Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=298826&goto=newpost
Vine Summer solstice 2013 drew brees drew brees usps Ola Ray Ginobili
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Telenor, Ooredoo win Myanmar telecom licenses
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? Myanmar granted licenses Thursday to Norway's Telenor and Ooredoo of Qatar to set up the country's first foreign-owned mobile phone networks.
Currently less than 6 million of country's 60 million people have mobile phones, one of the lowest connectivity rates in the world. Hoping to spur economic growth, the government is trying to push penetration rates to 80 percent by 2016.
The licenses were awarded despite an eleventh hour push by lawmakers to delay a decision until a new telecommunications law is passed.
Of the more than 90 companies that submitted bids, 11 were short-listed.
Myanmar, located in the heart of one of the fastest growing regions in the world, became one of the most isolated and poorest nations during its half-century of iron-clad military rule.
After taking control of a quasi-civilian government in 2011, former general Thein Sein started implementing promised political and economic reforms.
The communications industry, long-neglected by the country's military rulers, is in need of a complete overhaul. That's in part because the original network was intended for only a tiny number of subscribers, mostly the rich. Up until a few years ago, the cost of SIM cards could reach $2,000.
Ooredoo was formerly known as Qatar Telecom.
Associated PressElection 2012 Results polling place comedy central philadelphia eagles obamacare Todd Akin Register To Vote
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Samsung puts curve in OLED televisions
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? After delays, Samsung Electronics Co. rolled out Thursday a curved TV that uses an advanced display called OLED.
The 55-inch TV will sell for 15 million won ($13,000) in South Korea, more than five times the cost of LCD televisions of the same size.
But Kim Hyunsuk, the executive vice president of Samsung's TV division, said the company is optimistic about demand for the high-end TV.
"OLED is about picture quality," Kim told reporters. "We are sure that we realized the perfect picture quality."
It remains to be seen if consumers will be willing to pay a premium for enhanced imagery. The TV industry has been struggling to excite interest with its latest technologies. In recent years, attempts to boost sales by introducing 3-D TVs and TVs that are connected to the Internet have failed to end the downturn in the TV industry.
Samsung is not the first to introduce a curved TV using OLED. In May, its rival LG Electronics Inc., the second-biggest TV maker, launched a 55-inch curved TV in South Korea.
LG's model, which also sells for 15 million won, is not sold outside South Korea.
LG spokesman Kenneth Hong said the company will ship curved OLED TVs to other countries in the near future.
Samsung will ship its curved OLED TVs to overseas markets starting July, Kim said. The company does not plan to manufacture flat OLED TVs this year, he said.
The concave display gives viewers a sense of being immersed in the images, according to Samsung.
Samsung and LG, which are the only TV makers in the world to begin commercial sales of OLED TVs, had promised to launch them in 2012 but delayed the launch to this year.
The two South Korean TV giants tout OLED, short for organic light-emitting diode, as the next-generation display technology that will eventually replace older displays. But mass producing OLED displays still faces many challenges, leading to high prices.
In addition to curved OLED TVs, Samsung launched two ultra-HD TVs, with about four times the resolution of regular high-definition TVs.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-puts-curve-oled-televisions-060257066.html
pope shenouda bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd
Obama to unveil climate change plan with sweeping emissions cuts
Obama is expected to announce Tuesday a comprehensive new plan to combat climate change that includes cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants ? a move that could lead to a wave of plant closings.
Smoke rises from the stacks of the La Cygne Generating Station coal-fired power plant in La Cygne, Kan. President Obama says he'll unveil a national plan to combat climate change in a speech Tuesday.
Charlie Riedel/AP/File
EnlargeRecognizing that Congress is unlikely to pass significant climate change legislation during his second term, President Obama will take some of the most sweeping measures available to him to unilaterally combat global warming.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The new plan, which Mr. Obama will unveil Tuesday at Georgetown University, is expected to include a ramping up of energy efficiency and renewable energy in addition to national preparations to deal with the meteorological and financial impacts of climate change. But by far the strongest element of the plan is a set of new regulations intended to slash greenhouse-gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants ? not just power plants built in the future.
Obama intends to issue a presidential memorandum directing the Environmental Protection Agency to implement new regulations of greenhouse-gas emissions under the authority of the Clean Air Act. The president's plan is an attempt to deliver on his promise to cut carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, White House officials told reporters in a conference call Monday.
The move has the potential to cut annually hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) ? a potent greenhouse gas ? and far overshadow any carbon-emissions cuts the Obama administration has achieved so far through improved fuel-efficiency standards. But it could also accelerate the closure of many existing older coal-fired power plants across the country, which are already struggling to meet current standards.
"Nothing on this scale in the Clean Air Act has ever been attempted before," says Kevin Book, an energy analyst with ClearView Partners, an energy economics consulting firm in Washington. "This step will be the catalyst for the next wave of coal-fired power plant retirements. It's almost certainly going to get hung up in the courts for years."
Obama seeks to combat global warming in a variety of ways in the new plan. Among the highlights:
- Create new energy-efficiency standards for federal buildings and appliances.
- Ramp up enough clean-energy production on public lands to power 6 million homes by 2020. ?
- Extend $8 billion in loan-guarantee authority to accelerate investment in advanced fossil-energy and efficiency projects.
- End public financing of coal-fired plants overseas and push for free trade in clean-energy technologies.
But a concrete plan to reach a 17 percent cut in carbon emissions is seen as the cornerstone of Obama's move. That figure is widely considered a requirement for the US to be taken seriously in ongoing international climate talks. Obama wants to reinvigorate US efforts to lead in those talks, White House officials said.
They said the plan to address existing-power-plant emissions has a firm timeline ? adding credibility to the effort. The goal is to finalize power plant emissions regulations by June 2015, long enough before Mr. Obama leaves office to be solidly in force before the next administration takes over.
"We know that we have to get to work quickly in order to not only propose, but finalize the rule," said a senior White House official. "The president will be directing the EPA to start that work."
Neither the briefing for reporters nor the fact sheet and background materials provided by the White House presented an estimate for the tonnage of carbon emissions expected to be cut overall. Electricity-generating power plants emit about 2.4 billion tons of CO2 each year, roughly 40 percent of the nation?s total emissions. But the plan was still received enthusiastically by environmentalists.
nicki minaj beez in the trap video food network f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
New York Moves to Require Audits of Preschool Special-Education ...
The New York Legislature is trying to tighten controls over the state?s preschool program for disabled children, the cost of which has soared to $2 billion annually.
The State Senate and Assembly unanimously approved a bill last week that would require audits of every special-education prekindergarten contractor by 2018.
The bill was proposed by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli after a series of audits by his office and articles in The New York Times highlighted soaring costs, poor regulation and other problems in the state?s special-education prekindergarten system, the most expensive in the country. Contractors have charged taxpayers for overseas vacations, spa trips, jewelry, groceries and home renovations; hired relatives for no-show jobs; given themselves exorbitant salaries and perks like luxury cars; billed for services they never provided; or lived in other parts of the country and rarely showed up for work, the audits and reports found.
The Times revealed how some prekindergarten evaluators appeared to be distorting their assessments of children to justify expensive instruction provided by their own companies.
The legislation now goes to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose office did not indicate whether he would sign it. Under the bill, school administrators would not be permitted to assign a child?s services to the same prekindergarten contractor that evaluated him or her, unless they stated in writing that ?such placement is an appropriate one for the child? and notified the state education commissioner of the assignment.
That is intended to address conflicts of interest that have occurred when companies evaluated children, exaggerated their disabilities and then provided the services.
Contractors would have to post audit reports on their Web sites, and would be required to ?take measures to ensure? that their executive directors work full-time all year.
?Students and taxpayers deserve much better than they are getting,? Mr. DiNapoli said after passage of the bill, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Catherine T. Nolan, a Queens Democrat, and State Senator John J. Flanagan, a Long Island Republican.
The legislation calls upon the State Education Department to study alternatives to the existing reimbursement and regulatory system.
Nearly all the department?s budget and personnel for oversight are devoted to calculating some 1,400 reimbursement rates for each of the prekindergarten contractors in the state. Little is left to verify that the money is spent properly or to ensure the quality of the services.
A result, officials say, has been rising costs for the state and local governments, which split the bill roughly 60-40. In New York City, annual costs now total $1.2 billion, about 6 percent of the $19.8 billion education budget. Statewide, costs have doubled in just six years.
Advocacy groups for contractors have said that they are devoted to helping children with disabilities, and that a few offenders are giving the industry a bad name.
Education officials have complained that influential lobbyists for contractors have blocked efforts in Albany to control costs.
The current push for reform has been halting: Mr. Cuomo obtained modest changes in the coming year?s state budget, but more aggressive proposals were rejected by the Legislature after contractors expressed opposition.
The final state budget included $5 million to pay for more audits by the State Education Department and by localities, but an Education Department spokesman called the shift of that responsibility to the comptroller a ?sensible next step.?
The proposal by Mr. DiNapoli, too, was watered down by lawmakers: Its initial draft would have required school administrators to obtain a second evaluation from an independent professional, and the approval of the state education commissioner, before assigning a child evaluated by one company to the same company for services.
?Regular and expected audits is really the single best way to get at the corruption,? said former Assemblyman Steven Sanders, a lobbyist for one group of contractors.
But Mr. Sanders said the state eventually needed to switch to a system with uniform, regional reimbursement rates for all providers. As it stands now, he said: ?The more you spend, the more you claim, the more you get back. I think that that methodology leaves wide open the possibility for overexpenditure.?
Stephen J. Acquario, executive director of the New York Association of Counties, which has lobbied for more stringent spending curbs in the program, said the bill did not go far enough but called it ?a step in the right direction.?
Lizzie Velasquez NFL Network att libya twin towers gizmodo iPhone 5
Jezebel Is There Such a Thing as a Feminist Pick-Up Artist?
Jezebel Is There Such a Thing as a Feminist Pick-Up Artist? | Jalopnik Ten Cars That Aren't Only For Assholes | Deadspin PHOTOS: Chicago's Stanley Cup Celebrations Got Slightly Out Of Hand | io9 Confirmed: A Star System with Three Potentially Habitable Planets!
Source: http://lauren.kinja.com/jezebel-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-feminist-pick-up-art-573352182
tracy morgan Chase.com Talk Like a Pirate Day raiders iOS 6 Features iOS 6 bank of america
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)