British Government Boards The P2P Lending Train: Plans To Loan ?30M Through Funding Circle, Zopa

displaymedia.ashxDespite bailing them out (and practically owning some of them), the UK government seems unable to force high street banks to begin lending to small businesses again and this is causing a big problem for the economy -- the wheels of capitalism won't grease themselves. The latest solution coming out of the Department for Business Innovation & Skills is to board the P2P lending train. The UK government has pledged ?110 million of tax payer's money to lend to SMEs through 'alternative finance' schemes and today we've learned that two P2P lending sites, Funding Circle and Zopa, stand to benefit, with each receiving ?20m and ?10m respectively.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JYXUjDl0TAk/

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Mali's PM forced to resign, after arrest by junta

In this still frame made from video provided by ORTM Mali TV, Mali's Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra resigns during a broadcast on state television from Bamako, Mali on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, hours after soldiers who led a recent coup burst into his home and arrested him. (AP Photo/ORTM Mali TV) MALI ACCESS OUT

In this still frame made from video provided by ORTM Mali TV, Mali's Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra resigns during a broadcast on state television from Bamako, Mali on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, hours after soldiers who led a recent coup burst into his home and arrested him. (AP Photo/ORTM Mali TV) MALI ACCESS OUT

FILE - In this March 27, 2012 file photo, Malian soldiers loyal to coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo secure the location as he arrives at his headquarters at Kati military base, just outside Bamako. A policy officer and an intelligence official have confirmed that Mali's Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra was arrested at his home late on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, by the soldiers who helped lead the recent coup. For several weeks, tension has been mounting between the soldiers who led Mali's March 21 coup and Diarra, the civilian prime minister they were forced to appoint when they handed back power to a transitional government.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, Mali Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York. A policy officer and an intelligence official have confirmed that Mali's prime minister was arrested at his home late on Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, by the soldiers who helped lead a recent coup. For several weeks, tension has been mounting between the soldiers who led Mali's March 21 coup and Diarra, the civilian prime minister they were forced to appoint when they handed back power to a transitional government.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Soldiers arrested Mali's prime minister and forced him to resign before dawn on Tuesday, showing that the military remains the real power in this troubled West African nation despite handing back authority to civilians after a coup in March.

The prime minister's ouster comes as the United Nations considers backing a military intervention in Mali, a once-stable country now in constant turmoil. The development raises questions about the viability of the operation, which would use the country's military in an attempt to take back Mali's north from Islamic extremists.

Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, dressed in a dark suit and his forehead glistening with sweat, appeared on state television at 4 a.m. to announce his resignation, hours after soldiers stormed his house and forced him into their vehicle.

"Our country is living through a period of crisis. Men and women who are worried about the future of our nation are hoping for peace," he said on television. "It's for this reason that I, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, am resigning along with my entire government on this day, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. I apologize before the entire population of Mali."

The 60-year-old Diarra is an astrophysicist who previously led NASA's Mars exploration education program. He is now under house arrest, said a spokesman for the junta, Bakary Mariko. The government remains technically under the control of the interim president, but in a further sign of how confused the situation remains, the nation's constitutional leader has not made a statement since the premier's forced resignation.

The shake-up in Bamako is already looking like it may endanger plans for the military intervention. The African Union is proposing sending several thousand African troops to help the Malian military take back the north, which fell to al-Qaida-linked Islamists in the chaos that followed the March 21 coup.

The military's constant meddling in state affairs has concerned the international community. And many worry that supporting the operation will simply further arm and embolden the very officers responsible for Mali's current state. The junta leaders have already been implicated in atrocities including the sexual torture of their opponents.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned Tuesday that Diarra's forced resignation makes Western countries wary of getting involved in a military incursion ? even one which officials have insisted will not include Western troops.

"One thing is clear: Our offers of help come with the condition that the process of restoring constitutional order in Mali be conducted credibly," Westerwelle said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called Diarra's arrest a setback for Mali's efforts to reinstate constitutional rule. "We need Sanogo and his brothers-in-arms to stay out of politics," Nuland told reporters, referring to coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo.

Already the United States and France are at odds on the best way forward. France's diplomats at the U.N. pushing for a quick intervention in order to expel the extremists, while the U.S. is arguing for a more gradual approach, starting with negotiations.

The now-ousted prime minister was arrested late Monday by the military at his home, forced into a car and driven to the Kati military camp, the sprawling base where the March 21 coup was launched. Two security officials, including a police officer and an intelligence agent, confirmed that Sanogo had ordered the prime minister's arrest.

At the moment of his arrest, the aging leader was getting ready to leave for the airport for a medical trip to Paris, said the police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

"The plane that was to take the prime minister to France was on the point of departure," said the policeman, who was on duty at the airport. "It was stopped by people from the Yerewoloton group who invaded the airport," he said.

Yerewoloton is a group of civilians believed to be backed by Sanogo who have carried out violent actions on the military's behalf. This same group in May invaded the presidential palace, as soldiers looked on, and beat the country's interim president Dioncounda Traore, until he lost consciousness.

That incident increased international pressure on Mali's junta. Sanogo signed a lengthy accord agreeing to step down and retreated from public life. But even so, the signs have long suggested that the military still calls the shots in Bamako.

Junta spokesman Bakary Mariko acknowledged that soldiers allied with Sanogo detained the prime minister and have him under house arrest. Mariko said Diarra was "not getting along" with either the interim president or Sanogo.

"He says he's going to Paris for medical tests ... but we know better and realize that he is trying to flee in order to go and create a blockage in the Mali situation ....It's the reason why Mali's army has taken things into their own hands and told Cheikh Modibo Diarra to resign for the good of Mali," Mariko said.

Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for West Africa, Corinne Dufka, condemned the military's intervention, saying it fits with the pattern of abuse by the soldiers ever since the coup eight months ago.

"They've arrested, beaten and intimidated journalists; tortured and disappeared military rivals; and now, apparently, arbitrarily detained the prime minister. None of these incidents have been investigated and those responsible appear to have been emboldened by the shameful lack of accountability," Dufka said.

Diarra was initially seen as in-step with Sanogo. Critics lambasted him for frequently driving to the Kati barracks to see the coup leader, long after Sanogo was supposed to have handed power to civilians. In recent weeks though, Diarra has taken stances that sometimes conflict with Sanogo.

Bamako remained calm on Tuesday, despite waking up to what is being called a "mini-coup." People went about their daily lives, but with a sense of deep disappointment in this nation, which was once held up as a model democracy in Africa.

"I really am struggling to understand ? so if the prime minister is not doing his job properly, it's up to the junta to come and arrest him?" said Aboubacrine Assadek Ag Hamahady, a university professor. "Based on what law, on what legal text can the junta justify this arrest?"

___

Callimachi reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Don Melvin in Brussels and Jamey Keaton in Paris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-11-Mali-Prime%20Minister%20Arrested/id-e9f0df176b4f47ffa4227917c9b1e99d

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Brandi Glanville set for breast tumor surgery

Robin Marchant / Getty Images Contributor

By Us Weekly

Brandi Glanville's cancer scare turned out to be just that. The "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star, 40, will undergo surgery on Dec. 12 for the removal of a benign breast tumor, her rep confirms to Us Weekly.

PHOTOS: Breast cancer awareness? -- 10 fab finds for a cause

Glanville first made reference to the upcoming procedure via Twitter last week. "I think I found a name 4 tumor in my booby thats coming out dec12 starts with an R &ends with an online," she cracked in an apparent nod to her foe LeAnn Rimes. "It's not the big C, please don't worry," she assured her followers. "It's just some n'lame thats been making me ill."

PHOTOS: LeAnn and Eddie's road to romance

The jibe at country singer Rimes -- second wife to Glanville's ex-husband Eddie Cibrian -- came before Glanville called a truce in an exclusive statement to Us.

"My intention has always been to take care of my children and tend to their well-being," Glanville told Us of her sons Mason, 9, and Jake, 5. "Unfortunately, my ex-husband has not been communicative with me in this regard, and so I have needed to seek him out publicly."

VIDEO: Brandi opens up about her squabbles with Eddie and LeAnn

In an earlier interview with Us Weekly's Rebecca Bienstock, Glanville claimed that Mason became ill after eating his stepmother's laxatives, mistaking them for candy; Rimes and Cibrian denied the claim.

Related content:

More in the Clicker:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/12/10/15815908-brandi-glanville-undergoing-surgery-for-benign-breast-tumor?lite

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As Syria's rebels close in, Assad has three options

The magnificent views across Damascus from the presidential palace on Mount Qassioun are unlikely to provide much comfort these days for Bashar al-Assad, Syria?s beleaguered head of state.

For several weeks, the skyline to the north, east, and south has been stained by black columns of smoke from artillery explosions and air strikes as Syrian government forces struggle to prevent the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels from inching ever closer to their goal of unseating Mr. Assad?s regime.

After 20 months of confrontation, Assad?s hold on power is looking increasingly frail, leaving him and his regime with few remaining options.

?There is no doubt that the regime?s capacity is declining and that the FSA continues to become ever stronger and better armed,? says a European diplomat closely following developments in Syria.

Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.

The current status of the regime is uncertain and it is not even clear if Assad is still in charge. The diplomat says that Assad appears to have become a ?prisoner of his own system,? no longer playing an active leadership role and confined to his palace. Instead, there are indications that an informal "security council? has emerged consisting of between 50 to 100 top regime and military figures drawn from the minority Alawite community which is handling the daily confrontation against the armed opposition.

THREE OPTIONS

Either way, the regime is steadily losing ground as the rebels attempt to encircle Damascus for an apparent final push into the city center, leaving Assad with three possible choices. The first ? although least likely ? option is to remain in the presidential palace to the bitter ? and probably bloody ? end, fulfilling a promise he made last month in an interview with Russian television to ?live and die in Syria?.

A second possibility is to escape Damascus with his family and seek asylum in a third country, perhaps Iran or Venezuela, the governments of which openly support the Syrian regime. Faisal Miqdad, Syria?s deputy foreign minister, was reported to have visited Venezuela, Cuba, and Ecuador recently. Ecuador subsequently announced that it was not entertaining the idea of granting asylum to Assad.

The most likely option, however, and one that appears already to be under way, is for the regime and the core of the army and security forces to retreat to the Alawite-populated mountains on the Mediterranean coast. Diplomatic sources say that there are unconfirmed reports that the regime is planning to register all Sunnis who live in the coastal cities of Tartous, Banias, and Latakia which could potentially form part of an Alawite-dominated enclave. The coastal cities are predominantly Sunni-populated while the mountain hinterland is mainly Alawite.

EXODUS TO THE MOUNTAINS

Furthermore, there appears to be a steady and discreet trickle of families of pro-regime Alawite army officers leaving the upmarket Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus for the coastal mountains.

?More and more regime supporters and, or their families are moving up the coast, and there are persistent rumors that at least part of the government now sits in Tartous,? the European diplomat says. ?All indications are that the regime's fallback position is to retreat to the coastal area of ??Tartous and Latakia.?

Significantly, units of the rebel Free Syrian Army operating north of Damascus appear to be limiting ambushes to south-bound military traffic heading to the capital along the main highway, the sources say. Vehicles heading north are left unmolested, raising the possibility that the highway, which leads to Tartous, is being offered as an escape route for the regime to prevent a protracted and bloody last stand in Damascus.

INCREMENTAL RETREAT

Still, there might not be a mad dash for the mountains as Damascus falls but more of an incremental retreat.

?I think that the Assad regime will go in stages,? says Andrew Tabler, Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. ?You have the north and east go and then after that there will be a real effort to hold on to Damascus as long as possible. But in the end I don't see that as viable.?

Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.

Mr. Tabler says he envisages a staged pullback from Damascus first to the area west of Homs, Syria?s third largest city which lies two-thirds of the way along the Damascus-Tartous highway, and then to the mountains.

?Those areas are viable, I think, in the short- to medium-term,? he says.

A fallback to Homs would explain the fierce fighting that erupted in September and October in a string of villages between Homs and the border with Lebanon, 20 miles to the south. Syrian troops assisted by pro-regime Shabiha militiamen and combatants from Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant Shia group, fought rebel forces to maintain control of the villages which flank the vital Damascus-Tartous highway.

ALAWITE STATELET?

While there appears to be consensus among analysts that the regime will eventually decamp to the coastal region, what remains unclear is the nature of the enclave ? if any ? that would be established there. The prospect of creating a mini Alawite state along the lines of the French-engineered statelet between 1920 and 1937 appears improbable under current circumstances. It would require the suppression of hostile Sunnis in the coastal cities and would be internationally ostracized and subject to attack by the FSA.

The chief motivation for retreating to the mountains in the first place is self-preservation rather than state-building (Alawites represent about 12 percent of Syria?s 23 million, while Sunnis comprise about 70 percent).

?The Alawite community ? is counting on [Assad?s] army to protect them from possible retribution from the rebel militias,? writes Joshua Landis, professor of Middle East history at the University of Oklahoma and author of the influential Syria Comment blog. ?Sectarian hatred has been driven to a fever pitch by the brutality of the regime. Syrians have been putting hate into their hearts over the past two years, making the likelihood of some sort of retribution ever more likely and the ethnic cleansing a possibility, even if a small one at the time.?

A rump regime well-entrenched into the mountain villages defended by the Alawite core of the army and security services equipped with armor, artillery, air power and possibly even chemical and biological weapons could buy the Assads some breathing space during a likely period of chaos caused by a sudden leadership vacuum in Damascus. But it is questionable whether it would provide a long-term solution for the Assad clan?s survival.

ALAWITE DIVISIONS

Also working against a more formally established enclave is the fact that not all Alawites support the Assad regime. Some may prefer to cut a deal with the opposition rather than link the fate of the community to that of the Assads. Even Assad?s home town of Qordaha, 15 miles south east of Latakia, has reportedly seen some intra-Alawite unrest between supporters and opponents of the Assad clan.

The Assad family, under Bashar?s 12-year rule, has ?all but seceded socially and economically? from its roots and has done ?precious little? for the Alawites which remains one of the poorest communities in Syria, says Fred Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council?s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and former special adviser for transition in Syria at the State Department.

?On top of that, they have placed this community in grave jeopardy by recklessly pursuing a sectarian strategy to save their skins and preserve their ability to acquire material wealth,? he says. ?In sum, I think it would be inadvisable for the [Assads] and their chief enablers to try and set up shop in Latakia and vicinity. If they have to escape in that direction because of a closed Damascus airport, they?d do well to keep moving. Where to? I don?t know who would have them at this point.?

Sunni and Shiite Islam: Do you know the difference? Take our quiz.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-rebels-close-assad-three-options-160701663.html

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The Lure of the Writer's Cabin - NYTimes.com

The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.

Much has been written about the writer?s cabin. Among the most notable recent books on the topic are ?Heidegger?s Hut? by Adam Sharr and ?A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams,? Michael Pollan?s account of ?imagining and then actually constructing his own writing space. A standard Internet search can quickly yield images of the writing rooms (cabins, huts, sheds) of legendary scriveners: Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Roald Dahl, Carl Jung, Henry Thoreau and ? a writer of a markedly different sort ?Ted Kaczynski, to name a few. And Jill Krementz?s 1999 collection of photographs ?The Writer?s Desk? gives us tantalizing glimpses of writers sitting at their desks. But why the interest? Have these places somehow become secular sites of the sacred?

Who has not fantasized about the books they would write if only the right conditions could be found! I have carried around just such a dream, sparked by a weekend alone in an austere mountain cabin in the Austrian Alps when I was a boy. Rumination was unstoppable, and poetry just poured out.

For the most part, these buildings are small, plain, unprepossessing and sparsely furnished. This poses a problem for my first hypothesis ? that the fascination of these dwellings rests on the hope that we may glean something of the secret of the writer?s genius from the creative space to which they habitually retreated. For we might well conclude from Wittgenstein?s famously almost empty college room in Cambridge (in which he had a deck chair), and indeed from the plainness of so many of these huts, that far from giving expression to, or feeding in some revealing way, the otherwise inaccessible inner workings of the brilliant mind, they reflect a disdainful resistance to the importance of surroundings, an asceticism, an architectural tabula rasa. This would explain why some people work well on planes, in hotel rooms, library carrels, even monastic and indeed prison cells. (Boethius, Bunyan, Gramsci and Negri all wrote significant works while imprisoned.) They are relieved of distraction. Sartre was famous for writing in the corner of Les Deux Magots ? cafe privacy, where the white noise of conversation and cutlery damps down distracting input, fashioning a creative cocoon in the midst of the world.

It is not clear, when we look at Heidegger?s writing scene ? the wooden desk, with the ink blotter, the old chair ? whether these items have some deep meaning, or whether they are the recessive background that makes possible a certain concentration. Most of the items visible in the images available to us are generic and without distinction. Perhaps that is important. The sad truth may be that while we (especially we writers) hope to learn something of the secret of the author from his or her workspace we are often disappointed, just as meeting a famous person can be a letdown.

Photographs of writer?s retreats fall into three broad categories: exteriors, interiors and prospects (views from within), and each has a distinct significance. Exteriors give focus to the imaginative challenge: what was going on that room? It seems a touch more decipherable than what was going on in her head? Interiors, especially those furnished as our own spaces might be, with a desk and a chair, allow us to make comparisons imaginatively to transpose ourselves into that space, even as we mark the distance. But there are distinct details of the writer?s room, too, ones we can never assign to ourselves: the fat fountain pen on Freud?s desk ? now an anachronism, as well as a clich?. Or his row of Egyptian figurines? Were they vital parts of his creative process? But ultimately, it is the typical ordinariness of these interiors that is of real interest.

The third category of perspective ? prospects, the view outside from within ? offers a different sort of insight.. Bertrand Russell?s house, at Plas Penrhyn, near Portmeirion, in Wales, is somewhat plain, but its distant view up the Glaslyn estuary to the slopes of Snowdon is spectacular. As it happens, we do not have many photos of the views from writers? cabins, and of them, Heidegger?s is the prettiest, if not exactly sublime. From the dozens of such cabins that I have inspected ? some personally, others in books or through Google ? it is clear that most of these ?spaces look inward rather than outward. ?Desks are often in the center of the room, rather than at a window, as if the view of the outdoors was not at a premium. To the extent that some satisfaction is taken in being in nature, it is not so much having a view of nature as being part of it.

Perhaps the humble shack is precisely designed not to stand out more than necessary. Tree, rock, path, shack. And when perusing the image of the shack, we are offered a view of what can be seen from inside or from its immediate vicinity, there is no doubting the interpretive complexity that awaits us. We look to these images as satisfying a certain desire on the part of the writer ? ?a room of one?s own? ? a desire with which we can identify. It is tempting to suppose that the significance we give to the view is shared by the writer. This is behind the disappointment we may well feel at the visual modesty of so many of these sites. Russell?s Sierra Club vista ? with its views of Snowdon and the estuary ? is truly an exception. More important, the aesthetic distance sustained by a beautiful view may actually be problematic. Heidegger said as much in his ruminations in ?Why I Stay in the Provinces,? in which he distanced himself from an aesthetic appreciation of the working landscapes of his South German peasants.

The possibility of exploring all three categories obviously gives an actual visit to the site a special appeal. The sign near Heidegger?s hut that marks it as Heidegger family property, and that indicates that the family does not welcome tourists, must be dispiriting for those who trekked in expecting some sort of dwelling communion with the genius loci, if not the spirit of the master. And yet unless the original has been preserved and made publicly available, photographs may be far the best access to a past that is no more.

Photographs that include the author can then be particularly valuable; Krementz?s images give us tantalizing glimpses of writers sitting at their desks. But might they not also strain the imagination? A contemporary viewer inclined to imagining himself working in the same space might find the image of the writer doing so an obstacle. This is analogous to the privilege of radio over TV; TV kills the imagination that radio requires. Again, it is hard to know what to make of the onsite reconstruction of Thoreau?s cabin at Walden Pond, or of the Newseum?s exhibition of Ted Kaczynski?s 10-by-12 Montana shack, each of which effects a serious displacement of the reality effect, the magic of touching the original. If I pick up Freud?s pen, the very pen he held in his hand, does something flow from him to me? Am I not at least licensed to imagine a common ground between us, however structurally, culturally, historically mediated? Is not the same true of opening the very door that Nietzsche or Kaczynski, or Dahl opened, turning the same handle? Who could not be moved by the thought of touching even a fragment of the linen shroud that held the body of Christ, and still preserves his crucified image? Why reach out to touch the hem of a rock star? Is the famous writer?s cabin a modern fetish?

It is not uncommon to mark one?s reservation at the Arcadian settings so favored by these huts, as if marking the shape of distance that serious writing must take ? distance from technology, from the modern, from the city. Is there not something politically anachronistic about the image of the water trough outside Heidegger?s hut, where a spring unfailingly flows? Is anything like a progressive stance compatible with such atavistic images? Is there not a tacit repudiation of a different style of critique ? the sort leveled by (say) the peripatetic eye of a Walter Benjamin at our urban Arcades? Politically perhaps Hannah Arendt had it right: ?Flight from the world ? can always be justified as long as reality is not ignored but acknowledged as the thing that must be escaped.? (?Men in Dark Times?). More broadly, might it not be that the bland space of the cabin, like the yellow pad, or the laptop screen, is something of a neutral ground making room for the refiguration or transformation of the real ? not a flight in the sense of repudiation of the real, rather relief from the pressure of its organizing principles.

One does not have to be a Thoreau or a Rousseau for one of these modest spaces to supply what is needed to write. Identification with nature is not required (if indeed it were possible); a certain harmony with nature is already broken by putting pen to paper. And would one really seek harmony with nature if one were privy to the ruthless struggles being played out under every rock? The roof of the cabin, the door, the window are all designed to keep nature at bay. The flat surface of the desk, the laptop screen, the artificial light all bear witness to the necessity to subordinate nature?s spontaneous irregularity, to fashion a little Versailles.

Between world and word there is both a bridge and a chasm. Sometimes it seems that nothing could be more natural than speaking or writing. And yet we know that a manifesto, a book, even a well-turned, well-timed phrase can change the world. Writers are at times, as Pope decried, fools in dunce?s caps. But they can also be magicians, conjuring other worlds, brave new possibilities. The cabin is one culturally powerful image of that semi-detached space in which those creative discontinuities are spawned. It seems to hold a secret, but behind the first there hides another. If the first secret is that to write, one needs a blank sheet of paper, or a blank screen, the second secret, the secret of the cabin, is that one does not strictly need a mountain or a shack at the end of a trail, off the grid. Rather, a table, a chair, somewhere simple, free of distraction. For some, even a cupboard in an office building no-one is using that day will do. But bring your noise-cancelling headphones just in case.


David Wood is a philosopher, earth artist, and a professor of philosophy and European studies at Vanderbilt University. He is completing a writer?s cabin at the end of a trail at Yellow Bird Sculpture Park in Woodbury, Tenn. A response to this piece by the Edinburgh philosopher John Llewelyn can be found here.

Source: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/the-lure-of-the-writers-cabin/

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Elephant Relocation Scheme Fails to Prevent Deaths

An attempt to save the lives of both elephants and people by moving the pachyderms away from humans has failed in Sri Lanka, a new study finds.

Instead of the relocated elephants living peacefully in their new homes, they wandered, researchers found. Relocated elephants died more often than problem elephants left in their original range. The relocated elephants also killed more people than elephants that stayed put.

"We were stunned that translocation neither solves the conflict nor saves elephants," study researcher Peter Leimgruber, a research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, said in a statement.

Relocating elephants

Elephant-human conflicts are a big problem, as an incident on Nov. 4 illustrates. On that day, a herd of elephants reportedly ransacked three houses in the village of Dumurkota, India, guzzling a shop's reserves of a local alcoholic brew called mahua. ??

In Sri Lanka, about 70 people and 200 Asian elephants die each year as a result of human-pachyderm conflict, according to the Smithsonian. A common solution is to move the elephants to protected areas, such as national parks. [Elephant Images: Largest Beasts on Land]

But a new study using GPS-enabled collars to track elephants found that relocating the animals did little good. The researchers followed 12 relocated male elephants and compared them with 12 male elephants left in their home ranges. All 24 elephants were "problem" elephants, meaning they had a history of conflict with humans.

Tragic ends

Two of the relocated elephants were killed in the national parks where they had been moved. The rest had wandered out of the park boundaries by 260 days after the release (some stayed around as little as a day). The wandering elephants either returned to their original range or settled somewhere new, but nearly all of them got tangled with humans again. Five of them died within eight months of the release. The relocated elephants were also responsible for killing five people in that time period.

The elephants left in their ranges didn't kill anyone, though one elephant was shot and killed.

There are only 35,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, making their conservation a priority. But conflicts stymie that goal, researchers said.

"As you track the elephants, you identify with these animals, you see their struggles and understand why they're doing the things that ultimately get them killed," Leimgruber said. "But you also understand that elephants represent a serious threat to humans and their livelihood."

The researchers suggest land-use plans that minimize crop-raiding might be more effective than moving elephants away.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas?or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/elephant-relocation-scheme-fails-prevent-deaths-202131033.html

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Samit Choudhuri and Chris Trumble for Sandhills Publishing and ...

by wolverine on December 9, 2012

Are you concerned about making computer access for everyone? If so, you may want to consider using assistive technology. Not sure what this is or how it?s applicable to a public computer setting? This is the webinar for you! Kami Griffiths from TechSoup interviews Jane Vincent from Center for Accessible Technology. We discuss hardware and software solutions, their costs and what it takes to get started. This webinar is ideal for anyone who manages or volunteers in a public computer center, either in a library, housing development or social service agency. It is also applicable to IT managers looking to better address staff needs.
Video Rating: 0 / 5

NASHVILLE, TN (PRWEB) February 12, 2004

Guests from Sandhills Publishing and Merit Software will appear on radio talk show ?Let?s Talk Computers. Sandhills Publishing produces a family of computing magazines designed to give you the most complete coverage of computers and consumer electronics. Merit Software is a leader in children

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California Outdoors Q&A: Taking Youth Hunters to Public Wildlife Areas

Carrie Wilson ( Courtesy photo )

Question:?My son is 11 years old and a licensed hunter. We would like to duck hunt this year at state and federal Wildlife Areas. Does he need a one or two day pass?

Does he need any paper work aside from his license? I would hate for him to be turned away from the check station the morning of our hunt because we were not properly prepared. (Steve H.)

Answer:?Persons hunting under the authority of a Junior Hunting License on state Wildlife Areas (or federal areas managed by Department of Fish and Game (DFG)) where entry permits are required are exempt from the permit and pass requirements, except they must have a no-fee entry permit issued to them. Holders of Junior Hunting Licenses are only eligible for entry permits when accompanied by an adult (18 years or older).

One adult may accompany up to two holders of Junior Hunting Licenses. In addition, adults must accompany holders of Junior Hunting Licenses on Type A and Type B areas.

For additional information regarding hunters using Junior Hunting Licenses on state Wildlife Areas, please see sections 551 (f), (g), & (h) in the 2012-2013 Upland Game and Waterfowl Regulations / Regulations for Hunting on Public Lands booklet, available online at? http://www.dfg.ca.gov/regulations.

Additional and specific information regarding entering and hunting on State Wildlife Areas is available for each Area online atwww.dfg.ca.gov/lands/wa/index.html.

Catching

salmon while fishing for halibut?

Question: I have an ongoing debate with a friend and am hoping you can resolve it.?

Let's say salmon season is open?but?I'm drifting for halibut and hook up on a legal-sized salmon on a halibut rig, what is the protocol?

I was unable to find anything about this in the regulations booklet, but I did find where it says it is illegal to catch and waste fish.?

Also, what is the protocol if trolling for salmon with regulation gear and hook up with an untargeted ling cod? If you can cite which code is correct for these situations, I can finally put this to bed.?Your help will be greatly appreciated. (Tom C.)

Answer: First of all, salmon may only be taken on a barbless hook. Possession of salmon taken on any gear other than the gear described in regulations?is illegal.

Thus, unless your halibut rig is a barbless circle hook (doubtful!), you would have to immediately release any salmon you catch on it, regardless of the condition of the salmon (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 27.80).??

Hooking and keeping lingcod on your salmon rig is permitted as long as you are within the depth limit of the groundfish management area, and the groundfish season is open (CCR Title 14, sections 28.27 and 28.65).

How to avoid bear "baiting" situations?

Question:?The regulation booklet says no baiting for bear or no bear shall be taken within 400 yards from baited areas.?I'm confused, since the law says NO BAITING, but then it says no bears to be taken within 400 yards of a baited area.?Is the law implying that baiting is allowed as long as the hunter shoots the bear from more than 400 yards away??

How can Fish and Game tell if a bear was taken from areas with or without baits? How can hunters tell if the area was baited or not? Also, what if I had just dressed a deer and the next day a bear came after the remains, and I shot the bear. Is that not legal as long as I have a bear tag?? Please clarify.?(Pao H.)

Answer:?Regulations prohibit placing feed, bait or other materials capable of attracting a bear in any location for the purpose of taking a bear (CCR Title 14, section 365(e)). This portion of the regulation prohibits these acts and is not dependent on distance.?It is illegal to place "bait" out for the purpose of taking a bear.

In addition, the regulation also prohibits taking a bear within 400 yards of a garbage?dump or?any place where bait has been placed even though you may not have put it there.?It is your responsibility to carefully inspect the area you intend to hunt and determine it complies with the law.

Under this regulation the remains of a deer constitute feed or bait and it is illegal for you to dispose of them with the intention of attracting a bear to the site, and to take any bear within 400 yards of the?remains.

Limit on number of sand crabs?

Question: I've been advised that there is a limit on the number of sand crabs a?surf fishermen can possess. Is this true? (Drew B.)

Answer:?Yes, there is a limit on the number of sand crabs (Emerita analoga) a fisherman may possess. The limit is 50 sand crabs (CCR Title 14, section 29.85(d)).

Source: http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/sports/ci_22152761/california-outdoors-q-taking-youth-hunters-public-wildlife?source=rss

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Tennessee has eyes on USC receivers coach Martin

LOS ANGELES ? It hasn't exactly been a cozy relationship between the USC and Tennessee football programs in recent years, and new Volunteers coach Butch Jones probably didn't help matters Friday.

During his introductory news conference, Jones was asked about the possibility of hiring Tee Martin, current USC receivers coach and quarterback of Tennessee's 1998 national championship team, as one of his new assistant coaches.

New Tennessee coach Butch Jones has indicated he'd like to talk to Trojans receivers coach Tee Martin about leaving USC to coach at his alma mater.

ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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"Obviously, he's a great coach and we all understand what he's meant to this program,'' Jones said, "so he would be an individual that we would reach out to, but we're going to reach out to a lot of people.''

While there are no strict tampering rules in NCAA football, it's more than a bit eyebrow-raising to hear Jones speak publicly about the possibility of poaching a coach from another school, particularly during a hot recruiting period. USC coach Lane Kiffin is highly unpopular in Tennessee because he left his job as Volunteers coach after one season to come to USC.

Martin, 34, is in his first season at USC after two seasons as receivers coach at Kentucky. It's not known how seriously he would consider an overture from Jones to return to his alma mater.

CAREER OVER?

It now seems unlikely that offensive lineman Abe Markowitz will be able to return to USC for a sixth season.

Markowitz hoped to receive an NCAA waiver because of early-career injuries, but was informed by Kiffin that USC would not have a scholarship available in 2013. Markowitz expressed a desire to return to USC as a walk-on player, but discovered this week that because of NCAA rules, he would only be eligible for a waiver as a scholarship athlete, which is unlikely unless Kiffin changes his mind.

Markowitz could transfer to another school and apply for a sixth year, but is expected to play in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl against Georgia Tech.

ONE (AWARD) FOR ALL

As USC players walked off the practice field Friday, receiver Marqise Lee stood across the street. Lee had just arrived from Orlando, Fla., where Thursday he received the Biletnikoff Award as the country's top college receiver. Lee, who leads the NCAA with 112 receptions, is USC's first winner of the award.

Teammates hugged and congratulated Lee, who described the announcement of his award.

"My heart was beating so fast,'' Lee said. "Once they said, 'Next is the Biletnikoff,' I was like, 'Oh my God.' My heart was racing, to tell you the truth. Once I won, all my teammates came to my mind ... and just, even though we had a tough season, how much we put into it.''

NOT READY YET

Quarterback Matt Barkley attended practice, but wore a sweatshirt under his jersey. Kiffin has said he expects Barkley (sprained shoulder) to play in the Sun Bowl but that Barkley isn't yet ready to practice.

Contact the writer: rhammond@ocregister.com


Source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/usc-380061-coach-jones.html

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