Revisions for Indianas Controversial Religious Freedom Law
Gov. Pence now says the state should correct a perception problem with the law. Watch more ABC News coverage: http://www.abcnews.com Subscribe to WN on YouTube: ...
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Revisions for Indianas Controversial Religious Freedom Law - Video
Hannity: D #39;Souza On Indiana #39;s Religious Freedom Law
On March 31, Dinesh D #39;Souza joined Sean Hannity on the FOX News Channel for a discussion on Indiana #39;s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. D #39;Souza explains the hypocrisy of the left, calling...
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NCAA hoping for "fix" to religious freedom law
Emmert: Law is inconsistent with NCAA values WCPO - 9 On Your Side brings you the latest trusted news and information for the greater Cincinnati Tri-State area, including Northern Kentucky...
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"Public Interest Commitments" Amount to Illegitimate Usurpation of Bottom-Up Policy
Freedom of expression on the Internet is at risk from ICANN's recent decision to prohibit anyone but one specific type of doctor from using the word within the .doctor new gTLD space. Last month, ICANN's New GTLD Program Committee decided that only "medical practitioners" would be allowed to register a domain in the .doctor name space. ICANN's decision to exclude numerous lawful users of the word, including a broad range of individuals who are in fact doctors, comes at a time when the world is watching ICANN to see if it can adequately protect Internet users' rights in the absence of US Government supervision. If ICANN's treatment of free expression in the implementation of its new gTLD program is any indication, ICANN has not yet sufficiently developed to be trusted with protecting Internet users' rights in the domain name system.
Often overlooked is that ICANN's community sought to protect freedom of expression rights in the new gTLD program by including free expression principles and recommendations in the GNSO's final approved new gTLD policy. However, those protections were quietly violated in the staff's subsequent implementation of the GNSO's policy, which afforded no protection to Internet users' free expression rights.
Specifically, after the GNSO approved the community's policy for new gTLDs, ICANN staff added a new requirement to the policy, called "Public Interest Commitments" or "PICs", which are contractual terms ICANN imposed on new gTLD registries that add policy requirements and restrictions that were never approved by the community or subject to a bottom-up process. Some PICs actually violate the community's consensus policy on issues, most notably freedom of expression.
The new gTLD policy approved by the GNSO Council in 2007 and subsequently ICANN's board included Principle G: "The string evaluation process must not infringe the applicant's freedom of expression rights that are protected under internationally recognized principles of law."1
Additionally, Recommendation 3 of the GNSO's final new gTLD policy states:
"Strings must not infringe the existing legal rights of others that are recognized or enforceable under generally accepted and internationally recognized principles of law Examples of these legal rights include ... the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (in particular freedom of expression rights)."
Furthermore, Recommendation 6 of the GNSO's New GTLD Policy states:
"Strings must not be contrary to generally accepted legal norms relating to morality and public order that are recognized under international principles of law."
Recommendation 6 goes on to cite as examples of these legal norms, rights provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee freedom of expression in any media and regardless of frontiers.
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Freedom of Expression Chilled by ICANN's Addition of Speech Restrictions in DNS
Organizers of a mainline Protestantchurch gathering say they are planning to move their 2017 convention from Indianapolis due toa hotly contested newReligious Freedom Restoration Act.
Last week, leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which is based in Indianapolis, wrote Gov. Mike Pence (R) urginghim to veto the proposal. The Disciples of Christ oncesupporteda 22-year-old federal Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, though the specifics of Indianas law have become divisive.
Indianas new lawwould prohibit the government from substantially burdening a persons exercise of religion, unless it can demonstrate that the burden hasa compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling governmental interest. Supporters say Indianasmeasure supports religious libertywhile opponents fear it could open up grounds for people to decline services for same-sex weddings.
Church leaders say have agreedto movetheir 6,000-person General Assembly because of concerns that some members might experience legally sanctioned bias and rejection once so common on the basis of race.The move reflectsa larger push in the state and across the nation to use business to pressure state leaders on the issue.
The church has not yet decided on a new venue for the 2017 convention.
As a Christian church, we are particularly sensitive to the values of the One we follow one who sat at (the) table with people from all walks of life, and loved them all, theletterstates. Our church is diverse in point of view, but we share a value for an open Lords Table.
All eyes are on Indiana after Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed a controversial religious freedom bill into law. The Posts Sarah Pulliam Bailey explains what's in the law and why there's so much opposition to it. (Pamela Kirkland/The Washington Post)
On Tuesday, Pence urgedurged state lawmakers to pass legislation making it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to deny services to anyone.
The Disciples of Christ, whichhad about600,000 membersin 2009, has held its annual convention in Indianapolis three times since 1989, according to the Indianapolis Star. Todd Adams, the associate general minister and vice president of the denomination, told theStarhe expects up to 8,000 people to attend its convention in 2017, which could have an estimated economic impact on the city of about $5.9 million.
[Religious liberty or discrimination? Read the text of Indianas religious freedom law]
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Indiana will lose Disciples of Christ convention over religious freedom law
Hutchinson asked for changes to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bill the state legislature passed this week, responding to a nationwide backlash against a similar Indiana law that was threatening to whip through Arkansas.
Hutchinson had previously said he would sign the RFRA bill if it "reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states."
The Arkansas measure definitely fits the bill. But on Wednesday, Hutchinson said he wanted it to more closely mirror the federal RFRA, which is notably different from the Indiana law and doesn't face the same criticism that it could allow discrimination.
So who is this governor who appears to have narrowly escaped the still-brewing controversy?
Hutchinson only took over the governorship this year, but he's been a mainstay in Arkansas and national politics for nearly two decades.
READ: Arkansas governor sends religious freedom bill back to legislators
Hutchinson won a seat to the House of Representatives in 1996 after serving more than a decade as a successful U.S. attorney and lawyer in Arkansas.
His background as a federal prosecutor would rocket him into the spotlight just two years later, when he was tapped as one of the 13 managers effectively, prosecutors of President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial.
Hutchinson has since said he has no regrets despite initial reluctance to take the job because it wasn't good politics in Arkansas, where he took some flack for his leading role in prosecuting the state's former governor and the only Arkansan elected president.
Hutchinson even took heat from his opponent during last year's gubernatorial campaign over his role in the impeachment.
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Cyborg Roaches May Help In A Disaster
Source: http://www.cnn.com/videos/ March 31, 2015 - Scientists are strapping backpacks to cockroaches in hopes that they #39;ll one day help find survivors under collapsed buildings. CNN #39;s Thom...
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A new so-called cyberwood that continues to work even after its living components die could lead to technological advances in thermal night-vision cameras and temperature sensors.
This "zombie" cyborg wood is a hybrid material made of tobacco laced withteensy carbon tubes, and the whole contraption can act like a heat detector even after the plant cells have perished.
Currently, electronic thermometers and thermal night-vision cameras sense heat by using materials whose electrical conductivity changes as the temperature changes. The best heat-detecting materials available now change their electrical conductivity just by a few percent per degree temperature change.
In contrast, the new cyberwood that the scientists created is hundreds of times more responsive to changes in temperature than the best man-made materials currently used in heat detectors. Samples of cyberwood were sensitive enough to detect people from only their body heat from a distance of up to 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) away. [Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature]
Prior research had revealed that living plants are exceptionally sensitive to changes in temperature. Their sensitivity is based on the behavior of chemicals within the cell walls of the plants. However, this sensitivity fades after the cells die.
To create a material with the potential to be as temperature-sensitive as plants, scientists watered tobacco cells with a solution loaded with carbon nanotubes, hollow pipes just nanometers (billionths of a meter) in diameter. Although carbon nanotubes are only about the width of a strand of DNA, they are about 100 times stronger than steel and only one-sixth as heavy. Moreover, their conductive properties for both electricity and heat rival those of the best metal conductors.
The carbon nanotubes formed a complex network among the plant cells and partially infiltrated the plant cell walls. The resulting cyberwood has a microscopic structure that resembles that of natural wood, and mechanical properties similar to those of balsam fir, a kind of pine tree, the researchers said in the new study.
"We are not trying to engineer plants with nanotechnology we let plant cells do the nanoengineering," said study co-author Chiara Daraio, a materials scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. "Instead of trying to mimic properties found in biological systems, we allow biological systems to fabricate new materials for us, with properties not achievable before in man-made materials."
The carbon nanotubes served as permanent electrically conductive pathways that substituted for water after the cyberwood dehydrated, stabilizing its unique properties even after the plant cells died.
"It is possible to immortalize, in composite materials that combine biological and synthetic elements, properties that are common only in living plants," Daraio told Live Science. [Incredible Tech: How to Engineer Life in the Lab]
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Carlsbad State Beach, California. Grab the free parking at Historic Highway 101 and visit this lovely beach in Carlsbad, California. The town offers family events throughout the year.
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Crescent Beach, Rhode Island. Enjoy the mobile bike tour of of this lovely Block Island, Rhode Island, beach.
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Fort De Soto Park, Florida. North Beach at this stunning St. Petersburg beach park is ideal for young and new swimmers.
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Kings Beach, California. After a full day of swimming, enjoy the sunset and moonrise at this Lake Tahoe, California, beach.
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Manatee County Beach, Florida. A trolley stops at this beach, located on Holmes Beach, in the center of Anna Maria Island. There's a playground in addition to the expected family-friendly showers, parking and picnic facilities.
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Family Vacation Critic, TripAdvisor's family travel site, has announced the winners of its annual Best Beaches for Families list, naming the top family-friendly beaches of the year, along with fun, insider tips for each destination. Pictured here, Cape May, New Jersey.
Craig Terry/Cape May County Tourism
Lincoln City Beach, Lincoln City, Oregon. Insider Tip: "Search the sand for glass floats - they're part of a program called Finders Keepers, in which 'Float Fairies' disperse beautiful ornaments on the beach for vacationers to find and take home."
Lincoln City Visitor & Convention Bureau
Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, Virginia . Insider Tip: "Don't leave Virginia Beach without a photo in front of King Neptune, a 34-foot-tall statue of the mythological sea god. Families can also enjoy free concerts and live entertainment across the boardwalk in the summer. "
Virginia Beach CVB
Ogunquit Beach, Ogunquit, Maine. Insider Tip: "Use the Ogunquit Trolley to get to the beach and around town - fare is just $2.00 per adult and $1.50 per child (ages 10 and under)."
Audrey Gottlieb
Manatee County Beach , Holmes Beach, Florida. Insider Tip: "Reserve a Nesting Beach Tour at the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch to join federally permitted volunteers as they analyze nests and hatched (and unhatched) shells during turtle nesting season."
Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Follow us on Facebook and Twitter The Associated Press April 1, 2015
HATTERAS, N.C.
The beaches in front of the seven villages along Hatteras Island and along Ocracoke Island are closing to off-road vehicles for the season.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent David Hallac says the beaches are closing Wednesday to vehicles through Oct. 31. The areas remain open to pedestrians.
The closed areas include:
from one-tenth of a mile south of Rodanthe Pier to Ramp 23, including closure of the ramp.
from ramp 34 to ramp 38 in Avon, including closure of ramp 34.
from the east Frisco boundary to the west Frisco boundary.
from the east Hatteras boundary to ramp 55.
and from a half-mile northeast of ramp 68 on Ocracoke Island to ramp 68, including closure of the ramp.
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Partial Solar Eclipse - March 20, 2015 - KOSOVO
First Solar public outreach event in Kosovo "Astronomy Outreach of Kosovo" Kosovo Chapter of Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project (largest non-profit Astronomy outreach program in Kosovo)...
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MINECRAFT | Space Astronomy 1.0.9- Episode 4: A Brand New World
After some more technical difficulties, we go to a new base and finally get some progress done towards going to space! Instructions on downloading modpack can be found here: http://www.minecraftfo...
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MINECRAFT | Space Astronomy 1.0.9- Episode 4: A Brand New World - Video
NetworkedTTT
This is the game I have developed for the March 2015-BlackBerry Hackathon ( BlackBerryHackathon2015 ). It is a network-enabled TicTacToe. One can play against an opponent on a single phone,...
By: Mario Beaulieu
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Reggie #39;s Question: Claire Danes
Reggie Watts asks Claire Danes about the state of human civilization with the introduction of artificial intelligence. Subscribe To "The Late Late Show" Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/CordenYouTube...
By: The Late Late Show with James Corden
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From faux innovations, to fake artificial intelligence, to an Internet-ready Porta-Potty, here's a look at our favorite hoaxes throughout engineering history.
You'll probably be reading your fair share of fake headlines on April 1, but phony tech news - both for scams and humor - aren't anything new. The history of science and technology is rife with cons, false conclusions, and outrageous claims. From faux innovations, to fake artificial intelligence, to an Internet-ready Porta-Potty, here's a chronological look at our favorite hoaxes throughout engineering history.
Any favorite hoaxes that we missed? Drop us a line in the comments.
The Turk (1770)
Created by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen, the Great Chess Automation aka The Turk was arguably the first example of machine intelligence...too bad it was fake. The machine, a wooden figure made to look like a man in Turkish clothes, traveled around Europe in the 18th Century beating all comers at chess matches. This went on for nearly 70 years before the true secret of The Turk was revealed: a human chess master hidden inside. (Source: Hoaxes.org)
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M-OV Flight Profile, Mishaal Aerospace - 2015
THE M-OV ORBITAL VEHICLE Our M-OV is designed to deliver satellites up to 1100 lbs (500 kg) class to LEO (Low Earth Orbit). Length: 14.6 m (47.9 ft) Diameter: 1.2 m (48.0 in) Learn more...
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The Ball Aerospace air quality sensor being built for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) underSouth Korea'sNational Institute of Environmental Research in the Ministry of Environment has passed a major milestone toward its launch.
The Critical Design Review (CDR) was successfully completed for the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) in February. GEMS is a scanning ultraviolet-visible instrument designed to monitor trans-boundary pollution events for the Korean peninsula andAsia-Pacificregion. It will be the first air quality sensor in geostationary orbit.
"GEMS is an excellent example of how international collaboration can effectively improve quality of life," saidCary Ludtke, vice president and general manager of Ball's Operational Space business unit. "The successful completion of the CDR for this scientifically advanced instrument allows the program to move into the manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing phase with instrument completion expected in early 2017."
Ball engineers are working side by side with KARI engineers on the GEMS instrument in a recently completed cleanroom on Ball'sBouldercampus for GEMS assembly, integration and test activities.
The spectrometer provides high spatial and high temporal resolution measurements of ozone, its precursors and aerosols. Hourly measurements by GEMS will improve early warnings for potentially dangerous pollution events and monitor long-term climate change. GEMS is manifested on KARI's GEO-KOMPSAT-2B geostationary satellite.
The GEMS instrument is the Asian element of a global air quality monitoring constellation of geostationary satellites that includes the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) spectrometer. Ball is the TEMPO instrument provider for NASA Langley Research Center and Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory on the Earth Venture program.
For more than 30 years, Ball Aerospace has been a recognized industry leader in developing advanced instruments, including spectrometers. Ball provided the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and is building a similar instrument for the Joint Polar Satellite System. Historically, Ball was the primary supplier of spectrometers for theHubble Space Telescopeincluding the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph, Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Ball continues to invest and innovate in affordable, high resolution imaging systems, contributing to the needs of civil, military and commercial customers. For more information, visithttp://www.ballaerospace.com/.
Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2014 sales of$8.6 billion. For more information, visitwww.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
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Ball Aerospace GEMS Instrument Passes Critical Design Review
BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Israel, April 1 (UPI) -- Israel Aerospace Industries reports that an unidentified African military has ordered fast patrol boats for delivery in 2016.
The four boats are the Super Dvora Mk 3, which is used by the Israeli Navy. The boats are 90 feet long, have a speed of as much as 50 knots in littoral waters, and have a range of 700 nautical miles while traveling at a speed of 14 knots.
IAI said the boats will be built at its Ramta facilities.
"This powerful boat will be an important addition to our customer's maritime arsenal for securing its littoral waters", said Nitzan Shaked, IAI/Ramta's general manager.
"We are very proud that our boats are being operated on nearly all of the world's oceans, and that this, another African customer, has selected our proven design to address their significant maritime challenges."
IAI said it has supplied more than 100 patrol boats in various configurations to maritime customers around the world.
The value of the contract was not disclosed.
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Toulouse (France), March 2015 Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH has recently entered into an agreement with Estonian Air covering the overhaul of the landing gear systems of the airlines Embraer E170 aircraft.
Estonias national carrier Estonian Air, based in Tallinn, has selected Liebherr-Aerospace to overhaul the main and nose landing gear systems of their Embraer E-Jet E1 fleet.
The complete landing gear system, including the brake system, for the E-Jet family E170, E175, E190 and E195 was developed by Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, Lindenberg (Germany), which is Liebherrs center of competence for flight control and landing gear systems.
This contract signals further success for Liebherr-Aerospace, which is increasing its support activities in Europe. That Estonian Air has selected us to overhaul the landing gear systems of their E-Jet fleet underlines the fact that the quality standards we adhere to are recognized on the market. We are delighted with the confidence placed in us by Estonian Air, the biggest operator at Tallinn airport with a strong presence in the Baltic region, commented Sven Dicke, Director of Customer Services at Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH.
Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS, Toulouse (France), is one of eleven divisional control companies within the Liebherr Group and coordinates all activities in the aerospace and transportation systems sectors.
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Liebherr-Aerospace Signs Overhaul Agreement with Estonian Air