$50,000, six-foot air conditioner obeys voice commands

3 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

Stay cool this summer and impress your friends (and creditors) at the same time with this fabulously expensive and enormous air conditioning unit from LG. It looks like a cross between a Xbox 360 and a Dalek, and it costs tens of thousands of dollars.

LG's?Whisen series of AC units, announced Wednesday, is unquestionably the top of the line. You can control it by voice from up to 16 feet?away, and you won't even have to yell, since it's low-power and quiet. Or use your smartphone to check its status and turn it on while you drive home.

It's equipped with an infrared sensor that counts the number of people in the room and adjusts the fans, or simply tuns on or off when someone enters. And there's a normal camera as well, which you can access remotely to check on the cats or watch for burglars ? that is, if neither is?scared off by the towering robot in the living room.

Of course, it cools the air as well, and LG claims it does so faster than any other unit in its class by intelligently blowing the?coldest air in the directions that need it. And it does this with 72 percent less power than competing products, according to them.

The catch? Pricing starts at about $23,000 and runs all the way up to $50,000 for the fully-equipped "Champion style" model. For that price, you could hire someone?full time?to follow you around and fan you with banana leaves.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/50-000-six-foot-air-conditioner-obeys-voice-commands-1C7802818

Emmy nominations 2012 Ramadan 2012 Michelle Jenneke batman Colorado Shooting News joe paterno British Open

Tom Corbett: NCAA Sanctioned Penn State To Weaken It

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? In a bold challenge to the NCAA's powers, Pennsylvania's governor claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday that college sports' governing body overstepped its authority and "piled on" when it penalized Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.

Gov. Tom Corbett asked that a federal judge throw out the sanctions, which include an unprecedented $60 million fine and a four-year ban on bowl games, arguing that the measures have harmed students, business owners and others who had nothing to do with Sandusky's crimes.

"A handful of top NCAA officials simply inserted themselves into an issue they had no authority to police under their own bylaws and one that was clearly being handled by the justice system," Corbett said at a news conference.

The case, filed under federal antitrust law, could define just how far the NCAA's authority extends. Up to now, the federal courts have allowed the organization broad powers to protect the integrity of college athletics.

In a statement, the NCAA said the lawsuit has no merit and called it an "affront" to Sandusky's victims.

Penn State said it had no role in the lawsuit. In fact, it agreed not to sue as part of the deal with the NCAA accepting the sanctions, which were imposed in July after an investigation found that football coach Joe Paterno and other top officials hushed up sexual-abuse allegations against Sandusky, a former member of Paterno's staff, for more than a decade for fear of bad publicity.

The penalties include a cut in the number of football scholarships the university can award and a rewriting of the record books to erase 14 years of victories under Paterno, who was fired when the scandal broke in 2011 and died of lung cancer a short time later.

The lawsuit represents a reversal by the governor. When Penn State's president consented to the sanctions last summer, Corbett, a member of the Board of Trustees, embraced them as part of the university's effort to repair the damage from the scandal.

Corbett said he waited until now to sue over the "harsh penalties" because he wanted to thoroughly research the legal issues and did not want to interfere with the football season.

The deal with the NCAA has been unpopular with many fans, students and alumni. Corbett, who is up for re-election next year, deflected a question about whether his response has helped or hurt him politically.

"We're not going to get into the politics of this," he said.

An alumni group, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship, applauded the lawsuit but said Corbett should have asked questions when the NCAA agreement was made.

"If he disapproved of the terms of the NCAA consent decree, or if he thought there was something illegal about them, why didn't he exercise his duty to act long before now?" the group said.

Paterno's family members said in a statement that they were encouraged by the lawsuit. Corbett "now realizes, as do many others, that there was an inexcusable rush to judgment," they said.

Corbett's lawsuit accuses the NCAA of cynically exploiting the Sandusky case, saying its real motives were to "gain leverage in the court of public opinion, boost the reputation and power of the NCAA's president" and "enhance the competitive position of certain NCAA members." It said the NCAA has not cited a rule that Penn State broke.

Corbett charged that the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits agreements that restrain interstate commerce. Legal experts called it an unusual case whose outcome is difficult to predict.

The NCAA has faced antitrust litigation before, with a mixed record of success. In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA's exclusive control over televised college football games. And in 1998, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling that said the NCAA's salary cap for some assistant coaches was unlawful price-fixing.

But federal courts have consistently rejected antitrust challenges to NCAA rules and enforcement actions designed to preserve competitive balance, academic integrity and amateurism in college athletics.

In this case, the courts might not be as sympathetic to the NCAA, said Matthew Mitten, director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University Law School.

"It's difficult to justify the sanctions as necessary to protect the amateur nature of college sports, preserve competitive balance or maintain academic integrity," he said.

Joseph Bauer, an antitrust expert at the University of Notre Dame law school, said of Corbett's line of reasoning: "I don't think it's an easy claim for them to make, but it's certainly a viable claim."

Sandusky, 68, was convicted in June of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, some of them on Penn State's campus. He is a serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence.

Michael Boni, a lawyer for one of the victims, said he does not consider the lawsuit an affront. But he said he hopes Corbett takes a leading role in pushing for changes to state child-abuse laws.

"I really question who he's concerned about in this state," Boni said.

Michael Desmond, a businessman who appeared with Corbett at the news conference, said business at his five State College eating establishments was down about 10 percent during Penn State home game weekends this year.

"The governor's actions are going to be immensely popular with all Penn State alumni," Desmond said.

Corbett, a Republican, said his office did not coordinate its legal strategy with state Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, who is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 15. Instead, the current attorney general, Linda Kelly, granted the governor authority to pursue the matter.

Kane, a Democrat, ran on a vow to investigate why it took prosecutors nearly three years to charge Sandusky. Corbett was attorney general when his office took over the case in 2009.

Kane had no comment on the lawsuit because she was not consulted about it by Corbett's office.

State and congressional lawmakers have objected to use of the NCAA fine to finance child-abuse prevention efforts in other states. Penn State has already made the first $12 million payment, and an NCAA task force is deciding how it should be spent.

___

Associated Press writers Peter Jackson in Harrisburg, Pa., and Michael Rubinkam contributed.

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/tom-corbett-ncaa_n_2397486.html

packers score ricky gervais napoleon dynamite michelle williams the descendants the descendants packers giants game

Navy launches disturbing 'bath salts' PSA

A new, disturbing dramatization of a sailor ingesting "bath salts" and then having violent hallucinations is the latest salvo in the Navy's ongoing fight against synthetic drugs.

The public service announcement, published online in December, puts the viewer in the shoes of a young sailor who snorts bath salts he received in the mail. A short time later the sailor vomits, but it isn't until he meets his girlfriend for bowling that hallucinations strike.

Suddenly the girl appears demonic to the sailor and he assaults her. Later, the sailor's roommate also turns into a demon before the sailor apparently collapses. Woken in restraints as he's being brought to the hospital, the sailor groans in agony as medical professionals attempt to treat him. The video then shows Lt. George Loeffler, a Psychiatry Resident at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, as he describes the dangers of the drugs.

"When people are using bath salts, they're not their normal selves," he says. "They're angrier. They're erratic. They're violent and they're unpredictable?. People will start seeing things that aren't there, believing things that aren't true."

Loeffler said that the most disturbing thing about bath salts is that the effects of paranoia can last days or even weeks after the drugs have left the user's system.

Bath salts, which were the subject of an ABC News' "20/20? investigation in June 2011, are chemicals meant to mimic the effects of cocaine, LSD or methamphetamine that at the time could be easily and legally sold to anyone - including minors - as long as the warning labels said they were not meant for human consumption. The chemicals have nothing to do with bathing products.

Then in September 2011, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced it was implementing an emergency ban on the narcotics to "protect the public from the imminent hazard" caused by bath salts.

Part of the "20/20? investigation described the experience of BMX rider Dickie Sanders who ingested bath salts called Cloud Nine in 2010.

According to his parents, after taking the drug Sanders was convinced there were dozens of police cars and helicopters just outside the home, even though there were none. Then, suddenly, he grabbed a knife and sliced at his throat from ear to ear. He survived the knife wound and told his mother he had had enough.

"He actually looked at me and said, 'I can't handle what this drug has done to me. I'm never going to touch anything again,'" Julie Sanders said.

But hours later and without warning, Sanders had another psychotic episode and took his own life with a rifle.

The U.S. Navy has been battling the use of bath salts and other synthetic drugs by its sailors and Navy Medicine has set up a webpage specifically to educate sailors and the public about the potentially disastrous health risks involved.

CLICK HERE to visit Navy Medicine's webpage "Synthetic Drugs and Your Health"

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/navy-launches-disturbing-anti-bath-salts-psa-183931491--abc-news-topstories.html

love actually miesha tate vs ronda rousey idiocracy deep impact usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather

Video: Newtown students prepare to attend school

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50348121/

earthquake bay area clear channel drexel dale george will obama birth certificate nick cannon

Effective Leadership: In Search of the Holy Grail | Governors' Agenda

During the last half-century, the concept of leadership and management in schools has morphed from being something fairly ad hoc in the late 1960s to becoming one of the most centralised and controlled features of the educational landscape in the United Kingdom.

During the period following the promulgation of the famous Butler (Education) Act in 1944 to the mid-1980s, the term leadership was interchangeable with administration. The time was one where education was described as a national system locally administered. The key players were local educational authorities and schools who operated in a culture underpinned by the bureaucratic-professional modus operandi.

The values that drove the system ? especially with the creation of the comprehensive school ? were those of equity and social justice.? Local Authority officers were drawn from a cadre of headteachers and senior teachers in schools.? But training was one associated with serendipity rather than planned and fashioned by the needs of the service.? I can recall how, in the early 1980s when I moved from being headteacher of an independent primary school to that of Assistant Education Officer in a local authority, I was out of my depth and, unsure about how and where I could learn ? on and off the job.? I bumbled and bumped along at the bottom of knowledge and understanding of what my function was, what I should do and how to become effective.??

When Kenneth Baker pushed through the Education Reform Act 1988, the expectations on school leaders became more explicit. There was an increasing focus on the identification of standards and competencies. Assessment centres mushroomed.?? In the early 1990s, the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) and the National Development Centre (NDC) were established. The concept of management ? as opposed to administration ? took shape.? Local authorities were given control of funds to provide for the development of management and leadership for teachers.

The Labour Party came into government in 1997, following which it built on the Conservative paradigm of school autonomy and accountability adding the ingredient of ?leadership? to help force speedier improvements in performance and effectiveness in the public sector ? especially in schools.? To accelerate its plans, the government established the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in 2000.? The NCSL created a development framework for leadership with four programmes ? Leading from the Middle, Leadership Pathways for Senior Leaders, the National Professional Qualifications for Headteachers (NPQH) ? later taken over by the TTA ? and the Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers (NPSH.)

In his seminal article for Educational Management, Administration and Leadership (EMAL) ? Volume 40 No 5 September 2012 ? Tim Simkins, Professor of Educational Management at Sheffield Hallam University, described the three perspectives of leadership that emerged over this period ? the functionalist, constructivist and critical.

Initially, leadership was seen as essentially functional.? Good leadership had objectively determined and agreed targets ? defined competencies, qualities and skills ?that effective performance requires and best practice sought?. Researchers explored ?the causal relationships between practices and outcomes in order that purposes could be better achieved?.? There were problems with this model of leadership because the perspective diverted attention from the important management development processes that included unanticipated outcomes and informal, more covert episodes, and ignored major ethical and moral questions.

These problems resulted in the birth of the constructivist approach, which aimed to resolve the dilemmas.? The new approach conceived blended learning which combined face-to-face and on-line provision, supplemented by in-school activities.? The constructivist model spawned a cadre of coaches and mentors, generally ?expert? and recently-retired (and sometimes redundant ? where schools were closed) headteachers.

Leadership and management developed a second constructivist, development strand.?? Role transition, career development and identity formation became as important as training leaders for school improvement.?? The concept of distributed leadership took shape.?? The successful headteacher was not viewed as a mover and shaker ? a charismatic, miracle-worker ? in the way in which Michael Gove views Michael Wilshaw (HMCI) ? as ?my hero?.?? The interactions between the individual leadership trainee, the programme (generally mounted by the NCSL) and the school became messy as tensions grew.

In an attempt to resolve the complexity, a critical perspective of leadership brought the important issue of values into the frame.? Questions were asked.

(i)???????? What are the purposes of education?

(ii)??????? Where should power be reposed ? the government, the school, the community, Ofsted, the local authority, universities, the profession, private organisation, private individual ? or is there any room for power-sharing?

(iii)?????? What are the levers and mechanism through which control is achieved?

In the current set-up, the piper government controls the funding and calls the tune.?? It promotes an educational market, but places pressures on schools and local authorities to respond to central initiatives and demands ? not least through Ofsted.?? Even the NCSL, which was created by Labour to operate at arm?s length from the Department for Education, has become, from April 2012, an arm of government.

The government?s agenda to create a nation where the overwhelming number of institutions are academies and free schools is an open secret. The overt justification for this is to liberate them from the fetters of local authorities and to promote a ?self-improving school system?, according to Professor David Hargreaves, Associate Director of Development and Research at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. The covert motive, according to critics, is to control schools from the centre creating the mirage of freedom.?? Teaching schools ? which must work with the universities and other schools (of excellence) ? are selected to act as individual agents to develop the new, central model of leaders at all levels. Also, the NCSL has nominated the headteachers of outstanding (in Ofsted parlance) schools for their capacity to act as agents.

The scene is evolving because at this stage we are uncertain about how the tensions between the centralisation of power in the DfE and NCSL will square with the devolution of powers to schools ? in particular, academies and free schools.

Despite the above developments, the functional message of schools dominates.?? Children are regimented to pass tests and examinations so that their schools feature highly in league tables and the nation must do well to dominate the international league tables when it comes to the OECD?s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS).

Denis Mongon and Charlie Leadbeater in High Level Leadership; Improving Outcomes in Educational Settings (2012) described a study they conducted on the headteachers of 10 very good schools in the country.? They discovered that there were five critical ingredients for their successes in increasing the capacity of those who worked in and benefited from their schools.

(i)???????? These headteachers improved the core activity, teaching and learning, measured by educational attainment.

(ii)??????? They drew on and enhanced capacity from within the community.

(iii)?????? They developed the ability of immediate, social networks and families to improve pupil attendance and attitudes towards learning.

(iv)?????? They generated activities which had an indirect impact on educational attainment and a positive impact on other outcomes for the pupils.

(v)??????? They made resources available for community activity building community capacity.

The headteachers made it clear to the researchers that without good teaching and learning ? the first feature ? the other four would be stillborn.

The Ofsted framework for inspection ? which focuses on teaching and learning ? pays little (if any) attention to the other four relevant activities.? Timescales are driven by political imperatives and do not relate to the everyday and long-term experiences of schools, families and communities.

Successful leaders, it seems, run with the grain of government diktat but go much further by embracing other strategies that involve their governors, staff, parents, community, and, of course, the young people whom they serve. Perhaps this is the secret, the Holy Grail, of good school leadership which both, governors and headteachers would do well to nurture.

Source: http://www.governorsagenda.co.uk/?p=743

ncaa basketball oikos kentucky wildcats oakland school shooting nike nfl jerseys katie couric barista

Key hearing next week for alleged Colo. theater shooter

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) ? Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the Colorado theater shooting case said Wednesday that they're ready for a crucial hearing next week in which prosecutors will outline their case against James Holmes.

The lawyers and Holmes appeared before state District Judge William B. Sylvester to make sure everything is prepared for the hearing. It starts Monday and is scheduled to run all week.

At its conclusion, Sylvester will decide if the evidence is sufficient to put Holmes on trial.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 on July 20 in a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Prosecutors say he opened fire during a midnight showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Night Rises."

During Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors and defense lawyers also went to Sylvester's bench to discuss a sealed motion from the prosecution that made some reference to witnesses. Sylvester said he planned to rule on it later in the day but wouldn't refer to witnesses by name.

Holmes didn't say anything during the half-hour hearing.

He is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder and hasn't been asked to enter a plea yet. His lawyers have said he suffers from mental illness.

The preliminary hearing will give the public its first officially sanctioned look at much of the evidence against Holmes.

Sylvester imposed a gag order shortly after Holmes' arrest barring attorneys and investigators from speaking publicly about the case, and many documents have been sealed.

The University of Colorado, where Holmes was a graduate student, has also been tight-lipped about the case.

At prosecutors' request, Sylvester barred the university from releasing records requested by numerous media organizations. Prosecutors argued that the information could jeopardize Holmes' right to a fair trial. Sylvester initially agreed but amended his order last month to allow the release after media organizations objected in court.

Holmes was enrolled in a Ph.D. neuroscience program at the university. Investigators said he began stockpiling firearms and ammunition while taking classes in the spring.

In June, he made threats to a professor and on June 10 filed withdrawal papers after failing a year-end exam, prosecutors said. The next day he saw his school psychiatrist who tried to report him to a campus security committee, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawyers-ready-key-hearing-theater-shooting-162903295.html

ufc 143 results kickoff time super bowl 2012 superbowl national anthem patriots vs giants super bowl superbowl halftime show jason wu for target underwood

Sandy Hook kids to see new school decked out as "Winter Wonderland"

NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Many of the children who escaped last month's massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school on Wednesday afternoon will get their first glimpse of their new school, which has been decked out as a "Winter Wonderland" with the help of thousands of kids from around the country.

More than 400 Sandy Hook Elementary School students in kindergarten through grade 4 will return to classes on Thursday for the first time since the December 14 attack, but on Wednesday afternoon the children and their parents have been invited for a walk through at their new school in neighboring Monroe.

The attack by 20-year-old Adam Lanza left 20 Sandy Hook first graders and six staff members dead in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

Lanza, described by family friends has having Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, before heading to the school about five miles from their home, police said. He then took his own life as police were arriving at the school, which had an enrollment of 456 students ages 5 to 10 before the attack.

Police have offered no firm motive for the attack, and state police investigators have said it could be months before they are in a position to offer a report on it.

The assault stunned the nation, prompting President Barack Obama to call it the worst day of his presidency and reigniting an extensive debate on gun control. In response the attack, the National Rifle Association called for armed guards to patrol every public school in the country.

Armed police will be on hand on Thursday when the pupils arrive at the former Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, about 8 miles south of the Sandy Hook school. Sandy Hook remains an active crime scene and is closed to anyone but police.

The school has also been equipped with a new security system, which will also be installed in Newtown's seven other schools shortly, Newtown School Superintendent Janet Robinson said in an email to district parents.

"As we enter 2013, we begin the year knowing that we are forever changed," Robinson wrote. "We have an altered sense of security and will continue to grieve for the senseless loss of such precious little ones and their teachers, but we will join together in a new appreciation of what we have and will make something positive emerge from this."

Chalk Hill will also be decorated with thousands of paper snow flakes and other decorations made by other students from Newtown and around the country to help lift spirits of the 436 children scheduled to return to school.

So many decorations have been donated that organizers have asked for no more to be submitted.

"We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity from around not just the country but the world," the Connecticut PTSA said in a message to prospective decoration contributors. "At this time, we have enough beautiful snowflakes to blanket the community of Newtown. Therefore, with regret we must close the snowflake project to further donations."

At Chalk Hill, the students will have a new principal, Donna Page, because Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung was among the six adults killed in Lanza's attack. Page is a former administrator in Newtown schools who has agreed to serve as interim principal while a permanent successor is sought.

(Writing by Dan Burns; Editing by M.D. Golan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sandy-hook-kids-see-school-decked-winter-wonderland-180206033.html

gia la riots new jersey devils torn acl derrick rose injury st louis news utah jazz