In this Sunday, June 30, 2013, photo provided by CBS News former CIA and and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden speaks on CBS's "Face the Nation" in Washington. Hayden called for more transparency on secret US surveillance program to reassure Americans that their privacy rights are being protected. He said people would be more comfortable with the programs if they knew more about how and why they are carried out. Hayden defended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, that approves government requests together records. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)
Oh, the things you hear on Amtrak's Acela service! Screaming kids, complaints about Wi-Fi and — oh yeah — a former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA seemingly spilling secrets to reporters.
We learn this from the Twitter feed of Tom Matzzie, former Washington director of MoveOn.org Political Action, who sat near retired Gen. Michael Hayden. Matzzie's tweets suggest that Hayden took calls from reporters digging into the ongoing NSA spy scandal and asking about President Barack Obama's BlackBerry and CIA secret prisons overseas.
Hayden apparently insisted on being quoted anonymously.
"FAIL," as they say.
Here is Matzzie's story, as tweeted from Amtrak Acela 2170, which left Washington at 3 p.m.:
Respect is an important value in the wrestling business. Though Superstars brutalize each other inside the squared circle, the locker room is a sacred place. Most of the time, no blows are traded, only respect. It begins from the second a wrestler enters the arena, starting a time-honored tradition.
“Guests at a WWE event might notice that everybody shakes hands gratuitously,” Cody Rhodes told WWE.com.
“It seems a little strange when people from outside [the industry] see it,” WWE commentator JBL said.
The handshake’s place in wrestling isn’t something that just became commonplace in WWE. JBL explained how the grip began as a secret shake during the sport’s early carnival days, done to weed out anyone who didn’t belong.
“It looked like you were gripping them real hard, but it was very loose, which showed that you were one of the boys,” the former WWE Champion said.
Over time, though, wrestlers began a game of one-upmanship, seeing who could give the loosest handshake.
“Some people take it to extremes, [using only] two fingers,” Antonio Cesaro said. “It’s weird.”
“It became a very limp-fish handshake,” JBL said, “which is not how it was actually intended.”
How it devolved from a secret variation on the regular shake to a two-fingered tap isn’t quite clear, though Cesaro has his own ideas about how that happened.
“Back in the day, you didn’t know if a guy was good or not,” he said. “I have this theory that they set out a rumor that the really good wrestlers shook hands lightly. That’s how they would recognize all the crappy wrestlers, by their dead fish handshake.”
Rhodes, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, grew up in the business. He told WWE.com that his father taught him the right way to shake hands in all situations.
“A firm handshake,” he explained. “Not a double-tendon, break-your-hand handshake. Firm and look them in the eye, even if that’s the only contact you have. It brings an element of respect to the table.”
Contact: Wim Grunewald info@vib.be 32-924-46611 VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)
Ghent, 24 October Stem cells are crucial for the continuous generation of new cells. Although the importance of stem cells in fuelling plant growth and development still many questions on their tight molecular control remain unanswered. Plant researchers at VIB and Ghent University discovered a new step in the complex regulation of stem cells. Today, their results are published online in this week's issue of Science Express.
Lieven De Veylder: "Our data suggest that certain organizing stem cells in plant roots are less sensitive for DNA-damage. Those cells hold an original and intact DNA copy which can be used to replace damaged cells if necessary. Animals rely on a similar mechanism but most likely plants have employed this in a more optimized manner. This could explain why many plants can live for more than hundreds of years, while this is quite exceptional for animals."
Quiescent organisers of plant growth
Plant growth and development depend on the continuous generation of new cells. A small group of specialized cells present in the growth axes of a plant is driving this. These so-called stem cells divide at a high frequency and have the unique characteristic that the original mother cell keeps the stem cell activity while the daughter cell acquires a certain specialization. Besides these stem cells, plant roots also harbor organizing cells. These organizing cells divide with a three- to ten-fold lower frequency, therefore often referred to as quiescent center cells. The organizing cells control the action of the surrounding stem cells and can replace them if necessary.
A new molecular network
For almost 20 years, scientists all over the world have been studying the action of the stem cells and that of their controlling organizing cells. Until now it was not known how quiescent and actively dividing cells could co-exist so closely and which mechanisms are at the basis of the quiescent character. Plant researchers at VIB and Ghent University have now identified a new molecular network that increases our understanding of stem cell regulation and activity. Central in this process is the discovery of a new protein, the ERF115 transcription factor. The scientists demonstrated that the organizing cells barely divide because of the inhibition of ERF115 activity. When the organizing cells need to divide to replace damaged surrounding stem cells, ERF115 gets activated. ERF115 then stimulates the production of the plant hormone phytosulfokine which in turn activates the division of the organizing cells. Thus, the ERF115-phytosulfokine network acts as a back-up system during stress conditions which are detrimental for the activity of stem cells.
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Why plants usually live longer then animals
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
24-Oct-2013
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Contact: Wim Grunewald info@vib.be 32-924-46611 VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)
Ghent, 24 October Stem cells are crucial for the continuous generation of new cells. Although the importance of stem cells in fuelling plant growth and development still many questions on their tight molecular control remain unanswered. Plant researchers at VIB and Ghent University discovered a new step in the complex regulation of stem cells. Today, their results are published online in this week's issue of Science Express.
Lieven De Veylder: "Our data suggest that certain organizing stem cells in plant roots are less sensitive for DNA-damage. Those cells hold an original and intact DNA copy which can be used to replace damaged cells if necessary. Animals rely on a similar mechanism but most likely plants have employed this in a more optimized manner. This could explain why many plants can live for more than hundreds of years, while this is quite exceptional for animals."
Quiescent organisers of plant growth
Plant growth and development depend on the continuous generation of new cells. A small group of specialized cells present in the growth axes of a plant is driving this. These so-called stem cells divide at a high frequency and have the unique characteristic that the original mother cell keeps the stem cell activity while the daughter cell acquires a certain specialization. Besides these stem cells, plant roots also harbor organizing cells. These organizing cells divide with a three- to ten-fold lower frequency, therefore often referred to as quiescent center cells. The organizing cells control the action of the surrounding stem cells and can replace them if necessary.
A new molecular network
For almost 20 years, scientists all over the world have been studying the action of the stem cells and that of their controlling organizing cells. Until now it was not known how quiescent and actively dividing cells could co-exist so closely and which mechanisms are at the basis of the quiescent character. Plant researchers at VIB and Ghent University have now identified a new molecular network that increases our understanding of stem cell regulation and activity. Central in this process is the discovery of a new protein, the ERF115 transcription factor. The scientists demonstrated that the organizing cells barely divide because of the inhibition of ERF115 activity. When the organizing cells need to divide to replace damaged surrounding stem cells, ERF115 gets activated. ERF115 then stimulates the production of the plant hormone phytosulfokine which in turn activates the division of the organizing cells. Thus, the ERF115-phytosulfokine network acts as a back-up system during stress conditions which are detrimental for the activity of stem cells.
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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.
Continuing to look the part of the perfect princess, or duchess rather, Kate Middleton stepped out on Oct. 24 in a stunning navy blue Jenny Packham gown for the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Benefit Gala (a leading non-profit organization for professionals in the alternative investments industry) -- only her second formal event since giving birth to her son in July.
The 31-year-old Duchess of Cambridge attended the event one day after baby Prince George's highly-publicized christening. Middleton continues to impress with her trim post-baby figure and stellar fashion sense.
The Brit wore her chestnut hair down with large curls, and her skin looked healthy and glowing. Middleton wore minimal jewelry, opting just for a simple bracelet and her wedding ring.
Miss Amanda Pullinger, director of 100WHF (left) and Mrs Mimi Drake Chairman 100WHF (right) meet he Duchess of Cambridge (centre) at a gala dinner in aid of Action on Addiction hosted by the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Philanthropic Initiatives. Credit: Ian West/PA Wire
When asked about her son's christening at the gala, Middleton replied, "He was such a good boy actually, we’re very lucky,he’s not always like that, but… the people there, lots of action going on, it’s slightly distracting."
With hubby Prince William by her side, Middleton wore a sequin Jenny Packham gown to her first post-baby red carpet appearance at the Tusk Conservation Awards at the Royal Society in London on Sept. 12.
Thursday's Packham gown is dark navy blue with short sleeves and a V-neck cut. Britain's Mirror reports that the dress retails at £3,580 (about $5800).
For Prince George's christening, Middleton wore a cream-colored Alexander McQueen dress with a matching cream fascinator.
The royal family's official christening portraits have been released.
A lone emperor penguin makes his rounds, at the edge of an iceberg drift in the Antarctic's Ross Sea in 2006.
John Weller/AP
Less than 1 percent of the world's oceans are set aside as protected areas, but diplomats meeting now in Australia could substantially increase that figure.
Delegates from 24 nations and the European Union have convened to consider proposals to create vast new marine protected areas around Antarctica.
This same group met over the summer and didn't reach consensus, so it's now considering a scaled-back proposal.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources exists principally to regulate fishing around Antarctica. But some members — including the United States — have been pushing the organization to create vast new marine protected areas. One proposed region would shield swaths of the Ross Sea. A second would apply to the waters off East Antarctica. The potential protected areas are getting a push from conservationists like Bob Zuur at WWF-New Zealand.
"Last year I sailed through the Ross Sea," Zuur said at a news conference Wednesday in Hobart, Australia. "I saw dozens of whales, hundreds of seals and albatrosses and thousands of penguins. And that was just the wildlife on top of the water. The wildlife on the seafloor rivals that of the tropics. This area is really the Serengeti of the southern seas."
That advocacy is backed by the scientists who report to CCAMLR (participants call it "camalar"). Marine biologist and fisheries scientist Christopher Jones is chairman of the group's scientific committee. And at the news conference in Australia Wednesday he said members of that committee agree that human activity in the area should be limited, to ensure the long-term health of the ecosystem.
"Whether or not the science is adequate is not the issue here," Jones said. The real issue, he suggested, "is the political will."
CCAMLR already met in July but failed to reach the required consensus to set aside these areas. In particular, conservationists say, Russia and Ukraine balked at creating huge zones where fishing would be off limits forever. Toothfish, sold in the U.S. as Chilean sea bass, is harvested in some of these areas. The marine preserve would still leave some fishing grounds open but would close others, including sensitive spawning grounds of toothfish and other species.
After the July meeting, the United States and New Zealand scaled back the size of the regions of Ross Sea they proposed to protect by 40 percent. That would still make it the largest marine preserve in the world.
"I think all of us were disappointed that the Ross Sea proposal was reduced in size," said Andrea Kavanagh at the Hobart news conference. "We are hopeful this is the last time it will be watered down, and if it's passed as it is, we'd all be quite supportive of it."
Negotiators now plan to spend more than a week seeing whether they can come to a consensus. If they can, that could also open the door to discussions about creating additional marine protected areas around Antarctica. CCAMLR's scientific committee has identified nine areas in seas around the continent as candidates for preservation.
These waters have had less human disturbance than any other oceans on Earth.
"To get a consensus on having this network in place is going to be quite a long process," says Jones, the committee's chairman. "We've already made a lot of progress, though."
One small preserve off the South Orkney Islands is already on the books. And creating one or two vast preserves at this meeting could be a huge step forward.
Today in international tech news: German Chancellor Angela Merkel dials up President Obama after reports that the U.S. was monitoring her phone. Also: Samsung makes like Apple and apologizes to its Chinese consumers; Beijing ups its investment in paid online propagandists; Apple's former CEO is reportedly considering a BlackBerry bid; and Canon is still slumping.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called President Obama to protest after she received information that U.S. intelligence was perhaps spying on her mobile phone.
Obama assured Merkel that the U.S. "is not monitoring and will not monitor" her communications, but the White House reportedly stopped short of denying that it had done so in the past.
Earlier this week, France was making noise about reports that the U.S. spied on French communications, so it might not be long before all of Western Europe is irked with the States.
Merkel and Co. were tipped off about the spying by Der Spiegel, Germany's top magazine and news website, which told the government that it had unearthed info about potential surveillance. Der Spiegel was going off of documents from Edward Snowden.
Samsung apologized to Chinese consumers after a 30-minute television spot on Chinese state-run media accused the company of peddling shoddy phones and bunk repair policies.
Samsung announced that it would offer free repairs for all seven of the models mentioned in the report. About 14 percent of Samsung revenue comes from China, so it is important for the South Korean tech giant to appease its western neighbor.
Samsung added that it welcomed media scrutiny.
This sequence hearkens -- to an eerie degree -- to Apple's saga earlier this year. Like Samsung, Apple was lambasted by Chinese media, which accused the company of having bad products and even worse customer service. Apparently deciding there was no good reason to take on Beijing (or its puppet media), Apple issued an apology to Chinese consumers.
China is fortifying its so-called "50 Cent Party," a cohort of hired commenters who post rosy-colored nuggets -- or red-colored, as it were -- about China and the powers that be.
Named after the average pay per comment, the 50 Cent Party is getting a makeover, becoming "more professional" as the government adds more "Internet opinion analyst" jobs to the budget. Some Chinese netizens have expressed anger that their tax yuan are funding this sort of 21st century propaganda, but chances are their dissent is being met with resistance.
China reportedly has about 2 million people collecting, managing and analyzing online public opinion.
Rumor has it that John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple, is exploring a bid for BlackBerry.
Sculley is not commenting on the story, but he told Canadian press that he has been "a longtime BlackBerry fan and user," if that means anything.
A handful of suitors are reportedly scoping BlackBerry. Fairfax Financial Holdings extended a $9-per-share offer, while BlackBerry's co-founders have also been linked to a purchase.
For the second straight quarter, Japanese camera and optical products manufacturer Canon cut its operating profit outlook.
Canon lowered its full-year operating profit forecast to about US$3.7 billion, slightly lower than previously projected.
The company also said it expects to sell 8 million interchangeable-lens cameras in the year ending in December. That is down from last quarter's estimate of 9 million and less than last year's total of 8.2 million.
1969 was the year the music died, or, at least, the year The Beatles ended. The iconic British boy group disbanded in the late '60s, and many blamed John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono's influence. Beatles frontman Paul McCartney has publicly had a tense relationship with Ono, 80, but in the November cover story for Rolling Stone, McCartney, 71, ended the feud once and for all.
Calling his former bandmate's wife a certified "badass," McCartney talked about his struggle with his feelings toward Ono.
"I thought, 'If John loved her, there's got to be something. He's not stupid,'" McCartney told Rolling Stone. "It's like, what are you going to do? Are you going to hold a grudge you never really had?"
Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
And the "That Was Me" singer admits that another Beatle influenced his decision to forgive and forget when it came to Ono.
"George [Harrison] would say to me, 'You don't want stuff like that hanging around in your life,'" McCartney revealed of his late bandmate.
And though he's been able to put his bitter feelings toward Ono behind him, McCartney admits there's one person he'll never forgive -- Lennon's murderer, Mark David Chapman, who fatally shot the singer outside his New York apartment in 1980.
"I think I could pretty much forgive anyone else," he continued. "But I don't see why I'd want to forgive him. This is a guy who did something so crazy and terminal. Why should I bless him with forgiveness?"
The legendary singer has just released his 24th post-Beatles album, New.
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