One&only Le Touessrok The Address Of Luxury In Mauritius

An astonishing holiday resort beautifully perched at the east coast of Mauritius, One&Only Le Touessrok adds a new stimulating meaning to the words seclusion, elegance and extravagance! Endearing settings, revered hospitality and the fashionable haute-chic elegance are just some of the mondo attributes of this fascinating resort that seamlessly blend together to make this resort a compelling choice for luxury seekers planning holidays in Mauritius.

The hotel artfully blends all compelling aspects of luxury to ensure a whale of a time for its guests. Intricately designed and styled, One&Only Le Touessrok has become the quintessential address of luxury in Mauritius, over the years!

Accommodation
Le Touessrok features 200 rooms and 41 suites, allowing guests to take their pick from a wide variety. All these rooms and suites are spread out over different categories such as Deluxe Rooms, Junior Suites, The Royal Suite, Ocean Suites and The Villas. To ensure that guests spend their luxury holidays in comfort, the rooms offer numerous facilities like high-speed Internet access, refrigerator, tea/coffee makers, safes, wide TV screens and a host of other mod and cons. With such stimulating room choice and facilities, it is no wonder that One&Only Le Touessrok shows up on most luxury holidays packages to Mauritius!

Restaurants & Bar
One&Only Le Touessrok offers a wonderful culinary feast to impress epicureans taking holidays in Mauritius. In fact, the hotel packs in something for every platter, from east-meets-west cuisines to classic tropical dining and everything in between. With staggering choice of bars and restaurants, One&Only Le Touessrok promises exuberant panoply of gustatory feast to those on luxury holidays.

Three-Nine-Eight
Hotels main restaurant, Three-Nine-Eight has an incredible reputation for serving finest of traditional cuisines with an international twist. This remarkable buffet restaurant at Le Touessrok hotel is an apt place for a buffet breakfast, la carte lunch or romantic dinner.

Barlens
Barlens is an la carte beach restaurant that boasts a tantalizing ambiance, an unparalleled view of the ocean and a delectable menu of creative fare based on a fusion of Asian and European cuisines.

Safran
Overlooking Hibiscus Bay, Safran is an elegant eatery that serves highly creative and appetizing Indian cuisines prepared with Continental methods. The Safran restaurant has long been a staple on Mauritiuss gourmet cards.

Sga Bar
Sga Bar is a lively place ideal for spending some time over a drink or two, accompanied by a few mouth-watering snacks. One may spend the entire evening here enjoying the cosy ambience and watching the waves gently caressing the shores!

Givenchy Spa
Welcome to Givenchy Spa! Peaceful settings, luxurious ambience and wonderful sense of serenity greet guests as they enter One&Only Le Touessroks Givenchy Spa. A far cry from the worlds hustle and bustle, Givenchy Spa is one of the most exclusive Mauritian spas that jumble age-old treatments with contemporary practices! It would be no exaggeration to say that One&Only Le Touessroks Givenchy Spa beats all other hotels hands down when it comes to offering the best of treatment rituals to rejuvenate weary visitors taking holidays in Mauritius.

About the Author:
Kevin Smith is holiday specialist and writes article on travel industry such as Holidays packages, holidays in Mauritius, holidays to Hong Kong, Thailand holidays, Luxury holidays, Sri Lanka holidays, Holidays Egypt etc.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/One-only-Le-Touessrok-----The-Address-Of-Luxury-In-Mauritius/4459311

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FBI agent describes cannibal talk at NY trial

In this courthouse sketch, Gilbert Valle, reacts during his trial in federal court Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, in New York. Struggling to stay composed, the estranged wife of a New York City police officer testified Monday that she was shocked to find he had visited a website featuring a photo of a dead woman and other gruesome images ? a discovery that led to a federal prosecution accusing him of plotting to abduct, torture and eat dozens of women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

In this courthouse sketch, Gilbert Valle, reacts during his trial in federal court Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, in New York. Struggling to stay composed, the estranged wife of a New York City police officer testified Monday that she was shocked to find he had visited a website featuring a photo of a dead woman and other gruesome images ? a discovery that led to a federal prosecution accusing him of plotting to abduct, torture and eat dozens of women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

In this courtroom sketch, Gilberto Valle is seen in federal court in New York, Monday, Feb 25, 2013. The wife of Valle, a New York City police officer, will testify at a federal trial to explain how she discovered that he was discussing kidnapping, killing and eating women. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)

This undated photo submitted into evidence by Assistant Federal Defender Julia L. Gatto shows Gilberto Valle with his daughter. Valle is accused of conspiracy to kidnap a woman and unauthorized use of a law enforcement database that prosecutors say he used to help build a list of potential targets. Gatto tried to soften the image of her client by showing jurors pictures of a uniformed Valle and the couple?s 1-year-old daughter, a moment that caused the wife on the witness stand and eventually the officer at the defense table 30 feet away to cry out amid sobs. (AP Photo/Assistant Federal Defender Julia L. Gatto)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Cheerful written exchanges between a police officer and women from his past appeared in a sinister new light when an FBI agent described at the officer's criminal trial how he talked on the Internet about killing and eating the women.

"I'm dying to taste some girl meat," Agent Corey Walsh testified Tuesday that New York Police Officer Gilberto Valle told one of the online friends he met who shared an appetite for human flesh.

The testimony came on the second day of testimony in federal court in Manhattan for the 28-year-old Queens resident charged with conspiring to kidnap women and illegally accessing a government database to research potential victims. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

It came a day after his 27-year-old wife told jurors she fled their home in September with their 1-year-old daughter after discovering that Valle spent hours a night on extreme sexually violent web sites and one that catered to those interested in cannibalism and asphyxiation. In Reno, Nev., she turned over a computer to the FBI that contained hundreds of Valle's emails and instant messages with what the government has described as co-conspirators.

To prove the plots involved real women and to counter defense claims that it was all fantasy, the government summoned several women to testify about their dealings with Valle before prosecutors say he wrote about them as potential targets and, in two cases, potential meals.

The women included a former high school classmate, two former college classmates and an 18-year-old woman who attended Valle's high school alma mater and said she had no contact with him before he described her to one of his Internet friends as "the most desirable piece of meat I've ever met" and small enough to fit in his oven.

Kimberly Sauer, of Germantown, Md., went to the University of Maryland with Valle and had nothing bad to say about her former classmate. On cross-examination, Sauer told defense attorney Julia Gatto that she never felt threatened by Valle.

Sauer learned of the case only after she received from Valle's wife last year in the middle of the night a disturbing Facebook message that sounded so crazy that she texted him to warn that the account must have been hacked. Either that "or you're trying to sell me into white slavery," she recalled joking in the text.

But Walsh said Valle's computer had a file titled "Abducting and Cooking Kimberly: A Blueprint," which included a photo of Sauer.

Sauer came up frequently as a subject in online chats between Valle and a man in Great Britain who used Moody Blues as a screen name and MeatMarketMan as part of his email address, the agent testified. Walsh said Moody Blues told Valle he had fantasized about cannibalism since he was 6 years old but did not fulfill the desire until 35 years later.

In one correspondence, Valle suggests a woman named Kimberly ? prosecutors say Sauer ? would be easy prey because she lived alone.

"I can knock her out, wait until dark and kidnap her right out of her house," he wrote, according to prosecutors.

The agent said Moody Blues suggested eating their victim alive but Valle responded: "I'm not really into raw meat."

Walsh said they also discussed cooking Sauer, basted in olive oil, over an open fire and using her severed head as a centerpiece for a sit-down meal.

"I just can't wait to get Kimberly cooking," the agent quoted Valle as saying.

In a chat, Valle told Moody Blues he was meeting Kimberly for lunch on Sunday and that she would be "kidnapped in a couple of months."

Moody Blues told him he'd "given thought to your ideas about cooking her alive."

"Give me some ideas," Valle said.

Moody Blues suggested "cutting her feet off and cooking them on the BBQ in front of her."

"I suppose that's a possibility," Valle said. "You are the one with the experience."

Walsh also described communications between Valle and his co-defendant, Michael Vanhise, of Trenton, N.J. He said the two negotiated the price to be paid for a Manhattan teacher to be taken to New Jersey in a suitcase for Vanhise to rape and kill.

The agent said Valle asked Vanhise whether he wanted the woman clothed or naked and Vanhise said he wanted her clothed.

"Excellent. I'll leave her clothes on. I'll give you the pleasure of unwrapping your gift," Valle was quoted as saying.

Vanhise, like Valle, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers also say he engaged only in Internet fantasy chats.

The government hasn't said what role Moody Blues played in the investigation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-27-Police%20Officer-Cannibalism/id-09716873cdf14ae69df951c0442f69cb

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Year after Trayvon Martin's death, ?stand your ground? survives

College student Jajuan Kelley covers his mouth with a Skittles wrapper as he rallies against stand your ground??

One year after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by an armed neighborhood watchman, setting off a national debate about race and gun laws, the campaign to change state self-defense laws in Martin's name has petered out.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer facing second-degree murder charges, said he shot Martin in self defense last Feb. 25 after he decided to follow him in the Sanford, Fla., gated community because Martin looked suspicious. Zimmerman called the police and then approached Martin, and they ended up in a physical fight. Zimmerman, saying he feared for his life, then shot Martin. He was not charged with a crime for several weeks, and his defense attorneys argue he's immune from prosecution under Florida's "stand your ground" law.

The incident led immediately to scrutiny of the law, which is on the books of 20 states in various forms. Basically, "stand your ground" says that people can use lethal force against an attacker without first attempting to retreat if they have reason to fear for their lives. Most states already allowed people to defend themselves in this way if they're attacked at home, but "stand your ground" went a step further to cover all public places.

A Tampa Bay Times analysis of 200 "stand your ground" cases in Florida?the law was adopted there in 2005?found that the law has been inconsistently applied, with one man escaping homicide prosecution even though he left an altercation to get his gun from his car, returned, and then shot the attacker.

After the Martin shooting and subsequent uproar, a coalition of civil rights groups and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the nation's highest-profile gun control advocate, started a campaign, called "Second Chance on Shoot First," to encourage the repeal of these laws. Soon after, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, appointed a task force to study the law. Meanwhile, lawmakers in at least five states with "stand your ground" laws introduced legislation to alter or repeal their laws.

But not much has happened since then on the state level. And last Friday, the Florida task force released its final recommendations on the law, concluding that it works and should not be repealed. (The task force did recommend that prosecutors and law enforcement officers should receive increased training on the law to make sure it is applied consistently.)

In addition, none of the bills to repeal or change "stand your ground" in other states passed.

However, the conversation started by Martin's death may have served to stop state and federal legislators from passing more permissive gun laws that were in the works, says Adam Winkler, a constitutional law expert at UCLA. For example, a federal bill to allow people with concealed weapons to take them to other states that allow concealed carry died out after passing in the House.

"Trayvon Martin really stalled the move for more permissive gun laws," Winkler said. "Newtown ended it."

Since the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., Bloomberg and other high-profile gun control advocates have moved away from concealed carry and self-defense issues, and instead focused on encouraging specific reforms on the national level. Lawmakers are focusing on closing loopholes that allow some to avoid background checks before purchasing a weapon, banning high-capacity magazines, and banning some semi-automatic weapons.

Allie L. Braswell, the president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, which has worked to encourage the repeal of "stand your ground," said he was "disappointed" that the task force did not release stronger recommendations.

"This law gives people more leeway than I had on the battlefield as a United States Marine," Braswell, a veteran of the Gulf War, said. "When I was engaged in Iraq ... we could not fire until fired upon."

He acknowledged that the issue of repealing "stand your ground" has faded into the background.

"I think it's lost some of its support, unfortunately," Braswell said.

A judge will decide whether Zimmerman is immune from prosecution under "stand your ground" at a special hearing April 22.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/stand-ground-laws-survive-debate-one-trayvon-martin-120048105.html

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Meet The Entirely E-Ink 3G Smartphone That Could Cost As Little As A Dumbphone

It takes a lot to stand out at a trade show the size of Mobile World Congress. But here’s one device that caught my eye today: an e-ink smartphone.?Unlike Yota Phone, the Russian startup that’s using e-ink as a second screen to augment the back of a powerful high end smartphone in a bid to stand out in the uber crowded Android space, this prototype device has just the one screen. A single e-ink screen on the front of the device — so it’s a true e-ink phone. It’s also a true smartphone. There were two prototypes on show at Eink‘s stand, both with a 1GHz chip inside and one (the white one) with a 3G chip in it. The other had Edge connectivity. The phones run Android but, as you’d expect, the OS has been simplified with a custom UI that strips back the functionality to focus on the applications that make sense for a fully e-ink smartphone — such as a reader app, a dialer and email. The UI also includes a web browser since certain types of webpages can be viewed on an e-ink screen. It won’t support video of course but text-based sites can still be read. The black prototype device (pictured below) also includes a backlight for reading in the dark. Both screens are capacitive, but as you’d expect with e-ink the refresh rate can be a little slow. Ghosting on the screen from past renders can be removed by shaking the device. The technology can support both portrait and landscape orientation so the e-ink smartphone could be turned on its side to switch the orientation to more of an e-reader sized width. Both devices felt incredibly lightweight. Why do you want an only e-ink phone? Price for one thing. Battery life for another. Not to mention visibility in bright sunlight. Put all those factors together and this could be the perfect device for some emerging markets where electricity is at a premium. The prototypes are proof of concept at this point but Giovanni Mancini, director of product management for E-ink — the company which makes the screen — said the Chinese OEM which has made the prototypes,?Fndroid, is talking to telcos and could launch a device this year. So how much would this e-ink smartphone cost? Mancini said the device maker would set the price but in his view it would be comparable with

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/a14dGABDbCQ/

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Moments of spirituality can induce liberal attitudes, researchers find

Feb. 25, 2013 ? People become more politically liberal immediately after practising a spiritual exercise such as meditation, researchers at the University of Toronto have found.

"There's great overlap between religious beliefs and political orientations," says one of the study authors, Jordan Peterson of U of T's Department of Psychology. "We found that religious individuals tend to be more conservative and spiritual people tend to be more liberal. Inducing a spiritual experience through a guided meditation exercise led both liberals and conservatives to endorse more liberal political attitudes."

"While religiousness is characterized by devotion to a specific tradition, set of principles, or code of conduct, spirituality is associated with the direct experience of self-transcendence and the feeling that we're all connected," says lead author Jacob Hirsh of U of T's Rotman School of Management.

In three studies, the researchers -- Hirsh, Peterson and Megan Walberg, examined their participants' political views in relation to their religiousness and spirituality. In the first study, they asked 590 American participants whether they identified as Democrat or Republican. In the second study, they measured 703 participants' political orientations and support for the major American and Canadian political parties. The researchers confirmed that religiousness was associated with political conservatism, while spirituality was associated with political liberalism. These associations were in turn due to the common values underlying these orientations: conservatism and religiousness both emphasize the importance of tradition, while liberalism and spirituality both emphasize the importance of equality and social harmony.

In the third study, the researchers recruited 317 participants from the U.S. and asked half to complete a spiritual exercise consisting of a guided meditation video. Those who watched the video were asked to close their eyes and breathe deeply, imagining themselves in a natural setting and feeling connected to the environment. They were then asked about their political orientation and to rate how spiritual they felt. The researchers reported that, compared to those in the control group, participants who meditated felt significantly higher levels of spirituality and expressed more liberal political attitudes, including a reduced support for "tough on crime" policies and a preference for liberal political candidates.

"Spiritual experiences seem to make people feel more of a connection with others," says Hirsh. "The boundaries we normally maintain between ourselves and the world tend to dissolve during spiritual experiences. These feelings of self-transcendence make it easier to recognize that we are all part of the same system, promoting an inclusive and egalitarian mindset."

The researchers hope that these findings can not only advance our understanding of spirituality, but also help future political dialogue.

"The conservative part of religious belief has played an important role in holding cultures together and establishing common rules. The spiritual part, on the other hand, helps cultures renew themselves by adapting to changing circumstances," says Peterson. "Both right and left are necessary; it's not that either is correct, it's that the dialogue between them produces the best chance we have at getting the balance right. If people could understand that both sides have an important role to play in society, some of the unnecessary tension might be eliminated."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Toronto, via Newswise.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. J. B. Hirsh, M. D. Walberg, J. B. Peterson. Spiritual Liberals and Religious Conservatives. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2012; 4 (1): 14 DOI: 10.1177/1948550612444138

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/most_popular/~3/SRV_F2HHYyE/130225131532.htm

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CSN: Ravens WR Jones will be on DWTS

It started with the "Choppa City Juke." Then came a rendition of the "Cabbage Patch." Every time Jacoby Jones raced to the end zone with a kickoff our punt return touchdown this past season -- and he did so four times, including once in the Super Bowl -- Jones had an end-zone dance at the ready.

" I got plenty,? Jones said in October. ?I keep them in my back pocket. I?m trying to get on Dancing With The Stars.? He lobbied again to be on the show when he went on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show earlier this month.

Looks like Jones is getting his wish.

ABC announced during a commercial break of the Academy Awards broadcast that Jones will indeed join the cast of Dancing With The Stars when it begins taping next month. The remainder of the cast will be announced on Tuesday. No word whether the "Choppa City Juke" will be part of the competition.

By the way, right about the time the show starts taping, Jones is due a $1 million roster bonus from the Ravens. He also has a $3 million salary for next season, but the Ravens might try to extend his contract and restructure his deal to lessen the cap hit for this season. In any case, depending on how the show goes, Jones could be cha-cha-cha-ing his way around Hollywood all spring instead of working out at the Ravens' Owings Mills facility.

Provided he's not a salary cap casualty, Jones wouldn't be required back at the Castle until the team's mandatory minicamp in June.

And if his stint on DWTS goes well?

"If he pulls too far ahead," show host Tom Bergeron tweeted Sunday night, "the 49ers will cut power to the ballroom."

Looking for an early scouting report? The Ravens Web site has put together a compilation of some of Jones' best moves.

Source: http://www.csnbaltimore.com/blog/ravens-talk/jacoby-jones-gets-his-dancin-shoes

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Weather extremes provoked by trapping of giant waves in the atmosphere

Feb. 25, 2013 ? The world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heat wave in the United States in 2011 or the one in Russia 2010 coinciding with the unprecedented Pakistan flood. Behind these devastating individual events there is a common physical cause, propose scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The study will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the patterns of atmospheric flow around the globe's Northern hemisphere through a subtle resonance mechanism.

"An important part of the global air motion in the mid-latitudes of the Earth normally takes the form of waves wandering around the planet, oscillating between the tropical and the Arctic regions. So when they swing up, these waves suck warm air from the tropics to Europe, Russia, or the US, and when they swing down, they do the same thing with cold air from the Arctic," explains lead author Vladimir Petoukhov.

"What we found is that during several recent extreme weather events these planetary waves almost freeze in their tracks for weeks. So instead of bringing in cool air after having brought warm air in before, the heat just stays. In fact, we observe a strong amplification of the usually weak, slowly moving component of these waves," says Petoukhov. Time is critical here: two or three days of 30 degrees Celsius are no problem, but twenty or more days lead to extreme heat stress. Since many ecosystems and cities are not adapted to this, prolonged hot periods can result in a high death toll, forest fires, and dramatic harvest losses.

Anomalous surface temperatures are disturbing the air flows

Climate change caused by greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning does not mean uniform global warming -- in the Arctic, the relative increase of temperatures, amplified by the loss of snow and ice, is higher than on average. This in turn reduces the temperature difference between the Arctic and, for example, Europe, yet temperature differences are a main driver of air flow. Additionally, continents generally warm and cool more readily than the oceans. "These two factors are crucial for the mechanism we detected," says Petoukhov. "They result in an unnatural pattern of the mid-latitude air flow, so that for extended periods the slow synoptic waves get trapped."

The authors of the study developed equations that describe the wave motions in the extra-tropical atmosphere and show under what conditions those waves can grind to a halt and get amplified. They tested their assumptions using standard daily weather data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). During recent periods in which several major weather extremes occurred, the trapping and strong amplification of particular waves -- like "wave seven" (which has seven troughs and crests spanning the globe) -- was indeed observed. The data show an increase in the occurrence of these specific atmospheric patterns, which is statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level.

The probability of extremes increases -- but other factors come in as well

"Our dynamical analysis helps to explain the increasing number of novel weather extremes. It complements previous research that already linked such phenomena to climate change, but did not yet identify a mechanism behind it," says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, director of PIK and co-author of the study. "This is quite a breakthrough, even though things are not at all simple -- the suggested physical process increases the probability of weather extremes, but additional factors certainly play a role as well, including natural variability." Also, the 32-year period studied in the project provides a good indication of the mechanism involved, yet is too short for definite conclusions.

Nevertheless, the study significantly advances the understanding of the relation between weather extremes and human-made climate change. Scientists were surprised by how far outside past experience some of the recent extremes have been. The new data show that the emergence of extraordinary weather is not just a linear response to the mean warming trend, and the proposed mechanism could explain that.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Petoukhov, V., Rahmstorf, S., Petri, S., Schellnhuber, H. J. Quasi-resonant amplification of planetary waves and recent Northern Hemisphere weather extremes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222000110

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

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/top_science/~3/kxPdGyqhAPI/130225153128.htm

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Ben Affleck Hollywood?s New It Man: Caption This Photo

The Academy Awards may have snubbed him for Best Director but hunky Ben Affleck proved last night that he is Hollywood’s new It Man. Because Ben is on fire, he has been chosen as Right Celebrity’s Caption This photo contest for the week, sweet! Affleck not only looked amazing last night but when his film Argo took home the top honor he proved that even though you are on top, you still have to be humble and give thanks to those who have stuck by you. I will elaborate on this a little bit more in one hot second. First though I want to remind you guys about our Caption This photo contest. It is so easy, all you need to do is take a look at the above gorgeous picture of Ben and has lovely wife Jennifer Garner and caption it by leaving your witty remarks in the below comments section. Then next Tuesday, yes the contest is a day early this weeks thanks to the Oscars, when a brand new hot topic and pic are posted come back here to see if your name is in print as the winner! I told you easy and lets be honest [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/TXY9S7HQqbg/

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Can escape clause save voting rights provision? (The Arizona Republic)

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

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Feedlots, meatpackers closing with fewer US cows

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree picks up a bale of hay while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree picks up a bale of hay while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree scratches his bull, Junior, on the head while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree cuts the twine on a bale of hay while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree picks up a bale of hay while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photograph, Randy Cree picks up a bale of hay while feeding cattle on his farm near Big Springs, Kan. Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) ? Years of drought are reshaping the U.S. beef industry with feedlots and a major meatpacking plant closing because there are too few cattle left in the United States to support them.

Some feedlots in the nation's major cattle-producing states have already been dismantled, and others are sitting empty. Operators say they don't expect a recovery anytime soon, with high feed prices, much of the country still in drought and a long time needed to rebuild herds.

The closures are the latest ripple in the shockwave the drought sent through rural communities. Most cattle in the U.S. are sent to feedlots for final fattening before slaughter. The dwindling number of animals also is hurting meatpackers, with their much larger workforces. For consumers, the impact will be felt in grocery and restaurant bills as a smaller meat supply means higher prices.

Owner Bob Podzemny has been taking apart the 32,000-head Union County Feed Yard near Clayton, N.M. It closed in 2009 when a bank shut off its operating capital in the midst of the financial crisis, and Podzemny said he doesn't see reopening after struggling through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

"There just are not that many cattle in this part of the country no more, and it is not profitable to bring them in and feed them, so it is shut down," Podzemny said.

He's now feeding a few cattle in another feedlot, buying them at about 450 pounds and growing them to 800 to 850 pounds. He then sells them to others who bring them to the typical 1,200- to 1,300-pound slaughter weight.

"It is making a little money now on just growing feeders and selling them as feeders rather than finishing them all the way out," Podzemny said. "We do what we got to do to survive, you know."

Cattle numbers have been falling for years as the price of corn used to feed animals in feedlots skyrocketed. The drought accelerated the process, but many feedlots were able to survive at first because ranchers whose pastures dried up weaned calves early and sent breeding cows to be fattened for slaughter.

But now far fewer livestock than normal remain on the farms. And, ironically, if it rains this spring and summer, even fewer animals will go into feedlots because ranchers will hold back cows to breed and rebuild their herds.

Texas, the largest beef-producing state, has been particularly hard hit with a historic drought in 2011 from which it still hasn't fully recovered.

"Most of the bad news is in Texas," said Dick Bretz, an Amarillo broker who specializes in selling feed yards and other agribusinesses. "That is where I see most of the empty yards, that is where I see most of the interest in selling yards and where I see the least interest in buying yards."

He recently dismantled a 7,000-head feed yard in Hereford, Texas, for a new owner who had bought it for the land, not the business. The previous owner had lost the property to foreclosure, and the facility was in very poor condition and would have cost too much to repair, he said.

When corn prices first spiked to $8 a bushel nearly four years ago, about 70 big feed yards went up for sale in the High Plains feeding area that includes Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska, Bretz said. Today, there are 10 and 15 feed yards for sale in the region, mostly in Texas. Bretz said he knows of 15 more that are empty, three recently dismantled and two others now being torn down.

Feed yards typically employ one worker per 1,000 head of cattle, so even big ones may not have more than a few dozen workers. But they supply meatpacking plants, which have much bigger workforces, and feedlot closures could herald greater unemployment to come.

Cargill Beef, one of the nation's biggest meatpackers, temporarily closed a slaughterhouse in Plainview, Texas, earlier this year, laying off 2,000 workers. The operation had been one of four meatpacking plants in the Texas Panhandle, and the annual economic loss to the region is estimated at $1.1 billion ? a "major chunk of that economy," said Steve Amosson, an economist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo.

Cargill is moving what business remained at the plant to slaughterhouses in Friona, Texas; Dodge City, Kan.; and Ft. Morgan, Colo. That will allow those plants to run near capacity and more consistently give their workers full paychecks with 40 hours per week, spokesman Mike Martin said.

"By idling, we are retaining both the plant (in Plainview) and the property for potential future use," Martin added. "And the hope is that at some point some years down the line, the cattle herd will be rebuilt and there will be a need for additional processing capacity."

Most experts estimate the cattle feeding industry now has an excess capacity of between 20 and 25 percent, CattleFax market analyst Kevin Good said. The meatpacking industry has an excess capacity of 10 to 15 percent ? even after the recent closure of Cargill's Plainview plant.

Given the cost of transporting cattle, most of the nation's feed yards and slaughterhouses are in the big cattle-producing states of the High Plains. While the industry has been gradually shifting north from Texas into areas that are expected to more rapidly recover from the drought, businesses in Kansas and Nebraska are struggling too.

In southwestern Kansas, Lakin Feed Yard manager Steve Landgraf said his operation is down to 75 percent of capacity and he expects it to be less than half full within the next couple of months. For every two animals now going out of his lot for slaughter, only one is coming into it.

With a capacity of 15,000 head, the yard now employs 14 people. But with normal attrition, Landgraf anticipates he'll be down to 10 or 11 workers by spring, and he may reduce their hours.

Still, with little debt, Landgraf says he's in a better position than some.

"Some people are probably going to go broke because they aren't going to have the occupancy," he said.

___

AP Writer Betsy Blaney contributed to this story from Lubbock, Texas.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-24-Food%20and%20Farm-Closing%20Feedlots/id-0be47d60548d4a1098e8134b0bf4872f

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Herriman horse rescue looking for help to save animals | The Salt ...

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) James Munden pets Scooby who was brought in to his wife's horse rescue in Herriman with a crushed eye that needed to be removed. James helps his wife Kendra rehabilitate starved, abused and neglected horses, who then go up for adoption. In four years Kendra has placed over 100 horses after the long and expensive road of nursing the horses back to health.

Labor of love ? More money could pay for employees, heated barn to help save abused equines.

They stayed up all night with Misha, trying to save her life.

Kendra Munden and four other people were there to help her took turns caring for the emaciated horse, wrapping her in blankets and sleeping bags to fend off the 2-degree winter night. After losing her job, Munden had dedicated her life to taking in horses and saving them, and she wasn?t going to lose Misha if she didn?t have to.

But she didn?t make it.

"I take it hard," Munden said, standing in the middle of snowy pens filled with other horses. "I know it?s not my fault, but I blame myself."

When the economy sank in 2009 and Munden lost her job selling construction supplies, her husband encouraged her to pursue a dream she?d had for a while: a horse rescue, where she could save and rehabilitate the animals the way other places save cats and dogs. Munden, a horse owner since she was 15, went with it. A few months later, she converted her 5-acre Herriman property, at 7300 W. 13496 South, into MadaresGold Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

Since they started, Munden?s found new homes for about 100 horses ? like Hero, who arrived beaten and bloody from head to toe two years ago ? and have lost 20, like Misha. Other rescues might call that a bad ratio, Munden said, "but we take the worst of the worst. I don?t want to put down other rescues, but I?m not going to turn away any horse."

The way she and her husband see it, if they can save them they?ll try, and if the horse doesn?t make it, at least they passed away with someone caring for them.

Every day, Munden tends to the horses. Sometimes her husband James can help, but he?s gone much of the time at his electrician job in Davis County, and once in a while there?s a volunteer or two to help feed the horses.

"But it mostly boils down to me," Munden said.

It?s not obvious from the narrow road, but right behind Munden?s one-story wooden house, 24 horses are spread out in pens and stalls. They come from all over northern Utah. Sometimes owners fall on hard times and don?t have the means to take care of the animal, so they give them up to the rescue. That was the case for Krissi Roberts, who didn?t know beforehand a horse she bought was blind, requiring more skill than Roberts has to ride. So she gave the horse up to Munden, who found it a new home. Roberts was so taken by the rescue, she?s stayed involved as a volunteer ever since.

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But most of the horses arrive starved, dehydrated or abused, given up by an owner or seized by a court. Some of them have only one eye from beatings they received from their previous owners.

And then they show up at MadaresGold. It seems they can tell right away they?ve arrived in a safe place, Munden said, where someone does have the love and means to care for them. Once they?re rehabilitated, Munden finds them a new home.

Most of them hear of the rescue through word of mouth or, like Kelli McFadden of West Jordan, through social media. A horse owner her whole life, she?d never seen the dark side of it until she heard of the rescue on Facebook.

Eighteen of the rescue?s current horses all came from one owner, a hoarder, who voluntarily gave up eight of them before the court forced her to give up the rest to the rescue two months ago. They were starved and beaten, and one needed surgery to remove a crushed eye. Because of ongoing legal proceedings, Munden declined to say where their previous home was, but they?ve never taken in so many horses from one place before.

"The most before was eight at one time from a previous owner," Munden?s husband James said.

McFadden?s heart broke for them. She and her husband, who already volunteer at the rescue and adopted one horse before, adopted one of the youngest from the hoarder ? Vegas, a paint horse. Vegas? mother had also been seized from the property, and died not long after from damage to her hooves. But McFadden has high hopes for her baby at its new home.

"She has come a long way. She was really scared when she got there. She was only two or three months old. You could tell she had never been handled," McFadden said. "To see one horse come in and scared to death and have no energy, and afraid of everything, to coming around and seeing their personalities, it?s like an adopted child [who was] abused and seeing them come around want to be around you?that?s the rewarding part."

But it?s a reward that comes at a cost for Munden.

She pays $2,000 a month on average just for hay, and then there is the dental work and veterinary bills. She feels lucky to have Lyle Barbour at South Mountain Equine as her veterinarian, who?s been with her from the start, finding her discounts and understanding that sometimes the payments take time.

The rescue survives on donations, auctions and fundraisers. But they?re not always enough to cover costs, and Munden makes up the difference herself. "It gets frustrating," she said, but she?s hopeful for the annual fundraiser this summer that recently obtained Ken Garff West Valley Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram as a sponsor.

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Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55874775-78/munden-horse-rescue-horses.html.csp

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Editor's Letter: PlayStation next

In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

We're not even through February yet, but already we're looking at a time where there are three major product unveilings in a single week! If anyone was wondering whether 2013 would see the private event trend continue, rest assured that we'll be jetting all over the damned place even more this year than we did the last. Not that we're complaining, mind you, especially when the events are prefaced by the kind of excitement that Sony built up ahead of its PlayStation 4 unveiling in New York City on Wednesday night.

As an unapologetic console gaming fiend, I was certainly looking forward to what Sony had to show. While I can't say that when the lights came up I was totally fulfilled -- the event was something of a big tease -- I did leave feeling generally enthused that Sony is actually making gaming a priority. I had serious concerns the PS4 would be more of a holistic media consumption device, gaming existing as just one of many, many facets. Indeed that may yet prove to be true, but for now the story was all about game developers and the cool stuff they're doing with the system. For that I am thankful.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/22/editors-letter-playstation-next/

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A Mini mindset: how an automaker's Connected platform could spark a seismic shift in infotainment expectations

Mini sold some 66,000 vehicles in the United States last year, and despite being on American soil (in its current incarnation, anyway) for just 13 years, this market has quickly become its biggest. Those drawn to the brand are likely intrigued by, if not outright enamored of, its quirkiness. Mini likes to say that the company is "Not Normal," and it only takes a glance inside its cartoonish Countryman to see what that means.

During a recent kickoff event to celebrate the impending launch of its Paceman model, we sought to get beneath the sheet metal and gear ratios, instead looking at the kinds of decisions that impact the marriage of automobiles and technology. Turns out, Johnly Velasquez and Chris Potgieter -- two gentlemen in charge of determining what technology ends up in Mini products -- were more than happy to discuss those nuances. In particular, we discussed how those details relate to the future of its Connected platform, the role that infotainment plays in its entire range of motorcars and the opportunities that lie ahead for Mini to embrace alternative power.

Could Mini's prioritization of technology as a pillar of automotive manufacturing influence the entire industry? That's exactly what we'll explore just beyond the break.

Gallery: 2013 Mini Paceman launch gallery

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Mini

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Ixv3-1zUM5Y/

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Shri Kapil Sibal Union Minister For Communications & IT to inaugurate Electronics for You Expo

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MAMTA VARMA	PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
DIRECTOR (M&C)	GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
(COMMUNICATIONS &IT)	SHASTRI BHAWAN
Tel. No. 23384790	NEW DELHI
?	Date: February 20, 2013

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Dear Sir/Madam

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EVENT:	Shri Kapil Sibal Union Minister For Communications & IT to inaugurate Electronics for You Expo ?
VENUE: ?	Hall No 10, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
DATE:	February 21 2013 (Thursday) ?
TIME:	9:50 am ?

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Yours sincerely

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(Mamta Varma)

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To

All Accredited Correspondents

All Accredited Cameramen (Still and Movie)

ADG (News) Doordarshan

ADG(News) ? AIR

DD (Photos)-3 copies

(Release ID :92333)

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=92333

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