Sunday, September 30, 2012

Russian Orthodox Church asks for clemency for jailed Pussy Riot rockers if they repent

MOSCOW - The Russian Orthodox Church is asking for clemency for three jailed members of the rock band Pussy Riot if they repent for their "punk prayer" for deliverance from President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral.

Sunday's church statement comes a day before the women's first appeal since they were convicted on hooliganism charges and sentenced to two years last month.

The church said that if the women make statements showing "penitence and reconsideration of their action," they "shouldn't be left unnoticed."

Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that keeping them in prison any longer would be "unproductive" ? a statement that encouraged hopes the appeals court could set them free. But skeptics pointed at the Kremlin's ongoing crackdown on dissent, saying that their release would be unlikely.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-orthodox-church-asks-clemency-jailed-pussy-riot-105201105.html

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Original 2007 Google-powered iPhone maps app reportedly built by 2 engineers in 3 weeks

I've read more than I ever wanted to about maps this week, but this story about how the original, Google-powered Maps.app was built for the original iPhone caught my attention. Here it s from Nick Wingfield and Brian X. Chen of The New York Times:

Including a maps app on the first iPhone was not even part of the company?s original plan as the phone?s unveiling approached in January 2007. Just weeks before the event, Mr. Jobs ordered a mapping app to show off the capabilities of the touch-screen device.

Two engineers put together a maps app for the presentation in three weeks, said a former Apple engineer who worked on iPhone software, and who declined to be named because he did not want to speak publicly about his previous employer. The company hastily cut a deal with Google to use its map data.

2 engineers. 3 weeks. Apple has spent the last year or more and who knows how many engineering hours trying to roll a new maps app. It looks nice, but iOS 6 Maps currently locates my house in the middle of a park, when I try to find a place to get my car rust proofed -- because winter is coming -- I get the wrong area code and a phone number that consists only of 443-0, and if I want to take a train downtown I suddenly need to buy an app for that.

Yet in 2007 Google's data was good enough for 2 Apple engineers to make a decent, if feature limited iPhone app in 3 weeks. That just goes to show you how important data quality is for something like maps, and how little a nice looking interface matters when you can't find something on it.

Apple's CEO, Tim Cook has already apologized for the current status of iOS 6 Maps, but not for taking away Google's much more reliable data. I don't expect him to either, any more than I expect Apple to apologize for dumping Safari RSS or X11.

People keep saying iOS 6 Maps will get better just by virtue of all of us using it. I'll correct my house, and use Google to find and correct the phone number of the anti-rust place (no idea how I can help fix the lack of train information though...) But it's going to take a lot more than me, or any of us, simply feeding Apple data to make a proper maps app. It's going to take Apple investing as heavily and determinedly as Google has over the last decade, but doing it much, much, much faster. It's going to take tons of money and a Herculean effort. Apple has tons of money. Let's hope Cook and company are serious about putting in the effort.

Until Apple mapping data is at least good enough for 2 engineers to build a pretty good app out of it in just 3 weeks...

Source: The New York Times



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tn5KU9WlL1w/story01.htm

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NFL refs approve deal, ready for Sunday games

NFL head linesman Tom Stabile, left, and referee Ed Hochuli arrive at an Irving, Texas hotel Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. Officials started arriving Friday to discuss and vote on an agreement reached with the league late Wednesday. Some planned to fly directly to their assigned cities for Sunday's game. The deal must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 members. (AP Photo/Nomaan Merchant)

NFL head linesman Tom Stabile, left, and referee Ed Hochuli arrive at an Irving, Texas hotel Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. Officials started arriving Friday to discuss and vote on an agreement reached with the league late Wednesday. Some planned to fly directly to their assigned cities for Sunday's game. The deal must be ratified by 51 percent of the union's 121 members. (AP Photo/Nomaan Merchant)

(AP) ? NFL officials ended their labor dispute with the league by approving a new eight-year contract with a 112-5 vote Saturday, then hustled off to the airport to get to work.

Next stop, stadiums around the country.

And, the officials hope, anonymity.

"The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we got in the locker room, I said, 'You know, the best thing about this game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,'" said Scott Green, president of the referees' association. "That's how we like to work."

The vote ended a labor spat that created three weeks of increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew criticism of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.

"It was pretty much 'Come on in and vote,'" Green said. "We're going to talk football now. We're going to stop talking about CBAs and lockouts and now we're going to talk about rules and video and getting ourselves ready to work football games."

They may get ovations similar to the one bestowed on the crew that worked Thursday's Cleveland-Baltimore game with the tentative deal in place.

The referees met for about an hour and a half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30 minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.

"We are obviously pleased to hear it," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday.

Because they were aware of the financial parameters, most of the discussion by the referees involved non-economic issues such as year-round work and developmental squads, said Tim Millis, the association's executive director.

The deal came together quickly this week after an increasing chorus of complaints became impossible to ignore when a disputed touchdown call on the final play gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers on national television Monday night.

Many thought the ruling of a Seattle touchdown instead of a Green Bay interception was botched, and the labor dispute drew public comments from Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

By late Wednesday, the sides had a contract calling for refs' salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service.

The defined benefit plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution.

Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials to work year-round. The NFL also can retain additional officials for training and development and assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.

The officials that worked Thursday's Ravens-Browns game were cheered from the moment they walked onto the field. The difference between the regular crew and replacements was clear. The officials kept the game in control, curtailing the chippy play and choppy pace that had marred the first three weeks of the regular season.

"I think the thing we're most proud of is the lesson that we all learned," Green said. "If you're going to be in a professional league, you've got top-notch coaches, you need professional officials as well."

___

Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-09-29-Refs%20Return/id-11609a7af2d44cf4af1c1ee4c372fad3

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80 Coolest Homemade Halloween Crafts for Kids | Family Holiday

Halloween crafts are fun for children to do without too much preparation (and adults) of all ages too. Homemade Halloween crafts provide hours of kids fun for parents and children. These are easy Homemade Halloween craft projects you can dream up, from wicked witch crafts, bats and cats, candy corn, monsters ghoulish ghosts, skeletons, to grinning pumpkins of all sorts and folk art Halloween crafts to creepy-crawly spiders and spooky black cat crafts. Over 80 craft ideas more to Halloween than just costumes and Trick or treating that are just the right amount of spooky for you! The best thing about Homemade Halloween crafts are that these projects use materials found at any home that offers a cheap way to decorate for Halloween. There is plenty of fun Halloween crafts that anyone can do at home.

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Source: http://www.familyholiday.net/80-coolest-homemade-halloween-crafts-for-kids

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