Military veterans and volunteer guides come together for a week of muskie fishing

• Veterans and guides participating in this year's Operation Muskie

Veterans and guides participating in this year's Operation Muskie watch and listen as Wisconsin fishing guide Norm Wild demonstrates casting and muskie fishing techniques Monday at Walsh's Bay Store Camp on Oak Island of Lake of the Woods. Now in its sixth year, Operation Muskie pairs 20 veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan with 10 guides who volunteer their services to take the soldiers muskie fishing for four days. (Brad Dokken photo)

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OAK ISLAND, on Lake of the Woods ? The fish did what muskies often do, appearing beside the boat seemingly out of nowhere Monday afternoon, just minutes into Rich Thorpe?s muskie excursion on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods.

The follow ? as it?s known in muskie-speak ? didn?t result in a hookup, but it set the stage for a week Thorpe and 19 other anglers won?t soon forget.

A master sergeant at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, Thorpe was one of 20 veterans selected to participate in the sixth annual ?Operation Muskie? on Lake of the Woods.

Walsh?s Bay Store Camp on Oak Island hosts Operation Muskie, which this year featured veterans from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nebraska and Massachusetts. The event pairs the veterans with 10 topnotch muskie guides who volunteer their services for the week.

Operation Muskie wrapped up Friday morning.

?I sit in Boston dreaming to be up here in this ? I don?t know what you?d call it ? a sportsman?s paradise, a fisherman?s dream,? said Thorpe, a New Jersey native who was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base from 2004 to 2010. ?You see the pictures, but you don?t really realize what you?re getting into until you get up here and experience it firsthand.?

How it started

According to Dick Pearson, a South Dakota muskie fishing authority and author of the book, ?Muskies on the Shield? and producer of a DVD with the same name, the idea for Operation Muskie developed from a soldier?s request to go fishing after a deployment to Iraq.

Pearson, who has a cabin on Oak Island and logs hundreds of hours fishing muskies, had sent copies of his books and DVDs to soldiers in Iraq and was corresponding with a few of the veterans.

He contacted Frank and Laura Walsh, island neighbors who own Walsh?s Bay Store Camp, to check on reserving a cabin.

Round up, 19 more veterans, they told him, and they?d turn over the camp for a week.

?We figured we could come up with 10 guides and 20 vets a year, so we decided to give it a try,? Pearson said. ?It was just an amazing experience and a tremendous success so we kept doing it.?

With this year?s Operation Muskie, organizers have entertained 120 veterans since 2008, Pearson said. All of the veterans have served deployments in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and Operation Muskie is a way of thanking them for their service.

?It?s an emotional thing for me,? Pearson said. ?It?s just so inspiring. You see the vets arriving, and I hate to use the word skeptical, but they?re looking, ?Where?s the catch, can it really be what it sounds like?? And by the end of the first evening, it?s a total different atmosphere. They?re happy, they?re laughing, they?ve caught a fish or they?ve had an experience.

?It?s just a great thing.?

Staying involved

Jeff Wiegand and Chris Green participated in the first Operation Muskie in 2008 and found the experience so moving they decided to stay involved. The veterans both were serving in Iraq when they heard about Operation Muskie and said being selected helped make the time overseas go by faster.

?It was so important to us and meant so much to us that we wanted to be part of this organization and provide other veterans an opportunity like we received,? said Wiegand, Sun Prairie, Wis., who was deployed to Iraq six times. ?It really has been life changing because we love it, helping take care of the veterans and giving them the opportunity and working with so many neat guides and Operation Muskie staff.?

Operation Muskie today is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a board of directors and volunteers who help with everything from fundraising to soliciting donations of fishing gear and other supplies. An online auction is the big fundraising event of the year, and sponsors include companies, private individuals and anonymous donors.

Wiegand is fundraising director, while Green, of Edgerton, Wis., is veteran affairs adviser, overseeing the selection process and coordinating fishing licenses and other documents the veterans need to access Canadian waters.

The hard part, Green said, is notifying the veterans who aren?t selected. As many as 130 veterans have applied for Operation Muskie in a given year.

Operation Muskie covers all of the costs after the veterans get to Warroad, Minn., where they receive a sendoff from a color guard before making the trip by road to the Northwest Angle and by boat to Oak Island.

?It?s cool for us because we know the excitement they?re feeling,? Wiegand said. ?We try to make it where it?s not about catching fish ? it?s about the experience.?

That experience also includes sharing stories. Last year, a guide Wiegand described as ?rough around the edges? pulled him aside and became emotional about the stories he?d heard on the water.

The veteran shared war stories he?d never told anyone and thanked the guide for listening.

?The guide was like, ?wow, you?ll never pull me out of Operation Muskie,?? Wiegand said.

Guide perspectives

Paul Klein of Van Dyne, Wis., hosted Thorpe and Terry Larson of Farmington, Minn., on Monday afternoon. Head guide for Operation Muskie, the Wisconsin muskie fanatic has been involved since the first event in 2008.

?It?s just a great way to say thanks,? Klein said. ?It?s just an unbelievable experience and opportunity.?

Also guiding was Jim Best of Gilbert, Ariz., who has a cabin on Oak Island. Best, who owns a mortgage company, is Operation Muskie?s business adviser, and his wife, Pam, is treasurer.

?It?s been just a riot ? by far my favorite week of the whole year,? Best said. ?I thought about the military when I was younger. There wasn?t anything of importance going on at the time. One of my biggest regrets was not being part of the military, but I can?t say why. This is my way of being part of it.?

Best said he enjoys watching the dynamic between the veterans change throughout the week and hearing their stories, some of which he can?t repeat.

?By the end of the week, they?re best friends and exchanging phone numbers,? he said. ?When it comes down to it, they appreciate each other. The quality of these military guys is just unbelievable, and I?m not sure they all go into the service that way.?

With another Operation Muskie in the books, there?ll be a few months to regroup and reflect before fundraising and selecting veterans for next year begins.

Pearson, the event?s founder, said he never envisioned what Operation Muskie would become.

?We weren?t sure how to do things, but it just turned out to be magical, and it?s gone smoothly every year,? Pearson said. ?They?re just so happy to be here, and it?s such a life-changing event for some of them, and I would think most of them. I don?t think we?ve had a single complaint.?

Thorpe, who boated his first muskie Wednesday afternoon, said he felt right at home on Oak Island.

?The numbers of fish, the follows, the strikes, the scenery, the guides ? it?s been amazing, just unbelievable,? Thorpe said. ?You learn so much from them. We saw some monster fish. This place is absolutely incredible.?

? On the Web:

operationmuskie.com.

baystorecamp.com.

---

Dokken reports on outdoors. Call him at (701) 780-1148; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1148; or send e-mail to bdokken@gfherald.com.

Tags: lake of the woods,?outdoors,?updates,?fishing,?fish,?travel,?muskies,?veterans,?ontario

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Source: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/267251/

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After Fighting Mobile Trend, Intel Now Embraces It - NYTimes.com

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Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/after-fighting-mobile-trend-intel-now-embraces-it/

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Alleged press images of Sony Xperia i1 Honami leak out

After posing for live shots yesterday, the Sony Xperia Honami made yet another appearance. This time around, the yet to be revealed top-shelf smartphone showed up in alleged press images, reportedly taken from a Xperia i1 Honami system dump.

The press images show both what appears to be the international version of the smartphone, as well as one which is bound for NTT Docomo in Japan. The press renders of the former appear to be in line with the recently leaked live images of the device. Sadly, no images of the device's back are available at the moment.

There is no official launch date for the Sony Xperia Honami. Considering the intensifying leaks of the device however, we doubt it will be a long wait. Until then, use the usual pinch of salt when checking out the images.

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/alleged_press_images_of_sony_xperia_i1_honami_leak_out-news-6295.php

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Happy 6th birthday, iPhone!

Six years ago today I was watching in barely contained rage-jealousy as my friends lined up to buy the original iPhone at Apple Stores across America. It had no third-party apps, no video recording, no MMS, no copy/paste, and nothing approaching the functionality of Treo, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, or Symbian (Wikipedia it) smartphones at the time, but it had a gorgeous capacitive multitouch interface and better first-party multitasking than had ever been seen in mobile before (it could switch from music to phone and back without crashing!)

The original iPhone was overpriced and under-functional, but it was also glorious and the beginning of a very real revolution in mobile. I got one here in Canada just as soon as it was jailbroken and unlocked, and could run on a local network (with a $200/100MB a month data plan!), and I've never looked back.

It was flawed, but it was the future. It was Steve Jobs' phone. It was Apple's phone. And it changed everything. Again.

If you had an original iPhone, let me know what you thought of it at the time, and how you feel now, on the occasion of it's sixth birthday.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/92ur8AtBMNM/story01.htm

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AP PHOTOS: Images of the western US heat wave

AAA??Jun. 29, 2013?5:56 AM ET
AP PHOTOS: Images of the western US heat wave
By The Associated Press??By The Associated Press

A jet looks like it is melting into the runway as it is distorted by the heat waves rising up from the north runway at Sky Harbor International Airport, Friday, June 28, 2013, the hottest day of the year so far. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Tom Tingle) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES

A jet looks like it is melting into the runway as it is distorted by the heat waves rising up from the north runway at Sky Harbor International Airport, Friday, June 28, 2013, the hottest day of the year so far. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Tom Tingle) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES

Elephants at Utah's Hogle Zoo are cooled off with a water hose Friday, June 28, 2013, in Salt lake City. The heat wave that is gripping the western U.S. is one of the worst in years, with desert locations in the Southwest seeing temperatures approach 120 degrees. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Michael Jackson impersonator Juan Carlos Gomez drinks some water as he takes a break from posing for photos with tourists along The Strip, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Las Vegas. A blazing heat wave expected to send the mercury soaring to nearly 120 degrees in Phoenix and Las Vegas settled over the West on Friday, threatening to ground airliners and raising fears that people and pets will get burned on the scalding pavement. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Ten-year-old Easton Martin, of Mesa, Ariz., stops to cool off in a misting fan while walking along The Strip with his family, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Las Vegas. A blazing heat wave expected to send the mercury soaring to nearly 120 degrees in Phoenix and Las Vegas settled over the West on Friday, threatening to ground airliners and raising fears that people and pets will get burned on the scalding pavement. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Bess, an orangutan at the Phoenix Zoo, keeps cool under a wet sheet and a hose, Friday, June 28, 2013 in Phoenix. Excessive heat warnings will continue for much of the Desert Southwest as building high pressure triggers major warming in eastern California, Nevada, and Arizona. Dangerously hot temperatures are expected across the Arizona deserts throughout the week with a high of 118 Friday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

A heat wave across the western U.S. was so punishing that rangers took up positions at trailheads at Lake Mead in Nevada to persuade people not to hike. Zookeepers in Phoenix hosed down the elephants and fed tigers frozen fish snacks. Dogs were at risk of burning their paws on scorched pavement, and airlines kept close watch on the heat for fear that it could cause flights to be delayed.

Here are pictures of the heat wave:

___

Follow AP photographers and photo editors on Twitter: http://apne.ws/15Oo6jo

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-29-Heat%20Wave-Photo%20Gallery/id-8ccca876dc974f1c9c79213228307498

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Egypt group: 22 million signatures against Morsi

CAIRO (AP) ? More than 22 million Egyptians have signed a petition calling for the country's Islamist president to step down, the youth group leading the signature campaign said Saturday on the eve of mass protests aimed at forcing Mohammed Morsi from office.

The planned demonstrations, which could plunge Egypt once again into a dangerous round of civil unrest, reflect the growing polarization of the nation since Morsi took power, with the president and his Islamist allies in one camp and seculars, liberals, moderate Muslims and Christians on the other.

Already, clashes across a string of cities north of Cairo over the past week have left at least seven people dead, including an American, and hundreds injured, and there are deep-rooted fears in the country that Sunday's protests will turn violent and quickly spiral out of control.

On Saturday, an Associated Press reporter saw Morsi supporters at a Cairo sit-in doing military-style fitness drills, with some wearing homemade body armor and construction helmets and carrying sticks. They said they had no intention of attacking opposition protesters, and would only act in self-defense or to protect the presidential palace.

The Tamarod, or Rebel, youth movement says its petition is evidence of the widespread dissatisfaction with Morsi's administration, and has used the signature drive as the focal point of its call for millions of people to take to the streets Sunday to demand the president's ouster.

Mahmoud Badr, a Tamarod leader, told reporters Saturday a total of 22,134,460 Egyptians have signed the petition. He did not say whether there had been an independent audit of the signatures.

Morsi's supporters, who have long doubted the validity and authenticity of the collected signatures, expressed skepticism about the final count.

"How do we trust the petitions?" asked Brotherhood member Ahmed Seif Islam Hassan al-Banna. "Who guarantees that those who signed were not paid to sign?"

If authenticated, the collection of so many signatures would deal a symbolic blow to Morsi's mandate and put in stark terms the popular frustrations with an administration that critics say has failed to effectively deal with the country's pressing problems, including tenuous security, inflation, power cuts and high unemployment.

Tamarod, which began its campaign with the goal of collecting more signatures than the 13 million votes Morsi garnered in his 2012 election win, announced its final tally the day before protests that organizers vow will bring millions into the streets to push the president from power.

Morsi, meanwhile, sought to project a business-as-usual image Saturday, meeting with the defense and interior ministers to review preparations to protect the protesters and vital state facilities during Sunday's demonstrations.

Egypt has been roiled by political unrest in the two years since the uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, but the round of protests set to kick off Sunday promises to be the largest and holds the potential to be the bloodiest yet.

In the past week alone, at least seven people have been killed in clashes between the president's supporters and opponents in cities in the Nile Delta, while on Friday protesters ransacked and torched as least five Brotherhood offices across the country.

Adding to the tension, eight lawmakers from the country's interim legislature announced their resignation Saturday to protest Morsi's policies. The 270-seat chamber was elected early last year by less than 10 percent of Egypt's eligible voters, and is dominated by Islamists who support Morsi.

With a sense of doom hanging over the country, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi last Sunday gave the president and his opponents a week to reach a compromise and warned that the military would intervene to prevent the nation from entering a "dark tunnel." It was the strongest expression of the military's discontent with conditions in the nation since Morsi took office a year ago.

In South Africa, President Barack Obama said the U.S. supports freedom of speech in Egypt and the right of protesters to peacefully assemble, and called on called on both sides in Egypt to avoid violence.

"We would urge all parties to make sure they're not engaging in violence (and) police and military are showing appropriate restraint," he said.

The opposition, feeling that Morsi may be on the ropes and frustrated by past offers of dialogue that proved to be mostly symbolic, has shown no inclination to compromise, and Morsi offered no concessions to his opponents when he addressed the nation for 2 ? hours on Wednesday.

The focus of Sunday's protests is Morsi's Ittihadiya palace in Cairo. As a precaution, the president and his family are reported to have moved into the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard, the branch of the army tasked with protecting the president and presidential palaces.

As the country waits to see what transpires Sunday, thousands of supporters and opponents of the embattled president held rival sit-ins Saturday in separate parts of the capital.

With expectations of violence running high, the military has dispatched troops backed by armored personnel carriers to reinforce military bases on the outskirts of cities expected to be flashpoints.

In Cairo, the additional forces were deployed to military facilities in the suburbs and outlying districts. Army troops are also moving to reinforce police guarding the city's prisons to prevent a repeat of the nearly half dozen jail breaks during the chaos of the 2011 uprising.

The opposition is demanding Morsi's ouster, saying he has lost his legitimacy through a series of missteps and authoritarian policies. They say early presidential elections should be held within six months of his ouster.

Hard-line Islamists loyal to Morsi have repeatedly vowed to "smash" the protesters, arguing that they were a front for loyalists of Hosni Mubarak, the autocrat ousted in Egypt's 2011 revolt, determined to undermine Morsi's rule. They also say that Morsi is a freely elected president who must serve out his four-year term before he can be replaced in an election.

Many Egyptians fear the new round of unrest could trigger a collapse in law and order similar to the one that occurred during the 2011 revolt. Already, residents in some of the residential compounds and neighborhoods to the west of the city are reporting gunmen showing up to demand protection money or risk being robbed.

The police, who have yet to fully take back the streets after they disappeared in unclear circumstances in 2011, have stepped up patrols on the outskirts of the city, ostensibly to prevent weapons and ammunition from coming into the city to be used in the case of an outbreak of violence. The army is advertising hotlines for civilians to call if they run into trouble.

In the latest reminder of the near lawlessness that has plagued the Sinai Peninsula bordering Gaza and Israel since the 2011 revolt, a senior security official officer was assassinated Saturday in the coastal city of el-Arish as he arrived home from work. Police Brig. Mohammed Tolbah was instantly killed and his driver seriously injured.

___

Associated Press writer Maggie Michael contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-group-22-million-signatures-against-morsi-125919145.html

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I'm afraid of taking a cancer test. Help!

Starshine Roshell weighs in on this and other quandaries

Dear Starshine,

I have a family history of ovarian cancer, and my physician recently offered to do a blood test to determine if I have the marker (CA-125) found in ovarian cancer cells. I declined. Although it would certainly be a relief if I didn't have the marker, what would I do if I did? Wait while my anxiety soaked my ovaries in a cancer bath? Or am I being irresponsible?

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know today: June 28, 2013

When family history puts you at high risk of developing cancer, you can go one of two ways: Tell yourself that you refuse to live in fear while you're secretly living in fear, or go all Angelina Jolie on its ass.

Jolie, whose mother and aunt both died young of cancer, said she underwent her recent double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer from 87 percent to five percent. Some celebs tweeted that she was brave to do it. Interestingly, breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge called Jolie's decision "fearful."

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Terror and courage aren't mutually exclusive, though. In fact, what good would bravery be without fear?

I trust you've done the requisite Googling on this, as I now have. I'm sure you know that this blood test isn't widely recommended because it can yield false positives that freak everyone out unnecessarily ? and even false negatives, which make it a pretty lousy test.

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But it's still the best predictor of ovarian cancer, and it is recommended for women with a family history of the disease. That's because ? and here's why you should be proactive ? ovarian cancer is hard to catch in its early stages. Routine pelvic exams and Pap tests won't detect it until it's further along than you'd want it to be for a great prognosis.

Can you learn from how the other women in your family discovered the disease? Do you have other people ? say, kids or a spouse ? whose interests you should consider when deciding your approach?

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It's your life, they're your ovaries, and you may very well never get cancer. Let's both say that again, aloud: You may very well never get cancer. But if you don't, it won't be because you ignored the possibility.

You fear that if the marker shows up, you'll make yourself sick with worry ? but you're already worried. (Relaxed people tend not to write into advice columnists or type the phrase "soaked my ovaries in a cancer bath.")

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Trust me when I tell you I've never quoted Angelina Jolie in my life, I'm unlikely to do so ever again, and I don't know what I would have done in her situation. But something she wrote about her decision struck me as wise, and I hope you'll think about it:

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.

SEE ALSO: The last word: He said he was leaving. She ignored him.

***

Dear Starshine,

SEE ALSO: How the NSA won its war

I've been with my boyfriend for a year and a half. We started dating and moved in together when I was 17. I finished high school and some college, but six months ago I ran out of money, and he was laid off from work. My parents recently offered me not only full tuition but also a car if I break up with him and move in with them, which my boyfriend said was "selfish to even think about." Our breakup has been a long time coming, but? do I simply pack my things and say "peace out"? Despite the fact that my best interests are in mind (I've got almost no chance of getting back into school while being in a relationship with him), he and I have an attachment and I don't let go of those easily. But I also know that being on the fast train out is better than making plans to leave and never doing so. What do I do?

Do I have this right? You move in with your boyfriend before you're even old enough to open a bank account in your own name. You blame him for your own failure to return to school. You need to be bribed in order to extricate yourself from a relationship that you believe is not in your best interest. You feel the car is worth mentioning here. And you fully admit that you might "make plans to leave" him but never follow through.

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If your parents are offering you full tuition to junior high, then I really think you should take it. But college? Oh, sweetie, no. You have too many other things to learn first. Starting with these:

People don't run out of money; they fail to budget. Attachments aren't supposed to be easy to let go of; that's why they call them "attachments." And good decisions aren't made based on how easily they are achieved.

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Be smart. Move out. Grow up. And don't take any money for doing it.

Send me your dilemmas via email: ToughLove@TheWeek.com. And follow me on Twitter: @ToughLoveAdvice.

SEE ALSO: Senate passes historic immigration reform ? but will the House follow?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/im-afraid-taking-cancer-test-help-090500203.html

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Man arrested over attack on John Constable artwork

LONDON (AP) ? A fathers-rights group said Friday that one of its members attacked a John Constable painting in Britain's National Gallery.

London police said a 57-year-old man was arrested at the gallery Friday after reports of damage to "The Hay Wain."

Constable's 1821 rural scene ? one of Britain's most famous artworks ? was removed for treatment, but the gallery said no lasting damage had been done.

The group Fathers 4 Justice said the vandal was Paul Manning, a "desperate dad" who had stuck a picture of his son on the painting.

The attack came just after another man appeared in court, charged with spraying paint on a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey earlier this month

Tim Haries, also affiliated with Fathers 4 Justice, was bailed until September.

Fathers 4 Justice campaigns on behalf of fathers denied contact with their children. It emerged about a decade ago and made headlines with high-profile demonstrations, including having members dressed as superheroes scale Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.

In 2004, members caused panic in the House of Commons chamber when they hurled purple powder at then-Prime Minister Tony Blair from the public gallery.

The original group splintered in 2006 following allegations that extremist members were plotting to kidnap Blair's young son Leo.

Earlier this month it said it was resuming "nonviolent direct action" because its attempts to lobby politicians for changes to the law had failed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-arrested-over-attack-john-constable-artwork-170047084.html

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Yahoo News Gets A Makeover, But The Bigger Improvements Are Under The Hood

A little over a month after Yahoo partnered with Twitter to beef up its homepage news feed with relevant tweets from news organizations, the company is today announcing a major makeover for one of its flagship properties, Yahoo News. The updated Yahoo News site is has been redesigned with a more modern look and feel, to better fit in with Yahoo homepage's new look, introduced earlier this year. But the bigger improvements are the less visible ones.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2Ov6SLKTy88/

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Biba Comes Out Of Stealth With $15M In Funding For Mobile-First ...

The smartphone is changing how people work but so far the applications for web conferencing have not taken much of a mobile-first approach. Biba, a new company coming out of stealth, has spent more than a year and $5 million in a Series A investment to quietly build a service that offers a lightweight way to use your iPhone, iPad or Android device to participate in conference calls or message people in your network.

Today the service is launching with $15 million in a Series B round led?by InterWest Partners, with participation from previous investors Benchmark Capital and Trinity Ventures. Other investors include Enrique Salem, former CEO of Symantec and Gary Griffiths, CEO of Trapit and the former President of WebEx.

The core of the service revolves around the user?s contact list. Events are scheduled and attendees are notified. In contrast to conferencing call services, Biba takes an active approach once meetings are scheduled, reminding attendees to register for the Biba service and again two hours before the meeting begins.

At the time of the call, Biba calls the user. There is no need for a user name or password. People who do not register receive a toll-free number five minutes prior to the call.

Biba?s features are all built on this concept of automating the conference call and offering ways to make it as easy as possible for people to participate. For example, it show if the user can?t take the call or if they are going to be late.

A person who has a lot of background noise can be muted. If the call drops, the user gets automatically reconnected.

The messaging platform allows people to be contacted from their contact list without the need for any phone number.?Messages are synced across mobile and desktop platforms. The user can see if the person they are trying to reach is available and if they have opened the message itself. They can also see when the other person is responding.

Biba is what Co-Founder Carlin Wiegner?calls Freemium 2.0. In the Freemium 1.0 world, services were free. If someone using a service left the company then the IT group would have to pay a subscription fee to have that ongoing capability. In Freemium 2.0, the customer pays for granular services such as auditing of call duration.

Wiegner made his mark with CubeTree, which he sold to SuccessFactors in 2010, during those buzzy years when Yammer, Socialcast and a host of other players were competing in the fresh enterprise social networking market. Those days are over ? the category is well-defined. Microsoft bought Yammer for $1.2 billion and Socialcast sold to VMware. Salesforce.com launched Chatter and has since made it core to its service. Last year, SAP bought SuccessFactors for $2.5 billion and made CubeTree its standard for its activity stream service.

He said the idea for a more streamlined way to do conference calls came at SAP when he lead the engineering team under the SuccessFactors umbrella. ?He spent a lot of time using Polycom conferencing and saw an opportunity to try and make the process less painful and mobile-centric.

Wiegner comes into a space that has competition such as Lync from Microsoft. Lync is a unified communications platform, offering a deep set of features. Biba is lightweight, more similar to a Google Docs in its simplicity and easy-to-use features.

What?s lacking are the sophisticated capabilities and rich, deep presence that a user gets with a service like WebEx.

But services like Lync and WebEx are also not mobile-first. Can they catch up? Yes, but that can also take some time when enterprise heavyweights are involved.

Business Conferencing and Messaging Biba is a free, mobile-first business app that helps people get in touch instantly. We solve basic communication problems that plague people every day. Biba is elegant: it?s frictionless, seamless and works across companies and devices.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/25/biba-comes-out-of-stealth-with-15m-for-mobile-first-password-free-approach-to-conferencing-and-messaging/

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Investigating iMessage security and privacy claims

How secure and how private is iMessage, Apple's SMS/MMS-like communications platform? Earlier this month, after news broke about the NSA's electronic surveillance program, codenamed PRISM, Apple released a statement detailing some specifics on the number of requests they receive from government agencies for customer records. As part of the statement, Apple claimed that iMessage conversations use end-to-end encryption and therefore cannot be decrypted by Apple:

For example, conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data.

Matthew Green, cryptographer and research professor at Johns Hopkins University, has raised some important questions about these claims, based on what little information is publicly available about iMessage encryption. In a post on his Cryptography Engineering blog, Green writes:

And that's the problem with iMessage: users don't suffer enough. The service is almost magically easy to use, which means Apple has made tradeoffs -- or more accurately, they've chosen a particular balance between usability and security. And while there's nothing wrong with tradeoffs, the particulars of their choices make a big difference when it comes to your privacy. By witholding these details, Apple is preventing its users from taking steps to protect themselves.

The first point Green raises is that iMessages are backed up and can be restored to a new device. If iMessages can be restored to a new device, then the encryption key can't be locked to the device. You can also read messages after resetting your password, meaning that the data must not be encrypted with your password either. This makes it unlikely, if not impossible, that the keys used to encrypt the stored messages are not possessed or recoverable by Apple.

Ultimately, there's no way for a person to ensure that messages are being encrypted with private keys only accessible to the person they're communicating with.

Green's second point has to do with how Apple distributes iMessage encryption keys. When another person sends you an iMessage, it is encrypted using their private key. In order to read the encrypted message, you must possess the sender's public key. However, you have no way of knowing whose public key you're receiving to decrypt the messages. For instance, Apple could theoretically be encrypting the messages with their own private key and sending you their public key to decrypt, in which case, Apple could decrypt the messages being sent. This isn't a particularly likely scenario as such an act, once discovered, would destroy any goodwill users have with Apple in entrusting them with their privacy. Although, a third party could also do the same if they had access to Apple's systems. Ultimately, there's no way for a person to ensure that messages are being encrypted with private keys only accessible to the person they're communicating with.

The third issue raised is Apple's ability to retain metadata. Even if all of the contents of your iMessages are securely encrypted, Apple's statement says nothing about protecting the metadata of those messages. This metadata would show who you talked to at what time, and possibly other seemingly innocuous details. While many people don't find this too concerning, an alarming number of details can be gleaned from this type of metadata. Without Apple addressing it in their statement, it remains unknown how this metadata is protected, if at all.

Finally, while iMessage does make use of SSL to encrypt communications with Apple's directory lookup service, it does not employ certificate pinning. SSL helps guarantee that communications are encrypted between the client and server. However, without certificate pinning, there is no assurance as to the identity of the server. It is not unheard of for valid SSL certificates to be forged, making it possible for malicious third parties to perform intercept traffic. Certificate pinning works by explicitly telling an application which SSL certificate should be trusted, rather than trusting any certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority.

This doesn't necessarily mean you should stop using iMessage.

This doesn't necessarily mean you should stop using iMessage. Many electronic communication methods, such as email, don't offer any sort of encryption by default. iMessage's encryption, at the very least, offers protection from casual eavesdroppers or criminals looking to capture your information. The points outlined by Green mean it could be possible for Apple, and in-turn law enforcement agencies, to decrypt communications sent over iMessage.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to know anything more specific without Apple providing more details on how they secure these communications.

Source: Cryptography Engineering

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

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Survivor of stellar collision is new type of pulsating star

June 26, 2013 ? A team of astronomers from the UK, Germany and Spain have observed the remnant of a stellar collision and discovered that its brightness varies in a way not seen before on this rare type of star. By analysing the patterns in these brightness variations, astronomers will learn what really happens when stars collide.

This discovery will be published in the 27 June 2013 issue of the journal Nature.

Stars like our Sun expand and cool to become red giant stars when the hydrogen that fuels the nuclear fusion in their cores starts to run out. Many stars are born in binary systems so an expanding red giant star will sometimes collide with an orbiting companion star. As much as 90% of the red giant star's mass can be stripped off in a stellar collision, but the details of this process are not well understood. Only a few stars that have recently emerged from a stellar collision are known, so it has been difficult to study the connection between stellar collisions and the various exotic stellar systems they produce. When an eclipsing binary system containing one such star turned up as a by-product of a search for extrasolar planets, Dr Pierre Maxted and his colleagues decided to use the high-speed camera ULTRACAM to study the eclipses of the star in detail. These new high-speed brightness measurements show that the remnant of the stripped red giant is a new type of pulsating star.

Many stars, including our own Sun, vary in brightness because of pulsations caused by sound waves bouncing around inside the star. For both the Sun and the new variable star, each pulsation cycle takes about 5 minutes. These pulsations can be used to study the properties of a star below its visible surface. Computer models produced by the discovery team show that the sound waves probe all the way to the centre of the new pulsating star. Further observations of this star are now planned to work out how long it will be before the star starts to cool and fade to produce a stellar corpse ("white dwarf'") of abnormally low mass.

Dr Pierre Maxted from Keele University, who led the study, said "We have been able to find out a lot about these stars, such as how much they weigh, because they are in a binary system. This will really help us to interpret the pulsation signal and so figure out how these stars survived the collision and what will become of them over the next few billion years."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Keele University, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

1. Pierre F. L. Maxted, Aldo M. Serenelli, Andrea Miglio, Thomas R. Marsh, Ulrich Heber, Vikram S. Dhillon, Stuart Littlefair, Chris Copperwheat, Barry Smalley, Elm? Breedt, Veronika Schaffenroth. Multi-periodic pulsations of a stripped red-giant star in an eclipsing binary system. Nature, 2013; 498 (7455): 463 DOI: 10.1038/nature12192

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/CV6uAPRK4io/130626142856.htm

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Hunger affects decision-making and perception of risk

June 25, 2013 ? Hungry people are often difficult to deal with. A good meal can affect more than our mood, it can also influence our willingness to take risks. This phenomenon is also apparent across a very diverse range of species in the animal kingdom. Experiments conducted on the fruit fly, Drosophila, by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried have shown that hunger not only modifies behaviour, but also changes pathways in the brain.

Animal behaviour is radically affected by the availability and amount of food. Studies prove that the willingness of many animals to take risks increases or declines depending on whether the animal is hungry or full. For example, a predator only hunts more dangerous prey when it is close to starvation. This behaviour has also been documented in humans in recent years: one study showed that hungry subjects took significantly more financial risks than their sated colleagues.

Also the fruit fly, Drosophila, changes its behaviour depending on its nutritional state. The animals usually perceive even low quantities of carbon dioxide to be a sign of danger and opt to take flight. However, rotting fruit and plants -- the flies' main sources of food -- also release carbon dioxide. Neurobiologists in Martinsried have now discovered how the brain deals with this constant conflict in deciding between a hazardous substance and a potential food source taking advantage of the fly as a great genetic model organism for circuit neuroscience.

In various experiments, the scientists presented the flies with environments containing carbon dioxide or a mix of carbon dioxide and the smell of food. It emerged that hungry flies overcame their aversion to carbon dioxide significantly faster than fed flies -- if there was a smell of food in the environment at the same time. Facing the prospect of food, hungry animals are therefore significantly more willing to take risks than sated flies. But how does the brain manage to decide between these options?

Avoiding carbon dioxide is an innate behaviour and should therefore be generated outside the mushroom body in the fly's brain: previously, the nerve cells in the mushroom body were linked only with learning and behaviour patterns that are based on learned associations. However, when the scientists temporarily disabled these nerve cells, hungry flies no longer showed any reaction whatsoever to carbon dioxide. The behaviour of fed flies, on the other hand, remained the same: they avoided the carbon dioxide.

In further studies, the researchers identified a projection neuron which transports the carbon dioxide information to the mushroom body. This nerve cell is crucial in triggering a flight response in hungry, but not in fed animals. "In fed flies, nerve cells outside the mushroom body are enough for flies to flee from the carbon dioxide. In hungry animals, however, the nerve cells are in the mushroom body and the projection neuron, which carries the carbon dioxide information there, is essential for the flight response. If mushroom body or projection neuron activity is blocked, only hungry flies are no longer concerned about the carbon dioxide," explains Ilona Grunwald-Kadow, who headed the study.

The results show that the innate flight response to carbon dioxide in fruit flies is controlled by two parallel neural circuits, depending on how satiated the animals are. "If the fly is hungry, it will no longer rely on the 'direct line' but will use brain centres to gauge internal and external signals and reach a balanced decision," explains Grunwald-Kadow. "It is fascinating to see the extent to which metabolic processes and hunger affect the processing systems in the brain," she adds.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/V5hlnSiuhhE/130625073802.htm

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NSA leaker Snowden expected to fly to Cuba

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The bizarre journey of Edward Snowden is far from over. After spending a night in Moscow's airport, the former National Security Agency contractor ? and admitted leaker of state secrets ? was expected to fly to Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador.

Snowden, also a former CIA technician, fled Hong Kong on Sunday to dodge U.S. efforts to extradite him on espionage charges. Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government had received an asylum request, adding Monday that the decision "has to do with freedom of expression and with the security of citizens around the world." The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks also said it would help Snowden.

Ecuador has rejected the United States' previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.

Snowden gave documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, often sweeping up information on American citizens. Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.

Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong to face espionage charges but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.

The Justice Department rejected that claim, saying its request met all of the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Hong Kong. During conversations last week, including a phone call Wednesday between Attorney General Eric Holder and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong officials never raised any issues regarding sufficiency of the U.S. request, a Justice representative said.

The United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington's position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S., a State Department official said. Snowden's U.S. passport has been revoked.

U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

An unidentified Aeroflot airline official was cited by Russia's state ITAR-Tass news agency and Interfax as saying Snowden was on the plane that landed Sunday afternoon in Moscow. The Russian report said Snowden intended to fly to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela.

The White House was hoping to stop Snowden before he left Moscow.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, "Given our intensified cooperation after the Boston marathon bombings and our history of working with Russia on law enforcement matters ? including returning numerous high-level criminals back to Russia at the request of the Russian government ? we expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged."

Still, the United States is likely to have problems interrupting Snowden's passage. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.

The likelihood that any of these countries would stop Snowden from traveling on to Ecuador seemed remote. While diplomatic tensions have thawed in recent years, Cuba and the United States are hardly allies after a half-century of distrust. Another country that could see Snowden pass through, Venezuela, could prove difficult, as well. Former President Hugo Chavez was a sworn enemy of the United States and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year called President Barack Obama "grand chief of devils." The two countries do not exchange ambassadors.

Snowden's options aren't numerous, said Assange's lawyer, Michael Ratner.

"You have to have a country that's going to stand up to the United States," Ratner said. "You're not talking about a huge range of countries here."

It also wasn't clear Snowden was finished disclosing highly classified information.

Snowden has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

___

Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace and Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Frederic J. Frommer in Washington, Lynn Berry in Moscow, Kevin Chan in Hong Kong and Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-leaker-snowden-expected-fly-cuba-050842508.html

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By taking in Snowden, Ecuador would defy US again

Journalists show passengers arriving from Hong Kong a tablet with a photo of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at Sheremetyevo airport, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Journalists show passengers arriving from Hong Kong a tablet with a photo of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at Sheremetyevo airport, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Journalists stand next to Ecuador's Ambassador's car while waiting for the arrival of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who recently leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at Sheremetyevo airport, just outside Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor, Snowdon is wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs, but was allowed to leave Hong Kong for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)

FILE - In this ?ug. 1, 2012 file photo, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, right, holds the hands of Christine Assange, the mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, during their meeting in Quito, Ecuador. Correa has embraced his role as a thorn in the side of Washington before, railing against imperialism in speeches and giving Julian Assange refuge in his embassy in London. But nothing he has done to infuriate the United States likely would rankle as much as granting the asylum being sought by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. WikiLeaks said Sunday, June 23, 2013 that Snowden formally requested asylum from Ecuador and the South American country's foreign minister confirmed receiving the request. The woman at center is a translator. (AP Photo/Martin Jaramillo, File)

FILE - In this June 20, 2012 file photo, a supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protests outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London. England. Ecuador President Rafael Correa has embraced his role as a thorn in the side of Washington before, railing against imperialism in speeches and giving Julian Assange refuge in his embassy in London. But nothing he has done to infuriate the United States likely would rankle as much as granting the asylum being sought by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. WikiLeaks said Sunday, June 23, 2013 that Snowden formally requested asylum from Ecuador and the South American country's foreign minister confirmed receiving the request. (AP Photo/Tim Hales, File)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? President Rafael Correa of Ecuador embraces his role as a thorn in Washington's side, railing against U.S. imperialism in speeches and giving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refuge in his nation's embassy in London.

But nothing Correa has done to rankle the United States is likely to infuriate as much as granting the asylum being sought by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who faces espionage charges back home after revealing details of two highly secret surveillance programs.

WikiLeaks, which has been assisting Snowden, said Sunday that he formally requested asylum from Ecuador. Ecuador's foreign minister confirmed receiving the request, and analysts said the precedent set by Assange's case suggested Correa would honor it.

Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday, and Aeroflot confirmed that he was booked to fly to Cuba on Monday. The reports said he was then booked on a flight to Venezuela, another South American country whose government has touchy relations with Washington.

Both Cuba and Venezuela previously had been rumored as possible destinations for Snowden, although they now appeared more likely to be only transit points on the way to Ecuador.

"Correa may find it hard to resist the temptation to get increased attention and seize this opportunity to provoke and defy the U.S.," said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. "Correa is confrontational and relishes fights. Should he ultimately grant Snowden asylum, one hopes that Correa has thought through the likely consequences of such a decision."

Taking in Snowden certainly would increase Correa's popularity among those who see him as a champion of open information, help him counter criticism of a new media law that some call an assault on freedom of speech in Ecuador and cement his name as a leading voice of opposition to U.S. foreign policy.

But it could threaten preferential access to U.S. markets for Ecuadorean goods under the U.S. Andean Trade Preference Act, and strain already shaky ties between two nations that only last year re-established full diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.

Some 45 percent of Ecuadorean exports went to the United States last year, accounting for about 400,000 jobs in the small nation.

Giving Snowden asylum for leaking secret information would be "irresponsible," former Ecuadorean diplomat Mauricio Gandara said.

"It would be an illegal act, because what he has done is a crime in both the United States and Ecuador," said Gandara, who was Ecuador's ambassador in London. "It is a confrontation with the people and government of the United States and both (political) parties. It is an unnecessary conflict."

Ecuadorean analyst Grace Jaramillo said Washington takes the Snowden case more seriously than Assange's because it involves an internal leak of intelligence activities that otherwise operate in total secrecy.

"The United States will keep pushing until the end for Snowden to be handed over, and could even resort to commercial sanctions or direct intervention if the case becomes difficult," Jaramillo said.

Yet, granting him safe passage and refuge has appeal for Ecuador as well as Cuba and Venezuela, which have all been criticized for rules limiting independent media.

"This is a case in which I think the U.S. does not look all that good," said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at the University of Georgia.

"I think it's quite useful for either Venezuela or Ecuador to grant a person like this asylum, because it allows them to sort of deflect attention towards the United States and the United States' own shortcomings," Smilde said.

The Cuban state controls all TV, radio and newspapers. Venezuela has done things like forcing TV stations off the air by not renewing licenses and detaining people for tweets deemed destabilizing. Ecuador's media law, approved last week, establishes official media overseers, imposes sanctions for besmirching personal reputations and limits private ownership to a third of radio and TV licenses.

But Cuba and Venezuela are both in the midst of quiet thaws in long-chilly ties with the United States, and taking in Snowden would likely damage those efforts.

Last week, Cuba and the United States held talks on restarting direct mail service, and announced that a separate sit-down to discuss immigration issues will be held in Washington on July 17.

Diplomats and officials from both countries also report far greater cooperation in behind-the-scenes dealings, including during a brief incident involving a Florida couple who sought asylum in Cuba after kidnapping their own children. Cuba worked with U.S. officials to quickly send the couple back to face justice.

Philip Peters, a longtime Cuba analyst, said allowing Snowden to pass through Cuban territory would not necessarily doom rapprochement, though he acknowledged the fallout would be unpredictable.

"My guess is that it would be a blip, because Cuba, by allowing him to pass through Cuban territory, is hardly embracing his actions, or sheltering him or giving him asylum," Peters said.

It's the same story for Venezuela, which earlier this month agreed to high-level negotiations on restoring ambassadorial relations and easing more than a decade of sour ties. That announcement came after a meeting in Guatemala between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua.

Caracas has huge commercial dealings with the United States, which remains the No. 1 buyer of Venezuela's oil.

"It's much better for President Nicolas Maduro that (Snowden) is not going to Venezuela," said Gregory Weeks, a political scientist specializing in Latin America at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "It's something that Maduro really doesn't want to have to deal with, whereas Correa, he's already in it (by giving Assange asylum). So of all the places to go, Ecuador is logical."

Being placed on the international stage by Snowden's asylum bid drew mixed reactions from Ecuadoreans.

"People who steal information or any other thing should face the consequences, and Ecuador shouldn't get involved," said Maria Jimenez, a 42-year-old homemaker.

Jorge Rojas Cruzatti, a 34-year-old web designer, disagreed.

"I'm proud of my country ... and more than pride, I'm glad that human rights are being protected," he said. "Other countries wouldn't dare grant this type of support to citizens who are helping protect freedom of expression."

___

Associated Press writers Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador; Paul Haven in Havana; Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia; and Luis Andres Henao in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-24-NSA-Surveillance-Latin%20America/id-82569fa50a8a4148878fc805c7d958d0

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A New Echolocation Algorithm Can Map Spaces Based on Sound Alone

There?s plenty of precedent for echolocation in the natural world: bats can navigate based on the echo of their chirrups; and blind humans, at least anecdotally, sometimes develop remarkable sound-based spatial skills. But using sound to accurately map a space in three dimensions? That?s new.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TDtPCs8USNA/a-new-echolocation-algorithm-can-map-spaces-based-on-so-561634511

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Court to hear appeal of abortion buffer zone

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court will reconsider the constitutionality of a 2007 Massachusetts law that bars protests in 35-foot "buffer zones" around abortion clinic entrances, exits and driveways.

The justices on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from abortion opponents, who wanted the law thrown out. The law allows individuals to enter the buffer zone only to enter or leave the clinic or reach a destination other than the clinic.

Abortion opponents who regularly stand outside clinics in Boston, Worcester and Springfield claimed the law unfairly keeps them from engaging patients in conversations at a closer distance.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying it protects rights of prospective patients and clinic employees "without offending the First Amendment rights of others."

Justices will reconsider that decision.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-24-Supreme%20Court-Abortion%20Buffer%20Zone/id-b1602688aabe485cb3c0e11845abb54e

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How to Downsize Your Home Without Losing Your Mind

Whether you're moving from a palatial estate to a downtown apartment or you're moving in with a significant other, downsizing is in order. Moving from a large home full of your stuff to a smaller space can be tricky, and while it's easy to say "just get rid of your extra stuff," doing it is much harder. Here's how to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Over the past few years, many people have downsized not because they want to, but because the housing market crashed. Others (myself included) opt to live in a smaller space because it's in a desirable neighborhood, close to work, or downtown near amenities. The two biggest cost concerns when looking for a place to live are size and location, and regardless of why you're downsizing, there are some ways to make the move easy.

Take Inventory: What Would You Replace If It Were All Gone

Before you do anything?before you even move and know how much space you have to move into, the first thing to do is take a close inventory of your belongings. Ask yourself, If everything you owned was lost in a fire, what would you replace? Take stock of the things that are actually important to you, and the things that you could live without, or could actually replace or downsize along with your living space.

Ideally, you'll make three lists: Must haves, can live withouts, and things I could replace. Your must haves obviously need to come with you. Your "live withouts" are the things you could sell, donate, or get rid of entirely in some fashion?or at the very least aren't necessary. That doesn't mean you'll get rid of them, just that if space becomes a concern, they're the first ones to go. Your "could replace" list should be reserved for things that you could potentially sell and buy something smaller that you'd like, like a smaller TV instead of the massive wall-hogging monster you have now, or space-saving furniture compared to the huge sectional couch and recliners you may own today. Plus, taking a full inventory of your things is a great way to make a detailed home inventory, for that renter's or homeowner's insurance that you should absolutely have.

If you're moving into a smaller space with someone else and combining households, this step is even more important, not just for you, but for the person you're moving in with as well. Go through your inventories together. Be ruthless with your lists, too?it's often said that the things you own expand to fill the space you live in, but the opposite, that they contract to fit nicely, never happens.

Sell, Sell, Sell: What Are You Better Off Owning Versus Having Money to Buy?

The next step is to part with those things that you don't need and sell them for cash. We've given you a complete guide to selling your unwanted stuff for the most possible money, so get together with your neighbors and host a yard sale to get rid of those heavy furniture items or appliances, and use your seller's guide to Craigslist to craft the perfect listings for your old books, computer accessories, or anything else you want to make some money on. After all, the core part of downsizing is to downsize, so try to make as much money from the things you won't take with you as possible. The more money you make, the more you'll be able to buy things that are size appropriate for your new home, or save the money and enjoy your new life in your smaller space.

Similarly, think about some of the things you own that are just "insurance" items. For example, an extra mattress in the garage, or the futon in the basement?those things you keep for no reason other than the possibility of something you do use every day breaking. Those are prime candidates to sell: The things you're keeping are only depreciating in value. You'll do yourself a favor by stashing the money you get from them in a savings account and buying a couch or a futon if you ever need one instead of holding on to an old, musty one just in case.

Decluttering and downsizing is hard, make no mistake?selling things makes it easier because honestly, who doesn't like money? If you need more help though, check out our guide to kicking your clutter habit for tips to make the whittling process as easy as possible. Similarly, if you're a clotheshorse and your problem comes from your wardrobe, we have some specific tips to help you out there, too.

Finally, whatever you do, if you can't sell it, don't hesitate to donate it to charity, like your local Goodwill, or whatever other organization you prefer. If you can't make use of it and it's in good condition, someone else will, and they'll appreciate it.

Never Duplicate, If You Can Help It

We mentioned that if you're moving into a smaller space with someone, making sure you go over your inventories together is essential. The last thing you want to do when trying to combine two households is to find out that you've both brought two full sets of dishes, flatware, glasses, or worse, large items like chairs, couches, desks, and so on. This is where it's even more important to have a home inventory in-hand before you move, and that you both sit down and make decisions on the things you want to keep, who brings the dishes and who brings the glasses, who brings the bed and who brings the couches.

We talked a bit about smoothing the transition when a significant other moves in, but the big challenge when you move in with a partner in a smaller space will be making sure you both bring only what you really need and really want, and that you're both on the same page about exactly how minimal your new home will be.

Even if you're not moving in with someone else, duplicating items is a terrible idea. It should be easier to avoid since the only person you're dealing with is you, but keep in mind that when you're downsizing you may not have room for enough beer glasses to entertain a crowd of 20, and that most nights it'll be you and maybe your significant other?two or four (in case you have a few guests) will suffice. Get out of the mindset that you can have multiples of an item just because you prefer one or the other in very niche circumstances, and you'll be in good shape.

Give Yourself Plenty of Storage Options

Once you do make the transition to your new home, make sure to make use of all of the available storage space you can get your hands on. Ottomans that open up and have space inside, wall-mounted shelving, under-bed storage boxes, they're all your best friend if you're moving to a smaller space. One rule of storage when it comes to small spaces is that you should store up, not out, so if you can make use of your walls for storage and shelving, do it?it'll keep things off of the floor and out of your immediate living space. We have some storage tips to help you out, and of course, a trip to the Container Store or IKEA will always offer some inspiration to help you get organized.

One point though?think about what you can do with the stuff you have before you go buy a bunch of containers that just adds to the overall clutter. We've mentioned before that you shouldn't get seduced by boxes, containers, and organizational gadgets?they can often just add to the problem by encouraging you to put stuff you don't need into pretty boxes that look nice on a shelf, when that shelf could be used for something you actually want, or better yet, nothing at all until it's needed. Try to think of your downsizing as an opportunity to do something new and live a lighter life with a lighter load instead of spending more money shoehorning the things you have into a smaller space.

Finally, as an absolute last resort, consider getting a storage space. You're essentially paying rent to someone just to house your stuff?stuff that you're not using, and storage units are almost never ever a good deal when you do the math and figure out how much you'll pay for the unit every year versus the actual value of the items you're putting into storage. If your items are absolutely essential, sentimental, or extremely valuable and you don't have room for them, then it's an option, but if you're storing things because they're "just in case" items like we mentioned earlier, sell them, pocket the money, and keep the money "just in case."

Try to Stay Organized, and Be Ruthless About What Enters Your Space

Finally, once you've managed to move into a smaller space and you've trimmed your possessions down to the things that actually matter to you, adopt a fairly ruthless approach to what comes into your home. Space is at a premium, and an "organized" small space can become a "cluttered" small space without much time or effort. Make sure that everything you bring in, everything you buy or order online, is something you can store with the space you have now and something you really want or need. Make compromises if you have to, like "I'll buy these new jeans, but I'll get rid of as many pairs that don't fit anymore," or "I really want this chair, but I'll have to get rid of my old one to make room for it."

It may sound logical, but don't just acquire more things without thinking about where they'll go and how they'll fit into your lifestyle. When you have large open spaces in your home, it's one thing to squeeze something in between two other things. When you have no wall space and floor space is at a premium, it's hard enough to find space to unpack a box that something came in, much less find a place to put the actual delivery.

Downsizing doesn't have to be a hassle or a horrible experience?it may sound like it, and parting with the things you own can definitely be emotional, but try to think about the life you'll get in exchange for the crap you're giving away. If you're moving to a smaller apartment to shorten your commute or live in the neighborhood you've always wanted to, remember that, and try to make sure that new life is as happy as possible. If you're downsizing because you need to save money, think about the money you'll save, and the savings you'll build up by selling the crap you don't need?use it as motivation to never get stuck in a bad financial position again. Whatever your reasons are, attitude matters?and the more upbeat you can make the process, the smoother it'll go.

Photos by joeymanley, AWA, Melvin Baker, Dave Friedel, and photo5693 (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/24vGWLKUwHE/how-to-downsize-your-home-without-losing-your-mind-523560358

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