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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Bahama brrrr | Travel Blog

Those darn cold fronts are still following us! The Bahamas are high enough in latitude to feel the effects of a strong cold front and the most recent one knocked the temperatures down about 20 degrees from earlier in the week. We had to dig out the long sleeves, long pants, socks and sleeping bags. Oh well, it?s still better than snow. (sorry)

Last Monday, during our exploratory walk in the morning, we stopped to chat with an employee of the resort who generously offered to take us out to the beach. We hopped on his golf cart and got a tour of the place as he made his security rounds. Sometimes it was hard to understand his accent over the noisy engine (carts here are gas, not electric), but I did learn that the owner/developers are from Miami and the resort is packed during summer holidays when vacationers from southern Florida come over in their motorboats. Good to know that there are people here sometimes!

After the tour, we began the golf cart rental negotiations. There are three outfits at the resort that rent the carts and we ended up going back and forth between two of them.

Got a price that we were willing to pay for three days, hopped in our wheels and headed down to Alice Town, remembering to drive on the left side of the road. There are several shops catering to tourists, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, and a killer bakery called A Taste of Heaven.

Later that day, we drove up to the beach for a while, then over to the infinity pool. I?m not much for pool swimming, but this was nothing like any pool I've been in ? no chlorine smell, perfect temperature and incredible view. And we had it all to ourselves.

After putting a few miles on the golf cart Tuesday and Wednesday (runs to town and the beach) we turned it in on Thursday, just as the weather was changing. Friday and Saturday were quite cloudy, windy and cool, so we stayed on the boat most of the time. We ventured out yesterday to see how rough the ocean was and just stretch our legs. Decided to eat dinner at the bar. The hamburgers are very good here and the bartenders make a healthy drink! After dinner we took a detour into the game room and

played air hockey, ping pong and foozball. Had a blast! We might not leave tomorrow after all?.

Since we arrived in Bimini, we have been listening to Chris Parker on the SSB radio (it?s the marine version of HAM radio). He owns a marine forecasting company that one can subscribe to, but you can also listen for free if you have a good signal. While we currently have excellent, free internet and can check the weather at our leisure, that will change when we leave. So, to get ready for the next phase of our trip, every morning we practice tuning the SSB to the correct frequencies, and train our ears to the often fuzzy transmissions.

We do need to untie the dock lines if we want to visit Nassau and the Exuma island chain before we have to come home. Right now, Monday, Tuesday or Thursday are possibilities - there?s another strong front cruising through the area on Wednesday. Once we leave Bimini Bay Marina, I?m not sure how often I will be able to update the blog ? as I mentioned, we?re venturing into the land of sparse or expensive internet! OMG! Instead, I may send

short updates using our SSB email account. Don?t be surprised if you get mail from an address that ends with ?sailmail.com?. It will be from us. Please don?t reply to that email as we are limited in its use; use the gmail or cornell account which we always check when we can get wifi.

There are more photos below

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Source: http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Bahamas/Bimini-Islands/blog-774034.html

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Samsung's $1B bill in Apple case reduced by $450M

This undated image provided by Samsung on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013 shows the Samsung GALAXY Note 8 with a stylus. Samsung Electronics is beefing up its tablet range with a competitor to Apple?s iPad Mini that sports a pen for writing on the screen. The Korean company announced on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 in Barcelona, Spain that the Galaxy Note 8.0 will have an 8-inch screen, putting it very close in size to the Apple?s tablet. (AP Photo/Samsung)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? The two biggest ? and bitterest ? rivals in the smartphone market will have to endure another bruising trial after a federal judge ruled that jurors miscalculated nearly half the $1 billion in damages it found Samsung Electronics owed Apple Inc. for patent infringement.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh wiped out $450 million from the verdict and ordered a new trial to reconsider damages related to 14 Samsung products including some products in its hot-selling Galaxy lineup jurors in August found were using Apple's technology without permission. Koh said jurors in three-week trial had not properly followed her instruction in calculating some of the damages.

She also concluded that mistakes had been made in determining when Apple had first notified Samsung about the alleged violations of patents for its trend-setting iPhone and IPad.

"We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury's award," Samsung spokeswoman Lauren Restuccia said.

Koh didn't toss out the jurors underlying finding that two dozen Samsung products infringed patents Apple used to develop its iPad and iPhone products. The new jury will be tasked with only determining what Samsung owes Apple.

Apple declined to comment on the Koh's ruling, which still did leave Samsung with a bill to just under $599 million. The judge said the tab will probably increase after the appeals of both companies are resolved.

Apple is seeking more damages and Samsung a complete dismissal of the case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Washington, D.C.-based court that handles all patent appeals. The new trial to recalculate the damages could also increase the award.

Still, the ruling was the second significant setback in Koh's courtroom since the headline grabbing verdict was announced.

In December, Koh refused to order a sales ban on the products the jury found infringed Apple's patents. She said Apple failed to prove the purloined technology is what drove consumers to buy a Samsung product instead of an Apple iPhone or iPad. Samsung says that it is continues to sell only three of the two dozen products found to have infringed Apple's patents.

After a three-week trial closely followed in Silicon Valley, the jury decided that Samsung ripped off the trailblazing technology and sleek designs used by Apple to create its revolutionary iPhone and iPad. Jurors ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion.

Apple filed another lawsuit last year accusing Samsung's newer line of products of continuing to use technology controlled by Apple. Koh has scheduled trial in that case for early next year. She has implored both companies on several occasions to settle their difference with little success.

Apple filed its patent infringement lawsuit in April 2011 and engaged legions of the country's highest-paid patent lawyers to demand $2.5 billion from its top smartphone competitor. Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit seeking $399 million.

The jury found that several Samsung products illegally used such Apple creations as the "bounce-back" feature when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with a tap of a finger.

Samsung has mounted an aggressive post-trial attack on the verdict, raising a number of legal issues that allege the South Korean company was treated unfairly in a federal courtroom a dozen miles from Apple's Cupertino headquarters. Samsung alleges that some of Apple's patents shouldn't have been awarded in the first place and that the jury made mistakes in calculating the damage award.

Samsung has emerged as one of Apple's biggest rivals and has overtaken it as the leading smartphone maker. Samsung's Galaxy line of phones run on Android, a mobile operating system that Google Inc. has given out for free to Samsung and other phone makers.

Apple and Samsung have filed similar lawsuits in eight other countries, including South Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Australia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-02-Apple-Samsung%20Trial/id-86921d58437d4d8c99d8766495f03636

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FDA Commissioner: budget cuts mean less safe food

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2012 file photo, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Hamburg says the lack of a new 2013 budget from Congress and the upcoming across-the-board spending cuts will mean fewer food safety inspections and an increased risk to consumers. The cuts could delay a new food safety law that requires the agency to boost inspections and directs farms and food facilities to ensure their food is safe. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Fewer food safety inspections and an increased risk to consumers will result from the lack of a new 2013 budget from Congress and the upcoming across-the-board spending cuts, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said Friday.

The cuts are scheduled to take effect Friday unless the White House and Congress can come to a budget agreement. The reduced inspections and budget cuts could delay a new food safety law which requires the agency to boost inspections and directs farms and food facilities to ensure their food is safe.

The FDA has said the so-called sequestration cuts will mean 2,100 fewer food safety inspections this year, though Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday that the number is an estimate. She said most of the effects wouldn't be felt for a while, and the agency won't have to furlough workers.

Still, she said, "We're going to be struggling with how to really grapple with the cuts of sequestration ... clearly we will be able to provide less of the oversight functions and we won't be able to broaden our reach to new facilities either, so inevitably that increases risk."

Hamburg and Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, said in a joint interview that the agency is trying to figure out ways to save money as they try to put the law in place, including experimenting with ways to do food safety inspections in shorter periods of time. Hamburg said the FDA is holding out hope that they can get the food industry to pay some user fees, an idea the industry has previously rejected and was left out of the final food safety law enacted two years ago.

"We are guardedly optimistic that we will continue, even in this fiscal budget climate, to get some enhanced resources to continue to expand and to move toward the goals of the program," Hamburg said of food safety.

The Obama administration had hoped for more dollars to carry out the law, which would boost the inspections and training for inspectors, require farms and food companies to create detailed food safety plans and create a new system for inspecting imported foods. But Congress did not pass a new budget last year and funding has remained stagnant.

The across-the-board cuts will also affect meat inspection, which is administered by the Agriculture Department. USDA has said inspectors could be furloughed for up to 15 days, meaning meatpacking plants would have to intermittently shut down. Government inspectors must be present for a meatpacking plant to operate.

The White House has said this could mean less meat in grocery stores and higher prices.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-28-Budget-Food%20Safety/id-eb3381cb4def4d3086769ea4e7f2dd4a

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Part 2: American Assumptions about Orientation and Identity | Real ...

This essay is the second in a series about Gay Marriage and Proposition 8.

Fuzzy and Warm In Part One, I discussed how same-sex affection, though varying in intensity from individual to individual, is an inherent part of human nature. I also pointed out that different cultures have dealt with this aspect of human nature in different ways. Some, like the culture of the Biblical tribes of Israel, valued same-sex emotional attachment and physical expressions of affection, but put a high premium on family relationships and had taboos against same-gender sexual behaviours. Others, like many ancient Greek cultures, practiced opposite-sex marriage while also combining the bonds of sexual intimacy with same-sex relationships for various educational, military, and other purposes.

Our culture?s approach over the past fifty years is quite different from any ancient world model. Rather than treating an individual?s complicated mix of social, emotional, and sexual feelings as aspects of that person, we divide the population into separate straight and gay identity groups (with the notion of bisexuality as a footnote, typically lumped in as a subset of the gay identity group).

We believe in these distinct identity groups partly because our culture increases the distance between opposite-sex and same-sex orientations. Especially among men in our society, the stereotypes which accompany that divide help to mask the natural spectrum of emotions beneath. In order to avoid appearing gay, a straight modern American man is expected to limit expressions of affection for other men more than in any ancient culture and to shy away from deep same-sex emotional investment.

On the other hand, gay men are permitted (even expected) to invest emotionally in women and to express physical affection but to frame such feelings and actions in a non-sexual way, as generalized flamboyance rather than opposite-gender affection. The reluctance of straight men to acknowledge or develop natural same-sex attachment allows them to ignore their share of such feelings, while the expectation of flamboyance allows gay men to feel drawn toward women without re-questioning their sexuality.

But creating two sharply delineated orientations out of the broad and malleable spectrum of human affinities and impulses is only half the work of constructing sexual identity groups. The division of our population into gay and straight identity groups also depends on our belief that a person?s private feelings and perceptions are a determining aspect of their identity. In a sense, the shift to believing in sexual identities is rooted in a shift to viewing identity as something to be sought in experimentation and subjective experience. If we?re prepared to search for identity in musical tastes, certainly the far more intense experiences of sexuality or even just sexual fantasy should be considered a core aspect of self. Sexual orientation is powerful as a source of identity in modern American culture because we care so much about people?s tastes, personal memories, and self-explorations.

Again, the importance of sexual orientation to identity is hardly a given across cultural lines. Sexual orientation is less compelling as a core determinant of identity in cultures that treat identity as largely tribal and hereditary. It also means less in a covenantal culture, where a person is defined not by his/her desires, but by the promises he or she makes and keeps.

But we live in a culture where sexual orientation is considered a core part of individual identity and a strong distinction is still made between gay and straight people. And because we see straight and gay as separate identity groups, it?s often difficult to differentiate between attitudes about same-sex relationships and attitudes about gay people.

Read the 6-part series

James Goldberg's family is Jewish on one side, Sikh on the other, and Mormon in the middle. Goldberg co-edits the Everyday Mormon Writer literary website, teaches composition and creative writing courses at BYU, and blogs at Mormon Midrashim. His debut novel, The Five Books of Jesus, was published in September 2012.

Source: http://realintent.org/part-2-american-assumptions-about-orientation-and-identity/

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Napolitano regrets surprise announcement of immigrant release

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had no part in a decision by underlings to release low-risk illegal immigrant detainees as a way to save money before the sequestration and was surprised to learn about it, Napolitano told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

"Detainee populations and how that is managed back and forth is really handled by career officials in the field," Napolitano said.

Napolitano added that the release, which has been criticized by congressional Republicans, was poorly timed.

"Do I wish that this all hadn't been done all of a sudden and so that people weren't surprised by it? Of course," she said.

When asked why the detainees were in jail in the first place, Napolitano replied, "That's a good question. I've asked the same question myself ... so we're looking into it."

Watch Jim Avila's interview with Janet Napolitano Thursday evening on "World News with Diane Sawyer."

With the sequestration deadline looming over the country today, ABC News asked Napolitano if Americans should feel safe waking up in the morning. She said sequestration will have an effect on border security and safety.

"We are always going to put safety first, and that's why we're not going to be abbreviating our safety procedures or any of that," Napolitano said. "But, by way of example, the number of Border Patrol hours that will need to be reduced equates to the equivalent of 5,000 Border Patrol agents."

The cut, she said, would mean "the large narco traffickers, human smugglers," and other bad players could have easier access to the U.S.

"We deal with a lot of bad actors and we will have fewer agents to do that with," she said. "We'll have fewer hours that the Coast Guard is going to be patrolling along our maritime shores."

The secretary stressed that the department will keep safety first but the effects of the sequester are not to be taken lightly.

"Sequestration is a pretty tough nut," she said.

And she insisted, it is not crying wolf to warn citizens they will see longer TSA lines at the airport and longer lines at the border.

"I think a citizen is going to notice. If there's citizens that are trying to go back and forth to Mexico and Canada, to the land ports of entry, where we already have some problems with long lines at very busy times, you're going to see those lines really grow," she said.

This wait increase will also apply to those coming through international airports and needing to go through customs.

"Those lines are going to grow significantly at some of the larger airports," she said. "We're going to have fewer people to do the checks we do. The checks are going to have to be the same. We do those for security reasons. But we're going to, over time, have fewer people to do them."

And while the effects won't be seen the first Saturday following sequestration, the impact could be felt as early as the following week and should be seen as more of an inconvenience than a security concern.

"From this department's standpoint, the longer lines at the ports, the reduction of Border Patrol hours and Coast Guard operations, those are the things that will be most visible," she said.

Mali: 6 killed in bomb as fighting rages in north

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? A suicide car bombing killed six government allies in the northern city of Kidal, as French confirm that they are engaged in heavy fighting in northern Mali.

The suicide bomber exploded his vehicle Tuesday evening at a checkpoint at an entrance to Kidal, said Ag Alghabas Intalla, a leader of the Islamic Movement of Azawad, or MIA, reached by phone in Kidal. He said he counted six dead and others wounded. The MIA group is fighting with the Malian army and French troops against Islamic extremists.

Responsibility for the suicide attack has not been claimed, but it is suspected to be the work of the Islamic extremists of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO.

French troops are involved in "very violent fighting" in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains of northeastern Mali, said France's defense minister Tuesday. Jean-Yves Le Drian said that it's too early to talk about a quick French pullout from Mali, despite the growing cost of the intervention.

The French intervention in Mali has cost more than ?100 million ($133 million) since it started Jan. 11, said Le Drian on France's RTL radio.

"We are now at the heart of the conflict," in protracted fighting against Islamic extremist rebels in the Ifoghas mountains, Le Drian said.

While some expected the 4,000-strong French force to pull out next month, Le Drian said he couldn't talk about a quick withdrawal while the mountain fighting goes on. A clash in the area killed 23 soldiers from neighboring Chad last week, according to French President Francois Hollande, who expressed condolences to his Chadian counterpart.

Soldiers from Chad and a few other African countries have joined the French-led operation to help Mali's weak military push back the Islamic extremists who had imposed harsh rule on northern Mali and started moving southward toward the capital, Bamako, last month.

Ag Ghali's armed extremists conquered much of northern Mali after a military coup in Mali's capital, aided by al-Qaida's North Africa wing. In Timbuktu, they imposed strict Shariah law and forced thousands to flee; others were tortured and executed. But the French-led intervention in January brought the Islamic radicals to quit the northern cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal and retreat to mountainous hideouts near the Algeria border.

In the first weeks of the campaign, French and Malian forces easily took back cities in northern Mali. But the fighting is rougher now that it has reached more remote terrain in the mountains of the southern Sahara.

At the United Nations in New York, a top U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday that as security improves in Mali, the world must seize the moment to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid.

John Ging, a senior humanitarian affairs official who just visited Mali, said that country's northern region is stabilizing but needs help re-opening schools, markets and health clinics. The U.N. is appealing for $373 million in aid, but has only received $17 million.

Even before fighting erupted last year among government forces, Taureg rebels and radical Islamists, Ging said Mali was suffering from the severe food crisis that has hit Africa's arid Sahel region.

Ging said more than 430,000 Malians have been displaced.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration imposed sanctions on an Islamic rebel leader whose extremist group seized much of northern Mali last year and prompted the French military intervention. The United States State Department designated Iyad Ag Ghali, head of the Islamic group Ansar Dine, a global terrorist. The action blocks any assets he holds in the U.S. and prohibits Americans from doing business with him.

The United Nations also added Ag Ghali to its global sanctions list.

___

Charlton reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper contributed from Washington and Ron DePasquale from the United Nations in New York.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mali-6-killed-bomb-fighting-rages-north-113402308.html

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Sex offenders disappear in wake of Sandy

NBC New York

U.S. Marshals search for a sex offender who is believed to have fled in the wake of Sandy.

NEW YORK -- Among the hundreds of people displaced from their homes after Sandy are sex offenders required to register with the government, and U.S. marshals are trying to find the ones who have disappeared.

Officials say the majority of displaced sex offenders have followed the rules and registered their new addresses. But some have not.

"It's critical because the people in the community are simply unaware that this individual is in their midst," Charlie Dunne, U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of New York, told NBC 4 New York.

Dunne said marshals work with state and local law enforcement to track down sex offenders after a natural disaster.

In the tri-state, marshals say dozens of sex offenders who changed addresses have had legitimate reasons for moving.

"Their houses had been damaged or they had gone into homeless shelters or hotels so obviously we're not going to prosecute those people," said Dunne.

More news from NBCNewYork.com

But there are some who are believed to be on the run after the hurricane.

For example, in Suffolk County, officials have examined 500 registered sex offenders in areas that could have been affected by the storm. Some 450 of them were living where they were supposed to be, leaving 50 that needed to be tracked further. Of those, 40 had relocated for reasons that checked out and five were picked up by the marshals, leaving about five that still hadn't been found, officials said.

"We're looking to prosecute the people that are taking advantage of the situation to proactively abscond thinking we won't be looking for them because we're too busy," Dunne said.

And for decades, the marshals have always been able to find people.

"You might as well be in compliance because we're gonna find you. We're gonna continue to look for you," Dunne said.

NBCNewYork.com

Related:

Full coverage of Sandy's aftermath from NBC News

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/28/17129349-sex-offenders-disappear-in-wake-of-sandy?lite

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