Freedom, Nazareth, Becahi winners in LVC Softball "Play Day" at Pates Park

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4:59 p.m. EDT, April 13, 2013

Freedom senior Emily Gundrum tossed a two-hitter and struck out 11 and freshman Alexis Szaro had the game-winning single in the top of the seventh as the Patriots edged Parkland 1-0 in the first game of three at Pates Park on Saturday, part of the Lehigh Valley Conference Service Electric Don Hunt Memorial "Play Day."

Sam Cabrera started the top of the seventh with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt, moved to third on a Carly Deichman single and scored on Szaro's hit throught the right side.

A walk and a hit batsman gave the Trojans a chance in the bottom of the seventh, but Rachel Smerdon's sacrifice bunt attempt was caught by Szaro at third base and turned into a double play.

Freedom improved to 8-1, while Parkland fell to 7-2. The game did not count in the LVC standings.

In another "Play Day" game, this one at Parkland, Liberty defeated Dieruff 13-2.

Both teams are 4-1 in league play.

Freedom 000 000 1 -- 1 6 0

Parkland 000 000 0 -- 0 2 0

Gundrum and Kline; Rentzheimer and Augustus.

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Freedom, Nazareth, Becahi winners in LVC Softball "Play Day" at Pates Park

Canada Committed to Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom

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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 14, 2013) - Protecting and promoting the rights of vulnerable groups is a priority for Canada. The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation, affirmed this priority and delivered remarks today at an event on religious freedom hosted by One Free World International, an international human rights organization.

"Canada is committed to protecting and promoting religious freedom and has made this an important part of our foreign policy and international development work," said Minister Fantino. "The reality is that excluded groups, including religious minorities, are often the most vulnerable in society."

Canada supports various international commissions and national institutions that protect and promote human rights, including the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Peru's Office of the Ombudsman, and the Organization of American States. Canada also works with governments and civil society organizations to protect and promote the human rights of the most vulnerable and support democratic development.

Through the efforts of the newly established Office of Religious Freedom, and Canada's network of missions abroad, Canada will continue to work with international partners to promote respect for human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief, as well as advance Canadian values of diversity and tolerance around the world.

"There is no right more fundamental to human dignity and to truly free and inclusive societies than freedom of religion. With the creation of the Office of Religious Freedom, the world is looking to Canada as a leader in the promotion of minority rights," said Rev. Majed El Shafie, President and Founder of One Free World International. "Events such as this one are critical to encourage both the Canadian government and the Canadian public not to 'look the other way' when a minority is denied the most basic human rights. When one minority community is persecuted, we are all diminished."

Freedom of religion is enshrined in a number of key international human rights instruments, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Economic Action Plan 2013 reaffirms Canada's commitment to international development assistance including support for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As announced in EAP2013, the Harper Government will enshrine the responsibilities of the Minister and the priority of international development and humanitarian assistance, for the first time ever, into law. The new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development will enhance coordination of international assistance with broader Canadian values and objectives.

For more information, please visit Canada's Office of Religious Freedom.

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Canada Committed to Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom

The cyborg next door

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In the 1970s, America thrilled to the adventures of Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man and Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman.

Well, thrilled might be overstating the case, but both shows Bionic Woman was a spin-off of Six Million Dollar Man had successful if brief runs on network television. As well, they and their precursor novel, Cyborg by Martin Caidin, introduced the popular culture to mechanically augmented humans.

Perhaps the most famous bionic person in the world today is sprinter and alleged murderer Oscar Pistorius, an amputee who made history by competing in the 2012 Olympic Games. Pistorius legs were amputated below the knees when he was an infant to address a congenital condition. He runs on carbon-fiber prostheses that have earned him the nickname Blade Runner.

There are many more people who have benefited from bionics, not least the thousands of war wounded the United States has produced over the last decade-plus. Strides in cybernetics eventually will allow amputees greater motor control over prostheses than theyve had in the past. An artificial hand may mimic a natural one, not because someone pressed a button to run a predetermined program, but because it is neurally linked to its user, who is willing it to do so.

Which brings us to fashion. How long will it be before elective cybernetic surgery is available?

There are few limits on what people are willing to do to modify their bodies, and Id wager there are more than a couple who would give up their perfectly functional legs to have them replaced with stronger prostheses. Among the early adopters, expect to see a crossover with people who are into plastic surgery and extreme piercing, tattooing and branding.

Also expect some wringing of hands over the moral correctness of such procedures. Theres an entire strain of science fiction dedicated to examining what it means to be human, as well as the potential conflicts between haves and have-nots, in a world of augmented beings.

University of Toronto professor Steve Mann has had a taste of this possible future. Mann last year claimed he was ejected from a McDonalds restaurant in Paris because the employees there were upset about the augmented-reality glasses he has permanently attached to his head. The glasses are capable of shooting photos and video, and the employees were allegedly angry that he might be recording the goings-on at the restaurant.

Mann contends that he was assaulted, while McDonalds, following an internal investigation, says its employees were not at fault. Media outlets described the incident as the first cybernetic hate crime. Since then, Google has announced a device similar to Manns EyeTap called Google Glass, which several establishments, including a Seattle bar and a Las Vegas strip club, have preemptively banned.

The end game here is cybernetic implants that arent obvious to the casual observer, whether they be contact lenses or entirely new eyeballs. The question is whether one will be able to afford the high-quality eyeballs or the less desirable, ad-supported eyeballs.

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The cyborg next door

Leaving the Night Clubs of NYC for the Beaches of Tulum | EX-PATS Ep. 9 Full | Reserve Channel – Video

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Leaving the Night Clubs of NYC for the Beaches of Tulum | EX-PATS Ep. 9 Full | Reserve Channel
Night club designer David Graziano left New York City for the beaches of Tulum, Mexico. Join Savannah as she discovers the luxurious Ahau Hotel that he is bu...

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Leaving the Night Clubs of NYC for the Beaches of Tulum | EX-PATS Ep. 9 Full | Reserve Channel - Video

You can't buy rights to name exoplanet, says astronomy group

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IAU/L. Calada

The diversity of exoplanets is large more than 800 planets outside the Solar System have been found to date, with thousands more waiting to be confirmed.

By Megan Gannon, SPACE.com

There may not be an alien planet named Heinlein any time soon if the International Astronomical Union (IAU) gets its way. The astronomy group issued a reminder April 12 that it is the only body authorized to give exoplanets their official names, despite recent naming initiatives by companies like Uwingu.

In the statement, IAUofficials said that planet-naming schemes have "no bearing on the official naming process," and stressed the importance of having a unified procedure, even though its members welcome the public's interest. The IAU did not mention the space science funding company Uwingu (whose name means "sky" in Swahili)by name, referring only to a "recent name-selling campaign." But the young Uwingu did launch an initiative last month calling on the public to name the nearest Alpha Centauri Bb anexoplanet4.3 light-years from Earth as part of a fundraising campaign.

Projects like Uwingu'sBaby Planet Name Bookseek to at least informally replace official planet names like HD 85512b or Gliese 667Cc with more playful nicknames. The initiative by Uwingu a company that aims to raise money for space research, exploration and education lets you add a nomination to the planet name registry for 99 cents. [Strangest Alien Planets (Photos)]

And for another 99 cents, you can vote for your favorite name on the list. In March, Uwingu started an offshoot contest, which runs through April 15, toname Alpha Centauri Bb, the newfound Earth-sized planet in the star system closest to our own.The company will use the money raised by the project to support research efforts like SETI's (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Allen Telescope Array in California, as well as space launches and science outreach.

Uwingu CEO Alan Stern, a planetary scientist who also leads NASA's New Horizons spacecraft's mission to Pluto, said the IAU's claim to naming rights in space is a self-proclaimed one, and likened Uwingu's effort to a People's Choice endeavour.

"The IAU can't prohibit what it does not control. People's Choice naming contests and the colloquial naming of objects in space are unrelated to the IAU's purview of specifying nomenclature for astronomers," Stern told SPACE.com in an email. "The IAU no more owns the right to control the naming of objects in space for popular purposes than does a county that controls street naming have the right to deny people in the county who the right to adopt a mile of highway in someone's honor."

In the Uwingu campaign, the names Ron Paul, Heinlein, Sagan, Asimov and Pele are currently among some of the more popular monikers that have been proposed so far. Official exoplanet names, often made up of a string of letters and numbers, may look dull and unmemorable in comparison, but IAU officials defended their process.

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You can't buy rights to name exoplanet, says astronomy group