Hand Reading Pro just updated for all Blackberries 0 comments

‘It’s all in your hands!’ This hand reading software will guide you to self-understanding with many simple and entertaining image tests.
Learn Hand Analysis / Reading with your phone. Surprise and impress your friends. Discover more about yourself. Entertain your family or even read other people’s hands and know more about them.
—Touchscreen UPDATE (1.4) —
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Senate hearing details influence of drug companies in doctor education 1 comments

Drug company-funding of continuing medical education for doctors has become one of the most lucrative ways for pharmaceutical firms to promote and sell their products, according to testimony before a U.S. Senate hearing.

Drug company funding of continuing medical education for doctors has become one of the most lucrative ways for pharmaceutical firms to promote and sell their products, adding to the enormous cost of health care in the United States, according to testimony Wednesday before a U.S. Senate hearing.

"CME (continuing medical education) has become an insidious vehicle for aggressive promotion of drugs and medical devices," said Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. "CME has largely evolved into marketing, cleverly disguised as education."

Nissen was one of several experts to testify on conflicts of interest in doctor education activity before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, led by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).

In questioning from Kohl, Nissen said the U.S. spends, on a per capita basis, $90 billion a year more than other industrialized countries, largely as a result of prescribing habits promoted by doctor education activities. If those costs were eliminated, it could fund a major portion of health care reform, he said.

Drug companies now spend more than $1 billion a year to fund doctor education, accounting for more than half of all such activity.
Influencing use

Critics contend that it leads to more use of expensive brand-name drugs and the use of those drugs for unproven therapies.

The Journal Sentinel has published a series of stories this year raising questions about the influence of pharmaceutical companies at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, including several stories on drug company-funded doctor education. Drug companies spend about $13 million a year to fund UW medical education courses, and the university receives about $3 million of that.

In written statement to the committee, Robert Golden, dean of the UW medical school, said all of America's health care teaching institutions should abide by clear standards that eliminate or manage conflicts of interest.

"Transparency, however, must be a basic element of any approach to conflict of interest," Golden said.

However, Nissen noted that the flow of money is so enticing that large academic medical centers now compete with for-profit entities known as medical education companies for industry funding. Often those firms work with medical schools such as UW to produce doctor education material with funding from drug companies.

While the grants are supposed to be unrestricted, often there is a "wink and a nod" in which the private companies pick speakers and topics that will please the drug company, Nissen said.
Eye on the market

Drug companies can use their sponsorship of doctor education to increase market share and maximize their return on investment, said Lewis Morris, chief counsel for the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services.

He noted a study showing that every dollar spent by a drug company on doctor education activities generated $3.56 in increased revenue.

Sometimes continuing medical education can work as a cleverly disguised form of a kickback, he said. In such cases, a drug company might reward a doctor who prescribes large amounts of its drugs by directing a contractor to pay or overpay that doctor to be a CME faculty member, he said.

He noted that in 2006, Medtronic paid $40 million to settle allegations that it illegally paid doctors to promote and use its spinal devices. The payments included free travel and lodging for the surgeons and their families at lavish locations in Hawaii, Cancun and Malaysia for discussion groups of no or limited substance, he said.

Sometimes drug company-sponsored doctor education does not mention a specific drug, but rather a disease or condition that can be treated by the company's drug, said Adriane Fugh-Berman, a physician with Georgetown University Medical Center and director of PharmedOut, an organization that helps doctors resist inappropriate drug promotion.
Focus on disease

She said drug company-sponsored doctor education is used to sell drugs by selling diseases, often by emphasizing the severity or prevalence of a disease to expand a market.

"Manipulating physicians' understanding of the prevalence or severity of a medical condition can lead to over-treatment and expose patients to the adverse effects of drugs without significant benefit," she said.

In a statement, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said there is no conclusive evidence that drug company funding of doctor education creates bias.

"Eliminating commercial funding of CME would not benefit patients or doctors," the group said.

Nevertheless, the group said its revised code calls for drug companies to separate doctor education grant-making decisions from the sales and marketing departments.

In an interview after the hearing, Kohl said continuing medical education for doctors is important and also expensive. While drug companies expect the money they spend will help promote their products, he did not think those financial relationships were rife with corruption.

"We need a firewall to separate science from commerce," he said. "Hopefully, the industry will become more self-policing. (But) we may need some legislation on that."

Cheaper Solar Thermal Power 0 comments

A simpler design could reduce the cost of solar power generated by concentrating sunlight on Stirling engines.

Stirling Energy Systems (SES), based in Phoenix, has decreased the complexity and cost of its technology for converting the heat in sunlight into electricity, allowing for high-volume production. It will begin building very large solar-power plants using its equipment as soon as next year.

The company is currently building a 1.5-megawatt, 60-unit demonstration plant that will use the company's latest design. Stirling expects to finish that project by the end of the year. It also has contracts with two California utilities to supply a total of 800 megawatts of solar power in Southern California. The first of the plants that will supply this power could be built starting the middle of next year, pending government permits and loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The projects are part of a resurgence in what's known as solar thermal power. Various solar thermal technologies were developed starting in the 1970s, but a breakdown in government funding and incentives caused them to stall before they reached a scale of production large enough to drive down costs and allow them to compete with conventional sources of electricity. "It was a classic problem with solar. The market support to bring solar to high volume wasn't there," says Ian Simington, the chairman of SES and chief executive of the solar division of NTR, a company based in Dublin, Ireland, that bought a controlling share of SES last year.

Recent state mandates and incentives for renewable energy have led to a new push to commercialize the technology. There are over six gigawatts of concentrated solar power under contract in the southwestern United States right now, says Thomas Mancini, program manager for concentrated-solar-power technology at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. That's equivalent to about six nuclear-power plants. BrightSource Energy has contracts to provide 2.6 gigawatts of solar power with concentrated solar power (a previous version of this story cited only one of two 1.3 gigawatt contracts), and Solar Millenium has announced a project that would generate nearly one gigawatt of power.

Stirling Energy Systems technology uses 12-meter-wide mirrors in the shape of a parabolic dish to concentrate sunlight onto a Stirling engine. The difference in temperature between the hot and cool sides of the engine is used to drive pistons and generate 25,000 watts of electricity. The first phase of the company's large-scale projects will use 12,000 of these dishes to generate 300 megawatts of power. Simington expects electricity from the systems to cost between 12 and 15 cents per kilowatt hour, higher than the cheapest sources of electricity--such as coal-fired power plants--but competitive in many markets, especially in the afternoon, when prices are highest.

Earlier this month the company unveiled its production design. Compared to several prototypes that have been tested for several years at Sandia National Laboratory, the new design cuts about two metric tons from the weight of each dish and reduces the number of mirrors in each from 80 to 40. The simplified design can be built in large quantities using equipment in existing factories for automobiles.



The company's design has certain advantages over other approaches to concentrated solar power. In other systems, heat is collected over a large area and used to drive turbines in a central facility. These turbines require large amounts of water for cooling, Mancini says, whereas the SES system uses a closed-radiator system that doesn't consume water. Water use is an important consideration for solar thermal technologies, Mancini adds, since they work best in areas with a lot of direct sunlight--that is, in deserts. (These concentrated-solar-power systems are quite different from solar water heaters used in homes.)

Another advantage of the SES system is its modularity. With other approaches, the entire solar collection and generation system has to be in place to start generating electricity. With the Stirling engine system, power can come online as the dishes are installed, and more generating capacity can easily be added by building more dishes, without any need to enlarge a central generating plant.

But the system also has a significant disadvantage. Other solar thermal power plants collect heat in a central place where it can easily be stored, making it possible to generate electricity when the sun isn't shining. "There's no obvious way to do this with the dishes," Mancini says.

Although there has been a resurgence in contracts for solar thermal power, obstacles to the plants being built still remain. The new projects could be stalled by slow action from the government. Permits originally thought to be ready by the end of this year are now expected no sooner than next May. What's more, the current economy has made financing hard to come by, says Sean Gallagher, SES's vice president for market strategy and regulatory affairs. That has forced his company and others to rely on Department of Energy loan guarantees. But, Gallager says, although the DOE has promised to speed up its process for issuing these, it has yet to issue even the rules for applying for the guarantees included in February's stimulus package.

PRINCETON REVIEW'S ANNUAL COLLEGE RANKINGS 0 comments

BASED ON 122,000 STUDENT SURVEY

NOW OUT IN "THE BEST 371 COLLEGES – 2010 EDITION"



· 62 Ranking Lists Report Top 20 Colleges in Categories from Profs to Financial Aid to Food

· Unique Ratings: Schools Scored on Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and "Green"



NEW YORK, July 27, 2009, Noon EDT /PRNewswire/— According to a survey by The Princeton Review that asked 122,000 students at 371 top colleges to rate their schools on dozens of topics and report on their campus experiences, the best professors are at Davidson College (NC). However, the college at which students are happiest with their financial aid – the issue many parents care most about – is Swarthmore College (PA). Colgate University (NY) takes top honors as the most beautiful campus while Virginia Tech serves the best campus food and Smith College (MA) has the best dorms.



The Princeton Review, an education services company, reports the top 20 colleges in these categories and over 50 others in the 2010 edition of its annual college guide "The Best 371 Colleges" (Random House / Princeton Review, $22.99), on sale tomorrow. Other student survey-based ranking lists in the book reveal the schools at which students most highly rated their administrators, campus career centers, and athletic facilities.



The book also has unique ratings -- scores from 60 to 99 – on each college's profile in eight categories including Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and Green: a rating based on the schools' environmental commitments. The book's ranking lists and school profiles with ratings will post on www.PrincetonReview.com today.


"Each of our 371 'best' colleges offers great academics," says Robert Franek, author of the book and V.P. / Publisher, The Princeton Review. "However, we don't rank schools academically because our goal is to help students find and get into the best school for them. Instead, we tally 62 ranking lists based how students at these schools rated their campus experiences, plus ratings based on institutional data we collect on issues important to applicants. It's all about the fit."



Other ranking lists in the book and #1 colleges on them are:



· Best Career Services – University of Florida

· Best Classroom Experience – Pomona College (CA)

· Most Accessible Profs – U.S. Military Academy (NY)

· Most Conservative Students – Texas A&M University

· Most Liberal Students – Warren Wilson College (NC)

· Most Politically Active Students – George Washington University (DC)

· Least Religious Students – Bennington College (VT)

· Race / Class Relations Friendliest – University of Miami (FL)

· Gay Community Most Accepted – New York University

· Top Party Schools – Pennsylvania State University

· Top Stone-Cold Sober Schools – Brigham Young University (UT)

· Everyone Plays Intramural Sports – University of Notre Dame (IN)

· Best Athletic Facilities – University of Maryland at College Park

· Best Town-Gown Relations – Clemson University (SC)

About the rankings and survey



The 62 ranking lists are based on surveys of 122,000 students (325 per campus / average) at the 371 schools in the book during the 2008-09 and/or previous two school years. The 80-question survey asks students about their school's academics, administration, campus life, student body, and themselves. Almost all of the surveys were completed online at http://survey.review.com.



About the ratings



The ratings are scores (60 to 99) based largely on institutional data collected during 2008-09. Categories include Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, and Green – a rating The Princeton Review developed with ecoAmerica, a non-profit environmental organization. Honor Rolls in the book salute schools that received rating scores of 99 for Financial Aid (13 schools), Green (15 schools) and Fire Safety (15 schools), plus 10 Tuition-Free schools.



About the book



"The Best 371 Colleges" also has a section listing "Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors" and The Princeton Review list, "100 Best Value Colleges for 2009." Annually published since 1992, it is one of 165 Princeton Review books published by Random House. No school has ever paid a fee to be in the book.



The Princeton Review is an education services company known for its test-prep courses, tutoring, books, and other resources for college and graduate school-bound students. It is headquartered in Framingham, MA with editorial offices in New York City and test-preparation locations across the country and abroad.


The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University, and not a magazine.

# # #

SOURCE: The Princeton Review

US shock jock Savage targeted to balance least wanted list 0 comments

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has suffered a major setback in her legal battle with American 'shock jock' Michael Savage after her officials were accused of banning him from the country on racial grounds.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has suffered a major setback in her legal battle with American 'shock jock' Michael Savage after her officials were accused of banning him from the country on racial grounds.

Emails written by Home Office officials privately acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The officials admitted their action could look 'duplicitous' and cited his 'homophobia' as a reason the move would receive public support.

The Right-wing radio presenter, whose hardline views on Islam, rape and autism have caused outrage in the US but whose show, The Savage Nation, has eight million listeners, was identified in May by Ms Smith as one of 16 people barred due to their political views.

Mr Savage, who had not even applied for entry to Britain, claimed his name had been 'plucked out of a hat' because he was 'controversial and white'. He has since served a £100,000 libel writ on Ms Smith, who announced his ban on television.

Now, correspondence released under Freedom of Information legislation suggests the banning of Mr Savage, whose real name is Michael Weiner, was based on a party political calculation made at the highest level of Government.

One message, sent by an unidentified Home Office official on November 27 last year, said that 'with Weiner, I can understand that disclosure of the decision would help provide a balance of types of exclusion cases'.

The documents include a draft recommendation, marked 'Restricted', saying: 'We will want to ensure that the names disclosed reflect the broad range of cases and are not all Islamic extremists.'

A further email confirmed the decision was approved at the highest level of Government, saying: 'HO [Home Office] intend to include Weiner in their quarterly stats... Both the FS [Foreign Secretary] and PM [Prime Minister] are firmly behind listing and naming such people.'

One civil servant, again unnamed, counselled caution, saying: 'I think we could be accused of duplicity in naming him' - without explaining why - and even added that 'the fact that he is homophobic does help'.

The Home Office refused to say whether names on the banned list had been selected to provide political 'balance', adding that any legal proceedings would be 'robustly defended'.

A spokesman said the DJ 'was excluded for engaging in unacceptable behaviour by making comments that might provoke others to serious criminal acts'.

Tommy Hilfiger Men's Black Leather Strap Watch to keep time stylishly 0 comments

This flashy timepiece called the Tommy Hilfiger seems to be a fashionable black leather wrist watch to be worn by men who appreciate high fashion. This elegantly designed wrist watches comes packed with silver toned hour markers together with a large black dial.

This stunning time keeper features a stainless steel case and snugly made leather wristband coming with an easily adjustable buckle clasp. Additionally, the wrist watch sports rectangular shaped stainless steel bezel. Its solid mineral window comes with beautifully looking Roman numeral indexes.

In addition to that, the dial has a date calendar positioned between 2 and 3 o’clock. This striking time piece is powered by high precision Japanese quartz movement. The Tommy Hilfiger wrist watch is rated to be water resistant up to 30 meters and is covered by 10 year warranty.

The gorgeous wrist watch also has a date function and a solid mineral crystal keeping your watch protected from scratches and dents. The Tommy Hilfiger wrist watch has diameter of 34 mm excluding its crown and weighs 3, 30 ounces. Case thickness measures 9 mm while band width is 17, 5 mm.

Stepper-powered foldable scooter to drive differently 0 comments

If you are sick and tired of regular cycling, here is an amazing model of scooter that uses steppers instead of pedals. The new scooter is powered by steppers meaning the power is produced from each pedal down stroke to the rear axle rotation. No matter what is the road of choice whether it is a solid concrete or an asphalted road as powerful grip is provided by its 3 pneumatic tires.

This stepper powered scooter is environmentally friendly means of transportation and it is really fun to drive it. Its brake lever keeps control over the disk brake of the front wheel making your braking efficient. The stepper powered scooter is easily foldable that is perfect for storing it in small areas.

According to your height you will be able to easily extend the handle bar of the scooter with a maximum height of 45 inches. Height adjustment is done using the locking pin adjustment making your driving as much comfortable as possible. The produce the reciprocal pedal recovery is achieved by its 2 offset crank shafts which engage a pair of gears. The scooter is available for 299, 95 USD.

New 'science of learning' could reinvent teaching techniques 0 comments

Scientists are quietly tackling education issues, offering up new tools, new approaches and even a new discipline.

"New insights from many different fields are converging to create a new science of learning that may transform educational practices," begins a report led by Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences in Seattle. The review in the current Science journal makes the case that psychologists, neuroscientists, roboticists and teachers should create a new field that combines everything from how brains grow to how classrooms work into a new kind of learning research.

For example, a companion study in Science by John Gabrieli of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows how neuroscience and education researchers have teamed up to tackle dyslexia, a difficulty with reading and vocabulary that afflicts 5% to 17% of children. Behavioral and brain measures can identify dyslexic tendencies in infants and lead to teaching that can "prevent dyslexia from occurring in the majority of children who would otherwise develop dyslexia," the study states.

Politicians and educators increasingly worry about learning for all children, citing tests such as the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which found U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders trailing Asian and European peers in science and math. In April, President Obama called on National Academy of Sciences members to "think about new and creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering" and announced an initiative to raise those TIMSS scores.

Three principles are espoused in the proposal for a field of learning research:

•Learning is computational. Even infants and toddlers possess innate capabilities to see and hear patterns, something psychologists doubted decades ago. Reinforcing those capabilities by teaching patterns early might sharpen kids' brains.

•Learning is social. People, even infants, learn better through social cues. We "most readily learn and re-enact an event when it is produced by a person," Meltzoff and colleagues write. "Social factors also play a role in life-long learning — new social technologies (for example, text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter) tap humans' drive for social communication," they add.

•Learning is driven by brain circuitry. Brain cells fired up during both perception and action overlap in people, which allows students to identify with their teachers and speeds learning.

"The young learn best from people in human social interaction. But one of the fundamental characteristics of the human mind is our flexibility and our inventiveness — our capacity to invent tools to amplify our own sensory and motor abilities," Meltzoff says by e-mail.

So, the researchers say, the goal for education in this century is to create teaching tools — such as robots, computer programs or science fairs — that produce the same benefits of the very best teaching situation, one-to-one tutoring.

YouTube to offer 3D Videos? 0 comments

Most people know that Googlers get to spend 20 percent of their time working on side projects. Well, Googler Peter is now talking about how he is working on a stereoscopic player for YouTube with his “free” time. According to the developer, it’s in very early stages but Peter does give you some advice on how to view videos using his experimental 3D player.

The Googler’s project was discovered by seroundtable.com when Peter, the Googler, posted a thread about it on YouTube Help.

You can see one of the 3D test videos at this link

Since it’s a Googler’s 20 percent time, there’s no word on when new features will come or if this particular project will ever officially be released. In the meantime, it’s cool to see what a Googler decided to play around with. Imagine if any video could suddenly go 3D on YouTube? I can see pros and cons associated with that, of course.

Read more at SeroundTable.com

Women in IT 0 comments

Why do IT professions fails to attract women?

If you're a woman entering the technology industry after working in the field of adveritising and marketing, there is a strong chance that you may feel no less than a clown walking into a hospice out of place, depressed and bored. More often than not, you will find yourself completely lost in meetings and words like cloud computing, Chrome, Android, Linux, Unix, Symbian will seem like French (only less alluring). Co-workers (tech junkies) who read, speak and breathe technology will seem even more allien.
It would be easy to blame your lack of interest/understanding of information technology on your alma mater. Today most educational institutes have a majority of women pursuing business administration degrees. IT subjects are generally added to the curriculum as an after thought and are neither emphasised nor is their relevance adequately explained. Moreover, women are not interested end up in arts, medical sciences, media or journalism. On the other hand, most computer science departments are generally dominated by males. Women are few and far between.
So it comes as no surprise that a very few among the fairer sex are brave enough to venture into core computing, programming, and telecommunications fields. Any why would they? Educational institutes aside, even parents instill the idea that IT is dull and boring and is a field enjoye and pursued by men only.
Based on general observation, women in Pakistan have been excluded as users and designers from the overall information society. Although a few exceptions do exists, many women in the IT sector do not hold high-skilled, senior positions. One will find more women doing data entry jobs but not many as CIOs, IT managers, software designers and engineers. It is unfortunate that the Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds of this world either intentionally or unintentionally forget that women make up a huge chunk of their users. However, no substantial efforts have been made for their inclusion in the research, design, marketing of IT products.
Not all can be blamed on men. A large part of the blame lies with women who are actually proud of being technologically backward. Others don't have enough trust and confidence in their technical abilities. They fear being labelled a 'geek'. A recent study indicated that 42 million women in the United States which is rougly 53 percent of the 79 million adult women in the country used social media frequently. In addition to this, a survey conducted by the Mobile Data Association reported that 74 percent of women say that they have text messaged in the last two minutes, as compared to 26 percent of men. All these statistics prove that women are technologically forward but don't consider texting or social networking as using technology.
Women generally abandon considering IT as career in their early teens. This is computer clubs and other IT related extra curricular activities to change their perception. What women don't realise is that techology is a part of our everyday lives and shapes. in the live both men and women. Therefore, why should women be left out in the process of developing technology? Secondly, the lucrative IT sector opens doors to hundreds of high paying jobs and women should be able to take advantage of that Women should also develop technical skills because most businesses these days are built on technology and having such skills equals power and prestige in large corporations.
To sum it up, women locally as well as globally needed to break out of the blonde bimbo stereotype carved for them by certain sections of societ in general. Acting stupid and reidicling geeks will only serve to reinforce this stereotype image of the fairer sex. Society is general needs to consider women a viable part of the information culture a part that should neither be ignored nor underestimated.
Orgnaisations, on the other hand, need to change their strategies if they want to encourage more women in IT sector. Although efforts like promoting women, busting steretypes, changing orgnaisation culture and having HR policies in place that level the playing field will help; educating people, designing mixed gender work teams and flexible timings will go on even longer way.

John Chow is following Enviroman @ Peter Chen 0 comments

I received an email announcing John Chow is following enviroman at Twitter. Should I be happy? I don't know. Years back I remembered John Chow's blog was given a very high valuation and he is very well know. When I got that email, I did some checking and found these - John Chow vs. Google - Guess Who's Winning and 4 Lessons From John Chow Google Bombing Experience. What did they say? Essentially, John chow did some SEO and link building for the phrase "Make Money Online" which Google didn't like. Seems Google called it Google Bombing. Looks like John Chow's has dropped from his high flying position from Google's perspective. It seems that Google is 'manually' punishing John and has dropped him to the 51st result for the term "John Chow," and his "make money online" campaign has been dropped to 57th. And now googling John Chow doesn't turn up in page 1 of Google's SERP (Search Engine Result Page).

However, I wonder if John Chow really minds because it seems his earnings in 6/1/07 jumped to $12,569.61 from $2790.05 from in 12/1/06, I assumed because of his "Google Bombing".That is, his monthly income increased by $9779.56 which is a hefty 350% increase. John Chow also claimed that his income is not highly dependent on traffic from Google.

Now I checked John Chow's Twitter profile page. Wow, he is following 22,948 and has 21,759 followers on Twitter. That is, he is following more than he has followers. I suspect he is using the tactic to increase Twitter followers by following others in the hope of others following him when they get the email announcing John Chow is following them. Should you copy John Chow's strategy? I don't know. But I myself will probably not for the time being.

Calvin Klein USB Sunglasses to store your data 0 comments

Calvin Klein has unveiled its new vision of futuristic sunglasses called USB sunglasses. Not only are these smart sunglasses protect your eyes from the hazardous UV rays but also are they able to store the data. These fashionable sunglasses feature a USB flash drive positioned in the arm of the sunglasses and include 4 GB storage capacity.

The Calvin Klein USB sunglasses appears to be a clever way of storing your data thanks to its removable right arm which can be easily transformed into a flash drive. So you can easily and safely go for a walk in sunny days with these pretty sunglasses to get back home using your flash drive ready to operate.

The Calvin Klein USB sunglasses are expected to hit the market in October with a price tag of 199 USD. This pretty nice summer sunglasses can be readily used wherever you are without need to search for your flash drive.
The advantage of the USB sunglasses is that you wear stylish sunglasses while being protected from the hot sun. These marvelous USB sunglasses could come in handy while getting a sun tan on the beach with an easily accessible flash drive.

Chicago schools report contradicts Obama and Duncan 0 comments

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan talk to school children in Chicago in December 2008, when Duncan was the superintendent of Chicago schools.

New research from a Chicago civic group takes direct aim at the city's "abysmal" public high school performance — and puts a new spin on the academic gains made during the seven years that Arne Duncan led the Chicago schools before he was named U.S. Education secretary.

The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, a supporter of Duncan and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's push for more control of city schools, issued the report June 30. It says city schools have made little progress since 2003.

Its key findings stand in stark contrast to assertions President Obama made in December when he nominated Duncan as Education secretary.

And though the findings are by no means as explosive, they're reminiscent of revelations from Houston in 2003, when state investigators found that 15 high schools had underreported dropout rates under former superintendent Rod Paige, who by then was George W. Bush's Education secretary.

In December, Obama said that during a seven-year tenure, Duncan had boosted elementary school test scores "from 38% of students meeting the standards to 67%" — a gain of 29 percentage points. But the new report found that, adjusting for changes in tests and procedures, students' pass rates grew only about 8 percentage points.

Obama also said Chicago's dropout rate "has gone downevery year he's been in charge." Though that's technically true, the committee says it's still unacceptably high: About half of Chicago students drop out of the city's non-selective-enrollment high schools. And more than 70% of 11th-graders fail to meet state standards, a trend that "has remained essentially flat" over the past several years.

Even among those who graduate, it says, skills are poor: An analysis of students entering the Chicago City Colleges in fall 2006 showed that 69% were not prepared for college-level reading, 79% were not prepared for writing, and 95% were not prepared for math.

"Performance is very bad, very weak," says Civic Committee president Eden Martin.

Obama also said Chicago students' ACT test score gains "have been twice as big as those for students in the rest of the state." Again, technically true — ACT data show that Chicago students' composite score rose 0.9 points from 2002 to 2006, while Illinois' score rose 0.4 points. But Chicago students' composite score of 17.4 was lower than the statewide average of 20.5.

Timothy Knowles, who directs the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute, says the report highlights "a highly irresponsible state reaction" to the federal No Child Left Behind law.

"In essence," he says, "many states have lowered (passing) scores on standardized tests to create the public appearance they are meeting federal standards. This practice sells children short — and the states that engage in it are, ironically, leaving themselves behind."

Knowles says Chicago schools are moving in the right direction, with "some extraordinary new schools" and promising performance from black and Latino students, for instance. "However, the Civic Committee report reminds us these successes are fragile … and there is unambiguous evidence that Chicago has miles to go before it sleeps."

Duncan spokesman Peter Cunningham says Chicago schools "made significant gains across a range of indicators" under Duncan. "While we still have a long way to go, it is absolutely misleading and irresponsible to suggest that there has not been progress."

Blogger Alexander Russo, who writes about Chicago schools, says the findings show that nearly 15 years into mayoral control, the city school system "isn't nearly as improved as many have been led to believe."

"What I find particularly appalling is that Duncan and Obama — supposed champions of transparency and using research rather than ideology — have cited Chicago's inflated test scores, even though they knew the increases were exaggerated."

US Reputation for Scientific Achievement Flagging 0 comments

Americans no longer believe the U.S. leads the world in scientific accomplishments, suggest the results of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. Further, many Americans do not agree with scientific consensus on a variety of issues, such as the role of humans in global warming and the evolution of species. Scientists blame the media, in part, for the disconnect.

U.S. science, medicine and technology were under the microscope in the latest survey from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, and one finding that's generating headlines is that only 17 percent of the public participants held the belief that American scientific achievements are the best in the world.

However, the people who write those headlines and do the reporting on science, medicine and technology -- the media -- also got low grades from the scientists who were surveyed. Their view was that newspapers and television news oversimplify science coverage and don't do enough to separate sound science research from that which is not.

That particular insight comes at a time when many major media organizations at the local and national level are cutting back on science, health and technology reporting, laying off or offering buyouts to experienced science journalists.

Those cutbacks don't bode well for a clear-headed examination of science issues that are getting more mainstream news attention, such as climate change or stem-cell research, suggested the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which bills itself as the country's largest general scientific society.

"That's, of course, of tremendous concern to us, because the science journalism community has done a wonderful job in helping convey to the public not only the importance of science and the content of science, but also the excitement of science," Alan Leshner, PhD, told TechNewsWorld. "I think that's really scary."
Media Impact on Public/Science Opinion

The AAAS took part in the Pew survey with a sample of 2,533 members answering questions; 2,001 members of the public responded to the survey, conducted between April and June.

The Pew Center neither takes positions on its findings nor suggests solutions to any problems discussed in the surveys, said Scott Keeter, director of survey research. Yet he does see some linkage between the results and the media; for example, an overwhelming 85 percent of the scientists surveyed expressed the belief that the public has a lack of basic scientific knowledge, which can pose a problem for science overall.

"Clearly, the combination of facts that the public is not particularly knowledgeable about science and that scientists feel that coverage by the media is partly responsible suggests that there is a bridge to be built there," Keeter told TechNewsWorld.

Forty-nine percent of the scientists also held the view that the public has unrealistic expectations about the speed of achievements in science.

"You might also put that back at the feet of the media," Keeter said. "The public expects solutions to problems too quickly, and that can be triggered by news coverage that suggests recent medical breakthroughs will lead to cures in the short run."

The media will give plenty of attention to hot-button issues like climate change and local controversies over the teaching of evolution in schools. Reporters covering those particular issues have already done some harm, said Leshner.

"Scientists for a very long time have complained about what's called 'the balance issue,' where journalists feel compelled to present both sides or all sides of an issue," he noted.

If there's no scientific disagreement, Leshner continued, reporters find somone to present a contrary political or ideological view. The public may not discriminate between a lay person and a scientist when watching the coverage.

"Stem cells is an issue where there's a great disconnect between the public and scientific views," observed Leshner.
Media Not Solely to Blame

If scientists are going to be quick to blame the media for sloppy reporting or faulty public perceptions, "they also need to blame themselves," Leshner suggested, "because there's a tremendous need, an obligation, and an opportunity for scientists to reach out to the public, and they need to do it far more than they ever have in the past."

Other Pew survey findings highlight his point regarding areas of science that have generated headlines and controversy:

* While 84 percent of the scientists surveyed were convinced human activity like burning fossil fuels is causing higher global temperatures, just 49 percent of the public agreed;
* 87 percent of scientists maintained that humans have developed via evolution and natural selection; only 32 percent of the public agreed.
* 93 percent of the scientists favored animal testing in science research; 52 percent of the public agreed;
* 93 percent of scientists surveyed wanted the government to fund embryonic stem-cell research; just 58 percent of the public survey respondents thought federal funds should be used.

Some of the survey's other findings:

* Only 12 percent of the public viewed space exploration and the 1969 moon landing as the greatest scientific achievement of the past 50 years. In 1999, 18 percent of those surveyed had that opinion.
* 27 percent of the public viewed scientific advancements in general as one of America's greatest achivements, down from 47 percent 10 years ago;
* 84 percent of the public respondents indicated a "mostly positive" view of scientists;
* 70 percent of the public believed scientists contribute "a lot" to society's well-being;
* No surprise here: More than 80 percent of scientists viewed a lack of funding as a serious impediment to scientific research and progress.

Delete blog or change URL: What happens then? 0 comments

Previously, bloggers are strongly advised against deleting blogs and what happens to the blog URL blog URL if you delete the blog. For reasons, see Why you should not delete a blog and what to do if you change the URL of a blog.

However, because Blogger has been informed of spammers grabbing deleted blog URL for spamming purposes, the practice of releasing a blog URL the moment the blog is deleted has been discontinued. Now if any Google Blogger blogger delete his or her blog, the blog URL is no longer released for others to register, but is kept for the original creator to claim back later.

The reason for this post is because of many questions and requests for help related to the above, and rather that repeating the same thing, if I ever get another question related to this, all I need to do is to point them to this post.

The most recent one is about a very fortunate blogger who wanted a particular blogspot URL which had already been registered by someone else who didn't do anything or didn't do much with the blog and the blog had been left neglected. In this particular very rare case, the blogger was able to contact that blog owner who is very cooperative. The blog owner deleted the blog so the intended new owner can claim it. As expected, she could not do so.

However, not all is lost provided the previous owner is willing to cooperate. All she has to do to to contact the previous owner again, requesting him or her to register that deleted blog again, and then invite the intended new owner to become co-author via Dashboard > Settings > Permissions. Once she has accepted the invitation, the cooperative old owner can make her administrator, and then remove himself or herself. Once this is all done, the blog have found a new, loving owner.

Google Account Deleted - What to do 0 comments

Blogger account is associated with a Google account. It is not rare to hear a blogger screaming for help after he deleted his Google account for that deletion will affect the Blogger account. So what should one do if one accidentally deleted the Google account? One should immediately report to Google Account Contact Form. There is a window of about a week to appeal, after which the Google Account will be permanently deleted.

Next Sony Ericsson XPERIA is expected with Android 2.0 0 comments

Another Android smartphone is leaked, but unfortunately we can't say that it is going to start its sales any tome soon. This time it's Sony Ericsson who fancy Android for its top range mobile phone, for next XPERIA division model to be precise. Parallels with HTC Hero here are possible, of course, but I fear they would be untimely because Rachel, so is its codename, sports some interesting features that make it stand out a bit.

There is not much to say about the next Sony Ericsson XPERIA, but we already know that it might whop Hero's nose. First of all, SE is preparing a 8 megapixel camera with autofocus. Nothing with more humble pixel density was expected for the XPERIA because guys at Sony Ericsson were always taken up with cameras. Which probably explains a over 12 megapixel phone from them by the end of the year.

Now, there is more. HTC Hero comes with 528MHz processor. The XPERIA in turn is expected to be fitted with a latest 1GHz processor. That of course would make a difference no matter what the phone will be used for.

The last thing so far is the OS. SE Rachel is rumored to be one the first devices out there with Android 2.0. This fact arises questions like whether it will have something at least remotely like Sense UI? Or one which is even more actual: how long to wait fir it? All we know is that Android 2.0 comes in autumn, hopefully Rachel also.

HYmini 0 comments

HYmini is a light-weighted handheld, universal chargers and adapter that captures renewable wind and solar power and power recharge to your iPod mobile phone, PDA, mp3. digital camera and other five-volt devices.Equipped with a built-in, wind-powered generator, this gadget stores engergy in its internal battery and requires no additional software.

Url: Download

Sea To Summit Pocket Shower keeps you clean and nature green 0 comments

If you like to stay clean while still being outdoors, this handy gadget is a good idea to make your dream to come true. Dubbed “Sea to Summit pocket shower”, this cleaning kit gives you a cool shower experience making your outdoor getaway a pleasant and much desired time.

This useful cleaning gadget appears to be also an environmentally conscious gizmo. This green pocket shower is constructed from heat proof water resistant fabric and comes with roll-top opening designed for easy filling.

This compact Sea to Summit Pocket Shower appears to be a polyurethane and nylon bag containing up to 10 liters of water while a tiny pack when folded. This amount of water is enough for around 8 and a half minutes of standard showering keeping you clean and nature green.

You will not have to heat water up as this smart black fabric is capable of absorbing heat to turn cold water into warm just in a short period of sunny time. This camping gizmo is ultra portable and can be kept in your back pack holding little of its space.

The Sea to Summit Pocket Shower also features a 20 feet cord in order to make it stable positioned tying it to a tree. In addition to that, you may easily use it as a traditional dry sack to ferry your clothes and other odds and ends.

Its shower head makes your spray dispersion running smoothly while giving you about 8 minutes of showering if it is well open while the twist spout operates as water flow adjuster making it trickling out of the tree. Once it is zipped, the pocket shower’s pouch measures 45 mm x 80 mm x 140 mm with a weight of 12o kg if fully filled.

This compact pouch can be easily taken whatever outdoor activity you have chosen. Even if you have decided to loll out outside, this pocket shower may be quite useful. You may not be a genius to be able to use it, as this is very intuitive gadget, once unzipped, fill it with water, hang it to the tree, open the shower head and enjoy being clean.

The Sea to Summit Pocket Shower has 2 D-rings designed for fixing your pocket shower.