BALTIMORE ? Kevin Gausman said he knew it was going to be a good day for him as soon as he donned his Superman socks. Once he put those special socks on, Gausman was truly the man of steel for the Orioles.
Following a subpar first major league start by T.J. McFarland, Gausman came to the rescue and threw a dazzling 4 1/3 innings, limiting the New York Yankees to three hits and lifted the Orioles to a 4-3 win before 40,041 at Oriole Park on Friday night.
All week, it seemed that Gausman, who was recalled on Monday, was being prepped for a start against the Yankees. Manager Buck Showalter decided that T.J. McFarland, not Gausman, would give his team the best chance to beat New York.
After McFarland left with a 3-0 deficit, Gausman came on and delivered a four strikeout performance with a new way of motivating himself.
?I was thinking last night about what the best relievers have and they have that bulldog mentality. That?s something I definitely tried to kind of do today,? Gausman said.
Gausman (1-3) hadn?t pitched in nine days and threw 55 pitches and didn?t walk a batter.
"Sometimes, when you put young pitchers in a come-to-the-rescue mode, there's a little different culture [when] they come into in a game,? Showalter said.
Nate McLouth?s fifth home run of the year with two outs in the seventh off CC Sabathia (8-6) was the big hit.
It hugged the right field line, and was his fifth of the season and his first since May 21 when his 10th inning shot beat New York (42-37). It evoked memories of McLouth?s ball in Game 5 of last October?s American League Division Series game at Yankee Stadium. That ball was called foul. This one wasn?t.
?I wasn?t even out of the batter?s box before I thought that. Off the bat, I knew it had the distance, it just stayed true. It stayed straight, and I was happy about that,? McLouth said.
Tommy Hunter pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three, for his second save.?
Sabathia, deprived of his 200th career win, retired the first eight Orioles. Alexi Casilla grounded to third and reached when Alberto Gonzalez booted the ball. He set down the next seven hitters until McLouth led off the sixth with a single to center.
Casilla reached on an infield single, and after Nick Markakis popped out, Manny Machado hit his major league leading 37th double to score McLouth and Casilla. Machado moved to third on J.J. Hardy?s fly to center and scored on Adam Jones? infield single.
Showalter credited Machado with helping turn the game around.
?It's a 90 foot gain that puts some pressure on a lot of people,? Showalter said.
?I saw him camping under the ball and in that situation there, you really don?t want to tag up especially with the ball in left center field, but he camped up and I thought I had a pretty good shot at it and I went for it,? Machado said.
On Tuesday, the Orioles didn?t have a hit for the first four innings. On Wednesday it was six, and this time, it was five.
?We didn't get anything until the sixth inning. We got everything in spurts. Let's try tomorrow to get a hit earlier in the game to not put any pressure on us late in the game,? Jones said.
The score was tied at 3 after six.
In the first, Brett Gardner led off with a double off McFarland. He scored two batters later on Robinson Cano?s RBI single.
The Yankees made it 3-0 in the third when Jayson Nix and Cano began the inning with singles. Nix scored on Vernon Wells? single, and Cano scored on Chris Stewart?s soft single to center.
Showalter replaced McFarland with Gausman, making his first major league relief appearance.
McFarland pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four. ?I?m kind of upset with myself. I didn?t do as well as I thought I wanted to,? McFarland said.
On June 13, McFarland got his first major league win in a 13-inning game that Gausman started. The reverse was true
?I?m extremely excited and proud that we ended up winning the game. For him to go out there and throw four and a third, get his first W, for us to come back against Sabathia like that. I?d like to think that it takes away what happened, but it really, for me, it doesn?t,? McFarland said.
NOTES: Brian Roberts came out of Norfolk?s game after six innings because of rainy conditions. He?ll be activated on Sunday.
-Zach Britton (1-2, 5.51) starts against David Phelps (5-4, 4.01) on Saturday. Game time is 7:15 p.m.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano allegedly plotted to smuggle cash into Italy from Switzerland and was already under investigation in an alleged money-laundering scheme that purportedly involved the Vatican bank.
By Claudio Lavanga and Ian Johnston, NBC News
A monsignor suspended from his job as an accountant at the Vatican has been arrested, a papal spokesman said Friday.
Greg Burke, the senior Vatican communication adviser, confirmed Monsignor Nunzio Scarano had been detained.
Scarano normally works as an accountant for APSA, the body that manages the Vatican's real estate, but was suspended over alleged financial offenses.
The cleric?s lawyer Silverio Sica told The Associated Press that his client was arrested on Wednesday over separate allegations and was now accused of fraud, corruption and slander.
Sica laid out what the prosecutors claimed had happened in the interview with the AP:
He said Scarano was a middleman in the operation: Friends had asked him to intervene with a broker, Giovanni Carenzio, to return 20 million euros ($26 million) they had given him to invest.
Sica said Scarano persuaded Carenzio to return the money, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, went to Switzerland to bring the cash back aboard an Italian government aircraft. Such a move would presumably prevent any reporting of the money coming into Italy.
The operation failed because Carenzio reneged on the deal, Sica said.
Zito, nevertheless, demanded his 400,000 euro commission. Scarano paid him an initial 200,000 euros by check, which Zito deposited, Sica said.
But in a bid to not have the second check deposited at the bank, Scarano filed a report for a missing 200,000 euro check, even though he knew Zito had it, Sica said.
Carenzio and Zito also were arrested Wednesday along with Scarano, Sica said.
Pope Francis this week set up a commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank, which is formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion, and has been hit by a number of scandals in the past decades.
The AP also described the alleged financial offenses that led to Scarano?s suspension, again citing Sica.
That investigation concerns transactions Scarano made in 2009 in which he took 560,000 euros ($729,000) in cash out of his personal IOR bank account and carried it out of the Vatican and into Italy to help pay off a mortgage on his Salerno home.
To deposit the money into an Italian bank account ? and to prevent family members from finding out he had such a large chunk of cash ? he asked 56 close friends to accept 10,000 euros apiece in cash in exchange for a check or money transfer in the same amount, Sica said earlier this week. Scarano was then able to deposit the amounts in his Italian account.
The original money came into Scarano's IOR account from donors who gave it to the prelate thinking they were funding a home for the terminally ill in Salerno, Sica said. He said the donors had "enormous" wealth and could offer such donations for his charitable efforts.
He said Scarano had given the names of the donors to prosecutors and insisted the origin of the money was clean, that the transactions didn't constitute money-laundering, and that he only took the money "temporarily" for his personal use.
The home for terminally ill hasn't been built, though the property has been identified, Sica said.
"He [Scarano] declares himself absolutely innocent," Sica said of the Salerno investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related:
This story was originally published on Fri Jun 28, 2013 6:38 AM EDT
A New Zealand woman was left speechless by making a simple mistake while sifting through her medicine cabinet.
A 64-year-old woman made the unfortunate mistake of thinking a container of super glue was medicated cream. Wiithin minutes she couldn't open her mouth, the Otago Daily Times reports.
The patient, who sought anonymity from the media, was fumbling in the dark for a balm to apply to a cold sore late Thursday night, the Telegraph reported.
The super glue and cream were kept in the same tray in her cupboard, the Independent reported.
She couldn't get a whiff of the ointment, because her sense of smell was muddled by a cold. The next thing she knew, she was in bed and her lips were sealed tightly.
When she called the emergency services number, she couldn't even get a word in edgewise with the operator.
Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said the woman "sounded gagged or possibly had a medical condition," according to the New Zealand Herald. "She could only grunt."
The glue was removed with paraffin oil at a hospital in Dunedin, the Independent said.
The YouTube comedy team Smosh. Can Google challenge the dominance of TV?
Courtesy of YouTube
It?s difficult to overstate how completely we Americans are ruled by television. On a typical day, you and your fellow countrymen watch about four hours and 39 minutes of live TV, plus an additional 26 minutes of ?time-shifted? (i.e., DVR?d) programming, according to Nielsen. That?s more time, by far, than we spend with any other technology: more than we surf the Web, more than we use our phones, more than we play video games. In a given week, the average American child will spend more than a full day?nearly 27 hours?in front of the tube. And children don?t even watch as much TV as adults. Generally, the older you get in America, the more television sucks you in. The average senior citizen spends more than two fulldays of every week in front of the TV.
It has been ever thus. In some ways the most astonishing fact about television isn?t how much we watch now, but how much we?ve always watched, and how impervious TV has been to every cultural and technological shift in recent American history. Consider everything that?s happened in society over the last few decades. More women went to work, everyone?s working hours increased, we quit bowling leagues, we suffered through a handful of recessions and enjoyed a couple booms, and we endured several wars. We also got the Web, mobile gadgets, better game consoles, e-readers, DVRs, BitTorrent, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Other media industries?journalism, music, publishing, video games?have been transformed or decimated by these changes. But TV? Whatever else has happened in American life, TV just kept doing better. If you look at a chart of household TV viewing from 1950 to 2009, it?s a straight upward arrow. In the last couple years, live TV-viewing has begun to dip just slightly, but the decline has been offset by a rise in time-shifted viewing. Overall, despite every technology that has come along to usurp or disrupt it, we watch about as much TV in 2013 as we?ve ever watched.
I shower you with all these stats not to depress you. Instead, the numbers underscore the huge opportunity that?s driving Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and dozens of startups looking to transform how we watch TV: by giving us more choice over what we see, by adding new interfaces (like voice control), and by unhooking us from a monthly cable bill. But the same stats also illustrate the difficulty of their quest. If nothing has threatened traditional live television so far, what new tech could possibly get us to switch from the tube?
Well, how about YouTube? Over the last couple years, the Google-owned video-streaming site has attempted to transform itself from a vast repository of clips into something more refined and worthy of our sustained attention: the perfectly personalized television network. If the gambit succeeds, one day not long from now you?ll think of YouTube as a cable network built just for you, a place you escape to for entertainment, news, learning, and voyeurism, no matter what device you?re using or where you are.
YouTube has certain natural advantages in its battle to win the TV wars, the most conspicuous of which are scope and scale. The company aims to deliver its videos to every device, from PCs to TVs to phones, in any corner of the world. In May, it announced that people now watch about 6 billion hours of YouTube videos per month, a 50 percent increase over last year. That?s more than any other video site on the planet?Netflix, for instance, serves about 1 billion hours a month. But it?s far less time than we spend with traditional TV. We watch as much YouTube in a month as we watch TV in a day.
YouTube?s efforts to turn itself into the next generation of television have been chronicled before?Fast Company, The New Yorker, and Time have documented the firm?s $100 million push to create hundreds of new channels by indie producers. (The fund also went to produce video at established sites, including, for a time, some of the offerings on Slate?sYouTube channel.) At the same time, YouTube is working on deals to stream the high-budget shows that you get on TV. But two problems have hampered the site?s effort to mimic television. The first is speed. Can YouTube ever load its videos as quickly as you can switch channels on TV, and stream them at the same quality you expect on the tube? The second issue is ?discovery.? Finding what you want to watch on television isn?t easy, but it?s a problem of manageable scope. On YouTube, the choices aren?t infinite, but they might as well be. A given YouTube video tends to be shorter than most TV programming, it appeals to a far more limited and precisely tailored audience, and it?s drowned in a sea of millions of other clips. How will you ever find enough stuff on YouTube, then, to make your experience comparable to what you get from the flat-screen on your wall?
This being Google, the solutions to the speed and discovery problems involve lots of engineering tricks. Last year, YouTube began radically overhauling the way it streams videos to users. In the past, when you requested a video from the site, it would send you a single stream containing the whole video. Once the content left YouTube?s servers, the company no longer had any control over it; if there was some hiccup along the way, it couldn?t serve you a lower-quality video or reroute your request to a different server in another part of the world. So you?d watch the annoying spinner while your video ?rebuffered.?
The Olympus PEN E-P5 ($1,449.99 list with 17mm lens and EVF) is the latest addition to the Olympus Micro Four Thirds camera family, and it's a winner. The PEN features the same imaging engine and stabilization system as our Editors' Choice OM-D E-M5, but uses a removable add-on EVF rather than a built-in version. It's got built-in Wi-Fi, a first for the PEN family, and an innovative control system that lets you take command of four camera settings via a toggle switch and two control dials. It doesn't have the OM-D E-M5's weather sealed body or kit lens, but it does put a few additional controls at your fingertips.
Design and Features The E-P5 is bundled with the excellent M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f1.8 lens and Electronic Viewfinder VF-4. If the $1,450 asking price is too much for you, it can be had as a body only for around $1,000, but you'll lose a bit of value by not buying it as a kit. The 17mm lens sells for $500 on its own, and the VF-4 is priced at $280. Buying the three separately would put you out of pocket around $1,780, so buying the three represents a $380 discount.
The camera measures 2.7 by 4.8 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and is very heavy for its size at 13.3 ounces. It feels solid in the hand. The Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5, the midrange body in the PEN family, a good camera in its own right, feels almost toy-like in comparison. The E-PL5 is narrower and lighter?it measures 2.5 by 4.4 by 1.5 inches and weighs 11.4 ounces. Even though EP-5's body has the same depth as its smaller sibling, it feels a bit thicker. This is because its tilting rear LCD is flush to the body when closed; the E-PL5's screen juts out a bit.
Physical controls are ample. You'll find the Mode dial, as well as the power switch, shutter release, and Fn button on the top plate. There are front and rear control dials, each of which can control two functions, which will change based on the camera's shooting mode. When the rear toggle switch is set to position 1 the function will change based on the shooting mode?the rear dial controls the f-stop in aperture priority, and the shutter speed in shutter priority, while the front dial adjust exposure compensation in both those modes. If you're shooting in full manual mode, the rear dial controls the shutter speed and the front the aperture. There's some customization of these functions available in the menu system.
When you toggle the rear switch to setting 2, the dial functions change. In most modes the rear dial adjust the white balance and the front changes the ISO. There's some customization of what position 2 does. You can also set it to start movie recording, which some users may prefer to the record button that is located inside the toggle switch. It can also be used to toggle between automatic and manual focus.
There's also a control pad with a center OK button and four directional controls; they control exposure compensation, the flash output, the drive mode and self-timer, and the current focus point. You'll also find buttons to access the camera's menu, change the amount of information shown on the display, magnify the live view frame, enter playback mode, and delete images. Additional settings can be controlled via an overlay menu?it's launched by pressing the OK button. These include the ISO, image quality, focus mode, flash mode, and metering pattern.
The rear LCD display is 3 inches in size and features a stunning 1,037k-dot resolution. It's mounted on a hinge, so you can view it from above or below. Its resolution is greater than the 610k OLED display that the OM-D E-M5 uses, but looking at them side-by-side it's hard to see a big difference. I'd give an edge to the E-P5; the display is very bright and can be used outdoors, even on bright days. The display is touch sensitive, but the touch functionality is limited. It's possible to tap an area of the frame to choose a focus point, or to focus and fire the shutter. This is controlled by tapping a small box on the left side of the display. There's also an option to disable touch focus entirely. It's also possible to move the focus point using the E-P5's rear directional pad.
If you opt to use manual focus, the E-P5 offers a couple of aids to help you grab sharp shots. Turning the focus ring on a Micro Four Thirds lens will activate either focus peaking (which highlights in-focus areas of your image in white or black), frame magnification, or both. It could be better implemented in terms of activation. If you're using a native Micro Four Thirds lens with a focus clutch, like the kit lens, it doesn't actually work when the clutch is set to manual focus adjustment, even if the camera is set to manual focus mode. If you use peaking frequently, and fans of legacy lenses will want to, it's best to assign the Fn1 button to activate it. There's already a magnification button on the body. Once you do activate it, the peaking is extremely helpful in getting an in-focus shot.
If you buy the camera in a kit you'll also get an external EVF. The VF-4 is stunning. It's the best EVF I've used. It's bigger and sharper than the excellent OLED finders in the Sony Alpha NEX-7 and Fujifilm X-E1. The only downside is its size. It's pretty big, adding a big hump to the camera. Both the Sony and Fujifilm cameras managed to work an EVF into the body and also retain a built-in flash and hot shoe; it's unfortunate that Olympus wasn't able to do the same with the EP-5. On the other hand, if you have other Olympus cameras with the AP2 accessory port you'll be able to use the EVF with them (although they'll require a firmware update), and the finder can tilt straight up, which will make it easier to get shots from lower angles. The E-P5 automatically switches to the EVF when you bring your eye towards it, though that function will be disabled if the rear LCD is tilted.
The E-P5 is the first PEN camera with built-in Wi-Fi. It's an impressive, albeit limited, freshman effort from Olympus, in part to the very slick method the company used to pair the camera with your iOS or Android device. In order to do so, you simply need to scan a QR code that is displayed on the rear LCD with your phone. The network information and password are contained within. If you're not within range of another saved network, the camera and your phone will automatically connect when Wi-Fi is enabled on the camera (accessible via a touch-sensitive Wi-Fi icon on the rear display) and the app is launched on the phone. If you're already connected to your home or office Wi-Fi network, you'll first need to disconnect from that in order to get the app working.
So, pairing is easy. What can you do? Your options are limited. You can transfer JPG images and QuickTime videos from the camera to your phone?the app lets you select a downsized resolution or transfer them at full quality. But if you shoot Raw, you're out of luck?you can't transfer them. You'll have to first develop them as a JPG in camera. You can also use the phone's GPS to add geotags to photos, just make sure the clock is set correctly on the E-P5 and that you've enabled the location log in the OI Share app. Images are quick to transfer, though it did take a while to transfer a short video clip.
You can also use your phone as a remote control with a real time live view feed. The speed of the feed is quite good, it's not choppy like we've seen on other cameras with this capability. Touch focus is supported, but you can only shoot in iAuto mode?the only real control you have access to is a self-timer, which will let you put your phone in your pocket before posing for a shot.
Everything about the Wi-Fi works; it's just unfortunate that it doesn't do more. There's no way to connect the E-P5 to a home network or hotspot. So if you're having a party and want to post a few photos to Facebook, you have to first transfer them to your phone and then to your social media profile. You're also not able to email a photo directly from the camera. Other Wi-Fi enabled cameras, like the Samsung NX300 let you do this.
In between moonlighting as a fake architect and latex salesman, George Costanza was once a fake marine biologist.?His story defines sitcom lore.
Caught in another lie while walking the beach with a potential girlfriend, Costanza?s supposed expertise was tested by a crowd gathered around a beached whale. He reluctantly waded out to assist. Fifty feet out from shore, an enormous tidal wave threw him on top of the great beast. Face-to-face with the whale?s blowhole, he could tell that something was blocking its breathing. George reached in, felt around, and pulled out the obstruction.
Blocking the whale?s blowhole was Kramer?s infamous golf ball?a Titleist. Cosmo had been driving balls out into the ocean, and one lucky shot had found presumably the only cup in the sea. But we can act like marine biologists too. Could you really score a blowhole in one?
The Sea Was Angry That Day My Friends?
There a few things that we fake biologists have to go on. First, because Kramer was hitting balls off the coast of New York, we know that we are dealing only with whales common to that area. Also, as George described it, we know it was a very large animal. By those criteria, it could have been a blue, humpback, or fin whale
We also know a few things about the dimensions. A Titleist golf ball is about 1.5 inches in diameter, whereas a large whale like a humpback can have a blowhole length from a few inches to nearly a foot (their blowhole are more like ellipses, so the blowhole length, instead of its diameter, is usually measured).
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we know about large whale anatomy. Baleen whales?the group that includes blue, fin, and humpback whales?have two blowholes, like you have nostrils. But unlike you, these whales can?t breathe through their mouth, so a blocked nasal passage can be a real danger.
So, could a golf ball bring down a giant?
Is Anyone Here a Marine Biologist!?
While we could answer the question the way Costanza would?lying?we could also just ask a real marine biologist. Joy S. Reidenberg, professor in the Center for Anatomy and Functional Morphology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (and famous for her work on the awesome anatomy show Inside Nature?s Giants) is a much better Costanza to ask for help.
According to an email exchange I had with Dr. Reidenberg, it?s doubtful that George could ever realize his fake profession. ?A golf ball could fit into one of the nostrils of a large whale, such as a humpback. Whether it would cause an obstruction is doubtful. It?s more likely to get swallowed, but even then would not likely cause stranding or death,? wrote Dr. Reidenberg.
The implausibility of the scene stems from whale anatomy. First, baleen whales have two blowholes, meaning that even if one got completely blocked, the whale could still breathe. Second, if a golf ball did make it into a nostril, it wouldn?t stay there very long. In a best-case scenario for the scene, if the whale inhaled at the exact same time that the ball entered its nostril, the whale ?could bring [the golf ball] inside the nostril,?but it is unlikely to stay there since all the whale has to do is exhale to dislodge it,? Reidenberg told me. And what an exhalation that would be. Dr. Kristi West, associate?professor of biology at Hawaii Pacific University told me in an email that humpback whale sneezes have been clocked at 300 miles per hour. If that blast brought the golf ball with it, it would break the record for the fastest drive by nearly 100 miles per hour.
But like us, if an object made it far enough into the nasal passage to prevent sneezing it out, a whale could be in real trouble. If a large whale inhaled a golf ball into its larynx?with only one path for air, not two like the nostrils?professor Reidenberg noted that the Titleist could act as a ball valve preventing the passage of air from the blowhole to the lungs and suffocate the whale. However, even in this case, the larynx of a large baleen whale is pretty wide. A golf ball doesn?t have the diameter to do serious damage (maybe a softball, Dr. Reidenberg told me) and the whale could probably use its gag reflex to clear it.
A blowhole in one could prevent a proper seal when the whale dives, increasing the risk of drowning. A ball might even be inhaled into the lungs or get close enough to the mouth to be swallowed, and this could dangerously obstruct the intestinal tract. However, in none of these cases could Costanza come to the whale?s aid.
Both toothed and baleen whales have a tongue-like muscle that closes the nasal passageway (called the nasal plug)?preventing seawater from entering the lungs during dives. If the ball stayed above this plug?near the entrance of the blowhole?the whale could simply clear the obstruction with a mighty blast, no fake biologist needed. If the ball got sucked past the plug??highly unlikely,? says Reidenberg?it would be a problem that Costanza couldn?t fix. In the episode, George claims that he plunged his arm into the whale?s blowhole to remove the obstruction, but this seems impossible. ?[His arm] could fit into a baleen whale?s blowhole, but not beyond the nasal cavity and into the larynx. However, I doubt a wild whale would voluntarily let someone do that.? A trained animal may let you work on it, but a wild whale is another story.
?Would you let a stranger poke something down your nose??
The story of Costanza and the whale remains classic sitcom fiction. In the only situation where George might be able to help, the whale could help itself with the ?chuffing??routinely clearing the blowhole?they do before each dive. Kramer might have been able to sink a blowhole in one, but the luck ends there. Such a small object is unlikely to disable such a great fish. Mammal. Whatever.
By Nakiya Morgan One of the world's greatest childhood memories is coming to life next year in an action filled animation called "The LEGO Movie." "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are teaming up again for another charming animation that's perfect for the whole family. The film unites some [...]
Wars always raise questions about which novel equipment will outlive the fighting that spawned them, and among the survivors of the war in Afghanistan could be the Iridium satellite radios rushed there starting in 2010.
ITT Exelis' Iridium radio. (Credit: U.S. Navy)
ITT Exelis received a $5 million contract from the Defense Information Systems Agency last month to show how the Iridium-based Distributed Tactical Communications System ? also known as Netted Iridium ? could be expanded globally and with a shorter voice latency.
Iridium is best known as a satellite telephone service for rich yachters, but when troops and operatives in Afghanistan needed to talk in rugged terrain, the Pentagon was desperate. ITT ? now ITT Exelis ? was hired to manufacture simple, push-to-talk radios that could communicate over the commercial Iridium constellation.
Today, DTCS radio networks can be set up regionally to provide communications out to ranges of 250 to 500 miles. The first networks were set up in Afghanistan, but the radios have also been used in Africa and the Pacific Command area.
By reprogramming the radios, ITT Exelis thinks it can give users global reach and open the door to lots of new applications. Unattended ground sensors could be linked to data networks; GPS locations could be transmitted to track supplies; the locations of DTCS users could be displayed to commanders or intelligence managers thousands of miles away.
The company will have a chance to prove at least some of those capabilities in a series of demonstrations next year at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va. The dates for the demos are to-be-decided, DISA said in prepared statement that did not spell out what would be done in the demos.
If all goes as planned, users in remote locations ? say, somewhere in the Pacific Command region ?- could communicate with their bosses back in the continental U.S. ?They can reach out, they can talk. They would be netted,? said Dario Valli, a retired Marine and business development manager for specialty applications at ITT Exelis Electronic Systems in Dulles, Va.
Then there?s the latency issue. Right now, someone pushes a button and speaks into a DTCS radio, and the user on the other end hears the voice about 1.5 seconds later. ITT Exelis wants to get that down to a second or less.
DTCS was rushed to the field as a quick answer to a joint urgent operational needs request from commanders in Afghanistan. Leaders of small military units and intelligence operatives were frustrated they couldn?t communicate reliably in the remote places they were doing their counter-insurgency work. Mountains or structures blocked terrestrial radio signals, and the Taliban made it all but suicidal to stand on a ridge pointing an antenna at a geosynchronous satellite parked high over the equator.
Iridium?s 66 satellites circle from pole to pole in low-Earth orbit. ?Now it?s the satellites that are moving around (users) as they maneuver and operate in a variety of environments,? Valli explained. Comms will be there ?as long as they have a view to the sky,? he said.
Engineers had to figure out how to make one Iridium satellite hand-off radio voice comms to the next as it moved across the sky. That was possible because the satellites already have communications crosslinks.
ITT Exelis has made about 8,000 of the radios at a cost of about $4,500 each. If the demonstration goes well, new software would be installed in these radios in the field to give them global connectivity.
Exelis calls the devices RO Radios, which is short for Radio Only. Valli said that?s an anachronism given that the radios also feed position locations to the military?s force tracking network.
Other changes could also be in store. DISA has insisted on an open standards going forward, which means other companies could end up making new handsets or other kinds of devices. ?There?s a host of applications beyond just the tactical radio that can take advantage of this architecture that DISA is developing,? Valli said.
DTCS isn?t meant for broadband communications, so it couldn?t be an alternative to the constellation of Mobile User Objective System geosynchronous satellites the Navy is setting up for the military services and the intelligence community. Neither would it supplant smartphones and deployable cell networks on the battlefield.
It?s main purpose is a specific one: To let users venture deep into the field with nothing more than what?s on their backs: ?You can plan your operations only as far as you can command and control,? Valli said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - SunGard Data Systems Inc, the computer software maker that was taken private in 2005 for $11.4 billion, is exploring a sale of its data managing operations that could fetch up to $2 billion, several people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The business for sale, which offers data center space and technology infrastructure to clients looking to safeguard their data, has earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of around $200 million, the people said.
SunGard, owned by private equity groups Bain Capital LLC, Blackstone Group LP, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners LP, KKR & Co LP , Providence Equity Partners Inc, Silver Lake and TPG Capital LP, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc on the possible sale, the people said.
The people asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. SunGard officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment while representatives of the private equity owners either declined to comment or were not immediately available to comment. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
The assets for sale are referred to as "managed services" and are within what SunGard calls its "availability services" business, which has helped customers recover data following major disasters such as Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
The exploration of the sale comes amid SunGard's challenges in competing with rivals such as IBM Corp . Moody Investors Service Inc said in February that SunGard's availability services business "has not executed effectively in a recovery/business continuity industry that is otherwise showing growth."
Availability services accounted for a third of SunGard's $4.26 billion revenue and adjusted EBITDA of $1.25 billion in 2012. The company's other main business, which it calls "financial systems" and which provides software and technology applications to financial services professionals, accounted for 62 percent of the revenue and 60 percent of the EBITDA.
Despite a torrent of private equity-backed initial public offerings that have capitalized on the strong stock market this year, SunGard has held back on seeking a flotation. Moody's has argued that SunGard will have to show sustained organic revenue growth in its core financial systems business and stabilize the availability services business before it launches an IPO.
The seven private equity firms carried out their first dividend recapitalization of the company last year, paying themselves a $720 million dividend by borrowing the money.
Nevertheless, the company managed to cut its total debt to $6.7 billion as of the end of 2012, a decline of $1.2 billion from the end of 2011.
It is not clear to what extent the buyout firms would use proceeds from the sale of the managed services business to deleverage SunGard versus paying themselves another dividend. At the end of 2006, SunGard had a ratio of total debt to adjusted EBITDA of 5.9 times. At the end of March, this ratio had improved to 4.8 times.
(This version of the story corrects the financial systems EBITDA percentage in paragraph 7.)
(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim in New York.; Editing by Gunna Dickson)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, before a Joint Economic Committee hearing on "The Economic Outlook". Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to end its extraordinary stimulus programs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, before a Joint Economic Committee hearing on "The Economic Outlook". Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that the U.S. job market remains weak and that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to end its extraordinary stimulus programs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Reserve offered a hint Wednesday that it's moving closer to slowing its bond-buying program, which is intended to keep long-term interest rates at record lows.
The Fed said it will maintain the pace of its bond purchases for now. But it offered a more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy and job market.
Its brighter view of the economy could be a signal that the Fed's bond purchases may soon be scaled back. But the statement issued after the Fed's two-day policy meeting gave no indication of when that might happen.
Investors reacted initially by selling both stocks and bonds. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 70 points shortly after the statement came out; minutes earlier, it had been down just 16. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note shot up to 2.27 percent from 2.21 percent just before the statement came out.
In the statement, the Fed says the economy is growing moderately. And for the first time it said the "downside risks to the outlook" had diminished since fall.
Timothy Duy, a University of Oregon economist who tracks the Fed, calls the statement "an open door for scaling back asset purchases as early as September."
The fact that the Fed foresees less downside risk to the job market "gives them a reason to pull back" on its bond purchases, Duy says.
The Fed says it will keep buying $85 billion a month in bonds until the outlook for the job market improves substantially. The goal is to lower long-term interest rates to encourage borrowing, spending and investing. It hasn't defined substantially.
The central bank also said that it would maintain its plan to keep short-term rates at record lows at least until unemployment reaches 6.5 percent.
The Fed also said that inflation was running below its 2 percent long-run objective, but noted that temporary factors were partly the reason.
The Fed also released its latest economic projections on Wednesday, which predicted that unemployment will fall a little faster this year, to 7.2 percent or 7.3 percent at the end of 2013 from 7.6 percent now. It thinks the rate will be between 6.5 percent and 6.8 percent by the end of 2014, better than its previous projection of 6.7 percent to 7 percent.
"The more upbeat tone and the change in the unemployment forecast will only encourage expectations for action soon," Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research note. "We continue to believe that tapering could start at the Sept. 17-18 meeting."
The Fed said inflation could run as low as 0.8 percent this year. But the Fed predicts it will pick up next year to between 1.4 percent and 2 percent.
The statement was approved on a 10-2 vote. James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, objected for the first time this year, saying he wanted a stronger commitment from the Fed to keep inflation from falling too low.
Esther George objected for the fourth time this year, again voicing concerns about inflation rising too quickly.
The ultra-low rates engineered by the Fed have helped fuel a housing comeback, support economic growth, drive stocks to record highs and restore the wealth America lost to the recession.
Financial markets have been gyrating in the four weeks since Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress the Fed might scale back its effort to keep long-term rates at record lows within "the next few meetings"? earlier than many had assumed.
Bernanke cautioned that the Fed would slow its support only if it felt confident the job market would show sustained improvement. And he also told lawmakers that the Fed must take care not to prematurely reduce its stimulus for the still-subpar economy.
The Fed announced after its September meeting that it would purchase $40 billion a month in mortgage bonds for as long as it deems necessary. And in December, the Fed expanded the program to $85 billion a month, adding $45 billion a month in Treasury bond purchases. The Treasury purchases replaced an expiring bond-purchase program.
Job growth picked up after the Fed announced the latest round of bond purchases. Since October, the economy has added an average of 196,500 jobs a month, up from 157,000 a month in the previous eight months.
Last month, the U.S. economy added a solid 175,000 jobs. But the unemployment rate is still high at 7.6 percent. Economists tend to regard the job market as healthy when unemployment is between 5 percent and 6 percent.
Crawley, UK-- New data, published today in Menopause International, suggests that post-menopausal women in Britain are experiencing less sex, and less satisfying sex compared to their European and North American counterparts1, because they are considerably less likely to access appropriate treatment for a common, taboo condition called vaginal atrophy1.
The first-of-its-kind study, called the CLarifying vaginal atrophy's impact On SEx and Relationships (CLOSER) study, showed that British post-menopausal women with vaginal atrophy are more likely to experience less sex1, and less satisfying sex, compared to other women in Europe and North America (67% and 61% vs 58% and 49% overall, respectively)1. Fear of painful sex was one of the main reasons women avoided intimacy (63%)1, with almost one third of women (30%) and male partners (29%) saying that vaginal discomfort had caused a "big problem" for their sex lives1.
Despite over one and a half million women across the UK potentially experiencing this problem2,4, British women in CLOSER were 50% less likely (21% versus 41% overall) to receive local oestrogen treatment, compared to women from other countries1.
"Given the obvious impact of vaginal atrophy on women in the UK, and their partners, it is very sad to learn that we are lagging behind other Western countries in terms of ensuring appropriate access to treatment," commented Dr Heather Currie, co-author of the study and Associate Specialist Gynaecologist at the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, founder of menopausematters.co.uk and Honorary Secretary of the British Menopause Society. "It is our hope that the CLOSER study will encourage our fellow medical professionals, and women themselves, to routinely raise the topic of post-menopausal vaginal health, thereby facilitating appropriate diagnosis and treatment."
Vaginal atrophy is a chronic condition caused by a drop in oestrogen levels, with symptoms including vaginal dryness, itching and painful intercourse5. The condition can have a significant emotional impact, as well as on quality of life, and can lead to serious long-term urogenital problems if left untreated (e.g. incontinence)6.
Local oestrogen, the preferred treatment for vaginal atrophy according to The British Menopause Society7, is applied directly to the vagina while, in systemic hormone therapy, the hormones travel around the entire body7. As vaginal atrophy is a chronic condition, treatment needs to be continued to maintain the benefits7.
"More than two-thirds (68%) of British women in CLOSER used lubricants and moisturisers to treat their vaginal symptoms, but these are not as effective as oestrogen therapy as they do not treat the underlying cause," explained Dr Nick Panay, co-author and Consultant Gynaecologist, Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, London, and Immediate Past Chair of the British Menopause Society. "Local oestrogen offers women a well-tolerated and effective solution to vaginal atrophy which, as the CLOSER study illustrates, can significantly disrupt many relationships."
British women who had tried local oestrogen treatment for vaginal atrophy reported beneficial effects such as less painful sex (58%)8, more satisfying sex for their partner (42%)8 and themselves (40%)8, feeling closer and less isolated from their partner (33%)8, having sex more often (27%)8, and saying that they now look forward to having sex (26%)8.
###
A new study in Menopause International reveals how the sex lives of post-menopausal women in Britain are under threat from a common and simple-to-treat symptom of the menopause
The CLOSER study showed how British women with vaginal atrophy were more likely to say they had less sex and found it less satisfying compared to their European and North American counterparts1
British women were 50% less likely to receive appropriate therapy for vaginal atrophy1, with just one in five women (21%) with the condition accessing local oestrogen treatment1
Vaginal symptoms will affect almost half (45%) of all women when they are post-menopausal2, but only a quarter will seek medical advice3
Study authors call for increased awareness and routine discussion1
Julian Butler
Novo Nordisk FemCare AG
+41 43 222 4331 jbut@novonordisk.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the CLOSER research
The CLOSER research was an online survey conducted by StrategyOne (partnering with Ipsos MORI) between 13 December 2011 and 7 February 2012. The survey was completed by 4,100 post-menopausal women, aged between 55-65 who had ceased menstruating for at least 12 months and have experienced vaginal atrophy, and 4,100 male partners of post-menopausal women aged 55-65 who have ceased menstruating for at least 12 months and have experienced vaginal atrophy. The participants were located across nine countries: US, UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy and France.
The objectives of this research were to better understand the impact that vaginal atrophy has on intimacy and relationships, both physically and emotionally, and to find out how to encourage positive conversations among men and women about this topic. The research also looked at the positive impact that local oestrogen treatment can have on the sufferer's relationship. The global results were first presented at the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) in March 2012 and the UK data was first presented at the British Menopause Society (BMS) Annual Conference in July 2012.
About vaginal atrophy
Vaginal atrophy, a chronic condition, is the thinning and inflammation of the vaginal wall which occurs when there is a reduction in levels of oestrogens5. Oestrogen, produced by the ovaries, is responsible for maintaining the structure and function of the vaginal wall, elasticity of the tissues around the vagina and production of vaginal fluid. If left untreated, vaginal atrophy can have long-term urogenital effects, including incontinence6.
About Novo Nordisk
Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 89 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. For more information, visit novonordisk.co.uk
References
1. Domoney C, Currie H, Panay N, Maamari R, Nappi RE. The CLOSER survey: impact of postmenopausal vaginal discomfort on women and male partners in the UK. Menopause International. June 2013; 19(2):69-76.
2. Nappi RE, Kokot-Kierepa M. Vaginal health: Insights, Views and Attitudes (VIVA) results from an international survey. Climacteric. February 2012;15:36-44.
3. Cardozo L, Bachmann G, McClish D, Fonda D, Birgerson L. Meta-analysis of estrogen therapy in the management of urogenital atrophy in postmenopausal women: second report of the Hormones and Urogenital Therapy Committee. Obstet Gynecol 1998;92:722-7.
4. Office for National Statistics. Table 1 2011 Census: Usual resident population by five-year age group and sex, United Kingdom and constituent countries. Last accessed: May 2013.
5. Simon J, et al. Effective Treatment of Vaginal Atrophy With an ultra-Low-Dose Estradiol Vaginal Tablet. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2008; 112(5):1053-1060.
6. Hextall A. Oestrogens and lower urinary tract function. Maturitas. 2000;36:83-92
7.Panay N, Hamoda H, Arya R and Savvas M on behalf of The British Menopause Society. The 2013 British Menopause Society & Women's Health Concern recommendations on hormone replacement therapy. Menopause International. Published online before print May 2013;Accessble at: http://min.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/05/23/1754045313489645; doi: 10.1177/1754045313489645.
8. Domoney C, et al. Vaginal Health: When intimacy matters! British Menopause Society (BMS) Annual Congress, 2012.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
British women 50 percent less likley to recieve treatment for common menopausal symptomsPublic release date: 19-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Crawley, UK-- New data, published today in Menopause International, suggests that post-menopausal women in Britain are experiencing less sex, and less satisfying sex compared to their European and North American counterparts1, because they are considerably less likely to access appropriate treatment for a common, taboo condition called vaginal atrophy1.
The first-of-its-kind study, called the CLarifying vaginal atrophy's impact On SEx and Relationships (CLOSER) study, showed that British post-menopausal women with vaginal atrophy are more likely to experience less sex1, and less satisfying sex, compared to other women in Europe and North America (67% and 61% vs 58% and 49% overall, respectively)1. Fear of painful sex was one of the main reasons women avoided intimacy (63%)1, with almost one third of women (30%) and male partners (29%) saying that vaginal discomfort had caused a "big problem" for their sex lives1.
Despite over one and a half million women across the UK potentially experiencing this problem2,4, British women in CLOSER were 50% less likely (21% versus 41% overall) to receive local oestrogen treatment, compared to women from other countries1.
"Given the obvious impact of vaginal atrophy on women in the UK, and their partners, it is very sad to learn that we are lagging behind other Western countries in terms of ensuring appropriate access to treatment," commented Dr Heather Currie, co-author of the study and Associate Specialist Gynaecologist at the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, founder of menopausematters.co.uk and Honorary Secretary of the British Menopause Society. "It is our hope that the CLOSER study will encourage our fellow medical professionals, and women themselves, to routinely raise the topic of post-menopausal vaginal health, thereby facilitating appropriate diagnosis and treatment."
Vaginal atrophy is a chronic condition caused by a drop in oestrogen levels, with symptoms including vaginal dryness, itching and painful intercourse5. The condition can have a significant emotional impact, as well as on quality of life, and can lead to serious long-term urogenital problems if left untreated (e.g. incontinence)6.
Local oestrogen, the preferred treatment for vaginal atrophy according to The British Menopause Society7, is applied directly to the vagina while, in systemic hormone therapy, the hormones travel around the entire body7. As vaginal atrophy is a chronic condition, treatment needs to be continued to maintain the benefits7.
"More than two-thirds (68%) of British women in CLOSER used lubricants and moisturisers to treat their vaginal symptoms, but these are not as effective as oestrogen therapy as they do not treat the underlying cause," explained Dr Nick Panay, co-author and Consultant Gynaecologist, Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, London, and Immediate Past Chair of the British Menopause Society. "Local oestrogen offers women a well-tolerated and effective solution to vaginal atrophy which, as the CLOSER study illustrates, can significantly disrupt many relationships."
British women who had tried local oestrogen treatment for vaginal atrophy reported beneficial effects such as less painful sex (58%)8, more satisfying sex for their partner (42%)8 and themselves (40%)8, feeling closer and less isolated from their partner (33%)8, having sex more often (27%)8, and saying that they now look forward to having sex (26%)8.
###
A new study in Menopause International reveals how the sex lives of post-menopausal women in Britain are under threat from a common and simple-to-treat symptom of the menopause
The CLOSER study showed how British women with vaginal atrophy were more likely to say they had less sex and found it less satisfying compared to their European and North American counterparts1
British women were 50% less likely to receive appropriate therapy for vaginal atrophy1, with just one in five women (21%) with the condition accessing local oestrogen treatment1
Vaginal symptoms will affect almost half (45%) of all women when they are post-menopausal2, but only a quarter will seek medical advice3
Study authors call for increased awareness and routine discussion1
Julian Butler
Novo Nordisk FemCare AG
+41 43 222 4331 jbut@novonordisk.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the CLOSER research
The CLOSER research was an online survey conducted by StrategyOne (partnering with Ipsos MORI) between 13 December 2011 and 7 February 2012. The survey was completed by 4,100 post-menopausal women, aged between 55-65 who had ceased menstruating for at least 12 months and have experienced vaginal atrophy, and 4,100 male partners of post-menopausal women aged 55-65 who have ceased menstruating for at least 12 months and have experienced vaginal atrophy. The participants were located across nine countries: US, UK, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy and France.
The objectives of this research were to better understand the impact that vaginal atrophy has on intimacy and relationships, both physically and emotionally, and to find out how to encourage positive conversations among men and women about this topic. The research also looked at the positive impact that local oestrogen treatment can have on the sufferer's relationship. The global results were first presented at the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) in March 2012 and the UK data was first presented at the British Menopause Society (BMS) Annual Conference in July 2012.
About vaginal atrophy
Vaginal atrophy, a chronic condition, is the thinning and inflammation of the vaginal wall which occurs when there is a reduction in levels of oestrogens5. Oestrogen, produced by the ovaries, is responsible for maintaining the structure and function of the vaginal wall, elasticity of the tissues around the vagina and production of vaginal fluid. If left untreated, vaginal atrophy can have long-term urogenital effects, including incontinence6.
About Novo Nordisk
Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 89 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy. For more information, visit novonordisk.co.uk
References
1. Domoney C, Currie H, Panay N, Maamari R, Nappi RE. The CLOSER survey: impact of postmenopausal vaginal discomfort on women and male partners in the UK. Menopause International. June 2013; 19(2):69-76.
2. Nappi RE, Kokot-Kierepa M. Vaginal health: Insights, Views and Attitudes (VIVA) results from an international survey. Climacteric. February 2012;15:36-44.
3. Cardozo L, Bachmann G, McClish D, Fonda D, Birgerson L. Meta-analysis of estrogen therapy in the management of urogenital atrophy in postmenopausal women: second report of the Hormones and Urogenital Therapy Committee. Obstet Gynecol 1998;92:722-7.
4. Office for National Statistics. Table 1 2011 Census: Usual resident population by five-year age group and sex, United Kingdom and constituent countries. Last accessed: May 2013.
5. Simon J, et al. Effective Treatment of Vaginal Atrophy With an ultra-Low-Dose Estradiol Vaginal Tablet. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2008; 112(5):1053-1060.
6. Hextall A. Oestrogens and lower urinary tract function. Maturitas. 2000;36:83-92
7.Panay N, Hamoda H, Arya R and Savvas M on behalf of The British Menopause Society. The 2013 British Menopause Society & Women's Health Concern recommendations on hormone replacement therapy. Menopause International. Published online before print May 2013;Accessble at: http://min.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/05/23/1754045313489645; doi: 10.1177/1754045313489645.
8. Domoney C, et al. Vaginal Health: When intimacy matters! British Menopause Society (BMS) Annual Congress, 2012.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Editor's Note: Marc Young, an American journalist based in Berlin, is covering President Barack Obama's visit for Yahoo News. BERLIN?When Barack Obama last visited Berlin back in 2008, Constanze Fr?hlich felt like she was part of history. ?He was about to become the first black president?I wanted to support that,? the 35-year-old university researcher told [...]
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Public release date: 19-Jun-2013
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