First lady: Priority is ensuring 'family is whole'

This cover image released by Vogue shows first lady Michelle Obama on the cover of the April 2013 issue of Vogue. The issue is available on newsstands on March 26. (AP Photo/Vogue, nnie Leibovitz)

This cover image released by Vogue shows first lady Michelle Obama on the cover of the April 2013 issue of Vogue. The issue is available on newsstands on March 26. (AP Photo/Vogue, nnie Leibovitz)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Michelle Obama is pushing back against the notion that she and President Barack Obama don't socialize enough in Washington.

The first lady says in an interview in the April issue of Vogue magazine that she and the president were straightforward when they said ? before moving from Chicago to Washington in 2009 ? that their family, including two young daughters, would be their priority.

She said "the stresses and the pressures" of the White House are so real that they prefer to spend free time with their daughters, now 14 and 11.

"Our job is, first and foremost, to make sure our family is whole. You know, we have small kids; they're growing every day. But I think we were both pretty straightforward when we said, 'Our No. 1 priority is making sure that our family is whole,'" Mrs. Obama said in the interview, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press before the magazine hits newsstands on March 26.

She noted that most of the couple's friends are parents, too, and that when she and the president go on vacation, usually with longtime friends or relatives, they are surrounded by children.

"The stresses and the pressures of this job are so real that when you get a minute, you want to give that extra energy to your 14- and 11-year-old," the first lady said.

The interview, conducted in January shortly after Obama began his second term, was released in the midst of his attempts to do more of what critics say he hasn't done enough of: reaching out to lawmakers, particularly Republicans, he needs to get his agenda through Congress. The list of action items includes legislation to limit access to firearms, overhaul the immigration system and make progress toward deficit reduction, among other issues.

Obama recently had dinner with a group of Republican senators at a hotel near the White House. He followed up by having lunch at the White House with the House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

The president also has been making multiple trips to Capitol Hill this week to meet with the individual party caucuses in both chambers.

He joked in the Vogue interview that he and the first lady might start hitting the town, now that their daughters are older and have less time for them.

"As I joked at a press conference, now that they want less time with us, who knows? Maybe you'll see us out in the clubs," Obama said.

Mrs. Obama added that "90 percent" of what she and the president talk about has to do with the girls: what they're up to, who has practice, which one of their friends is having a birthday party and did they get that person a gift ? conversation she described as "endless" and "pretty exhausting."

She suggested that neither one of them wants to miss any of it. Obama grew up without his father and has talked publicly about his desire to be there for his kids.

"He's doing it while still dealing with Syria and health care. He's as up on every friend, every party, every relationship," the first lady said. "And if you're out to dinner every night, you miss those moments where you can check-in and just figure them out when they're ready to share with you."

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-14-Michelle%20Obama/id-f65d21e2fa0449d1950d34937035ab08

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NKorea criticizes SKorea prez's 'swish of skirt'

A South Korean marine K-55 self-propelled howitzer fires during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The body that controls North Korea?s military dismissed new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold the office, with a sexist reference Wednesday to the ?venomous swish? of her skirt. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korean marine K-55 self-propelled howitzer fires during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The body that controls North Korea?s military dismissed new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold the office, with a sexist reference Wednesday to the ?venomous swish? of her skirt. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A South Korean marine K-55 self-propelled howitzer fires during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013.The body that controls North Korea?s military dismissed new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold the office, with a sexist reference Wednesday to the ?venomous swish? of her skirt. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean marines stand in the gun smoke of a K-55 self-propelled howitzer during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The body that controls North Korea?s military dismissed new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold the office, with a sexist reference Wednesday to the ?venomous swish? of her skirt. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean marines check a weapon on their K-55 self-propelled howitzer during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. The body that controls North Korea?s military dismissed new South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold the office, with a sexist reference Wednesday to the ?venomous swish? of her skirt. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

South Korean Marines walk by a K-55 self-propelled howitzer during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. North Korea's first public, senior-level mention of South Korea's first female president ended up being a sexist crack. The body that controls Pyongyang's military complained Wednesday about the "venomous swish" of her skirt.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea's first public, senior-level mention of South Korea's first female president ended up being a sexist crack. The body that controls Pyongyang's military complained Wednesday about the "venomous swish" of her skirt.

But despite that swipe, and a continuing torrent of rhetoric from Pyongyang threatening nuclear war and other mayhem, President Park Geun-hye is sticking by her campaign vow to reach out to North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, and to send the country much-needed humanitarian aid.

Public frustration with the last five years of North-South relations, which saw North Korean nuclear tests, long-range rocket launches and attacks that left dozens of South Koreans dead, is a big part of the reason Park is trying to build trust with Pyongyang, even as she and South Korea's military promise to respond forcefully to any attack from the North.

Park's predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, infuriated North Korea by linking aid and concessions to what turned out to be nonexistent progress on North Korea's past commitments to abandon its atomic weapons ambitions. In doing so, he reversed past liberal governments' policy of providing huge aid shipments with few strings attached.

Like Lee, Park is a member of South Korea's main conservative party, but she has promised to find a middle ground by re-engaging Pyongyang through aid shipments, reconciliation talks and the resumption of some large-scale economic initiatives as progress occurs on the nuclear issue. Park has also held out the possibility of a summit with Kim Jong Un.

Park's point man on North Korea, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, said this week that regardless of the political situation, South Korea intends to eventually send humanitarian aid shipments for infants and other vulnerable people in North Korea.

Ryoo said South Korea won't accept North Korea's nuclear development or any provocations and called for a dialogue between the countries to improve strained ties.

The Unification Ministry said Wednesday that South Korea hasn't started discussing when to start making shipments, what aid items might be sent and how much it will send.

Park's North Korea policy is of keen interest not only on the Korean Peninsula but also among officials in Washington, Beijing and Tokyo. Analysts believe her course will set the initial tone for new North Korea policy in those capitals.

Park's officials have also kept a wary eye on North Korea's recent threats in the wake of U.N. sanctions last week over Pyongyang's third nuclear test. The bellicose rhetoric is seen by outsiders as an attempt to boost loyalty for Kim Jong Un and to win aid from Seoul and Washington.

On Wednesday, an unidentified spokesman for the North's National Defense Commission's armed forces ministry repeated North Korean vows from recent days of a "merciless retaliation" over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills. The statement also reiterates another North Korean promise to no longer abide by the armistice that ended the Korean War.

Park, the daughter of late South Korean dictator President Park Chung-hee, took office Feb. 25.

"This frenzy kicked up by the South Korean warmongers is in no way irrelevant with the venomous swish of skirt made by the one who again occupies" the presidential Blue House, the North said in its statement. There had been no high-level mention of her since the day before she was elected on Dec. 19. The references didn't mention her by name.

Park lived in the Blue House as a girl and, starting from age 22, served for five years as her father's first lady after a gunman claiming orders from North Korea killed her mother in a botched attack targeting Park Chung-hee.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-13-Koreas-Tension/id-02eb98d68efb4ac88dc15c114d219b35

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Houston wins $1 million runnerup Bloomberg prize (Offthekuff)

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Dropbox, Spotify, Gmail, Skype: Are We In A Subscription Bubble?

Editor's note: Ezra Galston is a VC at I2A Fund, a young entrepreneur at?Foundation Capital, a Kauffman Fellows Finalist and a second-year MBA student at Chicago Booth. It seems like nearly every tech business has sought to employ a subscription model for its services. While that makes sense from a business perspective, I wanted to investigate any effects of subscription fatigue on consumer commerce.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/EPGNhqhi0-E/

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Iran blocks use of tool to get around Internet filter

Yeganeh Torbati , Reuters ? ? ? 7 hrs.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have blocked the use of most "virtual private networks", a tool that many Iranians use to get around an extensive government Internet filter, Iranian media quoted an official as saying on Sunday.

A widespread government Internet filter prevents Iranians from accessing many sites on the official grounds they are offensive or criminal.

Many Iranians evade the filter through use of VPN software, which provides encrypted links directly to private networks based abroad, and can allow a computer to behave as if it is based in another country.

But authorities have now blocked "illegal" VPN access, an Iranian legislator told the Mehr news agency on Sunday. Iranian web users confirmed that VPNs were blocked.

"Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," said Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, the head of parliament's information and communications technology committee, according to Mehr. "Only legal and registered VPNs can from now on be used."

Iran is holding a presidential election in June, its first since 2009, when a disputed result led to the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Protesters used services like Facebook to communicate during those "Green Movement" demonstrations, and the government has taken steps to curb access to the Internet in the last few months, apparently determined to prevent a repeat this time.

An Internet user named Mohamad from the Iranian city of Isfahan confirmed that VPNs had been blocked.

"VPNs are cut off. They've shut all the ports," he said in a Facebook message, adding that he was using another form of software to access the service without a VPN. He said Skype and Viber, Internet services used to make telephone calls, had also been blocked.

In January, Mehdi Akhavan Behabadi, secretary of Iran's Supreme Cyberspace Council, told Mehr that Internet users would soon be able to purchase registered VPN connections and that other VPNs were illegal. Financial institutions and other organizations might need to use VPNs for security reasons, which would be a legal use, Behabadi said.

The government's move to block VPN access may also have inadvertently cut off access to widely used sites such as Yahoo and Google, Sobhani-Fard told Mehr on Sunday, adding that parliament would study the issue more this week.

Amin Sabeti, a UK-based researcher on Iranian media and the web, said foreign companies such as airlines and banks had had problems using VPNs in Iran.

Through government-registered VPNs, Sabeti said, authorities could be able to monitor traffic more easily.

Deteriorate
Millions of Iranians experienced disruption to email and Internet access ahead of parliamentary elections last year.

"As the June election approaches ... Iran's Internet connectivity, and the accessibility of uncensored information, continues to deteriorate," said a report on Iran's Internet infrastructure published in March by the UK-based group Small Media, which researches Internet use in Iran.

"Prominent Persian-language websites and other online services have been filtered one by one, and communications with external platforms is becoming progressively more difficult."

Iranian authorities banned Google's email service for a week last year but reopened access after complaints from officials. They have also announced plans to switch citizens onto a domestic Internet network which would be largely isolated from the World Wide Web.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/iran-blocks-use-tool-get-around-internet-filter-1C8792930

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Matt Kenseth holds off Kahne to win in Vegas

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds performs a fly-by during the national anthem before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds performs a fly-by during the national anthem before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Jimmie Johnson leads the pack early during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Brad Keseslowski makes his way along the front stretch during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Danica Patrick (10) and Aric Almirola make their way into turn two during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Matt Kenseth makes an early pit stop during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race, Sunday, March 10, 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Matt Kenseth won on his 41st birthday for his new Joe Gibbs Racing team, barely holding off Kasey Kahne for his third victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Kenseth earned his 25th career victory in just his third start in the JGR Toyota after leaving Roush Fenway Racing in the offseason. He took the lead away from Kahne out of a late restart and fended off Kahne's Chevrolet over the final laps, adding another trophy to his Las Vegas victories in 2003 and 2004.

"I was real nervous all day," Kenseth said. "(Kahne) had the best car. I told (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) with about 12 to go that I was sorry we were going to lose. We were just too tight. ... We didn't have the fastest car there, but we had it where we needed it to be."

Pole sitter Brad Keselowski finished third, with hometown driver Kyle Busch in fourth and Carl Edwards fifth. Jimmie Johnson, the overall points leader, was sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh.

Defending Vegas champion Tony Stewart finished 11th, while Denny Hamlin was 15th.

Kenseth is just the third NASCAR driver to win on his birthday, joining Cale Yarborough ? who did it twice ? and Busch. His win was the 50th for Toyota in Sprint Cup Series competition.

Kenseth has won at least one race in 11 of his 14 full seasons in the Sprint Cup series, but the first 13 were all in Fords with Roush Fenway, the team that gave him his break in NASCAR and fostered his development into a likely Hall of Famer. Kenseth's decision to leave for a seat on Gibbs' team was an open secret for much of last season, although the veteran star never really explained his move.

The 400-mile race was the first real test for NASCAR's new Gen-6 car on the intermediate tracks they're built to race. Although Hamlin commanded the week's headlines when his pessimism about the car drew a stiff $25,000 fine from NASCAR, most drivers were curious how the Gen-6 would work in its ideal 1.5-mile environment.

Any drivers who still think it's too tough to pass in the new car must not have been watching Busch, who made two lengthy charges up to early leads, doing it both before and after a pit-row speeding penalty dropped him back to 18th.

Busch charged through the field with impressive ease and took the lead out of a restart with a daredevil move on the apron with 102 laps to go. He went three wide and got underneath Kahne while kicking up dust well below the white line.

Kahne set the qualifying speed record on the Vegas track last year, but rain wiped out qualifying this week. He reclaimed the lead and held it until Kenseth nosed ahead out of another restart with 36 laps left when Kahne had trouble getting out of pit row, nearly hitting Stewart.

"I had an unbelievable car throughout the whole race," Kahne said. "We just came out, I think, sixth (out of the pit). Tough to say we would have got by him anyway.

"I had a great day. I drove so hard every single lap today, and that's just the new Gen-6 car. It was a lot of fun. I love it."

The Gen-6 is still a work in progress, however. Several drivers reported various problems with their cars early on, with Clint Bowyer and Stewart both dropping far back in the opening laps. After three days of chilly weather in the desert, warmer temperatures Sunday changed the track's feel, and teams struggled to adjust to the slickness.

Danica Patrick, the pole winner two weeks ago at Daytona, struggled with her car from the start, going two laps down by the 60th lap and later getting penalized for a tire violation. She finished 33rd.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-10-CAR-NASCAR-Las-Vegas/id-faf1d78aa02547408604ca5685fa5545

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz Says Gabby Giffords Is 'Doing So Well'

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., DNC Chair and close friend of former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, said "Gabby is doing so well." Wasserman Schultz joined ABC News in a web exclusive after her appearance on the "This Week" roundtable Sunday, discussing her political career and personal motivations, Chuck Hagel's selection as defense secretary, in addition to sharing news about Giffords.

"Gabby is doing so well. She's made tremendous progress. She continues to make progress," Wasserman Schultz said. "She's given a couple of short speeches. We saw how incredible she was during her testimony in front of the United States Senate. She's started an organization with her husband, Mark Kelly, Americans for Responsible Solutions. And they're advocating all over the country for a responsible approach to dealing with gun violence and gun safety."

Read More Below:

What are your political plans for the future? Would you consider running for president?

"Well, you know, I was just reelected to my fifth term in the House of Representatives and it is such a privilege to represent my community in South Florida in Washington. I'm focused on doing the best job I possibly can for them. At the same time, President Obama asked me to take on another term as chair of the Democratic National Committee, so I'm focused on that for right now and trying to get a handle on this deficit and continue to get the economy turned around. You know? we'll address my future plans down the road."

What motivates you to do the job you do, every day?

"Well that's easy - my three incredible children. I have twin thirteen year-olds and a nine-year-old. And they really are my motivation to make the world a better place, to help make other people's lives better. That's what my public service has been all about and, you know, I look at all the decisions that I make through the lens of being their mom."

How do you feel about President Obama's selection of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary?

"I think President Obama's selection of Secretary Hagel, who was just confirmed by the Senate, was a wise one. Secretary Hagel is going to represent the United States very well across the country. I think the combination of his experience as a United States senator and also, his background as a Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted soldier to rise all the way to the post of Secretary of Defense is going to serve our troops well."

Lightning Round: iPhone or Blackberry ?

"Actually, Samsung Galaxy."

Favorite movie this year?

"Lincoln, for sure."

Comfort food?

"Baked potatoes."

Like "This Week" on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/debbie-wasserman-schultz-says-gabby-giffords-doing-well-170806605--abc-news-politics.html

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When It's Okay to Write for Free

Doing freebie articles and blog posts is often derided as a terrible move for your writing or consulting career, and often considered a devaluing of your trade. But sometimes you should take off your Serious Ethics hat and try giving away your thoughts.

Ann Friedman writes at the Columbia Journalism Review about her own dilemma in wanting to get paid for her work as a freelance writer, yet sometimes wanting to get certain pieces into certain venues, no matter the cost. She lays out what seems like a simple two-step test to determine if it's worth the sweat of your word processor to post for free. One of them:

I, for example, make these silly, hand-drawn charts, which I publish at The Hairpin. This is something I do for fun, and I'd make these pie charts whether or not anyone wanted to publish them. After I published a few and people seemed to like them, I made it a goal to find a publication to pay me for similar work. And I did-a monthly magazine commissioned me to do a recurring chart feature for its front-of-book. It's a paid gig I never would have gotten without an unpaid one.

Have you flipped around an unpaid obsession into a paid gig?

Freelancing for free : Columbia Journalism Review | Columbia Journalism Review

Original photo by r3v || cls (Flickr)

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/krKJ6CsgAGk/when-its-okay-to-write-for-free

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Facebook taps Genentech veteran for board

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc appointed a former Genentech executive to its board of directors on Wednesday, the social networking company's latest move to expand its boardroom following its initial public offering last May.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, becomes Facebook's ninth director and the second woman on its board.

A former president of product development at Roche Group-owned biotechnology company Genentech, Desmond-Hellmann also sits on the board of directors of Procter & Gamble Co.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg cited Desmond-Hellmann's experience shaping public policy and operating public companies.

Desmond-Hellmann will serve on the board effective immediately, but will have to be elected by shareholders, along with the other Facebook directors, at the company's annual meeting in June.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg joined Facebook's board in June 2012, a month after the company's rocky initial public offering.

The world's No. 1 online social network became the only U.S. company to debut with a market value of more than $100 billion. But its shares plunged more than 50 percent in the months after the IPO on concerns about its long-term money making prospects.

Facebook shares have rebounded roughly 56 percent from their 52-week low, finishing Wednesday's regular trading session at $27.45.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Alden Bentley)

(This story was refiled to correct the spelling of Hellmann)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-taps-genentech-veteran-board-025659204--sector.html

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