An affectionate tribute to Roger Ebert's more negative reviews | The ...

By Earl Yazel
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 7:52 EDT

?

Having just seen The Vampire Starfighter in IGOG 3D, the most recent and desperate attempt at directorial survival by Queequeg L. M. K-I-S-S-I-N-G Shamarintino-Nolan? I hardly know what to write about it. This gem came in at a whopping three and half billion ? that?s with a ?b? ? dollars. For the very first time I?m almost at a loss for words as regards what a repugnant experience seeing a film, this film, truly was.

Calling this movie bad is an insult to movies. In fact, it?s an insult to badness. In fact, it?s an insult to the very seats in the screening room where I saw this garbage heap. I feel badly for insulting you by asking you to read this deliberately insulting review of an insult to the art of film-making. Meaning this terrible movie! I?m truly sorry!

I hate this movie. I hated, hated, hated, hated it. Hated, hate, hate-y, hated, hate, hate-y, hate-y, hated this film. They say that only haters hate, and that haters are always going to hate. Then sign me up as a hater ? of this very film. And I?m always going to hate it, too.

I cannot recommend it.

As I was watching The Vampire Starfighter in utter disbelief of the sheer, utter and foul awfulness of what I was witnessing on the movie screen, I found myself longing to have the projectionist rewind the entire thing, playing the experience backwards not only until those now-treasured moments before the time of the presentation?s start but, also, before I had proceeded into the venue door, before I had been sent a press packet promoting this movie, prior to the period in time before the thing was produced, written, or conceived in some sickness-filled mind?

?and before that ???back, back, magically transporting us all back to those? terrifying-yet-promising eons at the dawn of mankind?s ability to develop what we would later call ?narrative skills?: ?before the Ages of Bronze and Iron, prior to our having developed the powers even of notation or speech, before we had descended lemur-like from the prehistoric vegetation. Those were difficult years for our species? very survival. Wow, how I really?disliked this movie.

If someone you know or, worse, happen to love, insists on your attending The Vampire Starfighter with them, here?s what I?d recommend with all gravity ?this will take some doing, but, trust me, it?s going to be well worth it if you have no prior criminal arrest record of any real consequence:

Buy yourself five to ten bottles, or an entire case if need be, of the very cheapest damned whiskey that?s available to you for purchase ? buy it cheap, indeed, so that, in case the babysitter cancels, or some other Act of a Merciful God transpires, then you won?t be out much money for having made this noble effort. Prior to leaving your home, before going out to the show, remove all of your clothing (women may not have to go quite that far, perhaps, in the successful execution of this scheme, and only stripping to your undergarments will be essential. We don?t want to take this thing too far). Okay, that?s Step One.

Now, then: Step Two of my most-urged plan is this? begin consuming the cheap liquor you?ve bought on my recommendation just as fast as you physically can, as much as you can humanly hold, until you?re practically blind with intoxication. Then, minding the traffic in your town or city as much as possible, leave your abode on foot, and proceed walking down the sidewalk. Have previously written on an office index card, in case you cannot easily remember them in your now fully-inebriated state, these?phrases:

?The police are bastards! The police are a lot of dumbass and steroidal bastards! My eye sockets! The deadly wasps! My eye sockets!?

Remember to yell the above-counseled as loudly and as often as you can. The more you yell it, the more someone is likely to become alarmed.? It should not be too long by the clock, in your nude and poisoned state, for the authorities to be alerted, and for you to be locked up in your municipal ?drunk tank? ? ? or, should a Wise Providence and good fortune provide for it, a local psychiatric institution, and up to maybe a week. And that, my friend, should be just long enough (at the least a week or two if you can also remember to verbally and personally insult your local night jurist) to get you off of the streets and entirely unable to attend The Vampire Starfighter. It can?t possibly be showing anywhere for longer than that crucial one to two week period, it just can?t.

Then, it will be up to you, of course, to use your technical savvy to block this title when it begins showing right away on your local cable television.

The Vampire Starfigher was so bad I shudder to even call where I saw it a ?room? let alone a ?screening room?! More like a ?trash-inema? if such a thing exists. Yeah, in fact, that?s a name I?ve now just invented because of this awful movie. ?Trash-inema!? You figure it out. In all, I say Thumbs Down.

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/09/an-affectionate-tribute-to-roger-eberts-more-negative-reviews/

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Disaster Recovery Planning - Create an IT High Availability DR Plan ...

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Source: http://www.rackspace.com/disaster-recovery-planning/

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How to figure out what triggers a migraine headache

Do you suffer from migraine headaches but have had a hard time figuring out when one will strike? If so, you may want to stop trying. Researchers suggest it is nearly impossible to figure out when a headache will strike because most people lack enough information to pinpoint migraine triggers. Instead, try a formal experiment with your doctor.

Timothy T. Houle, Ph.D, associate professor of anesthesia and neurology at Wake Forest Baptist explained in a press release that trying on your own to figure out what causes a migraine is a ?flawed approach? because there are simply too many variables to consider.

According to the researcher, ??daily fluctuations of variables ? such as weather, diet, hormone levels, sleep, physical activity and stress ? appear to be enough to prevent the perfect conditions necessary for determining triggers.?

He says perfect conditions might only occur every 2 years. An example he gives is drinking wine for several days. Houle says if you?re trying to figure out if you will get a headache, just eating cheese with your wine might skew the results entirely.

In an effort to help people with migraine headaches understand how to find out what causes their headaches, Houle and co-author Dana P. Turner, M.S.P.H., also of the Wake Forest Baptist anesthesiology department determined it takes advanced statistical analysis techniques.

For their analysis, 9 women with migraine were asked to track their daily stress levels and food intake, in addition to submitting a morning urine specimen for 3 months to test hormone levels. The researchers also reviewed local weather for 3-years.

Houle said most people don?t have enough information to figure out the cause of their migraine headaches on their own. He suggests patients work with their doctor to develop a formal plan for testing.

The goal of the research is to help migraine sufferers predict their pain so they will know when to take medication that can put their live's on hold. In some instances medication can make pain worse, Houle says.

The research suggests it takes formal experiments to uncover what triggers migraine headaches and that it is nearly impossible for patients to predict when a headache will strike on their own.

Citation:
Dana P. Turner, Todd A. Smitherman, Vincent T. Martin, Donald B. Penzien, Timothy T. Houle. Causality and Headache Triggers. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 2013; 53 (4): 628 DOI: 10.1111/head.12076

Image credit: Morguefile

Source: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/how-figure-out-what-triggers-migraine-headache

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Arkansas Senate passes unemployment drug testing bill

By Suzi Parker

LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - The Republican-led Arkansas state Senate approved a measure on Monday that would require random drug testing of Arkansas residents who receive state unemployment benefits - a plan that the state's Democratic governor said could violate federal law.

The bill, which passed on a 25-5 vote and now goes to a House committee, could affect about 85,000 Arkansas residents currently receiving unemployment benefits.

If the measure becomes law, those seeking unemployment benefits would have to sign a waiver and allow for random drug testing. Those who refuse to sign or who test positive for drugs would not be entitled to benefits.

Some other states have adopted measures making a person discharged from work for failing an employer's drug test on the job ineligible to collect employment benefits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has a proposal in that state's legislature that would require drug tests for both unemployment and welfare recipients. But it has not yet passed a chamber.

The Arkansas bill's sponsor, Republican state Senator Jeremy Hutchinson, said that his measure was "more of an enforcement mechanism than anything else."

"Arkansas law states that you have to be adequately seeking employment, and by that you have to pass a drug test since so many employers require drug tests," Hutchinson said.

He said that 80 percent of the state's employers require a drug test. The unemployment testing, Hutchinson said, would cost the state less than $30,000 a year to administer.

Rita Sklar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, said the group plans to fight the measure if it becomes law. Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, also has issues with the bill.

"We have concerns about whether the bill will put us in violation of the federal unemployment laws administered by the U.S. Department of Labor," said Matt DeCample, Beebe's spokesman. "There are also continued concerns as to whether the cost of implementing such a program would produce any real savings in offset."

(Reporting by Suzi Parker; Editing by Mary Wisniewski, Cynthia Johnston and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-senate-passes-unemployment-drug-testing-bill-011921110.html

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India use drones to protect rhinos from poachers

GAUHATI, India (AP) ? Wildlife authorities are using aerial drones to oversee a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.

Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park on Monday and will fly drones at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park in the remote Indian state of Assam.

The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.

"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.

The drones will also be useful during the annual monsoon season when large areas in the Kaziranga reserve are flooded by the mighty Brahmaputra River and three other rivers that flow through the game park, park officials said.

Hussain said the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, will soon begin investigations into the steep rise in rhino poaching this year.

Poachers armed with automatic rifles killed 22 rhinos last year, but have killed 16 rhinos already this year.

Rhino horn is in great demand in China and Southeast Asia where it is believed to have medicinal properties.

A rhino census conducted in Kaziranga reserve two weeks ago put their number at 2,329, up from 2,290 in 2012.

In recent weeks, wildlife authorities in Assam have deployed 300 armed guards to protect the rhinos in Kaziranga but they have been no match for organized gangs of poachers who have been managing to strike at the rhinos with increasing regularity.

"What worries us is the use of automatic weapons like Kalashnikovs by the poachers," said Assam police chief Jayanta Narayan Choudhury.

Also on Yahoo! News:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-drones-protect-rhinos-poachers-033350543.html

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Google Glass: Strip Clubs, Movie Theaters, Casinos to Ban Futuristic Eyewear

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/google-glass-strip-clubs-movie-theaters-casinos-to-ban-futuristi/

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Organic semi-conductors could revolutionize electronics

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Organic semi-conductors could revolutionise electronics in various areas. Nowadays, components put out such high performances that they are used in small devices like mobile phones. With larger devices, however, the organic components heat up in such an uncontrollable manner that they break down or conduct electricity in an irregular way. Physicists of the TU Dresden (Dresden University of Technology) and mathematicians of the WIAS have collaborated to analyse the typical feedback effects and they describe them for organic semi-conductors in the Physical Review Letters.

When mobile phone displays continued to become larger, at first you had to look directly at the front of the device in order to be able to see anything -- normal LEDs only emitted light in one direction. A modern Smartphone using a display with organic LEDs does not have that problem. Light is emitted in all directions, and everything can be seen even from a diagonal point of view. There are now even large-scale organic LEDs, allowing for entirely new forms of room lighting. But when the flow of electricity becomes too strong, sudden non-homogeneities appear in the intensity of light, the surface appears spotty. Another field of application is solar energy: With organic solar cells, foils can be produced that generate small amounts of electricity, e.g. to take with you as "energy to go."

In terms of organic components, the long-known Arrhenius law applies: Electric conductivity increases more strongly the higher the temperature gets, so the electricity going through the components increases as well, heating up the material. Thus a feedback loop is created, in which the components continue to be heated up even further -- experiments usually end with the component being blown. So far, these effects have only been known with non-organic semi-conductors. Components that react so strongly to temperatures that feedback can result are called thermistors. Thermistors are used especially in performance electronics. Today, organic semi-conductors can also reach self-heating levels.

The principle has actually been known for quite some time, but nobody ever noticed that is also applies to organic electronics. Dr Thomas Koprucki of the WIAS explains: "We noticed that organic semi-conductors should after all be predestined for electro-thermal feedback effects. Nobody saw this before. We were able to point our colleagues in Dresden in the right direction as to what to focus on for the measurements."

The experiments had already shown that the currents increase enormously during the self-heating process. But if the calculations were correct, there had to be a point at which the voltage would decrease despite the energy increase -- completely against all intuition. That would mean that there are two entirely different, stable levels of energy that overlap in a very small voltage area -- where they can tip over from one level to the other. Sent on the right track by these model predictions, the physicists at the TU Dresden were able to adapt their experiments in a way that they could actually measure that exact effect for organic semi-conductors.

In this case, the processes in the component were measured for the carbon compound C60 between two points. In order to detect the effect in its entirety, they had to not only show a decrease in the voltage, but also the switch between the two stable levels of energy strength. Based on the model calculation it was clear from the start that non-destructive proof could only be obtained if the component were cooled and protected by a pre-resistance. This allowed the physicists to actually record the bi-stability of the component. With the two switching voltages, the strength of the electric current switched by a factor of 10.

Axel Fischer from the Institute for Applied Photophysics (IAPP) at the TU Dresden explains: "We used the carbon compound C60 for our measurements because it is very stable in its temperature. Therefore we can see the Arrhenius law in its purest form. Aside from that, C60 layers can have strong currents even with low voltages so the typical thermistor effects can be proven in a rather simple way."

Using that broader understanding of self-heating in organic semi-conductors, researchers can now further develop organic components in a way that they can reduce the disruptive effects, e.g. by way of a geometric construction of the heat deflection and the electronic contacts. That way there can be large-surface illumination foils in the future that will be able to emit light in a very smooth and steady manner.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB), via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. A. Fischer, P. Pahner, B. L?ssem, K. Leo, R. Scholz, T. Koprucki, K. G?rtner, A. Glitzky. Self-Heating, Bistability, and Thermal Switching in Organic Semiconductors. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (12) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.126601

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electronics/~3/_eL8wyNWZeg/130408084853.htm

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Screening blood samples for cancer-driving mutations more comprehensive than analyzing traditional tumor biopsy

Apr. 6, 2013 ? Researchers using a tool called BEAMing technology, which can detect cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples, were able to identify oncogenic mutations associated with distinct responses to therapies used to treat patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to a researcher who presented the data at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington D.C., April 6-10.

Data from a subanalysis of the phase III GIST-Regorafenib In Progressive Disease (GRID) trial indicated that this blood-based screening technology may provide physicians with a real-time, comprehensive picture of a patient's tumor mutations, according to George D. Demetri, M.D., director of the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

"Our results show that it is possible to sum the total of all of the heterogeneity in a cancer and get a clear picture of the entire tumor burden, using a simple blood sample," Demetri said.

In this era of targeted cancer therapies, the goal is to focus cancer treatments on a specific molecular target. However, as researchers discover more about cancers and their heterogeneity, they are finding many patients have anywhere from one to dozens of different mutations in their tumors.

"It is a real issue that when you do a biopsy on one tumor, and then biopsy a different tumor in that same patient a few inches away or on the other side of the body, you may get a different answer when you do the molecular analysis," Demetri said. "With this blood test, you get a robust summary statement about all the different mutations present across the different tumors in the body. I believe this testing technology has promise to become a standard part of care in the next five to 10 years."

Data from the main analysis of the phase III GRID study showed that the molecularly targeted drug regorafenib significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo for patients with GIST. The researchers hope these results will ultimately lead to the drug's approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Demetri. The drug is intended to treat patients with advanced GIST whose disease has failed to be controlled by the only two other FDA-approved therapies for GIST, imatinib and sunitinib (Sutent).

Demetri and colleagues conducted an exploratory analysis on patients in the GRID study to assess GIST genotypes. They isolated DNA from archival tumor tissue, which was then analyzed for mutations in two genes, KIT and PDGFRA, which generate the cancer-driving proteins that are the targets of imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib. The researchers believed that primary mutations would be detectable using traditional analysis, but that those mutations that developed after treatment with imatinib and sunitinib would not be detectable. They then took blood samples drawn at study entry after failure of both imatinib and sunitinib, and analyzed them for mutations via BEAMing technology.

Mutations in the KIT gene were detected in 60 percent of the blood samples compared with 65 percent of the tumor tissue samples. However, when focusing their analysis on secondary KIT mutations, which are the mutations that drive resistance to targeted therapies like imatinib and sunitinib, the researchers found mutations in 48 percent of blood samples compared with only 12 percent of tissue samples. In addition, nearly half of blood samples in which secondary KIT mutations were found harbored multiple secondary mutations.

Importantly, regorafenib was clinically active compared with placebo in patients with secondary KIT mutations.

According to Demetri, the results show a clear association between the presence of different cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples and clinical outcomes.

"By using this technology, we hope to develop the most rational drug combinations and better tests to match patients with the most effective therapies going forward," Demetri said.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/F_Xmn3nCydE/130407090631.htm

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Diabetes patients need to be consulted to improve treatment

Public release date: 8-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Niels de Fine Olivarius
olivarius@sund.ku.dk
45-61-30-85-47
University of Copenhagen

Patients with type 2 diabetes who tailor their own treatment in cooperation with their doctor can reduce their risk of complications such as heart attack with up to 20 percent. This is the result of a new Danish study from the Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen.

Patients who cooperate with their general practitioner and set personal goals for treatment while receiving continuous feedback from their doctor can reduce their risk of complications with up to 20 percent. This is one of the research results of a Danish study just published, "Diabetes care in general Practice".

"It is irrational to treat everybody the same way. We have to put in more effort for some patients than for others, and the general practitioners have to set personal goals in cooperation with the patients concerning risk factors such as blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol level and weight" says professor Niels de Fine Olivarius. He is the leading scientist of the study along with doctor Lars J. Hansen.

Changes in lifestyle before medicine

The study "Diabetes care in general Practice" has been running for more than 20 years with 1428 newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes. 745 general practitioners have followed the patients and half of these general practitioners have received education concerning an improvement of the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes based on the patients' own preferences and changes in lifestyle.

"I think it has been crucial for the success of the study that the doctors have been reluctant to begin medical treatment. In that way, the patients have had the opportunity to experience how much their own efforts such as changes in their food habits, more exercise and weight loss affect their diabetes treatment,"says Niels de Fine Olivarius.

Thus, almost a third of the diabetes patients were able to manage their blood sugar purely by changing their food habits, even 6 years after the diagnosis, and thereby the results also show how important it is with intense care immediately after the patient has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Individual needs

The results have just recently been published in the scientific journal Diabetologia. They show that patients who have received individual care with continuous follow-up have significantly lowered their risk of complications, even though they have not received more medicine than those patients who have received the routine treatment.

At the Research Unit for General Practice the director and professor Susanne Reventlow sees "Diabetic care in general Practice" as a pioneer study regarding new treatment methods for general practice. As an example the results show that it is important to take individual needs into consideration when treating patients who suffer from more than one decease.

###

Link to the article in the scientific journal Diabetologia: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-013-2893-1.

Contact

Doctor Lars J. Hansen
Mobile: 45-40141863
E-mail: l.j.hansen@dadlnet.dk

Professor Niels de Fine Olivarius

News editor Anna Hoexbro Bak
Mobile: 45-22-64-03-55
E-mail: bak@adm.ku.dk

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 8-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Niels de Fine Olivarius
olivarius@sund.ku.dk
45-61-30-85-47
University of Copenhagen

Patients with type 2 diabetes who tailor their own treatment in cooperation with their doctor can reduce their risk of complications such as heart attack with up to 20 percent. This is the result of a new Danish study from the Research Unit for General Practice, University of Copenhagen.

Patients who cooperate with their general practitioner and set personal goals for treatment while receiving continuous feedback from their doctor can reduce their risk of complications with up to 20 percent. This is one of the research results of a Danish study just published, "Diabetes care in general Practice".

"It is irrational to treat everybody the same way. We have to put in more effort for some patients than for others, and the general practitioners have to set personal goals in cooperation with the patients concerning risk factors such as blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol level and weight" says professor Niels de Fine Olivarius. He is the leading scientist of the study along with doctor Lars J. Hansen.

Changes in lifestyle before medicine

The study "Diabetes care in general Practice" has been running for more than 20 years with 1428 newly diagnosed patients with type 2 diabetes. 745 general practitioners have followed the patients and half of these general practitioners have received education concerning an improvement of the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes based on the patients' own preferences and changes in lifestyle.

"I think it has been crucial for the success of the study that the doctors have been reluctant to begin medical treatment. In that way, the patients have had the opportunity to experience how much their own efforts such as changes in their food habits, more exercise and weight loss affect their diabetes treatment,"says Niels de Fine Olivarius.

Thus, almost a third of the diabetes patients were able to manage their blood sugar purely by changing their food habits, even 6 years after the diagnosis, and thereby the results also show how important it is with intense care immediately after the patient has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Individual needs

The results have just recently been published in the scientific journal Diabetologia. They show that patients who have received individual care with continuous follow-up have significantly lowered their risk of complications, even though they have not received more medicine than those patients who have received the routine treatment.

At the Research Unit for General Practice the director and professor Susanne Reventlow sees "Diabetic care in general Practice" as a pioneer study regarding new treatment methods for general practice. As an example the results show that it is important to take individual needs into consideration when treating patients who suffer from more than one decease.

###

Link to the article in the scientific journal Diabetologia: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-013-2893-1.

Contact

Doctor Lars J. Hansen
Mobile: 45-40141863
E-mail: l.j.hansen@dadlnet.dk

Professor Niels de Fine Olivarius

News editor Anna Hoexbro Bak
Mobile: 45-22-64-03-55
E-mail: bak@adm.ku.dk

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uoc-dpn040513.php

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Spot the Hidden Bed in This 130 Square-Foot Paris Apartment

Check it out: this Paris apartment is only 130 square-feet. But where on earth is the bed? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JV-Dhl4IPgo/spot-the-hidden-bed-in-this-130-square+foot-paris-apartment

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HopStop Launches Crowd-Sourced Transit Alerts Through HopStop Live!

HopStop, the location services app that helps you navigate the wacky world of public transportation, has today unveiled its biggest product launch ever, with the release of HopStop Live! The service is integrated with HopStop’s default iPhone app, as well as having its own standalone app called “Live!” The apps let users crowd-source information in real-time about delays to subways or trains, giving even more clarity to the morning commute. HopStop already accounts for delays that are marked on the MTA’s web site for service disruptions, but that isn’t an all-encompassing view. Many times, trains will be delayed because of police investigations or accidents, and the corresponding delay alert doesn’t appear online for many hours after, or not at all. Still, these delays can really bork up a day, and so HopStop is letting its massive user base start calling out issues for fellow users. Though crowd-sourcing public transit delays has been done before ? most notably by Waze and NextTrain, along with some other mobile apps ? HopStop brings a new level of scale to the recipe. As of today, HopStop has announced that its userbase has surpassed 2 million monthly active users, and the app access data points for 700 transit agencies, 20,000 lines, and 750,000 stops. Here’s what CEO Joe Meyer had to say about it: The real-time public transportation space has attracted so much attention over the past twelve months with a countless number of new transit apps all professing to have the answer to real-time. The problem with the vast majority of these is that as impressive and headline-grabbing as their goals or claims may be ?they all lack the critical ingredient for any crowd-sourced service to be useful ?a big enough crowd of endemic users. Over the past nine years, HopStop has grown to be the biggest independent player in the transit routing market, and today?s launch of HopStop Live! will leverage our large user base and strong commitment to product excellence to define the future of real-time public transportation information. The main goal is that users will build and foster mini-communities around their particular commute, keeping each other in the know about delays and service disruptions in a way that official lines of communication are too slow for. For now, the HopStop Live! service is only available for iPhone, but the company is working on rolling it out to other major platforms in

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SwE8Dk95U_E/

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Airline passenger complaints surged in 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Airline passengers are getting grumpier, and it's little wonder.

Airlines keep shrinking the size of seats to stuff more people onto planes, those empty middle seats that once provided a little more room are now occupied and more people with tickets are being turned away because flights are overbooked.

Private researchers who analyzed federal data on airline performance also said in a report being released Monday that consumer complaints to the Department of Transportation surged by one-fifth last year even though other measures such as on-time arrivals and mishandled baggage show airlines are doing a better job.

"The way airlines have taken 130-seat airplanes and expanded them to 150 seats to squeeze out more revenue I think is finally catching up with them," said Dean Headley, a business professor at Wichita State University who has co-written the annual report for 23 years.

"People are saying, 'Look, I don't fit here. Do something about this.' At some point airlines can't keep shrinking seats to put more people into the same tube," he said.

The industry is even looking at ways to make today's smaller-than-a-broom closet toilets more compact in the hope of squeezing a few more seats onto planes.

"I can't imagine the uproar that making toilets smaller might generate," Headley said, especially given that passengers increasingly weigh more than they use to. Nevertheless, "will it keep them from flying? I doubt it would."

In recent years, some airlines have shifted to larger planes that can carry more people, but that hasn't been enough to make up for an overall reduction in flights.

The rate at which passengers with tickets were denied seats because planes were full rose to 0.97 denials per 10,000 passengers last year, compared with 0.78 in 2011.

It used to be in cases of overbookings that airlines usually could find a passenger who would volunteer to give up a seat in exchange for cash, a free ticket or some other compensation with the expectation of catching another flight later that day or the next morning. Not anymore.

"Since flights are so full, there are no seats on those next flights. So people say, 'No, not for $500, not for $1,000,'" said airline industry analyst Robert W. Mann Jr.

Regional carrier SkyWest had the highest involuntary denied boardings rate last year, 2.32 per 10,000 passengers.

But not every airline overbooks flights in an effort to keep seats full. JetBlue and Virgin America were the industry leaders in avoiding denied boardings, with rates of 0.01 and 0.07, respectively.

United Airlines had the highest consumer complaint rate of the 14 airlines included in the report, with 4.24 complaints per 100,000 passengers. That was nearly double the airline's complaint rate the previous year. Southwest had the lowest rate, at 0.25.

Consumer complaints were significantly higher in the peak summer travel months of June, July and August when planes are especially crowded.

"As airplanes get fuller, complaints get higher because people just don't like to be sardines," Mann said.

The complaints are regarded as indicators of a larger problem because many passengers may not realize they can file complaints with Transportation Department, which regulates airlines.

At the same time complaints were increasing, airlines were doing a better job of getting passengers to their destinations on time.

The industry average for on-time arrival rate was 81.8 percent of flights, compared with 80 percent in 2011. Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance record, 93.4 percent in 2012. ExpressJet and American Airlines had the worst records with only 76.9 percent of their planes arriving on time last year.

The industry's on-time performance has improved in recent years, partly due to airlines' decision to cut back on the number of flights.

"We've shown over the 20 years of doing this that whenever the system isn't taxed as much ? fewer flights, fewer people, less bags ? it performs better. It's when it reaches a critical mass that it starts to fracture," Headley said.

The industry's shift to charging for fees for extra bags, or sometimes charging fees for any bags, has significantly reduced the rate of lost or mishandled bags. Passengers are checking fewer bags than before, and carrying more bags onto planes when permitted.

The industry's mishandled bag rate peaked in 2007 at 7.01 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. It was 3.07 in 2012, down from 3.35 bags the previous year.

The report's ratings are based on statistics kept by the department for airlines that carry at least 1 percent of the passengers who flew domestically last year.

The airlines covered in the report are Air Tran, Alaska, American, American Eagle, Delta, ExpressJet, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, SkyWest, Southwest, United, US Airways and Virgin America.

The research is sponsored by Purdue University in Indiana, and by Wichita State University in Kansas.

___

Online:

Airline Quality Ratings: http://www.airlinequalityrating.com

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/airline-passenger-complaints-surged-2012-040234826.html

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San Antonio Pets Alive! - Read the Latest SAPA! Blog this Week in ...

Dog?of the?Week- Jack 247593

A 2 yr old neutered, German Shepherd Saluki blend. He is a sweet boy who loves giving and receiving affection and attention! He loves to play! Jack would do best with an active family who can take him for walks and maybe even a run! He appears to be good with other dogs and is one good lookin? pup!

?Cat?of the?Week- Hector A207904

This Orange Tabby is a 1 yr old male. He was born with Feline Herpes Virus, which causes one of his eyes to be?a little squinty.?Best fit to be in a 1?cat?household, as he can?be contagious to other?cats?through nasal discharge and ocular secretion. He is?not, however,?contagious to any other species.??It sure doesn?t seem to?faze him one bit and he?is otherwise a healthy boy. He is super duper playful! Would be a great fit for a family with kids!

San Antonio?Pets Alive! Announces Black Fridays in April! ?

No need to wait until after Thanksgiving, we are making EVERY Friday in April?- a Black Friday! Have you been wanting to add a ?LBD? or ?BBD? to your collection? You are in luck! SAPA! has adorable ?Little Black Dogs? and lovely ?Big Black Dogs? ready for foster and adoption.?These black beauties are on special every Friday in April!????Special Adoption Fees for Black animals in On-site kennels for Fridays in April: Puppies are $40 (regular price $60). Dogs are $25 (regular price $40). Cats and kittens are $20 (regular price $30 and $50).

Are you familiar with ?Black Dog and Cat Syndrome?? This term became popular in 2004 to describe the phenomenon of black dogs and cats being overlooked and harder to find homes for than pets with lighter coats. There are several theories of why these awesome black pets are passed over when they would obviously make wonderful companions. Some people believe they are at a disadvantage because they don?t photograph as well so people looking online to rescue and adopt don?t see their true beauty. Also, people have a tendency consciously or subconsciously to favor lighter colored animals and (brace yourself) SUPERSTITION likely plays a role. Thinking a black dog or cat is bad luck is a thing of the past!??In Great?Britain, Ireland, Scottland?and Japan, black cats are actually a?symbol of GOOD luck and?prosperity.? Some believe a lady who owns a black pet will have many suitors!???Remember the key fashion tip:? Black goes with anything and slenderizes!? So be fashionable and look thinner while you accessorize with an adopted black pet as a new member of your family!?? Give BLACK a chance!?Visit our kennels

Volunteering Rules!???Do you love animals and want to give back to your community? Do you or an animal lover you know need volunteer hours to graduate? SAPA! is hosting a Volunteer orientation this Saturday, April 6^th. Find out how to apply and attend here:?Volunteer for SAPA!

Viva Fiesta and SAPA! Medal Amigos!??Fiesta is on the horizon and to celebrate this awesome tradition, SAPA! has an adorable medal for sale to raise money for our rescued dogs and cats. Our ?Medal Amigos? will be at adoption events and you can purchase online here:?http://www.sanantoniopetsalive.org/products-page/

It?s ?EZ??to Suppport?SAPA!???Join SAPA! this Tuesday, April 9th from 5-8pm at the Quarry EZ?s restaurant and Thursday, April 11^th?from 5-8pm at the Bitters/281 EZ?s Restaurant and drop your receipt in a donation box and EZ?s will give SAPA!? 15% of your total bill on dine in and take out orders!? SAPA! Fiesta Medal Amigos will be there as well. Get the scoop here:https://www.facebook.com/sapetsalive/events

It is time to get your Kitten On!???Kitten Season is upon us. We have precious mama cats and kittens and orphaned kittens that need foster homes to grow up in until the kittens are weaned and they are all ready for adoption. These lil? families need a small, warm, secluded place to nurse. The mama does all the work. We also have orphaned kittens that need a human to bottle feed and care for them a lot like you would care for a baby, as they are helpless. If you are interested and have the time to dedicate (bottle babies have to be fed every two to three hours), we have a bottle feeding workshop coming up April 14^th. This workshop is mandatory to foster bottle baby kittens. Learn more here?Neonatal Kitten Foster Training

Meet the Fosters!???With over 500 local foster families caring for a SAPA! rescued foster, we are sure to have the dog or cat you are dreaming of. We have adoption events all over the city with cool pet friendly retailers. Come on out and meet the fosters:http://www.sanantoniopetsalive.org/events/

Most Eligible Dog & Cat of the Week!? To foster/adopt them, email:adopt@sanantoniopetsalive.org

Busy? Save Lives with One Click!

Like US on Facebook and SHARE photos of URGENT pets and seriously help save Lives:?https://www.facebook.com/sapetsalive

?

Source: http://www.sanantoniopetsalive.org/read-the-latest-sapa-blog-this-week-in-the-sa-current/

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5 dead in Muslim-Christian clashes in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) ? Clashes between Egyptian Muslims and Christians erupted early Saturday in a town near Cairo, leaving at least five people dead, security officials said.

Investigators said they are waiting for autopsy reports to confirm how the men ? four Christians and a Muslim ? were killed in the small town of Khosoos, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital.

Police said the clashes started when young Muslims drew inflammatory symbols on an Islamic institute and a local mosque. Christian onlookers and Muslims nearby began quarrelling and soon residents wielding guns began firing on one another.

Residents interviewed by The Associated Press had different accounts of what sparked the violence, and said police arrived hours after the fight ended. Some residents said violence was sparked by feuding families. Others said the fight began after a woman was verbally harassed in the street. The varying accounts could not be immediately reconciled.

The clashes also resulted in a fire near a church, which is now closed and guarded by armored police vehicles. Broken glass from smashed shop windows littered the street, where the hulks of several burnt out cars stood.

"Police fired tear gas and we all left," said thirty-six-year-old Atef Atta, a Christian resident. "Christians are always victims and the government doesn't do anything," he added.

Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country's 85 million people, have long complained of discrimination by the state. They are the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

The political party of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood condemned the sectarian strife.

"Security authorities should take all measures to resolve the problem and religious figures should intervene to end the tension," Freedom and Justice Party Chairman Saad el-Katatni said in a statement emailed to reporters.

Church officials in the neighborhood where the fighting took place could not be immediately reached for comment.

Egyptian Christians fear that lack of security and political tension, along with hate speech by some ultraconservative Islamic clerics might give extremists a freer hand to attack churches and Coptic property, especially in the country's poorer areas.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-killed-muslim-christian-clashes-egypt-115220059.html

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California Court Bans Checking Smartphone Maps While Driving

In California, drivers can now be pulled over for using their GPS while driving. Extending the state's current ban on texting while driving, an appellate court in California v. Spriggs argued that the "distraction would be present whether the wireless telephone was being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator, a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/otXKdNaDhZ4/

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6th Apr - Special: Bank of Japan

This is just a collection of all the links on the Bank of Japan's move that I've posted earlier - for your convenience.

Previously on MoreLiver?s:

Bank of Japan scraps overnight call rate, sets base money as new target ? Reuters

The BoJ decided on a radical overhaul of its policy framework on Thursday, shifting its target when setting monetary policy to base money from the current overnight call rate.

Bank of Japan Boosts Bond Purchases as Kuroda Takes Helm ? BB

With Kuroda presiding over his first meeting since taking the helm last month, the board today streamlined its asset purchase programs, temporarily suspended a cap on some bond holdings and dropped a limit on debt maturities. The BOJ will buy 7 trillion yen ($74 billion) of bonds a month, the central bank said in a statement.

This sort of initial euphoria has fizzled out before ? but the new Bank of Japan governors appear to have actually come through with the goods

Bank of Japan Launches Easing Campaign ? WSJ Bank of Japan Launches Strong Easing Campaign ? WSJ BoJ Unveils 'Shock-And-Awe' Quantitative-Qualitative Easing ? ZH Yen Falls Versus Peers as BOJ Purchases Exceed Forecasts ? BB Koo: Currency Markets Are Misinterpreting the Impact of QE ? PragCap

The new Bank of Japan (BoJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda definitely left his mark in connection with today?s monetary meeting, at which BoJ announced easing measures that far exceeded market expectations. The main messages from the meeting are BoJ?s strong commitment to its 2% inflation target and that aggressive monetary easing will be continued next year. This suggests that JPY will continue to depreciate.

Kuroda's "Shock And Awe" Post-Mortem From Goldman And SocGen ? ZH

Stephen King: So far, so good. The commitment is most definitely there and the ambition has now been well-defined. Yet Japan is not yet out of deflationary trouble and, even in the event of the monetary equivalent of the Great Escape, it might still all end in disappointment.

Bank of Japan Getting Better at Playing With Markets ? WSJ

For those who need a rundown of what the BoJ actually did, here?s a summary from Nomura:

Make no mistake, the Bank of Japan just pulled out all the stops to boost its flailing economy.

Japan stimulus sends euro zone yields to record lows

With the announcement by Haruhiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan?s new governor, of the doubling of the monetary base within the next two years at most, the Japanese authorities committed to do ?whatever it takes? to achieve their newly assigned objective ? an inflation rate of 2 per cent. Two questions should be raised. First, why such a drastic step up in monetary expansion? Second, will it work?

Generate inflation and consumers will start spending, business confidence will improve and growth will resume. This will reduce the government's annual deficit and reduce the real value of the debt over time. Problem solved. But what about investors?

Abenomics Takes Off: Can Japan Un-Doom Itself? ? The Atlantic

14 years later, Japan is finally taking Ben Bernanke's advice

Joseph E. Stiglitz: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is doing what many economists have been calling for in the US and Europe: a comprehensive program entailing monetary, fiscal, and structural policies. As many Japanese rightly sense, Abenomics, with its focus on monetary, fiscal, and structural policies, can only help the country?s recovery.

Abenomics is the only way to stop Japan's debt compound crisis ? The Telegraph

Those who say Japan has been muddling through just fine in permanent deflation with an overvalued yen are indeed "macro-tourists". No nation can allow itself to atrophy in this way. The surprise is that it took Japan so long to wake up.

Source: http://morelivers.blogspot.com/2013/04/6th-apr-special-bank-of-japan.html

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Language Learning Startup Busuu Hits 30M Users And Launches New Kids iPad App

Just this week Rosetta Stone acquired Seattle-based online language-learning community Livemocha for $8.5 million in cash. At exit Livemocha had a 16 million member online language-learning community. It had also raised $19 million over six years. But today Busuu, a competing language-learning community based out of London, announces that it has reached 30 million users and its launched a dedicated iPad app for kids to learn Spanish.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zvSQEpsPWqc/

ohio primary

Farrell booed, beaten in return to Boston

By IAN HARRISON

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:14 p.m. ET April 5, 2013

TORONTO (AP) - John Farrell and the Boston Red Sox weren't fazed by a hostile reception from Toronto's fans. Instead, they turned all the boos into a boost of energy.

Mike Napoli hit a two-run homer and drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 6-4 on Friday night in Farrell's return to Toronto.

A packed house of 45,328 let Farrell have it all night. The former Toronto manager left the Blue Jays last fall to replace Bobby Valentine in Boston.

"Anytime you get this kind of atmosphere at home or on the road, this is what guys thrive on," Farrell said. "To have that kind of atmosphere, we'll take it every night."

Farrell was jeered during batting practice and when he came to home plate to exchange lineup cards, doffing his cap on his way back to the bench.

The ill will continued throughout, with Farrell getting booed when he came out to check on injured shortstop Jose Iglesias, and again when he made a pitching change in the sixth.

Even pitching coach Juan Nieves heard it when he came to the mound, a possible case of mistaken identity.

"I think anybody in a gray uniform was going to take it in some form or fashion," Farrell said.

The outpouring of anger and emotion seemed to fire up the Red Sox.

"It was fun for me," Napoli said. "I like when the crowd's like that. You go into the opposing stadium and they're loud, they're cheering for their team."

Dustin Pedroia felt the same way.

"It was fun," he said. "Packed house, they were loud. It was a good time."

Will Middlebrooks added a solo shot for Boston and Junichi Tazawa (1-0) got the win despite allowing a tying homer to Jose Reyes in the seventh.

Napoli's opposite field shot in the fifth was Boston's first home run of the season and just his third base hit.

"It always feels good to hit a homer," Napoli said. "I haven't been feeling too good at the plate. My timing's been off a little bit. I've been working every day with it and feeling better and better every at bat."

Andrew Bailey pitched the eighth and Joel Hanrahan finished for his second save.

Reyes went 4 for 5 with two RBIs and Josh Johnson gave up nine hits over six innings in his Toronto debut, but second baseman Emilio Bonifacio made three fielding errors and struck out four times.

"We haven't put it all together yet," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "Too many mistakes tonight, very rarely are you going to win those kind of games."

Pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes drew a one-out walk from Esmil Rogers (0-1) in the eighth and went to third on Pedroia's double off the wall. Napoli followed with a grounder to third that was gloved by Maicer Izturis, who fell down on the play and couldn't recover quickly enough to throw home.

"The key was Jonny Gomes getting on base," Farrell said.

The Blue Jays put runners at second and third with one out in the bottom half, but Bailey got Adam Lind and Izturis to fly out.

Middlebrooks gave the Red Sox some insurance with a line-drive homer to left off Jeremy Jeffress in the ninth.

Toronto's Mark DeRosa hit a solo homer in the fifth, his first in three years, a drive that bounced off the top of the center-field wall and went out.

Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista was held out of the lineup with a sore right ankle and replaced by Rajai Davis. The two-time major league home run leader hurt his ankle stepping on first base while beating out a double play in the eighth inning of Thursday's 10-8 win over Cleveland.

Boston opened the scoring in the second when Shane Victorino scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's bases-loaded single, but Toronto tied it in the bottom half on DeRosa's sacrifice fly.

Back-to-back errors by second baseman Emilio Bonifacio gave the Red Sox runners at first and second with one out in the fourth, and pinch-hitter Pedro Ciriaco followed with an RBI single.

Napoli's first homer of the year made it 4-1 in the fifth, but DeRosa cut it to 4-2 by leading off the bottom half with his first homer since April 5, 2010, when he went deep for San Francisco at Houston.

Izturis followed with a single and scored when Jackie Bradley Jr. couldn't come up with Reyes' double into the left-field corner. Reyes was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Toronto scored in the seventh when Reyes hit a one-out homer to right off Tazawa, his first with the Blue Jays.

Boston left-hander Felix Doubront allowed three runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. He walked none and struck out six.

"I thought tonight he had his best stuff of the year," Farrell said. "He was downhill consistently, he had an outstanding changeup, he was powerful. A good step forward for him."

Johnson allowed four runs, three earned. He walked two, one intentional, and struck out six.

NOTES: Iglesias left in the fourth with a bruised right arm, two innings after he was hit near the elbow by a pitch. He was replaced by Ciriaco. ... Red Sox SS Stephen Drew (concussion) went 1 for 3 in seven innings with Double-A Portland. ... Boston DH David Ortiz (right Achilles) ran in the outfield in Florida and remained on track to play in extended spring training games starting Monday. ... Gibbons said Bautista will DH if he returns to the lineup Saturday.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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CSN; Barry Zito may not have earned every cent of his mammoth contract, but he's moved to the point where fans can't resent him for it.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51448855/ns/sports-baseball/

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Statement From Meghan Asha

Following our story yesterday about the claims against TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, and our?request for more information as to what exactly happened,?one of the key people he is accused of assaulting has responded. ?Meghan Asha has provided us with the following statement ..

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KNANGlg2znc/

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North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly now say they support gay marriage (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296968581?client_source=feed&format=rss

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This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: Facebook Phone AKA The FF

This week on the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast we talk about bold moves by Verizon and T-Mobile and the Facebook Fone and Facebook Home.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/VRmcxWTBQAM/

VP debate

Venezuela's Capriles: Maduro won't last

MARACAY, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuela's opposition presidential candidate says he'll cut off subsidized oil to Cuba, distance his country from nations that disrespect human rights and shore up the South American country's own troubled economy with the billions it now sends abroad to socialist friends.

Henrique Capriles also told The Associated Press in an interview that he will seek better ties with Washington ? always strained under the late President Hugo Chavez ? but will demand respect from U.S. leaders, who he says have neglected Latin America.

And the challenger predicted more tough times ahead for oil-rich Venezuela if acting president and ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro wins the April 14 election. He called Maduro incapable of governing this polarized nation and said its wealth of economic problems ultimate would force Maduro to resign or be forced out.

"Whatever the outcome, I don't see how Nicolas Maduro has the capacity to stay for an extended time in government," Capriles asserted after staging a rock-star-like rally late Thursday in the central coast city of Maracay, traditionally a Chavista stronghold.

"He will have to resign, abandon (the presidency) if he's able to win," Capriles said.

He did not elaborate on what would come, but in the back of many Venezuelans' minds is the unrest and violence that accompanied a brief 2002 coup against Chavez and a prolonged, opposition-led general strike against Chavez in 2003-2004.

Capriles, governor of Venezuela's most populous state, is waging a desperate campaign to unseat Maduro, who was foreign minister and vice president to Chavez and became acting president before Chavez died March 5 of cancer. Capriles lost to Chavez in an October election, but again is cross-crossing the country to rally supporters.

The abbreviated campaign has been marked by personal insults as Capriles insists Maduro is no Chavez, still beloved by millions. Capriles has tried to reassure voters he won't take away their state social programs while promising to address high crime, high inflation, nagging food shortages and recurring power outages.

Maduro's campaign strategy is to incessantly invoke Chavez, who tapped Maduro as his successor. He warns voters their social programs are at risk if Capriles wins, accuses foes of conspiring to destabilize the country and promotes his ties to an armed forces politicized by Chavez.

On Friday, Maduro met with high-ranking military commanders to alert them to alleged opposition plans to divide the officer corps.

Capriles previously had announced he had spoken with commanders he didn't identify about possible Cabinet posts. On Thursday, he said he believed most of Venezuela's 200,000 soldiers don't support Defense Minister Diego Molero's public endorsement of Maduro, an endorsement that violated Venezuelan laws that mandate the military's impartiality.

Capriles vowed to stop financing other nations with cheap oil and to redirect Venezuela's oil riches toward solving its own poverty. One of his first acts as president, he said, would be to expel Cuban military advisers from Venezuela's armed forces.

"We are giving to the Castro brothers' government ... nearly $4 billion a year," he said. "Because of that, the Castros love the possibility that this government remains."

The government stresses that in exchange for oil, Cuba has dispatched thousands of doctors and nurses who provide free medical attention in poverty-stricken areas that historically lacked services. Capriles has said previously he'd send the doctors home.

Capriles said he'd quickly chill ties with Iran and Syria that Chavez boosted.

"We have to take a look at the affinity we have toward Iran, beyond our shared interest as oil producers. There is none," he said. "With the Syrian government, there is none."

Venezuela has sent several shipments of diesel fuel to Syria's embattled regime.

"My political orientation is for democracy, not these authoritarian governments where human rights are trampled upon," Capriles declared.

The candidate said he wants better relations with Washington, but on an equal footing. Chavez frequently accused the United States of trying to unseat him, and Maduro has suggested it somehow injected Chavez with cancer.

Washington briefly embraced Chavez's ouster in the 2002 coup. The two countries haven't exchanged ambassadors since 2010. In March, Washington expelled two Venezuelan diplomats after Caracas expelled two U.S. military attaches for allegedly trying to turn Venezuelan soldiers against their government.

"I believe the United States has been erratic in its relationship with Latin America. It's made mistakes," Capriles said.

"I had big expectations of President Obama, that Obama was going to reach out to the South," he said. "The United States doesn't take into account the South's importance, and it must change the way it relates" to Latin America.

"We sell oil to the United States and we buy products from the United States," Capriles continued. "These are the huge contradictions of this (Maduro) government ? it talks and it talks, yet it even imports gasoline from the United States."

Capriles blamed Maduro, as interim president, for a devaluation of Venezuela currency that weakened citizens' buying power. He also blamed Maduro, and Chavez before him, for frequent power outages, 23 percent inflation and rampant crime.

Capriles dismissed some polls that suggest Maduro, bolstered by enduring empathy for Chavez and a massive state elections machine, will win handily.

"Of course I can win," he said. "The act of voting is a rational, and emotional, act. I feel that that emotion is on this side. Maduro lacks charisma and leadership, he said.

As for Chavez' popularity rubbing off on his hand-picked successor, Capriles said "I don't believe in hereditary leadership."

Capriles' own charisma was on full display at a boisterous rally in Maracay's central boulevard before the AP interview ? a 10-block display of passion among thousands that nearly resulted in disaster.

Whipped up into a near-frenzy by speaker after speaker over a waiting period of three hours, mobs pushed through successive security barriers until, by the time Capriles launched into his stump speech, dozens were crushed against a fence, struggling to breathe, the old and young alike crying and pleading for help.

Several people climbed building railings to escape the crush. Capriles' security detail pulled people from the crush. Crying children were separated from their parents; emergency personnel administered oxygen to a man prone on the ground. Dozens were taken for medical treatment.

When it was over, one of Capriles' aides found a wedding ring on the ground. She shook her head.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-capriles-maduro-wont-last-201944570.html

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