Van Halen Sues Drummer's Ex-Wife For Using Famous Last Name (Exclusive)

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Van Halen (L to R): Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen

When famous people marry, their spouses often take on a famous last name. That benefit can even survive divorce. But can it be used as a commercial asset?

Witness a new lawsuit by ELVH Inc., which is the intellectual property holding company of the world-famous rock band Van Halen. The group was eponymously named after its family members -- guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen (bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son, came into the fold in 2006, replacing Michael Anthony).

In 1984, Alex married Kelly Carter. Twelve years later, he divorced Kelly Van Halen. Now, nearly two decades after the divorce papers were finalized, ELVH is taking Kelly Van Halen to a California federal court over her use of her name in trade. Specifically, Alex Van Halen's ex-wife has named her construction and interior design company after herself, which the plaintiff asserts is a trademark infringement.

Read the Complaint Here.

Way back in 1891, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, "A man's name is his own property, and he has the same right to its use and enjoyment as he has to that of any other species of property. If such use be a reasonable, honest, and fair exercise of such right, he is no more liable for the incidental damage he may do a rival in trade than he would be for injury to his neighbor's property by the smoke issuing from his chimney, or for the fall of his neighbor's house by reason of necessary excavations upon his own land."

The question here is whether senior family name users like Eddie and Alex can permanently enjoin junior family name users like Kelly from using "Van Halen" in a commercial enterprise. The outcome might depend on whether it can be shown that Kelly had intent to trade upon the goodwill or reputation of the famous band's moniker.

STORY: Van Halen's 'A Different Kind Of Truth': What the Critics are Saying

In the lawsuit, Kelly is said to have filed two trademark applications on "Kelly Van Halen" for products like chairs, children's blankets, bathing suits, building construction, interior design services and more.

The band is opposing the trademarks on the ground that the mark -- her real name -- is "confusingly similar to Plaintiff's VAN HALEN Marks in sound, appearance and commercial impression."

It's also asserted that goods in the apparel and fashion space "are either identical or closely related to the goods sold by Plaintiff," and that Kelly Van Halen is diluting Van Halen, passing off Van Halen and committing unfair competition for Van Halen. 

ELVH is represented by the law firm of Kinsella Weitzman.

E-mail: Eriq.Gardner@THR.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/THREsquire/~3/2H3ayognwhw/story01.htm
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More Angst For College Applicants: A Glitchy Common App

Thousands of students apply to college each year using the online Common Application. But a flawed overhaul of the system has left many students and parents frustrated.

iStockphoto.com

Thousands of students apply to college each year using the online Common Application. But a flawed overhaul of the system has left many students and parents frustrated.

iStockphoto.com

For many high school students this year, the already stressful process of applying to college has been made far worse by major technical malfunctions with the Common Application, an online application portal used by hundreds of colleges and universities.

"It's been stressful, to be honest," says Freya James, a senior in Atlanta applying to five schools — all early admissions. The Common App has been a nightmare, the 17-year-old says.

"No one likes applying to college anyway, and this is supposed to help and it's made it worse," she says. "I have spent a good number of hours just sitting there refreshing the page, doing nothing terribly productive except for trying to get this thing to work. ... It's not useful; it's not doing what it's meant to do."

The Common Application has been around for more than 30 years and has long made the application process easier for students and schools. With one common form, students are able to apply to dozens of schools at once.

But the number of schools using the form has more than doubled over the past decade. What was once used mainly by small liberal arts schools is now accepted by more than 500 institutions.

The nonprofit that runs the form, also called Common Application, had touted a major upgrade of software and applications as a way to streamline the process even more. Instead, the digital makeover has been a bust and a big mess for many students and higher education officials.

"Application Armageddon"

"There have been issues with being able to import the application itself, with receiving the supplemental materials like the transcripts or letters of recommendations, those kinds of things," says Lisa Meyer, dean for enrollment at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

“ We did test the system. But what we couldn't test was tens of thousands of people hitting the system at the same time using multiple kinds of browsers.

- Scott Anderson, senior director for policy, Common Application

"Those are very big things. It's very hard to read an application when you don't have a transcript to look at. ... So I think the colleges have been scrambling a bit," she says.

Other serious technical problems include payments that take days to register or registering duplicate payments. Other students complain they simply couldn't log in, while others were repeatedly logged off for inactivity after waiting hours to submit their applications.

Then there's the personal essay, a key part of the admissions process. A formatting glitch left many students' essays looking like a giant stream-of-consciousness blur with no spaces, paragraphs or indentations.

Many high-schoolers are ranting against the Common App on Twitter. Some of the kinder comments: "I'm freaking out, the common app isn't working"; "The common app is kind of the worst thing ever"; "The common app is broken ... so we're all just not gonna go to college, ok."

Irena Smith, a college admissions consultant based in the San Francisco area, says the problems are adding more stress for her student clients. "It's starting to look like application Armageddon," she says. And an official with the National Association for College Admission Counseling says, "There is a bit of panic in the community."

Schools Look For Backup Plans

A growing number of colleges and universities are now rolling back early admissions deadlines or trying to reassure students that they won't be penalized for technical failures of the Common App. As Columbia University, which has extended its early admission deadline, put it on its website, "We hope this announcement helps to relieve some of the stress and anxiety you might be feeling as the application deadline approaches."

In a statement, Common Application says it's "committed to resolving these issues promptly." Scott Anderson, the company's senior director for policy, says some of the problems have been resolved, but he concedes that others persist.

"We did test the system. But what we couldn't test was tens of thousands of people hitting the system at the same time using multiple kinds of browsers," Anderson says.

Many parents and school administrators, however, are frustrated and angry. "I think this has been a debacle, and the Common App board and leadership should be ashamed," says Valerie Weber, chairwoman of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the Commonwealth Medical College in Pennsylvania — and mother of a high school senior currently applying to college.

"How they have handled the mess will be a case study in business schools for years to come about how not to handle a PR catastrophe — hunker down, ignore and refuse to answer questions," Weber says.

A Lesson For Procrastinators?

Some in higher education are cautiously hopeful that the technical problems will be resolved by Nov. 1, the early admissions deadline for many schools, but others are getting nervous. Some schools are starting to make backup plans that include email, snail mail — even dusting off the fax machine. "That is certainly one of the things we are considering doing," says Meyer of Lewis and Clark College.

Mary Beth Fry, director of college counseling at Savannah Country Day School in Georgia, cautions students and parents to take a deep breath. "Everyone at the Common App and the colleges is doing his best, and — as some colleges' extensions of early action or early decision deadlines will attest — colleges are going to do what's best for everyone."

Admissions consultant Smith sees a "teaching moment" in all this: Some teenagers prone to procrastination may now be prodded into getting their applications done — early.

"In some ways it's nice to learn, as we do as adults, that you can't always anticipate that everything will go smoothly," she says. "It's nice to plan for contingencies and to get things done a little bit ahead of time."

But when that lesson comes with potentially crippling anxiety, she adds, maybe it's not such a great way to teach it.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/235421758/more-angst-for-college-applicants-a-glitchy-common-app?ft=1&f=1013
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Suicide bomber kills Pakistani provincial law minister, seven others

By Saud Mehsud

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed the law minister of a Pakistani province and seven others on Wednesday as the country marked the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Israr Gandapur was killed in his home as he greeted residents of his village who had come to celebrate the holiday.

More than 30 people were wounded in the attack including Gandapur's elder brother, said Irfan Mahsud, the assistant commissioner in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, located nearly 300 km (190 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

"I saw so many dead people and injured people crying for help," said eyewitness Haseeb Khan, whose new white holiday clothes were drenched in blood.

"There were arms, legs and heads everywhere."

Ansar al Mujahideen, a group allied to but not part of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group's spokesman, Abu Baseer, said it was in retaliation for the deaths of men killed during a July jailbreak in the same city.

He was referring to a major operation by fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban who disguised themselves as police and broke 250 prisoners out of a jail.

Gandapur was killed in his home village of Kulachi, about 50 km west of Dera Ismail Khan. He was local chief and the law minister for the northern Khyber Pakutunkhwa province, the heartland of the Taliban.

The province is ruled by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a party led by former cricketer Imran Khan, which favors peace talks with the Taliban. Gandapur is the most senior member of the party to have been killed so far.

The Taliban have said they are open to talks.

But they also say they will not disarm, do not recognize the Pakistani constitution, and will not talk to the government until the army pulls back from their strongholds and all their prisoners are released.

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-bomber-kills-pakistani-provincial-law-minister-seven-140233668.html
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This Insane Six-Axis 3D Printer Even Works On Curved Surfaces

Still upset about breaking the handle on your favorite mug? A 3D printer can make it as good as new, and thanks to researchers at the University of Southern California, the process is even easier now since they've developed a printer that can build directly on curved surfaces.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Y1ki4K-Wh7Q/this-insane-six-axis-3d-printer-even-works-on-curved-su-1445522451
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American Girl gives boost to Mattel's 3Q results

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- Mattel's third-quarter net income rose 16 percent, buoyed by higher sales of American Girl and Monster High products and strength in all regions.

Its performance beat Wall Street expectations. The stock rose more than 1 percent in premarket trading.

The quarterly results come as toy makers gear up for the holiday season, which can account for up to half of their annual revenue.

American Girl sales increased 20 percent thanks to My American Girl, Bitty Baby, Historical dolls and Saige — the 2013 Girl of the Year. Sales of other girls' brands, which includes Monster High products, climbed 28 percent. Barbie sales rose 3 percent, while sales of Fisher-Price brands were flat.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the largest U.S. toy company earned $422.8 million, or $1.21 per share. That's up from $365.9 million, or $1.04 per share, in the prior-year period.

Removing a tax benefit of 5 cents per share, earnings were $1.16 per share. Analysts predicted earnings of $1.11 per share.

Revenue for the El Segundo, Calif., company rose 6 percent to $2.21 billion from $2.08 billion. Wall Street expected $2.175 billion in revenue.

Entertainment business sales, which includes games and Radica, climbed 7 percent primarily because of the Disney Planes movie property.

Hot Wheels sales fell 2 percent. The wheels category, which includes the Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Tyco R/C brands, reported a 9 percent sales decline mostly due to weak sales of Tyco R/C and Matchbox products.

In North America, gross sales climbed 3 percent. International gross sales increased 9 percent.

Mattel Inc. also declared a fourth-quarter dividend of 36 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on Dec. 13 to shareholders of record on Nov. 27.

Mattel shares rose 57 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $42.12 in premarket trading more than 3½ hours before the market opening.

Mattel's smaller rival Hasbro reports its quarterly financial results on Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/american-girl-gives-boost-mattels-102230173.html
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10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. HOW LAWMAKERS SPENT THE DAY BEFORE THREATENED TREASURY DEFAULT

Hour after hour in Congress is taken up by secret meetings and frenzied maneuvering.

2. FITCH PLACES US CREDIT RATING ON NEGATIVE WATCH

Even with a higher debt limit, the agency says "reduced financing flexibility" could lead to a default.

3. IRAN PRESENTS NEW NUCLEAR PROPOSAL

The plan offers reductions in the number of centrifuges and the amount of uranium that is being enriched, a source tells the AP.

4. OBAMA BESTOWS MEDAL OF HONOR ON AFGHAN VET

William D. Swenson, recognized for bravery in a battle against Taliban insurgents in 2009, now wants to return to active duty.

5. ALLEGED TERRORIST CAPTURED IN LIBYA PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN NYC

The case renews debate about whether it's best to try terror suspects in military or civilian courts.

6. SHERIFF: GIRL'S TORMENTOR ARRESTED AFTER FACEBOOK BOAST

A teen said to be primarily responsible for bullying a classmate who then committed suicide brags about it online. She and a 12-year-old now face charges of stalking.

7. BOOKER'S NJ SENATE CAMPAIGN BUMPY

While still safely ahead in most polls, the Newark mayor has faced sustained criticism ahead of Wednesday's special election.

8. WHY ALL TRACES OF CONN. SCHOOL ARE BEING ERADICATED

The goal during demolition of the site of the Sandy Hook shootings will be to prevent exploitation of any remnants of the building, an official says.

9. TIP SENDS ATF TO WEAPONS AT ARIZONA RANCH

A raid nets dozens of weapons, ammunition and two convicted felons from a notorious family that once aimed to set up a whites-only nation.

10. WHERE A RARE SEA CREATURE WAS DISCOVERED

A woman snorkeling off the Southern California coast finds the carcass of an 18-foot oarfish — a deep-water species that can grow up to 50-feet long.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-wednesday-103500895.html
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Leaders Express 'Cautious Optimism' Over Iran Nuclear Plan

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.

Fabrice Coffrini/AP

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif share a light moment at the start of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Tuesday.

Fabrice Coffrini/AP

Iran's proposal for easing the standoff over its nuclear program seems to be getting initial positive reviews at Tuesday's start of multiparty talks in Geneva.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the Iranian delegation had made a PowerPoint presentation outlining their plan at the beginning of the two-day session. The spokesman said the plan had been received with "cautious optimism," but gave no further details of the close-door meeting, describing the proceedings as "confidential."

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there'd been a "good" first reaction to Tehran's proposals, according to Reuters.

As the BBC reports:

"The discussions bring together Iran officials and representatives of the "P5+1 group", made up of Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany.

In a Facebook entry posted at the weekend, [Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad] Zarif said the talks were the 'start of a difficult and relatively time-consuming way forward.'"

The talks are the first since moderate President Hassan Rouhani was elected four months ago. Since then, Rouhani has ratcheted down the bombastic rhetoric of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As The Associated Press writes, the talks are seen as "a key test of Iran's overtures to the West."

Foreign Policy says: "While there is little optimism that this week's talks will resolve the matter of Iranian nuclear weapons development entirely, U.S. officials have hinted that progress made could result in immediate relief from U.S. imposed sanctions."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/15/234638759/leader-express-cautious-optimism-over-iran-nuclear-plan?ft=1&f=1004
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Harry Belafonte -- I Have A Dream -- To Sell Martin Luther King's Speeches

Harry Belafonte
I HAVE A DREAM
To Sell MLK's Speeches

Exclusive

Harry Belafonte wants to be free at last ... to sell original speeches penned by Martin Luther King, Jr., but King's Estate has mounted a challenge from the mountaintop ... so Belafonte is now suing.

Get this ... Belafonte has the notes that were in Dr. King's suit pocket when he was assassinated in 1968.  He also has a condolence letter written to Coretta King by President Lyndon Johnson.  And, he has various King speeches, including the outline for the famous "The casualties of the war in Vietman" speech.

Belafonte tried to sell the docs at a Sotheby's auction back in 2008, but the Estate objected and the auction was cancelled. 

Belafonte apparently was stewing over this for years, and now he's made his move by filing a lawsuit asking a judge to confirm he's the rightful owner.  And get this ... Sotheby's is holding all the docs until a court decides who owns the priceless stuff.

As for how Harry gained possession of the docs, he had a long relationship with King during the Civil Rights movement.  In fact, King worked at Belafonte's NYC apartment and Belafonte even provided King with financial support.

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Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/15/harry-belafonte-martin-luther-king-speeches-lawsuit-sothebys/
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Freeze of aid whips up anti-US sentiment in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Washington's decision to withhold millions of dollars in mostly military aid to Egypt is fueling anti-U.S. sentiment and the perception that Washington supports Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist president the military ousted in a July coup.

That could boost the popularity of the military chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, whom the U.S. is trying to pressure to ensure a transition to democracy and ease the fierce crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The aid freeze could also embolden Morsi's supporters to intensify their campaign of street protests in the belief that the military-backed government is losing the goodwill of its top foreign backer. The protests, met by a fierce response by security forces that has left hundreds dead, have kept the new government from tackling Egypt's pressing problems after 2 ½ years of turmoil.

Still, Egypt's military-backed government is unlikely to abandon the road map it announced when Morsi was removed in a July 3 coup — to amend the nation's Islamist-tilted constitution and put the changes to a nationwide vote before the end of the year, and hold parliamentary and presidential ballots in early 2014.

"Egypt is not so desperate that it needs to compromise on its political agenda," the U.S.-based global intelligence firm, Stratfor, wrote this week.

"The United States will be the one to eventually readjust to the old reality of backing unpopular regimes that can preserve U.S. influence in the Nile River Valley."

Warnings that Washington might cut off aid were met with a defiant response in the Egyptian media.

"Let American aid go to hell," screamed the banner headline of Thursday's edition of Al-Tahrir, an independent daily that is a sworn critic of the Brotherhood and the United States.

Egyptian newspapers and television have for weeks taken a deeply hostile line toward the United States, portraying Washington as unhappy to see Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood lose power and lambasting it for allegedly meddling in Cairo's affairs.

The U.S. announced it was freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, most of it meant for the armed forces, as a show of displeasure over Morsi's ouster and the subsequent crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist allies. Washington said the aid would be restored if "credible progress" was made toward setting up an inclusive, democratically elected government.

In its announcement Wednesday, the U.S. State Department did not provide a dollar amount of what was being withheld, most of it linked to military aid, but officials in Washington said it included 10 Apache helicopters at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

The U.S. also is withholding $260 million in cash assistance to the government. The U.S. had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial U.S.-Egyptian military exercises.

In Egypt's first official reaction, the Foreign Ministry said the U.S. move raised questions about Washington's commitment to supporting the Arab nation's security goals at a time when it is facing terrorist challenges.

That was a reference to a burgeoning insurgency by Islamic militants, some with al-Qaida links, in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, as well as scattered attacks in other parts of the country.

In its statement, the Foreign Ministry said Cairo was keen to maintain good relations with Washington, but will independently decide its domestic policies. It also said Egypt will work to secure its "vital needs" on national security, a thinly veiled threat that it would shop elsewhere for arms and military hardware.

One official said the military was considering stripping U.S. warships of preferential treatment in transiting the Suez Canal or curbing use of Egypt's air space by U.S. military aircraft. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.

Cairo has built close ties with Washington in the 34 years since Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel. The aid has long been seen as Washington's reward for Egypt's commitment to peace after it fought four wars against Israel between 1948 and 1973.

The Egyptian military may have gained the most from those close relations, using $1.3 billion annually to replace its aging Soviet-era arms and warplanes with high-tech American weapon systems, state of the art jet-fighters, Apache gunships and battlefield tanks. Over the years, thousands of Egyptian officers from all branches of the military traveled to the United States for training or to attend military schools.

The biennial war games, codenamed "Bright Star," gave the two militaries large-scale human contact in a simulated battlefield and in 1991, Egyptian troops fought alongside the Americans as part of the U.S.-led coalition that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.

El-Sissi, a career infantry officer who attended the U.S. War Academy, has credited the United States for its huge role in modernizing the Egyptian military over the past three decades.

In a three-part interview published this week in a Cairo daily, he said he appreciated the dilemma the Obama administration found itself in after Morsi's ouster, having to carefully navigate between respect for U.S. laws on aid to foreign nations where a democratically elected government is toppled and a reliable ally that has for decades safeguarded its interests in a volatile and strategic region.

But the suspension is unlikely to push him to back down.

The military-backed regime in Egypt enjoys the support of key Arab nations, including ones with deep pockets like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These allies have poured billions of dollars into Egypt's anemic coffers and are likely to continue to do so to win the common fight against Islamists.

The 58-year-old el-Sissi, who has not ruled out a presidential run in elections due next year, stands to gain more popularity at home. In a country where anti-U.S. sentiment runs high, mostly over Washington's perceived bias in support of Israel, anyone seen to be standing up to the United States gains in popularity.

Already el-Sissi is being widely compared to the late charismatic president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, whose socialist-leaning rule and tense relations with Washington earned him near divine status among Egyptians and fellow Arabs.

In contrast, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's toppled autocratic leader, jealously protected and maintained close ties with the U.S. from the time he took office in 1981 and for the next 29 years. One goal of the revolution that toppled him was to end what many Egyptians see as Washington's undue influence over Cairo's policies under Mubarak.

"The popular mood does not seem to care" about the aid suspension, said Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent Egyptian scholar who has a dual-Egyptian-U.S. nationality. "As a matter of fact, most Egyptians who can speak out feel, 'Just as well, we would like to end this Catholic marriage with the U.S.,'" he told Associated Press Television in an interview.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/freeze-aid-whips-anti-us-sentiment-egypt-214354547.html
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This Isn't Your Granny Smith's Harvesting Technology

In West Michigan, it's apple harvest time. That may conjure up images of picturesque orchards and old-fashioned fun: growers harvesting apples and then selecting them by hand.

Think again.

Robotic arms, computer vision and high-resolution photography are helping Michigan growers wash, sort and package apples at top speeds in the business — think 2,000 apples per minute.

With this modern technology, farmers are expanding production and getting Galas and Ginger Golds from Michigan orchards to grocery stores faster and more cheaply.

That's especially important during bumper crop years like 2013, when Michigan apple growers are expected to bring in a potentially record-setting 30 million bushels.

Rob Steffens, an apple grower on West Michigan's fertile "fruit ridge," has about 280 acres of orchards northwest of Grand Rapids. He packs 800 to a 1,000 apple trees into each acre, which is about three times as many trees as his father grew on the land.

With so many new trees, Steffens and other Michigan growers needed a way to process all those extra apples faster and more cheaply.

So Steffens pooled his resources with six other farmers to build a $7 million apple packing plant. It's where his apples are sorted, washed, waxed and readied for shipping to grocery stores.

Wooden crates with "Steffens" stamped on them stack up against one wall in the warehouse. A machine picks up the crates and dumps the apples onto a sort of water conveyor belt. The three-foot-wide river of bobbing apples moves quickly, as a machine sorts the fruit.

Then the apples go through a tunnel filled with flashing lights.

"Really, this is the brains of that," Steffens says, as he points to the tunnel. "This takes a picture of each apple — I think it's between 25 and 29 times a second."

The computer then forms a 3D model of each apple so it can figure out the fruit's size, color and quality. The apples are sorted by weight and color in a fraction of a second. Bruised or misshapen apples are rejected.

"See, and it's kicking out fruit like this," Steffens says as he points to a blemish no bigger than a dime on the skin of one of the rejected apples.

The high-tech machine means the growers can process and pack way more fruit with the same amount of workers. On a typical day, the machine can scan almost 2,000 apples a minute.

"It's processing at an astonishing rate," says horticulturist Randy Beaudry, at Michigan State University.

But this new technology, he says, is what Michigan apple growers need to compete with other states.

"If, for instance, a large box store says, 'OK, we want fruit that are between 2.5 and 2.75 inches.' And they want them 80 percent red with coloration. And they want zero defects — Michigan growers can get that fruit," he says. "And they can do it within a few hours time."

Each year, Michigan is typically only behind Washington and New York state in terms of apple bushels. That has a lot to do with good weather and luck. But it's also because growers have been changing their orchards. Growers have been ripping out older, taller apple trees and replacing them with smaller ones, Beaudry says.

"The trees are shorter. They're closer together," he says. "We create what we call fruiting walls. That's a relatively recent innovation, but it's part of a long-term trend to reduce the size of apple trees, so that they're harvested more easily and more efficiently. So we don't need as much labor."

More and more technology is needed to move labor-intensive agricultural products like apples efficiently to market, Beaudry says.

Fortunately for us, the end result still tastes like an old-fashioned Michigan apple in October.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/14/232235993/this-isnt-your-granny-smiths-harvesting-technology?ft=1&f=1019
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'The Walking Dead' season premiere draws 16.1 million TV viewers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AMC's cult zombie horror series "The Walking Dead" drew its largest audience in the show's history, 16.1 million viewers, for the season premiere on Sunday, the U.S. cable television network said on Monday.

According to Nielsen data provided by AMC, the hour-long season premiere was the top-rated show across all U.S. television programming on Sunday night in the 18-49 demographic, including NBC's NFL "Sunday Night Football" game, which usually draws the largest viewership in the demographic.

Out of the 16.1 million viewers, 10.4 million were in the 18-49 age group most coveted by advertisers. The season three finale of "The Walking Dead" in March attracted a previous high of 12.4 million viewers, with 8.1 million in the 18-49 group.

"The Walking Dead" also went head-to-head against NBC's primetime football game in much of the country, except for the West Coast. The football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins drew a total of 19.7 million viewers.

AMC said more than 5 million users discussed the season four premiere on Facebook and Twitter, and the episode generated more than 1.1 million tweets on Sunday.

"The Walking Dead," based on a comic book series of the same name, follows a sheriff's deputy as he tries to save survivors from flesh-eating zombies in a post-apocalyptic world.

AMC, owned by AMC Networks Inc., has been expanding its audience with stylized shows, such as period advertising drama "Mad Men" which drew a series high of 2.7 million in June this year, and the series finale of gritty drug drama "Breaking Bad," watched by 10.3 million viewers last month.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/walking-dead-season-premiere-draws-16-1-million-212935091--finance.html
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10 Incredible Online Solutions To Your Tech Problems | CanIndia ...

Bangalore: Tech has revolutionized our lives in many ways than we can imagine. It has its advent in the way we communicate, socialize, entertain, travel and in myriad other things. With Smartphones and tablets comes loaded with dirt-cheap price tags, people are going more tech savvy. As technology usage goes rampant, many a times, the consumers get stuck with issues, like remote access of devices or unresponsive software. In such cases you can find refuge in internet which offers incredible online solutions to fix the issues, read on to know 10 of them as compiled by Times Of India.

#1 TeamViewer

TeamViewer is free software that helps you build a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It connects to any PCs or servers around the world enabling you to remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing and file transfer between computers. It can be installed on Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows RT and Windows Phone operating systems. It is also possible to access a machine running TeamViewer with a web browser. While the main focus of the application is remote control of computers, collaboration and presentation features are included.

#2 Join.me

join.me combines instant screen sharing and powerful meeting tools in an app that anyone can use to present, train, demo or concept. You can start with Join.me by create a free account and click on ‘start meeting’. This downloads a small setup to your computer and installing it gives you the Join.me control panel. Use this panel to generate a unique access code for your computer. There is also a pro feature that offers some more functionality than the free version.

#3 iYogi.in

iYogi is a remote technical support firm based in Gurgaon, India. It provides subscription based technical support for personal computers, connected devices and peripherals, and software applications. For  2,599, you can get 24×7 unlimited tech support for a year. They will diagnose and repair any tech issues you face as well as optimize your device for better performance.

#4 Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook.  Computers can be made available on a short-term basis for scenarios such as ad hoc remote support, or on a more long-term basis for remote access to your applications and files.  All connections are fully secured.

Chrome Remote Desktop is fully cross-platform.  Provide remote assistance to Windows, Mac and Linux users, or access your Windows (XP and above) and Mac (OS X 10.6 and above) desktops at any time, all from the Chrome browser on virtually any device, including Chromebooks.

#5 etechies.in

Etechies.in helps you with repairs, maintenance as well as installation of new software and hardware. They offer both remote and door step services. You can opt for a one-time remote assistance for 299 or an annual remote support package for 1,499.

#6 CrossLoop

CrossLoop is a remote desktop service which allows users to share their computer screens and collaborate with others over the Internet. The service is free for both personal and professional users. CrossLoop needs to be downloaded and installed on both ends for it to work and screens can be shared by simply sharing the remote access code. CrossLoop also includes support for one-click remote PC access built in.

The CrossLoop Marketplace is where people can get remote IT support 24 hours a day, from a Global Network of Experts. Through secure screen sharing technology; everyone, individuals and businesses can get assistance with computers, mobile devices, peripherals, software and training. The CrossLoop Marketplace is a website where users create profiles as experts, or as ones seeking help. Profiles allow the helpee to rate the expert and leave feedback, indicating their level of satisfaction. This helps new users decide which expert to choose. The company deducts 15 percent of the total amount in case of CrossLoop referred customers and 5 percent if the paying customer was self referred.

#7 Quora.com

Quora is a question-and-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of users. It aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users’ answers.  Signing up for a free account is mandatory to access the website and its recommended to thoroughly search the site before posting a question. More often than not, the query you have would have already been asked by someone else. You can also search for answers to queries by category.

#8 Wiki Reference Desk

The Wikipedia reference desk works like a library reference desk. You can leave a question at the reference desk and Wikipedia volunteers work to help you find the information you need. There are many topics where you can get help either by search or by asking a question. Some of these includes Computers and IT, Science, Humanities, Mathematics  and others.

#9 Helpouts

Helpouts is a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere. Not only do you get to interact with likeminded people from around the world, you’ll also get paid for your help.

Helpouts isn’t available yet, but we’re currently inviting people with expertise across a number of topics to be able to offer Helpouts when we go live — and to make money sharing their skills and knowledge with the world. Google will facilitate the connection between you (the teacher) and your student, using the Hangout video chat service.

At this moment, it’s not clear when exactly the service will launch or the other specifics. You can sign up a small form if you liked the concept and want/give help for other people.

#10 Uclue

Uclue is a fee-based research service staffed by former Google Answers Researchers (GARs).  Google Answers was an online knowledge market offered by Google that allowed users to post bounties for well researched answers to their queries and was shut down in 2006.

Uclue’s researchers can provide answers spanning a broad and eclectic array of topics. Categories include Business, Genealogy, all the Sciences, Technology, Computer/Software Help, Health, and the Arts.

The fee range is $10 to $400, and you can select the fee based on the complexity and/or obscurity of the requested information and pay it via Uclue via PayPal while posting a question. If the question isn’t answered within 14 days, the fee will be refunded. Customers also have 30 days to request a refund if dissatisfied with an answer; however, customers are encouraged to use the Clarification process to refine the answer to their satisfaction before seeking a refund.

 

Source: http://www.canindia.com/2013/10/10-incredible-online-solutions-to-your-tech-problems/
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Beeing There: The Search for Pesticides Effect on Declining Bee Colonies Moves to the Fields

A honeybee's brain is hardly bigger than the tip of a dog's whisker, yet you can train a bee just as Pavlov got his pups to drool on hearing their dinner bell. Using a sugar solution as a reward, you can teach the insect to extend its little mouthparts in response to different scents.


Several Pavlovian lab studies of individual worker honeybees, however, found that those fed small amounts of pesticides—especially a class called neonicotinoids—do not learn which scents lead to a sweet reward as quickly as their pesticide-free peers do. Yet, until recently, it wasn't clear what these and other lab studies meant for the health of entire bee colonies, which might have strategies to mitigate the overall impact of problems with particular hive members. "Just because you see the effect in the bee in the lab, strapped into this lab apparatus, [doesn’t mean you know] how does this translate into a colony in a field?" says Reed Johnson, an entomologist at The Ohio State University who studies pesticides' effects on honeybees.


To probe the colony question, academic research on neonicotinoids and other pesticides is moving from studies in labs to the outdoors—examining both the effects on entire honeybee or bumblebee hives as well as those on solitary bees nesting near crops. Such studies could help determine how and to what extent pesticides are behind the accelerated rate at which honeybee hives are dying. They also seek to answer whether pesticides are harming other bee species that are important to agriculture.


Since 2006 U.S. honeybee-keepers have reported they lose 30 percent of their hives on average after every winter. Before then, beekeepers would usually lose 5 or 10 percent of their hives after winter. The immediate reasons keepers report their hives are dying seem ordinary enough—winter starvation, pests such as the varroa mite and problems with queen bees such as premature deaths—but researchers are trying to understand why these seemingly normal problems are now happening at an extraordinarily higher rate. Pesticides could be one answer.


So far, honeybee-keepers have replaced lost hives through breeding, but experts worry that in the future bees won't be able to sustain such a high replacement rate. Populations could decline below what U.S. agriculture needs to pollinate America's nuts, fruits, vegetables and even livestock feed.


What do we know?

The field studies entomologists repeatedly cite include ones that found different neonicotinoids reduced the number of honeybee foragers that return to their hive as well as reduced the population growth and queen bee production of bumblebee colonies. Another study found that the neonicotinoid imidacloprid, when applied in combination with another popular, non-neonicotinoid pesticide called lambda-cyhalothrin, increased the likelihood that bumblebee hives will fail. "I do think it is pretty clear that neonics interfere with bees' ability to forage effectively," says David Goulson, a bumblebee researcher with the University of Sussex in the U.K. and an author of the bumblebee population growth study cited above. "For bumblebees, the evidence is overwhelming."

On the other hand, the evidence for neonicotinoids' effects on honeybees is less convincing. Honeybee hives are larger than those of bumblebees and may be better able to compensate for impaired individuals. "It might be very difficult to show the effect in honeybees," says Nigel Raine, a Royal Holloway University of London entomologist who conducted the bumblebee field study suggesting that treated hives were more likely to fail.


Beyond neonicotinoids, research groups have started to find that other pesticides affect learning and population abundance in other bee species. At the 2013 International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy, held at The Pennsylvania State University in August, one study found blue orchard bees and alfalfa leaf-cutter bees had trouble finding their own nests after foraging in outdoor fields that researchers sprayed with the fungicides iprodione, pyraclostrobin and boscalid. (Researchers covered the fields with dense mesh cubes, six meters at a side, to keep the bees from foraging elsewhere.) Another study found apple orchards treated more heavily with any type of pesticides had severalfold fewer wild bee visitors than more lightly treated orchards.


Applying research to regulations

What does all this research mean for laws regarding pesticide use? Are any regulatory agencies using these studies as a basis for changing how many pesticides bees are exposed to in the real world?


In the European Union officials have used studies from universities as well as their own reviews as the basis of a two-year moratorium on many uses of three neonicotinoids called clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. The ban is controversial, even among researchers. It's also not clear what its fate will be, as neonicotinoid-makers Bayer CropScience and Syngenta Crop Protection have sued against the ban, saying there's not enough evidence to merit regulatory change.


In the U.S. the Environmental Protection Agency depends mostly on its own six-year research plan to make regulatory decisions, agency spokesperson Catherine Milbourn wrote in an e-mail. The agency is reviewing six neonicotinoids: in addition to clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam it is studying acetamiprid, dinotefuran and thiacloprid. The review is part of a program designed to regularly reexamine active ingredients in all pesticides approved for use in the U.S. The agency expects to finish its work by 2019. The reason it will take several years is to give pesticide companies the chance to acquire the data the EPA requested.


The EPA also considers studies by university researchers, but such studies often aren't designed to meet the agency's particular needs for addressing legal uncertainties for regulation, according to Milbourn. "We feel the studies that are currently underway at EPA's request are the most important for our regulatory purposes, since they were designed to answer specific uncertainties that we currently have and also to fully comply with federal laws and regulations," she wrote in an e-mail.


When asked for examples of how recent studies don't fill the bill, the agency declined to review others' work that way. Instead, Milbourn and other officials pointed to a proposal from 2012 that describes a method for regulators to determine pesticides' risks to honeybees in greater detail than the EPA had ever previously required before approving a pesticide.

What's next for research?

Entomologists working on field studies have their own plans for taking their research forward. Bumblebee researcher Raine is working on further studies for the U.K., including surveys to better determine how much pesticide bees pick up on their bodies or eat in pollen and honey when they live outdoors, for example. Derek Artz, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researcher who worked on the mesh-caged field study, plans a study in the open field. That will let him see whether the two solitary bee species he studies simply abandon nesting sites near crops treated with fungicides, a suspected coping strategy.


Ultimately, however, it may be impossible to perfectly answer all of scientists' and regulators' questions about the effects of pesticides on bees. "There's thousands of chemicals out there," Ohio State's Johnson says. "If you're going to require field studies for all of them, is there enough land area on the Earth to do all these studies?" To address this problem, the EPA and the USDA are developing mathematical models to test every possible combination of pesticides, bee species and crops.



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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beeing-search-pesticides-effect-declining-bee-colonies-moves-113000508.html
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How To Find Low Cost Auto Insurance ? Hot Article Depot

Everyone tries to make ends meet nowadays. There are a lot of expenses in the household and most commodities are now becoming more expensive. Many now focus their efforts on cutting down costs.

Among those that could really steal the bulk of the pie is car insurance. You have to pay sky-rocketing premiums so it would seem impossible to save money on car insurance.

But this is not a far away dream. You can actually save a lot if you only know how to choose the right car insurance. There are actually a lot of methods that you can use. Here are some of the things that can help you find cheap car insurance or lower its cost:

1. Search for an insurance that?s based on your needs. There will surely be a huge amount spent on insurance and it will be wasted if your coverage will not meet your needs. Paying for insurance premiums is no joke so you really have to make sure you get your money?s worth.

2. Choose the right company. If you don?t watch out for the car insurance company you?ll sign up with, then it will be impossible for you to save on auto insurance. Beware of scams and other substandard insurance companies. Before signing up, be sure to double check the records and feedback of the company.

3. Drive safe.A clean driving record can earn you some discounts from car insurance providers. This usually spells lower insurance payments. In addition, you can put in some added safety features to your car. This would also reduce the risk and proportionately lower insurance caused too.

4. Don?t be too hasty. Don?t make a choice too soon when you are still in search of a car insurance company. Be sure to consider advantages and disadvantages and take into account quality over price. Some plans may be cheap but they might not be able to give you the right benefits when you need it.

5. Grab discounts.There are certain companies that offer various discounted rates. One way to save money on auto insurance is to check out your provider of other insurances like home insurance. If your house is insured try to ask the company if they also offer car insurance because they tend to give discounts to multiple policy holders.

There are many other ways to slash your car insurance expenses. You need not worry too much. You just have to put a little effort and use your head in selecting the right car insurance provider for you.

This article provides tips on how to cut car insurance costs. For more information about car insurance and how to save money on car insurance, follow the link.

Source: http://hotarticledepot.com/how-to-find-low-cost-auto-insurance/

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Three women, missing for a decade, found alive

Three women who went missing separately about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, had been tied up but were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and three brothers were arrested, police said.

One of those arrested is a 52-year-old man, police say. The women were being treated at the hospital. One of the women reportedly has a baby, who is now 6, since she was reported missing, the Associated Press reports.?

One of the women, Amanda Berry, was last heard from in 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from the Burger King restaurant where she worked, reported the Cleveland TV station WEWS. She was to turn 17 the day after she disappeared.

Another of the women, Gina DeJesus, was 14 when she went missing on April 2, 2004. She was walking home from school.

The third woman, Michelle Knight, 32, had been missing since 2002.

Ariel Castro, the owner of the home where the women were found, has been arrested, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. Live TV reports showed hundreds of people and media gathered outside the Cleveland home, where the women were found.?

A recording of the 911 call reveals a frantic Berry calling for police.

"Help, I'm Amanda Berry ... I need police. I've been kidnapped," she says. "I've been missing for 10 years. I'm here and I'm free now." She asked that police respond quickly, before Castro returned to the home.

The women were being evaluating by doctors at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. At a press conference outside the hospital, Dr. Gerald Maloney declined to go into detail about the women's condition.

"They are safe. We are evaluating their medical needs," Maloney said. As he spoke, a man in the crowd of onlookers shouted, "We love you, Amanda," and the crowd cheered.

Police have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday.

In January, the Associated Press noted, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry, who had last been seen the day before her 17th birthday. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.

Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes, the AP reported.

Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.

One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.

In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.

No Amber Alert was issued the day DeJesus failed to return home from school in April 2004 because no one witnessed her abduction. The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine.

"The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," Felix DeJesus said then. "It doesn't have to be an abduction. Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law."

Cleveland police said then that the alerts must be reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in locating the suspect and child.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/three-women-missing-decade-found-alive-234338530.html

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Maternal worries about France's 'maternelle' schools

Yes, images of fresh baguettes and varieties of cheese I could never conceive of filled my head as I contemplated relocating to Paris. But I?ve been most thrilled about French school.

This is clearly not scientific. But I?ve envied ?European education? since my first game of Trivial Pursuit with my husband, a Spaniard. I?ll spare myself from revealing too much and just say that he smoked me.

The French people I know continuously confirm the hunch that they just simply know more, or at least more about the world in which we live. One friend told me high school was the most demanding time period of her life, even though she has a master's degree and has lived in three foreign countries.

RECOMMENDED: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.

I have a daughter who will eventually be attending French school. And I?ve imagined what that means for her education. I?ve also formed notions of the social aspects, mostly from the book ?Bringing up Bebe? by Pamela Druckerman, an American journalist and mother in France. Granted, her book focuses on one upper-socio-economic bracket and it?s anecdotal, just like this blog. But she paints a picture of little tots who eat beets and blue cheese and ? having continuously received tough love from their parents and caretakers ? never throw food in restaurants. ?Imagine that,? I said to my husband, almost giddy.

So it was with a certain sinking feeling that I stumbled upon a study by French economist Claudia Senik, who seeks to understand why the French are among the world?s gloomiest pessimists. One of her theories is that the French are taught to be unhappy in a school system that is overly rigorous and rigid. ?I knew it was too good to be true,? I told my husband.

As early as this fall, my daughter will be starting the ?maternelle,? the all-day public preschool for kids between the ages of 3 and 6 in France. They are raved about, not just for the support they give to working parents but for the social skills they instill, and for providing the building blocks of a French public school education.

And yet, I had wondered about the hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. That?s a long day. And how strict are they anyway?

I met Ms. Senik in her office. She certainly didn?t look gloomy. Wearing a cheerful, peach top, she smiled often. I asked her if she herself was a pessimist. She said no, but she happened to excel at the subjects that are prioritized in the French education system. Then, after the main interview was over, I asked if I?d be creating a pessimist by enrolling my child in school.

?How old is she?? she asked, and when I told her she?ll be turning 3 this year, she said, ?no, you?ll be fine, she?ll be in the maternelle.? Apparently the gloom-inducing demands of school begin later ? at elementary school.

It?s hard to believe on the face of things, since what I?ve loved most about Paris so far is how stimulating it is for kids. There are parks at every corner, it seems. There are open fields to play in and gardens with flowers to smell. There are play centers for when it rains. There are amazing public pools. And all of these places are full of happy kids. I feel like my daughter has experienced more in the past month than she has her entire life. And she seems to be loving it too.

I?ve signed her up for school, knowing that it will be a long day in a foreign language and that it will be far more structured ? and thus demanding ? than anything she?s yet experienced. But I remain thrilled about it, about the exposure to French, to peers who eat whatever their parents are eating as a norm, and about the prospect of an ace Trivial Pursuit partner later in life.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maternal-worries-frances-maternelle-schools-205518891.html

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Fla. lawmakers OK plan for Everglades restoration

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) ? Florida lawmakers have approved a new plan to help pay for Everglades restoration.

The legislation was sent to Gov. Rick Scott on a 39-0 vote by the Senate on Thursday. It cleared the House earlier in the session.

The bill is backed by environmental groups and sugar farmers, and its sponsors have said it represents a truce in a decades-old dispute.

The measure would keep intact an existing tax on farmers in the northern Everglades until 2036. The money from the tax will be used to help pay for water quality restoration projects that are part of an $880 million plan that was negotiated between Scott and the federal government.

The legislation also calls for spending $32 million a year for the next 10 years.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-05-02-Everglades%20Restoration/id-f3d311ba9b1e48fdbdfb7fb3d3adcd74

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Q&A: What are some mixed drinks that would be well suited for a ...

Panforte Cross-Section

Image by jazzijava
This Christmas cake (originally from Sienna) has a chewy, almost taffy-like texture which comed from melted chocolate, sugar, honey and (my secret ingredient) melted Tootsie Rolls. A hefty dose of cocoa powder, mincemeat, nuts and seeds gives this a flavour that?s hard to resist!
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe & Delicious Magazine with inspiration from The Grid TO

Here?s my version!

Question by Els: What are some mixed drinks that would be well suited for a BBQ?
My boyfriend is turning 30 and we?re throwing a BBQ at our home. However, I getting sick of having beer every time we grill out. Any suggestions on some mixed drinks that would work well with the general BBQ foods?

Best answer:

Answer by u should know me
LEMONADE!!!! (pink is the BEST)

Add your own answer in the comments!

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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

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Malaysia prepares for its closest election in 50 years (+video)

Economic growth and strict rule have kept the same government in power in Malaysia for more than 50 years, but calls for greater accountability are getting louder.

By Simon Roughneen,?Correspondent / May 3, 2013

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (c.) waves a national flag as he sings patriotic songs with supporters during an election campaign rally in Rawang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Sunday. Najib, head of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN, or National Front) coalition, has played up instability fears should the opposition win the upcoming election, and points out that Malaysia's economy has grown 5 percent a year in recent times.

Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

Enlarge

Malaysia's ruling coalition has since 1957 steered the country between race riots, a brief and stormy marriage with Singapore, and a communist insurgency to the country's position today as one of the great economic success stories of the developing world.

Skip to next paragraph Simon Roughneen

Southeast Asia Correspondent

Simon Roughneen is a southeast Asia correspondent, filing for the Monitor since September 2011. He's based in Myanmar (Burma) but travels the region as much as possible. In the past, he's reported from several countries in Africa, from Pakistan, and has been on shorter assignments to Haiti, India, Israel, Korea, Kosovo, Lebanon, Turkey, and the West Bank.?You can visit his personal website at?www.simonroughneen.com.?

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But now its 56-year run in power since independence from Great Britain could be headed for the rocks. Malaysians will vote in a new parliament on May 5, and polls show a coalition led by former government insider Anwar Ibrahim has a shot at winning control of Southeast Asia's third largest economy.

?This election is the first one that is not a foregone conclusion,? says Clive Kessler of the University of New South Wales. Despite economic growth under the current government, perception of corruption and growing calls for more democracy and greater accountability have dogged it, giving the opposition a foothold from which to challenge the government.?

The government has responded to such calls with some political reforms that it hopes can serve as a ballast against a swing to the opposition.?Those changes, such as relaxing media restrictions, might not be enough.

Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat (PKR, People's Alliance) opposition has campaigned on an anticorruption message, pledging ?ubah,? or change, and hoping that enough of the 2.6 million first time voters ? a fifth of the total ? will back that message to swing the election away from the governing parties.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, head of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN, or National Front) coalition, has played up instability fears should the opposition win, and points out that Malaysia's economy has grown 5 percent a year in recent times. "The strength of the economy is creating a feel-good factor among voters,? he said.

Changing society

The strong challenge to the current government has been building for some time. Middle class and younger Malaysians have increasingly expressed dissatisfaction that the government is not responding to the changing society fast enough. In 2008 the opposition made history by taking a third of seats available and by winning five of Malaysia's 13 regional governments, its best-ever result.

Penang,?a bustling electronics and tourism hub in the northwest,?was one of the five regions won. An crowd of thousands gathered on Friday evening in Georgetown, Penang's colonial-kitsch tourist draw, to listen to leaders of the Democratic Action Party, a key opposition component, in a final rally to make a final plea to voters.?Lim Guan Eng, the head of the party and a likely government minister should the opposition win on Sunday, says that the opposition can win, despite the prohibitive history. "People are sick of corruption, they want change. We have shown in Penang that we can govern," he told the Monitor.

But local BN magnate Teng Chang Yeow scoffs at the opposition's record in Penang: ?they are good at claiming, but the truth is FDI [foreign direct investment] has actually fallen 73 percent in the last two years. How can they hope to manage the national economy when they can't even look after a small state like Penang??

Malaysia-watchers predict that whatever happens, the handover might not be so smooth.

'Keep away'

For the most part, Malaysia has been politically-stable since around 1,000 people ? most of them Chinese-Malaysians ? were killed in 1969 race riots. But 2011 and 2012 rallies for changes to Malaysia's electoral system ended up with police firing teargas and water cannon at protestors in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the country's biggest city. This year's election campaign has been marred by unexplained explosions and allegations of intimidation, sparking concerns that there could be trouble after Sunday's vote.

On Thursday night, the governing coalition held a charity event in Penang's historic Georgetown, doling out cans of Tiger beer to a small crowd listening as songstresses crooned Malay ballads and renderings of Celine Dion.

A BN supporter at the gig, who would not give his name, predicts trouble if the governing parties lose the election.??Keep away from KL [shorthand for Kuala Lumpur] next week if PKR wins. There will be problems there, violence on the streets maybe.?

?Najib has promised a peaceful handover, but he doesn't control those who might take to the streets, and even if he wins the election by a small majority, he will lose his position as party leader,? says author and professor Clive Kessler, who adds that a BN win could also see people on the streets.??If there are allegations of cheating, or if Barisan wins by a big margin, people might not believe that, and opposition supporters could protest,? he says.

On Friday, the prime minister denied allegations from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that his office had organized flights for 40,000 people ? many of them foreigners ? taking them from eastern Malaysia to vote in the vital Selangor constituency, which the governing coalition hopes, like in Penang, to retake from the opposition.

The charges sound wearyingly-familiar to some voters. Keira Cheong, one of the 25 percent of Malaysians of Chinese ancestry, sighs that ?there's been a lot of corruption, everyone knows, but nobody can ever do anything.? Friend Veronica Chai, who works in Penang's pharmaceutical sector, cuts in. ?Well we can vote at least, we at least need to try for change,? she asserts.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/HOj8ZGvA-Vo/Malaysia-prepares-for-its-closest-election-in-50-years-video

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Six Beautiful Artifacts From the Dawn of Digital Typography

As MySpace, Kozmo, and the Chicago Tribune all learned to their chagrin, being first isn?t always best?but someone?s gotta do it. This week, at one of the most comprehensive typography exhibitions ever staged, we got to see some of the early technologies that predated digital type.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/odcjWopk1OU/six-beautiful-artifacts-from-the-dawn-of-digital-typogr-489628650

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