Dozens of Atlanta Teachers Indicted in Cheating Scandal

A grand jury?has indicted?35 school administrators and teachers for their?alleged?part in the biggest standardized test cheating ring in our nation's history.?"What's the big deal?" you may wonder. After all, even those hoity-toity Harvard kids aren't above cheating once or twice. Why not the 50,000 or so students in Atlanta's public school system? Well, according to Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr., who spoke at the press conference announcing the indictment, federal funds were used in bonuses awarded to schools and teachers based on the results of Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, and employees who didn't participate in the ring were fired.

RELATED: Harvard 'Introduction to Congress' Class Was Apparently Cheating Central

Those charged face up to 65 counts of such un-teacherly acts as theft, conspiracy, making false statements, and racketeering. According to the New York Times, altering tests was so commonplace that one school had "pizza parties" for the staff to correct wrong answers before submitting them to be scored. So now delicious, innocent pizza has been dragged into this scandal, too. ??

RELATED: 178 Atlanta District Teachers and 38 Principals Helped Students Cheat

Former superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall is believed to be the mastermind, ordering her underlings (principals, teachers, and a school secretary) to get good test scores by any means necessary and rewarding those who did so by cheating. Under her rule, Atlanta's students improved so much (on paper) that Hall was named the National Superintendent of the Year?in 2009 by the American Association of School Administrators.

RELATED: Wisconsin, a Subway Ad, and Le Cirque

"Hall is credited with transforming the 102-school system in Atlanta through a comprehensive reform agenda," said an AASA press release at the time; "Every elementary school in Atlanta made adequate yearly progress in 2008, and graduation rates at several high schools have risen sharply." Oops.

RELATED: Bank of America Plaza Faces Foreclosure

The allegations go back as far as 2005, and the suspiciously dramatic improvements in test scores were first noticed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in October 2009. Hall retired in 2011, conveniently just a few days before the results of a state probe were released. At the time, she denied having anything to do with or any knowledge of cheating. She faces up to 45 years in jail if convicted.

RELATED: The Moral Math of Cheating in School

The Atlanta public school system has spent $2.5 million investigating the scandal so far. No word yet on how much the accused are alleged to have spent on those pizza parties.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dozens-atlanta-teachers-indicted-cheating-scandal-022528560.html

joe paterno British Open MC Chris Colorado shooting suspect accuweather Finding Nemo 2 Provigil

North Koreans Rally to Support Threat of Military Strike (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295408028?client_source=feed&format=rss

nevis 2012 sports illustrated swimsuit same day flower delivery valentines day cards hallmark grammy winners obama budget

Get Guaranteed Pixel Perfect Banner Designing Service | Business ...

Are you in dire need for attractive banner designs for your internet-based business? One way of getting more people to visit and linger long enough to know what you are offering on your site is an eye-catching banner ad. I had dilemmas before in finding a website that offers a dependable Banner Creation Service since there are many that seem to bid effective services.

Fortunately, my former classmate referred me to the website of a Banner Creator. He said that the good quality of the banner ads of his online hardware store has helped made his business successful. More and more people order from his online store since he started using these banners. According to him, the website guarantees a pixel perfect design for their Banner Designing Service that makes the ad more attractive to visitors. When I checked out the website, I found samples in their portfolio. These ads really look interesting and I knew that very moment that it was what I needed to boost my business. They were good in combining colors that make the banners attention-grabbing. I decided to try them myself for my own website. I noticed the difference before and after utilizing those ads. I gained new costumers who told me that they became more aware about my site and my products because of my striking banner ads.

Without my former classmate?s suggestion, my website would have remained boring and dull. I am grateful that he shared with me one of the factors that made him a successful entrepreneur, which is the website.

Category : Business

Source: http://accesstocapitalnm.org/get-guaranteed-pixel-perfect-banner-designing-service/

fletcher cox charlotte bobcats new york rangers nfl mock draft 2012 norfolk island michael brockers lisa marie presley

Source: http://cyrusmendoza.typepad.com/blog/2013/03/get-guaranteed-pixel-perfect-banner-designing-service-business.html

ny times paul mccartney Sandy Hook Victims new york times columbine breaking news Google News

Clean fuel regulations: EPA, oil industry vie over effect on gas prices

EPA on Friday proposed new regulations to require refineries to make cleaner gasoline. The cost? EPA says less than a penny a gallon. Oil industry says nine cents a gallon ? and higher gas prices.

By Ron Scherer,?Staff writer / March 29, 2013

Suzanne Meredith, of Walpole, Mass., gases up her car at a Gulf station in Brookline, Mass., July 2012. Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards.

Steven Senne/AP/File

Enlarge

The Obama administration proposed on Friday new ? and more costly ? regulations of the refining industry to produce cleaner gasoline and clearer skies.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

If the new rules are implemented as scheduled in 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says, they will spare thousands of people from premature death and prevent respiratory problems in tens of thousands of children. The cost: on average less than a penny gallon.

Not so, says the oil industry, which has been battling the EPA over the proposed rules. The new rules will add as much as nine cents a gallon to the cost of making fuel and will produce ?ambiguous? results, says The American Petroleum Institute.?API, the industry?s lobbying arm in Washington, refers to the proposed new rules as part of a ?tsunami of regulations? the industry faces this year that could add as much as 65 cents to the cost of producing a gallon of fuel in the future.

Gasoline prices are politically sensitive. Consumers often know how much they have paid for a gallon of gasoline compared with their prior fill-up. When pump prices are rising, consumers grumble and, if prices get high enough, cut back on other discretionary purchases. As a result, economists refer to rising fuel prices as a tax on the economy.

But will Americans pay more for fuel and smile about if they believe it will result in cleaner air?

?Some will, but the majority won?t,? answers Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at GasBuddy.com. ?There is a sense among a lot of people that we are entitled to cheaper fuel prices than the rest of the world.?

The proposed changes would make US standards the same as most of Europe, Japan, and South Korea, Mr. Kloza says. ?We would be joining 45 other countries with tougher fuel standards,? he says.

Republicans quickly attacked the proposed regulation. ?The Obama Administration is modeling our regulations after California, which has the worst economy in the nation, and today?s announcement is essentially a guaranteed energy tax hike and unfortunately is just one of many radical policies coming out of this Administration that will deal a heavy blow to middle-class families and small businesses,? said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, in a statement.??

In January, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, often associated with Democratic issues, conducted what it termed a ?bipartisan survey? of 800 registered voters for the American Lung Association on whether Americans favored tougher fuel regulations and improved antipollution laws. It found 62 percent of voters supported new gasoline and vehicle standards, and 32 percent opposed them.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/uyzMslT9zt4/Clean-fuel-regulations-EPA-oil-industry-vie-over-effect-on-gas-prices

fisker karma super tuesday states shepard fairey is snooki pregnant snooki pregnant gbc hedy lamarr

Kia's compact four-seater urban CUB concept

Kia's new CUB concept unveiled at the Seoul Auto Show has been designed with the trendy urban demographic in mind. Measuring just 13 feet (3.96 m) long, the concept vehicle still manages to provide space for four within its compact cabin.

Designed at Kia?s Seoul design studio under the direction of President and Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer, the CUB has rearward-opening rear doors and an "access-all-areas" interior concept. Essentially, the design team left the B-pillars out, hence the all access thing. Clever though, as it looks to significantly improve ingress and egress for the trend setters.

On the outside there are a number of personalized design cues going on. Side mirrors are almost non-existent, while strange little upturned winglets on the doors that Kia refers to as ?turning vanes? look to be more nautical than dry land effective. These aerodynamic vanes at sill level are designed to streamline and add definition to the CUB?s profile.

On the hood, recessed "wing treatments" similar to the CUB?s hood and door details can be found. From the front, the CUB?s distinctive snickering, mustachioed face reminds one of the infamous masks used by Anonymous. Headlights feature two-point LED lights, similar to those on the Kia Quoris, while big 19-inch alloy wheels fill out the stubby wheel arches.

With seating for four the CUB?s interior is trimmed in black leather with yellow seat accents around the armrests and steering wheel. Think Bumblebee with suicide doors and twin-turbochargers. Kia says the instrument panel was inspired by wild animal eyes ? although they look more robot-eyed than animal to us. The gauge cluster is deepset binnacle behind a thick, three-spoke steering wheel ? which, by the way, can monitor your biorhythms. The dash overall is a minimalist affair with air vents controlled by a touch sensor and a place for an iPhone.

A DIS (Driving Information System) controller, similar to Xbox?s Kinect system, is connected to a gesture camera. With what Kia calls ?well-defined motions,? drivers can scroll through and select menu items via the center display. So now you have people throwing about Dance Dance Fever like "motions" in an attempt to turn the AC down. I can?t see this being a problem ever.

Cute and urban trendy is nice but to ensure the CUB isn?t made fun of on the freeway, Kia has placed a new 1.6 liter engine with direct injection under the hood. This powerplant, recently confirmed for use in Kia?s ?pro_cee?d GT? and ?cee?d GT? in Europe, should provide ample power for most situations.

Fitted with twin-scroll turbochargers and beefed up internal bits, the CUB?s new engine generates 51 percent more power ? 204 hp (154 kW) ? and 60 percent more torque ? 195 lb. ft. (265 Nm) ? than the boring old 1.6 engine. In partner with six-speed manual gearbox, the wee CUB is reported to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in a sort of quick 7.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).

Looking to go head to head with the Mini, this turning-vaned, suicide-doored, turbocharged urban assault vehicle could be just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately, there are no plans to put the Kia CUB concept into production as yet.

Source: Kia

Source: http://www.gizmag.com/kia-cub-urban-concept/26847/

roger goodell psychosis dianna agron million hoodie march tebow trade mike the situation jacksonville jaguars

N. Ireland struggles to confront Catholic Church?s enslavement of 1000s of women (Americablog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295537402?client_source=feed&format=rss

the lorax lorax fisker karma super tuesday states shepard fairey is snooki pregnant snooki pregnant

Maine Zumba instructor pleads guilty in prostitution case

John Ewing / AP

Alexis Wright appears with her attorney, Sarah Churchill, on Friday in Cumberland County Court in Portland, Maine.

By Katy Tur and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

The Zumba instructor who was accused of running a prostitution ring from her dance studio in the seaside town of Kennebunk, Maine, pleaded guilty to 20 counts on Friday.

The felony charges against Alexis Wright were reduced to misdemeanors, defense attorney Sarah Churchill confirmed to NBC News.

The case against Wright, 30, gained national attention as allegations emerged of an extensive, detailed client list and videotaped sexual encounters. Prosecutors said that Wright had maintained records showing she netted $150,000 over 18 months through prostitution.

A subdued Wright answered "guilty" as the judge read the 20 counts Friday, The Associated Press reported.

She is due to be sentenced May 31. Prosecutors are set to ask for a sentence of 10 months.

---

Wright had previously pleaded not guilty to 106 counts, including engaging in prostitution, and had been expected to stand trial some time later this year.

Mark Strong, a 57-year-old insurance agent, was convicted of 12 counts of promotion to commit prostitution and one count of conspiracy to commit prostitution on March 6. Prosecutors said Strong helped Wright run a prostitution ring from her Zumba studio in Kennebunk.

Strong was sentenced to 20 days in prison and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine on March 21.

Lawyers argued over the admissibility of 577 red-hot Skype shots in Strong?s trial, with Strong?s attorneys saying that there was no way that jurors would be able to decide fairly after seeing the ?extremely sexual? material.

?I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won?t possibly get a fair trial,? defense attorney Daniel Lilley argued five days into Strong?s trial.

Strong struck an apologetic note during his sentencing.

?Mostly, I?d like to apologize to my wife and my sons and my entire family for causing so much harm,? Strong said at his sentencing, according to local paper the Portland Press Herald.

The guilty plea Wright entered Friday will allow her to avoid the embarrassing courtroom revelations Strong endured.

The case rattled the quiet town of Kennebunk, where Wright operated her Pura Vida studio. Kennebunk Police Chief Bob MacKenzie said Friday that he was ?content? with Wright?s plea.

?This will put it to rest,? MacKenzie told the Bangor Daily News. ?We?ll finally be able to move beyond this.?

Related:

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a24f4e1/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C290C17520A5960Emaine0Ezumba0Einstructor0Epleads0Eguilty0Ein0Eprostitution0Ecase0Dlite/story01.htm

harrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara duggars peter facinelli

Super Mario Spacetime Organ lets you remix the plumber's world

The game may be pushing 30, but we get the sneaking feeling that the world has only scratched the surface of the original Super Mario Bros' gameplay potential. Chris Novello certainly offers a fairly compelling case for this, in the form of the Super Mario Spacetime organ, a strange and wonderful concoction that utilizes a homebrewed Illucia patchbay and the lovely Madrona Soundplane music controller, which let him play the Mushroom Kingdom like a musical instrument. Watch the video below as he manipulates the RAM to make Mario fly and jumps through the "Super Mario time machine" on the Soundplane's x-axis. It's not the most musical thing in the world, and certainly not for those who are sensitive to flickering chaos, but it does put those old Game Genies to shame. It also serves as a pretty novel use for a couple of rubber band balls.

Filed under: Gaming, Alt, Nintendo

Comments

Via: Laughing Squid

Source: Vimeo

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/xnaGN-DrYWs/

ncaa bracket predictions jeff foxworthy heather morris the bachelor finale south by southwest i want to know what love is courtney

EBay targets Gross Merchandise Value of $110 billion in 2015

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ebay-targets-gross-merchandise-value-110-billion-2015-195151702--sector.html

oregon ducks oregon ducks rob gronkowski Coughing eddie murphy Stephanie Bongiovi stanford football

Hands-on with Galaxy on Fire: Alliances

Be sure to check out the fifteen-minute Extended Edition Director's Cut below!

Fishlabs was quietly showing off an alpha build of their upcoming free-to-play galactic empire game, Galaxy on Fire: Alliance at GDC 2013, and we got some time to play around with it.

If you've ever played Mob Wars or anything like that, you'll be familiar with the idea of building up a persistent force of troops and taking the fight to other players in the game. Galactic commanders have to form alliances, harvest planetary resources, build ships, and improve their character's skills to cut out their territory in the stars.

Usually, these base-building games that rely on long cooldown periods are very starkly text-based, and at best have well-created icons, but Galaxy on Fire: Alliance turns that notion on its head by implementing some exceptionally great graphics. The version of Galaxy on Fire: Alliances that we were shown was still in the very early stages, but the concept screenshots that we were shown of what's coming looked extremely promising. Even on the mechanics front, Galaxy on Fire: Alliances looks like it will be doing some unique things with coordinating attacks among other alliance members. It sounds like in-app purchases will be employed exclusively to speed up tasks, so nobody should have to worry about being steamrolled by a ridiculously massive star destroyer just because some dude was willing to pay five bucks for it.

Though I'm hesitant to apply the real-time strategy or the MMO label on this game as liberally as Fishlabs has here, Galaxy on Fire: Alliances will very clearly be raising the bar for these types of games, whatever you want to call them. Keep an eye out on this one in the third quarter of the year.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/sPwuAhStvKw/story01.htm

bob costas bowl projections Jovan Belcher Charlie Batch Miguel Calero Bret Bielema blake shelton

What you missed from ?The Ultimate Fighter?

It was a fight-packed episode of "The Ultimate Fighter" as Tuesday night's episode had two fights and visits from two different champs.

Ronda Rousey stops by -- Kelvin won his first match, so he was rewarded with a visit with UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. It wasn't just for show, either, as Rousey showed Team Sonnen several judo techniques. She also pumped them up with some of her favorite "Momisms," including the choice line, "No one has the right to beat you."

Collin Hart (Team Jones) vs. Kelvin Gastellum (Team Sonnen)

Gastellum said in his pre-fight interviews that no one respects his boxing. Uh, they will now. Gastellum struck Hart quickly with a left hook that sent him down to the ground. Hart hit his head on the canvas, rolled over, and took a few more punches before the fight was stopped. It was a vicious, vicious knockout.

Mike Tyson! Oh, hey, no big deal. Mike Tyson showed up at the training center. He stopped in the locker rooms to say hello to the fighters.

Dylan Andrews (Team Jones) vs. Luke Barnatt (Team Sonnen)

A fight for the Queen as Australian Andrews takes on Brit Barnatt. Andrews got the takedown early in the first round, and Barnatt had no answer on the ground for much of the round. Andrews tried for a few chokes, but was unsuccessful.

Barnatt did a much better job in the second, creating offense from the bottom. This led to a third round, where Andrews took over. He knocked a clearly tired Barnatt around until he finally knocked him out in the third round.

Everyone was impressed with how Andrews fought through the third round, including the man signing the checks.

"I'm blown away and impressed with Dylan. That's how it's done here." ? Dana White

The next two quarterfinals are next week, and they'll have a tough act to follow.

College basketball video from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Pat Forde: Breaking down the Sweet 16
? Lakers' Metta World Peace has lateral meniscus tear in his knee
? David Shaw building Stanford into a perennial power
? Undefeated Gennady Golovkin could become boxing's next big thing

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/missed-ultimate-fighter-125847222--mma.html

lytro camera andrew brietbart branson mo monkees songs rail gun harrisburg top chef texas

Record-breaking cyberattack hits anti-spam group

LONDON (AP) ? A record-breaking cyberattack targeting an anti-spam watchdog group has sent ripples of disruption coursing across the Web, experts said Wednesday.

Spamhaus, a site responsible for keeping ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills out of the world's inboxes, said it had been buffeted by the monster denial-of-service attack since mid-March, apparently from groups angry at being blacklisted by the Swiss-British group.

"It is a small miracle that we're still online," Spamhaus researcher Vincent Hanna said.

Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a server with traffic ? like hundreds of letters being jammed through a mail slot at the same time. Security experts measure those attacks in bits of data per second. Recent cyberattacks ? like the ones that caused persistent outages at U.S. banking sites late last year ? have tended to peak at 100 billion bits per second.

But the furious assault on Spamhaus has shattered the charts, clocking in at 300 billion bits per second, according to San Francisco-based CloudFlare Inc., which Spamhaus has enlisted to help it weather the attack.

"It was likely quite a bit more, but at some point measurement systems can't keep up," CloudFlare chief executive Matthew Prince wrote in an email.

Patrick Gilmore of Akamai Technologies said that was no understatement.

"This attack is the largest that has been publicly disclosed ? ever ? in the history of the Internet," he said.

It's unclear who exactly was behind the attack, although a man who identified himself as Sven Olaf Kamphuis said he was in touch with the attackers and described them as mainly consisting of disgruntled Russian Internet service providers who had found themselves on Spamhaus' blacklists. There was no immediate way to verify his claim.

He accused the watchdog of arbitrarily blocking content that it did not like. Spamhaus has widely used and constantly updated blacklists of sites that send spam.

"They abuse their position not to stop spam but to exercise censorship without a court order," Kamphuis said.

Gilmore and Prince said the attack's perpetrators had taken advantage of weaknesses in the Internet's infrastructure to trick thousands of servers into routing a torrent of junk traffic to Spamhaus every second.

The trick, called "DNS reflection," works a little bit like mailing requests for information to thousands of different organizations with a target's return address written across the back of the envelopes. When all the organizations reply at once, they send a landslide of useless data to the unwitting addressee.

Both experts said the attack's sheer size has sent ripples of disruptions across the Internet as servers moved mountains of junk traffic back and forth across the Web.

"At a minimum there would have been slowness," Prince said, adding in a blog post that "if the Internet felt a bit more sluggish for you over the last few days in Europe, this may be part of the reason why."

At the London Internet Exchange, where service providers exchange traffic across the globe, spokesman Malcolm Hutty said his organization had seen "a minor degree of congestion in a small portion of the network."

But he said it was unlikely that any ordinary users had been affected by the attack.

Hanna said his site had so far managed to stay online, but warned that being knocked off the Internet could give spammers an opening to step up their mailings ? which may mean more fake lottery announcements and pitches for penny stocks heading to people's inboxes.

Hanna denied claims that his organization had behaved arbitrarily, noting that his group would lose its credibility if it started flagging benign content as spam.

"We have 1.7 billion people who watch over our shoulder," he said. "If we start blocking emails that they want, they will obviously stop using us."

Gilmore of Akamai was also dismissive of the claim that Spamhaus was biased.

"Spamhaus' reputation is sterling," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-27-Spamhaus-Cyberattack/id-36c4ff450d524fe7a2eba0a009311298

dfw 1930 census nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village dallas fort worth tornado

Microsoft?s next-generation ?Gemini? Office update reportedly slated for fall release

By Brian Homewood March 28 (Reuters) - Swiss champions FC Basel, renowned for their youth development programme, face a constant battle to stop teenage players moving to English, Spanish and Italian clubs. President Bernhard Heusler told Reuters in an interview that parents often do not listen to the club when warned against taking their sons elsewhere. "We get enormous pressure from outside, including English clubs," said Heusler before adding Basel were powerless to stop their youngsters leaving before the age of 16. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-next-generation-gemini-office-reportedly-slated-fall-001327308.html

eva longoria Michael Clarke Duncan Nazanin Boniadi Deval Patrick Dedication 4 labor day college football scores

How does innovation take hold in a community? Math modeling can provide clues

Mar. 27, 2013 ? Mathematical models can be used to study the spread of technological innovations among individuals connected to each other by a network of peer-to-peer influences, such as in a physical community or neighborhood. One such model was introduced in a paper published yesterday in the SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems.

Authors N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, and W. F. Gale focus on one main application: The adoption of energy-efficient technologies in a population, and consequently, a means to control energy consumption. By using a network model for adoption of energy technologies and behaviors, the model helps evaluate the potential for using networks in a physical community to shape energy policy.

The decision or motivation to adopt an energy-efficient technology is based on several factors, such as individual preferences, adoption by the individual's social circle, and current societal trends. Since innovation is often not directly visible to peers in a network, social interaction -- which communicates the benefits of an innovation -- plays an important role. Even though the properties of interpersonal networks are not accurately known and tend to change, mathematical models can provide insights into how certain triggers can affect a population's likelihood of embracing new technologies. The influence of social networks on behavior is well recognized in the literature outside of the energy policy domain: network intervention can be seen to accelerate behavior change.

"Our model builds on previous threshold diffusion models by incorporating sociologically realistic factors, yet remains simple enough for mathematical insights to be developed," says author Alastair Rucklidge. "For some classes of networks, we are able to quantify what strength of social network influence is necessary for a technology to be adopted across the network."

The model consists of a system of individuals (or households) who are represented as nodes in a network. The interactions that link these individuals -- represented by the edges of the network -- can determine probability or strength of social connections. In the paper, all influences are taken to be symmetric and of equal weight. Each node is assigned a current state, indicating whether or not the individual has adopted the innovation. The model equations describe the evolution of these states over time.

Households or individuals are modeled as decision makers connected by the network, for whom the uptake of technologies is influenced by two factors: the perceived usefulness (or utility) of the innovation to the individual, including subjective judgments, as well as barriers to adoption, such as cost. The total perceived utility is derived from a combination of personal and social benefits. Personal benefit is the perceived intrinsic benefit for the individual from the product. Social benefit depends on both the influence from an individual's peer group and influence from society, which could be triggered by the need to fit in. The individual adopts the innovation when the total perceived utility outweighs the barriers to adoption.

When the effect of each individual node is analyzed along with its influence over the entire network, the expected level of adoption is seen to depend on the number of initial adopters and the structure and properties of the network. Two factors in particular emerge as important to successful spread of the innovation: The number of connections of nodes with their neighbors, and the presence of a high degree of common connections in the network.

This study makes it possible to assess the variables that can increase the chances for success of an innovation in the real world. From a marketing standpoint, strategies could be designed to enhance the perceived utility of a product or item to consumers by modifying one or more of these factors. By varying different parameters, a government could help figure out the effect of different intervention strategies to expedite uptake of energy-efficient products, thus helping shape energy policy.

"We can use this model to explore interventions that a local authority could take to increase adoption of energy-efficiency technologies in the domestic sector, for example by running recommend-a-friend schemes, or giving money-off vouchers," author Catherine Bale explains. "The model enables us to assess the likely success of various schemes that harness both the householders' trust in local authorities and peer influence in the adoption process. At a time when local authorities are extremely resource-constrained, tools to identify the interventions that will provide the biggest impact in terms of reducing household energy bills and carbon emissions could be of immense value to cities, councils and communities."

One of the motivations behind the study -- modeling the effect of social networks in the adoption of energy technologies -- was to help reduce energy consumption by cities, which utilize over two-thirds of the world's energy, releasing more than 70% of global CO₂ emissions. Local authorities can indirectly influence the provision and use of energy in urban areas, and hence help residents and businesses reduce energy demand through the services they deliver. "Decision-making tools are needed to support local authorities in achieving their potential contribution to national and international energy and climate change targets," says author William Gale.

Higher quantities of social data can help in making more accurate observations through such models. As author Nick McCullen notes,"To further refine these types of models, and make the results reliable enough to be used to guide the decisions of policy-makers, we need high quality data. Particularly, data on the social interactions between individuals communicating about energy innovations is needed, as well as the balance of factors affecting their decision to adopt."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. N. J. McCullen, A. M. Rucklidge, C. S. E. Bale, T. J. Foxon, W. F. Gale. Multiparameter Models of Innovation Diffusion on Complex Networks. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 2013; 12 (1): 515 DOI: 10.1137/120885371

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/hugYw5OyB2M/130327163559.htm

randy travis arrested dickens greg kelly cujo karen handel hangout todd haley

FBI comes clean on top X-File: 'We never investigated' Hottel UFO memo

FBI

The FBI says a 1950 flying-saucer memo rates as the most popular file in its online document repository.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The FBI says it never followed up on the most popular file in its online reading room ? a one-page UFO memo that passes along a second- or third-hand report about flying saucers and alien passengers that were supposedly recovered in New Mexico.

The memo, dated March 22, 1950, has been viewed almost a million times over the past two years, the FBI said this week in a blog posting. It was written by Guy Hottel, who was the head of the FBI's field office in Washington at the time, and addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

---

In the memo, Hottel discusses an account provided to an FBI agent ... that was attributed to an informant ... who purportedly heard from an Air Force investigator ... that "three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico."

"They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter," the memo read. "Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."

Hottel said he was told that the saucers' control systems might have been disrupted by interference from "a very high-powered radar set-up" that the government had in the area. But he admitted in the memo that "no further evaluation was attempted" by the informant, whose name is blacked out in the online document.

The Hottel memo has been in the public record since the 1970s, but it created a huge splash in 2011 when it was added to the FBI Vault, an online repository of public records. Here's how The Sun, a British tabloid, characterized the memo in a headline from those days: "Aliens Exist, Say Real-Life X-Files."

Monday's posting was written to counter such characterizations. The FBI denied that the memo constituted evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft ? and?said Hottel's report was never taken all that seriously. Instead, it was considered "an unconfirmed report that the FBI never even followed up on."

The FBI said there was no reason to believe that the memo referred to another famous UFO saga, the purported discovery of a crashed alien spaceship in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. "The Hottel memo is dated nearly three years after the infamous events in Roswell," it said.?

July 9, 2008: NBC's Willie Geist has a little fun with New Mexico flying saucers to mark the anniversary of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

The bureau acknowledged that for a few years after the Roswell incident, Hoover followed up on an Air Force request by ordering his agents to verify any UFO sightings. "That practice ended in July 1950, four months after the Hottel memo, suggesting that our Washington Field Office didn't think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it," the posting said.

There's an alternate explanation for the Hottel memo that makes a lot more sense. Two years ago, when the memo was added to the Vault, paranormal investigator Ben Radford noted that the informant's story matched the description of a UFO hoax that was concocted by a man named Silas Newton. In 1950, Newton was telling tales about flying saucers that had crashed at a radar station near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Newton was later convicted of fraud, and died in 1972.

Ironically, there's a whole different section of the FBI Vault that's devoted to Newton, whom the bureau described as "a wealthy oil producer and con man." To get the story about the connections between Newton's tales and the Hottel memos, check out this thorough debunking on the Above Top Secret forum.

Even though the FBI says the memo "does not prove the existence of UFOs," it's not confirming the Silas Newton story, either. "Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was circulating at that time, but the Bureau's files have no information to verify that story," it said.

What do you think FBI Agent Fox Mulder would say? "The truth is out there"? Or "Trust no one"? Feel free to weigh in with your own verdict in the comment section below. ?

Update for 6:35 p.m.: Mark Allin, chief operating officer for The Above Network, says the truth is out there, in the form of the Above Top Secret analysis that I mentioned earlier. "The short story is, without a doubt, 'Case Closed,'" Allin said today in an email. "The memo is based on a hoax that was carried out by a convicted con man named Silas Newton, and it was debunked years ago. It's a pretty good and interesting hoax story, to be certain, but there is no value in it beyond that."

More about UFOs:

---

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2a110d13/l/0Lcosmiclog0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174894410Efbi0Ecomes0Eclean0Eon0Etop0Ex0Efile0Ewe0Enever0Einvestigated0Ehottel0Eufo0Ememo0Dlite/story01.htm

peyton manning broncos mexico city earthquake stand your ground law dancing with the stars season 14 david garrard michael bay ninja turtles san antonio weather

Survive a Zombie Apocalypse Using Your iPad | iPad.AppStorm

Are you worried about the impending zombie apocalypse? Do you suffer from kinemortophobia? Then you have come to the right place! We have compiled a list of eight apps and two accessories that are sure to be of great help when that fateful day finally arrives.

What are you waiting for? Hit the jump to read on!

Like this article? Stay up to date with the latest changes by subscribing to our RSS feed or following us either on Twitter, Facebook or App.net.

Griffin Survivor

An iPad is not going to survive a minor fall without a protective case, let alone a zombie apocalypse, so why not kit out your tablet with the cr?me de la cr?me of Apple hardware?

Survivor is a military-duty case manufactured by Griffin. Sporting a shatter-resistant polycarbonate frame complete with shock-absorbing silicone cladding, this impressive specimen can handle pretty much anything. Heck, it is so incredibly tough that it could probably even double up as a weapon, too!

Price: $59.99 to $79.99 depending on iPad model
Requires: iPad 2 or later
Manufacturer: Griffin

Walking Dead: The Game

Based on the award-winning comic book series, Walking Dead: The Game will prepare you for practically any zombie-related disaster thrown your way.

You play the role of Lee Everett, a man facing a lengthy prison sentence who is given a second chance in a world taken over by the undead. It is up to you to protect yourself and an orphaned girl named Clementine, but be warned, there will be consequences for every decision that you make that could haunt you for the rest of your life.

Price: Free
Requires: iOS 4.2 or later
Developer: Telltale, Inc.

AroundMe

OK, so looting may be frowned upon, but hey, it?s the end of the world and you need supplies! Use AroundMe to view a comprehensive list of businesses surrounding you at any given moment, conveniently organized into several categories for ease of use.

Tap the establishment to get directions, or add the address to your Contacts for future reference. AroundMe is free to download, and will make a truly excellent apocalyptic companion.

Price: Free
Requires: iOS 4.3 or later
Developer: Attorno A Me S.R.L.

Flashlight

Transform your iPad into a torch at the touch of a button with Flashlight, an app that prides itself on being the fastest loading torch simulator in the App Store.

Flashlight changes the color of your screen to the brightest white possible, illuminating your surroundings, and potentially avoiding that awkward moment where you accidentally mistake a member of your group for a zombie and shoot them in the head.

Price: $0.99
Requires: iOS 4.3 or later
Developer: i4software

Compass?

Compass? is a minimally designed app that does exactly what it says on the tin. Better yet, Compass? is free to use, and teamed with Apple Maps, can help guide you to wherever you need to go.

Price: Free
Requires: iOS 4.1 or later
Developer: Tim O?s Studios

Everyday First Aid

Would you know what to do in an emergency? If not, don?t worry. Help is at hand in the form of Everyday First Aid, an app filled to the brim with easy-to-follow first aid advice ? no internet connection necessary.

Covering everything from all manner of bites to amputation, Everyday First Aid is an app that will soon become an indispensable part of your zombie fighting arsenal.

Price: $1.99
Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
Developer: Portable Monster LLC

SAS Survival Guide

John Wiseman?s bestselling book is now available for iPad and boy, is it jam-packed full of survival tips!

From Morse Code signalling to medicinal maladies, SAS Survival Guide has it covered, and is an essential purchase for anyone not wishing to be eaten alive or die of starvation.

Price: $6.99
Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
Developer: Trellisys.net

Wild Edibles Plus

If you?d rather not make the same unfortunate mistake that adventurer Christopher McCandless did during his Alaskan hike back in 1992, then Wild Edibles Plus is a must-have.

Featuring a large compendium of foraging advice, Wild Edibles Plus also includes over 800 high-definition images, along with almost 900 recipes.

So Wild Edibles Plus may be a little on the expensive side, but $9.99 is a small price to pay in exchange for your life, don?t you think?

Price: $9.99
Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
Developer: WinterRoot LLC

Battery Doctor

Get the most out of your iPad with Battery Doctor, an app that can help protect and maintain the life of your battery. Battery Doctor provides accurate system information, along with the exact remaining usage time which may be extended by following on-screen advice.

Battery Doctor will also keep track of your iPad?s charging history, offering in-depth information on how best to take care of your battery.

Price: Free
Requires: iOS 5.0 or later
Developer: Beijing Kingsoft Internet Security Software Co., Ltd

Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation External Battery

Charging your iPad via wall socket is not always practical, especially if the electricity has been cut off. Mophie?s Juice Pack Powerstation enables you to charge your iPad on the move, sporting a super fast charging system for instant power.

Available in three different colors: black, white, and red, Mophie?s Juice Pack Powerstation will keep your iPad up and running for just that little bit longer, which will hopefully help keep you alive that little bit longer, too!

Price: $79.95
Requires: iPad 3 or earlier
Manufacturer: Mophie

The Zombies Are Coming

Well? Do you feel adequately prepared? OK, so an iPad will probably only last a week or so in a world without power, but until then it may well just save your life.

Have we missed out any essential apps or accessories? If so, let us know in the comments!

Source: http://ipad.appstorm.net/roundups/lifestyle-roundups/survive-a-zombie-apocalypse-using-your-ipad/

8 bit google maps kids choice awards 2012 micah true kansas vs ohio state winning mega million numbers bruce weber boston globe

James Cameron's sub given to science

26 March 2013 Last updated at 03:56 ET By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC World Service

The sub that took Hollywood director James Cameron to the deepest place in the ocean is being donated to science.

On the first anniversary of his 10.9km solo descent of the Mariana Trench, Mr Cameron told the BBC that he was giving the Deepsea Challenger to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, US.

Initially, parts will be used as add-ons for other subs, but the entire system could dive again in the future.

Mr Cameron said he would like to return to the controls himself at some point.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

I'd like to go dive the sub again?

End Quote James Cameron

"I'd like to go dive the sub again," he explained.

"There are a number of really, really interesting science targets out there. I would love to see the Deepsea Challenger dive in the Tonga Trench, the Kermadec Trench and the Sirena Deep (a 10.7km-deep part of the Mariana Trench)."

The director said that the ocean was a vast unexplored frontier, but that funding cuts were now jeopardising research.

Footage from Earth's deepest place - courtesy National Geographic

When Mr Cameron made his dive in 2012, he became the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is in the western Pacific Ocean, for 50 years - and the only person to have ever made the descent alone.

The only previous manned dive to this deepest spot, called the Challenger Deep, was carried out by US Navy Lt Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard. They took the plunge to the deepest point in the ocean in a bathyscaphe called Trieste in 1960.

It took Mr Cameron just two hours to reach the seafloor. While his bright green submersible moved through the water like a vertical torpedo, the director was squeezed into a tiny chamber that kept him safe from the colossal pressures that exist almost 11km down.

While at the bottom, he spent several hours exploring the seafloor. 3D cameras captured images for a National Geographic film that is being released later this year.

He told the BBC that donating the vessel to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) would give the sub "a second phase" of life after the dive. He said that funding was so scarce that plans to take the vehicle on a second series of dives had not been possible.

He explained: "I'd love to keep the Deepsea Challenger continuously operational. But I think that what I'm going for right now is what I call 'potentially operational'. The way to do that is to preserve the hardware 100%, which we'll do, but more importantly to preserve the culture of the engineering.

"My hope is with the sub's home now at Woods Hole, there will be a residential team in place - and they will have the knowledge of how to bring that sub back online."

New thinking

WHOI is one of the world's foremost research centres dedicated to ocean science. It already operates a a number of submersibles including the famous Alvin vehicle.

Initially, Woods Hole will use some of the components in Mr Cameron's sub to supplement its own vessels.

The lights and cameras from Deepsea Challenger will be installed on Nereus, an unmanned underwater vehicle that has also explored the Mariana Trench.

Dr Dave Gallo, director of special projects at WHOI, said the next stage would be to work out what other technology might be of use - and whether the submersible could be used again.

He added: "It is for one person, so you would have to have someone trained to do it - and we are looking very closely at every option."

The filmmaker said more money should be put into ocean science - and that it was essential to explore the biology and the chemistry of the deepsea.

The preliminary science results of the dive, which were released at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco, suggest that the team had found many species that are new to science.

The presented results came from Mr Cameron's dive to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench; an earlier dive to the New Britain Trench, off the coast of Papua New Guinea; and footage and samples taken from landers in the Sirena Deep.

The director told BBC News: "As an absolute minimum, (there were ) over 68 new species - most are bacteria, some are amphipods, and there is possibly a new sea cucumber... and that number may go way up.

"There were also some quite interesting new species of giant amphipods that were 7-8in long when amphipods are normally 0.5-1in in size."

But the explorer said he was surprised there were so little visible signs of life in the Mariana Trench.

"We expected there to be a big biomass in the sediment... but I expected more macrofauna, the things crawling around on the bottom. I had never seen a seafloor as devoid of macrofauna as the Challenger Deep.

"Is it because of the depth? Is it because it is so far from land and there is very little happening in the water column directly above it?"

Further exploration, he said, with the Deepsea Challenger and other robotic vessels would be the only way to find the answers.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21929483#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

gamestop black friday deals Sephora Cyber Monday 2012 Walmart.com detroit lions Thanksgiving Day

Uncovering Africa's oldest known penguins

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Africa isn't the kind of place you might expect to find penguins. But one species lives along Africa's southern coast today, and newly found fossils confirm that as many as four penguin species coexisted on the continent in the past. Exactly why African penguin diversity plummeted to the one species that lives there today is still a mystery, but changing sea levels may be to blame, the researchers say.

The fossil findings, described in the March 26 issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, represent the oldest evidence of these iconic tuxedo-clad seabirds in Africa, predating previously described fossils by 5 to 7 million years.

Co-authors Daniel Thomas of the National Museum of Natural History and Dan Ksepka of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center happened upon the 10-12 million year old specimens in late 2010, while sifting through rock and sediment excavated from an industrial steel plant near Cape Town, South Africa.

Jumbled together with shark teeth and other fossils were 17 bone fragments that the researchers recognized as pieces of backbones, breastbones, wings and legs from several extinct species of penguins.

Based on their bones, these species spanned nearly the full size spectrum for penguins living today, ranging from a runty pint-sized penguin that stood just about a foot tall (0.3 m), to a towering species closer to three feet (0.9 m).

Only one penguin species lives in Africa today -- the black-footed penguin, or Spheniscus demersus, also known as the jackass penguin for its loud donkey-like braying call. Exactly when penguin diversity in Africa started to plummet, and why, is still unclear.

Gaps in the fossil record make it difficult to determine whether the extinctions were sudden or gradual. "[Because we have fossils from only two time periods,] it's like seeing two frames of a movie," said co-author Daniel Ksepka. "We have a frame at five million years ago, and a frame at 10-12 million years ago, but there's missing footage in between."

Humans probably aren't to blame, the researchers say, because by the time early modern humans arrived in South Africa, all but one of the continent's penguins had already died out.

A more likely possibility is that rising and falling sea levels did them in by wiping out safe nesting sites.

Although penguins spend most of their lives swimming in the ocean, they rely on offshore islands near the coast to build their nests and raise their young. Land surface reconstructions suggest that five million years ago -- when at least four penguin species still called Africa home -- sea level on the South African coast was as much as 90 meters higher than it is today, swamping low-lying areas and turning the region into a network of islands. More islands meant more beaches where penguins could breed while staying safe from mainland predators.

But sea levels in the region are lower today. Once-isolated islands have been reconnected to the continent by newly exposed land bridges, which may have wiped out beach nesting sites and provided access to predators.

Although humans didn't do previous penguins in Africa in, we'll play a key role in shaping the fate of the one species that remains, the researchers add.

Numbers of black-footed penguins have declined by 80% in the last 50 years, and in 2010 the species was classified as endangered. The drop is largely due to oil spills and overfishing of sardines and anchovies -- the black-footed penguin's favorite food.

"There's only one species left today, and it's up to us to keep it safe," Thomas said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Daniel B. Thomas, Daniel T. Ksepka. A history of shifting fortunes for African penguins. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12024

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/sBXiGc1qknY/130326101606.htm

railgun jk rowling new book between two ferns statins chardon sean young juan pablo montoya

Obama designates five new national monuments (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294552216?client_source=feed&format=rss

Happy 4th of July 4th Of July Desserts fireworks fireworks 4th of July Andy Griffith joe johnson

Dr. James Stoxen DC Pays Tribute to Legendary Bodybuilding and ...

?

Dr. James Stoxen DC Pays Tribute to?Legendary Bodybuilding and Fitness Icon, Mentor and Friend Joe Weider?

I will never forget the first exchange I had with Mr. Joe Weider back in 1993 when I was first starting my practice and that was a call I got from him to join the?editorial advisory board for ?muscle and fitness? magazine. you can read more about that in another article by clicking here.

Joe Weider and Dr James Stoxen DC

I do know that Joe Weider was a man I looked up to as a mentor and an idol. I kept in touch with him and?Joe Weider was still working out with me in his home gym at 87 pictured above.

Joe Weider

Legendary Bodybuilding and Fitness Icon

Dies at 93

November 29, 1919 ? March 23, 2013

Joe Weider, the legendary fitness and publishing figure who popularized the modern conception of fitness and nutrition, and is considered the father of the sport of bodybuilding, died on March 23, 2013 in Los Angeles of heart failure. He was 93 years old.

Joe Weider?s influence is felt in every area of fitness and health. He created a massive fitness publishing empire, which included Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Shape, and Men?s Fitness magazines. He popularized the use of fitness equipment in people?s homes and was a leader in establishing the use of nutritional supplements. The company he founded, Weider Health and Fitness, became synonymous with fitness, nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.

A weight training pioneer, fitness crusader, and magazine publisher, Joe Weider overcame the challenges of childhood poverty and lack of education to create a sports movement that changed modern culture?s conception of physical beauty and the way athletes and everyman exercises and diets. Through the magazines he published, the sports federation (International Federation of Bodybuilders) he created, the bodybuilding contests he promoted, and his groundbreaking advocacy of fitness for women, Joe Weider created a sports legacy that has a worldwide reach and affected the lives of millions of people.

Born in 1919, Joseph Weider grew up in a tough neighborhood in Montreal, Canada during the Great Depression. An undersized child, Joe became easy prey for older and tougher teenagers, which prompted him to head off to the Montreal YMHA to request to train with their wrestling team. The coach turned him down for fear he?d be hurt.

Undaunted, Joe made his way to a local newsstand in search of inspiration. ?I went to the local 5 and dime store and I bought two magazines for a few pennies,? he recalled. ?One was the 1930 edition of the Milo Barbell Company?s magazine, Strength and it really opened my eyes.?

Inspired by the message and images within their pages, Joe scavenged a local train yard for an old axle and two flywheels, which he cobbled into a makeshift barbell. He lifted, pumped and pressed the scrap metal endlessly, transforming his physique from scrawny to brawny. His reputation as a powerhouse quickly began to spread throughout Montreal.

?Then somebody knocked at my parents? door and asked for me,? he continued. ?He said ?I represent the Verdun weightlifting club. Would you like to come try out for our team?? When I saw the gym, saw the guys working out, supporting one another, I was mesmerized. That experience changed my life.?

At 17 Joe competed in his first weightlifting contest which earned him a national ranking. Letters and calls began inundating the Weider household with requests for Joe?s advice. Realizing he hadn?t the time to attend to each query he chose to create his own magazine.

With $7 in his pocket he began to work on the first issue of Your Physique, which was published in August of 1940. Orders poured in immediately and within 18 months Joe had turned a $10,000 profit. Soon he started the Weider Barbell Co., a mail order business, using his magazine to advertise its wares.

In 1946, Joe and his younger brother Ben rented Montreal?s Monument National Theater to host the first Mr. Canada contest. They formed the International Federation of Bodybuilders that night.

In 1965 Joe created the Mr. Olympia contest, which to this day is the premier event in bodybuilding. Joe created the Ms. Olympia contest in 1980, and added the Fitness Olympia contest in 1995 and the Figure Olympia in 2003. He also mentored numerous young bodybuilders, including young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Recognizing Arnold?s potential, he said, ?Every sport needs a hero and I knew that Arnold was the right man.? Joe brought Arnold to the United States from Austria, financing his trip and helped him become established in business. Joe maintained a very close relationship with Arnold for the rest of his life-they were close friends and visited frequently.

To help support his family young Joe Weider was forced to drop out of school in the seventh grade. Self educated, he was an avid student of history and a collector of art, particularly of the American West. In 2010 he oversaw the donation of money and priceless bodybuilding artifacts, photos and documents that established the Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture at the University of Texas, Austin.

Twelve years ago Joe was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a heart condition with which he was expected to survive about three years. Doctors credit his amazing fitness and nutrition ethic?until recently he trained every morning and made frequent public appearances?for allowing him to survive an additional nine years.
He is survived by his wife, Betty Weider.

Additional information about Joe can be found on his website at JoeWeider.com.
US/Canada News
NY Times
Business Wire News

Watch this?2010 Joe Weider Interview above ? The Father of Modern Bodybuilding ? Bodybuilding.com

About Dr James Stoxen DC (141 Posts)

Dr. James Stoxen, D.C., owns and operates Team Doctors Chiropractic Treatment and Training Center. Team Doctors is one of the first care centers in the world to combine chiropractic care, therapy, active rehabilitation and strength training for athletes in a private rehab-training center. Dr. Stoxen also provides "on-site" chiropractic care and anti-aging consultation and care to numerous top celebrity entertainers. Dr. Stoxen is a sought after speaker, internationally at medical conferences in the fields of sports medicine, anti-aging medicine and other specialized areas of health.(full bio) visit his blog TeamDoctors and Connect with DrJamesStoxenDC on Google+

Source: http://teamdoctorsblog.com/2013/03/25/dr-james-stoxen-dc-pays-tribute-to-legendary-bodybuilding-and-fitness-icon-mentor-and-friend-joe-weider/

libya engadget twin towers iPhone 5 9-11 Chris Brown Tattoo Innocence of Muslims