Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/288717062?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, March 3, 2013
Nike's 'Vapor Laser Talon' brings 3-D printing to athletic shoes
The latest sneaker from Nike may have a preposterous name, but it's a notable achievement. The Vapor Laser Talon, as it's called, was designed specifically for the 40-yard dash, and was tested and built using a 3-D printer.
At just 5.6 ounces, the shoe is among the lightest out there (shoes like the New Balance Minimus line are as light as 4.4 ounces), but that's not its claim to fame. The "plate," or rigid bottom part in which the cleats and other sole features are embedded, is the first in the sport to be printed.
Nike used a process called Selective Laser Sintering, in which a powerful laser is shone on a plastic or metal powder, fusing it and allowing the surrounding material to be removed. It allowed them to iterate the design over hours instead of days or weeks, making optimization for a single sport or event practical.
In this case, the plate was created with maximum grip on football turf in mind, improving a player's "zero step," the first movements from standing position to running ? in which traction is extremely important.
It's not the first 3-D printed shoe, or even the first to be made for sport (these have a similar goal and use the same process), but it's definitely the first to be made and advertised by a major company like Nike.
No details were shared as to the pricing or availability of the shoe, although it's a safe bet that such a specialized product is unlikely to be found at your local mall just yet.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
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White House, lawmakers resume cybersecurity bill talks
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said on Friday negotiations with the White House on a new cybersecurity bill have resumed, and the two sides are not "that far apart" after making progress this week.
The Michigan Republican told Reuters that both sides are "very close" on agreeing about the roles that the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies would play to better defend against cyber attacks.
They are also negotiating ways to minimize the transfer and use of personal information from companies to the government, Rogers said. No written drafts have been exchanged, the talks are informal and no deal is imminent, a committee staffer said.
In a joint interview with the senior Democrat on his committee, Dutch Ruppersberger, Rogers said the talks have been aided by increasing concerns about the costs of cyber attacks.
"What helped is that The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal were all hacked and they talked about it publicly," Rogers said. "It is starting to raise awareness. I can feel movement."
Though thousands of important companies have been losing data to hackers in China and elsewhere for a decade, the number of companies publicly admitting such breaches has been growing. Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, and Facebook confirmed attacks in a recent campaign.
Rogers said both sides of the talks and an expanding part of the public understand that the likelihood of a devastating destructive attack is growing as the list of cyber powers lengthens to include actors like Iran.
He said he had "a high degree of confidence" that Iran was behind the August 2012 attack on Saudi Aramco that crippled some 30,000 PCs.
He also blamed Iran for a campaign against banks in recent months with what are known as denial-of-service attacks, which have disrupted access to some websites, and he said more intrusive or destructive hacking could follow.
"That's a probing action," said Rogers, who is privvy to classified intelligence reports. "We know it's not the best they have to offer.
"You have this non-rational actor that has the capability to cause chaos to people's networks and could be economically destructive."
The joint bill by Rogers and Ruppersberger emphasizes sharing threat information among companies and the government. It passed the Republican-dominated House last year, but failed in the Democrat-controlled Senate after administration objections.
The White House wants a more comprehensive bill that also sets minimum security standards for vitally important companies. But Ruppersberger said last month's executive order on that issue eased some pressure to include such provisions.
A second gulf between the parties has been over the personal information on customers and users that would be turned over to the government.
The current House bill would give broad protection from lawsuits to companies that surrender user data believed to be related to "threats" to their networks to DHS, which could then share it with intelligence agencies that could use it for other national security matters.
But Rogers said the personal information was not essential. "Candidly, you don't need a lot of personal information to fight the threat," he said, adding that details of new malicious software was essential.
Ruppersberger, of Maryland, said companies complained that they had no way to "minimize" personal information attached to "millions of conversations" and that they were working through that issue in the White House talks.
Their comments follow an interview with White House cybersecurity policy adviser Michael Daniel on Monday at the same RSA conference, the largest annual gathering of security professionals.
Daniel told Reuters then that the administration would identify its goals for a new law within two months.
Only after a law passes to shore up defense, the House members said, can the country focus on building support among allies to confront economic espionage from China and others.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle and Joseph Menn; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Leslie Gevirtz)
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Special Education Law Blog: Sequestration Will Hurt Kids With ...
Sequestration starts today unless the Congress acts. ?It will hurt the education of children with disabilities!
How will IDEA be affected??Under sequestration, federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will be reduced by?$1,053,600,000?in 2013, or 28 percent of the total reduction to education programs.?
You can view an analysis and explanation by our friends at IDEA money watch here.
You can see the amount of money that your state ?and the projected number of special ed staff will lose on this chart.
Now would be a good time to call your congressmen and senators and tell them to fix this.
Source: http://specialeducationlawblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/sequestration-will-hurt-kids-with.html
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Female kicker set for NFL regional combine tryout
Lauren Silberman has scant chance at making the NFL.
Silberman never kicked anything more than a soccer ball in an organized game and she just started practicing long-range field goals.
Even so, the first female kicker scheduled to try out at an NFL regional scouting combine would like to see where her new hobby will take her. In an era where Danica Patrick can contend against men in motor sports, Silberman is about to take a big kick forward for female athletes, even if the odds are clearly stacked against her. The 28-year-old Silberman will kick Sunday at the New York Jets' training facility in Florham Park, N.J.
"I am working hard to prepare but I am also realistic about my chances," she wrote in an email. "I hope my willingness to put myself out there inspires others to seize opportunities and challenges. The support from around the world has been so heartening."
Her goal for the weekend is a true long shot: perfect 60-yard field goals.
Odds are, though, that scouts will want to see her connect on extra points and chip-shot field goals with some consistency before moving on to the heavy kicking.
Silberman will compete against more accomplished or polished college kickers, all hoping to prove they have the leg strength and accuracy worthy of earning an invite to an NFL training camp. St. Louis Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein participated in a regional combine last year before he was drafted and morphed into "Legatron."
Cincinnati Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons said teams look for several things specifically when judging kickers in these situations. The most important is leg strength, followed by accuracy on field goals over 40 yards, and how they did on clutch kicks in college.
"When rating field goals, the deepest we test at the combine is a 50-yard field goal. There's not many attempts over 55 yards. We don't practice kicks much deeper than that ? rarely do we do them," Simmons said. "You can tell after watching a 50-yard field goal how far the ball goes over the crossbar if they can hit from 55. They've got to be able to hit from 55. On kickoffs, they've got to be able to get the ball out of the back of the end zone."
Silberman won't be kicking against the best of the sure-footed prospects, but there will be talent on hand regardless. The regional combines debuted in 2011, and feature players who weren't among the 333 invited to the main combine in Indianapolis. So no first-round picks are likely to show; only potential, hidden, undrafted gems or late-round risks. The league is holding these sessions in 10 cities this offseason, with the most impressive players advancing to a super-regional in April in Dallas. It's sort of the sports version of a TV reality show, where each hit and tackle can wow a scout and move a player on to the next round. Only instead of a recording contract, it's an NFL one.
"It's all up to those guys. If you're talented enough, you're going to get recognized. And if you put up good numbers, the numbers don't lie," said Doug Whaley, assistant general manager/director of player personnel for the Buffalo Bills. "That's one of the things about the combine part of this business. It's the least subjective part of the business. And it's really objective, because you're looking at numbers."
Silberman hasn't treated the tryout like a publicity stunt. But Silberman, whose NFL.com bio listed her as a former club soccer player at Wisconsin, seems to understand what she's up against. More likely, she wanted to use the weekend as an opportunity to promote greater diversity in football.
Silberman also can use this opportunity as a steppingstone to other ventures. Public speaking, perhaps, or even some sports marketing.
"The real upside is if she reaches the next level," said Steve Rosner, a partner with 16W Marketing in New Jersey. "Kickers, in general, aren't brands. Very rare. Even someone like Adam Vinatieri, who (has won) Super Bowls, would have to do a little more than kick to capitalize and endorse at the national level. The one thing she has that they don't have is that she's a woman. The uniqueness of her and the possible success she has will differentiate what she has at that position."
While a female has never played in the NFL, if the gender breakthrough did happen, it most likely would be at kicker.
Females have kicked or tried out for a roster spot in the college ranks for years. Just last season, former LSU women's soccer goalkeeper Mo Isom tried out as a Tigers placekicker. In 2003, Katie Hnida became the first woman to kick for an NCAA Division I-A football team, scoring in one game for the University of New Mexico.
Hnida, who later kicked for the Fort Wayne Firehawks of the Continental Indoor Football League, was surprised a player with no true kicking background would be scouted at a combine.
"I thought it would be an athlete who has come through the ranks of playing football for a long time," she said. "It is so different kicking in a live situation, too, dealing with the timing of the snap, having guys rushing at you. That's where you separate the good from the great."
Sean Landeta, a Super Bowl champion and considered one of the NFL's great punters, gave Silberman credit for competing, one way or the other.
"I think it's courageous on her part in trying this, and certainly groundbreaking if she could prove her skills are good enough to play in the NFL," he said. "What a team's policy would be as far entertaining the thought in signing a female, that's still debatable. No one knows that answer. ... I give her points for giving it a shot. She's obviously following her dream."
Forget game-on-the-line playoff pressure, Silberman will instead kick in front of low-level scouts. They, like the players themselves, are trying to move up the ranks.
"In terms of regional combines, we usually send one younger pro and college scout," Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. "And then, (at the) super-regional, we send a bunch of higher level scouts."
Agent Rob Roche represents four kickers, including Baltimore's Justin Tucker. He said from an agent's perspective, finding the right situation for a young kicker is most important, because there's only 32 jobs available. Teams, after all, tend to stick with a kicker when they feel they can trust him, rather than bringing in someone younger with limited NFL experience. Roche said kickers who lack experience at the major-college level face daunting odds.
"To come out and start kicking and you've never kicked in college," he said, "you don't know how a player is going to react under pressure when the game's on the line and you're kicking in Denver in the snow and it's overtime."
Silberman plans to prove she's up for the task.
___
AP sports writers John Wawrow, Rob Maaddi, Joe Kay and freelancer Joseph Santoliquito contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/female-kicker-set-nfl-regional-combine-tryout-232458594--nfl.html
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Hugh Jackman Put The Danger Back Into The Easter Bunny For 'Rise Of The Guardians'
For the animated film "Rise of the Guardians," the creators and star Hugh Jackman had a unique challenge on their hands. How do you take the most cuddly of all mythological holiday creatures, the Easter Bunny, and turn him into something believably tough? The answer ended up being "Let Jackman be Jackman." In an exclusive [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/03/01/hugh-jackman-rise-of-the-guardians/
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Friday, March 1, 2013
Cops hunt 7 missing children in 'possible family abduction' case ...
Fresno Police Department
Five of the seven children missing from Fresno, Calif.
By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News
Police believe the seven children who vanished from their Fresno, Calif., home on Saturday were taken by their estranged father.
Ranging in age from 5 to 12, the kids were left at home while their mother and stepfather went to a grocery store, according to the Fresno Police Department.
Police believe that their biological father "picked up all of the children." He was identified as Xa Yang and is thought to live in Sacramento, about 170 miles north of Fresno.
Neither authorities nor the children's mother had been able to contact the father, who had not been involved in the children's lives "for at least three years," according to a police statement.
Because the seven children, along with their belongings, were removed from an apartment complex in the early evening without any
apparent commotion, investigators do not suspect foul play.
There was no immediate concern for the children's safety, police said.
While they have not issued an "Amber Alert," which are normally issued in suspected abductions, police are seeking the
public's help.
Anyone with information can call Detective Josh Mendizabal at (559) 621-2499 or (559) 621-7000.
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