OttawaStart Blog: OttawaStart's Weekly Event Round-Up: Bicycle art ...

Here are our contributors' picks for the best local events in Ottawa this week. This list is also published every Wednesday night in this space.?You can bookmark this link for easy access:?http://ottawastart.com/weekly

November 5-11: Remembrance Week at the Canadian War Museum
Remembrance Day is fast approaching. The Canadian War Museum is holding guided tours and gallery animations offering a hands-on approach to remembering, while Witness to History activities allow visitors to meet veterans of the Canadian Forces and hear how their personal experiences affected who they are today. On Remembrance Day itself, admission to the museum is free.
-- Gordon Dewis aka KeeperOfMaps
More about Ottawa's Remembrance Day ceremonies here...

Thursday, November 1: Ottawa Jazz Orchestra: Kings of Swing at the Soloway JCC
After more than a year's absence, the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra is back, with a doubleheader concert for big band music fans. Their concert at the Soloway JCC will feature the music of the two most prominent Jewish bandleaders from the Swing Era -- Benny Goodman and Artie Show -- who also, coincidentally, were both jazz clarinet masters. Local clarinetists Dave Renaud and Scott Poll will perform with the orchestra, and OJO artistic director Adrian Cho will talk about Goodman's and Shaw's contributions to jazz.
-- Alayne McGregor,?OttawaJazzScene.ca

Thursday, November 1:? BONNE F?TE, KAFFE 1870!
The Rockwells + Great Food + Drink Specials + YOU this Thursday = Happy 5th Birthday, Kaffe 1870! The night will mark the day the bar was taken over by the sweetest husband (J.J) & wife (Leigh Irvine) team who used to man the Manx Pub in Ottawa, and the cutest Bartender ?Marker? who ran the quaint & cool those-were-the-days Aloha Room under Barrymore?s. Kaffe 1870 is the nicest (and therefore, most comfortable) bar on the Wakefield strip with great food, patio, Tuesday film nights, Open-Mic Wednesdays, live music on Fridays and Saturdays, and a non-stop incredible view of that river. On Thursday, Kaffe 1870 will be closed during the day to get the party ready-set to kick off at 4:00 pm. Whether a regular, or if you?re looking for a new pub you can definitely call ?home,? GO!
--?Sylvie Hill,?writer, performer & educator

Friday, November 2: Self Propelled ? A Bicycle-Inspired Art Show
Over a dozen Ottawa artists have come together to create and show some bike-inspired works, thanks to Five Cents Tattoo and Tall Trees Cycles. The vernissage is Friday from 7-11 p.m. at Grey Area Gallery, 430 Parkdale Ave., with local establishments like Kichesippi Brewery and Union613 providing food and drink. Local art, local refreshments--of course it's part of Apartment613?s Support Local month.
--?Denise Deby,?Green Living Ottawa

Friday, November 2: Eliades Ochoa from Buena Vista Social Club
Live in concert at the Canadian Museum of Civilization this Friday, November 2. The Grammy Award winning guitarist and singer from Cuba will be performing with an 8-piece band as part of his Canadian tour. This is a rare opportunity to see this Cuban sensation live. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online.
--?Eliane Laberge, blogger?

Saturday, November 3: Plaid Parade
Do you ever wish that you had the opportunity to rock your plaid shirts and accessories for everyone to see? Well, this is your chance to do so at Ottawa?s very-first Plaid Parade taking place this Saturday, November 3 at 11:00 am. Organizers encourage participants to bring their bikes and show-off their best plaid pieces.
--?Eliane Laberge, blogger?

Saturday, November 3: St. Thomas the Apostle Church Snowflake Bazaar
Halloween's wrapped up so 'tis the season of Church Bazaars! You could probably just drive past any church and find one, but I'll be helping my grandma out at St Thomas the Apostle on Alta Vista Dr. this Saturday from 10-2 - so come say hi! A great chance to get yummy baked goodies, handicrafts etc and support the community.
--?Laura Gauthier

Saturday & Sunday, November 3-4: Ottawa Cat Show
I am not a cat fan. I'm allergic and I prefer dogs. But I know a lot of our readers like cats. The Ottawa Valley Cat Club has a show at the Nepean Sportsplex this weekend. Meow.
--?Glen Gower, Editor/Owner of?OttawaStart.com?

Sunday, November 4:?Camp Fortune annual Open HouseLet it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! 10am to 4pm. New to skiing, or want to be that snowboarder chick? It's the perfect time to?get up to the mountain, sign up for lessons on the spot or pick up your pass. Staff is all around to chat with you, and you can meet some of the friendly instructors like I did last year: Super Dave, Supervisor & Mayor of Fortune ? I?m looking at you! ?Many local retailers will also be on site showcasing the season?s new equipment. Come check it out, and enjoy some free snacks and beverages, as well as activities for the kids. Last year, Camp Fortune built a snow ramp and these little dudes on skateboard-like mini snowboards went flying off ramps and such! Super fun to watch and get you geared for the season ahead!?
--?Sylvie Hill,?writer, performer & educator

Sunday, November 4:?Bywords Quarterly Journal Fall Launch & Editors' ReadingFour readers from the issue plus a rare reading by some of our editors & music by Jesse Rose, who plays a baritone guitar & sings low.?At 2:00pm at Collected Works (1242 Wellington W).
-- Amanda Earl, poet & publisher

Monday, November 5: Crush Improv at the Elmdale Tavern
I'm playing the piano with the gang from Crush Improv. Show starts at 8:00pm, admission is pay-what-you-can (suggested $5). The funniest thing happening in Ottawa on a Monday night.
--?Glen Gower, Editor/Owner of?OttawaStart.com?

Wednesday, November 7: Writer Kayt Sukel at Collected Works
Why does love make us so crazy? Join?Kayt Sukel, science blogger and?author of Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex and Relationships, in a?lively and funny examination of the big questions about love and sex from the perspective of the latest brain science.?You've wondered. I've wondered. Today we?ll get some answers! At Collected Works Bookstore (1242 Wellington Street West), 7pm.
--?Sylvie Hill,?writer, performer & educator


Have a great week!

See also: Ottawa Events Guide
If you liked this post, you should subscribe to etcetera, our free email newsletter. Featuring cool Ottawa events, interesting local news and contests and giveaways. Thanks!

Source: http://ottawastart.blogspot.com/2012/10/ottawastarts-weekly-event-round-up_31.html

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24 flooded houses destroyed by fire in NYC

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PNC echos with cheers of professional sports fans as LeBron comes to town

Raleigh?? Professional sports was back at Raleigh?s PNC Arena this season, if only for one night. The place was filled with fans that came to watch the Charlotte Bobcats take on the Miami Heat Tuesday night. Of course, it wasn't just the two teams that folks wanted to see; many of them came to just one guy?LeBron. ?I grew up...

? Read More & View Video

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49528750/ns/local_news-raleigh_nc/

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Nokia Unboxes Cheapest Windows Phone Yet To Fight Android: $199 Lumia 510 Runs WP7.5, Targets India, China First

Nokia has announced its lowest priced Windows Phone to date: the WP7.5?Nokia Lumia 510?replaces the Lumia 610 as the entry level WP handset ? with an estimated retail price of $199 (excluding taxes and subsidies). India and China are the initial target markets, starting in November, ?followed closely? by other Asia-Pac countries and South America.

The announcement by Nokia of a new device running Microsoft?s older OS, WP7.5 ? rather than the?high end, forthcoming WP8 platform ? is the clearest sign yet Nokia is committed to trying to use Windows Phone as a low end smartphone platform, either alongside its?Series 40 Asha?line of devices or perhaps as a future replacement OS. If Nokia does choose to focus its low end efforts solely on WP7.5, Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza believes that?could help Microsoft gain significant smartphone market share?in future ? predicting WP could gain a fifth of the market by 2016.

The Lumia 510 is still double the price of Nokia?s cheapest full-touchscreen Ashas ? which carry a $99 price-tag. Non-touchscreen Asha are cheaper still so WP7.5 has a long way to go to achieve the same deep low end reach as Series 40. But every little helps to compete against Android?s sprawling mid-tier.

Gartner?s Cozza told TechCrunch: ?It is critical for Nokia at this stage to drive volumes and fill the void quickly they have in their low to mid tier smartphone portfolio and so they need to broaden further the Lumia range. This should enable Nokia to better fend off competitive pressure coming from low cost Android offerings which are increasing at a very rapid pace in emerging markets. ?In these markets Nokia has market reach and still a desirable brand, and can offer differentiated and value services.?

Comment on the Lumia 510 launch in a statement, Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices, said: ?With the Nokia Lumia 510 we continue to meet our commitment to bring Windows Phone to new, lower price points. People who use Windows Phone quickly realize how much more intuitive it is than other smartphone platforms, and Nokia Lumia is the best embodiment of the Windows Phone experience. With the Nokia Lumia 510 we?re looking forward to welcoming more people into the Windows Phone experience.?

The Lumia 510 has a 4 inch capacitive touchscreen, with a resolution of 800?480 pixels. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon S1 chip, has 256MB of RAM, and 4GB of user accessible memory plus 7GB of free SkyDrive storage (Microsoft?s cloud storage service) ? however there?s no Micro SD card slot to expand on board storage further. On the back is a five megapixel camera. The battery is rated at 1,300mAh.

To bulk out the Lumia 510?s software offerings, Nokia has included a Camera Extras app ? to add changeable, digital lens/filters to the camera ? plus its Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport apps, which are also found on high end Lumias.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/nokia-unboxes-cheapest-windows-phone-yet-199-lumia-510-runs-wp7-5-targets-india-china-first/

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ECU vandalism suspect faces fire on Twitter

GREENVILLE -

The suspect in a vandalism case at East Carolina University was the target Monday night of a Twitter barrage.

A person tweeting from the purported account of suspect William Banks fired back early and often.

?Dunk ppl do stupid **** ? it happens,? tweeted @xXWillECU16Xx, an account that has since either been disabled or changed its screen name.

The ECU freshman was arrested Sunday and charged in connection with a series of vandalism at ECU?s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium that had occurred earlier that day. Police said someone drove utility vehicles on the turf of Bagwell Field, leaving damage to the Pirates? game day surface. Trash cans, concession stands and water fountains were damaged sometime between 3 and 6 a.m. Sunday.

You can see photos here of the vandalism.

The Twitter account, which was further labeled as William Banks, was also confronted about punching in a windshield of a car in the parking lot ?for no reason? after leaving the stadium.

?Actually kicked it in ? But yea no reason,? @xXWillECU16Xx replied.

The account also tweeted directly about the vandalism.

?Y?all act like **** can?t be fixed ? It happened and nobody?s words can fix a **** thing,? the person tweeted.

If you?re looking for remorse, the next tweet is as close as you?ll come; the account appeared to own up to the crimes.

?And you are absolutely correct I deserve it ? I did the crimes, and I?ll pay the fines,? one of the tweets read.

In a later reply, the account tweeted, ?Oh yea I?m going to delete my twitter because you said so.?

The account appears to have been removed from Twitter, but you can see screenshots here of Monday night?s tweets.

Defense attorney Jeff Foster, who does not represent Banks, said the tweets from Banks' account may be used against him in court.

"The lack of remorse, the admission to doing certain things, just the combativeness in the way he across on his twitter account and just the complete lack of concern about the damage he caused are very damaging to him," Foster said.

Foster said in order to use these tweets against Banks in court, the state must provide foundational proof. Meaning, they must prove Banks was the one who actually posted the Tweets. The state will look at where the Tweets were posted and on what computer.

"These are all admissions against his interest. He's basically saying 'I did this' if in fact he made these posts," Foster said.

Foster said if convicted Banks' punishment will depend on the judge assigned to the case, what Banks' past criminal record looks like and whether each crime will be tried separately or not.

Banks was arrested after police said he returned to the stadium Sunday looking for a phone he had dropped.

Source: http://www.wcti12.com/news/ECU-vandalism-suspect-faces-fire-on-Twitter/-/13530444/17097284/-/99kcqwz/-/index.html

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Do You Need a VPN To Protect Your Privacy Online? Try proXPN ...

NOTE: This post was made possible by proXPN. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of MakeUseOf.com

With privacy on the Internet becoming an increasingly difficult to obtain commodity, and more governments beginning to censor politically sensitive websites or bow to the whims of the recording industry, having a VPN on hand has never been more useful. There are hundreds of VPN providers though, so today we?re going to take a comprehensive look at proXPN, a service with both free and cost-effective premium plans that we can all make use of in our Internet travels.

Free vs Premium Account

proXPN is fairly unique amongst VPN providers in that they provide a completely free to use option. There are no time limitations, however the speed is restricted to a very generous 300kbs and you may only use a single server location in the United States.

The free account may not be used for torrenting purposes, and you must connect using the OpenVPN protocol (this is more secure than PPTP anyway). Connecting is easily accomplished using the free software provided for both Mac and Windows. Each session will begin by going through a portal first, which looks like this, encouraging you to upgrade:

Click through to reveal a 10 second countdown timer, after which you?re automatically redirected. Still, you?re getting an awesome service for free, so you can?t really complain about a little push toward a premium account. Subsequent sites you visit during your free session are not affected by the portal page either, just an initial one after connecting.

The premium account comes with no limitations ? and torrent downloads are possible, with no bandwidth cap. There?s a 7 day free trial available before you?re charged; prices start at $6.25/month when you pay for one year upfront.

Premium Account Speed Results

To get started, you may wish to disconnect from whatever server it has auto-connected you to ? the server selection menu then appears under the Connect option.

Closest Server Test

This was tested by connecting to a UK server from within the UK ? the closest server to me. The results were certainly faster than I would have expected ? 20mb down /?5mb up; my actual fibre connection without VPN is roughly 50mb down and 5mb up. These tests were all performed using the premium account.

Furthest Server Test

A more likely situation is that you will want to connect through either a US server or a country different to your own, to bypass regional locks and state censorship. Connecting to Dallas, from London, I achieved a slightly less stunning average of 300ms ping, 3mb download and 1.5mb upload, but still quite useable for browsing needs.

Watching Netflix from the UK, for example, is quite a common use case for VPNs. Netflix did indeed display the full US selection, but unfortunately I was stuck with standard definition video. Video playback was full frame smooth at SD resolution, but if you?re looking to stream this out to a HD television, I?d suggest you look at non-VPN alternatives such as UnoTelly, which work by simply changing your DNS with no detriment to the speed or quality of streaming.

Free Account Speed Results

As mentioned, the free account is limited to a single US server location and 300kbs speed. What does this mean? In practice, Netflix streaming was possible, but at severely degraded resolution ? pixelated even in a small browser window. YouTube videos were also watchable, but again only at 240p resolution.

Browsing the web under the free account was perfectly fine though; no discernable lag times or slow page loading. I also wasn?t cut off after 5 minutes like some free VPN accounts do. There is however a small popup window that appears in the corner of your PC occasionally ? even if you?re not connected to the VPN (but the app is running).

VPN Guard

The supplied software includes a VPN guard function, which will close applications when the VPN fails unexpectedly ? although it won?t shut down the application if you click disconnect on purpose.

In testing, I didn?t experience any random disconnects though on either the free or premium account levels, but your experience may vary if your Internet is prone to connection troubles.

Torrenting

As noted, torrent downloads are only permitted on the premium account. Just out of curiosity, I did try on the free account also but it didn?t work.

Using?CheckMyTorrentIP in an unconnected and then connected state showed that the VPN was successful in masking both my IP and any UDP leakage from the browser.

A fairly well seeded 4gb Ubuntu DVD image from PirateBay worked out at around 200?400kbs from the US, Dallas server with no connection errors. Of course, your torrent performance is going to vary greatly depending on the number of seeds so objective testing here is difficult, but the point is that you should see no discernible speed reduction by using proXPN.

Privacy

proXPN does ? as expected ? a thorough job of masking your IP; this is the core function of a VPN, after all. However, records are kept for 14 days. If extreme privacy is something you need, this could be a concern, and you would be better looking elsewhere at a service such as privacy.io which keeps zero logs. For keeping torrent downloads private, realistically 14 days is unlikely to get your personal information handed over to authorities.

One thing I should note is that if you access your Gmail from an offline client, you may find emails mysteriously stop arriving ? this is because Gmail detects the new, foreign IP as suspicious activity and blocks the connection. To fix this, log in to your Gmail via the web, and deal with the alert message by approving the connection. This is not the fault of the VPN of course, but simply something I thought worth mentioning.

Summary

The premium account is a competant and value-for-money VPN that offers a good level of privacy for average users. In extreme cases, if any amount of record keeping is a concern for you, you should look elsewhere. The fact that it allows torrent downloads ? and does so at reasonable speeds ? is quite rare in and of itself.

There are no speed limitations, nor bandwidth caps. However, the speed you can achieve is going to depend on your usage case; for opening up the US Netflix selection, you will be limited to standard definition. For general privacy, you can choose a local server to give excellent speeds; while for torrents, I suggest the European server for a good trade-off between protection and speed. Overall, it?s a great solution for a variety of tasks, and certainly good value for money.

The free account is mired by a few popups, but it is both time and bandwidth unlimited; you really couldn?t ask for better that that. If you?re at all concerned about your web privacy but can?t afford $6.25 a month,?by all means go and grab the client now and make your free account. Just use it when you need it for complete piece of mind; it?s a scary online world we live in, and everyone needs a VPN.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/vpn-protect-privacy-online-proxpn/

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Iterations: The Harsh Realities Of iOS App Distribution

In this post, I?m going to try illuminate a tactical problem many application developers face, but unfortunately, I must claim upfront that I don?t know if any solution exists without a fundamental change occuring. The topic for this week?s column is to peel back the layers on mobile app distribution in Apple?s iOS, and in doing so, hopefully illuminate areas developers can exploit given the treacherous conditions that currently exist. As is the case with many of these kinds of posts, I?ll get a few disclaimers out of the way. First, I?m focusing on the iOS app ecosystem because that?s what I?ve been mainly exposed to. Yes, I have tried Android products in the past and I do recognize its open system allows developers to build things faster and with less restrictions than would be the case within Apple?s universe. Second, I?m going to ask readers to, for this post, to put aside iOS apps that are games, communication utilities, extensions of large brands (I?m sure Target has a large install-base), native Apple apps (like iMovie), especially those that come preloaded, and basic utility apps like Fandango (for movie tickets) and so on -- the apps that have the most downloads and the most competition. It goes without saying that these types of apps are downloaded most often, so with these cast aside for a moment, how do the rest of us who aren?t Instagram get real iOS distribution?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/V46hh7kmv30/

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Wind farm public inquiry starts

22 October 2012 Last updated at 05:49 ET

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland and Cairngorms National Park Authority oppose the wind farm planned for Allt Duine in the Monadhliath Mountains

A public inquiry examining plans for a 31-turbine wind farm close to the boundary of the Cairngorms National Park has started in Aviemore.

RWE Npower Renewables has proposed the development for the site at Allt Duine in the Monadhliath Mountains.

Kincraig Community Council has backed the project saying it would help Badenoch and Strathspey be self sufficient in terms of electricity.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland and other groups oppose the plan.

RWE Npower Renewables had proposed 34 turbines, but reduced the size of the scheme following public consultation.

The turbines will have a maximum height to blade tip of 125m (410ft). At three locations the developer said the height would be restricted to 110m (360ft) to avoid turbines from being seen at viewpoints within the Strathspey area.

'Unspoilt landscape'

In January, Highland Council's south planning applications committee voted nine to three to oppose the project.

Councillors took the UK's highest railway journey to help them assess the potential visual impact of the Allt Duine scheme.

They travelled on the Cairngorms funicular railway which climbs to 1,097m (3,599ft).

The railway's highest point is just below the summit of CairnGorm Mountain.

The Scottish government, which has the final say on the development, had consulted Highland Council. The local authority's decision to oppose the project resulted in government holding the public inquiry.

Before the start of the inquiry, Kincraig Community Council told BBC Radio Scotland it was supporting the wind farm.

Spokesman John Anderson said the community council had waited until it had all the facts before voting on it.

Mr Anderson said the wind farm would help to tackle climate change, conserve fossil fuels for future generations and allow the area of Badenoch and Strathspey to generate its own electricity and not have to rely on power produced in other people's "back yards".

He added: "The hills that we have are very, very valuable, but at the same time the Scottish government has been trying to get businesses into the Highlands and Islands for years and here we have a company that can come in and harvest the wind in the area."

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland has been campaigning against the development, warning that it would harm an unspoilt landscape.

Chief officer David Gibson said: "We support green energy generation but this scheme involves dumping 15,500 tonnes of concrete and miles of roads in mountain areas of national importance and beauty.

"Wind farms are supposed to have a lifetime of 25 years, we would therefore expect developers to include proposals for site restitution in their plans as evidence of good stewardship of the environment.

"This public inquiry should protect our precious natural environment by putting a stop to this completely inappropriate project."

The Cairngorms National Park Authority has also lodged an objection to the public inquiry. It said some of the turbines would come as close as 900m (2,952ft) from the park's boundary.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-20027075#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Computers and Technology Data Disaster Recovery Solutions That ...

Data Disaster Recovery Solutions That Will Save Your Business

Organizations around the country have learned to take the time to come up with detailed data disaster recovery solutions in order to keep their internal data safe from being lost or stolen. This article will explain some of the most effective data recovery solutions to keep your business from suffering a devastating loss. Data Disaster happens when a business software or storage loses all or vital information due to computer failure, user error, or many times a natural disaster can cause significant damage especially when it directly contacts your server.

A few solutions to make sure these situations are avoided starts with having backups for all your existing files created and saved in more than one place. Choosing to utilize offsite backup to transmit and safely secure important data is a way to stave off future complications. Online data backup is a way to restore information quick and easy with the guaranteed security that a new business is looking for. When searching for backups for your business there are a few key components to pay close attention too. With an offsite solution you will have the luxury during a fire or natural disaster to still be able to retrieve any loss of data if your office is destroyed or damaged.

One feature with an offsite disaster solution is that replication of your data will not need any restoration. Restoration can be time consuming so eliminating this will benefit your company as you attempt to get business back to normal. Outsourcing with a specialized data backup company can be very smart for new businesses who want to be more confident in their data security. Losing data can cause significant damage to a companies financially as well as productivity. This all depends on how long you are down after a disaster occurs. With the correct solution you should have no problems getting your business back up and running in no time.

It is essential that you have backup when coming up with a disaster recovery solution because without your going to shell out a lot of money to restore lost files. For a small business this can become extremely expensive and in many cases sending you down the road to bankruptcy. Having security on your data is vital especially as the use of computers grow and the demand businesses ask our technology to accommodate too. As business expands exploring methods to get rid of data loss will heighten as well. Choosing offsite or onsite backup means you are going in the right direction in securing your business. Over time using both solutions as a way to keep your company safe will be money well spent. Having key records saved to an offsite backup server as well as the countless onsite options is the best way to keep things under your control. There is never any time to take chances on vital information in business. Taking care of your data will lead to greater productivity and potential more money gained.

This entry was tagged Data Disaster, disaster recovery solutions, offsite, offsite backup, time. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.professorratzhole.com/data-disaster-recovery-solutions-that-will-save-your-business.html

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Natural Keyboard Brings the Outdoors Right to Your Desk [VIDEO]

Hunching over a desk all day at work may make you yearn for the great outdoors. Artist Robbie Tilton aims to remedy that by creating a computer keyboard made from organic materials.

Laser cut from an Apple wireless keyboard template, the ?Natural Keyboard? has a plywood body, with a layer of imitation moss on top.

?Surrounded with tech gadgets made of glass, metals and plastics ? I believe that as a society ? we are constantly removing ourselves from nature,? Tilton writes on his blog.

For more on the keyboard, check out the video above. Then, tell us in the comments: Would you prefer the Natural Keyboard over your metal or plastic one?

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/10/20/natural-keyboard/

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9 killed in clashes in southeast Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkey's state-run agency says clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country have left nine people dead.

The Anatolia news agency says Saturday three Turkish troops and three Kurdish rebels were killed in fighting that broke out in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq.

The agency said rebels also attacked a military unit in Bitlis province, northwest of Hakkari, killing three government-paid village guards who are helping the Turkish security forces.

The attack comes amid a sharp escalation in violence over the past few months in Turkey's southeast, where the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are fighting for self-rule for Kurds.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the group took up arms in 1984.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-20-Turkey-Kurds/id-a8774f90e432487aa414a84eedac6009

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Sensex falls on earnings caution; ITC hits record high

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex fell on Friday as Reliance Industries extended a recent losing run on continued worries about the outlook for its refining margins and as recently outperforming financial stocks such as HDFC were hit by profit-taking.

However gains in ITC Ltd to a record high capped broader losses after the cigarette maker posted a 22 percent surge in July-September earnings despite the challenge of higher taxes and tighter anti-smoking rules in several states.

Indian shares have struggled recently, with the Sensex down 0.4 percent this month after rallying 7.7 percent in September, as the impact from the government's fiscal and economic reforms fade.

Investors are holding hope the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates at its policy review on October 30, although most analysts expect only a token 25 basis point cut in the cash reserve ratio, or the amount of deposits lenders must keep with the central bank.

"For the week, the Sensex has ended lower on the back of profit booking and absence of fresh triggers for the market," said Sanjeev Zarbade, Vice President of the Private Client Group Research at Kotak Securities, in an emailed note.

The Sensex fell 0.58 percent, or 109.62 points, to 18,682.31. The index rose 0.04 percent for the week.

The 50-share Nifty lost 0.6 percent, or 34.45 points, to 5,684.25, but added 0.14 percent for the week.

Earnings have been a key driver of share performance.

Reliance Industries fell 1.05 percent, bringing its losses to 2 percent for the week, on worries about whether the energy conglomerate can sustain the rebound seen in its refining margins for the July-September quarter out on Monday.

Battery maker Exide industries shares slumped 8.9 percent after profit and margins missed market estimates as higher costs dented operating performance.

Adani Power Ltd dropped 2.4 percent after swinging to a July-September net loss of 2.6 billion rupees from a 1.7 billion profit a year ago.

Bank shares fall on profit-taking: ICICI Bank lost 0.7 percent after gaining 18 percent since the end of August to Thursday's close, outperforming the Nifty which gained 8.75 percent during the same period.

HDCF Bank lost 1.2 percent, while mortgage lender HDFC declined 1.1 percent.

Shares in Kingfisher Airlines dropped 4.6 percent.

However, among gainers, shares in ITC rose 2 percent, after earlier hitting a record 299 rupees. The tobacco firm's higher cigarette prices protected margins from stagnant volume growth.

Shares in jewellery companies, gained on hopes of a spike in jewellery sales ahead of the festive season in India, when consumer spending appetite traditionally increases.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery gained 8.9 percent while Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Ltd gained 10.9 percent.

(Editing by Rafael Nam)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sensex-down-itc-hits-record-earnings-090150286--finance.html

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Oato's Quirky Stuck Chair Reinterprets the Archetypal Chair - Inhabitat

Oato?s crafty?Stuck Chair?takes the shape of a?deconstructed?archetypal chair?that?s been?rearranged anew, using tension as a bond to ensure its pieces remain ?stuck? together.?The seating and the legs are crafted from wood that makes them squirm tight, and the backrest is made out of steel so the chair won?t lose its shape when outside force is applied. Oato?s chair is a research project exploring new possibilities in both construction and material.

+ Oato

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

Source: http://inhabitat.com/oatos-quirky-stuck-chair-reinterprets-the-archetypical-chair/

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Judge: Zimmerman can see Trayvon school records

The parents of Trayvon Martin responded to George Zimmerman's defense team's request to release their son's school records, saying they "shouldn't make dead children seem as though they are the perpetrator."

By Kari Huus, NBC News

?

Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET: A judge ruled on Friday that attorneys for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, can have access to the dead teen's school records and social media accounts.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, who is the new presiding judge in this highly publicized and emotional case, said that Zimmerman's attorneys can subpoena Trayvon Martin's schools for his discipline records but must keep anything they obtain private.

"I think that you're entitled to those records," Nelson said during the hearing at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Fla.

The judge also granted Zimmerman's request to subpoena Trayvon's social media records, which were removed from the Internet after his death,?as well as those of a girl who says she was on the phone with him before the shooting.

---

?

Before the proceedings started, Martin's?family held a news conference that took a preemptive strike against the subpoena of those?records.

"We think it?s a terrible precedent to set," said attorney Ben Crump, who held a press conference with Trayvon Martin?s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. "Why is it relevant about his school records or his Facebook page? George Zimmerman knew none of that on Feb. 26 when he claimed Trayvon's life."

The shooting took place when Zimmerman encountered Martin, 17, who was unarmed and walking through the Sanford neighborhood where his father lives.

Zimmerman, 29,?has pleaded not guilty and?is set to face trial June 10, 2013. He remains out on bail and is in seclusion.

Zimmerman?appeared in court wearing a suit and tie, and he sat quietly while his attorney Mark O?Mara made his case for access to the records.

O?Mara said the defense wants the Twitter and Facebook accounts "in their entirety" of Martin as well as a witness ? a girl who was on the phone with him when he encountered Zimmerman. The girl was not named because she is a juvenile.

O?Mara conceded that it "sounds horrible" to evaluate the reputation of the shooting victim, but he said that the records were crucial to showing that his client did not act with "ill will or hatred" of Martin.

"The issue in this case is who did what during those couple of minutes that we don?t know what happened," O'Mara said.?

Zimmerman maintains that Martin attacked him and beat him.

O?Mara told the judge that although the Facebook and Twitter accounts had been removed from the Internet, he has been able to access ? though not authenticate ? enough of the social media accounts to demonstrate that "that information could be very, very relevant to my defense."

Benjamin Crump, attorney for Trayvon Martin's parents, speaks to reporters prior to a hearing on whether the court will allow the teen's school records to be included in a trial of his shooter George Zimmerman. Crump is flanked by Trayvon's father Tracy Martin, left, and his mother Sybrina Fulton.

Crump, the attorney for Martin's family, said that if the court calls for the release of Martin's?school records and social media postings, the family would demand the release of Zimmerman?s medical records, which he argued were far more relevant to finding out what happened on the night of Martin's?killing.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

"If this was your child who was shot and killed, wouldn't you want to know ? if there were drugs that influenced (the shooter?s) judgment or decision making?" he said.

On Friday, Judge Nelson did grant a prosecution request for Zimmerman's medical records, though?she said she will review the medical records first to decide whether anything should be withheld.

This was the first hearing in the highly publicized case to come before Nelson, who replaced the previous judge, Kenneth Lester, in August after a judicial panel found that Lester had begun to form opinions about Zimmerman that could affect his impartiality.

Martin's family?also announced the establishment of a Change for Trayvon committee that will press for a change in Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which could be used in Zimmerman?s defense. That law allows use of force in self-defense when there is a reasonable belief of an unlawful threat.

Martin's parents said they want the wording of the law to state that someone cannot instigate a fight and then claim self-defense.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/19/14560587-attorneys-for-george-zimmerman-battle-for-trayvon-martins-school-records-twitter-account?lite

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Five Favorite Films with Sean Stone

Sean Stone hasn't even been on the planet three decades and has already played Jim Morrison, Nixon's brother, and countless other roles in some of the finest films of his lifetime, directed by his father Oliver Stone. But he's not just a pretty face--he's taking up the family business and directing his own movies now, with terrifying results.

Greystone Park is a found-footage scare-fest that blends Jacob's Ladder-esque visuals with Blair Witch tension, then ratchets them up about 300% and adds in spears and chicks wearing ball gowns dancing in mental hospitals. With Halloween just around the corner, it's sure to get you in the mood for screaming. And while you're looking it up On Demand, you can add his favorite films to your watching list, too.

The first time I watched this film, I was 13 years old, and I had no idea what kind of 'war film' to expect. ?My first reaction was that it was too slow; but as I got home that night, the poetry of the narrative, the visuals and the music began to sink in. ?I ended up dragging my friends to see it, watching the film five times in theaters; and though the film received mixed reactions at the time, I found Terrence Malick's work to be a transformative meditation on the classic Transcendental themes of the brotherhood of man, self-sacrifice, and faith. ?It is only a 'war film' insofar as the war is a metaphor for the Darwinian struggle of survival in what seems an unjust world.

Before?Gladiator, there was another slave turned gladiator, and his name was Conan. ?I think if any film demonstrates the pure charismatic power of Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is the one. ?When in need of a good pick-me-up, this old fashioned revenge story from John Milius is a go-to for me. ?And though the movie has its flaws, when Basil Pouledaris' music picks up during the sword-fights that punctuate the story, these prove to be some of the best fight scenes ever captured on the silver screen.

From the opening shots of Daniel Day Lewis running through a forest in chase of a deer, to the finale when he's sprinting across a mountain to protect his brother, this is my kind of romance - men and women living upon the earth, fighting for love, and willing to die for nothing more than honor. ?It may not be the 'greatest love story' ever told, but when Day Lewis promises to find Madeleine Stowe's character, no matter where she goes, before jumping off a waterfall, that's one of the great scenes in cinema history. ?Kudos to Michael Mann.

JFK

(Oliver Stone, 1991; 84% Tomatometer)

It may not be fair to say this is one of my top five, since it's my dad's film, and I'm in it as a youngster (playing Kevin Costner's son); but even at 7 years old, when I first saw it, I remember sitting through the whole 3-hour film without moving. ?There's something to the interplay of editing and dialogue that hooks me, no matter how many times I watch it, back into the investigation of the murder of President Kennedy. ?And perhaps because the crime remains unsolved, the film remains infinitely intriguing to watch, as though each time viewing it, you expect new?revelations? ?Instead, upon each viewing, I feel compelled to go out and research more about our country's dark, hidden history. ?To create that kind of curiosity in an audience is a remarkable feat in itself.?

The Western is obviously one of the staples of American cinema, but ironically, the Italian spaghetti-westerns have become more famous in pop culture than the classic American western. ?And amongst the spaghetti-western directors, Sergio Leone will always be the titan for me. ?Although I love his films with Clint Eastwood, this epic is one to spend an evening with; from the classic shoot-out at the train depot, to the haunting final three-way gun fight, this may be my favorite portrayal of Charles Bronson on screen. ?It's a story of the expansion of the railroad and the opening of the west; of revenge and infamy; of love triangles and justice. ?And with a sweeping, heartrending soundtrack from Ennio Morricone, what more can you ask of a film? ?

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Greystone Park is available on Video on Demand and on DVD October 16.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926100/news/1926100/

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Bi-Weekly Mortgage Payments | FiGuide

Most homeowners have been solicited by their mortgage company or another financial institution with an offer to convert to biweekly mortgage payments instead of monthly payments. The advantage touted for this strategy is saving a heap of interest over the years and reducing the time required to pay off your mortgage by several years. Clients often ask us whether this is a good idea or not. No, it is not smart; it is a scam.

If that is all you need to know, you're done: go on and read something else. If you want to understand why it's not smart, read on!

The math does work: paying half your monthly mortgage every two weeks does pay off your mortgage much faster and does save a substantial amount of interest. It may also be viewed as very convenient since most people are paid biweekly.

Investment Earnings Exceed Benefit of Interest Savings

It is not financially advantageous because it doesn't take into account the foregone investment earnings, which is more than the mortgage interest saved. The reason biweekly mortgage payments reduce interest and the length of the mortgage is that you end up paying an additional month's mortgage payments each year (26 payments divided by 2 = 13 Months). The correct comparison is not between biweekly mortgage payments and monthly mortgage payments. The correct comparison is between the interest expense you could save with biweekly payments and the amount of interest earned if you invest the additional amount you otherwise would be paying on your mortgage.

A Sample Mortgage Situation (or A Case Study)

Consider a 30-year, 4% fixed -rate mortgage taken out 5 years ago by a taxpayer in a 33% federal tax bracket. The taxpayer is offered a deal to switch to biweekly payments which would require a $500 ?set up? fee plus half of a month's mortgage payment to start. The interest rate (4.0%) remains the same, but instead of a monthly payment of $763.86, the home owner would pay $381.93 biweekly. This would enable the homeowner to pay off the mortgage in 21 more years (instead of 25) and save the homeowner $42,572 in interest expense. This is the ?pitch.?

To correctly analyze this problem, there are five factors to consider:

1. Normally (but not always) the mortgage company charges a fee of about $500 to set this up for you. This is ridiculous because most mortgages permit prepayments with no additional fee or penalty. If you were to invest this $500 fee at 6.00% for the 21-year mortgage period, it would grow to about $815.

2. The terms of the biweekly arrangement actually require that the payments be made at the beginning of the period, whereas typical mortgages charge the ?payments at month-end. If the homeowner invested only one month?s payment at 6% for 21 years, it would earn about $480 in interest.

3. Paying half of the monthly payment every two weeks is comparable to paying 13 monthly house payments a year. If the extra $764 was invested each year instead of being used to pay off the mortgage, it would grow to $30,548.

4. Since home mortgage interest is deductible, choosing to reduce interest by $42,572 over the next 21 years would increase federal income taxes by $12,024, plus the taxes saved would earn $ 7,575 over the 21 years.

5. In total, the $ 51,442 in additional investment earnings generated by investing the money instead of paying down the mortgage is sufficient to pay off the balance of the original 30- year mortgage in full in 21 years and still have $18,262 in cash remaining.

Additional Reasons Why Biweekly Mortgages Are Not Advantageous

In addition, if you were able to invest the surplus mortgage payments in an IRA or other pension each year, you would be able to defer an additional $17,981 in income taxes.

Consider also that mortgage providers generally charge a lower rate for shorter mortgages. So if you wanted to pay off your home in 25 years instead of 30, it would be wiser to arrange that at the outset when applying for a mortgage and take advantage of the lower rate.

I advise clients to keep a longer mortgage on their home because it is your best hedge against inflation. If inflation increases in the next 5 or 10 years back to 5% or 10% as it did during the 70s and 80s, mortgage rates will soar to 9 to14%. You would be pleased to owe the bank a couple hundred thousand dollars at a 4% fixed rate as your money market account is paying 6% or more!

Special thanks to those who collaborated on this post: Chip Simon, an ACA colleague from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Al Hoefer, my technical consultant, and Shari Cohen who was the copy editor.

Source: http://www.figuide.com/bi-weekly-mortgage-payments.html

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Analysis: Italian firms fight to hold head above political water

BOLOGNA, Italy (Reuters) - It's not long into a chat with an Italian businessmen before talk turns to how a costly state is sucking the air out of Europe's third-largest economy, endangering the euro along the way.

"In the end we're asking for only one thing: a normal government for a normal country," said Maurizio Marchesini, the president of Confindustria, Italy's main employers' association, in the wealthy north-central region of Emilia-Romagna.

Emilia-Romagna, of which Bologna is the capital, is doing better than much of Italy. It is one of the top 10 industrial regions of Europe, home to companies such as Ferrari and pasta giant Barilla, and seems to be largely free of organized crime.

Clusters of mainly medium-sized firms in engineering, packaging, food processing and ceramics are a reminder that, despite a government debt burden hovering at 120 percent of annual output, Italy is Europe's second-largest manufacturer.

Yet all is not well. Italy is in recession and few expect growth to resume before 2014. Exporters are coping, sometimes flourishing, but many firms that depend on the domestic market are floundering, even in defensive sectors such as food, said Giampiero Bergami, a banker for Unicredit.

Sales and profitability are under assault. "Gloomy would be putting it mildly. We are witnessing a constant contraction of both top lines and margins," Bergami said.

HIGH COSTS

Household consumption is at a post-war low, depressed by tax rises and spending cuts that Prime Minister Mario Monti, a technocrat, has forced through to rein in Rome's budget deficit.

Entrepreneurs respect Monti, who has said he would be willing to stay on if elections next spring produced a deadlock. But if businessmen are doing well, they say this is in spite of the state, not thanks to it.

Marchesini, who runs a successful packaging firm, lists his complaints. The inflexible labor market is "quite impossible for a foreigner to understand"; red tape is so bad it takes at least a year to open a factory; and then there are punishing taxes, poor infrastructure and the high cost of credit.

Companies have long said they are reluctant to recruit staff even in good times because labor laws make it hard to shed workers if their business turns down.

Confindustria estimates the political malaise is responsible for 2 percentage points of the risk premium of more than 3.2 points over German debt that investors demand to hold 10-year Italian bonds, which now yield about 4.8 percent.

Because government bond yields set the benchmark for corporate borrowing costs, Marchesini is paying interest of 4-5 percent despite rising turnover and a good credit rating. That puts him at a big disadvantage to his German competitors.

"So you can imagine it's hard to make big investments. Of course I haven't stopped investing in development and new machinery. But, for example, to buy a new building is a real problem," he said. "It's very difficult to obtain a mortgage."

Government borrowing costs have also become an indicator of the wider euro zone crisis. At the moment, attention is focused on Spain and Greece, but if Italy does not show soon that it is getting to grips with its problems, the country could be next in line to shake the 17-nation currency union.

ASIA VERSUS ITALY

For Eraldo Poletto, the outgoing managing director of Furla, a family-owned maker of luxury leather goods based in Bologna, ever-changing laws, bureaucracy and high taxes are undermining what he says is an old entrepreneurial spirit in Italy.

Speaking during a business trip to India, Poletto contrasted what he called Asia's amazing desire to succeed to Italy's constant concern to preserve past gains. "Here they want to win; we in Italy are afraid to lose the privileges we have. We need a wake-up call," he said from Mumbai.

Domestic carmaker Fiat has frozen a multi-billion-euro investment plan in Italy because of poor market conditions and competition from low-cost production outside Europe, while Alcoa Inc is shutting its Italian aluminum smelter in Sardinia largely due to high energy costs.

Energy is also one of the problems facing the ceramic tiles sector, which has struggled to recover from a slump in 2008. It costs 50 percent more than the European average, especially for industrial users, because of limited competition, according to the International Monetary Fund.

"We're at one of the lowest points in our history," said Franco Manfredini, head of the ceramics employers' association in the town of Sassuolo, where 80 percent of Italy's tiles are produced. "We have to become a serious country."

To make up for a slide in domestic sales, which were down 16 percent in the first half of the year, local tile makers are opening factories abroad, emphasizing innovation and exporting more. Tiles from Sassuolo, an hour's drive from Bologna, clad Brisbane airport and Riyadh's biggest shopping mall.

BAD REPUTATION

Mauro Sacchetto, the chief executive of Datalogic, a leading producer of bar code readers, says a succession of governments has neglected the sort of cooperation in research between industry and universities that his company enjoys in Vietnam, where it opened a plant in 2009 that now employs 600.

"Italy's reputation is due to a lack of credible, reliable politicians. We have enough of an industrial culture to prove that we are much better than our political and banking reputation," Sacchetto said.

Bologna-based Datalogic has three research centers but just two small factories in Italy, which account for only 9 percent of the fast-growing firm's global sales.

Italy's economy has barely expanded in a decade, and Morgan Stanley reckons its potential growth - the rate at which output can rise consistently without generating inflation - may be now just 0.5 percent a year. Only Greece, the bank noted in a report, scores worse among mature economies on a range of World Bank indicators assessing the ease of doing business.

NO LAZY EXCUSE

Blaming politics sounds like a lazy excuse for this abysmal performance, but Stefano Zamagni, an economics professor at the University of Bologna, said the political system truly was at the heart of Italy's economic problems.

After a decade of carefree government spending in the 1980s, Italy needed restraint and reform. Instead, a crumbling of the post-war political order in 1992 led to the emergence of parties based on individuals, notably three-times prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, rather than by ideology.

Since then, Zamagni said, Italy had suffered increasing rent-seeking - the term for how groups or individuals use their clout for economic gain without benefiting society.

About 1.5 million civil servants, put on the payroll by vote-seeking politicians, extract a bureaucratic rent because they are literally unproductive. Other examples include financial speculation, tax evasion and corruption, he said.

Zamagni estimates total rents at a third of annual output, eating into wages and profits, and sapping the economy. "When rents are high, salaries are lower than they should be; hence effective demand is lower. And unless you increase the profit share, then of course companies will not invest," he said.

MIXED MESSAGES

But Zamagni believed Italians were getting fed up. He said he sensed Italy was approaching the "bottom of the curve" as voters realized they shared the blame for Italy's woes.

The country had also demonstrated its ability in the past to pick itself up, notably after World War Two. "Italians show the best of their nature when they're under stress," he said. "That is why I am moderately optimistic about the near future."

At Furla, Poletto questioned whether Italy was ready for the "cultural revolution" he said was needed. Voters, including entrepreneurs, had only themselves to blame for electing politicians like Berlusconi whom they now scorn.

"They are there because we vote for them. And then we complain about it? Shame on us!" he said.

Emilio Mussini, chairman of Panariagroup, a big ceramics manufacturer based in Sassuolo employing 1,700, said he also sensed change was in the air; Italians were realizing that the country had been living beyond its means.

"If you speak to people in the street or in the caf?, there is a new awareness," he said. "We're becoming conscious for the first time that we need to change our model."

At Confindustria, Marchesini begged to differ, saying businessmen had no clear view of what lay ahead.

Asked whether he was confident the political environment in the coming decade would be better for the economy, Marchesini replied without hesitation: "We need to have good government within the next five years, not in 10 - that would be too late for our economy."

(editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-italian-firms-fight-hold-head-above-political-161348384--business.html

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Pickens Praises Candidates for Embracing U.S. Oil in Debate

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pickens-praises-candidates-embracing-u-oil-debate-202700578.html

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