Ukraine?s Team QuadSquad Wins Microsoft?s Imagine Cup With Its Sign Language-To-Speech Translation Gloves

During an awards ceremony in Sydney today, Ukraine's team quadSquad won this year's Microsoft Imagine Cup student technology competition thanks to its gloves that can translate sign language into speech. The team beat out 75 other teams that made it to the worldwide finals in Australia where they had to present their projects in front of a group of judges. This was Microsoft's 10th Imagine Cup and the event, which combines the energy of a soccer World Cup with a pitch competition. This year's Imagine Cup's theme was "Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems," and most teams focused on healthcare and the environment.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/se-cmmPAzIU/

secret service scandal shea weber greystone sidney crosby at the drive in alternative minimum tax modeselektor

Broadland cluster schools enjoy an Olympic-themed sports day

Broadland cluster schools enjoy an Olympics-themed sports day; Photo credit: Submitted.

A group of cluster schools enjoyed an Olympic-themed athletics competition in Hoveton to celebrate London 2012.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

?

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

A total of 160 children, from school years three to six, from St John?s Primary School, Coltishall Primary, Salhouse Primary, Neatishead Primary and Rackheath Primary took part in standing long jump, javelin and running races before coming together for team relays.

Parents also joined in with the fun and many Broadland High School students watched the event during their break.

A spokesman from the school said: ?We do have an annual athletics competition but usually schools compete against each other.

?Because of London 2012 we wanted to celebrate the Olympic values and the excitement of London 2012 so we mixed together.

?It was great to see children cheering each other on and also getting to know each other.?

Pupils also took part in an opening ceremony with an Olympic torch being passed around all the schools involved before the competition.

Source: http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/broadland_cluster_schools_enjoy_an_olympic_themed_sports_day_1_1438482

detroit red wings jose canseco zimmerman derek fisher lyrid meteor shower hippocrates andrew breitbart

Bike Frame Handle Makes Carrying Bikes Easier

Every had to lug your bicycle up a set of stairs or onto public transport? ?Bikes can be an awkward thing to move around. ?A new Kickstarter project, the Bike Frame Handle (aka “The Little Lifter”) is a simple yet elegant solution. ?Made of leather, the strap wraps around your frame and gives you an [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/07/10/bike-frame-handle-makes-carrying-bikes-easier/

apple cup jewelry stores sleep no more cyber monday deals war eagle war eagle pawn stars

Pen International ? Free the Word! Day at Poetry Parnassus

June 28 2012

Written by Chloe Wong

Yesterday?s Free the Word! Festival day at the Southbank Centre in partnership with English PEN and as part of the Poetry Parnassus was full of wonderful readings and spoken-word performances by poets from around the world. At the International Writers Breakfast we welcomed Zarganar, Burmese writer, comedian and poet ? a previous PEN International main case for the Writers in Prison Committee. Released from imprisonment in late 2010 as part of a mass amnesty of political prisoners, Zarganar spoke movingly about his experiences under arrest and the importance of freedom of expression and the role of the writer.

There were four panel sessions following the Writers Breakfast ? focusing on global conflict, exile and audience, minority languages and marginalized voices, and a robust discussion of questions of nationhood and poetry. Speakers during the day included Jack Mapanje from Malawi, David Shook from Mexico, Jo Shapcott from the UK, Sir Andrew Motion (Poet Laureate 1999 ? 2009) who spoke of the importance of poetry in speaking truth to power. Rafeef Ziadeh, a Palestinian performance poet and activist, Shailja Patel from Kenya, Syl Cheney Coker from Sierra Leone and Kosal Khiev from Cambodia were also among the participants.

English PEN set up two special zones at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre ? Freedom to write, where guests could take part in creative writing workshops, and Freedom to Read, where a range of PEN-related publications were on display ? including the recently launched The World Record, an anthology featuring the work of hundreds of poets participating in the Poetry Parnassus in translation.

The day was a wonderful celebration of writing, of poetry and of freedom of expression.

We?ll be featuring videos of all of the sessions online later this week.

Laura McVeigh, Director of PEN International

Creative writing workshop by Wendy Ann Greenhalgh

Zarganar receiving cartoon by Martin Rowson

Cartoon presented to Zarganar by Martin Rowson

Source: http://www.pen-international.org/06/2012/free-the-word-day-at-poetry-parnassus/

good friday f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams

Agriculture secretary presses House on farm bill

FILE - In this May 23, 2012 file photo, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks in Richmond, Va. Vilsack is pressing the Republican-led House to vote on a long-term farm policy bill. He says in an Associated Press interview that failure to act on the measure could leave livestock producers exposed to disasters and other farmers uncertain about the future. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

FILE - In this May 23, 2012 file photo, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks in Richmond, Va. Vilsack is pressing the Republican-led House to vote on a long-term farm policy bill. He says in an Associated Press interview that failure to act on the measure could leave livestock producers exposed to disasters and other farmers uncertain about the future. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday urged the Republican-led House to vote on a long-term farm policy bill, saying failure to act could leave livestock producers exposed to disasters and other farmers uncertain about the future.

Vilsack, in an interview with The Associated Press, dismissed apparent concerns among House GOP leaders that the half-trillion-dollar farm and food bill could lead to an election-year rebellion among conservatives. "If they put it up on the board, there would be enough votes," he said.

"It just needs to get done and there's no excuse for it not to be done," he said.

The former Iowa governor said he was particularly concerned about livestock producers now coping with fires in the West and drought in the Midwest. Federal livestock disaster programs ended last September and would not be renewed if the current farm bill, which expires Sept. 30, is extended because Congress is unable to pass a new bill.

The Senate last week voted 64-35 to pass a five-year bill. It ends direct payments to farmers regardless of whether they plant crops, sets up new crop support programs and reduces the federal deficit by $23 billion over the next 10 years.

Obstacles to passage are greater in the House, where conservatives are seeking deeper cuts in the federal food stamp program, which makes up about 80 percent of the nearly $100-billion-a-year spending under the legislation. The Senate bill targets $4 billion in savings from the expected $770 billion in food stamp costs over the next decade.

The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee told the AgriTalk radio show on Thursday that the House's farm bill, which has yet to be introduced, would probably look for $14 billion or $15 billion in food stamp savings. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., aid the entire bill would reduce spending by about $30 billion.

Lucas has scheduled a committee vote on a farm bill for July 11, and said that once the committee has acted, he will ask Republican leaders for floor time. "I don't care if it's 8:00 in the morning or if it's 3:00 in the afternoon, or if it's 10 minutes till midnight, just give me time."

GOP leaders have not ruled out action on a farm bill, but have indicated they want to devote much of the House's time to jobs and regulatory bills that draw a contrast with Obama administration policies, and with 2013 spending bills.

Vilsack said he was confident that Lucas and the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, were committed to getting a bill passed. "I want to strengthen their hand as they deal with House leadership," Vilsack said.

The secretary said that without a new farm bill in place, farmers would be unable to make decisions about future production, there would be a lack of clarity about trade promotion programs and uncertainty about conservation programs, He said the farm bill could become a part of expected yearend talks on how to handle expiring tax cuts and automatic cuts in defense and domestic programs, resulting in deeper reductions to farm programs. "I don't think that's in the best interest of rural America," he said.

The House bill, in addition to seeking greater savings, is expected to retain some aspect of price support programs, supported by Southern rice and peanut farmers, that are eliminated in the Senate bill. Lucas said he thought differences with the Senate version could be worked out quickly.

But he also said there might have to be a one-year extension even if a new bill is passed because of the time needed to phase in new programs. "I have carried for a year a draft copy of an extension in my pocket," he said in the radio interview. He said he hoped it wouldn't be needed but would be used "if an extension is in the best interests of the folks back home on the farm."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-06-29-Farm%20Bill/id-2058dd95407b4c379ceb0667702c829d

nick swisher jaco san jose sharks humber perfect game ufc 145 fight card ufc145 chimpanzee

Crytek: Past, present and the future - Part 1 | bettor.com

Crytek: Past, present and the future - Part 1

Crytek, the developer behind the original Far Cry and Crysis series, with their shiny new Cryengine 3 are developing some of the best looking games this generation.

Crytek landed on the scene with the release of the original Far Cry an action First person shooter on the PC in 2004. Far Cry was published by Ubisoft and got average reviews from the critics but still sold relatively well because of the game?s sandbox nature. The game showcased some of the best graphics of that time and Crytek suddenly became really popular with gamers because of their beautiful Cryengine. Ubisoft later ported the game with some additional content to the original Xbox and later to the Xbox 360 titled Far Cry: Instincts.

Crytek moved on from Far Cry and in 2007 brought out the smash hit Crysis in partnership with Electronic Arts (EA). Crysis is considered by many as being too graphically advance for its time, as many gamers couldn?t even run it smoothly on medium settings. But those who could enjoy it in its full glory found that it was leaps beyond anything else out there. Even now the five year old game is often considered for graphic card benchmarking in the PC gaming community.

The game was built on the resource hungry Cryengine 2 and had sandbox game-play with the option for the gamer to go anywhere on the map and the freedom to tackle missions as they saw fit. Players could opt for Stealth, run and gun or a mix it up as they go along.

The game did well in the market, selling over 3 million copies to date, which is pretty impressive since it?s a PC exclusive shooter. But it was also the most pirated game that year. Crytek estimated that almost 5 million users had downloaded that game off torrents during the first few months.

Crytek followed that up with an expansion pack called Crysis: Warhead in 2008 which continued the storyline in a brand new campaign mode and addressed many of the issues the fans had with the first game. Mainly optimization issues and some game-play tweaks. Some of the fans complained that even though Warhead was better optimized and performed better on their rigs, the trade off was in the graphics department since Crysis Warhead did not have the same level of texture detail as that of its predecessor.

In 2011 EA published the long awaited sequel Crysis 2 on PC and Consoles. The sequel was created with the newly developed Cryengine 3 which could support simultaneous cross platform development. Crysis 2 however got slammed hard by the supporters of the original game since EA was trying to create its own Halo and Call of Duty killer and in the process lost sight of what made Crysis so unique.

Fans complained that Crysis 2 was ?dumbed-down? for the console crowd which was true as Electronic Arts was trying to kill two birds (Halo and Call of Duty) with one stone. Crysis 2 went for the linear level design filled with quick time events (QTEs) approach as opposed to the sandbox which made the first game popular.

Continued in Part 2

DISCLAIMER: The views and the opinions expressed in this article are the writer?s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of bettor.com.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Crytek-Past,-present-and-the-future-Part-1-a166530

horsetail falls ice t downton abbey new york knicks president day lin j.r. smith

Spain formally asks for bank rescue

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

prime rib recipe norad santa tracker vince carter sweet potato casserole safeway standing rib roast its a wonderful life