travel search engines: January 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

13 al-Qaida-linked militants killed in Yemen

Mohamed Al-Sayaghi / Reuters

Army checkpoints in Yemen search for militants, Saturday

By Mohammed Ghobari, Reuters

SANAA, Yemen -- More than 10 suspected al-Qaida operatives were killed by an explosion in a house in south Yemen where they were making bombs and at least three others died in a drone strike, tribal and official sources said on Sunday.?

A bomb ripped through a house in the province of al-Bayda on Saturday night, the state news agency Saba and a local official said. Three other suspected militants were killed in a drone strike in the central province of Maarib, also on Saturday, tribal sources and the Ministry of Defense said.

Yemen's government has been fighting a powerful branch of al-Qaida that took advantage of chaos in the impoverished state two years ago during a popular uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is considered by Western governments to be one of the most active and dangerous wing of the global network founded by Osama bin Laden, and has attempted a number of attacks against U.S. targets.

The house destroyed in al Bayda had been used for making bombs, an official from the area told Reuters on Sunday.

"We heard a massive explosion that terrified people and when we went to the house it was destroyed and everyone there was dead," the official said.

In Maarib, a pilotless plane carried out two strikes against a car, a witness said.

"One of the strikes missed the target and the other hit the car and left the bodies of the three people in it completely charred," the witness told Reuters by telephone from the area.

He said unidentified people evacuated the bodies while tribesmen blocked the main road linking the capital of Maarib province with Sanaa on Saturday after the strikes.

The Yemeni Defence Ministry said in an SMS text message that a number of militants were killed in two air strikes but gave no further details.

Earlier this month, dozens of armed tribesmen took to the streets in southern Yemen to protest drones they said killed innocent civilians and fed anger against the United States.

President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi spoke openly in favor of the strikes during a trip to the United States in September.

Praised by the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa as being more effective against al-Qaida than his predecessor, Hadi was quoted as saying in September that he personally approved every attack. Hadi has not commented on the most recent strikes.

AQAP offshoot, Ansar al-Sharia seized a number of towns in the south in 2011 but Yemeni government forces retook the areas in a U.S.-backed offensive in June.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/20/16608301-al-qaida-linked-militants-killed-by-drone-strike-in-yemen?lite

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Pet of the Week: Sweet, Quiet Cat 'Jake' Needs a Home ...

Meet Jake, our Pet of the Week. Jake is one of the most polite, laid back cats you will ever meet. He gets along with the other cats at the Haven and has such a sweet personality that he would make any household complete.

Jake, a medium-sized adult male cat, is currently available for adoption with Almost Home Animal Rescue League in Southfield. View his full profile here.

For more information or to fill out an adoption application, visit http://www.almosthomeanimals.org.

Information and photos submitted by Almost Home Animal Rescue.

Source: http://birmingham.patch.com/articles/pet-of-the-week-sweet-quiet-cat-jake-needs-a-home-8bc97bb8

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Wall Street little changed; Intel drags, Morgan Stanley up

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened little changed on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 rose to its highest level in five years, as a weak outlook from Intel offset a fourth-quarter profit at Morgan Stanley.

Shares of Intel Corp slumped 6.1 percent to $21.30 after the tech company forecast quarterly revenue that was below analysts' estimates and hiked capital spending plans for the year.

That was offset somewhat by a 5-percent gain in shares of Morgan Stanley , which reported a fourth-quarter profit after a year-earlier loss, helped by higher revenue at the bank's institutional securities business. Its stock jumped 5.3 percent to $22.84.

The earnings season so far has been mixed, but that could change with a barrage of releases scheduled for next week, said Doug Cote, chief market strategist, ING Investment Management in New York.

"There were some good reports but the real big bellwether companies are not coming in strong," said Cote.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> edged up 8.02 points, or 0.06 percent, at 13,604.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> slipped 1.20 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,479.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 7.52 points, or 0.24 percent, to 3,128.48.

Overall, S&P 500 company earnings are expected to have risen 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, Thomson Reuters data showed. Expectations for the quarter have dropped considerably since October, when a 9.9 percent gain was estimated.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose to its highest since late 2007, and that could prompt investors to lock in recent gains, analysts said.

Economic data out of China provided some support to the market, though the focus remained on U.S. corporate earnings. The country's economy grew at a modestly faster-than-expected 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the latest sign the world's second-biggest economy was pulling out of a post-global financial crisis slowdown which saw it grow in 2012 at its weakest pace since 1999.

General Electric reported a better-than-expected rise in earnings on Friday, spurred by robust demand in China and oil-producing countries. Shares were up 2.4 percent to $21.82.

Despite the gains in Morgan Stanley, financial stocks sagged as Capital One Financial reported disappointing profit. Capital One slumped 7.4 percent to $57.06, while the KBW bank index <.bkx> slipped 0.4 percent.

Research In Motion climbed 4.7 percent to $15.61 after Jefferies Group boosted the BlackBerry maker's rating and price target.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-dip-intel-offsets-china-data-earnings-122902304--sector.html

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Help Your Pets Adjust To Your New Home | Crested Butte Real ...

Meet Heather Woodward, Realtor

Heather is a full-time Realtor and a consistent top producer in the local Crested Butte, Almont and Gunnison markets.

Heather takes great pride in giving unparalleled customer service and is dedicated to her clients and their individual needs. Her number one priority is to provide service above and beyond her clients? expectations. She will dedicate her time, attention, energy and knowledge during and after each transaction. Read More

Source: http://www.crestedbuttepropertyshop.com/pet-transition-new-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pet-transition-new-home

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Hagel pick test of Senate on presidential choices (The Arizona Republic)

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| Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/277858993?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Friday, January 18, 2013

Cylance hires former DHS official, other prominent cyber experts

BOSTON (Reuters) - Technology startup Cylance Inc hired four prominent experts in the field of protecting power plants, water utilities and other infrastructure systems from cyber attacks as the firm gets ready to release its first line of security products.

The list includes Eric Cornelius, who just stepped down as deputy director and chief technical analyst with the Department of Homeland Security's Control Systems Security Program.

Cornelius helped manage the agency's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergence Response Team, or ICS-CERT, which investigates cyber incidents at utilities and other infrastructure operators across the United States.

He oversaw "fly-away" teams that probe cyber incidents and help companies clean up after them.

Cylance, which was founded last year by McAfee Inc's former global chief technology officer, Stuart McClure, has also brought on well-known industrial control systems experts Billy Rios and Terry McCorkle as it acquired a company that they co-founded, SpearPoint Security Services, which helps businesses protect industrial control systems.

McClure said that he plans to incorporate SpearPoint's technology for identifying vulnerabilities in industrial control networks into Cylance's emerging product line.

Rios and McCorkle have become well-known in the security community over the past few years because of breakthrough research conducted that they began doing at night and on weekends while working full-time jobs at Google Inc and Boeing Co.

They found hundreds of vulnerabilities in industrial control products, which could be exploited by hackers to do things such as remotely manage systems in power plant, water treatment facilities, ventilation systems and even control elevators.

Cylance also hired Glenn Chisholm, former chief information security officer of Australian telecommunications provider Telstra Corp as its vice president of products and chief security officer.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Dale Hudson and M.D. Golan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cylance-hires-former-dhs-official-other-prominent-cyber-140540158--finance.html

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High court may block Stanford investor lawsuits

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court will hear an appeal that seeks to shut down class-action lawsuits from investors who lost billions in a massive Ponzi scheme orchestrated by convicted former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford.

The justices on Friday said they would review appeals court rulings allowing the suits to proceed against individuals, law firms and investment companies that the investors claim aided Stanford's fraud.

At issue is whether a federal law aimed at limiting private lawsuits that allege securities fraud can be used to block the suits investors filed in Louisiana and Texas. A federal judge initially threw them out, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said the suits could go forward.

Last year, a judge sentenced Stanford to 110 years in prison.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-may-block-stanford-investor-lawsuits-202247825.html

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Surgeons forgot 16 items in patient?s body after cancer operation, says lawyer

BERLIN?A lawyer in Germany claims surgeons left up to 16 objects in her client?s body after an operation for prostate cancer.

Annette Corinth says doctors removed a needle, compresses and surgical strips from banker Helmut Brecht after his wounds failed to heal properly following surgery in 2009.

The 77-year-old ex-banker died last year and his family is seeking ?80,000 ($106,216) damages for his suffering, plus costs, from the Henriettenstift hospital in Hannover.

A spokesman for the Protestant Church-linked organization that runs the hospital rejected the claims.

Achim Balkhoff told The Associated Press Thursday the objects couldn?t have been left in the patient?s body during the operation because the equipment wasn?t in use at the hospital.

He added that the compensation demands were ?unusually high? for such a case.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1316191--surgeons-forgot-16-items-in-patient-s-body-after-cancer-operation-says-lawyer

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Murderer who sought death penalty set to be executed

Virginia Department of Corrections via Reuters

Inmate Robert Gleason Jr., seen in March 2011.

By Matthew A. Ward, Reuters

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - An inmate who pleaded guilty to two prison murders and threatened to continue killing until he received the death penalty is scheduled to be executed Wednesday night, marking the first time Virginia will use its?electric chair in nearly three years if the execution is carried out.?

Robert Charles Gleason Jr., 42, chose electrocution over lethal injection, the more commonly used method for executions in the United States. Virginia last used the electric chair in March 2010.?

Gleason waived appeals and volunteered to be executed over the objections of his former court-appointed attorneys, who argue that his time spent in solitary confinement while on death row has left him unable to make rational decisions.?

State and federal courts have so far rejected efforts by the attorneys to halt the execution and have Gleason ruled mentally incompetent. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said last week he would not intervene.?

"Gleason has expressed no remorse for these horrific murders," McDonnell said in a statement on Friday. "He has been found competent by the appropriate courts to make all of these decisions."?

Gleason was serving life in prison without parole for a 2007 murder when he admitted to using strips from bed sheets to bind and strangle fellow inmate Harvey Watson, 63, at Virginia's Wallens Ridge State Prison in May 2009.?

Gleason told authorities he timed that murder for the second anniversary of his earlier homicide, according to court records.?

He said he was able to tie Watson's hands without a struggle by saying it was part of an escape plan. He taunted Watson before he strangled him by pressing a urine-soaked sponge onto his face and a sock into his mouth, court records said.?

Another strangulation
While awaiting sentencing, Gleason attacked another inmate in July 2010 at the super maximum-security Red Onion State Prison, court records said.?

Gleason said he asked Aaron A. Cooper, 26, to try on a "religious necklace," which Gleason threaded through a wire fence separating the inmates' solitary recreation pens.?

Gleason testified that he choked Cooper through the fence "till he turned purple," waited for his color to come back and then proceeded to choke Cooper to death.?

The second strangulation prompted a federal wrongful death lawsuit by Cooper's mother, who accuses corrections employees of giving Gleason the chance to murder her son after Gleason told guards he would kill again.?

The state Attorney General's Office has said Gleason indicated during court proceedings for the prison murders that he planned to keep killing unless he was given the death penalty. Earlier this month, Gleason told a federal judge he did not want a lawyer and his execution should not be delayed.?

But his former attorneys argued Gleason has a long history of mental illness, including several suicide attempts and at least two admissions to a psychiatric facility, as well as alcohol and drug abuse.?

The execution is set for 9 p.m. on Wednesday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. If carried out, it will be the first execution in the United States this year.?

The oak armchair in which Gleason will be secured with leather straps is the same chair Virginia used for its first electrocution, which was carried out at the old Virginia State Penitentiary in 1908. The way the chair delivers the electric shocks was updated in 1991.?
Of the 1,320 executions since the U.S. death penalty was reinstated in 1976, only 157 have been by electrocution, including 30 in Virginia, according to state records and the Death Penalty Information Center.?

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

What Do Campus Conservatives Reveal About the Modern-Day GOP?

The Economics of Not Sleeping

By Maisie Allison ? January 17, 2013, 1:00 AM

Source: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/web_headlines/what-do-campus-conservatives-reveal-about-the-modern-day-gop/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-do-campus-conservatives-reveal-about-the-modern-day-gop

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Is Antivirus Really Effective On Business Computers? | Alvarez ...

The New York Times published an interesting article the other day on the health of the antivirus industry and how antivirus software companies were not very good at stopping viruses.

This article as we expected, is causing a stir amongst many of the leaders in the IT security space plus in the media, with pundits from each side voicing their expert opinions on if antivirus software is an important consideration for business. The latest company ESET recently jumped into the fray with their opinion.

Here is what we recommend to business to totally protect their computer environments from viruses, malware and other security threats that face corporations today.

Security must be a multi-layered approach. You simply cannot do one thing and expect great results. Viruses, spam and malware have many ways to reach into the heart of your organization. Email, USB sticks, social media and downloads can penetrate corporate security easily if your network is not set up, monitored and updated regularly.

Emails must be scanned prior to entering the corporate network or email services.? It doesn?t matter if you have a Microsoft Exchange Server on premise or one of the many cloud hosted Exchange services, every piece of email must be run through a thorough scanning process to ensure no threats get through.

Firewalls that offer protection from threats known or unknown is essential. Many of today?s firewall technologies offer a deeper level of scanning and protection versus firewalls from just a few years ago or the network router that you pick up at the local Best Buy or office supply store. These low cost network routers offer a false sense of security. Your business must have a corporate grade firewall that scans all traffic inbound and outbound.

Secure Computing was a dream of Bill Gates a few years back when Microsoft software was ?not that secure?. Gates started the ?trustworthy computing? initiative at Microsoft to ensure their software was secure. Did they reach this goal? Desktop computers and network servers also need to be kept as secure as possible. Desktop and Server antivirus solutions, or what they call today ?endpoint protection? is just another layer in your company?s overall IT security strategy.

Desktop and Server solutions, regardless of make, model or operating system (Apple, Linux or Microsoft) need to be monitored and patched regularly. This ensures all known or potential vulnerabilities in the software are addressed, lowering the risk of a hacker being able to exploit poorly written code or security issues in software.

The last line of defense is you, the computer user. Many people fall victims to social engineering (which requires no malware, virus or malicious code). Thousands of computer users each day across the country openly share important personal details with hackers over the phone, through email and through phishing websites, set up to trick a user into handing over account information, credit card info and other personal information.

So is antivirus dead? Maybe the form of antivirus we used in the early 2000?s where viruses came on floppy disks is, however many of the top IT security firms have changed their approach offering business multi-layer security services supported by IT security professionals such as our team.

Are you concerned about your IT security or worried about viruses hitting your business network? Give us a call and speak with us about your network security. We are here to help.

Source: http://www.alvareztg.com/is-antivirus-really-effective-on-business-computers.html/

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China Fog Masks Factory Fire

A factory fire in eastern China raged out of control unnoticed for hours Monday, after local residents were unable to distinguish the smoke from the dense smog that has filled the region.

The official Xinhua news agency says the furniture factory in Zheijiang province burned for nearly three hours before residents noticed the blaze. It took 10 hours to extinguish the flames, which destroyed a large amount of furniture.

Much of China's east coast has experienced its worst air pollution in recent memory over the past several days. In Beijing, a thick blanket of brown smog reduced visibility to just 200 meters, with the tops of many of the city's massive skyscrapers disappearing in the haze.

At its worst, official air quality readings in the capital reached nearly 40 times the World Health Organization's safe limit. Many hospitals were filled with patients complaining of heart or respiratory sicknesses.

The crisis has prompted an unprecedented amount of criticism of the government in China's state-controlled media, many of which published front-page commentaries on the issue. Government officials traditionally have downplayed the severity of the problem.

Facing increasing public outrage, China has taken steps in recent years to become more transparent about air pollution levels. It now publishes hourly updates online for more than 70 cities.

Conditions on Tuesday had improved slightly in the capital, as a cold front moved into the area. But officials warn that heavy smog will persist through Wednesday.

Beijing schools kept children indoors January 14, 2013, and hospitals saw a spike in respiratory cases following a weekend of excessive pollution in China's smoggy capital.
A teacher leads her students doing body exercise during class break in a classroom on a foggy day in Jinan, Shandong province, January 14, 2013. Heavy fog enveloped a large swathe of east and central China, with the city's residents being advised to stay
Cranes atop a residential building under construction in central Beijing, April 18, 2012.
Buildings and the Guomao Bridge are pictured amid heavy haze and smog in Beijing, October 29, 2011.
Visitors to Tiananmen Square shield themselves from the sun with umbrellas on a hot and hazy day, July 28, 2010.
Smoke billows from a chimney of a heating plant in Beijing, February 13, 2012.
Haze blankets the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, as seen from inside the Olympic Green area during the Olympics, August 7, 2008.
A coal-burning power station at night in Xiangfan, Hubei province, September 15, 2009.
Paramilitary policemen practice drills inside the Forbidden City amid haze in central Beijing, December 4, 2011.
Buildings in Beijing are pictured on a day with heavy haze and smog, October 28, 2011.

Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/china-fog-masks-factory-fire/1583948.html

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How The Legal System Failed Aaron Swartz | Best of the Moment ...

Writing Worth Reading

Tim Wu | New Yorker | 15 January 2013

"No one knows, or will ever really know, what caused Swartz to take his own life. But his suicide, in the face of possible bankruptcy and serious prison time, has created a moment of clarity. We can rightly judge a society by how it treats its eccentrics and deviant geniuses?and by that measure, we have utterly failed" Read full article

Society >

Source: http://thebrowser.com/articles/how-legal-system-failed-aaron-swartz

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Friday, January 11, 2013

I have an idea...just need people to play it.

I have an idea you might like. You can be either role if you'd like. It's a bit rough around the edges and might need some tweaking which I'm okay with. It could even be modified to do a more supernatural setting instead of modern.

Chris grew up in a broken home, his parents and older brother barley acknowledged his exsictance. If he didn't cry he didn't get fed, Once he was old enough to work he was kicked out and forced to make ends meat when only sixteen. Because of his lack of love he is very aggressive and doesn't care for anyone. The only reason he finished high school was because his parents still had to pay for it.It was a small victory to him. Just finding a place in a gang

Abigial was living on her own, not that she wanted to but she had no other choice. Her mother died almost a two years ago and her father was in jail for domestic abuse. Normally the state would of taken her but she was an adult now, just barely, she was out of their reach. She is very shy and easy to push around. Her mother gave her a low dose of vicodin, when her father came home drunk, hoping to numb or dull out the things he would do forcing a slight drug addiction.Leaving her depressed and maybe even suicidal.

After a series of events she opens up her home to the trouble making gang member into her home. Despite how abusive he is she craves for any of the attention he gives her good or bad.He takes full advantage of her and toys with her any moment he can, knowing she wouldn't do anything about it.

This would be for players that didn't have much boundaries and be very aggressive. A psychological type plot.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/kvPRfxcR9mo/viewtopic.php

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'Argo,' 'Silver Linings' win at Critics' Choice

By Chris Michaud , Reuters

Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama "Argo," "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis and "Zero Dark Thirty"'s Jessica Chastain were among big winners at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards on Thursday, taking honors for best picture, actor and actress, with Affleck nabbing the prize for best director.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Director Ben Affleck accepts the best director award for the movie "Argo" at the Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Thursday.

The all-star "Silver Linings Playbook" swept the comedy awards, winning best comedy film, best comedy actor for Bradley Cooper and best comedy actress, which went to Jennifer Lawrence.

The 250-member Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, also gave the film its best acting ensemble prize at the event in Santa Monica, Calif.

Affleck, known mostly as actor and who was overlooked for directing "Argo" earlier on Thursday when the Academy Award nominations were announced, began his acceptance with the quip: "I would like to thank the academy," before adding "I'm kidding. This is the one that counts."

Day-Lewis won for his acclaimed performance in the title role of Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Lincoln," while Chastain took the prize for "Zero Dark Thirty," about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Actor Daniel Day-Lewis accepts the best actor award for "Lincoln" at the Critics' Choice Awards.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Actress Jessica Chastain accepts the award for best actress for "Zero Dark Thirty."

It was one of only two awards for "Lincoln," which led the Oscar nominations with 12. The Oscar runner-up, "Life of Pi," won only two technical awards.

Lawrence took home two awards, also winning best actress in an action movie for "The Hunger Games."

"Critics aren't so bad," she said as she accepted the award, later riffing on the line when she won her second award, for "Silver Linings Playbook," saying "Seriously, I love critics."

Many stars who were nominated just hours earlier for Oscars, Hollywood's top honors, were on hand, including "Les Miserables" star Hugh Jackman, Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, who won the award for best supporting actress for "Les Miserables."

Best supporting actor went to Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master."

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Actor Bradley Cooper accepts the award for best actor in a comedy movie for "Silver Linings Playbook."

Director David O. Russell dedicated the "Silver Linings" award to his son, saying "I made it to give him hope," adding, "That's my silver lining."

European director Michael Haneke's drama "Amour," about an aging couple struggling with failing health and mortality and which scored several major Oscar nominations on Thursday, won the award for best foreign language film.

The prize for best sci-fi/horror film went to "Looper," while "Searching for Sugarman" won best documentary.

The screenwriting awards were won by Quentin Tarantino for his original screenplay for "Django Unchained" and Tony Kushner who adapted the screenplay for "Lincoln."

British singer Adele's song "Skyfall" from the James Bond film of the same name won best song, and star Daniel Craig was named best actor in a action film. The film also won best action movie.

Danny Moloshok / Reuters

Actress Quvenzhane Wallis poses with the best young actor or actress award backstage for her role in "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

Nine-year old Quvenzhane Wallis, star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" who became the youngest best actress Oscar nominee in history on Thursday, was named best young actor or actress. She accepted her award clutching a pink-cased electronic device, from which she read her speech as she grinned broadly.

The awards were handed out ahead of Sunday's Golden Globes and a slew of other award shows that narrow the field for the Oscars, which will be held on Feb. 24.

Writer-producer-director Judd Apatow received a special "genius" award created to honor "an unprecedented demonstration of excellence in the cinematic arts."

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Thursday, January 10, 2013

NFL star Junior Seau suffered from brain disease

Junior Seau, one of the NFL's best and fiercest players for two decades, suffered from a degenerative brain disease often associated with repeated blows to the head when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health said in a study released Thursday.

The NIH, based in Bethesda, Md., said Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. It said that the study included unidentified brains, one of which was Seau's, and that the findings on Seau were similar to autopsies of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries."

Seau's family requested the analysis of his brain.

The star linebacker played for 20 NFL seasons with San Diego, Miami and New England before retiring in 2009. He died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

He joins a list of several dozen football players who were found to have CTE. Boston University's center for study of the disease reported last month that 34 former pro players and nine who played only college football suffered from CTE.

"I was not surprised after learning a little about CTE that he had it," Seau's 23-year-old son Tyler said. "He did play so many years at that level. I was more just kind of angry I didn't do something more and have the awareness to help him more, and now it is too late.

"I don't think any of us were aware of the side effects that could be going on with head trauma until he passed away. We didn't know his behavior was from head trauma."

That behavior, according to Tyler Seau and Junior's ex-wife Gina, included wild mood swings, irrationality, forgetfulness, insomnia and depression.

The NFL faces lawsuits by thousands of former players who say the league withheld information on the harmful effects concussions. According to an AP review of 175 lawsuits, 3,818 players have sued. At least 26 Hall of Famer members are among the players who have done so.

Seau is not the first former NFL player who killed himself, then was found to have CTE. Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling are the others.

"He emotionally detached himself and would kind of 'go away' for a little bit," Tyler Seau said. "And then the depression and things like that. It started to progressively get worse."

He hid it well in public, they said. But not when he was with family or close friends.

Dr. Russell Lonser, who oversaw the study, said Seau's brain was "independently evaluated by multiple experts, in a blind fashion."

"We had the opportunity to get multiple experts involved in a way they wouldn't be able to directly identify his tissue even if they knew he was one of the individuals studied," he said.

The National Football League, in an email to the AP, said: "We appreciate the Seau family's cooperation with the National Institutes of Health. The finding underscores the recognized need for additional research to accelerate a fuller understanding of CTE.

"The NFL, both directly and in partnership with the NIH, Centers for Disease Control and other leading organizations, is committed to supporting a wide range of independent medical and scientific research that will both address CTE and promote the long-term health and safety of athletes at all levels."

NFL teams have given a $30 million research grant to the NIH.

Before shooting himself, Duerson, a former Chicago Bears defensive back, left a note asking that his brain be studied for signs of trauma. His family filed a wrongful-death suit against the NFL, claiming the league didn't do enough to prevent or treat the concussions that severely damaged his brain.

Easterling played safety for the Falcons in the 1970s. After his career, he suffered from dementia, depression and insomnia, according to his wife, Mary Ann. He committed suicide last April.

Mary Ann Easterling is among the plaintiffs who have sued the NFL.

"It was important to us to get to the bottom of this, the truth," Gina Seau said, "and now that it has been conclusively determined from every expert that he had obviously had it, CTE, we just hope it is taken more seriously.

"You can't deny it exists, and it is hard to deny there is a link between head trauma and CTE. There's such strong evidence correlating head trauma and collisions and CTE."

Tyler Seau played football through high school and for two years in college. He says he has no symptoms of brain trauma.

Gina Seau's son Jake, now a high school junior, played football for two seasons but has switched to lacrosse and has been recruited to play at Duke.

"Lacrosse is really his sport and what he is passionate about," she said. "He is a good football player and probably could continue. But especially now watching what his dad went through, he says, 'Why would I risk lacrosse for football?'

"I didn't have to have a discussion with him after we saw what Junior went through."

Her 12-year-old son, Hunter, has shown no interest in playing football.

"That's fine with me," she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nfl-star-junior-seau-suffered-brain-disease-180857891--nfl.html

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Microsoft hopes to patent an 'inconspicuous mode' for phones

We've all seen That Person in the movie theater: the one whose compulsive texting guarantees a distraction for everyone through the bright screen. Microsoft might not change that disruptive behavior, but it could save us from noticing through a new patent application. The team in Redmond is exploring an "inconspicuous mode" that would dial down not just the screen brightness and sound, but also the information on the display -- it could remove a bright background and limit the number of attention-grabbing notifications. The technique could even detect certain conditions, such a very dark bedroom, and invoke the mode without having to ask. Like with most patents, we don't know if Microsoft plans to use the technology in earnest; we've reached out, just in case a similar mode has previously lurked in the background. When the patent filling is crafted with Windows Phone in mind, however, we wouldn't be surprised if some future version of the mobile OS learns to mind its manners.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft