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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Kennedys light flame in Ireland to mark iconic JFK trip

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Relatives of President John F. Kennedy lit a flame in Ireland on Saturday to mark the anniversary of his 1963 visit to the country, a landmark in its post-independence history.

Kennedy's visit, just five months before his assassination, was the first by a serving U.S. president and cemented the strong links between the nations forged by waves of emigration.

One of the men to make the long journey over the Atlantic was the president's own great-grandfather Patrick who left New Ross in southeast Ireland for the United States in 1848 during the potato famine.

On Saturday, Irish premier Enda Kenny joined thousands in the county Wexford town to mark the anniversary with the president's sister Jean Kennedy Smith and daughter Caroline Kennedy.

"President Kennedy's 1963 visit to Ireland remains one of the iconic moments of 20th century Ireland," Kenny said. "The powerful symbolism, memorable speeches and the warmth of the interaction between this Irish American President and the Irish public had an impact on both."

Using a torch lit from the eternal flame at Kennedy's grave at Arlington cemetery, Kenny, Jean Kennedy Smith and Caroline Kennedy together lit an "emigrant flame" in New Ross to commemorate the millions of Irish who fled poverty and hard lives at home.

The 1963 visit brought a touch of glamour to Ireland, then still a poor country at the margins of Europe that was struggling to escape from the shadow of larger neighbor Britain, from which it won independence in 1921.

Witnesses still remember Kennedy's youthfulness and charisma and the way he joined in the singing of a ballad about a 1798 revolt against the British.

It was part of a wider tour of Europe that included Kennedy's historic call for liberty in his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech that encouraged frightened citizens of the western side of the city after the Berlin Wall was erected.

It has some parallels with Barack Obama's trip to Europe this week. The current president has Irish ancestors and while he attended a G8 summit in Northern Ireland, his wife and daughters attracted crowds of onlookers during a visit to Dublin and lunch with U2 singer Bono.

The Irish vote helped to sweep Kennedy to power in 1960 and Obama learned to play that card when he was an Illinois senator seeking votes on the streets of Chicago, where he regularly participated in the St Patrick's Day parade.

"There was no visit that my father made as president that meant more to him that his visit to Ireland," Caroline Kennedy said outside the small cottage where her great-great-grandfather was born and where her father sipped tea with relatives half a century ago.

"Growing up in our family, nothing was a greater source of pride than our Irish heritage."

(Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Padraic Halpin and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kennedys-light-flame-ireland-mark-iconic-jfk-trip-210717109.html

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Saturday, June 22, 2013

One dead, thousands without power after storms hit U.S. Midwest

By Eric M. Johnson

(Reuters) - One woman is dead and more than 200,000 homes and businesses are without power in the upper Midwest on Saturday after severe thunderstorms struck parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin with damaging winds, lightning and baseball-sized hail.

The storms developed in the Dakotas on Friday and powered through Minnesota into Wisconsin, producing wind gusts up to 85 mph and large hailstones, some in excess of 4 inches in diameter, as well as short-lived tornadoes, said Brynn Kerr, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

A 63-year-old woman sheltering in a bathtub died when powerful winds tossed around her trailer in South Dakota on Friday afternoon, said Hamlin County Sheriff Chad Schlotterbeck.

Some 200,000 customers were still without power in Minnesota on Saturday, mainly in the Minneapolis area, and another 1,000 were without power across the border in Wisconsin, said Tom Hoen, a spokesman for Xcel Energy Inc, which serves the area.

"It was very intense ... we saw a lot of damage throughout the metro area," Hoen said, adding that branches propelled by wind gusts tore down power lines and easily uprooted trees from the water-logged earth.

"Unfortunately, because of the massive scale of the damage, we will have customers without service going into Tuesday," Hoen said, adding that a chance of weaker storms returning to the area overnight could scuttle repair efforts.

The outages affected 492,000 customers since the storm formed, Hoen said. Other utilities reported scattered outages in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The National Weather Service expects storms building in the mountains of Wyoming and northern Colorado to push into the adjacent high plains of those states and western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska during the late afternoon, Kerr said.

The strongest pockets are likely to hit the north-central high plains in Nebraska late Saturday afternoon and evening with driving rain and hail the size of baseballs, Kerr said.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/one-dead-thousands-without-power-storms-hit-u-185306034.html

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US stocks open higher after 2-day plunge

U.S. stocks rose in morning trading on Friday as traders regrouped following the biggest drop of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,809 after the first half-hour of trading Friday.

The Dow plunged 560 points Wednesday through Thursday after the Federal Reserve said it could wind down its bond-buying program by the middle of next year.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,597 points. Consumer staples, which fell sharply the day before, led the way higher.

The Nasdaq composite index edged down two points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,362.

The Nikkei index in Japan rose 1.7 percent, but other Asian markets fell. European markets were mixed but made only small moves.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.44 percent from 2.42 percent.

Among stocks making big moves:

? Oracle plunged $3.04, or 9 percent, to $30.17, the biggest drop in the S&P 500 index. The software maker's quarterly results showed that it's struggling to adapt as customers shift away from software installed on their own computers toward software that runs remotely.

? Darden Restaurants, which runs Olive Garden and Red Lobster, fell $1.16, or 2.3 percent, to $50.07 after rising expenses hurt its fourth-quarter earnings.

? CarMax, which runs used car dealerships, reported that its first-quarter profit jumped 21 percent as sales rose. Its stock rose 63 cents or 1.4 percent, to $45.20.

A Fed policy statement and comments from Chairman Ben Bernanke started the selling in stocks and bonds Wednesday.

Bernanke said the Fed expects to scale back its massive bond-buying program later this year and end it entirely by mid-2014 if the economy continues to improve. The bank has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds, a program that has made borrowing cheap for consumers and businesses. It has also helped boost the stock market. The Dow reached an all-time high three weeks ago of 15,409.

After Bernanake's comments, the index lost 560 points on Wednesday and Thursday, wiping out its gains from May and June. The Dow's drop on Thursday was its biggest since November 2011.

Some investors said the sell-off in stocks may be overdone. The Fed is considering easing back on its stimulus because the economy is improving. The central bank has upgraded its outlook for unemployment and economic growth.

The S&P 500 is still up 11.9 percent, for the year, not far from its full-year increase of 13.4 percent last year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-open-higher-2-day-plunge-140307006.html

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?Exploding? Box Scrapbook - The Hybrid Chick

Hi ? poki here with another project that allows you to use pre-made layouts to create a gift! ?I love making mini books as gifts for family and friends, but this time I decided to make one just for me! The format is a small box, and when you remove the lid the sides fall down revealing 13 places to attach your photos or layouts.

To create the artwork for my ?exploding? box, I used the beautiful Boutique Collab called SLAINTE?which is part of the ?Digi Chicks Around the World ? series for 2013.The kit is so full of beautiful patterned papers in shades of green, blue, brown, and gold. ?Being as ?fond of green as I am, I headed straight for the greens in the kit, and I was not disappointed! ?I found a quote that perfectly reflected what I wanted this book to be ? a tribute to the 13 family and friends who are a blessing in my life everyday! ??Love overflows and Joy never ends, in a home that is blessed with Family and Friends.? ?I used the quote to create the artwork for the top of the box!

Using a similar format and background, I created the 13 artpieces for inside the box, with photos of my family and friends! ?Here is the layout I did with a photo of me and my BFF Mike!

The base of the box is made with 2 pieces of ?cardstock (one is 12? x 12?, the other is 10 1/2? x 10 1/2?). ?The 12? x 12? pieces is scored at 4? and 8? both directions, which gives you 9 blocks that are 4? x 4?. ?The four blocks in the corners are removed, leaving what looks like a square cross. On the 10 1/2? x ? ? ?10 1/2? pieces of card stock score at 3 1/2? and 7?, giving you 9 blocks which are 3 1/2? x 3 1/2?. ?Remove the four corner pieces, leaving another square cross ? Here are some mock-ups of the way the two square crosses are completed:

FRONT OF 10 1/2? X 10 1/2? piece

Back of 10 1/2? x 10 1/2? piece

Front of 12? x 12? piece

Back of 12? x 12? piece (the outside of the box!)

The base for the lid of the box is an 8.25 x 8.25? piece of cardstock, scored at 1? and 2? all around the outside. ?After scoring, 2? slits are cut on opposite sides of the piece. ?Arrows in the example below show where slits are cut. ?Fold up the left and right sides, and fold tabs toward the middle, and then fold top and bottom sides over the tabs and adhere. ?Artpiece is added to the top of the lid, and a strip is added around the 1? side of the lid! ?Two holes were punched in the edge of the lid ?to insert ribbon and tie a bow.

And now, your scrapbook that isn?t a book at all is complete! ?Here is my completed project!

Written by poki04

Retired Texas public school music teacher ... and I love to digiscrap!

Source: http://www.thehybridchick.com/2013/06/exploding-box-scrapbook/

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Friday, June 21, 2013

Obama to nominate Democrat, Republican to FEC

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House says President Barack Obama intends to nominate two lawyers with government experience to become commissioners on the Federal Election Commission, the agency that oversees and enforces campaign finance laws. One of the nominees would fill a Democratic vacancy on the commission and the other would replace the current vice chairman, Republican Donald F. McGahn.

Obama's nominee to the Republican seat is Lee Goodman, who served as a top aide to former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia. Obama's Democratic nominee is Ann Ravel, the chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. She would fill the seat vacated earlier this year by Cynthia Bauerly.

If confirmed by the Senate, the FEC would have all of its six commissioners ? three Democrats and three Republicans.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-nominate-democrat-republican-fec-220539788.html

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Making a beeline for the nectar: How patterns on flowers help bees spot their first nectar-rich flower

June 20, 2013 ? Bumblebees searching for nectar go for signposts on flowers rather than the bull's eye. A new study, by Levente Orb?n and Catherine Plowright from the University of Ottawa in Canada, shows that the markings at the center of a flower are not as important as the markings that will direct the bees to the center.

The work is published online in Springer's journal, Naturwissenschaften -- The Science of Nature.

The first time bees go out looking for nectar, which visual stimuli do they use to identify that first flower that will provide them with the reward they are looking for? Orb?n and Plowright test the relative influence of the type of floral pattern versus pattern position in a group of bumblebees that have never searched for nectar before i.e. flower-naive bees.

In a series of two experiments using both radio-frequency identification technology and video recordings, the researchers exposed a total of over 500 flower-naive bees to two types of patterns on artificial clay flowers: concentric versus radial. Concentric patterns are composed of circles or rings with the same center. Radial patterns are composed of distinctly colored lines extending from the outside of the flower, converging at the center where nectar and pollen are usually found. The patterns tested were in one of two positions on the artificial flowers: either central or peripheral, on the corolla (or petals) of the flower.

They found that both visual properties had significant effects on flower choice. However, when pitted against each other, pattern type trumped position. Bees preferred radial patterns over concentric patterns. When the influence of radial patterns in the center was compared with the influence of radial patterns on the periphery, there was little difference in the bees' response. It appears that the visual cues from the radial pattern guide the bees to the periphery of the flower. Once there, they will find the rewarding nectar in the center of the flower.

The researchers conclude: "Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The behavior of bees has been shaped over the course of evolution as adaptations to flower appearance. Equally, floral appearance has evolved in ways that cater towards bees' visual and olfactory abilities. Flowers may be taking advantage of a principle that will be familiar to students and teachers alike: the bees need not be shown the food itself, but rather, how to find it."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media.

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

Journal Reference:

Levente L. Orb?n, Catherine M. S. Plowright. The effect of flower-like and non-flower-like visual properties on choice of unrewarding patterns by bumblebees. Naturwissenschaften, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s00114-013-1059-9

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/mbYST_jf5Zc/130620111208.htm

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