians also are convinced they will get little outside help to rebuild.

Al-Dardari appears well placed to be a leading figure in postwar reconstruction plans.

A Sunni Muslim who served as Syria's minister of planning for two years until Assad named him deputy prime minister for economic affairs in 2005, al-Dardari has been credited with masterminding the opening up of Syria's socialist-style economy into a free market enterprise, courting foreign investors and advocating political reforms to accompany the country's economic transformation.

He quietly left his government post in the summer of 2011, a few months after the uprising erupted against Assad's regime, which is dominated by Syria's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. He joined the U.N soon after and remains a neutral figure who meets with opposition representatives and government officials.

Since August, he has been working as chief economist at the Beirut-based U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), heading a team of six economists and 30 experts inside and outside Syria.

Al-Dardari knows he faces a monumental task in any reconstruction effort.

He estimates the overall damage to Syria's economy three years into the conflict at $60-$80 billion. The economy has shrunk by about 35 percent, compared to the 6 percent annual growth Syria marked in the five years before the conflict began in March 2011. The economy has lost almost 40 percent of its GDP, and foreign reserves have been extensively depleted. Unemployment has shot up from 500,000 before the crisis to at least 2.5 million this year.

The fighting has destroyed or damaged 1.2 million homes nationwide, a quarter of all Syrian houses, al-Dardari said. In addition, around 3,000 schools and 2,000 factories have been destroyed, and almost half of the medical system ? including hospitals and health centers ? is in ruins.

To rebuild the 1.2 million homes, Syria needs $22 billion, plus an additional $6 billion to provide electricity, water, gas and other infrastructure, he estimates.

"The projections are sobering, if not scary," al-Dardari said, adding that fighting needs to end to strengthen the chance of Syria remaining a unified country, not a collection of self-ruled, sect-based entities.

"The fighting needs to stop soon, very soon, and it needs to end with a political solution that will preserve national sovereignty and territorial integrity, or there will be no economic reconstruction, and we'll lose Syria as a country altogether," he warned.

His team has put the reconstruction of the country's energy sector as a top priority. "It will provide a major source of cash for a country that will be stripped of cash," al-Dardari said.

Before the uprising, the oil sector was a pillar of Syria's economy, with the country producing about 380,000 barrels a day and exports ? mostly to Europe ? bringing in more than $3 billion in 2010. But the vital industry has buckled as rebels captured many of the country's oil fields, setting wells aflame and looters scooping up crude. Exports have ground practically to a standstill as production has dwindled.

The priority for any postwar government, al-Dardari said, will be repairing the pipelines and wells that were destroyed, rebuilding Syrian refining capacity to its prewar level of 200,000 barrels a day and bringing daily oil exports to 160,000 or 170,000 barrels a day.

His group is also in touch with Syrian industrialists and businessmen who would form the crux of any reconstruction effort.

The prospect of implementing any rebuilding plan hinges on the ability of the country's warring parties to come together, al-Dardari said ? a tall order in the face of the sectarian hatred and brutal revenge killings that have marked the uprising,

But without territorial unity, a central authority and a strong, functioning civil administration across the country's 14 provinces, Syrian investors, who al-Dardari says will provide the bulk of funds for rebuilding, will not return and infuse the needed cash.

"If I were a Syrian businessman or woman who left Syria and took my business with me, and were to fly back into Damascus airport, I would want to see that Syrian customs ? not some sort of other entity ? and Syrian police are there," al-Dardari said.

Al-Dardari's project does not address the political makeup of a postwar government in Damascus.

"We are planning for the rebuilding of Syria after the dust settles," he said. "We don't interfere in the question of who should run Syria."

___

Follow Barbara Surk at http://www.twitter.com/BarbaraSurkAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-ex-minister-leads-rebuilding-plan-061705619.html

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Food by Numbers | Toronto Standard

The Canadian public met its first nutrition label in 2003, and, as a country, we've gotten increasingly fatter ever since. Of course the food industry itself has changed, and continues to change everyday?antibiotics, growth hormones, preservatives, and pesticides now paint the food we eat on a daily basis. Modern health ailments started to plauge us in tandem with these changes, and we started to get fatter and sicker by the day. As our midsections expanded, so did the weight loss industry?both growing increaisngly plump. We then found a new acute hypersensitivity to food. Terms like gluten free, low fat, low calorie, low carb, sugar free, casein free, paleo, pescetarian, vegan, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, and alkaline infiltrated our minds and, like drool off a dog?s tongue in mid-August, started rolling off our tongues in thick globs. In its constant chase to the island of thin, the fashion world embraced all of the above with one arm open. The other arm was busy clutching a cold-pressed juice.

With this newfound hypersensitivity, members of health boards from New York to Toronto started implementing further restrictions and warnings on packaging. Adults who were once free to make their own choices started being stripped of this privilege in gradual increments: A soda size restriction, an enlarged cigarette warning, portion controlled pre-packaged foods, and more detailed nutrition labels leaked into our day-to-day lives. The assumption that adults could exercise self-control and reason was annihilated and replaced by stark warnings and public control. We have unknowingly started living in a food industry that bears resemblance to a controlled ant farm.

Following the trend of pubic control, Toronto?s board of health released new legislation recently. If passed, the legislation would require chain restaurants with annual revenue of over ten million dollars to display calorie and sodium content beside each menu item. And, while no one has made the claim that these two numbers will provide a complete nutritional profile, they have argued that the numbers would help consumers make more informed choices when eating at Toronto?s big chain restaurants. When contrasted against the restaurant industry?s feeble combative claims of opposition, this pro-legislation argument stands strong. More information should equal a healthier public consciousness. Yet if the last ten years of increased information and heightened rates of obesity and diabetes have taught us anything, it?s that this statement isn?t necessarily true. Instead of slapping numbers beside, on top of, and around the food we eat in hopes of producing an informed decision, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate our relationship with food entirely.

Today, the average person thinks about food at least 200 times per day. Occupying a large area of these 200 thoughts are our cravings-- the foods we would like to have but know are ?bad? for us, along with the feelings of guilt and temporary satisfaction we?ve tied to them with Nutella ribbons. Also marking its territory in our 200 thoughts is what we won?t eat. Everything/anything-free diets are running rampant across plates everywhere as we?re consumed by thoughts of elimination, weight loss, and a constant chase to an undefined location-- one requires us to be thinner than we are today upon arrival. The appreciation and gratitude that a meal requires to be enjoyed and savored has been largely exchanged for habitual eating and feelings of guilt and resentment both towards the food on our plates and towards the reflections we see when we look in the mirror.?

While Vogue and Karl Largerfeld are easy to blame for what has turned into an unhealthy obsession with food, perhaps the real culprit lies somewhere between the world of stick-thin models and 3 a.m. trips to Taco Bell (what?). Today?s omnipresent nutrition facts have turned food into numbers and figures, which has stripped many of us of the ability to see food as a positive thing. Despite the new legislation, or the fact that one would be required to eat at chain restaurants regularly for it to have any measurable effect on health (which really is a much bigger problem), this consuming predicament of food and ?nutrition? obsession will continue to persist.

The fashion world is particularly guilty for its obsession with what it puts between (and leaves out of) its Tom Forded lips. We constantly look for the secret that will leave us thinner, because thinner must equal happier. One week we?re told it?s drinking Apple Cider Vinegar, the next it?s a juice fast, standing naked in a sub-zero room, after that it?s consuming a tablespoon of unfiltered raw coconut oil everyday. From calorie counting to vinegar swallowing, I have tried it all. After years of fad dieting and finding myself largely plagued by thoughts of food, I am slowly realizing the only sustainable solution to our modern ?nutrition? obsession is to find a healthy appreciation for food, stopping at least some of the food-related numbers from jangling in our heads.?

Today?s increasingly strong association between figures and food will not restore our bulging inseams. Instead of being plagued by caloric values, sodium percentages, and carb-counts dictating what we can, can?t, and want to eat, or looking at food as a form of twisted punishment, we need to stop letting 200 daily food thoughts, and detailed numbers consume our minds. The diet industry continues to expand with our waistbands; our acute awareness has led to all-consuming thoughts, fad dieting, and binge eating.

While McDonalds? lunch crowds and fashion types may appear to have nothing in common?the two demographics share 200 thoughts, thoughts that are swept under the rug and given time to breed together until they consume us in increments of Hidden Valley Ranch Sauce. While we cannot, all at once, drop our MyFitnessPal apps and run into a life not bound by food obsession, we can start to acknowledge its existence. Placing sodium and caloric values beside the menu items of large chain restaurants may seem like part of a solution to our overwhelming problem. Yet exiling some of our 200 daily thoughts feels like a more sustainable start. Maybe then we won?t find ourselves feverishly scooping heaps of McFlurry into our mouths to begin with.

____

Claudia McNeilly writes for?Toronto Standard. You can follow her on twitter at?@claudiamcneilly.

For more, follow us on Twitter?@TorontoStandard?and subscribe to our?newsletter.

Source: http://www.torontostandard.com/style/food-by-numbers

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Fearing Afghan instability, Russia mulls border troops

By Amie Ferris-Rotman

KABUL (Reuters) - Russia, predicting instability once NATO-led troops withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of next year, is considering deploying border guards on the Tajik-Afghan border, Moscow's envoy to Kabul told Reuters in an interview.

Moscow, still sore from its disastrous, decade-long war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, is increasingly concerned by what it describes as the combined threat of narcotics and terrorism reaching Russia through former Soviet Central Asian countries.

"We prefer to tackle this problem on the Afghan border to stop these threats," Andrey Avetisyan said late on Thursday in the Russian embassy in Kabul.

Its sprawling grounds host a Soviet-built teal Volga car recovered in Afghanistan by embassy staff and a memorial to the 15,000 Soviet lives lost in the war against mujahideen fighters.

"We used to have a serious presence on the Afghan-Tajik border and, at that time, the situation there was much better, so it would be in the interest of both Russia and Tajikistan and even Afghanistan if Russia is present there," he said.

Avetisyan said such a presence would involve Russian border troops, but declined to give a number.

Russian border guards used to patrol the Tajik frontier with Afghanistan but left in 2005, ending a Soviet-era legacy and handing all power over to local authorities. Ex-Soviet Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan also border Afghanistan to its north.

Avetisyan said any agreement on border troop deployment would "of course" have to be agreed upon with Tajikistan.

Intensifying violence across Afghanistan, less than two years before foreign combat troops withdraw, has sent tremors of worry across Russia, which is battling an Islamist insurgency in its North Caucasus as well as widespread use of heroin and a huge increase in the incidence of HIV and AIDS.

Russia is involved in a series of ambitious construction projects in Afghanistan, including rebuilding its Soviet-era cultural centre [ID:nL3E8MB2NJ], aimed at fostering stability in the country which produces 90 percent of the world's opium.

Avetisyan, who also worked for the Soviet government in Kabul during Moscow's war, said fighting in northern Afghanistan -- traditional bastions of anti-Taliban power groups -- offers proof of a "general destabilization of the situation".

COMPARISONS WITH SOVIET CAMPAIGN

Comparisons are being increasingly drawn between the Soviet and NATO-led wars, and the Taliban have repeatedly warned Washington that it will encounter the same fate met by Moscow.

After the dispirited Soviet exit in 1989, the Afghan communist government collapsed, leading to infighting between warlords and a civil war that reduced much of Kabul to rubble and paved the way for the Taliban's rise to power in 1996.

"What have they been doing for the past 12 years?" Avetisyan asked of the current campaign, America's longest war.

"Fighting against terrorism with 150,000 troops without any success," he said, adding that a continued troop presence after 2014 "doesn't make any sense".

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to soon announce how many combat troops Washington will leave after the withdrawal. Many Afghans are eager to know the size of the post-2014 force, fearing chaos and civil war could erupt with no foreign presence.

The United States is widely expected to retain nine bases across Afghanistan after 2014, NATO officials said after Afghan President Hamid Karzai revealed the plan this month.

But Avetisyan said any future U.S. military role in the country must be an international legal arrangement approved by the United Nations Security Council, in which Russia has veto power.

"A long-term or permanent military presence of a foreign force will be a reason of concern for us, especially if they are military bases. We would like to know what the purpose is and we still don't have answers to these questions," he said.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fearing-afghan-instability-russia-mulls-border-troops-081751277.html

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Panasonic refreshes Toughbook H2 with faster processor, bigger storage and stronger shell

We've never understood why Panasonic chose to brand its top-line tablet as the Toughbook H2, but given the hairy-chested types who build and use the gear, we're not gonna challenge 'em. The company hasn't messed too much with the Windows 7 slate, except pushing the top chip to a 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U and to swap out the 320GB 7,200RPM shock-mounted HDD for a 500GB model. Panasonic has also tweaked the hardware's polycarbonate-encased magnesium alloy chassis, with MIL-STD-810G1 ensuring that the gear will survive drops from six-feet, as well as IP651 weather-proofing. The 3.5-pound unit also sees its battery life pushed to seven hours and also gains boosted WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1+EDR connectivity. Once you've selected a unit, there's a hefty list of possible add-ons, including barcode scanners, smart card readers, Gobi-running 3G, LTE and GPS options. There's even a model that meets MIL-STD-461F standards for electromagnetic protection -- useful if your day job involves battling superheroes. The standard unit will set you back $3,349 and comes with a three-year international warranty, so you'd better get buttering-up your procurement manager now.

Filed under: Tablets

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

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The Decision To Delay Divorce: 3 Ways Couples ... - Psych Central

This guest article from YourTango was written by Abby Rodman.

A therapist I know once suggested that staying?married?is a choice you make on a daily basis.

She said that every morning when you wake up and look over at your snoring spouse, you?re?deciding ? on some level ? to?stay married?one more day. This isn?t a psyche-challenging exercise if you?re in a good, or good enough, marriage. It?s an autopilot decision you don?t even know you?ve made.

But if you?re wondering daily whether you?re?in the right marriage, this decision becomes a gut-wrenching task that occupies?every?waking thought.

You?re consumed with the realization that your marriage is on the low end of the proverbial marital satisfaction spectrum. All the more confusing is that you may find yourself moving up and down that spectrum like a zipline gone haywire. One day the marriage seems almost tolerable, the next you?re fantasizing about running out for milk and never coming back.

You know you?re unhappy in your marriage when you?re always wondering whether or not you?re happy. Happily married people aren?t asking themselves if they?re happy. They just are. And admitting to yourself that you?re unhappy in your relationship is not going to top your list of life?s great moments. The realization that you have to end your marriage is painful and the timing never feels right. Between your kids? soccer schedules, your full-time job, your sick mother-in-law, your niece?s upcoming wedding, your partner?s perpetual underemployment and your second mortgage, there?s always some excuse to delay the inevitable.

In my psychotherapy practice, clients often ask me when they?ll be completely sure that it?s time for a?divorce. I tell them that only they can answer that.?I also tell them that ready-to-divorce folks often describe a feeling of desperation that engulfs them in a way they?ve never experienced before. ?I felt like if I?didn?t get out, I was going to die,? clients say. Their lives start to feel more like death.

Recently, a client told me she wanted to wait until she was sure she?d have no regrets about her decision whatsoever. I told her that?s impossible. Why? Because it?s impossible to hurt the people important to you and not have some lingering doubt about your decision. It?s impossible to assign your kids the designation of being ?from a broken home? and not have some lasting sadness.

But here?s the reality: that doesn?t mean your decision to?divorce?is wrong. And although it?s imperative to take your time making this decision, folks often get mired in time-wasting efforts that do nothing but delay the inevitable. In fact, there are three things people do routinely that keep them imprisoned in pre-divorce misery. If deciding to divorce is taking you much longer than you think is healthy or necessary, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you trying to convince your spouse that your perspective of the marriage is the ?right? one?

Your marriage has a unique story and the two people in it have very different versions to tell. In unhappy unions, these versions are often very different. If you?re expending a lot of energy trying to convince your spouse that your story of the marriage is the right version, do both of you a favor and stop. He doesn?t see it your way and he isn?t going to. Rehashing the story of when your marriage went wrong isn?t useful, it?s painful and destructive. And, in reality, there?s truth in both of your stories. It?s like when police interview witnesses of a violent crime and no one can agree on what color shirt the perpetrator was wearing. It?s all about perspective. Just agree to disagree.

2. Are you trying to convince your spouse that staying in the marriage (or leaving it) is the best decision?

Often when?couples?are considering divorce, one partner wants to leave and the other wants to hang in there and try to make it work. If you have a partner who adamantly wants out, there?s little chance you?re going to convince him otherwise. You can pull out all the stops trying to change his mind but at some point, you have to accept his decision and?find a way to move on. You?re also not going to convince your partner that divorce is for the best when he?s sure that it will destroy his life. That?s what usually makes divorce so contentious. You each want a vastly different outcome. So don?t wait for your spouse to give you the green light; you?re not going to get it.

3. Are you trying to get your spouse to singularly take the blame for the demise of the marriage?

If you?re endlessly passing the baton of blame back and forth, you?re wasting precious time. You?ve both played a role in the disintegration of the marriage. In the end, does it really matter who shoulders the blame? Instead, work on creating a post-divorce financial plan and focus on helping your kids through the transition. No?family?court judge has the time or resources to consider how he didn?t come to your father?s funeral or that you sexted with the pool boy at the country club. Don?t whittle away your energy trying to convince yourself or others whose fault all of this is. No-fault divorce laws exist for a reason.

Ultimately, the decision to divorce can only come from you. No therapist in the world can, or should, tell you if or when it?s the right choice for you. What I can offer you, though, is this:?it?s time to divorce when you have tried everything to keep your marriage together and nothing has worked. It?s time to divorce when divorcing is perpetually on the table as a possibility: happily married people don?t talk about divorcing. It?s time when you can?t imagine the rest of your life with this person, when he makes your life into sadness with no end in sight. It?s time when, yes, your life starts to feel more like death.

?

More divorce advice from YourTango:

Contributed by YourTango.com, an online magazine dedicated to love, life and relationships. From dating to marriage, parenting to empty-nest, relationship challenges to relationship success, YourTango is at the center of the conversations that are closest to our over 7 million readers' hearts. With daily contributions from our Experts, we have a little something for everyone looking to create healthier lives. We're excited to offer our contributions to the PsychCentral community, and invite you to visit us on YourTango.com.

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????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 12 May 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Experts, Y. (2013). Should You Delay Divorce? 3 Ways Couples Put It Off. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 16, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/15/should-you-delay-divorce-3-ways-couples-put-it-off/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/15/should-you-delay-divorce-3-ways-couples-put-it-off/

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