booking entertainment: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Obama’s Halloween: No ‘web’ problems here

Obamacare may be the nightmare before Christmas for those trying to sign up online, but it turns out that the White House does have a functioning web operation. And it was on full display Thursday night as President Barack Obama celebrated Halloween with some 5,000 area schoolchildren and kids of military families.

The web in question housed a giant inflatable black widow spider above the entrance of the famed South Portico, with about a dozen more of the eight-legged creepy-crawlies swarming down the columns, escorted by bats and crows. Two large autumn wreaths hung nearby.

At about 5:30 p.m., kids walked up the driveway and formed a line that snaked from near the main door, past the East Wing, down the driveway as far as this pooler's eye could see.

The president, first lady Michelle Obama, and her mother Marian Robinson emerged shortly thereafter.

"Hi guys! Come on down," the president called out. He was wearing an orange shirt, black sweater and khakis. The first lady donned in an orange and black top, orange pants. Mrs Robinson was in orange as well. All three carried baskets with White House treats wrapped in individual clear-plastic packages.

Nearby, bales of hay were home to four carved white pumpkins spelling out B O O ! under the vigilant eye of an inflatable black cat.

Not far, one cobweb-festooned pumpkin bore the carved message “LET’S MOVE!” (When this reporter was growing up, that and the fact that Pres. Obama proclaimed Nov. 2013 to be National Diabetes Month a few hours ago might have served as a warning to skip That House, lest you get 14 pennies in a UNICEF envelope and a near-its-past-due-date bag of baby carrots. But the Obamas gave out real treats, including boxed White House M&Ms, and orange butter cookies shaped like the White House, as well as a dried fruit mix. A junior administration official shared a piece of cookie with your pooler. Cookie = tasty).

The procession of kids began with Nakaiya, 10, who was dressed as "a goddess." She clutched a green plastic jack-o-lantern treat basket. The most popular costumes (at least during the stretch of time when this reporter was present) seemed to be Mario (of video game legend) for boys and Dorothy (with ruby slippers) for girls. But there were pirates, fairies, a few LEGO Ninjago Ninjas, a helmet-less Darth Vader, a Waldo, a couple of Captain Americas (one asked for his treat to be placed on his shield). There was a Big Bad Wolf, a superbly convincing Madeline, a dad, mom, and three kids as Smurfs. Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers outnumbered Thomas the Tank engines. Reporters swooned over a homemade Abraham Lincoln costume.

The president's comments were mostly inaudible, except when he recognized one little girl in a white flowing outfit and a hood or hat that resembled an iconic hairstyle: "Princess Leia!" he called out, grinning.

The Babka family's home-made costumes may have been this reporter’s favorites: Mom and Dad as graham crackers, kids as a Hershey bar and a marshmallow. Those S'Mores are originally from Ohio, but he is a Marine stationed in Virginia.

There were grown-up actors clad as Wizard of Oz characters – perhaps most notable was Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in a giant inflated clear plastic bubble. Other costumes: Zebras, Snow White, a luchadora, a penguin, a flamingo, Dan Marino, a stoplight, Scooby-Doo, Indiana Jones, the Wicked Witch, the Tin Man.

The first dogs were represented. A Sunny statue, made of ribbons, was dressed as a sunflower. Bo, made of pipe cleaners, was a pirate, complete with eye patch, saber, hat with a bone decoration, and striped trousers.

On the South Lawn proper stood a ring of ghosts (they appeared to be sheets supported by posts). In front of the East Wing garden, 14 carved pumpkins spelled out HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama%E2%80%99s-halloween--no-%E2%80%98web%E2%80%99-problems-here-223554158.html
Tags: james spader Ray Rice monday night football nadal Rosh Hashanah 2013

Obama gets more tech help to fix healthcare site

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Obama administration has recruited engineers from several prominent technology companies to help fix the problems preventing people from signing up for government-mandated health insurance.

Oracle and Red Hat are pitching in as well as Michael Dickerson, an engineer on leave from Google, according to a blog post Thursday by Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison told shareholders at the software maker's annual meeting Thursday that the Redwood Shores, Calif., company is trying to make the Healthcare.gov website more reliable and secure.

"Most of us want to see our government operating efficiently and effectively and it is incumbent upon us to help them do that," Ellison said.

Red Hat Inc. and Google Inc. declined to comment.

Dickerson is a site-reliability engineer at Google. He is now working directly with QSSI, the general contractor hired to upgrade Healthcare.gov, Bataille said.

Exasperation with the website's buggy technology has been compounded by concerns that the service lacks the security measures needed to protect the sensitive information of people looking for insurance.

Besides Dickerson, the government also identified entrepreneur Greg Gershman as one of its new troubleshooters. Gershman currently is director of innovation at mobile app developer Mobomo, according to his profile on professional networking site LinkedIn.

Gershman's resume says he received a Presidential Innovation Fellowship last year to work with the White House on a project seeking "to re-imagine the relationship between citizens and government around the citizen's needs."

The Obama administration has pledged Healthcare.gov will be running smoothly by Nov. 30.

___

Online:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services blog post:

http://www.hhs.gov/digitalstrategy/blog/2013/10/more-on-the-tech-surge.html

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-gets-more-tech-help-fix-healthcare-225235960--finance.html
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Knowing who their physician is boosts patient satisfaction

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Craig Boerner
craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu
615-322-4747
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Knowing who your doctor is and a couple of facts about that person may go a long way toward improving patient satisfaction, according to a Vanderbilt study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

Faced with the knowledge that between 82 percent and 90 percent of medical patients are unable to correctly name their treating physician following inpatient admission, orthopaedic trauma surgeon Alex Jahangir, M.D., and his Vanderbilt colleagues studied the effects of giving a randomized group of patients a simple biosketch card about their doctor.

What they learned is that patient satisfaction scores for the group receiving the card were 22 percent higher than those who did not receive the card.

"I think, in general, people recover better when they are more comfortable with the care they are receiving," said Jahangir, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. "So it matters to patients and physicians who want a quick recovery, and now because of provisions in the Affordable Care Act, it matters to the institution because there are millions of dollars that can be at risk if patient satisfaction is low."

A percentage of Medicare reimbursement dollars beginning with 1 percent in FY 2013 and growing to 2 percent by 2017 is linked to patient satisfaction scores from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) questions answered by patients, Jahangir said. Patient satisfaction determines 30 percent of performance scores for incentive payments, while clinical measures make up the other 70 percent.

"Whether we like it or not the reality of the world is that we are seeing more of an emphasis on not just outcomes, but the satisfaction of the care we deliver," Jahangir said. "So, while we should always strive for excellent outcomes and excellent care, we also can't forget that there is a human side of medicine and we need to do what we can to make sure that our patients are comfortable with the care that we are giving them. I believe it is important for us as physicians to really lead this charge of improving our patient's experience."

The Vanderbilt pilot study enrolled 212 randomized patients. One hundred received biosketch cards discreetly placed by a third party; 112 did not get cards. The patients were essentially the same in all variables, including injury type, insurance status and education.

To accurately gauge patient satisfaction, patients in the Vanderbilt study were contacted within two weeks of discharge to answer those same HCAHPS questions relating to their care.

In the end, the group who received a biosketch card had patient satisfaction scores 22 percent higher than the group who did not receive a biosketch card.

Each of the six physicians in Vanderbilt's Division of Orthopaedic Trauma participated in the study and, since that time, the nurse practitioners are now giving out cards to all patients.

"This is an easy, cheap intervention," Jahangir said. "As health care reimbursement shifts to reward quality rather than quantity, it is important to identify ways to improve the patient experience. This intervention is literally something that doesn't even cost a nickel but improves a patient's experience, and hopefully their recovery metrics that matter not only to the institution, but to patients and their physicians."

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Knowing who their physician is boosts patient satisfaction

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: Craig Boerner
craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu
615-322-4747
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Knowing who your doctor is and a couple of facts about that person may go a long way toward improving patient satisfaction, according to a Vanderbilt study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

Faced with the knowledge that between 82 percent and 90 percent of medical patients are unable to correctly name their treating physician following inpatient admission, orthopaedic trauma surgeon Alex Jahangir, M.D., and his Vanderbilt colleagues studied the effects of giving a randomized group of patients a simple biosketch card about their doctor.

What they learned is that patient satisfaction scores for the group receiving the card were 22 percent higher than those who did not receive the card.

"I think, in general, people recover better when they are more comfortable with the care they are receiving," said Jahangir, associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. "So it matters to patients and physicians who want a quick recovery, and now because of provisions in the Affordable Care Act, it matters to the institution because there are millions of dollars that can be at risk if patient satisfaction is low."

A percentage of Medicare reimbursement dollars beginning with 1 percent in FY 2013 and growing to 2 percent by 2017 is linked to patient satisfaction scores from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) questions answered by patients, Jahangir said. Patient satisfaction determines 30 percent of performance scores for incentive payments, while clinical measures make up the other 70 percent.

"Whether we like it or not the reality of the world is that we are seeing more of an emphasis on not just outcomes, but the satisfaction of the care we deliver," Jahangir said. "So, while we should always strive for excellent outcomes and excellent care, we also can't forget that there is a human side of medicine and we need to do what we can to make sure that our patients are comfortable with the care that we are giving them. I believe it is important for us as physicians to really lead this charge of improving our patient's experience."

The Vanderbilt pilot study enrolled 212 randomized patients. One hundred received biosketch cards discreetly placed by a third party; 112 did not get cards. The patients were essentially the same in all variables, including injury type, insurance status and education.

To accurately gauge patient satisfaction, patients in the Vanderbilt study were contacted within two weeks of discharge to answer those same HCAHPS questions relating to their care.

In the end, the group who received a biosketch card had patient satisfaction scores 22 percent higher than the group who did not receive a biosketch card.

Each of the six physicians in Vanderbilt's Division of Orthopaedic Trauma participated in the study and, since that time, the nurse practitioners are now giving out cards to all patients.

"This is an easy, cheap intervention," Jahangir said. "As health care reimbursement shifts to reward quality rather than quantity, it is important to identify ways to improve the patient experience. This intervention is literally something that doesn't even cost a nickel but improves a patient's experience, and hopefully their recovery metrics that matter not only to the institution, but to patients and their physicians."

###

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Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/vumc-kwt103113.php
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Nexus 5: A Pure Google Dream Phone That's a Crazy Good Deal

We found out just about everything about the Nexus 5 over the past several weeks thanks to leak after endless leak. Today Google finally revealed its horribly kept secret, and there are very few surprises. Here's what you need to know.

Sprint Galaxy Nexus Android 4.3 update rolling out starting today

Sprint Galaxy Nexus

Well, it's better late than never

It's been a good nine months since the Sprint Galaxy Nexus received its last OTA to Android 4.2.1, and now the jump to 4.3 is beginning its rollout. In a bit of awkward timing with the expected launch of Android 4.4 for other Nexus devices, Sprint has just posted on its community site that the update is rolling out now.

As is usually the case you'll have to wait somewhere in the range of two weeks to get the software update as the rollouts happen both gradually and at random. The latest software version is now "GJ04" if you want to make sure you're on the latest build — keep an eye on your phone for that update.

Source: Sprint; Thanks, d14racer24!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Y0ddXSEOYVM/story01.htm
Tags: made in america Daft Punk

Moto X camera updates skip carriers, available through Google Play

Moto X users tired of waiting on their laggard service providers for camera updates should be happy to find out that future camera updates to Motorola's latest big deal are bypassing carriers and headed straight for Google Play. The first such update is already available on the Google Play store, as ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vxs_0n479SY/
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Egyptian Islamists call for daily protests before Mursi trial

CAIRO (Reuters) - Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi called on Thursday for daily protests in the four days before his trial on November 4, raising the danger of more violence in a crisis that has already cost hundreds of lives.

Mursi, who was ousted by the army on July 3 after mass demonstrations against his rule, is due to appear in court on Monday along with 14 other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures on charges of inciting violence.

The trial could further inflame tensions between the Brotherhood and the army-backed interim government as it struggles to restore stability in the most populous Arab state.

"The Alliance calls on all proud, free Egyptians to gather in the squares in protest against these trials... starting on Friday," the Brotherhood and its allies said in a statement.

It urged crowds to move on Monday to a police institute near Cairo's Tora prison, where the trial is expected to take place.

The charges relate to the deaths of about a dozen people in clashes outside the presidential palace in December after Mursi enraged his opponents with a decree expanding his powers.

Mursi has been held in a secret location in the four months since his overthrow. In that time Islamist militants have staged almost daily attacks in the Sinai Peninsula. Supporters and opponents of the Brotherhood have often clashed in the streets.

Backers of Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected president, say his removal was a coup, reversing the gains of the popular uprising which toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The army says it was responding to the will of the people.

Security officials accuse Brotherhood leaders of inciting violence and terrorism. Hundreds of the Brotherhood's members have been killed and many of its leaders have been jailed in one of the toughest security crackdowns in the movement's history.

A court order has banned the Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest and best organized Islamist movement, and seized its funds.

The Brotherhood denies any links with violent activity.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-islamists-call-daily-protests-mursi-trial-133431204.html
Category: Federal government shutdown yom kippur 9/11 Memorial PS4 release date Al Jazeera America

Report: Snowden gets tech support job in Russia

FILE - In this image made from video released by WikiLeaks on Oct. 11, 2013, former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden, center, receives the Sam Adams Award in Moscow, Russia. Europe bristles following Snowden's latest revelations about NSA tactics, including the alleged tapping of up to 35 world leaders' cell phones, which threaten to undermine America's ability to put its imprint on world affairs. At right is Raymond McGovern, a former U.S. government official, at left is former NSA executive Thomas Drake. (AP Photo, File)

MOSCOW (AP) — Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer for former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, says his client has found a technical support job at a Russian website.

Kucherena told the RIA Novosti news agency Thursday that Snowden starts his new job on Friday. Kucherena declined to name the company that has hired Snowden but says it's a major Russian website.

Snowden was granted asylum in Russia in August after being stuck at a Moscow airport for more than a month after flying there from Hong Kong. His whereabouts in Russia remain secret.

The 30-year-old faces espionage charges in the U.S for uncovering a mass surveillance scheme at the National Security Agency.

Kucherena was unavailable for comment when contacted by the AP.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-snowden-gets-tech-support-job-russia-111107200--finance.html
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Iraqi PM: US aid needed to battle al-Qaida

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, walks with Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., right, and Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, before their meeting. Earlier, the prime minister met with Vice President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki listens during a meeting with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and the committee's ranking Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, talks with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., right, during a luncheon meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, is greeted by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., center, and the committee's ranking Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, during a luncheon meeting. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bloody resurgence of al-Qaida in Iraq is prompting Baghdad to ask the U.S. for more weapons, training and manpower, two years after pushing American troops out of the country.

The request will be discussed during a White House meeting Friday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Barack Obama in what Baghdad hopes will be a fresh start in a complicated relationship that has been marked both by victories and frustrations for each side.

Al-Maliki will discuss Iraq's plight in a public speech Thursday at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington.

"We know we have major challenges of our own capabilities being up to the standard. They currently are not," Lukman Faily, the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S., told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "We need to gear up, to deal with that threat more seriously. We need support and we need help."

He added, "We have said to the Americans we'd be more than happy to discuss all the options short of boots on the ground."

"Boots on the ground" means military forces. The U.S. withdrew all but a few hundred of its troops from Iraq in December 2011 after Baghdad refused to renew a security agreement to extend legal immunity for Americans forces, which would have let more stay.

At the time, the withdrawal was hailed as a victory for the Obama administration, which campaigned on ending the Iraq war and had little appetite for pushing Baghdad into a new security agreement. But within months, violence began creeping up in the capital and across the country as Sunni Muslim insurgents, angered by a widespread belief that Sunnis have been sidelined by the Shiite-led government, lashed out, with no U.S. troops to keep them in check.

More than 5,000 Iraqis have been killed in attacks since April, and suicide bombers launched 38 strikes in the last month alone.

Al-Maliki is expected to ask Obama for new assistance to bolster its military and fight al-Qaida. Faily said that could include everything from speeding up the delivery of U.S. aircraft, missiles, interceptors and other weapons, to improving national intelligence systems. And when asked, he did not rule out the possibility of asking the U.S. to send military special forces or additional CIA advisers to Iraq to help train and assist counterterror troops.

If the U.S. does not commit to providing the weapons or other aid quickly, "we will go elsewhere," Faily said. That means Iraq will step up diplomacy with nations like China or Russia that would be more than happy to increase their influence in Baghdad at U.S. expense.

The two leaders also will discuss how Iraq can improve its fractious government, which so often is divided among sectarian or ethnic lines, to give it more confidence with a bitter and traumatized public.

The ambassador said no new security agreement would be needed to give immunity to additional U.S. advisers or trainers in Iraq — the main sticking point that led to U.S. withdrawal. And he said Iraq would pay for the additional weapons or other assistance.

A senior Obama administration official said Wednesday that U.S. officials were not planning to send U.S. trainers to Iraq and that Baghdad had not asked for them. The administration official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters by name.

U.S. officials were prepared to help Iraq with an across-the-board approach that did not focus just on military or security gaps, the administration official said. The aid under consideration might include more weapons for Iraqi troops who do not have necessary equipment to battle al-Qaida insurgents, he said.

Administration officials consider the insurgency, which has rebranded itself as the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant, a major and increasing threat both to Iraq and the U.S., the official said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials see a possible solution in trying to persuade insurgents to join forces with Iraqi troops and move away from al-Qaida, following a pattern set by so-called Awakening Councils in western Iraq that marked a turning point in the war. Faily said much of the additional aid — including weapons and training — would go toward this effort.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who opposed the U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011, said Iraq likely would not get the aid until al-Maliki, a Shiite, makes strides in making the government more inclusive to Sunnis.

"If he expects the kind of assistance that he's asking for, we need a strategy and we need to know exactly how that's going to be employed, and we need to see some changes in Iraq," McCain said Wednesday after a tense meeting on Capitol Hill with al-Maliki. "The situation is deteriorating and it's unraveling, and he's got to turn it around."

Al-Maliki's plea for aid is somewhat ironic, given that he refused to budge in 2011 on letting U.S. troops stay in Iraq with legal immunity Washington said they must have to defend themselves in the volatile country. But it was a fiercely unpopular political position in Iraq, which was unable to prosecute Blackwater Worldwide security contractors who opened fire in a Baghdad square in 2007, killing at least 13 passersby.

James F. Jeffrey, who was the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad when the U.S. troops left, called it a "turnabout" by al-Maliki. He said Iraq desperately needs teams of U.S. advisers, trainers, intelligence and counterterror experts to beat back al-Qaida.

"We have those people," said Jeffrey, who retired from the State Department after leaving Baghdad last year. "We had plans to get them in after 2011. They can be under embassy privileges and immunities. They will cost the American people almost nothing. They will, by and large, not be in any more danger than our State Department civilians. And they could mean all the difference between losing an Iraq that 4,500 Americans gave their lives for."

Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq between the 2003 invasion and the 2011 withdrawal. More than 100,000 Iraqi were killed in that time.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-31-US-United-States-Iraq/id-0954ea9a3f94497a8d32aa20195437a2
Tags: john lennon Dancing With the Stars 2013 trent richardson Insidious 2 harry potter

China, other Asians angry over embassy spy reports

In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 29, 2008, a man digs a trench near a mushroom shaped heating exhaust shaft near the newly constructed US embassy in Beijing, China. China and Southeast Asian governments demanded an explanation from the U.S. and its allies on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013 following media reports that American and Australian embassies in the region were being used as hubs for Washington's secret electronic data collection program. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

SYDNEY (AP) — China and Southeast Asian governments demanded an explanation from the U.S. and its allies on Thursday following media reports that American and Australian embassies in the region were being used as hubs for Washington's secret electronic data collection program.

The reports come amid an international outcry over allegations the U.S. has spied on the telephone communications of as many as 35 foreign leaders.

A document from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, published this week by German magazine Der Spiegel, describes a signals intelligence program called "Stateroom" in which U.S., British, Australian and Canadian embassies secretly house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as "Five Eyes."

"China is severely concerned about the reports, and demands a clarification and explanation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

Australia's Fairfax media reported Thursday that the Australian embassies involved are in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The Fairfax report, based on the Der Spiegel document and an interview with an anonymous former intelligence officer, said those embassies are being used to intercept phone calls and internet data across Asia.

In a statement, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said his government "cannot accept and strongly protests the news of the existence of wiretapping facilities at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta."

"It should be emphasized that if confirmed, such action is not only a breach of security, but also a serious breach of diplomatic norms and ethics, and certainly not in tune with the spirit of friendly relations between nations," he said.

The Snowden document said the surveillance equipment is concealed, including antennas that are "sometimes hidden in false architectural features or roof maintenance sheds."

Des Ball, a top Australian intelligence expert, told The Associated Press he had personally seen covert antennas in five of the embassies named in the Fairfax report.

He declined to go into further detail or specify which embassies those were. But Ball said what Der Spiegel has revealed is hardly surprising or uncommon. Many countries have routinely used embassies as bases to covertly listen in on phone calls, and reports of such surveillance have been public for decades, he said.

"We use embassies to pick up stuff that we can't pick up from ground stations here in Australia — and lots of countries do that," said Ball, a professor with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.

According to the Snowden document, the spying sites are small in size and staff. "They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned," it said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to comment on the reports. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said only that the government had not broken any laws.

"Every Australian governmental agency, every Australian official, at home and abroad, operates in accordance with the law," Abbott told reporters. "And that's the assurance that I can give people."

Still, there was predictable outrage in the countries named in the document.

Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said his government viewed the allegations as a serious matter and would investigate whether the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was being used for spying. The country's opposition party issued a statement Thursday urging the Malaysian government to lodge a protest with both the U.S. and Australian embassies.

Thailand's National Security Council Secretary-General, Lt. Gen. Paradorn Pattanathabutr, said the government told the U.S. that spying was a crime under Thai laws, and that Thailand would not cooperate if asked to help eavesdrop.

Asked about the Australian embassy allegations, he said Australians are not capable of doing such sophisticated surveillance work.

"When it comes to technology and mechanics, the U.S. is more resourceful and more advanced than Australia," he said. "So I can say that it is not true that the Australian embassy will be used as a communications hub for spying."

___

Associated Press writers Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Sean Yoong in Kuala Lumpur and researcher Zhao Liang in Beijing contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-31-Asia-US-Spying/id-4fed2ce3688c4b3191aa38b2ec1e1877
Category: Richard Sherman

How Ben Cooper Changed Halloween Forever

Author wearing Chewbacca costume c1970s. — The author (far left) in his Chewbacca costume.

When I was 7 years old, I was Chewbacca for Halloween.

The body of the costume was made out of a sheet of plastic, the kind that went “whoosh, whoosh” when you walked. It looked like a garbage bag. On it was a picture of Chewie’s head with “Star Wars” emblazoned above it, in case you didn’t recognize the Wookiee and what movie he was from. The mask—a thin, brittle piece of plastic—had two eyehole cutouts, two small nose-holes and a slight mouth slit for easy breathing. Only, it wasn’t easy to breathe when wearing that mask. And I had a hard time fitting it over my thick, plastic-framed glasses because the thin white elastic that held it in place would break every other time I put it on. And once I did, my glasses would steam up from the massive amount of sweat my body was producing from the costume. And don’t get me started about the lack of sleeves. Chewbacca didn’t have to wear a flannel shirt to keep his arms warm in cold weather. But I did.

I hated that costume. But it was a cheap and easy way for me to become my favorite Wookiee. It was a Ben Cooper.

Ben Cooper, the son of a restaurant owner who became a costume impresario, didn’t invent the Halloween costume. But he and his company awakened generations of kids to the potential of what Halloween could be. No longer were we limited to the question, “So, are you going to be a ghost, a goblin, or a witch?” The question became, “So, what are you going to be for Halloween?” Thanks in large part to Ben Cooper, costume choices became unlimited—and Hollywood-inflected—helping Halloween become the pop culture phenomenon it is today.

Ben Cooper wasn’t the first company to manufacture Halloween costumes, nor was it the first to license Hollywood creations for the costume-buying public. Collegeville Flag and Manufacturing Company, one of Ben Cooper’s chief competitors, had been doing it since the early 1920s, and H. Halpern Company, otherwise known as Halco, was manufacturing Popeye, Olive Oil and Wimpy costumes during the same period. But Ben Cooper had an advantage: The company excelled at getting licenses to characters before they became popular and, in a lot of cases, before anyone else. Consider one of its first purchases, in 1937: Snow White, from a little company called Walt Disney.

It wasn’t until after World War II, however, that Halloween costume manufacturing became big business. With the rise of television in the 1950s and the popularity of TV shows such as The Adventures of Superman, Zorro, and Davy Crockett, Ben Cooper obtained the licenses to many of these live-action shows and began mass producing inexpensive representations of them in costume form for less than $3 each, which amounts to about 12 bucks these days. The company distinguished itself with speed: It would rapidly buy rights, produce costumes and get them onto store shelves, which opened a whole new world of costuming to children.

Ben Cooper Masks — By 1979, Ben Cooper was the largest Halloween costume company in the United States. Above, some of the masks they sold.

By the 1960s, Ben Cooper owned between 70 and 80 percent of the Halloween costume market, offering pretty much any pop culture reference in costume form. There were Frankenstein costumes. Dennis the Menace costumes. Beatles costumes. Even Magilla Gorilla costumes.

Ben Cooper also found fodder in comic books. In 1963, Spider-Man was a relatively unknown character. The company had been selling a costume called “Spiderman” in the 1950s that had nothing to do with the comic book hero, but when Marvel Comics introduced Spidey in Amazing Fantasy No. 15 in 1962, it trademarked the name. Ben Cooper then licensed the Marvel character, remodeled its old costume and helped make Peter Parker’s superhero identity a household name. It was Marvel’s first merchandising deal.

In the 1970s and early ’80s, Ben Cooper sold costumes based on shows such as Joanie Loves Chachi, Welcome Back, Kotter, and Laverne &Shirley, which seems odd, since those shows weren’t targeted to kids. But it’s a clear example of the company’s mission to touch all aspects of pop culture. Nothing was off limits as far as costumes went. Not even the Fonz. Not even the Rubik’s Cube or Flipper. And remember those Richard Nixon masks long favored by cinematic bank robbers? Ben Cooper made those, too.

By 1979, Ben Cooper was the largest Halloween costume company in the United States, despite the rise of other businesses in the market. And though companies like Collegeville (still in business) won licenses to films like Jaws and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Ben Cooper won the most lucrative license of all: Star Wars. But controversy brewed among concerned parents when the company issued the first costume based on an R-rated movie, the creature from Alien.

Ben Cooper’s heyday didn’t last forever. The company filed for bankruptcy twice due to lagging sales, relocation expenses, and the early 1990s recession. But it was new rivals that probably did the most damage to Ben Cooper ’s business, selling high-quality latex masks and more realistic costumes. One of those competitors was Rubie’s Costume Company, which eventually bought Ben Cooper and dissolved it.

Ben Cooper’s business model of making cheap, affordable costumes quickly, based on almost any pop culture character a child could imagine, was wildly successful. But it also proved to be the company’s downfall. Quality eventually won over quantity. Looking back on those costumes now, it’s easy to see why; case in point, my old Chewbacca outfit. Still, if you Google “Miley Cyrus Halloween costume,” you’ll find plenty of options, ranging in price from $39.99 to $185. For that, we have Ben Cooper to thank.

My wife and I recently bought our 3-year-old son a Spider-Man costume. It has foamy, built-in muscles, a form-fitting suit and a mask that fits completely over his head. And it has sleeves. Sleeves! There’s no mistaking he’s Spider-Man. And to say he’s excited for Halloween is an understatement. Of course, it’s completely my fault. Halloween is my favorite holiday. And it always has been. No matter how much I hated that Chewbacca costume, I have happy memories of trick-or-treating because of it.

Correction, Oct. 31, 2013: This article originally misspelled Wookiee, the species of the Star Wars character Chewbacca.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/10/ben_cooper_costumes_how_the_popular_plastic_outfits_reinvented_halloween.html
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Rare Keith Haring mural in Philly gets a makeover

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A rare mural by the late pop artist Keith Haring has gotten a makeover.

The colorful work titled "We The Youth" covers the side of a rowhouse in Philadelphia's Point Breeze neighborhood. Created in 1987, it features many of Haring's signature dancing figures.

The city's Mural Arts Program has worked for months to restore the piece. Officials say it's the only collaborative public mural by Haring that's still intact and at its original site.

Artists plan to put the finishing touches on the wall at a news conference Wednesday. A public dedication is planned for Saturday.

Haring died of AIDS in 1990 at the age of 31.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rare-keith-haring-mural-philly-gets-makeover-115453377.html
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Rare rhino hunt prize of Texas safari club auction

In this Jan. 5, 2003, photo released by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a black rhino male and calf in Mkuze, South Africa. The organizer of a Texas hunting club’s planned auction of a permit that will allow a hunter to bag an endangered black rhino in Africa is hoping it raises up to $1 million for rhino preservation. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Karl Stromayer)

HOUSTON (AP) — Plans to auction a rare permit that will allow a hunter to take down an endangered black rhino are drawing criticism from some conservationists, but the organizer says the fundraiser could bring in more than $1 million, which will go toward protecting the species.

John J. Jackson III belongs to the Dallas Safari Club, which earlier this month announced it would auction the permit — one of only five offered annually by Namibia, the southwestern African nation. The permit is also the first to be made available for purchase outside of that country.

"This is advanced, state-of-the-art wildlife conservation and management techniques," Jackson, a Metairie, La.-based international wildlife attorney, said Wednesday. "It's not something the layman understands, but they should.

"This is the most sophisticated management strategy devised," he said. "The conservation hunt is a hero in the hunting community."

Some animal preservation groups are bashing the idea.

"More than ridiculous," Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, said Wednesday.

"At a time when the global community is rallying to protect the elephant and rhino from the onslaught of people with high-powered weapons, this action sends exactly the wrong signal. It's absurd. You're going to help an endangered animal by killing an endangered member of that population?"

An estimated 4,000 black rhinos remain in the wild, down from 70,000 in the 1960s. Nearly 1,800 are in Namibia, according to the safari club.

Poachers long have targeted all species of rhino, primarily for its horn, which is valuable on the international black market. Made of the protein keratin, the chief component in fingernails and hooves, the horn has been used in carvings and for medicinal purposes, mostly in Asia. The near extinction of the species also has been attributed to habitat loss.

The auction is scheduled for the Dallas Safari Club's annual convention in January.

According to Jackson, who said he's been working on the auction project with federal wildlife officials, the hunt will involve one of five black rhinos selected by a committee and approved by the Namibian government. The five are to be older males, incapable of reproducing and likely "troublemakers ... bad guys that are killing other rhinos," he said.

"You end up eliminating that rhino and you actually increase the reproduction of the population."

Jackson said 100 percent of the auction proceeds would go to a trust fund, be held there until the permit is approved and then forwarded to the government of Namibia for the limited purpose of rhino conservation.

"It's going to generate a sum of money large enough to be enormously meaningful in Namibia's fight to ensure the future of its black rhino populations," Ben Carter, the club's executive director, said in a statement.

Jeffrey Flocken, North American regional director of the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare, disagreed, describing the club's argument as "perverse, to say the least."

"And drumming up a bidding frenzy to get to the opportunity to shoot one of the last of a species is just irresponsible," Flocken said. "This is just an attempt to manipulate a horrific situation where rhino poaching is out of control, and fuel excitement around being able to kill an animal whose future existence is already hanging in the balance."

Rick Barongi, director of the Houston Zoo and vice president of the International Rhino Foundation, said the hunt was not illegal but remained a complex idea that "sends a mixed message in a way."

On Tuesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was providing "guidance" to the safari club on whether it would agree to a permit, required under federal law, to allow the winning bidder to bring the trophy rhino to the United States.

"An import permit will be issued if, and only if, we determine that the sport-hunted trophy is taken as part of a well-managed conservation program that enhances the long-term survival of the species," the agency said.

Earlier this year, the service granted such a permit for a sport-hunted black rhino taken in Namibia in 2009.

Pacelle said the Humane Society would work to oppose the permit.

An administrator at the Namibian Embassy in Washington referred questions about the hunt and auction to the government's tourism office in Windhoek, the nation's capital. There was no immediate response to an email Wednesday from The Associated Press.

"The two hot issues here are the fact it's an endangered species, and the second thing is it's a trophy," Barongi, the zoo director, said. "It's one individual that can save hundreds of individuals, and if that's the case, and it's the best option you have ... then you go with your best option.

"Because the alternative is you can lose them all," he said.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-31-Rhino%20Hunt-Auction/id-9710f5c8a39e4670ba5840fb99e86684
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Report: NSA broke into Yahoo, Google data centers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post is reporting that the National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world. The Post cites documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with officials.

According to a secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency's Fort Meade, Md., headquarters. In the last 30 days, the report Wednesday on the Post website said, field collectors had processed and sent back more than 180 million new records — ranging from "metadata," which would indicate who sent or received emails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.

The NSA's principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency's British counterpart, GCHQ. The Post said NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants.

White House officials and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA, declined to comment, the Post said.

In a statement to the Post, Google said it was "troubled by allegations of the government intercepting traffic between our data centers, and we are not aware of this activity."

At Yahoo, a spokeswoman said: "We have strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers, and we have not given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-nsa-broke-yahoo-google-data-centers-171452135--finance.html
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Lenovo claims battery life crown with new Yoga tablets

Lenovo is claiming that its new Yoga tablets will offer 18 hours of battery life when browsing the web, which would be the longest when compared to other tablets.

The company's new Yoga tablets, which will come in 8-inch and 10.1-inch versions, will provide 12 to 14 hours when watching high-definition video, said Stephen Miller, Lenovo ambassador. The tablets were announced at a launch event in New York.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Tablets shipments to mushroom by 53 percent in 2013. | Understand how to both manage and benefit from the consumerization of IT with InfoWorld's "Consumerization Digital Spotlight" PDF special report. | For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. ]

The battery life can be even longer if the tablets are set to low screen brightness, Miller said.

If Lenovo's claims of battery life hold up, the Yoga tablets will beat competition handily. Tablets today are at best able to squeeze up to 11 hours of battery life. The Yoga tablets have high-capacity cylindrical batteries similar to ones used in laptops, which helps prolong battery life.

The 8-inch tablet, which is priced at $249, weighs 400 grams. The 10.1-inch tablet is at $299 and weighs 603 grams. The tablets will run Android 4.2 and be available in the U.S. on Wednesday. The company did not comment on worldwide availability.

The battery is housed in the tablet's circular base, which makes it easier to grip the device. A kick-stand allows the tablet to sit firmly on the table.

With a circular base, the Yoga tablets bears a resemblance to Notion Ink's now-defunct Adam tablet, which was one of the first Android tablets to ship when it became available in late 2010.

The Yoga tablets run on MediaTek quad-core processors with a clock speed of 1.2GHz. Both of the tablets display images at a resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels.

Other features include a 1.6-megapixel front camera, a 5-megapixel back camera, up to 32GB of internal storage, and micro-SD card slot for expandable storage.

Lenovo has introduced a range of tablets, PCs, and hybrids in the last few years. The new products are important as buyers move away from PCs to mobile products.

"We shipped more smartphones and tablets than PCs," during the third quarter, Miller said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/lenovo-claims-battery-life-crown-new-yoga-tablets-229820
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Qatar benches World Cup 'headbutt' statue

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The future hosts of the World Cup in Qatar have decided a statue depicting one of the tournament's most talked-about moments is not worthy of public display.

Officials in Doha ordered the removal of a five-meter (16-foot) bronze statue of French footballer Zinedine Zidane's infamous headbutt of Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup.

So, cranes were brought in this week and on Thursday, the statue's site along Doha's waterfront was empty.

Officials have not commented on the reason for its removal, but the artwork had stirred complaints from Muslim conservatives saying it promoted idolatry. Others argued it's wrong to honor Zidane's unsportsmanlike act in striking Materazzi after an insult from the Italian.

The statue, created by Algerian-born French artist Adel Abdessemed, was unveiled in Doha in early October.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-benches-world-cup-headbutt-statue-084516716--spt.html
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