In the weed-inspired clip, Breezy parties with Big Sean, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, set to perform at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards. By Rob Markman
Chris Brown's "Till I Die" video feat. Big Sean and Wiz Khalifa Photo: Sony Music Entertainment
The 9-to-5 grind can be a real drag, even for superstars like Chris Brown. To take the edge off, Breezy dons a suit and tie and throws a good old fashioned smoke party with Wiz Khalifa and Big Sean for his "Till I Die" video, which he released online Wednesday night.
Brown's self-directed clip starts in a run-of-the-mill office with maze-like cubicles, boring brown corkboards and a nasty old water cooler. It's all pretty mundane, that is until a rapping Chris pops out of nowhere, tripping the mail guy and encouraging a Sarah Palin look-alike to photo-copy her bare bottom. "A n---a gonna be faded all the way 'til the a.m.," Brown promises as his shift ends and he takes the elevator from the 420th floor to the building's lobby with fellow stoners Wiz and Sean.
The good times continue to roll when Snoop Dogg, along with a few lucky ladies, comes to pick up his homeys in a yellow, old-school convertible. "More drink, pour it up/ More weed, roll it up," Sean raps while Brown harmonizes "I'm high" in the background as they ride through the streets of L.A.
The happy rappers eventually reach their destination, a foggy frat house with thick, billowing smoke, tons of snacks and fellow marijuana enthusiasts Method Man and Redman, who present Wiz with a golden bong.
"Till I Die" was actually Khalifa's second weed-inspired video of the day. Earlier Wednesday, the Pittsburgh spitter dropped a clip for "The Grinder," a jazzy smoke tune from his Taylor Allderdice mixtape. Fans can catch Khalifa performing during Sunday's MTV Movie Awards at 9 p.m. ET, introduced by none other than Charlie Sheen.
For Brown, "Till I Die" is a far cry all of the other videos he's released from his upcoming Fortune album. "Turn Up the Music," which has amassed almost 40 million views on YouTube, is a heavy dance number, while "Strip" finds Chris in the middle of a sexy house party. The Virginia singer's sultry love-making ode "Sweet Love" comes with a video to match, but "Till I Die" is a fun and welcomed departure from it all. Not that we condone that sort of thing.
What do you think of Chris Brown's "Till I Die" video? Tell us in the comments.
Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET.
New drug strategy attacks resistant leukemia and lymphomaPublic release date: 29-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bill Schaller william_schaller@dfci.harvard.edu 617-632-5357 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Scientists build a synthetic peptide that overcomes cancer cells survival defenses
BOSTON--Scientists at the Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center have developed an anti-cancer peptide that overcomes the stubborn resistance to chemotherapy and radiation often encountered in certain blood cancers when the disease recurs following initial treatment.
The strategy could pave the way for much needed new therapies to treat relapsed and refractory blood cancers, which are difficult to cure because their cells deploy strong protein "deflector shields" to neutralize the cell death signals that chemotherapy agents used against them initially, say the researchers.
The prototype compound, called a "stapled BIM BH3 peptide," is designed to disable the cancer's defenses by hitting a family of protein targets that regulate cell death.
In proof-of-concept studies in mice with transplanted, drug-resistant leukemia tumors, the compound alone suppressed cancer growth, and when paired with other drugs, showed synergistic anti-cancer activity, say researchers led by Loren Walensky, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center.
Their paper has been posted online by the Journal of Clinical Investigation and will appear in the journal's June issue. Walensky is the senior author and James LaBelle, MD, PhD, is the first author.
A cell's "fate" when and whether it lives or dies depends on a tug-of-war between pro-death and anti-death forces within the cell that serve as a check-and-balance system to maintain orderly growth. The system is regulated by the BCL-2 family of proteins, which contains both pro-death and pro-survival members.
When cells are no longer needed or are damaged beyond repair, the body activates pro-death BCL-2 proteins to shut down mitochondria the power plants of the cell resulting in an orchestrated cellular destruction known as apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
Many cell-killing cancer treatments work by triggering these "executioner proteins" to cause tumor cells to commit suicide in this fashion. But cancer cells can escape their death sentence and even become immortal by hyperactivating the survival arm of the family; these proteins intercept the executioner proteins and block their lethal mission.
"When cancers recur, they activate not just one type of survival protein, but many," explains Walensky, whose laboratory has extensively studied the cell-death system and makes compounds to manipulate it for research and therapeutic purposes.
"It's as if relapsed cancers 'learned' from their initial exposure to chemotherapy such that when they come back, they put up a variety of formidable barriers to apoptosis," he adds. "To reactivate cell death in refractory hematologic cancers, we need new pharmacologic strategies that broadly target these obstacles and substantially lower the apoptotic threshold."
When cancers specifically rely on one or two survival proteins, treating them with selective BCL-2 inhibitors can be very effective at eliminating the cancer cells' survival advantage. But relapsed cancers often evade such agents by deploying a battery of alternate survival proteins, so what's needed, Walensky says, are "next-generation" compounds that can block a wider range of survival proteins without jeopardizing normal tissues.
In the current research, the scientists built a chemically-reinforced peptide containing the death-activating BH3 domain of an especially potent killer protein, BIM, which is able to tightly bind with and neutralize all of the BCL-2 family survival proteins. This 'stapled' peptide, which incorporates the natural structure and properties of BIM BH3, not only disables the survival proteins, but also directly activates pro-death BCL-2 family proteins in cancer cells, making them self-destruct. Importantly, non-cancerous cells and tissues were relatively unaffected by the treatment.
"The diversity of BCL-2 family survival proteins blunts the anti-tumor activity of essentially all cancer treatments to some degree," Walensky points out. "By using Nature's solution to broad targeting of the BCL-2 pathway with a stapled BIM BH3 peptide, our goal is to eliminate cancer's protective force field and enable the arsenal of cancer treatments to do their job."
###
The research was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (grants 1K08CA151450, 5P01CA92625 and 5R01CA050239) and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
In addition to Walensky and LaBelle, the papers other authors are Samuel Katz, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Gregory Bird, PhD, Evripidis Gavathiotis, PhD, and Andrew Kung, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center; Michelle Stewart, Chelsea Lawrence, Jill Fisher, Marina Godes, and Kenneth Pitter, Dana-Farber.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. It provides adult cancer care with Brigham and Women's Hospital as Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center and it provides pediatric care with Children's Hospital Boston as Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center. Dana-Farber is the top ranked cancer center in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of the largest recipients among independent hospitals of National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health grant funding. Follow Dana-Farber on Twitter: @danafarber or Facebook: facebook.com/danafarbercancerinstitute.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New drug strategy attacks resistant leukemia and lymphomaPublic release date: 29-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bill Schaller william_schaller@dfci.harvard.edu 617-632-5357 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Scientists build a synthetic peptide that overcomes cancer cells survival defenses
BOSTON--Scientists at the Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center have developed an anti-cancer peptide that overcomes the stubborn resistance to chemotherapy and radiation often encountered in certain blood cancers when the disease recurs following initial treatment.
The strategy could pave the way for much needed new therapies to treat relapsed and refractory blood cancers, which are difficult to cure because their cells deploy strong protein "deflector shields" to neutralize the cell death signals that chemotherapy agents used against them initially, say the researchers.
The prototype compound, called a "stapled BIM BH3 peptide," is designed to disable the cancer's defenses by hitting a family of protein targets that regulate cell death.
In proof-of-concept studies in mice with transplanted, drug-resistant leukemia tumors, the compound alone suppressed cancer growth, and when paired with other drugs, showed synergistic anti-cancer activity, say researchers led by Loren Walensky, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center.
Their paper has been posted online by the Journal of Clinical Investigation and will appear in the journal's June issue. Walensky is the senior author and James LaBelle, MD, PhD, is the first author.
A cell's "fate" when and whether it lives or dies depends on a tug-of-war between pro-death and anti-death forces within the cell that serve as a check-and-balance system to maintain orderly growth. The system is regulated by the BCL-2 family of proteins, which contains both pro-death and pro-survival members.
When cells are no longer needed or are damaged beyond repair, the body activates pro-death BCL-2 proteins to shut down mitochondria the power plants of the cell resulting in an orchestrated cellular destruction known as apoptosis, or programmed cell death.
Many cell-killing cancer treatments work by triggering these "executioner proteins" to cause tumor cells to commit suicide in this fashion. But cancer cells can escape their death sentence and even become immortal by hyperactivating the survival arm of the family; these proteins intercept the executioner proteins and block their lethal mission.
"When cancers recur, they activate not just one type of survival protein, but many," explains Walensky, whose laboratory has extensively studied the cell-death system and makes compounds to manipulate it for research and therapeutic purposes.
"It's as if relapsed cancers 'learned' from their initial exposure to chemotherapy such that when they come back, they put up a variety of formidable barriers to apoptosis," he adds. "To reactivate cell death in refractory hematologic cancers, we need new pharmacologic strategies that broadly target these obstacles and substantially lower the apoptotic threshold."
When cancers specifically rely on one or two survival proteins, treating them with selective BCL-2 inhibitors can be very effective at eliminating the cancer cells' survival advantage. But relapsed cancers often evade such agents by deploying a battery of alternate survival proteins, so what's needed, Walensky says, are "next-generation" compounds that can block a wider range of survival proteins without jeopardizing normal tissues.
In the current research, the scientists built a chemically-reinforced peptide containing the death-activating BH3 domain of an especially potent killer protein, BIM, which is able to tightly bind with and neutralize all of the BCL-2 family survival proteins. This 'stapled' peptide, which incorporates the natural structure and properties of BIM BH3, not only disables the survival proteins, but also directly activates pro-death BCL-2 family proteins in cancer cells, making them self-destruct. Importantly, non-cancerous cells and tissues were relatively unaffected by the treatment.
"The diversity of BCL-2 family survival proteins blunts the anti-tumor activity of essentially all cancer treatments to some degree," Walensky points out. "By using Nature's solution to broad targeting of the BCL-2 pathway with a stapled BIM BH3 peptide, our goal is to eliminate cancer's protective force field and enable the arsenal of cancer treatments to do their job."
###
The research was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (grants 1K08CA151450, 5P01CA92625 and 5R01CA050239) and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
In addition to Walensky and LaBelle, the papers other authors are Samuel Katz, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Gregory Bird, PhD, Evripidis Gavathiotis, PhD, and Andrew Kung, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center; Michelle Stewart, Chelsea Lawrence, Jill Fisher, Marina Godes, and Kenneth Pitter, Dana-Farber.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. It provides adult cancer care with Brigham and Women's Hospital as Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center and it provides pediatric care with Children's Hospital Boston as Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center. Dana-Farber is the top ranked cancer center in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of the largest recipients among independent hospitals of National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health grant funding. Follow Dana-Farber on Twitter: @danafarber or Facebook: facebook.com/danafarbercancerinstitute.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
derrick williams railgun jk rowling new book between two ferns ihop statins chardon
This undated screen grab released by the Kaspersky Lab site shows code from the computer virus known as Flame.
By Bob Sullivan
Why would super-secret spy software be written in a video game language?? As security researchers continue to unpack the digital mystery that is the Flame virus, that's just one question looming over perhaps the world's most intriguing digital whodunit.
With all the talk about Flame being the most powerful, ingenious and stealthy computer virus ever written, some properties of the mysterious malicious software are causing confusion.
For one thing, the program takes up 20 megabytes of space on infected machines. That's not stealthy; large files usually indicate sloppy programming. Also, unlike Stuxnet, Flame didn't come with precision targeting, and hasn't yet been credited with doing anything as impressive as hacking nuclear power plant computers. But perhaps most mysterious of all: Part of Flame?s code was written in the Lua programming language, a simple language used almost exclusively by video game programmers.? Why would a nation-state trying to commit secret espionage toy with video game software?
"This is not a stealth operation," said Marcus Carey, who worked as?a security analyst at the National Security Agency for eight years before joining the security firm Rapid7 in Boston.
News of the Flame virus hit Monday, as multiple computer security firms claimed the program represented a huge escalation in cyberwarfare. Moscow-based Kaspersky Labs, among the first to analyze the virus, called it the most powerful malicious program ever.
?The complexity and functionality of the newly discovered malicious program exceed those of all other cyber menaces known to date,? it said.
Flame reportedly comes loaded with lots of capabilities, such as remotely turning on victims' PC microphones, but it's hardly the first virus to accomplish that.? And unlike Stuxnet, it's yet clear that?Flame used a series of so-called 0-day exploits -- ?vulnerabilities in software that are undiscovered by the security industry and for which there are no antidotes.? While initial reports immediately linked Stuxnet to Flame, primarily because they both seem to target Iran, skepticism is beginning to build that the two are directly linked.
That's partly because the two programs were written in very different ways. Flame?s authors used Lua, something that confuses observers.
"Lua in a spy tool is just ... weird," said one Israeli programmer who uses Lua and requested anonymity. "The little snippet I've seen of the code seems so ... ordinary ... really like the work of your average programmer.? Stuxnet sounded genius.?
Said another: "Lua is considered a kids language.... All I see around that is built with Lua are games. I mean, the syntax is very simple."
Not exactly the stuff of high-tech international espionage. Or is it?
Lua has been around since the 1980s, developed at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It was created out of necessity; at the time, trade barriers made importing software development tools too expensive.? Development of Lua as a programming language remains centered in Brazil, where a small group of programmers make infrequent updates to the language.? But it's become a favorite platform for a few thousand devotees around the world, who are attracted to its simplicity, its ability to play well with other software and its tiny footprint, which makes it ideal for use on embedded devices or games, where memory and space are at a premium.
Unlike other programming languages that grow in size out of necessity over ?time, Lua has actually shrunken in recent years, as developers have revised and refined its architecture.
Its name ? Portuguese for ?moon? ? hints at Lua?s use as a subordinate language to attach satellite projects to larger pieces of software.
At the Lua-L discussion list, Flame talk was all the rage on Monday, as its users? small corner of the technology world was suddenly thrust into the limelight.
"In some morbid way this is an endorsement for Lua," wrote a poster identified as Enrico Colombini.? "Though I'm a bit perplexed about the alleged high sophistication of that malware, when I see unobfuscated Lua with self-descriptive names."
But longtime Lua programmer Erik Hougaard, based in Denmark, said such opinions show a fundamental misunderstanding of Lua's simple elegance as a programming tool.
"It's a well-kept secret, but it's everywhere. It's hard to pick up an Xbox game without it," said Hougaard, who now uses Lua to program robots but has also used it to create from-scratch accounting software and other financial tools at EFoqus Danmark A/S.? "It's not sexy, but it's unique. It's so small you can fit it onto a single chip."
That's essential, because Lua includes both program and programming language in one tidy package -- meaning programs written in Lua will run reliably on machines as diverse as PCs and iPhones.?
"Lua is quite common in the mobile application space. If someone has Angry Birds installed on their iPhone, they are using Lua," said Carey, the security analyst. In fact, thousands of iPhone apps are written with Lua, he said.
Hackers have taken notice. While security firms have said they can't think of another computer virus before Flame that used Lua, it is a fundamental part of a favorite hacker tool called "NMAP." NMAP is used to scan the Internet for computers with potentially exploitable vulnerabilities; it?s the first tool used by hackers looking for trouble, and by security professionals looking to plug holes. NMAP permits use of a scripting language that runs under Lua so hackers can adjust the tool as needed.
"People have been using Lua to hack networks for a while, so this shouldn't surprise anyone," Carey said.? "Attackers are just using what works."
Lua first came to hackers' attention about two or three years ago, roughly when some analysts believe Flame was written, Carey said.
As with most information about Flame, Lua's appearance in the virus can be interpreted in two ways:
Flame's writers may have been ahead of their time, using a unique programming language to create their cybermonster, and further confuse computer security professionals.
Or, Flame's writers may have been video gamers and relative amateurs who didn't bother to do much to cover their tracks.
Symantec Corp. believes the use of Lua supports the former theory. It?s one of many security firms calling Flame one?of the most powerful and complex virus ever written.
"Lua is scriptable, easy to understand, and easy to update. That said, it?s not used often," said Vikram Thakur, principal security manager at Symantec Security Response. "Anecdotally, we can?t think of another threat that is written in Lua..... The usage of the programming language is what makes the program, independent of the language, interesting."
But is it the work of genius, and a sign that cyberwar has escalated a new and dangerous level? Carey is not so sure.
"Saying this is the work of a nation-state is premature," he said. "This is not a particularly clever piece of malware or uber-elite." And despite the fact that it apparently operated in stealth for at least two years, many experts say it is too big to have been conceived as a spy tool.
"What's with the size?" said the anonymous Israeli Lua programmer. "It's like the trick they do in the movies of making a scene on the train/plane? to create a diversion while committing a crime.?
Colombini was even more direct in his assessment.
"I find it difficult to believe this to be the work of an intelligence service, at least of a decent one,? he said. ?Obfuscating ? the Lua code would have made analysis more difficult and above all slower. In the spying business gaining time has a very high value. ? No self-respecting intelligence service (would have neglected to do that)." ?
So far, most of the roughly 300 confirmed Flame infections have been in Middle Eastern countries that are natural enemies of Israel, including 189 in Iran, according to Kaspersky Lab. ?
?If it weren't for the peculiar geographical distribution, (which is) the only thing that makes one think of politically charged malware, I'd think of a sort of malware construction kit,? designed to simply collect a large series of attack tools in one place, Colombini said.? ?
Given that the subject is covert cyberwar, confusion, half-truths and disinformation are the rule rather than the exception. Already, an unnamed U.S. official has told NBC News that the U.S. government is probably responsible for it; while Israeli officials have hinted that their side developed it.
Something else concerns Carey about the way that the Flame narrative has progressed so far.? Much of what we know about Flame has come directly from Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center.
?"Generally, we don't believe anything Iran says. Here, we seem to be believing everything they say," he said. "But this incident reinforces a storyline for Iran playing the victim."
Symantec, and many other security organizations, have said the sheer size of Flame is making thorough analysis of the virus a slog. Early reports on the malicious program all came with warnings that findings were preliminary.? Symantec expects to issue a follow-up later this week.
Citizens in Britain were startled recently when a religious-studies exam featured the question, "why do some people hate Jews?"
The question was immediately blasted as inappropriate and quickly withdrawn.
But it's an interesting and important question.
Along with many other sites, this site is occasionally visited by people whose mission in life appears to be to express hatred of Jews. (We delete these comments as quickly as we can, but they're always startling in their venom, meanness, and stupidity.)
And hatred of Jews has obviously been an ongoing theme worldwide for centuries.
Hitler, for example, hated the Jews so much that he murdered 6 million of them.
Why?
What is the source of this animosity? Why does it perpetuate itself? Where did this prejudice come from?
I'm asking this question seriously, and I'm going to Bleacher any comments that don't answer it seriously. As usual, I'm also going to ban any anti-Semitic commenters. And I'm only going to keep the comments open for 24 hours, because I know what will happen once I stop checking back in and reading them.
In the meantime, I'm genuinely mystified and curious, and I look forward to reading your responses.
Why do some people hate Jews?
Or, put in a more delicate fashion, what are the sources of the anti-Semitism that seem to play such a central role in many people's lives?
?
NOTE: The original photo in this post was of a couple of jovial Orthodox Jews, one of whom was wearing a traditional hat. Some readers found that needlessly provocative. One suggested I replace it with a picture of Natalie Portman, who, I guess, is Jewish (I don't know). So I have.
NOTE 2: The original title of this post was "Why Do Some People Hate Jews?" That made a lot of people angry. Folks seem more comfortable with the current title, which, admittedly, is less direct. So I changed it.
UPDATE: Now I see why Britain was startled when this question appeared on that religious-studies exam. Apparently, it's not a question you're supposed to ask.
UPDATE 2: Readers would also now like me to ask the following questions:
Why do people hate ____ people [fill in any skin color]
Why do people hate ____ [fill in any religion]
"Why do people hate?"?
Those are all good questions, too. Feel free to add your answers to those below, too.
UPDATE 3: John Podhoretz has been kind enough to send along a list of books on this topic, written by professor Robert Wistrich. It's available here. Please let me know which is the best, and I'll read it and summarize it in a future post.
NOTE 4: Wow! Thank you. Lots of interesting comments mixed in with some more predictable ones (along with a lot of frustration with me for even posing the question). I'm going to close the comments now, because I can't keep scanning them. I'll read Mr. Podhoretz's book recommendation above and come back with the scholarly answers.
Like to know how much it is to develop a web site and not sure where to begin? Whether you are wanting to generate more business, establish a weblog or run a complete company online we are here to assist you. So that you have more of an understanding of the web building procedure let?s take a look at just what?s entailed.
Choose A Domain Name
The first step in creating a website is to register your domain name. The domain name will direct prospective customers to your website. A simple internet search will provide you a list of companies that register domain names. You can enter various names to see if they are available. The cost varies from $ 7 to $ 20. Go with a domain name that resonates your business name or industry. Domain names usually expire within one year, however it?s possible to purchase a name that won?t expire for a number of years. The next action is seeking out a web hosting provider.
Finding A Web Hosting Service
There are thousands of web hosting companies on the net. You can find hosting review websites that will you help narrow down your options. Look for a company that has good reviews. The cost averages $ 10 per month. You can be charged more because pricing depends on the volume of traffic your site receives. There are also free web hosting sites, but consider very carefully conferring to your business needs.
Developing Your Website
You can find a provider that will register your domain name, host your website and help you create it. If you?re looking for a standard website design, you?ll find the tools accessible online. Read online reviews regarding website development software to choose the best one for your company. You can purchase website creation software for under $ 100. Choosing a professional to build your website is a really good idea if you don?t have a lot of extra time. Professional website creators charge an average of $ 1000 for website design. The rate depends on how many pages your site needs, and the features you want included. Building a website that looks proficient takes a great deal of time. Website professionals can also assist you to promote your website.
Promoting Your Website
Once your website is created, you will want to make sure it shows up in searches. Search engine optimization companies can help you boost the visitors to your site. SEO techniques are complicated and challenging to understand. If you have the time, you can learn the various tips and tricks that professionals use. Otherwise, it is advised to work with a professional company. Find a marketing company that has an exceptional reputation for delivering results. Explore the various marketing companies online and compare cost. Promoting your website is important to ensure potential clients find your business and can purchase your product or service.
When the first Chromebooks hit the market last year, they were greeted with skepticism, curiosity and some noisy debate. Which makes sense: after all, who had ever heard of an operating system based entirely on a browser? Laptops that were only usable when you had an internet connection? It was a wild, ambitious idea, to be sure, but since then, we haven't heard much on that front save for the occasional price cut.
Now, though, Samsung is selling the new Chromebook Series 5 550 (and Series 3 Chromebox) it teased at CES, while Google is rolling out a new version of its operating system with offline doc editing, a basic photo editor and a desktop-like space that makes it easier to launch and switch between apps. Like last year's model, the Series 5 still has a matte, 300-nit, 12.1-inch display, 16GB of built-in flash storage and an optional Verizon Wireless 3G radio, but it's dressed in more conservative digs with a retooled touchpad and an Celeron -- not Atom -- processor. Accordingly, the starting price for the WiFi-only model is slightly higher ($449, up from $429), and the battery life is now rated for six hours, down from 10. Finally, the new model adds an Ethernet jack and DisplayPort -- both of which Google hopes will appeal to the schools and businesses considering using Chrome devices.
Most interestingly of all, Google is planning on selling its new Chromebook in retail, signaling an intent to expand beyond geeky early adopters and one-to-one laptop programs in classrooms. If the idea is to win over more consumers, will a faster CPU and improved user experience be enough to make up for the drastically shortened battery life? Should folks in need of a portable machine with a keyboard spend their $450 on a Chromebook instead of a netbook or Transformer tablet? That's a tough one -- meet us past the break where we'll hash it all out.
Not everyone is lucky enough to be 100% healthy, and this is something travel insurance providers need to consider before issuing you with an insurance policy. The ease of getting travel insurance with medical conditions depends very much on what condition you have. Read on to find out more?
What Are Pre Existing Conditions?
A pre existing condition is a medical condition which has existed prior to you purchasing an insurance policy.
Most insurance companies define a pre existing condition as being one or all of the following:
Pregnancy
Any condition that is currently or has been looked into or treated by a health professional at any time before taking out the policy
Any condition that you are aware of
Any condition which you are aware of symptoms of
Any condition for which you have to take medicine prescribed by a doctor
Any condition which you have had to have surgery for
Any condition which you see a medical practitioner for
Which Pre Existing Conditions Are Covered?
Asthma is covered under most standard insurance policies.
You may be surprised to know that many pre existing conditions are automatically covered by standard travel insurance policies. Controlled conditions such as asthma, diabetes and epilepsy are often included in covered at no extra cost.
More serious conditions are often not covered by any travel insurance policy. Conditions that are life threatening, such as HIV/AIDS or cancer are rarely covered by any policy. If you are pregnant and considering traveling, be sure to check your insurance policy very carefully. Most travel insurance policies offer very limited cover for pregnant women.
For less common conditions it varies from company to company. Some companies cover very few conditions, while others have a lot of options for travel insurance with medical conditions. There are a huge number of insurance providers, so don?t be afraid to call around.
How much extra will it cost me?
Once again this varies from company to company, but most pre existing medical conditions will not cost you a lot more than a standard policy. Always shop around ? contact a few insurance providers to get a good idea of the standard cost for your condition.
Do I have to declare my pre existing condition?
We do recommend declaring any pre existing medical conditions when you are taking out travel insurance. Although it is possible to get away with not declaring, travel insurance companies are smart and know which medical conditions are likely to have been pre existing. The result of this will be a reduced payout, or perhaps no payout at all. In our opinion, it?s not worth the risk.
We hope these tips help to make taking out travel insurance with medical conditions easier, and to make your trip safer and more stress-free. Checkout more essential advice on Travel Health or our information on Travel Safety.
Return from travel insurance with medical conditions to the Trusty Travel Tips Homepage
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PITTSBURGH (AP) - Andrew McCutchen and the Pittsburgh Pirates can relate to what the Chicago Cubs are going through.
Perhaps more than anyone, they know what it feels like to be on an extended losing streak - 12 in a row, in the Cubs' case.
The Pirates used that to their advantage Sunday.
McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones homered, Erik Bedard pitched six shutout innings and the Pirates won 10-4, extending the Cubs' longest skid in 15 years.
Since McCutchen made his major league debut in June 2009, Pittsburgh has had 18 losing streaks of at least five games. The Pirates dropped 12 in a row during their 105-loss 2010 season.
"We've been there before, we know how it feels, so we knew if we were able to get on the board early, we pretty much would have them," McCutchen said. "Just because we've been there. When you're (struggling), and then you're down early, it kind of knocks the breath out of you."
Alvarez hit a three-run homer in the first, giving Pittsburgh a lead it would never relinquish. A six-run sixth gave the Pirates a 10-0 lead before the Cubs scored all of their runs in the final two innings.
"Not only to not get results, but to feel like you are getting embarrassed, it is frustrating," Cubs catcher Koyie Hill said.
This is the Cubs' worst slide since they started out 0-14 in 1997. Few of their losses during this streak were wipeouts - six were by one run, including the first two games of this series.
Starlin Castro homered during a three-run eighth for Chicago, which had scored only two runs in its previous 33 innings.
"We didn't score, again, off the starter, so that magnifies everything," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "We didn't muster up really anything today."
Alvarez's homer was Pittsburgh's first this season with more than one man on. McCutchen added a solo shot in the fifth and Jones went deep to right with Neil Walker on in the fifth.
Pittsburgh completed its first three-game sweep at PNC Park since Sept. 17-19, 2010.
The lowest-scoring team in baseball, the Pirates set a season high for runs and matched a season high by winning their third consecutive game.
Alvarez homered for the first time in 24 days in the first inning, taking a 3-1 pitch from Matt Garza (2-3) deep up into the elevated seats in right-center.
"I was well aware of the fact we didn't have (a three-run homer)," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "They make the offensive game pick up dramatically when you can get three runs in one swipe. About time for us to get one of those."
McCutchen retied Alvarez for the team lead with his eighth home run, in the fifth inning.
Jones snapped an 0-for-11 stretch when he pulled Garza's final pitch deep into the right-field seats.
That was only the beginning for the Pirates in their six-run sixth. Demoted from the closer's role after losing Saturday night's game when he hit Matt Hague with a pitch with the bases loaded, Rafael Dolis came in and walked both batters he faced.
After Bedard sacrificed, pinch-hitter Gorkys Hernandez lined a single to center off Michael Bowden for his first hit and first two RBIs in the majors.
Alvarez added a sacrifice fly and Walker an RBI single to give the Pirates 10 runs in a game for the first time since July 3, 2011.
Bedard (3-5) allowed two hits. He had four walks and three strikeouts.
"To get on a roll like that and score 10 runs, it's nice," said Bedard, who has four losses this season when he allowed two earned runs or less. "It makes it easier for a pitcher to pitch."
After allowing five runs over a stretch of four starts, Garza has been tagged for a total of 13 over eight innings in his past two outings. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits, a walk and six strikeouts Sunday.
"It's frustrating. The last couple have been frustrating," Garza said. "I need to keep going and going hard. It's going to turn - and it's got to turn.
"There are no excuses," he added. "We are going to turn it around, and we are going to keep plugging away until it turns."
NOTES: The Cubs completed an 0-6 road trip during which they were not outhit in a game until Sunday. ... Pirates OF Jose Tabata was 2 for 3 before being removed from the game in the sixth inning due to discomfort and cramping in his left leg. He was to be further evaluated later Sunday and Monday. ... Sveum said that either RHP Shawn Camp or LHP Jeff Russell would work in closing situations. Dolis has been scored on in each of his past five outings. ... Chicago returns home for a three-game series against San Diego in a matchup of the NL's two worst teams. ... Pittsburgh continues a nine-game in which it is 4-2 when it faces NL Central-leading Cincinnati on Monday.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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MOJAVE ? Just before daybreak, a group of naturalists don parkas to blunt the frosty wind blowing down a narrow canyon in the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles. They mount spotting scopes and cameras on tripods, and wait.
"Showtime," one of them whispers at the first rays of light. The silence is broken by thousands of brightly colored birds the size of Christmas ornaments pouring north through the canyon on whooshing wings, just a few yards above ground.
Kern County bird expert Bob Barnes stands spellbound. Peering through binoculars, he says, "They're following the contours of the canyon like a living river of birds."
PHOTOS: Bird radar
This is Butterbredt Spring, arguably the best place in California to witness the spring migration of birds. Why it attracts so many ? tanagers, warblers, orioles, grosbeaks, vireos and flycatchers ? is not entirely understood. But something about the topography and its fierce winds has a funneling effect on birds moving over the mountains along the Pacific flyway.
Throughout the Tehachapis, wild and windy places like this have become crucial refuges for songbirds, as well as for critically endangered California condors and federally protected golden eagles. They are also a magnet for wind farms spreading across the region's cliffs, canyons and ridgelines.
Now, in what has become one of the most critical conservation issues in the state, wind farms are considering using radar units and experimental telemetry systems that they hope will avoid harming birds by identifying incoming species early enough to switch off the massive turbines and then ? to minimize costs and maximize profits ? turn them back on again as quickly as possible.
"The greatest threat to migrating birds in my lifetime is unfolding in those mountains," said Jesse Grantham, former California condor coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "As for condors, strikes are inevitable. They travel together when a food source appears, so a single turbine blade could take out a lot of them in one swing."
If that happens, a wind farm could face lawsuits, criminal charges and ample bad publicity.
"Renewable energy operators are coming around to the view that they have to do something," said Gary Andrews, general manager and chief executive of De Tect Inc., a leading manufacturer of avian radar systems. If a protected species is killed at a wind farm that has a bird tracking system, prosecutors and others could conclude that the operator had done everything it could to prevent harm to wildlife, Andrews said.
Radar systems are expensive, with no guarantee they will perform. One problem is differentiating among avian species. Condors, for example, soar thousands of feet high while hunting for carrion. Golden eagles swoop fast and close to the ground. Migrating songbirds fly low in strong headwinds.
A standard De Tect avian radar unit sells for about $500,000 and works best in flat, uncluttered expanses devoid of trees and bushes that could overwhelm the telltale blip of, say, a condor. In mountainous terrain such as the Tehachapis, multiple radar units are recommended ? some to look into valleys, others to look out of them. Additional "bells and whistles" include telescopic video attachments capable of discerning an eagle from a turkey vulture, Andrews said.
Avian radar systems are in operation at wind farms in Texas and in European nations including Spain. A radar unit was installed at Pattern Energy's controversial Ocotillo Express Wind Project site in Imperial County. Pattern Energy declined to comment about its effectiveness.
Separately, the San Diego Zoo is developing a telemetry system to provide real-time data on the altitude and speed of every California condor outfitted with a transmitter. The system would automatically shut down turbines if a condor ventured within striking range.
Prospective customers for detection systems include the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Pine Tree wind farm, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, which is under federal investigation in connection with eight golden eagle carcasses found at the site over the last two years.
The DWP is developing an avian and bat protection plan to include measures for mitigating risks. Later this year, the agency plans to test a $3-million radar system designed to sweep the horizon, vertically and horizontally, for large birds, said Mark Sedlacek, director of environmental affairs for the DWP.
The DWP awaits necropsy reports that could determine whether Pine Tree will earn the dubious distinction of becoming the first wind farm in the United States to face criminal charges for killing eagles.
The agency initially reported that it believed turbines were responsible. However, it now says it should not have presumed a cause of death, raising the possibility that the eagles died in any number of ways, including at the hands of someone trying to discredit the facility.
Shawn Smallwood, an expert on raptor ecology at wind farms, said, "We know that birds die of all kinds of natural causes ? but for eagles to die in those numbers is beyond the pale. I've been working with raptors since 1989 and I have never found a dead eagle outside of a wind farm."
Pine Tree is adjacent to NextEra Energy's North Sky River Project, which calls for 100 turbines across 12,781 acres of private lands.
A risk assessment of that project, which is within a mile of Butterbredt Spring, warned that condors spend considerable time soaring within the potential rotor-swept heights of the mega-turbines, which are more than 200 feet tall. A year ago, Fish and Wildlife detected two condors within three miles of the project and determined that it was likely that one of the birds flew directly over it. North Sky River is considering avian radar systems.
Environmental organizations led by the Sierra Club have sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for approving the right-of-way for the project. Of particular concern is the threat to condors, eagles and migrating birds that will pass through to and from Butterbredt Spring.
NextEra declined to comment.
Bird expert Barnes summed up the issues this way: "When there is no wind, turbines are switched off and birds fly high overhead. When the wind blows hard, birds flying into or out of Butterbredt Spring fly low. Connect the dots."
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Public release date: 29-May-2012
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