New soccer robot has human-like agility

ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? Computer scientists from the University of Bonn have developed a new robot whose source code and design plan is publicly accessible. It is intended to facilitate the entry into research on humanoids, in particular, the TeenSize Class of the RoboCup. The scientists recently introduced the new robot at the IROS Conference (International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in Portugal.

With its white head and black body, "NimbRo-OP" looks almost human. After all, at a height of 95 centimeters, it is almost the size of a small child. Among soccer robots, it counts as a "grown-up." Thanks to light-weight materials, its weight of 6.6 kilograms is, however, clearly less than that of a child. It has a total of 20 drive elements that convert computer commands into mechanical motions. This is also why "NimbRo-OP" is very agile -- it has no problems kicking a soccer ball, and it can also get up from a prone position like a human, for soccer players also sometimes fall down.

The robot's source code and design are open source

"We have made very effort to keep the design simple to allow other working groups to also use this robot as a basis for their work, modify and repair it," says Prof. Dr. Sven Behnke, lead of the Autonomous Intelli?gent Systems working group from the University of Bonn. Source code and design plan of "NimbRo-OP" are open source. This is intended to facilitate entry into research on humanoids, in particular, the TeenSize Class of the RoboCup.

The Bonn researchers used different humanoid robots as the inspiration for their project. "There are also other very interesting robots; but they are clearly smaller than ours," says Prof. Behnke. "But its size is essential for being able to do certain things, such as in robo-soccer." In addition, "NimbRo-OP" has a special wide-angle camera to get a view of the soccer field, and high processing capacity for swift response.

"NimbRo-OP" to participate in RoboCup

This robot, which was recently presented at the IROS Conference (International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in Portugal, is a prototype. "NimbRo-OP is not suitable for consumers," says Prof. Behnke. "Our target group consists of scientists who want to program robots based on this hard- and software." The scientists from the Uni?versity of Bonn also want to enter their robot in the RoboCup.

This is a first step in the development project. "With this platform, we would like to achieve compatibility with other robots," says the computer scientist. Over the next three years, the development project will be continued together with igus GmbH K?ln, an application partner, within a knowledge transfer project entitled "A humanoid TeenSize open-platform soccer robot." Prof. Behnke explains, "The goal of the project is accelerating progress in the humanoid robot area by intensifying the sharing with other groups of researchers."

Robots' soccer skills still inferior to those of humans

Chess computers have already proven that they can best human capabilities. "But humans are still clearly better at soccer than robots," the computer scientist from the University of Bonn reports. The requirements for soccer robots are high; they have to perceive environ?mental conditions via cameras and inclination sensors, detect the goal posts, opponents and obstacles, and make and implement decisions involving their team members. "There is still much to do to solve all the problems out on the pitch," adds Prof. Behnke.

Robo-soccer as a testing grounds for future everyday applications

The scientists are using the RoboCup to experiment with complex challenges for bipedal robots that can potentially be used in many practically relevant environments beyond soccer. "For example, they are capable of using tools, climbing stairs, and passing bottlenecks that are too narrow for wheeled or tracked robots," explains Prof. Behnke. In addition, they can also use human facial expressions, gestures and body language for communicating.

He adds, "Our goal is to stop re-inventing the wheel over and over; by using an open platform together with other researchers, we want to find solutions while saving on effort and expenses." The working group around Prof. Behnke is the most successful humanoid team worldwide at the RoboCup, and with wins in eleven individual competitions, quite likely even the most successful RoboCup team overall.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/YQPdyCYpWEc/121030142800.htm

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Obama: Storm is 'serious and big,' and slow-moving

President Barack Obama speaks as he attends a briefing with Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate, right, at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama speaks as he attends a briefing with Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate, right, at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama, center, attends a briefing with Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate, right, at the National Response Coordination Center at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama pauses before speaking to the media at the National Response Coordination Center at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. FEMA is coordinating the deployment of federal resources in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama said Sunday that the storm taking aim at the East Coast is a "serious and big storm" that will be slow-moving and might take time to clear up. The government would "respond big and respond fast" after it hits, he said.

Obama met with federal emergency officials for an update on the storm's path and the danger it poses to the Mid-Atlantic and New England.

"My main message to everybody involved is that we have to take this seriously," Obama said. He urged people to "listen to your local officials."

The president said emergency officials were confident that staging for the storm was in place.

Hurricane Sandy was expected to hit the East Coast late Monday, then combine with two winter weather systems as it moves inland, creating a hybrid superstorm. At least four battleground states are likely to be hit: New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

Obama traveled the nearly three miles from the White House to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's headquarters in his motorcade. He made the comments after a briefing by agency officials that was led by Administrator Craig Fugate. The group participated in a conference call with governors in states in the storm's path, including Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. The president also spoke with mayors from Washington, Newark, N.J., Baltimore and Philadelphia.

As part of the briefing, the president also met with FEMA workers and thanked them.

"My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said. "We want to make sure we are anticipating and leaning forward into making sure that we have the best possible response to what is going to be a big and messy system.

Later Sunday the president was heading to Florida where he's campaigning on Monday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-28-Obama/id-529b2c75400f441fa54fe6ec4162fd17

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Can Controversial Ocean Iron Fertilization Save Salmon?

What's been described as a "rogue" geoengineering experiment is really an effort, however flawed, to restore salmon abundance

By David Biello

ADDING IRON: By adding iron to the Pacific Ocean, as pictured here, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp. hoped to restore lost salmon abundance--and generate carbon credits too. Image: Courtesy of HSRC

In a bid to restore lost fish abundance, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp. (HSRC) undertook to mimic the effects of a volcanic eruption by fertilizing the ocean with iron. The idea was to provide the missing nutrient for a plankton bloom that would then trickle up the food web and restore salmon?with the ancillary effects of gathering data on the ocean food web and, potentially, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

"What if this is a means by which ocean pastures can be stewarded and brought back to health?" asks Russ George, chief scientist of the expedition as well as a controversial businessman with a history of attempting to start CO2-removal schemes ranging from reforestation to ocean fertilization. "This is a tiny village of people trying to take care of their backyard."

Old Masset village on the Haida Gwaii Islands off the British Columbia coast did this by contracting George and others to initiate the largest such intentional ocean fertilization effort to date. It authorized the release of roughly 110 metric tons of iron dust, 91 metric tons of the iron sulfate fertilizer commonly used as a lawn treatment and employed in other scientific experiments, and nearly 20 metric tons of the iron oxide found in soils around the world. "It's micronutrient enrichment," Jason McNamee, operations officer and corporate director for the HSRC, told a press conference on October 19. "We took a bag of iron, and we slapped it over one square kilometer [of ocean]."

To do that, this past July the HSRC team motored more than 300 kilometers west from the Haida Gwaii Islands to an ocean eddy in the fishing vessel Ocean Pearl. The area had previously been scouted by collecting water samples since January and lies outside Canadian territorial waters. The team also used more than 20 autonomous oceangoing robots, including two bright yellow gliders and 20 Argo drifter robots on loan from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to survey the scene?work that is ongoing. Over the course of several days the researchers then released the 110 metric tons into the fishing boat's wake in an attempt to raise the levels of iron in the water from one or two parts per trillion up to five to 10, although both concentrations are estimates.

Satellite images as well as maps of chlorophyll abundance appear to show that the iron did indeed fuel a plankton bloom in August. But questions remain: Was it the right kind of bloom to bury carbon? Will it have any effect on the salmon?

Ocean restoration
The HSRC's basic idea is born out of marine biology as well as observations of the aftermath of volcanic eruptions in the region. For example, a lack of iron limits the growth of microscopic plants in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and elsewhere, a fact that prompted marine biologist John Martin to famously muse: "Give me half a tanker of iron, and I'll give you the next ice age."

In the summer of 2008 Mount Kasatoshi in Alaska's Aleutian Islands blew, sending volcanic minerals, including iron dust, far to sea and prompting plankton blooms across the Gulf of Alaska. At the same time, years and years of decline in returning salmon populations led researchers to expect few of the fry from 2008 to return in later years, only to find a record salmon run in Canada's Fraser River in 2010.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1c8f2c99c315b625f7da2b8787ec039c

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Music Review: Valery Gergiev Leads London Symphony and World Orchestra

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.nytimes.com --- Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Valery Gergiev is touring with two ensembles, the London Symphony Orchestra and the World Orchestra for Peace. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/arts/music/valery-gergiev-leads-london-symphony-and-world-orchestra.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Online Ad Survey: Most U.S. Consumers ?Annoyed? By Online Ads ...

Natasha is a reporter for TechCrunch, joining September 2012, based out of London. She arrives after a stint reviewing smartphones for CNET UK and, prior to that, more than five years covering business technology for silicon.com (now folded into TechRepublic.com). At silicon she focused on mobile and wireless, telecoms and networking, and IT skills issues, and has also freelanced... ? Learn More

Adobe has put out some more research into online advertising. This time it?s not an Index of the market but a poll of 1,250 U.S. consumers and marketers? views on online advertising. The survey?makes amusing reading at times ???almost half of the respondents agree ?online advertising is creepy and stalks you?, and more than half agree?that ?most marketing is a bunch of B.S.?. The poll also underlines the ongoing problem with online ads failing to capture people?s attention ? only in-app/in-game ads fared worse in the battle for consumers? attention, with print-based ads and TV commercials grabbing far more consumer mindshare

Almost a third of consumers (30 percent) think online advertizing is not effective, while more than half (54 percent) reckon web banner ads don?t work. Unsurprisingly a smaller percentage of marketers held those views (16 percent and 33 percent respectively).

A sizeable majority (66 percent) of consumers polled believe TV commercials are more effective than online advertising. The two most preferred places to look at an ad are print magazines and when watching a favourite TV show. But a favourite website was third in the list, just above billboards ? albeit only favoured by 11 percent of consumer respondents.

?Annoying? and ?distracting? were the two most frequently used adjectives to describe online ads, the survey found. A marginal two percent of respondents claim never to have seen an online ad

On the social media front, the survey found a small majority (57 percent) of consumers have ?liked? something on social media on behalf of a brand they enjoy. More than half (53 percent) said they would very much like to have a social media ?dislike? button.

When survey respondents were asked what they would do if they saw a friend like a product on social media, almost a third (29 percent) said they would check the product out, five percent said they would like the product themselves and a click-happy two percent reckoned they?d buy the product right away

In terms of which types of ads are considered most effective, the survey found a large proportion (28 percent) of respondents rated user-generated content as an effective ad medium. Paid search listings are considered the least effective ? with just three percent of consumers rating them as effective

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/24/online-ad-survey-most-u-s-consumers-annoyed-by-online-ads-prefer-tv-ads-to-online-want-social-media-dislike-button-and-reckon-most-marketing-is-a-bunch-of-b-s/

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Highly efficient production of advanced biofuel by metabolically engineered microorganism

Highly efficient production of advanced biofuel by metabolically engineered microorganism

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fuels including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are derived from fossil oil thorough the petroleum refinery processes. Increased concerns over environmental problems and limited fossil resources drive scientists and researchers to turn their attention to developing fossil-free, bio-based processes for the production of fuels from renewable non-food biomass. Utilizing systems metabolic engineering, a Korean research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has succeeded in demonstrating an optimized process to increase butanol production by generating an engineered bacterium.

In the paper published in mBio, a broad-scope, online-only, and open access journal issued by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), on October 23 as a featured article, Distinguished Professor Sang Yup Lee at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, KAIST, a premier science and engineering university in Korea, Dr. Do Young Seung at GS Caltex, a large oil refining company in Korea, and Dr. Yu-Sin Jang at BioFuelChem, a startup butanol company in Korea, applied a systems metabolic engineering approach to improve the production of butanol through enhancing the performance of Clostridium acetobutylicum, one of the best known butanol-producing bacteria.

Microorganisms have proven to be efficient biocatalysts for the production of biofuels from various sources of biomass in an environmentally-friendly way. However, the microorganisms isolated from nature are often inefficient for the economical production of desired products at an industrial scale. Thus microorganisms' performance needs to be improved in order to be suitable for the industrial production of biofuels. Systems metabolic engineering, which allows metabolic engineering at a systems-level, is employed for designing and optimizing cellular metabolic and regulatory networks to induce the most efficient production of target bioproducts.

Butanol has been used as an important industrial solvent, and is also a great alternative fuel because of its similar properties to gasoline. It can also be blended with gasoline at any ratio. Butanol is naturally produced by some anaerobic bacteria, but the efficiency of its production could not match that of ethanol due to the high toxicity of butanol to host organisms and the production of byproducts such as acetone and organic acids. Over the past decades, many research groups extensively studied clostridial butanol producing organisms to achieve higher yield and titer, but the limited genetic modification tools and complex metabolic pathways of clostridia hampered the successful development of an engineered strain capable of producing butanol at a higher yield and titer.

The Korean research team analyzed metabolic pathways leading to butanol production and found that two different solvent-forming pathways can be potentially employed. In one pathway, butanol is directly produced from carbon source, which was termed as hot channel, and in the other, butanol is converted from the acids produced earlier in fermentation process, which was termed as cold channel. Using the in silico modeling and simulation tools, Professor Lee's team demonstrated that the hot channel allowed a much better approach to produce butanol compared with the cold channel. To reinforce a metabolic flux toward the hot channel for butanol production, the metabolic network of C. acetobutylicum strain was systematically engineered.

In addition, the downstream process was optimized and an in situ recovery process was integrated to achieve higher butanol titer, yield, and productivity. The combination of systems metabolic engineering and bioprocess optimization resulted in the development of a process capable of producing more than 585 g of butanol from 1.8 Kg of glucose, which allows the production of this important industrial solvent and advanced biofuel to be cost competitive.

###

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST): http://www.kaist.edu/english/

Thanks to The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124719/Highly_efficient_production_of_advanced_biofuel_by_metabolically_engineered_microorganism

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Qatari emir cancels speech in Gaza stadium

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? The emir of Qatar has called a planned address to the Palestinians in Gaza City's main soccer stadium.

Hamas officials at the stadium announced the cancellation and ordered thousands of people who gathered there on Tuesday to go home.

The address had been the centerpiece of the emir's landmark visit to Gaza.

Hamas cited the emir's tight schedule in announcing the change. But the stadium was only about one-fifth full around the time of the cancellation.

The emir planned an address to a much smaller crowd at a Gaza university instead.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatari-emir-cancels-speech-gaza-stadium-144627958.html

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Canary Hear My Cry

The love curse is broken and nobody has fallen in love for years but one couple learned how to bring it back. The problem is nobody knows that the word love exist.

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Surface RT review: Microsoft tablet mixed blessing

7 hrs.

Wilson Rothman , NBC News

Surface RT, Microsoft's first foray into personal computing, is a hardware?success, and the company should be proud. Windows RT, the operating system that runs on it, is less of a reason for self-back-patting, however. While it doesn't completely tarnish the Surface experience, it often comes darn near, and it certainly keeps this from being a home run for Microsoft.

The promise of Surface is simple: You get a tablet when you want a tablet, and you get a laptop when you want a laptop. For the most part this is true. You can lounge with your Netflix videos and Kindle books, you can listen to all-you-can-eat music or stream rented movies with integrated Xbox services, using the "Modern" style of navigation that's easy to flip through with a finger.

You also get an Office suite that includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, along with a surprisingly useful pair of keyboard-and-trackpad options ? the Touch Cover and the Type Cover ? which are sold separately but should be a required purchase for anyone going the Surface route.

Having used the tablet for the better part of a week, for both work and play, on land and in the air, I can say that these two modes can both be satisfactory. In fact, on an airplane, the size of the 10.6-inch-screen tablet is perfect for a tray table, the built-in kickstand makes the whole thing extra stable when watching a movie, and the Touch Cover stays out of sight (adding to stability) when not needed, and flips out easily when you're ready for typing.?

I keep falling in love with the thing, only to be yanked out of infatuation by the recurring appearance of "classic" Windows. It's not just when I launch Office apps, which are not touch friendly and require a mouse/keyboard interaction; it even happens when interacting with the tablet in ways that really don't necessitate the old interface. For instance:

• Why do I have to go deep into classic Windows to add music to the finger-friendly Xbox Music app?
  
• Why are there two control panels, a Windows 8 version and a classic version, with overlapping settings and controls?
  
• And if I am forced to interact with Windows of olde, then?why can't I install my own?apps, such as the Chrome browser, or migrate?files from an old Windows PC to this supposedly Windows-endowed machine?
  

The truth is, I really wish I could be blissfully ignorant of the inner workings of this operating system. The only benefit I see to the classic Windows environment?is the ability to enjoy Microsoft's bread-and-butter productivity apps, so why not just launch them separately, instead of inside faux Windows 7? I am having a hard time seeing why these things must go hand in hand, especially when no other maker of Windows software will be inclined to release its software in this way. (That is, they will either build new apps in the Modern UI, or they will continue to support full Intel-chip laptops and tablets with classic Windows apps.)

OK, I've made the point, and it's not the most original of points. A lot of people are trying to understand Microsoft's keeping-old-Windows-while-fundamentally-reinventing-Windows approach that is Windows 8. It's especially perplexing in Windows RT, where you seriously get zero benefit of classic Windows, but now that I've made that clear, it's time to get back to the tablet itself, and why it really can be so charming.

Let's start with battery life.

Having never met a Windows laptop that didn't die a quiet, lonesome death every time I left it unplugged overnight, I was stunned to see how exceptionally well the Surface RT manages power. Even under heavy use, the battery will carry you at least eight hours, but even more impressive is the fact that if you leave it sitting for hours or even?days on end, the battery will?show little if any signs of expenditure. Even if you have your Exchange email, messaging and all kinds of social feeds on, you can expect very little draw when your screen is off. Better still, the battery charges quickly, and can be completely topped off in two hours.

When it comes to Surface engineering marvels, another is the ultra-suave $119?Touch Cover and its chiclet-key-endowed sibling, the $129?Type Cover. Microsoft has long been a major designer of mice and keyboards, and Panos Panay, the hardware guy in charge of Surface development, came from keyboards, but that still?doesn't prepare you for how elegant a job the company did on this. I hate to say that it's Apple-like in its simple yet high functionality, but there's really no other company that could integrate such an accessory with such grace.

So what is it? A pressure sensitive pad that you type on? What's the big deal? I promise you, get to a Microsoft store on Oct. 26, if only to try this out. The thing is so smart, it knows when you're just resting your fingers on the keys and when you really are trying to get words out. And the popping sounds you hear when you type, while?seeming?corny at first, actually give you the feedback you need to touch type without looking, enough to make you forget that all you're really doing is slamming your fingers down on a fake-suede placemat.

In the end, I think I prefer the mechanical keyboard that is integrated into the Type Cover, but in terms of pure, original engineering, the Touch Cover is the greater accomplishment.

When Microsoft hosted reporters at its campus in order to introduce the Surface tablet, the company gave a great deal of attention to the screen. The gist of the discussion, led by all-around Microsoft Research genius Steven Bathiche, focused on why screen resolution ? in the form of the "retina" displays found on the iPad and other Apple products ? are just one part of a discussion that should involve other factors including screen construction, contrast and graphics processing.?

Bathiche's bottom line: The way we perceive images on an LCD screen can't be boiled down to just one number. He's right that in most cases,?the Surface's screen looks as good or better than an iPad's. Still, when you're looking at straight text, it falls short of the iPad in resolution. If you just want to sit around and read books on a tablet, the full-sized?iPad is still the champ (even?though Apple has to pay for that bonus screen resolution with extra battery juice).

I only have two actual hardware gripes about the Surface RT. They are minor, but worth mentioning.

The magnetic power connector never locks in?without some fiddling, and the wear and tear is already starting to show after just?a week. This comes as a shock given that a) the magnetic Type Cover and Touch Cover lock into the Surface so smoothly with so little coaxing b) the power connector is essentially a ripoff of Apple's MagSafe charging cable, which locks in easily, and c) I haven't had to charge the thing very much!

The other surprising failure is the speaker system. They're not just tinny, as most mobile device's speakers are ? they distort sound when any volume is applied. It was as if, in the midst of all this thought going to every other aspect of the design, the speakers were simply forgotten.

As you use Surface RT, what you see is the robustness and power of something that isn't just an overgrown phone. The way you can view two apps at once ? Twitter and a movie, or a movie and mail, or mail and a photo album ? lends more credence to the idea of not just consuming content but creating it. (And why not do both at the same time?)

If you're a wired person with networked hard drives, Bluetooth speaker systems and DLNA media receivers, you will find that the Surface is built to support all of them, straight out of the box ? though not always without trouble.

The USB port on the side will take your disks and peripherals like OMG a real computer! You can add an HDMI or VGA connection with $40 adapters. And if you value cheap storage like I do, you will be glad to know that you can add a fast 64GB Micro SD card for just $43, so you don't have to regret not splurging on the high-end 64GB model.

And lest you think you caught me in a contradiction, I will state plainly that none of the power features I have mentioned require classic Windows to exist ? some are even found in Android devices.

The next stage for Microsoft isn't actually convincing you to buy this thing. If you have some money and a real fondness for the ways of Windows, you could jump right in and have a good time, and if you're shopping for gifts for your grandma, well, any of the iPads would be a way better bet.

No, the next stage for Microsoft is to drum up so much third-party app support for this thing that everybody's like wow, you can do all that? Because right now, there's a gap between what you can imagine doing on this thing and what developers actually let you do with it.

Ah developers?...?You can practically hear an echo in the Windows 8?app store right now. There's a serious lack of games and, aside from Netflix and Kindle Reader, not much major video, music and book apps.

I am glad to say that NBC News is in there, too, yet while it looks good, most or all of the apps I tried out on the Surface?ran jerkily, without the grace you'd expect given this machine's hardware specs. The conclusion is that nothing has been optimized for Surface RT, and that even developers who have taken the plunge have much work to do before their customers will be happy. It may be a long while before anything great turns up.?

Surface RT, available starting at $499 for a Wi-Fi model with 32GB of storage, should in no way be written off. It may have a hard time catching up to the iPad ??especially now that its entry price is $329?? but when it comes to replacing PCs,?it's the only other tablet that matters. And if Microsoft can get developers fired up ? and hopefully sort out the schizophrenia of the classic Windows/Modern UI experiences ? then it will be following Apple in a way that should be a victory for all of us. It will be a true shame if this thing ends up on the pile of nifty ideas that went nowhere (Zune HD, anyone?), but if it does, we'll know why.

To get a better sense of the Surface RT experience, please watch my video, embedded at the top and bottom of this review.

Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science?editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/surface-rt-review-microsofts-new-tablet-mixed-blessing-1C6643458

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Gearing Up For Your First Day On The Hill

Most people have a love hate relationship with winter. People quickly become tired of the cold and the snow and start begging for summer as early as January. However, there are the few lucky people who have discovered the joy of winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding. Skiing can make winter the best season of all. In fact, many die hard skiers begin wishing for winter during the summer months, because they know how much fun a skiing trip can be. Planning a skiing trip for this winter may be the best decision you make this year. You may change how you look at winter once you realize all the fun that can be had in the snow. Make winter exciting and plan your trip today.

The skiing adventure is greatly enhanced when you are surrounded by informative and friendly ski instructors. A ski trip is more than just learning the sport. Ski trips are great places to meet new people and make long lasting friendships that make the winter months enjoyable again. Aside from meeting friendly instructors you can always bring friends and family along for the trip. Skiing is a great way to add some excitement to winter and bond with your loved ones. Plan a ski trip today and have something to look forward to when the snow hits.

Teaching children to ski can have long lasting effects on them as they grow older. Skiing is a great way to stay in shape when there are few fitness options available due to the cold. There are plenty of programs available to teach children the art of skiing and staying active. Skiing is a cardio workout. It promotes heart health and helps to boost energy levels and the ability to focus. More experienced skiers and snowboarders can also arrange coaching sessions to help strengthen their skills and stay sharp on the mountain. People of all ages and all skill levels are invited to enjoy the benefits of skiing this winter.

Get to know your body and what it can handle. It is important to stretch before every session so that you will be as flexible as possible when performing maneuvers. Skiing requires a lot of focus and skill, so a ski trip is a great way to challenge yourself and your body. Staying in shape during the winter is never easy. Many people waste away the days waiting for the snow to disappear so that they can enjoy the outdoors once again. Skiing and snowboarding is the greatest possible way to take advantage of an otherwise dreary season.

Stay in shape this winter with the adventure of a life time. Plan your ski trip today. Bring some friends and family and have a bonding experience to remember for years to come. Modern times are so hectic that many people often lose touch with the people they see everyday. Heading to the mountain is the best way to escape the hustle of life and simply enjoy it.

About the Author:
Looking for a winter camp to make the most of your holiday break away from school? Then check out www.evolvesnowcamps.com and see how much fun learning to ski or snowboard with your friends can be with Evolve Snow Camps today!

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Gearing-Up-For-Your-First-Day-On-The-Hill/4228556

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Senor: Obama's Israel Attack 'Pathetic'

Dan Senor, a senior Romney adviser, says President Barack Obama?s criticism of Mitt Romney?s Israel trip was ?pathetic.?

Romney has been to Israel four times, Senor said tonight when speaking to reporters. Obama, he pointed out, has never been there as president. Obama?s posturing on Israel was thus a ?cheap shot,? Senor said, and ?sort of pathetic.?

?President Obama, as president, has been to over 40 countries. He hasn?t been to Israel,? Senor said. ?He can talk all he wants about how significant his trip was as senator. But for presidents, geography is policy.?

In 2009, ?[Obama] deliberately chose not to go to Israel,? Senor said. ?On that outreach to the Arab world, he could have hopped on a 30- or 40-minute plane ride and made it clear that he stands shoulder to shoulder with Israel.?

Senor, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations, advised Romney during debate prep, and has been a top aide to Paul Ryan on the campaign trail.

Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/331318/senor-obamas-israel-attack-pathetic-robert-costa

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Lubin launches new initiatives for 2012-2013 school year | The Pace ...

The Lubin School of Business is one of the biggest and most recognizable schools at the university. The NYC campus, situated in the world famous Financial District, is prime location for starry-eyed business hopefuls. Lubin is constantly evolving its programs to fit the needs of a newer business world with branches way past the standard finance, marketing, and accounting. These new programs are designed with the new market demands in mind to help students enter into specific business disciplined fully trained and prepared.

One of these programs is Lubin?s Masters of Science in customer intelligence and analytics. A study by McKinsey & Co. found that by 2018, the U.S. will face a shortage of 1.5 million managers who can use data to shape business decisions?the new degree helps to address this challenge. The curriculum for this program incorporates using interactive and digital strategies to analyze simple and complex marketing data for managing customer relationships. Barbara Rose Aglietti, the associate dean of the Lubin school said? ?Knowing how to analyze ?Big Data? is just as important as gathering it. Successful companies use data to inform their market research to deliver products and services that are customized to end users? preferences and experiences.?

On the marketing front, social media and mobile technology are transforming the way consumers and marketers interact.? Marketing managers need to develop new skills sets to respond to these emerging realities. Lubin recently launched a MS in social media and mobile marketing, which enables marketing managers, advertising executives, IT professionals and strategic managers to develop the integrated marketing and communications skills needed to create impactful conversations with clients.

Another new program launched this fall is the Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting/MS in taxation combined degree program. This degree is a full-time five year program that meets the 150-credit requirement for the CPA exam while simultaneously obtaining an in-depth understanding of tax law. The accounting program already has an extremely strong reputation so this new program will only build on the program?s reputation by giving students the opportunity to earn an extremely beneficial degree in taxation within the five years they are in the program. This combined degree will expose students and prepare them for a profession involving accounting and taxation and possibly even allow them to venture into law.

The newest, and one of the most talked about initiatives from Lubin is the new arts and entertainment management concentration. This program takes two of the university?s greatest programs: its business and arts, and combines them to create a lucrative degree. This will be a unique classroom experience for the business students and performing arts students who will be collaborating in this concentration through the business management degree. This program offers the same comprehensive business management BBA all business students in this major receive and it will give students the knowledge and skills to succeed in any industry.

With this program, ?Lubin is leveraging its New York City industry connections to bring award-winning directors, producers, and entertainment managers into the classroom.? In addition, six celebrity guest lecturers have been confirmed so far including: ABC News special correspondent and syndicated talk show host Katie Couric; film director and Imagine Entertainment founder Ron Howard; Viacom Entertainment Group president Doug Herzog; American Ballet Theatre executive director Rachel Moore; New York City Center president and CEO Arlene Shuler; and The Shubert Organization co-CEO and president Robert E. Wankel,? said Dean Aglietti.

Caitlin Meuser, senior, said ?It gives performers and artists to ability to have a degree that not only displays their creative talent, but supports it with a concrete business degree. In my opinion, this was one of the smartest degrees Lubin ever created.? This new concentration puts the university at the top of the list for all things performing arts.

Emily Jordan, freshman, is excited about this new concentration on the management degree. ?I believe the benefits for being the ?guinea pigs? for the new arts and entertainment management concentration definitely overshadows the risks. I wanted to be one of the first to try it out right when I heard about it. When I spoke to advisor at orientation I became fully convinced that this was the best major for me,? said Jordon.

All these new enhancements being made by the Lubin school are sure to put students even more ahead of the curve and prepare them for a competitive job market.

Source: http://www.pacepress.org/lubin-launches-new-initiatives-for-2012-2013-school-year/

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HEALTH and FITNESS | Stop Smoking Self Hypnosis Audio ...

Stop Smoking Self Hypnosis Audio Download With Ebook
Instant Stop Smoking Mp3 Audio Utilizing Self-hypnosis. Process Used By Successful Hypnotist. Video Explaining Product In Detail On Sales Page. Bonus Ebook Explaining How To Get The Most From Audio. Easy Way To Quit Smoking.
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This entry was posted in Clickbank Workout and tagged Audio, Download, Ebook, Hypnosis, Self, Smoking, Stop. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://kashwealthsystem.com/health/2012/10/22/stop-smoking-self-hypnosis-audio-download-with-ebook/

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Source: http://povonugusife.posterous.com/health-and-fitness-stop-smoking-self-hypnosis

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Cops: Dead man wearing armor found at shooting scene

By NBC News and wire reports

INGLEWOOD, Calif. --?A man found dead at the property where five members of a Southern California family were shot -- two fatally -- was believed to be the attacker because he was wearing body armor and clutching a handgun, police said.

The loaded handgun was a .38 caliber revolver registered to 55-year-old Desmond John Moses. Inglewood police say Moses set his backyard bungalow ablaze before spraying bullets at his neighbors.

---

Investigators suspect Moses blamed the young family who lived in the front house for an eviction notice he had received from their landlord.

The dead man had "what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head," wore body armor and carried additional ammunition in his pockets when it was found late Saturday, a police statement said.

While police could not conclude that the body is that of Moses until an autopsy is concluded, "the evidence suggests this is the case," the statement added.

The shooting rampage before dawn Saturday killed 33-year-old Filimon Lamas and his 4-year-old son. The father was shielding three of his children when he was shot, Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. Lamas' 28-year-old wife, Gloria Jimenez, was shot in both legs but managed to carry the wounded 4-year-old out of the house.

Paramedics found her collapsed on the street. The child, who was shot in the head, died at a hospital.

Father dies shielding children from gunman who set home ablaze

Investigators believe Moses entered the family's home around 4 a.m. wearing a dark cap and a white painter's mask, according to NBCLosAngeles.com.

Authorities said he fired 10 times, also wounding a 7-year-old girl in the chest and a 6-year-old boy in the pelvis. An 8-year-old boy escaped injury.

The mother and daughter remained hospitalized in stable condition, Lt. James Madia said. The 6-year-old boy was released.

More on this story on NBCLosAngeles.com

Authorities launched a manhunt and evacuated surrounding homes after the shooting rampage, but it was not until hours later that they found the charred body because it was hidden under layers of debris.

"He was kind of a hoarder or pack rat," Madia said.

Fighting eviction notice
The landlord told the Los Angeles Times?that Moses had been fighting an eviction notice and recently lost his case in court.

The newspaper reported Sunday that Moses has held a security guard registration with the California Department of Consumer Affairs since 1984. However, police said they did not know whether he was working as a security guard.

Also on NBCLosAngeles.com: Woman attacked by bear

Moses lived in the bungalow for 17 years, while the family lived in the front house for 8 years, Madia said. The front house is next door to the home in which Jimenez grew up and where her father still lives. Several of her siblings live on the same block, the Times reported.

Jimenez had been concerned that Moses was "not all there," her brother Jaime told the Times. He said that Moses would only grunt when the family greeted him and complained when the children played in the yard between their houses.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

High school sweethearts
Relatives told the Times that Lamas and Jimenez were high school sweethearts who recently got approval for a home loan, and were looking to buy a bigger house for their tight-knit family.

Lamas was part owner of a local diner, neighbors and friends told the newspaper.

"All he breathed was his family," Jiminez's brother?Jaime told the Times.

"All he did, all he talked about, was his family," he told the paper.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

The Associated Press and NBCLosAngeles.com contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/22/14610330-police-dead-man-wearing-armor-found-at-scene-of-calif-family-shooting?lite

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Ultimate adventure travel bucket list

6 hrs.

Jennifer Chen , Travel + Leisure

Getting to the chinstrap penguin colony along the Antarctic Peninsula isn't for the fainthearted. To reach the finger of land that juts out from the frozen continent?s western coast, you have to first face the stormy Drake Passage.

But the risks are worth it. Gliding through the waters of Orne Harbor, you may encounter humpback and minke whales, leopard and fur seals, and cormorants and other seabirds. Greeting you onshore is the sight of hundreds of squawking penguins tending their young. Still unimpressed? Then hike up the 935-foot Spigot Peak for awe-inspiring panoramic views of the world?s last great wilderness.

Slideshow: Check out which places are on the ultimate adventure travel bucket list

Challenging experiences like?Quark Expeditions? guided trip from Argentina to Antarctica remind us that the toughest journeys are often the most memorable. And in an age where time is treated as a commodity, arriving at a destination through toil and sweat is becoming a lost art.

Adventure plays a key role in?T+L?s bucket list?of 101 experiences every traveler should know?gleaned from our network of correspondents and tastemakers. But not every escapade requires traveling to the ends of the earth or pushing your body?s limits. David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku restaurant empire, favors fly-fishing in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Other all-American adventures include driving down the dramatic Pacific Coast Highway, with a stop at the Redwood Grill for a pulled-pork sandwich, and paying a visit to the millennia-old sequoias in?Yosemite?s Mariposa Grove (documentary filmmaker Ken Burns?s pick).

For thrill-seekers, there are the serious adrenaline rushes: whitewater rafting through the Class Four rapids of the Salmon River?s Middle Fork in central?Idaho?or heli-skiing in?British Columbia?s Bugaboo Mountains. And you don?t always need to leave the big city behind. You can channel your inner race-car driver at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, zooming from zero to 60 mph in 3-1/2 seconds in a Ferrari F430 GT.

If you?re seeking a gentler pace, consider a stay at?Campi Ya Kanzi, a community-owned lodge in eastern?Kenya?where Masai trackers lead guests through the savanna and cloud forest.

Read on for more life-changing adventures and our tips on how to tackle them.

More from Travel + Leisure:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/itineraries/ultimate-adventure-travel-bucket-list-1C6568546

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Joyetech EGO-T e-Cigarette review

Quick hands up please, how many Gadgeteer readers smoke? ?Another quick poll, how many have tried to give up? ?I know I have, multiple times. ?I’ve tried Nicotine Replacement Treatment (NRT) in the form of gum, hypnotism, cold turkey (not smoking, not the meat ) and Zyban. Yet after 30 years I’m still smoking. ?Well [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/10/21/joyetech-ego-t-e-cigarette-review/

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Google Wallet coming to the MetroPCS Galaxy S3

The Samsung Galaxy SIII (S3) has just gone out to MetroPCS stores for widescale availability, so it's fitting that the official Google Wallet twitter account has just confirmed that the device will be compatible with Google's NFC payment system. Galaxy S3 users on the regional carrier will now be able to download the Google Wallet app from the Play Store directly, and have it work at any of the thousands of stores where Google has implemented its Google Wallet payment terminals.

We're happy to see more and more devices supported officially by Google Wallet, especially the more popular ones like the Galaxy S3.

Source: Google Wallet (Twitter)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ph69-fzRT14/story01.htm

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Octomom to Mail Lady: Quit Spying on Me!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/10/octomom-to-mail-lady-quit-spying-on-me/

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Construction Industry Business: You Need To Know About Payday ...

Payday loans are short term loans intended to cover the cost of the client before coming payday. Guidelines on payday loans may vary widely between different countries. The normal process is that lenders loan stock unguaranteed short-term loans to be paid back to the customer's next paycheck. Usually, some confirmation of employment or income is involved but some loan providers may ignore this.

Payday loans can be acquired by anyone, even people with bad credit history. However, keep in mind that payday loans are meant to be paid back in no time. Online payday loans are that you receive a payday advance just to submit via the internet before you receive your paycheck. Once you have received your next pay check you are expected to pay back your loan.

Make the amount of money you can receive as a payday loans depends on how much salary you have. If you have a high income you have a greater chance each given a higher payday loans. The number of payday loans is entirely dependent on your income because that is what will determine whether or not you'll be able to pay back your loan and in what amount of time. Because payday loans are meant to be paid back in a short amount of time, it is important for companies that they do not lend more money than a person would be able to pay the employees their next payday.

Source: http://tijelada.blogspot.com/2012/10/you-need-to-know-about-payday-loan.html

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Analysis: Yahoo CEO's comeback plan homes in on technology, not media

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Marissa Mayer, who earned a reputation for decisive action and intensity during her 13-year stint at Google Inc, has spent her first months as Yahoo Inc CEO quietly moving the Internet pioneer back to its roots in technology.

Long torn between whether it should focus on media content or on tools and technologies, Yahoo under Mayer is being positioned firmly in the latter camp, according to sources inside and outside the company.

Her hires, acquisition musings, and other early moves hint at an ambitious, technology-driven comeback plan designed to revitalize aging but well-trafficked properties such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports.

Yahoo has been criticized for allowing these sites to stagnate - they look very much like they did five years ago, and do not have many bells and whistles to encourage users to spend more time on them.

Mayer, 37, wants to make Yahoo's properties much more interactive, on PCs and on mobile devices, using social media tools to personalize the user experience and new technology to boost advertising sales. Her well-known focus on user design is expected to result in a simpler, less-cluttered email and home page, one source said.

Yahoo declined to comment for this article. Mayer, who gave birth to her first child weeks ago, will unveil details of her comeback plan when Yahoo reports quarterly results on Monday.

Mayer's focus on technology in many ways reverses a course set by her predecessors, who had concentrated on media content deals, such as those that gave prime billing to Walt Disney Co's ABC News or CNBC, or to bring an original program starring actor Tom Hanks to its website.

The new strategy is not without risks: it positions Yahoo squarely against Facebook Inc and Google. It also risks alienating a large, media-focused contingent that is already weakened by the departure of Ross Levinsohn, who had championed a media-centric approach when he was interim CEO before Mayer's arrival in July.

Mayer has been meeting with Internet gurus including AOL Inc CEO Tim Armstrong, another ex-Googler; Silicon Valley lawyer Larry Sonsini; and Wall Street investment bankers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bankers have pitched Mayer and her team on a slew of potential acquisitions, and they appeared to show interest in restaurant reservation site OpenTable Inc and advertising technology companies PubMatic, Turn and Millennial Media, one of the people said.

Caterva, a small start-up whose technology analyzes social media activity, has also been in low-level talks with Yahoo, said another source familiar with the situation.

OpenTable and PubMatic declined comment. Millennial Media and Caterva did not respond to requests for comment.

With more than $2 billion in cash and short-term securities, Yahoo has the money to acquire engineering talent or bolt-on services. Two types of deals are under consideration: companies that will increase user engagement, including on mobile, and those that will boost advertising returns, source said.

"What they've signaled so far is that the deals will be more niche in nature, smaller deals that maybe have a lot of promise," said Ken Allen, a director at Blackstone Advisory Partners.

TALENT HUNT

Many industry insiders believe Mayer is Yahoo's final hope for reversing a years-long decline from the pinnacle it once attained as the leading gateway to the Internet. Four of her predecessors have tried in vain to right the ship - Yahoo's market value of $19 billion, is less than half its $44 billion value in 2005.

Mayer, who earned a masters degree in computer science from Stanford University specializing in artificial intelligence, has moved quickly on the personnel front, shelling out rich pay packages to attract ex-colleagues from Google and elsewhere.

She brought in ad technology systems guru Henrique de Castro as chief operating officer; a new finance chief in Ken Goldman, who also has tech chops, to replace Tim Morse; and Jacqueline Reese to assume the dual role of hiring and acquisitions, suggesting the start of a train of "acqui-hires" or buying small companies for their engineering talent.

"She's spending almost all her time with the product folks. She's spending it on technology. She's talking about engineering hires," a person close to Yahoo said about Mayer's early days.

Yahoo's advertising technology products, headed for the auction block before Mayer's arrival, are back in favor. De Castro, her highest-profile hire, is known for a deep-understanding of the complex advertising landscape, where dozens of businesses and technology providers are interlinked.

Mayer has also shown an interest in the company's ad tech platform, including Right Media, an automated exchange that allows marketers to blast ads across a network of websites.

The group has been a long-standing source of division among Yahoo's management, including with Levinsohn, who was keen on divesting the unit, according to two sources close to the matter. But shortly after Mayer's arrival, Yahoo told AdAge that it had no intention of selling Right Media.

Yahoo's advertising salesforce, responsible for signing splashy home-page ad deals and premium marketing campaigns, has received scant attention from the new CEO, say people close to the company. Michael Barrett, Yahoo's chief revenue officer hired by Levinsohn shortly before Mayer's arrival, recently announced his resignation, according to a source familiar with the matter.

FOCUS ON MOBILE

Roughly 700 million users visit a Yahoo website every month - putting it in the top ranks globally. But the amount of activity people engage in on many sites is steadily declining, and its smartphone offerings are deemed lackluster.

"The largest change is to be deadly serious about mobile," said a former Yahoo manager who remains in touch with people at the company.

Yahoo faces tough competition from Facebook and Google, two companies that have taken consumers' time, engineering talent and market value from Yahoo. They are also trying to make the transition to mobile, but it has been difficult.

Some say the direction signaled by Mayer is not so different than strategies espoused by previous CEOs that Yahoo has consistently struggled to implement. A fragmented culture in which short-term finances usually trump product plans is to blame, according to those who know the company.

The recent departure of CFO Tim Morse could signal a change in approach, said several former Yahoo employees.

Morse was considered the force behind Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group and Yahoo's $7.6 billion deal over the summer, which saw Yahoo sell about half of its 40 percent stake in Alibaba after years of wrangling over terms.

But now Yahoo's Asian partners, including Yahoo Japan Corp, are not on the front burner for Mayer, one source familiar with the situation said.

Whether Wall Street has the patience for yet another Yahoo revival plan remains to be seen.

"Every CEO needs time to have their full vision articulated and understood," said Dan Rosensweig, a former Yahoo chief operating officer, who now serves as CEO of online textbook rental company Chegg.com. "To count Yahoo out would be an enormous mistake, because the users have not counted Yahoo out," he said. "It's not like MySpace, where all the users went away."

(Reporting By Nadia Damouni in New York and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; Editing by Edwin Chan, Jonathan Weber and Tiffany Wu)

(This story was refiled to fix the typo in the headline)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yahoo-ceos-comeback-plan-hones-technology-not-media-121104077--sector.html

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Pilgrims arrive in Mecca for haj amid regional turmoil

MECCA (Reuters) - Millions of pilgrims arrive this week in Mecca for Islam's annual haj pilgrimage, which starts on Wednesday, with Saudi authorities warning they will stop any disruptive protests over the conflict in Syria.

The Grand Mosque, the focal point of the Islamic faith, was already teeming with joyful pilgrims at dawn on Monday, wearing the simple white folds of cloth prescribed for haj, many of them having slept on the white marble paving outside.

"I feel proud to be here because it's a visual message that Muslims are united. People speaking in all kind of languages pray to the one God," said Fahmi Mohammed al-Nemr, 52, from Egypt.

Haj must be performed at least once in their lifetime by all Muslims capable of making the expensive, difficult journey, a duty that applies equally to Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims at a time of tension between Islam's main sects.

Saudi leaders have emphasized it is a strictly religious occasion and they are prepared to deal with any troublemaking.

"If anything happens it will be brought under control," Interior Minister Prince Ahmed said on Saturday after attending a Mecca march-past where troops paraded water cannon, teargas launchers and even truck-mounted machine guns.

Authorities are keenly aware of past episodes of violence at haj, such as in 1979, when attackers seized the Grand Mosque, beginning a two-week siege that left hundreds dead.

Despite Saudi Arabia, which is mostly Sunni, locking horns with regional rival Iran, which is mostly Shi'ite, over the conflict in Syria and other disputes, the minister played down the risks of politically motivated disruption.

"I don't think there will be any repercussion on the security of the pilgrimage as a result of what is unfortunately happening in Syria and elsewhere," Prince Ahmed said.

BIRTHPLACE OF ISLAM

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has backed rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran, at a time of already tense relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

Assad and Iranian leaders have both accused Turkey and Gulf Arab countries of arming the rebels, while Riyadh has accused Tehran of stirring unrest in Bahrain and instigating protests among Shi'ite Muslims in Saudi Arabia.

Iran has denied those charges and both sides have said they are keen to avoid trouble during haj, mindful of 1987 clashes between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi security forces that led to hundreds of deaths.

In the years since, Saudi authorities have tolerated small protests by Iranians in their part of the massive camp where most pilgrims stay. Prince Ahmed said Tehran had assured Riyadh that Iranian pilgrims would cause no disruption this year.

However, Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi last week called on Muslims to ostracize Iran and Russia during haj over their backing of Assad, stoking an already tense atmosphere.

In his Friday sermon the imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque, Saleh bin Abdullah Hamid, also railed against the violence in Syria, calling on God to "be against the forces of oppressors" there.

Pilgrims said they were praying for an end to the fighting.

"I pray for the Syrian Muslims to be saved from the oppression they are being subjected to," said Abdullah Abdulrahman Mohammed, 69, from Iraqi Kurdistan, a father of 12 who had just performed Friday prayers.

RITES

Last year nearly 3 million pilgrims performed the haj, with roughly a third from inside the conservative kingdom. The Saudi authorities said there have so far been 1.7 million arrivals from abroad and about 200,000 from inside Saudi Arabia.

Mecca's merchants, famed across the Arab world, are already doing a thriving trade as pilgrims stock up on souvenirs such as prayer beads and mats, Korans, dates, gold and zamzam water, pumped from a holy well.

"The first time I saw the Kaaba I cried with joy. I prayed for myself and all Muslims," said Nafisa Rangrez, 36, from Gujarat in India, who had waited five years for a haj visa.

All Muslims must face towards the Kaaba, the huge black cube at the center of the Grand Mosque, five times a day for prayer, making a visit to the sanctuary a powerful experience. Pilgrims must circle it seven times when they arrive in Mecca.

Wednesday is the first official day of the pilgrimage, with Muslims following a set form of rites laid out by the Prophet and culminating on Friday with the Feast of the Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, a holiday across the Islamic world.

"I would love to live here for the rest of my life. There's no such place in the entire world. This is a blessed country," said Ziad Adam, 23, a theology student from Kenya.

Saudi Arabia's king is formally titled Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the ruling family has long based its claims to reign on its guardianship of Islam's birthplace.

Over the past decade it has spent billions of dollars expanding the Grand Mosque and building new infrastructure to avert the stampedes and tent fires that marred past pilgrimages with hundreds of deaths. The last deadly stampede was in 2006, when 360 people were crushed to death.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pilgrims-arrive-mecca-haj-amid-regional-turmoil-162243740.html

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