A Map Of NFL Team Allegiance

Facebook data shows exactly where the fans are.

We've posted visualizations from Facebook's Data Science Team before, but I think it's safe to say that their newest effort--a county-level map of NFL fandom across the U.S.--is their most admirable yet. Based on the team page Likes and locations of over 35 million account holders, it's probably the most accurate, precise geography of sports fandom ever.

Deadspin has a nice run-down of the take-aways, to which I would add only one question: Does anyone know what that blob of Steelers fans is doing in southern Oregon?

Click here to see a larger version of the map.

[via Deadspin]

Source: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/map-nfl-team-allegiance

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Ateneo-FEU game a draw; La Salle beats NU in UAAP men?s football

By Celest R. Flores
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines ? Ateneo and Far Eastern University battled to a 1-1 draw on Thursday but the Blue Eagles kept the top spot in the UAAP season 75 men?s football tournament.

Midfielder Carlo Liay scored on a header to equalize in the 89th minute, which kept the Blue Eagles undefeated in the tournament with seven wins and three draws for 24 points.

Eric Giganto put FEU in the scoreboard early with a goal in the 12th minute, but yielded a last minute goal and failed to pounce on the chance to wrest the number one seeding.

The Tamaraw booters, though, kept their hold of the second spot with 22 points on seven wins, two setbacks and a draw.

Meanwhile, La Salle defeated National University, 2-0, to secure third place in the other game at the football fields inside the Ateneo campus.

Don Rabaya scored both goals for the Green Archers, who improved to 21 points on seven wins and three losses.

The Bulldogs, on their first shot at men?s football, absorbed their eight setback with two losses and a draw for seven points.

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Tags: Men's football , Sports , UAAP

Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer's day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer's Reader's Advocate. Or write The Readers' Advocate:

Source: http://sports.inquirer.net/84749/ateneo-feu-game-a-draw-la-salle-beats-nu-in-uaap-mens-football

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10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Accountant for Your Small ...

Now that the 2013 tax season has gotten into high gear, you may be considering using the services of an accountant- whether to help you with your tax preparation or to get your financial reporting in order.

But where and how should you start looking for the right candidate? Making a poor choice with a hired accountant can cause more headache and end up costing you more money than many of your other employees can because this person will have the ability to access and manipulate any sensitive financial data. So how do you find the right accountant for the job, especially if your knowledge of finance and accounting is limited?

Here are ten questions every small business owner should ask a prospective accountant before bringing this person on board:

1. Who are your clients and what industries are you familiar with??You want to be certain that your accountant understands your type of business and has experience working with clients within your industry. Companies in the construction industry, for example, will have a different setup and methods of operation that includes dealing with contractors and buying heavy machinery, than a restaurant or a store that may be dealing with tips and perishable inventory.

2. What is your availability??Are you looking for an accountant or an accounting firm to only help come tax time or are you looking for year-round help? Make sure that your accountant of choice follows the same schedule that you are looking for.

3. What are your qualifications??One of the things that you will need to determine before you go about hiring an accountant is what you expect to get out of the arrangement. Many financial experts suggest that small businesses hire a certified public accountant (CPA), because CPAs must go through rigorous certification requirements and will likely have more experience with broader financial planning issues. But, you have other options, such as an Enrolled Agent (EA). EAs are certified by the federal government specifically to handle taxes and are often former IRS agents with extensive experience dealing with audits. In some cases, a bookkeeper or professional tax preparer will be more than adequate.

4. Who will be doing the work??Be aware that many accountants outsource work to third parties. This can become an issue if you want to speak to someone who is familiar with your accounts. If you are working with an accounting firm, you should also find out who exactly will be processing your financial data.

5. What is your approach to accounting??
You want to find out how aggressive your prospective accountant is. Some accountants want to write off everything they possibly can, while others are more focused on avoiding the red flags that can lead to an IRS audit. Decide which approach appeals to you and your business and then make sure your hired account abides by the same philosophy.

6. How much do you charge??Some accountants have an hourly rate while others have a set fee for certain tasks. Make sure you are clear about their billing preferences and any other expenses before deciding to take someone on.

7. Can you give me advice about my accounting system??If your accountant has been working with businesses in your industry then he or she should have a working knowledge of what works and what doesn?t in terms of financial recording and reporting systems. This person should also be able to advise you on what accounting software programs to buy for business use.

8. How will we communicate and exchange information??Make sure you are clear about how you will send financial information and documentation to your accountant. Will you be physically meeting with this person or will the exchange of information and meetings be electronically?

9. How often will we communicate??Every accountant will be different when it comes to the frequency of communication as well. So make sure that you are clear about this from the beginning and that you can feel comfortable asking questions when you need to.

10. Can you tell me about such and such tax deduction??If the accountant you?re speaking with is unfamiliar with typical deductions or financial reporting terms, you should be wary because that might be a red flag that he or she isn?t knowledgeable enough to handle your business? financial accounts and information. ?

Source: http://www.fastupfront.com/blog/business-finance/10-questions-to-ask-before-hiring-an-accountant-for-your-small-business/

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Engineers solve a biological mystery and boost artificial intelligence

Jan. 29, 2013 ? By simulating 25,000 generations of evolution within computers, Cornell University engineering and robotics researchers have discovered why biological networks tend to be organized as modules -- a finding that will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of complexity.

The new insight also will help evolve artificial intelligence, so robot brains can acquire the grace and cunning of animals.

From brains to gene regulatory networks, many biological entities are organized into modules -- dense clusters of interconnected parts within a complex network. For decades biologists have wanted to know why humans, bacteria and other organisms evolved in a modular fashion. Like engineers, nature builds things modularly by building and combining distinct parts, but that does not explain how such modularity evolved in the first place. Renowned biologists Richard Dawkins, G?nter P. Wagner, and the late Stephen Jay Gould identified the question of modularity as central to the debate over "the evolution of complexity."

For years, the prevailing assumption was simply that modules evolved because entities that were modular could respond to change more quickly, and therefore had an adaptive advantage over their non-modular competitors. But that may not be enough to explain the origin of the phenomena.

The team discovered that evolution produces modules not because they produce more adaptable designs, but because modular designs have fewer and shorter network connections, which are costly to build and maintain. As it turned out, it was enough to include a "cost of wiring" to make evolution favor modular architectures.

This theory is detailed in "The Evolutionary Origins of Modularity," published January 29 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society by Hod Lipson, Cornell associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Jean-Baptiste Mouret, a robotics and computer science professor at Universit? Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris; and by Jeff Clune, a former visiting scientist at Cornell and currently an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Wyoming.

To test the theory, the researchers simulated the evolution of networks with and without a cost for network connections.

"Once you add a cost for network connections, modules immediately appear. Without a cost, modules never form. The effect is quite dramatic," says Clune.

The results may help explain the near-universal presence of modularity in biological networks as diverse as neural networks -- such as animal brains -- and vascular networks, gene regulatory networks, protein-protein interaction networks, metabolic networks and even human-constructed networks such as the Internet.

"Being able to evolve modularity will let us create more complex, sophisticated computational brains," says Clune.

Says Lipson: "We've had various attempts to try to crack the modularity question in lots of different ways. This one by far is the simplest and most elegant."

The National Science Foundation and the French National Research Agency funded this research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell University, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. J. Clune, J.-B. Mouret, H. Lipson. The evolutionary origins of modularity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013; 280 (1755): 20122863 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2863

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/biochemistry/~3/2snU8NFxquE/130130082300.htm

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U.S. probed media companies' handling of economic data: source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement authorities conducted an investigation into whether media companies facilitated insider trading by prematurely releasing market-sensitive government data, but decided not to bring charges, a source familiar with the probe said on Monday.

The investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier on Monday, looked into whether news organizations used high-speed transmission systems to give some investors access to economic data a fraction of a second before the official release time, the source confirmed.

Among the media companies investigated were Bloomberg LP, Thomson Reuters Corp and Dow Jones & Co., a unit of News Corp, according to the source.

Investigators launched the probe after spotting trading patterns suggesting some traders received data slightly before the release time; the investigators decided against filing charges because they couldn't link the pattern to specific actions by media companies, the source confirmed.

Although the probe ended without criminal charges, investigators still have concerns about the handling of federal economic data, according to the source. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents focused much of their attention on activities at the Commerce, Labor, and Treasury departments, the source confirmed.

The source said the government agencies were briefed on the results of the investigation about a month ago.

The Commerce and Labor departments have adopted systems in which a master switch controls all news agency communications lines in data "lockups" where reporters are given access to the information ahead of public release times.

The Labor Department recently tightened its procedures by requiring companies to use only communications equipment ordered through the department and restricting the material reporters can bring into the "lockup" facility.

The FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission looked into operations at all major government departments that release economic data, including the Federal Reserve and the departments of Energy and Agriculture, the source confirmed.

As part of the probe, investigators last summer asked for Bloomberg to turn over one of their computers at the Commerce Department, the source confirmed.

"We discovered a flaw in the Department of Commerce's lockup system during a testing period sponsored by the Department," a Bloomberg spokesman said. "We alerted Commerce to this flaw ... (and) we suggested solutions to secure their system and they thanked us for alerting them to the issue."

Spokespersons for Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-probed-media-companies-handling-economic-data-source-115313299--finance.html

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Vegetarianism can reduce risk of heart disease by up to a third

Jan. 30, 2013 ? The risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32% lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.

Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and is responsible for 65,000 deaths each year in the UK alone. The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people's risk of heart disease.

'Most of the difference in risk is probably caused by effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, and shows the important role of diet in the prevention of heart disease,' explains Dr Francesca Crowe, lead author of the study at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford.

This is the largest study ever conducted in the UK comparing rates of heart disease between vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

The analysis looked at almost 45,000 volunteers from England and Scotland enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford study, of whom 34% were vegetarian. Such a significant representation of vegetarians is rare in studies of this type, and allowed researchers to make more precise estimates of the relative risks between the two groups.

The EPIC-Oxford cohort study was funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council and carried out by the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.

Professor Tim Key, co-author of the study and deputy director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, said: 'The results clearly show that the risk of heart disease in vegetarians is about a third lower than in comparable non-vegetarians.'

The Oxford researchers arrived at the figure of 32% risk reduction after accounting for factors such as age, smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, educational level and socioeconomic background.

Participants were recruited to the study throughout the 1990s, and completed questionnaires regarding their health and lifestyle when they joined. These included detailed questions on diet and exercise as well as other factors affecting health such as smoking and alcohol consumption. Almost 20,000 participants also had their blood pressures recorded, and gave blood samples for cholesterol testing.

The volunteers were tracked until 2009, during which time researchers identified 1235 cases of heart disease. This comprised 169 deaths and 1066 hospital diagnoses, identified through linkage with hospital records and death certificates. Heart disease cases were validated using data from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP).

The researchers found that vegetarians had lower blood pressures and cholesterol levels than non-vegetarians, which is thought to be the main reason behind their reduced risk of heart disease.

Vegetarians typically had lower body mass indices (BMI) and fewer cases of diabetes as a result of their diets, although these were not found to significantly affect the results. If the results are adjusted to exclude the effects of BMI, vegetarians remain 28% less likely to develop heart disease.

The findings reinforce the idea that diet is central to prevention of heart disease, and build on previous work looking at the influence of vegetarian diets, the researchers say.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Francesca L Crowe, Paul N Appleby, Ruth C Travis, and Timothy J Key. Risk of hospitalization or death from ischemic heart disease among British vegetarians and nonvegetarians: results from the EPIC-Oxford cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr, January 30, 2013 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.044073

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/IJ0lcI6VkJY/130130121637.htm

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Project Shield's origins and rapid prototyping detailed by NVIDIA

We got our first look at Project Shield -- the NVIDIA-built gaming handheld -- during CES 2013, where the company surprised everyone with the previously unheard of device. It's essentially the marriage of an Xbox 360-style GamePad to a 5-inch screen, all powered by NVIDIA's brand new Tegra 4 mobile CPU. But the device's origins aren't quite as glamorous as its form, even in prototype stage. "The first prototype, assembled in early 2012, was little more than a game controller fastened to a smartphone with wood," reads NVIDIA's boldly worded blog post detailing the history of Project Shield. That initial prototype saw heavy iteration across 2012, eventually culminating in the device unveiled last month.

However, just 10 days prior, the device was still locked away in NVIDIA's Silicon Valley development offices, shrouded in secrecy. Even the models we eventually tried out were what NVIDIA reps repeatedly referred to as, "a project, not a product." To take the device from prototype to production, NVIDIA's modeling assembly on work its lead engineers did by hand just before CES. "Over the holiday break, NVIDIA's engineers took over a small piece of floor space at a Silicon Valley contract manufacturer to assemble the units that would be shown off at CES," the piece says. Of course, NVIDIA's engineers won't be hand-building the "tens of thousands more units" that arrive later this year -- a team of "quick-turn manufacturing specialists" at NVIDIA is handling that. We assume the former group will be catching up on much needed sleep.

[Photo credit: NVIDIA]

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, NVIDIA

Comments

Source: NVIDIA

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/project-shield-origin/

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Great Ideas! 8 Hearty Dishes Your Kids Will Love

From roast tomato soup and baked eggs to shrimp and grits, Brooklyn Supper bloggers (and real life couple!) Brian Campbell and Elizabeth Stark share their yummy, easy-to-make recipes.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/r1bJvBof2Us/

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Sinkhole swallows building complex in China

Sinkhole swallows building: An enormous sinkhole opened up beneath a building complex in China's southern city of?Guangzhou Tuesday, swallowing five shops and one building.?

By Eoin O'Carroll,?Staff / January 29, 2013

A sinkhole swallows an entire building complex in China's southern Guangdong province.

The ground gave way beneath a building complex in?Guangzhou, China, on Tuesday afternoon, sending several buildings plunging into the earth, but causing no injuries.

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Relying on reports in Chinese media, the blog Shanghaiist describes the gaping hole as more than 3,200 square feet in area and almost 30 feet deep, and still expanding.?

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the sinkhole opened up near a subway construction site. Workers noticed that the land was sinking and managed to evacuate the 300 or so people inside the buildings before they collapsed. It is not clear whether the construction caused the sinkhole.

Sinkholes are often caused by the underground erosion of salt beds or soluble sedimentary rocks, such as limestone or dolomite. Groundwater flows through these rocks, creating subterranean caverns that can suddenly collapse.

In the past couple of years, large sinkholes have appeared in?Guatemala City; Tampa,?Fla.,?Quebec; Milwaukee; as well as Germany and Florida.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/iczH-3lc6uU/Sinkhole-swallows-building-complex-in-China

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IMF sees higher Mauritius GDP growth in 2013

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius' economy will grow 3.7 percent in 2013 compared to 3.3 percent last year, helped by improved activity in fisheries, financial services and information and communication technology, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

The IMF had previously forecast the Indian Ocean island's economy would expand 3.7 percent in 2012.

"Growth will be fuelled by strong growth in fisheries, information and communication technology and financial services," Martin Petri, IMF mission chief told a news conference.

The IMF's forecast matches the government's own projection.

The Indian Ocean island is striving to depend less on Europe, its main source of revenue from tourism and a major market for its textiles, sugar and services industry, and has been branching into information technology, business outsourcing and offshore banking.

Tourism still accounts for about 10 percent of the island's $10 billion economy, however, with European tourists typically making up some two-thirds of visitors.

The fund said it expected annual average inflation to rise to 5.7 percent this year from 4 percent in 2012.

"Inflationary pressures could emerge in 2013 from wage increases in private sector linked to the decision to increase public sector wages and also from adjustments in administered prices," Petri said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-says-mauritius-gdp-grow-3-7-pct-070146177--business.html

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'The Following': Hardy Goes Off-Script As One Of Carroll's Followers Holds Claire At Gunpoint (VIDEO)

Hardy and the investigative team learned a little more about Carroll's acolytes on "The Following," even if Special Agent Debra Parker doesn't like that term. She doesn't like the word cult either, but had to accept that this is just what these people were. They are clearly Carroll's followers.

This second episode even spent quite a bit of time delving into their back stories, as viewers learned more about the not-so-gay neighbors and the nanny of Claire's son. Less was known about Jordy, the follower dressed as a cop. He killed several women earlier in the episode, and then infiltrated Claire's house in the end.

Surprisingly, he lacked the conviction of most of the other followers we've seen. He knew his role was to either kill Claire or die by Hardy's hands -- and let's face it, Carroll intended the latter to happen -- but he hesitated. Hardy refused to play by Carroll's book, so he took Jordy out without killing him.

It remains to be seen how this change in plans will impact the blueprint of whatever Carroll is intending, but it was clear when he and Hardy chatted at the end that he was surprised to hear Jordy was still alive.

Find out what happens next as "The Following" continues on Mondays at 9 p.m. EST on Fox.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/the-following-claire-gunpoint-video_n_2571715.html

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Vegetarian Recipes for Super Bowl 2013 - Meatless & Vegan Party ...

Many people think ?Super Bowl snacks? are synonymous with chicken wings. But, uh, vegetarians like football too! If you or your game day guests would prefer some meatless munchies, try making one these vegetarian and vegan versions of classic party snacks. And don?t forget ? chips and guacamole, hummus and veggies or water crackers and bean dip are also easy, no-fuss snacks that vegetarians and vegans can enjoy.

Vegan Soft Pretzels

Nothing goes better with beer than (vegan) soft pretzels! GET THE RECIPE, via La Pure Mama

Buffalo Tofu Bites

For those who loooooove buffalo sauce but not chicken wings (like me), these baked buffalo tofu bites are perfect (and vegan, too!). GET THE RECIPE, via Peas Love Balance

Broccoli Potato Skins

Vegetarian and gluten-free broccoli potato skins that can also easily be made vegan by using vegan cheese. GET THE RECIPE, via the Adirondack Chick

Vegan Bourbon Tempeh Sliders

Keep the sliders, ditch the meat with this vegan bourbon tempeh sliders recipe from The Sexy Vegan Cookbook author Brian L. Patton. GET THE RECIPE

Black Bean and Plantain Fritters

Spicy, savory and vegan. GET THE RECIPE, via The Unintentional Vegan

Parmesan Rosemary Snack Rolls

Rosemary is loaded with health benefits and my personal favorite in cooking, so these parmesan and rosemary snack rolls sound delish (if only I wasn't currently dairy-free, alas!). As a rule, I hate recipes that use Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, because they're just unrefined carbs. But Super Bowl party snacks aren't exactly paragons of nutritiousness, anyway, so this recipe gets a pass. Stuffing them with rosemary and parmesan is a hell of a lot healthier than stuffing them with cocktail weenies, at least. GET THE RECIPE, via the Adirondack Chick

Vegan Jalape?o Poppers

Substitute soy milk and vegan cream cheese for the dairy traditionally found in jalape?o peppers and vegans can enjoy filling their mouth with fire on game days, too. GET THE RECIPE, via PETA

Mini Corn and Leek Flautas

From the girls at Big Girls Small Kitchen, these mini corn and leek flautas, which can be made a few days in advance and frozen. GET THE RECIPE, via Th Daily Meal

Mini Meatless Reubens

A party-size vegetarian version of the New York deli classic. GET THE RECIPE, via The Mighty Vegetarian

Zucchini Chips

Just 4 ingredients -- zucchini, olive oil, salt & garlic -- and an oven are all you need. GET THE RECIPE, via Women's Health '); } else { jQuery('.gallery-wrapper').addClass('side-gallery'); jQuery('.ad-gallery').append(''); } var imgToShow =parseInt(1) - 1; if (window.location.hash && window.location.hash!=="#" && !isNaN(window.location.hash.substr(1))) { imgToShow = parseInt(window.location.hash.substr(1)) - 1; }; var imgCounter = 0; var totalImages = $('.ad-thumb-list li').length; var galleries = $('.ad-gallery').adGallery({ cycle: true, effect: 'slide-hori', loader_image: '/wp-content/plugins/zzz-nextgen-gallery-alloydigital/ad-gallery/images/loader.gif', start_at_index: imgToShow, animation_speed: 400, slideshow: { enable: true, autostart: false, speed: 10000, start_label: 'Back to Gallery', stop_label: 'View All', stop_on_scroll: true, countdown_prefix: '', countdown_sufix: '', onStart: false, onStop: false }, callbacks: { afterImageVisible: function(new_image, old_image) { imgCounter++; if (imgCounter%7 == 0) { $('#ad-interstitial-wrapper').show(); $('.ad-skip').show(); $('.ad-skip-next').show(); $('.ad-next').hide(); $('.ad-image').hide(); $('.ad-controls').hide(); $('.desc-wrap').hide(); $('#ad_interstitial_frame').attr('src', '/wp-content/plugins/zzz-nextgen-gallery-alloydigital/ngg_ad_gallery_300x250.php'); this.slideshow.stop(); } $('.thumbnail_view .images-to-thumbnail-wrapper').html($('.ad-gallery .ad-controls').clone()); $('#description').html($('#description_' + this.current_index).html()); $('.ad-info').html($('.ad-info').html().replace('/','OF') + '??'); //var thisImg = this.images[this.current_index].image; //thisImg = thisImg.split('gallery/')[1]; //_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', thisImg]); var thisPic = parseInt(this.current_index) + 1; window.location.hash = '#' + thisPic; _gaq.push(['_trackPageview', window.location.pathname + window.location.hash]); } } });$(".ad-slideshow-controls").live("click", function() { var divClass = $(".ad-slideshow-controls span:visible").attr("class"); if (divClass == "ad-slideshow-start") { var label = "Back to Gallery"; } else { var label = "View All"; } _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", label, location.pathname ]); $(".ad-gallery, .thumbnail_view").toggle(); }); $(".thumb-wrapper img").click(function() { //var current = parseInt($(this).index()); _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", "View All Thumbnail", location.pathname ]); var current = parseInt($(this).index()) + 1; window.location.hash = "#" + current; window.location.reload(true); }); $(".ad-thumb-list img").click(function() { //var current = parseInt($(this).index()); _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", "Carousel Thumbnail", location.pathname ]); }); $(".ad-prev-image").click(function() { //var current = parseInt($(this).index()); _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", "Previous Image", location.pathname ]); }); $(".ad-next-image").click(function() { //var current = parseInt($(this).index()); _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", "Next Image", location.pathname ]); }); $(".ad-skip, .ad-prev, .ad-prev-image, .ad-skip-next, .ad-thumb-list img").click(function() { $("#ad-interstitial-wrapper").hide(); $(".ad-skip").hide(); $(".ad-skip-next").hide(); $("#ad_interstitial_frame").attr("src", "about:blank"); $(".ad-next").show(); $(".ad-image").show(); $(".ad-controls").show(); $(".desc-wrap").show(); _gaq.push(["_trackEvent", "Gallery", "Skip Ad", location.pathname]); galleries[0].slideshow.start(); window.location.hash = "#" + current; window.location.reload(true); });});

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Source: http://www.blisstree.com/2013/01/28/food/vegetarian-recipes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=vegetarian-recipes

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Real angry birds 'flip the bird' before a fight: Biologists use robots to study attacks of male swamp sparrows

Jan. 28, 2013 ? Male sparrows are capable of fighting to the death. But a new study shows that they often wave their wings wildly first in an attempt to avoid a dangerous brawl.

"For birds, wing waves are like flipping the bird or saying 'put up your dukes. I'm ready to fight,'" said Duke biologist Rindy Anderson.

Male swamp sparrows use wing waves as an aggressive signal to defend their territories and mates from intruding males, Anderson said. The findings also are a first step toward understanding how the birds use a combination of visual displays and songs to communicate with other males.

Anderson and her colleagues published the results online Jan. 28 in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Scientists had assumed the sparrows' wing-waving behavior was a signal intended for other males, but testing the observations was difficult, Anderson said. So she and her co-author, former Duke engineering undergraduate student David Piech ('12), built a miniature computer and some robotics, which the team then stuffed into the body cavity of a deceased bird. The result was a 'robosparrow' that looked just like a male swamp sparrow, which could flip its wings just like a live male.

Anderson took the wing-waving robosparrow to a swamp sparrow breeding ground in Pennsylvania and placed it in the territories of live males. The robotic bird "sang" swamp sparrow songs using a nearby sound system to let the birds know he was intruding, while Anderson and her colleagues crouched in the swampy grasses and watched the live birds' responses. She also performed the tests with a stuffed sparrow that stayed stationary and one that twisted from side to side. These tests showed that wing waves combined with song are more potent than song on its own, and that wing waves in particular, not just any movement, evoked aggression from live birds.

The live birds responded most aggressively to the invading, wing-waving robotic sparrow, which Anderson said she expected. "What I didn???t expect to see was that the birds would give strikingly similar aggressive wing-wave signals to the three types of invaders," she said. That means that if a bird wing-waved five times to the stationary stuffed bird, he would also wing-wave five times to the wing-waving robot.

Anderson had hypothesized that the defending birds would match the signals of the intruding robots, but her team's results suggest that the males are more individualistic and consistent in the level of aggressiveness that they want to signal, she said.

"That response makes sense, in retrospect, since attacks can be devastating," Anderson said. Because of the risk, the real males may only want to signal a certain level of aggression to see if they could scare off an intruder without the conflict coming to a fight and possible death.

Still, the risk of severe injury or death didn't keep the studly males from swooping in and clawing at the robotic intruder, whether it wing-waved or not. "It's high stakes for these little birds. They only live a couple of years, and most only breed once a year, so owning a territory and having a female is high currency," Anderson said.

She and her team had planned to test how the sparrows use wing waves combined with a characteristic twitter called soft-song to show aggression and fend off competition. But the experiment may be on hold indefinitely because robosparrow's motor seems to be burned out, and its head was ripped off in an attack, a true fight to the death.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University. The original article was written by Ashley Yeager.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. R. C. Anderson, A. L. DuBois, D. K. Piech, W. A. Searcy, S. Nowicki. Male response to an aggressive visual signal, the wing wave display, in swamp sparrows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1478-9

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/ojdyQhq8B7c/130129100253.htm

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Toyota wins back world's top auto sales crown from GM

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp regained the crown as the world's top selling automaker in 2012, posting record-high sales and beating rivals General Motors and Volkswagen .

Toyota said on Monday it sold 9.75 million vehicles group-wide around the world last year, a record for the 75-year-old Japanese automaker and up 22.6 percent from a year ago.

The result was in line with the company's December forecast, and put it back in the No. 1 spot, which it lost in 2011 when it was hit by a wave of negative publicity after a recall crisis in the United States, and a disrupted supply chain following an earthquake in Japan and floods in Thailand.

Toyota held the global sales crown from 2008 through 2010, but fell to third place in 2011 behind GM and Volkswagen.

GM sold 9.28 million vehicles in 2012, up 2.9 percent from a year ago, while Volkswagen sold 9.07 million vehicles, up 11.2 percent.

Toyota aims to sell 9.91 million vehicles group-wide globally in 2013, up 1.6 percent from 2012.

The Toyota group also includes sales at Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd . Toyota-only sales hit a record-high 8.72 million vehicles, up 22.8 percent on a year ago.

Toyota's domestic rival Nissan Motor Co said on Monday it sold a record 4.94 million vehicles globally in 2012, while Honda Motor Co sold 3.82 million vehicles, up 19 percent.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/toyota-wins-back-worlds-top-auto-sales-crown-125633885--sector.html

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It?s now illegal to unlock your cell phone (Americablog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/280048339?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Why Advances in Staff Training Matter to Moms and Dads ...

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Back in the day, all a college kid needed to land a camp job was to be a
college kid. Camps were started in the latter part of the 1800s by progressive
educators-college professors and prep school headmasters-with degrees from
Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, Columbia and so forth. Naturally, the young men (and,
eventually, women) those owner/directors employed were-you guessed it-students
from Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale and Columbia. The educational pedigree was enough.
Alternatively, a university student might have a patron of sorts who wrote a
handwritten ?letter of reference? attesting to their character.

I don?t have hard data to support my gut feeling, but I sense that by the
1950s, that Ivy League line was all but erased. Yet with all of the beneficial
variety in staff educational backgrounds came looser (dare I say sloppy?) hiring
practices. Enter movies such as Meatballs, whose portrayal of camp
shenanigans in the 1970s is as legendary as it is accurate.

The second millennium ushered in a new wave of staff hiring practices.
Heightened awareness of physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by camp staff,
along with industry associations that emphasized staff professionalism,
established practices like background checks for all staff and transformed
slapdash one-day orientations into ?staff training week.? These days, camp
directors won?t even look at a prospective staff member?s application without
first conducting a criminal background check and acquiring three references.
(Whether they actually check those references is another story?) There are
even a growing number of national and provincial accreditation standards that
suggest specific topics for staff training.

All of this specificity and conscientiousness has created a new problem,
however. There is no longer enough time during staff training week (which in
most cases is actually five days, not seven) to cover all of the recommended
topics in any kind of meaningful depth. The average camp staff member needs to
know everything from CPR and first-aid for anaphylaxis to bullying prevention
and best practices for ?responding to sensitive issues.? So although industry
professionalism is an admirable goal, it is seldom achieved at the level of the
front-line staff member. Not only do most camp directors lack expertise in all
required training fields, they do not have their staff on-site for long enough
before opening day.

How can a twenty-first century camp train professional-grade staff without
expanding staff training week into staff training month? The answer is
ridiculously simple: online education that staff complete before staff training
week. Today?s college students spend hours on YouTube already. Why not create a
library of YouTube-length videos hosted by the top professionals in youth
development and education? And, to ensure that the young man or woman taking
care of your son or daughter has actually understood what they?ve
watched, each video should be followed by a quiz whose results are also viewable
to the camp director.

Enter ExpertOnlineTraining.com, an educational website with an
impressive library of videos hosted by internationally renowned authors like Dr.
Michael Thompson (of Raising Cain fame), Dr. Joel Haber (of
BullyProof Your Child fame), and Faith Evans (of The More the
Merrier fame). Ok, full disclosure: I co-founded the site. But that?s
exactly why it should matter to moms and dads. You now know an industry
insider and camp parent who created an educational solution to a serious problem
no camp director would dare mention. I?m biased, of course, but I recommend that
every parent look for the EOT logo on their camp?s website and ask how they use
ExpertOnlineTraining.com to complement their on-site training.
Your child deserves a capable leader, not just a student with a smile.

Enjoy the summer!

Dr. Christopher Thurber

For additional parent resources,
visit: SummerCampHandbook.com

Learn about high quality staff training at: ExpertOnlineTraining.com

Source: http://www.expertonlinetraining.com/blog/why-advances-in-staff-training-matter-to-moms-and-dads/

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Small Business Success Quotes by Famous People

On this page I share my top ten favourite small business success quotes by famous people (or, at least, my favourites for today).

Let?s face it, your head is wracked with everything from small business factoring to small business management courses to small business email marketing and blah de blah blah. . . .
Sometimes, you need to forget all about that stressful stuff and concentrate instead on such much needed inspiration and motivation. I hope these small business success quotes by famous people will provide just that.

Here are my top ten small business success quotes by famous people for today.

Small Business Success Quotes by Famous People

?I didn?t dream about success. I worked for it.? ? Estee Lauder

An important business quote this. It?s all too easy to forget to actually work while you?re sat in your chair dreaming of success. Let the dream go and start building your small business success instead!

?There isn?t such a thing as high returns without risk.? ? Gerry Schwartz

. . . I guess that?s why we have our small business insurance! In case it all goes tits up!

?That is the reason I am always conservative. I always remember to maintain stability while advancing, and I dare not forget to advance while maintaining stabiity.? ? Li Ka Shing
I heard this one from a small business course I was looking at the other day. It?s important to both shoot for the stars and keep your feet on the ground!

?I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.? ? Martha Stewart

?It was an extremely satisfying experience. Taking smart risks can be very gratifying.? ? Reed Hastings

?It is better to aim at perfection and miss it than to aim at imperfection and hit it.? ? Thomas Watson

?If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just.? ? Anita Roddick

?Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can?t lose.? ? Bill Gates

?Anything is possible if you?ve got enough nerve.? ? J. K. Rowling

?Let us do or die.? ? Warren Buffett

About Paul Harrison

Author of ARoleModel.com, I work as a journalist and critic in the UK. I'm also a body language and self improvement specialist.

Source: http://arolemodel.com/small-business-success-quotes-by-famous-people/

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Spruce Up Your Pay-Per-Click Strategy | Windy City Strategies

With the Internet playing a bigger role in research, pay-per-click advertising proved an increased necessity over the course of 2012. With the success of this strategy and its cost effectiveness, businesses are realizing that online advertising is essential.

Last year businesses saw increased returns from Product Listing Advertising while advertising costs fell. This increased revenue prompted businesses to increase their pay-per-click budgets. Since PPC proves to pay off, more businesses are encouraged to participate in online advertising. As more businesses utilize PLA and PPC, prominence on the Internet is harder to achieve. So businesses must keep their online campaigns fresh to stand out from their competitors.

With this is mind, businesses should prepare to update their online presence. To start 2013 off right, Windy City Strategies offers this advice to keep your business relevant on the web.

1. New Ad Formats

At the beginning of 2013, Yahoo! launched a new ad format called cost-per-lead. This format allows advertisers to start leads directly from the search page. This makes signing up easier and saves customers? time. Increased efficiency starting on the search page makes your business?s website more appealing.

2.?Attention to Psychographics

With the increased use of Google+, Google is collecting more data about the popularity of certain sites. This information will be used for Google?s Remarketing 3.0. Incorporating this information will help Google better direct ads to consumers, so that ads are better matched to their viewers.

3. PPC To Grow in 2013

As online advertising becomes more popular, more businesses are getting on board. Consumers are flooded with business advertisements, so your business needs a creative ad to attract their customers. Incorporating new elements, like catchy content and efficient formats will help set your business apart.

Tags: advertising-on-google, Google, Google AdWords, google-advertising, google-adwords-advertising, google-adwords-marketing, internet-consultant, internet-consulting, internet-marketing, internet-marketing-consulting, Pay Per Click Management, pay-per-click-campaign-management, pay-per-click-marketing, search-engine-marketing-agency, Search-Engine-Optimization, social-media-marketing, website-design, website-marketing, Yahoo

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2013 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Google, Google AdWords, Google Plus, Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click Management, Search-Engine-Optimization, Social Media, Yahoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://www.windycitystrategies.com/blog/spruce-up-your-pay-per-click-strategy-003073

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Edmond Veterinarian Tackles Pet Obesity for the New Year

EDMOND, Okla., Jan. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An Edmond veterinarian is spreading the word about the dangers of excess weight in pets and the need to control the issue through wellness care. According to Dr. Jennifer Bianchi of White Oaks Veterinary Clinic, dogs, cats, horses and other pets need a sensible combination of diet and daily activity to stave off obesity and the chronic health conditions associated with it. "Obesity is a major contributor to joint problems, chronic pain, cardiovascular disease and other serious ailments," says Dr. Bianchi. "Our animal hospital would like to see pet owners take steps to keep their animals healthy."

The concerns raised by the animal hospital are verified by the observations of researchers. One report by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention indicates that more than half of all domestic dogs and cats are carrying more weight than they should, with 25 percent of the dogs and 22 percent of the cats qualifying as obese. "The situation definitely grows worse every year," says Dr. Bianchi, "and health complications are pretty much inevitable if the obesity goes unchecked." She adds that these complications can include many health problems that are just as familiar in humans, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, liver or kidney failure, joint deterioration and breathing problems.

Dogs and cats are not the only domesticated animals that fall prey to obesity; horses can also suffer serious health problems from excess weight gain. While wild horses remain constantly active and must search for food, tame horses have ready access to food and may remain largely sedentary. Obese horses may suffer from heat stress if an extra layer of fat inhibits their ability to shed body heat, explains Dr. Bianchi. "Obesity in horses can also cause laminitis as well as abdominal tumors called lipomas," adds the Edmond veterinarian.

Due to the rise of obesity in pets, the animal hospital urges pet owners to schedule regular wellness evaluations for their animals. These checkups typically include a weight evaluation and guidance for the right type of diet and exercise plan beneficial for each specific pet type. The checkups are also designed to help the veterinarian detect, diagnose and treat any complications that may have already developed.

Veterinary intervention and treatment may include prescribed dietary changes, daily exercise, pain management for conditions that limit an animal's ability to run and play, and medications to help get blood sugar or blood pressure levels under control. Owners must then implement these best practices going forward. "Our goal is not simply to make the pet drop a lot of weight, but to create a healthy new lifestyle that will support proper weight as well as better overall wellness," said Dr. Bianchi.

In addition to obesity treatment and prevention, White Oaks Veterinary Clinic provides general wellness care, stem cell therapy, spaying and neutering, acupuncture, dentistry and other services for pets in Edmond and the surrounding communities.

White Oaks Veterinary Clinic 888-667-5235

Source: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/01/27/518718/10019320/en/Edmond-Veterinarian-Tackles-Pet-Obesity-for-the-New-Year.html

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From the Editor's Desk: Let's just do this already ...

Instead of using this sentence to write a proper lede, quite possibly with (or without) a bit of wit, can we agree to stipulate that there are what I believe to be a few decent thoughts on the other side of this post, past that "Read more" thing that does double duty of breaking up a long-ish post and keeping the front page clean while, yes, requiring you to add one more click to your experience here at Android Central?

Holy crap. That sentence itself should have had a "Read more" break. It's been one of those weekends.

So, yeah. Click on through to the other side for a few thoughts on some of the goings-on of the past week or so.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/wqr4YOYs214/story01.htm

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Dozens reported killed in Venezuela prison riot

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan authorities promised a high-level investigation Saturday into a deadly prison riot that reportedly left dozens of people dead when National Guard soldiers clashed with armed inmates.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the violence tragic while speaking on television early Saturday and said Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega Diaz and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello would lead the investigation. He and other officials didn't give a death toll from the riot Friday at Uribana prison in the central Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto.

"The prisons have to be governed by law," Maduro said.

Humberto Prado, an activist who leads the watchdog group Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, said inmates' relatives and media accounts put the toll at 55 killed and 88 injured.

The Venezuelan newspaper Ultimas Noticias and the television channel Globovision reported more than 50 killed, both citing Ruy Medina, the director of Central Hospital in the city.

Relatives wept outside the prison during the violence, and cried at the morgue Saturday as they waited to identify bodies.

Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said Friday that the riot broke out when groups of inmates attacked National Guard troops who were attempting to carry out an inspection.

Varela said the violence had affected a number of prisoners and officials, but said the authorities would hold off until control had been re-established at the prison to confirm the toll. She said the government decided to send troops to search the prison after receiving reports of clashes between groups of inmates during the past two days.

The death toll provided by Medina rose late Friday after he had initially reported four killed and dozens injured. Ultimas Noticias reported that the victims included a Protestant pastor and a member of the National Guard, as well as inmates.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles condemned the government's handling of the country's overcrowded and violent prisons.

"Our country's prisons are an example of the incapacity of this government and its leaders. They never solved the problem," Capriles said on his Twitter account. "How many more deaths do there have to be in the prisons for the government to acknowledge its failure and make changes?"

The Venezuelan Prisons Observatory said in a statement that in 2007 the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights had ordered the government to seize weapons that inmates had in their possession at Uribana prison and to take measures to avoid deaths in the facility. The group called for the government to release a list with the names of the dead and wounded in Friday's violence, as well as details about weapons seized in the search.

"No one doubts that inspections are necessary procedures to guarantee prison conditions in line with international standards, but they can't be carried out with the warlike attitude as (authorities) have done it," Prado told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It's clear that the inspection wasn't coordinated or put into practice as it should have been. It was evidently a disproportionate use of force."

Prado's group says Uribana prison was built to hold up to 850 inmates but currently has about 1,400.

It was the latest in a series of bloody riots in the country's severely overcrowded prisons where inmates often freely obtain weapons and drugs with the help of corrupt guards. Venezuela currently has 33 prisons built to hold about 12,000 inmates, but officials have said the prisons' population is about 47,000.

In April and May, a prison uprising in La Planta prison in Caracas blocked authorities from going inside for nearly three weeks. One prisoner was killed and five people were wounded, including two National Guard soldiers and three inmates.

Two months later, another riot broke out at a prison in Merida, and the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory reported 30 killed.

In August, 25 people were killed and 43 wounded when two groups of inmates fought a gunbattle inside Yare I prison south of Caracas.

Chavez's government has previous pledged improvements to the prison system, but opponents and activists say the government hasn't made progress.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dozens-reported-killed-venezuela-prison-riot-171656137.html

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Trove of ancient skulls found in Mexico

Archaeologists have unearthed a trove of skulls in Mexico that may have once belonged to human sacrifice victims. The skulls, which date between A.D. 600 and 850, may also shatter existing notions about the ancient culture of the area.

The find, described in the January issue of the journal Latin American Antiquity, was located in an otherwise empty field that once held a vast lake, but was miles from the nearest major city of the day, said study co-author Christopher Morehart, an archaeologist at Georgia State University.

"It's absolutely remarkable to think about this little nothing on the landscape having potentially evidence of the largest mass human sacrifice in ancient Meso-America," Morehart said.

Middle of nowhere

Morehart and his colleagues were using satellite imagery to map ancient canals, irrigation channels and lakes that used to surround the kingdom of Teotihuacan (home to the Pyramid of the Sun), about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Mexico City. The vast ancient kingdom flourished from around A.D 200 to 650, though who built it remains a mystery. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]

In a now drained lake called Lake Xaltocan, around which was essentially rural farmland at the time, Morehart stumbled upon a site with evidence of looting.

When the team investigated, they discovered lines of human skulls with just one or two vertebra attached. To date, more than 150 skulls have been discovered there. The site also contained a shrine with incense burners, water-deity figurines and agricultural pottery, such as corncob depictions, suggesting a ritual purpose tied to local farming. [See images from the grisly excavation ]

Carbon dating suggested that the skulls were at least 1,100 years old, and the few dozen analyzed so far are mostly from men, Morehart told LiveScience. The researchers did not release photos of the skulls because the sacrifice victims may have historic ties to modern-day indigenous cultures.

The findings shake up existing notions of the culture of the day, because the site is not associated with Teotihuacan or other regional powers, said Destiny Crider, an archaeologist at Luther College in Iowa, who was not involved in the study.

Human sacrifice was practiced throughout the region, both at Teotihuacan and in the later Aztec Empire, but most of those rituals happened at great pyramids within cities and were tied to state powers.

By contrast, "this one is a big event in a little place," Crider said.

The shrines and the fact that sacrifice victims were mostly male suggest they were carefully chosen, not simply the result of indiscriminate slaughter of a whole village, Crider told LiveScience.

Many researchers believe that massive drought caused the fall of Teotihuacan and ushered in a period of warfare and political infighting as smaller regional powers sprang up, Morehart said.

Those tumultuous times could have spurred innovative ? and bloody ? practices, Crider said.

"Maybe they needed to intensify their activities because everything was changing," she said. "When things are uncertain you try new strategies."

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.?

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mass-human-sacrifice-pile-ancient-skulls-found-152724186.html

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Sex abuse claims made against Los Angeles teacher

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? For decades, Robert Pimentel was a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. During that time he raised a family, coached soccer and avoided problems with the law.

But police said during the last school year, Pimentel fondled some of his female students at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School and even a co-worker that led to his arrest this week.

On Thursday, the 57-year-old appeared in court and entered a not guilty plea to 15 felony counts. His attorney maintained his client is innocent.

"If you look at the record, before this, Pimentel has had a pretty exemplary life," said his lawyer Richard Knickerbocker. "He has no arrest record, for anything."

It took nearly a year to bring charges against Pimentel and the investigation began just weeks after the arrest of another Los Angeles elementary school teacher, Mark Berndt, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct involving students.

Following that scandal, the district mandated that parents be notified within 72 hours of a report of a suspected abuser, and that each case be reviewed by several human resources staffers to ensure it is reported to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

District officials vowed to investigate molestation claims and move quickly to remove suspected teachers from classrooms while investigations are ongoing which apparently occurred in Pimentel's case.

Police were contacted in March by the parents of five students who said Pimentel had touched their children inappropriately. District officials immediately removed him from campus and notifications were sent out.

More than 70 interviews were conducted during the police investigation, and 20 female students were found to have been victimized, Los Angeles police Capt. Fabian Lizarraga said. Another victim was a female teacher who complained that Pimentel had inappropriately touched her, police said.

The alleged abuse occurred in Pimentel's fourth-grade classroom during school hours and in some cases was witnessed by other students, Lizarraga said. The sexual abuse involved fondling over and underneath clothing, he said.

The Pimentel case may have been the first in the district that fell under the new policy, district Superintendent John Deasy said.

"It was very close to the first, if not the first," he said. "I don't know if it was a direct result (of the Miramonte case). There was a potentially serious problem there and we acted and did what we did."

Lizarraga added that although there was a spike in parent complaints after the Miramonte case, there wasn't any tie to the Pimentel case.

"These were some really alert parents knowing their kids and noticing subtle changes in their personalities," Lizarraga said.

The accusations against Pimentel span eight months, dating back to September 2011.

In a separate case, a jury in December ordered the district to pay a boy molested by an elementary school teacher $6.9 million ? among the largest awards in the history of the school system. The jury found the district liable for the repeated molestation of the 10-year-old student in 2008 and 2009 by teacher Forrest Stobbe at Queen Anne Elementary School in the city's mid-Wilshire district.

A previous report of sexual misconduct against Pimentel occurred four years ago at the school, and another complaint was made eight years ago at another elementary school where both a female principal and Pimentel had worked, Deasy said.

"My determination was that she was previously mishandling other complaints," Deasy said. "My intent was to fire them."

The district never got the chance because both Pimentel and the principal retired after the allegations surfaced last March.

"You can't fire someone who doesn't work for you," Deasy said.

Police said they will review the principal's failure to report those previous allegations.

Investigators attempted to interview Pimentel last year but he declined.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-25-Los%20Angeles%20School%20Molestation/id-514db4bd1c5e46288e2503108d8912e2

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