The Gay Debate: Family | Jordan Carl Hunt

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The Harvard Crimson: Mitt Romney's Russia

The Republican candidate's views on Russia are misguided

For a candidate whose foreign policy expertise was presumably sharpened by his two year mission in Europe, Mitt Romney's pronunciations on the Russian Federation are especially surprising. In recent weeks, Romney's views on Russia have come into focus and become more widely scrutinized, notably in recent articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

In one exceptional and already notorious case, the Republican candidate elect stated that Russia was the United States' "number one geopolitical foe." Although he would admit that states like Iran and North Korea pose a greater immediate threat to global stability, Romney appears to cling to the implicit assumption that a post-Soviet Russia still poses the gravest danger to American interests. In particular, he has cited Russian support for rogue nations at the United Nations; given Russia's status as a permanent member of the Security Council, the Kremlin is able to shield regimes such as Bashar al-Assad's despotic and cruel regime in Syria from international censure.

The logical fallacy behind Romney's conception of Russia as America's greatest enemy is apparent. Despite Romney's determination that the anchor of the former Soviet Union remains a serious threat to American freedom, the reality suggests otherwise. Admittedly, Russia today is mistrustful and suspicious of American motives, particularly regarding the construction of a missile shield in Central and Eastern Europe. At home, Russia is far from a free country; "managed democracy," a term too often used by Western media outlets, has served as a byword for Vladimir Putin's "United Russia" party's domination of the political sphere for more than a decade.

But Russia hardly qualifies as the U.S.'s most pressing adversary. Rather, both the modern Russian Federation and the United States face similar challenges: both struggle, though in different ways, with the threat of Islamic-inspired fundamentalist terrorism. While the United States may face the impending question of how to deal with rising Chinese economic power, Russia has already been forced to accept economic second-power status. Unlike the U.S., Russia faces acute immediate challenges: she must confront an imminent demographic crisis arguably worse than anything faced by the least fecund Western European countries. While Russian GDP growth had been phenomenal under the first few years of Putin's administration, the long-term outlook for an extractive-resource and, specifically, petro-state economy seems uncertain.

Both Russia and the United States face similar challenges, albeit to different extremes, of how to reduce large nuclear arsenals, push back terrorism, and address long-term competitiveness issues. In the post-Soviet era, the two countries have been on remarkably good terms considering their Cold War relations. With that in mind, the Republicans' apparent desire to return to imminent nuclear-war rivalry is quite baffling.

Mr. Romney would do well to avoid characterizing Russia as evil. His own understanding of Russian relations can in part be informed or explained by the suggestion that he views foreign policy as a "zero sum" game. Such an outlook bears a depressing resemblance to former president George W. Bush's pronouncement to the effect of "you are either with us or against us." Good or evil, blessed or satanic; these are the kinds of counterproductive, black and white judgments that Barack Obama, however successful or not he has been at foreign policy, has at least avoided in his administration. It would be a shame to revert to this good-evil divide.

Instead, Romney and the American public would do well to recognize who is working to deliver reform and democracy in Russia and who is hindering this effort. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index regularly lists the world's largest country as among the most corrupt. In many cases, large-scale corruption has also turned Russia into a violent and lawless state. Witness the now well-known death of Moscow lawyer Sergei L. Magnitsky and the U.S. Congress' subsequent effort to pass the "Magnistsky Act" aimed at targeting corrupt bureaucrats and security officials thought to be behind Magnitsky's death after he exposed a massive fraud. Romney and the Republican Party would do well to draw the distinction between an ill-informed view of a "Russia" driven by ulterior motives and the reality: the desire of Russians to secure a more ethical and democratic future for their country.

Russia is not the U.S.'s best friend, but neither should the two states be anything approaching real enemies. Romney's conception of Russia is indeed confusing to today's generation of young Americans who have grown up in a post-Cold War era, and who in many cases know -- or are among -- the millions of former U.S.S.R. immigrants who have moved to the United States.

Russia has changed and modernized considerably since the fall of the Soviet Union. Any visitor to today's Moscow would surely balk at the idea that the capital represents Washington D.C.'s top adversary. Romney's own misguided stance re-emphasizes the need to interact with contemporary powers through diplomacy and understanding rather than jingoistic and uninformed nationalism.

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This Video of Venus Crossing the Sun Seems Straight Out of Star Wars [Video]

The transit of Venus is one of the rarest astronomical events in our solar system. It happens in pairs, every century. This awe-inspiring video shows the first of this century's pair, which happened in 2004. The next one is about to happen—on June 5, 2012. More »

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How to Write a Persuasive Speech - Corporate Public Speaking

Three of the greatest persuasive speeches of all time are Abraham Lincoln?s Gettysburg Address, Winston Churchill?s Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat Speech given in the House of Commons during World War II and Martin Luther King?s I Have a Dream Speech. These speeches have some elements of content and figures of speech in common. An examination of these elements common to persuasive speeches can help to create a framework or template for anyone who has to write and deliver a persuasive speech or presentation.

1. Invocation of a higher authority

All of these speeches begin with the invocation of a higher authority, reminding the audience that it is not just the speaker who has these ideas, but they are supported by their office, principles or law. Churchill invoked the power of his office and the British Empire. Lincoln invoked the principles of the founding fathers. King invoked the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Bible. A statement of authority provides a context for what follows.

2. We are all in this together

These speakers present themselves as just ordinary men facing, with others, a common problem. The problem is serious and they are threatened, but they are common men who understand the fears of others and are willing to face the problem working side by side with everyone. This technique provides an important identification with the audience and further establishes the speaker?s credibility.

3. Anaphora

All of these speeches use a figure of speech called anaphora, which is the repetition of a phrase at the beginning of sentences. This is a rhetorical tool employed throughout the speech. King says ?Now is the time?? four times and ?I have a dream?? eight times. Churchill says victory five times and Lincoln uses the phrases, ?we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground?. This figure of speech stirs up emotion and makes parts of the speech very memorable. It also acts as a theme, tying the speech together.

4. A vision for the future

All three speeches present a clear vision of what the speaker sees in the future. For Churchill, it is victory ? otherwise there is no survival of the British Empire. Lincoln presented the vision that a nation of the people, by the people, for the people will not perish. King presents the dream of equality, of his children playing with other children. A vision for the future provides a statement of the outcome that the speaker desires. Listeners need a reason to remember what the speaker said and they will be asking what should happen next.

These speeches represent a formula for persuasion that can be used in a number of circumstances. Restated in other words, the four elements can be considered as, the basis for the legitimacy of your claims, the common problem that if we work on it together will be solved, repeated expressions of emotion, and a clear picture of the outcome you expect and how you define success.

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Types of Health Insurance | Prosperity2All

When choosing a health insurance company it can be beneficial to start with the basics and work your way to the more complicated aspects before making a final decision. A good place to start is with a list of the primary types of health insurance.

Understand the types of health insurance, their differences, and the similarities between different types of plans and then see which types of plans may be suitable for you. And once those aspects are clear, you can move on to researching which types may be available to you.

Main types of health insurance:
- Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)
- Fee-for-service Plans

Finding the best medical insurance for children has become difficult recently for parents. Some health insurance companies have dropped their child-only plans, and it has become more expensive for parents to insure their kids. Parents can find the best health plans for the entire family or just for the children, and it can be for an affordable price.

The place to discover the health insurance plans that parents need for their children and their families is at a health insurance broker?s website.

Parents will learn that they have several options for providing medical care for their kids. There?s a good chance that your child will have an accident while playing and will need to be taken to the emergency room. Parents will be able to learn how to purchase a policy that will cover this expense.

Most insurance websites even inform parents that they may need to rent medical equipment for their children. They will learn also what types of plans will cover these expenses in case they are needed.

You should also research what prescription drugs are covered by the child?s policy. It?s most important for parents of chronically ill children to have coverage for prescription drugs because years of paying for these medications add up quickly.

Before choosing a health insurance provider, it is recommended to fully research all options that may be available to you. Health insurance research is usually filled with information that can help make your next insurance decision a knowledgeable one.

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Too much vitamin D can be as unhealthy as too little

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Scientists know that Vitamin D deficiency is not healthy. However, new research from the University of Copenhagen now indicates that too high a level of the essential vitamin is not good either. The study is based on blood samples from 247,574 Copenhageners. The results have just been published in the reputed scientific Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Vitamin D is instrumental in helping calcium reach our bones, thus lessening the risk from falls and the risk of broken hips. Research suggests that vitamin D is also beneficial in combating cardiac disease, depression and certain types of cancers. The results from a study conducted by the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences now support the benefits of vitamin D in terms of mortality risk. However, the research results also show higher mortality in people with too high levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream:

"We have had access to blood tests from a quarter of a million Copenhageners. We found higher mortality in people with a low level of vitamin D in their blood, but to our surprise, we also found it in people with a high level of vitamin D. We can draw a graph showing that perhaps it is harmful with too little and too much vitamin D," explains Darshana Durup, PhD student.

If the blood contains less than 10 nanomol (nmol) of vitamin per liter of serum, mortality is 2.31 times higher. However, if the blood contains more than 140 nmol of vitamin per liter of serum, mortality is higher by a factor of 1.42. Both values are compared to 50 nmol of vitamin per liter of serum, where the scientists see the lowest mortality rate.

More studies are needed

Darshana Durup emphasises that while scientists do not know the cause of the higher mortality, she believes that the new results can be used to question the wisdom of those people who claim that you can never get too much vitamin D:

"It is important to conduct further studies in order to understand the relationship. A lot of research has been conducted on the risk of vitamin D deficiency. However, there is no scientific evidence for a 'more is better' argument for vitamin D, and our study does not support the argument either. We hope that our study will inspire others to study the cause of higher mortality with a high level of vitamin D," says Darshana Durup. She adds:

"We have moved into a controversial area that stirs up strong feelings just like debates on global warming and research on nutrition. But our results are based on a quarter of a million blood tests and provide an interesting starting point for further research."

The largest study of its kind

The study is the largest of its kind ? and it was only possible to conduct it because of Denmark's civil registration system, which is unique in the Nordic countries. The 247,574 blood samples come from the Copenhagen General Practitioners Laboratory:

"Our data material covers a wide age range. The people who participated had approached their own general practitioners for a variety of reasons and had had the vitamin D level in their bloodstream measured in that context. This means that while the study can show a possible association between mortality and a high level of vitamin D, we cannot as yet explain the higher risk," explains Darshana Durup.

Therefore in future research project scientists would like to compare the results with information from disease registers such as the cancer register. Financial support is currently being sought for such projects.

###

University of Copenhagen: http://www.ku.dk

Thanks to University of Copenhagen for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 76 time(s).

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How To Buy A Cap

A cap is a statement you make to the world, about your team affiliation, about your hobbies, or about your style. There are hundreds of variations of caps on the market from which to choose.

Types of caps

Cap styles run the gamut from the traditional baseball cap to the Gilligan cap. Choosing the proper one for you depends on your style.

Fitted

• Fitted caps are the traditional caps like the Major League Baseball players wear
• They are usually made of 100% wool with a structured front and a higher profile
• Fitted caps are sized to your head

Adjustable

• Adjustable caps are the most popular caps today because they can be adjusted to fit any size head
• They are made with many different materials including wool, cotton, and mesh
• They also have many different types of closure systems including plastic snaps, leather straps with a buckle, and velcro

Unstructured

• Unstructured caps look like a traditional baseball cap, but with a soft front that sits lower on the head for a more casual look
• They are usually available as adjustable caps

Visors

• Visors are a cap minus the top, they look like a headband with a brim
• They are usually adjustable, with a rigid brim to shade your eyes
• They are also good for wearing in hot weather because the top of your head is open, but be careful of the sun's rays

Bucket

• Some people call this a Gilligan cap because it resembles the old cap worn by the title character on Gilligan's Island
• Bucket caps come in a variety of fabrics and general sizes which include small, medium, large, and extra large

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Cap terms

Caps are actually made up of a number of components.

Bill/Brim

• The brim protects your face from the sun
• They are usually made of PVC plastic, sewn inside some type of fabric

Buckram

• The buckram is the liner inside of the front of the cap that provides the structure and form
• Unstructured caps have no buckram, giving them the more casual, lower profile

Closure systems

• A closure system is the system on the back of adjustable caps that allows you to adjust the size
• Types of closures include plastic, Velcro, fabric snaps and leather bands

Embroidery

• Embroidery is the stitching that decorates the cap, usually in the front but can be anywhere

Eyelets

• Eyelets are the little holes scattered throughout the cap that allows your head to breathe
• They can either be metal or reinforced stitching

Panels

• Panels are the different pieces, usually six to eight, that make up the top of the cap

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Choosing the right size fitted cap

• Caps come in a variety of sizes and are usually measured in inches
• It is important to choose the right size cap in order to ensure a comfortable fit
• For the perfect fitting cap, see DetermineYour Hat Size before making your purchase decision

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[Twitter] Test-Drive http://t.co/N6jY6zqk MVC (Pragmatic Programmers) (Paperback): It's testable. It's light-weight. It's o... http://t.co/smQAEBHS

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Obama campaign plays the Trump card (Washington Bureau)

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How do you write a Television or movie review? | | Bathroom ...

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College furloughs all but 11 employees

JACKSONVILLE, TX (KLTV)- All faculty and staff, with the exception of a small handful, of an East Texas college found out Wednesday morning that they were no longer employed.

Lon Morris College of Jacksonville furloughed every employee but a "core group of 11" Wednesday morning, according to Vice President Jack Nelson.

College board member Tim McRae says the president of Lon Morris, Dr. Miles McCall has submitted his formal resignation via email, effective Thursday.

McRae says Dr. McCall, Lon Morris President for the last seven years, opted to resign on his own after the consulting group came in because he felt it was in his best interest to assist in the reorganization process.

McRae says McCall felt his resignation was the best thing for the college to help it survive.

Lon Morris College spokesperson Dave Hubbard says a consulting group was brought in who identified the 11 left standing.

Hubbard says Summer I and Summer II sessions have been canceled, but added that it's possible those courses may be offered online instead.

The consulting group recommended that the furloughs happen over summer break to allow time for a reassessment of all employees, Hubbard says.

He continued that he doesn't think everyone will be fired, and he believes this will be a very positive thing for the college in the future.

On May 5, the Lon Morris Board of Trustees voted unanimously to engage a reorganization specialist. The goal of the specialist was to advise the board on "strategies to improve the financial position of the college."

Lon Morris College is a faith-based, 150-year-old institution.

We're communicating with the college right now and will bring you more information as soon as it comes in to the newsroom.

Copyright 2012 KLTV. All rights reserved.

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Dell Streak 7 ? Stills, Specification, Review and Price in India

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Fielder's 4-hit game lifts Tigers over Twins

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI

AP Baseball Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 6:27 p.m. ET May 26, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Max Scherzer is piling up the strikeouts and the Detroit Tigers are piling up the hits.

Ever so slowly, they're starting to show glimpses of the team that started the season with World Series aspirations.

Scherzer struck out nine in a rain-shortened outing and Prince Fielder had his first four-hit game with the Tigers, leading Detroit to a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

Scherzer (4-3) gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings before leaving due to a rain delay and Andy Dirks had two doubles and two RBIs for the Tigers. Miguel Cabrera added two hits and two RBIs and Jose Valverde picked up his eighth save in 10 chances.

The Tigers, who were the heavy favorites to win the AL Central when the season began, dropped to 20-24 following a three-game sweep at Cleveland earlier this week. Now they've won two in a row for the first time since April 18.

"Hopefully we're relaxing a little bit and doing what we can do pretty good," manager Jim Leyland said. "We're supposed to hit pretty good and we can hit pretty good. I'm not going to get carried away with two games, but it's a pretty good sign."

Carl Pavano (2-4) allowed six runs on 10 hits in 4 1-3 innings for the Twins, who have lost four straight. Justin Morneau and Denard Span homered for Minnesota, but the Twins struck out 16 times.

Slumping Twins slugger Josh Willingham struck out four times and the bottom four hitters in the lineup - Brian Dozier, Alexi Casilla, Drew Butera and Jamey Carroll - went 1 for 14 with 10 strikeouts.

Most of those strikeouts came courtesy of Scherzer, who is looking more and more like the capable sidekick to Justin Verlander he was last year. He fanned four in a row and five of six at one point in the outing, and set down 13 straight after giving up a solo homer to Morneau in the second inning.

The right-hander gave up seven runs in 2 2-3 innings in his first start of the season and has been trying to dig out of that hole ever since. He was tagged for five runs in a win over the White Sox on May 15, but has chewed up two struggling offenses in his last two starts.

Scherzer struck out 15 in a win over the Pirates last week, the most by a Tigers pitcher since Mickey Lolich in 1972. He fanned nine more on Saturday, getting Dozier and Butera twice each before a couple of hits, and a lot of rain, brought an end to his day in the sixth inning.

"I'm really pitching well with three pitches: fastball, slider, change," Scherzer said. "I just keep making a couple mistakes every game leaving a pitch in the middle of the plate where they've been able to do damage with it. That's a good problem and a bad problem at the same time because obviously you're making mistakes and you feel you can make a batter pitch when those happen."

The game started 20 minutes behind schedule because of weather, and was delayed another 42 minutes in the sixth inning when a heavy downpour pelted Target Field.

Octavio Dotel took the mound after the delay and wiggled out of a runners-on-the-corners, one-out jam by striking out Willingham and getting Morneau to pop out to third base. Dotel then struck out the side in the seventh before handing the ball to Joaquin Benoit.

"A good game and everything but to me the hero of the game was Octavio Dotel," Leyland said.

The Tigers jumped on Pavano in the first, getting an RBI double from Cabrera and an RBI single from Fielder to take a quick 2-0 lead. The veteran right-hander, who has been pitching through some soreness in his shoulder, seemed to steady himself in the next three innings, allowing only one hit.

But the powerful Tigers put together six straight hits during their four-run fifth, with Dirks delivering a two-run double and Cabrera an RBI single to make it 6-2.

Span homered in the sixth, and the Twins had the tying runner at the plate with one out in the eighth. But Benoit struck out Joe Mauer and Willingham to keep the Tigers comfortably in front.

NOTES: Tigers SS Jhonny Peralta snapped an 0-for-17 skid with a single in the sixth. ... Twins RHP Nick Blackburn (quad) threw a bullpen on Saturday and will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday. ... Twins RHP Scott Baker, on the DL with Tommy John surgery, and his wife welcomed Annalee Baker into the world on Thursday night. ... RHP P.J. Walters (2-1, 2.95), who has helped the Twins' beleaguered rotation immensely since being called up from Triple-A Rochester, will start Game 3 of the series on Sunday against Detroit's Rick Porcello (3-4, 5.29). Porcello has given up 10 earned runs in his last three outings.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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SEATTLE (AP) - Albert Pujols hit a home run in his third straight game and pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo came through with a grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 5-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

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Android Voice Recognition in Appcelerator Titanium

November 19th, 2011 // 11:32 am @ matt

One of my most recent tasks at Food on the Table was to implement speech recognition for our meal planning app?s grocery list on Android. Now that the first version of the feature is released, the fully featured product allows users to quickly add items just by speaking into their phone. Not only that, but the app knows to separate items whenever you say ?and? in between (e.g. ?bacon and eggs and cheese? get added as separate items to your list as ?bacon?, ?eggs?, and ?cheese?), determines which department the item should be categorized into, and automatically appends sale data based upon whether or not the item is on sale where you shop.

Most of the backend for this was already implemented from our company working on other tasks. The newest piece to get this working was the voice recognition itself. Fortunately, Android 2.1+ comes with speech recognition capabilities via the RecognizerIntent.

The basic logic is as follows:

1. Create an Intent that calls the speech recognizer action,
2. Pass various parameters, such as the user prompt string and max number of desired results,
3. Accept the response in the form of an array of strings, where the first array item is most likely to correctly match what the user said.

Because we?re using Appcelerator Titanium for our mobile development, this means all our code is built using JavaScript with wrappers and proxies that act as interfaces to the raw Java Android code. This also means that some of the work is simplified, such as a callback method being directly passed to an intent that returns a result, as opposed to defining a special method that handles all results as is typically done on Android.

Unfortunately, at times it becomes clear that working with Titanium is going to take a bit of extra work compared to coding natively for Android.

As I mentioned above, when Android?s speech recognition Intent is successful, it returns an array of text strings that are most likely to match what the user said. To access this array of strings, there is a method on the Intent class named getStringArrayListExtra. The problem is that Titanium?s IntentProxy does not provide a wrapper for this method. As such, the temporary solution until it is included in Titanium Mobile core is to create a custom module that acts as a middleman between the JavaScript and Android layers.

Implementing this took some time, as it was my first time working with Titanium modules, but it turned out to be relatively simple. Since extending Titanium?s core implementation of IntentProxy into a subclass won?t work, I had to essentially create a helper class that accepts the IntentProxy and the parameters required for the method, calling the actual method on the Intent given those parameters.

@Kroll.method public String[] getStringArrayListExtra(final IntentProxy intentProxy, final String name) { 	if (DBG) { 		Log.d(LCAT, "getStringArrayListExtra called with name:" + name); 	} ? 	final ArrayList<String> list = intentProxy.getIntent().getStringArrayListExtra(name); 	return list != null ? list.toArray(new String[list.size()]) : null; }

Let?s break down what?s happening here. First, the @Kroll.method is a simple annotation used by Titanium to say ?this method should be available when accessed through the JavaScript.? If the annotation weren?t included, then the method would only be accessible by other Java classes.

Next, the DGB and Log.d lines simply create an entry in the Android log for debugging purposes. This doesn?t effect the outcome of the function at all, and is simply useful for anyone attempting to debug their code. Removing these lines would have no effect on the actual implementation of the core functionality.

On the next line, where I define list, I first get the actual Android Intent object from the IntentProxy. Once I have the Intent object, I can call the method I?ve been trying to reach in the first place ? getStringArrayListExtra ? passing the name parameter provided to the proxy. This method returns an ArrayList of String objects.

Finally, we want to turn a simple array of String objects from our new method. The reason I chose a string array is that Titanium already has the built-in logic to convert a Java array into an array object that JavaScript understands. To return a string array, we need to convert the ArrayList into an array. Fortunately, this can easily be done by calling the toArray method on the ArrayList object that we already have. (If the object is null, then we simply return that instead.)

Great! So now it?s time to compile, implement, and test out our module. Throwing a little speech recognition code together, it quickly becomes clear that there?s another problem. As it turns out, Titanium does not properly handle putExtra for integer values. As such, we?ll need to add a new method called putIntExtra to our custom Intent module to perform this task.

@Kroll.method public void putIntExtra(final IntentProxy intentProxy, final String key, final Object value) { 	if (DBG) { 		Log.d(LCAT, "putIntExtra called with key:" + key + "\", value:" + value); 	} ? 	if (value instanceof Integer) { 		intentProxy.getIntent().putExtra(key, (Integer) value); 	} else { 		intentProxy.getIntent().putExtra(key, (int) Double.parseDouble(value.toString())); 	} }

Breaking this down, you can see that it behaves similar in structure to the original module method I described. First, we accept the IntentProxy object along with the desired key and value for the extra data. Note that we accept the value as an Object though since JavaScript uses loose variable types.

Next, we provide the same basic debug logging as mentioned before.

Now we get to the actual heart of what?s happening. Even though I don?t do so myself, this code can technically be called from the Java itself. As such, I perform a preliminary check to see if the value is already an Integer instance. If so, then we don?t perform any magic, and simply call putExtra on the intent. (Java?s automatic unboxing handles the Integer to int conversion.) However, if the object is not already an Integer, then we need to convert it to one.

At first, I tried to utilize the Integer.parseInt method to convert the string representation of the object. However, it turns out that the object was being passed in as ?1.0?, and the decimal point was causing an exception to be thrown when this method was called. As such, the solution was to parse the string as a Double, then case that to an integer. This simply removes anything after the decimal, meaning that a value of 1.9999 would become 1. I decided this is acceptable since the method is intended to only be receiving integer representations in the first place.

Finally, after recompiling, reimplementing, and retesting the code, we find that speech recognition now works. The Titanium JavaScript code is returned an array of strings when our RecognizerIntent finishes successfully, and we can use this string to populate our grocery list items for the user.

Here?s an example of the Titanium code used to perform the speech recognition through our new module.

var intentModule = require("com.foodonthetable.intent"); ? var intent = Ti.Android.createIntent({   action: "android.speech.action.RECOGNIZE_SPEECH" }); ? intent.putExtra("calling_package", "com.foodonthetable.mobile"); intent.putExtra("android.speech.extra.PROMPT", "Start speaking..."); intent.putExtra("android.speech.extra.LANGUAGE_MODEL", "free_form"); intentModule.putIntExtra(intent, "android.speech.extra.MAX_RESULTS", 5); ? // For retrieving the array list  Ti.Android.currentActivity.startActivityForResult(intent, function(event) {   if (event.resultCode == Ti.Android.RESULT_OK) {     var intent = event.intent;     var results = intentModule.getStringArrayListExtra(intent, "android.speech.extra.RESULTS"); ?     if (results && results.length) {       console.log("There were " + results.length + " results");       for (var i in results) {         console.log("Result " + i + " = " + results[i]);       }     } else {       console.log("No results");     }   } });

Feel free to view or modify the full source code on Github. If you have any suggestions for improvement or actual code changes, feel free to contact me or fork my code and submit a pull request. Also, check out the Android meal planning app that?s using this feature for a full demonstration.

Category : Blog &Featured

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Personal graduate courses for teachers Development Advice That Will

Personal graduate courses for teachers Development Advice That Will Improve Your Health

Self help involves mental, emotional, or economic personal improvement through psychological means. Self help allows individuals to personally make themselves better by focusing whatever flaws they may have and eliminating them from their life. Sometimes self help can be difficult. The tips provided in this article should help alleviate that difficulty.

There are seven secrets to success that will bring about true personal development. They are direction, destination, action, reaction, acceleration, completion and reproduction. Go through these steps in order and make sure to share your success with others. Success becomes more real to you when you can talk about it.

When trying to stay positive through your self help process, take the time to look at your surroundings and admire everything that is great about life. For example, the sun provides the entire world (and more) with energy, you should take simple things like this to provide you with positive reinforcement.

Lack of self confidence in a person can be fueled by doubt. If you doubt your abilities and skills continuously then this will only fuel your self-doubt. Celebrate the talents that you excel at and practice to improve on those ones that you do not. Your self confidence will grow as your skill base develops.

Be sure to take online classes for teachers the time to recognize and celebrate your accomplishments. Make a big deal out of reaching the smallest goal that you have set for yourself. You deserve to be rewarded for the hard work and sacrifices that you have made to reach these goals. Make it a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream, whatever you find to be your favorite treat.

A great self help tip is to not beat yourself up when you make a mistake. We are all human and we all make mistakes. If you beat yourself up because you?re not perfect, you?ll never be happy. Learning how to live with mistakes will make you much happier.

If you are looking to build a confidence in yourself, you should begin walking at a faster pace. People who walk quickly exude confidence. They have people to see and places to go. Walking 25 percent faster will make you look and feel more confident and more important.

Practice assuming responsibility for your actions rather than immediately assigning blame to another party in a conflict. This forces you to hold yourself accountable for your reactions and responses. Rather than saying, ?You make me so mad when you do that!? consider saying this instead: ?I get very angry when you _______ because I feel that ________.? This version clearly states the source of conflict and why you are reacting.

Take at least one step daily toward achieving your goal. This step can be small, or large, but it is necessary teachers learning center to take a step each day. Doing this keeps you on track, and helps you to remain focused. It also gets the necessary steps accomplished so that your end result comes closer and closer.

You should always be exacting. If personal development is a goal for you, you need to be precise at all times. Having high expectations for yourself is really just having a high confidence in your ability. Being precise will bring you closer to your goals with each small step you take towards them.

Keep chugging along. We?ve all heard of the little train that thought it could and of the tortoise that beat the hare in the race. Constantly working towards achieving a goal will eventually get us there. We just have to keep chugging or perhaps even crawling along and we will ultimately, reach our destination.

In order to make certain thoughts flee your mind you may want to take the time to find and listen to inspirational and interesting music. Many people use music as inspiration to keep their thoughts focused on the future and the things they want to achieve throughout their life.

As stated before in the article above, self involves improvement through psychological means. Individuals focus on personal flaws and eliminate them. Although practicing self help can sometimes be difficult, the tips from this article can help you practice self help techniques, which will allow you to become a better person.

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Vatican in chaos after butler arrested for leaks

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, flanked by his private secretary Georg Gaenswein, top left, and his butler Paolo Gabiele arrives at St.Peter's square at the Vatican for a general audience. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, Gabriele was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, flanked by his private secretary Georg Gaenswein, top left, and his butler Paolo Gabiele arrives at St.Peter's square at the Vatican for a general audience. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, Gabriele was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI butler Paolo Gabiele sits in the car with the pontiff, not seen, as he arrives in St.Peter's square at the Vatican for a general audience. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, Gabriele was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In this May 17, 2008 file photo, Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges faithful upon his arrival at the Our Lady of Mercy Shrine in Savona, near Genoa, Italy, Saturday, May 17, 2008. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, that the pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, at left holding the umbrella, was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing as he arrives at St.Peter's square at the Vatican for a general audience. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, that the pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, bottom, was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In this photo taken Wednesday, May, 23, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing as he arrives at St.Peter's square at the Vatican for a general audience. The Vatican has confirmed Saturday, May 26, 2012, that the pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, bottom left, was arrested in an embarrassing leaks scandal. Spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Paolo Gabriele was arrested in his home inside Vatican City with secret documents in his possession. Gabriele, a layman, was being held. Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have pointed to power struggles and accusations of corruption touching senior Vatican cardinals. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? An already sordid scandal over leaked Vatican documents took a Hollywood-like turn Saturday with confirmation that the pope's own butler had been arrested after documents he had no business having were found in his Vatican City apartment.

The detention of butler Paolo Gabriele, one of the few members of the papal household, capped one of the most convulsive weeks in recent Vatican history and threw the Holy See into chaos as it enters a critical phase in its efforts to show the world it's serious about complying with international norms on financial transparency.

The tumult began with the publication last weekend of a book of leaked Vatican documents detailing power struggles, political intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of Catholic Church governance. It peaked with the inglorious ouster on Thursday of the president of the Vatican bank. And it concluded with confirmation Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI's own butler was the alleged mole feeding documents to Italian journalists in an apparent bid to discredit the pontiff's No. 2.

"If you wrote this in fiction you wouldn't believe it," said Carl Anderson, a member of the board of the Vatican bank which contributed to the tumult with its no-confidence vote in its president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. "No editor would let you put it in a novel."

The bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, issued a scathing denunciation of Gotti Tedeschi in a memorandum obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. In it the bank, or IOR by its Italian initials, explained its reasons for ousting Gotti Tedeschi: he routinely missed board meetings, failed to do his job, failed to defend the bank, polarized its personnel and displayed "progressively erratic personal behavior."

Gotti Tedeschi was also accused by the board of leaking documents himself: The memorandum from the Institute for Religious Works, as the bank is known, said he "failed to provide any formal explanation for the dissemination of documents last known" to be in his possession.

In an interview with the AP, Anderson stressed that the latter accusation was independent of the broader "Vatileaks" scandal that has rocked the Vatican for months. But he stressed: "It is not an insignificant issue."

Gotti Tedeschi hasn't commented publicly about his ouster or the reasons behind it, saying he has too much admiration for the pope to do so. He also hasn't been arrested, avoiding the fate that befell Gabriele.

The 46-year-old father of three has been in Vatican detention since Wednesday after Vatican investigators discovered Holy See documents in his apartment. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Gabriele had met with his lawyers and that the investigation was taking its course through the Vatican's judicial system.

Gabriele, the pope's personal butler since 2006, has often been seen by Benedict's side in public, riding in the front seat of the pope's open-air jeep during Wednesday general audiences or shielding the pontiff from the rain. In private, he is a member of the small papal household that also includes the pontiff's private secretaries and four consecrated women who care for the papal apartment.

Lombardi said Gabriele's detention marked a sad development for all Vatican staff. "Everyone knows him in the Vatican, and there's certainly surprise and pain, and great affection for his beloved family," the spokesman said.

The "Vatileaks" scandal has seriously embarrassed the Vatican at a time when it is trying to show the world financial community that it has turned a page and shed its reputation as a scandal plagued tax haven.

Vatican documents leaked to the press in recent months have undermined that effort, alleging corruption in Vatican finance as well as internal bickering over the Holy See's efforts to comply with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

The Vatican in July will learn if it has complied with the financial transparency criteria of a Council of Europe committee, Moneyval ? a key step in its efforts to get on the so-called "white list" of countries that share financial information to fight tax evasion.

Anderson acknowleged that the events of the last week certainly haven't cast the Holy See in the best light. And he said the bank's board appreciated that the ouster of its president just weeks before the expected Moneyval decision could give the committee pause.

"The board considered that concern and decided that all things considered it was best to take the action at this time," Anderson said. "These steps were taken to increase the IOR's position vis-a-vis Moneyval."

The Vatileaks scandal began in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican's U.S. ambassador.

Nuzzi, author of "Vatican SpA," a 2009 volume laying out shady dealings of the Vatican bank based on leaked documents, last weekend published "His Holiness," which presented a trove of other documents including personal correspondence to the pope and his secretary ? many of them painting Benedict?s No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a negative light.

Nuzzi has said he was offered the documents by multiple Vatican sources and insisted he didn't pay a cent ? to any of them.

Gabriele was in Vatican custody and unavailable for comment. No known motive has come to light as to why Gabriele, if he is found to be the key mole, might have passed on the documents. Nuzzi declined to comment Saturday on whether Gabriele was among his sources.

Bertone, 77, has been blamed for a series of gaffes and management problems that have plagued Benedict's papacy and, according to the leaked documents, generated a not inconsiderable amount of ill will directed at him from other Vatican officials.

"For some time and in various parts of the church, criticism even by the faithful has been growing about the lack of coordination and confusion that reign at its center," Cardinal Paolo Sardi, the former No. 2 official in the Vatican secretariat of state, wrote to the pope in 2009, according to the letter cited in "His Holiness."

Anderson, who heads the Knights of Columbus, a major U.S. lay Catholic organization, said he was certain the Holy See would weather the storm and that the Vatican bank, at least, could move forward under a new leader with solid banking credentials as well as a desire to show off the bank's transparency.

"I hope this will be the beginning of a new chapter for the IOR and part of that chapter will be restoring the public image of the IOR," he told AP. "I think we have a good story to tell."

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

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Are laser-firing drones the weed killers of the future?

1 day

John Roach

Swarms of robotic drones outfitted with solid-state lasers may be tomorrow?s environmentally-friendly weed killers, according to a team of German researchers.

While this this may sound at odds with the idyll of an organic farmer toiling away in the fields, the research team says the lasers eliminate the need for toxic herbicides and labor-intensive weed control.

The drones would seek out and destroy weeds by frying their growth centers with a finely-tuned laser beam, according to scientists working on the project at Leibniz University and Laser Zentrum Hanover.

Sensors and sophisticated algorithms on board the drones would allow the robots to distinguish between weed and crop and determine the right strength of the beam required to kill the weed.

To date, the team has demonstrated the technology in the lab and greenhouse where the laser is mounted on a track over the weeds.

The next step is to deploy the technology in the field. This is tricky since the vibrations of tractor-mounted system would interfere with accuracy, leading to fried crops as well as weeds.

Hence, the idea of mounting the lasers on drones, which the team apparently thinks might be steadier.

--?via Gizmag?and Deutsche Welle?

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website and follow him on Twitter. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

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