Hasta La Gadget!

If you think that your smartphone is one tough cookie, then think again if you are not using the
//www.ubergizmo.com/2014/02/sony-xperia-z2-hands-on/”>Sony Xperia Z2, as that particular model could which was encased in a block of ice continued to work when it was thawed, now how about that when it comes to mainstream longevity? Well, there were whispers going around earlier today that Verizon could be bringing the Sony Xperia Z2, but it seems that it will not be the handset that will appear on Big Red, but rather, the Xperia Z2 tablet itself, at least according to an anonymous tipster.

Apparently, the anonymous tipster claims that the Xperia Z2 which appeared on the screenshot was actually a reference to a tablet device with the same namesake, after allegedly having gone through a training course. It was pointed out that the training material happened to touch on all things tablet, which means Verizon might just skip the Sony Xperia Z2 handset in the end.

Just to recap, the Sony Xperia Z2 tablet arrives with a 10.1” display that sports a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels. You will find a quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 processor powering it, alongside an Adreno 330 GPU underneath the hood, while it will also be accompanied by 3GB RAM and 16GB of internal memory. If that is (surely) insufficient for your needs, you can always take advantage of the microSD memory card slot, while snapping photos using the 2.2MP and 8.1MP cameras, all of it tied together by Android 4.4 KitKat alongside a 6,000mAh battery

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet Could Head For Verizon , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Yesterday, after the Republican National Committee named Cleveland as its 2016 convention site, a writer for Politico added his two cents to the national narrative about Cleveland. “Cleveland: 10 things to know” obviously meant well but started with something that happened 45 years ago and had all the hallmarks of a hastily cobbled together piece that involved no original reporting and leaned heavily on things other people had written, like, um, Wikipedia.

How hard would it have been for Politico to ask a Cleveland writer or two what the country should know about our town? Not very. And honestly, I’ve come to expect more depth from Politico. No one asked me, but I’m here to help. So, here’s “Cleveland: 10 Things Politico Should Know.”

(Before I start, can I just say that I kind of hate the listicle? When you put “list” and “article” together, you get a word that reminds me of the male apparatus, which regardless of your preference is just plain dissonant to the act of reading news. Also, I’ve never read one that provides depth. That said, it has clearly become a genre of effective click bait, so let’s go.)

1. The nation should thank Cleveland for the EPA and Clean Water Act. Rivers in industrial cities used to catch fire all the time. The Cuyahoga last caught fire in 1969. A photo of a fire on the river from 1952 made it into Time Magazine in 1969. The ’52 blaze was a bad fire, to be sure, and people noticed. That piece in Time is often credited with fueling the push to clean up our nation’s waterways.

2. At that time, Cleveland was fortunate to have the leadership of Carl and Louis Stokes. Carl Stokes had just become the first African American mayor of a major American City (Cleveland), and his older brother Lou had just become Ohio’s first African American Congressman. Their advocacy on a national stage and used Cleveland’s fight against environmental degradation as a part of a larger strategy that ultimately led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act. (The river having burned is a crucial part in our regional narrative, and now, every summer, the Great Lakes Brewing Company hosts a sustainability fair called Burning River Fest.)

3. While we’re on the river, it’s worth noting that civic leaders are in the process of completing the final miles of the Ohio and Erie Canalway, an ambitious, 100+ mile towpath trail that, when completed, will extend from Lake Erie’s shores, along the Cuyahoga, through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (yes, Cleveland is near a national park), through Akron and ultimately to New Philadelphia.

4. The architect who designed what may be the most famous park in America, maybe even the world, is designing our front yard. James Corner, who lent his singular genius to the High Line, which has become New York’s most popular destination, is re-designing Cleveland’s Public Square, a 10-acre park in the heart of the city that at our founding was the Commons for the original settlers.

5. Cleveland is the site one of the most ambitious public education reform efforts happening anywhere in the country. Several years ago, leaders in philanthropy began collaborating with school district officials on best practices and imagining new ways of doing the business of educating children in public schools. Slowly, the collaboration grew, and today, it is a partnership including municipal, county and state government, Democrats, including Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Republicans, including Governor John Kasich and House Speaker Bill Batchelder, the Cleveland Teachers Union, charter schools, and the business community. The plan is supported by tailor made legislation passed by both parties and a five-year, 15 mill levy approved by 55 percent of city voters.

6. Cleveland is where the modern energy business got started. Forget what you think you know about oil and Texas. John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil in Cleveland. That entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well today, with spinoffs coming out of major education and medical institution and tech accelerators channeling capital and mentorship to the emerging companies that need them most.

7. Cleveland is also where modern philanthropy began. The first community foundation was founded here 100 years ago. And 101 years ago, the United Way was born here as the nation’s first Community Chest. Today, the Cleveland Foundation has nearly $2 billion in assets and supports the community with some $80 million in grants annually.

8. Cuyahoga County is a national leader in local public funding of the arts, outranking San Francisco and Miami for public grant dollars awarded. We do it through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, which generates revenue from a tax on cigarettes and distributes it through a lean organization and transparent and inclusive grant process.

9. Cleveland (together with Akron) is the fourth U.S. city to host the Gay Games. After San Francisco, New York and Chicago, GG9 comes to Northeast Ohio next month. GG10 will be in Paris in 2016. We’ll be busy that summer.

10. And yes, sports are a big deal, and we are in a drought. Whatevs. The Indians are one game out from .500 and they just beat the Yankees at home.

What else should Politico know? You tell me.

The only thing bad about eating ice cream during the summer is how fast the frozen deliciousness melts. After two minutes, it’s dripping onto your elbows and your forearm is sticky for the rest of the day. No one likes melted ice cream. That’s why it’s so bizarre that watching ice cream melt in this time lapse by Ilsoo Yang is so mesmerizing. Like seeing the cosmos in our cones.

Read more…

SYRACUSE, N.Y., July 8 (Reuters) – Three people were confirmed killed near Syracuse, New York, from the collapse of three homes attributed to a possible tornado during a severe thunderstorm on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

The storm with damaging high winds struck a short distance from the hamlet of Peterboro in Madison County, New York, roughly 25 miles southeast of Syracuse, at about 7 p.m. local time, the Weather Service office in Binghamton said in a bulletin.

Severe weather was reported by the Weather Service across much of the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday afternoon and evening. (Reporting by Matthew Liptak in Syracuse; Additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson from Seattle; Writing by Steve Gorman)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal investigative agency is examining 67 claims of retaliation by supervisors at the Department of Veterans Affairs against employees who filed whistleblower complaints — including 25 complaints filed since June 1, after a growing health care scandal involving long patient waits and falsified records at VA hospitals and clinics became public.

The independent Office of Special Counsel said 30 of the complaints about retaliation have passed the initial review stage and were being further investigated for corrective action and possible discipline against VA supervisors and other executives. The complaints were filed in 28 states at 45 separate facilities, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said. Lerner provided the figures in testimony prepared for a Tuesday night hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The Associated Press obtained copies of her testimony and other witnesses in advance.

Lerner said her office has been able to block disciplinary actions against several VA employees who reported wrongdoing, including one who reported a possible crime at a VA facility in New York.

The counsel’s office also reversed a suspension for a VA employee in Hawaii who reported seeing an elderly patient being improperly restrained in a wheelchair. The whistleblower was granted full back pay and an unspecified monetary award and the official who retaliated against the worker was suspended, Lerner said.

In a related development, the VA said Tuesday it was restructuring its Office of Medical Inspector following a scathing report by Lerner’s agency last month.

Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said the department would appoint an interim director of the medical inspector’s office from outside the current office and was suspending the office’s hotline immediately. All complaints would be referred to the VA’s Office of Inspector General.

The head of the medical inspector’s office retired June 30 following a report by the Office of Special Counsel saying that his office played down whistleblower complaints pointing to “a troubling pattern of deficient patient care” at VA facilities.

“Intimidation or retaliation — not just against whistleblowers, but against any employee who raises a hand to identify a problem, make a suggestion or report what may be a violation in law, policy or our core values — is absolutely unacceptable,” Gibson said in a statement. “I will not tolerate it in our organization.”

Meanwhile, a doctor at the Phoenix veterans hospital says she was harassed and humiliated after complaining about problems at the hospital, where dozens of veterans died while on waiting lists for appointments.

Dr. Katherine Mitchell said the hospital’s emergency room was severely understaffed and could not keep up with “the dangerous flood of patients” there. Mitchell, a former co-director of the Phoenix VA hospital’s ER, said in testimony prepared for the House committee that strokes, heart attacks, internal head bleeding and other serious medical problems were missed by staffers “overwhelmed by the glut of patients.”

Her complaints about staffing problems were ignored, Mitchell said, and she was transferred, suspended and reprimanded.

Mitchell, a 16-year veteran at the Phoenix VA, now directs a program for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at the hospital. She said problems she pointed out to supervisors put patients’ lives at risk.

“It is a bitter irony that our VA cannot guarantee high-quality health care in the middle of cosmopolitan Phoenix” to veterans who survived wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korea, she said.

Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA’s Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta, said he was placed on involuntary leave after reporting that officials were “wasting millions of dollars” on a direct mail marketing campaign to promote the health care overhaul signed by President Barack Obama. Davis also reported the possible purging and deletion of at least 10,000 veterans’ health records at the Atlanta center. More records and documents could be deleted or manipulated to mask a major backlog and mismanagement, Davis said. Those records would be hard to identify because of computer-system integrity issues, he said.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House veterans panel, praised Mitchell and other whistleblowers for coming forward, despite threats of retaliation that included involuntary transfers and suspensions.

“Unlike their supervisors, these whistleblowers have put the interests of veterans before their own,” Miller said. “They understand that metrics and measurements mean nothing without personal responsibility.”

Rather than push whistleblowers out, “It is time that VA embraces their integrity and recommits itself to accomplishing the promise of providing high quality health care to veterans,” Miller said.

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Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC