Baby K'tan Teams up with Operation Shower to Honor Expectant ...

As a military mom, the news of this partnership really hit home for me and I wanted to share it with you. Check out the press release below for the full scoop, but don?t worry these military moms aren?t the only ones feeling the love this month. Baby K?tan will be giving out ten Baby K?tan Carriers through their Facebook page this month (enter through February 7, 2012) if you share why you love babywearing!

Baby K?tan carriers are nice compromise between a wrap and a structured carrier, where you avoid the hassle of yards of fabric to cross and tie, but still have the comfort of the soft cotton jersey fabric against your baby. The unique double loop design can be configured for many different carrying styles and I love the soft cotton knit fabrics when my little ones are newborns, but the pocket sling configuration gives me more support than others I own, because the K?tan uses both loops (layers) of fabric for this carry.

Go ahead and share your babywearing love on the Baby K?tan Facebook page for a chance to win!

DAVIE, FL (January 10, 2012) ? Expectant military moms will receive the baby shower they deserve, along with the unique Baby K?tan Baby Carrier, at the first three upcoming 2012 events hosted by Operation Shower.

Through Operation Shower and generous donors such as Baby K?tan, LLC, military moms-to-be are recognized and honored for their sacrifices. These companies partner to organize baby showers for expecting families in the armed services.

?Baby K?tan feels privileged to be able to support Operation Shower in this important endeavor to celebrate our military moms,? says Michal Chesal, President of Baby K?tan, LLC. ?In addition to our donation, we want to thank all of the new military moms for the sacrifices and contributions they, along with their families, make to better our country every day.?

Each mom-to-be will receive a stylish and unique award winning Baby K?tan Baby Carrier as well as gift boxes filled with baby supplies, clothing, toys, books, and more courtesy of Baby K?tan, LLC and other donors.

?Operation Shower celebrates and honors military families,? says LeAnn Morrissey, Chief Shower Officer. ?Thanks to our generous partners, we don?t just throw a party; we provide each family with all the essentials needed for a great beginning with their baby.?

Last April, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden and Martha Stewart visited the Red White & Coo shower at Camp LeJeune, NC hosted by Operation Shower to provide support and encouragement for the moms as they highlighted their initiative to challenge Americans to support and honor America?s service members and their families.

?We know that being a new mom has its own challenges, but these moms make even more sacrifices to protect our families, as well as their own, and we are honored to be part of such a worthy cause? says Chesal. ?We want to lessen their burden however we can.?

Both Operation Shower and Baby K?tan, LLC were founded in 2007, and have shown a devotion to giving back to the parenting community. Operation Shower has honored more than 400 families and hosted 12 unit-wide showers for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard. Baby K?tan LLC, founded by two families raising children with special needs, devotes a percentage of its proceeds to the American Heart Association, the National Down Syndrome Society and a number of local charities in addition to their new partnership with Operation Shower.

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Source: http://www.theclothdiaperreport.com/2012/02/baby-ktan-teams-up-with-operation-shower-to-honor-expectant-military-moms-dont-miss-their-valentines-day-giveaway.html

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Pythons link to mammals decline

Non-native Burmese pythons are the likely cause of a staggering mammal decline in Florida's Everglades.

In PNAS journal, they report that observations of some mammal species have declined by more than 99%.

A team studied road surveys of mammals in the Everglades National Park before and after pythons became common.

Researchers found a strong link between the spread of pythons and drops in recorded sightings of racoons, rabbits, bobcats and other species.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

They are a new top predator in Everglades National Park - one that shouldn't be there?

End Quote Prof Michael E Dorcas Davidson College, North Carolina

The national park covers the southern 25% of the original Everglades - a region of subtropical wetlands that has been drained over the last century to reclaim it for human use.

The origins of Burmese pythons in south Florida are unknown, but many were imported into the US through the pet trade.

As the pythons have made it from captivity into the wild, the absence of natural predators has allowed populations to balloon. Intermittent sightings were recorded for 20 years before the snakes were recognised as being established across the Everglades in 2000.

The pythons are now established across thousands of sq km in southern Florida. Although there are no accurate figures for how many there are, the numbers removed from the Everglades reached nearly 400 in 2009 and this has been increasing year-on-year (apart from a slight drop in 2010 due to a cold spell).

"Any snake population - you are only seeing a small fraction of the numbers that are actually out there," said Prof Michael Dorcas, one of the study's authors, from Davidson College in North Carolina.

He told BBC News: "They are a new top predator in Everglades National Park - one that shouldn't be there."

"We have documented pythons eating alligators, we have also documented alligators eating pythons. It depends on who is biggest during the encounter."

Earlier this month, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that the US was poised to approve a ban on importing Burmese pythons. But some observers remarked that the move was about 30 years too late.

Prof Dorcas and his colleagues looked at data on mammals found during roadkill surveys from 1993-1999, and on live and dead mammals encountered during nighttime road surveys from 1996-1997.

They then compared these results with similar data collected between 2003 and 2011, after the pythons were recognised as being established.

They found that observations of raccoons and opossums had dropped by about 99%. There had been a 94.1% fall in observations of white-tailed deer and an 87.5% decrease in sightings of bobcats.

No rabbits or foxes were seen during the more recent survey; rabbits were among the most common mammals in the roadkill survey between 1993 and 1999.

Getting ambushed?

The majority of these species have been documented in the diet of pythons found in the Everglades National Park. Indeed, raccoons and oppossums often forage at the water's edge, where they are vulnerable to ambush by pythons.

Observations of rodents, coyotes and Florida panthers had increased slightly, but the overall number of sightings remained low.

The researchers also found that the declines in mammals coincided geographically with the spread of Burmese pythons. Mammal species are more common in areas where pythons have only been recently introduced, and are most abundant outside the snakes' current range.

Prof Dorcas said more research was needed to assess the impact of such large declines. But he added: "It's not unreasonable to assume that any time we have major declines in mammals like this it's going to have overall impacts on the ecosystem. Exactly what those are going to be, we don't know. But it's possible they could be fairly profound."

The ban on importing Burmese pythons has come after five years of debate and lobbying in Washington DC. Florida's Democrat Senator Bill Nelson was among those who campaigned for a ban, unravelling the skin of a 5m-long Everglades python at a 2009 Senate hearing to make his point.

But reptile breeders and collectors had disputed that the tropical snakes posed much risk beyond south Florida and argued that any ban would harm a multi-million dollar industry.

Although the ban will not reverse the situation in southern Florida, where the reptiles are already established, Prof Dorcas said it could help prevent their spread to other suitable habitats in the US, such as southern Louisiana and south Texas.

Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16791094

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Warming in the Tasman Sea a global warming hot spot

Monday, January 30, 2012

Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.

The hotspots have formed alongside ocean currents that wash the east coast of the major continents and their warming proceeds at a rate far exceeding the average rate of ocean surface warming, according to an international science team whose work is published in the journal Nature Climate Change today.

Paper co-author, CSIRO's Dr Wenju Cai, said that while the finding has local ecological implications in the region surrounding the hotspots, the major influence is upon the ocean's ability to take up heat and carbon from the atmosphere.

In Australia's case, scientists report intensifying east-west winds at high latitudes (45?-55?S) pushing southward and speeding up the gyre or swirl of currents circulating in the South Pacific, extending from South America to the Australian coast. The resulting changes in ocean circulation patterns have pushed the East Australian Current around 350 kilometres further south, with temperatures east of Tasmania as much as two degrees warmer than they were 60 years ago. "We would expect natural change in the oceans over decades or centuries but change with such elevated sea surface temperatures in a growing number of locations and in a synchronised manner was definitely not expected," said CSIRO's Dr Wenju Cai.

"Detecting these changes has been hindered by limited observations but with a combination of multi-national ocean watch systems and computer simulations we have been able to reconstruct an ocean history in which warming over the past century is 2-3 times faster than the global average ocean warming rate," says Dr Cai, a climate scientist at CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Research Flagship.

The changes are characterised by a combination of currents pushing nearer to the polar regions and intensify with systematic changes of wind over both hemispheres, attributed to increasing greenhouse gases.

Dr Cai said the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been the major driver of the surface warming of the Earth over the 20th century. This is projected to continue.

He said the research points to the need for a long-term monitoring network of the western boundary currents. In March next year, Australian scientists plan to deploy a series of moored ocean sensors across the East Australian Current to observe change season-to-season and year-to-year.

###

CSIRO Australia: http://www.csiro.au

Thanks to CSIRO Australia for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117175/Warming_in_the_Tasman_Sea_a_global_warming_hot_spot

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This Is an Electric Scooter? [Scooters]

Boxx is a bizarre little creation. Combining an electric scooter with a very modern design, Boxx looks like hard drive on wheels. But with the ability to travel 80 miles at speeds up to 35 MPH, this thing is no child's toy, either. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cpchTrmTHRg/this-is-an-electric-scooter

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Missing toddler's blood found at dad's home

Police have told Trista Reynolds the 'significant amount' of blood found in the home where her missing daughter Ayla was last seen is indeed Ayla's.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

WATERVILLE, Maine -- Some of the blood found in a Maine home where a missing toddler was last seen six weeks ago belonged to the little girl, an official said Sunday.

State Police spokesman Steve McCausland would not say how much of Ayla Reynolds' blood was found in her father's home in Waterville, where exactly it was found or how long it might have been there.

"Our first priority is finding Ayla,? McCausland told the Bangor Daily News.


But investigators told Ayla's mother's family that the amount of blood was "more blood than a small cut would produce," according to a family-run website.

"Even in light of this evidence we are more determined than ever to find out what has happened to Ayla and we still cling to the hope that she is alive and will be returned to us," the website said. "We urge anyone that has information about Ayla to come forward now and unburden yourself of the truth."

According to Alya Reynolds' father, she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them when she was last seen on Dec. 16.

Broken arm
Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, reported her missing Dec. 17. He had put her to bed the night before and said she wasn't there the next morning. DiPietro told police she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them and had a soft cast on her broken left arm.

DiPietro could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday; his cellphone voicemail was full and unable to accept messages.

After hours of intense questioning, the mother of missing toddler Ayla Reynolds says she had to stop participating in a lie-detector test due to a medical condition. NBC's Aditi Roy reports.

Ayla was 20 months old when she disappeared. She had been staying with her father at the time in the house where DiPietro lives with his mother. Her mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.

The blood was among hundreds of pieces of potential evidence that were removed from the Waterville home as part of a criminal investigation into the girl's disappearance.

Trista Reynolds and DiPietro were photographed together at a vigil for Ayla on Saturday.

WCVB quoted Trista Reynolds as saying she was "ready to go knocking at people's doors myself because I want to know what happened to my daughter. "

'It was a surprise'
Trista Reynolds' father said the family was told late Saturday by McCausland that blood found in the home was determined to be Ayla's.

"It was a surprise," Ronald Reynolds said.

He said police did not give any indication what the discovery means.

Ronald Reynolds said he is convinced the family in DiPietro's house has more information than they have shared.

Trista Reynolds, the mom of missing Maine toddler Ayla, tells TODAY's Matt Lauer she's still suspicious of the baby's father for his sudden interest in the case.

"Every day, it gets hotter and hotter," he said. "I hope they pull them back in, set them down and give them the opportunity to say something."

DiPietro, his mother and a third adult were home the night of Dec. 16, and police have questioned all three, McCausland said Saturday.

"We believe they have not given us the full story," he said.

DiPietro has said he took a polygraph test, but has declined to say what the results were.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10267899-missing-toddler-ayla-reynolds-blood-found-at-dads-home-in-waterville-maine

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Private creditors: Deal with Greece close

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves Maximos Mansion after a meeting with Greek Prime minister Lucas Papademos, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara managing director of the Institute of International Finance arrives at Maximos Mansion for a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

(AP) ? Greece and its private creditors are very close to a deal that will significantly reduce the country's debt and give it more time to repay the rest of what it owes.

After three hours of talks with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Saturday, creditor representatives Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre issued a statement saying the two sides were "close to the finalization of a voluntary (private sector involvement) ... We expect to conclude next week as discussions on other issues move forward."

The statement also referred to "the framework expressed publicly earlier this week by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker in his capacity as Chairman of the Eurogroup."

The reference suggested the creditors had agreed with Juncker's proposal that the new bonds to be issued by Greece in place of the old ones should have an interest rate "clearly below 4 percent." The rate had been the main sticking point in the two-week-long talks as creditors had demanded a higher one.

Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman, Banque BNP Paribas, represented banks, insurance companies and other private holders of some euro206 billion ($270 billion) in Greek bonds.

While the details are not yet final, it is expected these bondholders will accept a 50 percent writedown in the value of their bondholdings, meaning Greece's debt will be reduced by just over euro100 billion. The maturities in the new bonds will also be longer.

An agreement with private creditors is also seen as a prerequisite for Greece to get a second, euro130 billion bailout from its EU partners and the International Monetary Fund, although there are other issues involved before Greece can get that aid.

The EU and the IMF have already signed off on a euro110 billion aid package, in May 2010, most of which has already been disbursed.

Dallara and Lemierre will leave Greece on Sunday and "will remain in close consultation with Greek and other authorities," the creditors' statement said.

___

Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-28-EU-Greece-Financial-Crisis/id-1c8b5bc017e8450183ca37171f9f71e3

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AP source: Tiebreaker game would decide divisions (AP)

NEW YORK ? A person familiar with the talks says baseball players and owners have reached an understanding that ties for division titles will be broken on the field under the new playoff format.

Since 1995, head-to-head record has been used to determine first place if both teams are going to the postseason. But with the start of a one-game, winner-take-all wild-card round, both sides agreed the difference between first place and a wild-card berth is too important to decide with a formula and a tiebreaker game would be played.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a deal hadn't been finalized.

A little more than two months before opening day, the sides still don't know whether the expanded playoffs will start this year. Negotiators plan to talk again next week and decide by March 1 whether the 2012 playoffs will have eight or 10 teams.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_expanded_playoffs

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Sprint Galaxy Nexus official Google sign-up page now live

Sprint Galaxy Nexus

The official Google sign-up page for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus is now live, waiting for all Sprint subscribers to register for "more information".  We've known it was coming since Sprint verified the rumors on January 9, and I know plenty of folks who are pretty darn excited at the prospect of an LTE powered Samsung Galaxy Nexus on the Now Network.  And who could blame them?  Ice Cream Sandwich on that gorgeous 720p display is a thing of real beauty, and pairing it with the last chance at unlimited data in the USA is a great idea.  

It should be the networks first LTE device, and we know it's coming with 32 GB of storage.  There's also a lot of rumors still going strong about features that may be different in the Sprint version.  Some think there may be a higher CPU speed (don't count on that one) because of an early advertisement that showed it with a 1.5 GHz CPU which may have been a misprint.  Also, because the folks at CES didn't want anyone to capture the back of the device on camera, many think it will have a larger stock battery than either the Verizon version or the GSM world version.  We'll have to wait and see, because at this point nobody has a clue just when we're going to see this one on the shelves.  Sprint's been cryptic, like smart companies always are, saying things like "soon" and "mid-2012".  Anyone who claims to have a date is just guessing for the most part, so we're not going to add to the confusion.

In any case, just about everyone reading this who uses Sprint is ready to get their paws on an LTE Galaxy Nexus, so proceed to try to crush the servers hosting the sign-up page with hope and love.  Then jump into the Sprint Galaxy Nexus forums and share your excitement with everyone in hopes that it makes the waiting seem shorter.

Source: Google; via  Android Central forums.  Thanks, DaEXfactoR!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/k61a4BPJaak/story01.htm

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America Movil to get control of Brazil's Net (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Cell phone company America Movil, owned by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, said on Friday it had approval from Brazil's telecom watchdog Anatel to take control of cable television company Net Servicos de Comunicacao.

Under terms of the deal, America Movil's Brazilian unit Embratel Participacoes will buy Grupo Globo Participacoes shares currently held by Net.

Once the deal closes, Embratel and its affiliates will have control of Net, the Mexican company said in a statement. No financial terms or share stakes were disclosed.

(Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/tc_nm/us_americamovil_net

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No. 12 UNLV beats Boise State 77-72 in OT (AP)

BOISE, Idaho ? Boise State came close Wednesday night to making its first big mark in the Mountain West Conference.

After mounting a second-half rally and taking No. 12 UNLV to overtime, the Broncos ultimately ran out of steam, were outscored 13-8 in the extra period and watched the Rebels walk out of Taco Bell Arena with a 77-72 victory.

"We'll let them mourn for a day, but then we've got to bounce back," said coach Leon Rice, whose team has lost five straight and is still looking for its first victory in the new conference. "I don't know if it was a moral victory. What it was was a heck of a basketball game."

After trailing for most of the first half, Boise State (10-9, 0-4) fought back in the second half and overcame a five-point deficit in the final 2:13 of regulation.

But the Broncos didn't save enough for overtime, and a UNLV offense led by Mike Moser and Oscar Bellfield proved to be too much.

Bellfield hit a 3-pointer, putting the Rebels (19-3, 3-1) up 70-65 with 2:03 left, and Moser sank a pair of free throws in the final minute to seal UNLV's third straight victory. Moser had 18 points and a season-high 21 rebounds despite playing through an illness that caused him to vomit twice before the game.

Derrick Marks led the Broncos with 21 points and Thomas Bropleh added 17 points and 13 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.

Making his second start of the season, Marks, a freshman, played his finest game. He was 7-of-13 shooting, had six rebounds and four assists and found a way to make big plays when his team needed them most.

"I feel bad that we lost," Marks said. "But I'm just proud of my team, how we fought for 40 minutes and in overtime."

Rice said there is plenty his team can take from such a tough loss. The Rebels are the highest-ranked team to play at Boise State since No. 9 Washington State visited in 2007.

"What I think we've shown is we can compete in stretches. The stretches are getting longer," Rice said.

In the second half, Boise State briefly grabbed the lead when Bropleh hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. He followed by hitting the free throw to give the Broncos a 33-31 edge with 17:50 left.

Then Moser took over, hitting three 3-pointers over the next 3 minutes, the last one putting the Rebels up 43-39. Kendall Wallace hit a 3 on the next Rebels possession and Bellfield followed moments later with a fast-break layup to put UNLV in front 48-39 with 12:51 to go.

Yet the Broncos, bolstered by a rowdy crowd, refused to quit. A stingy defense and an offense sparked by Tre' Nichols helped Boise State outscore the Rebels 13-6 over the next 5 minutes. Nichols scored nine points during a 5-minute span and his 3-pointer with 5:55 left put the Broncos up 56-55.

"We knew that tonight would be a tremendous challenge," UNLV coach Dave Rice said. "We're still learning how to play well when it's a big game for the other team. And this was a big game for Boise State."

Bellfield hit a 3-pointer with 4:39 left to put the Rebels up 63-59 and Brice Massamba hit one of two free throws on the following possession to give the Rebels a 64-59 lead.

Boise State responded when Anthony Drmic hit a 3-pointer, and Marks sank both free throws with 59 seconds left to tie the game at 64. Both teams had shots in the final minute, but the Rebels failed to get a clean look and Moser swooped in to deflect Bropleh's last-second 3 before the buzzer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/bkc_t25_boise_st

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