easy entertaining recipes: June 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Jabra BT2080 Bluetooth headset review

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Using a Bluetooth headset – especially when you drive – should be standard practice. If you want the safety of hands free without breaking the bank, look at the Jabra BT2080.
More and more states are adopting laws that impose heavy fines for those who operate their phones while driving. While not getting caught and not having to pay a fine are certainly good motivators, the biggest one should be safety. A distracted driver is a dangerous driver and a dangerous driver is someone we want to avoid – not someone we strive to become.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Plankton hunting: part art, part science

We?re in a new location now after a few days of steaming around looking for Ehux. Plankton hunting is a science, but I?ve learned that it?s also an art. The team uses really high tech satellite data to point them in the right direction. Satellites can measure chlorophyll content of the water, currents and the height of the ocean. They can generate a picture of the region we?re in, and how much phytoplankton is there (for more on how that works, check out a previous post). On the ground, erm, sea, the boat is equipped with a fluorometer that reads how much chlorophyll is in the water (a rough measure of how many phytoplankton there are). The genetics team on board can sample, and do analyses to see whether Ehux and its virus?s genes are in the water. Other scientists can look under the microscope and identify the coccolithophores that are there.

Here?s the most recent satellite image the scientists have. It shows the big red patch, which they hope is a bloom of Ehux ? and the green labels are where the ship has stopped. It also shows a weird little doughnut hole of low chlorophyll (now officially named ?da hole? by the science team). Yesterday we swooped down to da hole to see what was going on, and now we?re back up at the northernmost green spot there.

But there are limitations to all these methods. The satellite data they?re using is about 24 hours old. By the time we get there, the booming plankton population could be gone. And those big red patches don?t necessarily mean Ehux. They could be a bloom of some other kind of plankton, like diatoms. The fluorometer has the same problem: it tells the scientists how much chlorophyll there is, but chlorophyll is found in all sorts of phytoplankton ? not just Ehux.

The units on the Y-axis there is voltage (measured in mV). The spike in the evening happens almost every night, since the daylight quenches some of the fluorescence of the chlorophyll before it can get to the fluorometer.

There are also less scientific measures. For instance, the water where we?re at today looks far greener than the water did where we were earlier. That?s not such a terrible measure of how many plankton are there. But are they the right plankton?

Our last stopping place (left) compared to this one (right).

And then, when they pause to scope out an area, how much Ehux is enough to stop the boat and spend four days sampling? There?s a fine balance between chasing after the biggest bloom, and settling for a middle-of-the-road level of plankton. Do you spend the whole cruise looking for the perfect spot, or do you stop at a few averages places, and work with what?s there?

So finding the blooms and deciding when to stick around is a big part of the success of this cruise ? but it?s not an entirely scientific process. Gut and intuition play a role too. We?ve just stopped the boat here ? where the northern most green dot is on the satellite map ? for a few days. It?s not a huge bloom, but there are Ehux here and the scientists have decided that it?s better to get some data than keep on chasing plankton waterfalls (which, as TLC explains, is unwise).

During this trip, I?ll be answering your questions about the science, this boat, and life onboard. Want to know how we search for plankton, why we?re here, or what the food is like? Just ask me! And if you?re wondering how I got here, check out the groups that made this adventure possible: Mind Open Media and COSEE NOW.

Previously in this series:

All Aboard: how you can be a part of our research blog
You wanted to know: what are these phytoplankton?
You wanted to know: what am I bringing to sea?
Greetings from Ponta Delgada! We set sail tomorrow.
Steaming North: how the scientists are trying to find plankton
The superstar sensor: what is a CTD?
Status Update: Day 3 at the Cyclonic Eddy
You wanted to know: what is this virus that infects the phytoplankton (Part One)
You wanted to know: what is this virus that infects the phytoplankton (Part Two)

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Was This Indestructible Axe Made By the Same Craftsmen Who Created Thor's Hammer? [Tools]

Click here to read Was This Indestructible Axe Made By the Same Craftsmen Who Created Thor's Hammer?

The best feature of this seemingly indestructible fiberglass-handled hatchet isn't that you can repeatedly drive a tractor over it without snapping the handle. No, it's that the axe can be used by anyone with $30 to spare—unlike Thor's hammer which can only be wielded by the mythical hero of Norse legend. More »

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Officials: Israel bombs Hamas security targets in Gaza

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Rodman's ex-wife keeps restraining order against former NBA star

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Marvelous Flight of Cara: Long-distance relationships;

You know what I don't write about nearly enough? Long distance relationships. Not the dating kind, because those have a pain all their own (Dan and I spent the first two months of our courtship 2,500 miles apart), but the family kind. The kind where your niece is growing up somewhere in the country and your biggest fear is that she won't know you; that your brother, your dear big brother, is in the Army and over in Afghanistan for a year, so of course your relationship with him has gotten better and been deeper than it ever has before; that your parents, your two best friends in the world who have always been there for you and who love you more than anything in the universe, are 2,500 miles away still back in Pennsylvania, and the tears are officially coming now. That your sister-in-law and you never have been really close, but how you want to be, and how the distance makes it that much harder; that your two best friends in the galaxy who just so happen to be married to each other are in a different country, and are going through pregnancy without you, and how you're longing to just touch the baby bump and pray over the momma and dear little bean all the time.

It is so difficult, so painful, and I have no idea why God allows it. How I wish He would just let my favorite man on the planet aka my hubs, and I to live in a small village with our dearest friends and family, and to be protected from sin and sickness... er, I guess that's called Heaven. But please Lord, I would like that sometime during this life on this side of eternity. I trust Your perfect plan; I trust your transformation in all of those I love lives and how your two biggest desires are for Your glory and for us to be more like Christ. Thank you for the privilege to suffer with you.

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Wind Energy Update: Wind energy supply chain best practice from the oil and gas industry

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Sonos Lands $135M For Its Classy Wireless Home Audio Systems

Sonos, the developers of a sexy, high-end wireless home audio system, has raised $135 million in funding led by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Previous investors Redpoint Ventures and Elevation Partners also contributed to the round, bringing the company's total funding to just under $200 million. As part of the round, KKR's David Kerko, Elevation Managing Director Fred Anderson, and Rhode Island School of Design President John Maeda will be joining the company's board of directors. The participation of Elevation's Avie Tevanian and Fred Anderson in the investment is of particular note, as both are former Apple executives, with Anderson being the former CFO.

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Video: Jamie Dimon Back on Capitol Hill

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NRCC: ?Obamacare? Taxes Sick Puppies

A Republican claim that the federal health care law taxes ?heart attacks, sick puppies and even new babies? is a dog. Turns out it?s a reference to excise taxes on certain medical devices.

The National Republican Congressional Committee crams a highlight reel of misleading claims about the health care law into a 90-second video that encourages viewers to sign an ?I Want Repeal? petition. We?ve seen most of these before, but the claim about puppies and babies was new to us. And we found it takes more stretching than a puppy with fleas to make those claims hold up.

With the Supreme Court poised to announce its decision on the constitutionality of the health care law, the NRCC hopes to turn up the heat on opposition to the law with an online petition and a campaign using the twitter hashtag #IwantRepeal.

As we said, most of the claims we?ve seen before, but we?ll start with one we hadn?t.

Taxes on Heart Attacks, Sick Puppies and New Babies?

The video claims the health care law includes ?taxes on heart attacks, sick puppies and even new babies.? The video doesn?t mention it, but what it is referring to is a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Sec. 9009) that spells out excise taxes on manufacturers of medical devices. In order to help pay for the expansion of health coverage for the uninsured, the law includes a 2.3 percent tax on certain medical devices starting in 2013. It?s expected to bring in $20 billion over 10 years. Proponents say device makers will sell more devices and reap more profits when an additional 30-some million potential customers gain health coverage and can afford them.

Not all medical devices are taxable. Those sold retail (directly to the consumer), for example, are exempt. So are device manufacturers that bring in revenues under $5 million a year.

Among the devices that are taxable: cardiac defibrillators, pacemakers, stents (?heart attack?-related devices) and ultrasound equipment (?new baby?-related). Most experts, including the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, expect at least some of the cost of the tax on manufacturers of medical devices to be passed on to consumers via higher health insurance premiums.

So that?s how the NRCC gets to its argument that the law includes taxes on heart attacks and new babies.

So what about taxes on ?sick puppies??

This also relates to the tax on medical devices. The NRCC passed along a report from the Internal Revenue Service that addressed the issue of whether veterinary devices would be subject to the tax. The gist of it is that taxable devices are those ?intended for humans.? So if a medical device is exclusively used for veterinary medicine, it would not be taxable.

But there are also medical devices used in veterinary practices as well as in human medicine. The IRS says those would be taxable.

Steven T. Miller, deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, IRS: The commentator suggested that if the manufacturer can demonstrate that a device is sold for use in veterinary medicine, the excise tax should not be imposed on that sale. The proposed regulations do not adopt this suggestion because the statutory language does not limit the definition of ?taxable medical device? to devices intended exclusively for humans. Therefore, a device that is intended for humans but that is also intended for use or used in veterinary medicine is a ?taxable medical device? if it is listed as a device with the FDA pursuant to FDA requirements, and does not fall within an exemption under section 4191(b)(2), such as the retail exemption.

Gerrit Lansing, digital director at the NRCC, told us via email that the video was trying to make a point about medical device taxes (though, again, medical device taxes are never even mentioned in the video, and it only briefly flashes the image of a defibrillator, so the connection would be obscure to the casual viewer).

Lansing, June 18: The point of these labels is to demonstrate how absurdly broad the application of the medical device tax is. The medical device tax would basically tax all medical devices?in the most open-ended sense of the word ?device??that are not sold at retail. That means every medical procedure would be subject to a tax because there are devices necessary to those procedures that would fall under the limitlessly broad scope of the provision.

If HHS wants to further clarify what specific procedures and devices are safe from the tax, that?s up to them. But as it stands now, they haven?t done so.

The NRCC points to an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that says the cost of those taxes ?will ultimately show up in insurance premiums.? Or, it says, companies will ?offset the costs with layoffs or by slashing research and development.?

But it?s one thing to argue that taxes on medical device manufacturers may lead to higher health insurance premiums, and another to say the law directly taxes such things as ?heart attacks, sick puppies or even new babies.?

The Kitchen Sink

Those were not the only misleading claims in the video. The fast-talking narrator rattles off buzzwords like ?government takeover? and ?grandma?s health care,? repeating the same old bogus bits we?ve fact-checked again and again. Such as:

?Massive government takeover of health care.? Actually, the law expands business for private insurance companies by requiring nearly everyone to have health insurance. Medicaid eligibility is also increased, but this is no government-run system, as single-payer advocates wanted. And as we?ve noted again and again, government already accounted for 43.6 percent of all health care spending before the new law was enacted, and that share is projected to rise by 3.8 percentage points by 2015, a year after the law takes full effect. Plus, much of that increase would happen anyway as more and more seniors reach Medicare age.

?Rising premiums.? Experts say the law thus far is responsible for a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in employer-sponsored premiums, due to new benefits, such as no preexisting condition exclusions for children and allowing dependents to stay on their parents? insurance until age 26. That means the bulk of the 9 percent average premium increase recorded from 2010 to 2011 is due to rising medical costs, as usual.

?Cut $500 billion from Medicare.? The law reduces the growth in future Medicare spending by $500 billion over 10 years. As we?ve noted before, one political party?s proposed ?savings? from Medicare is cast as a ?cut? by the other party.

?Installed an unelected board of 15 bureaucrats to essentially ration grandma?s healthcare.? They?re not bureaucrats, and the law says they can?t ration care. Instead, the Independent Payment Advisory Board is charged with finding ways to slow down the growth of Medicare spending, and its 15 voting members will be medical professionals, economists, health care experts, and consumer and senior representatives.? The board?s suggestions ?shall not include any recommendation to ration health care? or ?restrict benefits,? according to the law. And Congress can reject the board?s proposals.

?[HHS Secretary] Kathleen Sebelius handed out hundreds and hundreds of Obamacare waivers to the Democrats? friends in big labor.? These temporary waivers didn?t only go to labor unions but to hundreds and hundreds more non-labor unions, such as McDonald?s and Ruby Tuesday. The waivers only exempt the companies from one requirement of the law and only until 2014. They allow the companies to continue to offer so-called ?mini-med? plans that offer limited benefits and low annual spending limits for low-income employees until 2014, when those employees would have an alternative for insurance coverage through the state-based exchanges. The law requires a higher and higher cap on annual benefit limits until that year, when companies won?t be allowed to have any annual spending limits on most benefits. Thirty-four waivers were granted to union plans and 417 were granted to group plans created by unions and multiple employers. All told, that?s 37 percent of the 1,231 total waivers granted. Unions apparently did not receive special favors: Many unions and multi-employer groups are listed among the 144 applications that were denied.

?Adds $340 billion to the deficit and costs us $1.7 trillion that we don?t have.? Actually, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has long said that the law is expected to reduce the deficit. The CBO estimated that the law would decrease the deficit by $210 billion over the 2012-2021 period (see Table 1). The $1.7 trillion figure is the gross costs of the insurance coverage provisions over an 11-year period, 2012-2022. But CBO projects the law?s costs will be more than offset by the revenue-raising provisions and by the restraint on future Medicare spending.

And there?s more. The NRCC video says the law could cause ?a possible doctor shortage.? With 30 million to 33 million more Americans gaining insurance under the law, there is concern that doctors? offices will be packed and wait times will increase. But the alternative, of course, would be keeping those millions of Americans off the insurance rolls. The federal law does include incentives for doctors to go into general practice ? offering scholarships and loans to medical students and increasing graduate training positions, especially for primary care. The law also increases Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to primary care physicians. It remains to be seen what impact this will have on the supply of doctors.

Finally, the video claims that the law has led to ?dropped coverage.? But the NRCC didn?t send us any evidence that the law had caused employers to drop coverage. Instead, it sent us information on surveys that found employers, overall, weren?t sure what they would do once the law is fully implemented.

One survey asked small-business owners how likely they would be to consider dropping health coverage ?[i]f a substantial share of employees ? became eligible for a significant government subsidy to pay for health insurance they purchased from a government sponsored exchange.? Nearly 26 percent said they were ?very likely? and 31.5 percent said they were ?somewhat likely? to ?seriously explore the idea? under that condition. And in a follow-up question, those businesses said most, if not all, employees would have to leave for the exchanges before they?d drop coverage: Thirty-five percent said ?all? full-time employees would have to leave on their own, and 43.4 percent said ?a majority? would have to do so.

That study also comes from the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes the law and in fact filed a lawsuit against it.

Another survey, by McKinsey & Co., found that ?[m]ore than 30 percent of employers overall, and 28 percent of large ones, say they will definitely or probably drop coverage after 2014? (our emphasis added). But, again, that?s because employees would have the option of joining state-based exchanges. The report found that ?most? employers would increase compensation if health benefits were dropped and that the possible change in health coverage could well benefit employees. ?This development should not suggest, however, that employers considering the elimination of [employer-sponsored insurance] are focused exclusively on the bottom line, at the expense of their employees. In fact, because of the subsidies, many low-income employees will be able to obtain better health coverage, for less out of pocket, on an exchange than from their employer,? the report said.

Yet another survey cited by the NRCC fails to provide evidence that the law will cause employers to leave employees without health care. That 2012 poll, by Towers Watson, a business and human resources consulting firm, found that ?23% of companies are very confident that they will continue to offer health care benefits for the next 10 years,? a metric that the group says ?has steadily deteriorated since 2007.? As for a direct impact of the health care law, the survey found that only 3 percent of companies were ?somewhat or very likely? to drop plans for workers who would receive no subsidy in 2014 or 2015, and 45 percent were ?somewhat to very likely? to offer insurance to some employees, sending the rest to the exchanges.

So where does all that leave us? Paul Fronstin, director of the health research program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, told us that ?the only thing that the surveys really say about what employers might do is that it?s on their mind.? Said Fronstin: ?I think it?s just way too early to know what employers are going to do. They don?t know what they?re going to do.?

The NRCC also points to a CBO report that said under its most pessimistic scenario 20 million workers could lose their employer-sponsored coverage. But that scenario was one of four analyzed by the CBO, which said it was more likely that 3 million to 5 million would lose employer coverage on net, with some of those workers voluntarily choosing a plan from another source. The CBO?s optimistic scenario found that more workers, not fewer, would receive employer-based plans.

? Robert Farley and Lori Robertson

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Oil above $83 as traders eye Iran nuclear talks

(06-18) 21:54 PDT SINGAPORE, (AP) --

Oil hovered above $83 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as traders closely watched talks between Iran and six world powers over the Middle Eastern country's nuclear program.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 16 cents to $83.11 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 76 cents to settle at $83.27 in New York on Monday.

In London, Brent crude for August delivery was up 5 cents at $96.10 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Negotiators from Iran are in talks with counterparts from six world powers ? the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany ? Monday and Tuesday in Moscow, the third such meeting in recent months.

On Monday, Iran became more adamant that the world must ease the sanctions choking off its oil sales before it will curb activities that could be used to make nuclear arms. But the six world powers insisted that Tehran take the first conciliatory step.

Crude has plunged from $110 in February as fears eased that the U.S. or Israel would attack Iranian nuclear facilities and disrupt global oil supplies. Signs of slowing economic growth and oil demand in the U.S., Europe and China have also pushed prices lower.

"Softening Iranian tensions and deteriorating fundamentals are responsible for the majority of the correction," Morgan Stanley said in a report. "New signs of emerging market weakness, in China in particular, present downside risks to global demand growth. A fall in Brent to the low $90s is possible."

In other energy trading, heating oil was up 0.4 cent at $2.62 per gallon while gasoline futures rose 0.1 cent at $2.59 per gallon. Natural gas gained 1.5 cents at $2.65 per 1,000 cubic feet.

___

Follow Alex Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/alexkennedy_ap

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US Olympic horses travel to London in style

FILE - In this Aug. 12, 2008 file photo, Gold medalist, German rider Hinrich Romeiker, celebrates with his horse Marius after winning the Eventing Individual at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Equestrian in Hong Kong. Bringing horses across the Atlantic for Olympic equestrian competition is a logistical feat _ one small example of the many people and efforts under way in the shadows to make the games go off without a hitch. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

LONDON (AP) ? They didn't have to absolutely, positively get them there overnight, but when the U.S. Equestrian Federation sent some of its horses to London for the Olympics, it was a special delivery.

The elite U.S. three-day eventing equine squad landed in London on Monday on a FedEx flight, having taken the red eye from Newark, N.J. They're not the first competitors to arrive as the countdown to the games clicks to less than 40 days away, but they are among the most pampered.

"They are all special," said Tim Dutta, who owns the international horse transport company that organized the trip. "We are working on everybody's dream."

Bringing these elite athletes across the Atlantic Ocean is a logistical feat ? one small example of the many people and efforts under way behind the scenes to make the games go off without a hitch. This is particularly true for horses ? the only animals that take part in the games, which start July 27 and end Aug. 12.

Let's just start by saying that these 10 are not just any old group of horses. These animals have passports that would be the envy of any human wishing to travel the world. That said, they get used to traveling, and most of the time, they don't ask for much ? not even an in-flight meal.

But grooms traveling with Twizzel, Mighty Nice, Arthur and the other seven horses that made the journey would maybe give them a bit of hay.

Horses like these can move in their boxes quite a bit, unlike human sardines on regular flights. But in case any of them gets bothered by the noise, the grooms might stuff some cotton in their ears, says Dr. Brendan Furlong, the veterinarian for the American eventing team.

Carrots are always a good way to calm any horse who gets nervous ? or even a horse tranquilizer in the rare case a prized animal gets really edgy. The goal is to get them to London stress-free.

As for the grooms, the vet, and the other humans that cater to these pampered prancers, well, they aren't exactly going first class. Furlong says he'll usually ask the pilots to keep the plane kind of cool, so sometimes this crowd finds itself wrapped in blankets to keep warm. There's no in-flight movie, so jokes about whether they choose between "Seabiscuit" or "War Horse" don't really cut it.

"It's not a job for the faint of heart," Furlong said. "You need to have someone who is a very confident flier and who can intervene quickly to calm a stressed horse."

After all, 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of stressed horse can be an intimidating prospect.

Furlong says the crews are usually very accommodating ? and always want to come back even briefly to see their precious cargo.

But even these horses didn't escape Britain's strict rules on quarantine. Furlong arranged to have a farm near Newark International Airport set up as a special quarantine area to comply with the U.K.'s rules ? though admittedly the cherished 10 only needed five hours of intense scrutiny to meet the criteria. Nothing but the best for this crowd. Really.

But do they know ? do the horses know that it's the Olympics? That it's a special event that happens only every four years?

Dutta swears they do.

"They're athletes," Dutta said of horses that jump big big fences and run oh so fast. "They love what they do."

Associated Press

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Video: Europe?s crisis affects U.S. economy

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

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Audi's e-Tron becomes the first hybrid to win Le Mans, saves the planet at the same time

Audi's R-18 e-Tron diesel-electric hybrid has become the first car of its kind to win the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race. Audi and Toyota both submitted environmentally friendly racers, but the latter's LMP1 crashed, which left the German automaker to a 1-2 finish (while a pair of non-hybrid racers placed third and fifth, respectively). Unlike battery-based hybrids, the R-18 uses a hefty turbo-diesel V6 pushing power to the back wheels, along with a flywheel to recover braking energy and drive a motor attached to the front wheels. The company has revealed that it's actually testing this far cheaper, battery-free system in a production vehicle, so perhaps it's only a matter of time before you'll be able to go a full day on a tank -- give or take the odd rest stop.

Continue reading Audi's e-Tron becomes the first hybrid to win Le Mans, saves the planet at the same time

Audi's e-Tron becomes the first hybrid to win Le Mans, saves the planet at the same time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jun 2012 05:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Suu Kyi: Nobel Peace Prize shattered my isolation

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Tom Cruise Just Had 'Fun' In 'Rock Of Ages'

'I'm always looking for different things to do,' Cruise says of why he wanted to play egomaniacal rock god Stacee Jaxx.
By Kara Warner

Tom Cruise in "Rock of Ages"
Photo:

If you've seen or heard anything about this week's heavily hyped movie musical "Rock of Ages," our Friday, you're likely well aware of the fact that one of its key selling points is Tom Cruise, who not only sings but dances his way through his supporting role.

In the film, based on the Broadway play of the same name, Cruise plays the self-obsessed, egomaniacal rock god Stacee Jaxx, a role the Hollywood veteran said he enjoyed because it was such a big change from anything he's done previously.

"It was so different. I'm always looking for different things to do and to work with [director Adam] Shankman on a musical, he just really knows these musicals," Cruise said at the film's Los Angeles premiere. "And [to work with] Alec Baldwin, who I've known and admired, I have a scene with him and Paul Giamatti and Julianne [Hough] and Diego [Boneta] and Catherine Zeta-Jones — I wish I had more scenes with her, she's just a legend in the musical world. All of it was fun."

Cruise's young co-star, newcomer Boneta, had nothing but high praise about his experience working alongside the "Mission: Impossible" star.

"He's the hardest-working guy we've ever met in our lives," Boneta said, speaking for himself and co-star Julianne Hough. "He's so humble. I think that combination is something that really stuck with me. This is my first movie; this is Tom's, like, 50th movie. That is a rare and very special combination."

Boneta said he will never forget the months of preparation for the role because he got to learn guitar and jam with Cruise.

"Tom and I were taking guitar classes together because we both had to learn how to play guitar, and it was pretty surreal jamming out with Tom singing 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn,' " Boneta recalled. "He was playing the solo, and I was playing all the chords and stuff."

Check out everything we've got on "Rock of Ages."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Friday, June 15, 2012

New York Startup: Return On Change Crowd Investing For High ...

As we get closer and closer to the SEC?s July 4th deadline to come up with rules for crowdfunding startups, we?re likely to see more and more crowdfunding startups emerge. Earlier this month we reported on Ohio crowdfunding startup Fundable who has already opened for business, with a more traditional Kickstarter, Indiegogo model until the crowdfunding rules are announced and brokers are approved.

A New York startup called Return on Change LLC, has also thrown their hit in the crowdfunding arena. They?re now in a private beta and promise to provide a way for investors to connect with game-changing startups.

?The timing could not be better,? said Sang Lee, founder of Return on Change. ?We saw the huge potential in crowdfunding, and now, with the signing of the JOBS bill, look forward to connecting investors with ventures that can make a real difference.?

RoC also announced a contest that provides incentives for startups to register. The first 100 startups that meet RoC?s criteria will have the opportunity to win one of three $1,000 funding prizes. The company is seeking startups in the areas of clean energy, biomedical, social ventures and technology.

With all this excitement about crowdfunding we got a chance to speak with Sang Lee, one of the founders of Return On Change. Take a look at the interview below the break.

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What is Returnonchange?

Return on Change (RoC) ?is the next generation?s crowdinvesting platform to help high impact startups get the capital they need to get off the ground! RoC?s mission is to provide the most effective medium where startups and entrepreneurs will be able to pool capital from a previously untapped investor base (the crowd) while creating a community of transparency and dialogue between investors and startups.

RoC is providing its platform for high impact startups that fall within the following groups:

- HighTech

- CleanTech

- Bio / Med

- Social Ventures

We at RoC truly believe that these types of startups will be able to benefit the most from this new form of early stage capital not only from a funding aspect, but from the great support you could potentially receive from a huge group of investors! Simultaneously being able to achieve idea validation and capital funding is a huge breakthrough that will pave an amazing path for innovative startups!

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

I was really lucky to assemble an awesome team with various expertise and backgrounds really making the RoC team a formidable force. ?There are several of us, including myself, that come from an investment banking background and we also have team members that are UX and branding experts for successful companies! ?More information on our team can be found at:

Where are you based?

We are based out of NYC.

What is the problem Returnonchange solves?

Whether it be due to the faltering economy as a whole or a more specific issue with traditional early stage capital providers, we have seen so many startups fall by the wayside because they are not able to receive critical capital support at a time where it would determine the life or death of a startup company. ?Additionally, entrepreneurship is increasingly a preferred route for young professionals which means there are going to be more startups. ?The crowd is going to be the next life force for a lot of these startups.

Also, people often ask why they weren?t able to invest early stage in a lot of these startups that have recently demonstrated immense success. ?This is the new opportunity where the everyday person can become a part of something amazing and great. ?I would certainly like the opportunity to invest early on in something like facebook or google!

Crowdfunding is about to become a really overcrowded space, what is your secret sauce?

Well if I were to reveal that I don?t think it would be really be a secret sauce!

What I can say though is that I really think my team is going to be a huge plus for us. ?We took a 360 degree approach on our business from day one and realized that something like this couldn?t only be approached from a web 2.0 perspective. ?It?s going to be about the discussion amongst all of the parties that are going to be interacting on our platform whether it be investors, startups or RoC! Taking us back to our tagline ?Everyone?s Invested!?

Also, I think we are going to see different ways of dealing with early stage finance. ?The ubiquitous in person negotiations and meetings might fall by the wayside in preference for a more automated method of ?negotiation?. Due diligence is going to be completed by a crowd. ?It?s going to be really exciting how this changes the world for innovative startups. ?RoC?s preparing for all of these changes.

What is one lesson you?ve learned in the startup process?

It?s definitely a process that?s hard to do alone. ?But at the same time you can?t have people around you that are constantly agreeing with you. ?Being challenged makes you think about your premises and assumptions transforming your business for the better.

It?s easy to try to make a team that?s assembled with like minded friends, but more than that everyone should look for someone that won?t blindly follow you. ?More ?no? than ?yes? means you probably did something right when you created your team. ?Being able to work through rocky patches will make your team much stronger in the long run. ?A little tiff with your team is nothing to write home about. ?I guarantee it will happen more than once.

Who are your mentors?

I would say that my team members are my mentors. ?Each and everyone provides me with great new insights and perspectives that has been such a learning experience since our launch.

But even more than that, we have a great group of angel investors that provided us with our first round of capital that are serving as our mentors.

We are also organizing a group of advisors / friends that are ranging from academia and the professional realm from the various industries we are targeting. ?It?s going to be great to have a thinktank telling us what industries players need the most from us.

What?s next for Returnonchange?

We are in very late stage development now and are planning launching our private beta July 2012. ?We also just launched a contest for startups that you can access from our homepage (returnonchange.com) where we wanted to reward well prepared and innovative startups before we were able to provide the full spectrum of services. ?We are still in the SEC rule making period and while we are going to provide the private beta, full fledged access to the crowd is going to have to wait until the SEC lets us know that we are ready to proceed. We are also a founding member of the National Crowdfunding Association (www.nlcfa.org) and working around the clock to bring a centralized association for all those that want to be involved. ?We have a broad horizontal approach wanted to help grow the industry while working on our business development!

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Indianapolis Colts' 2012 NFL Draft Analysis

1st Round (#1) QB Andrew Luck, Stanford

2nd Round (#34) TE Coby Fleener, Stanford

3rd Round (#64) TE Dwayne Allen, Clemson

3rd Round (#92) WR T.Y. Hilton, Florida International

5th Round (#136) DT Josh Chapman, Alabama

5th Round (#170) RB Vick Ballard, Mississippi State

6th Round (#206) WR LaVon Brazill, Ohio

7th Round (#208) OT Justin Anderson, Georgia

7th Round (#214) DE Tim Fugger, Vanderbilt

7th Round (#253) QB Chandler Harnish, Northern Illinois

Analysis of Notable Selections:

Andrew Luck: The Colts have a hard working and very talented young quarterback to lead the franchise for the next dozen years. It was a good year to have the top overall pick in the draft and that is not always the case.

Coby Fleener: The 2012 NFL draft was not a strong one for the tight end position. However, Coby Fleener has the size and speed to make plays down the seam and be a red zone presence. His blocking is suspect, but he becomes the new Dallas Clark for Indianapolis. What makes this selection even better is that Fleener already has chemistry with Luck from playing together at Stanford. Every quarterback needs a security blanket and Fleener can be this for Andrew Luck.

Dwayne Allen: The NFL is a copycat league and every team noticed the success the Patriots had on offense in 2011 with two tight ends (Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez) featured. Dwayne Allen was the most balanced tight end in this year's draft. He has the size and strength to be a solid blocker and yet also can be a productive possession receiver. Allen could be a better pro than college player. He finds himself in a potentially attractive offense for his skills and a talented quarterback delivering the football to him. Andrew Luck was very comfortable playing in an offense that revolved around a fine group of tight ends at Stanford. The Colts now have two good young tight ends that will be a big part of the offense.

T.Y. Hilton: The Colts add much needed speed, quickness and run after the catch ability with the addition of Hilton. He also provides a boost to their return game as Hilton scored 6 touchdowns in college via kick returns. Hilton faces a major jump in competition and his durability is a concern. He is raw as a route runner and has a small frame. It made sense for the Colts to add a wide receiver with quickness and speed for Luck to find out of the slot. However, Indy did pass on Jarius Wright who played against tough SEC competition and could be a fine slot receiver in the NFL. It will be interesting to compare Hilton's and Wright's production in the NFL.

Josh Chapman: The Colts are converting their defense to the 3-4 and needed a tough nose tackle. Chapman is compactly built (6' and 315 lbs) and was an unsung player on Alabama's championship defense. He manned the nose at Alabama and has the perfect mentality to occupy blockers and do the dirty work required at his position. You cannot have a strong 3-4 defense without good nose tackle play. Chapman represents excellent value in the 5th round and the Colts may have found their future starting nose tackle.

Vick Ballard: Mississippi State did not have many good offensive players in 2011, but Vick Ballard was one of them. Ballard lacks good speed, but he runs hard and finds daylight. He was underutilized catching passes out of the backfield and could surprise in this area. Ballard has solid size (5' 10" and 220 lbs) and the toughness to run inside. The Colts found a back who can contribute as part of a rotation in the 5th round. This was another solid selection by Indianapolis.

2012 NFL Draft Grade: A-

Bottom Line: The Colts will have to draft their way to success and based upon their 2012 class they are off to a good start. Luck was a no-brainer, but the team should be set at the most critical position for a decade. They even addressed the backup quarterback position by choosing the competitive and mobile, Chandler Harnish, in the 7th round. Indy then made sure their franchise quarterback would have a strong pair of tight ends (Fleener and Allen) to throw to. The Colts may have found an answer at nose tackle with the Josh Chapman selection. The only questionable draft pick was T.Y. Hilton in the 3rd round. He will have to prove that he is tough and durable enough to work the slot in the NFL. Indianapolis is in the early stages of a complete rebuilding process. The team did not address a very weak secondary, but there are too many holes to fix in just one draft. A couple of more drafts like this one and Indianapolis will be back in the playoffs.

http://www.profootballdraftnetwork.com provides extensive pre and post NFL draft analysis. The site features scouting reports, rankings, top values, biggest risks, interviews with college coaches and players and mock drafts.

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How Israel's Top InfoSec Honcho Picks New Ventures

Image via CrunchBase

Shlomo Kramer is unrivaled when it comes to information security start-ups. Among his most successful ventures are Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) and Imperva (IMPV). And he has another, Palo Alto Networks ? that?s filed for an IPO.

I doubt anyone can rival him when it comes to information security start-up success. In a June 12th interview, Kramer told me three tests he uses to pick the next market segment in which to invest.

Kramer served in the same Israeli army unit as Gil Schwed. They were both experts in information security. After they got out of the army, Kramer and Schwed started their own ventures. Kramer?s focused on medical imaging?while Schwed?s targeted enterprise resource planning.

But in the early 1990s they both agreed that there was a great untapped opportunity in building firewall software as businesses began to go online. They co-founded Check Point Software in 1992 and took it public in 1996 at $4 a share. In the last 16 years, the stock has?advanced an average of 17.6% a year (though it?s down more than 50% from its October 2000 high).

And the market for information security has grown from next to nothing in 1992 to somewhere in the $10 billion to $12 billion range according to Kramer. And he believes that the growth is being driven by new business requirements.

Moreover, Kramer finds information security to be among the most dynamic sectors of the IT industry because after 25 years, it still spurs start-ups thanks ? in part ? to?the ongoing creativity of ?bad guys? who are trying to break in to corporate networks.?

Kramer left Check Point and helped found several other security start-ups. Among those are

WatchDox, about which I wrote in February?? that taps the growing corporate popularity of smart phones and iPads outside the direct control of corporate IT departments;
Palo Alto Networks ? a network security company. Though Kramer, who helped fund the company,?declined to comment citing SEC regulations regarding the quiet period, I thought?its prospects for?performing well as an investment were?much better than Facebook?s (FB) when I wrote about it in April; and
Imperva ? that Kramer took public in November 2011 and is up 20% since then.

How does Kramer keep picking winners? He told me that there are three critical dimensions he considers when evaluating sectors in which?to launch new?ventures. Specifically, he likes to start companies that?protect enterprises against security risks due to

New kinds of connectivity;
New types of threats; and
New ways of thinking about existing markets.

A good example of this is Palo Alto Networks. Thanks to new technologies such as Web?2.0, social media, and Software as a Service (SaaS) ? traditional firewall technologies using so-called stateful inspection are not able to predict how traffic targeting a corporate network will behave.

Palo Alto Networks? technology, however, uses an approach that protects against threats from these new technologies and its prospectus suggests to me that customers love its product, as a result,?the company?has been growing much faster ? at a 198% annual rate between 2009 and 2001 ? than the industry.

This growth is impressive compared to Check Point?s 13% revenue growth but what I find most remarkable is?Palo Alto Networks?s accumulation of 6,650 enterprise customers since its 2007 founding, according to its prospectus.

Israel has several features of its entrepreneurial ecosystem ? corporate governance, financial markets, human capital, and intellectual property protection ? about which I wrote with Srini Rangan in Capital Rising.

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