The game of Life

Until recently, my wife and I used to fear three words coming out of our daughter’s mouth: “Let’s play Life!”

Life, in case you don’t know, was a popular Milton Bradley board game in the 1960s, now transformed into a card game called Life Adventures.

In it, players take turns choosing cards that offer “plot points” in career, family, adventure or wealth, such as “You have just gone scuba diving in a volcano. Earn 20 points.” You acquire points and lay down your cards in a row, creating your “life” story.

But that’s not the hard part. The hard part is that you have to tell your unfolding story on every turn. Your narration doesn’t have to be any particular length, though you can’t just simply say, “I went scuba diving in a volcano” and be done with it. You have to spiel out some details, such as “After I earned five million bucks from my previous job as an architect building eco-friendly treehouses, I took the money and brought my wife to Taal to scuba dive in the volcano crater; we found a bunch of diamonds down there.”

This may sound like a lot of fun for a couple of writers, and it definitely is for our daughter, who can invent endless storylines and subplots and magically tie them together with previous storylines and subplots for 15-minute stretches. But I have to say, it’s a game that wears out its welcome pretty quickly. Most adults find it hard to dwell in the world of imagination for extended periods; they’ve been taught to deal with a world of realities and facts. “Playing” for them means slicing virtual fruit on a gadget screen or collecting a bunch of virtual candy. Something completely brain-dead, but strangely satisfying. It doesn’t involve inventing a character who represents them, and then trying to live out that character’s life in a plausible storyline. I think that’s pretty much the domain of novelists.

So playing Life Adventures is like writing a novel, except it’s a very bad novel that no one would ever want to read or think about ever again. You have to pretend you got married and had seven kids, and adopted a dolphin, and made a ton of money as a pop star, but then decided to drop it all and study iguanas in South America instead. It’s mentally tiring, much like life itself.



And it’s endless. There are a number of “time” cards in the deck, and when enough of these turn up and are played, the game ends. But not soon enough for me. And so — and here I reveal a secret I hope my daughter never finds out — when she’s not looking, I go through the deck and shove the “time” cards closer to the top, to speed up the game. That’s right: I cheat at Life with my 10-year-old daughter.

But our daughter adores the game. She can’t understand why we hide the thing under a bunch of towels in the linen closet whenever it’s game time. We offer her Monopoly Deal instead, which at least has a possibility of people getting wiped out quickly and someone making their three Monopoly sets and winning (whereas real Monopoly can go on for days). Life Adventures doesn’t seem to have a point, other than to sharpen kids’ storytelling skills (a typical online reviewer describes it as “A very vague game” and gives it two stars. True on many levels).

You could say it’s a very imaginative game, something like Dungeons and Dragons, where people take on roles and develop epic stories for themselves. Yet the cards get predictable after a few times playing it: you just know you’re going to have a mess of kids, buy an exotic house somewhere that you would never purchase in real life, and engage in a series of meaningless career choices as you edge toward The End. Nobody ever dies in Life, but you may find yourself wishing Milton Bradley had included a Death card.

So, that’s Life. I’ve tried in vain to find some metaphorical meaning in my reluctance to play the game, but I think the truth is that I’m just not a fan of tedium. I did enjoy inventing characters the first few times I played it with my wife and daughter; but after that, if I was in a grouchy mood, I would find myself inventing very dark storylines indeed, involving embezzling and crime families and the IRS. You have to do something to keep it lively.

Lately, though, our daughter has shied away from board games altogether. She’s discovered gadgets and apps, you see. And I don’t know how I feel about this: I don’t miss playing Life Adventures much, but I do think she’s missing out on the interactive nature of board games.

Yet I can’t honestly say that playing Life is necessarily more instructive than, say, playing Minecraft. Both at least require imagination. I’ve tried to find some deeper meaning in Life for my daughter, who will probably face all the real-life choices that the game proposes: “adventures” in education, wealth, career, marriage and family. Maybe she could learn some valuable lessons about using education wisely, or marrying well, or helping the environment. But all those choices are strictly random in Life Adventures: they’re not “choices” at all; you just play the cards that are dealt to you. And that seems rather bleak and fatalistic. So, if I’m being honest, I would have to tell her the truth: that Life is pointless and meaningless. And it’s just a game.

source: philstar.com

Tuxedos meet sportswear at Dior fashion show

PARIS - Dior Homme's Kris Van Assche on Saturday created a hall of mirrors mimicking the glinting Miami skyline in a collection the designer said would give men flexibility to dress for both the "boardroom and the beach".

The "shorts suit" with many pieces featuring part-satin patchwork ran through Van Assche's collection for summer 2014.

"It all started in Miami where I felt really ridiculous in a tuxedo on the beach so I really wanted to mix the formal and the informal," the Dior Homme creative director said backstage after the show.

"The idea is that you can change pants and jackets through the whole collection. Some of them are boxes, some of them are fitted, some of them have sleeves, some of them don't... the challenge was to bring a lot of variation," he said.

The collection mixed lightweight leathers and wools with nylons and knits.

Van Assche, who also has his own label, summed up the patchwork as "tuxedos meeting with sportswear".

"In the patchwork I mix both to make it cool and evening. The patchwork is really like the buildings in Miami. It's patchwork but in a very minimal way," he said.

The Belgian designer, who also has his own label, added in a statement that he wanted to avoid the rigid rules and regulations that frequently stifled fashion.

"Above all I wanted to build the human and the fun element back into a collection," he said.

"Menswear felt desperate for a sense of fun, something light. At the same time, if something is light, it doesn't mean it isn't serious in its intent."

Chanel couturier Karl Lagerfeld who attended the show praised the collection as "very elegant", in particular pieces in smoked grey and aubergine.

Five days of menswear collections wrap up on Sunday when they give way to four days of haute couture.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Misibis Bay’ star Ritz Azul debuts high on FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women list

Not too many people were surprised to see Marian Rivera regain the top spot in FHM Philippines’ 100 Sexiest Women poll.

That doesn’t mean there are no pleasant surprises in this year’s list. There are. One of them is the debut of TV5 primetime princess Ritz Azul, who debuted at a very impressive No. 28 overall in the final tally.

“That is pretty high for a new entry,” FHM Editor-In-Chief Allan Madrilejos told InterAksyon.

Madrilejos added that Ritz garnered a total of 549,696 votes out of over 16 millions votes—online, SMS, and print ballots—that were amassed during the 65-day polling period. Majority of the votes garnered by all the 100 winners came from online votes. FHM.com.ph was visited by 1.7 million unique users, generating 62 million page views for the duration of the campaign that ran from April 1 to June 5.

As new entries go, Ritz, who was on the cover of FHM’s November 2012 issue, is also the second highest-ranked newcomer in the list after April 2013 cover girl Empress Shuck (No. 10).

What makes Ritz’s achievement even more remarkable is that she is actually ranked ahead of more established names and fellow lead young actresses like Bianca King (No. 33), Erich Gonzales (No. 34), Carla Abellana (No. 35), KC Concepcion (No. 40), Shaina Magdayao (No. 44), Bea Alonzo (No. 48), Andi Eigenmann (No. 49), Toni Gonzaga (No. 53) and Julia Montes (No. 57).

Now dubbed as TV5’s virgin bombshell in reference to her famous declaration that she hasn’t had a boyfriend since birth, Ritz is expected to show more skin as the lead star of TV5’s sexy drama mini-series, “Misibis Bay”.

Ritz said she is now ready to show her sexier, bolder, and mature side as she plays the role of Maita Ramirez, an ambitious and driven woman who hopes to provide a comfortable life for her ailing grandmother even as she one day dreams of avenging her parents’ murder.

One of the show’s early highlights shows Ritz performing a lap dance for Christopher de Leon, who plays the tycoon who falls for her.

Aside from Ritz, fellow “Misibis Bay” cast member and former Viva Hot Babe Andrea del Rosario also made FHM’s Most Sexiest List (No. 63). Other Kapatid stars in the list are Niña Jose (No. 70), Danielle Castaño (No. 72), Erika Padilla (No. 87) and Arci Muñoz (No. 99).

Meg Imperial, who started her career with TV5, is also a newcomer in the list at No. 37 while Rufa Mae Quinto, who was one of the leads of the fantaserye “Enchanted Garden”, remains a staple at No. 74.

The complete list will be showcased in a supplement of the magazine’s July 2013 issue, due out this weekend.

Ritz, along with everyone else featured in the poll, is expected to grace the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2013 Victory Party scheduled this coming July 10 at the World Trade Center where Marian Rivera will be officially crowned as the Philippines’ Finest.

source: interaksyon.com

Men dare to bare at Paris fashion week

PARIS—Belgian designer Raf Simons on Wednesday got Paris fashion week off to an unconventional start, bussing hundreds of people out to the distinctly less than fashionable Paris suburb of Le Bourget.

But the designer, who as well as his having his own label is also artistic director at Christian Dior, made up for the hour-long trek on the Paris ring road and A1 motorway with a highly experimental collection with some pieces creating the impression the models were wearing mini-dresses.

In one look, a bare legged male model sported what appeared to the uninitiated to be a short-sleeved button-up black mini-dress teamed with black shoes and calf length socks.

Fashion website fashion.com, however, praised the outfit as “unquestionably the drop crotch short-short onesie of the season”.

Other ensembles had a similarly feminine feel including black shorts that looked like a miniskirt worn with a black and white striped belt and long-sleeved pink shirt.

Motifs were embroidered with sequins and tunic tops came in pink and purple stripes.

Unusually, the event was held outside Paris at US art mogul Larry Gagosian’s cavernous art venue, northeast of the city.

Opened in 2012, it is the first major gallery to be set up inside airport grounds, aiming to showcase works too big to be accommodated by inner city Paris or London locations.

Simons’ label said the Gagosian Gallery was chosen so the collection could be unveiled alongside the work of artists he “intensely relates to”, adding that it would continue his “ongoing exploration of a young man in the city”.

Earlier, on the first of five days of menswear collections, young designers Julien David and Guillaume Henry gave the fashion world a taste of what’s in store for spring/summer 2014, from socks with sandals to bow ties with boiler suits.

Tokyo-based Frenchman David presented a reggae-inspired mix of casual and formal.

Long “stadium” and military-style jackets were worn over shorts, again creating a skirt-like look, while flamboyant neckwear was teamed with one-piece suits.

Elsewhere shirts and t-shirts were emblazoned with tropical motifs or the words “madness”, “peace” and “war” and combined with low rise, jacquard or chino trousers.

At Carven, creative director Henry, who like David is in his mid-thirties, opted for short cut jackets and cropped trousers in dusty green, mustard, orange or grey, with models sporting floppy hats and an androgynous look.

It was the French designer’s footwear, however, that stood out — strappy blue and beige leather sandals worn with socks.

One Twitter user commented: “Anyone else feeling conflicted about the sandals and socks styling?”

The men’s collections wind up on Sunday with Saint Laurent designer and champion of the pencil-thin skinny suit Hedi Slimane’s second menswear collection for the label following a grunge dominated debut.

The intense interest in the French designer’s work comes as men’s collections become ever more important commercially.

Indeed, until last year, menswear at London fashion week was restricted to a single day at the end. It has now been allocated four.

Then, on Monday, the highlight of the season — Christian Lacroix’s return to Paris fashion for the first time in four years — will mark the start of four days of autumn/winter 2013/2014 haute couture.

The darling of 1990s fashion editors will present 18 pieces paying tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli, the Italian designer who died in 1973 and who was famed for her collaborations with Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau.

The label, which closed in 1954 after failing to adapt to post-war austerity, was officially reopened in July 2012 having been purchased in 2006 by Diego Della Valle, head of the Italian leather goods company Tod’s.

Lacroix lost his his fashion house in December 2009 when a Paris bankruptcy court approved a plan to end production of the classic label’s haute couture and ready-to-wear lines.

The house had run up losses of 10 million euros in 2008 after being hit by the sharp downturn of the luxury market.

source: interaksyon.com

Wearable computers a smart fashion trend

SAN FRANCISCO — The notion of being fashionably smart is getting a makeover as Internet-linked computers get woven into formerly brainless attire such as glasses, bracelets and shoes.

A wearable computing trend is at the heart of the “quantified self” movement in which people track anything from how many calories they burn to how well they sleep or their moods at any given moment.

“We are heading for the wearable computing era,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP. “People are going to be walking around with personal area networks on their bodies and have multiple devices that talk to each other and the Web.”

Understandably, the trend has found traction in fitness with devices such as the Jawbone UP, Nike’s FuelBand, and Fitbit keeping tabs on whether people are leading active, healthy lifestyles.

The devices use sensors to detect micro movements and then feed information to smartphones or tablets, where applications tap into processing power to analyze data and provide feedback to users.

San Francisco-based Jawbone jumped into wearable computing years ago, building electronic brains into stylish wireless earpieces and speakers for smartphones.

Jawbone recently added muscle to its lineup of fitness lifestyle devices with a deal to buy BodyMedia.

BodyMedia makes armbands used to track caloric burn of fat-shedding competitors on US reality television show “The Biggest Loser.”

“There’s an enormous appetite for personal data and self-discovery among consumers that will only continue to grow,” said Jawbone chief executive and founder Hosain Rahman.

A Forrester Research survey conducted early this year found that six percent of US adults wore a gadget to track performance in a sport, while five percent used a gadget like UP or Fitbit to track daily activity or how well they sleep.

Worldwide shipments of wearable computing devices could climb as high as 30 million units this year, according to Forrester.

Interest goes beyond fitness to desire for things like a gadget that recommends films based on wearers’ moods and one that replaces keys when it comes to unlocking cars or homes, the survey indicated.

“It is just amazing,” said engineering professor Asim Smailagic, director of a wearable computer lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. “We will see an exciting future ahead.”

Smailagic began working on wearable computing at the university about 25 years ago, with projects including head worn displays that serve up technical information when needed during aircraft maintenance.

– ‘Wearable computing has to be unobtrusive’ –

Sophisticated and inexpensive sensors for tracking movement, sound, GPS locations and more combined with “killer apps” in powerful smartphones have set the stage for wearable computing to be commonplace, according to the professor.

“Contextually aware computers will be hot topics for at least the next decade,” Smailagic said. “They can help you when you need help, even to look smarter.

“Everybody likes to have the kind of help contextual computing can provide.”

Contextual computing goes beyond recognizing where someone is to factoring in other information such as whether it’s lunchtime or if someone has shown a preference for a nearby restaurant.

“When you combine wearable computing with sensors and machine learning algorithms then you get context, the computer knows your state and is able to help out clearly in the situation,” Smailagic said.

He is confident Google Glass will be a hit despite privacy worries expressed about the yet-to-be-released Internet-linked eyewear with camera capabilities.

Google Glass connects to the Internet using Wi-Fi hot spots or, more typically, by being wirelessly tethered to mobile phones. Pictures or video are shared through the Google Plus social network.

“Wearable computing has to be unobtrusive, fit as a natural extension of your body, and not get in the way,” Smailagic said. “Google Glass is on the right path to solve these problems.”

The invention has been a hit with American tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who has been testing the special glasses as a training aid at this year’s Wimbledon.

Apple chief Tim Cook last month said he sees promise in computers shrunk down and worn like watches.

He predicted there will be “tons of companies playing” in the wearable computing sector but sidestepped a question as to whether Apple would be among them with the creation of a rumored “iWatch” device to be worn on the wrist.

“The wrist is interesting,” Cook did allow.

Pebble smart watches created by a startup that raised more than $10 million in funding at crowd-source investment website Kickstarter recently began shipping to buyers.

The wearable computing craze has already spread to dogs, with startup Whistle introducing a pendant that tracks canines.

Whistle devices attached to dog collars or harnesses use movement-sensing accelerometers to track activity and even how well a pet is sleeping, then relay the information wirelessly to smartphones or wi-fi hotspots.

An online database built in collaboration with researchers and veterinary groups allows individual dog activity patterns to be scrutinized for hints that something may be amiss.

“Traditional technology companies will have to start paying attention to how sensors are enabling us to live,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at NPD.

“Consumers are ultimately going to become more aware of their data in the digital ether,” he said. “I suspect wearables are going to disrupt the way tech firms are doing business now.”

source: interaksyon.com

Nvidia delays new game device after finding problem

SAN FRANCISCO — Nvidia Corp is delaying sales of its new handheld game gadget, a setback in the chipmaker’s bid to use its appeal with personal computer gamers to challenge console makers like Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp.

On Wednesday, a day before the scheduled launch, Nvidia said it had discovered a “mechanical issue” in the Shield multimedia device, which lets users play Android and PC games using either the built-in screen or on their TVs.

It will be shipped in July.




Nvidia’s graphics chips are well-known to enthusiasts in their 20s who deck out desktop computers with high-end components to get the best out of first-person shooters and other games.

The Santa Clara, California company hopes some of those customers will also be drawn to Shield, which uses Nvidia’s Tegra 4 mobile chip, has a pop-up retina display, and runs the same games as those on Android tablets and smartphones.

The portable device also shows movies, plays music, stores e-books, and can be used to surf the Web.

As PC sales suffer from the growing popularity of tablets, Nvidia has staked its future on using its PC graphics expertise to make high-performance processors for mobile devices.

Last week Nvidia cut the price of the Shield to $299 from $349.

source: interaksyon.com

Who is Sarah Harrison and why is she holed out with Edward Snowden in Moscow?

LONDON -- Holed up with a fugitive computer expert and negotiating a legal minefield to avoid the US authorities -- WikiLeaks staffer Sarah Harrison has been here before.

As one of Julian Assange's closest aides, the blonde, willowy Briton is uniquely qualified to help US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden avoid extradition to the United States for exposing a massive surveillance program.

Snowden and Harrison have been stuck together in the transit zone of a Moscow airport since the weekend, after she accompanied him on a flight from Hong Kong as part of efforts by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks to help the American.

Harrison has been closely involved in Assange's own battle to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault, which he fears will lead to transfer to the United States and possible prosecution over his whistleblowing activities.

She virtually lived with the Australian WikiLeaks founder when he was under house arrest in the English countryside, and there have been reports that they were in a relationship.

Harrison now acts as a kind of gatekeeper at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where Assange sought asylum last year -- a move that personally cost her £3,500 ($5,300, 4,100 euros) she had put up for his bail.

Friends said the researcher, believed to be in her late 20s, was an obvious choice to help Snowden.

"She's completely trusted," said Vaughan Smith, a video journalist who owns the house in Norfolk in eastern England where Assange lived under strict bail conditions between December 2010 and June 2012.

Harrison had her own room and was at the house most of the time, but Smith rejected suggestions she was simply Assange's adoring lackey.

"I don't think I ever saw her washing socks," Smith told AFP, referring to one newspaper report from the time.

"She's a key part of the team, she's one of the people who makes everything happen.

"She was very committed to the idea of greater government openness, very hard-working -- and put up with conditions of a very difficult job under great pressure."

Smith refused to comment on rumors that Harrison was Assange's girlfriend.

"I know everything about it, but I'm not prepared to talk about that," he said.

Both are fiercely committed to their cause and Harrison appeared to complement Assange during a recent visit to the embassy by AFP, seeming organized and efficient where he is dreamy and remote, and helping him to find documents he has misplaced.

Harrison has worked for WikiLeaks since late 2010 as a researcher, media organizer and occasional spokeswoman, and is now Snowden's constant companion as he seeks refuge from US law.

A former WikiLeaks intern who asked not to be named described her as "formidable."

"Miss Harrison has courageously assisted Mr. Snowden with his lawful departure from Hong Kong and is accompanying Mr. Snowden in his passage to safety," WikiLeaks said of her role.

Questions have been raised about how a journalist with no formal legal training can help Snowden, but one of Harrison's former employers said she had unique insight into his situation.

"This is all new territory, when you're treated like some kind of enemy of the state," Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Center for Investigative Journalism, told AFP.

"WikiLeaks has been treated like that now for two years, and everybody who's been through it would have much more experience than [someone] who's never been there, hasn't heard the legal arguments, hasn't been subjected to the attacks."

Harrison shares Assange's well-documented concerns that WikiLeaks is under surveillance, making careful arrangements for encrypted communications with journalists about any of the group's projects.

She spent 18 months working for CIJ, located at City University London, sifting through WikiLeaks data and contributing to an as-yet-unpublished report on multinational corporations.

Harrison then worked for a couple of months at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, also based at City, analyzing classified US documents from the war in Iraq published by WikiLeaks.

"She came very highly recommended," recalled Rachel Oldroyd, deputy editor of the bureau. "She was very, very young, in her early 20s. She was a good researcher, very diligent."

Harrison's job is demanding and badly paid, but like everyone else working with WikiLeaks, money was never a factor. "She believes what she is doing is in the public interest," Smith said.

source: interaksyon.com

Boracay dragon boat team bags title in Hong Kong

BORACAY — The Boracay Dragon Boat All-Stars won the championship in the 500-meter mix category in the recently-concluded Dragon Boat Carnival in Hong Kong, China.

The international race, now on its 38th year, was held in Victoria Harbor last June 21-23. The said competition was organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association (HKDBA).

Organizers consider the race a mega event and an additional major tourism lure for Hong Kong.

The Boracay Dragon Boat All-Stars is composed of Filipinos and foreigners who are long-time residents of this resort island.

As of post time, the members of the Boracay Dragon Boat team are returning to the Philippines.

The race was joined by an estimated 6,000 paddlers from 199 teams from different countries such as the Philippines, Singapore, Macau, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, mainland China, Dubai, Japan and Thailand.

The annual regatta began in 1976 as a fishermen’s boat race involving nine locals and one Japanese team and was the first international dragon boat race.

source: interaksyon.com

John Gokongwei holding firm hikes capex to $1.033-billion for 2013

MANILA - JG Summit Holdings Inc has set a record capital expenditure budget for 2013 to finance the expansion of its businesses.

During the stockholders meeting of John Gokongwei's listed holding firm, its president Lance Y. Gokongwei said the capex will amount to $1.033 billion this year, a growth of nearly 12 percent from the $926 million spent in 2012.

Robinsons Land Corp will corner $320 million to bankroll the construction of four malls, two office buildings and three Go Hotels as well as the completion of at least eight residential buildings.

JG Summit will allot $300 million for the completion of its $700-million naphtha cracker plant in Batangas slated to begin commercial operations early next year.

Cebu Air Inc will get $275 million to finance the delivery of five Airbus-320s, while Universal Robina Corp will get $120 million for the expansion of its branded consumer food group.

JG Summit will allocate $18 million for Robinsons Bank, which aims to become a significant player in the banking industry over the next five years.

"Coming from the higher-than-expected economic performance in 2012, this year promises to be even better," Gokongwei said.

"Benign inflation, high foreign exchange reserves, sustained rising inflows of overseas Filipinos' remittances, strong BPO activities, rising tourist arrivals, election spending, revival in the manufacturing sector activities and low interest rates are springboard for a rosy outlook for 2013," he said.

Gokongwei reaffirmed JG Summit’s interest in the government's public-private partnership projects, especially airports because of its synergy with the group’s airline and property businesses.

It has partnered with Metro Pacific Investments Corp to bid for the rehabilitation, expansion, operations and maintenance of the Cebu-Mactan International Airport.

JG Summit has become a pan-Asean player, generating a third of its revenues in foreign currencies through the contribution of its food and beverage, airline and residential businesses.

"With these, we have not only successfully diversified the group's revenue base but also have currency hedge for any unforeseen weakness in the financial market," Gokongwei said.

JG Summit’s net income attributable to equity holders slipped to P4.86 billion in the first quarter from P4.91 billion in the same period last year. Revenues rose 8.4 percent to P38.43 billion from P35.46 billion in 2012.

source: interaksyon.com

Snowden still at Moscow airport; Ecuador asylum decision may take weeks

MOSCOW - A former US spy agency contractor facing charges of espionage remained in hiding at a Moscow airport on Wednesday while the prospect grew of a protracted Russian-US wrangle over his fate.

Ecuador, where Edward Snowden has requested asylum, said a decision could take weeks and asked Washington to argue its case for extradition.

Russia said Snowden, whose flight is proving a growing embarrassment for President Barack Obama, was still in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong after leaking details of secret US government surveillance programs, then flew on to Moscow on Sunday. There was no sign on Wednesday of him registering for onward flights out of Russia.

"They are not flying today and not over the next three days," an Aeroflot representative at the transfer desk at Sheremetyevo said when asked whether Snowden and his legal adviser, Sarah Harrison, were due to fly out.

"They are not in the system."

The logical route for Snowden to take out - and one for which he at one point had a reservation - would be an Aeroflot flight to Havana and a connecting flight to Ecuador.

The choice of alternative flights, while the United States presses other countries not to take him in or to arrest him on arrival, would appear to be be limited.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Putin's stated opinion that he should choose a destination and fly out as soon as possible, state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported.

But Ecuador's foreign minister indicated a decision on Snowden's asylum request could take two months.

"It took us two months to make a decision on Assange so do not expect us to make a decision sooner this time," Foreign Minister Richard Patino said in Kuala Lumpur, referring to the founder of anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.

He added that Ecuador would consider giving Snowden protection before that if he went to Ecuador's embassy - but Russian officials say Snowden does not have a visa to enter Russia, and the United States has revoked his passport.

Snowden, with his surveillance information, remains within the grasp of a Russian state clearly not in a hurry to dispatch him from its territory. Ecuador, which has not in the past flinched from taking on Western powers, is similarly not rushing to banish the uncertainty now plaguing US authorities.

Behind the scenes US officials have been meeting Russian counterparts on a resolution.

‘Ravings and rubbish’

Snowden has not been seen in the transit area - the zone between the departure gate and formal entry into the country.

Putin denied he was being interviewed by Russian intelligence and said any US accusations that Moscow was aiding him were "ravings and rubbish".

That prompted a new extradition demand by Washington, which said there was a clear legal basis to do so.

Putin says he will not extradite Snowden. By declaring that he is in the transit area, albeit unseen, Russian authorities maintain the position that he has not formally entered Russia - a step that would take the dispute to another level.

The row could, however, further fray ties between the United States and Russia, which have argued over human rights and Putin's treatment of opponents in a third term and have squared off over the Syria conflict in the UN Security Council.

Snowden, who worked as a systems administrator at a US National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, has been called a "traitor" in the United States for revealing its secrets.

Putin, a former KGB officer, may feel little sympathy for someone who has broken the secrecy code. He has suggested the surveillance methods revealed by Snowden were justified in fighting terror, if carried out lawfully.

But Snowden could be a useful propaganda tool for Moscow, which accuses the United States of violating rights and freedoms it vocally urges other countries, including Russia, to protect.

Russia's upper parliament house said it planned to investigate whether US intelligence agencies had violated the rights of Russians by collecting data from Internet companies.

Snowden was the source of disclosures about US government surveillance, including details about a program that collected emails, chat logs and other types of data from companies such as Google Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. - all widely used in Russia.

Upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko said a working group would be formed to look into the Russian operations of Internet companies to determine "whether human rights have been violated, whether there has been interference in the personal lives of citizens," Itar-Tass reported.

A member of the Kremlin's advisory Human Rights Council, anti-corruption activist Kirill Kabanov, appealed to colleagues to ask Putin to invite Snowden to remain in Russia.

"We have shown that we are a weak country," state-run RIA quoted Kabanov as saying. "We could provide him with some kind of asylum. Surely we are not weaker than Ecuador." (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow and Siva Sithraputhran in Kuala Lumpur)

source: interaksyon.com

Rivals Microsoft and Oracle team up on push into cloud

SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would support Oracle Corp software on its cloud-based platforms, a tie-up aimed at improving the rivals’ chances against nimbler Web-based computing companies chipping away at their traditional businesses.

The two industry leaders have competed for decades to sell technology to the world’s largest companies. But they face growing pressure from new rivals selling often-cheaper services based in remote data centers, and they are rushing to adapt.

The two companies have long collaborated out of the public eye to meet customers’ needs, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on a conference call. “In the world of cloud computing, I think behind-the-scenes collaboration is not enough.”

The tie-up does not resolve major competitive challenges the two tech pioneers face in the cloud market, but their cooperation was seen as a symbolically important step.

“Is it a game changer today? Not at all. It shows both companies are serious about their cloud endeavors. The fact that historical competitors are now friends speaks to how big the cloud opportunity is. And it opens up potential avenues of growth down the road,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst at investment bank FBR.

Under the agreement, customers will be able to run Oracle software on Microsoft’s Server Hyper-V and on Windows Azure platforms, the companies said.

Microsoft will offer Oracle’s Java, Database and WebLogic Server to Windows Azure customers, while Oracle will also make Linux available to Windows Azure customers, the companies said in a news release.

Ironically, the pact means Microsoft is effectively promoting Linux and Java-based software, longtime rivals to its own Windows platform. But the software maker stands to benefit from getting any customer to pay for its datacenter services, regardless of the underlying software being used.

No. 3 software maker Oracle last week missed expectations for software sales for the fourth quarter, sending its shares plunging. Investors worried that the company may have trouble competing with software providers like Salesforce.com and Workday, as well as Amazon.com, which has also become a major player in cloud computing infrastructure.

Top software maker Microsoft’s large-scale cloud computing initiative, called Azure, has failed to catch up with Amazon’s cloud offering, called AWS (Amazon Web Services), which blazed the trail in elastic online computing services in the cloud.

The rivalry between Oracle and Microsoft dates back several decades and has been marked by a personal rivalry between the companies’ best-known cofounders: Larry Ellison and Bill Gates.

In 1995, as the Windows franchise was taking off, Ellison began a high-profile but unsuccessful effort to promote a less expensive competitor to the personal computer known as the Network Computer. Gates began aggressively attacking Oracle’s core database business in the late 1990s, infuriating Ellison as Microsoft’s less-expensive SQL Server gained market share.

In recent years, both have come under attack from a wave of younger companies, like Workday and Salesforce, which charge a single subscription fee for software and support, at far lower margins than for Oracle’s traditional products.

Ellison told analysts on last Thursday’s quarterly conference call that Oracle had forged alliances with Microsoft and Salesforce.com, which uses Oracle’s technology, and said he would announce details this week.

Over the past five years, shares of Amazon.com, which rents remote computing and storage to other companies, have surged 237 percent. Salesforce.com, founded by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, has risen 105 percent.

During the same half decade, Oracle’s stock has risen 38 percent and Microsoft’s shares are up 21 percent.

source: interaksyon.com

Petra Mahalimuyak hosts online dating game show featuring Chicser

So what happens when two YouTube sensations join forces and star in a video of their own? They immediately become a top trending topic on Twitter, that’s what.

As Ashley Rivera a.k.a. Petra Mahalimuyak decided to host her very own “Petra’s Dating Game” on YouTube, her first “Papa-ble” contestants turned out to be none other than the six boys that compose the all-male teenage dance group Chicser.

In this seven-minute plus clip uploaded last Monday, Petra introduces the boys of Chicser, namely Ullyses Webb Basa, Clarence Adrian Villafuerte, Biboy Chua Cabigon, brothers Owy and Oliver Lance Posadas and Ranz Kyle Viniel E as “a bunch of cutie patooties” that are vying for her affection as she declares, “I am very vacant right now, I am single and ready to mingle!”

Each of the boys try to impress Petra with a different technique, one showed his flashy dance moves, two showed their prowess for beatboxing, another showed a flair for singing and another even channeled John Lloyd Cruz to Petra’s Bea Alonzo as they exchanged the unforgettable lines from the film “One More Chance”.

And there was one who tried this pick-up line based on a current popular online game.


Owy: Petra, Candy ka ba?
Petra: I don’t think so, why?
Owy: Kasi Crush kita eh!

Okay, so some of their antics are likely to make some people cringe more than laugh. But for the most part, the video seems to be a big hit on Twitter as the hashtag #ChicserPetraDatingGame is currently the number one trending topic at the social media as of noontime this Tuesday after trailing #Wimbledon all morning.

The dating game video is also turning out to be an ideal follow-up to an earlier and equally hilarious music video of Petra and Chicser dancing to the tune of Psy’s “Gentleman” which now has more than 131,000 views since it was first uploaded last June 4.


So which member of Chicser did Petra eventually choose? You have to watch the whole video of her dating game show to find out.

source: interaksyon.com

Brazil braces for fresh protests

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil braced for more mass protests Sunday a day after a poll showed most people back demands for improvements to crumbling public services and for wide-ranging institutional reform.

Under normal circumstances, Brazilians would be celebrating their football team reaching the semifinals of the Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup, which the country has not hosted since 1950.

But these are not normal circumstances and even after the 'Selecao', five-time world champions, defeated Italy to keep up their perfect record at this year's tournament, there were huge protests in more than 100 cities.

Most protesters are not convinced by a Friday pledge from President Dilma Rousseff to improve shoddy public services and fight harder against rampant corruption -- the main grudges of the street protesters.

A poll Saturday by the Ibope polling agency showed three quarters of Brazilians back the wave of protests against poor public services and corruption, with 77 percent citing the high cost of using public transport as the key reason for their dissatisfaction.

But two-thirds were overall in favour of hosting the World Cup, despite anger at the billions of dollars the event is costing, money many feel could be better spent on education, transport and housing.

Sunday was set to see renewed protests in Rio de Janeiro, where around 300,000 people turned out for a Thursday protest which saw sporadic violence.

The 'Día de Basta' urged people to gather at the city's famed Copacabana beach while scores of messages on Twitter and Facebook called for strikes on Thursday.

The wave of protests began on June 11 when residents of Sao Paulo took to the streets to denounce an increase in public transport fares.

Unrest quickly spread on the eve of the Confederations Cup and the entire country has become engulfed in protest as Brazilians declare the time has come to "wake up" and fight sloppy and corrupt government, and lousy public services like schools, health care and public transport.

By June 17, more than 200,000 people were in the streets and by Saturday their ranks had swelled to some 1.5 million.

Saturday saw dozens of arrests and some 20 people were reported injured, including five police officers, after more than 70,000 people chanting "The Cup for whom?" rallied in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.

Brazil are due to play their semifinal in the same city on Wednesday.

Police fired tear gas in an attempt to quell Saturday's unrest after some protesters hurled stones and tried to break through the security perimeter around Belo Horizonte's Mineirao stadium while some shops and banks were looted.

Although demonstrations were much smaller in Salvador, where Brazil beat Italy, some fans in the stadium made their feelings plain by brandishing placards proclaiming: "Let's go to the streets to change Brazil."

With the mass unrest placing Brazil squarely in the global public eye Brazilian media on Sunday sought to explain the rationale for the popular uprising.

"Brazil in the streets - Disillusioned youth," was the headline in O Globo daily.

In an interview with the paper French sociologist Michel Maffesoli said the spark for the protests may have been seemingly trivial at the outset - a 20 cents rise in bus fares.

But, noting the outpouring of "collective emotion," Maffesoli said that "young people do not recognise where they fit into the (government) programme."

Drawing a parallel with popular protests in France at the end of the 1960s, he added: "I see these movements as a postmodern version of May 1968," where popular revolts initially by students demanding university reform ultimately led to a general strike.

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook adds video sharing to Instagram

MENLO PARK — Facebook on Thursday added smartphone video-sharing to its Instagram photo-based social network, in a move challenging Twitter’s popular Vine service.

“We need to do to video what we did to photos,” Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said while unveiling Video On Instagram at a press event at Facebook’s headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park.

Instagram video apps tailored for iPhones and smartphones powered by Google-backed Android software feature 13 filters for special effects and post to people’s Facebook pages the same way pictures do.

Video snippets can be 15 seconds or less, since the team saw that length as a “Goldilocks moment” not too long and not too short, according to the Instagram co-founder.

Systrom said that Instagram has topped 130 million users and all of them have “access to recording the world’s moments in real time” with today’s launch.

Instagram engineers worked with leading video scientists to develop a “cinema” feature that stabilizes shaking that is typical in smartphone video.

Within hours of the new feature being added to Instagram, video clips began streaming in from locales around the world including a fish market in Japan, a space memorial in Russia and a surfing haunt on the California coast.

Investors, however, seemed put off by the lack of a plan to make money from Instagram and Facebook shares were down slightly to $23.90 at the end of the official trading day on the Nasdaq.

Facebook acquired Instagram last year. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network’s share price.

Twitter earlier this year launched Vine, a service that lets people share video snippets up to six seconds long.

“Given the importance of mobile and video for Facebook, the prospect of video features in Instagram should come as no surprise,” said Ovum analyst Eden Zeller.

Facebook still needs to figure out ways to make money from Instagram, according to analysts.

“We didn’t design it with any advertising in mind,” Systrom said of the video-sharing service. “I think, over time, we will figure out advertising.”

He stressed that Instagram users would own their videos and that Facebook did not intend to use them for marketing or advertising.

The overall digital video advertising market in the United States is expected to surge more than 40 percent to $4.1 billion this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.

Video advertising on mobile gadgets is expected to more than double to $518 million this year and account for more than a quarter of all US digital video ad spending by the year 2016, eMarketer said.

Systrom confided that he is eager to tinker with Instagram’s potential on Google Glass Internet-linked eyewear but has not been able to get his hands on a pair, which has been made available to developers at a price of $1,500 each.

Forrester analyst Nate Elliott noted that Facebook has done well by “borrowing heavily” from other Internet companies.

Examples given by the analyst included Facebook adding Twitter-style hashtags and news feeds, and the social network letting mobile gadget users check-in at locations after Foursquare found success with the model.

“This model of ‘borrowed innovation’ has worked well for Facebook — bringing interesting new features to audiences that the social start-ups can only dream of,” Elliott said.

“It also keeps Facebook’s services fresh, and is one of the reasons more than a billion people still use the site every month.”

Elliott added that “the greatest marketing value from social media isn’t trying to market to people on social sites, it is learning from social sites how to market to them everywhere else.

“Google figured it out and I am hoping Facebook figures it out.”

Google made billions of dollars last year powering advertising at other websites and Facebook could do likewise, using insights gleaned from users to better target ads at other Internet venues, the analyst reasoned.

“The more social behaviors you get people to engage in, the more you learn about them and eventually Facebook will learn how to use this database of affinity to make money on it,” Elliott said.

source: interaksyon.com

With second straight title, Miami Heat set to start latest NBA dynasty

MIAMI – LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have faced plenty of adversity together and Thursday’s title-deciding seventh game of the NBA Finals was their biggest test yet.

“It’s the ultimate. I am at a loss for words,” James said of the Heat’s 95-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Thursday in the last game of the best-of-seven series.

“I am LeBron James from Akron, Ohio — from the inner city. I am not even supposed to be here.”

The Miami Heat dynasty is now officially off and running while the San Antonio Spurs let one slip away.

And in the end, James grabbed another championship ring and added his second NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award in a row to go with it, securing his place as one of the greatest players in NBA history.

James capped his season with a game-high 37 points and 12 rebounds as he became only the ninth player to win multiple NBA Finals MVP awards, joining Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan and Willis Reed.

He averaged 25.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and seven assists in the finals and had the highest-scoring NBA Finals seventh game since 1969 when Jerry West scored 42 points against the Boston Celtics.

Wade, who finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds Thursday, earned his third championship ring and is one of just two Heat players, along with Udonis Haslem, to be on all three Miami championship teams.

“We go through life so fast,” Wade said. “The championships I’ve won seem like they went past me so fast.

“Tonight I wanted to take a minute, take a moment and just soak it in. This is a special moment for me.”

James struggled to find his form early in the series but his overall performance was brilliant and even Jordan-like, especially the way he had to step outside his comfort zone on offense and take whatever the Spurs’ defenders would give him.

“I watched film, and my mind started to work and I said, ‘OK, this is how they’re going to play me for the whole series.’

“I looked at all my regular-season stats, all my playoff stats, and I was one of the best mid-range shooters in the game. I shot a career high from the 3-point line.

“I just told myself, ‘Don’t abandon what you’ve done all year. Don’t abandon now because they’re going under. Don’t force the paint. If it’s there, take it. If not, take the jumper.’

“I did a good job in game four. I didn’t make as many shots as I would like to from the outside in game five, but I kept on getting into the rhythm of it, just telling myself that everything you’ve worked on, the repetition, the practices, the off-season training, no matter how big the stakes are, no matter what’s on the line, just go with it. And I was able to do that.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in Game Seven it came down to James’ mid- and long-range jump shot.

“As the series went on, he realized that was the shot that was going to be open and in the biggest game, the biggest moment, those are the shots that he hit,” Spoelstra said. “And those were the difference tonight.”

The Heat needed a miraculous comeback to win Game Six in overtime against the Spurs to earn the title, which takes its place alongside Miami’s 2012 and 2006 championships over Oklahoma City and Dallas respectively.

“We are just getting started,” Heat guard Mario Chalmers said.

James said winning feels great but doesn’t get any easier.

“Last year when I was sitting up here, with my first championship, I said it was the toughest thing I had ever done,” James said.

“This year I’ll tell last year I was absolutely wrong. This was the toughest championship right here, between the two.

“I mean, everything that we’ve been through this post-season, especially in these finals. We were down every odd game.

“We were scratching for our lives in Game Six, down five with 28 seconds to go. To be able to win that game and force a Game Seven is a true testament of our perseverance and us being able to handle adversity throughout everything.”

source: interaksyon.com

For hobbled Dwyane Wade, third Miami Heat championship is sweetest

A giddy Dwyane Wade walked into the press room of the American Airlines Arena and playfully demanded reporters call him by his new name, Three.

The Miami Heat guard who wore jersey No. 3, after all, just won his third NBA title.

“This is the sweetest one by far because of everything we’ve been through,” said Wade.

“Because of everything I’ve been through, individually.”



He went through a roller coaster ride, suffering through some of the worst stretches of his playoff career while visibly hobbled by injuries to both knees.

After winning finals Most Valuable Player honors in 2006 and playing a co-starring role during the Heat’s finals run last year, Wade struggled in the first three games of this year’s title round against the Spurs. He averaged just 14.3 points over that stretch, showing little of the explosiveness that made him a killer threat over most of his career.

That led to plenty of doubt from observers about whether he still had anything left in the tank.

“Without doubt, maybe I’m not here today. My belief is stronger than any doubt,” said Wade.

That all changed in Game Four, when he scored 32 points in a breakthrough performance that saw him regain his lethal form for six steals. And despite aching knees, he managed to give LeBron James valuable support in the series clincher with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

“I’m about gutting it out. I talked to my knees today, we had a conversation. I said listen, both of you guys, give me a great game, then we could have a great summer,” said Wade.

Miami forward Shane Battier, who stepped up with 18 points in the clincher, wasn’t suprised by Wade’s heroic performance.

“He’s Dwyane Wade, you can’t define him by stats,” said Battier.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich credited the dynamic duo for the Heat victory.

“They played Hall of Fame basketball tonight,” said Popovich. “That’s tough to match. If you’re gonna match that, you’ve got to play pretty perfect.”

Wade said his priority for the summer is to get his knees healthy, hoping that they wouldn’t need to undergo surgery.

“We are excited about the future of the organization,” said Wade. “We’ll be back next year again, looking to do it again.”

source: interaksyon.com

Philippines' forex surplus up a third at end-May

MANILA - The Philippines' balance of payments (BOP) surplus in the first five months of the year went up by more than a third from a year ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Wednesday.

Data from the BSP showed that the country's foreign-exchange surplus at end-May went up by 44.7 percent to $1.809 billion from $1.302 billion last year.

In May however, the surplus of $75 million was $63 million lower than last year's $138 million.

The BOP summarizes the country's economic transactions with the rest of the world. A surplus means the country earned more dollars than it paid for overseas transactions.

The BSP earlier reported that the country suffered net outflows of $641 million worth of foreign portfolio investments in May, a reversal of the net inflows of $1.1 billion in April and $106 million in May of last year.

The BSP forecast the country's external payments position to moderate to $3 billion by yearend on expectations of a 12 percent year-on-year increase in imports.

Sustained BOP surpluses help build up the country's gross international reserves (GIR), an ample supply of which helps prop up the peso and keeps domestic inflation at bay.

The country's dollar reserves slipped to $82.9 billion last month from $83.2 billion in April because of the drop in the price of gold in the international market, as well as payment of the country's foreign-currency debts.

source: interaksyon.com

He Got Game: Ray Allen saves Heat’s season from — where else? — the three-point line

MIAMI — Ray Allen has made more three pointers than any player in the NBA but with five seconds left and his team three points down on Tuesday, he had not made a single one in the crucial Game Six of the NBA Finals.

Miami’s only hope of keeping their series with San Antonio, and their season, alive was to make a basket from beyond the three point line and LeBron James tried his luck.

The ball bounced out off the backboard, Chris Bosh grabbed it and zipped it to Allen, who with his trademark nonchalance effortlessly made the shot and forced the game into overtime.

“When I saw CB get the ball, I just back pedaled right to the three-point line and I was hoping I was where I needed to be. But I wasn’t quite sure,” said the 37-year-old Allen.

“But just from years of shooting, I got to my spot. It is going to be a shot that I am going to remember for a long time.

“There are a lot of shots that I have made in my career but this will go high up in the ranks because of that situation,” he added.

Allen’s modesty led him to acknowledge that the Heat had survived with their 103-100 overtime victory to force a Game Seven with some good fortune.

“I’ve known my whole career that sometimes you just get lucky. When you win championships, it involves a little luck. That right there was luck shining on our side,” he said.

After Bosh grabbed the rebound, James screamed at him for a second chance but not surprisingly was cool about the decision to pass to Allen.

“If it’s not me taking the shot, I have no problem with Ray taking that shot. He’s got ice water in his veins,” James said.

“Ray can be 0-99 in a game and if he gets an open look late in the game, it’s going down.

“That’s just the confidence he has in himself. It is the way he prepares for every game and the belief we have in him. We have seen it before.

“We are happy to have him on our side and this is the reason why we wanted him in games like this.”

The game will go down as one of the finest in the NBA Finals and James said it was certainly the greatest he had been involved in.

“It was by far the best game I’ve ever been a part of. The ups and downs, the roller coaster, the emotions, good and bad through the whole game.

“I’m happy about the way we dug down were able to get a win. It didn’t look like we could muster it up at some points in the game.

In the latter stages of the play-offs Miami have been unable to find the consistency that was the hallmark of their regular season, where they won 27 games in one stretch, but James was unperturbed by that criticism.

“I really don’t care how the hell we have played so far,” he said.

“We could have played the six worst games of our lives but now we have got Game Seven on our floor.

“Thursday is all for the marbles”.

source: interaksyon.com

US study links pollution to autism risk

WASHINGTON DC - Pregnant women who were exposed to high levels of air pollution were twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in low pollution areas, a US study said on Tuesday.

According to experts at Harvard University, the research is the first large national study to examine links between the prevalence of pollution and the development of the developmental disorder.

The findings are published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Our findings raise concerns," said lead author Andrea Roberts, a research associate in the Harvard School of Public Health Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

"Depending on the pollutant, 20 percent to 60 percent of the women in our study lived in areas where risk of autism was elevated," she said.

The data came from a large survey of 116,430 nurses that began in 1989.

For the analysis, researchers isolated 325 women who had a child with autism and 22,000 women who had a child without the disorder.

To estimate exposure to pollutants while pregnant, they used air pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency, and adjusted for factors like income, education, and smoking during pregnancy.

The analysis found that women who lived in locations with the highest levels of diesel particulates or mercury in the air were twice as likely to have a child with autism as those who lived in the areas with the lowest levels.

When the pollutants included lead, manganese, methylene chloride, and combined metal exposure, women in areas with the highest levels of these pollutants were about 50 percent more likely to have a child with autism.

Autism is a brain disorder that affects as many as one in 88 in the United States, and about one in 100 in Britain.

Researchers said the findings suggest that metals and other pollutants should be regularly measured in the blood of pregnant women to give a better understanding of whether certain pollutants increase autism risk.

source: interaksyon.com

Tablets thrust Thai classrooms into digital era

MAE CHAN — In a rural classroom in the Thai highlands, hill tribe children energetically slide their fingertips over tablet computer screens practicing everything from English to mathematics and music.

The disadvantaged students are part of an ambitious scheme by the kingdom to distribute millions of the handheld devices in its schools in a move supporters hope will boost national education standards.

For opponents of the plan, however, it is an expensive gimmick designed to boost the popularity of the ruling party among parents — and the next generation of voters.

At Ban San Kong school in Mae Chan in the northern province of Chiang Rai, 90 children received a tablet computer last year as part of the “One Tablet Per Child” policy that was part of the government’s election campaign in 2011.

Previously the school had only a few desktop computers with limited Internet access.

Now, with headphones over their ears for one hour a day during class, the students use the devices for activities including singing English songs, watching cartoons about the life of Thailand’s revered King Bhumibol and playing math games.

With the school year just beginning, and the new tablet content yet to arrive, they are left to revise their lessons of the previous year as their teacher Siriporn Wichaipanid sits and watches.

She has received no specific training for using the tablets and seems at a bit of a loss.

“I have some knowledge. At home, I use an iPad,” she said. But “if I don’t understand, I don’t know how to teach the children”.

For the students — mostly from ethnic minority Akha hill tribe communities for whom Thai is not their mother tongue — using the tablets has been a positive experience, according to the school.

“The students cannot speak Thai very well but they can hear sounds more clearly from the tablets and repeat them,” said their teacher from the previous year, Wannawadee Somdang.

“Some of them dare not ask questions. It’s easier when they listen to the tablets.”

For now only two of the 90 students are allowed to take the computers with them after class to use in their homes, which often lack electricity.

“They don’t have Wi-Fi and it’s not convenient for them to charge the batteries. And most importantly their parents have no knowledge about the tablets,” said school principal Uthai Moonmueangkham.

But using devices that would normally be out of reach for the kingdom’s poorest children is progress, even if it is only just one hour a day, he said.

“They have the same opportunities as those in the city,” Uthai said.

Reducing the “education gap” between the urban rich and rural poor is one aim of the project, said Surapol Navamavadhand, an advisor to the minister of information and communication technology.

By the end of 2014, the government plans to distribute handheld computers to 13 million school children at a cost of about $100 each — a total of $1.3 billion — and then replace them every two years.

About 850,000 Chinese-made devices have already been given out, and the government says it will soon launch a tender offer for another batch of about 1.7 million tablets, in what it has described as the world’s largest handout of the devices for education.

Experts warn that the computers offer no guarantee of an increase in education standards.

The tablets are “just another tool” like a pencil, according to Jonghwi Park, an education technology specialist at UNESCO in Bangkok.

“It’s not about what to use, it’s about how to use it,” she said, urging governments considering introducing new technology for learning to think hard about whether it will really help them achieve their goals.

Critics of the Thai education system say much more radical changes are needed.

“If you want to deal with the education in Thailand, I can tell you that the whole system must be demolished,” said Somphong Chitradub, an associate professor specialised in child education at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

“Our classrooms are passive, tiring and boring,” he said.

Most Thai children are encouraged to memorise information and “lack courage to express opinions”, he added.

As a result, while other Asian nations fared well in the most recent global education survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2009, Thailand came about 50th out of 65 countries in the rankings for reading, maths and science.

A mediocre performance compared with other nations that “focus a lot on process of thinking”, admitted Rangsan Maneelek, an advisor to the education ministry.

While the Thai education system places importance on whether the answer is right or wrong, other nations look at how students reached their conclusion, he said.

But he added that the tablets would help by enabling students to “surf the world for knowledge”.

And if some people worry about the possibility of children using the computers to look at pornography or play violent video games, others stress the need to prepare students for the digital era.

“For the kids these days, one of the most important capacities… for them to live in the 21st century is to know how to integrate those devices into their life,” UNESCO’s Park said.

“Without those skills, they cannot get a job.”

source: interaksyon.com

Spurs going for the kill in Game Six in Miami

MIAMI – The San Antonio Spurs are making a habit of winning bounce back games in the 2013 National Basketball Association playoffs.

The Spurs have lost four games in the post-season and each time they have rebounded with an impressive victory.

In the NBA finals, they were blown out 103-84 by the Heat in game two, but bounced back to win by 36 in game three, 113-77. They lost 109-93 in Game Four, then jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in a 114-104 win Sunday in Game Five.

The series now shifts to Miami, where the Spurs can clinch their fifth title in franchise history with a win Tuesday at American Airlines arena.

“It is going to take everything we’ve got,” said Spurs Game Four hero Danny Green.

All five Spurs starters finished in double figures Sunday, including Manu Ginobili and Green, who had six three pointers to break Ray Allen’s all-time record for the most three pointers in the NBA finals.

“I hope he doesn’t wake up and keeps playing this way,” said Spurs Tim Duncan of Green, who scored 24 points and now has 25 three-pointers in the 2013 finals.

“We are asking him to defend LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and all these guys. He has got a lot on his shoulders and he has stepped up and answered the bell.”

Ginobili, who was starting his first game of the post-season, had a season-best 24 points and 10 assists.

“He has confidence in himself and he should just continue to compete,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Ginobili. “That’s what he has done his whole career.”

Ginobili finished with 20 points and 10 assists just once previously in the playoffs and that came in 2007 in the semi-finals against Utah.

The Heat’s marquee trio of James (25 points), Wade (25) and Chris Bosh (16) were effective but not enough to allow Miami to ever take the lead in Game Five.

Miami is at home and on the brink of elimination for the second time in three NBA finals.

“We are going to see if we are a better ballclub and if we are prepared for the moment,” Wade said.

source: interaksyon.com

Faster than speeding bullet, ‘Man of Steel’ sets June box office record

LOS ANGELES – “Man of Steel,” the big-budget reboot of the Superman franchise, leaped over the apocalyptic buddy comedy “This is the End,” collecting a muscular $113.1 million to lead the domestic box office with the year’s second-largest debut weekend and the biggest June opening ever.

“Man of Steel,” starring British-born Henry Cavill in the first Superman movie released in seven years, carried a hefty budget of $225 million and took in a total of $125 million through Sunday including early screenings, according to BoxOffice.com.

The special-effects laden film is the story of the infant Kal-El, who escapes his doomed home planet Krypton and grows up in the idyllic town of Smallville with his parents, played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. Amy Adams plays the budding super hero’s girlfriend Lois Lane.

The film, directed by Zack Snyder, with Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight,” “Inception”) serving as co-writer and one of its producers, added $71.6 million from overseas box offices in 24 markets.

“Today is a big day for us,” said Warner Bros’ president of theatrical distribution Dan Fellman, noting the film’s record opening. He added that “Man of Steel” was now well-poised to reap big box office “in the heart of the summer play time.”

The studio was also pleased by 56 percent male, 44 percent female audience, which Fellman said bodes well being a higher-female makeup than was usual for superhero-centered pictures.

“The film is playing extremely well for fan boys as well as the family,” he said.

“This is the End,” written by star Seth Rogen and his childhood friend Evan Goldberg, collected $20.5 million at theaters in the domestic market comprised of the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates collected by Reuters.

“We’re off to a really good start,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures’ president of worldwide distribution.

Citing “great word of mouth,” Bruer predicted the movie “is going to be one of those films that’s going to be around for a good part of the summer. It’s so fresh and original,” he added.

The comedy depicting the end of the world stars more than a dozen well-known Hollywood actors including James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Emma Watson.

In third place, the comedy heist caper “Now You See Me” continued its stronger-than-expected showing with ticket sales of $10.3 million, bringing its three-week total to $80 million.

“Man of Steel” came out of the gate roaring, with $9 million in midnight showings early on Friday morning, according to the box office division of Hollywood.com, adding $12 million in Thursday showings in association with retailer Walmart.

The film broke the record of $110.3 million held by 2010′s “Toy Story 3″ for a June opening and was this year’s second-biggest debut weekend after “Iron Man 3.”

“The Purge,” made for $3 million by the producer of the low-budget “Paranormal Activity” series, finished fifth with $8.2 million, behind the speeding car franchise sixth film, “Fast & Furious 6,” which took in $9.4 million in its fourth week in release for a total of $220 million since Memorial Day.

Starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, “The Purge” is set in 2022 when the U.S. government reduces crime by allowing almost all crime to go unpunished during a 12-hour “purge” period.

“The Internship,” a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson based on the antics of nerds in search of a job at internet giant Google, continued its lackluster box office showing, selling $7 million worth of tickets to finish sixth.

“After Earth,” a $130 million post-apocalyptic thriller starring Will Smith and his teenage son Jaden, continued its weak showing at U.S. and Canadian box office with $3.6 million, in ninth place. “After Earth” did perform well overseas, selling $24 million worth of tickets outside the domestic market.

“Man of Steel” was released by Warner Bros. Sony/Columbia released “This is the End.” “The Purge” and “Fast and Furious 6″ were distributed by Universal, a unit of Comcast’s NBC Universal unit. “The Internship” was released by Fox, a unit of News Corp. “Now You See Me” was distributed by Summit Entertainment, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment.

source: interaksyon.com

Australian court agrees, we're not all male or female

SYDNEY - A landmark ruling won by an Australian gender trailblazer which finds that sex does not just mean male or female could have broader implications as society becomes more accepting of diversity, experts say.

Norrie, who does not identify as either male or female, last month won a bid to have a new gender category on the register of births, deaths, and marriages in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state.

"I'm very happy that I have been told in no uncertain terms that what sex you are is not just male or female necessarily," Norrie, who uses only a first name, told AFP.

Born as a male, Norrie underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1989 to become a woman. However, the surgery failed to resolve Scotland-born Norrie's ambiguity about sexual identity.

The sexual equality campaigner made global headlines in February 2010 when an application to New South Wales' department of Births, Deaths, and Marriages accepted that "sex non-specific" could be accepted for Norrie's records.

But soon afterwards, the office revoked its decision, saying the certificate was invalid and had been issued in error. At the time, Norrie said the decision left her feeling "socially assassinated."

"There was a lot of support for fighting for it," the 52-year-old recalled.

So began a series of appeals, ending with a decision last month in the New South Wales Court of Appeal which ruled that sex should not be limited to male or female, though it stopped short of defining other categories.

"There are a few people, not many, who are like Norrie and don't want male or female on their birth certificate," said Norrie's lawyer Emily Christie.

"She feels that every time she has to sign a form, every time she has got to fill something out, and it says 'What's your sex?' and it only has male or female, she feels that she is being forced to live a lie."

Christie said that while Norrie's passport has had an 'X' instead of male or female, this only goes so far, as a birth certificate creates a person's identity under a range of different laws.

"If Births, Deaths, and Marriages recognizes that you can be something other than male and female, then she can be something other than male and female potentially under other legislation," Christie explained.

"This is the first time that we have actually had a court case say that just the ordinary meaning of sex, in this legislation, in our current day and age given our understanding of diversity in the community and how people want to be identified, can mean more than just male and female and so should recognize Norrie."

The case has now been sent back to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal to determine what the description for Norrie will be, and whether a term such as "non-specific" is acceptable.

But it comes at a time when the Australian government has released new guidelines which state that individuals should be given the option of selecting "male," "female," or "indeterminate/ intersex or unspecified" on their personal documents.

Anna Brown, the director of advocacy and strategic litigation at the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Center, said while Norrie's case had an unusual set of facts, it was important the law "recognize that sex and gender are more complex and nuanced than a simple binary of 'M' and 'F.'"

"Law, policy, and practice should reflect the reality of sex and gender diversity in our community, and new anti-discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of 'gender identity' and 'intersex status' and the availability of passports with an 'X' marker are all significant strides in the right direction," she said.

"Sadly, in many respects intersex, transgender, and gender diverse people, such as Norrie, remain invisible. We need to ensure their stories are told in order to build greater understanding and ultimately reduce the stigma, discrimination, and harassment they face, often on a daily basis."

Norrie, who believes officials have been sympathetic to her case all along, is "enormously pleased" and confident of further progress.

"I've had X on my passport for two years now, and I've been putting my sex down as non-specific since I was first granted a certificate back in 2010. People seem to be able to accommodate the truth."

source: interaksyon.com

5 Golden Rules For Investing In Annuity

Regardless of your age, your retirement is something that should never be too far away from your thoughts. But as you begin to reach a ‘certain age’, the importance that your pension holds and the role it will play in your future becomes a much more real prospect.

The earlier you start a pension fund, the greater the rewards. But, the tick-tocking of retirement draws closer, people begin to look at making investments to help bolster their pension pot. One concept many people consider is finding an annuity payment. This pays a guaranteed income for life, but is subject to varying interest rates.

To Risk Or Not To Risk?

Knowing what options are available to you will help put you in great stead when it comes to making the most of your hard earned cash. With this in mind, it is always worth seeking the expert of advice of a specialist financial advisor. Using their experience and expertise, they will be able to guide you in finding the right financial retirement plan.

The recent low level of annuity interest rates has seen many people lose out on their investments. This means the amount of guaranteed income paid that can be purchased from a pension fund is at its lowest ever level. This only emphasises the need for investors to consider their options in even more detail.

So if you’re considering investing through annuity, what things must you consider?

Golden Rule #1

Ensure that you have other sources of income or capital to fall back on. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. In today’s climate, there is no guarantee that annuity rates will improve should your decision be deferred so it’s important be stable should your future income fall in value.

Golden Rule #2

Make sure you understand the risks that are involved with your chosen annuity investment. Investments can come with a number of possible outcomes and inconsistent variables so be sure that you fully understand your investment and its consequences

Golden Rule #3

Make sure you have considered all options available to you. The beauty of retirement is that it can be what you make it and, depending on your income, there are a number of options you can opt for.

Golden Rule #4

A risk is a risk for a reason. Many people facing retirement face what is called a ’risk paradox’ between option of guaranteed annuity no longer proving a just investment due to rising inflation. Not only that, your personal circumstances may change, opening up a number of possibilities for you to consider.

Golden Rule #5

Acquire the services of a retirement specialist financial advisor. With their experience and expertise in retirement planning and the options available to you, they will be able to offer guidance on how to invest your money. They will take the time to understand you, your financial situation and your retirement plans before suggesting the most beneficial and secure route.

Make The Most Of Your Retirement

By following these golden rules, you will be able to make the most of your pension pot, giving you the options to plan the retirement you deserve.

source: everythingfinanceblog.com