Court: James Brown estate should go to charity

ED BAILEY / AP file

By Rolling Stone

James Brown's multi-million dollar estate was improperly divided after his death, the South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled.

The Associated Press reports that the court overturned a 2009 settlement brokered by the state attorney general that gave nearly half the singer's estate to a charitable trust, a quarter to his widow and a quarter to be shared among his adult children. That arrangement ignored Brown's wish for most of his money go to charity. A lower court will reconsider settlement of the estate.

100 Greatest Artists: James Brown

The justices criticized the former attorney general, Henry McMaster, who helped reach a deal after the estate had languished in court for years following the singer's death on Christmas Day in 2006. McMaster's deal removed Brown's original trustees, who the singer's family accused of mismanaging the estate to the point where it was almost broke. A professional manager took control, paid off more than $20 million in debt and made it possible for needy students to receive scholarships for college. The settlement also allowed a financial manager to license Brown's music for use in commercials, which have included spots for Gatorade and Chanel perfume.

While the justices agreed with the decision to remove the original trustees, who subsequently sued, the judges said the settlement could discourage people from leaving their estates to charity for fear their wishes would be ignored.

James Brown Biopic Set to Begin Casting Soon

"The compromise orchestrated by the AG in this case destroys the estate plan Brown had established in favor of an arrangement overseen virtually exclusively by the AG," Associate Justice John Kittredge wrote.

McMaster, who left office in 2010, said he respected the court's decision but stood by the deal he struck.

A lawyer for one of the trustees who sued praised the ruling, which he said was more in keeping with Brown's wishes.

"James Brown was certainly devoted to the cause of education," said James Richardson, who represented former trustee Adele Pope. "Today's decision means that the bulk of his fortune will go to the cause of educating needy children."

More in TODAY Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/28/17132183-court-james-browns-estate-distributed-improperly-in-south-carolina?lite

Anderson Cooper Gay NBA draft 2012 alicia sacramone Don Grady ann curry euro 2012 Colorado Springs

Which Second Generation Game Console Boasted The Most Titles?

Answer: The Coleco Vision

In the early 1980s Coleco Industries produced a popular second generation game console, the Coleco Vision, that could play more games than any other console on the market.

The source of this claim, however, involves a bit of dubious corporate ethics and some fancy work with copyright law. While the Coleco Vision, in its own right, had wide number of original titles, it was the release of their first Expansion Pack that pushed the number of titles available on the Coleco Vision through the roof.

The first Expansion Pack Coleco Vision offered was none other than a third-party clone of the Atari 2600 which allowed Coleco Vision users to plug any of the hundreds of Atari titles right into their Coleco Vision console. While this kind of blantant ripping off of a competitor?s build would shock modern console gamers, at the time the courts ruled that because the Atari 2600 could be built by anyone with off-the-shelf hardware (if they were so inclined to build their own 2600-clone), Atari could claim no special protection from Coleco Industries? wholesale lifting of their design.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/which-second-generation-game-console-boasted-the-most-titles/

my sisters keeper kirby sarah palin cbi the shins atomic clock daylight savings time

Pirate Bay abandons Sweden for Norway and Spain after legal threats

Published time: February 26, 2013 18:25

The Swedish Pirate Party has handed over hosting of the Pirate Bay to sister parties in Norway and Spain after the country?s copyright lobby sent a letter threatening criminal charges for hosting the controversial file-sharing website.

The Swedish Rights Alliance gave the party until Tuesday to cut all ties with the Pirate Bay following threats of serious legal consequences. In a letter sent directly to the party's board members earlier this month, the Swedish Pirate Party was accused of violating copyright law by acting as an Internet service provider for the popular bittorrent site.

The alliance also charged that the Supreme Court of Sweden had ?legally settled that not only those who operate an illegal file-sharing service, but also those who provide internet access to such an illegal service are committing a criminal act.?

The Rights Alliance said that such violations of copyright law could entail stiff fines for noncompliance, payment of damages and even potential prison terms. ?These rules apply to legal entities, including non-profit organizations such as The Pirate Party and Serious Tubes, their board members, and other representatives of the organizations,? the letter continued.

The Pirate Bay?s decision to move its web-hosting services to Norway and Spain likely stems from legal precedents indicating more favorable climates for file-sharing sites.

In 2010, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and several movie studios were unable to force a Norwegian ISP to block the Pirate Bay. Spanish courts have so far failed to react to dozens of site closure requests from rightsholders, and threats from the United States that Spain will be put on a trade blacklist.

Swedish Pirate Party Leader Anna Troberg hailed the shift as a positive sign that despite legal pressure at home, the movement is continuing to become an international platform for reforming copyright laws and patents.

?Today, there are more than sixty different Pirate Parties all around the world. Every cut connection to The Pirate Bay will generate two new connections,? Torrent Freak quoted her as saying.

She further said that to take the Rights Alliance on at this time would not be prudent, despite the tenuous legal claims leveled at the Pirate Party.

?It would be crazy to enter a game where the rules are decided by the other team,? she said. ?The Pirate Party?s mission is not to produce martyrs for the copyright industry. Our mission is to create longterm political change that ensures that the copyright industry in the future will not be allowed to threaten companies, organizations and individuals into silence with our common judicial system as a weapon.?

Rick Falkvinge, the Pirate Party founder and a self-described evangelist of sensible information policy, told RT that Swedish courts have displayed ?remarkable and remorseless corruption when it comes to copyright monopoly cases in general, and The Pirate Bay cases in particular.?

?Being in the moral and legal right is something completely different from winning in a courtroom,? he said. ?In the trial against the Pirate Bay operators, you saw everything from a corrupt judge who was part of the same interest group as the plaintiffs to an investigating police officer who was flat-out hired by Warner Brothers while doing the investigation.?

"It was a travesty of everything justice is supposed to be,? Falkvinge added.

Source: http://rt.com/news/pirate-bay-leave-sweden-472/

taylor allderdice mixtape andrew bogut pi day monta ellis wiz khalifa taylor allderdice mixtape reggie wayne taylor allderdice

Behold the Ugliest Shoe of All Time

More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3PdITvOxTV0/behold-the-ugliest-shoe-of-all-time

morgellons nhl all star draft seal team 6 touch nitrous oxide rihanna thug life tattoo arizona governor

For Sale: One Nobel Prize Medal (Slightly Used, By Francis Crick)

It's also worth noting that Francis Crick wished to give Rosalind Franklin greater credit, but didn't due to the personality conflicts between Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin:

Moreover, she became great close friends with Watson and with Crick. But she?(TM)s unlikely?"if in fact she felt they had stolen her discovery. She must have known that they were using her data because there were no other data?"her data are acknowledged in Crick?(TM)s paper. And again, in the second paper he published in Nature a month later. What prevented Crick from giving a much fairer acknowledgment to Rosalind Franklin in the original Nature paper, which he wished to do, was that he to negotiate this with Wilkins.

So in his original draft is, he says, "We thank Rosalind Franklin for her beautiful uh photo of DNA," which makes quite clear that this was what he was relying on. Now, at Wilkins?(TM) suggestion he crossed out the phrase "beautiful photo." So it was not an adequate acknowledgment but it was a very different story than stealing her discovery, which is the way it has been portrayed.

Elkin: Nicholas, you are absolutely right. There was an earlier, more accurate acknowledgment. It wasn?(TM)t to Franklin, it was to Wilkins and Franklin and it did say "very beautiful photographs" which only meant Franklin?(TM)s. And Wilkins was the one who crossed it out. There are actually six drafts. Very interesting to see that.

And also to see how weak, false, even the first two or three were, before Wilkins got it to decimate it more compared to the draft they wrote about the first model, where they very very clearly acknowledged Franklin.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/70KHy-rJqRk/story01.htm

how to tie a tie sweet potato recipes the sound of music celebration church new york auto show 2012 tulsa easter eggs

BPA may affect the developing brain by disrupting gene regulation

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Environmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a widespread chemical found in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and to the development of the central nervous system, according to a study led by researchers at Duke Medicine.

The researchers published their findings -- which were observed in cortical neurons of mice, rats and humans -- in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Feb. 25, 2013.

"Our study found that BPA may impair the development of the central nervous system, and raises the question as to whether exposure could predispose animals and humans to neurodevelopmental disorders," said lead author Wolfgang Liedtke, M.D., PhD, associate professor of medicine/neurology and neurobiology at Duke.

BPA, a molecule that mimics estrogen and interferes with the body's endocrine system, can be found in a wide variety of manufactured products, including thermal printer paper, some plastic water bottles and the lining of metal cans. The chemical can be ingested if it seeps into the contents of food and beverage containers.

Research in animals has raised concerns that exposure to BPA may cause health problems such as behavioral issues, endocrine and reproductive disorders, obesity, cancer and immune system disorders. Some studies suggest that infants and young children may be the most vulnerable to the effects of BPA, which led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of the chemical in baby bottles and cups in July 2012.

While BPA has been shown to affect the developing nervous system, little is understood as to how this occurs. The research team developed a series of experiments in rodent and human nerve cells to learn how BPA induces changes that disrupt gene regulation.

During early development of neurons, high levels of chloride are present in the cells. These levels drop as neurons mature, thanks to a chloride transporter protein called KCC2, which churns chloride ions out of the cells. If the level of chloride within neurons remains elevated, it can damage neural circuits and compromise a developing nerve cell's ability to migrate to its proper position in the brain.

Exposing neurons to minute amounts of BPA alters the chloride levels inside the cells by somehow shutting down the Kcc2 gene, which makes the KCC2 protein, thereby delaying the removal of chloride from neurons.

MECP2, another protein important for normal brain function, was found to be a possible culprit behind this change. When exposed to BPA, MECP2 is more abundant and binds to the Kcc2 gene at a higher rate, which might help to shut it down. This could contribute to problems in the developing brain due to a delay in chloride being removed.

These findings raise the question of whether BPA could contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome, a severe autism spectrum disorder that is only found in girls and is characterized by mutations in the gene that produces MECP2.

While both male and female neurons were affected by BPA in the studies, female neurons were more susceptible to the chemical's toxicity. Further research will dig deeper into the sex-specific effects of BPA exposure and whether certain sex hormone receptors are involved in BPA's effect on KCC2.

"Our findings improve our understanding of how environmental exposure to BPA can affect the regulation of the Kcc2 gene. However, we expect future studies to focus on what targets aside from Kcc2 are affected by BPA," Liedtke said. "This is a chapter in an ongoing story."

In addition to Liedtke, study authors include Michele Yeo and Ken Berglund of the Liedtke Lab in the Division of Neurology at Duke Medicine; Michael Hanna, Maria D. Torres and Jorge Busciglio of the University of California, Irvine; Junjie U. Guo and Yuan Gao of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.; and Jaya Kittur, Joel Abramowitz and Lutz Birnbaumer of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The research received funding from Duke University, the Klingenstein Fund, the National Institutes of Health (R21NS066307, HD38466 and AG16573), and intramural funds from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University Medical Center.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Michele Yeo, Ken Berglund, Michael Hanna, Junjie U. Guo, Jaya Kittur, Maria D. Torres, Joel Abramowitz, Jorge Busciglio, Yuan Gao, Lutz Birnbaumer, and Wolfgang B. Liedtke. Bisphenol A delays the perinatal chloride shift in cortical neurons by epigenetic effects on the Kcc2 promoter. PNAS, February 25, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1300959110

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/NaeyTOnLcT0/130225153122.htm

frank ocean adam levine mumford and sons miranda lambert prince jessica biel Lena Dunham

Fan's NASCAR accident video back on YouTube

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 2 hrs.

When a YouTube video is taken down for copyright infringement, most people get it: Don't post videos that are someone else's legal property. But when YouTube quickly re-posts a video it had pulled, that's an unusual step for the largest video-sharing site in the world.

At NASCAR's request, the Google-owned YouTube removed the 1 minute-and-16-second video taken by a high school student, Tyler Andersen, who was at the the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona Beach Saturday. His video captured part of the horrific accident that injured at least 28 fans, with chunks of debris flying into the stands.

When Andersen posted the video on YouTube, he was clear about his reason for doing so:

No disrespect intended to any of those injured or their families. I was just sharing my experience with a worldwide audience. I will continue to keep all affected by this incident in my prayers and I thank God for protecting me. Thank you.

NASCAR asked Google to take down the video, and it did. The Atlantic Wire points out that "NASCAR's legal fine print on any ticket says they own the rights to any video, sounds or data related to a race. The question became, eventually, whether or not that legal fine print extended to a fan video. Observers criticized NASCAR for taking the video down in the middle of a news story that was still unfolding."

But NASCAR says this wasn't about copyright infringement.

"The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today's NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today's accident," Steve Phelps, NASCAR's senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said on Saturday in a statement shared with NBC News.

"Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident."

And so YouTube reversed course, allowing the video back up late Saturday, saying in a statement to The Washington Post:

Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos.

By late Monday, the video had done well over 600,000 views. NBC News has asked YouTube for comment, and will update this post when we hear back.

Phelps reiterated NASCAR's stance in a statement to NBC News: "This was never a copyright issue. This was never a censorship issue," he said. "The video ... was blocked out of respect for those injured in the accident. Google decided to lift that block."

What does it mean for most of us, who walk around with HD camcorders in our smartphones? Does the fact that Andersen's video continues to survive ? and even thrive ? mean that we can post our own footage of ticketed sporting events? Though tickets tend to warn against such behavior, are we really forbidden from taking a video and posting it on YouTube?

In many cases, yes. If the ticket is a contract, you may be in breach.

YouTube's "decision to allow the video to remain available, while a positive sign in terms of YouTube's willingness to scrutinize claims of copyright infringement, does not in any way prevent NASCAR from pursuing other remedies against the poster of the video ? including, potentially, enforcement of the contract embodied on the ticket or a direct claim of copyright infringement against the poster," Jeffrey P. Hermes, director of the Digital Media Law Project at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, told NBC News Monday.

(In this instance, NASCAR has not indicated it would pursue such action.)

However, "NASCAR also cannot claim that the fan has granted NASCAR ownership of that recording based merely on the fine print on the back of a ticket," Hermes said.

Besides, he thinks there's "a serious question as to whether NASCAR has a valid copyright claim in an unscripted sporting event," such as Saturday's race. It's the kind of event, he said, that is "different from a scripted 'performance'" such as a rock concert "in which copyright might arise under U.S. law."

(Translation: Don't even think about posting that Beyonc? concert footage.)

Corynne McSherry, intellectual property director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NBC News Monday that YouTube's decision to re-post the NASCAR video is "the right decision, because NASCAR does not hold the copyright in a fan video."

The EFF has seen this sort of thing before. When Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, an animal-rights activist group, filmed rodeos in order to demonstrate alleged abuse, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association fired back, requesting takedown of 13 videos. At the time, YouTube responded by eliminating the activists' account.

When the EFF took the case to court, it was settled in 2009. The agreement protects the group's "right to publicize their critiques."

"The (rodeo association) has no copyright claim in live rodeo events, just as NASCAR has no copyright claim in fan videos," says McSherry.

While the case didn't set a precedent, she said, "the law on this is not ambiguous: absent some other arrangement or exception (such as a work for hire), copyright goes to the person who created the video, not the person who created the event."

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/fans-nascar-accident-video-returns-youtube-after-takedown-1C8537538

Horshack Beady Eye Eric Idle rory mcilroy Fatboy Slim Rio de Janeiro Shark Week

Kerry, Russian counterpart Lavrov talk about Syria

BERLIN (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, met for the first time Tuesday, spending more than an hour discussing the civil war in Syria and other joint matters.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the two met for an hour and 45 minutes, spending more than half that time on Syria in what she called a "really serious and hardworking session."

Kerry and Lavrov discussed how they could implement the so-called Geneva Agreement, which is designed to get the Syrian government and rebels to plan a transitional government for the time after President Bashar Assad leaves office.

That discussion comes two days before nearly a dozen nations, excluding Russia, meet in Rome Thursday with the Syrian opposition to continue to try and find a way forward on resolving the conflict that has cost nearly 70,000 lives.

Lavrov told Russian newswires that his talks with Kerry were "quite constructive."

"I have a feeling that President Barack Obama's second administration, in the foreign policy field led by John Kerry, will try to play a more constructive role in all those areas," Lavrov said.

On Syria, Lavrov said the two reaffirmed their "intention to do all Russia and the U.S. can do.

"It's not that everything depends on us, but we shall do all we can to create conditions for the soonest start of a dialogue between the government and the opposition."

The Syrian foreign minister was in Moscow on Monday and expressed willingness to meet with opposition leaders.

The Syrian National Coalition is skeptical about outside help from the West and threatened to boycott the Rome meeting until a series of phone calls and meetings between Kerry and his ambassadors and Syrian opposition leaders repaired the schism. The council now says it will attend the meeting, but is hoping for more concrete offers of help, including military assistance, which the United States and others have been unwilling to supply.

Kerry told reporters in London on Monday that when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he asked the Obama administration to consider supplying arms to the Syrian rebels. But now he noted that he is an administration official and has to follow administration policy.

Despite urging from Pentagon leaders including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama has opposed lethal aid.

Earlier in Berlin, Kerry told young Germans of his adventures as a 12-year-old son of an American diplomat in divided postwar Berlin, and urged them to be true to their ideals and values as Europe struggles to emerge from economic doldrums and deal with the threat of terrorism.

Speaking at a town hall meeting, Kerry spoke a few sentences of passable German to the delight of a crowd in a packed Internet cafe before regaling the audience with tales of his boyhood in Berlin in 1954.

He recalled a clandestine bicycle ride into communist East Berlin. "I saw the difference between east and west. I saw the people wearing darker clothing. There were fewer cars. I didn't feel the energy or the movement."

When he returned home, Kerry said, his father "got very upset with me and said: 'You could have created an international incident. I could have lost my job.' So I lost my passport, and I was grounded and I never made another trip like that."

Today, Kerry said: "I never forgot and now it's vanished. Now, so many other countries have followed with this spirit of giving life to people's individual hopes and aspirations."

Kerry urged Germans to be tolerant of all points of view.

"People have sometimes wondered about why our Supreme Court allows one group or another to march in a parade even though it's the most provocative thing in the world and they carry signs that are an insult to one group or another," he said. "The reason is, that's freedom, freedom of speech. In America you have a right to be stupid. ... And we tolerate it. We somehow make it through that."

Kerry also took the opportunity to plug a New England clothing line after one audience member complimented him on his pink tie. A graduate of the noted St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and Yale University, Kerry extolled the sartorial virtues of Vineyard Vines, a Connecticut purveyor of ? in its own description ? "preppy" clothes that has a pink whale for a logo.

"I don't own any stock in the company," he said to laughter.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-russian-counterpart-lavrov-talk-syria-174315846--politics.html

baltimore county current tv megamillions ncaa basketball tournament 2012 megamillions winning numbers lotto winner jerry lee lewis

Lawmaker wears blackface costume to Jewish party

A state assemblyman from Brooklyn, N.Y., wore blackface paint and an Afro wig to a costume party over the weekend, and says he "can't imagine anyone getting offended." ?

The party was for the Jewish holiday Purim, a festive celebration often commemorated by dressing up. ?

According to?Politicker, Assemblyman Dov Hikind?hosted a Purim party at his home over the weekend. ?

A photo posted on Facebook by Hikind's 32-year-old son, Yoni Hikind, shows the lawmaker with a darkened face, wearing a black wig, sunglasses and what appears to be an orange jersey over a white t-shirt. The assemblyman's wife wore a devil costume.

The caption reads: "How cool are my folks... Lol"?

See the controversial photo at NBCNewYork.com

Dov Hikind told Politicker that he was "trying to emulate, you know, maybe some of these basketball players."

"Someone gave me a uniform, someone gave me the hair of the actual, you know, sort of a black basketball player,? Hikind said. ?It was just a lot of fun. Everybody just had a very, very good time and every year I do something else. ? The fun for me is when people come in and don?t recognize me.? ?

Hikind said he couldn't imagine the costume bothering anyone.

?Purim, you know, everything goes and it?s all done with respect. No one is laughing, no one is mocking. No one walked in today and said, ?Oh my God.? ? It?s all just in good fun with respect always, whatever anyone does it?s done with tremendous amounts of respect and with dignity, of course.?

By NBCNewYork.com staff

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17088742-new-york-lawmaker-in-hot-water-for-blackface-costume-at-party?lite

4 20 george zimmerman sheree whitfield weather dallas pat summitt real housewives of atlanta colton

Syria says it's ready for talks with armed rebels

MOSCOW (AP) ? Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad, the country's foreign minister said Monday, in the government's most advanced offer yet to try to resolve the 2-year-old civil war through negotiations.

Walid al-Moallem did not say whether rebel fighters would first have to lay down their arms before negotiations could begin, a key sticking point in the past. Still, the proposal marked the first time that a high-ranking Syrian official has stated publicly that the government would meet with opposition fighters.

"We're ready for a dialogue with anyone who's willing for it," al-Moallem said in Moscow ahead of talks with his Russian counterpart, "even with those who carry arms. We are confident that reforms will come about not with the help of bloodshed but through dialogue."

One rebel commander welcomed the idea of talks, but only on the condition that Assad and those who are responsible for the bloodshed are put on trial.

Syria's 23-month-old conflict, which has killed more than 70,000 people and destroyed many of the country's cities, has repeatedly confounded international efforts to bring the parties together to end the bloodshed. Russia, a close ally of Assad and his regime's chief international advocate, offered last Wednesday, in concert with the Arab League, to broker talks between the rebels and the government.

The proposal ? which the Kremlin would be unlikely to float publicly without first securing word from Damascus that it would indeed take part ? suggested the regime could be warming to the idea of a settlement as it struggles to hold territory and win back ground it has lost to the rebels.

Syria's rebels have scored several tactical victories in recent weeks, capturing the nation's largest hydroelectric dam and overtaking airbases in the northeast. In Damascus, they have advanced from their strongholds in the suburbs into neighborhoods in the northeast and southern rim of the capital, while peppering the center of the city with mortar rounds for days.

On Thursday, a huge bomb blast near the ruling Baath party headquarters in Damascus killed at least 53 people, according to state media.

While the momentum may be subtly shifting in the rebels' direction, the regime's grip on Damascus remains firm, and Assad's fall is far from imminent ? or certain.

Ahead of the meeting with al-Moallem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated his call for Syria to negotiate with the opposition, saying that "the situation in Syria is at a crossroads now." He also warned that further fighting could lead to "the breakup of the Syrian state."

Past government offers for talks with the opposition have included a host of conditions, such as demanding that the rebels first lay down their arms. Those proposals have been swiftly rejected by both activists outside the country and rebels on the ground.

The prospect of negotiating with the armed opposition is made all the more difficult by the fractured status of those fighting to topple the regime. There are dozens of armed brigades and groups across the country and no unified command.

The head of one group, Free Syrian Army chief Gen. Salim Idriss, said he is "ready to take part in dialogue within specific frameworks," but then rattled off conditions that the regime has rejected in the past.

"There needs to be a clear decision on the resignation of the head of the criminal gang, Bashar Assad, and for those who participated in the killing of the Syrian people to be put on trial," Idriss told pan-Arab Al-Arabiya TV.

He said the government must agree to stop all kinds of violence and to hand over power, saying that "as rebels, this is our bottom line."

Both sides in the conflict in recent weeks have floated offers and counter-offers to hold talks to resolve the crisis.

In a speech in January, Assad offered to lead a national dialogue to end the bloodshed, but said he would not talk with the armed opposition and vowed to keep on fighting. The opposition rejected the proposal.

This month, the leader of the Syrian National Coalition, the umbrella group for opposition parties, said he would be open to discussions with the regime that could pave the way for Assad's departure, but that the government must first release tens of thousands of detainees. The government refused, and even members within the Coalition balked at the idea of talks.

Speaking to reporters Monday in Cairo, SNC chief Mouaz al-Khatib accused the regime of procrastinating and said it had derailed his dialogue offer by not responding to the Coalition's conditions.

"We are always open to initiatives that stop the killing and destruction but the regime rejected the simplest of humanitarian conditions. We have asked that the regime start by releasing women prisoners and there was no response," he said. "This regime must understand that the Syrian people do not want it anymore."

Countries in the region have watched the Syrian conflict with trepidation, fearful that the bloodshed could drag in neighboring states.

Turkey, which has taken in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has exchanged fire across the border with government troops, is among those most concerned about the fallout.

Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Damascus of using "every instrument to turn the legitimate struggle of the Syrian people into a sectarian war which would engulf the entire region in flames."

"The longer this regime is allowed to wage its campaign of violence, the harder it will be to prevent such a dreadful eventuality," he added.

Meanwhile, the fighting inside Syria rages on.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group reported heavy clashes Monday outside a police academy in Khan al-Asal just outside Aleppo.

Rebels backed by captured tanks launched a fresh offensive on the facility on Sunday. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said at least 13 rebels and five regime troops were killed in the fighting.

In another part of Aleppo, rebels downed a military helicopter near the Mennegh airport, where there have been fierce clashes for months.

A video posted online by activists shows a missile being fired, a trail of white smoke and then the aircraft going up in flames. Voices in the background shout "God is great" as a man raises both hands in the air in celebration.

The video appeared to be authentic and corresponds to other AP reporting.

___

Lucas reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-ready-talks-armed-rebels-150339987.html

clive davis nba trade thomas robinson nba trades ign brandi glanville Xbox 720

Yum says to step up check on suppliers after China scare

Playing off his?pre-Oscars prediction?that everyone would hate him at the Oscars, Seth MacFarlane spent the first 19 minutes of the Academy Awards on Sunday making sure everyone would, in fact, hate him.?After some real stinkers, the main conceit was William Shatner descending on a screen as Captain Kirk, from the future, to tell MacFarlane to do a better job of hosting, in a kind of alternate-reality bit that turned pretty sordid?and pretty fast. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yum-says-step-check-suppliers-china-scare-020949572--finance.html

st louis rams miami dolphins buffalo bills pittsburgh steelers seattle seahawks ryan tannehill cispa

Chicago Auto Show celebrates 105th Edition - AutoWorldGuide.com

The 105th Edition of the Chicago Auto Show opened its doors to credentialed members of the nation's automotive press for two days in advance of the show's public days which ran from February 9th thru the 18th.

This year's media preview launched with an address by Andy Goss, President and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover of North America at a breakfast hosted by the Midwest Automotive Media Association and co-sponsored by the Auto Alliance.

The show floor officially opened following breakfast with a series of formal press conferences and new vehicle unveilings along with the display of new model offerings and future concept vehicles. Trucks and commercial vehicles were prominently displayed, while conceptual vehicles provided a glimpse of things possibly coming in the future.

Offered here are five examples of a few of the more noteworthy concept examples:

-Mercedes-Benz showcased a stunning "Style Coupe" concept that contributed to the development of their soon to be released CLA model.

-Toyota featured a peek at what their Corolla model may look like in the further, in the form of the "Furia" concept.

-Toyota's luxury division Lexus displayed a gorgeous Hybrid concept vehicle called "LF-LC" featuring the new face of Lexus.

-Cadillac previewed their proposed electric powered vehicle the "ELR" with an elegant example of a mid-sized luxury coupe.

-Kia debuted a stunning concept - the "Cross GT" a sleek, futuristic luxury CUV, melds high technology with nature, creating a harmonious partnership between driver and vehicle.

Outstanding new models on display included the 2014 Corvette Stingray, 2013 Viper and Audi R8 GT Spyder. The second Press preview day focused on social media and its impact on the auto industry.

Source: http://www.autoworldguide.com/content/chicago-auto-show-celebrates-105th-edition

ufc jones vs evans watergate mlb pregnant man outside lands 2012 lineup beloved ufc results

Obama to governors: 'We've got more work to do' (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287111743?client_source=feed&format=rss

paulina gretzky paulina gretzky david bowie elvis presley elvis presley Pretty Little Liars Rob Parker

Williams scores 46 to lead New Mexico past CSU

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) ? With 9 minutes left, New Mexico guard Kendall Williams trudged to the bench with a career-high 28 points ? and four fouls.

While he caught his breath, No. 22 Colorado State built a six-point lead over the 16th-ranked Lobos.

Moby Arena was rocking and the Rams were rolling, about to extend the nation's third-longest home winning streak to 28 games.

Williams had other things in mind ? and 18 points left to score.

"Luckily, some shots went in," said the junior guard from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., who finished with a career-best 46 points ? almost double his previous career high of 24 ? in leading New Mexico to a 91-82 win Saturday.

Williams set a Mountain West Conference record with 10 3-pointers and his 46 points were the most in the 47-year-old arena, topping the 44 scored by Portland State's Freeman Williams on Nov. 29, 1975.

"He should be hands-down player of the week, I would think," Lobos coach Steve Alford deadpanned.

Williams helped the Lobos overcome that 70-64 deficit at the 6-minute mark by hitting a trio of 3-pointers, a dunk and seven free throws down the stretch as New Mexico outscored the Rams 27-12.

"He got on a roll today," Alford said. "And it was a 40-minute roll."

Actually, it was a 33-minute roll. He spent seven minutes on the bench in foul trouble.

"That's what's really impressive," Alford said. "He sat about a four-minute stretch there in the second half and still scores and does what he does. It's pretty amazing. But he did a great job in that last six minutes not picking up that fifth" foul.

Center Alex Kirk added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lobos (23-4, 10-2), who increased their lead in the conference race to two games over the Rams (21-5, 8-4).

Colton Iverson had 26 points and 15 boards for the Rams, who looked like they were going to move into a first-place tie atop the standings after taking a 70-64 lead at the 6-minute mark.

Williams' treys highlighted a 14-2 run that gave New Mexico a 78-72 lead before the Rams sent the Lobos to the line over the final two minutes.

"Well, that was a special night to watch," Alford said. "I told him that. I said I never had a 10-3 game, I never got to 46. Forty-two was the most I ever scored and eight 3s was the most I ever made in a game."

"There's not too many one-ups you can get on Coach Alford, especially in scoring," Williams said. "I might be on top of the world for the rest of the weekend."

Williams' previous career best was 24 points against Indiana State and New Mexico State earlier this season.

"The players kept feeding me the ball," said Williams, who had 15 family members, including his grandmother, in the stands. "It was really just a team effort, some of the shots I hit were tough. But if the teammates didn't put me in position and the coaches didn't put me in position, I wouldn't have had quite the night I had."

The Rams blamed themselves for Williams' big game.

"We had no answer for him," Rams coach Larry Eustachy said. "... He was completely unstoppable. I want to see film on how many of those shots were contested."

His bet is that not many were.

The Rams, who gave up 45 points to Air Force's Michael Lyons a week earlier, left Williams open early on while locking down Tony Snell, who scored 10 points Saturday after getting 23 in their first meeting last month.

"He hadn't been shooting well this year," Dorian Green said. "We gave him some uncontested looks, let him get hot. Guys are too good in our league to do that."

"We gave him open looks early," Wes Eikmeier added. "He got hot and then he was feeling it the rest of the night."

Green (20) and Eikmeier (22) gave the Rams three 20-point scorers in their losing effort. Eikmeier scored 11 straight to put the Rams ahead 55-50.

The Lobos quieted the crowd with a 12-6 run to regain the lead at 62-61, but Williams, less than a minute after returning to the lineup, was whistled for his fourth foul and took a seat at the nine-minute mark.

"I was real mad," Williams said. "My emotions were high, but (assistant coach Craig) Neal came over while Coach Alford was doing his thing and calmed me down and says, 'You're going to have to bring it home, kid. Don't foul and get the shots that you need.' And that's exactly what I did."

The Rams were coming off a two-point loss at UNLV on Wednesday night that snapped their six-game winning streak, which began after a 66-61 loss to the Lobos in Albuquerque last month.

They hadn't lost at home since Nov. 11, 2012, to Southern Miss., which was coached at the time by Eustachy, who took the Rams job last offseason.

Williams' 10th 3-pointer ? in 13 tries ? broke the conference mark of nine set by several players, most recently UNLV's Chace Stanback against Central Arkansas on Dec. 28, 2011. It was a difficult shot from the right corner.

"Why not? Just throw it up there, had hit a few already," Williams said. "With the hoop the size it was tonight and the rhythm I was feeling, it just felt like I had to throw that one up."

___

Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/williams-scores-46-lead-mexico-past-csu-011006077--spt.html

st patricks day st. bonaventure ira glass march madness swain match day nene

Video: Tough week for GOP as infighting rises

>>> tea party wars. let's play "hardball."

>>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with the strange business on the right. one thing you could say in the old days about this country's right of center politics is that it was tightly organized. there were no huge wars separating the north from the south. the center right from the hard right. well, tonight as we end this week, the chasm today is deep, dark, and alarming. look at karl rove out there barking orders like someone has elected him ring master. look at newt gingrich out there blasting away at rove. consider the mayhem now afoot. the center right wants to bring discipline to the party . they're tired of losing elections they figured they were going to win. the hard right wants none of this proctoring. they want to run free wherever they want for whatever office they want. you have the gop big shots running the little people around and the little people in the party fracking the big shots . it's quite a show. joy reid is managing editor of the grio and david corn is washington bureau chief for mother joans. both are msnbc political analysts. and glad for that. let's talk a like at michael, a pretty smart guy used to write speeches for "w." the self-diagnosis is going on. we'll see what's going on. he wrote today, quote, the republican nominee mitt romney lost by 5 million votes to a beatable incumbent presiding over an anemic economy. the explanation is not purely technical or personalality oriented at the national level. republicans have a winning message for a nation that no longer exists. you got to start with this, joy. it's a well-crafted sentence. they have a winning message for a nation that no longer exists. in all fairness, they didn't know it existed until the day after the election, sometime around 9:00 at night when we all saw virginia looking close. what he, goes og on? it looks like a new country is voting here. they're still playing to the old country.

>> it's like they didn't get the message in 2008 . a lot of people on the right thought 2008 was basically a fluke, but what they have missed is the mi nofert --

>> didn't you worry it was?

>> actually, no, i thought barack obama was going to win to be honest with you. i didn't. because the thing is if you look at the trajectory of the minority share of the electorate, it's been growing by a pretty consistent 2% every four years. so if you look at the electorate when bill clinton got elected versus when ronald reagan got elected, the electorate has been changing for a very long time but the right didn't notice because they have been able to use these tricks to gin up their base and maximize their vote and they have always used the far right to do it. they get them excited over cultural issues --

>> what went wrong this time? for every african-american vote or latino vote you were going to lose a more conservative white person from say the southwest, but that doesn't exactly happen. the white vote sort of been up a bit for obama and then the african-american and the other minority votes zoomed.

>> and part of the problem is number one they have lost the cities. they're losing including the urban white vote, losing more educated white voters among with minority vote% and losing young voters. part of the problem is them. the messaging they use to gin up their base turns off obviously younger people, it turns off women, turns off minorities and this time they really got minute norths excited about voting. there was already loyalty to barack obama among african-americans but when you started doing voter i.d. and things to prevent people from voting that made that vote determined to come out as if it was 2008 .

>> this is the problem they have. the leadership, the michael gersons of the world, god bless them as joe biden would say, are alienated from the people who support the party , the people who vote for the party . we talked about this earlier this week.

>> the angry guy out in arizona.

>> with john mccain , the town hall meetings . there's a reason why a lot of more centrist or less yahoo republicans did not run for president last time. there was all the crazies and mitt romney and if you saw the people turning out, as we keep playing those clips from the republican debates , the audience was one that they don't care what michael gerson says about republicans need new poverty programs or new ways to structure the government to make it --

>> environmental programs.

>> environmental. they don't care. a lot of this for them is cultural. they want to go back to whatever they think the good old days were. they don't like the influx and rising --

>> you give advice to a guy like john mccain and you say, yeah, you have to become a little more today a little more open to the hispanic population in your own state, but the minute he does this happens. here he is at this town meeting . this is what happens when the republican party follows the vice of the thoughtful people like michael gerson . he's a former maverick taking on the current mavericks. let's watch.

>> why didn't the army go down there and stop them? because the only thing that stops them, i'm afraid to say and it's too damn bad, but is a gun. that's all that will stop them.

>> i remember when you were in bed with kennedy --

>> in bed with kennedy? thank you.

>> most of the people that come across the border are illiterate, they don't speak english and they're dependent class. we have a large group of dependent people that are going -- you want to make citizens that are going to be on medicare, they're going to be on welfare, they're going to be on food stamps .

>> again --

>> and you know it. what's going to happen --

>> again, sir, you're not telling these people the truth.

>> you said build the dang fence. where is the fence?

>> in case you missed it, i showed you --

>> that's not a fence.

>> that's not a fence? it's a banana. we put up a banana with $600 million worth of appropriations we have. sir, you're entitled to your opinion, you're not entitled to your facts.

>> well, there he is, joy, and david using words like bananas, an old joke. i don't think irony work was this crowd. number two, quoting the great pat moynihan of new york, you can tout your own opinion, not your facts. it doesn't work. they have a gut attitude that we're being overrun by illegal immigrants that are changing the culture of the south, they don't like it and they don't want to hear this quibbling about we're going to let them say here and all this. they really seem to think -- i wish there was somebody out there to talk like i talk. we've got an illegal immigrant problem. you want to deal with it, put it on paper and make it official. you want to come in this country, you got to go through the reasonable channels. you want to work here, go through reasonable channels. we'll give you a document and you'll get social security . but you have to have a work permit . they know that offends business so they talk about building walls and electrifying fences 20 feet high and you shall be killed if you touch this wire. the crazy kind of fascist talk they get into because they can't deal in reality. you may not be as conservative as i but i think there's a middle of the road position, joy, on immigration which is what every other country, including mexico, does. you can't come in the country without permission. that's the way countries are. it's the world we live in but they don't seem to want to approach it that way.

>> i love the clip you played. if you listen to that crowd and the audience, that's savage nation . that's limbaugh, beck. this is 30-something years of these guys being fed by the entertainment complex on the rights.

>> you think so?

>> i get --

>> do you think they were educated to those opinions?

>> i think it plays into already a feeling of sort of victimhood that the country is somehow being stolen out from under them.

>> that's rush.

>> that's been stoked by rush, stoked by these guys on talk radio saying these people are taking your country whether it's black people or brown people . i get e-mails from these people.

>> when your driving around and you're listening to rush and you hear him talk about femmei nazis and minorities like they're all stomping on the white man's grave and that nonsense. what is your reaction? do you think they're crazy, showmen, manipulators or do they really believe it?

>> i think they're using these people because that's the way they make money. they stoke these people's sense of victimhood. they feel their economic situation is worse than their parents'. they need somebody to blame and you have rush and beck and saarage saying do you know whose fault it is, it's those people getting in your schools. i get e-mails from these people saying, well all of you people, all you minorities are on welfare and then the thing is you played this piece of it, chris, real quick, where the guy threw back in john mccain 's face the build the dang fence because he did it, too. when he needed to get re-elected, he was willing to play that game and now it's coming back to bite him.

>> you're a sweetheart but why do you read these e-mails?

>> i can't resist.

>> you're such a nice person and you actually think you owe these crazy people that attack you racially -- you don't respond to them, do you?

>> no, i don't respond to them but sometimes you have to though what these people are thinking. they authentically think they're making an argument to me about why i'm wrong about policy by saying all minorities are on welfare. they have been fed this for some 30 years. this is their excuse for everything wrong in their lives.

>> it goes back to nixon's southern strategy that are friend pat buchanan tried to put in place. for eight years, 12 years now, these are karl rove 's people.

>> but the difference between pat -- let me defend pat. he's not here. the difference between pat and limbaugh, he's not selling it. he believes it. he believes everything he says.

>> but the thing is --

>> whether you like it or not.

>> i don't care whether glenn beck or rush limbaugh believe what they say or not. it's an interesting academic --

>> i do.

>> it's an interesting academic discussion. the outcome is the same. and you get these people riled up and now karl rove wants to try to put this angry jeanne back into the bottle and they're saying no --

>> you don't focus on integrity? i do. i know you do. it wasn't just john mccain who was the target. newt gingrich went after the architect himself karl rove in his efforts to recruit and back electable republicans as he put it. gingrich wrote this this week. this is gingrich by the way of all people saying i am unalterably opposed to a bunch of billionaires financing a boss to pick candidates in 50 states . this is the opposite of the republican tradition of freedom and grassroots small town conservatism. no one person is smart enough nor do they have the moral right to buy nominations -- this is adelson's best friend here. -- the system of tammany hall and the chicago machine . it should be repugnant to every conservative and every republican. this man is a walking etch-a-sketch. newt can't remember who newt was yesterday. wasn't he the guy with the bank roller from macao pouring in the millions of dollars to him so he could win the nomination?

>> the only reason he stayed in the republican proo marry as long as he did was because of a billionaire trying to pull a tammany hall with him. it's absolutely absurd. without irony he changes positions on this stuff because that's why he's newt gingrich i guess.

>> let's talk about what we want to focus on tonight.

>> it's passover.

>> it's almost like the first time i have seen turmoil on the right where you have a lot of almost literally kind of finger pointing where karl rove is being attacked by newt gingrich and they're all attacking. sort of the establishment crowd, the people that like to win every year and the people that don't care if they win as long as they make a lot of noise. they're fighting with each other. john bain ser almost irrelevant to this.

>> in the '90s we had house republicans turn on newt gingrich . there was almost a coup there.

>> they kicked him out. he forgot that.

>> they're a party on the outs and they have this tremendous division within the party ideologically, culturally and they can't all get together and say, okay, let's get marco rubio out there on immigration and it will solve our problems because you got the guys in arizona. they can't get out there and say, okay, let's do something reasonable on sequester because you have ted cruz and the tea party people saying we want to shut government down. rand paul wants to cut government by 20%, 30%.

>> you know what i saw last year at the convention down in tampa? i think we saw like the rock on top of the bug life. it covered it up. it was a boring convention. the democratic convention was really thrilling actually. but the republican convention was deadbeat and soggy and hot --

>> it was about papering off all this stuff.

>> they papered over with romney who was some ringer they wanted to run. they didn't love him, they didn't know him, they didn't care. they just wanted to hold it together and beat the guy they could beat. had they not beaten the guy that's easy to beat, they just fight with each other.

>> people like karl rove have been telling the bug life in the party for decades, listen, vent we're going to implement your beliefs, vote for us one more time. we'll outlaw abortion, deport all these illegal aliens , do all these things and they never follow through. george w. bush was a tremendous disappointment in that regard. he didn't implement any of this stuff. and i think that the base is fed up. they want their policies implemented. they're sick of being in the background and they're not going to shove them back in a closet as much as they probably want to at this point.

>> it's great having you on joy. thank you, david corn . congratulations on hubris monday night.

>>> coming up look who is becoming the face for gun safety . he wants to teach jill how to use a shotgun. it's almost that funny. serious business here. to fight guns, you have to be for guns. he's laying the groundwork perhaps for 2016 . he's the regular guy with a shotgun.

>>> republican governors are quietly buying into the obama care plan to increase medicaid coverage. many have loudly opposed the plan in the past, especially florida's rick scott . well, he's on board tonight and tonight the man scott replaced and who might replace him, charlie crist is come on.

>>> what are you doing sunday night in probably watching the oscars. this year's movie are filled with political overtones and who better to tee up the big night than the iconic host of inside the actor's studio james lipton ? he's coming here.

>>> finally, it's a right wingers dream. u.s. congressman louis gohmert has figured out a way for americans to keep their guns and prevent the establishment of an islamic caliphate in the old u.s. of a. he's got it all figured. a unitaryian theory for all problems. this is "hardball," the place for politics. i'd like

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50911922/

temptations work hard play hard tim ferriss wmt human nature arkansas football blackhawks

Zuckerberg, Twitter, Yahoo and more in this week?s Facebook news roundup

Zuckerberg and Brin collaborate to launch Foundation ? Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and technology investor Yuri Milner are joining forces to launch the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, which will?award?11 scientists $3 million each. The prize will spotlight outstanding minds in medicine and hopes to enhance medical innovation.

Twitter announces Ads API ? Twitter has officially launched its Ads API which it began testing last January. Marketers will be able to work with Ads API partners to manage Twitter Ad campaigns and both desktop and mobile ads. The initial partners include Adobe, Hootsuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital. This means advertisers will be able to buy Twitter?s promoted products in similar ways to how they purchase Facebook ads, and many Facebook Ads API companies are likely to incorporate Twitter?s Ads API in their platforms soon.

Facebook rolls out new error page ? Facebook has begun rolling out a new error page featuring a bandaged thumb that looks like the Like button. The new page is more user-friendly compared to the older error page which featured mostly text and can be seen below. (Thanks to?Ryan Plant?for the tip and the screenshot.)

Yahoo homepage redesign features Facebook ? Yahoo?s newest homepage redesign now?features Facebook content. The homepage will use Facebook Login to populate its news feed with stories shared by friends on Facebook. It will also show news stories based on content their friends have Liked or shared. Yahoo previously incorporated Facebook tools into its homepage in 2009.

Optimal launches improved Optimal Expander -?Social media advertising and audience analytics platform?Optimal?has increased the functionality of its Optimal Expander product. The Optimal Expander is an interest-based keyword tool that helps marketers find keywords that help drive Facebook advertising campaigns. The improvements allow users to tap into other platforms, like Twitter and Pinterest, to?understand how people are having conversations around themes and brands? campaigns.

Facebook to store old photos?in new cold storage unit ? Facebook has?is building?a cold storage unit in its Prineville, Oregon, data center. It will install three 16,000 square feet storage hubs, the first functioning by fall. Jay Parikh, Facebook?s vice president of infastructure, has said the social network?s process of storing photos was too inefficient. By placing old photos into cold storage, Facebook will conserve power, but allow users to still discover them even years later.

Source: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2013/02/22/zuckerberg-twitter-yahoo-and-more-in-this-weeks-facebook-news-roundup/

nfl mock draft 2012 norfolk island michael brockers lisa marie presley florida panthers tannehill joel ward

World's smallest space telescope to be launched from Sriharikota in India

The smallest astronomical satellite ever built is set to be launched on Monday, February 25, as part of a mission to prove that even a very small telescope can push the boundaries of astronomy.

The satellite was designed and assembled at the Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS).

It will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, along with its twin, also designed in Canada, but assembled in Austria.

Each nano-satellite in the BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) mission is a cube 20 centimeters per side, and weighing less than 7 kilograms.

The BRITE satellites are part of the new wave of nano-satellites that can be designed, assembled and deployed fast and relatively cheaply.

?SFL has demonstrated that nano-satellites can be developed quickly, by a small team and at a cost that is within reach of many universities, small companies and other organizations,? Cordell Grant, Manager of Satellite Systems for the Space Flight Laboratory at UTIAS said.

?A nano-satellite can take anywhere from six months to a few years to develop and test, but we typically aim for two years or less,? Grant said.

Up to now, such nano-satellites had been used only to monitor the Earth and experiment with new technologies.

BRITE is the first nano-satellite mission intended for astronomy, and the first-ever astronomy constellation -- more than one satellite working toward a common objective -- of any size.

The previous world-record holder for small astronomy satellites was the MOST satellite, designed and assembled in part by SFL at UTIAS.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_world-s-smallest-space-telescope-to-be-launched-from-sriharikota-in-india_1803441

Super Bowl Halftime Show 2013 Super Bowl Commercials 2013 Ray Lewis Murders 2013 Super Bowl Commercials illuminati illuminati joe flacco