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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

2 giant pandas from China land in Scotland

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, an elderly woman sees off the pandas in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. As part of a ten-year joint research program, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, the pair of giant pandas, were set off for the Edinburgh Zoo from the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in Sichuan here on Saturday, Xinhua said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Qiaoqiao) NO SALES

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, giant panda Yang Guang eats bamboo prior to a journey to Britain in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. As part of a ten-year joint research program, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, the pair of giant pandas, were set off for the Edinburgh Zoo from the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in Sichuan here on Saturday, Xinhua said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Qiaoqiao) NO SALES

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, staff carry giant panda Tian Tian in a cage, right, onto a truck in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. As part of a ten-year joint research program, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, the pair of giant pandas, were set off for the Edinburgh Zoo from the Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center in Sichuan here on Saturday, Xinhua said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Qiaoqiao) NO SALES

LONDON (AP) ? Two giant pandas from China landed Sunday in Scotland, where they will become the first to live in Britain in nearly two decades.

The 8-year-old pair, named Tian Tian and Yang Guang ? or Sweetie and Sunshine ? were welcomed by bagpipe players and a host of dignitaries as they touched down at Edinburgh Airport on a specially chartered Boeing 777 flight called the "Panda Express."

The pandas, from the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, are to stay for 10 years at Edinburgh Zoo, where officials hope they will give birth to cubs. The female, Tian Tian, has had twin cubs in the past, but not with Yang Guang. The male panda has previously fathered cubs as well.

The loan marked the beginning of a U.K.-China research program on the animals, and both sides have described it as a signal of a growing friendship between Scotland and China. China sometimes gives or lends the cuddly looking animals ? considered a Chinese national treasure ? to other countries to boost relations.

"It shows that we can cooperate closely not only on commerce, but on a broad range of environmental and cultural issues as well," said British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Zoo officials have spent the past five years securing the loan of the animals, which are expected to boost Scottish tourism. The loan was announced in January, when Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Britain to sign billions in trade deals.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland will pay more than 600,000 pounds ($935,000) a year to China for the loan of Sweetie and Sunshine, not including the expense of importing bamboo from the Netherlands.

The pair of pandas, which were given an in-flight meal of bamboo, apples and carrots, will have two weeks to settle at the zoo before going on display to the public. They will be kept in two separate enclosures for a few months until they are ready to be introduced to each other.

The zoo also plans to put four hidden "panda cams" in their enclosures and stream the footage online to attract viewers from around the world.

Britain's last giant panda, Ming Ming, lived in the London Zoo until 1994, when she was returned to China.

In 1974, British Prime Minister Edward Heath received two pandas from the Chinese government as a goodwill gift to mark his visit to China. Female Ching-Ching and male Chia-Chia became a much-loved attraction at the London Zoo, but never produced any cubs.

___

Sylvia Hui can be reached at: http://twitter.com/sylviahui

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-04-EU-Britain-China-Pandas/id-25dd5d3a7aa24b7f835d1ed89b824973

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Monday, December 5, 2011

uTest Helps Developers Build Better Software, Raises $17 Million

uTest, which provides software developers with a variety of testing services for their Web, desktop and mobile applications, has raised $17 million in Series D funding in a round led by QuestMark Partners. The new capital will be used to launch new tools to aid developers, and to open more offices in the United States - namely Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas (for starters). QuestMark co-invested with earlier uTest backers Scale Venture Partners, Longworth Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital and Mesco, at double the valuation of the company's $13 million Series C round. The startup has secured more than $37 million since its inception in 2007.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6Gbr5q8UgZU/

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Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a site that everyone who is interested in elearning should should visit at least once. In terms of its importance in the digital world, it shows potential to match Wikipedia. As a place where you can learn, or simply refresh your learning, in dozens of subjects, from algebra to economics to art history, I's easily one of the most useful, educational, and eye-opening places online to learn. And everything is free.

Khan Academy is an example of content conquering all. The video that teach the subject matter aren't flashy, don't use musical interludes, and aren't voiced by actors. The instruction is genuine, straightforward, and presented in a style that makes you feel like someone cares whether you get it.

The History of Khan
Khan Academy started when a former hedge fund analyst, Sal Khan, began tutoring his cousins, who lived in different cities, in mathematics using Yahoo Doodle and a telephone. Tight on time and with other scheduling concerns, the MIT-educated Khan began recording screencasts of his help sessions so he could post them to YouTube, where his cousin could watch them at their own pace. Before long, other YouTube viewers were watching the videos, too, praising the material for finally helping them understand a concept they had been struggling to learn. Sal Khan told this story at a TED conference in early 2011, which has since led to increased recognition of his online Academy.

Now with around 20 employees, non-profit institution Khan Academy has been expanding to offer more videos, additional learning content?such as practice exercises and learning "coaches"?and several other features.

What's Taught and What Isn't
The site needs a little more work in terms of structure, as the home page scrolls tirelessly through a long list of possible things to learn, grouped loosely by subject: seismic waves, inflation, the French Revolution, a 15-part series explaining the Paulson Bailout, and so on.

Khan Academy focuses on academic fields, for the most part, aimed at upper grade school and college-level students. But the beauty of free online learning is that anyone can attempt to learn, and indeed nothing restricts a user of any age or background from working through any of the material.

The site also covers what I would call "real life" subjects with an academic bent. For example, one set of videos explains the 2007 collapse of the U.S. housing market bubble. Another covers the ins and outs of mortgage-backed securities. But even this material is rooted in economics and mathematics. What you won't find are how-to lessons for learning things like setting up a blog (although you can find answers to that question and other similar ones on another site called Grovo).

Features
Anyone can use Khan Academy, and you don't even have to sign up, although there are some benefits to creating a username and password. For starters, the site will remember which videos you've watched. Additionally, it can point you toward practice exercises that test your knowledge of things you've learned.

Enrolled users can also access a "coaching" feature. Coaches are guides for learners, whether a parent, teacher, tutor, or study buddy. A coach can see a learner's progress and suggest other lessons the learner should watch. Coaches and learners must mutually agree to the relationship, so there's no worry that some unknown person will be able to see what you're learning.

Another relatively new feature is goal-setting. Both learners and coaches can set up goals for a learner, such as watch five consecutive videos, although the feature is new and I had a hard time figuring out just how to use it effectively. If you create a goal, the default is to complete any five videos or exercises; to name the specific material you want to cover, you have to create a "custom goal." The feature still needs a little work so that users can set goals for themselves with greater ease.

Non-native English speakers and hard-of-hearing or deaf learners will be happy to know that you can turn on subtitles with one click. And Khan Academy has been working on translating its content into ten of the most popular languages worldwide: Arabic, Bengali, French, German, Hindi-Urdu, Indonesian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.?

Effective Online Learning
What makes video-based learning unique is that the learner can go at his or her own pace, re-watch videos or pause them to think through an idea, and fit it when it's most convenient. Khan Academy just gets it, keeping the actual videos frills-free and the material approachable. If you are a student, parent, or just a life-long learner, Khan Academy will become a household name. The site has been expanding rapidly, so a few growing pains are evident, particularly in terms of organizing the content to be searchable in different ways (i.e., drill-down method). The Goals feature could stand some improvement, too. But Khan's content is phenomenal, and that is what ultimately matters.

More Education Software/Internet Reviews:
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??? Mediabistro Online Courses and Seminars
??? Grovo
??? Google Hotel Finder (Experiment)
??? Locavore (for iPhone)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/elRGbJgKXhI/0,2817,2397123,00.asp

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

LA Galaxy wins 6-1 in Philippines friendly

updated 10:39 a.m. ET Dec. 3, 2011

MANILA, Philippines - David Beckham scored the opening goal Saturday in the Los Angeles Galaxy's 6-1 win over the Philippine national team in a friendly that was part of the MLS champions' Asian tour.

Beckham gave his team the lead with a curling shot in the 20th minute, and Mike Magee was set up by Landon Donovan for the second goal before halftime. Adam Cristman added two goals in the second half, with Robby Keane and Greg Belhalter getting one apiece.

After being substituted midway through the second half, Beckham handed his shirt to boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, who was one of the about 13,000 spectators for the match. The former England captain said "I am a huge fan of his."

Despite the loss, Philippine coach Michael Weiss said he was "extremely unhappy" with his team's performance.

Phil Younghusband scored for the Philippines.

More newsVeejay Villafranca / AFP - Getty Images

Beckham lends a hand

Away from fans' prying eyes, David Beckham took time out from soccer to share his experiences and listen to Filipino children struggling to rebuild their broken lives.

Season set

Major League Soccer's 2012 season will open March 10 with six games.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45534339/ns/sports-soccer/

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Newt Gingrich: A Dog that Won't Hunt (ContributorNetwork)

ANALYSIS | Newt Gingrich's candidacy is surging, buoyed by the sharp decline in support for Herman Cain and the lack of another viable candidate to serve as an alternative to Mitt Romney. Romney has so far failed to expand his base of support, which has allowed Rick Perry, Herman Cain and now Newt Gingrich to claim, in turn, the Big Brass Ring of being portrayed as national front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination.

One of the problems that hamstrings Romney's attempt to break out and establish himself as the leading candidate to take on Barack Obama in the 2012 election is his reputation as a flip-flopping RINO (Republican In Name Only).

Religion

RINO is a label that turns off true-blue, rock-ribbed Republicans, and conservatives are seeking one of their own who can win the nomination and beat Obama. However, a bigger problem threatening the viability of his candidacy may be Romney's religion. This also reflects a problem Gingrich will face as according to 2012 Republican Candidates, he was born a Lutheran, became a Southern Baptist after graduate school, and converted to Roman Catholicism in his 60's.

Many evangelical Christians, one of the most powerful voting blocs in the GOP, view Mormons as heretical cultists. Thus, Romney's religion may prevent him from gaining the nomination as evangelicals put a de facto veto on his candidacy.

Similarly, Newt also may be blocked by evangelicals as he has had three wives and three religions. His latest religion is Roman Catholicism, a bugaboo of many evangelicals, including the large Southern Baptist sect whose church Gingrich joined and then left. A lack of support among evangelicals disgusted with Newt's personal life may doom his candidacy.

This Dog Won't Hunt

No Roman Catholic has ever been nominated for President by the Republican Party. Two divorced candidates, Ronald Regan and John McCain, have received the GOP nod, but both were seen as honorable men who had been married for many years to their second wives. Neither candidate had a reputation as a serial adulterer.

To use a metaphor popular in the Bible Belt regions that a conservative must do well in, Newt is a dog that won't hunt.

He has been portrayed for years in the mainstream media as a despicable human being, an ethically challenged political hustler who told his wife as she lay on a hospital bed recovering from cancer he was divorcing her. He gained a reputation as a world-class hypocrite by leading the impeachment of President Bill Clinton essentially for being an adulterous philander while conducting his own adulterous affair.

Conservative voters' disgust over his personal life may well doom Gingrich's run for the Republican nomination.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111201/pl_ac/10552621_newt_gingrich_a_dog_that_wont_hunt

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Kimball Sticking with Cain (TIME)

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Even low pollen levels can trigger kids' asthma (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Kids with asthma and pollen allergies were more likely to wheeze, cough and have shortness of breath and other asthma symptoms -- even when pollen levels were considered "low" -- in a new study that suggests parents need to be careful in all seasons.

Yale and Brown University researchers tracked more than 400 children with asthma, as well as the daily pollen levels near each child's home, over the course of five years. They found that despite daily maintenance medications, kids with pollen sensitivities were up to 37 percent more likely to have respiratory symptoms and to need rescue medication when pollen in the air was as low as six to nine grains per cubic meter -- a level the National Allergy Bureau calls low.

"In some respects, it's common sense that if a child is asthmatic and allergic to pollen, when they're exposed to pollen, they would bear some risk of asthmatic symptoms," said lead author Curt DellaValle, of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

"The biggest thing, though, is seeing these effects even with the lowest levels of pollen," he told Reuters Health. "It leads us to believe that parents of these asthmatic children should be aware that even when pollen levels are low, their children will experience asthmatic symptoms."

The researchers were surprised to find, though, that pollen-sensitive kids had fewer symptoms when ragweed pollen was at high levels. DellaValle said it may mean that the children's parents reacted to high pollen reports and took extra precautions.

"It suggested that they modified their children's behavior by keeping them inside, in air conditioning or by using air filters," DellaValle said.

Asthma affects more than 22 million Americans, nearly six million of them children, and the condition most often begins in childhood.

Symptoms can be exacerbated by irritants in the air, both outdoors and indoors, including air pollution, dust, dander and smoke. People with chronic or frequent symptoms may use so-called maintenance medications, taken daily or every other day, as preventives. Severe asthma attacks are usually treated with "rescue" medications, such as inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids in injected or pill form.

Previous research has yielded mixed answers about how much of an effect outdoor allergens have in provoking asthma symptoms, DellaValle's team writes in the journal Epidemiology. One problem, they say, is a lack of good data about local pollen levels over time.

DellaValle's team recruited 430 children with asthma between the ages of four and 12 in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts between 2000 and 2003. Each kid's mother kept a calendar tracking her child's asthma symptoms and use of asthma medications. The researchers also tested the children's blood for sensitivity to pollens from trees, grass and weeds.

To get a better picture of realistic pollen exposures, every year during the Northeast's pollen season -- generally from late March to early October -- the researchers used a model to analyze the amount of pollen within 1.2 miles (two kilometers) of each child's home. They also tracked daily and seasonal weather, foliage, when pollen seasons began and ended and peak pollen periods.

Among kids with sensitivities to particular types of pollen, even small amounts in the air could trigger asthma symptoms.

Children not on maintenance medication who were sensitive to grass pollen, for example, wheezed, coughed and had trouble breathing and other nighttime symptoms when they were exposed to more than two grains per cubic meter of grass pollen.

Kids on daily maintenance therapy and sensitive to weed pollen could have similar symptoms and a need for rescue medication at pollen levels above six to nine grains per cubic meter.

Among the kids sensitive to weed pollen, low-level exposures raised their risk of symptoms by 37 percent. That compared to a 23 percent rise in risk during the highest weed-pollen periods -- hinting that kids may have stayed indoors when pollen levels were known to be high, the researchers note.

Pollen levels were not tied to an increase in asthma symptoms in kids without allergies to specific pollens.

While the study expands understanding of how pollen can affect each individual, DellaValle says, more research is needed. Meanwhile, he advises parents to take necessary precautions to protect their asthmatic children who also are allergic to pollen.

"Be aware of the types of activities they are doing outside," he said. "Keep them inside when you know they are at increased risk."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/tWN9R8 Epidemiology, online November 11, 2011.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/hl_nm/us_pollen_levels

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