Continuing the train of leaks and rumors about the Galaxy Alpha family, we are now getting a glimpse of what could be the smaller, and likely cheaper, of them all, currently identified as the SM-A300. Luckily for us, this smartphone has popped up at Chinese certification TENAA, giving us a bit more detail about this supposedly metal-bearing budget smartphone. Calling … Continue reading
We can’t claim we’ve ever plucked a Comme Des Garçons look straight from the runway and worn it for our annual review, or showed up to an interview in a carnival-esque Thom Browne dress. That’s because, as amazing as they may be, many high-fashion trends won’t earn HR’s stamp of approval.
Products that let you control your blinds with your smartphone or tablet are a dime a dozen at this point, but options to automate other oft-used items in your home are less common. One of those things are the blinds on your windows — while there are automated versions available, you have to shell out for a complete (usually expensive) … Continue reading
The roll-out of iOS 8 hasn’t been a smooth one , but new reports suggest that a fully-fledged 8.1 update may not be far away. MacRumors reports that the first beta developer release of the next iteration of the OS contains setting for Apple Pay, which is set to launch October —along with references to Touch ID for iPad.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The transfer of prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay has ground to a halt amid a slow Pentagon approval process, causing deep frustration within the administration and raising doubts that President Barack Obama will be able to fulfill his campaign promise to close the offshore prison for terrorism suspects.
A detainee sent back to his native Algeria in March is the only prisoner to have moved out this year, beyond the controversial exchange of five Taliban members in return for long-held captive U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The slow pace is the result of the law that gives Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — not the commander in chief — the final authority to transfer any of the 149 terror suspects being held at Guantanamo. Pentagon officials say they must carefully consider the risks before signing off, given that others have returned to terrorism.
The White House has reminded the Pentagon that recidivism risks must be weighed against the danger to the United States in keeping the Cuban prison open. Obama has said Guantanamo’s continued operation hurts U.S. standing overseas and is a recruitment tool for terrorists.
“The president would absolutely like to see more progress in our efforts to close Guantanamo,” Obama counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said. “He wants it closed. He’s pushing his own team very hard, raising it weekly with me, with Secretary Hagel, with Secretary (of State John) Kerry. He also wants Congress to act to remove the restrictions in place that are making it even harder to move forward.”
For years, Congress used its budget power to block Obama from making transfers. The president announced in May 2013 that he was appointing special envoys for Guantanamo closure at the State and Defense departments to move prisoners out “to the greatest extent possible.” Congress responded by lifting some of the complicated restrictions for transfers, allowing them when Hagel determines steps have been taken to reduce the risk that detainees will re-engage in the fight.
“My name goes on that document, that’s a big responsibility,” Hagel said earlier this year. “I’m taking my time. I owe that to the American people, I owe that to the president.”
Hagel was responding to a question about the months that had passed since Uruguay offered to take six detainees. Hagel eventually signed off, after a call from White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, according to administration officials. Meanwhile, controversy grew over the deal in Uruguay and officials there say it is now unlikely to proceed before their fall election.
Ian Moss, who works in the office of State Department envoy Clifford Sloan, said Uruguay and the U.S. are “absolutely committed” to making the transfer, but he can’t say when. “We are actively engaging a wide variety of governments and working diligently to transfer each of 79 detainees currently approved for transfer,” Moss said.
Administration officials say the State Department has reached or is finalizing agreements with foreign governments to accept about two dozen detainees. An administration official said 11 of those deals have been awaiting Hagel’s signature, some for many months.
“Many countries are willing to help, but willingness is not everything,” said Paul Lewis, the Pentagon’s envoy for Guantanamo closure. He said Hagel is “absolutely committed to close Guantanamo,” but under the law Pentagon officials have to closely examine security in the receiving country, including whether detainees who have been previously released have returned to the fight or could move over a porous border. “We’re being careful and deliberative.”
Administration officials described a viewpoint among some who work on detainee policy in the military that Guantanamo should remain open indefinitely rather than risk that a detainee will return to terrorism. Some detainees have been released and then recaptured, including June’s arrest in Spain of a former prisoner accused of recruiting militants for the Islamic State group.
Administration officials say Obama national security adviser Susan Rice wrote to Hagel in May, laying out Obama’s view that there’s never zero risk in transferring a detainee but that assessment must be balanced against the risk of keeping the prison open.
“The president’s expectation is that all detainees who have been determined to be eligible for transfer or release … will be repatriated or resettled from Guantanamo Bay as quickly as possible, consistent with U.S. national security interests,” Rice’s letter said, according to parts read to The Associated Press.
Transferring out approved detainees is only the first step to shuttering the prison established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A more complicated question looms over how to handle the most dangerous prisoners. Congress has prohibited Obama from bringing them to the United States for detention or trial, leaving them nowhere to be held other than Guantanamo.
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Scientists are getting a rare look at the brain of a mummy thanks to an imprint left inside the skull of someone who lived more than 2,000 years ago in Egypt.
The mummy, found in 2010 with more than 50 others in the Kom al-Ahmar/Sharuna necropolis, is unique in that blood vessels of the brain were imprinted into the skull, according to Live Science.
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“This is the oldest case of mummified vascular prints,” Dr. Albert Isidro, co-author of a study on the mummy, told Live Science.
During mummification, the brain was removed through the nose. Live Science reports that it’s rare for any brain tissue to be left behind, but something must have happened during the process in this case that didn’t happen in the others.
Archaeology Magazine reports that the inside of the skull of the mummy, referred to as W19, was coated with a preservative during mummification. That, in turn, appears to be what left the impression in the skull.
Since the same imprints weren’t found in the other mummies, scientists aren’t sure just how it happened. They believe there may have been a change in the temperature or acidity of the preservative.
“The conditions in this case must have been quite extraordinary,” the researchers wrote in the journal Cortex, according to Live Science. The result is what they described as “exquisite anatomical details,” specifically a look at the middle meningeal artery, the website reported.
The mummy is believe to be from somewhere between 550 and 150 BC.
There’s a piano tucked into the corner like a baby in a bassinet. It’s guarded by a pair of guitars. But these instruments play second fiddle to the incense. There is none burning, yet the living room is filled with the memory of its sweet, seductive scent.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Anne in a mindful moment.
What is or isn’t in the air is more noticeable because it’s a million degrees outside, and Anne Cheteyan doesn’t have an air conditioner or even a fan.
The windows, barricaded inside by padlocked bars, are open only about a foot. She’s wearing a sleeveless black shift, black platform sandals and her long black hair knotted on top of her head. She’s drinking a lot of ice water.
There is a candle burning on the small, round table next to her. Anne’s a shaman, and the bells, spiritual medallions, basalt stones, blunt brass knife, wood fragments, twigs, pinecone, sage bowl and merkaba displayed there, along with her rattle and medicine bundle, are the tools of her trade.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
New doors and windows opened for her.
“I’m not a fortune teller, a psychic or a medium,” she says. “Many people find themselves stuck in old patterns. I help them clear these patterns, or imprints, by cleaning their chakras, or energy centers, so they can break free and write a new story.”
Anne, a native Astorian, didn’t have a shaman to help her write her own new story. She had to do it by herself.
In her formative years, it was tough going. Her parents divorced when she was a baby, and she was raised by her mother. They moved into the one-bedroom apartment she’s still living in when Anne was 14. When her mother remarried five years later, Anne took over the lease.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
The shaman’s props.
Anne was, by her own admission, a “tumultuous teenager.” Eager to embrace the world, she quit high school in her senior year, and, after earning a GED, tried out jobs as though she were auditioning party clothes.
She worked in a bank, a restaurant, a costume shop and a daily newspaper and as a freelance bookkeeper and piano teacher before she found the perfect fit. For 11 years, she played Gal Friday to noted psychiatrist Bertram H. Schaffner, who died at 97 in 2010. A color photo of him hangs beside the piano.
“He remembered me in his will,” Anne says. “I used the money to enroll in shaman school. I felt it was appropriate; it, like, psychiatry, is all about healing.”
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
For Anne, the healing came later in life.
This was not a rash or radical decision.
“I’ve always been a person who has a knowing,” she says. “I know things I don’t really know and don’t know how I know. Then my third eye opened, and I started having dreams. I would go out in the world and be in them. It freaked me out.”
Shaman school became a journey of self-exploration, and Anne is eager to channel the positive energy.
Before seeing each client, Anne centers herself through breathing exercises that open a sacred space.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Anne’s rattle and medicine bundle.
During the cleansing session, which can last two to three hours, she calls upon the energy of the angels and the stones in her medicine bundle and other props to solve the problem. She sings, shakes her rattle and prays while the patient lies on a portable table.
“It’s like dancing between two worlds — the seen and the unseen,” she says. “The spirit will tell me what I want to know; I’m the intermediary between the spirit and the person. It’s a beautiful process.”
In the physical world, Anne earns her living as a piano teacher, an additional occupation she has done for decades.
“It’s funny because I never did like school,” she says. “But I did have a lot of wonderful teachers in my life, and I am grateful for all they brought to me. I wanted to teach so I could do the same for others.”
Her students recently gave a recital. Anne produces a photo that shows the hall. She helped them make the scenery. The paper palm leaves she cut out of construction paper are still sitting in her easy chair.
For the last couple of years, Anne has been leading tai chi classes in Socrates Sculpture Park, which gives her a chance to merge the spiritual and the physical.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Anne’s rooftop chimney mural.
Art is another of Anne’s pursuits. Through the years, she’s filled five spiral notebooks with sketches, and she painted murals on the red-brick chimney of her apartment building. One is of a larger-than-life saint-like woman surrounded by a halo of the sun’s rays.
Anne doesn’t know what the future will bring. Her medicine bundle does not hold a crystal ball.
Photo by Nancy A. Ruhling
Connecting with the spiritual world.
What’s going to happen is not important. She’s learned to live in the here and now and to follow her intuition.
“Love is what counts,” she says. “It’s what matters.”
She blows out the candle, and the smoke snakes to the ceiling.
Nancy A. Ruhling may be reached at Nruhling@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014 by Nancy A. Ruhling
When we think about eSports, we think of competitive games like StarCraft 2, DotA 2, League of Legends, and so on, and rarely do we equate playing an MMORPG like World of Warcraft as being one. That being said, it seems that Blizzard could be looking at ways to turn World of Warcraft into an eSport.
Speaking to PCGamesN, Blizzard’s head of eSports Kim Phan was quoted as saying that this is an area that Blizzard wants to look at. “I can definitely say that WoW 3v3 Arena right now is kind of hard to watch, in the form that it is. And so there are things that we want to evaluate.” He adds that World of Warcraft was created way before the eSports scene really blew up.
Phan also added that games like Hearthstone are something that people really enjoy spectating, that and how live raids and BlizzCon have also been something that the audience enjoys, which is why the question is how can Blizzard retool World of Warcraft into something that the audience might appreciate.
After all watching live raids is all good if you know what’s going on. From a layman’s perspective, raids, and also depending on the UI of the player, can be extremely confusing with the different mechanics and spells being cast at once. Of course there’s no guarantee that Blizzard will be able to turn World of Warcraft into an eSport, but what do you guys think? Is there a possibility?
Blizzard Looking At eSports Possibilities With World Of Warcraft
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An EU commission has accused Ireland of granting “state aid” tax breaks to Apple that may break market rules. That was the result of an investigation by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Irish deals brokered in…
Sarah Hoit is a career social entrepreneur focused on companies that impact larger social issues. She co-founded ConnectedLiving in 2007 to bring digital inclusion to the 60 million underserved Americans who do not have easy access to digital technology.
Sarah was previously Founder, Chairman and CEO of Explore, Inc., a program developed in response to the growing need for quality after-school and summer programs. Through partnerships with school districts and community members, Explore operated programs that met the academic and social needs of every student through the integration of experiential learning, homework and skill lessons, physical education, and community services, and served over 75 schools in nine states. Sarah sold the company in April 2001.
Prior to founding Explore, Sarah played a major role in the development and implementation of President Clinton’s AmeriCorps, the Corporation for National & Community Service. Serving as the Director of Business Planning in the White House Office of National Service, she organized and drafted the business plan for this $600 million organization based on private-sector models, resulting in a highly successful first year for the program in which more than 20,000 Americans devoted a full year to community service projects nationwide. As AmeriCorps’ Deputy Director, Sarah managed the start-up and program operation for this new national division with residential service campuses. For her accomplishments, she was honored with The Timberland Corporation’s Annual Award for National Service Leadership.
Sarah was a Managing Director and Partner at Thomas Partners Investment Management, a Managing Director with Sylvan Learning Systems, a national supplemental education company, and a Management Consultant to senior management in multiple industries in corporate strategy, marketing, and communications.
Sarah holds a BA with Honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS), where she was awarded a public service fellowship. She teaches a class each year at HBS and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business on social entrepreneurism.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
Many experiences in my life – both professional and personal – have helped shape who I am today. Nothing has had a bigger impact on me than my family. My parents raised me to be socially conscious and taught me the importance of getting involved with organizations that make a positive difference in the world. That has been the consistent theme of my professional career: contribute to the greater good and you will change the lives of others.
How did your previous employment experience aid your position at ConnectedLiving?
When I worked in Clinton’s White House, I helped develop AmeriCorps, which created an opportunity for young people who wanted to serve their country. It taught me first-hand about the passion, willingness and generosity of those who want to help solve a problem.
When I founded Explore, I chose to build off of those principles while helping a group that had a harder time helping themselves: children. Explore addressed the national reality that too many children have nothing to do and nowhere to go after school. Explore created high-quality, replicable after-school programs that addressed the problem of idle time after school. My time with Explore taught me about the importance of scalability in order to address issues on a national scale.
ConnectedLiving aims to solve the issue of getting our nation’s elderly population online and connected. These experiences have also helped me realize that for-profit companies can have “do good” missions and support socially responsible goals while still having a financial ROI.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Work life balance is something that has always been important to me – especially since I became a mother myself. You have to be organized and prioritize the things that need to be done versus the things that can wait until later.
Personally, I make it a point to leave the office and be home for dinner every night in order to preserve that sacred family time. While I usually hop back online and work from home later at night, that time with my children is of the utmost importance to me.
It was important to me to build a company that makes home life a priority. Caring about our employees and their lives outside of work is something that comes naturally to a company with our mission. We allow our employees to have flexible schedules and I have always supported an employee being there for their family; whether it’s attending a school play or soccer game.
ConnectedLiving has many female executives who are parents and sometimes the sole earner in their household, and through our flexible hours we’ve been able to break some old stereotypes. What matters is getting the work done, not how long you spend in the office. This flexibility and the option to work from home have actually increased productivity.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at ConnectedLiving?
I think it’s important for everyone to realize that for-profit companies like ConnectedLiving can “do good” and solve social problems. I consider myself lucky to be involved with an organization that is working to do something that has not been done before – get our nation’s elderly online and connected. Knowing that every day we are making a positive difference in these seniors’ lives is the biggest highlight of working at ConnectedLiving. And while we’re doing this good work, we also focus on doing right when it comes to our employees and all the while working to make a profit for our investors.
I’m also fortunate to be leading a team that works as passionately and as fervently as I do to accomplish our goals. Nothing makes me happier than sharing our passion with the world and making others aware of the problems we’re solving.
However, like most jobs, this one has its share of challenges as well. Change doesn’t just happen overnight and that can be frustrating. While we have made tremendous progress connecting more than 35,000 seniors, we know there is much more work ahead.
How are you utilizing the latest technological trends at ConnectedLiving?
ConnectedLiving is web-based so our users can access the platform anywhere though a variety of devices, including laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets, because of this, we make an effort to stay up to date on best practices including web design and technology standards.
We are also in the process of developing a leading suite of apps to enhance the mobile experience and to change the aging experience. We are also working on a way to take the platform into the consumer’s home and make it available to all seniors, not just those in senior living communities.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Time and flexibility. Over the years, I’ve seen some of the best workers, communicators, and multi-taskers I know get sidelined when they need a more flexible schedule or have children, which is simply unacceptable in the day and age we live in.
In the past, in order to be successful or receive a promotion, you had to be in the office five or six days a week and needed to be the first one there and the last one out. But technology has decreased the need for someone to physically be in your office to do their job. The work day doesn’t begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. We are always connected.
I would like to see more employers take a stand when it comes to allowing flexible schedules for their employers, especially working mothers and fathers..
How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Having a mentor has made a huge impact on my life. One of my first mentors was actually former Vice President Al Gore.
I worked on his 1988 presidential campaign and then subsequently accepted a position within the Clinton/Gore administration. The Vice President was extremely dedicated to public service even if decision or policy wasn’t popular with the public. I’ll never forget him saying, “If you aren’t making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.” I really cherish that wisdom and have carried it with me throughout my career.
Another important lesson I learned from the Vice President, was to make an effort to hire and work with people who challenge you, ask tough questions, and offer a fresh perspective on an idea that you won’t get from “yes people.”
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I admire Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and I’m lucky to say she is also one of my good friends. She is one of the smartest, bravest people I know, and I believe the work she is currently doing to protect women who have been sexually abused while serving their country in the military is incredibly important.
I also admire The Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick. She has mastered the concept that you can run a successful company while also having a larger impact on the world by being socially responsible.
What are your hopes for the future of ConnectedLiving?
My hope is that we’ll be able to continue transforming the experience of our elderly and aging populations by connecting them through technology. I hope that the impact of doing that will have a profound effect on them, our country, and the world. With my amazing team, I intend to make the idea of a connected life something that is a possibility for everyone.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
