Following up on the launch earlier this month of social betting offering BetDash, Irish bookies Paddy Power have brought social slots to Facebook. Social Casino Intelligence reported that the Paddsters have demo-launched a slots app on the social network featuring half a dozen games developed by Cayetano, which Paddy acquired a year ago.
Dragonplay, the Israeli social gaming outfit behind the popular Slot City, Farm Casino and Live Holdem Poker Pro apps on the Android platform, has partnered with online privacy solutions provider TRUSTe to ensure ?the utmost fairness and security? of Dragonplay?s games. The company has also tapped Center Space as third party supervisor of Dragonplay?s random number generator. In April, Dragonplay scored $14m in investment backing from Accel Partners, Entr?e Capitol and Founder Collective.
ZYNGA, FACEBOOK TALK TRIAL SEPARATION But the big social gaming news of the day came from Zynga and its former life-partner Facebook, who have effectively agreed to start seeing other people. Documents filed with the Securities Exchange Commission after the markets closed on Thursday significantly alter the five-year deal the two parties signed in May 2010. For its part, Zynga will no longer grant Facebook exclusive access to its games, enabling new titles to launch on the standalone Zynga.com platform and other social networks, and Zynga can cut Facebook off entirely from its mobile games, games from third-party developers, and games launched in China or Japan. Zynga can opt not to display Facebook ads in its games or utilize Facebook?s proprietary payment mechanism.
On the other side of the negotiating table, Facebook has ended Zynga?s most-favored-nation status, meaning Zynga can no longer use Facebook to cross-promote its games via in-game ads for Zynga.com or via emails from Facebook. And starting in April 2013, Facebook will no longer be barred from developing its own games. A Facebook rep told AllThingsD that the company was ?not in the business of building games and we have no plans to do so,? but companies tend not to negotiate new rights without some thought toward eventually exercising those rights. And Facebook isn?t above subterfuge: in May of this year, Facebook said it wasn?t interested in taking the real-money gambling route, only to allow Gamesys to launch Facebook?s first real-money gambling app in the UK less than four months later.
Sticking with the real-money theme, the new deal stipulates that ?if Facebook allows real money gambling games on the Facebook web site in countries where Zynga has real-money gambling games, Zynga will subsequently launch such games on the Facebook web site, if certain conditions are met by Facebook.? The filing doesn?t elaborate on these certain conditions. Last month, Zynga inked a deal with pan-European online gambling operator Bwin.party digital entertainment to launch a real-money gambling joint venture in the UK.
It?s not clear which company pushed hardest for these revisions. In their most recent earnings reports, Zynga?s contributions to Facebook?s revenues fell from 10% to 7%, but Facebook provided 80% of Zynga?s revenues. Facebook has also not been shy about revealing how Zynga?s games are falling in popularity compared to other developers like Wooga and King.com, who will now be competing with Zynga on a level playing field (on Facebook, at least). The markets have already identified who they believe stands to gain the most from this new arrangement. Zynga shares closed out the day up over 4% to $2.62 but have fallen sharply in after-hours trading, down over 12% at time of writing to $2.29. Facebook shares finished up 3.6% and have fallen less than 1% in after-hours trading.
If you have any further information related to this story that you would like to share with us privately please click here.
Can't get enough CalvinAyre.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, then you'll never miss out on the latest gaming industry news.
Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com
MY THANKS to Steve Briars for alerting me to the forthcoming?Equipping to Succeed conference, another resource and business networking initiative from Christian Resources Together.
Scheduled for the end of March 2013 ? just one month ahead of the CRT main event ? its aim is ?to bring together like-minded Christian business people for encouragement, training and networking opportunities?. A number of high profile guest speakers and seminar leaders top the bill, including?Lord Michael Hastings, Sir Peter Vardy and Gary Grant of The Entertainer toy stores fame, but lest things become too heavy, there?s a more light-hearted evening of entertainment thrown in with comedy magician John Archer.
Places are limited: if you?d like to go, book now ? not only to secure your place but to take advantage of the Early Bird discount, saving up to ?50 on the full price.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Starbucks Corp. is donating a portion of its proceeds on World AIDS Day to help fight the disease.
The company announced Thursday it would give five cents to the Global Fund of the RED foundation for each hand-crafted drink it sells on Saturday in the United States and Canada. The coffee shop is also partnering with iTunes, offering a digital $30 gift card that is divided into two $15 certificates to iTunes and Starbucks. Five percent of the proceeds to those gift cards, sold online, will also be donated to RED.
RED was founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver and links with brands to help raise money to fight AIDS. It benefits the Global Fund, which uses the money for HIV/AIDS programs in Africa.
THURSDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) ? Brain scans done on groups of men with autism show distinct differences in both the volume of specific regions and the activity of cells that signal a possible immune response, two new studies suggest.
Scientists in England and Japan used MRI and PET (positron emission tomography) scans to examine brain-based anatomical and cellular variations in those with autism. But the disparities ? while offering a deeper glimpse into the little-understood developmental disorder ? raised more questions about its cause and treatment that only further research can answer.
?There?s really strong evidence now that the immune system appears to be playing a role in autism, but we just don?t know what that role is,? said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, who was not involved in either study. ?There is such an urgent need for more research to understand the causes and more effective treatment for autism. Autism has really become a public health crisis, and we need to respond to this by greatly increasing the amount of research conducted so we can help families find answers.?
The studies were published online in this week?s issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
Affecting one in 88 children in the United States, autism is characterized by pervasive problems in social interaction and communication, as well as repetitive and restricted behavioral patterns and interests.
The Japanese study examined the brains of 20 men with autism using PET scans to focus on so-called microglia. These are cells that perform immune functions when the brain is exposed to ?insults? such as trauma, infection or clots. The PET images indicated excessive activation of microglia in multiple brain regions among those with autism when compared to a group of people without the disorder.
?This really raised the question about what the role is of these abnormalities,? said Dawson, who also is a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. ?Is this something that could help us explain the causes of autism? Is it a reaction to autism, or the brain?s response to developing in an unusual way??
?We don?t have the answers to these questions, but now they?re showing up in multiple studies so it does suggest that understanding the role of the immune system in autism may be an avenue to understanding its treatment,? she added.
The British study used MRI on 84 men with autism and a matched set of healthy participants. It suggested that those with autism have marked differences in cortical volume. These differences may be linked to its two components ? cortical thickness and surface area. Overall, participants with autism had greater cortical thickness within the frontal lobe regions of the brain and reduced surface area in other regions of the brain.
Study author Christine Ecker, a lecturer in neuroimaging at King?s College London, discussed such brain differences.
?We also know that about 50 percent of individuals with autism have an abnormally enlarged brain, particularly during early childhood, which suggests that those with autism have an atypical developmental trajectory of brain growth,? Ecker said. ?[Anatomical brain differences in these areas] are highly correlated with the severity of autistic symptoms, but we still need to establish how specific differences in surface area and cortical thickness affect wider autistic symptoms and traits.?
Dawson, who wrote an editorial accompanying the studies, noted that the last decade has brought an explosion of new research into autism, although she still feels funding for this work is lacking from federal agencies.
?It?s been amazing to see not only the number of new scientists that are beginning to devote their careers to autism research, but also the quality of scientists,? Dawson said. ?But despite the fact that we?re excited and encouraged by the numbers of publications increasing, we still feel the progress is far too slow.?
More information
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about autism.
SOURCES: Christine Ecker, Ph.D., lecturer, neuroimaging, King?s College London; Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., chief science officer, Autism Speaks, and professor, psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Nov. 26, 2012, Archives of General Psychiatry online
VIENA (Reuters) - Un grupo de piratas inform?ticos opositores a Israel, al que la agencia nuclear de la ONU acus? esta semana de haber publicado en internet datos robados de uno de sus servidores, dijo en una nueva declaraci?n que hab?a difundido material confidencial obtenido del organismo supervisor.
El comunicado firmado por el grupo -que tiene un nombre que suena iran?- fue publicado en un sitio de internet horas despu?s que el jefe del organismo at?mico de la ONU, Yukiya Amano, dijera el jueves que no cre?a que hubiera informaci?n nuclear sensible comprometida entre los datos robados.
La Agencia Internacional de Energ?a At?mica (IAEA), cuya misi?n es prevenir la dispersi?n de armas nucleares en el mundo y que est? investigando pol?micas actividades nucleares de Ir?n, prefiri? no hacer comentarios el viernes sobre los ?ltimos acontecimientos.
El domingo, los hackers publicaron en un sitio de internet docenas direcciones de correo electr?nico de expertos que han estado trabajando con la agencia de la ONU, e instaron a la IAEA a que investigue la actividad nuclear de Israel.
El jueves, Amano dijo que esto era "profundamente lamentable", pero sugiri? que los piratas inform?ticos no hab?an podido robar ning?n dato sensible relacionado con las inspecciones nucleares del organismo. Y agreg? que la intromisi?n de los hackers ocurri? hace unos meses.
El nuevo comunicado de los hackers en nombre de Parastoo (que significa golondrina en persa, y que tambi?n puede ser un nombre de mujer) indic? que ahora el grupo estaba publicando m?s datos en internet "para demostrar nuestra capacidad para obtener acceso a informaci?n altamente sensible".
Esto incluye "documentos, im?genes satelitales, cartas oficiales, presentaciones (...) confidenciales", dijo la declaraci?n, fechada el 29 de noviembre, con enlaces a lo que ser?a esa informaci?n.
La autenticidad del material -publicado en el mismo sitio de internet que el comunicado del domingo- no pudo ser verificada de inmediato.
(Reporte de Fredrik Dahl; Editado en espa?ol por Ana Laura Mitidieri)
Model doesn't just calculate but turns decisions into actions
By Laura Sanders
Web edition: November 29, 2012
View the video
A new computer simulation of the brain can count, remember and gamble. And the system, called Spaun, performs these tasks in a way that?s eerily similar to how people do.
Short for Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network, Spaun is a crude approximation of the human brain. But scientists hope that the program and efforts like it could be a proving ground to test ideas about the brain. ?
Several groups of scientists have been racing to construct a realistic model of the human brain, or at least parts of it. What distinguishes Spaun from other attempts is that the model actually does something, says computational neuroscientist Christian Machens of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. At the end of an intense computational session, Spaun spits out instructions for a behavior, such as how to reproduce a number it?s been shown. ?And of course, that?s why the brain is interesting,? Machens says. ?That?s what makes it different from a plant.?
Like a digital Frankenstein?s monster, Spaun was cobbled together from bits and pieces of knowledge gleaned from years of basic brain research. The behavior of 2.5 million nerve cells in parts of the brain important for vision, memory, reasoning and other tasks forms the basis of the new system, says Chris Eliasmith of the University of Waterloo in Canada, coauthor of the study, which appears in the Nov. 30 Science.
Input takes the form of written or typed characters, which Spaun ?sees? with its vision system. The incoming information flows through the system, bouncing to and from various brain areas as it gets compressed into clear directions. Then, Spaun makes a decision about what to do. Finally, the decision gets expanded into action ? it generates precise instructions on how to write out an answer. Because of the size and complexity of the system, the process is slow ? in Spaun?s world, one second of work takes two real hours of computations.
After Spaun was assembled, scientists threw eight tasks at it, some of which resembled IQ test puzzlers, like a complete-the-pattern quiz. Spaun was also asked to reason, memorize and even gamble. As Spaun worked through these jobs, some curiously human quirks emerged. Just like human volunteers, Spaun was better at remembering the first and last number in a series. Also like people, Spaun took longer to count to higher numbers. ?That?s the kind of thing we couldn?t program in,? Eliasmith says. To him, that similarity suggests that Spaun is performing the tasks in a way similar to the human brain.
Others disagree. Henry Markram, who leads a different project to reconstruct the human brain called the Blue Brain, questions whether Spaun really captures human brain behavior. Because Spaun?s design ignores some important neural properties, it?s unlikely to reveal anything about the brain?s mechanics, says Markram, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. ?It is not a brain model.?
Unlike the human brain, Spaun can?t learn new things outside of the selected tasks, like figuring out how to read Arabic. But scientists don?t really understand how the human brain is so good at general learning, Machens says, so it?s understandable that Spaun can?t do it. The model captures what we know about the brain so far, he says. ?In that sense, I think it?s a breakthrough.?
University of Waterloo scientist Chris Eliasmith describes the abilities of Spaun, a new computer simulation of the human brain, which is shown here performing a series of four tasks. Credit: Chris Eliasmith et al.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Amid increasing anxiety that the White House and top Republicans are wasting time as the government slides toward an economy-rattling "fiscal cliff," administration officials are heading to Capitol Hill for talks with congressional leaders.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and senior White House aide Rob Nabors were to visit separately Thursday with the four leaders of the House and Senate to discuss how to avert a series of tax increases and spending cuts due to begin in January. Republicans complain that the White House is slow-walking the talks and has yet to provide specifics on how President Barack Obama would curb the rapid growth of benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
There's been little evident progress in negotiations between the White House and the lead GOP negotiator, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio. Boehner's lieutenants say the White House has been slow to engage.
"We have not seen any good-faith effort on the part of this administration to talk about the real problem that we're trying to fix," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Obama is mounting a public campaign to build support and leverage in the negotiations, appearing at the White House with middle-class taxpayers and launching a campaign on Twitter to bolster his position.
"Right now, as we speak, Congress can pass a law that would prevent a tax hike on the first $250,000 of everybody's income," Obama said. "And that means that 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses wouldn't see their income taxes go up by a single dime."
Obama is insisting that tax rates go up on family income exceeding $250,000; Boehner is adamant that any new tax revenues come from overhauling the tax code, clearing out tax breaks and lowering rates for all.
Republicans are also demanding significant cuts to so-called entitlement programs like Medicare, such as an increase in the eligibility age for the program from 65 to perhaps 67.
"It's time for the president and Democrats to get serious about the spending problem that our country has," Boehner said at a news conference Wednesday in the Capitol. Boehner, like Obama, expressed optimism that a deal could be reached.
At issue are steep, across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs set to strike the economy in January as well as the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts on income, investments, married couples and families with children. That combination of tax increases and spending cuts would wring more than half a trillion dollars from the economy in the first nine months of next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
No one anticipates a stalemate lasting that long, but many experts worry that even allowing the spending cuts and tax increases for a relatively brief period could rattle financial markets.
From their public statements, Obama and Boehner appear at an impasse over raising the two top tax rates from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. Democrats seem confident that Boehner ultimately will have to crumble, but Obama has a lot at stake as well, including a clear agenda for priorities like an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws.
CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court convicted in absentia Wednesday seven Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Florida-based American pastor, sentencing them to death on charges linked to an anti-Islam film that had sparked riots in parts of the Muslim world.
The case was seen as largely symbolic because the defendants, most of whom live in the United States, are all outside Egypt and are thus unlikely to ever face the sentence. The charges were brought in September during a wave of public outrage in Egypt over the amateur film, which was produced by an Egyptian-American Copt.
The low-budget "Innocence of Muslims," parts of which were made available online, portrays the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud, womanizer and buffoon.
Egypt's official news agency said the court found the defendants guilty of harming national unity, insulting and publicly attacking Islam and spreading false information ? charges that carry the death sentence.
Maximum sentences are common in cases tried in absentia in Egypt. Capital punishment decisions are reviewed by the country's chief religious authority, who must approve or reject the sentence. A final verdict is scheduled on Jan. 29.
The man behind the film, Mark Basseley Youssef, was among those convicted. He was sentenced in a California court earlier this month to one year in federal prison for probation violations in an unrelated matter. Youssef, 55, admitted that he had used several false names in violation of his probation order and obtained a driver's license under a false name. He was on probation for a bank fraud case.
Multiple calls to Youssef's attorney in Southern California, Steve Seiden, were not returned Wednesday.
Florida-based Terry Jones, another of those sentenced, is the pastor of Dove World Outreach, a church of less than 50 members in Gainesville, Fla., not far from the University of Florida. He has said he was contacted by the filmmaker to promote the film, as well as Morris Sadek, a conservative Coptic Christian in the U.S. who posted the video clips on his website.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Jones said the ruling "shows the true face of Islam" ? one that he views as intolerant of dissent and opposed to basic freedoms of speech and religion.
"We can speak out here in America," Jones said. "That freedom means that we criticize government leadership, religion even at times. Islam is not a religion that tolerates any type of criticism."
In a statement sent to The Associated Press Wednesday, Sadek, who fled Egypt 10 years ago and is now a Coptic activist living in Chantilly, Virginia., denied any role in the creation, production or financing of the film.
He said the verdict "shows the world that the Muslim Brotherhood regime wants to shut up all the Coptic activists, so no one can demand Copts' rights in Egypt."
Coptic Christians make up most of Egypt's Christian minority, around 10 percent of the country's 83 million. They complain of state discrimination. Violent clashes break out occasionally over land disputes, worshipping rights and love affairs between Muslims and Christians.
The connection to the film of the other five sentenced by the court was not immediately clear. They include two who work with Sadek at a radical Coptic group in the U.S. that has called for an independent Coptic state, a priest who hosts TV programs from the U.S. and a lawyer living in Canada who has previously sued the Egyptian state over riots in 2000 that left 21 Christians dead.
In a phone interview, one of the men sentenced who works with Sadek, Fikry Zaklama, said he had nothing to do with the film and hadn't even seen it.
"When I went to look at it (on the Internet), they told me it had been taken down," said Zaklama, 65, a Coptic activist and retired physician who practiced in Jersey City, N.J. "I'm not interested. I'm not a clergyman. I'm a political guy."
Nader Fawzy, a 53-year old jewelry store manager and president of an international Coptic rights organization from Toronto, Canada, said he planned to file a lawsuit against the Egyptian government in Canada for what he said was a wrongful prosecution.
He said he's terrified of being kidnapped and spirited to Egypt. Fawzy, who came to Canada in 2002 from Sweden and lost his Egyptian citizenship in 1992, denied any involvement in the film. He said the Egyptian government has long been out to get him because of his Coptic Christian activism.
"Of course, I'm worried about this death penalty," Fawzy said, adding that the verdict has limited his ability to travel freely. "Who will give me guarantees that the Egyptian government will not try to kidnap me, to take me to Egypt?"
The other person is a woman who converted to Christianity and is a staunch critic of Islam.
The official news agency report said that during the trial, the court reviewed a video of some defendants calling for an independent Coptic state in Egypt, and another of Jones burning the Quran, Islam's holy book. The prosecutor asked for the maximum sentence, accusing those charged of seeking to divide Egypt and incite sedition. All the defendants, except Jones, hold Egyptian nationality, the agency added.
Some Christians and human rights groups worry that prosecutions for insulting religion, which existed to a degree under the secular-leaning regime of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, will increase with the ascent of Islamists to power in Egypt.
____
Curt Anderson contributed reporting from Miami, Florida; Matthew Barakat from McLean, Virginia, and Gillian Flaccus in Orange County, California.
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas is accepting applications for summer 2013 Legal Program internships.? The ACLU is one of the nation?s foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights.? We are a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights through litigation, legislation, and public education.? The Texas affiliate of the ACLU, founded in 1938, is headquartered in Houston, and includes regional offices in Austin and Brownsville.
Description: The ACLU Foundation of Texas? Legal Program seeks highly motivated law students, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, and the initiative and energy to see projects to completion.? Preference will be given to second-year law students.? First-year law applicants should have a demonstrated commitment to civil rights.? Spanish language ability is preferred.
Legal Program interns will be supervised by the ACLU Foundation of Texas? Legal Director and/or staff attorneys.? Assignments include:
Assisting in litigation;
Investigating complaints;
Completing fact research and legal analysis; and
Drafting memoranda in preparation for litigation of civil rights cases.
The ACLU of Texas works across the spectrum of the Bill of Rights.? Our campaign priorities for 2011-2013 are Immigrants Rights, Youth Rights, Religious Freedom, and Criminal Law Reform.? Each intern will be assigned primary responsibility for working on cases and investigations in one or more of the campaign areas below and efforts will be made to accommodate the particular interests of each intern.
Immigrant Rights Campaign:? focus is on ending state and local law enforcement of federal immigration law; ensuring equal protection of the law to all non-citizens; stopping abuse of power by federal authorities along our border; and ending civil immigration detention and sub-standard living conditions for non-citizens in custody.
? Criminal Law Reform Campaign: focus is on ending over-incarceration in Texas with an emphasis on eliminating racial disproportionality; ending the privatization of prisons and jails in Texas; and ending the death penalty in Texas.??
Religious Freedom Campaign: focus is on ensuring K-12 public school curriculum and textbooks are free from government-sponsored religion; promoting the separation of church and state on public school campuses; and ensuring Texans are able to practice their faiths, or no faith at all, without government interference.
Youth Rights Campaign:? focus is on keeping students from entering the criminal justice system; ending the use of solitary confinement of children in prisons and jails; and ensuring all children are treated equally in Texas schools.
Legal Program interns have the opportunity to participate in ACLU Foundation of Texas summer internship events, such as workshops, meetings with civil rights and social justice lawyers from around Texas, social events, and summer outings.
Funding
Unfortunately, the ACLU Foundation of Texas is unable to fund summer internships; however, we will assist students to obtain their own funding in any way we can.? We have had significant success working with students to secure grants and fellowship funding.? We will also assist students who wish to obtain clinical or academic credit for their internship.
Application: For students attending law school outside of Texas, positions will be filled on a rolling basis.? Second-year law students should apply as soon as possible; first-year law students as soon after December 1 as possible.
Students attending law school in Texas are required to apply through the University of Texas School of Law?s Public Interest Career Day process.? We will be conducting interviews at the 2013 Career Day (http://www.utexas.edu/law/career/employer/pscd.html).? For students unable to participate in the Career Day or second-year law students in Texas who would like to secure an internship prior to the Career Day, please follow the submission and timing guidelines established for non-Texas law students.
Please send a cover letter, specifying which issue area you are interested in; a resume; a brief (no more than 5 pages) writing sample; and a law school transcript, if available.? Applications will not be accepted after January 31, 2013.? If you have joined the University of Texas School of Law?s Public Interest Career Day Interview program, please post documents to the ACLU of Texas? Symplicity account by January 7, 2013.
Out of state applicants not applying through Symplicity should send documents electronically in PDF or Word format tobtorres@aclutx.org ?with ?Summer 2013 Legal Internship Application? in the subject line.
Please, no phone calls.
Please visit www.aclutx.org for additional information about the ACLU Foundation of Texas.
The New Hampshire Antique Co-op will display a miniature vintage log village known as Santa?s North Pole during the holiday season.
Designed and presented by collector and antique dealer Beverly Weir-Longacre, this exhibit shows Santa?s elves working at their jobs in the various shops, at the reindeer barn and tending to the Christmas tree farm. Visitors can find a miniature Santa next to a sleigh filled with gifts. Children are sledding, making snowmen and relaxing around the pond after an afternoon of ice skating.
This log village is on display through Jan. 6 in the Focus Gallery at New Hampshire Antique Co-op.
Weir-Longacre began collecting the log buildings almost two decades ago, when she spotted one at an antiques show in Bucks County, Pa.
Weir-Longacre?s vintage log buildings were made in America during the early 20th century, probably for use with toy train platforms. Always wanting to create a holiday-themed village using the log buildings, Weir-Longacre transformed her collection into Santa?s North Pole, complete with lights, snow and all the trimmings. Also on display is a four-room doll house, representing Santa?s home and workshop.
An expert collector of vintage glass ornaments and other holiday-themed decorations, Weir-Longacre lives in a historic 1795 antique cape in Marlborough, where she and her husband, Tom Longacre, who is also an expert folk art antique dealer, decorate more than 20 trees filled with antique ornaments. She is an officer of the New Hampshire Antique Dealers Association and lectures at antique shows on the subject of vintage ornaments (?The Christmas Ornament ? Folk Art in Miniature?).
The New Hampshire Antique Co-op was established in 1983 and features more than 200 dealers. It was named ?Best of New Hampshire? by New Hampshire Magazine and is open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Open house
The Antique Co-op will hold its Holiday Open House 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 1-2, offering secret-recipe punch and an array of cookies. Children can write their letters to Santa and post them in an old-fashioned North Pole mailbox.
?The open house here at New Hampshire Antique Co-op is a great old-fashioned way to spend a family day,? said co-owner Jason Hackler, who together with his father, Sam Hackler, has owned and operated New Hampshire Antique Co-op for nearly three decades. ?Take a break at this hectic time of year and come on by to sample cookies, write to Santa and see some great art and antiques. My 5-year-old daughter Eliza will also be here during the open house, helping children write to Santa or serve up some treats.?
Named ?Best of New Hampshire? by New Hampshire Magazine, the New Hampshire Antique Co-op is at 323 Elm St.
For more information, call 673-8499 , visit online at www.nhantiquecoop.com or www.facebook.com/nhantiquecoop.
Experts point out that a growing number of alternative movements appear on the world political arena and gradually steal votes from traditional parties.
The first Pirate Party appeared in Sweden in 2006 as a protest movement of Internet users who protested against tough copyright protection measures. Gradually, Pirates spread to over 40 countries in the world. At present, the Pirate Party International (PPI) unites its supporters in almost 90 countries on all continents. Common aims of international pirates are the right to a private life on the Internet and free exchange of intellectual information.
German ?Piraten? won a seat in each of the city councils of Munster and Aachen, and almost got into the Bundestag. In 2011, Pirates obtained 15 mandates in the Berlin Landtag (territorial parliament) and in March this year they won seats in the Landtags of Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig Holstein. According to different estimates, between 10 and 13% of voters supported the German Pirates at the beginning of 2012. Pirates gained even more popularity due to their promise of free education and free use of public transport.
In his interview with The Voice of Russia Professor of political science Gerd Langguth from Bonn University said:
?The present-day society is characterized by great individualism. People mostly do not care for the far-reaching objectives of large political parties. People want to achieve their individual aims through new parties. Why do they choose the party of pirates? It is different from other parties in its style, it wants to fight against everything. At the beginning there was the effect of suddenness. It was something new and everybody liked it. However, this party has no chances on the federal level.?
The popularity of pirate parties, in particular in Germany, goes through ups and downs. The number of ?Piraten?s supporters in Germany has dropped from 13 to 4% by the end of the year. One of the party?s weak points is the lack of a clear-cut political platform. On the 25th of November, ahead of the election campaign to the Bundestag, the congress of the Piratenpartei Deutschland adopted an impressive programme covering the spheres of foreign policy, economy, social security and provision of pensions, protection of consumers and environmental protection. Probably, their most revolutionary demand is providing a guaranteed minimum of subsistence to all citizens. It will be interesting to watch the attitude of the protest electorate to this programme until September next year.
Experts point out that, in general, European voters cannot see the difference between traditional parties, their programmes and activities. Europe as a whole is characterized by fatigue from everyday political routine. However, we should not forget that, for example, the Green parties were once a real alternative to both the right wing and the left wing, until they dissolved in big politics.
I would like to take a few minutes to introduce myself.?
I have been on the job as your new Director of Recreation and Leisure Services for five weeks.? It has been a very exciting time for me.?
Barrington is a wonderfully vibrant community.? It has a long tradition of providing successful recreation programs and leisure activities.? I am honored to be given the opportunity to work with parents, the schools, the businesses and organizations to build on the popular sports and recreation programs currently in place that have enriched the lives of the residents of Barrington.?
My focus as Director of Recreation and Leisure Services is to build greater community in Barrington.? I am working closely with Peter DeAngelis, the Town Manager, and the Park and Recreation Commission, to bring a new expanded direction to the department.? To do that, we need input from everyone and the involvement of the community.? We want to hear from the parents of children in Barrington, people who have participated in adult recreation or arts and cultural programs and students.? We also want to hear from organizations and businesses that run programs or would like to sponsor or be involved in programs.? We want to know what we can do to meet your interests.
My door is open.? I invite you to stop by and talk with me.? You can also reach me at 247-1925 or email me at mgeremia@barrington.ri.gov.?
In addition, I have created a short survey that can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZG2D8D2.? Let me know what programs are working and which are not; what you like the most and what you feel is missing from the programs currently being offered.?
I look forward to meeting many of you at the annual Festival of Lights on Saturday.? This year will feature expanded tree lighting along with holiday festivities and lots of fun.? Please come out and join us as we celebrate the peace and joy of the Holiday Season.
?Barrington Recreation Department Survey
?--Michele Geremia, Director of Recreation and Leisure Services
Former President George H. W. Bush has been hospitalized in Houston for the past week with what his staff confirms is bronchitis and a chronic cough.
Jim McGrath, a Bush spokesman, tells ABC News that the 88-year-old former president has not developed pneumonia or any life-threatening condition and is expected to be released over the coming weekend.
His family has said publicly the former president is no longer able to walk unassisted, a frustration for a man who enjoyed an active lifestyle of golf, fishing, jogging, and power walks on the beach near his summer home in Maine. In Houston, where he and his wife Barbara Bush have lived since leaving the White House almost 20 years ago, President Bush has been in and out of the hospital for health concerns and two hip replacement surgeries.
The former president became emotional last summer in a birthday interview with his granddaughter Jenna, a contributor to NBC's "Today Show." He read a portion of a letter to his family about growing old.
"As the summers finish out, and the seas get a little higher, winds a little colder," he wrote. "I'll be making some notes, writing it down lest I forget so I can add to the report on getting older. Who knows, maybe they will come out with a new drug that makes legs bend easier, joints hurt less, drives go farther, memory come roaring back and all fears about falling off fishing rafts go away."
Ann Compton covered the Bush presidency for ABC News.
Bacteria hijack host cell process, create their own food supply to become infectiousPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasuko Rikihisa Rikihisa.1@osu.edu 614-292-9677 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found.
This bacterium, Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Ap), secretes a protein that can start this process. The protein binds with another protein produced by white blood cells, and that connection creates compartments that siphon host-cell nutrients to feed the bacteria, enabling their growth inside the white blood cells.
The finding defies conventional wisdom about most bacteria, which try to avoid this cellular process. Called autophagy, the process allows a cell to digest parts of itself to produce energy when it is experiencing starvation. But that digestive feature also is enacted by the immune system to help clear away certain intracellular pathogens, including those that cause salmonellosis or shigellosis.
The Ap bacterium, however, launches and then manipulates the autophagy process to its own advantage.
"This study shows how bacteria subvert natural processes," said Yasuko Rikihisa, professor of veterinary biosciences at Ohio State University and lead author of the research. "They are creating their own food supply through a cellular mechanism that hurts other infectious bacteria. And because this process doesn't cause inflammation, they do it very gently, becoming an insider that eventually kills the host cell."
The finding could help identify new targets for drugs to treat this infection, which is a rare but emerging infectious disease that can be lethal for the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. The current first-line treatment is the antibiotic doxycycline.
Also known as human granulocytic anaplasmosis, the disease affects more than 1,000 people per year in the United States, up from just 348 reported cases in 2003, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is transmitted to humans by tick bites primarily from the black-legged tick and the western black-legged tick.
The study appears online this week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Ap bacterium secretes substances to perform a process resembling mating to infect host cells, primarily the granulocyte class of white blood cells that fight off invading pathogens. Rikihisa's lab previously identified a protein called Ats-1 that is secreted by Ap bacteria during this process.
In this new study, the researchers found that once inside the host cells, Ats-1 binds to another protein called Beclin 1, which is part of a system of molecules involved in the earliest stages of the autophagy process.
The scientists observed that when the two proteins bind, they create little bubbles known as vesicles. Through a series of experiments, the researchers determined that these bubbles were in fact autophagosomes bubble-like compartments that are formed as a cell prepares to undergo autophagy.
They were able to confirm this by imaging the vesicles to determine that they had the tell-tale double membrane characteristic of autophagosomes, and by testing for the presence of other compounds that serve as markers of the initiation of the cell-digesting process.
Under normal circumstances, autophagosomes contain the nutrients that are meant to be digested and recycled for other uses but in this case, the bacteria take those nutrients to promote their own growth.
That Ats-1 could start this process on its own represents a rare power for a single protein.
"We believe this is the first bacterial protein that has been found to do this," said Rikihisa, also an investigator in Ohio State's Center for Microbial Interface Biology and Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Ats-1 initiates an early stage of the autophagosome, then picks up nutrients from the main body of the host cell and closes the layers."
Most of the action of bacterial growth takes place inside a special compartment that typically doesn't contain many nutrients. But after the Ap bacterial protein starts this process of producing autophagosomes that can encase nutrients, these bubbles fuse with the compartment, creating a steady supply of food at the site of bacterial replication and growth.
The researchers showed this by further imaging the bubbles to determine that an autophagy marker protein could be found both inside and outside of the bacterial growth compartments. They also showed that infected cells did not contain any lysosomes, which are cell parts that perform the actual digestion and degradation of foreign bodies during autophagy.
An experiment in mice deficient in the Beclin 1 protein showed that infection levels were much lower if mice had low levels of this protein confirming its role in binding with Ats-1 and producing autophagosomes to promote infection. In cell cultures, the researchers also showed that when Ats-1 was overproduced, bacteria grew 10 times more effectively than they did in cells in which an unrelated protein was overproduced.
All of this activity allows the bacteria to remain hidden from the immune system because the induction of autophagy is considered a normal cell function and it does not produce any inflammation, which would recruit infection-fighters to the scene. Instead, the Ap bacteria set themselves up comfortably inside granulocytes and steadily grow for a few days until they rupture their host cells and generate a strong immune response which makes an infected person sick.
In one final experiment, Rikihisa and colleagues blocked autophagosome production in Ap-infected cells using an experimental drug called 3-MA. With that process blocked, bacterial growth declined dramatically.
3-MA is toxic to humans, but its effectiveness in blocking the infectious properties of Ap in cells suggests that its structure could serve as the basis for a safe small-molecule drug, Rikihisa said.
"A similar compound could be a potential treatment to inhibit bacterial growth," she said.
Clarifying the power of Ats-1 in inducing autophagy also suggests that this protein could be an important tool in further studies of this complex cell process that remains poorly understood, she added.
###
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Co-authors include Hua Niu and Qingming Xiong of Ohio State's Department of Veterinary Biosciences; and Akitsugu Yamamoto of the Nagahama Institute of Bioscience and Technology and Mitsuko Hayashi-Nishino of Osaka University, both in Japan.
Written by Emily Caldwell, (614) 292-8310; Caldwell.151@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Bacteria hijack host cell process, create their own food supply to become infectiousPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasuko Rikihisa Rikihisa.1@osu.edu 614-292-9677 Ohio State University
COLUMBUS, Ohio Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found.
This bacterium, Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Ap), secretes a protein that can start this process. The protein binds with another protein produced by white blood cells, and that connection creates compartments that siphon host-cell nutrients to feed the bacteria, enabling their growth inside the white blood cells.
The finding defies conventional wisdom about most bacteria, which try to avoid this cellular process. Called autophagy, the process allows a cell to digest parts of itself to produce energy when it is experiencing starvation. But that digestive feature also is enacted by the immune system to help clear away certain intracellular pathogens, including those that cause salmonellosis or shigellosis.
The Ap bacterium, however, launches and then manipulates the autophagy process to its own advantage.
"This study shows how bacteria subvert natural processes," said Yasuko Rikihisa, professor of veterinary biosciences at Ohio State University and lead author of the research. "They are creating their own food supply through a cellular mechanism that hurts other infectious bacteria. And because this process doesn't cause inflammation, they do it very gently, becoming an insider that eventually kills the host cell."
The finding could help identify new targets for drugs to treat this infection, which is a rare but emerging infectious disease that can be lethal for the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. The current first-line treatment is the antibiotic doxycycline.
Also known as human granulocytic anaplasmosis, the disease affects more than 1,000 people per year in the United States, up from just 348 reported cases in 2003, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is transmitted to humans by tick bites primarily from the black-legged tick and the western black-legged tick.
The study appears online this week in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Ap bacterium secretes substances to perform a process resembling mating to infect host cells, primarily the granulocyte class of white blood cells that fight off invading pathogens. Rikihisa's lab previously identified a protein called Ats-1 that is secreted by Ap bacteria during this process.
In this new study, the researchers found that once inside the host cells, Ats-1 binds to another protein called Beclin 1, which is part of a system of molecules involved in the earliest stages of the autophagy process.
The scientists observed that when the two proteins bind, they create little bubbles known as vesicles. Through a series of experiments, the researchers determined that these bubbles were in fact autophagosomes bubble-like compartments that are formed as a cell prepares to undergo autophagy.
They were able to confirm this by imaging the vesicles to determine that they had the tell-tale double membrane characteristic of autophagosomes, and by testing for the presence of other compounds that serve as markers of the initiation of the cell-digesting process.
Under normal circumstances, autophagosomes contain the nutrients that are meant to be digested and recycled for other uses but in this case, the bacteria take those nutrients to promote their own growth.
That Ats-1 could start this process on its own represents a rare power for a single protein.
"We believe this is the first bacterial protein that has been found to do this," said Rikihisa, also an investigator in Ohio State's Center for Microbial Interface Biology and Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Ats-1 initiates an early stage of the autophagosome, then picks up nutrients from the main body of the host cell and closes the layers."
Most of the action of bacterial growth takes place inside a special compartment that typically doesn't contain many nutrients. But after the Ap bacterial protein starts this process of producing autophagosomes that can encase nutrients, these bubbles fuse with the compartment, creating a steady supply of food at the site of bacterial replication and growth.
The researchers showed this by further imaging the bubbles to determine that an autophagy marker protein could be found both inside and outside of the bacterial growth compartments. They also showed that infected cells did not contain any lysosomes, which are cell parts that perform the actual digestion and degradation of foreign bodies during autophagy.
An experiment in mice deficient in the Beclin 1 protein showed that infection levels were much lower if mice had low levels of this protein confirming its role in binding with Ats-1 and producing autophagosomes to promote infection. In cell cultures, the researchers also showed that when Ats-1 was overproduced, bacteria grew 10 times more effectively than they did in cells in which an unrelated protein was overproduced.
All of this activity allows the bacteria to remain hidden from the immune system because the induction of autophagy is considered a normal cell function and it does not produce any inflammation, which would recruit infection-fighters to the scene. Instead, the Ap bacteria set themselves up comfortably inside granulocytes and steadily grow for a few days until they rupture their host cells and generate a strong immune response which makes an infected person sick.
In one final experiment, Rikihisa and colleagues blocked autophagosome production in Ap-infected cells using an experimental drug called 3-MA. With that process blocked, bacterial growth declined dramatically.
3-MA is toxic to humans, but its effectiveness in blocking the infectious properties of Ap in cells suggests that its structure could serve as the basis for a safe small-molecule drug, Rikihisa said.
"A similar compound could be a potential treatment to inhibit bacterial growth," she said.
Clarifying the power of Ats-1 in inducing autophagy also suggests that this protein could be an important tool in further studies of this complex cell process that remains poorly understood, she added.
###
This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Co-authors include Hua Niu and Qingming Xiong of Ohio State's Department of Veterinary Biosciences; and Akitsugu Yamamoto of the Nagahama Institute of Bioscience and Technology and Mitsuko Hayashi-Nishino of Osaka University, both in Japan.
Written by Emily Caldwell, (614) 292-8310; Caldwell.151@osu.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ? It?s the time of year for giving, but don?t forget about the animals out there. Now is your chance to help out our animal shelters and pet non-profits.
The Great Minnesota Pet Food Drive is the first of its kind in Minnesota, and it?s designed to help out dogs in needy families this holiday season. Downtown Dogs in Minneapolis is hosting the pet food drive for families facing a financial hardship that might not always be able to afford basic amenities for their pets.
It can be tragic to have to give up a dog because a family can no longer afford to feed them. The need is always there, but it?s especially important during the holiday season when many families are that much more strapped financially.
The Great Minnesota Pet Food Drive has been going on for about a month and goes until Dec. 15 at Downtown Dogs. If you want to donate, you can drop off food or other donations at Dog Days in St. Paul, Dog Day Getaway in Apple Valley or Pampered Pooch in St. Louis Park.
In his interview to Krustpunkt? programme of Latvian Radio, the minister says that he understands ? society sometimes protects and supports officials? illegal activities and thefts if that brings something to the people. However, according to Sprudzs, this kind of attitude of society is not right and it should not be. ?It cannot be possible that we are so tolerant of this ? it cannot be so,? ? notes Sprudzs.
The minister is certain that the moment society starts to change its attitude towards such questions; Lembergs will no longer be able to violate the law.
?I am ashamed that my system has a municipal leader like Lembergs. This kind of charade is unacceptable and is degrading for all of us,? ? said the minister. Sprudzs also added that he, as a minister, had no other choice, but to dismiss Lembergs from the post of Mayor of Ventspils after seeing his violations.
BNN previously reported that Environment Protection and Regional Development Minister Edmunds Sprudzs signed the order to dismiss Ventspils City Council Chairman Aivars Lembergs from his post on Monday, October 22. ?The goal of this order is to achieve fair and responsible management of municipalities in Latvia, including Ventspils. And this is not the goal of just the ministry; this is the goal of Latvia,? ? Sprudzs said.
Lembergs is presented with charges for committing serious crimes ? including bribery, money laundering, violation of restriction imposed to a state official and using an official status in bad faith.
SEO stands for ?Search Engine Optimization?. SEO is what companies or individuals do to make their website show up at the higher rankings in search engine results. Businesses need advertising to be in the top list and most of the mediums that are available these days are costly and they also require more expenses in comparison to Search Engine advertising.
SEO is among one of the greatest assets that a business can take advantage of as it maximizes the potential of the business in the online marketing environment. Consumers use the resources of search engine to fulfill their needs, so SEO is an important thing to take your business to new heights.
The majority of the Search Engine Optimization Companies are now offering both SEO as well as SEM. SEM stands for ?Search Engine Marketing? that is paid SEO. SEO Optimization takes a significant amount of time for improving the ranks whereas SEO Marketing is used for promoting your website on the search engines within a period of few hours.
There are several big businesses, companies and clients from the UK, Canada, Australia, and US who are searching for the most excellent and reasonable Search Engine Optimization Companies. Many of the Search Engine Optimization companies have started providing SEO services to these clients at reasonable rates.
Generally most of the companies work by outsourcing SEO services to offshore companies based in India. The most important thing is to hire the best company for SEO as you can find various Search Engine Optimization Companies on the internet. The best thing to search for the company in your local area and the companies that are on the top in your area are the ones that you can hire for your business as they can offer you the best services. If a company can?t even do the SEO of its own properly then how can you believe that they will improve the ranking of your business website?
Before hiring the company, ask them to explain exactly what they aim to do and the number of employees they have. You should also ask them for the SEO methods they use for improving the rankings. If you found that the company is having some problem with clearing up all the details or they are not able to satisfy you then you should not hire them.
You should look for a reputed Search Engine Optimization Companies as every company has some sort of reputation that is earned through years of service. You can contact to the clients of the company to know their past experiences. Check for the portfolio page as well as their customer?s reviews. In this way you can easily find the good SEO companies
Author is an online Content writer.She likes to write on different topics.She is writing articles from last three years.For more information related to this topic visit Search Engine Optimization Companies Ireland
Related posts:
Just how to Find Finest Search engine optimization Company?
Picking The Most Appropriate Search engine optimization Company
SEO Services You Can Get From a Very good Search engine optimization Company
SEO Malaysia: The Best Way to Discover Search Engine Optimization
Services to Look for in an Search engine optimization Company
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? As a result of field work by associate professor James Davis Reimer and two graduate students from the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan has found two new species of encrusting anemones, or colonial zoanthids, in unexpected locations. The species belong to the genus Neozoanthus, which was previously known only from a single species in the Indian Ocean. Surprisingly, the new species were found in the Pacific Ocean, in southern Japan and on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
The only previous species of Neozoanthus was described in 1972 from Madagascar, and subsequently it was not seen for almost 40 years, until recent research had ascertained that new Pacific specimens likely belonged to Neozoanthus (Reimer et al. 2011, in the journal Marine Biology). The new study formally describes these new specimens as two species.
The members of this genus are small, with individual polyps no more than 6 mm in diameter, and have red, gray, blue or purple oral discs; all inhabit coral reef ecosystems in areas with strong currents and some siltation. Both new species and the species from Madagascar contain symbiotic, photosynthetic, single-celled algae that can provide them with energy from the sun.
"We were very surprised in 2008 to discover Neozoanthus in the Pacific, in Japan," said Reimer, "and initially thought that perhaps these were very rare." However, further research in southern Japan by graduate students Yuka Irei and Takuma Fujii, co-authors on the new paper, revealed that the Japanese species was locally common. A further surprise came during the Census of Marine Life's Census of Coral Reef Ecosystems (CReefs) surveys on the Great Barrier Reef in 2009 and 2010, when similar encrusting anemones were found thousands of kilometers away from both Madagascar and Japan.
"These findings can be explained by the fact that there are very few zoanthid researchers in the world. These species are not particularly hard to find, but there was no one looking for them," Reimer added. "This research demonstrates how little we know about marine biodiversity, even in regions relatively well researched."
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
James Reimer, Yuka Irei, Takuma Fujii. Two new species of Neozoanthus (Cnidaria, Hexacorallia, Zoantharia) from the Pacific. ZooKeys, 2012; 246 (0): 69 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.246.3886
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Another disappointing Final Fantasy online experience can destroy Square Enix, says game director
Square Enix has not been having a lot of luck with the Final Fantasy brand and found itself hitting an all-time low with Final Fantasy XIV, the massively multiplayer online role-play game (MMORPG).
The quality of the game, along with various other issues brought it a lot of criticism from the most loyal of fans, compelling the publisher to apologize for offering such a disappointing experience last year.
The game?s director Naoki Yoshida is well aware of the negative impact that it made in the market, acknowledging the possibility of another disappointing Final Fantasy online game killing the brand and doing severe damage to Square Enix itself.
During a recent interview, he conceded that if Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which is a remake of the disappointing MMORPG that the company launched a couple of years ago, ends up making the same mistakes as its predecessor, there is a strong possibility
that it would end up destroying the company.
?We won't make a mistake like FFXIV again. If we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company, ?he stated
He further went on to add that even at the time of shipping the original Final Fantasy XIV to the market, he was not too sure about the game being good enough and had a strong intuition that it would not be received positively by the fans.
?When I heard that it was going to go on sale as planned, I thought, that will probably be a big mistake,? he said. ?I think it would've been good if they tried seeing what happened if they turned World of WarCraft into Final Fantasy. So, because they tried
only to make something that was 'different from FFXI,' they ended up with not much of anything.?
Square Enix has acknowledged the shortcomings in Final Fantasy XIV and is attempting to make amends by releasing a remake of the game, Final Fantasy XIV: A Real Reborn.
The game will retain the lore, intended story and settings from the original game, but will feature a new client, service and data structure, revamped interface, graphics engine, redesigned maps, gameplay variations and an additional story.
The game is slated for a mid 2013 release for PC and PlayStation 3 simultaneously.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ageing New York Yankees, struggling to inject youth into their roster, appear poised to sign two of their evergreen core members for one more go-round in a drive for a sixth World Series ring since 1996. Left-handed starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, 40, and all-time Major League Baseball saves leader Mariano Rivera, who turns 43 on Thursday, are reportedly on the verge of signing deals for one last campaign. Those pitchers could well be effective in 2013. Pettitte returned from a one-year retirement last season to go 5-4 with an impressive 2. ...
Zachary Holly was booked on charges capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary in the Nov. 20 death of Jersey Bridgeman, 6, in Bentonville, Ark. on Monday.
By NBC News staff and wire services
Arkansas restaurant worker Zachary Holly was charged Wednesday with the rape and murder of his next-door neighbor, 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman in Bentonville, Ark., ?NBC affiliate KARK-TV reported.
Jersey's death comes just months after the little girl was the subject of a?high-profile child abuse case that resulted in prison sentences for her father and stepmother.
Jersey was reported missing the morning of Nov. 20. Minutes after a search for her began, Jersey's body was discovered in an abandoned house two doors from her home in Bentonville, about?215 miles northwest of Little Rock.
Holly, 28, who lives next door to where Jersey was staying, was arrested Monday on charges of capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary. Rape was added to the list of charges in court Wednesday, KARK reported. In Wednesday's hearing at the First Circuit Court in Bentonville, Ark., he was denied bond.
Few details were immediately released about how Jersey died or what led police to Holly, but police Chief Jon Simpson said Monday night?said that after the hearing Wednesday, a probable cause affidavit would be released and?"many questions related to this investigation and arrest will be answered."?
He said work by the State Crime Lab helped speed the arrest.?
About a year before Jersey's death, her father and stepmother were charged with abuse after investigators discovered she had been chained to a dresser to stop her wandering around the house at night. David Bridgeman, Jersey's father, told investigators he restrained his daughter to prevent her from getting into medication and other things around the house.
David and Jana Bridgeman, Jersey's stepmother, pleaded guilty in June to false imprisonment, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Jana Bridgeman is serving a 12-year prison sentence, plus three years for a probation revocation. David Bridgeman is serving an 18-year prison sentence.
Bentonville Police Department via AP
Undated photo of Jersey Bridgeman.
After that,?Jersey moved in with her mother and began kindergarten this fall in northwest Arkansas. Holly was a family friend who lived nearby and worked at?a restaurant in town called The Flying Burrito Company.
One neighbor, Julie Pickard, told The Associated Press Tuesday that Holly wept the day Jersey's body was found.?
"He was crying for a long time," said Pickard.
'A little old soul': Girl found dead after dad, stepmom jailed
The fact that Jersey was abused by parental figures and a neighbor is suspected in her death fits into an unfortunate pattern, according to Beverly?Engle executive director of the Children?s Advocacy Center of Benton County in Arkansas.
"Ninety-six percent of people who offend on children are people that the child knows. We all have been so trained in the stranger-danger aspect, which certainly does happen, but I think the reality is that?s about 4 percent," said?Engle, who interviewed Jersey last year when allegations of abuse against her father and stepmother surfaced.
"Jersey was a precious, adorable child and it is very grieving to know even in the moments before her death what she may have experienced, knowing this person or trusting this person,? Engle said.
Police Capt. Justin Thompson?said the girl died sometime between midnight and 6:53 a.m. on the day her body was found. He would not say who called 911 to report her missing. Investigators later searched the home where she lived and the house where her body was found, as well as the homes in between.
Holly is being held in Benton County Jail, and on Tuesday was attacked by another inmate, jail Capt. Chris Sparks said Wednesday. He said Holly wasn't seriously injured, and that the other inmate, who was in jail on a parole violation, could face charges.
"Obviously this case has gotten a lot of exposure in the media and all the inmates know what he's in for ..." Sparks said. "We're going to do our best to try and keep him safe, just like we do every other inmate."
Holly was not required to speak at the hearing, and KARK reported that he remained silent as his lawyers, including public defender Jay Saxton, asked to review the decision to deny bond.
This article includes reporting by NBC News' Kari Huus and Elizabeth Chuck and The Associated Press.?
More content from NBCNews.com:
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Following up on the launch earlier this month of social betting offering BetDash, Irish bookies Paddy Power have brought social slots to Facebook. Social Casino Intelligence reported that the Paddsters have demo-launched a slots app on the social network featuring half a dozen games developed by Cayetano, which Paddy acquired a year ago. 
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
Share ] 
