Experts getting ready for the next asteroid

NASA budgeted $20 million dollars last year to look for objects that may hit the earth, but some scientists say more money should be spent on detection and ways to avoid a possible collision. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The meteor that blew up over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk 11 days ago has provided a new focus for the international effort to deal with potentially threatening near-Earth objects, one of NASA's top experts on the issue says.

Lindley Johnson, the executive for the Near Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said that the Feb. 15 impact is certain to become "by far the best-documented meteor and meteorite in history" ? but at the time, he and his colleagues could hardly believe it was happening.

"Our first reaction was, 'This can't be. ... This must be some test of a missile that's gone awry,'" Johnson told NBC News.

---

The Chelyabinsk meteor exploded at an estimated altitude of 12 miles (20 kilometers) over the city of 1.1 million in Russia's Urals Mountains, setting off a shock wave that blew out windows, caused an estimated $33 million in property damage and injured more than 1,200 people.

It was doubly coincidental for Johnson and his colleagues: The meteor was thought to have been caused by the breakup of a 17-meter-wide (55-foot-wide), 10,000-ton asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere and released the equivalent of 500 kilotons of TNT in explosive energy. All this happened just hours before a 45-meter-wide (150-foot-wide) asteroid, capable of setting off a city-killing blast, passed within 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) of our planet. Adding to that coincidence, researchers from around the world were gathered in Vienna for talks aimed at moving forward with an international network to deal with ... asteroid threats!

The spectacle in Russia "certainly brought renewed interest to our efforts here," Johnson said.

He said the recommendations from the researchers were "well-received" and are moving up the ladder to the next phase in a U.N.-led process for addressing outer-space threats. An action plan could be considered by the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space during its next meeting in Vienna in June.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17105332-after-studying-russian-meteor-blast-experts-get-set-for-the-next-asteroid?lite

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Fierce clashes near landmark mosque in Syria

A Syrian woman walks past a house destroyed from a government airstrike, at Jabal al-Zaweya village of Sarjeh, in Idlib, Syria, Monday Feb. 25, 2013. Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad, the country's foreign minister said Monday, in the government's most advanced offer yet to try to resolve the 2-year-old civil war through negotiations. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A Syrian woman walks past a house destroyed from a government airstrike, at Jabal al-Zaweya village of Sarjeh, in Idlib, Syria, Monday Feb. 25, 2013. Syria is ready to hold talks with the armed opposition trying to topple President Bashar Assad, the country's foreign minister said Monday, in the government's most advanced offer yet to try to resolve the 2-year-old civil war through negotiations. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Displaced Syrian children play with cleaning tools in the Azaz camp for displaced people, north of Aleppo province, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows an unexploded rocket from a Syrian warplane, in the neighborhood of Karam Alqasir, near Aleppo International Airport, in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb near the Damascus headquarters of Syria's ruling party killed scores on Thursday, while a government airstrike on a rebel field hospital in southern Daraa left several dead, opposition activists and state media reported. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)

A citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching the rubble for dead bodies and injured victims at a site were houses were hit by a missile attack by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Ard Al-Hamra, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels battled government troops near a landmark 12th century mosque in the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, while fierce clashes raged around a police academy west of the city, activists said.

The fighting near the Umayyad Mosque in the walled Old City threatened to further damage the historic structure, part of which was burned during clashes last year.

Since July 2012, government forces and rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad have been battling over Aleppo, the country's largest city and a major prize in the civil war. While rebels have gradually expanded the amount of turf under their control, seven months of street fighting, airstrikes and shelling have left much of the city, considered one of Syria's most beautiful, in ruins.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported intense clashes with heavy gunfire and explosions near the mosque. Syria's state news agency said "terrorists" had detonated explosives near the building's south wall, causing "material damages."

Assad's regime refers to the opposition as "terrorists."

The mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Aleppo, sits near a medieval covered market in the Old City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The mosque was heavily damaged in October, 2012, just weeks after a fire gutted the market.

Syria's nearly 2-year-old civil war has left its mark on other gems of the country's rich archaeological and cultural heritage.

At least five of Syria's six World Heritage sites have been damaged in the fighting, according to UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency. Looters have broken into one of the world's best-preserved Crusader castles, Crac des Chevaliers, and ruins in the ancient city of Palmyra have been damaged.

Both rebels and regime forces have turned some of Syria's significant historic sites into bases, including citadels and Turkish bath houses, while thieves have stolen artifacts from archaeological excavations and, to a lesser extent, museums.

To the west of Aleppo, activists reported fresh fighting Tuesday near the police academy that has become a key government military installation.

The Observatory said the two sides were shelling each other's positions while the government launched airstrikes in the area.

Video posted online in recent days shows rebel groups firing homemade rockets and mortars at the academy and blasting it with captured tanks. The videos appeared genuine and corresponded with other Associated Press reporting.

The Observatory said the dead in the last two days of fighting in the area included 26 rebel fighters, 40 soldiers and five pro-government militiamen.

The police academy, which activists say the government has turned into a military base, has recently emerged as a new front in the battle for Aleppo. Losing the facility would hinder the regime's ability to shell opposition areas and support its troops inside the city.

An Aleppo activist who goes by the name Abu al-Hassan said via Skype that rebels coming from Idlib province to the west are now trying to clear the army from residential areas near the academy before they attack it.

"Yesterday and today they have been trying to go forward but there are lots of shelling and airstrikes," he said.

The fighting has largely destroyed Aleppo and caused humanitarian conditions for the city's remaining civilians to plummet.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said more than 141 people, including 71 children, had been killed in at least four missile strikes by the Syrian government in and near the city of Aleppo last week. The New York-based group said the strikes hit residential areas and called them an "escalation of unlawful attacks against Syria's civilian population."

A Human Rights Watch researcher who visited the sites said up to 20 buildings were destroyed in each area hit by a missile. There were no signs of any military targets in the residential districts, located in rebel-held parts of Aleppo and its northern countryside, said Ole Solvang, the researcher.

"The extent of the damage from a single strike, the lack of (military) aircraft in the area at the time, and reports of ballistic missiles being launched from a military base near Damascus overwhelmingly suggest that government forces struck these areas with ballistic missiles," HRW said in its report.

It added that the Aleppo neighborhoods hit were Jabal Badro, Tariq al-Bab and Ard al-Hamra. The fourth strike documented by the group was in Tel Rifat, north of the city.

UNICEF said in a statement that it is "appalled" by the deaths of children, and called on all parties in the conflict to "ensure that civilians ? and children especially ? are protected, at all times."

U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman condemned the bombings in Aleppo and Damascus and repeated a call "to immediately end the supply of arms to both sides in this brutal conflict." He pledged that "perpetrators of serious crimes will be held accountable."

Syria has never acknowledged the strikes, and portrays the conflict as a foreign conspiracy carried out by "terrorists" to weaken the country.

The missile attacks have outraged the leaders of Syria's exiled opposition who have accused their Western backers of indifference to the suffering of civilians caught up in the conflict.

Also Tuesday, the Observatory said the death toll in a car bomb attack in Damascus had risen to eight. All were regime security officers, it said.

The blast late Monday struck a security checkpoint in the neighborhood of Qaboun, less than a kilometer (mile) from Abbasid Square, northeast of downtown. It was followed by several other smaller blasts thought to be mortar shells landing in various districts of the capital.

The explosions and subsequent gunfire caused panic among residents who hid in their apartments.

Syria's state news agency said the blast was caused by a suicide car bomber and caused an unspecified number of casualties.

The U.N. says some 70,000 have been killed since Syria's conflict began in March 2011.

___

Associated Press writer Ryan Lucas in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the U.N. contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-26-Syria/id-7d9145bbff9f4c0d83d696118a0df787

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Today on New Scientist: 26 February 2013

Giant laser creates an artificial star to clear the sky

The Very Large Telescope's new laser looks like something off the Death Star, but its powerful beam is used for the peaceful exploration of the galaxy

Russian meteor traced to Apollo asteroid family

The bounty of footage from dashboard-mounted cameras helped astronomers quickly calculate the orbit of the meteor and trace it to its home turf

Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts

An accidental chemical leak on board NASA's newest Martian rover has added another twist in the decades-long search for life on the Red Planet

Multilingual dictionary keeps humans in the loop

A new online dictionary launched this week uses concepts instead of words to avoid the typical garble of machine translation

Vulcan and Cerberus win popular Pluto moon-naming vote

A public vote to help name Pluto's two newest moons received a boost from William Shatner - but the International Astronomical Union has the final say

China takes steps to clean up 'cancer villages'

Having acknowledged the issue of cancer clusters around polluted water, the Chinese government is taking its first steps to control dangerous chemicals

Happy, snappy tweets gain the most Twitter followers

An analysis of half a million posts on Twitter has come up with some simple rules to boost your popularity on the site

Android smartphone to control satellite in orbit

A bold attempt to show that consumer electronics can cope with space radiation has lifted off - a satellite-controlling Google smartphone is now in orbit

The man who's crashing the techno-hype party

Evgeny Morozov does a good job of dispelling "big data" hype in To Save Everything, Click Here, but fails to explore the way we shape the tech we use

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Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop dies at 96 (cbsnews)

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Obama warns of risks over budget cut uncertainty

President Barack Obama addresses the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama addresses the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal listens as National Governors Association Chairman, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, speaks with reporters outside the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, following their meeting with President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, accompanied by White House press secretary Jay Carney, briefs reporters on the sequester, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Monday said looming automatic spending cuts are already affecting the economy, while a top administration official warned that the nation's borders would be less secure if billions of dollars are yanked from the budget Friday.

"The uncertainty is already having an effect," Obama said. "Companies are preparing layoff notices. Families are preparing to cut back on expenses. The longer these cuts are in place, the bigger the impact will become."

Despite the urgent rhetoric, there was no indication the White House and congressional Republicans were actively negotiating a deal to avoid the so-called sequester ahead of the end of the week deadline. The last known conversation between Obama and GOP leaders was last week and there have been no in-person meetings between the parties this year.

With Congress back from a weeklong recess, House Speaker John Boehner showed little willingness to move off his long-held position that the sequester be offset through targeted spending cuts, not the package of cuts and tax increases Obama supports.

"Mr. President, you got your tax increase," Boehner said, referring to the tax rate increases that took effect on Jan. 1. "It's time to cut spending here in Washington."

The $85 billion budget-cutting mechanism could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. Domestic and defense spending alike would be trimmed, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers and contractors.

The White House continued laying out in stark terms what the cuts would mean for government services, dispatching Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to warn of the implications for critical security functions.

"I don't think we can maintain the same level of security at all places around the country with sequester as without sequester," said Napolitano, adding that the impact would be "'like a rolling ball. It will keep growing."

Napolitano focused in particular on the impact to the border, saying her agency would be forced to furlough 5,000 patrol agents. She tamped down the notion that budget cuts would make the nation more vulnerable to terrorism, but said the sequester would make it "awfully, awfully tough" to minimize that risk.

Also Monday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said visiting hours would be cut at all 398 national parks, just as they prepare for an influx of spring and summer visitors.

Elsewhere in the government, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.

Obama will seek to build public support for his call to offset the sequester with a combination of targeted cuts and tax revenues Tuesday when he travels to Newport News, Va., a community that would be impacted by the defense cuts.

The sequester was designed as an unpalatable fallback, meant to take effect only if a congressional super-committee failed to come up with at least $1 trillion in savings from benefit programs.

Many of the nation's governors, who are gathered in Washington for their annual meeting, voiced frustration over the impending cuts, saying Washington's inability to strike a deal had created widespread uncertainty in the economy and hampered economic recovery in their states.

"The president needs to show leadership," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican considered a potential 2016 presidential contender, following a meeting with Obama. "The reality is it can be done. This administration has an insatiable appetite for new revenue."

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a favorite of her party's conservative wing, pointed her anger at both Democrats and Republicans.

"No one should be playing golf. No one should be taking vacations," Haley said, taking a shot at Obama's recent golf outing and Congress' latest recess. "What they need to do is do what these governors do every day. We stay until we get it done."

Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut concurred.

"They need to get out of that box that sits under the dome and understand that this has real implications in people's lives," he said. "Work with the president, find a way to get it done ? or if you want, just turn it over to us governors, and we'll negotiate."

The governors, emerging from a closed-door meeting with Obama Monday, said the president had assured them the administration is pursuing solutions, but offered no assurances that officials would find a way ahead out ahead of the deadline.

___

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas, Steve Peoples and Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-25-Budget%20Battle/id-d603e25d1a1f49acac8b0bf294b02d2d

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2nd round of heavy snow in Plains, Midwest; 2 dead

Traffic moves on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News, Michael Schumacher)

Traffic moves on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News, Michael Schumacher)

Vehicles navigate along Interstate 27 during blizzard conditions in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. State troopers are unable to respond to calls for assistance and National Guard units are mobilizing as a winter storm blankets the central Plains with a foot of snow in some places. Roads are closed Monday throughout West Texas and the Panhandle. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)

Amarillo emergency personnel assist a stranded motorist on the I-40 service road Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. A blizzard packing 50 mph wind gusts and more than 11 inches of snow blasted Amarillo and Texas Panhandle Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, making travel nearly impossible. Interstate 40 and many major highways in the Panhandle have been closed. (AP Photo/The Amarillo Globe News,Michael Schumacher)

Cattle stand in blizzard conditions in Lubbock, Texas, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. State troopers are unable to respond to calls for assistance and National Guard units are mobilizing as a winter storm blankets the central Plains with a foot of snow in some places. Roads are closed Monday throughout West Texas and the Panhandle. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)

Chance Cain, from left, Simon Mourning and Nathan Talley walk towards a sledding hill near downtown Wichita, Kan. as a winter storm moves through the area on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying) LOCAL TV OUT; MAGS OUT; LOCAL RADIO OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) ? The nation's midsection again dealt with blizzard conditions Monday, closing highways, knocking out power to thousands in Texas and Oklahoma and even bringing hurricane-force winds to the Texas Panhandle. Two people have died.

Already under a deep snowpack from last week's storm, Kansas was preparing for another round of heavy snow Monday evening and overnight, prompting some to wonder what it could do for the drought.

"Is it a drought-buster? Absolutely not," National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy said. "Will it bring short-term improvement? Yes."

The storm is being blamed for two deaths on Monday. In northwest Kansas, a 21-year-old man's SUV hit an icy patch on Interstate 70 and overturned. And in the northwest town of Woodward, Okla., heavy snow caused a roof to collapse, killing one inside the home.

Earlier on Monday, blizzard warnings extended from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles into south-central Kansas. The blizzard warnings were dropped Monday evening for the far western portion of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.

Meanwhile to the east, lines of thunderstorms crossed Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, bringing heavy rain and an occasional tornado warning.

As many as 10,000 people lost power in Oklahoma, as did thousands more in Texas.

"I have a gas cooking stove and got the oven going," said Ann Smith, owner of the Standifer House Bed and Breakfast in Elk City, Okla., late Monday afternoon. Her daughter and grandchildren had come over because they lost power.

"If it gets cold tonight, I guess we'll have to put pallets in the kitchen," Smith said with a laugh.

Colorado and New Mexico were the first to see the system Sunday night, with up to 2 feet falling in the foothills west of Denver.

As it moved into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles Monday, the storm ground travel to a halt, closing miles of interstates and state highways.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said about a dozen motorists had to be rescued, but no one was injured. The National Weather Service in Lubbock reported at one point that as many as 100 vehicles were at a standstill on Interstate 27.

Extremely strong winds whipped around at least a foot or more of snow in the Texas Panhandle, and a hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded at the Amarillo airport. Amarillo recorded the biggest snowfall total in Texas ? 19 inches, just short of the record of 19.3 ? while Fritch was second with 16.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle and much of the state's northwest because of blizzard conditions. Trooper Betsy Randolph said several dozen motorists have reported being stranded or have abandoned their vehicles.

Chris McBee, a storm chaser, got stuck outside Woodward in northwest Oklahoma in the mid-afternoon. By then, the city was leading Oklahoma's snow totals with 15 inches of snow.

"We were planning to go back to Oklahoma City tonight, but the road was just impassable," McBee told The Associated Press. "You couldn't see 50 feet in front of you." A man with a bulldozer dug out McBee's vehicle.

"He's just helping people," McBee said, adding he assumed the man was still out there. "We tried to pay him and he refused."

While the wintry precipitation is "a shot in the arm," National Drought Mitigation Center climatologist Mark Svoboda said, the drought in the Plains and Midwest is far from over. Svoboda, speaking from Lincoln, Neb., said 12 inches of snow is equivalent to about 1 inch of rain.

"We would need 2-4 feet of snow to just erase the October to present deficits," in Kansas, he said.

Jim Shroyer, a wheat specialist with Kansas State University Extension, said snow is more efficient than summer rain in replenishing soil moistures because rain tends to run off or evaporate during the summer months.

But it can take months or years for pastures and rangeland to recover to the point where there is good forage there for livestock.

"There is a lag coming out of drought where some of these impacts will linger on long after 'climatological drought' is gone," Svoboda said. "And there is always a sense of false security there."

Texas rancher Jay O'Brien warned the storm could be deadly for grazing cattle, with the wind pushing animals into a fenced corner where they could suffocate from the drifts.

"This type of snow is a cattle-killer," he said.

Parts of Kansas are bracing for anywhere from 8 to 24 inches of snow as the system moves through the state overnight. Wichita figures to take another hit after last week's storm that dumped about a foot and a half of snow.

In preparation, many Kansas school districts already have called off Tuesday classes, as has the University of Missouri-Columbia. And Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James declared a state of emergency Monday, as another foot or more could fall, adding to last week's 10 or so inches.

"This one has the potential to be quite serious," James said at a news conference.

Through the day Tuesday, the storm is forecast to spin toward the upper Midwest, bringing snow to Chicago and eventually Detroit before heading toward Buffalo, N.Y, and northern New England in the middle of the week.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Zeman Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Ark., Daniel Holtmeyer in Oklahoma City, and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., Bill Draper in Kansas City, Mo., and John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-25-US-Winter-Storm/id-3b6e2e92d5134c80b6c7ed0a35f9279d

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7 Best Android Board Games

Our roster of the best Android board games will definitely bring back some of your pleasant childhood memories. You may not find time to meet up with friends and siblings to enjoy like you did in the past, but if you are the proud owner of a smart device running the Google OS, you can have fun with them on the move. All you and your friends need to do is install an application from the random list below and play these titles with each other over the internet.

1 ? Wordfeud:

The Google Play store has several scrabble apps, but the one amongst them that takes the cake is Wordfeud. Featuring clean graphics and an intuitive interface, the cross-platform application is also available for iOS too. At any given time, you can play with as many as 30 friends or random opponents on either a standard or a randomized layout. Its rules are just like the original scrabble and after the latest update, it tells you how many points you can expect from the word you are about to make. So you can always choose the one that fetches you the highest points.

The app sends you push notifications to let you know when it is your turn or if you get a chat message from the opponent. It can be played in different languages such as German, Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch, besides English.

Price: Free

2 ? Checkers Free:

And now for those who want to play checkers on the move, we have the right application for you on our list. According to the developers, it has been loaded with classy graphics and smooth gameplay.

Apt for beginners as well as experts, the app has 10 difficulty levels and can be played between 2 players. If you get stuck, you have the option to make use of hints and undo your move. Individual stats are displayed alongside each of the levels. It is compatible with smartphones and even tablets.

Price: Free

3 ? Elder Signs: Omens:

Elder Signs is one of the most fascinating titles in this particular category and the graphics and animations of the mobile version make it even more interesting. You are supposed to build a team of investigators and make your way through a museum, while ensuring that the Ancient Ones do not invade your territory.

While you are saving the world from them, the application throws some challenges at you in the form of arcane tasks too. You also have the option to make in-app purchases for even more challenging gameplay. Unlike its traditional counterpart, it does not have Ally cards, so here you?ll have to manage without them.

Price: $3.99

4 ? Backgammon Free:

This contender in our lineup of Android board games requires you to have skills and a strategy in place to play this ancient title. If you like challenges, you can choose to go for the most difficult level. But if you just a beginner, starting with the easiest would be a good idea and as you get a hang of it, increase the level of difficulty.

The app is optimized for the multi-touch display of your phone as well as the tablet and even tags along 2 sets of pieces. You can expect it to give you hints and display your stats for each level. This is an ad-supported version.

Price: Free

5 ? Chess Free:

Another title by the developers of Backgammon and Checkers is Chess Free, an advertisement-supported title for those who like to rack their brains. It consists of more than 30 chess programs and you have the option to change the difficulty level on the scale of 1 to 10. So if you are already an expert at chess, you can go for one of the more difficult ones or stick to the easy ones if you are a novice.

Powered by the ?human-style? Treebeard Chess engine, it has been loaded with hints options and has a review mode to enable you to go back and see how you played. It comes with 4 types of piece sets.

Price: Free

6 ? Carcassonne:

Yet another famous title on this catalog is Carcassonne, a modern classic which needs to be played on a turn-by-turn basis. Your task in here is to make roads, cities and fields by placing tiles, while your followers like farmers, thieves, monks, knights and more are responsible for collecting points for you.

These points are the deciding factor when it comes to choosing the winner. Featuring The River II, an official expansion of the title, the application brings 12 challenges. It even has the option of the local multiplayer mode wherein 5 people can choose to play at a time. There are tutorials and manuals for those who are not acquainted with its rules and it is available in languages like Spanish, French, German as well as English.

Price: $4.99

7 ? Drisk:

Drisk is nothing but the mobile version of Risk, optimized to run on Google OS-based devices. It can be played amongst 2 to 6 players and you can choose any combination of actual players and AI.

The online multiplayer application even supports the local pass-and-play mode. Besides 30 built-in maps, you can choose to play on any of the custom ones that need to be downloaded from your device.

Price: $1.99

Conclusion:

Hopefully, you have found your favorite titles from childhood in our list of the best Android board games. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and enjoy them on your handheld devices. And when you are done playing, do come back and tell us which one you liked the most.

Source: http://www.techgadgets.in/features/2013/23/best-android-board-games/

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First Presbyterian Church Welcomes Dr. C. Drew Smith

February 24th, 2013 by Church Office

Dr. C. Drew Smith will be leading?services, at First Presbyterian Church, ?in Feb., Mar. and Apr.

He will be conducting all of the services on Easter Sunday. These include: Dressing the cross at 9:00 a.m. Meditation and open communion. Potluck breakfast. Regular service will follow at 11:00 a.m.

Dr. Smith is an ordained minister who is currently serving as supply minister for First Presbyterian Church. He earned his Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr. Smith teaches Philosophy and Religions of the World at Henderson State University.

You will enjoy his reflective and thought provoking messages on the Bible and faith. Come join us on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. and for all of our other services at First Presbyterian Church, 821 N. Main St. Check out our website at fpcmont.org. All are welcome.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2013 at 7:27 am and is filed under Church. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.monticellolive.com/first-presbyterian-church-welcomes-dr-c-drew-smith/

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All About The Entrepreneur Show with Coach Lilisa & Guests - Feb 22,2013

United States, EnglishSelf Help

The All About Entrepreneurs (AAE) Show with host Coach Lilisa J. Willimas is designed to help you get motivated to reach your personal, professional and entrepreneurial Success. Guest on the show have been selected to bring you up to date info on how to make a success of your business and your life. Tune in Monday thru Friday for strategies that will help you stay empowered, inspired and motivated as an entrepreneur, professional, community leader and individual. The show is brought to you by PSUI and hosted and produced by Coach Lilisa J. Williams.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/allaboutentrepreneurs/2013/02/22/all-about-the-entrepreneur-show-with-coach-lilisa-guests

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Google Drive gets file previews, Android app now outfitted with video streaming

Mountain View has just made it easier to peek the contents of Google Drive files on the web with a brand-new preview feature. Now, users will be able to quickly view up to 30 file types (photos, videos, PDFs and more) in a lightbox overlay, and thumb through by clicking right and left arrows within the window. When it comes to documents, folks can zoom in and out, scroll through pages, and even select and copy text. If the update hasn't made it to your account already, Page and Co. say you can expect it to roll out over the next few days. As for the Drive's Android app, it's been updated to let devices wielding Honeycomb or higher stream video saved on the service. According to the changelogs, the application has also been upgraded with performance enhancements, pinch-to-zoom in the presentation viewer and a grab bag of bug fixes and assorted tweaks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google Drive (Google+), Google Drive Blog, Google Play

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/21/google-drive-previews-video-streaming/

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Oil price rises ahead of US housing data

BANGKOK (AP) ? The price of oil rose Wednesday ahead of the release of U.S. housing starts for January.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 30 cents to $97.40 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The March contract expires Wednesday. It rose 80 cents to finish at $96.66 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

Later in the day, the U.S. Commerce Department will release housing starts for the month of January, a key gauge of the real estate industry and economy. In December, builders broke ground on houses and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000. That was 12.1 percent higher than November's annual rate.

A report on Tuesday showed that confidence among homebuilders slipped, as builders remain concerned about the sturdiness of the U.S. economy and the risk of rising unemployment.

In Germany, a survey of investor confidence was upbeat on Tuesday, but traders are concerned about the possible outcome of a weekend parliamentary election in Italy. Traders are worried that a change in leadership could derail efforts to end Europe's financial crisis.

Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong wrote in a market commentary that the polls "may yet dampen confidence so we would caution about becoming too excited."

Brent crude, used to price many international varieties of oil, was up 7 cents to $117.59 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

? Heating oil rose 0.9 cent to $3.191 per gallon.

? Wholesale gasoline was nearly unchanged at $3.316 per gallon.

? Natural gas added 1.7 cents to $3.289 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-20-Oil%20Prices/id-f1c37c1bc80549de81607b0eaea6d7f1

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'Friends' Chandler, Monica reunite on 'Go On'

By Anna Chan, TODAY

Monica and Chandler, together for ever! "Friends" has been off the air for nearly nine years, but fans of the sitcom who are still hoping for a reunion got a taste of their?wish on Tuesday when Matthew Perry and Courtney Cox, who played Chandler and Monica, took to Twitter to share photos from the set of his new NBC show, "Go On."

"Yayyyyyyy!" the actor tweeted along with a photo of himself with his then onscreen wife. Monica and Chandler started out as pals, then became friends with benefits, eventually married, and in the series finale of "Friends" in 2004, adopted newborn twins.

Perry revealed that the actress was working on the set of his comedy Tuesday. "She is fantastic, obviously. And my desire to show off in front of her is back in full swing!" he tweeted.?

The actress also shared her own photo with her former TV hubby. "Shooting GO ON today and having a blast with Matthew!" Cox wrote before sharing an image of them together.

Cox's "Go On" guest appearance was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Feb. 5. According to the publication, the actress will play a character that Anne (Julie White) will try to set up with Perry's character, Ryan. The episode is scheduled to air in April.

"Go On" airs at Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

What former TV couples would you like to see reunite on the small screen? Tell us on our Facebook page!

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/02/19/17020944-friends-chandler-and-monica-reunite-on-the-set-of-go-on?lite

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Senior Pakistani insurgent arrested in Afghan east: officials

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces captured a top Pakistani Taliban commander during an operation in eastern Afghanistan, security officials said on Tuesday, in a move that could help improve trust between the two countries.

The arrest on Monday of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a regional commander for Pakistan's Taliban movement, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was hailed as a "big blow" to the movement by an Afghan interior ministry official.

Pakistan authorities have long demanded that Kabul take action against Pakistani insurgents who take refuge in areas of eastern Afghanistan just over the border. Kabul, in turn, says the insurgency in Afghanistan draws sustenance from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Mohammad was captured during a raid in Nangarhar province by members of the Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and Afghan police officers, according to officials from NDS and the Afghan interior ministry.

Mohammad has a tumultuous past with the Pakistani Taliban and last year was sacked as commander of the northern Bajaur region, after telling Pakistani media the TTP were holding peace talks with the government.

The TTP denied his claim and replaced him with another commander, Mullah Dadullah. After Dadullah was killed in a NATO air strike in Afghanistan in August last year, Mohammad resumed his role.

Mohammad was responsible for several attacks against Pakistani forces and was known for his strict implementation of Islamic law in Bajaur.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senior-pakistani-insurgent-arrested-afghan-east-officials-074120433.html

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Investing in curb appeal pays off | Real Estate | South Philly Review

How to transform a real estate eyesore into a cash cow

How to transform a real estate eyesore into a cash cow

Dian Hymer
Inman News?

It might seem counterintuitive to invest money in a home you're selling. Wouldn't it be better to save that money for improvements on your next home?

Even though the home sale market has improved impressively, buyers still pay more for homes they can move right into without having to do work. This is not to say that buyers won't buy homes that need updating, but they need to be able to see the potential. And the property needs to be priced right for the market, taking into account work that needs to be done.

For example, recently a home was sold in the desirable Crocker Highlands neighborhood in Oakland, Calif. It was owned by one family for more than 50 years. The property had deferred maintenance and a dated d?cor.

If the listing had been put on the market before it was partially updated, it would have been harder to sell and would have sold for less than it did with the repairs and tasteful upgrades.

Before the sellers ordered a structural pest control ("termite") inspection, they had some obvious defects corrected. This kept the cost of the remaining repairs down. It also improved the appearance of the house. A back porch that was in poor condition and was easily visible was rebuilt. A pink vinyl bathroom floor was replaced with a neutral vinyl.

The most dramatic change was achieved by removing the heavy dark draperies, dark furnishings and the dark flocked wallpaper in the foyer. The draperies were left off to expose the beautiful wood windows. The house was transformed from a dark, outdated home to a light-filled home with a lot of potential.

After all the personal property was out of the house, the shag carpet was removed to expose the hardwood floors that were then refinished. The interior was completely painted, and the house was professionally staged with furniture, artwork and accessories.

The house showed beautifully, even though the kitchen and bathrooms were old. The listing sold in one week with multiple offers for well over the asking price.

HOUSE HUNTING: Improving curb appeal, i.e., the way a house looks from the street, usually pays off. For some buyers, curb appeal is so important that they won't even look at a listing that lacks good street presence.

Enhancing curb appeal can often be done inexpensively. Trim overgrown plants to a size that allows buyers to see the architectural detail of the house. If the landscaping has been unkempt for years, remove dead plants and add colorful plants before the house goes on the market. A new lawn adds to the allure of a property.

Kitchens and bathrooms are important to today's homebuyers. However, it wouldn't be prudent to do a complete remodel just before you put your home on the market. You usually can't recoup the investment. Generally, fix-up-for-sale projects should be limited to cost-effective improvements like new paint, replacing outdated light fixtures and replacing worn floor coverings.

In the listing described above, the old bathrooms were given cosmetic upgrades. Toilets and pedestal sinks were replaced inexpensively. The original tub in this 1920s home was reglazed to look like new. Reglazing was also applied to the unattractive brown tile walls and shower in another bathroom. It turned an eyesore into a bathroom that buyers could live with until they remodeled.

You can improve the look of a dated kitchen with new stainless steel appliances, paint, updated light fixtures and a new floor, if necessary.

It's sad but true that most homes never look as good as when they're for sale. Resolve to keep your next home in good shape to increase your enjoyment.

THE CLOSING: It will be a lot easier to get ready for sale.

Dian Hymer, a real estate broker with more than 30 years' experience, is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author of "House Hunting: The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers" and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide."

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Marcellus Shale Fracking Study To Research Natural Gas Drilling Health Effects

DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) ? A Pennsylvania health company says it has gotten a $1 million grant to study possible health impacts of natural gas drilling on the Marcellus shale.

Geisinger Health System said Monday that the Degenstein Foundation had awarded the money to help underwrite what it called a "large-scale, scientifically rigorous assessment" of the drilling.

Most of the money will be used for data-gathering, and some will go toward developing studies of the data. Officials said they expect other funders to come forward.

The study is to look at detailed health histories of hundreds of thousands of patients who live near wells and other facilities that are producing natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation thousands of feet underground. The boom in drilling has generated jobs and billions of dollars in revenue for companies and individual leaseholders, but it also raised health concern.

Geisinger Health Systems of Danville, Guthrie Health of Sayre and Susquehanna Health will collaborate on planning and execution of the study, including developing a health surveillance network aimed at assessing and reporting on the patient data gathered from electronic health records.

"The goal is to create a cross-disciplinary, integrated and sharable repository of data on environmental exposures, health outcomes and community impacts of Marcellus shale drilling ? the first systematic longitudinal study to do so," the announcement said. "Some of the potential health effects that are likely to be investigated first include asthma, trauma and cardiovascular disease."

Preliminary results could be available within the next year, while other findings are expected in five years and over the next two decades.

Many federal and state regulators say hydraulic fracturing is safe when done properly, and that thousands of wells have been drilled with few complaints of pollution. But environmental groups and some doctors assert that regulations still aren't tough enough and that the practice can pollute groundwater and air.

A decision earlier this month by state regulators in New York to delay a decision on shale gas development pending a more in-depth health study in that state drew praise from environmental groups but protests from landowners eager to reap profits from their mineral resources and frustrated at another delay in a rulemaking process that has kept drilling on hold for 4? years.

Health Commissioner Nirav Shah cited Geisinger's planned study as one of several that have been initiated or published by the scientific community. Also cited was an EPA study on potential impacts of fracking activities on drinking water that is due to be completed in 2014 and a study recently announced by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with scientists from Columbia, Johns Hopkins and the University of North Carolina.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/marcellus-shale-fracking-study-natural-gas_n_2711589.html

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Best bets: Oscar night is just a week away

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

All the other awards shows have been leading up to this one. The Academy Awards are coming, and they're the one bright spot in a dull entertainment week. You can prepare for the show by watching the film that might just win best picture, "Argo," which hits home video this week. And if you prefer your history a little older and more fantastical, the second season of "Game of Thrones" is also coming to home video.

Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Universal

"Argo," "Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Les Miserables" are all Oscar contenders.

TUESDAY: 'Argo' on home video
Even before it started snatching up all the film awards, "Argo" was garnering great word-of-mouth and excellent critical reviews. No American who was alive in 1979 could not know about the Iranian hostage crisis, but somehow, "Argo" picked up on a dramatic sidebar -- the rescue of six embassy employees who had snuck out of their workplace and hid in the Canadian ambassador's home. The tale is slightly fictionalized, but it's a fascinating tale, with John Goodman and Alan Arkin delivering memorable performances as the moviemakers who help out CIA agent Ben Affleck. And yes, Affleck got robbed when he wasn't nominated for a best director Oscar. (Out on home video Feb. 19.)

TUESDAY: 'Game of Thrones' season two on home video
Need to catch up on the hit HBO fantasy series before it returns on March 31? Scoop up the DVD set this week and fall back into the world of Westeros. The Lannisters and Daenerys are back, of course, with plenty of new characters introduced in the second season, including Stannis Baratheon, Melisandre, Craster, Gilly and the fan favorite, Brienne of Tarth. (Out on home video Feb. 19.)

SUNDAY: Academy Awards
Here we are, movie fans. The night of the year. Forget all the awards shows that have come before, this is the Big Kahuna. We all know Ben Affleck was snubbed in the director category, but will his film, "Argo," steal best picture from "Lincoln"? Can young upstart and "Silver Linings Playbook" star Jennifer Lawrence take home the best actress honor so many thought belonged to Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty"? Can anyone stop Anne Hathaway and Daniel Day-Lewis? And how will Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy" fame do as host? Pop the popcorn and the champagne, make your Oscar pool picks and settle in. (Feb. 24, 7 p.m. ET, ABC.)

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/11/16929042-best-bets-make-your-oscar-picks-now?lite

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3Doodler is a $75 3D-printing pen eagerly awaiting your Kickstarter funding (hands-on)

In April of last year, former MakerBot COO Samuel Cervantes launched the Solidoodle, a $500 3D printer. We were a bit taken aback by the price point -- after all, his former company's product had seemingly set the standard for consumer-facing 3D-printer pricing at around $2,000. We're hoping you've got both hands firmly clutching your hat when we tell you that the 3Doodler, a 3D-printing pen from the crew over at Wobbleworks, is going to run a whopping $75 at launch -- and heck, if you get in early on the company's recently launched Kickstarter, you'll be able to snag one for $50.

Before we go any further, however, let's get some things out of the way. For starters, it's best to take the 3D printer thing with a grain or two of salt. Calling the 3Doodler a 3D pen is a bit like calling a high-end ink pen a 2D printer. The device is actually quite simple, but pretty brilliant. It essentially takes the heated extrusion head off a 3D printer and incorporates it into a standalone device. A single piece of plastic (ABS or PLA, for the more environmentally minded out there) is threaded through the back, fed through the pen and comes out melted through the tip. Yes, like its 3D printer brethren, it works a bit like a hot glue gun.

Gallery: 3Doodler is a $75 3D printing pen eagerly awaiting your Kickstarter funding

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Thousands at climate rally in Washington call on Obama to reject Keystone pipeline (reuters)

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Threat of 'currency wars' quelled among Group of 20 ... - Financial Post

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the threat of a ?currency war? among Group of 20 members has been quelled, with finance ministers and central bankers saying markets should set currencies levels, not governments.

?We all agreed to strengthen our commitments around market-determined exchange rates and not to target our exchange rates for competitive purposes,? Mr. Flaherty said in a conference call from Moscow, where he attended the G20 summit.

The issue of currency manipulation came to a head just prior to the two-day G20 meeting, when Japan was questioned whether recent changes to its monetary and fiscal policies were also aimed at lowering the value of the yen to gain an advantage for the country?s exports.

The G7 ? grouping Canada, the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Italy ? released a surprise statement last Tuesday, saying ?will remain oriented towards meeting our respective domestic objectives using domestic instruments, and that we will not target exchange rates.?

Japanese officials quickly denied that policy changes ?including setting an inflation target of 2%, similar to Canada and Britain ? were designed to artificially weaken its currency.

Mr. Flaherty said ?members of the G20 agreed with what had been put in the statement by the G7 . . . the fact that we are against protectionism, that we are against currency manipulation, that, in a positive way, we believe in market determination of the value of currencies.?

?We are all agreed that the markets will determine the value of our respective currencies, not governments.?

Mr. Flaherty has previously warned that the currency issue could sidetrack progress in other major economic matters.

?We cannot be satisfied with the current state of the global economy. The global uncertainty and the continuing fragility in Europe, and the U.S., in particular, remain a challenge to all of us,? he told reporters in the conference call.

?So we need to follow through in our past commitments in order to secure a strong recovery and to strengthen the international financial and regulatory systems,? he said.

?As we have in Canada, I encouraged my colleagues to put their finances on a sustainable, long-term path, while focusing on jobs and growth.?

In its communiqu? on Saturday, the G20 said it would ?move more rapidly toward more market-determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments, and in this regard, work more closely with one another so we can grow together.?

?We reiterate that excess volatility of financial flows and disorderly movements in exchange rates have adverse implications for economic and financial stability,? it said.

?We will refrain from competitive devaluation. We will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes, will resist all forms of protectionism and keep our markets open.?

The communiqu? did not specifically mention the currency of Japan ? the world?s third largest economy, but once No. 2 after the United States. The yen has depreciated by about 20% since the new policies were introduced earlier this year.

China, which has replaced Japan in the second-biggest economy, has been critical of the monetary policies of the major developed country.

Zhu Guangyao, China?s vice-finance minister, said in Moscow that these nations should ?pay attention to their monetary policy spillover.?

?Major developed countries? implementation of excessively relaxed currency policy has an influence on the world economy,? state-run news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying.

The Moscow meeting, which wrapped up Saturday, produced little movement toward government debt reduction, an issue that was a cornerstone of the Toronto G20 gathering in 2010.

The debt-cutting agreement reached in Toronto will need to be extended at the G20 leaders summit in September in St. Petersburg. Russia holds the G20 presidency this year.

Financial Post

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/02/16/threat-of-currency-wars-quelled-among-group-of-20-members-flaherty/

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