BlueLinx Successfully Completes $40 Million Rights Offering NYSE ...

ATLANTA, March 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BXC), a leading distributor of building products in North America, today announced the successful completion of its previously announced $40 million rights offering. The Company announced previously that it would use the net proceeds of the rights offering of approximately $38.7 million to reduce the outstanding balance of its U.S. revolving credit facility. Following the issuance of the newly subscribed shares, which is expected to occur on or about April 1, 2013, BlueLinx will have approximately 86,612,039 total shares outstanding. After giving effect to the offering, Cerberus ABP Investor LLC beneficially owns approximately 54.4% of BlueLinx' common stock.

Commenting on the announcement, BlueLinx President and CEO George Judd stated, "We are very pleased by the tremendous response to this rights offering by our existing stockholders. This is strong confirmation of their continued confidence in and support of our growth strategy. The new residential construction market and, to a lesser extent, the home improvement and remodeling market, are showing signs of significant improvement. I believe this highly successful offering underlines investor confidence in BlueLinx' ability to benefit from these improving conditions."

The Company conducted the rights offering because, as the housing market and general economic conditions continue to improve, the additional capital raised in the rights offering will allow the Company to participate more fully in these improving conditions. The Company's sales depend heavily on the strength of national and local new residential construction and home improvement and remodeling markets, which are showing signs of significant improvement. Moreover, the government's legislative and administrative measures aimed at restoring liquidity to the credit markets and providing relief to homeowners facing foreclosure are beginning to show positive results. The overall housing market and economy are also improving, which is expected to lead to a considerable increase in residential construction and, to a lesser extent, in home improvement activity. If the Company and its industry continue to recover from the historic housing market downturn, the Company expects its sales to improve and therefore its need for inventory and its accounts receivable to increase. This increase in working capital is expected to use some of the Company's current excess availability under its revolving credit facilities. While the Company believes that the amounts that are available from its revolving credit facilities and other sources are sufficient to fund its routine operations and capital requirements for at least the next 12 months, it conducted the rights offering to provide it with a stronger liquidity position and allow it to more fully participate in the improving housing market.

Extension to Credit Agreement Becomes Effective

Concurrent with the completion of the rights offering, the Company's previously announced amendment and extension to its $400 million U.S. revolving credit facility became effective. As a result of the amendment and extension, the Company's existing $400 million credit facility was increased by $22.5 million to $422.5 million and the maturity date was extended to April 15, 2016. Further details concerning the amendment are contained in the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wells Fargo Capital Finance acted as sole lead arranger for the transaction. The bank group also includes Regions Bank, Bank of America, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., and TD Bank, N.A. ? ?

About BlueLinx Holdings Inc.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, BlueLinx Holdings Inc., operating through its wholly owned subsidiary BlueLinx Corporation, is a leading distributor of building products in North America. Employing approximately 1,900 people, BlueLinx offers greater than 10,000 products from over 750 suppliers to service approximately 11,500 customers nationwide, including dealers, industrial manufacturers, manufactured housing producers and home improvement retailers. The Company operates its distribution business from sales centers in Atlanta and Denver, and its network of approximately 55 distribution centers.?BlueLinx is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BXC.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to our outlook on the housing industry and the expected impact on the Company's sales.?All of these forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by our management that, although believed by BlueLinx to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of BlueLinx' control that may cause its business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties may include, among other things: changes in the supply and/or demand for products that it distributes, especially as a result of conditions in the residential housing market; general economic and business conditions in the United States; the activities of competitors; changes in significant operating expenses; changes in the availability of capital, including the availability of residential mortgages; the ability to identify acquisition opportunities and effectively and cost-efficiently integrate acquisitions; adverse weather patterns or conditions; acts of war or terrorist activities; variations in the performance of the financial markets; and other factors described under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 20, 2013 and in its other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BlueLinx undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events, changes in expectation or otherwise, except as required by law.

Doug Goforth, CFO & Treasurer BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (770) 953-7505  Investor Relations: Maryon Davis, Director Finance & IR (770) 221-2666

Source: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/03/29/534844/10026802/en/BlueLinx-Successfully-Completes-40-Million-Rights-Offering.html

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At least 12 killed in Mexican bus crash

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At least 12 people died when a bus and a car collided in a mountainous part of the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz on Saturday evening, local emergency services said.

The accident near the town of Naolinco sent the bus tumbling down a slope some 200-300 meters (650-1000 feet), and left at least 15 passengers injured, a local official said.

Emergency services believe there were 27 people travelling on board the bus, the official added.

The crash occurred at a bend in the road in foggy conditions, and preliminary evidence suggested the driver of the car that hit the bus fled the scene, he said.

Lethal traffic accidents are common on Mexican roads, claiming hundreds of lives a year. Last April at least 43 people were killed when a cargo truck hit a bus in Veracruz state.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; editing by Andrew Roche)

(This story corrects the location of the state in paragraph one)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/least-12-killed-mexican-bus-crash-061357485.html

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Singer India.Arie laughs off skin-lightening talk

NEW YORK (AP) ? India.Arie is laughing off talk that she may have lightened her skin.

The R&B songstress is known for singing about being authentic and celebrating one's true self. But some accused India.Arie of lightening her skin when a publicity photo for her song "Cocoa Butter" released this week made it look as though she were several shades lighter than her dark brown complexion.

But India.Arie took to Twitter on Friday to deny the accusations, saying she has no desire to bleach her skin because she loves herself and her brown skin "more than ever." She also said that "magnificent lighting" is the cause for her "glow."

She added that she'd like to keep the conversation going, though, on the issue of racism and colorism in the black community.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/singer-india-arie-laughs-off-skin-lightening-talk-231340708.html

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'G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero': The Five Most Insane Episodes

by Brett White Before you see "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" in theaters this weekend, there's a little something you should know about the beloved 1980s G.I. Joe cartoon. Sure, it's about an elite force of American soldiers taking on the evil terrorism of Cobra. But for the most part, the show was next level crazy. The [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/03/29/gi-joe-insane-episodes/

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'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Introduces A Whole New Joe

Sequel to 2009's 'Rise Of Cobra' does a tonal turnaround, giving fans a more faithful adaptation of the real American heroes.
By Brett White

Dwayne Johnson in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation"
Photo: Paramount

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704530/gi-joe-retaliation-guide.jhtml

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Pentagon revises unpaid leave plan for civilian workers

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Thursday that most of the Pentagon's 800,000 civilian employees would be placed on unpaid leave for only 14 days this year instead of 22 after Congress approved a measure easing pressure on the department's budget.

"We are going to be able to reduce and delay ... but not eliminate furloughs," Hagel told a Pentagon news conference. "Right now it looks as though we'll be able to go from an original estimate of 22 days to 14."

Under the current plan, workers would be notified of their unpaid leave in early May. Following an appeals and notice period, workers would be put on unpaid leave in mid- to late-June for one day per week until the end of September, defense officials said.

The notice period initially was scheduled to start last week but was delayed to give the Pentagon time to analyze the spending measure passed by Congress, which funded the government through the end of the fiscal year.

Hagel said the measure gave the Pentagon some relief by allocating the department's funding to accounts where it was most needed. But the measure left in place more than $40 billion in budget cuts that the Pentagon must implement by September 30.

The cuts, included in a 2011 law aimed at reducing the government's trillion dollar deficits and controlling a growing national debt, went into effect earlier this month after Congress and the White House failed to reach a compromise on alternative spending reductions.

Hagel said even with the new allocations, the department would face a $22 billion shortfall in its operations and maintenance account, which is used to pay most civilian workers, train troopers and fund base maintenance as well as cover the cost of the war in Afghanistan.

"We're going to have to deal with that reality, and that means we're going to have to prioritize and make some cuts and do what we've got to do," Hagel said, adding that base maintenance and training for troops not deploying to Afghanistan would be cut sharply.

General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that the Pentagon would be halfway through its fiscal year on Monday but would have spent 80 percent of its operating funds by then. He said spending less on training would inevitably have an impact on the readiness of troops to fight.

"We don't yet have a satisfactory solution to that shortfall, and we're doing everything we can to stretch our readiness," Dempsey said. "We'll have to trade at some level and to some degree our future readiness for current operations."

He urged Congress to give the Pentagon greater flexibility to undertake "unpopular but unavoidable institutional reforms" that will be needed if the budget cuts continue, as currently scheduled, at pace of $50 billion per year for nine more years.

Lawmakers have been resistant to closing bases in their home districts, cutting programs that may result in job losses, increasing fees on military healthcare and holding the line on wage increases.

Defense analysts have identified many of those factors as reasons the Pentagon's internal costs have been rising at an unsustainable pace over the past decade. They say the Pentagon's current budget crisis makes it imperative to address those costs, a point Dempsey underscored.

"We can't afford excess equipment. We can't afford excess facilities. We have to reform how we buy weapons and services. We have to reduce redundancy. And we've got to change at some level our compensation structure," he said.

Under the 2011 Budget Control Act, the Pentagon faces another $50 billion a year in cuts annually for the next nine years. Those cuts are in addition to $487 billion in reductions the department began implementing last year as part of the law.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Vicki Allen and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-revises-unpaid-leave-plan-civilian-workers-223144520--business.html

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CA-BUSINESS Summary

Golds, banks pull TSX lower on weak data, Cyprus; RIM gains

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, led by declines in gold shares that followed the bullion price lower and in financial stocks, as weak U.S. economic data and worries about spillover effects of the Cyprus crisis deepened investor gloom. A rise in BlackBerry after the smartphone maker reported a surprise quarterly profit offset some of the losses.

Lazaridis to keep BlackBerry stake, focus on new venture

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis said on Thursday he has no plans to sell his stake in the smartphone maker even as he steps down from the board to focus on a new quantum computing investment fund. BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion, announced the former co-CEO's departure from the board on Thursday as it reported its first quarterly earnings since launching its make-or-break new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

Hockey helps Canada's economy grow again in January

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's economy bounced back from a year-end slump in January thanks to factories, mines and the return of professional ice hockey, but growth still looks too weak to match the central bank's upbeat outlook and interest rates are unlikely to budge until 2014. Gross domestic product expanded by 0.2 percent in the month, Statistics Canada said on Thursday, following the weakest two quarters since the 2008-09 recession and a 0.2 percent contraction in December.

BofA markets chief was bank's highest paid executive in '12

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp's co-chief operating officer, Tom Montag, was once again the bank's highest paid executive in 2012, making $14.5 million in a year in which the bank showed signs of healing. Montag's compensation, which included a $5.46 million bonus and $8.19 million in stock, increased 21 percent to eclipse the $12 million awarded to Chief Executive Brian Moynihan, according to a filing the bank made on Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Exclusive: Cerberus seeks to bankroll investor landlords

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management wants to provide financing to small investment firms that are buying foreclosed homes as part of a long-term bullish bet on the housing recovery, according to four sources familiar with the situation. Cerberus is targeting investment firms that are looking to buy a small number of homes in niche housing markets in the U.S. and rent them out, the sources said. These investors cannot tap the much larger financing deals being put together by banks such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse , and Goldman Sachs Group for institutional buyers of foreclosed homes.

Cyprus bank controls to last a month, minister says

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus conceded on Thursday that tight capital controls would remain in force longer than expected as the island's banks reopened for the first time after the government was forced to accept a tough EU rescue package to avoid bankruptcy. Cypriots lined up calmly to withdraw limited amounts of cash, but there was no sign of a run on deposits, as had been feared.

EBay targets $110 billion of marketplace volume in 2015

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc aims to handle $110 billion of sales volume on its marketplace in 2015 by expanding globally, getting more local inventory online and using mobile technology to engage more with shoppers, executives said on Thursday. The new forecast, made by Devin Wenig, president of eBay's Marketplaces business in North America, compares with Gross Merchandise Volume, or GMV, of $75 billion in 2012.

Boeing CEO confident that 787 battery fix will work

(Reuters) - Boeing Co has high confidence the proposed fix for the lithium-ion batteries on its grounded 787 passenger jet will work, Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said on Thursday. The grounding has been a "frustrating experience," McNerney told a U.S. Chamber of Commerce aviation summit. (For event video, click: http://link.reuters.com/juf96t )

Total to book $1.65 billion first-quarter loss on Canada project exit

PARIS (Reuters) - Total will book a $1.65 billion first-quarter loss on its withdrawal from a long-delayed oil sands project in Canada, it said on Thursday, a day after partner Suncor pulled the plug on the plant citing lower potential returns. French oil major Total said it has sold its 49 percent stake in the Voyageur Upgrader project in northern Alberta to Canada's largest oil company Suncor Energy , which holds the remaining 51 percent, for $500 million.

Bank of Canada searches far and wide for Carney's successor

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The search for a new Bank of Canada chief to replace Mark Carney has pitted internal front-runner Tiff Macklem against a range of external candidates as officials look outside the bank for people who may have more hands-on business experience. Most central bank watchers believe Macklem, currently second-in-command at the bank, has outstanding credentials and deserves to take over when his boss leaves.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-004845905--finance.html

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Final Fantasy V arrives on iOS, is unlikely to be the last

A touch iteration of the once SNES-bound Final Fantasy V has now appeared on the iTunes App Store, with a softer graphical lick, some new job classes (Gladiator, Cannoneer, Oracle and Necromancer) and an obligatory extra boss to test your leveling-up skills against. The price of four new costumes for your meteor-riding protagonists? Just shy of $16. Saving the world was never going to be cheap easy.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile

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Via: Destructoid

Source: Final Fantasy V (iTunes)

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Oil extraction wastewater caused Oklahoma's biggest quake

USGS

This map shows the shaking intensity from the magnitude 5.6 earthquake that hit Oklahoma on Nov. 6, 2011.

By Tia Ghose
LiveScience

The largest-ever recorded quake in Oklahoma was caused by the injection of wastewater, a byproduct of oil extraction, into the ground, new research confirms.

On Nov. 6, 2011, a series of earthquakes, including a 5.6-magnitude temblor, struck the rural town of Prague, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) east of Oklahoma City, crumbling homes in the area and damaging a federal highway. The quake could be felt as far away as Milwaukee.

"We don't normally feel earthquakes, it was shocking," said study co-author Katie Keranen, a seismologist at Oklahoma University.

Now, a new study published Tuesday in the journal Geology confirms that wastewater injected into the ground after oil extraction caused the quake. The quake is the largest wastewater-induced earthquake ever recorded. The wastewater was from traditional drilling, not the controversial hydraulic fracturing method.

Ever since wastewater injection was linked to a series of small quakes around Denver, Colo., in the 1960s, scientists have known that oil extraction could trigger temblors. When oil is extracted from the ground, lots of water, dubbed "wastewater," comes up as well. So oil companies sometimes pump the water back into the well, where it fills porous spaces within the rocks, Keranen said.

"It's almost a lubrication, it can push the fault apart," Keranen told LiveScience. "When you do that you lower the stress that's holding a fault together and you can cause it to slip."

But in the past, scientist thought the resulting quakes would be fairly benign: most of these triggered temblors are typically in the 3s and 4s on the magnitude scale, Keranen said.

In theory, however, these man-made earthquakes could get even bigger ? an especially worrisome possibility if they occur near population centers. [Image Gallery: Deadly Earthquakes]

"We don't know what the maximum size of earthquakes?could be that we could trigger from disposal," Keranen said.

Whether or not an area is prone to such tremblers depends on the permeability of the local rock: If water can't seep through the rock easily, meaning it's not very permeable, pressure builds up and makes an earthquake more likely. Earthquake risk also depends on the presence and angle of faults in relation to the water-injection site.

Though the process that caused the Oklahoma earthquake didn't involve hydraulic fracturing, fracking often involves injecting spent water into the ground, which carries the same risks. In fracking, water, sand and other substances are injected into a well under high pressure in order to fracture the rock, creating fissures that help natural gas flow out.

There hasn't been much oil extraction on the East Coast, but as fracking takes off in areas like Pennsylvania, the risk of big quakes in the region needs to be considered, Keranen said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter @tiaghose.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

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

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a10b8bd/l/0Lscience0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174891330Eoil0Eextraction0Ewastewater0Ecaused0Eoklahomas0Ebiggest0Equake0Dlite/story01.htm

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Quantum computing? Physicists' new technique for cooling molecules may be a stepping stone to quantum computing

Mar. 27, 2013 ? The next generation of computers promises far greater power and faster processing speeds than today's silicon-based based machines. These "quantum computers" -- so called because they would harness the unique quantum mechanical properties of atomic particles -- could draw their computing power from a collection of super-cooled molecules.

But chilling molecules to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, the temperature at which they can be manipulated to store and transmit data, has proven to be a difficult challenge for scientists.

Now, UCLA physicists have pioneered a new technique that combines two traditional atomic cooling technologies and brings normally springy molecules to a frozen standstill. Their research is published March 28 in the journal Nature.

"Scientists have been trying to cool molecules for a decade and have succeeded with only a few special molecules," said Eric Hudson, a UCLA assistant professor of physics and the paper's senior author. "Our technique is a completely different approach to the problem -- it is a lot easier to implement than the other techniques and should work with hundreds of different molecules."

Previous attempts to create ultracold molecules were only effective with one or two specific kinds. Creating a method that can be used with many different molecules would be a major step forward because it is difficult to say which materials might be used in quantum computers or other future applications, Hudson said.

By immersing charged barium chloride molecules in an ultracold cloud of calcium atoms, Hudson and his colleagues are able to prevent most of the molecules from vibrating and rotating. Halting the molecules is a necessary hurdle to overcome before they can be used to store information like a traditional computer does.

"The goal is to build a computer that doesn't work with zeros and ones, but with quantum mechanical objects," Hudson said. "A quantum computer could crack any code created by a classical computer and transmit information perfectly securely."

Hudson's experiment makes molecules extremely cold under highly controlled conditions to reveal the quantum mechanical properties that are hidden under normal circumstances. At room temperature, molecules rocket around, bouncing into each other and exchanging energy. Any information a scientist attempted to store in such a chaotic system would quickly become gibberish.

"We isolate these molecular systems in a vacuum, effectively levitating them in the middle of nothing," Hudson said. "This removes them from the rest of the world that wants to make them classical."

The quantum mechanical world of subatomic particles deviates from the classical world that we observe with the naked eye because according to quantum mechanics, electrons can only exist at specific energy levels. In a quantum computer made of a collection of single atoms, information might be stored by boosting some atomic electrons to higher energy levels while leaving others at lower energy states. However, these atomic energy states are not stable enough to reliably preserve data, Hudson said.

"One of the challenges with atoms is that their energy states are very easily influenced by the outside world," Hudson said. "You make this beautiful quantum state, but then the outside world tries to destroy that information."

Instead of saving data in easily disrupted atomic energy states, a more robust way to store information is in the rotational energy states of molecules, Hudson said. A spinning molecule in the lowest energy rotational state could represent a binary one, while a stationary molecule could represent a binary zero.

Despite applications for quantum computing and other industries, cooling molecules to extremely low temperatures has proved a challenge. Even the simplest molecule composed of only two atoms is a far more complex system than a single atom. Each molecule vibrates and rotates like a miniature whirling slinky, and all of that movement must be stilled so that the molecule can lose energy and cool down.

A new cooling technique

To solve the ultracold molecule conundrum, Hudson and his group first created a floating cloud of calcium atoms corralled by incoming laser beams from all directions. This magneto-optical trap keeps the atoms stationary as it cools them to nearly absolute zero. They then use specialized rods with high, oscillating voltages as part of an ion trap to confine a cloud of positively-charged barium chloride molecules within the ultracold ball of calcium atoms to complete the cooling process.

For the vibrating, energetic molecules to lose heat, they must spend a significant amount of time in contact with the surrounding ultracold atom cloud. Hudson and his colleagues used barium chloride ions, molecules missing one electron, because charged molecules are easier to trap and cool than their neutral counterparts. The use of molecular ions is an essential innovation because previous efforts have demonstrated that neutral molecules ricochet off ultracold atoms without sufficient heat transfer.

"When a molecular ion and a neutral atom get close together they get in tight and bang off each other a bunch before the ion goes away," Hudson said. "When they collide like that it is very easy for the energy in one to go to the other."

While magneto-optical and ion traps are not new to the world of molecular physics, Hudson and his colleagues became the first group to combine these methods to create a cloud of ultracold molecules. This paper is the result of over four years of work spent designing, building, and testing their experiment.

"These two different technologies earned Nobel prizes for the scientists who developed them, but there wasn't really a body of knowledge about how to put these two procedures together," Hudson said.

The research is funded by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.

Other co-authors include former UCLA postdoctoral scholar Wade Rellergert; UCLA graduate students Scott Sullivan, Steven Schowalter and Kuang Chen; and Temple University physics professor Svetlana Kotochigova.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Kim DeRose.

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. Wade G. Rellergert, Scott T. Sullivan, Steven J. Schowalter, Svetlana Kotochigova, Kuang Chen, Eric R. Hudson. Evidence for sympathetic vibrational cooling of translationally cold molecules. Nature, 2013; 495 (7442): 490 DOI: 10.1038/nature11937

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/computers_math/information_technology/~3/SYUzrzW3LIc/130327144129.htm

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Icycle 2 takes nude bicycling and fish-kissing to a whole new level

The folks at Chillingo were showing off Icycle 2 at GDC 2013, and it broke my brain just a little. The game mechanics themselves are very simple; the controls are ultimately the most basic ones you could have for a platformer game. The real trip is in the art style and storyline.

Players control the chilly and lovelorn Dennis, who, for whatever reason, is chasing the woman of his dreams naked on a bicycle. Eventually, her head turns into that of a fish, but I'm not quite sure why. My demo of the game ended with Dennis mere millimeters away from smooching this aquatic goddess. Players are ranked out of three stars for each of the positively surreal levels based on how many little icicle pellets they pick up along their twisted route. Over time, players can unlock new and ridicuclous outfits to make sure Dennis doesn't have to do all of his chasing in the nude.

Those of you that have played Wonderputt will be familiar with the level of graphical polish and left-field thinking that the developer, Damp Gnat, is capable of. I'll go so far as to say that Icycle 2 is the most interesting and refreshing mobile game that I've seen between GDC and PAX East. The Chillingo folks are being coy about a release date, opting for a "it'll be ready when it's ready" approach, but expect it to cost about a buck in the App Store.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/QYMlUXXoSQk/story01.htm

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The Market Job Demand For Anti-Terrorism Training And Education

The advent of the information age has facilitated an explosion in distance education in a multitude of subject areas and disciplines. Corporations and government agencies alike recognize the value online education and training provides to the individual and takes the credentials they earn into consideration for hiring and promotion purposes. The field of strategic security is no exception.

Since the September 11 terror attacks, our nation has focused on combating terrorism. To raise awareness and increase the nation's readiness in the shortest amount of time possible to widest audience available, the United States government has relied on the use of web-based training to conduct anti-terrorism training. To accomplish this, the government had to rely on the industry by entering into service contracts with anti-terrorism training providers to develop a curriculum that meets the unique needs of a particular agency or service. For the most, they accomplished their goal. Today, throughout the Department of Defense (DOD), each military member and civilian employee must complete annual anti-terrorism training to maintain awareness and the ability to recognize potential threats to personnel and facilities. DOD is not the only entity that heavily focuses on anti-terrorism training. Other government agencies such the U.S. State Department, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Energy have all had anti-terrorism training curricula developed by industry providers.

Not only is the government a customer of anti-terrorism training, but the corporate world is as well. In fact, before U.S. armed forces were committed to the global war on terror, it was multinational corporations that were often the targets of terrorist groups and extremist organizations. Terrorism can inflict significant cost on international business and commerce, and attacks on facilities and company employees in tumultuous regions can create quantifiable and unquantifiable losses. Over time, this has forced some international executives to yield some of their decision-making to hired security personnel. Other multinational executives have employed outside security consultants that provide detailed economic and political analysis of high-risk areas of interest to the international firm.

Thus, there is a market need for individuals with anti-terrorism training that can support these multinational corporations in their business endeavors. There is a need for individuals with these skill sets than can assist in and minimize the significant costs of terrorism on the business and evaluate methods for minimizing the negative economic impacts.

The corporate and government embrace of online education has created opportunities for individuals seeking entry in a strategic security field by completing an anti-terrorism education program offered by one of several online universities that specialize in strategic security. The completion of an anti-terrorism education curriculum will open up opportunities for persons seeking employment in a national security agency or multinational corporation in need of security consultants.

Whichever path one chooses, an anti-terrorism training program, anti-terrorism education, or both, they will likely find multiple employment opportunities. With this skill set, advancements will be easy to make in the strategic security fields opening up now.

Dan Sommer works for Henley-Putnam University, a leading educational institution in the field of Strategic Security. For more info on Henley-Putnam University, anti-terrorism training, anti-terrorism education, visit www.Henley-Putnam.edu

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/the-market-job-demand-for-anti-terrorism-training-and-education-322653

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Selling SEO to the C-Suite - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)

?Search sits at the core of online behavior. People spend more time on the Internet than watching TV. What customers put in the search bar is the expression of intent?, said Seth Besmertnik, CEO of Conductor, and presenter at the SEO in the Boardroom: Tangible Search Metrics session at SES New York. The session emphasized the importance of executive buy-in when it comes to investing in organic search, and a wealth of tips on how to go about winning it.

A Compelling Case for Investment in Organic Search

?SEO is about optimizing content so people can find it. Many people play a role in various stages of creating content, yet SEO often has no functional ownership of this process. It is imperative to get the C-suite engaged?, said Besmertnik. Before traveling down the path of strategy and implementation, you must first sell the C-Suite on making the investment in SEO.

Organic search is the indisputable leader in driving traffic that will convert to a website. Yet, it remains among of the lowest funding priorities when it comes to the website or marketing budget. Search marketing often attracts more of the budget, despite the fact that organic search delivers a higher rate of lead to close conversion than paid search, referral, social media, or outbound marketing.

Despite the facts, ?organic search remains the most under-funded activity in web marketing?, said Besmertnik. He referenced data provided by Forrester and comScore indicating that allocation of search engine budgets is upside down.

While a mere 8 percent of search engine clicks come from paid search, 89 percent of the search budget is invested in search engine marketing. Conversely, while 92 percent of search engine clicks are organic in origin, a mere 11 percent of the search engine budget is invested in organic search.

Besmertnik shared that when his organization inquired, organizations would reveal how little they invest in organic search. He used an example of a $100,000 per month budget where 10 percent spend on organic would be considered high, a mere 1 percent of the budget allocated to organic SEO is more the norm.

This could be discouraging to those championing SEO to the leadership team within their own organization, or that of a client. Fortunately, the facts are in the favor of SEO as a qualified investment. It is just a matter of communicating them to the right people, in a way they will understand and can respond to.

Speak Their Language

Besmertnik explained, ?most technical SEO professionals fail to communicate effectively with CEOs. They dive into details about link profiles, canonical URLs, missing alt tags, etc.? A technical discussion creates a technical barrier. Resist the temptation to dazzle them with terms you may use as a technician of your craft and focus instead on terms management is familiar with and understands.

One of the easiest ways to sell anything to the CEO, CFO, CMO, CTO, CIO or any other C-level executive, is to communicate with data. At the executive level, hype and industry trends mean very little until they directly impact the competitive edge and profitability of an organization.

Use Data to Demonstrate SEO Performance

To appeal to bottom-line focused executives, performance and ROI of any investment will be more heavily scrutinized than anywhere else in the organization. Which works to your advantage, when you are prepared to sell SEO.

A million people die, it?s a statistic, one person dies and its tragic. The same applies to keywords. CEOs actually care about keywords, perhaps even including the CEO?s name. Provide granular data that enables them to identify goals and view performance.

And, never forget there is a lot of ego and emotion invested in succeeding. Besmertnik reminds us that leadership, across the board, does not want to be beat by their competition or out-performed.

SEO is on the Rise

SEO as a skillset is on the rise. The number of SEO jobs increasing over the past year or two. And, Besmertnik shared that Conductor tracks the number of people on LinkedIn with SEO in their title or description - that number has jumped from 250,000 professionals in 2011, to 500,000 professionals in 2012.

In fact, some CEOs and executives from the C-Suite may consider themselves to be the SEO. For executives and other professionals who believe they know more than then they really do, satiate their desire to be engaged with frequent sharing of information, the way they want to see it. Or, educate them on focus of big picture for results, not just granular performance of one specific keyword.

Moderator Simon Heseltine, Director of SEO at AOL, suggested, ?when the CEO or other executives show interest in being more hands-on, offer them two options to participate, based on how to be involved if they wish to be.?

ROI and Revenue

Once you?ve sold the C-Suite on SEO, it will command budgetary investment as long as it delivers. Demonstrating ROI is an imperative when it comes to organic search.

As Besmertnik explains, even if you removed every hint of organic search traffic, you?d still get some level of search traffic. So, measuring performance can be as easy as subtracting the revenue generated by doing ?nothing? from the revenue generated to determine ROI of SEO.

He presented the following equation to illustrate:

SEO Revenue
- Revenue You?d Get From Doing Nothing
= ROI from SEO Investment

The following grid was presented by Besmertnik to gauge ROI of SEO.

The top right if the chart represents the highest ROI. The bottom left represents the lowest ROI.

To be even more accurate, calculate costs of SEO that impact other roles and outcomes (cost of talent, crossover of data utilized for Paid search, programming, design, etc.) which expand the perceived value of investments made in natural search to the organization.

KPIs and Milestones

Search ranking data may not be enough to demonstrate SEO performance. To increase understanding, Besmertnik suggests referencing specific KPIs and milestones, such as how many keywords appear on page one of SERPs, rank, URLs appearing in search, competitive comparison an positioning, as well as notations of events that impact search performance (server upgrades, impact of Panda, Penguin, etc.).

Engage the C-Suite

The session could have stopped there, but there was much more ground to cover. Chuck Price, CEO of Measurable SEO, jumped right into SEO in the Boardroom. He began his presentation by emphasizing that success in SEO no longer merely means being at the top of Page 1. Although SERPs are still a good indicator of success, you cannot judge overall success by these metrics alone.

Synchronize Business and SEO

?Business and SEO must be in sync. No buy-in, no sale,? Price said. ?If you cannot achieve buy-in from C-Suite, you will not attract the budget to execute your awesome marketing plan.?

He began the discussion asking ?Remember when it was easy to demonstrate SEO value?? It used to be Page 1 Ranking = Success. Today, rankings and traffic need to yield measurable improvement in revenues and profits. Price used several key topics to illustrate exactly how SEO can positively impact the bottom line.

SEO is Multi-Faceted

Price credited Eric Schmidt of Google, author of "The New Digital Age", due to be released on April 23, 2013 with the quote ?Authorship is the next big thing?. Price explained that essentially authorship = rankings, lack of authorship = anonymity.

Price emphasizes ranking on the long tail, not just head phrases. He also mentioned the value of other assets, explaining an optimized photo can now get more clicks than a page when properly optimized.

He encourages SEO professionals to tap into visibility metrics to identify top content in order to replicate and expand it, and identify the weakest content to be eliminated or revamped. In the context of referrals, Price recommends identifying ?most linked to? content and marketing it to attract organic referrals.

Price also offered a stream of valuable tips.

How to Promote Consensus Around SEO

• Find a Cheerleader:?Leverage social media, relationships to create an internal champion for your cause.
• Objections are inevitable:?Be prepared to show ROI with Plan A, have a back-up Plan B and C if budget is an issue.
• Neutralize Naysayers:?People don't like change. Seek someone that person trusts to help you win them over.
• Offer Metrics-Based Engagement:?No performance, no payment.
• Show you have their best interest in mind:?Develop a track-record of generous contributions, and be prepared to remind them of your contribution and attention.
• Timing is Everything:?Getting it right means asking lots of questions and offering the right solution at the right time.
• Don?t Abandon Good Ideas:?If your ideas don?t get buy-in the first time, it doesn?t mean they were bad ideas. Be prepared to try later, or adapt to circumstances.
• Make Proposal Simple and Clear:?Present proposals on a single page, perhaps with a link to the details. This increases understanding of the offer.
• Co-Create the Solution with the C-Suite:?Sometimes you need to approach the project as a team, be prepared to collaborate your way to a solution.
• Best Outcomes from Relationships and Team Collaboration:?All parties are more likely to be on board with the plan, and make sure it happens.
• What?s in it For Me:?Articulate how they will benefit from the proposed solution.
• Manage What You Measure:?Invest in what will directly impact how you will measure success (rank, keywords, landing pages, organic traffic, etc.)

Price stated that he believes that achieving the top of Page 1 may require deviation from Webmaster guidelines and the risk of a penalty by Google. I would add that the comfort level with this approach may vary by organization.

3 Tools for Measuring SEO

There were three tools mentioned by Price that SEO pros may find useful:

SEO ROI and Cost of Customer Acquisition Calculator

SEO ROI Calculator

Custom Reports ? SEO Dashboard via Jill Whalen

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Become an Expert Digital Marketer at SES New York
March 25-28, 2013: With dozens of sessions on Search, Social, Local and Mobile, you'll leave SES with everything you need to know. Register for SES today!

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2258019/Selling-SEO-to-the-C-Suite

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The instant camera goes digital with the Polaroid Socialmatic camera

Most people my age and older have heard of Polaroid instant cameras, although they went out of style once digital photography became mainstream. Recently, Socialmatic LLC announced that they have an agreement with Polaroid to market a new-age instant camera, the Polaroid Socialmatic camera.?This camera brings the old style of printing out photos directly from [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/27/the-instant-camera-goes-digital-with-the-polaroid-socialmatic-camera/

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In print, on the iPad, and on the iPhone: The April issue of Astronomy Now is ou...

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Sen. Mark Warner backs gay marriage (Washington Post)

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Clean electricity from bacteria? Researchers make breakthrough in race to create 'bio-batteries'

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Scientists at the University of East Anglia have made an important breakthrough in the quest to generate clean electricity from bacteria.

Findings published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) show that proteins on the surface of bacteria can produce an electric current by simply touching a mineral surface.

The research shows that it is possible for bacteria to lie directly on the surface of a metal or mineral and transfer electrical charge through their cell membranes. This means that it is possible to 'tether' bacteria directly to electrodes -- bringing scientists a step closer to creating efficient microbial fuel cells or 'bio-batteries'.

The team collaborated with researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington State in the US.?

Shewanella oneidensis is part of a family of marine bacteria. The research team created a synthetic version of this bacteria using just the proteins thought to shuttle the electrons from the inside of the microbe to the rock.

They inserted these proteins into the lipid layers of vesicles, which are small capsules of lipid membranes such as the ones that make up a bacterial membrane. Then they tested how well electrons travelled between an electron donor on the inside and an iron-bearing mineral on the outside.

Lead researcher Dr Tom Clarke from UEA's school of Biological Sciences said: "We knew that bacteria can transfer electricity into metals and minerals, and that the interaction depends on special proteins on the surface of the bacteria. But it was not been clear whether these proteins do this directly or indirectly though an unknown mediator in the environment.

"Our research shows that these proteins can directly 'touch' the mineral surface and produce an electric current, meaning that is possible for the bacteria to lie on the surface of a metal or mineral and conduct electricity through their cell membranes.

"This is the first time that we have been able to actually look at how the components of a bacterial cell membrane are able to interact with different substances, and understand how differences in metal and mineral interactions can occur on the surface of a cell.

"These bacteria show great potential as microbial fuel cells, where electricity can be generated from the breakdown of domestic or agricultural waste products.

"Another possibility is to use these bacteria as miniature factories on the surface of an electrode, where chemicals reactions take place inside the cell using electrical power supplied by the electrode through these proteins."

Biochemist Liang Shi of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said: "We developed a unique system so we could mimic electron transfer like it happens in cells. The electron transfer rate we measured was unbelievably fast -- it was fast enough to support bacterial respiration."

The finding is also important for understanding how carbon works its way through the atmosphere, land and oceans.

"When organic matter is involved in reducing iron, it releases carbon dioxide and water. And when iron is used as an energy source, bacteria incorporate carbon dioxide into food. If we understand electron transfer, we can learn how bacteria controls the carbon cycle," said Shi.

The project was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the US Department of Energy.

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Story Source:

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

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Thomas A Clarke, Gaye White, Julea N Butt, David J Richardson, Zhri Shi, Liang Shi, Zheming Wang, Alice C Dohnalkova, Matthew J Marshall, James K Fredrickson and John M Zachara. Rapid electron exchange between surface-exposed bacterial cytochromes and Fe(III) minerals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 25, 2013

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/~3/C9b9oM-guKU/130325183900.htm

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STAAR OPT Out Notice ? Texas CSCOPE Review

Are You a Parent Fed Up With Schools Deciding What is Best for their children.?

Things Parents Need to Know

1. Education is a big business. For example, the company who is contracted to prepare the STAAR tests receives almost $100 million dollars each year. This company has been paid to product Texas state tests since 2000 and has a contract through 2015. During this time the company , Pearson Publishing, will have been paid over $1 billion. YES, $1,000,000,000.00 of our tax money to one company that is based in France. What is wrong with Texas publishing companies or at least an American based company? But better yet, since money is always the issue with education, how about investing that one billion dollars in Texas Education. More qualified teachers.

2. TASA TRANSFORMED SCHOOLS:?If your superintendent has signed a pledge with the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) to transform your school, then your superintendent is on your side and doesn?t want students to take the STAAR. The problem is that your superintendent is pretending that this is not so and that children are being prepared for the STAAR. But, all the while your superintendent with other superintendents is trying to take over TEXAS schools ?sounds bizzare, but its true. TASA has a program and organized plan to transform Texas education and the plan does not match the plan of TEA. What a mess! While this power play is going on and big deals are being made with Pearson?yes Pearson is supporting TEA and Bill Gates with Microsoft wants all schools to use online curriculum ?no printed books?of course they do. ?Please, do not take my word for this. Check it out for yourself. Start with finding out if your school is on the TASA tranformed list.?

3. CSCOPE?is the?controversial online curriculum that is being evaluated by the state board of education and the senate education committee. Yet, school superintendents are still defending this instruction material?WHY?

A better question is why did superintendents purchase CSCOPE without having it evaluated?

Why did superintendents and school board members purchase CSCOPE when they knew that it had not been evaluated by the state board of education like textbooks are?

4. Texas Public Schools have lost their focus on educating our children. It has all become a business for making money. This is because parents and the community are not involved in what is going on at the school. Yes, they attend athletic events, but it has been a shock to parent that CSCOPE has been in some schools for years. As an educator, I am guilty for not knowing that my local schools are using CSCOPE. But, I know it now and am asking all parents to take a good look at what their children are being taught. Demand to see all graded papers as well as TESTS. Don?t just look at the grade. Read the papers. Shake out those book bags. Meet with other parents. In other words, be aware of what is happening in your school.

5. Opting Out of STAAR
Homeschooled students and students in private schools do not have to take the STAAR?So why are kids in public school being punished? Why are kids in public school drilled and drilled and tested through the year just so they can do well on the STAAR? ?Does it really matter?

Do kids in public school really have to take the STAAR ?Find Out Here:

Parent letter for opting their child out of state tests (TAKS/STAAR) is here. We are Texas Parents concerned about the overuse of testing in our Texas Public Schools.

Description

Dear [Insert Principal] [insert date]

I am respectfully presenting a written statement to remove my child during the mandated standardized testing days this year. It is my parental right to choose to ?opt my child out? of curriculum or instruction that is harmful to children as stated in the Texas Education Code CHAPTER 26. PARENTAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES Sec. A26.010.EXEMPTION FROM INSTRUCTION. (a) A parent is entitled to remove the parent ?s child temporarily from a class or other school activity that conflicts with the parent ?s religious or moral beliefs if the parent presents or delivers to the teacher of the parent ?s child a written statement authorizing the removal of the child from the class or other school activity. I believe it is morally wrong to put children through the ordeal of a week of pointless testing. I also believe the practice of high stakes standardized testing is morally wrong. High stakes standardized testing:

?

AFFECTS SOCIO-EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING: Our system of constant testing seems designed to produce anxiety and depression.

?

KILLS CURIOSITY AND LOVE OF LEARNING: Actually limits and reduces the amount of QUALITY learning experiences. Rather than focusing on a child?s natural curiosity, testing emphasizes (and drills in) isolated facts limiting teacher?s ability to create environments that stimulate a child?s imagination.

?

REDUCES A CHILD?S CAPACITY FOR ATTAINING NEW KNOWLEDGE: If children cannot actively make connections between different topics of study, they don?t remember what they learn from day to day. Most standardized tests are still based on the recall of isolated facts and narrow skills. (www.fairtest.org).

?

REPLACES HIGHER ORDER THINKING WITH SKILL, DRILL AND KILL: Most tests include many topics that are not important, while many important areas are not included on standardized tests because they cannot be measured by such tests. Teaching to the test does not produce real and sustained gains on independent learning measures. (www.fairtest.org)

?

NARROWS THE CURRICULUM: The loss of a rich curriculum has been documented in research, in the media, and in teacher testimony. Forget art, music, science and PE (in spite of the decades of research that correlates student overall school achievement to participation in these experiences). State-wide testing generally focuses only on math and reading. And with these critical subjects, teachers are forced to focus only on those test-taking strategies that reflect the way material is presented on the tests.

?

REDUCES SOCIALIZATION AS A CENTRAL CORE OF LEARING: The opportunity to learn to socialize through recess, and collaborative classroom activities reduces children?s opportunities to develop healthy social skills. Being seated alone at a desk all day isolates children from learning how to develop community-based problem solving skills they will need as adults.

?

WASTES VALUABLE EDUCATIONAL TIME SPENT TAKING TESTS: Texas Public Schools will spend one of every five days or nearly 20% of the school year conducting tests. According to the Texas Education Agency, Texas public schools will spend 34 out of the 185 day long year conducting tests mandated by the state government. This does not include the regular testing in schools such as six-weeks tests, quizzes, and final exams. (State Board of Education Member Bill Ratliff, Sept 12, 2011)

?

VIOLATES ALL CHILDRENS? RIGHTS TO A FREE AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATION: High stakes testing leads to under-serving or mis-serving all students, especially the most needy and vulnerable, thereby violating the principle of ?do no harm.? For example, students living in poverty, who already lack critical access to books and free reading, are condemned to test prep instead of having opportunities to read. Monies desperately needed for vital school resources such as clean drinking water, supplies and roofs that don?t leak are being spent on testing materials. Texas spends $44 billion per year on public education, of that $1 billion is spent just on testing days. (Ratliff, 09/12/11) Texas Education Agency spent $88 million on Pearson standardized test products, such as TAKS tests, in fiscal year 2010 for testing grades 3-11 with plans to spend $470 million over the next 5 years. Pearson is part of a London-based media conglomerate, Pearson PLC. Our needed tax dollars for Texas schoolchildren go to London. (Egan (2010) Retrieved from http://austinnovation.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/pearson-taks/)

?

VIOLATES FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938: If a child is given work or assessments to do in the classroom that will eventually determine the income of a teaching professional, that student is providing the catalyst for the pay. In Texas, administrators and teachers are paid ?bonuses? or additional stipends through ?strategic compensation? programs that are dependent upon the school-wide TAKS (standardized tests) growth or other student performance goals. This breaches the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, which states that sixteen is the basic minimum age for employment. It also says that when young people work, the work cannot jeopardize their health, well-being, or educational opportunities.

?

Parental rights are broadly protected by United States Supreme Court decisions (Meyer and Pierce), especially in the area of education. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the ?fundamental right? to ?direct the upbringing and education of their children.? Furthermore, the Court declared that ?the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.? (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere ?with the power of parents to control the education of their own.? (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten ?liberties? protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399). The immorality of high stakes testing in the public schools, as stated earlier, constitute an unreasonable state interference in the operation of public schools.

?

The right to opt out of standardized test ought to be an option for every child?s parent or guardian ? the right to say, without being pressured or penalized by state or local authority, ?Do not subject my child to any test that doesn?t provide useful, same-day or next-day information about performance.?

?

With consideration of the Texas Education Code, Chapter 26, and the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, I would appreciate your cooperation in securing my right as a parent to opt out my child of standardized testing.

?

?

Thank you,

[Insert your name]

?

?

?

?

?

Click on link below to see an example of a successful ?Opt Out? in Texas

http://optoutofstandardizedtests.wikispaces.com/Texas+TX

It is time for Texans to take action.

It?s time for Texans to be involved in a ?Boots on the Ground? Action Plan to take back our schools. An announcement will be forthcoming about how to get involved. Know that you will be asked for your name, email, and school district. I will only share this information with other activists so that you can be contacted by someone in your area. We have to get started and do something before school ends if we want CSCOPE to be removed from our Texas Schools.

For now, until I can get the Boots on the Ground Action Plan organized, if you want to be part of this Group that plans to be upfront and in the faces of those who have purchased CSCOPE?this will be your superintendent and school board members.

?

Please elect board members who want kids to be educated and not drilled for the state test.

?

?I?m very concerned about the harm that is created when you put inappropriate expectations on a nation of young children, you give them all kinds of damaging messages as well as increasingly eliminate their opportunities for healthy and genuine learning,? Carlsson-Paige said (An specialist in childhood development).

?

According to Carlsson-Paige, the drilling now done to prepare Texas Students for the STAARs is detrimental to learning. Parents are going to have to put a stop to this. In some school districts, out of the 180 days of schools, about 60 days are lost to drilling or taking prep tests for STAARs. This is 30% of the school days. Schools wait until a couple of months before the STAARs and stop regular classroom instruction and start preping for STAARs. My neighbor?s kids come home with a headache every day. Her kids don?t want to go to school and I don?t blame them.

?

I really don?t know how this will be stopped unless parents just put their foot down and decide not to send their kids to school during the STAARs testing.

I guarantee it will grab the attention not only of the school districts but TEA just might want to listen to what parents have to say.

?

Source: http://www.txcscopereview.com/2013/staar-opt-out-notice/

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NFL Draft Buzz - Michigan S Jordan Kovacs - Mar 24,2013

NBC's Chris Hansen. Chris is known for his show 'To Catch a Predator' and this Sunday he is airing a special on Dateline to try and catch one of the FBI's Most wanted Fugitives!

Former banker turned thought leader and strategist Bill Donius discusses his book Thought Revolution: How to Tap Into Your Inner Genius.

Patriots Jermaine Wiggins, Bucks Kicker Michael Husted, Dolphins & Eagles Ronnie Brown & Giants Randy Minniear join Thursday Night Tailgate.

Kid Build Nation! PBS Kids' 'Design Squad Nation' host Deysi Melgar joins us to talk about kid-inspiring feats of engineering.

Maggie Rose welcomes NYC-based band, The Assembly Line to her show this week. This is a lively interview, plus, the WORLD DEBUT of their new single, Empires.

"Chef K" is the recent winner of ABC's "The Taste," from past guest Chef Brian Malarkey's team. She is currently private chef to Charlie Sheen.

Grammy award winner Fantasia stops by to talk about her upcoming album "Side Effects of You" which will be released on April 23, 2013.

Author Carla Cannon, will be talking about her debut novel, "The Power In Waiting". In this book, Carla shares key principles in many areas.

Tune in as the very talented singer and actress Jill Scott stops by on 6th Man Radio to discuss motherhood, music, and all things Jill!

Visit Sonoma - Snoopy, Wildlife and Wine: We explore Snoopy's Home Ice, the Charles Schulz Museum, and have a wild encounter at Safari West.

Listen in as Deborah A. Klein, MS, RD, the Health Director for the Kirstie Alley Organic Liason, gives us the real scoop on this fun weight loss program.

Join NFOTUSA Soldiers Speak Radio this week as they welcome country music singer-songwriter, Ayla Brown.

This week is all about The Guardians of the Galaxy. The news has been popping up about the new movie for months. It's time to dig in and break it all down.

Dr. Diane MD welcomes Dr. Bert Herring, the creator and author of one of the most effective and revolutionary weight-loss, Fast-5 Diet and Lifestyle.

NWP welcomes breast cancer survivor, turned best selling author, Regina Brett. Brett turned her life and death experience into motivation for the mainstream.

Americas food industry is poisoning us & there is a conspiracy that the government is making us fat!

The Witch's Tale-a horror-fantasy radio series which aired from 1931 to 1938. The program was created, written and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole.

Come sit and relax as we chat with Blues Man "Ira Walker"-Recently nominated for a Grammy as a producer, singer/songwriter.

The Movie Geeks speak with acclaimed actor William Fichtner (Armageddon, Heat, Prison Break) about his new film Wrong, and highlights from his career.

On Storytellers, we have New York Times best-selling authors James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell discussing their first-ever book collaboration, The Blood Gospel.

America's Most Haunted welcomes John Zaffis of the hit TV show Haunted Collector. John is the eminent paranormal researcher and world-renowned demonologist.

Noah Munck, best known as Gibby Gibson, the scene-stealing, shirt-shedding lovable pal on Nickelodeon?s hit television series iCarly joins Nia & Friends.

Israel Houghton, 5 Time Grammy Winner who is mostly known for his cross-cultural style of Christian music that fuses elements from gospel, jazz and rock joins Get Real Live.

Marly Bird welcomes John Levisay and Josh Scott, Owners of Craftsy.com to discuss their journey from Ebay to the crafting industry. Quilting, Knitting and Cake

Charles Lanktree, CEO of Eggland?s Best eggs will share his strategies for success, dedication to quality and his secret to building the #1 branded egg in the world.

Source: http://cdn2.btrcdn.com/nfldraftcombine/2013/03/24/nfl-draft-buzz--michigan-s-jordan-kovacs

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