New Toshiba Laptops, Ultrabooks for Windows 8 Unveiled

In addition to its new touch screen units designed with Windows 8 in mind, Toshiba has also unveiled at IFA today four new systems of varying sizes and features optimized for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system. All systems will include Toshiba Desktop Assist, which provides the familiar control panel and shortcuts seen in Windows 7, as well as Toshiba Central, which is Toshiba's proprietary assistance software that's arranged in a tiled-style layout similar to that of the new Windows platform.

Toshiba Satellite P845t
Designed to be Toshiba's mainstream Windows 8 system, the Satellite P845t is a souped-up, Windows 8-ready version of the Satellite P845. The first thing you'll notice about the P845t is its absence of a bezel, as it sports an edge-to-edge 14-inch display. Notwithstanding its good looks, the primary ingredient in the display is its capacitive touch capability, which in turn makes navigating the tiled interface of Windows 8 a more fluid experience. An etched aluminum chassis in a champagne silver finish complements its slim-form-factor to result in an overall refined aesthetic. In addition to being kitted out with three USB 3.0 ports, the P845t is also equipped with an HDMI port as well as Intel's Wireless Display technology. On the inside, it packs a third-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB DDR3 RAM, and a 750GB HDD.

Toshiba Satellite U845W with Windows 8
With the exception of its inclusion of Windows 8, the latest iteration of the Toshiba Satellite U845W is essentially a dead ringer for its predecessor. Like its earlier incarnation, the new U845W's 3.5-pound chassis is 21mm thick and is constructed out of aluminum with a soft-touch rubber material running along the cover. But most attention once again centers on its 14.4-inch diagonal display with an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio and a maximum resolution of 1,792 by 768. While it's not equipped with a touch screen like the P845t, the U845W's larger screen provides more screen real estate for navigating through Windows 8's horizontal layout. Moreover, its ClickPad features Windows 8 gesture support. The U845W can be configured with either a third-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. Users can opt for a 500GB HDD with a 32GB SSD cache or a 256GB SSD. Regardless of which configuration users choose, the U845W features three USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a memory card slot. Like all other systems in Toshiba's new lineup, there's Desktop Assist and Toshiba Central included to ostensibly makes the user experience easier. Pricing for the new U845W is expected to be on par with that of the current model.

Toshiba Satellite U945
The Toshiba Satellite U945, meanwhile, is set to replace the Satellite U845. Sporting an all-plastic construction that weighs less than four pounds and measures .78 inch in thickness, it occupies the affordable-ultrabook niche in Toshiba's new lineup, with an as-of-yet undetermined price slated to cost roughly fifty dollars less than comparable systems. The U945 sports a 14-inch LED display, and can be configured with a third-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor. It comes with a 500GB HDD with 32GB SSD, and features dual USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, and a full-size HDMI port.

Toshiba Satellite S955
Rounding out the new lineup is the Toshiba Satellite S955, an all-purpose desktop replacement. With its 15.6-inch display, the S955 sports the largest screen of the group. While it's also the bulkiest system in the lineup, the five-pound S955 nonetheless sports a thin profile that measures just under an inch in thickness. As an added aesthetic flourish, its brushed aluminum chassis comes in an Ice Blue finish. Typical of its class, the S955 comes equipped with a full-size keyboard, numeric pad, and a built-in DVD drive. Under the hood, it can be configured with either an AMD A8 or third-generation Intel Core i5 processor, up to 8GB RAM, and a hard drive capacity of up to 750GB. The S955 also sports dual USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, and an HDMI port.

All systems are set to launch in conjunction with Windows 8 on October 26, but may be displayed in retail stores as early as October 12.

For a closer look at these new systems, check out the slideshow below.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/wj9VqsmBjN4/0,2817,2409014,00.asp

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British Troops Unveil Nearly-Naked Salutes for Prince Harry?

GETTY IMAGES

Prince Harry completed his Apache attack pilot training Wednesday.

After Prince Harry was caught baring it all during a Vegas romp last week, his Army peers have chosen a unique way to expose their support for the 27-year-old royal.

Harry, a Captain in the British military, was snapped sans clothing ? albeit in a blurry fashion ? in his Vegas VIP suite while partying with a group of similarly-unclothed girls. And while the photos have shocked the world (or at least those not familiar with some of his previous antics) and caused embarrassment for the Royal Family, his brothers and sisters-in-arms are coming to his defense with a full frontal assault of their own.

(MORE: Prince Harry: Naked Photos Surface Online)

Former serviceman Jordan Wylie began a Facebook group last weekend called ?Support Prince Harry with a naked salute!? Its membership has quickly grown to 15,000 and has seen many troops getting (mostly) naked in support of the Prince. (The not-safe-for-work Facebook page can be found here.) Service members of both sexes have sent in pictures of themselves using only their firearms, flags, rucksacks or boots to protect their modesty. Among the highlights: a wonderfully-worded ?21-bum salute? by members of The King?s Royal Hussars. Keep it classy, troops.

The Daily Mail is showing many examples on its site, which have been posted from as far afield as Afghanistan as well as Harry?s home turf in the U.K. ?He might be a royal but he is also a hard-working Apache helicopter pilot and he wants to have some fun. I?m sure Harry will be quietly smiling about the Facebook group,? Wylie told the Daily Mail.

(LIST: Prince Harry?s Crown Jewels and King Henry VIII?s Wives: Top 10 Royals Behaving Badly)

But while the Prince is likely set for a dressing-down (ahem) when he returns to the Army Air Corps next month, the troops that have shown themselves on Facebook likely won?t receive such reprimand.

?It?s unlikely anyone will get the book thrown at them,? an unnamed Army source told the Daily Mail. ?Everyone sees the funny side but there are people at senior levels in the Army who do not consider this to be appropriate.? Yet those senior figures may yet have more on their plate to deal with, as rumors are zooming around the Internet that a video of Harry?s exploits exists. If that turns out to be true, we only wonder: will the troops respond in kind?

PHOTOS:?Princess Diana: 50 Images of a Royal Icon

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/time/topstories/~3/Fwgzd6dzNLg/

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Spain capital outflows rise nearly 40 percent in June

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain saw close to a 40 percent rise in capital outflow in June, Bank of Spain data showed on Friday, as investor confidence in a country struggling to balance its public accounts eroded further.

The central bank reported that net capital outflow, not including central bank operations, was 56.6 billion euros ($71 billion) in June, after an outflow of 41.3 billion euros in May.

A total of 315.6 billion euros of capital has left the country in the year to end-June, equivalent to nearly one-third of the country's economic output. In the first half of 2012 capital outflow was 220 billion euros.

Spain's economy entered a recession at the end of last year, and falling output and tax revenues will test the country's ability to cut its public deficit to meet European Union demands.

One analyst said Spain's dire situation would be helped if the country calls for a rescue package to lower its financing costs, something the government is contemplating.

"The capital outflow is due to a lack of confidence from foreign investors in the country's solvency, and I hope this changes when the ECB starts buying debt," said Nicolas Lopez, economist at M&G Valores.

The ECB is expected to unveil details of its latest bond-buying mechanism aimed at helping to lower the financing costs of struggling euro zone states when it meets on September 6.

The data came as Spain's banks are awaiting the first instalment of a rescue package of up to 100 billion euros to help them to recapitalize, which should arrive in late September or in October.

The Bank of Spain also reported the country's current account registered a deficit of 257.2 million euros in June, versus a gap of 1.3 billion euros in the same month a year earlier.

The trade deficit alone stood at 2.2 billion euros in June, versus 3.4 billion euros in June 2011 as the pace of increase in exports outstripped the increase in imports. ($1 = 0.8001 euros)

(Reporting by Nigel Davies, Additional reporting by Jesus Aguado and Manolo Ruiz, Editing by Clare Kane and Stephen Nisbet)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-capital-outflows-rise-nearly-40-percent-june-101614051--business.html

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Surprisingly bright superbubble: Winds from massive stars and shocks from supernovas carve out 'superbubbles' in the gas

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? A new composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44.

The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.

A long-running problem in high-energy astrophysics has been that some superbubbles in the LMC, including N44, give off a lot more X-rays than expected from models of their structure. A Chandra study published in 2011 showed that there are two extra sources of the bright X-ray emission: supernova shock waves striking the walls of the cavities, and hot material evaporating from the cavity walls. The observations show no evidence for an enhancement of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the cavities, thus ruling out this possibility as an explanation for the bright X-ray emission. T

his is the first time that the data have been good enough to distinguish between different sources of the X-rays produced by superbubbles.

The Chandra study of N44 and another superbubble in the LMC was led by Anne Jaskot from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The co-authors were Dave Strickland from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, Sally Oey from University of Michigan, You-Hua Chu from University of Illinois and Guillermo Garcia-Segura from Instituto de Astronomia-UNAM in Ensenada, Mexico.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chandra X-ray Center.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/eFvVNZbdtfU/120830130452.htm

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Which Movies Deserve TV Spinoffs?

For a while, Hollywood hoped to cash in on the popularity of serialized television by continuing successful shows like 24, Lost and Arrested Development on the big screen. Some will actually happen. But now they're also going the other direction with the announcement that the Marvel/Avengers film franchise is spinning off a TV series focused on the comic book-based organization S.H.I.E.L.D. The Marvel movies already function in a way that seems inspired by television, though their cliffhangers and crossover elements are borrowed more from their literary sources. Still, these elements are going to fit in perfectly on the small screen.

Other film properties may similarly be perfectly adapted for television. At the moment, studios are already aping serialized television with prequels, sequels and wannabe franchise starters such as Prometheus, The Bourne Legacy, The Amazing Spider-Man and Snow White and the Huntsman. Each includes unanswered questions and is relatively open-ended, setting us up for more episodes and leaving us frustrated in the process. Perhaps any of these would be better suited for TV, when next installments may come a week later rather than years down the line.?

One franchise that has worked with serialization and been doing it a while is Resident Evil, which is expected to finally come to a close with a sixth, as-yet-unfilmed installment (the fifth, Retribution, opens next month). Depending on how the storyline goes in that last sequel, I wouldn't mind welcoming Alice or some other character from that universe to continue the franchise on TV. Given the latest statement from producer Frank Marshall, the Bourne films may keep going with new operatives for each installment. That angle might also work better with episode television, though either way it could become awfully repetitive.

Spin-offs of recent movies isn't the only idea for Hollywood lately, as Eddie Murphy is continuing the Beverly Hills Cop franchise on the small screen with a new generation. Not that the "son of..." concept is fresh, but there must be other '80s film characters we could see literally spawn new TV characters. How about one with all the offspring of The Goonies? Maybe the kids of the elderly characters in Cocoon have now made their way to the retirement community and having their own encounter with the Antareans. Think Golden Girls meets Roswell.?

Tons of movies, old or new, could do well on the small screen, but one thing I ask is that they stay on the small screen (I guess Marvel excluded, sort of). An attempt to keep continuity through TV and film with The X-Files was viewed as difficult for viewers, and while today's culture and technology may permit better means of crossing over mediums, it also might prove more problematic given how immediately people spoil stuff for others who wish to put their entertainment off for later.

Another rule: let's not spin-off anymore R-rated movies into Saturday morning cartoons like was done for my generation (not that I didn't watch the films and the shows). We don't need a Magic Mike cartoon. But an animated Ted series might make sense, only not aimed at kids.?

What movies should get TV spin-offs? Here some responses received so far via Twitter:

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Follow Christopher Campbell on Twitter (@thefilmcynic) to join the next discussion.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1925821/news/1925821/

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Cloud-based Telco Disruptor Twilio Adds 5 More Markets Plus Local Numbers In 4 As It Preps A Move Into Asia

Twilio, the startup that lets developers incorporate cloud-based voice and messaging services directly into mobile and web apps via a series of APIs, continues to scale up its business -- crucial to how the company will make money on its low-cost service in the longer term. Today, Twilio added five more countries in beta to its list of supported markets for voice services:?Czech Republic,?Greece,?Israel,?Romania?and?Switzerland?-- with Israel being the company's first move outside of the U.S. and Europe.?And it's continuing to ramp up its offer of more localized services, with regional numbers now available in Belgium, Finland, Sweden and Spain. Counting full and beta services, Twilio's voice services are now available in 19 countries. The expansion, product specialist?Lisa Weitekamp tells me, is a precursor to the next steps Twilio will take into international waters. The next region that it is likely to tackle, she says, is Asia Pacific, covering not just countries like Japan but also Australia and New Zealand. Latin America is also in line, as are more services -- with either faxing or MMS possibly next in line.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Ym9-yuJIylA/

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As Isaac Bears Down, Little Talk of Climate Change

If a powerful hurricane slams the Louisiana coast during the Republican National Convention, the resonances with Katrina will be bad enough. But the storm would also showcase the GOP?s position on climate change, which is, increasingly, to deny the scientific consensus that fossil-fuel pollution contributes to a warming atmosphere and destructive weather patterns?including stronger hurricanes.

Although scientists caution that no single weather event can be attributed directly to climate change, major events such as Katrina and this summer?s drought fire up a debate that has become more incendiary in recent years as more Republican lawmakers doubt climate science.

The question of whether the GOP accepts climate science didn?t come up in 2008, when Hurricane Gustav slammed into the Gulf Coast during the party?s Minnesota convention. That?s because the nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, believed in climate change and professed a desire to solve it.

Since then, the mainstream GOP view is to deny the scientific findings that link man-made pollution to climate change, and Mitt Romney has publicly walked back his onetime position that humans contribute to warming. Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has also questioned the science.

But stronger hurricanes are among the most serious consequences of climate change induced by the burning of fossil fuels (the Romney campaign favors such burning), and the Gulf Coast is likely to experience the worst effects, according to a 2012 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a 2009 report authored by 13 federal agencies.

Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has authored one of many reports on the increasing frequency of high-intensity hurricanes, said that the data link warming air and water surfaces to stronger, more devastating hurricanes.

?As the temperature of the tropical ocean increases, you see greater intensity and the frequency of intense storms goes up,? Emanuel said.

Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences at Princeton University and a member of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the science shows clearly that reducing oil, coal, and gas pollution could help prevent damage related to climate change. ?There?s a risk, which scientists have identified, that it?s likely we?ll have more strong hurricanes, and one of the things we can do to prepare is reduce fossil-fuel emissions,? he said. ?It?s just like building levees.?

Environmentalists are targeting Republicans for their views. Around Tampa, the Florida Wildlife Federation has posted billboards of prominent Republicans, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who have acknowledged climate change as a problem and called for solutions.

?We think this is one of the most important policy issues that there is,? said Federation President Manley Fuller. ?It?s treated as a partisan issue, and it should not be. The billboards remind Republicans of what well-known Republicans have said about this.?

Last week, the League of Conservation Voters launched a $1.5 million campaign to defeat five House Republicans who deny the science of climate change. The ?Flat Earth Five? campaign is the first time the League has targeted a group of lawmakers explicitly because of their positions on climate.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/isaac-bears-down-little-talk-climate-change-230838395.html

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Capturing movements of actors and athletes in real time with conventional video cameras

Public release date: 28-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Gordon Bolduan
bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de
49-681-302-70741
Saarland University

This press release is available in German.

In the computer graphics (CG) animated comedy "Ted," which is running now in the cinemas, Ted is a teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and has refused to leave his side ever since. CG Animated characters like "Ted" have become a standard of Hollywood's movie productions since the blockbuster "Avatar" with its blue-skinned computer-animated characters won three Oscars and brought in three billion US dollars, digital animated characters have become a standard of Hollywood's movie productions.

While movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Ted" still combined real actors with digital counterparts, the well-known director Steven Spielberg focused entirely on virtual actors in "The Adventures of Tintin." He used the so-called motion capture approach, which also animated Ted. Motion capture means that an actor wears a suit with special markers attached. These reflect infrared light sent and received by a camera system installed in a studio. In this way, the system captures the movements of the actor. Specialists use this as input to transfer exactly the same movements to the virtual character.

"The real actors dislike wearing these suits, as they constrain their movements," explains Christian Theobalt, professor of computer science at Saarland University and head of the research group "Graphics, Vision & Video" at the Max-Planck-Institute for Informatics (MPI). Theobalt points out that this has not changed since animating "Gollum" in the trilogy "Lord of the Rings." Hence, together with his MPI-colleagues Nils Hasler, Carsten Stoll and Jrgen Gall of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Theobalt developed a new approach that both works without markers and captures motions in realtime. "The part which is scientifically new is the way in which we represent and compute the filmed scene. It enables new speed in capturing and visualizing the movements with normal video cameras," Theobalt explains.

Implemented, it looks like this: The video cameras record a researcher turning cartwheels. The computer gets the camera footage as input and computes the skeleton motion of the actor so quickly that you cannot perceive any delay between the movement and its overlay, a red skeleton. According to Theobalt, the new computing approach also works if the movements of several persons have to be captured, or if they are obscured by objects in the studio and against a noisy background.

"Therefore we are convinced that our approach even enables motion capture outdoors, for example in the Olympic stadium," Theobalt points out. Athletes could use it to run faster, to jump higher or to throw the spear farther. Spectators in the stadium or in front of the TV could use the technology to tell the difference between first and second place. Besides entertainment, medical science could also benefit from the new approach, for example by helping doctors to check healing after operations on joints.

In the next months his MPI colleagues Nils Hasler and Carsten Stoll will found a company to transform the software prototype into a real product. "They've already had some meetings with representatives sent by companies in Hollywood," Theobalt says.

Technical background

The new approach requires technology which is quite cheap. You need no special cameras, but their recording has to be synchronized. According to the MPI researcher, five cameras are enough that the approach works. But they used twelve cameras for the published results. The way they present the scene to the computer and let it compute makes the difference. Hence, they built a three-dimensional model of the actor whose motions should be captured. The result is a motion skeleton with 58 joints. They model the proportions of the body as so-called sums of three dimensional Gaussians, whose visualisation looks like a ball. The radius of the ball varies according to the dimensions of the real person. The resulting three-dimensional model resembles the mascot of a famous tire manufacturer.

The images of the video cameras are presented as two-dimensional Gaussians that cover image blobs that are consistent in color. To capture the person's movement, the software continuously computes the best way that the 2D and 3D Gaussians can overlay each other while fitting accurately. The Saarbrcken computer scientists are able to compute these model-to-image similarities in a very efficient way. Therefore, they can capture the filmed motion and visualize it in real-time. All they need is just a few cameras, some computing power and mathematics.

###

Computer Science on the Saarland University Campus

Apart from the Saarland University chair in computer science and Max Planck Institute for Informatics, there are several other research institutes exploring new information technologies and their impact on society. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, the Center for Bioinformatics, the Intel Visual Computing Institute, Center for IT-Security, Privacy and Accountability, and the Cluster of Excellence on "Multimodal Computing and Interaction" can also be found there.

More Information:

Carsten Stoll, Nils Hasler, Juergen Gall, Hans-Peter Seidel, Christian Theobalt,
Fast Articulated Motion Tracking using a Sums of Gaussians Body Model

Video online

www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/~theobalt/sog.mp4

For further questions please contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Theobalt
Campus E 1.4
66123 Saarbrcken
E-Mail: theobalt@mpii.de
Tel.: +49 681 9325-428

Gordon Bolduan
Science Communication
Cluster of Excellence "Multimodal Computing and Interaction"
E-Mail: bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de
Tel.: +49 681 302-70741

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Gordon Bolduan
bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de
49-681-302-70741
Saarland University

This press release is available in German.

In the computer graphics (CG) animated comedy "Ted," which is running now in the cinemas, Ted is a teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) and has refused to leave his side ever since. CG Animated characters like "Ted" have become a standard of Hollywood's movie productions since the blockbuster "Avatar" with its blue-skinned computer-animated characters won three Oscars and brought in three billion US dollars, digital animated characters have become a standard of Hollywood's movie productions.

While movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Ted" still combined real actors with digital counterparts, the well-known director Steven Spielberg focused entirely on virtual actors in "The Adventures of Tintin." He used the so-called motion capture approach, which also animated Ted. Motion capture means that an actor wears a suit with special markers attached. These reflect infrared light sent and received by a camera system installed in a studio. In this way, the system captures the movements of the actor. Specialists use this as input to transfer exactly the same movements to the virtual character.

"The real actors dislike wearing these suits, as they constrain their movements," explains Christian Theobalt, professor of computer science at Saarland University and head of the research group "Graphics, Vision & Video" at the Max-Planck-Institute for Informatics (MPI). Theobalt points out that this has not changed since animating "Gollum" in the trilogy "Lord of the Rings." Hence, together with his MPI-colleagues Nils Hasler, Carsten Stoll and Jrgen Gall of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Theobalt developed a new approach that both works without markers and captures motions in realtime. "The part which is scientifically new is the way in which we represent and compute the filmed scene. It enables new speed in capturing and visualizing the movements with normal video cameras," Theobalt explains.

Implemented, it looks like this: The video cameras record a researcher turning cartwheels. The computer gets the camera footage as input and computes the skeleton motion of the actor so quickly that you cannot perceive any delay between the movement and its overlay, a red skeleton. According to Theobalt, the new computing approach also works if the movements of several persons have to be captured, or if they are obscured by objects in the studio and against a noisy background.

"Therefore we are convinced that our approach even enables motion capture outdoors, for example in the Olympic stadium," Theobalt points out. Athletes could use it to run faster, to jump higher or to throw the spear farther. Spectators in the stadium or in front of the TV could use the technology to tell the difference between first and second place. Besides entertainment, medical science could also benefit from the new approach, for example by helping doctors to check healing after operations on joints.

In the next months his MPI colleagues Nils Hasler and Carsten Stoll will found a company to transform the software prototype into a real product. "They've already had some meetings with representatives sent by companies in Hollywood," Theobalt says.

Technical background

The new approach requires technology which is quite cheap. You need no special cameras, but their recording has to be synchronized. According to the MPI researcher, five cameras are enough that the approach works. But they used twelve cameras for the published results. The way they present the scene to the computer and let it compute makes the difference. Hence, they built a three-dimensional model of the actor whose motions should be captured. The result is a motion skeleton with 58 joints. They model the proportions of the body as so-called sums of three dimensional Gaussians, whose visualisation looks like a ball. The radius of the ball varies according to the dimensions of the real person. The resulting three-dimensional model resembles the mascot of a famous tire manufacturer.

The images of the video cameras are presented as two-dimensional Gaussians that cover image blobs that are consistent in color. To capture the person's movement, the software continuously computes the best way that the 2D and 3D Gaussians can overlay each other while fitting accurately. The Saarbrcken computer scientists are able to compute these model-to-image similarities in a very efficient way. Therefore, they can capture the filmed motion and visualize it in real-time. All they need is just a few cameras, some computing power and mathematics.

###

Computer Science on the Saarland University Campus

Apart from the Saarland University chair in computer science and Max Planck Institute for Informatics, there are several other research institutes exploring new information technologies and their impact on society. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, the Center for Bioinformatics, the Intel Visual Computing Institute, Center for IT-Security, Privacy and Accountability, and the Cluster of Excellence on "Multimodal Computing and Interaction" can also be found there.

More Information:

Carsten Stoll, Nils Hasler, Juergen Gall, Hans-Peter Seidel, Christian Theobalt,
Fast Articulated Motion Tracking using a Sums of Gaussians Body Model

Video online

www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/~theobalt/sog.mp4

For further questions please contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Theobalt
Campus E 1.4
66123 Saarbrcken
E-Mail: theobalt@mpii.de
Tel.: +49 681 9325-428

Gordon Bolduan
Science Communication
Cluster of Excellence "Multimodal Computing and Interaction"
E-Mail: bolduan@mmci.uni-saarland.de
Tel.: +49 681 302-70741

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/su-cmo082812.php

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Vatican City: Enjoy by taking the professional guided tours | Travel ...

The best way to explore the Vatican City is by taking the help of professional guide, there are many guided Vatican tours available in the city as it offers so many different sightseeing locations. These guided tours have professional guides, who are very educated and knowledgeable. They are very skilled and have cleared the tests which are given by the Vatican tourism for making the trip much better for the tourists. With such professional guides, you can enjoy and experience the history and culture of the place in the best possible way. You can select them in any way as they offer both public and private tours.

In public tours, these guides are provided for giving information to all the different people all together who meet for this type of tour. Whereas, in the private tours, you can experience the exclusiveness as all the areas are shown with full information. In these tours, there are no other people taken except you and your family, it allows in spending good quality time with the loved one and makes the bond stronger. As per the choice and time, you can spend the leisure time in the particular locations as these tours are flexible and can be enjoyed as per the need.

Vatican City is full of different historical aspects, with the help of these guides you can get to know the top secrets of the place and the significance of its historical aspects. These guides are so knowledgeable that they explain all the details in a story form to the tourists, which generates interest among the people and makes the tour more exciting. While seeing the museums like Pinacoteca, Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Missionary-Ethnological Museum, Vatican Historical Museum, Gregorian Egyptian Museum, these guides help by telling all about the artists or painters of each and every masterpiece. The Vatican City is full of palaces, basilicas, churches, art galleries, etc. which showcases different types of sculptures and architectural designs.

The Vatican tours are liked by most of the tourists as they help in exploring this amazing city in great way, you can book them in advance as they are booked by many tourists for their trips. It is best to take the help of online services so that all the various tours can be seen and selected as per the need and budget. The rates varies from on tour to other, mostly the private tours are expensive than the public tours as they are exclusively designed for particular customers. With so many good options, sometimes it becomes difficult to select the best one, so it?s better to read the reviews provided by the past customers and get the details about the tours properly. With such professional guided tours, you can spend your trip in a great way and can have total fun time with the loved one

Source: http://travelexperience.net46.net/vatican-city-enjoy-by-taking-the-professional-guided-tours/

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SNEWS? : Outdoor Non-profit/Association : Conservation Alliance ...

Conservation Alliance Member Businesses Unite for Inaugural Event

Posted: 08/28/2012 In Category: Outdoor Non-profit/Association

Industry News Release Written By: Julie Evans, Verde PR & Consulting Vancouver, B.C. (August 28, 2012) ? On Wednesday, August 29, The Conservation Alliance member companies Mountain Equipment Co-op, Arc?teryx, Innate, and Icebreaker will come together for a day of collective action at the inaugural Vancouver, B.C. event.

The Conservation Alliance is working with grantee, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter (CPAWS-BC) as well as the City of North Vancouver, to lead a day of stewardship in Heywood Park, North Vancouver?s second largest park and part of the Mackay Creek watershed. Volunteers from outdoor industry businesses will work side-by-side to remove invasive species that threaten the natural flora and fauna of the Mackay Creek watershed.

?We are thrilled to make our Canadian debut and host our first Backyard Collective north of the border,? said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. ?By doing an invasive species removal in Heywood Park, we will be playing an important role in protecting the diverse ecology of the Mackay Creek watershed and the numerous recreational opportunities it provides.?

The Vancouver Backyard Collective takes place Wednesday, August 29, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. ? 1:30 p.m. meeting at Heywood Park. The event also features a volunteer fair at which Conservation Alliance grantees and local environmental organizations share information on their current conservation initiatives and share ways for individuals to get involved.

?The Backyard Collective is an exciting example of how the business sector can connect people with nature while helping protect our amazing B.C. environment,? said Nicola Hill, Executive Director for CPAWS-BC. ?Parks not only provide recreational opportunities, but also contribute to human health and the health of our communities.?

Vancouver, B.C. is the sixth Backyard Collective event in the 2012 season. Upcoming locations include Bend, Ore. (September 13), and Peterborough, N.H. (September 18). This is the first Canada-based event for the Backyard Collective, which is now in its fourth season of member business volunteer events.

For more information about this event please contact coordinator, Cassondra Schindler at cassondra@conservationalliance.com or 541.222.9380

About the Conservation Alliance:
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas.

Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.

Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed $10.4 million to grassroots conservation groups. Alliance funding has helped save more than 29 million acres of wildlands; protect 2,700 miles of rivers; stop or remove 25 dams; designate five marine reserves; and purchase nine climbing areas.

For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, see www.conservationalliance.com.

About Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter (CPAWS-BC)

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society is Canada?s grassroots voice for wilderness. Since 1963 we?ve led in creating over two-thirds of Canada?s protected areas. That amounts to about half a million square kilometres ? an area bigger than the entire Yukon Territory. Our vision is to keep at least half of Canada's public land and water wild. CPAWS believes that by ensuring the health of the parts, we ensure the health of the whole, which is our health too.

The BC chapter was established in 1978 and has played a lead role in more than doubling the amount of protected areas in the province to over 14%. As a national charity with 13 chapters, 55,000 supporters and hundreds of volunteers, CPAWS works collaboratively with governments, local communities, industry and indigenous peoples to protect our country?s amazing natural places. We?re also on guard to ensure that our parks are managed to protect the nature within them.

For complete information on CPAWS-BC, see www.cpawsbc.org

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All news release material provided by participating companies and organizations. SNEWS? is not responsible for posted content. Those using inappropriate language, making false statements, or otherwise abusing the section will be subject to intense SNEWS? scrutiny and could become the subject of a special SNEWS? investigative story. Keep it real, keep it accurate!

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Source: http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/26332.html

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Join The Class of Business Management | Modern Studies

It is important to have amazing managerial capabilities, whether a personal is operating in a big firm or having his own company. As the competitors is the industry is growing with accelerating pace, an personal is needed to understanding of control methods to be able to sustain in the competitors. With the thorough understanding about company, a personal can quickly sail through the complicated issues. Before entering a big company or starting a company, it important that a personal gear himself up with the right education and learning by becoming a member of company control applications. Courses not only describe about different kinds of company approaches, but also effective thoughts that help a personal to control company, clients, and staff. At this time time, many control applications provided in different organizations across the planet. These is crafted in such a way that will help a personal manage management and department such as promotion, hr, finance, logistics, etc.

Business applications concentrate on various actions relevant to company that facilitate a personal to control a company differently. Even knowledgeable individuals can also take up company applications to brush up their capabilities and update them as per the industry trend. Without appropriate understanding about company functionality and tactics, it is not possible for a personal to run a company for time period. To execute better, it is essential that personal obtain higher document in company that help comprehend the current norms of company. Getting company level for workers is not difficult in today?s time as it previously. Nowadays, an personal can use for use online level or be a part of evening course to finish the level program. Both the methods do not make hindrance in the work hours of student. The value of on the world wide web evening course level is equivalent to frequent level.

The primary benefit of doing company course from Ireland is that a personal can use for charted accountancy course and fill application for ACCA exemptions. A student can use for exemptions in ACCA qualification at enough time becoming a member of the course. To finish company course in a appropriate way, an personal can take assistance of lecturers and website. Once the course is completed effective, an personal becomes eligible to be a part of a top place in an organization or start his own company. With the company level, a personal is capable of doing effectively and take choice on important company issue without any hassle.

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Source: http://moderniststudies9.com/2012/08/join-the-class-of-business-management/

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2nd Yosemite visitor dies of rodent-borne illness

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) ? A second person has died of a rare, rodent-borne disease after visiting one of the most popular parts of Yosemite National Park earlier this summer, and park officials were warning past visitors to be aware of some flu-like aches and symptoms and seek medical help immediately if they appear.

Health officials learned this weekend of the second hantavirus death, which killed a person who visited the park in June, spokesman Scott Gediman said in a statement.

There was one other confirmed case of the illness, and a fourth is being investigated.

Yosemite officials said the four visitors might have been exposed while vacationing at the park's Curry Village, and are warning those who stayed in the village's tent cabins from mid-June through the end of August to beware of any symptoms of hantavirus, which can include fever, aches, dizziness and chills. An outreach effort is under way to contact visitors from that period who stayed in "Signature Tent Cabins," which have more insulation and amenities than other tent cabins.

Federal health officials say symptoms may develop up to 5 weeks after exposure to urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents, and Yosemite advised visitors to watch for symptoms for up to six weeks.

Of the 587 documented U.S. cases since the virus was identified in 1993, about one-third proved fatal. There is no specific treatment for the virus.

After-hours calls to Yosemite officials seeking further details were not immediately returned Monday night.

Following the first death, which was reported earlier this month, state health officials advised anyone with symptoms to seek medical attention and let doctors know if they were camping in Yosemite. Officials said thousands of people visit the park every month, so it would be impossible to track everyone who had set foot in Curry Village.

Curry Village is the most popular and economical lodging area in the park, a picturesque assemblage of rustic cabins at the base of the 3,000-foot promontory Glacier Point.

Gediman told the San Francisco Chronicle that of the 408 tent cabins in the village, 91 are of the "signature" variety where the four cases had stayed, which feature more insulation and amenities than the others.

It was not clear how many people stayed in the cabins in the period in which park officials are warning visitors.

Gediman said contractors are working on the signature cabins to protect park-goers.

"They're doing everything they can to eliminate areas where mice can get into the cabins," Gediman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "This was never because the cabins were dirty, it was never because we didn't take care of them. This is just because approximately 20 percent of all deer mice are infected with hantavirus. And they're here in Yosemite Valley."

This year's deaths mark the first such deaths in park visitors, although two others were stricken in a more remote area in 2000 and 2010, officials said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2nd-yosemite-visitor-dies-rodent-borne-illness-060224989.html

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Very best Auto Insurance - Consumer Electronics Blog

These days big numbers of ?

Auto insurance coverage is an insurance policy purchased by the auto owner to protected guard his/her car against theft, accident and any other loss incurred. You can get auto insurance coverage for any of your auto mobile such as car, truck or bus. Auto insurance coverage not only covers insured car and insured celebration, but some times it covers third parties also. Diverse auto insurance policies have diverse terms, norms and conditions below which, these things are covered.

Right now huge numbers of auto insurance policies are accessible in the marketplace and it is truly extremely difficult task to purchase the greatest auto insurance coverage for the safeguard of your automobile.

Here are some suggestions, which can be utilized to discover the greatest auto insurance for your black boomer.

1. To find greatest auto insurance, you are requested to make a search on your own. 1st of all go to local auto insurance providers. Evaluate auto insurance coverage quotes provided by them. Most of auto insurance providers have their websites, you can go there and request for auto insurance quotes on the web, if you personal a vehicle. Compare their quotes and discover best auto insurance for your automobile. Always keep in mind that bargaining is the important to acquire low-cost auto insurance.

2. Immediately after comparing auto insurance coverage quotes apply for the greatest one particular for you and your vehicle. Although applying offered them specifics as considerably as you can such as your name, address, zip code, your marital status, cars annual commuting miles and safety characteristics due to the fact as default they can provide you high quotes without having any precise benefits. Therefore, to acquire a low-cost and greatest auto insurance coverage constantly give full particulars about you and your car.

3. Occasionally insurance organizations supply certain delivers. Thus usually look for gives, as they can deduct your premium from $200 to $400.

four. Just before signing your application kind read each and every and each and every point of fine print, as they can guard your appropriate.

With keeping these straightforward tips in mind you can uncover finest auto insurance policy.

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Source: http://blog.ilove3c.com/2012/08/26/very-best-auto-insurance-how-to-uncover-it-the-correct-way/

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Video: PRESS Pass: Reince Priebus

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/48805797#48805797

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Persian Rugs at the speed of knots! ? What Ever It Is

It could be suggested that the most famous of floor coverings are Persian rugs and Persian rugs- since their recognition in the interior design world ? have been created in some of the most beautiful, amazing designs.
Divided into two main sections, Persian rugs are distinguishable by a unique border of one design and combination of colours and an inner- section that usually offsets the outer section by being of a clashing colour and design ensemble. Not for the feint- hearted homeowner, Persian rugs are by no means minimalistic or sleek and are more at home in chinch as opposed to futuristic!
Indeed, Persian rugs can only really ?work? in certain rooms. Some Persian Rugs are geometrically designed; somewhat repetitive which makes them ideal for office spaces whilst other Persian rugs feature plants, flowers, animals and other natural elements which would enhance either a conservatory or living area.
But never judge a book by its? cover! Not to be pigeon- holed as one- dimensional standard soft furnishings, Persian rugs- whilst undeniably beautiful ? are also steeped in traditional values and culture.
If you take a good look at Persian rugs, you will notice that they all feature ?central medallions? and no central medallion is the same as another. The central medallions positioned on Persian rugs are usually spiritual and symbolic of faith; the inspiration for which comes from the domes of the Mosques.
Not dissimilar in creation, Persian rugs are made by hand using a knotting technique that is unique to all forms of oriental rugs. Incredibly, some of the best quality Persian rugs may contain in excess of 50 knots per square cm whilst low to average Persian rugs contain approximately 30 knots. Knotting, to produce Persian rugs is an arduous, time consuming task and with craftsmen knotting on average 10,000 knots per day, should not be left unrecognised for the skill and workmanship that goes into handcrafting Persian rugs for the worldwide consumer.
To find only the very best handmade Persian rugs, visit www.oakhamorientalrugs.co.uk today.

Source: http://whateveritis.com/?p=2585

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ACORN whistle-blower, former Obama voter: ?It?s time to stop voting on color? [VIDEO]

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) whistle-blower Anita Moncrief urged African-American voters not to allow Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to speak for them. Black voters should instead, she said, make independent decision based on candidates??qualities other than their skin color.

?One of the things I like to tell black people is that we are not victims,? Moncrief told The Daily Caller?s Ginni Thomas. ?We are not numbers, we are not statistics. We are not pawns.?

Moncrief pointed to Detroit as an example of a city where the policies of Democratic and black politicians have severely hurt voters.

?It is not acceptable, but for some strange reason we do not ask anything of our politicians. We let them come into our community and use us every four years for the election,? she said. ?We?re so accepting of the narrative, and we don?t look for ourselves to see what?s really going on.?

?It?s time to stop voting on color.?

Look for the full interview Monday at The Daily Caller.

Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser.
Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

ACORN whistle-blower, former Obama voter: 'It's time to stop voting on color' [VIDEO]

Mute it with meta!

Two in 'Republican women for Obama' ad exposed as Democrats

David Brooks: 'Unknown' Romney has post-convention bounce potential

Krauthammer: Akin a 'nobody,' Obama's partial-birth abortion position 'scandalous'

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/acorn-whistle-blower-former-obama-voter-time-stop-030405581.html

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Report: Snooki of 'Jersey Shore' delivers baby boy

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? MTV is reporting that TV celeb Snooki has given birth to her first child, a boy.

MTV reported on its website that the baby of "Jersey Shore" star Nicole Polizzi and her fiance Jionni LaValle was born just before 3 a.m. Sunday at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J.; Lorenzo Dominic LaValle weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces.

A rep for Polizzi told MTV, "The world just got another Guido!!! ... Nicole, Jionni & Enzo are doing great!"

MTV has said it's bringing "Jersey Shore" back for a sixth season, with the 24-year-old Snooki as part of the action, but has declined to offer specifics on how big a part Snooki will play in the show about hard-partying Italian-American friends.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-snooki-jersey-shore-delivers-baby-boy-102231349.html

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Mohammad Akram all praise for Aaqib Javed ? Cricket News - Bettor

Mohammad Akram all praise for Aaqib Javed ? Cricket News Update

Mohammad Akram, Pakistan?s new bowling coach, is all praise for his predecessor, Aaqib Javed, who he thinks, helped develop the skills of the young fast bowlers in the country and vows to continue the good work done by the former Test cricketer.

Aaqib was working with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) since the early 2000s in one capacity or the other. The former right-arm seamer decided to call it a day during Pakistan?s series against England earlier this year in UAE.

Since then, Pakistan has made some massive changes in the team management, with Dav Whatmore taking over the side, along with Julian Fountain, the fielding coach. The team however, remained without a bowling coach since then.

PCB officially announced Akram as the Green Shirts? new bowling coach, with effect from the upcoming limited-over series against Australia, which commences on Tuesday.

Since many years, the former player from Islamabad has been settled in England, but claims that he has been closely monitoring Pakistan?s progress in international cricket and understands the team?s bowling flaws. The 37-year-old bowling coach feels that Aaqib helped develop a number of seamers in the country and plans to carry on from where the ex-bowling coach left.

"I have been following Pakistan cricket keenly for long, and understand we have always had talent. I have plenty to offer to them,? said Akram. ?Aaqib had done a great job to keep the chain moving and now my emphasis will be to strengthen the bench and ensure we have bowlers who are always ready to have a go.?

Pakistan?s spearhead, Umar Gul, has been struggling to perform consistently in 2012 but Akram has immense confidence on the fast bowler?s skills and thinks that he can help him regain lost form. Akram understands that Gul must start to perform consistently if Pakistan is to do well in the ICC World T20 2012 and other international challenges.

"I don't think there is any need for a massive stir though things aren't all well with Umar Gul. He needs to return to his best quickly and I think I can make it happen as he needs confidence," he added.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Mohammad-Akram-all-praise-for-Aaqib-Javed-Cricket-News-Update-a182583

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Kansas wheat may get water; all eyes on Tropical Storm Isaac

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Portions of the wheat-growing areas in the Plains and the southwestern Midwest region are expected to receive crop-friendly rainfall soon, but it will come too late to help drought-stricken corn or soybeans.

The moisture will, however, benefit fall seedings of hard red winter wheat, an agricultural meteorologist said on Thursday.

"Kansas, northern Oklahoma and western Missouri could receive one to two inches or more Friday and Saturday," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather. Lighter rains of a half inch or less are expected throughout the Midwest by late in the weekend, he said.

Keeney said all eyes were on the path of Tropical Storm Isaac, currently taking aim at the Dominican Republic and Haiti and gaining strength at the entrance to the Caribbean.

Isaac is set to make landfall on Monday or Tuesday in the Florida Panhandle, which could bring heavy rainfall to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and the mid-Atlantic, Keeney said.

Isaac could pose a threat not only to crops, but also to the Republican National Convention, set to start Monday, August 27 in Tampa, Florida.

"For now it appears Isaac is on track to land in Florida but the European weather model shows it landing further west in Louisiana or Texas, and if that happens there could be four to six inches of rain in Alabama, northern Mississippi, western Tennessee and southern Illinois and southern Indiana as well," Keeney said.

Torrential rainfall and wind, while adding valuable soil moisture for fall wheat seeding, could harm some of the early- maturing corn and soybean crops that were already weakened by the worst drought over the summer in half a century.

The annual Pro Farmer tour of Midwest crops found signs of severe crop losses in the top two corn- and soybean-producing states of Iowa and Illinois on Wednesday. Specialists on the tour pegged corn yields at the lowest in Illinois since 1995.

A Reuters poll of 11 analysts on Wednesday estimated the 2012 U.S. corn yield per acre at 121.5 bushels, the lowest in 16 years and production at 10.5 billion bushels, an eight-year low.

In its first survey asking for estimates of the amount of corn to be harvested compared with plantings, the poll showed the percentage of harvested corn area the lowest in nine years.

Analysts' expectations for corn production this season fell 3 percent below the U.S. government's forecast earlier in August and 6 percent below a similar poll of analysts' taken by Reuters at the end of July.

Soybean yield was pegged at 36.6 bushels per acre, an 8-year low, and production at 2.713 billion bushels, a 4-year low. Harvested soybean acreage was pegged at a near normal 97.5 percent of plantings.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said 4 percent of the U.S. corn crop had already been harvested, the fastest start ever. The crop was planted early, then pushed to maturity by relentless heat and drought over the summer.

Dry, hot weather has parched grazing lands and turned rivers into streams, slowing or stalling barge river traffic of grains.

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday that 97 vessels were stranded by low water on the Mississippi River after an 11-mile stretch of the waterway was closed for dredging and to replace missing navigation buoys.

The Mississippi River is the major waterway shipping route for U.S. corn and soybeans to the key export outlet in the U.S. Gulf port of New Orleans, Louisiana.

(Reporting by Sam Nelson; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kansas-wheat-may-water-eyes-tropical-storm-isaac-124612526.html

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First lady touts success of program to hire veterans

By Jeff Black, NBC News

More than 125,000 military veterans and spouses were hired or trained through a White House partnership with private businesses last year, beating an earlier goal of 100,000 by nearly a year, first lady Michelle Obama announced on Wednesday.

A White House program that started out with just a few companies grew to 2,000 including major corporations, the first lady said.

That has led the White House and the companies involved to set their sights higher ??hiring or training an additional 250,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014.

---

Obama made the announcement at Naval Station Mayport in the presidential campaign battleground state of Florida on Wednesday afternoon.

Related:?VA blasted for spending millions on conferences

"I want to send a very clear message to the men and women who are wearing or have worn our country's uniform and to their spouses," Obama said. "When you have finished your service to our nation, you have got 2,000 great American companies ready and waiting to bring you on board."

In addition to the announcement event in Jacksonville, the White House released a new video trumpeting the project on YouTube.

The hiring initiative, called Joining Forces, was first announced last year by President Barack Obama. Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, were asked to lead the effort.

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com?

The new goal also includes the hiring or training 50,000 military spouses within three years as well as a previously announced effort to help spouses maintain their careers as families move among duty stations.?

"More and more businesses are recognizing that hiring veterans is good for their bottom line, and they are making bold commitments to bring veterans into their ranks," Brad Cooper, executive director of the Joining Forces effort, told The Associated Press.

The White House said the hiring push has helped to reduce unemployment among veterans from 8.6 percent in July 2011 to 6.9 percent last month.

According to U.S. Labor Department figures, the unemployment rate for veterans of the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was 8.9 percent in July 2012, down from 12.4 percent in July 2011. The national rate of unemployment was 8.3 percent in July 2012, down from 8.9 percent in July 2011.

A list of companies who have committed to hire veterans is listed on the White House website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/22/13417744-michelle-obama-trumpets-success-of-program-to-hire-military-veterans-and-spouses?lite

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Wordless Wednesday: Tanzanian Horizons over the Indian Ocean

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Watermelon Mint Freeze Recipe - Food Network Summer Fest ...

Watermelon Mint Freeze

This week as part of Food Network?s Summer Fest, a group of talented bloggers are featuring farm fresh recipes using Melons?that are in season. Each week, recipes using farm fresh produce will be featured on the?Food Network website?along with recipes by a group of fabulous food bloggers.

Although I love all melons, today, I am sharing a simple but super refreshing drink made with watermelon that my kids have been enjoying this summer. I buy watermelon throughout the summer, and was pleasantly surprised to find this Sugar Baby Watermelon in my CSA Box last week.

This fresh watermelon was so crunchy and sweet, I can?t even properly describe it except to say it was way better than any watermelon you will find at the supermarket.

When I served this watermelon to my kids, their initial reaction was, ?why are there so many seeds?? Nowadays, most supermarket watermelons are seedless. What happened to all those watermelon seed spitting contests?
Although I usually serve watermelon wedges as a fruit after dinner, this Watermelon Mint Freeze has served as a frosty, refreshing, rehydrating drink for the boys all summer long, especially after a little competitive game of basketball in the hot summer sun.
I used to think of watermelon as a fruit full of sugar and water, it?s actually packed with antioxidants, most notably vitamin C, vitamin A and a potent carotenoid called lycopene (also found in tomatoes and mangoes). Lycopene has been found to be protective against prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancers.

So, drink up. This Watermelon Freeze is ridiculously simple to make ? just blend fresh watermelon chunks, fresh mint leaves, a little water and ice cubes until frosty. I?ve posted pictures of this on facebook at different times, and someone always asks how to make it, so I decided to post it here for anyone else looking for an easy, refreshing, frosty drink.

Alex, my youngest son, made a variation on this watermelon drink in his cooking video ? Triple Fruity Freeze ? check it out.

Be sure to check out the following recipes from all my friends participating in this week?s Summer Fest!

Jeanette?s Healthy Living: Watermelon-Mint Freeze
What?s Gaby Cooking: Melon and Prosciutto Salad
Cooking With Elise: Quinoa Crunch With Melons, Blueberries and Yogurt
Haute Apple Pie: Watermelon and Feta Salad
Cooking Channel: Five Things to Make With Watermelon
Healthy Eats: Melon Refreshers
Ingredients, Inc.: Melon-Arugula Salad
Daily*Dishin: Honeydew Melon Salad With Genoa Salami and Mozzarella Fresca
Made by Michelle: Cantaloupe Popsicles
Chez Us: Cantaloupe Lime Agua Fresca
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Mixed Melon Smoothie
Virtually Homemade: Melon-Mint Popsicles
Thursday Night Dinner: Cantaloupe With Figs, Basil and Kalamata Olives
Zaika Zabardast: Cantaloupe Soup With Cardamom Infused Cherry Syrup
Sweet Life Bake: Paletas de Melon
HGTV Gardens: Garden-to-Table: Melons
FN Dish: There?s More to Melon

Photos and Original Text (C) Copyright: 2010-2012 By Jeanette Chen

Sources:
The World?s Healthiest Foods: Watermelon
Self Nutrition Data: Watermelon

Source: http://jeanetteshealthyliving.com/2012/08/watermelon-mint-freeze-recipe.html

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