Today in international tech news: Despite having repeatedly condemned the U.S. for spying, Brazil has reportedly done some spying of its own. Also: Australia cools on measures targeted at tax-avoiding tech companies; Russia will take the Olympic torch into space; and a Beijing startup launches a designated driver app.
Few if any countries have been more outspoken, incredulous and chest-thumping over U.S. spying revelations than Brazil.
Last summer, after Edward Snowden's leaks had made the rounds, Brazilian lawmakers proposed a law that would require e-businesses to store data in Brazil (and only Brazil). Then, after it was revealed that the U.S. had spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Rousseff canceled a state visit to the U.S. and later admonished the U.S. -- with President Obama on-hand -- at the UN. Rousseff pulled off the trifecta by taking to Twitter to announce that Brazil planned to build an NSA-proof email system.
Well, that high ground just sank a bit.
Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported that it got its hands on a document from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, ABIN, which details surveillance carried out on the U.S., Russia, Iran and Iraq in 2003 and 2004. At that time, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was Brazil's president, not Rousseff.
The ABIN reportedly monitored the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia, which was suspected of being a hotbed for espionage. The U.S. has denied that the embassy was used for espionage.
Rousseff's office issued a statement, saying, "The operations in question [took place] in accordance with Brazilian legislation pertaining to the protection of the national interest."
The White House couldn't have said it any better.
To be fair, the ABIN snooping was small peanuts compared to what the U.S. is reported to have done to Brazil: monitoring millions of high-level communications, including phone calls of Rousseff and state-owned oil giant Petrabras.
Australia's new government announced it won't pursue a previously discussed initiative to crack down on tax-dodging tech companies.
The previous government had planned to deny certain deductions that would help recoup taxes, but those plans have apparently been nixed.
Late last year, Australia vocally condemned tech companies' propensity to skirt taxes. The country's assistant treasurer famously described Google's tax habits as a "double Irish Dutch sandwich," referring to the company's clever -- if legal -- practice of routing income through Ireland; paying a royalty to a Dutch subsidiary; and then repaying said royalty to a second Irish holding company controlled in Bermuda, where there is no corporate tax.
A Russian spacecraft launching Thursday will carry with it the Olympic torch, which will light the Olympic flame at February's 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The torch is headed for the International Space Station. It will not only exit Earth's atmosphere, but will also be taken outside the station. The Olympic torch was sent into space in 1996 when it was aboard the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, but it has never been outside a spacecraft.
A Russian, an American and a Japanese astronaut will be in the Russian spacecraft toting the torch.
A Beijing startup called "Edaijia" -- which translates to "E-designated driver" -- has created an app that pairs people who are drunk with drivers who are not.
Drivers can sign up to have their car's location displayed on Edaijia's iPhone and Android apps. The app then matches wannabe passengers with wannabe designated drivers; the minimum charge is about US$6.50, but $16 after midnight.
Edaijia also has a feature for people who have their cars with them but are too drunk to drive. In such instances, a DD will show up with a foldable bike that can be thrown in the trunk.
Potentially raising the bar on SQL scalability, Facebook has released as open source a SQL query engine it developed called Presto that was built to work with petabyte-sized data warehouses.
Currently, over 1,000 Facebook employees use Presto daily to run 30,000 interactive queries, involving over a petabyte of processing, according to a post authored by Facebook software engineer Martin Traverso. The company has scaled the software to run on a 1,000 node cluster.
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Now, Facebook wants other data-driven organizations to use, and it hopes, refine Presto. The company has posted the software's source code and is encouraging contributions from other parties. The software is already being tested by a number of other large Internet services, namely AirBnB and Dropbox.
Standard data warehouses would be hard-pressed to offer the responsiveness of Presto given the amount of data Facebook collects, according to engineers at the company. Facebook's data warehouse has more than 300 petabytes worth of material from its users, stored on Hadoop clusters. Presto interacts with this data through interactive analysis, as well as through machine-learning algorithms and standard batch processing.
To analyze this data, Facebook originally used Hadoop MapReduce along with Hive. But as the data warehouse grew, this approach proved to be far too slow.
The Facebook Data Infrastructure group first looked for other software for running faster queries, but didn't find anything that was both mature enough and capable of scaling to the required levels. Instead, the group built its own distributed SQL query engine, using Java.
Presto can do many of the tasks that standard SQL engines can, including complex queries, aggregations, left/right outer joins, subqueries, and most of the common aggregate and scalar functions. It lacks the ability to write results back to data tables and cannot create table joins beyond a certain size.
Unlike Hive, Presto does not use MapReduce, which involves writing results back to disk. Instead, Presto compiles parts of the query on the fly and does all of its processing in memory. As a result, Facebook claims Presto is 10 times better in terms of CPU efficiency and latency than the Hive and MapReduce combo.
Presto is one of a number of newly emerging SQL query engines that tackle the problem of offering speedy results for queries run against large Hadoop data sets. Hadoop distributor Pivotal has developed Hawq for this purpose, and fellow Hadoop distributor Cloudera is working on its own software called Impala.
Another benefit Facebook built into Presto is the ability to work with data sources other than Hadoop. Facebook runs a custom data store for its news feed, for instance, which Presto can also tap into. Facebook has also built connectors for HBase and Scribe. The software is extensible to other sources as well, according to Traverso.
Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com
She always knows how to make an entrance, and earlier tonight (November 6) Sheryl Crow had everyone’s full attention as she arrived at the 2013 CMA Awards.
It seems the hours of primping definitely paid off as the “Soak Up the Sun” star charmed the fans and shutterbugs with her gorgeous getup ahead of the big Bridgestone Arena event.
There's plenty to look forward to as the CMA Awards get underway, with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood serving as hosts as well as performers.
Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips stands and applauds during a memorial service for his father, Bum Phillips. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in Houston. Bum Phillips, the former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach, died Oct. 18 at age 90. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips stands and applauds during a memorial service for his father, Bum Phillips. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, in Houston. Bum Phillips, the former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach, died Oct. 18 at age 90. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak watches from the sidelines during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/Patric Schneider)
Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, center, his helped after he collapsed on the field during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
HOUSTON (AP) — Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will be Houston's interim head coach with Gary Kubiak out indefinitely after suffering a mini-stroke this weekend.
Phillips, a former head coach for Dallas, took over after Kubiak was taken to the hospital and he ran Houston's practice on Monday. Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison likely will take over the play-calling duties.
The team says Monday that the 52-year-old Kubiak suffered a transient ischemic attack at halftime of Sunday's loss to Indianapolis. He was released from the hospital on Tuesday and is expected to make a full recovery, but there is no timetable for his return to the team.
Houston, which has lost six straight games, plays at Arizona on Sunday.
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2013 file photo, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. walks on Capitol Hill …
Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell is facing a double-barreled challenge from Democrats and tea-party backed Republicans as he seeks re-election in 2014. And while the outcome of that race could be a referendum on his performance as the Senate's top Republican, this showdown may not actually be so Washington-centric.
Back home in Kentucky, tobacco growers are facing a possible threat from a new European Union rule that could cost the local industry millions within the next decade. McConnell is busy working behind the scenes to protect the state’s cash crop — and reminding growers what he can do for them if he remains in Senate leadership.
Kentucky tobacco farmers are reeling after the EU voted in October to phase in a ban on flavored tobacco products. Burley, one form of tobacco grown mostly in Kentucky, requires added ingredients during the manufacturing process, and as a result could be included in the ban. Kentucky farmers produce 148 million pounds of burley tobacco on average every year, and almost half of that — 43 percent — is exported to Europe. Eight states grow burley, but 70 percent of the crop is produced in Kentucky. Tennessee and North Carolina rank second and third, respectively.
At about $2 per pound, the loss of nearly half the market could deal a devastating blow to growers in Kentucky who produce burley.
As the Senate's top Republican, the sheer muscle of McConnell’s position could be his best argument to convince this bloc of Kentucky voters and donors to keep him in office. The new tobacco rules come amid ongoing negotiations over a major free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union. McConnell is in a strong position — if he chooses — to ensure that the final deal protects Kentucky growers.
“His staff is very much aware of all of these things,“ said Roger Quarles, a former president of Kentucky's Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association and the International Tobacco Growers' Association. “They’re very concerned about it.” The EU is still finalizing how it will enforce and define the new rules — a source with knowledge of the talks in the EU told Yahoo News that the burley issue could be raised as early as Thursday — but the threat has Kentucky tobacco growers looking to McConnell to help save their livelihood.
During his time in public office, McConnell has cultivated a cozy relationship with tobacco growers and the tobacco industry, which has filled his campaign coffers for years.
McConnell leads other senators in donations from the tobacco industry, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Competitive Politics. During McConnell’s re-election campaign in 2008, he received $130,400 from tobacco interests, more money than any other lawmaker received from the industry. Since 1990, McConnell has reaped more than $475,000 from the industry, FEC records show.
“Sen. McConnell is well loved in the tobacco industry,” Quarles told Yahoo News. “McConnell has always been an adamant and ardent supporter of our tobacco growers in Kentucky. There’s none better. He’s never wavered in his support here. As far as someone else coming in and having things less favorable for us or more favorable, I can’t imagine they would do anything more than his support has been so far.”
Workers put recently cut burley tobacco into a barn on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, on a farm near Finchville, Ky. For …
With McConnell’s election only a year away, the potential crisis for a local industry provides an opportunity to remind the growers what a high-ranking, seasoned lawmaker can do for his constituents.
McConnell is in for a tough campaign in 2014. He currently faces a primary challenge from Republican Matt Bevin, a Kentucky businessman who has backing from some tea party groups. Should McConnell defeat Bevin in the primary next spring, he will likely face Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, the secretary of state of Kentucky and a well-regarded campaigner expected to receive considerable help from the national party.
The reality is that if McConnell loses to either Bevin or Grimes, his successor would be a junior senator with little influence in the nation’s access-obsessed capital city. As McConnell tells burley growers — and other industry groups in Kentucky who could benefit from his Washington influence — any newcomer to the Senate won’t arrive in Washington with his kind of clout. In May, McConnell co-signed a letter with three other senators in tobacco-growing states to EU Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida, urging the body to reconsider moving forward with the ban.
“[W]e have serious concerns about the [Tobacco Products Directive] and its impact on transatlantic trade relations,” McConnell wrote, along with fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, and Republican Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina. “[A]s the Senate considers the potential U.S.-E.U. free trade agreement, the TPD calls into question the EU’s ability to deliver on regulatory commitments to the United States that it will have to make under a comprehensive U.S.-EU trade agreement.”
The message of the letter was clear: A European ban on burley could threaten the trade agreement process. Since the Senate will have to approve the agreement, McConnell is in a position to make those negotiations difficult.
But in order to play, McConnell needs to be in the game after 2014. And his campaign is not shy about telling tobacco growers what he can do for them as the trade talks progress, multiple growers in the state told Yahoo News.
“They remind everybody that whatever influence that is in the leader’s office is carried by Sen. McConnell at the moment,” Quarles said. “Obviously if someone else comes in there, they’re not going to be in the leader’s office. It takes years and years to reach that level of leadership. If it changes, it will be years again for that to come about.”
Indeed, since the four lawmakers sent the letter, McConnell has been working to blunt the impact on growers in his home state, a McConnell spokesman told Yahoo News.
“Sen. McConnell is in regular contact directly with the U.S. Trade Representative, both proactively (such as on the EU issue), and when that office regularly solicits his opinion as the Republican Leader,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told Yahoo News in an email.
FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2013 file photo, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, a candidate for U.S. …
In a statement to Yahoo News, a spokeswoman for Grimes said the Democratic candidate would seek export opportunities for Kentucky-based businesses and criticized McConnell for voting against a farm bill when it came up for a vote in the Senate Agriculture Committee earlier this year.
"Alison Lundergan Grimes is committed to preserving our rich agricultural tradition and will ensure that Kentucky's farmers have the support, stability and certainty they deserve," Grimes spokeswoman Charly Norton told Yahoo News. "It starts with expanding Kentucky's export opportunities to help our farmers sell American farm products to the world."
A spokeswoman from Bevin's campaign declined to comment.
McConnell's leadership role, however, is a mixed bag for his re-election effort. On one hand, it comes with a big stick in Washington for the people of Kentucky. But as a lead Republican negotiator for must-pass legislation, such as the one passed last month that re-opened the government and raised the federal debt limit, it also forces him into positions where he can't always hold a pure line in the name of conservative purity.
“You would almost have to be someone that is completely detracting to think that [McConnell's] influence does not mean something on a national level,” said Kentucky State Rep. Jonathan Shell, a conservative Republican who supports McConnell but who is sympathetic to tea party views. “Regardless of whether or not we agreed or disagreed with the outcome of the government shutdown and his negotiations, I think that we all should understand and know that Sen. McConnell was the one in that conversation, and you do not get in that conversation without having that clout that is necessary to have the impact we’re going to need to move farmers forward.”
Democrats with ties to the Kentucky tobacco-farming industry concede that McConnell’s years in the Senate strengthen his hand in 2014.
“Even though we’re in different parties, I think that Sen. McConnell has always been a strong advocate for the Kentucky farmer in general and certainly for the tobacco farmer,” said Kentucky State Rep. Wilson Stone, a co-chair of the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee. “Leadership is always connected to influence whether it’s in the Kentucky General Assembly or in Washington or the Chamber of Commerce here at home. So the higher the leadership position, the more influence you can have on behalf of your constituency.
“Buts there’s going to be a lot of issues in this upcoming race,” he added. “The ag issues might not be [Grimes’] best issues, but certainly she’s a Kentuckian through and through and certainly has an appreciation for rural Kentucky and for agriculture.”
Burley farmers, however, are hopeful that the final language and enforcement of the EU ban won’t be as rigid as first thought. It’s possible that the final ruling could exclude burley, especially if moving forward with the strict ban means not spoiling a pending trade deal with the United States
The tobacco crop, of course, won’t be the only issue driving the election for the Kentucky Senate seat. But with money and jobs possibly at stake in McConnell’s back yard — and his capacity to keep the growers’ export protected — it may be impossible to ignore.
Workers hang burley tobacco in a barn for curing on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, on a farm near Finchville, Ky. For …
The country crooners sat down with Rolling Stone magazine and dished about taking the stage for "We Were Us."
"I'd never done a duet before and when this song came along it was just, for me, her voice immediate in my head as soon as I heard the song," Keith explained.
Miranda excitedly stated, "I actually didn't realize this was his first duet ever so I'm pretty honored, actually. It's weird too, because usually on duet on someone else's album, you don't start the song."
Not only did they speak about tonight's performance, Miss Lambert also revealed some information about her upcoming album. "It's kind of all over the map. I never have a plan, I just kind of go in and let the songs lead themselves. I'm really excited about it; I'm nervous, I'm always nervous, but I guess that's because I care."
Urban also discuss plans for after his Light the Fuse Tour ends in Nashville February 2014. "I'm actually doing a little TV gig and then I think I'm going to start touring again."
She always knows how to make an entrance, and earlier tonight (November 6) Sheryl Crow had everyone’s full attention as she arrived at the 2013 CMA Awards.
It seems the hours of primping definitely paid off as the “Soak Up the Sun” star charmed the fans and shutterbugs with her gorgeous getup ahead of the big Bridgestone Arena event.
There's plenty to look forward to as the CMA Awards get underway, with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood serving as hosts as well as performers.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on the difficulties plaguing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,. The massive failure at healthcare.gov website is getting new criticism for lack of proper cybersecurity protections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on the difficulties plaguing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,. The massive failure at healthcare.gov website is getting new criticism for lack of proper cybersecurity protections. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2013 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sebelius is returning to Capitol Hill for a fresh interrogation on the health care law, this time from senators with growing concerns about President Barack Obama's crowning legislative achievement. Sebelius was due to face questions Wednesday from the Senate Finance Committee. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
File-This April 17, 2013 file photo Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. questions Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as she testifies on Capitol Hill before the committee's hearing on President Barack Obama's budget proposal for fiscal year 2014. After warning months ago that a “train wreck” was coming in implementing the nation’s new health care law, Baucus now says he thinks the rollout can get back on track after a bumbling beginning. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite,File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prodded to be more candid with Congress, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday the administration's flawed health care website needed a couple of hundred fixes when it went online more than a month ago and conceded, "we're not there yet" in making all needed repairs.
At the same time, she turned aside any suggestion that the system be taken off line until it could be fixed fully. Doing so "wouldn't delay people's cancer or diabetes or Parkinson's" disease, she told the Senate Finance Committee.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the panel's chairman, said Sebelius must be "candidly, fully totally" forthcoming with Congress about the repair effort, "so that we don't wake up at the end of November and find out we're not there yet." He referred to the administration's goal for completing the repairs.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the panel's senior Republican, was harsher.
"While I am glad that you are accepting responsibility for this disastrous rollout, I would have preferred that you and the rest of the administration were honest with us to begin with," he said.
But Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who faces a tea party-backed challenger in 2014, was harsher still. "You have said the American people should hold you accountable, which is why today I repeat my request for you to resign."
Sebelius, a former governor of the state Roberts represents, sat impassively as he spoke.
Despite the web site's well-chronicled woes, Sebelius said it has improved dramatically since the administration launched its repair effort. Echoing testimony delivered on Monday by another administration official to a different committee, she said it is now able to process nearly 17,000 registrations an hour, with almost no errors.
She said a punchlist drawn up by Jeff Zients, who was brought in to oversee repairs, contained "a couple of hundred functional fixes that have been identified and they are in priority grouping."
While progress has been made, "we're not where we need to be. It's a pretty aggressive schedule," she said.
One Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, urged Sebelius to make sure contractors who built the faulty website are held accountable. "I want you to burn their fingers and make 'em pay for not being responsible and producing a product that all of us can be proud," he said.
Republicans focused increasingly on issues of security, cost and coverage cancellations rather than the website, which Hatch said he assumed would be fixed.
Sebelius and Sen. Mike Crapo sparred after the Idaho Republican said many individuals will face far higher premiums next year when the program is in effect than they currently do.
The HHS secretary responded that the prices that insurance companies are charging are 16 percent lower than the Congressional Budget Office estimated. Crapo asked if she was saying prices would fall in 2014 compared to this year, and she conceded she was not. At the same time, she said that for the first time, the law will provide millions of Americans with government assistance in paying for insurance.
To the chagrin of increasingly nervous Democrats, Republicans are also on the attack about the millions of Americans whose health insurers have told them their current policies are being canceled. Obama has said that people who liked their coverage would be able to keep it.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, peppered Sebelius with questions about President Barack Obama oft-stated pledge that anyone who likes their coverage will be able to keep it — a promise the administration no longer makes.
Asked if that was an accurate statement, Sebelius declined Cornyn's request for a yes or no answer.
Insurers are sending cancellation notices to customers whose current policies lack enough coverage to meet the law's more demanding standards — at least 3.5 million Americans, according to an Associated Press survey of states.
The Obama administration has said people facing cancellations will be able to find better coverage from their current insurance company or on state or federal exchanges where competing policies are being offered.
Lawmakers of both parties have introduced rival bills that would let people retain their existing health insurance policies. But administration officials refused to state their views Tuesday on those proposals.
___
AP Special Correspondent David Espo and AP reporters Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Josh Lederman contributed to this report.
Check out the UFC Fight for the Troops 3 undercard below.
Derek Brunson vs. Brian Houston Round 1: We're off. Huge head kick instantly floors Houston. Brunson leaps onto his back and sinks in a rear-naked choke. It's under the neck. This one could be over. Houston is fighting this off valiantly. Brunson continues to adjust and finally, there's the tap. Wow, hell of a way to start.
Derek Brunson def. Brian Houston via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:48 of round one.
Neil Magny vs. Seth Baczynski Round 1: Big John McCarthy is our referee. Both fighters trade leg kicks. Baczynski whiffs on a looping right. Magny closes the distance against the fence. Baczynski reverses. Short knees to the body from Magny, who gets double underhooks then reverses. McCarthy calls for action. And there's the split. Baczynski wings a one-two in the center of the cage. Baczynski pressures forward and Magny cliches. More fighting for position against the cage. The crowd is getting restless here. McCarthy wants action. Magny peppering Baczynski with short shots, but nothing significant. And McCarthy steps in. Baczynski dives for a double leg, hoists Magny over his head, then slams him down. Magny lands a hard shot from the bottom. Baczynski postures up and dives into half guard, now full mount. Slick transition. Baczynski postures up and rains down body shots. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Baczynski.
Round 2: Baczynski headhunting early with his right hand. Baczynski stuffs a takedown and muscles Magny against the fence. McCarthy calls for action again. No tolerance for cage grappling today. Big John split them up. Baczynski wades in and connects on a hard right hand. Magny fights off a takedown then hunts for a single against the fence. Baczynski defends and reverses. More fence work and McCarthy isn't having it. He splits it. Good right hand from Magny, who then reverses a takedown. Baczynski climbs back to his feet but eats another right hand off the break. Magny's tape is loose on his gloves. McCarthy stops the action and fixed it. We're back, and Baczynski lunges into a double. He gets it, diving into full guard. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Magny. (19-19 overall.)
Round 3: Baczynski's corner calling for urgency. Magny catches a kick, but Baczynski twirls out and bullrushes into the clinch against the fence. Baczynski drops for a single but can't get it. McCarthy wants work. Magny releases to the center of the cage. Baczynski lunges for another double, then takes Magny's back standing and almost pulls him down. Magny instantly pops to his feet but winds up with his back against the fence. McCarthy splits it up. Baczynski dives right back into a double and finally gets it. Magny working double butterflies from the bottom. Baczynski postures up then dives back into guard. Magny with wrist control on Baczynski's right hand. Magny pushes Baczynski off then jumps to his feet. Baczynski not giving him an inch against the fence. Magny reverses then powers Baczynski to the mat. Baczynski back to his feet, only to get slammed down. Wild scramble ends with Baczynski hunting for a standing guillotine. Magny defends but ends with his back once again against the fence. Huge flurry at the end hurts Baczynski. Wow, that might've stolen it. Close fight, but Magny wins on damage for me. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Magny. (29-28 Magny.)
Seth Baczynski def. Neil Magny via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Yves Edwards vs. Yancy Madeiros Round 1: Big John is once again our referee. Medeiros pressuring forward with hard combinations. Medeiros not giving Edwards an inch. Medeiros rockets a front kick straight down the middle, then wades forward with his jab. Edwards fires back with a solid one-two. Edwards unleashes a kick into Medeiros' midsection. Edwards going over the top with a right hook. Medeiros with another front kick. Big knee blasts Medeiros. Wild exchange here. Edwards slips. Edwards tags Medeiros with another right hook, and once again Medeiros nods his head. Huge counter left uppercut crumbles Edwards! Medeiros lunges on top and unloads a finishing salvo. That's all she wrote.
Yancy Medeiros def. Yves Edwards via KO (punches) at 2:47 of round one.
Chris Camozzi vs. Lorenz Larkin Round 1: Herb Dean is the man in charge. Larkin with an early leg kick. Larkin goes up high, Camozzi counters with a kick to the thigh. Larkin misses a wild capoeira kick. Larkin blasts Camozzi with a hard straight right! Camozzi tumbles down. Larkin lets him up. Larkin pressures forward and connects on a stiff counter. Camozzi measuring distance, then rushes inside. Larkin smiles and shakes his head. Camozzi continues to work low kicks. Solid jab from Camozzi. Larkin fires back. Big flying knee from Camozzi. Larkin rockets a kick into Camozzi's midsection then follows it up with punches. Camozzi separates. Larkin rips an uppercut up the middle. Hard, hard body kick from Larkin. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Larkin.
Round 2: Camozzi's corner calls for low kicks and he delivers. Larkin stalks forward. Tons of low kicks from both men. Big straight right backs up Camozzi. Camozzi wades inside with a flying knee. Larkin ties up and powers Camozzi against the fence. Blood is leaking out of Camozzi's nose. Larkin releases and goes back to working his kicks. Camozzi counters with an inside leg kick. Hard straight left cracks Larkin. Camozzi ducks under a wild right and fires back. Larkin darts inside but Camozzi avoids any damage and reverses him against the fence. Big short elbow inside from Larkin. And another. Larkin and Camozzi trade high kicks. Wild exchange closes out the round. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Larkin. (20-18 Larkin.)
Round 3: Larkin with a turning side kick to the thigh, then goes high, then goes for a Mortal Kombat style sweep low kick. That was fun. Camozzi wades inside with heavy shots. Larkin connects to the body, then eats a straight right. Big right hand from Larkin in response. Larkin continues to stalk forward. Camozzi wings a kick to the body then ties up. Larkin lands a knee to the body inside the clinch, then a huge, huge short elbow. Heavy shot there. Camozzi reverses against the fence. His face is bloodied. Larkin calls for the crowd to roar, and again. Camozzi just hanging on. Larkin reverses. Another short elbow by Larkin. Camozzi eats a knee. Spinning back elbow from Larkin. Whew, great performance. MMA Fighting scores it 10-9 Larkin. (30-27 Larkin.)
Lorenz Larkin def. Chris Camozzi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
Real dangers for high-risk patients when trainees take on new roles
With almost no experience, newly graduated medical students enter teaching hospitals around the country every July, beginning their careers as interns. At the same time, the last year's interns and junior residents take a step up and assume new responsibilities.
In addition to developing their nascent clinical skills, each entering class of interns must grasp the many rules and standards for operating in this "new" hospital structure.
More experienced physicians share a joke about this changing of the guard: Don't get sick in July.
But the data to back up this quip has proven hard to find. Over the years, numerous studies have shown no effect or very slight effects when comparing patient outcomes in July versus the preceding May, when trainees are more experienced and concluding their training cycles. Some researchers have suggested that
the safeguards academic medical centers put in place, such as increased supervision by more experienced doctors during this first phase in the training cycle, protect patients from the effects of inexperience and organizational disruption.
A new study published Oct. 23 in Circulation by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Stanford University Hospitals, University of Southern California and the RAND Corporation, has found that while the so-called "July effect" is negligible in most cases, it is a serious concern for high-risk patients.
"The good news for patients is that in most cases, it's very difficult for a physician to make a mistake that results in a patient's death," said Anupam Jena, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and lead author of the study. "But for severely ill patients, health can be very tenuous. A small error or a very slight delay in care is potentially devastating."
Jena and colleagues analyzed cases from more than 1,400 hospitals using data from the U.S. Nationwide Inpatient Sample. They compared patients who came to teaching and non-teaching hospitals with acute myocardial infarctions, commonly known as heart attacks. The researchers separated cases into low-risk and high-risk categories and compared outcomes.
Overall, they found that patients at teaching hospitals had a lower risk of dying than at non-teaching hospitals, but in July, the risk at teaching hospitals rose to the same level that patients at non-teaching hospitals faced. For high-risk patients who came to the teaching hospitals with heart attacks, the risk of death in hospital went from 20 percent to 25 percent. They also found that among teaching hospitals, the difference between outcomes in May and July is greatest in institutions with the highest percentages of trainees.
The researchers ruled out two potential factors that they suspected may have accounted for some of that differencethe prevalence of percutaneous coronary intervention (i.e. cardiac stents) and of complications from the use of blood thinners.
Without evidence for specific procedures or protocols that could prevent increased deaths, the researchers said that their findings suggest that, especially during the early months in the training cycle, oversight should be intensively focused on high-risk cases rather than across cases overall. In July, doctors with more experience should play a greater role in the care of high-risk patients than has typically been the case.
"Teaching hospitals should revisit what steps are needed to safely and effectively care for high-risk patients in July," Jena said.
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'Don't get sick in July'
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
6-Nov-2013
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Contact: David Cameron david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu 617-432-0441 Harvard Medical School
Real dangers for high-risk patients when trainees take on new roles
With almost no experience, newly graduated medical students enter teaching hospitals around the country every July, beginning their careers as interns. At the same time, the last year's interns and junior residents take a step up and assume new responsibilities.
In addition to developing their nascent clinical skills, each entering class of interns must grasp the many rules and standards for operating in this "new" hospital structure.
More experienced physicians share a joke about this changing of the guard: Don't get sick in July.
But the data to back up this quip has proven hard to find. Over the years, numerous studies have shown no effect or very slight effects when comparing patient outcomes in July versus the preceding May, when trainees are more experienced and concluding their training cycles. Some researchers have suggested that
the safeguards academic medical centers put in place, such as increased supervision by more experienced doctors during this first phase in the training cycle, protect patients from the effects of inexperience and organizational disruption.
A new study published Oct. 23 in Circulation by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Stanford University Hospitals, University of Southern California and the RAND Corporation, has found that while the so-called "July effect" is negligible in most cases, it is a serious concern for high-risk patients.
"The good news for patients is that in most cases, it's very difficult for a physician to make a mistake that results in a patient's death," said Anupam Jena, HMS assistant professor of health care policy and of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and lead author of the study. "But for severely ill patients, health can be very tenuous. A small error or a very slight delay in care is potentially devastating."
Jena and colleagues analyzed cases from more than 1,400 hospitals using data from the U.S. Nationwide Inpatient Sample. They compared patients who came to teaching and non-teaching hospitals with acute myocardial infarctions, commonly known as heart attacks. The researchers separated cases into low-risk and high-risk categories and compared outcomes.
Overall, they found that patients at teaching hospitals had a lower risk of dying than at non-teaching hospitals, but in July, the risk at teaching hospitals rose to the same level that patients at non-teaching hospitals faced. For high-risk patients who came to the teaching hospitals with heart attacks, the risk of death in hospital went from 20 percent to 25 percent. They also found that among teaching hospitals, the difference between outcomes in May and July is greatest in institutions with the highest percentages of trainees.
The researchers ruled out two potential factors that they suspected may have accounted for some of that differencethe prevalence of percutaneous coronary intervention (i.e. cardiac stents) and of complications from the use of blood thinners.
Without evidence for specific procedures or protocols that could prevent increased deaths, the researchers said that their findings suggest that, especially during the early months in the training cycle, oversight should be intensively focused on high-risk cases rather than across cases overall. In July, doctors with more experience should play a greater role in the care of high-risk patients than has typically been the case.
"Teaching hospitals should revisit what steps are needed to safely and effectively care for high-risk patients in July," Jena said.
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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.
Steve Young learned about industrial musicals when he started coming across compilations, like this one, in used record stores. (You definitely want to click to enlarge this.)
Courtesy of Blast Books
Why would someone write a sentimental ballad about a bathroom? For the same reason someone would write a rousing song about tractors: So the song could be used in what's called an industrial musical.
These musicals were like Broadway shows, but they were written and performed for corporate sales meetings and conventions from the 1950s to the 1980s. The lyrics were all about the products being sold and how to sell them. Some of them were lavish and costly, even though they'd be performed only once.
And as ridiculous as the songs were, they were often written and performed by really talented people: John Kander and Fred Ebb, who wrote the songs for the musical Cabaret, did an industrial. And a few had lyrics by a young Sheldon Harnick, who co-wrote the songs for the Broadway hits Fiddler on the Roof,Fiorello! and She Loves Me.
Harnick and actor-singer John Russell performed in dozens of these musicals, and Steve Young has co-written a new book about the genre, called Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals.
Young is also a writer for The Late Show With David Letterman, where for a while he was the writer in charge of the regular feature "Dave's Record Collection."
Harnick, Russell and Young joined Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about the genre's history.
Interview Highlights
On the history of industrial musicals
Young: These are musicals — often full, Broadway-style musicals — that were written for company conventions and sales meetings. They were never for the public to hear; they were only to educate and entertain and motivate the sales force so they would leave the business meeting going out revved up to sell more bathtubs or typewriters or tractors or insurance plans, or what have you. ...
We've never had a full picture of how many shows were done. The souvenir records that I've been collecting are clearly the tiny minority of shows that were done, but I would say hundreds of companies were doing them over a period of decades.
On how each of them got involved or interested in industrial musicals, or "industrials"
Young: I've been a writer for The Letterman Show since the early '90s, and when I got to the show I was asked if I could head up the old "Dave's Record Collection" segment in which, on the show, Dave would hold up strange, unintentionally funny records, we'd hear a little clip, Dave would have a joke, we'd all go home heroes.
“ It's a very professional, romantic ballad about a bathroom. ... It's extremely well done.
- Sheldon Harnick
I was the one finding the strange records. And in these days, when there were still used record stores in the city, I would come home with William Shatner singing, or Hear How To Touch Type. I also started finding these very odd corporate artifacts that I didn't really understand at first, but I would find myself singing these songs to myself days or weeks later and thinking, "Why is this song about diesel engines so catchy? Why am I still wandering around singing about my insurance man?"
And it was because they were fabulously well done, in many cases. It was a hidden part of the entertainment world, but with huge budgets [and] professionals doing their best work, oftentimes. And I just decided I had to find out about this myself, and I began collecting and going to record shows [and] calling record dealers.
Harnick: I started writing lyrics out of desperation. I was broke and wondering where my next job, my next meal was coming from, although I had had several successful revue songs on Broadway. And then I got a phone call from an advertising agency. They did industrials: They helped write them; they produced them. And they had an in-house writer, and it turned out that they were doing a new industrial, I think it was for the Shell gasoline company, and whoever the executive was did not like what he had read, so they decided to get somebody else. They knew my revue songs, so I got a call to do an industrial, and I had no idea what that was.
Russell: I came to New York to be an actor, and the first industrial I did was for Bell Telephone. And it was choreographed by a lovely man named Frank Wagner, who was my dance teacher. I auditioned and I got the job, and that's what started me. That was in 1970, and over the next 25 years, I did 82 different industrial shows.
Young: This is from a 1969 American Standard convention show in Las Vegas, and it was for the distributors of all of the American Standard bathroom fixtures. Many of the songs on the record are filled with details about the new line of shower stalls and tubs, but this was really more of an anthem, an ode to the business as a whole — why they do what they do.
And it's a remarkable piece of work that I've been humming around the house for 20 years. And everybody who hears it is just floored by it, so I think it has some enduring value well beyond 1969 and the convention.
Harnick: It's a very professional, romantic ballad about a bathroom. ... It's extremely well done.
On the difficulty of writing lyrics for the Ford Tractor Company
Harnick: I remember my heart sank when the company gave me the information that I was supposed to put in the song. I thought, "Oh, good gracious, how am I going to do this and make it a singable song?" But I managed, and I managed particularly because [composer] Jerry Bock was so clever at taking all of these words, and some unmusical words, and finding ways to put them into singable songs.
On the purpose of these musicals
Young: There was the belief for quite a long time, I don't know if there was ever hard data to back it up, but if you bring everyone together for this thrilling theatrical experience — and it often actually was thrilling to the audience — then they'd have a sense of purpose, they would get out there, they would charge ahead and have a renewed energy for selling.
Many of the songs were packed with information about details of the new products, or the marketing strategies that were being presented. So you'd go home, ideally, all fired up, with a new sense of your pride in working for the company and a way forward for what you were going to do as a sales person.
On how audiences received industrial ballads
Young: Some of the composers I've spoken to over the years have told me they've seen audiences full of hardened sales executives and middle managers brought to tears by these beautifully crafted and performed songs that tell them, "What you're doing is important for you, for your family, for the company, for America, for the world." This was stuff that hit them right where they lived.
And yes, it was to promote sales, but it was also to tell them, "We understand what you do out there when you go into the field of battle, and we appreciate it, and you're not forgotten."
Google has added some new privacy controls to Google+ to give business users a more secure way to share sensitive information on the social network.
On Tuesday the company added "restricted communities" to Google+, as a way to have conversations on the social network but with privacy-aware controls. Users can decide whether to open the community to everyone at their company, or open only on an invite basis.
Communities in Google+ were designed to let people start conversations around any number of topics. But Google hopes the new feature will attract business users without them worrying about spilling company secrets on the site.
"At most organizations, it's important to make sure that private conversations remain private," Google+ Product Manager Michael Cai said in a blog post.
Whether it's designs for a product in beta testing, or notes from an off-site meeting, "anything you post will remain restricted to the organization," Cai said.
Administrators will be able to make restricted communities the default for their organization, Google said. After creating the restricted community, users can share files from Google's Drive file storage service as well as videos, events and photos. Administrators can later invite other team members to join the conversation, Google said.
Users can also create communities open to others outside the company, so clients, agencies and other business partners can join in, Google said.
Other social networking applications for business users include Yammer, Socialtext and Salesforce.com's Chatter service.
Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's email address is zach_miners@idg.com.
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The Supreme Court invokes "God" before every public session. Now the justices will weigh whether it is different, as a legal matter, for government meetings to include more explicitly sectarian prayers.
Evan Vucci/AP
The Supreme Court invokes "God" before every public session. Now the justices will weigh whether it is different, as a legal matter, for government meetings to include more explicitly sectarian prayers.
Evan Vucci/AP
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a case questioning the use of prayer at government meetings. But first, the marshal will ask "God" to "save the United States and this honorable court."
In 1983, the high court ruled that legislatures could begin their sessions with a prayer, as long as there is no attempt to proselytize or disparage any faith, and as long as the process for selecting the prayer-giver is not discriminatory. Since then, dozens of other cases have tested the constitutionality of prayers at government venues other than legislative sessions, with often conflicting rulings in the lower courts. Wednesday's case could produce some guidelines for the future. It involves almost exclusively Christian prayers that took place at one town's board meetings in upstate New York.
Until 1999, the town of Greece, N.Y., opened its board meetings with a moment of silence. But when John Auberger was elected supervisor, he instituted formal prayers, given by a rotating group of clergymen — a group that until 2008 was exclusively Christian. Often prayers were "in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who lives with you," for instance.
Two women objected to the prayers at board meetings and sued to stop the practice. One is an atheist; the other, Susan Galloway, is Jewish.
Galloway doesn't object to nonsectarian prayers, but she says that prayers alienate people from their government when they are connected to a particular religion. She has felt uncomfortable, she says, when she does not bow her head or stand as invited to do during the prayers.
"I don't feel like ... I'm welcome at my town government anymore," Galloway said in an interview with NPR. "My grandmother had to leave Russia because of the Cossacks. My father had to leave Germany because of Hitler." She feels strongly that Americans must "make sure that our government and religion are separate, because we are a diverse country." This is necessary, she says, to recognize diversity and "protect the minorities' rights."
Supervisor Auberger is no longer granting interviews, but earlier this year, in an interview with PBS, he explained why he instituted and has fought for prayers at board meetings. "Our Founding Fathers believed in the right for us to pray and have that freedom of expression in prayer," Auberger said, and the town of Greece is simply continuing that tradition. There are no guidelines for what prayers are appropriate, he said, because that would amount to censorship.
So, what if someone were to say, "Believe in Jesus or you'll burn in hell"?
"We could not object," Auberger says, "because our purpose is to allow ... a freedom of expression in their prayer."
The town of Greece has in fact become more diverse in its prayers since the lawsuit was filed in 2008. Among those who have offered prayers are a Jewish layman, the leader of a Baha'i assembly and a Wiccan priestess. But the prayers are still overwhelmingly Christian.
"The houses of worship in the Greece community are predominantly Christian," says lawyer Tom Hungar, who represents the town, and the prayer-givers who volunteer will inevitably reflect that make-up. "But anyone is free to pray," he says, and "the plaintiffs in this case were both offered the opportunity to deliver invocations."
"The plaintiffs don't want to give the prayers," responds Douglas Laycock, who represents those challenging the prayers. The town's claim of equal access, he says, is a myth — the board never announced that all comers were welcome to deliver the invocation, nor does it publicize its policy.
"The prayers here advance Christianity and they proselytize Christianity," Laycock says.
Laycock, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and one of the nation's leading scholars in this area, will tell the justices that town board meetings are very different from sessions of the legislature. Often the board meetings include high school classes, community members who are being honored, and those seeking action from the board.
"The way these meetings are structured, everyone is drawn into participation in the prayer," says Laycock. "You're either part of the prayer or you're visibly outing yourself as a religious dissenter." Ultimately, the challenge is "about protecting religious liberty for everybody, not just the majority but also the religious minorities," he says.
And if the town wants to have prayers at the beginning of meetings, Laycock contends, it should have guidelines for nonsectarian prayers.
But lawyer Hungar, representing the town, counters that the Supreme Court has said repeatedly that the courts should not be in the business of parsing prayers. "Government is not supposed to be in the business of telling prayer-givers what the content of their prayers should be," he says.
The history of this country, Hungar observes, began with public professions of religion. Indeed, prayers opened sessions of the first Congress — the Congress created by the same Constitution that included, as its First Amendment, a ban on government establishment of religion.
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The dramatic overhaul of Google Maps on the desktop saw the world lose a good friend. That friend: Pegman. The tiny yellow avatar that you could drop almost anywhere to get instant access to Street View disappeared. Instead, the ground level perspective was accessed by first clicking on a point on ...