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Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
8 Tips for a Great Family Reunion, Planning Gathering of Relatives ...
Posted on 06/27/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments
Home & Family | Relationships | Travel Print
I loved the Durango-Silverton train & it was a great?family reunion activity for all ages.
They were a boisterous group, the family I observed on the Durango-Silverton train recently while I was on vacation. They were laughing and telling stories and obviously enjoying their time together. I couldn?t resist? I struck up a conversation with one of the young women and learned they were having a family reunion in honor of her mother?s 70th birthday. They?d rented a house that accommodated 17 people and gathered in Durango, Colo., coming from Seattle, Nashville, Phoenix and Minneaapolis. ?We?re having a blast,? the daughter told me.? (I secretly kind of wished I could join their party on the train!)
The encounter reminded me that this is the time of year when many families gather for their reunions.?Here are some of my tips for having a stress-free, fun and memorable time when your family gets together.
- Plan ahead: Start at least 6 months and as much as 18 months ahead ? the more complicated the reunion, the more planning time it takes. Remember that family members need time to plan vacation time off from work and also to save their money to attend.
- Delegate:? Don?t try to do it all yourself ? it?s a FAMILY reunion so get the family involved!? Draw on strengths, for example, does your aunt love to cook? She can organize the food. Got a travel whiz in the family? She can find a destination, reserve rooms and help people get there.
- Location and length: ?A reunion can be an afternoon or a weeklong event. It can be informal in a relatives? backyard or a cruise or destination reunion like the family I met on the train. ?Find out what family members can afford and how much time is ideal.? Remember that some can only handle so much family ?togetherness? (everyone has different limits). Within your immediate family, plan how to communicate that you?re ready to roll or at least get away for a bit without hurting anyone?s feelings ? a subtle signal can help!
- Don?t overplan:? Some family members will want to just hang out and talk and reminisce or look at old photos, while others are bored with that and want to play games or go for a hike or a movie. Allow for some spontaneity.
- Include all generations: Most of the time, adults plan reunions, so they plan things they want to do. Remember that kids may not know other family members or have the history you do, so plan fun activities. They will remember how much fun they had and that?s what will motivate them to attend future reunions.
- Communicate: Use technology to keep people posted and get them excited as the reunion draws near. Send out teasers and updates. You might want to create a family website to post details, as well as photos and family history updates after the reunion.
- Get professional help: Hire a caterer if you don?t have time to coordinate the food. Charter a bus. Hire professional entertainers. And for more complicated reunions, you can always hire an event planner to help.
- Document family history: Reunions are a fabulous opportunity to interview family members about their lives and family history. You can make your own videos and take photos, or hire a personal historian (find one at personalhistorians.org)?to create a legacy project that can be shared with future generations.
Enjoy your family reunion and let me know where your family gathers!
Photo Credit: Amy Goyer (Durango-Silverton Train)
Amy Goyer is AARP?s Home & Family Expert; she splits her time between Washington, D.C. and Phoenix, Ariz. where she is caregiving for both of her parents who live with her. Her new book, AARP?s Juggling Work and Caregiving, will be published this fall. Follow Amy on Twitter @amygoyer and on Facebook.
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Source: http://blog.aarp.org/2013/06/27/amy-goyer-organize-a-family-gathering/
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Review: 2013 Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/dl62xshfBx4/
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sea Lamprey Nosed Into Controlled Areas By Scent
Researchers in the Great Lakes are trying to control an ancient fish with a new approach. Sea lamprey are notorious for latching onto other fish and literally sucking the life out of them.
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Researchers in the Great Lakes are trying to control an ancient fish, the sea lamprey. The species is notorious for latching onto other fish and literally sucking the life out of them. The lamprey larvae can be killed with a special poison, and now one biologist thinks he's found a way to make sure they're in the right place at the right time to die.
From member station WCMU, Amy Robinson reports.
AMY ROBINSON, BYLINE: Lamprey are, by most people's measure, ugly - eel-like, slippery with suction cup mouths. Scientists say the animals can't see or hear very well. They're basically parasitic, swimming noses.
MICHAEL WAGNER: They rely more than any other animal, on just one sense: smell. They have this massive well-developed nose. That makes them prone to manipulation.
ROBINSON: Michael Wagner is a Michigan State University researcher and is trying to manipulate lamprey by tinkering with nature. In his home base, a biological station in Northern Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron, there are cement floors and large tanks writhing full of lamprey. Wagner says lamprey are attracted to the scent of their own larva and repelled by the scent of their dead brethren - really repelled.
TOM LUHRING: I was just going to load it half full.
ROBINSON: Researcher Tom Luhring puts a small amount of what's called alarm cue - essentially dead lamprey soup - into a tank of lamprey.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPLASHING)
ROBINSON: The lamprey go crazy. Some jump right out of the tank. Wagner plans to use this instinctive avoidance response to herd lamprey into streams, where their larvae can be killed more easily.
WAGNER: Think of the alarm cue as a stoplight that we're going to set to red. And the larval odor is a stoplight that we're going to set to green. So you hit this split in the river, you have the alarm cue on one side, the larval odor coming from the other side, you give the animal a very easy choice that's evolved to make. And that is; turn right. So you turn right, turn right, turn right again. Get them all aggregated into a few tributaries in this big watershed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)
ROBINSON: So now Michael Wagner is working in this watershed of more than 400 tributaries full of lamprey larva. He's taken an entire river system and turned it into a research lab. The work he's doing is all about pheromones.
Mark Gaden is with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. He says this research could have international implications.
MARK GADEN: Around the world, scientists more and more are looking to these types of odors or pheromones in many different types of species, whether it's insects or fish. If this is used in the Great Lakes Basin to control sea lamprey, it'll be, to my knowledge, the largest ecosystem in the world where pheromone control is used to control an invasive pest.
ROBINSON: Gaden says lamprey all but destroyed the Great Lakes fishery before they were finally brought under control a half a century ago. Trout, salmon, whitefish, all either are killed or left with gaping wounds from the lamprey's feeding. A fishery that once produced 17million pounds of fish annually crashed to only a few hundred thousand pounds.
The lamprey are at what's considered an acceptable level today, but they're always on the brink of a comeback. Wagner's work is aimed at keeping one step ahead of the fish.
WAGNER: You know the old phrase shooting fish in a barrel are easy? It's easy if you can get fish to swim into a barrel, which they're not very likely to do, right? You've got to put them there first. That's what we're doing. We're putting lamprey in a barrel.
ROBINSON: If his research works, Wagner's lamprey herding approach may be a benefit both those who want to control the lamprey and those who want to conserve them. In countries like Spain, Portugal, France, the U.K., lamprey are considered delicacies. Queen Elizabeth received a lamprey pie as part of her 60th Jubilee celebration. Since lamprey are protected there, it was imported from the Great Lakes.
For NPR News, I'm Amy Robinson.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: This is NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/25/195408417/sea-lamprey-nosed-into-controlled-areas-by-scent?ft=1&f=1007
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Sony Supersizes Its Xperia Smartphone Line With 6.4? Full HD Xperia Z Ultra Phablet
It was only a matter of time before Sony jumped on the phablet bandwagon. And that day is today. The mobile maker has just announced the Xperia Z Ultra: a frankly gigantic addition to its smartphone line-up that packs a 6.4″ full HD display. This phone is so big that one of the accessories Sony is lining up is a slender Bluetooth handset for taking calls — i.e.so you can leave the whopping slab on the table. Sony is?following in the footsteps of Samsung, with its Galaxy Note devices but obviously it didn’t say that.?Pierre Perron, president of Sony Mobile Comms for NW Europe, said the mobile industry has ?seen “increasing consumer demand for larger screens”, adding: “The big screen segment is one of the fastest growing segments.” The LTE/4G Xperia Z Ultra slots into Sony’s line-up between its Xperia Z high end smartphone, announced earlier this year at CES, and its Xperia Z Tablet. The Xperia Z Ultra is big across the front, but very slender around the waist: at just 6.5mm thin. Sony’s head of global product design said the designers are approaching the limit of how thin they can make phones. ?”You can’t make the phone any thinner because of the connectors — we’re at the point we’re going to have start working on connector technology,” he said. The overall look of the Z Ultra continues the Xperia Z and Tablet Z design language, with the same blunt-edged, high gloss slab form. It’s also waterproof and dustproof, as the Xperia Z is. The display is full 1080p HD, and incorporates Sony’s Bravia TV display technology — including its?Triluminos tech, which it said supports a greater range of colours, with natural shades, and also its?X-Reality technology for improving the viewing experience of low res video. Under the hood, the Xperia Z Ultra is powered?by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.2GHz quad-core chip. Its rear camera is 8 megapixels. Sony’s phablet supports stylus interaction — Sony said “any pencil” can be used on the screen, rather than requiring a dedicated gizmo to poke it. Sony has also created a software keyboard designed for the larger phablet form to support one handed-typing. The phablet is?due to launch “later this year”. There’s no word on pricing as yet, or specific market availability. Also today, tacked on at the end of the press event — entirely overshadowed by the attention being lavished onSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Bs6_D_4dHic/
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What's Next For Gold ? Bear Or Bull Market? Infographic | Gold ...
This infographic shows important gold price drivers from their bullish and bearish perspective. Interestingly, there are credible bullish and bearish arguments for the gold price in the short and mid term. Readers should remember that we mention the ?gold price?, although the infographic talks about ?gold?. Our view on ?gold? remains bullish, both short and long term, because physical (!) gold is the ultimate protection against monetary policies and chaos. Nevertheless, the gold price is subject to economic and financial parameters.
The infographic presents the bullish and bearish case for the following subjects. Courtesy:?Visual Capitalist.
1) In which way can interest rates impact the gold price?
- Bearish: Economic improvements and low inflation will lead to long-term increases in interest rates.
- Bullish: Negative real rates have been negative lately.
2) In which way will inflation impact the gold price?
- Bearish: Even with QE, bank lending has not increased proportionally to the money supply.
- Bullish: Drastic increase in the money supply is a potential catalyst for serious inflation (in the future).
3) What is the international impact the gold price?
- Bearish: BRIC economies want a weaker currency than the US dollar.
- Bullish: Physical buying is hitting record high levels in China and India, the two biggest gold consumers.
4) What is the short-term gold price outlook?
- Bearish: The current trend is down.
- Bullish: Gold could be bottoming because of seasonality.
5) What is the long-term gold price outlook?
- Bearish: The ?Gold is a commodity and not a currency? view.
- Bullish: If real rates are below 2% people and investors will hold gold instead of cash.
Source: http://goldsilverworlds.com/investing/whats-next-for-gold-bear-or-bull-market-infographic/
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Tuesday, June 25, 2013
AP Source: Clippers land new coach in Doc Rivers
BOSTON (AP) ? Doc Rivers will be the next coach of the Los Angeles Clippers if the NBA approves the rare but not unprecedented trade of an active coach, a Boston Celtics official told The Associated Press on Sunday night.
The deal would bring Boston a first-round draft pick in 2015, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it is pending a trade call with the NBA office. Rivers, who had three years and $21 million left on his contract with the Celtics, must also reach an agreement on a new deal with the Clippers.
Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said the team had no announcement.
The tentative agreement on Sunday wraps up weeks of haggling over the deal and frees Rivers from presiding over the dismantling of the team that won the franchise's record 17th NBA title in 2008.
The Celtics and Clippers have also discussed sending Kevin Garnett to Los Angeles in a package with Rivers for draft choices, center DeAndre Jordan and point guard Eric Bledsoe. But NBA commissioner David Stern nixed those talks this week, saying teams aren't allowed to trade active players for a coach.
A deal for Garnett could still happen, but the teams would have to convince the league that it was a separate deal. The 37-year-old big man has a no-trade clause in the contract that will pay him 23.5 million over the next two years, but it is believed he would waive it to be reunited with Rivers on the West Coast. He has also discussed retiring.
Boston could also cut ties with Paul Pierce, the longest-tenured member of the team, who is due to earn $15.3 million next season; he could be bought out for $5 million. Pierce will be 36 by the 2013-14 opener and showed signs of slowing down this season, when he averaged the fewest minutes per game in his career.
Rivers took over the Celtics in 2004 in the midst of the longest title drought in franchise history and ? with thanks to the New Big Three of Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen ? guided them to the 2008 NBA title. They returned to the NBA Finals two years later, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.
But the Celtics have regressed steadily since then, twice failing to get past the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference playoffs. This year they finished third in the Atlantic Division ? they had won it five straight times ? and lost to the New York Knicks in the first round.
That convinced many that it was time to rebuild ? a process Rivers was reluctant to supervise. If the Celtics unload Garnett and Pierce, that would leave them with point guard Rajon Rondo as their only established star.
Rivers had the second-longest tenure of any NBA coach to San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, compiling a 416-305 record in Boston that was the third-most wins in franchise history behind Red Auerbach (795) and Tommy Heinsohn (427). He also spent four-plus seasons with the Orlando Magic and is 587-473 in all.
Trades for coaches have occurred about a half-dozen times in NBA history, most recently in 2007 when the Heat received compensation for allowing Stan Van Gundy to go to the Orlando Magic.
In 1983, the Chicago Bulls sent a second-round draft pick to Atlanta as compensation for coach Kevin Loughery. The Hawks used that pick to take Glenn "Doc" Rivers.
___
Follow Jimmy Golen on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jgolen
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-clippers-land-coach-doc-rivers-010017132.html
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Billion-pixel view of Mars comes from Curiosity rover
June 24, 2013 ? A billion-pixel view from the surface of Mars, from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, offers armchair explorers a way to examine one part of the Red Planet in great detail.
The first NASA-produced view from the surface of Mars larger than one billion pixels stitches together nearly 900 exposures taken by cameras onboard Curiosity and shows details of the landscape along the rover's route.
The 1.3-billion-pixel image is available for perusal with pan and zoom tools at: http://mars.nasa.gov/bp1/ and a scaled down version (~159MB) is available for direct download here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16919 .
The full-circle scene surrounds the site where Curiosity collected its first scoops of dusty sand at a windblown patch called "Rocknest," and extends to Mount Sharp on the horizon.
"It gives a sense of place and really shows off the cameras' capabilities," said Bob Deen of the Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "You can see the context and also zoom in to see very fine details."
Deen assembled the product using 850 frames from the telephoto camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument, supplemented with 21 frames from the Mastcam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames -- mostly of the rover itself -- from the Navigation Camera. The images were taken on several different Mars days between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, 2012. Raw single-frame images received from Curiosity are promptly posted on a public website at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/ . Mars fans worldwide have used those images to assemble mosaic views, including at least one gigapixel scene.
The new mosaic from NASA shows illumination effects from variations in the time of day for pieces of the mosaic. It also shows variations in the clarity of the atmosphere due to variable dustiness during the month while the images were acquired.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project is using Curiosity and the rover's 10 science instruments to investigate the environmental history within Gale Crater, a location where the project has found that conditions were long ago favorable for microbial life.
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the Navigation Camera and the rover.
More information about the mission is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .
You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .
For more information about the Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory, see: http://www-mipl.jpl.nasa.gov/mipex.html .
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/OHTcgAapQbM/130624135250.htm
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Monday, June 24, 2013
The genome's 3-D structure shapes how genes are expressed
June 23, 2013 ? Scientists from Australia and the United States bring new insights to our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the genome, one of the biggest challenges currently facing the fields of genomics and genetics. Their findings are published in Nature Genetics, online today.
Roughly 3 metres of DNA is tightly folded into the nucleus of every cell in our body. This folding allows some genes to be 'expressed', or activated, while excluding others.
Dr Tim Mercer and Professor John Mattick from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Professor John Stamatoyannopoulos from Seattle's University of Washington analysed the genome's 3D structure, at high resolution.
Genes are made up of 'exons' and 'introns' - the former being the sequences that code for protein and are expressed, and the latter being stretches of noncoding DNA in-between. As the genes are copied, or 'transcribed', from DNA into RNA, the intron sequences are cut or 'spliced' out and the remaining exons are strung together to form a sequence that encodes a protein. Depending on which exons are strung together, the same gene can generate different proteins.
Using vast amounts of data from the ENCODE project*, Dr Tim Mercer and colleagues have inferred the folding of the genome, finding that even within a gene, selected exons are easily exposed.
"Imagine a long and immensely convoluted grape vine, its twisted branches presenting some grapes to be plucked easily, while concealing others beyond reach," said Dr Mercer. "At the same time, imagine a lazy fruit picker only picking the grapes within easy reach.
"The same principle applies in the genome. Specific genes and even specific exons, are placed within easy reach by folding."
"Over the last few years, we've been starting to appreciate just how the folding of the genome helps determine how it's expressed and regulated,"
"This study provides the first indication that the three-dimensional structure of the genome can influence the splicing of genes."
"We can infer that the genome is folded in such a way that the promoter region -- the sequence that initiates transcription of a gene -- is located alongside exons, and they are all presented to transcription machinery."
"This supports a new way of looking at things, one that the genome is folded around transcription machinery, rather than the other way around. Those genes that come in contact with the transcription machinery get transcribed, while those parts which loop away are ignored."
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/459JXnr-9hM/130623145058.htm
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This Adorable Pencil Broom Lets You Sweep Mistakes Under the Rug
Perfect for those of us lacking the confidence to write in pen the first time, this pencil features a miniature broom head eraser on the end so you can just sweep away incorrect crossword puzzle answers, and poorly solved Sudoku puzzles. At almost $9 for a single pencil you're going to only want to sharpen this thing when it's absolutely worn down to a nub, but with ten times as much eraser as a standard pencil, you're free to make plenty of mistakes. [Artori Design via designboom]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-adorable-pencil-broom-lets-you-sweep-mistakes-unde-558636853
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These Are the Ten TV Shows That Pirates Like the Most
With the spring TV season drawing to a close (MAD MEN SEASON FINALE TOMORROW YOU GUYS!!), TorrentFreak has done the wonderful service of rounding up a top 10 list of the most torrented shows out there this time around. Can you guess number one? (You can definitely guess number one.)
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K-Rod slams door on Braves for Brewers win
Associated Press Sports
updated 8:30 p.m. ET June 22, 2013
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Two months ago, Francisco Rodriguez was out of baseball, hoping for a chance to get back to the major leagues.
Given another opportunity by the Brewers in May, Rodriguez has made it pay off. He converted his sixth straight save Saturday - the 300th of his career - to help Milwaukee beat Atlanta Braves 2-0 for the second straight day.
Rodriguez went 2-7 with a 4.38 ERA during the 2012 season and was released by the Brewers.
"A lot of people thought that I was done, that I had retired," he said. "People forgot that I was just 31- years-old. In my career, just last year was a really bad year. I know what I am capable of doing."
Rodriguez gave up one of the Braves' four hits in becoming the 25th closer to reach the 300-save milestone. He was aided by a barehanded pickup and throw by shortstop Jean Segura to get leadoff hitter Jordan Shafer.
Andrelton Simmons then singled, but Rodriguez got Jason Heyward to line out and Freddie Freeman struck out. After the strikeout, Rodriguez pumped his fist and pointed to the sky.
Rodriguez, who began the season out of baseball, was signed by Milwaukee May 16. He has converted all six of his save opportunities and has not been scored upon in 15 of his 16 appearances.
"It feels great," Rodriguez said. "You have no idea how happy and excited I am. I have to continue working hard and hopefully play for many years to come."
Rodriguez said Segura's play to start the ninth inning was key to his success on Saturday.
"It was huge, especially with the score just 2-0," he said. "Now I can go out there and attack them and put them away. That play definitely changed the whole inning."
Donovan Hand, making his first big league start, allowed only two hits in 4 2-3 innings for Milwaukee. He struck out three and walked one in helping extend Atlanta's scoreless streak to 24 innings.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Hand did a great job for his first start.
"He really mixed his pitches and threw a lot of strikes," Roenicke said.
Hand, whose made eight relief appearances this year, said his goal was to pitch three or four innings.
"I felt great out there," he said. "I kept the ball out of the middle of the plate and gave my team a chance to win."
Burke Badenhop (1-3) entered after Hand walked Dan Uggla and got Chris Johnson to groundout to end the fifth.
Milwaukee has beaten Atlanta eight straight times at Miller Park, outscoring them 31-9.
Tim Hudson (4-7) lost his sixth straight decision, despite giving up just two runs and seven hits in six innings. He allowed RBI singles to Juan Francisco, in the fourth, and Aramis Ramirez, in the fifth inning.
The Braves have scored just 10 runs in Hudson's last nine starts. He has not won in those starts, his worst winless stretch of his career since an eight-start stretch in 2002.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the Braves are not swinging the bat well.
"We're getting on base, but when we do hit the ball hard, it's at somebody or somebody makes a good play," he said. "I feel like, at any moment, some of the at-bats that you're seeing, at any moment you're going to turn that around."
Uggla paid tribute to Rodriguez after the game.
"He's got great stuff," he said. "He throws hard, got an awesome curveball and an awesome changeup and he throws strikes. He's done it for a long time."
NOTES: The Braves last run same in the third inning of their 4-3 loss to the New York Mets on Thursday. ... Brewers RHP Marco Estrada will make a rehab start Sunday at Class A Wisconsin. Estrada has been on the disabled list since June 5 with a strained left hamstring. ... Gonzalez said RHP Brandon Beachy would throw a bullpen session next week as he continues to try to come back from Tommy John surgery in June 2012. He felt tenderness in his pitching arm during his fifth minor league start June 13. ... Brewers OF Caleb Gindl's pinch-hit single in the sixth inning was his first major league hit. ... Brewers RHP Alfredo Figaro (1-1) will start in the series finale Sunday against Atlanta (LHP) Paul Maholm (7-6).
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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CSN Washington: Bryce Harper wants to take his rehab slowly. The Nationals want him to speed things up. Who will win this battle of wits?
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52285879/ns/sports-baseball/
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Blue-Sky
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/G8ql628zp6g/viewtopic.php
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Saturday, June 22, 2013
The Most Badass Truck in the US Army Is Straight Out of Thunderdome
Keeping Afghanistan's roads free of improvised explosive devices is no easy feat when important routes are re-mined within hours of EOD teams clearing them. That's why US Army has deployed the Buffalo: a six-wheeled, 38-ton, armor-plated supertruck designed to demolish roadside bombs with abandon.
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Monday, June 17, 2013
Talk Mobile App Week begins tomorrow; join us for daily Talk Mobile hangouts!
The second week of Talk Mobile 2013 kicks off tomorrow, and the discussion is going to center around mobile apps. With five days of awesome content lined up and sure to be some great conversations in the comments, we really want to expand your interaction with the whole Talk Mobile crew.
Starting tomorrow after fresh Talk Mobile content goes live we're going to do something we wanted to do for the last week of Talk Mobile, but couldn't thanks to everybody traveling for the awesome Talk Mobile launch party: we'll be holding a live video hangout with a rotating cast of Talk Mobile editors, developers, designers, our special guests, and everybody else involved in making Talk Mobile happen. You can expect the hangouts to go live a little bit after we publish the Talk Mobile articles. After all, they're pretty big hunks of text and video, we want you to have some time to digest it all first!
So tune back in to your favorite Mobile Nations site(s) tomorrow for more great Talk Mobile content. It's time to get the conversation about apps started!
p.s. We want to give you (just you, because you're special) a look at the full schedule of what you can expect from Talk Mobile 2013 in the coming months. Here's how the weeks ahead look...
- July 1: Mobile Social
- July 15: Mobile Platforms
- July 29: Mobile Security
- August 12: Mobile Carriers
- August 26: Mobile Life
- September 9: Mobile Creativity
- September 23: Mobile Cloud
- October 7: Mobile You
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/RlINmm3x1a0/story01.htm
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Venezuela's cardinal: Pope should urge coexistence
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is greeted by far left-wing activists holding a photo of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as he arrives to make a press statement, in Rome, Sunday, June 16, 2013. Maduro is scheduled to meet Pope Francis Monday, June 17, during a private audience at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is greeted by far left-wing activists holding a photo of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as he arrives to make a press statement, in Rome, Sunday, June 16, 2013. Maduro is scheduled to meet Pope Francis Monday, June 17, during a private audience at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is greeted by far left-wing activists as he arrives to make a press statement, in Rome, Sunday, June 16, 2013. Maduro is scheduled to meet Pope Francis Monday, June 17, during a private audience at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro makes a statement to the press, in Rome, Sunday, June 16, 2013. Maduro is scheduled to meet Pope Francis Monday, June 17, during a private audience at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Pope Francis should pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to focus on promoting democracy and peaceful coexistence to ease tensions with the socialist government's opponents, the Catholic Church's top representative in the country said Sunday.
Cardinal Jorge Urosa said he expected the pontiff to try to persuade Maduro during their meeting Monday at the Vatican to cease his verbal attacks on political rivals and critics
The cardinal said he hopes to see "increased serenity and impartiality in the president's language" following the meeting.
"Hopefully when (Maduro) returns he will use much more calm and democratic language, and also recognizes the existence and importance of those who belong to the opposition," Urosa said during an interview telecast by the privately owned Globovision channel.
It will be the president's first meeting with the new pope, who has called on Venezuela's political rivals to work toward reconciliation after the April 14 presidential election that Maduro won by a thin margin.
The relationship between Maduro and leaders of Venezuela's Catholic Church has not been friendly. But he appears to be attempting to improve ties with the church, which wields enormous influence among Venezuelans of all political leanings.
His initiative represents a break from the rocky relations under late president Hugo Chavez, who once suggested that Christ would whip some church leaders for lying after Urosa warned that Venezuela's democratic freedoms were being eroded.
Maduro frequently insults his opponents, accusing them of attempting to undermine his government.
Adversaries say Maduro uses authoritarian tactics in an effort to weaken the opposition following his razor-thin electoral victory over Henrique Capriles. Opponents say the government is using prosecutors and judges as pawns to bring politically motivated criminal charges against government foes.
Capriles claims the election was fraudulent.
Last week, Capriles sent a letter to the pope accusing the government of persecuting its opponents and striving to discredit its critics. He also told the pontiff that Maduro is cracking down on independent media to try to silence dissent.
Capriles also thanked Francis for expressing his concern regarding Venezuela's political crisis and agreeing to meet with Edgar Zambrano, an opposition lawmaker who has been pressuring the government to release government adversaries who claim they have been unjustly imprisoned for political reasons.
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Manu Ginobili sparks Spurs to Game 5 win
SAN ANTONIO (AP) ? Manu Ginobili ran onto the floor as fans stood and screamed.
He went to the bench, and they chanted his name.
The sights and sounds of so many San Antonio spring nights were back Sunday ? and the real party might be just a few days away.
Ginobili broke out of a slump in a big way with 24 points and 10 assists in his first start of the season, and the Spurs beat the Miami Heat 114-104 to take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.
Tony Parker scored 26 points, Tim Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Ginobili had his highest-scoring game of the season as the Spurs became the first team to shoot 60 percent in a finals game in four years.
"He's such a huge part of what we do and how far we've come. You can see it tonight in how we played and the results of the game," Duncan said. "We're always confident in him. ... we know he has it in him. We hope he can bring it forward for one more win."
Danny Green smashed the NBA Finals record for 3-pointers, hitting six more and scoring 24 points. Kawhi Leonard finished with 16, but the stage was set when Ginobili trotted out with Duncan, Parker and the rest of starters in what could have been the last finals home game for a trio that's meant so much to San Antonio.
One more victory and the Spurs' Big Three, not Miami's, will be the one that rules the NBA.
And a big reason was Ginobili, as he's been for so long ? just not during what had been a miserable series for the former Sixth Man of the Year.
"I was angry, disappointed," Ginobili said. "We are playing in the NBA Finals, we were 2-2, and I felt I still wasn't really helping the team that much," Ginobili said. "And that was the frustrating part."
On Sunday, it was all forgotten.
"He's obviously very popular. He's been here a long time. He's helped us have a lot of success over the years," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade each scored 25 points for the Heat, who host Game 6 on Tuesday night. They need a victory to force the first Game 7 in the finals since the Lakers beat the Celtics in 2010.
Miami's Big Three formed a few weeks after that game, with predictions of multiple titles to follow. Now they're a loss away from going just 1 for 3 in finals to start their partnership, while the Spurs could run their perfect record to 5 for 5.
"This is the position we're in and the most important game is Game 6," James said. "We can't worry about a Game 7, we have to worry about Game 6."
Duncan won his first title in 1999, and Parker and Ginobili were with him for three championships since. They have been the perfect partnership, keeping the Spurs in the hunt virtually every year while teams like the Lakers, Mavericks and Suns have all risen and fallen in the Western Conference during that time.
They remained unbeaten in Game 5s, including two previous victories when the series was tied at 2-2. Of the 27 times the finals have been tied at 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won 20 of them.
Miami was the most recent loser, falling to Dallas in Game 5 in 2011 before being eliminated at home the next game.
"We're going to see if we're a better ballclub and if we're better prepared for this moment," Wade said.
San Antonio shot 42 of 70, right at 60 percent. The last team to make 60 percent of its shots in the finals was Orlando, which hit 62.5 in Game 3 against the Lakers in 2009, according to STATS.
"They just absolutely outplayed us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "At times they were just picking one guy out at a time and going at us mano-a-mano. That's got to change."
Ray Allen scored 21 points on the night for the Heat as he watched Green shatter his finals 3-point record. Green has 25 3s in the series. Allen made 22 3-pointers in six games in 2008 finals for Boston.
Chris Bosh scored 16 for Miami, Wade had 10 assists, and James had eight assists and six rebounds, but it was their defense that let the Heat down in this one.
The Heat were within one with 3:05 left in the third before Green hit yet another 3-pointer and Ginobili followed with the stretch that turned the game into the fourth straight blowout of the finals.
The crafty lefty plays with a flair developed on the courts of Argentina and perfected in Europe before coming to the NBA. He sees angles other players can't and takes risks few others would, but his style has been the perfect fit alongside Duncan and Parker.
He converted a three-point play, tossed in a floater with his left hand as he drifted right, and found Tiago Splitter under the hoop with a pass to make it 85-74. He flipped in another runner with 2.9 seconds to go, sending the Spurs to the fourth with an 87-75 lead as fans chanted "Manu! Manu!" during the break between the third and fourth quarters.
Ginobili had been averaging just 7.5 points on 34.5 percent shooting in the series, making only three of his 16 3-point attempts. But Popovich made the finals' second lineup change in two games, after the Heat inserted Mike Miller to start Game 4.
Ginobili didn't make a start this season and certainly hadn't been playing like someone who belonged with the first five. But in the Spurs' biggest game of the season, they remained confident he would break out, and they were right.
"I knew that I was not scoring much and I felt it in the air. But I tried not to care about it. I know I'm critical enough of myself to be worrying about what other people say," Ginobili said.
It was the first time he scored 24 or more points since having 34 on June 4, 2012, against Oklahoma City, according to STATS.
The AT&T Center crowd roared when Ginobili was the last starter announced, the cheers growing louder when he made a jumper ? originally ruled a 3-pointer but later overturned by replay ? on the first possession. He assisted on the Spurs' next three baskets, and it was 15-10 when he later hit a 3 that did count.
Parker picked it up from there, dancing his way into the lane repeatedly and scoring seven points in a 12-0 run that made it 29-17. Leonard's 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left, on an assist from Ginobili, made it 32-19 and gave the Spurs 12 makes in 19 attempts (63 percent) in the opening 12 minutes.
Green's third straight 3-pointer made it 45-28 about 5 minutes into the second quarter, and it seemed the trend of blowouts would continue. But James suddenly got rolling during a 14-2 Miami spurt that cut it to five on his third consecutive Heat basket.
San Antonio made 21 of 34 shots (62 percent) in the first half, opening a 61-52 lead on Parker's drive with 0.4 seconds left.
Miami then ran off eight in a row to start the second half and get within one. They cut it to one again later in the period before Ginobili led the flurry that finished the Heat for good.
It was a fitting finish if it was the last home game in the finals for San Antonio's star trio, which has combined for 101 playoff victories together. Ginobili has said he might think about retirement as he turns 36 next month, and Duncan is 37.
Both coaches said it was difficult waiting two days between games ? Popovich said it was "like death" ? though he did say it was great for the Spurs because they have some older players.
The break seemed to help his team early, particularly Parker, whose energy sagged in the second of Game 4 as he struggled with a strained hamstring that he said could tear at any time and would've had him sidelined during the regular season.
If things fall right for the Spurs, he'll have plenty of time to heal after Tuesday.
Notes: The last team to lose Game 5 of a 2-2 series and then win the title was the Los Angeles Lakers, when they beat Boston in 2010. ... The Spurs said Sunday that reserve guard Patty Mills had surgery to remove an abscess Friday and would miss the rest of the series. Mills had an infection in his right foot and the abscess developed between his fourth and fifth toes.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/manu-ginobili-sparks-spurs-game-5-win-025442617.html
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'Man of Steel' takes flight with $125M debut
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Man of Steel" leaped over box office expectations in a single weekend.
The Warner Bros. superhero film earned $113 million in its opening weekend at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. The retelling of Superman's backstory earned an additional $12 million from Thursday screenings, bringing its domestic total to $125 million. Original expectations for "Man of Steel" ranged from $75 million to $130 million.
"They finally got the Superman formula right," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Superhero movies really are the bread and butter of the summer box office. The fact that 'Iron Man 3' has the biggest opening of the year so far and 'Man of Steel' has the second biggest opening of the year just proves that."
"Man of Steel," which stars Henry Cavill as Superman and Amy Adams as Lois Lane, also toppled the record for biggest opening in June held by the Disney-Pixar film "Toy Story 3," which banked $110 million when it opened in 2010. "Superman Returns," the previous Superman film starring Brandon Routh in the titular role, launched with a respectable $52.5 million in 2006.
Sony's "This Is the End" opened in second place behind "Man of Steel" with $20.5 million in its opening weekend. The comedy starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson as versions of themselves trapped in a mansion during the apocalypse opened Wednesday, earning a domestic total of $32.8 million. The film cost just $32 million to produce.
"We knew we were going to have competition, but we felt our movie stood on its own and had its own voice," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of worldwide distribution. "I believe we've absolutely proven that. To have this amount of money in the bank with its cost of production, good reviews and word of mouth really puts our feet on solid ground."
In its third weekend at the box office, the Lionsgate illusionist heist film "Now You See Me" fleeced $10.3 million in third place, bringing its total domestic haul to $80 million. Universal's "Fast & Furious 6" arrived in fourth place with $9.4 million, while the studio's invasion horror film "The Purge" starring Ethan Hawke scared up $8.2 million in the fifth spot.
The super openings of "Man of Steel" and "This Is the End" helped to lift the box office 50 percent over last year when "Madagascar 3" and "Prometheus" held on to the top spots. "Man of Steel" will face off against stiff competition next week when Paramount's zombie thriller "World War Z" and the Disney-Pixar's prequel "Monster's University" both debut.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. "Man of Steel," $113 million.
2. "This Is the End," $20.5 million.
3. "Now You See Me," $10.3 million.
4. "Fast & Furious 6," $9.4 million.
5. "The Purge," $8.2 million.
6. "The Internship," $7 million.
7. "Epic," $6 million.
8. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $5.6 million.
9. "After Earth," $3.7 million.
10. "Iron Man 3," $2.9 million.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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The New Battle Over Immigration (Fortune, 1988) - Fortune Features
So should it admit people from abroad because they have these skills -- or because they have relatives who are U.S. citizens?
Editor's note:?Every Sunday we publish a favorite story from?our magazine archives. This week, we turn to a topic that Americans have long debated: Immigration reform. As the U.S. Senate began debating an immigration bill earlier this week, we take a look at how the conversation of allowing more foreigners into the U.S. has evolved (or mostly stayed the same) over the years.
By?Scott McConnell
Consider how America might look in the year 2000 unless it admits more?immigrants: The labor force is aging and shrinking -- a legacy of the baby- boom generation, whose panda-like reproductive patterns put birthrates below replacement level in 1972 and kept them there. Shortages of skilled labor, already noticeable in the 1980s in such fields as nursing and engineering, become acute. While the domestic market shrinks, America's international allies, economic rivals, and political adversaries watch the U.S. slouching toward a future sketched by Ben Wattenberg, the Jeremiah of the birth dearth: ''a society that keeps getting older and smaller, older and smaller.'' That scenario won't play in real life. As the economy shrugs off market crashes and continues to grow, people the world over dream of ways to come to America to fill its jobs and enjoy its freedoms. Last year, when the State Department quietly announced that 10,000 visas would be made available to people from countries that had been cut out of the recent?immigration?stream, government experts expected 100,000 applicants. They received 1.5 million. Today at least two million people, all qualified for?immigration, await visas for entry.
America, a nation of?immigrants, is once again engaged in a battle of whom and whom not to let in. Always an emotional issue, theimmigration?debate this time plays off the human drama of family ties against the critical need for skilled workers. The outcome will determine no less than the health of the economy as well as the future composition and character of the country. A tacit bargain exists between American capitalism and the restless and ambitious people who, whatever their birthplace or talents, reach the country's shores: In exchange for labor, and painful efforts at assimilation, come a higher standard of living and upward mobility, if not always for themselves then at least for their children. But the terms of that historic bargain are being gradually transformed. Once a maw that could take in all, even those with little education and less English, the economy now demands skills.
By the end of the century the U.S. will add some 21 million new jobs. Almost all will require a high level of literacy and at least some specific training -- in many cases quite a lot of it. Though native-born Americans will take many of the new openings, assuming they can overcome dismal public school preparation, they will be in short supply. The Hudson Institute's study Workforce 2000 figures that an astounding 22% of the jobs appearing in the next 12 years will go to new arrivals. That may be wishful thinking. Current?immigration?policy gives little weight to education or job skills. The single most important criterion for establishing?immigrantstatus: family ties. The ''family reunification'' goal of existing policy means preferential treatment not only for the immediate family of naturalized citizens -- spouses, parents, and minor children -- but for the extended family as well. In a phenomenon called ''chain?immigration,'' an in-law can bring in a brother, who can sponsor another in-law, and so on, expanding the number of families eligible for reunification indefinitely. Of the 500,000 nonrefugee?immigrants?to the U.S. in 1986, about 470,000 had family sponsors. Admissions of refugees, those special cases whom the President and Congress agree to let in on humanitarian grounds, have averaged 65,000 a year since 1983.?From 1980 to 1982 the dramatic exodus of Vietnamese allowed the U.S. to bring in several times that figure. About 20,000 would-be citizens enter the U.S. and simply claim asylum each year, but only about a quarter of them are eventually permitted to become resident aliens. The largest stream of?immigrantsoutside the family-preference categories are those who had the foresight to enter the U.S. illegally before 1982. By the time the amnesty program is finished, an estimated two million illegal aliens will be eligible for citizenship and thus able to bring in their extended families.
In deciding who will be allowed to?immigrate, the possession of job skills, or entrepreneurial ability, or capital to invest, counts for practically nothing. Only 27,000 visas a year go to professionals and their families. Skilled and unskilled workers whose employers endure the complicated process to sponsor them account for another 27,000. After years of wrangling over illegal?immigration, Congress is now debating the system of legal?immigration. The key question is whether?immigration?policy should move away from family reunification and toward the selection of immigrants?on the basis of their likely economic contribution. A bill that inches in that direction, jointly sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy (D- Massachusetts) and Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming), rolled easily through the Senate in March. Similar legislation, which calls for an annual ceiling of 670,000?immigrants, vs. 590,000 in the Kennedy-Simpson bill, has been introduced by Representative Charles Schumer (D-New York) and is pending before the House judiciary committee. Both Senate and House bills open a small channel for ''independent''?immigrants. A point system, which takes into account education, English-language skills, work experience, and occupational demand, would be used to allocate 55,000 of these visas annually. Another 5,000 visas would go to investors who can each put $2 million into a business that creates ten full-time jobs. Both bills wisely cut back some of the advantages given to the cousins and in-laws of present citizens.
Smooth Senate passage does not promise an easy road in the House, where various?immigration?lobbies may stall?reform. Heading a group that wants sharp reductions in the numbers of?immigrants?is the Federation for American?Immigration?Reform?(FAIR), a coalition supported by environmentalists and such population controllers as former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, some liberals who worry about the competitive impact of low-wage?immigrants?on blacks and other disadvantaged Americans, and people who feel uneasy about the influx of large numbers of foreigners. On the other side is the National?Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Forum, which favors increased?immigration. Forum is an umbrella organization for labor unions, churches, refugee assistance organizations, and Hispanic and other ethnic groups. Though the lobby uses the declining birthrate and looming labor shortages to support its views, it remains tightly wedded to the family reunification criteria. Families, says Forum's director, Rick Swartz, ''serve as cushions'' for?immigrants, helping them become comfortable in the new culture. The National Council of La Raza (''the race''), a Mexican-American group with allies in the House Hispanic caucus, also supports family reunification. ''It provides a network of persons already here who help the acculturation process,'' says La Raza's director of policy analysis, Charles Kamasaki. While not opposed in principle to a special category for independent?immigrants, as put forth in the House and Senate bills, Kamasaki worries that skills-based?immigration?would eventually cut into the visas now reserved for family reunification. In spite of the subject's importance, business has mainly stayed out of the debate. While such groups as FAIR and La Raza can generate piles of letters to Congress, the only persistent business voice on the Hill belongs to the fruit and vegetable growers, who want to ensure their access to a work force of low- paid aliens, legal or otherwise. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has testified in Congress in support of the limited but valid issue of increasing quotas for the foreign employees of U.S. corporations. Roughly nine million?immigrants?will come to the United States during the , 1980s, twice the number that came in the 1970s and many more than have entered in any similar period since World War I.
But it is not an unprecedented flow, relatively speaking. From 1900 to 1930, the foreign-born made up more than 12% of a (much smaller) U.S. population, twice the percentage today. Most of the?immigrants, about 84%, are from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean (see table). While this reflects the great desire by people in those areas to come to the U.S., the composition is also the consequence of the?Immigration?Act of 1965. This law repudiated the national origins quotas that had governed?immigration?for most of the century. The old system generally ensured that those who were allowed to enter would not alter the country's ethnic balance. Thus, it effectively kept out Asians and shut the door to most of Eastern Europe's hunted Jews during the Nazi era. The new law, passed in the spirit of the 1960s, treated all nations the same -- Ireland and Italy like Pakistan and Ethiopia. Replacing the country quotas was a preference system, which favored family ties, not talent or skills. The system allows the entry of immediate family members without limit. It also allocates 270,000 visas worldwide to preference categories: other relatives, professionals, and company-sponsored workers. Of those precious visas, fully 90% go to family members. No country gets more than 20,000 of the preference visas in one year.?In the event more than 20,000 petitioners are eligible for visas, their applications are held over to the next year, with priority over later applicants.
No one expected the 1965 act to radically change the traditional European patterns of?immigration. After all, who had family members here? Attorney General Robert Kennedy told the Senate that 5,000 Asian?immigrants?might come the first year, ''after which?immigration?from that source would virtually disappear."?The bill's white ethnic supporters in Congress expected that Italian- and Greek-Americans would have leeway to bring their relatives. At first they were right. Of the 3.3 million?immigrants?who came during the 1960s, Italy, Germany, Britain, and Canada trailed behind only Cuba and Mexico as sources of new?immigrants. But the stream changed quickly. Though Asians, Mexicans, and other Latin Americans had few family connections, they filled the smaller quotas for employer-sponsored workers and professionals. Europeans did not. In booming Western Europe people didn't want to leave; in East Bloc countries they ; couldn't. The first Asians were physicians, engineers, nurses, the occasional war bride from Korea and Vietnam. By the late 1960s European scientists and engineers, who had usually been able to enter and bring their families at will, began to find their professional counterparts from India, Korea, and Taiwan ahead of them in the line for the 27,000 professional visas. These first Asians used the family-preference system to its full potential. What no legislator voting on the 1965 act envisioned was how quickly family reunification would produce chain?immigration. Imagine one?immigrant, say an engineering student, who was studying in the U.S. during the 1960s. If he found a job after graduation, he could get labor certification and become a legal resident alien. He could then bring over his wife, and six years later, after being naturalized, his brothers and sisters. They, in turn, could bring their wives, husbands, and children. Within a dozen years, one?immigrant?entering as a skilled worker could easily generate 25 visas for in-laws, nieces, and nephews.
Chain immigration made families happy, but it brought other difficulties. Several countries -- the Philippines, Mexico, Korea, the Dominican Republic -- quickly filled their quotas, creating long waiting lists. This backlog completely closed the door to those would-be?immigrants?who had no close relatives to sponsor them. In effect, countries that hadn't quickly established a beachhead of?immigrants?after the 1965 law were kept out of the system. This problem was responsible for the last-minute amendment to the 1986?Immigration?Reform?and Control Act that provided for a one-time only issuance of 10,000 visas for 36 countries whose?immigration?had been ''adversely affected'' by the 1965 bill. One of these countries was Ireland, ancestral home of Brian Donnelly, the Boston Congressman who proposed the amendment. Others were Poland and Hungary, where potential?immigrants?were finding it easier to leave. Tens of thousands of applications came from Indonesia and Japan. Seven thousand Rumanians, whose country was not included in the program, made inquiries at the U.S. embassy. In Burma, which also was not included, 5,000 showed up at the American embassy. The huge response to the Donnelly amendment -- 150 applications were filed for every available visa -- was a stunning demonstration of the pent-up desire for American citizenship around the world. Countries were not really hurt by the 1965 law, but individuals were. A brother-in-law of someone who had?immigrated?ten years before could come in, no matter what his talents or lack of them. A person with ambition and skills was blocked. Traditionally?immigrants?to the U.S. have done well not only because the economy needed them, but also because the decision toimmigrate?itself tends to rule out the passive and complacent. As Rick Swartz of the National?Immigration?Forum puts it: ''Immigrants?tend to be the stronger willed, the more sophisticated, the more adventuresome.'' Their children have done well too. Economist Barry Chiswick of the University of Illinois figures that for most of this century the children of?immigrants?have earned 5% to 10% more than native-born children with the same level of education. Most research shows that, so far, the economy has been helped by the recent wave of?immigration.
Studies by both the Rand Corp. and the Urban Institute conclude that new?immigration?has particularly stimulated the economy of California, the home of nearly 30% of recent?immigrants. The main point of the Urban Institute's The Fourth Wave is that an influx of?immigrants?during the 1970s did not create higher unemployment for the native born. Author Thomas Muller found that recent arrivals took two of three newly created jobs in Los Angeles County, one out of three in Southern California. But the?immigrants?did not upset employment rates. In fact, California unemployment rates, higher than the national average in 1970, fell below the mean in the early 1980s. Many?immigrants?found basic manufacturing jobs in Southern California, which became a large-scale maker of clothes and furniture. Muller notes that the backbone of this work force is low-paid, often illegal labor, and that these factory jobs simply would not exist without?immigrants?to take them. The white-collar managers of such firms benefit, as do the workers who produce raw materials for such companies. Muller stresses that the new wave ofimmigrants?worked well economically because of its sociological diversity. The large numbers of laborers from Mexico were balanced by a parallel stream from Asia of quite skilled?immigrants?-- 37% had some college education or better. The only economic losers from?immigrationwere workers at the bottom of the occupational ladder, whose growing numbers forced wage growth to slow. The problem of social assimilation may well be more emotionally charged for Americans, both?immigrants?and natives, than economic issues. In such Los . Angeles suburbs as Monterey Park, older white residents battle thriving Chinese?immigrants?about zoning regulations, a contest rooted in cultural tension over ''unreadable'' Asian-language signs in the malls and other symbols of the changing of a neighborhood. But these confrontations have been polite and bloodless, mild by the traditional standards of American ethnic politics, softened by the shared middle-class mores of the participants. If future tensions between natives and?immigrants?take on the added edge of class conflict, the battles may be less polite.
For Mexican immigrants, assimilation and economic advancement have been tightly linked. A Rand study by Kevin McCarthy and Burciaga Valdez concludes that Mexicans in California have been joining the American mainstream in the same three-generation process that generations of Poles, Russians, and Italians have traced. When they arrive in California, Mexicans typically speak minimal English, have less than eighth-grade educations, and take low-skilled jobs. Their children tend to grow up bilingual, finish high school at rates close to the state average (though rarely go further), and find work in such semiskilled jobs as machinists and clerks. The third generation, Mexican-Americans with American-born parents, are more comfortable with English than Spanish, attend college or technical school at rates approaching those of other Californians, and have gained a solid foothold in the middle-class professions. Yet future economic trends threaten this classic pattern. The Rand study expressed alarm at the coming shrinkage of the bridge jobs -- the skilled craft or clerical jobs often taken by the sons and daughters of Mexican?immigrants?-- which may retard the progress of the second generation. The Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy figures that from now until 1995, the state economy will be increasingly technological, but that Hispanics, Asians, and blacks will not be holding the higher-skilled jobs in proportion to their population. Such trends make it questionable whether the children of today's unskilledimmigrants?will be able to assimilate as easily as past generations. The problem could well be aggravated by the amnesty program. It will lead to the naturalization of an estimated two million?immigrants, mostly unskilled, within seven years -- and by the subsequent admission of their relatives under family reunification. The largest class of new?immigrants?may find themselves $ shut out of the most dynamic sectors of the economy, and thus from the assimilation process, by their lack of skills and education.
The variable that most closely predicts economic success for?immigrants?as for other Americans is education. But Barry Chiswick's recent research suggests that the present, kinship-drivenimmigration?system is beginning to drive?immigrant?educational levels down. The shift of?immigration?from Europe to Asia and Latin America does not fully explain the decline. In fact, the phenomenon is most pronounced within the stream of Asian?immigrants. Those who entered in the years immediately after the 1965 Act were the best-educated?immigrant?group ever because they received almost all their visas under the occupational and skills preferences. It was their children who astonished the nation with their accomplishments in high school math and science competitions ten to 15 years later. Yet this flow of talent is now being diluted by the priority given to their in-laws and cousins; since 1970 the average educational level of Asian?immigrants?has dropped by about two years. The U.S. passed the 1965?Immigration?Act at a time when America's economic predominance seemed as if it might extend forever. The nation had soaring gains in productivity, declining energy costs, a continually growing GNP. Other countries barely challenged the U.S. in the global markets, much less its own. Foreign control over American industry and real estate were difficult to imagine. Now, with the trade and budget deficits lurking in the background, a different vocabulary is gradually slipping into the discussion of the new bills. The letter introducing the Kennedy-Simpson?immigration?proposal quietly suggests that legislation would bring?immigration?policy ''more in line with the national interest.'' Charles Schumer describes his bill as a way to help ''competitiveness.'' Where?immigration?is concerned Congressmen raise such ideas cautiously, fearful of exposing themselves to the charge of being antifamily or worse.
A few guidelines should help the current debate. First, the U.S. needs?immigrants?as much as?immigrants?need the U.S. Current levels of legal?immigration?can be absorbed easily and can probably be increased. Second, the economy requires people with labor market skills and ability in math and the sciences. Third, the U.S. does not have a growing need for unskilled labor. Current?immigrationpolicy seems designed to encourage the unskilled, deny the skilled. The amnesty provision in the 1986?Immigration?Act can be defended on humanitarian grounds as protection of a vulnerable class of unskilled workers. But its eventual effect, when those future citizens start to unify their families, will be to confer citizenship on many millions of unskilled people. As long as present law remains in effect, those applicants will have priority over those whose only card is education, or needed job skills. When thousands of skilled nurses, who came in on temporary work permits, now face deportation in the midst of a looming national health care crisis, the family- first criteria seems truly perverse. As a beginning to?immigration?reform, kinship?immigration?should be limited to immediate family members -- spouses, minor children, parents. Second, the largest class of?immigrants?should be admitted on the basis of their education and of labor market needs. Most visas should be allocated by a point system, subject to regular congressional review and adjustment. Skills, education, and relative youth should count. A few points could be awarded for English- language skills, but most people, particularly in the professions, learn English rapidly enough.
Family ties to American citizens might remain as a criterion, but only one among several. Some effort should be made to ensure diversity, possibly by quotas based on the total population of each country. Greater variety in the?immigrant?stream would be likely to increase public and political support for moreimmigration. Finally, the quotas for refugees should be raised; no group of Americans teaches us more about the blessings of freedom. Ifimmigration?reform?is passed, Americans will discover a raging international competition for?immigrants?who can make a distinct economic contribution. Canada and Australia have had point systems for two decades and are happy with the results. While the U.S. has not issued a visa to an investor since 1978, Canada now welcomes?immigrants?with capital to invest and entrepreneurial skills.?Immigration?lawyer Daryl Buffenstein tells of listening recently to Canada's minister of state for?immigration, Gerry Weiner, give a speech about the great benefits Canada was reaping from its new influx of entrepreneurial?immigrants. Returning to his seat, Weiner leaned over and whispered to Buffenstein: ''Just one favor -- keep the American system exactly like it is.''
Source: http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/16/the-new-battle-over-immigration-fortune-1988/
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