Monthly Archives: September 2013

Van Morrison gets freedom of Belfast

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16 September 2013 Last updated at 14:08 ET

World-famous singer Van Morrison has been awarded the freedom of Belfast.

The move was unanimously agreed after a special meeting of Belfast City Council on Monday.

A motion by the DUP's Gavin Robinson recognised the extraordinary contribution the 68-year-old singer, known affectionately to fans as "Van the Man", has made to the city.

He is the first recipient of the honour since Dame Mary Peters.

Other recipients since 1898 include Sir Edward Carson.

It is not yet known how the honour will be marked, but the council may stage a concert rather than a formal ceremony.

Mr Morrison was brought up in east Belfast.

He has taken inspiration from streets in his home city for a number of songs, including Cyprus Avenue and Hyndford Street.

His career began in the 1950s and he has enjoyed critical acclaim, winning six Grammy Awards, a Brit Award for outstanding contribution to music, and places in both the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

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Van Morrison gets freedom of Belfast

Humanity United, Federal Government and Global Foundations Launch Partnership for Freedom

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Humanity United, a foundation dedicated to building peace and advancing human freedom, joined the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative and Steven Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation today in announcing the official start of the Partnership for Freedom's first innovation challengeReimagine: Opportunity.

The Partnership for Freedom is a public-private partnership that aims to confront some of the deepest difficulties facing survivors of modern-day slavery in the United States.

Tens of thousands of people in the United States currently live in modern-day slavery. While efforts to combat this crime continue, care and support for trafficking survivors remain serious problems. Survivors face a plethora of obstacles as they enter a system that is not fully equipped to help them recover.

"The magnitude and scope of the problem is too large for the government alone to arrest all the perpetrators, rescue all the victims and restore all the survivors," said George Sheldon, HHS acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families. "Together, in partnerships like this one, we can begin to turn the tables on those who subject their victims to the greatest degradations known to mankind."

Through a series of three innovation challenges, the Partnership for Freedom encourages organizations and communities from across the country to submit new ideas to improve and increase services for human trafficking survivors. This public-private partnership was first announced by President Obama during his landmark speech on human trafficking in September 2012.

"I am so excited to be part of the Partnership for Freedom," said Joye E. Frost, director of the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice. "With Humanity United and our federal partners, we have joined the Partnership for Freedom to cultivate these new ideas and innovative practices."

The first challenge in the series, Reimagine: Opportunity, looks for innovative and sustainable ways to address three critical issues faced by human trafficking survivors:

"The goal of the Partnership for Freedom is to inspire communities to work together to address some of the key challenges facing survivors of modern-day slavery," said Randy Newcomb, president and CEO of Humanity United. "We want to see new actors, new skills, new data, new ideas and new energy enter the anti-trafficking conversation. "

Initial applications for Reimagine: Opportunity will be accepted until Nov. 17. Up to 25 finalists will be invited to attend an Innovation Workshop in Washington, D.C. to further develop their ideas. Final winners will begin piloting their solutions in Spring 2014.

The remaining two challenges will be announced in 2014 and 2015.

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Humanity United, Federal Government and Global Foundations Launch Partnership for Freedom

Freedom enjoying a hot start; Forest Park shows improvement

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Freedoms Marcus Hill first noticed the trend on his Samsung Galaxy smartphone. All week, the senior defensive tackle had heard Eagles defensive coordinator Endor Cooper harping about the Battlefield offensive lines tendency to lean on running plays to jump out at defenders.

But now thanks to his phones free Hudl app he was seeing it on film for himself.

Armed with the key piece of knowledge, Hill and fellow defender Kyree Campbell entered Saturdays game against the Bobcats with a measured plan of attack and a finesse move called a snatch.

You let them [linemen] blow past you, and you can essentially attack the quarterback or the ballcarrier, Hill said.

Hill had all the right moves. He sacked Bobcats quarterback Matt Gallagher three times, and the Eagles held the Bobcats (1-2) to just 98 yards of offense in Freedoms 21-10 win.

According to Freedom Coach Gary Wortham, Hill the only returning starter on the Eagles offensive line used the past few seasons to glean anything and everything about his position from graduated standouts Gary Wortham Jr. and Mykell Anderson.

He [Hill] was a young guy playing behind those guys, and he kinda looked up to those guys in terms of the position and trying to learn it, Wortham said. Now, hes taken over at the helm of our D-line corps.

At 3-0, Freedom sits at the top of the Cardinal District standings. Its a far cry from recent seasons, when Eagles players tended to approach Fridays with a defeatist, yet resilient attitude.

There were some times in the past where we kinda looked at it as yeah, were going to lose, Hill said. But even though we thought we were going to lose, we always played for pride.

No. 18 Bruins pulled together at summer camp

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Freedom enjoying a hot start; Forest Park shows improvement

Cristiane 'Cyborg' Justino gets new opponent for Friday's Lion Fight 11

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Invicta FC featherweight champion Cristiane Justino has a new opponent for her muay Thai fight at Friday's Lion Fight 11 event.

Renowned kickboxing champion Martina Jindrov is injured, and undefeated Jennifer Colomb has stepped in as a replacement and will fight "Cyborg," officials confirmed with MMAjunkie.com.

The event takes place at Third Street at the Stage Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, and the main card airs on AXS TV.

"Martina Jindrova had to pull out on short notice due to injury, and fortunately we were able to sign Jennifer Colomb and get her to Las Vegas to take on Cyborg," Lion Fight CEO Scott Kent stated. "We wish Martina well and hope she recovers quickly. We also thank Team Colomb for working with Lion Fight to give our fans this incredible fight Friday night between two female muay Thai champions."

Colomb, who hails from France, is 10-0 with 10 knockouts. Jindrov sported a 17-5 record.

Justino, a former Strikeforce champion who's 12-1 in MMA, won Invicta's inaugural 145-pound title in July when she stopped Marloes Coenen in the fourth round. Although she hopes to get in a title defense before year's end, the Brazilian has stayed busy with jiu-jitsu competitions, and now she's added a muay Thai bout to her to-do list.

"I am disappointed that Martina got injured and had to withdraw, but I have trained very hard and am grateful that Jennifer Colomb has stepped up," Justino stated. "Nothing changes. I am ready and will bring it to Colomb on Friday night."

"Cyborg" has not lost an MMA fight since her pro debut in 2005. Since then, 10 of her 12 wins have been by knockout or TKO. She also won her lone pro kickboxing match by knockout in 2006.

(Pictured: Cristiane Justino)

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Cristiane 'Cyborg' Justino gets new opponent for Friday's Lion Fight 11

Volunteer lifesavers take to Straddie beaches

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Sept. 16, 2013, 2 p.m.

NORTH Stradbroke Island's beaches will be decked out in red and yellow this weekend as surf patrols resume.

The first Saturday of the spring holidays marks the start of the patrol season, with Point Lookout Surf Lifesaving Club volunteers to watch the beaches every weekend and public holiday until the May Day long weekend.

The patrol teams will consist of volunteers with a variety of experience, from 14-year-old first timers to veterans in their 50s.

Club captain Joel Di Trapani said patrol leaders had gone through extra training ahead of this year's season.

"There's been a lot of leadership training and extra procedures that everyone's gone through in preparation," he said.

Main and Cylinder beaches will be patrolled from 8am to 5pm on weekends, but the times will be extended over the summer holiday period.

Mr Di Trapani advised anyone travelling over to the beaches to swim between the red and yellow flags.

"Read the conditions board to see what things are like out there each day and come and say hello to the lifesavers on duty; they're usually happy to have a chat," he said.

The club is also on the lookout for more volunteers to help out over summer.

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Volunteer lifesavers take to Straddie beaches

Scarborough in a bind on dogs, beaches

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Yesterday at 1:25 AM Canine owners want access, U.S. officials want plovers protected, and project funding is at risk.

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com Staff Writer

SCARBOROUGH - A threatened bird species, a federal fine and an eroded beach will all be at issue when the Scarborough Town Council meets Wednesday.

click image to enlarge

A sign on Pine Point Beach in Scarborough alerts visitors that it is a plover habitat.

Press Herald file photo/Carl D. Walsh

The council might decide whether to continue allowing residents' dogs to romp freely in the sand on summer mornings -- the town has 2,300 canines -- or to better protect the small number of piping plovers that inhabit local beaches during those months. An unleashed dog killed one of the birds on a Scarborough beach this summer.

Along with the lives of the plovers, a project to restore an eroded Scarborough beach would be on the line if the council chooses not to ban unleashed dogs from its beaches during the birds' nesting season. A $12,000 fine also could be imposed by the federal government.

The debate about dogs on beaches is not new to southern Maine coastal communities.

On the side of canine rights are dog owners -- large and vocal groups that have proven in other coastal towns that they have political clout. Many of them say the unfortunate death of one bird isn't reason enough for all of their dogs to lose the opportunity to swim and socialize in the summer.

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Scarborough in a bind on dogs, beaches

Trio triumphs at global astronomy Olympiad, romps home with gold

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Nagendra Shetty (from left), Bhavya Choudhury and Charles Rajan were selected from over 2,500 students to represent the country.

Early on Sunday morning, before the flight carrying three young Indian students was to touch down at Mumbai airport, a voice boomed over the announcing system mid-air and all passengers on board gave a loud round of applause to cheer the three bright students who romped home victorious with gold medals at the International Astronomy Olympiad.

The announcement was about our achievement at the competition. Hearing all the passengers applaud in our honour, it felt very special, said Nagendra Reddy, one of the three students.

In Indias best performance at the Astronomy Olympiad over the past 15 years, all participants won gold medals for their performance. The 18th edition of the Olympiad was held at Vilnius, the Republic of Lithuania, between September 6 and 14.

The Olympiad for high school students emphasises the role of astronomy and scientific knowledge in educational process. It tested 20 teams from 18 countries in three exams on theory, observation and practical.

This is the best performance by any participating country, according to the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, which coordinated the event for India. Team India had three students and all of them won gold medals. No other country has been able to achieve 100 per cent results in the past, said director of Nehru Science Centre, Shivaprasad Khened.

Bhavya Choudhury from Dayanand Anglo Vedic Public School, Kota, Charles Rajan from Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, and Nagendra Reddy from Narayana Olympiad School, Hyderabad, had been selected to represent India from over 2,500 students.

During the camp, I developed real interest in astronomy as I got to read plenty of books on the subject, said class 11 student, Bhavya Choudhury who plans to launch a career in astronomy.

Academicians are delighted at the achievement but say the true success would be if the event inspires students to take up the science seriously. Seeing these kids achieve on an international platform will inspire others to take interest in astronomy, said Saket Singh Kaurav, one of the two leaders from Team India.

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Trio triumphs at global astronomy Olympiad, romps home with gold

Playing Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker using Human Level Artificial Intelligence – Video

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Playing Michael Jackson #39;s Moonwalker using Human Level Artificial Intelligence
This video shows a robot playing Moonwalker. There are no sound in the video because I wanted to show the viewers what the robot is thinking while playing the game. The flashing text and...

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Playing Michael Jackson's Moonwalker using Human Level Artificial Intelligence - Video

Essentials of Robotic Artificial Intelligence with LabVIEW and Lego NXT – Video

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Essentials of Robotic Artificial Intelligence with LabVIEW and Lego NXT
Goes over essential principles and terminology in robotic AI, Logic flow diagrams, and touch and ultrasonic sensor programing in LabVEIW. By Andrew M. and Da...

By: Andrew Meinke

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Essentials of Robotic Artificial Intelligence with LabVIEW and Lego NXT - Video