Whoops! Romney's 'transition' website spotted by blogger

41 min.

Before the?election,?Mitt Romney's staff prepared a transition website, in case the?former Republican nominee was elected president of the United States. And even though Romney didn't win the election, the site saw the light of day ??for a few moments anyway.

Taegan Goddard, author and former policy advisor, caught the slip up and captured screenshots of the now removed pages. He posted them on his blog, Political Wire.

"I'm excited about our prospects as a nation," a quote, attributed to Romney, declared on the site's main page. "My priority is putting people back to work in America."?There were details for prospective applicants, who wanted a position with the administration, as well as a rundown of the inauguration?process.

Some are jumping to make jokes about the fact that Romney's staff had this transition website ready, but let's be realistic: This kind of preparation is far from unusual. Accidentally making the site live, even for a few minutes, though?? that's the mistake.

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/whoops-romneys-transition-website-spotted-blogger-1C6918824

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obSEUSSed: {Family Fun} Dr. Seuss App and Card Game Combined

My kids and I have been playing this SEUSStastic Dr. Seuss Fun Machine game lately. It?s a new app and board game combined, released just in time for Christmas.

If you have played any of the Dr. Seuss board games by Wonder Forge you?ll know they are all created in whimsical Dr. Seuss style. The Dr. Seuss Fun Machine AppPlay game by Wonder Forge is an excellent merge between digital and traditional board games created for families and preschool children.

Seuss app game obSEUSSed


What does it do?

The Dr. Seuss Fun Machine AppPlay game takes the simple matching game up 55 notches. You buy the game tiles at a store (or online here) then download the free app. The app works for iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. ?There are also instructions for ways to play without the app. When using the tiles with an idevice there are several ways you can play. The three games are ?matching, slap down and guess-a-roo.? The app leads you through a few quick directions then kids can play solo or with others (1-4 players).? They slide handles on a machine displayed on the screen to tell them what cards to look for. Each card has a special color, shape and character on it so the app tells them a variety of things to look for in each game.? It has simple, medium and hard levels.


What did we think?

I loved that we could play this as a family. There aren?t many apps that do that well. Parents and kids can play together.? My older kids (ages 6 and 9) tried out the guess-a-roo detective style game by themselves but the other games are set up to encourage playing with others.? I also liked that the game tiles create a hands-on element. Sometimes younger kids can get frustrated trying to swipe the screen for games but as we played I helped swipe. Then my 2-year-old could find the card and he would tap the screen to say he found the match.? It is perfect for preschool ages (3-6) who are learning their colors, shapes and yes,?introducing them to the Dr. Seuss characters.

Proud moment:? I have to admit I felt all warm and fuzzy as my 2-year-old said ?Seuss game? and I realized it was the first time he said the word ?Seuss.?

My 2 year old loved finding the tiles. It would tell him to look for a shape, color or character and he could do the color and character really well. We are still working on his shapes and this game was a great introduction to them.
IMG_3058
The idevice doesn?t really recognize the cards, my son just liked to set it on top once he made the match. Then he presses the green button to say he found the match and it makes a fun noise.? This is his face (below) every time he pushed the green button.
IMG_3060
Here is a description of the game from Wonder Forge:
The Cat in the Hat is back ... with an app! Dr. Seuss AppPlay Games combine the classic fun of tabletop games with the dynamic play power of apps, all served up for iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Match wits and make match-ups with these madcap mixes of family fun! Sturdy, colorful tiles pack up in a flash for quick bursts of Seuss fun ... near, far, or or wherever you are.
552248_476866229011660_1334916053_n seuss appplay
See all of Wonder Forge?s fun Dr. Seuss games here.
Follow Wonder Forge on Facebook for more Dr. Seuss fun and other game news.
This Dr. Seuss appPlay game can be found at ToysRus and other specialty stores or online at Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this game from Wonderforge for review purposes. All opinions are my own. I would gladly buy this game myself.

Source: http://www.obseussed.com/2012/11/family-fun-dr-seuss-app-and-card-game.html

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Fidelity: 401(k) average balance grows 4 pct in 3Q

BOSTON (AP) ? Employee 401(k) accounts grew more than 4 percent in the third quarter as a rising stock market boosted investment returns, and contributions from workers and their employers increased.

Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest 401(k) administrator, said Thursday that the average balance of $75,900 at the end of the quarter was the highest since it began tracking the data in 2000.

Three months earlier, the average account balance among the 12 million accounts that Fidelity administers was $72,800.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose nearly 6 percent in the July to September period, boosting investment returns in 401(k)s. The gain helped investors recover from a nearly 3 percent market decline in the previous quarter.

Workers' 401(k)s are typically invested in bonds as well as stocks to help reduce volatility. A broad U.S. bond market index rose about 1 percent in the second quarter, substantially less than the stock market. So workers with large portions of their accounts invested in stocks enjoyed better performance than those with more in bonds.

Account contributions from employees' paycheck deductions also rose in the latest quarter, as did 401(k) contributions from employers, known as company matches.

Annual contributions from workers now average about $7,900, up more than 7 percent from the level five years ago. Company matches average $3,420, up 19 percent from the third quarter of 2007.

Many companies reduced or suspended their 401(k) matches to conserve cash during the recession that began in late 2007. But as the economy has gradually improved, many employers have restored those matches, and then some.

"When employers were cutting contributions, many told us that they felt badly about it, and that restoring them would be one of the first things they wanted to do once they saw signs of improvement," said Beth McHugh, vice president of market insights at Boston-based Fidelity.

The latest employer contribution numbers show that most companies "are back, and fully committed," she said.

Investment earnings and contributions can grow tax-free in an employer-sponsored 401(k) account, which is a key reason why they're a popular way to save for retirement.

The average employee contribution in Fidelity-administered 401(k) plans has remained steady at around 8 percent of annual pay for the past three years. In the latest quarter, 4.6 percent of participants increased the amount of their paycheck deductions for their 401(k), while just 2.8 percent decreased their deferral rate.

That's consistent with the trend since the financial crisis. Balances have grown a cumulative 64 percent since early 2009, when the stock market meltdown reduced the average balance to $46,200.

Yet workers who have stayed in the market long term have found it difficult to rely solely on investment gains to build up 401(k) savings. Stocks remain about 11 percent below their historic peak in October 2007.

Over the past 10 years, about two-thirds of annual increases in account balances have been due to workers' added contributions and company matches, with one-third the result of investment returns.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fidelity-401-k-average-balance-grows-4-pct-050415316--finance.html

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This Spiked Rubber Band Equips Any Shoe for Icy Weather

If you don't want to spend the entire winter wearing clunky boots, these elastic Nordic Grip Mini straps feature a pair of metal spikes that give any pair of shoes enough grip to tackle snow and ice. Strapping them on is as easy as putting an elastic band around your wrist, and they're available in three colors for just $15 a pair. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cWiENBaSnxU/this-spiked-rubber-band-equips-any-shoe-for-icy-weather

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Obama to visit Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand

FILE - This Dec. 2, 2011 file photo shows Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meeting with Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar. Fresh from his re-election, President Barack Obama will embark on a trip to Southeast Asia and become the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia as well as the once pariah nation of Myanmar where he will hail the country?s shift to democracy after five decades of ruinous military rule. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File)

FILE - This Dec. 2, 2011 file photo shows Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meeting with Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar. Fresh from his re-election, President Barack Obama will embark on a trip to Southeast Asia and become the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia as well as the once pariah nation of Myanmar where he will hail the country?s shift to democracy after five decades of ruinous military rule. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File)

FILE - This Nov. 7, 2012 file photo shows President Barack Obama speaks at his election night party, in Chicago. Fresh from his re-election, President Barack Obama will embark on a trip to Southeast Asia and become the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia as well as the once pariah nation of Myanmar where he will hail the country?s shift to democracy after five decades of ruinous military rule. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

(AP) ? Less than two weeks after his re-election, President Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit the once pariah nation of Myanmar, drawing attention to the country's shift to democracy and highlighting what his administration regards as a marquee foreign policy achievement.

Obama will also travel to Cambodia, a first for a U.S. president as well, and to Thailand during the Nov. 17-20 trip. In Cambodia, the president will attend the East Asia summit in Phnom Penh and meet with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The symbolic highlight of the trip, no doubt, is Obama's stop in Myanmar, also known as Burma, a country emerging from five decades of ruinous military rule. While there, Obama will meet with President Thein Sein and also with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the White House said.

While the trip places new focus on Obama's foreign policy and to American attention to the Asia and Pacific region, it also comes at as Obama begins sensitive negotiations with congressional leaders about how to avoid looming tax increases and steep cuts in defense and domestic spending.

Obama ended the longstanding U.S. isolation of Myanmar's generals, which has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The U.S. has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and Suu Kyi's election to parliament.

In a statement, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama intended to "speak to civil society to encourage Burma's ongoing democratic transition."

A procession of senior diplomats and world leaders have traveled to the country, stopping both in the remote, opulent capital city Naypyitaw, built by the former ruling junta, and at Suu Kyi's dilapidated lakeside villa in the main city Yangon, where she spent 15 years under house arrest.

The most senior U.S. official to visit previously is Hillary Rodham Clinton who in December became the first U.S. secretary of state to travel to Myanmar in 56 years.

The Obama administration regards the political changes in Myanmar as a top foreign policy achievement, and one that could dilute the influence of China in a country that has a strategic location between South Asia and Southeast Asia, regions of growing economic importance.

But exiled Myanmar activists and human rights groups are likely to criticize an Obama visit as premature, rewarding Thein Sein before his political and economic reforms have been consolidated. The military is still dominant and implicated in rights abuses. It has failed to prevent vicious outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country that have left scores dead.

While no U.S. president has ever visited Cambodia or Myanmar, Thailand is one of the America's oldest allies in Asia and has been a stop for American commanders in chief since the mid-1960s, according to the State Department historian's office, which compiles records on presidential travel.

George W. Bush visited Thailand twice while president, in 2003 and 2008, Bill Clinton visited in 1996. During the war in neighboring Vietnam, Richard Nixon traveled there in 1969 and Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and 1967, the records show.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Pennington and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-11-08-Obama-Asia/id-a925da012a0c442282099fb128345a3a

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Blue Microphones Spark Digital now available, wields USB and iOS mobile recording for $199

Blue Microphones Spark Digital now available, wields USB and iOS mobile recording for $199

The final member of the Blue Microphones trio that we saw introduced back at CES is finally hitting shelves. Blue's dual-connecting Spark Digital is now shipping from Apple and Best Buy with other retailers soon to follow. If you'll recall, the mobile recording peripheral touts the label of "the first true studio condenser microphone made for both iPad and USB." An adjustable desk stand, all of the requisite cables and six month subscriptions to both Gobble and SoundCloud Pro are included right out of the box. You can snag one for yourself for $200 just as fast as you can click. However, if you've already splurged for a new iPad, iPad mini or the iPhone 5, you'll need a Lightning adapter before you can get started.

Continue reading Blue Microphones Spark Digital now available, wields USB and iOS mobile recording for $199

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Blue Microphones Spark Digital now available, wields USB and iOS mobile recording for $199 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/07/blue-microphones-spark-digital-now-available/

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New method could help communities plan for climate risk

ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2012) ? Climate scientists cannot attribute any single weather event -- whether a drought, wildfire or extreme storm -- to climate change. But extreme events, such as Hurricane Sandy, are glimpses of the types of occurrences the world could be more vulnerable to in the future. As the devastation left by Sandy continues to reverberate, decision-makers at every level are asking: How can we be better prepared?

MIT researchers have developed a new tool to help policymakers, city planners and others see the possible local effects of climate change. Its regional projections of climate trends -- such as long-term temperature and precipitation changes -- allow local planners to evaluate risks, and how these risks could shape crops, roads and energy infrastructure.

"As we see more extreme events like Sandy, the importance of assessing regional impacts grows," says lead researcher Adam Schlosser, assistant director for science research at MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. "Our approach helps decision- and policymakers balance the risks ? so they can better prepare their communities for future impacts climate change might bring."

For example, Schlosser says, if a community is planning to build a bridge, it should look at -- and plan for -- the expected magnitude of flooding in 2050.

"In areas devastated by Sandy, the rebuilding of lost property and infrastructure will come at considerable cost and effort," Schlosser says. "But should we rebuild to better prepare for future storms like these? Or should we prepare for stronger and/or more frequent storms? There remains considerable uncertainty in these projections and that implies risk. Our technique has been developed with these questions in mind."

Schlosser's research partner, Ken Strzepek, a research scientist at the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, notes policymakers are now often given little more than a set of extreme circumstances to consider.

"Policymakers don't like extremes or worst-case scenarios," Strzepek says, "because they can't afford to plan for the worst-case scenarios. They like to see what is the likelihood of different outcomes. That's what we're giving them."

Getting results

In this new method, the researchers quantify the likelihood of particular outcomes and add socioeconomic data, different emission levels and varying degrees of uncertainty. Their technique combines climate-model projections and analysis from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the MIT Integrated Global System Modeling framework. The MIT framework is itself a combined computer model that integrates an economic, human system with a natural, earth system.

"This approach allows us to widen the scope and flexibility of climate analysis," Schlosser says. "It provides us with efficient capabilities to determine climate-change risks."

The initial study using this approach -- accepted by the Journal of Climate and available on the journal's website -- compares a business-as-usual case with a scenario that reduces emissions. The researchers find that lowering emissions reduces the odds of regional warming and precipitation changes. In fact, for many places, the likelihood of the most extreme warming from the business-as-usual case could be eliminated almost entirely.

The study finds diverse climate-change outcomes: southern and western Africa, the Himalayan region, and the area around Hudson Bay in Canada are expected to warm the most; southern Africa and western Europe see the greatest chance of drier conditions. Meanwhile, the Amazon and northern Siberia may become wetter.

Putting the method to work

Schlosser and Strzepek are pursuing partnerships with communities to put their method to work. But while it's important for every community to begin building climate adaptation into their infrastructure plans, developing countries could reap the greatest benefits.

Malcolm Smart, senior economic adviser for the U.K. Department for International Development, who was not involved in this research, says, "This is not only an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to the problem of deep uncertainty, but also a potentially very valuable tool to help vulnerable developing countries cut the cost of damages from climate change."

Strzepek explains why: In the United States, infrastructure plans are designed based on a high standard of risk, while in developing countries projects are typically built to a lower standard of risk. "But if we find that [a developing country] will see greater flooding, and if we're fairly certain of this, then they would save money in the long run if they built roads to withstand those flooding events," Strzepek says.

Schlosser and Strzepek traveled to Finland earlier this fall to present their research at a United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research conference. They've partnered with this organization to inform developing countries of this new tool for assessing climate change.

"Our approach allows decision-makers to cut down on the level of risk they're taking when allocating their limited funds to development projects," Schlosser says. "This can help them see where there are economic benefits to taking a risk-averse approach today, before the damage is done."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Victoria Ekstrom.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. C. Adam Schlosser, Xiang Gao, Kenneth Strzepek, Andrei Sokolov, Chris E. Forest, Sirein Awadalla, William Farmer. Quantifying the Likelihood of Regional Climate Change: A Hybridized Approach. Journal of Climate, 2012; : 120924082147001 DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00730.1

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/KLj9YPspTaU/121107122747.htm

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Oats Masala - Indian Recipe with Oats - Healthy Breakfast Recipe ...


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Source: http://www.sailusfood.com/2012/11/07/oats-masala-indian-recipe/

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News Analysis: How Science Can Build a Better You

IF a brain implant were safe and available and allowed you to operate your iPad or car using only thought, would you want one? What about an embedded device that gently bathed your brain in electrons and boosted memory and attention? Would you order one for your children?

In a future presidential election, would you vote for a candidate who had neural implants that helped optimize his or her alertness and functionality during a crisis, or in a candidates? debate? Would you vote for a commander in chief who wasn?t equipped with such a device?

If these seem like tinfoil-on-the-head questions, consider the case of Cathy Hutchinson. Paralyzed by a stroke, she recently drank a canister of coffee by using a prosthetic arm controlled by thought. She was helped by a device called Braingate, a tiny bed of electrons surgically implanted on her motor cortex and connected by a wire to a computer.

Working with a team of neuroscientists at Brown University, Ms. Hutchinson, then 58, was asked to imagine that she was moving her own arm. As her neurons fired, Braingate interpreted the mental commands and moved the artificial arm and humanlike hand to deliver the first coffee Ms. Hutchinson had raised to her own lips in 15 years.

Braingate has barely worked on just a handful of people, and it is years away from actually being useful. Yet it?s an example of nascent technologies that in the next two to three decades may transform life not only for the impaired, but also for the healthy.

Other medical technologies that might break through the enhancement barrier range from genetic modifications and stem-cell therapies that might make people cognitively more efficient to nano-bots that could one day repair and optimize molecular structures in cells.

Many researchers, including the Brown neuroscientist John Donoghue, leader of the Braingate team, adamantly oppose the use of their technologies for augmenting the nonimpaired. Yet some healthy Americans are already availing themselves of medical technologies. For years millions of college students and professionals have been popping powerful stimulants like Adderall and Provigil to take exams and to pull all-nighters. These drugs can be highly addictive and may not work for everyone. While more research is needed, so far no evidence has emerged that legions of users have been harmed. The same may be true for a modest use of steroids for athletes.

Which leads us to the crucial question: How far would you go to modify yourself using the latest medical technology? ?

Over the last couple of years during talks and lectures, I have asked thousands of people a hypothetical question that goes like this: ?If I could offer you a pill that allowed your child to increase his or her memory by 25 percent, would you give it to them??

The show of hands in this informal poll has been overwhelming, with 80 percent or more voting no.

Then I asked a follow-up question. ?What if this pill was safe and increased your kid?s grades from a B average to an A average?? People tittered nervously, looked around to see how others were voting as nearly half said yes. (Many didn?t vote at all.)

?And what if all of the other kids are taking the pill?? I asked. The tittering stopped and nearly everyone voted yes.

No pill now exists that can boost memory by 25 percent. Yet neuroscientists tell me that pharmaceutical companies are testing compounds in early stage human trials that may enable patients with dementia and other memory-stealing diseases to have better recall. No one knows if these will work to improve healthy people, but it?s possible that one will work in the future.

More intriguing is the notion that a supermemory or attention pill might be used someday by those with critical jobs like pilots, surgeons, police officers ? or the chief executive of the United States. In fact, we may demand that they use them, said the bioethicist Thomas H. Murray. ?It might actually be immoral for a surgeon not to take a drug that was safe and steadied his hand,? said Mr. Murray, the former president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research group. ?That would be like using a scalpel that wasn?t sterile.?

HERE is a partial checklist of cutting-edge medical-technology therapies now under way or in an experimental phase that might lead to future enhancements.

More than 200,000 deaf people have had their hearing partially restored by a brain implant that receives sound waves and uses a minicomputer to process and deliver them directly into the brain via the cochlear (audio) nerve. New and experimental technologies could lead to devices that allow people with or possibly without hearing loss to hear better, possibly much better.

David Ewing Duncan is a journalist who has contributed to the science section of The New York Times.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/sunday-review/how-science-can-build-a-better-you.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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