Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/267346174?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Friday, November 30, 2012
Gotye wins big at Australia's Aria music awards
American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Guy Sebastian smiles at photographers upon arrival for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Sarah Blasko arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Sarah Blasko arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Kimbra Lee Johnson poses for photographers upon arrival for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
SYDNEY (AP) ? Gotye has taken home album of the year at Australia's Aria music awards for his internationally acclaimed "Making Mirrors."
The album features the Belgian-born, Australian-raised singer's multiplatinum hit "Somebody That I Used to Know," which was the top song of the year on digital music service Spotify.
Gotye won three other awards at Thursday night's Arias, including best pop release, best Australian live act and best male artist.
The annual awards show is Australia's version of the Grammys. This year's gala featured appearances by Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Russell Brand.
Fans shrieked with glee when British pop group One Direction was dubbed best international artist. The quintet thanked their Aussie supporters via video link.
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Plyfe Brings Its Brand-Promoting Games To Mobile, Raises $750K
Plyfe, a startup that allows brands to promote themselves through games and rewards, is moving onto mobile today ? Plyfe games can now be played on the company's mobile website, as well as embedded in smartphone apps. The company is also announcing that it has raised $750,000 in bridge funding. The basic idea: Games are a much more engaging way than traditional advertising for brands to reach consumers and fans.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cxFHmXWAowI/
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Hunt for a Better Butter Churn
A woman churns butter in 1893 Photo by W. Braybrooke Bayley/Wikimedia Commons.
A few years ago, on a lark, I decided to make butter. This sounds like it might be some kind of arduous, gourmand pursuit, but it was quite simple. Following chef Daniel Patterson?s instructions, I bought a whole lot of cream and poured it into my trusty KitchenAid mixer, whose top I?d covered in plastic wrap to prevent splashing all over my kitchen. I turned the mixer on high. Ten or so minutes later, I had curds and real buttermilk. I separated the two in a sieve then squeezed the curds by hand to form a mass of butter. I rolled it out into a log and covered it in plastic. In a little more time than it takes to make eggs and toast, I?d made enough butter to last for weeks.
I never did it again. Sure, as Patterson had promised, my homemade butter was delicious, just about the best butter I?d ever tasted. (I am an expert on the taste of butter; ask my wife or my doctor.) But it was also extremely expensive?I?d spent nearly $10 in high-end cream to make about a pound of butter, which is about $4 more than I?d have spent to buy very nice butter made from the same fancy dairy that had produced my cream. For doing the work myself, I?d paid 67 percent more. And even if I?d bought cheaper cream, I couldn?t have come close to matching the price (not to mention the convenience) of store-bought butter. (Jennifer Reese comes to the same conclusion in Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, her awesome book about what you should and shouldn?t bother making at home.)
I got to thinking about my butter-making adventure when, as part of the Reader Takeover project, readers asked me to ?review the most nontech gadgets you can think of?turn-of-the-century butter churns, cotton gins, trebuchets, etc!? (Thanks, you guys!) Let me start by confessing that I didn?t actually get hold of any of these things, so you will not hear me pass judgment on what features you should look for in a siege weapon this holiday season. I did, however, spend a lot of time researching and thinking about all of the energy and ingenuity humans have applied to the problem of making butter. As a result, I gained new respect both for butter (which I didn?t think possible) and for our ancestors, especially the women and children who spent many long hours every week turning cream into butter.
But the most interesting thing I discovered about churns was how little they, er, churned over the years. To someone used to the relentless pace of change in modern gadgetry, the difference between the earliest butter churns and the latest churns?by which I mean, the difference between how people made butter in the 1700s and how they made butter in the 1940s?seems hopelessly small. Butter is formed when the membranes surrounding fat globules in cream are stripped through the process of physical agitation; this allows the fat to clump together into a single mass, i.e., butter. Thus all churns work the same way?they transfer human power into physical agitation within a vessel holding cream?and that?s why they never really advanced until humans found a feasible alternative to human power. Until industrialization came along, all churning was the same: You spent minutes or hours plunging or cranking a shaft until, at some point you couldn?t quite predict, long after you felt your arms were about to fall off, butter began to form.
Churning butter with old-fashioned dasher churn, East Aurora, N.Y., 1905. Keystone View Co./Library of Congress.
The slow pace of progress in churns was not for lack of trying. Because making butter was so arduous and time-consuming, it was an active area of commercial invention. According to the Encyclopedia of Kitchen History, inventors filed for 2,500 patents on better butter churns around the time of the Industrial Revolution. Doug & Linda?s Dairy Antique Site collects many of these patents and photos of churns over time. If you follow the timeline, you?ll notice lots of minor advances. For instance, before the mid-1800s or so, most people did not quite understand that the efficiency of churning depended on the temperature of the cream you were using; if the cream was too cold, butter wouldn?t form. The fact that you could sometimes churn and churn forever and still not see any butter sparked a great deal of superstition around butter-making. As Doug & Linda?s site explains:
Many times the cream would not form butter no matter how long one churned it. Many people felt that this was because the cream was haunted by a witch. Many people that churned butter believed in the "cream witch" and many churn advertisements referred to it. A couple of the remedies for a cream witch was to put a red hot horse shoe or a red hot poker into the cream. The cream would boil as the hot metal was put in the churn and people said this was the noise of the witch thrashing about as she was killed. In actuality the temperature of the cream was increased and often this was enough for the butter to start to form.
Around 1850, someone invented a ?thermometer churn,? which featured two adjacent metallic chambers. You put your cream in one chamber, and in the second you added hot or cold water to raise or lower the cream?s temperature. (A thermometer mounted on the front let you know which to add.) Suddenly, thanks to a brilliant design change, the cream witch was dead.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=286c88fe8b1285f16895a4eb69bb97ea
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Was Arafat poisoned?
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004, but the cause of death has yet to be determined. Samples were taken from Arafat's corpse on Tuesday; investigators hope to determine whether he was poisoned by spring 2013.?
In this 2004 file photo, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pauses during an emergency cabinet session, at his compound, in Ramallah. The remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were exhumed on Tuesday as part of a probe into his death.
AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen, File
EnlargeForensic experts took samples from?Yasser Arafat's corpse in the?West Bank?on Tuesday, trying to determine if he was murdered with the hard-to-trace radioactive poison, polonium.
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Palestinians witnessed the funeral of their hero and longtime leader eight years ago, but conspiracy theories surrounding his death have never been laid to rest.
Many are convinced their icon was the victim of assassination by Israeli agents, and may have been poisoned wittingly or unwittingly by a Palestinian. They may remain convinced of that, whatever the outcome of this autopsy.
Arafat's body was uncovered in the grave and samples removed without moving the corpse. The tomb was resealed in hours and wreaths placed by Palestinian leaders including Prime Minister?Salam Fayyad.
The head of the Palestinian investigation committee, Tawfiq Tirawi, said the procedure went smoothly. A Palestinian medical team took samples and gave them to each of the Swiss, French and Russian forensic teams.
"We need proof in order to find those who are behind this assassination and take it to the ICC (International Criminal Court)," he said.
"Israel?is occupying our land, and assassinations are not new, they have committed several, publicly and secretly ... what's to stop them from assassinating?Abu Ammar (Arafat)?"
French magistrates in August opened a murder inquiry into?Arafat's death in?Paris?in 2004, after a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of polonium on clothing of his which was supplied by his widow,?Suha, for a television documentary.
"The state of the body was exactly what you would expect to find for someone who has been buried for eight years," Health Minister?Hani Abdeen?told a news conference. "There was nothing out of the ordinary."
Results in spring 2013?
Jordanian doctor?Abdullah al Bashir, head of the Palestinian medical committee, said about 20 samples were taken and analysis would take at least three months.
"In order to do these analyses, to check, cross-check and double cross-check, it will take several months and I don't think we'll have anything tangible available before March or April next year," said?Darcy Christen, spokesman for Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland that carried out the original tests on?Arafat's clothes.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/MkEKuJlBhC0/Was-Arafat-poisoned
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Dos Equis Turns Masonic Hall Into Oddity-Filled Masquerade for "Most Interesting Man"
By Phillip B. Crook Posted November 21, 2012, 2:25 PM EST
Picture Burning Man. That annual gathering of the radical artistic community in Nevada's Black Rock Desert was the inspiration behind Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Masquerade," held last week in Chelsea's historic Masonic Hall. The unusual convergence of burner culture, beer, and Freemasons was yet another experiential extension of the brand's infamous ad campaign based around the so-called Most Interesting Man in the World. And much like the commercials?and, indeed, Burning Man?the event set the scene with an array of oddities and unusual experiences."To really understand what interesting is, you have to go and do the most interesting things in the world," said Michael Blatter, whose consumer engagement agency Mirrorball produced the bacchanal. "We came back from Burning Man not just with a million technical and artistic ideas, but most importantly we came back with a passion to go deeper. When you see what can be done creatively in the middle of the desert with no electricity, no bathrooms, and no crew, anything is possible."
Since 2010, Mirrorball has teamed with Heineken-owned Dos Equis for its Most Interesting Man campaign, giving life to events like a traveling carnival-like show and a treasure hunt competition that gave the winner a trip to Mexico. Travel was the central thread at the November 15 gathering, turning rooms across three floors of the grand lodge into what the brand dubbed the Most Interesting Academy. More than 2,000 masked and costumed guests spent the evening exploring an experiential maze that included a nightclub-like Venetian masquerade, a rug-thrown Middle Eastern palace, and a tribal dance floor guarded by grass-skirted hostesses. The campaign's bearded pitchman made an appearance, as did belly dancers, scorpion-topped canapes, and live exotic birds.
Chief among the evening's spectacles was the hall itself, the kind of space Blatter calls a "spectacular virgin venue" because no one but a Freemason can ever remember being inside. Mirrorball went through four other unusual locations?a derelict courtyard on Harlem's Boriqua College campus, an abandoned hospital across from City Hall, the shuttered Manufacturers Hanover Trust bank inside the New Yorker hotel, and a former elementary school in the East Village?before learning that the lodge planned to open its doors for the first time in a century to events.
Certainly, this was the building's debut on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as guests uploaded photos and shared status updates throughout the party, particularly in a top-level room devoted to a "live canvas." The canvas involved two models, perched inside a framed shadowbox, whose bodies artist Craig Tracy painted with the image of a lion's face.
But perhaps the purest measure of an event's success is how well it connects to a desired audience, which in this case includes 21- to 34-year-old men. "When you have an event as ambitious as the Masquerade, it takes a synchronized effort from everyone at Dos Equis, as well as from Mirrorball, to produce an experience that leaves a positive impact with our target guy," said Ryan Thompson, the senior brand director for Dos Equis. "The event was a big win, as we've seen through social media feedback."
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
PSA: Nexus 4 returns to Google Play at 3PM ET (update)
Google's been emailing some good news for those that didn't snatch up its new smartphone within minutes of its online launch a few weeks back. Anyone that asked to be kept up-to-date with Nexus 4 news has been told that new phone stock will be available starting at 3PM ET (Noon PT) -- for US customers only. We've also heard rumors that customers will be limited to ordering up to two phones each, but at these prices, there's likely to be plenty of online traffic jostling for this 4.7-inch slab.
Update: As of 3:08PM ET, it looks as if the Nexus 4 is sold out. These games are no fun, now are they?
Update 2: Google has just posted this update: "Google Play is currently experiencing very high traffic. Nexus 4 is not sold out and will still be available for purchase. Please try again shortly. Thank you for your patience." So, keep trying, we wish you luck, and let us know how you get on in comments!
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, LG
Source: Google Play Store
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/36TvqXni214/
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Not all cases of lung cancer can be prevented, but there are ways you can reduce...
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Activists: Syrian rebels seize major dam in north
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels on Monday captured a hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River in the country's north after days of heavy clashes, carting off boxes of ammunition from defeated regime forces in the latest in a string of recent strategic advances for opposition fighters, activists said.
Also Monday, activists said rebels and pro-government Kurdish gunmen struck a truce to end days of fighting in the town of Ras al-Ayn near the border with Turkey that opposition forces entered earlier this month.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel fighters overran regime defenses and captured the Tishrin Dam, near the town of Manbij, before dawn Monday. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the dam supplies several areas of Syria with electricity.
"This is a major blow to the regime," said Abdul-Rahman by telephone, describing the dam as "strategic location" on the Euphrates, which flows from Turkey through Syria and into Iraq.
The rebels have scored a series of hard-fought strategic advances recently, perhaps even seizing the momentum in their relentless battle of topple President Bashar Assad's regime. On Sunday, they captured a regime helicopter base outside Damascus before pulling back for fear of government airstrikes.
Amateur videos posted online showed gunmen inside the dam's operations room as an employee sat in front of five screens speaking by telephone about the level of water behind the dam. Another video showed gunman in front of dozens of green wooden boxes apparently full of munitions.
A gunman opened one of the boxes showing that it contained hand grenades. "The Free Syrian Army has fully liberated the Tishrin Dam," one of the rebels could be heard saying.
The activist videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting about the events depicted. Syria restricts the access of reporters.
Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad's regime, but quickly morphed into a civil war that has since killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists. It has also prompted hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said airstrikes by regime warplanes killed and wounded several people in the Syrian border town Atmeh on Monday. The agency said some of the wounded were brought to Turkey for treatment, and several people were also heading to the Turkish border to seek refuge. Atmeh is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of the Tishrin Dam.
A local official in the Turkish town of Reyhanli confirmed that Turkish F-16 jets flew over the border region Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
The Observatory reported air raids on other areas as well, including the northern towns of Maaret al-Numan, Kfar Rouma and Harem.
Also Monday, Kurdish activist Mustafa Osso and the Observatory's Abdul-Rahman said the town of Ras al-Ayn has been quiet since Saturday after fighters from the government-leaning Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, reached an agreement on a truce with rebels, most of them from Islamist extremist groups, including the al-Qaida-inspired Jabhat al-Nusra.
The rebels entered the town earlier this month and have since clashed almost daily with PYD gunmen for control over the area. Both factions add to the complexity of Syria's conflict, which has taken on heavy sectarian ? and ethnic ? overtones.
The fighting in recent days has left dozens of people killed or wounded, and dozens captured on both sides. Osso and Abdul-Rahman said PYD forces and the rebels agreed to exchange prisoners and to withdraw their militiamen from the town.
Abdul-Rahman said the rival parties agreed to form a local council that will run day to day life in Ras al-Ayn. Osso said thousands of people who fled the town, which has a mixed population including Arabs, Kurds, Chechens and Christians, have started returning home.
A journalist in Ras al-Ayn told The Associated Press that the town has been calm since Saturday, adding that cars with PYD gunmen were seen in the streets with loudspeakers urging residents to return to their homes after the truce was reached. He added by telephone that parts of the town were heavily damaged by government air raids earlier this month.
When regime forces withdrew from Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria in July, they were quickly replaced by Kurdish fighters from PYD. Those forces then battled rebel fighters after they pushed their way into predominantly Kurdish areas. The Kurdish group is affiliated with the PKK, rebels fighting for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated southeast region of Turkey.
The Islamic militants, who are fighting on the side of the rebels, have played a bigger role in the Syrian conflict in recent months and many openly say they want to set up an Islamic state. The opposition is split, with some groups strongly opposed to the influence of extremists.
The Observatory also said that the health of leading opposition figure Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, who it said is being held by one of the country's security agencies, has deteriorated recently. It did not disclose details of his health problems.
The National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria accused the regime of being behind the disappearance of two of its leaders, including al-Kheir, shortly after they arrived home from China in September.
Al-Kheir, 61, comes from Assad's hometown of Kardaha and belongs to the president's ruling Alawite minority sect. He spent long periods in jail in the past because of his opposition to the regime.
____
Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-syrian-rebels-seize-major-dam-north-094500305.html
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To derail Maine wind farm project, nonprofit sues federal permitting ...
PORTLAND, Maine ? A nonprofit organization filed a federal lawsuit Monday in a last-ditch effort to prevent the planned expansion of the Kibby Mountain wind farm in northwestern Maine.
The Friends of the Boundary Mountains filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming the federal agency neglected several federal laws in late September when it provided a permit to TransCanada Maine Wind Development Inc. allowing the company to expand its Kibby Mountain wind farm onto nearby Sisk Mountain in northern Franklin County.
The lawsuit named as defendants Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, and Jay Clement, the Army Corps? senior project manager in the New England District.
The Friends of the Boundary Mountains, which was founded in 1995 and is based in Farmington, claims the expansion of the wind farm will violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Act, according to court documents. In addition, the group alleges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to comply with the Clean Water Act when it issued the permit to TransCanada.
Before TransCanada had completed its original 44-turbine Kibby Mountain project in 2010, it already had proposed an expansion onto nearby Sisk Mountain. After TransCanada scaled back its expansion plans from 15 to 11 turbines, Maine?s Land Use Regulation Commission approved the project in January 2011. The Friends of the Boundary Mountains opposed TransCanada?s original Kibby Mountain wind farm, as well as the Sisk Mountain expansion.
Bob Wiengarten, the nonprofit?s president, said this lawsuit is the group?s last chance to stop TransCanada from building the Sisk Mountain expansion.
?We?ve been fighting this a long time,? Wiengarten said. ?We?re a minority trying to protect these species from the onslaught from wind power.?
The group?s lawsuit is related to a permit TransCanada needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the keeper of the inland waterways under the Clean Water Act, to temporarily and permanently fill in some wetland areas to build the wind farm expansion. As part of its compliance with the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps also is required to judge the resulting effect on wildlife.
The lawsuit argues that while the Corps had a responsibility to investigate the wind farm?s effect on the golden eagle and the Bicknell?s thrush, it failed to adequately do so. Wiengarten claims both species, which have habitat on or around Sisk Mountain, would be at risk if TransCanada is allowed to expand its wind farm.
The complaint argues that the golden eagle species is ?falling between the cracks? as neither LURC nor the federal government has exercised ?the necessary due diligence in evaluating the true risks and threats to the species,? the complaint claims. Maine considers the golden eagle an endangered species, though the federal government does not. It is protected, however, under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Act.
The lawsuit cites a May 2011 letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to TransCanada: ?Proper siting of wind turbines continues to be the [service]?s most critical concern related to wind energy development to avoid and minimize wildlife mortality and habitat fragmentation. New information about migration and movements of golden eagles suggest this species may be the raptor most vulnerable to wind power in the eastern U.S.?
Wiengarten said the Army Corps put conditions into the permit that it claims will protect the golden eagle, but the conditions are inadequate. One such condition is that TransCanada needs to develop an eagle conservation plan, but the company can build the wind farm before submitting it, Wiengarten said.
?We don?t think that?s a very logical way of proceeding,? Wiengarten said. ?We know in the real world that these conditions don?t mean anything. Once TransCanada builds it, it?s too late.?
This could be the first lawsuit in Maine that cites the Eagle Act as a reason to prevent the construction of a wind farm, according to Todd Griset, an attorney at Preti Flaherty who specializes in the energy sector.
?I have seen other lawsuits alleging violations of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, although I am not aware of any such claims made in Maine,? he wrote in an email.
The Bicknell?s thrush is a migratory bird that spends its winters in the Caribbean and its summers in the subalpine habitat found on Sisk Mountain. The species is rare and fickle about choosing its breeding habitat, Wiengarten said. The federal government is currently reviewing a request to identify it as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, a process Wiengarten points out could take at least a year.
?Our argument is they should pay attention to it right now,? he said. ?Sisk is just not a good place to put a wind turbine because there?s this rare habitat that this bird, which may be endangered ? it?s probably endangered now, but it needs the listing to be official ? it needs that breeding habitat. It?s just too risky. It?s crazy to do this.?
When asked why he thinks the Army Corps did not pursue the effects of TransCanada?s wind farm on the Bicknell?s thrush and the golden eagle, Wiengarten said he believes federal agencies are under political pressure to support the wind power industry.
Wiengarten said he?s not against alternative energy, just not the siting of a wind farm on Kibby and Sisk mountains.
The Friends of the Boundary Mountains is asking the court to void the permit the Army Corps granted and prevent the issuance of a new permit until the violations are addressed. It?s also asking for monetary compensation for ?their costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys? fees,? according to the complaint.
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Althouse: "Now that legal pot is here, will cigarette companies dust ...
NPR explores the coming of legal marijuana:
In the '70s... "there were high-level conversations about adding marijuana to tobacco, creating a line of marijuana cigarettes, and being ready to jump in and market this."Want legal marijuana? Write to the President:As recently as 1993, when it looked like France was poised to legalize marijuana, Philip Morris trademarked the name "Marley." But when the estate of Bob Marley complained, the company claimed it had nothing to do with the reggae singer.
"Philip Morris said, 'No no, it could be any kind of Marley,... like Jacob Marley, the cheap, cantankerous teetotaler from A Christmas Carol.'"...
Source: http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/11/now-that-legal-pot-is-here-will.html
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Monday, November 26, 2012
Introducing: Ashley Braun
This is a series of Q&As with young and up-and-coming science, health and environmental writers and reporters. They ? at least some of them ? have recently hatched in the Incubators (science writing programs at schools of journalism), have even more recently fledged (graduated), and are now making their mark as wonderful new voices explaining science to the public.
Today we introduce you to Ashley Braun (blog, Twitter).
Where are you originally from?
I grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, but I would later venture as far as the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Then, being a stoutly Midwestern girl, I promptly moved to a part of the country I had never visited, to live with a group of people I had never met, and to work for free for a year at an environmental news nonprofit. Five years later, Seattle, Wash., is still my home.
How did you get into science and how did you get into writing? And how did these two trajectories fuse into becoming a science writer?
I suppose I was always hurtling toward this conclusion, whether I knew it or not. Growing up, I either was playing in the woods behind my house or nosing my way through stacks of library books. I both attended middle school science camp and filled notebooks with epic poetry. Advanced Placement Biology and English were my two favorite high school classes.
In 2010, while reporting from Bolivia's alternative international climate change conference, Ashley got the llama perspective on global warming.
When college rolled around, I chose to study environmental science instead of English, because I thought, I love science and besides, what would I possibly write about with my English degree? This way, I reasoned, I could always write about something I was interested in. And when graduation rolled around, ?environmental journalism? were the only two words on my mind.
Why did you decide to try breaking into the science writing business without attending a specialized science writing program?
My last semester of college, science-writing superstar Carl Zimmer came to speak about evolution to a group of us science majors at Notre Dame. At this point, I had taken a couple journalism classes but still jumped at the chance to ask how an overeager science student could break into the field of journalism. His answer was simple and succinct: Just start writing. So, I did.
Ashley used to get her hands dirty with the scientific method by scoop netting for salamanders and frogs on the National Bison Range, Montana, in college.
After graduation, I landed a year-long, volunteer internship with funny green news site Grist.org, and while it was a marketing and advertising internship, I wrote at every opportunity. Eventually I managed to write?and pun?my way into the editorial department (and even a paycheck!).
In 2011, during a travel fellowship for environmental journalists, I made a great connection in Becky Kessler, who wrote for Natural History Magazine. I?ve been freelance writing about up-and-coming science news for them ever since.
Along the way, I?ve asked many an editor about journalism schools of various types, and for the most part, they have assured me that my writing, more than anything, would be the best currency. But that doesn?t mean I don?t still fiddle with the idea.
How do you see the current and future science media ecosystem, how it differs from the past, and what role will new, young science communicators like yourself play in building it and making it the best it can be?
Science writers have a big job ahead of us. How do we explain the exquisite details of discovery about ourselves and the world to a popular culture with a 140-character attention span and little idea what ?fact checking? looks like? In a time when glib, idolized science writers like Jonah Lehrer fall from repute and hand audiences ideas like the scientific method is broken when he continues selling his writing based on this faulty method?
Personally, I?m excited by these challenges and the opportunity to be a part of the medley of solutions. It pushes me and my peers: How can we capitalize on the incredible, exponential possibilities of the web? How can we be more creative with language, sound, and images to engage people? How can we more accurately represent the ?big old mess? that is the scientific process?
What professional experience you have had so far ? publications, internships, jobs? Feel free to include a bunch of links here! What is your current job?
Notebook in hand, Ashley fearlessly explored a brand-new research vessel at Canada's Glenora Fisheries Station during an environmental journalism fellowship with the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources in 2011.
These days I?m a Web Editor and Writer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where I run a blog and manage online content for an office in the National Ocean Service. Every month, I also write a couple science news briefs for Nature History Magazine. You can find links to some of these articles and a range of my other published work at ashleybraun.com/writing.
Of course, I got my start and spent a few years at Grist.org as a News Producer, blogging, managing the homepage, and leading social media efforts. Along the way, I?ve freelanced some stories at OnEarth.org and DeSmogBlog.com and even dipped into the flavorful joys of recipe writing. And I have learned something about science and environmental journalism?sometimes unintentionally?from every single experience, whether in an interview, a blog comment, or a poorly constructed paragraph.
Do you write a personal or science blog ? How much do you use social media networks, e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Tumblr, Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube etc., to promote your own and your friends? work, to learn and to connect?
Twitter is my source of news, my cultural pulse, and my platform for shameless promotion of my and my friends? work. (Twitter cyberstalking welcome!) I also use it to keep up with other journalists, both to stay in touch and be inspired by (and slightly envious of) all the fascinating things people are writing about these days. For the most part, I keep my Facebook presence personal. Pinterest is an aesthetic time-suck, but it?s rivaling my use of Delicious as a digital bookmarking site.
Where do you go to read good science writing?
Besides Discover and Wired, my new favorite place to turn is the blog The Last Word On Nothing. And I?m about to pick up Deborah Blum?s The Poisoner?s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York.
====================
Previously in this series:
Kristina Ashley Bjoran
Emily Eggleston
Erin Podolak
Rachel Nuwer
Hannah Krakauer
Rose Eveleth
Nadia Drake
Kelly Izlar
Jack Scanlan
Francie Diep
Maggie Pingolt
Jessica Gross
Abby McBride
Natalie Wolchover
Jordan Gaines
Audrey Quinn
Douglas Main
Smitha Mundasad
Mary Beth Griggs
Shara Yurkiewicz
Casey Rentz
Akshat Rathi
Kathleen Raven
Penny Sarchet
Amy Shira Teitel
Victoria Charlton
Noby Leong and Tristan O?Brien
Taylor Kubota
Benjamin Plackett
Laura Geggel
Daisy Yuhas
Miriam Kramer
Ashley Taylor
Kate Yandell
Justine Hausheer
Aatish Bhatia
Ashley Tucker
Jessica Men
Kelly Oakes
Lauren Fuge
Catherine Owsik
Marissa Fessenden
Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato
Kelly Poe
Kate Shaw
Meghan Rosen
Jon Tennant
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=077725823c0eb9735a2d7443b29b4313
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Egypt's stock market tumbles after Morsi's decree
In this Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, President Mohammed Morsi speaks to supporters outside the Presidential palace in Cairo. Egypt's official news agency says that the country's highest body of judges has called the president's recent decrees an "unprecedented assault on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings." In a statement carried on MENA Saturday, the Supreme Judicial Council says they regret the declarations President Mohammed Morsi issued Thursday. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
In this Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, President Mohammed Morsi speaks to supporters outside the Presidential palace in Cairo. Egypt's official news agency says that the country's highest body of judges has called the president's recent decrees an "unprecedented assault on the independence of the judiciary and its rulings." In a statement carried on MENA Saturday, the Supreme Judicial Council says they regret the declarations President Mohammed Morsi issued Thursday. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian protesters gather outside the country's high court in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012. Egypt?s highest body of judges slammed on Saturday a recent decision by the president to grant himself near-absolute power, calling the move an ?unprecedented assault? on the judiciary. The statement from the Supreme Judicial Council came as hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police outside a downtown Cairo courthouse. They were protesting the Thursday declaration by President Mohammed Morsi that courts could not overrule his decrees until a new constitution and parliament is in place, several months if not more in the future. (AP Photo/Mohammed Asad)
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's benchmark stock index on Sunday plunged by more than 9.5 percent in the first trading session since the country's Islamist president issued decrees to assume sweeping new powers, while police in central Cairo fired tear gas at protesters who accuse the Egyptian leader of a blatant power grab.
President Mohammed Morsi edicts, which were announced on Thursday, place him above oversight of any kind, including that of the courts. The move has thrown Egypt's already troubled transition to democracy into further turmoil, sparking angry protests across the country to demand the decrees be immediately rescinded.
The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi's edicts, has pushed back. Judges and prosecutors stayed away from several courts in Cairo and the southern cities of Assiut and Luxor to protest the presidential decrees.
With the opening bell of the country's stock market on Sunday, the first day of the workweek in Egypt, the turmoil spread from the country's bitter politics to its already ailing economy. The Egyptian Exchange's EGX30 index dropped 9.59 percentage points, making the losses among the biggest since the turbulent days and weeks immediately after the ouster in a popular uprising of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak last year.
Morsi, who narrowly won the presidency in June, says his measures were designed to "protect the revolution," but they triggered an uproar among non-Islamist political groups now vowing to press on with street protests to force him to back down.
Prominent Egyptian democracy advocate Mohammed ElBaradei warned Saturday of increasing turmoil that could potentially lead to the military stepping in unless Morsi rescinds his new powers, as the country's long fragmented opposition sought to unite and rally new protests.
Egypt's liberal and secular forces ? long divided, weakened and uncertain amid the rise of Islamist parties to power ? are seeking to rally themselves in response to the decrees.
On Sunday, protesters clashed with police in Cairo's Tahrir square, birthplace of the uprising that toppled Mubarak, and in the side streets and avenues leading off the plaza. The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said a total of 267 protesters have been arrested and 164 policemen injured since the protest began a week ago, initially to mark the anniversary of street protests a year ago against the nation's then-military rulers. Forty-two protesters were killed in those demonstrations.
The ministry did not say how many of protesters were injured in the latest clashes, but they are thought to be in the dozens.
Several dozen protesters are staging a sit-in in Tahrir, vowing not to leave before Morsi rescinds his decrees. The two sides have called for rival massive protests on Tuesday at two Cairo locations less than a mile apart, raising the possibility of renewed clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi.
In the latest sign of the unrest sweeping the country, suspected militants blew up a military installation under construction in the central Sinai Peninsula area of al-Qaseema early Sunday, wounding three workers, according to security officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
It was the second blast to target a military building in Sinai in as many days. On Saturday, another border guard structure under construction was blown up in Rafah, close to the Israeli border.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility in either attack, but authorities have been battling al-Qaida-inspired militants in Sinai who have stepped up attacks against Egyptian security forces, and even on occasion staged cross-border raids targeting Israelis.
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Choosing One Of The Best Internet Hosting In Your On-Line Business
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Social Media Marketing And You: How To Expand Your Business.
Many people make use of social media each day. They will use their accounts to share information with all their family and friends. Due to this, information can be spread quickly throughout the Internet, as information is exchanged from one friend to another. This is good news for businesses; if you advertise properly, your business marketing materials will quickly reach all of your potential customers. The article below contains tips to help you navigate the world of social media marketing with ease.
Look for opportunities to combine print ads with social media. You can do things like include your different profile addresses or post some of your poster as well as flyers in one of your photo albums. Generate more interest from your customers by giving them a preview of your campaign online, or by having a photo contest related to your posters.
Retweet updates from other influential Twitter users which you believe your followers would benefit from reading. These people will receive a notification when you make such mentions, which means they may retweet your content or respond to what you?ve said.
People like having the option to comment on your blog. This is crucial, especially if you prefer to keep your more direct contact information private, including your email address. Monitor your posts closely, but do allow them! Delete any nonconstructive negative comments, spam, or other offensive commentary.
When posting videos to YouTube make sure there is a link to click on that takes the viewer to your site. Set the link up where it describes your video, and also have a Twitter and Facebook button near your videos on your channel. When you have YouTube users following you on Twitter or Facebook, they will probably share your videos with all their friends.
Use giveaways to get more followers. To entice them to enter the contest, get them to sign up on your Facebook page or become a Twitter follower as an added incentive. Give out a prize, no matter how small, to whoever gets the most people to subscribe to you and that will drive people to you.
Limit the amount of posting you do on behalf of your company at Facebook and other social media sites. Three posts in a day is plenty. Posting too many times in a day can leave your customers feeling overwhelmed and make it more likely that they will stop following you. Post the three items or issues you want to apprise your customers of for the day, then wait until tomorrow to post anything else.
If you have a social media presence, always respond to people when they ask a question or post a comment. Look for comments every time you log on.
Keep in mind the techniques that worked for you and your colleagues previously. Knowing what has worked and what hasn?t will allow you to embrace strategies that work and avoid those that don?t. By doing that, you can keep in mind what will and won?t work when you try again.
Hold an online contest for a free product or service, and broadcast it through all of your social media channels. People love getting things that are free, and they will gladly fill out any forms or follow your business on any social media site if they could possibly win. Don?t forget to publicize who won the contest, as some people don?t believe that these contests are real. It is also, of course, another opportunity to advertise.
As has been said, millions of people subscribe to social media. Content is being both created and shared at a rapid pace. Companies can use this to their advantage by spreading info about things they offer. Using the tips from this article, you can use social media marketing to get the word out about your company.
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Team Challenge Company Partnership with The National Trust of ...
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PRLog (Press Release) - Nov 09, 2012 -The National Trust of Scotland and Team Challenge Company are joining forces in order to offer their clients the best in Corporate Event Services in a range of exclusive venues of distinction throughout Scotland. Scotland has a growing reputation for business tourism and the NTS venues offer a wonderful opportunity to introduce you to the very best of Scottish hospitality. The Trust's portfolio combines stylish, modern and versatile facilities, with dramatic historical settings. Whatever your requirements, whether for meetings, seminars, conferences, product launches or training days, NTS offer a variety of world famous locations surrounded by gardens, woodland, lochs,
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
BBC chief quits over "shoddy journalism" failures
LONDON (Reuters) - BBC director general George Entwistle resigned just two months into the job, after the state-funded broadcaster put out a program denounced by its chairman as shoddy journalism.
The BBC, reeling from revelations that a former star presenter was a paedophile, brought further problems on its head when a flagship news program, Newsnight, aired a mistaken allegation that a former senior politician sexually abused children.
The broadcaster issued a full apology on Friday, but early on Saturday Entwistle had to admit under questioning from his own journalists that he had not known in advance about the Newsnight report, weeks after being accused of being too hands-off over a previous scandal involving the same program.
Later on Saturday Entwistle announced his resignation, saying the unacceptable journalistic standards of the Newsnight film had damaged the public's confidence in the 90-year-old BBC.
"As the director general of the BBC, I am ultimately responsible for all content as the editor-in-chief, and I have therefore decided that the honorable thing for me to do is to step down," he said.
Entwistle succeeded Mark Thompson, set to take over at the New York Times Co, in September and almost immediately faced one of the biggest crises in the history of the BBC, funded by an annual licence fee levied on all TV viewers.
This was the revelation by rival broadcaster ITV last month that the late Jimmy Savile, one of the most recognizable personalities on British television in the 1960s, 1970s and 80s, had sexually abused young girls, some on BBC premises.
Suggestions have surfaced of a paedophile ring inside the broadcaster at the time and a BBC cover-up. A large-scale police inquiry has been launched.
Entwistle was condemned for the BBC's slow response over the Savile furore and then lambasted after it emerged that Newsnight had axed an expose into Savile shortly after his death and that the broadcaster had gone ahead with planned tributes instead.
His appearance before a parliamentary committee provoked mockery, with one lawmaker saying he had shown a "lamentable lack of knowledge" of what was going on at his own organization.
Thompson has also had to explain what he knew about the Savile episode and has faced questions from staff at the New York Times over whether he is still the right person to take one of the biggest jobs in American newspaper publishing.
MISTAKEN ALLEGATION
For Entwistle, the knives were sharpening on Friday after the BBC had to apologize following an admission Newsnight had broadcast a mistaken allegation that an ex-politician, later identified on the Internet as a close ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, had sexually abused children.
The final straw came when under questioning from his own journalists, he said he had not known in advance about the Newsnight report nor who the alleged abuser was until the name appeared in social media.
"He showed no sign of being in control the first time (over the Jimmy Savile issue) and this morning's interview on the Today program I think was fatal, because it happened again," said Steve Hewlett, a media consultant and former BBC editor.
"You could forgive him for the Savile situation, he could have survived that if he'd shown he was on top of this situation and he didn't," Hewlett told Reuters.
Senior lawmakers said Entwistle's decision was right because it appeared that under him the BBC, long affectionately known as "Auntie" and widely respected in many parts of the world, was systematically incapable of addressing its failings.
"It is vital that credibility and public trust in this important national institution is restored," Culture Secretary Maria Miller said in a statement. "It is now crucial that the BBC puts the systems in place to ensure it can make first class news and current affairs programs."
QUESTIONS NEED ANSWERING
John Whittingdale, chairman of parliament's powerful media committee, said the crisis had done enormous damage to public trust and confidence, and that Entwistle's departure did not spell the end of the matter.
"There are still a lot of questions which need answering. Who did take the decision to approve that (Newsnight) program because quite plainly it was a deeply flawed decision," he told Reuters.
The sudden departure of Entwistle, and the journalistic mistakes that prompted it, is the latest drama to hit the British media industry after two years of soul-searching sparked by a phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire.
Any lack of integrity at the BBC is serious for a broadcaster that has been widely respected for decades and is funded by the public. A judge-led inquiry into media standards prompted by the illegality at a Murdoch tabloid is due to be published soon.
Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC's governing body and long a prominent figure in British politics, said it was one of the "saddest nights" of his public life to accept Entwistle's resignation.
"George has very honorably offered us his resignation because of the unacceptable mistakes and the unacceptable shoddy journalism which has caused so much controversy," said Patten.
"He has behaved as editor with huge honor and courage and would that the rest of the world always behaved the same."
Patten announced that Tim Davie, the BBC's director of Audio and Music, would be the acting director general.
Some commentators have said the hierarchical management of the 22,000-strong organization left it unable to respond to large-scale problems and criticism.
(Editing by Stephen Powell)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bbc-chief-quits-shoddy-journalism-failures-002251845.html
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Villegas in good spirits, needs a good finish
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) ? Camilo Villegas felt like a lucky man, and it had nothing to do with his best round in nine months.
At some point this year, when Villegas was missing cuts or playing too early on the weekends and sliding farther down the PGA Tour money list, he realized he was far too miserable for someone who gets to play golf for a living. No matter how much he worked, it was hard to get anything out of practice without a good attitude.
"Sometimes you just wake up in the morning and you look at yourself in the mirror and you said, 'You know what? Life is good and why am I miserable?' Because that's what happens when you're playing bad," Villegas said Thursday.
He chose to make a change, and now can only hope it's not too late to save his job.
Villegas ran off three straight birdies late in his round on the easier Palm course at Disney for a 7-under 65, leaving him one shot behind Charlie Wi after the opening round of the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.
It was his lowest round to par since he started the season with a 9-under 63 at the Humana Challenge, back when Villegas had high hopes about a new season.
The Colombian with flair was considered a rising star in 2008 when he won consecutive FedEx Cup playoff events ? the BMW Championship at Bellerive and the Tour Championship ? to finish the season with more than $4.4 million and rise to No. 7 in the world.
Now?
He hasn't won since then.
His world ranking has plunged all the way to No. 214. He wasn't in any of the majors this year. And he was at No. 150 on the PGA Tour money list going into Disney, the final tournament of the year. Only the top 125 keep their full cards, and if Villegas were to slip out of the top 150, he would have to go to the second stage of Q-school.
Even that prospect no longer bothers him.
"Trust me, people remind you, 'Hey, you're 150th on the money list.' And I'm kind of like, 'Life is good. Just keep going,'" Villegas said. "If you're good at that game, you are out you will be back in. I mean, who knows? Just take it one shot at a time."
Villegas should have a better indication where he stands after Friday, when he moves to the Magnolia Course, which is about 500 yards longer than the Palm and played about 1.7 shots harder in the opening round.
It was not the least bit surprising that the top 12 scores came from the Palm Course. The best score from Magnolia, where the final two rounds will be played, was a 68. Henrik Stenson and Charles Howell III were among those who got the best of the Mag.
Tommy Gainey is now 17 under in his last two rounds. After closing with a 60 to win at Sea Island three weeks ago, he opened with a 65 at the Palm.
Wi is no stranger to his position atop the leaderboard. Thursday was the eighth time in his career that he had at least a share of the opening-round lead, and the third time this year. The other two tournaments were Pebble Beach and Bay Hill, won by Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. He won't have to worry about either of them this week.
For as much emphasis as there is on the bottom of the money list, Wi was in the middle. He is 45th on the money list. He usually plays some of the Fall Series, but spent three weeks in Asia.
What motivates the 40-year-old is winning, which he hasn't managed to do in his previous 183 starts on the PGA Tour. Wi holed a 15-foot eagle putt on No. 7, chipped in from just off the ninth green and wound up with a 64.
Winning is the goal, as always. It would be particularly timely at Disney, not only as the last event of the year but it might be enough for Wi to get into the top 30 on the money list and earn a trip to Augusta National for the first time. And yes, he's aware of that.
"Top 30 is definitely a goal," Wi said. "I'm not just showing up to play. You've got to have goals. I at least want to give myself a chance."
Gainey doesn't have that opportunity. He was so far down the money list when he won at Sea Island that even a win at Disney wouldn't be enough for him to get into the Masters. That didn't stop him from opening with another solid round.
"My goal is just to win, anyway," he said. "The way I'm playing right now, keep hitting the golf shots and keep hitting it in the fairways, and with the way I'm rolling this putter, it's going to be good by Sunday afternoon."
Brian Harman, Scott Stallings and Russell Knox, the rookie from Scotland who is outside the top 150, were at 66. Kevin Chappell, at No. 123 on the money list, overcame an early bogey and was in the group at 67.
"I feel like if you give me enough opportunities, which I've had, I've got to play well at least one week," Chappell said. "If it's the last week of the year, that's great."
The first two days of Disney are a pro-am, and it's common for some players to ask to be paired with friends ? Mike Weir and Dean Wilson, Harris English and Harman. A year ago, the tour put Luke Donald and Webb Simpson in the same group as they battled for the money title.
This year is a little different.
Rod Pampling is at No. 124 on the money list. He was paired with Billy Mayfair, who is at No. 125. Right behind them were Gary Christian and Alexandre Rocha, who are at No. 127 and No. 128 and right in the mix to keep their jobs.
Pampling opened with a 70 and Mayfair a 72. Christian and Rocha each had a 71.
"I was a bit surprised by that," Pampling said, grinning. "We're all grinding. ... You don't need the guys right behind you and next to you. But that's OK. Billy is easy to play with. And it's not going to change anything, anyway."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/villegas-good-spirits-needs-good-finish-095207645.html
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$25-a-gun sales tax approved in Chicago area
By NBC News
A controversial "violence tax" on guns in the Chicago area was approved Friday by?Cook County commissioners, NBCChicago.com reported.
The $25 tax on every gun purchased in the county -- city law prohibits gun sales in Chicago --?is meant to offset health care and other costs of gun violence, Board President Toni Preckwinkle said.
"Gun violence is a real problem for us,"?she said. "It's a problem for us in our criminal justice system and it's a problem for us in our health care system, and I make no apologies for the proposal."
Preckwinkle said the average shooting victim cost taxpayers $52,000 in acute care because nearly 70 percent of the victims don't have health insurance, NBCChicago.com reported.
The vote follows a violent Chicago summer, when some weekends left multiple people killed and dozens of?others injured in shootings, NBCChicago.com reported. The city's murder rate is up 25 percent for the year, and the Cook County Jail is near capacity with 9,000-plus inmates.
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The National Rifle Association ahead of the vote?said?the?"misguided and burdensome" gun tax "continues to penalize law-abiding gun owners for exercising their fundamental right to keep and bear arms."
The gun tax, which takes?effect April 1,?was passed as part of Cook County's $2.9 billion spending plan for 2013.
As part of the budget, commissioners also approved a $1 tax increase on each pack of cigarettes,?making the?county's $6.67-a-pack?tax?the second-most expensive?in the country, behind New York at $6.86, NBCChicago.com reported. The new?tax will push the price of a pack?to more than $10 when it goes into effect March 1.
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A?gambling tax increase?that commissioners also approved will impose $1,000 annually on slot machines in the county and $200 on video gambling machines. Rivers Casino in Des Plaines would be affected as well as establishments that approved video gaming.
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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/15054382-25-a-gun-sales-tax-approved-in-chicago-area?lite
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Syrian president says he will not leave country
In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters shout at a captured suspected pro-Bashar Assad fighter in the town of Harem, Syria. Rebels say the man was killed shortly after this picture. Despite two weeks of attacking a Roman-era citadel in which pro-Assad militia are dug in, the rebels failed to secure the town. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters shout at a captured suspected pro-Bashar Assad fighter in the town of Harem, Syria. Rebels say the man was killed shortly after this picture. Despite two weeks of attacking a Roman-era citadel in which pro-Assad militia are dug in, the rebels failed to secure the town. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, a group of Free Syrian Army fighters carry a wounded comrade to cover in the town of Harem, Syria. Despite two weeks of attacking a Roman-era citadel in which pro-Assad militia are dug in, the rebels failed to secure the town. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo, Mustafa, a rebel from the town of Bennish, watches for a sniper firing down a street in the town of Harem, Syria. Despite two weeks of attacking a Roman-era citadel in which pro-Assad militia are dug in, the rebels failed to secure the town. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
In this Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter fires his weapon while running for cover in the Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)
A Syrian family who fled from the violence in their village, sit next to their belongings at a displaced camp, in the Syrian village of Atma, near the Turkish border with Syria. Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed defiantly to "live and die" in Syria, saying in an interview broadcast Thursday that he will never flee his country despite the bloody, 19-month-old uprising against him.
The broadcast comes two days after British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if that would guarantee an end to the civil war, which activists estimate has killed more than 36,000 people.
"I am not a puppet, I was not made by the West for me to go to the West or any other country," Assad, 47, said in the interview with the English-language Russia Today TV. He spoke in English and excerpts of the interview were posted on the station's website Thursday with an Arabic voiceover.
"I am Syrian, I am made in Syria, and I will live and die in Syria," he said.
Assad also warned against foreign military intervention at a time when the West is taking steps to boost the opposition.
"I don't think the West is headed in this direction. But if it does, nobody can predict the consequences," he told the station. The full interview will be broadcast on Friday, the station said.
The excerpts show Assad casually talking and later walking with RT's reporter outside a house, wearing a gray suit and tie. It was not clear where the interview took place.
The uprising against Assad's regime began as mostly peaceful protests in March last year but quickly morphed into a civil war. The fighting has taken on grim sectarian tones, with the predominantly Sunni rebels fighting government forces. Assad's regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his country will deal directly with Syrian rebel military leaders. He spoke during a trip to visit Syrian refugees in Jordan. Previously, Britain and the U.S. have acknowledged contacts only with exile groups and political opposition figures ? some connected to rebel forces ? inside Syria.
He called on the U.S. to join his country in doing more to shape the Syrian opposition into a coherent force, saying the re-election of President Barack Obama is an opportunity for the world to take stronger action to end the deadlocked civil war.
The U.S. has been pressing for a new, more unified opposition leadership that will minimize the role of exiles and better represent those risking their lives on the frontlines. The initiative was being discussed on Thursday at an opposition conference in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose government has remained one of Syria's most loyal and powerful allies, criticized the West for supporting the opposition, saying foreign powers should try to force both sides to stop fighting. Russia has shielded Damascus from strong international action at the U.N. Security Council.
He said Moscow would not support any resolution that would threaten the Syrian regime with sanctions. The remarks were posted on his ministry's website Thursday.
"If their priority is, figuratively speaking, Assad's head, the supporters of such approach must realize that the price for that will be lives of the Syrians, not their own lives," Lavrov said. "Bashar Assad isn't going anywhere and will never leave, no matter what they say. He can't be persuaded to take that step."
Assad has rarely appeared in public since the revolt began in March 2011. Last month, state TV showed him attending prayers for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha in Al-Afram Mosque in Al-Muhajireen district of Damascus, sitting on the floor and praying. He later was seen smiling and shaking hands with worshippers.
In several televised speeches this year, Assad has blamed the uprising on a foreign plot to destroy Syria and accused rebels of being mercenaries of the West and Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The daily death toll in the civil war has been averaging 100 people or more recently, killed in clashes between rebels and troops, and in artillery shelling and regime airstrikes on rebel-held areas.
At least 104 people were killed in fighting on Wednesday, according to the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that relies on reports from activists on the ground. Most casualties ? 31 people ? were killed in the fighting between rebels and government troops in the suburbs Damascus as the rebels made a new push into the capital firing mortars at a presidential palace and a Palestinian refugee camp, said Rami-Abdul Rahman, the Observatory's chief.
Four rebels were also killed in clashes with a pro-government faction in the Palestinian refugee camp in the capital on Wednesday, Abdul-Rahman said, adding that at least 30 soldiers were also killed that day, including 10 in Damascus and on its outskirts. There was not comment on the troops' deaths from the government, which rarely reports regime casualties.
The Observatory said it has received reports of fresh fighting in the Damascus suburbs and in the neighborhood of Souseh in the capital on Thursday. It also said there were heavy clashes between anti-government gunmen and troops in northern Idlib province and in Aleppo, Syria's largest city which has been a major front in the civil war since the summer.
Regime forces also battled opposition fighters trying to take control of a region in the far northeastern corner of the country, Turkey's state-run agency reported. Two people in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar were wounded by stray bullets from the fighting. Dogan news agency video showed people running for shelter in panic as a piece of shrapnel from the fighting reportedly landed on the grounds of the hospital in the town.
The clashes broke out in the town of Ras al-Ayn in al-Hasaka province in northeastern Syria, a few hundred meters (yards) from Ceylanpinar, the Anadolu Agency said.
The mayor for Ceylanpinar told The Associated Press that the rebels had taken over the border crossing of Ras al-Ayn Thursday. Ismail Aslan said in a phone interview that the rebel flag was flying on a building across the Turkish border. However, fierce fighting between rebels and government troops continued around what Asalan said was an "intelligence building" on the Syrian side of the border where the regime troops had retreated to.
Around 5,000 Syrians from Ras al-Ayn crossed into Ceylanpinar Thursday to escape the fighting and at least 14 Syrians were being treated for injuries in hospitals around the region, Aslan said.
Schools in Ceylanpinar were closed for the day as the military increased security measures. Residents were being warned to stay away from the border.
More than 111,000 Syrians are being sheltered in refugee camps in Turkey.
Turkish authorities also inspected the cargo of a Syria-bound plane from Armenia to make sure it was not carrying military equipment.
____
Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.
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