Obama calls on Congress to approve refinance plan

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Citing historically low mortgages, President Barack Obama is pressing Republicans to back housing policies the White House says would help struggling homeowners refinance their debts and prevent foreclosures.

Obama is blaming congressional Republicans for not passing legislation he proposed in February that would lower lending rates for millions of borrowers who have not been able to get out from under burdensome mortgages. Republicans have objected, citing among other things the estimated $5 billion to $10 billion cost of the proposal.

"Here we are - seven months later - still waiting on Congress to act," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Congress has recessed and is not scheduled to return until after the November elections.

"Instead of worrying about you, they'd already gone home to worry about their campaigns," the president said.

Obama's push comes as home prices have been rising across the United States. National home prices increased 1.2 percent in July, compared with the same month last year, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller index released Tuesday.

In the Republican weekly address, Arizona congressional candidate Vernon Parker said the U.S. corporate tax rate is pushing jobs overseas. He said he agrees with GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, "that we need to stop all the looming tax hikes and develop a pro-growth tax code that brings jobs home and keeps jobs here."

He also called for the repeal of Obama's health care law.

___

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://tinyurl.com/cn8dbek

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-calls-congress-approve-refinance-plan-101133984.html

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Does Circuit Training Fitness Equipment Help Men's Health Too ...

It?s no secret that circuit training workouts have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade. Continuing the trend started by Curves for Women, health clubs nationwide have been helping women lose weight and tone up by offering circuit training exercise and by encouraging them to maintain a healthy diet.

Of the estimated 30,000 health clubs in the United States, approximately one-third feature a circuit training routine as their core workout. The vast majority of these gyms are geared towards women only, often boasting in their advertising that ?men are not allowed?.

But can this exercise equipment work for men, too? Can men, who traditionally shun weight loss diet pills and other gimmicks, benefit from this exercise program as well? The answer to that question depends on your personal goals. Men of all ages have different goals, from burning fat to building huge muscles to developing strength. Most men fall somewhere in between, desiring a combination of the three.

How To Lift Weights (Resistance Train) To Achieve Your Goals:

To help illustrate this point, let?s consider the three different ways to resistance train (lift weights), which correspond directly to your own personal fitness goals.

If your goal is to have lean, toned muscle without a lot of size, then you should be doing high repetitions with a relatively low amount of weight (resistance). You can lift this way all day long and you will not develop huge muscles. This approach to resistance training will accomplish two things: burn fat and tone muscle. That?s it. This is the method of resistance training offered by most circuit training health clubs. Let?s call it the ?Burn & Tone? goal.

If your goal is to increase muscle size, then you should be lifting relatively heavy weights (resistance) about 6-8 times per set. The weight selected should be about 80% of your 1RM (one rep maximum). For example, if the most you could ever bench press once is 100 lbs. (your 1RM), then to gain size you would want to be bench pressing about 80 lbs. 6-8 times per set. Compare this to the training of someone who wants to burn fat and tone muscle; the person who wants to gain muscle size keeps the weight much higher and does fewer repetitions. Let?s call this the ?Pump You Up? goal.

Finally, perhaps your goal is to gain extreme strength. An example of this would be a powerlifter. Resistance training to gain strength would require you to lift as much weight as possible, but only one time (one repetition). Obviously, this method will not burn as much fat. It will also not create gigantic muscles, but it will result in some significant muscle growth. Let?s call this one the ?Freakish Strength? goal.

Can Circuit Training Gym Equipment Help You Achieve Your Goals?

Assuming that you?re like most men, your personal fitness goals are probably to reach your ideal weight by burning some fat, while at the same time gaining some muscle and strength. You don?t need to look like Arnold in the first Predator movie, but then again you definitely don?t want to resemble Pee-Wee Herman either! Will circuit training help you?

To answer this question, it?s important to first examine and understand exactly what circuit training exercise machines will and will not do. Much of the circuit training fitness equipment available today will only help you with your ?Burn & Tone? goal. Why?

First and foremost, the reason why much of the circuit training exercise equipment on the market today will not help you with your ?Pump You Up? or ?Freakish Strength? goals is that these strength machines simply do not provide enough resistance. Many have just one resistance setting, which is usually set too low for you to get anywhere close to 80% of your 1RM (remember, that?s required for real muscle growth).

To accomplish those goals of substantial muscle growth and strength gains in a circuit training environment, it?s necessary to utilize equipment that has more than one resistance setting. In other words, you need to have the ability to increase the resistance (weight) so that you are able to remain close to your 1RM. This becomes even more true as you continue to exercise and become more fit, thus able to lift more and more weight.

Sports scientists actually have a phrase for this, and it?s called the Principle of Progressive Overload.

The ?Principle of Progressive Overload? maintains that once the body has adapted to the stress put upon it, no further progress will be made until 1) resistance is increased or 2) repetitions are increased. In other words, if you start exercising on circuit training equipment that has only one resistance level, you will probably see decent results for a time. However, once your body has adjusted to that level of resistance, and it?s no longer a challenge to you, your progress will come to a screeching halt. You won?t add any additional muscle, or strength, until you add more weight.

This puts a gym without adjustable resistance in the uncomfortable position of having their members ?plateau? once they have mastered the equipment. Depending on their age and prior fitness level, their members soon find that their progress has ceased. Many circuit gyms are unable to adjust their resistance settings, so by definition they cannot promise life-long progress.

For the best results, seek out a fitness center that has adjustable resistance circuit training equipment. By providing many different levels of resistance, they will help you achieve not just the ?Burn & Tone? goal, but also the ?Pump You Up? and ?Freakish Strength? goals. What if your goal is just to ?Burn & Tone?, though? Simple. Just don?t increase the resistance, so if your goal isn?t to increase muscle size then you can simply work out on a strength setting of 1. It?s up to you.

The answer, then, to the question ?Does Circuit Training Fitness Equipment Help Men?s Health Too?? is a resounding YES, assuming that you?re exercising on circuit training equipment that has more than one resistance setting.

Additional Weight Lifting Equipment Is Also Important:

Circuit training is popular because it works. Using the right exercise machines, men will have no problems meeting their health and fitness goals in a circuit training fitness center. However, there is another critical component to consider when seeking a workout routine that?s right for you: free weights.

While it?s true that circuit training is the fat burner you?ve been looking for all these years, and it?s also true that the right circuit training exercise equipment can help you build a significant amount of muscle and strength, it?s important to realize that free weights are especially important for men who want to pack on pounds of serious eye-popping muscle.

Why? For the answer, we need to dissect a weight lifting movement.

Positive vs. Negative:

There are two movements in any resistance training (weight lifting) exercise. These are called the concentric and the eccentric parts of the exercise, also commonly referred to as the ?positive? and ?negative?.

The concentric (positive) part of the resistance training movement is defined as ?Muscle action in which the muscle is shortening under its own power? (Source: Fitness, The Complete Guide; ISSA 2001). Examples would be pushing the bar away from you on a bench press, or lifting the bar towards your chin on a biceps curl.

The eccentric (negative) part of the resistance training movement is defined as ?Muscle action in which the muscle resists while it is forced to lengthen? (Source: Fitness, The Complete Guide; ISSA 2001). Examples would be lowering the bar on a bench press, or lowering the bar away from your chin on a biceps curl.

The point to be made here is that the eccentric part of the resistance training movement is the component that will lead to hyper-extensive muscle growth. When you work out you cause microscopic tears in the muscle, the fibers repair and regenerate and are able to handle future bouts of similar work while experiencing significantly less damage. Eccentric contractions cause greater muscle damage and thus provide the stimulus to make your muscles grow and strengthen. This may be due to eccentric contractions allowing greater force production in addition to less fiber recruitment, which means the fibers are stressed more and more damage occurs.

Circuit training equipment is double-concentric, meaning that it works opposing muscle groups at the same time. There is no eccentric movement. What this means for you as a man is that circuit training exercise equipment will help you burn fat, build muscle and increase strength in about half the time it takes in a ?regular? free weight gym. However, if your goal is to add a massive amount of muscle size, then you will need to incorporate some free weight exercises into your fitness workout.

In other words, while adjustable-resistance circuit training fitness equipment will help you build moderate to serious amounts of muscle, only free weights (with their eccentric movement) can turn you into a 900-pound gorilla. If that?s not your goal, then by all means stick with the circuit training. It?s safe, effective, and proven to get results.

But if you do want to go beyond moderate to serious muscle growth and create a shirt-busting body, then you?ll need free weights. That?s why it?s important to choose a circuit training health club that offers additional weight lifting equipment.

Conclusion: Does Circuit Training Fitness Equipment Help Men?s Health Too?

The short answer? Absolutely.

If your goal is to ?Burn & Tone?, then circuit training is virtually custom made for you. This is what circuit training was designed to do, and it accomplishes that goal better, faster and more efficiently than any other workout.

If you share the ?Pump You Up? goal, where you want to add a moderate to serious amount of muscle to your frame, then circuit training can help you if (and only if) you choose a gym that offers adjustable resistance circuit training equipment.

If your goal is to attain ?Freakish Strength?, then circuit training can help you, too. Again, however, it?s important to find a fitness center that offers adjustable resistance circuit training equipment.

Finally, when looking for a circuit training health club to join, it?s a good idea to find one that also provides a full array of free weights. Whether you?re a regular guy who just wants to augment his workout, or an up-and-coming muscle-head who wants to manufacture a gargantuan body, it?s convenient to have free weights as an option.

Circuit training is popular because it works. Circuit training is quick, efficient, and has made health and fitness dreams come true for thousands of men. Now it?s your turn.

This article is brought to you by Pick Up The Pace For Men, a gym specializing in weight loss exercise, healthy diet products, great fitness workouts and overall men?s health. Please visit pickupthepaceformendotcom/ for more information.

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Source: http://www.freeblogshare.com/does-circuit-training-fitness-equipment-help-mens-health-too

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China's lines around islands suggest more conflict

BEIJING (AP) ? One of the hottest items in bookstores across China is a map for a place that is closed to visitors, home only to animals such as goats and crabs, and the reason China's relations with Japan are at their lowest point in years.

China calls them the Diaoyus; Japan, the Senkakus. The new map shows a satellite image of a kidney-shaped main island with splotches of green and a list of 70 affiliated "islands" that are really half-submerged rocks.

China hastily published the map to help maintain public outrage over the Japanese government's purchase of some of the islands from their private Japanese owners. Beijing also has engaged in another type of mapmaking that may end up escalating the conflict.

It has drawn new territorial markers, or baselines, around the islands and submitted them to the United Nations. That could lead to a more serious attempt to claim the islands, and broad swaths of valuable ocean around them.

"The status quo has been broken in the last month by Japan's purchase and China's publishing of the baselines," said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt of the International Crisis Group. She said friction is likely to reach its worst level since the 1980s when China and Japan tacitly agreed to set aside the dispute in pursuit of better overall relations.

Beijing has been firm rhetorically. On Saturday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the country must safeguard its territorial integrity at a reception celebrating the upcoming National Day.

State television on Saturday reported that the country's navy and air forces conducted joint military exercises with live fire targeting a small island in the East China Sea.

More than lines on paper are at stake. By submitting the baselines to the U.N., China is spelling out its claim to the waters, the fish in them and the oil, gas and other minerals beneath them. Up until now, China has sought to jointly exploit resources with Japan through negotiation.

Japan says it bought to islands to maintain stability, noting that the nationalist governor of Tokyo had been pushing a more radical plan to not only buy the islands but develop them. China, however, was outraged, and considered Japan's move a violation of their earlier agreements.

The dispute has brought nationalism and patriotism to the fore, and sparked sometimes-violent protests in China targeting Japanese businesses, restaurants and cars. A Chinese man driving a Toyota Corolla was beaten unconscious by a mob in the tourist city of Xi'an and left partially paralyzed, according to state media. Chinese and Japanese coast guard vessels have been facing off in the contested waters.

The dispute is testing perhaps the most important economic relationship in Asia, between the world's second- and third-largest economies.

Japan has claimed the islands since 1895. The U.S. took jurisdiction after World War II and turned them over to Japan in 1972. China says they have been part of its territory since ancient times, and that it opposed and never acknowledged the deal between Japan and the United States. Taiwan also claims them.

The islands make a strange setting for a potential conflict zone. The largest is less than 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles). It is home to a growing population of goats ? the offspring of a pair brought there by right-wing Japanese activists in 1977 ? as well as moles, crabs, Okinawan ants, albatross and lizards, and plants including azalea.

The islands themselves are remote, "intrinsically worthless features" that were largely forgotten for decades, said Clive Schofield of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong.

"The reason why there is uncertainty over the ownership, sovereignty is because they have essentially been ignored over a large period of time," Schofield said.

A U.N. survey in the 1970s that said oil and gas may lie beneath the surrounding waters changed that. Then, the Law of the Sea Convention introduced the idea of 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones, or EEZs, which give coastal countries sole exploitation rights over all natural resources contained within.

China's new baselines are a prelude to defining that exclusive zone. It has drawn straight lines around the main group of islands and a separate set around isolated Chiwei Island, some 50 nautical miles to the east.

It also plans to submit a document outlining the outer limits of its sea bed ? those that stretch beyond 200 nautical miles from land ? in the East China Sea to a U.N. commission. The move is a way for China to underscore its claim, but has little real impact. The commission, which comprises geological experts, evaluates the markers on technical grounds but has no authority to resolve overlapping claims.

"That puts a line in the sand, but it doesn't have any legal impact," said Ian Townsend Gault, director of the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

He doubts whether the islands would be capable of generating a 200-nautical-mile EEZ because they are too insignificant ? too small and without a population.

"They are not important in the economic sense, no matter how beautiful they look on postcards," he said.

Legal questions aside, China sees the waters within its baselines as its internal waters under Beijing's administration.

That raises the risk of a confrontation in the clear waters around the disputed islands between Japanese coast guard vessels and Chinese fishing boats and law enforcement vessels, and even Taiwanese vessels ? all ostensibly with orders to patrol the area.

Already there has been sparring the past two weeks, with Chinese maritime surveillance vessels entering waters Japan claims, and the Japanese coast guard firing a water cannon at Taiwanese boats approaching the islands.

The parties could legally resolve their dispute if they submit it to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany, or their own court.

"Both would be equally terrified of losing on flimsy grounds," said Townsend Gault. "They have snookered each other legally and diplomatically speaking. They have driven each other into a corner. We need some third party to say can you put this to bed so we don't have this enormous disruption in your bilateral relations whereby people are smashing up Toyota dealerships."

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Louise Watt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/louise_watt

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-lines-around-islands-suggest-more-conflict-051655331.html

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Police: Minn. office shooter kills 4, then self

A man who apparently lost his job at a Minnesota sign-making business returned to the company and allegedly killed four people before fatally shooting himself.

The shooting took place at Accent Signage Systems in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood in Minneapolis at about 4:35 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement released this morning by the Minneapolis Police Department.

The suspected shooter has been identified as 36-year-old Andrew Engeldinger, a former employee who recently lost his job at Accent Signage Systems, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Police wearing body armor began searching Engeldinger's home early this morning.

The bodies of the four victims were found shortly after police arrived at the scene while evacuating other employees, according to the police statement. Police have not officially named the gunman or the victims. Minneapolis Police Deputy Chief Kristine Arneson would only confirm that the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The company's owner, Reuven Rahamim, was killed in the shooting, according to the newspaper.

Four others who were hurt in the shooting were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. Three of the victims are listed in critical condition with gunshot wounds. The fourth victim had minor injuries, according to police.

"We received three patients who came to the hospital and they are in critical condition and they continue to be in critical condition this evening. They are three adult males," Christine Hill, the hospital's Media Relations Specialist, told ABC News Thursday evening.

Director of Operations John Souter and production manager Eric Rivers were among the four that were taken to the hospital, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The other two victims in the hospital have not been identified.

Police originally reported that at least two people were killed Thursday afternoon, but later would only say that "several" bodies had been found inside the business.

Barbara Haynes was driving home from her teaching job when she got stuck in traffic near the scene.

"I've never seen that many police vehicles on the scene and SWAT teams, uniforms, the guns ... pretty heavy artillery," Haynes told ABC News.

Marques Jones, 18, of Minneapolis, said he was outside a building down the street having his high school senior pictures taken when he and his photographer heard gunfire that sounded close.

"We heard about four to five gunshots," Jones said. "We were shocked at what happened and we just looked at each other. We all just took off running to our vehicles."

Accent Signage Systems' website says the company makes interior signage and listed its founder as Rahamim.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said employees who were working when the shootings occurred were together and being cared for Thursday evening.

"We are deeply sorry about what has happened here," he said, calling the shootings "a horrible tragedy."

ABC News Radio and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

?

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Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/police-minn-office-shooter-kills-4-then-self-003416217--abc-news-topstories.html

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At U.N., Rwanda defiantly rejects claims of Congo rebel support

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Rwanda defiantly denied claims at the United Nations on Thursday that it was aiding rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo and rejected U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's summary of a meeting on the crisis, diplomats said.

According to Ban, most states attending a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kigali "condemned all forms of external support" to the rebels.

Kagame said after the meeting that Rwanda rejected allegations it was supporting the M23 rebels and said that "solving the crisis will be impossible if the international community continues to define the issue erroneously."

M23 rebels, who have ties to a warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, Bosco Ntaganda, have been fighting government soldiers in eastern Congo's North Kivu province since April. Some 320,000 civilians have been displaced.

"Most participants strongly condemned all forms of external support to the M23 and other negative forces in the DRC, and demanded the immediate and permanent cessation of such support," according to the meeting summary. "Some participants cautioned that those supporting the M23 could also be held accountable."

"They stressed ... the urgency of constructive engagement and dialogue between the DRC and Rwanda," it said.

Despite Rwanda's denials, a senior U.N. diplomat has said that privately Kigali was "a bit embarrassed, to say the least, and this could be one of the reasons behind the lull (in fighting) in the Kivu." He said if Rwanda withdrew support then the M23 group, numbering about 1,500, "could be subdued."

The DRC said last month it had asked the U.N. Security Council to place sanctions on Rwanda's defense minister and two top military officials for backing the rebellion.

A U.N. experts' report has accused Rwandan Defense Minister James Kaberebe, chief of defense staff Charles Kayonga, and General Jacques Nziza, a military adviser to President Paul Kagame, of being "in constant contact with M23."

"There can be no possible justification for such support, whether in terms of military hardware, or strategic advice. It must stop," Britain's Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, told the U.N. summit. "And there can be no impunity for those who violate human rights. They must be brought to justice."

INTERNATIONAL FORCE?

France said it would support sanctions against M23 and warned neighboring states against supporting the group.

"The M23 is benefiting from external support, including from neighboring DRC states," said French Minister for the Francophone countries Yamina Benguigui. "Nothing can justify the support of an armed rebellion led by war criminals. All support of M23, whatever it is, must stop."

As uneasy neighbors, Congo and Rwanda have gone to war against each other in the past. Rwanda has backed armed movements in the DRC during the past two decades, citing a need to tackle Rwandan rebels operating out of Congo's eastern hills.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met jointly with Kagame and Kabila on Monday in New York and pressed them to resolve the conflict.

In July the United States withdrew some $200,000 in military aid for Rwanda, Washington's first direct punitive action against the Rwandans over the crisis. Several other western European nations also have cut or suspended aid.

The United Nations said it was working with east and central African states on their proposal for a neutral force to tackle the M23 and other armed groups in eastern Congo.

"It is something that generates interest, but we are short of a real concept of operations - who would be in, who would do what, who would pay - and this is why more work needs to be done," said U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous after the meeting.

"We are already working (with them) to flesh out the concept because at the end of the day it will be submitted to the Security Council and the Security Council will want very precise explanations as to what it is all about," he said.

A resolution mandating military intervention in the DRC would have to be approved by the 15-member Security Council.

"Before endorsing any such support, we and the U.N. Security Council will want to understand the intended role and scope of the force," said Britain's Simmonds. Britain, the United States, France, China and Russia are veto-wielding council members.

A U.N. mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, has more than 17,000 troops, but the force is stretched thin across a nation the size of Western Europe and struggles to fulfill its current mandate of protecting civilians.

U.N. helicopter gunships frequently back up outgunned government forces, but even that firepower failed to prevent rebels from taking several towns in July. The U.N. force would work with any neutral force, but could not launch operations.

(Additional reporting by John Irish; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-rwanda-defiantly-rejects-claims-congo-rebel-203527008.html

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T-Mobile leases 7,200 mobile towers to Crown Castle in a 28-year, $2.4 billion deal

T-Mobile's just received a hefty cash boost thanks to a tower-leasing agreement it's entered into with Crown Castle. The deal leases 7,200 wireless towers to the infrastructure firm for a term of 28 years in exchange for $2.4 billion -- that T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom will use to pay off debt. As part of the contract, Crown Castle can buy the towers outright when the deal ends in 2040 for a further $2.4 billion -- and is planning to make money by adding another tenant to T-Mobile's system, so depending on your carrier, you might find your coverage suddenly getting a lot better.

Continue reading T-Mobile leases 7,200 mobile towers to Crown Castle in a 28-year, $2.4 billion deal

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How "Sleepwalk With Me" used social media, public radio to become an Indie hit

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Countdown Starts for Daredevil Space Jump [Video]

October 8th. That's the final launch date for fearless Felix Baumgartner, the daredevil that is going to jump from the edge of space. The 42-year-old Baumgartner is eager to attempt the record-breaking super-sonic parachute jump. He says that he feels like wild animal in a cage right now. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fPAYIcjhQaQ/countdown-starts-for-daredevil-space-jump

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Mimicry beats consciousness in gaming's Turing test

The Turing test might still be too hard for software to crack ? but two programs have already aced video gaming's answer to this famous evaluation of machine intelligence.

The two winning programs, or bots, relied on strategies of direct human mimicry to win an annual software tournament called BotPrize ? and beat an intriguing rival based on a stripped-down model of human consciousness.

As in the original Turing test, BotPrize bots attempt to convince human judges that they too are human. But whereas Turing test bots are judged on their ability to converse, in BotPrize, it's the ability to play and navigate the 3D shoot-'em-up video game Unreal Tournament in a human-like manner that counts.

Multiple bots and human judges play simultaneously, all-against-all, and anonymously, in the same arena of battle. The idea is to design more realistic virtual characters, which, in turn, should make video games more compelling and software simulations used for training more useful. In the future, the software could drive physical robots capable of navigating the real world in a human-like manner.

In only the fifth ever BotPrize contest, the UT^2 bot devised by Risto Miikkulainen and colleagues at the University of Texas, Austin, and Mirrorbot, the brainchild of Mihai Polceanu, currently studying at the European Centre for Virtual Reality in Brest, France, each persuaded the four judges more than half of the time that they were humans. That's more "human" votes than the average human received ? and almost twice as many as any bot has ever scored before. That means the "human-like barrier" has been cracked for the first time: the two teams shared the AU$7000 (?4500) prize ? which has never been awarded before ? for bots considered to be on a par with humans.

How did the winning bots do it? As its name suggests, Mirrorbot's key strategy is mimicry. When the bot meets other players in the game, it observes their behaviour. If it judges a fellow player to pose no immediate threat, it engages in a brief "social interaction", in which it simply copies the actions of that player, including movement, shooting, weapon choice, jumping and crouching. "It plays back what it sees," says Poleanu. The fact that this strategy proved successful at fooling the human says something interesting about AI and about ourselves, says Poleanu. "This result may indicate that our perception of intelligence is not flawless, but significantly influenced by our social nature".

Mimicry is also one of the features of the other winner, UT^2, though not in real time, and only for one of its behaviours. During training, Miikkulainen's team found that the bot's most "un-human" behaviour arose when it became confused by obstacles such as walls. For example, a human knows intuitively how to navigate out of a doorway. A bot, by contrast, relies on its programming to work out that it must turn 90 degrees.

"There are bots that bounce back and forth and don't realise the way out," says Miikkulainen. "It's amusing and interesting how challenging a very basic phenomenon can be."

His team recorded dozens of humans playing Unreal Tournament, spliced out the bits where the human released themselves from different geometries and then programmed the bot to deploy the human strategy used in a situation most similar to whatever it finds itself in. For other aspects of play, UT^2 deployed evolutionary learning, in which successful strategies were bred to produce offspring strategies that were even more human-like.

Neurobot, meanwhile, a bot that came a close second in last year's BotPrize ? and interested New Scientist in the run-up to the contest because it was based on a leading model of human consciousness ? lagged in fourth place out of a total of six bots.

Its creator, Zafeirios Fountas, of Imperial College London, blames this on technical constraints which forced him to "prune" 20 per cent of his bots' simulated "neurons". "As the results indicate, unfortunately, the removed neurons and synapses played a more crucial role than I believed," he says. "The good news is that now I know that and I can investigate what exactly caused this change."

Where does all this leave AI? BotPrize is certainly considered a lesser challenge than the original Turing test. "I am not making any claim that because the bots can appear human that they are intelligent," says Philip Hingston of Edith Cowan University in Perth Australia, who created BotPrize in 2008.

Still, Miikkulainen says that intelligence is made of up of components, at least one of which has now been solved. "In terms of spatial reasoning, it is possible to act human," he says. "Language is a much bigger problem, but it's nice to know that in this part of intelligence, we can do well."

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Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/23cf368d/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn2230A50Emimicry0Ebeats0Econsciousness0Ein0Egamings0Eturing0Etest0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Nokia unveils two new mid-range cellphones

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But what do your friends think?\",\"POLL_HEADER\":\"SOCIAL SENTIMENT\",\"SERVER_ERROR\":\"Oops there seems to be some error, please try again later\",\"LOADING\":\"Loading...\",\"SHARE_AFTER_COMMENT\":\"Your response has been shared on Facebook.\",\"UNDO\":\"Undo\",\"UNIT_PEOPLE\":\"People\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_DISAGREE\":\"disagree with your opinion.\",\"READ_MORE_TEXT\":\"Read what they have to say.\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_BEFORE_VOTING\":\"WHAT DO YOU THINK?\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_VERB_BEFORE_VOTING\":\"DRAG\",\"SLIDER_THUMB_WORDING_THANKS_VOTING\":\"Thanks for voting\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_ANSWERED\":\" 34,374 people have answered this question\",\"ONE_PERSON_ANSWERED\":\" 1 person has answered this question\",\"TWO_PEOPLE_ANSWERED\":\" 2 people have answered this question\",\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s1\":24501,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s2\":3399,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s3\":1520,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s4\":1245,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s5\":995,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s6\":2714,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s7\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s8\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s9\":0,\"NUM_PEOPLE_RATED__s10\":0}","fbconfig":"{\"message\":\"undefined\",\"name\":\"undefined\",\"link\":\"\",\"source\":\"\",\"picture\":\"http:\\\/\\\/l.yimg.com\\\/a\\\/i\\\/ww\\\/news\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/27\\\/yahoo-tc.jpg\",\"description\":\"\",\"captionLeft\":\"undefined\",\"captionRight\":\"undefined\",\"app_id\":\"196660913708276\",\"redirect_uri\":\"\\\/_xhr\\\/ugcratefbredirect\\\/\"}","template_id":"LONG_SLIDER_SOUTH","obj_id":"ratings_dc178b69f341a16a4cec98e8b4519cc1","opt_count":"6","opt_color1":"","opt_color2":"","template_html":"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-unveils-two-mid-range-cellphones-043559602--finance.html

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Refresh Roundup: week of September 17th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of September 17th, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

Refresh Roundup: week of September 17th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Reportedly Recuiting Google Ex-Employees In Bid To Improve iOS 6 Maps App

Apple is actively recruiting Google staffers who worked on Google Maps in an effort to bulk up its own Maps app, according to TechCrunch.

TechCrunch?s source is a contractor who spent time working with Google?s Street View service. The contractor has reportedly seen many of his co-workers accept new jobs at Apple.

According to the TechCrunch source: ?Many of my co-workers at Google Maps eventually left when their contracts ended or on their own accord. One guy looked around for other [geographic information system] work and ended up at Apple when a recruiter contacted him. He had heard rumors for a while that Apple was going to develop its own in-house mapping platform, and given his experience at Google, he was an easy hire. Apple went out of their way to bring him down to Cupertino and he?s now paid hansomly [sic] as a GIS Analyst."

The source added: "Another co-worker that was a project lead at Google Maps, left for the East Coast after his contract ended, and was recently contacted by an Apple recruiter. The position sounds like a product development manager position, and will pay him $85k+ and all the moving expenses from the East Coast. He?s gone through 2 rounds of interview and seems like a frontrunner to land that position.?

The source continued: ?Apple has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to build a robust mapping platform to counter Google Maps, so it doesn?t surprise me that it?s going out of its way to lure former and current Google Maps employees. At Google Maps, we know what data?s important, rendering priorities, keyword searches, and how the user experience is supposed to be. However, Apple needs to find a way to get its own 5 million miles of street view data, partner with the right folks, and spend a fortune on licensed data -- which it can.?

If this rumor is true, then it could mean that Apple is seriously committed to improving its Maps app and is aware that its current state is flawed. Obviously, there?s no word on how soon the Google ex-employees would

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-reportedly-recuiting-google-ex-employees-bid-improve-ios-6-maps-app-794845

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News and Society Blog-Environmental Info: Property Rights?

What is the meaning of This thorny concept was at one time largely taken for granted, as municipalities absorbed landowners real property into projects that were described as for the public good. These projects could include, for example, eminent domain seizure to construct a public parking lot.

We now see municipalities with wildly different philosophies on eminent domain.

For example, some municipalities in Upstate New York have chosen to pass industry-friendly pro-fracking statements that imply the entirety of their population are eager to have their communities changed into ubiquitous out-door factories for the sake of hydro-fracking for natural gas. Some real property owners within the municipalities have protested the secrecy used to pass these statements; many of which are passed at the whim of the town board members and without public input.

Other municipalities that may reside next door to the pro-fracking town boards may pass bans and moratoriums while attempting to gather information on the fracking process that will relate to the effect on human beings and the environment in their communities. Some real property owners say this is an infringement on their right of use of and profiting off their property. The question of property rights and what exactly they include becomes a very important issue when deciding who can do what on their property. It should be noticed however that common sense should help to provide an answer once and for all, namely that to engage in behavior that has the potential of harming our natural environment should be reseached and studied completely before any action is taken.

People who own property and want to gain revenue thereof, should be able to do so, but all property has borders, and on the other side of that border is someone elses property, which could be effected by the changes and conditions produced by the property next to it.

A little discussed matter is whether the environment, in and of itself, has rights. The very mention of this perspective is sensitive. We have ideas that range from the environment as raw material for capitlistic profit to environment as sacred.

As a nation, we seem to have been unable to discuss this matter. Profit sounds great until you find a nuclear facility next door to your home. Without fail we hear that accidents can happen but they have been regulated for. This is a wildly interesting idea. The nature of accidents is that we don't know what they will be.

For example, the Assumption Parish, Louisiana sinkhole caught everyone by surprise, is ongoing, seriously dangerous, and not broadcast to the nation. The sinkhole accident is in the process of unfolding and as of now, nobody knows what it will do. I suspect this would be the time for the good legislators of Louisiana to start legislating.

We need a serious conversation about property rights. Instead, the topic is swept under the rug as corporations and government go about their business of profit and power.

The human beings, probably more closely related to environment than to corporations/government, need to think about their wishes.

For more interesting articles please visit: http://what-renewable-energy.com

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert

Source: http://newsandsocietyblog-environmentalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/09/property-rights.html

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Thousands turn out for Canada Army Run

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Thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Ottawa early Sunday to cheer on participants in the Canada Army Run.

Photograph by: Chris Mikula , The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA ? The fifth instalment of the Canada Army Run was a family affair for Nick and Celine Best.
The brother-sister duo both blazed a trail in Sunday?s half marathon, each finishing second in their respective gender categories.
Nick?s impressive 1:10:23 finish might have even been quicker were it not for a cramp that forced him to take a quick walking break, he said at the finish line. He then heaped praise on his sister, whom he called ?the best runner in Canada?s Armed Forces.?
True to form, Celine crossed the finish line minutes later, at an equally impressive time of 1:23:46. Put another way, both of the Bests ran each kilometre, on average, in less than four minutes.
?I?m feeling it,? a panting Celine said at the finish line. ?I?m sore.?
But the combat engineer officer currently stationed at CFB Gagetown said the Army Run is the race she looks forward to above all others.
?For me, this is the race of the year, it?s the best race to do well at.?
Her brother?s support is the icing on the cake, she said.
?He runs this race because I?m in the army, so that?s one of the great things ? he comes out to support me.?
Thousands of people packed the streets of downtown Ottawa to cheer on participants as they ran, walked or wheeled along the five-kilometre and 21.1-kilometre routes.
The air was crisp as the annual autumn race, which Mayor Jim Watson called ?one of the great traditions of Ottawa,? began just before 8 a.m. This year?s event sold out in June.
Ill and injured soldiers, as well as athletes with disabilities, were the first to cross the starting line, as thousands of boisterous spectators cheered them on.
?You are everything that Canadians admire,? Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the group before they departed.
He and about 18,000 others ran in the two events. Gov. Gen. David Johnston also participated in the five-kilometre race and later cheered on runners near the gates of Rideau Hall.
Organizers expect the event will raise more than $150,000 for the military charities Soldier On and the Military Families Fund.
For veteran David Laverdure, the race is a way to honour the work he and other soldiers did at home and abroad.
?I run for my brothers and sisters in arms and those we left behind,? he said. Laverdure served overseas on United Nations and NATO missions.
He added that he?s also inspired by the tenacity shown by the injured soldiers, many of whom wear prosthetics or use wheelchairs.
?Any pain I have when I run is immediately gone when I see them start,? he said before the start of the half marathon.
Simon Mailloux was one of the participants who ran with a prosthetic leg.
The 28-year-old was injured in an IED blast in Kandahar in November 2007, but returned to Afghanistan in 2009 following his rehabilitation.
?The first few steps always hurt, but you get over the pain,? he said of the race.
He had his friend and fellow amputee Rick Rickard running alongside him, each challenging the other to dig just a little deeper.
Rickard, who lost part of his left leg in a training accident in 1988 and has run in all five Army Runs, said the support of people who line the streets of Ottawa and Gatineau is tremendous.
He had wondered if the support would wane once Canada?s combat mission in Afghanistan ended, but that doesn?t appear to be the case.
?I think the Canadian public actually learned that soldiers are there for a purpose, no matter if there is a mission in Afghanistan or anything else, and I think the support?s going to stay there,? he said.

? Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

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Source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Ottawa/Thousands+turn+annual+Army/7286629/story.html

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Real Estate Investors are Bullish on the Near Term | Mount Kisco NY ...

Despite rising prices and shrinking foreclosure inventories, 65 percent of active real estate investors plan to buy as many or more residential properties in the next 12 months as they did in the past year, according to a new joint BiggerPockets.com/Memphis Invest national survey conducted by ORC International for BiggerPockets.com, the nation?s largest and most active real estate investing social network, and Memphis Invest, one of the nation?s leading providers of single-family rental real estate investment services.

The survey found that 39 percent of active investors intend to increase their purchases over the next twelve months while 26 percent plan to buy as many in the year to come as they did in the past year. The 65 percent of investors who plan to buy the same amount or more in the next twelve months than they did in the past represents 4.5 million investors. Only 30 percent said they plan to buy fewer properties than they have in the past. Last year investors purchased 1.23 million homes, a 64.5 percent increase over 749,000 in 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Some 3 percent of American adults, or 7 million people, consider themselves to be real estate investors An additional 9 percent of all Americans own investment property today but have no current plans to buy more. Thus, one out of eight, or 28.1 million Americans, either consider themselves to be residential real estate investors or own residential investment properties today, according the survey .

?Though housing markets are changing across the nation, investors are still seeing great opportunities. Hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and short sales are coming to market and rents are continuing to improve in most markets, creating a positive environment for the nation?s 28.1 million residential real estate investors. They will certainly continue to be major players in the nation?s housing economy for the foreseeable future,? said Joshua Dorkin, founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.com. ?We?re talking about a group of Americans that is about the same in number as the number of Americans who own Roth IRAs (28.5 million) or the total number of money market fund shareholders (29 million). They have significant buying power.?

The survey also found that real estate investors are spending more than four times as much as the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program to repair and rehabilitate the nation?s housing stock. At a median expenditure of $7500 per property, investors are spending a total of $9.2 billion per year to repair the damage caused by foreclosures and rehabilitate the nation?s housing stock. By comparison, over the past four years Congress has authorized a total of about $7 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the government?s primary response to repair housing damaged by foreclosure. Twenty percent will spend $10,000 to $30,000 on their next property and 16 percent plan to spend more than $30,000.

?This survey puts some hard numbers behind the contribution that investors are making towards not only improving neighborhoods and fighting blight, but also the towards driving the economy. Investors are purchasing homes that in some cases sit for months and add a drag on local home prices. This survey shows that those investors are driving their local economies by spending billions in repair costs with local electricians, plumbers, flooring companies and laborers just to name a few. Those dollars provide jobs and put money into local economies with local companies. It?s clear that investors are the ones who have risking their own money to improve and stabilize neighborhoods for new owners or tenants,? said Chris Clothier, a partner with Memphis Invest.

The survey found that lower interest rates and the removal of limits on access to financing would provide incentives for investors to be even more active in the nation?s housing markets. Lower interest rates topped the list of incentives that would make active investors more willing to invest in additional properties (70 percent). A distant second was additional tax incentives for capital spent to purchase, rehab or renovate investment properties (54 percent). Third place went to elimination of limits imposed by lenders on the amount they will lend an investor (46 percent) and fourth to easing of rules on section 1031 Exchanges (44 percent). Only 30 percent said that the easing of securities laws limiting the pooling of capital by investors for purchases would encourage them to buy more.

Access to financing is a critical issue for most investors, however most lenders put limits on the amount they will lend an investor, regardless of credit history, property values or track record. Nearly half, 44 percent, would be willing to put down more than 20 to 50 percent on a business loan in order to be able to borrow more from a lender, without limits.

The study was conducted using ORC International?s CARAVAN Omnibus survey using both landline and mobile telephones on August 9-12/16-19/23-26, 2012 among 3036 adults , 1,515 men and 1,521 women 18 years of age and older, living in the continental United States. Some 2,285 interviews were from the landline sample and 751 interviews from the cell phone sample. The margin of error for the survey is +/-03%. All CARAVAN? interviews are conducted using ORC International?s (ORC) computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system.

Source: http://www.robertpaulsells.com/blog/real-estate-investors-are-bullish-on-the-near-term-mount-kisco-ny-homes/

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TheTorontoSun: Catch all the latest from Canada's Walk of Fame Red Carpet. Live. Right now. Just go here http://t.co/rubKTJT3

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Family: Minn. Somali left to join al-Shabab

FILE - In this March 10, 2011 file photo, Abdirizak Bihi, director, Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center, testifies during a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, on "the extent of the radicalization" of American Muslims, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Bihi, a spokesman for the family of 21-year-old Omar Farah, said Farah traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, renewing fears that the terror group is continuing to recruit U.S. Somalis to return to their homeland to fight despite some high-profile prosecutions in America and the deaths of some who have joined the insurgents. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - In this March 10, 2011 file photo, Abdirizak Bihi, director, Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center, testifies during a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, on "the extent of the radicalization" of American Muslims, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Bihi, a spokesman for the family of 21-year-old Omar Farah, said Farah traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, renewing fears that the terror group is continuing to recruit U.S. Somalis to return to their homeland to fight despite some high-profile prosecutions in America and the deaths of some who have joined the insurgents. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? A Minnesota man recently traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabab, a spokesman for his family said, renewing fears that the terror group is continuing to recruit Somalis living in the U.S. to return to their homeland to fight.

The investigation into al-Shabab's recruitment of young men has been going on for years, and authorities have never ruled out that more men could be traveling from Minnesota ? home to the largest Somali population in the U.S. ? to join the terror group. Still, there have been no public reports of travelers from Minnesota since 2009, and the investigation has been largely out of public view for more than a year.

But in recent weeks, some Somalis here have been visited by the FBI and subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury ? possible signs that the investigation has picked up. The reasons for the subpoenas were not immediately clear. Authorities would not confirm that additional men have recently traveled to join al-Shabab, and they would not say whether any increased FBI activity is connected to reports of recent departures or to the overall investigation.

But according to a spokesman for his family, 21-year-old Omar Farah left Minneapolis several weeks ago and called his aunt after his departure to say he was in the Somali town of Merca ? and that he was with al-Shabab.

Abdirizak Bihi, a member of the Minneapolis Somali community who has worked with families of some men who left Minnesota, spoke to The Associated Press on behalf of Farah's family. He said Farah told his aunt he wouldn't return to the U.S.

The date of Farah's departure was not immediately known because Farah had moved out of his aunt's home about 10 months ago and she did not realize he was gone until he called from Somalia, Bihi said. Farah's aunt, who brought him to the U.S. and raised him, declined a request to speak to the AP directly.

"When he told her that he was in Somalia and with al-Shabab, she was shocked," Bihi said Thursday. "As of today, she is still confused."

Bihi said Farah, who also went by the name Khalif, went to Edison High School in Minneapolis and attended the University of Minnesota for a year, but was not in school last year and was unemployed. Minneapolis Public Schools confirmed that a student by the name of Omar Farah graduated from Edison in 2010; the University of Minnesota confirmed a student by that name was enrolled in fall 2010 and spring 2011, studying electrical engineering.

Since 2008, Minneapolis has been the center of a federal investigation into travels and recruiting of people from the U.S. to train or fight with al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida and is considered a terror group by the U.S.

Authorities have previously confirmed that more than 20 young men left Minnesota starting as early as 2007. Some of those men have returned to Minnesota and been charged. Four have been confirmed dead by family members or authorities.

E.K. Wilson, the supervisory special agent overseeing the FBI's investigation in Minneapolis, said he could not confirm whether there have been any recent departures or whether the FBI is currently investigating those reports.

"The whole investigation into recruiting and the departures of Somali kids from the Twin Cities in 2007, 2008 and 2009 is definitely ongoing," Wilson said. "We're continuing to look hard at the possibility of continued recruitment and radicalization."

Reports of travelers and recruitment have died down in the past year, possibly because law enforcement has tried hard to stop it, and those who have supported al-Shabab or returned from camps in Somalia have been prosecuted, said Evan Kohlmann, a terror consultant who has assisted government investigations into al-Shabab recruiting.

But Kohlmann said there is now a sense that al-Shabab is under siege in Somalia, as the group faces increasing military pressure from African Union forces, so supporters might feel drawn to help. Recruiting also could just be a matter of timing.

"If you happen to have somebody who is an effective recruiter in a particular area, when he is there, there's a spike in recruiting," Kohlmann said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Minnesota chapter said that after about a year of quiet, it has seen a dramatic uptick in calls from concerned Somalis who have been contacted by authorities. Executive director Lori Saroya said that since the start of September, her office has heard from several Somalis who got calls or visits from the FBI or received grand jury subpoenas. Saroya said the purpose of the calls and subpoenas wasn't clear because the callers hadn't yet met with the FBI or gone before the grand jury.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney said she could not confirm whether a grand jury had been convened.

Bihi, the family spokesman, lost his own nephew, Burhan Hassan, after Hassan traveled in 2008 to Somalia, where he died. Bihi testified before a U.S. House committee in 2011 on Islamic radicalization.

He said this week that he believes recruiters are preying upon vulnerabilities of young Somali men who are often without a father figure and looking for a sense of belonging.

"I believe that the root causes of this problem, are a lack of programs for young people," Bihi said. "We have to have a door that they can come in. They are outside, looking in."

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-21-Missing%20Somalis/id-d5291a87488144fa94d1463395284205

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