Arab League sweetens Israel-Palestinian peace plan

JERUSALEM (AP) ? The Arab League's decision to sweeten its decade-old proposal offering comprehensive peace with Israel has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bind and swiftly exposed fissures in his new government.

Netanyahu's chief peace negotiator on Tuesday welcomed the modified Arab proposal, while the prime minister remained silent, reflecting the internal divisions that lie ahead as the U.S. tries to restart long-frozen peace talks with the Palestinians.

"This is a positive announcement," negotiator Tzipi Livni told Channel 10 TV, adding it gave "tail wind" to peace efforts. "At the end you need a direct negotiation between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

The original 2002 Arab peace initiative offered Israel peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world in exchange for a "complete withdrawal" from territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, all seized by Israel in 1967, for their future state.

The initiative was revolutionary when it was introduced by Saudi Arabia's then crown prince, King Abdullah, and endorsed by the 22-member Arab League. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation later endorsed the plan as well. However, it was overshadowed by fierce Israeli-Palestinian fighting at the time and greeted with skepticism by Israel.

In Washington Monday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani tried to allay some of the Israeli concerns. Speaking on behalf of an Arab League delegation, he reiterated the need to base an agreement between Israel and a future Palestine on the 1967 lines, but for the first time, he cited the possibility of "comparable," mutually agreed and "minor" land swaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Sheik Hamad spoke after talks with Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been pushing Arab leaders to embrace a modified version of the Arab peace plan as part of a new U.S.-led effort to corral Israel and the Palestinians back into direct peace talks. The changes are meant to win Israeli support by allowing it to keep parts of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of an agreement.

In Washington, Kerry called the changed language a "very big step forward."

"This is literally a statement by the Arab world that they're prepared to make peace, providing the Palestinians and Israelis reach a final status agreement," he told reporters Tuesday at the State Department after meeting Spain's foreign minister.

"I don't underestimate the significance of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Arab Emirates, the Egyptians, the Jordanians and others coming to the table and saying, 'We are prepared to make peace now in 2013,'" he said. Still, he said much more was left to do.

"We have a lot of homework to do, a lot of tough hurdles to get over, but each step forward is the way you get there," Kerry said.

The gesture immediately put Netanyahu in a difficult position. A cool reception to the Arab League could reinforce the international perception that Netanyahu is not serious about pursuing peace. President Barack Obama has already endorsed the 1967 lines as the basis for talks, and past negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have endorsed the concept of small land swaps.

But forces in Israel could doom the plan before it ever gets off the ground. Netanyahu himself has repeatedly said the 1967 frontiers would put Israel's security in danger and said he is not bound by any concessions made by his predecessors. In addition, the hard-liners who dominate his coalition would resist the concessions required by the Arab plan.

Netanyahu's office declined requests for comment Tuesday. But Cabinet minister Silvan Shalom, a senior member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, played down the Arab League's decision, saying, "there is nothing new here."

"In principle, I support renewing the process. Of course, I don't accept the 1967 lines," he told Israel Radio. "If the Arab League wants to be a partner to this process, then we welcome it, but this is not negotiations."

At the same time, the more dovish members of his coalition are likely to press Netanyahu to embrace the latest Arab approach.

Livni, while acknowledging that Israel had concerns about some of the details of the Arab initiative, said Israel must nonetheless respond positively. "It's good news that should be welcomed," she said in a Facebook post.

She noted that the plan gave the Palestinians important backing from the broader Arab world to make small concessions on the border issue, while it sent an important message to Israel that peace with the Palestinians means peace with the entire Arab world. "I hope that the message that comes from Qatar will help launch the negotiations as soon as possible."

Livni also served as chief negotiator during the last serious round of talks, in 2008, under then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Both sides have said they made great progress toward a final border deal based on the 1967 lines.

Yesh Atid, a centrist coalition partner, could also put pressure on Netanyahu to embrace the Arab plan. Party leader Yair Lapid has said he would demand the government conduct a "serious" peace process with the Palestinians. He has also endorsed the concept of land swaps so that Israel can keep certain Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Dov Lipman, a Yesh Atid lawmaker, said the party had not yet formulated a formal response to the Arab initiative, but said it was "very consistent" with the party's platform. "We need to be negotiating. It's the only way to solve the conflict," he said.

And President Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate, said the Arabs' decision provided a new chance to restart peace talks. "The ministers of the Arab League once again expressed their support for the two state solution, which is also accepted by us and a broad structure of support is being created for making progress," he said during a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Members of the opposition Labor Party urged Netanyahu to accept the Arab initiative.

"I think the Israeli government should embrace it with both hands," said Erel Margalit, a Labor lawmaker. "This is the breakthrough we have been looking for."

Margalit said he was in the process of forming a parliamentary lobby to support the initiative, and said Labor would support Netanyahu from the opposition if he embraced the plan.

Negotiations have been frozen since late 2008, in large part because of continued Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Agreeing on the contours of future borders could resolve the settlement dispute at the outset of talks. The Arab initiative in effect endorses the Palestinian position on borders, while offering Israel the vision of a broader regional peace.

While the Palestinians voiced objections to modifying the Arab League plan, their chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Tuesday that the Palestinians supported the new proposal.

"Israeli rejection of this initiative shows once again that the Israeli government lacks of a peace plan," he said in a statement. "Rather, it is fully engaged in further colonization and attacks against Palestinian rights and regional stability."

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arab-league-sweetens-israel-palestinian-peace-plan-181755839.html

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94% Room 237

All Critics (108) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (102) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)

There's enough real evidence supporting the theory that Kubrick was a genius, and that's pretty entertaining all by itself.

It's about the human need for stuff to make sense - especially overpowering emotional experiences - and the tendency for some people to take that sense-making to extremes.

The results can range from enlightening - Kubrick did like to mess with things - to embarrassing. But it's never dull. "Room 237" shines.

You don't have to buy any of the nutty theories in Room 237 to appreciate what director Rodney Ascher has accomplished.

It's nuts, in the best possible way.

Their imaginings are not far removed from the deconstuctionist gobbledygook that has hammerlocked academic film and literary scholarship. But here at least the gobbledygook is entertaining.

Termitic film nerds could chow down for years on the wood chips.

You know when "Room 237? starts getting really scary? When the people in the film start making sense.

Kubrick fans and movie geeks will want to check this film out as soon as possible

Kubrick fans will take 'Shining' to 'Room 237.'

The credibility of these theories ranges from faintly plausible to frankly ridiculous, but Ascher isn't interested in judging them; his movie is more about the joys of deconstruction and the special kind of obsession that movies can inspire.

Some of the interpretations seem more of a stretch than others but all are entertainingly presented by director Rodney Ascher. (The movie) serves as a testament to Stanley Kubrick's cinematic mastery.

As fascinating as it is frustrating

It is nice to see a doc that makes you smile instead of making you angry. Anyone who is a fan of Stanley Kubrick will eat this up.

Powered by a deep and abiding affection for both The Shining and Kubrick in general, Room 237 is an amuse-bouche of remix culture.

Room 237 is an extended riff of the "Paul is dead" variety. But, you know what? Sometimes a guy moving a table in the background is just a guy moving a table in the background.

A diverting excursion for lovers of Kubrick's films...even if, at over a hundred minutes, it does go on a bit long.

A fascinating doc that will get both film geeks and conspiracy theorists alike drooling, it all but guarantees you'll never watch The Shining quite the same way again.

Confounding, eye-opening, and often hilarious.

I suspect that Ascher's intention was to dynamize an academic exercise, but these constant, sundry inserts render the tone as corny and glib as a VH1 special.

No quotes approved yet for Room 237. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/room_237_2012/

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In a first, black voter turnout rate passes whites

WASHINGTON (AP) ? America's blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home.

Had people voted last November at the same rates they did in 2004, when black turnout was below its current historic levels, Republican Mitt Romney would have won narrowly, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press.

Census data and exit polling show that whites and blacks will remain the two largest racial groups of eligible voters for the next decade. Last year's heavy black turnout came despite concerns about the effect of new voter-identification laws on minority voting, outweighed by the desire to re-elect the first black president.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the 2012 elections for the AP using census data on eligible voters and turnout, along with November's exit polling. He estimated total votes for Obama and Romney under a scenario where 2012 turnout rates for all racial groups matched those in 2004. Overall, 2012 voter turnout was roughly 58 percent, down from 62 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2004.

The analysis also used population projections to estimate the shares of eligible voters by race group through 2030. The numbers are supplemented with material from the Pew Research Center and George Mason University associate professor Michael McDonald, a leader in the field of voter turnout who separately reviewed aggregate turnout levels across states, as well as AP interviews with the Census Bureau and other experts. The bureau is scheduled to release data on voter turnout in May.

Overall, the findings represent a tipping point for blacks, who for much of America's history were disenfranchised and then effectively barred from voting until passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

But the numbers also offer a cautionary note to both Democrats and Republicans after Obama won in November with a historically low percentage of white supporters. While Latinos are now the biggest driver of U.S. population growth, they still trail whites and blacks in turnout and electoral share, because many of the Hispanics in the country are children or noncitizens.

In recent weeks, Republican leaders have urged a "year-round effort" to engage black and other minority voters, describing a grim future if their party does not expand its core support beyond white males.

The 2012 data suggest Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate, unable to motivate white voters let alone attract significant black or Latino support. Obama's personal appeal and the slowly improving economy helped overcome doubts and spur record levels of minority voters in a way that may not be easily replicated for Democrats soon.

Romney would have erased Obama's nearly 5 million-vote victory margin and narrowly won the popular vote if voters had turned out as they did in 2004, according to Frey's analysis. Then, white turnout was slightly higher and black voting lower.

More significantly, the battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida and Colorado would have tipped in favor of Romney, handing him the presidency if the outcome of other states remained the same.

"The 2012 turnout is a milestone for blacks and a huge potential turning point," said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University who has written extensively on black politicians. "What it suggests is that there is an 'Obama effect' where people were motivated to support Barack Obama. But it also means that black turnout may not always be higher, if future races aren't as salient."

Whit Ayres, a GOP consultant who is advising GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a possible 2016 presidential contender, says the last election reaffirmed that the Republican Party needs "a new message, a new messenger and a new tone." Change within the party need not be "lock, stock and barrel," Ayres said, but policy shifts such as GOP support for broad immigration legislation will be important to woo minority voters over the longer term.

"It remains to be seen how successful Democrats are if you don't have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket," he said.

___

In Ohio, a battleground state where the share of eligible black voters is more than triple that of other minorities, 27-year-old Lauren Howie of Cleveland didn't start out thrilled with Obama in 2012. She felt he didn't deliver on promises to help students reduce college debt, promote women's rights and address climate change, she said. But she became determined to support Obama as she compared him with Romney.

"I got the feeling Mitt Romney couldn't care less about me and my fellow African-Americans," said Howie, an administrative assistant at Case Western Reserve University's medical school who is paying off college debt.

Howie said she saw some Romney comments as insensitive to the needs of the poor. "A white Mormon swimming in money with offshore accounts buying up companies and laying off their employees just doesn't quite fit my idea of a president," she said. "Bottom line, Romney was not someone I was willing to trust with my future."

The numbers show how population growth will translate into changes in who votes over the coming decade:

?The gap between non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black turnout in 2008 was the smallest on record, with voter turnout at 66.1 percent and 65.2 percent, respectively; turnout for Latinos and non-Hispanic Asians trailed at 50 percent and 47 percent. Rough calculations suggest that in 2012, 2 million to 5 million fewer whites voted compared with 2008, even though the pool of eligible white voters had increased.

?Unlike other minority groups, the rise in voting for the slow-growing black population is due to higher turnout. While blacks make up 12 percent of the share of eligible voters, they represented 13 percent of total 2012 votes cast, according to exit polling. That was a repeat of 2008, when blacks "outperformed" their eligible voter share for the first time on record.

?White voters also outperformed their eligible vote share, but not at the levels seen in years past. In 2012, whites represented 72 percent of total votes cast, compared to their 71.1 percent eligible vote share. As recently as 2004, whites typically outperformed their eligible vote share by at least 2 percentage points. McDonald notes that in 2012, states with significant black populations did not experience as much of a turnout decline as other states. That would indicate a lower turnout for whites last November since overall voter turnout declined.

?Latinos now make up 17 percent of the population but 11 percent of eligible voters, due to a younger median age and lower rates of citizenship and voter registration. Because of lower turnout, they represented just 10 percent of total 2012 votes cast. Despite their fast growth, Latinos aren't projected to surpass the share of eligible black voters until 2024, when each group will be roughly 13 percent. By then, 1 in 3 eligible voters will be nonwhite.

?In 2026, the total Latino share of voters could jump to as high as 16 percent, if nearly 11 million immigrants here illegally become eligible for U.S. citizenship. Under a proposed bill in the Senate, those immigrants would have a 13-year path to citizenship. The share of eligible white voters could shrink to less than 64 percent in that scenario. An estimated 80 percent of immigrants here illegally, or 8.8 million, are Latino, although not all will meet the additional requirements to become citizens.

"The 2008 election was the first year when the minority vote was important to electing a U.S. president. By 2024, their vote will be essential to victory," Frey said. "Democrats will be looking at a landslide going into 2028 if the new Hispanic voters continue to favor Democrats."

___

Even with demographics seeming to favor Democrats in the long term, it's unclear whether Obama's coalition will hold if blacks or younger voters become less motivated to vote or decide to switch parties.

Minority turnout tends to drop in midterm congressional elections, contributing to larger GOP victories as happened in 2010, when House control flipped to Republicans.

The economy and policy matter. Exit polling shows that even with Obama's re-election, voter support for a government that does more to solve problems declined from 51 percent in 2008 to 43 percent last year, bolstering the view among Republicans that their core principles of reducing government are sound.

The party's "Growth and Opportunity Project" report released last month by national leaders suggests that Latinos and Asians could become more receptive to GOP policies once comprehensive immigration legislation is passed.

Whether the economy continues its slow recovery also will shape voter opinion, including among blacks, who have the highest rate of unemployment.

Since the election, optimism among nonwhites about the direction of the country and the economy has waned, although support for Obama has held steady. In an October AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of nonwhites said the nation was heading in the right direction; that's dropped to 52 percent in a new AP-GfK poll. Among non-Hispanic whites, however, the numbers are about the same as in October, at 28 percent.

Democrats in Congress merit far lower approval ratings among nonwhites than does the president, with 49 percent approving of congressional Democrats and 74 percent approving of Obama.

William Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, says that in previous elections where an enduring majority of voters came to support one party, the president winning re-election ? William McKinley in 1900, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and Ronald Reagan in 1984 ? attracted a larger turnout over his original election and also received a higher vote total and a higher share of the popular vote. None of those occurred for Obama in 2012.

Only once in the last 60 years has a political party been successful in holding the presidency more than eight years ? Republicans from 1980-1992.

"This doesn't prove that Obama's presidency won't turn out to be the harbinger of a new political order," Galston says. "But it does warrant some analytical caution."

Early polling suggests that Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton could come close in 2016 to generating the level of support among nonwhites as Obama did in November, when he won 80 percent of their vote. In a Fox News poll in February, 75 percent of nonwhites said they thought Clinton would make a good president, outpacing the 58 percent who said that about Vice President Joe Biden.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the NAACP, predicts closely fought elections in the near term and worries that GOP-controlled state legislatures will step up efforts to pass voter ID and other restrictions to deter blacks and other minorities from voting. In 2012, courts blocked or delayed several of those voter ID laws and African-Americans were able to turn out in large numbers only after a very determined get-out-the-vote effort by the Obama campaign and black groups, he said.

Jealous says the 2014 midterm election will be the real bellwether for black turnout. "Black turnout set records this year despite record attempts to suppress the black vote," he said.

___

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ "America at the Tipping Point: The Changing Face of a Nation" is an occasional series examining the cultural mosaic of the U.S. and its historic shift to a majority-minority nation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-black-voter-turnout-rate-passes-whites-115957314.html

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Yep, I Totally Agree (talking-points-memo)

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Best & Worst-Dressed at White House Correspondents' Dinner

From the good to the pretty bad, check out the celebrity fashion from the White House Correspondents' Dinner!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/white-house-correspondents-dinner/1-a-534563?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Awhite-house-correspondents-dinner-534563

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Rolling Stones to play small LA club ahead of tour

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Surprise!

Before they kick off their "50 and Counting" tour, the Rolling Stones are playing a warm-up date at a small Los Angeles club.

The band is set to perform Saturday night at the Echoplex before a sold-out crowd that will be miniscule compared to the thousands who are set to see them launch their tour May 3 at the Staples Center.

Tickets were sold for $20 each ? a fraction of what tickets to the tour will cost.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside the El Rey Theatre earlier Saturday for a chance at the tickets. They were dispensed through a confusing lottery system that led to much of the crowd departing even though show tickets were made available to lottery ticket holders.

Buyers were limited to one ticket, and were required to show a government-issued ID, pay with cash, wear a wristband with their name on it and be photographed. Their names will be verified at the venue, which has a capacity of about 700. Cameras and smartphones will not be allowed inside.

Rumors of the spontaneous show spread across social networks this week after the band teased the appearance on their Twitter accounts. The dance-pop band New Build, which was originally scheduled to play the Echoplex on Saturday, was first to leak details about the show.

"Our gig got shifted b/c the Rolling Stones are playing Echoplex," the band posted Friday on Twitter. They joked that they're looking forward to "having it out" with the Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones performed a few dates together in London, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Newark, N.J., last winter, but didn't announce a tour until earlier this month. They will play 17 dates in the United States but said they may add more down the line.

The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

___

Online:

http://www.rollingstones.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rolling-stones-play-small-la-club-ahead-tour-012237917.html

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Streaming eagles: Bird?s-eye view of life inside nest

>>> finally tonight, from humble bay, california. it's a two american bald eagles and their new eeg lets, whose ever meal and chirp are being beamed to a growing crowd of fans around the world.

>> monty spends a lot of term nursing birding back to health and this one survived a gun shot wound.

>> you can see how that wing wants to droop.

>> but these days, he and his staff and nearly 300,000 fans online, can't keep their eyes off the computer screen . two nesting eagles with their two new chicks born this week.

>> one of the things that's nice about it is it really demonstrates that the endangered species act works.

>> in fact, since the passage of that act four decades ago, the stretch that's seen the numbers of nesting eagles rise to nearly 10,000 today, this is the first pair to homestead on the shores of humble bay. a made for life couple. she's the one with the single birt feather, but mom and dad equally generous at feeding time .

>> as you're watching, you'll see they're bringing in all kinds of fish and also the occasional rat.

>> whether you live in the city or country, it's rare to see even a single bald eagle , but your chances of observing a nesting couple raising an eagle or two are just about nil unless you're following an eagle cam. there have been others. one in iowa, one in new jersey.

>> whoever would have thought that years ago when we were poisoning our fields with ddt that these eagles could come back in such a short period of time.

>> but this one atop a 100 foot tall doug lis fir is streaming an intimate a view from an eagle's life has been seen.

>> they'll still be with their parents after that because they have a steep learning curve .

>> right now, it's just the parents doing the hunting and the baby sitting and the chicks and their hundreds of thousands of fans can't get enough of it. mike taibbi , nbc news, los angeles .

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b41222c/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51689410A/story01.htm

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WWII vet who provided flag on Iwo Jima has died (Providence Journal)

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Roundworm quells obesity and related metabolic disorders

Friday, April 26, 2013

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, have shown in a mouse model that infection with nematodes (also known as roundworms) can not only combat obesity but ameliorate related metabolic disorders. Their research is published ahead of print online in the journal Infection and Immunity.

Gastrointestinal nematodes infect approximately 2 billion people worldwide, and some researchers believe up until the 20th century almost everyone had worms. In developed countries there is a decreasing incidence of nematode infection but a rising prevalence of certain types of autoimmunity, suggesting a relationship between the two. Nematode infection has been purported to have therapeutic effects and currently clinical trials are underway to examine worms as a treatment for diseases associated with the relevant cytokines, including inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and allergies.

In the study researchers tested the effect of nematode infection on mice fed a high-fat diet. Infected mice of normal girth gained 15 percent less weight than those that were not infected. Mice that were already obese when infected lost roughly 13 percent of their body weight within 10 days. Infection also drastically lowered fasting blood glucose, a risk factor for diabetes, and reduced fatty liver disease, decreasing liver fat by ~25 percent, and the weight of the liver by 30 percent.

The levels of insulin and leptin also dropped, "indicating that the mice restored their sensitivities to both hormones," says corresponding author Aiping Zhao of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Leptin moderates appetite. As with too much insulin, too high a level of leptin results in insensitivity, thus contributing to obesity and metabolic syndrome, Zhao explains.

The mechanism of the moderation of these hormones "was associated with a parasite-induced reduction in glucose absorption in the intestine, reduced liver triglycerides, and an increase in the population of cells called "alternatively activated macrophages," which regulate glucose metabolism and inflammation," says coauthor Joe Urban of the United States Department of Agriculture. Some of these changes involved "a protein called interleukin-13 and related intracellular signaling mechanisms," he says. "This suggests that there are immune related shifts in metabolism that can alter expression of obesity and related metabolic syndrome."

The incidence of obesity has been climbing dramatically, worldwide. It is a key risk factor for many metabolic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Recent studies indicate that it is accompanied by chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissues, causing the release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines that contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

Parasitic nematode infection induces a marked elevation in host immune Th2-cells and related type 2 cytokines which, besides combating the infection, also have potent anti-inflammatory activity, according to the report.

###

Z. Yang, V. Grinchuk, A. Smith, B. qin, J.A. Bohl, R. Sun, L. Notari, Z. Zhang, H. Sesaki, J.F. Urban, Jr., T. Shea-Donohue, A. Zhao, 2013. Parasitic nematode-induced modulation of body weight and associated metabolic dysfunction in mouse models of obesity. Infect. Immun. Published ahead of print 18 March 2013, doi:10.1128/IAI.00053-13.

American Society for Microbiology: http://www.asm.org

Thanks to American Society for Microbiology 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.

This press release has been viewed 74 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127965/Roundworm_quells_obesity_and_related_metabolic_disorders

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Israeli court: Stop detaining women at holy site

JERUSALEM (AP) ? An Israeli court has instructed police to stop detaining women for performing religious rituals that ultra-Orthodox Jews say are reserved for men.

Members of a liberal women's Jewish group have been trying to break the Orthodox monopoly at the Western Wall in Jerusalem by conducting mixed-gender prayer and wearing religious garb.

The Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews can pray. It is currently divided into men's and women's sections.

Orthodox rabbis, who control Israel's religious institutions, oppose mixed-gender prayers.

In a ruling on Thursday, a Jerusalem court said the woman were not disturbing the peace with their prayer and saw no justification for detaining them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently gave preliminary support to a compromise plan to create a new section for mixed-gender prayers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-court-stop-detaining-women-holy-175657571.html

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Helping Boston stay strong: ?We Will Finish the Race?

>>> visa signature. your idea of what a card should be. is it.

>>> the two explosions that ripped into the city's iconic event, bringing people together to give comfort to each other in the hour of need. and a makeshift memorial in a sign of solidarity. this week, a marine who lost both legs in combat visited a hospital to inspire a mother and daughter. who never imagined how their lives would change. they both suffered serious injuries. celeste lost both legs.

>> i can't do anything right now.

>> right now, yes. but i'm telling you, with all my heart that you are going to be more independent than you ever were. this is basically the start. this is the new beginning for the both of you. and so many opportunities is going to come your way.

>> you look good. you look real good.

>> thank you.

>> this doesn't matter. this is just a change of scenery. it really is.

>> i know.

>> he's moving, running, doing the paralympics.

>> really?

>> you may want to do that one day.

>> the start of a new beginning. the marines help show both women the possibilities ahead. another victim, heather abbott found hope in a bedside visit from someone she did not know.

>> if someone had told me that i was going to have half a leg at the age of 38 before this happened, i think i would have never believed it. i think i would have been devastated and i really haven't had a moment yet of being devastated because i've gotten so much support from the hospital. i mean, the hospital's brought in individuals who are in the same situation as i am, they live normal lives, they were able to tell me about that, which has been great.

>> we've heard so many inspiring stories this week. including the story victoria who suffered life-altering injuries. she left the hospital this week. she's already on the road to recovery and ready to get back to normal life .

>> i want to go and have a home-cooked meal. i want to see my pets. i want to sleep in my own bed.

>> earlier this week, victoria had an emotional reunion with the stain injuries who risked their lives to save hers.

>> thanks for seeing us.

>> thank you.

>> they saved my life. you saved my life. otherwise, i would have bled out because it hit the artery.

>> wow.

>> boston reminds us of the greatest parts of the american story, that no matter what happened, whatever the crisis, whatever adversity, get up, stand up, finish the race. we've come too far to turn around now. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton t "hardball" starts right now.

>>

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b39cad5/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51682130A/story01.htm

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'Silver Linings Playbook' Alternate Ending: Jennifer Lawrence Is Oscar-Worthy Even In Deleted Scenes

Yesterday, MTV News exclusively debuted the alternate ending to "Silver Linings Playbook," the movie that earned Jennifer Lawrence her Academy Awards, for which we will be eternally grateful. If you're just catching it now, you are in for a real treat. The alternate ending is essentially an extended cut of the theatrical version's original conclusion, [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/26/silver-linings-playbook-alternate-ending/

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Apple celebrates ten years of the iTunes Store with special iTunes section

The iTunes Store turns 10 this Sunday, April 28, and Apple is celebrating with a new area in the store chronicling a decade of selling music, movies, TV, and apps. ?A Decade of iTunes? commemorates the store?s milestones in a separate section for each year.

Celebrate 10 years of iTunes-a decade marked by stunning musical and technological evolution. From the historic iPod releases to the debut of groundbreaking artists, our timeline captures key moments in our history. Plus, take a look back at the defining albums and songs that hit the top of the charts each year.

The iTunes Music Store debuted at a time when music piracy was rampant, and it gave people a safe, reliable, and legal way of purchasing music for a reasonable price. Overtime, Apples has added movies and TV shows, along with the App Store. While subscription services like Spotify and Rdio have proven popular with many, iTunes still remains the top music retailer in the world, and its importance to the current age of digital music can?t be overstated.

Source: iTunes

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Rockies rally past MLB-best?Braves in 12

Associated Press Sports

updated 7:43 p.m. ET April 24, 2013

DENVER (AP) - Wilin Rosario failed to come through in the ninth. He got to come home in the 12th as a consolation prize.

He scored from second on Yorvit Torrealba's single to left and the Colorado Rockies rallied to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 in 12 innings on Wednesday.

"I got the opportunity to win the game and I struck out against one of the best closers we have in the National League," he said.

Rosario redeemed himself for whiffing against Craig Kimbrel when he led off the 12th with a double to left against Luis Ayala (1-1). After Cuddyer was intentionally walked, Belisle, who had to bat with no one else available on the bench, struck out on a bunt attempt.

Torrealba ripped a single to left, and Upton's throw home was wide as Rosario slid in with the winning run.

"When I got the double I said we've got it because we need one hit and I was 100 percent sure I was going to score," Rosario said.

The Rockies used all available position players and by the 11th inning Torrealba, a catcher, was playing first base. He had one assist in two innings before delivering the game-winning hit.

"Usually in winter ball I just played first, but I also played once last year when I was with the Toronto Blue Jays," he said. "Still, it's not my position so I was a little bit nervous."

Michael Cuddyer and Josh Rutledge homered for the Rockies, who ended a three-game skid behind one-hit pitching by the bullpen over the last six innings. Matt Belisle (1-1), the fourth reliever used by Colorado, pitched two perfect innings.

The Rockies rallied off Kimbrel in the ninth to deny Tim Hudson his 200th career win. Dexter Fowler hit a tying double off the wall in left with two outs. Jonathan Herrera hit a one-out double and pinch-hitter Troy Tulowitzki followed with a single before Eric Young Jr. struck out.

Hudson looked set for his milestone win after he allowed three runs on six hits in six innings, struck out three and helped out with an RBI single in the fourth.

It was 48 degrees at first pitch, more than double Tuesday's 23-degree start to the doubleheader. Sunshine bathed Coors Field in the final game of a 10-game homestand that included three postponements due to snow.

There was little evidence of the wintry weather Wednesday.

Right-hander Tyler Chatwood was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs before the game and made his first major league start of the season. He allowed five runs, four earned, on nine hits and struck out three in six innings.

He left trailing 5-3 after Atlanta scored twice in the fourth on Herrera's throwing error and Jordan Schafer's RBI single.

Schafer was tagged out on a failed squeeze in the ninth.

"We tried to get another run. Every run you add on is important," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We tried to get a three-run lead. I thought we had a great combination of guys doing it, we just couldn't execute it."

The Rockies took a 2-0 lead when Cuddyer and Rutledge homered off Hudson on consecutive at-bats. It was the first time this season Colorado has hit back-to-back home runs this season.

Atlanta rallied to take the lead in the fourth. Freddie Freeman's double to right scored Upton from first, Juan Francisco singled to center to drive in Freeman and Hudson's single made it 3-2.

Chatwood answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single that bounced off home plate, allowing Chris Nelson to score from third.

NOTES: Atlanta OF Jason Heyward was released from the hospital Tuesday after an appendectomy Monday night. ... Colorado 1B Todd Helton (strained left forearm) was out of the lineup for the fifth straight game. The Rockies have not determined if Helton needs to go on the DL. ... The Rockies will send lefty Jorge De La Rosa (2-1) against the Diamondbacks' Trevor Cahill (0-3) in the opener of a four-game series in Arizona on Thursday. ... Paul Maholm (3-1) will start Atlanta's series opener in Detroit on Friday.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Posnanski: There is no story in baseball history quite like Rick Ankiel?s, and as it nears its conclusion, there's still much to root for.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51652429/ns/sports-baseball/

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Mike Ragogna: A Conversation with Blind Melon's Christopher Thorn, Plus Premieres by Drop Out Orchestra and Party Police

A Conversation with Blind Melon's Christopher Thorn

Mike Ragogna: Hey Chris, how are you?

Christopher Thorn: I'm doing great. How are you doing?

MR: I'm doing well. Let's start right from the beginning with the news that your self-titled '92 album has been remastered and is coming out with the Sippin' Time Sessions EP.

CT: You know, our very first experience in the studio after we got signed was in '92. We went into the studio with this great producer named David Briggs, who was Neil Young's producer, and we made this EP. Around that same time, we had gotten these new managers, and we all felt like we should not release an EP and do a full length record. So in the meantime, this EP sort of sat in the vaults for twenty-something years. Capitol came to us and said, "We want to celebrate the fact that your first record came out twenty years ago." Then they asked if we had any extra stuff to put with it. So we all remembered this EP that no one has ever heard--it's the one thing that hasn't been leaked, you know? This EP was just sort of hibernating in the Capitol vaults on two-inch tape. We had them transfer the tape to Pro Tools, and then Brad and I mixed this EP that we hadn't heard in literally twenty years. We made it, it was shelved, we went on to make our first record and we never really looked back. It was exciting, and it was great to hear. It was better than I thought--better than I remembered it being. I was really excited to hear it, and it sounded great.

MR: What stood out most about hearing these tracks from twenty years ago?

CT: It felt really good to hear the stuff. You could just hear us being so pumped on the tracks. You could really hear all the energy we had because everything was fresh to us. I just have the best memories of David in the tracking room with us. He was super intense, flailing his arms and banging his head, and he was really in there with us and it was just an incredible experience that I think really comes off on these tapes.

MR: This has also come out on vinyl, right?

CT: Yeah, it's a special thing we wanted to do for Record Store Day. It's a double vinyl--it's the first record, and then it's this EP on the other LP. We're really grateful that Capitol came to us and wanted to do something like this. It's exciting for us.

MR: What is the story behind your debut album?

CT: After the EP, like I said, we had these managers, and it didn't really feel like we were quite ready to do a full length record. So after we finished the EP and realized we weren't going to release it, we all moved to North Carolina, and we lived in this house together, which we called The Sleepyhouse--that was in Durham, North Carolina. We wanted to go to Chapel Hill, but we couldn't find any houses. That was really the best thing for us because we learned how to play. We woke up at three or four in the afternoon everyday, smoked a lot of pot, and then we jammed and wrote songs. That's what we did to really get prepared for this full length record that we were about to do. That was probably the smartest decision that we made, which was to leave Los Angeles. We weren't getting anything done in Los Angeles--there were too many other distraction, parties, meetings and bullshit for us to do. We just figured, "We're country boys. Let's go out in the country and live in a house together." Of course, we romanticized bands like The Band and other groups that kind of did this back in the '60s and '70s. So that's what we did, and that was part of the process to get us ready for our first full length record. Rick Parasher flew out to North Carolina to hang out with us--he was the producer--and we really liked Rick.

In the meantime, while we were at that house, every week, we were going and trying out material at this place called The Brewery, which is this tiny little club in Raleigh. Once a week for about a month, we went out there to try out material. The first week we played for twenty people, and the next week there were fifty people--you know, we started to build a little thing there--but it was mostly just playing together all day long, staying up all night, listening to records with each other and jamming. We got a lot done, and we just became brothers there too. One of my best memories is living in that house with those guys. We all just went and focused on the band, and it really was the best thing for us. After that, we flew to Seattle to make the record, and it felt like we were a lot more prepared after doing that.

MR: Seattle was, at that time, was the ground zero for the flannel sound.

CT: Yeah, there was no better place to be. We weren't necessarily a part of that scene, we were the hippies on the outside of the grunge scene, but we were accepted by those guys, and just by nature of releasing records around the same time we were sort of lumped into that. Seattle was just exploding with creativity, and there was this sense of excitement in the city. I wound up moving there and living there for seven years, but at that time it was what San Francisco was in the '60s--there are those times when, for whatever reason, there is an epicenter, and for whatever reason that seemed to be Seattle at the time. So we were sort of inspired just to be there, and to be running into all those bands around town.

MR: Did you ever happen across Nirvana?

CT: I didn't know those guys until after Shannon died. I became good friends with Chris, the bass player for Nirvana. He really helped me because Kurt had died about a year before Shannon died, and he lived in my neighborhood. It was great because he just kind of warned me about all the stuff I was about to go through from dealing with Shannon's death.

MR: I want to ask you about the iconic "Bee Girl" that everybody associates with the band. Was that a metaphor for something?

CT: No, we weren't that deep, man. Before we actually moved into the house in North Carolina we all moved to Mississippi first, before we got to Durham. One day, we were hanging out at Glen's house, and they had all these pictures as you went up the steps in their house. I just remember walking up the steps and seeing that picture of Glen's sister, and it just hit me that that had to be the cover. Everybody has that shot that they're a little embarrassed of. It's that shot before you become self-conscious, and before you start thinking about what's cool and what's not cool--you're just completely authentic. That's what that shot meant to me when I saw that. It just really hit me, and I started a campaign to make that our album cover and everyone went along with it. None of us had any idea that it would become such an iconic image. We got lucky with the combination of a great song, an image that everybody related to, and a great video--and a band that stayed on the road for years. All the stars lined up, and now we're still talking about it twenty years later. Who would have known?

MR: When you look back at the band's career, obviously this first huge album and then all that came after it, what are your thoughts?

CT: It was a crazy, surreal time in my life. I guess it looked like it came out of nowhere, but by the time the record hit, we had been on the road for a long time. We were really grateful for the success of "No Rain." Without "No Rain" we never would have been able to make a record as daring as the Soup record. "No Rain" allowed us to have complete control over our career for the rest of our lives. Creatively speaking, that was the greatest thing about "No Rain." If we hadn't had that success, I imagine the next record we made would have had a bunch of A&R guys crawling up our ass, telling us how we should sound and who we should be, but we didn't have any of that. I'm really grateful for "No Rain," I really am. The rest of the story becomes sadder. Shannon passed away and we weren't really looking out for one another like we should have been. I guess we felt immortal and we weren't really paying attention. We knew we were getting crazy, but when you're young, you just don't think about consequences. It was a very crazy time, but in the end, I can't speak badly about "No Rain." Some people want you to slam your hit song, but it's one of the greatest things that ever happened in my life. Today, I'm still making records because of the success of that record.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

CT: It sounds so simple to say, but it's totally true--you really just have to write a great song. You can be the world's greatest guitar player, with the coolest scarf, best hat and greatest shoes, but in the end, if you don't have a great song, no one cares. So my advice for anybody is really to write a great song. That is the most important thing. You have to write as many songs as you have to in order to hit that song that feels like magic. There's really nothing else to do but to put the time in to write a really great song. You just hope you find your muse, and you hope that you're able to find that little thing that makes a song live on and touch people. You've got to write a great song--it really is that simple.

MR: What's on the agenda? Will you be supporting this album with a tour?

CT: We're doing some dates. Everybody has so much going on. Every week, we still want to find time to play for the fans, play for ourselves, and just sort of hang out as brothers. We all have our own projects, so everybody is busy, but we always want to go out and play these songs. It's fun as hell for us to play them. We have a bunch of stuff in August. We just played a show with the Smashing Pumpkins in Vera Cruz, which is a couple hours outside of Mexico City. We just want to keep going. We want to get together and release singles every once in a while. We still want to get together and be creative and go out and play these songs for people. We just feel lucky that anybody cares all these years later, so we just want to honor that and go out with the fans.

MR: All the best with everything, Chris.This was great.

CT: Thank you so much. I really appreciate talking to you.

Tracks:
1. Soak The Sin
2. Tones Of Home
3. I Wonder
4. Paper Scratcher
5. Dear Ol' Dad
6. Change
7. No Rain
8. Deserted
9. Sleepy house
10. Holy Man
11. Seed To A Tree
12. Drive
13. Time
14. Dear Ol' Dad (Sippin' Time Sessions EP)
15. Soul One (Sippin' Time Sessions EP)
16. Tones Of Home (Sippin' Time Sessions EP)
17. Seed To A Tree (Sippin' Time Sessions EP)
18. Mother (Sippin' Time Sessions EP)

Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney

DROP OUT ORCHESTRA FEATURING VINNY VERO

photo credit: Johan Mauritzson

"I've been asked about the inspiration for 'Be Free With Your Love' quite a lot," says industry Big Guy, Vinny Vero. "There's something about it that seems to connect with people. And now, with France just having passed same sex marriage, the song is even more timely. The idea came from a news article I read about two gay men in a relationship who lived in the US, one of whom was an American citizen. The other guy was a British citizen and was in the process of being deported. Since the US doesn't have rights of citizenship for married gay couples, the British guy was forced to go back to his homeland. The man from the US gave up his job and moved to the UK to be with his partner. I co-opted a phrase from a sentence in the the article for the title of the song. As the fight for same sex marriage found its way to the top of the 24/7 news cycle, I started to pull more inspiration from that while simultaneously making the song about the power of music on the dancefloor. In times of struggle, people like to let loose, dance, be free and have a good time. So, the song has a double meaning."

And now, said song...

"Be Free With Your Love (Coqui Selection Remix)"

SPRING BREAK WITH PARTY POLICE

photo credit: Casey Kinney

"I wrote 'Spring Break' on February 3rd, the same day we shot our first Party Police video for Totally Bitchin'," says The Warden. "I was inspired by all the fun we had shooting that video with our friends and wrote it in like 3 minutes. I called up DJ Pegasus and said, 'Dude, we are gonna have to push "Pool Party" and record this new one for our second single so we can drop it in time for Spring Break!' Well, it is almost May now so we probably should have stuck to the original plan but 'Spring Break' is really a timeless theme. Hopefully, people can watch this video at work throughout the year and make them feel like they went on a little 4 minute vacation to East Dallas with the Party Po!"

The Warden continues, "We shot the entire video in 4 hours on March 30 in Dallas, TX with the same badass crew of our friends as we used for 'Totally Bitchin'--Oliver Peck (directing), Zach Warner (filming & editing) and Casey Kinney (filming). I am the executive producer and developed concept and arranged locations. I recently made business cards that say 'Music Video Producer, Legendary Rapper & BAMF' as my titles, in that order. They are awesome. I am definitely proud of being a legendary rapper, but I am a music video producer first. I found the plane and our new pilot friend Bobby White by posting a request on Facebook. We have become good friends and I'm hopeful he will be in many future videos. We tried Craig's List to find strippers but that didn't work. I learned that strippers typically do not wake up that early (we shot at noon). Thankfully, we know lots of hot chicks that aren't strippers, so we were good in that department. In case you can't tell, ShitKray got a spray tan for the occasion so she looks smokin' hot as usual. Party!"

?

Follow Mike Ragogna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ragz2008

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'console-ification' of PCs means for gamers - Giveaway of the Day

Brad Chacos @BradChacos

Apr 23, 2013 3:25 AM
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Traditionally, gamers have voluntary segregated themselves into two camps: console gamers and PC gamers. Hostility between the two runs irrationally deep, and rare is the gamer who?s willing to proclaim allegiance to both sides. Either you?re part of the Alliance, or you?re part of the Horde.

But the times, they are a-changin?.

Convergence is the buzzword of the day, and it?s rearing its head big-time in the gaming world. On one side, the upcoming PlayStation 4 console sports a suspiciously computer-esque core. On the other side, a wave of new technologies is bringing a remarkably console-like experience to PC gaming. The lines are beginning to blur. Mr. Miyamoto, tear down that wall!

The implications of a shared gaming backbone could span a whole series of articles, but this is PCWorld, not Game Informer. As such, we?ll limit our scope thusly: What does this titanic technology shift mean for you, die-hard PC gamer?
Diff?rent strokes
PS4 controllerThe PlayStation 4?s controller: Nowhere near as complex as a full QWERTY keyboard.

Computers maintain some crucial advantages over consoles, including overall customizability and control-scheme complexity, as well as the absence of a central Nintendo-esque gatekeeper for the ecosystem. That said, consoles hold a number of advantages over gaming PCs, too. Most revolve around their sheer simplicity.

?You plug a console in to your power plug and TV, and you?re good to go,? TechHive executive editor Jason Cross pointed out while we were discussing the topic. ?Every game works the way it?s supposed to without configuration. You turn it on and you?re up and running in seconds. You can?t mess it up. You can?t delete a critical file. There?s no game your system isn?t good enough to run well.?

All are valid points, and PC gaming doesn't currently offer any of the benefits mentioned above. But it may be able to soon, thanks largely to the efforts of Valve and Nvidia.
The best of both worlds

Valve is already a legendary game developer and it runs Steam, the premiere digital distribution service for PC gaming. The late 2012 launch of Steam?s Big Picture mode?which transmogrifies the traditional Steam interface into a living room-friendly 10-foot interface similar to YouTube Leanback?paved the way for easily playing games on your big screen. And, now, Valve?s upcoming Steam Box venture bodes even more portentously for so-called PC consoles.
Steam?s Big Picture mode was made for HDTV viewing.

Most of the details are still nebulous, but the Steam Box ideal revolves around small, quiet PCs built to fit in with your receiver, Blu-ray player, and Xbox 360. Because Steam Box is more a series of certification blueprints than anything else, many manufacturers will be able to build them. Valve?s Gabe Newell says Steam Boxes will fall into three categories:

Good?A ?good? Steam Box seems highly reminiscent of the Ouya Android console. Costing around $100, it would run only casual Web or mobile games. Newell also wants these "good" iterations to double as gaming set-top boxes of sorts, streaming games that are being run on more-powerful, traditional PCs to your TV.

Better?Valve will reign over the approved specs at this tier, and its own Steam Box will be of the ?Better? variety. These ?consoles? should cost around $300 (good luck with that) and contain CPUs and graphics processors powerful enough to play most recent titles at solid frame rates. Since most TVs top out at 720p or 1080p, that shouldn?t be too difficult to achieve.

Best?Beefy and boisterous, these represent the current status quo in PC gaming, without any size or spec restrictions. If manufacturers bother to get a certification for this class of machine, they?ll likely be Steam Boxes in name only rather than viable living room alternatives.

Having Big Picture mode, a roughly $300- price point, and a Steam Box certification plan would go a long way toward bringing PC gaming into the living room. The price point is especially noteworthy.

?If you come out with a PC that?s going to be twice as much money as a typical game console, I think that you?re going to have a very tough time gaining marketshare, no matter how powerful the hardware or how many games you have available,? says Lewis Ward, a gaming-focused research analyst at IDC.

All that said, a pair of GeForce-branded solutions from Nvidia?a company that is also looking to crack the living room with its Project SHIELD handheld?could do even more to console-ify PCs by keeping it simple, stupid.
Streamlined simulations in the cloud

Driver maintenance and settings optimization have long been two of the biggest pains in PC gaming. Simply put, making sure your games are running as sweetly as possible is a headache. Nvidia?s nascent GeForce Experience changes that.

The cloud-connected software pings Nvidia?s servers to automatically check for driver updates?hallelujah! But, more crucially, it also scans your PC?s hardware configuration, and then checks it against Nvidia?s crowd-sourced database to intelligently optimize the graphics settings in your games. You read that right: With GeForce Experience, you?ll never have to slog through tedious tessellation options to achieve tip-top frame rates again.
NvidiaNvidia?s GeForce GRIDcan deliver a full-blown PC gaming experience on any connected device, including smart TVs.

At least, that?s the theory. GeForce Experience is still getting its sea legs. The technology currently works with only a limited number of titles and Nvidia?s last three generations of graphics cards, so it?ll be a while before we get a feel for its full potential.

Another Nvidia initiative could negate the need for GeForce Experience entirely. Nvidia?s GeForce GRID promises far greater cloud gaming potential than forebearers like OnLive and Gaikai. The ability to simply and seamlessly play games on any piece of hardware?console, tablet, PC, smart TV, whatever?is the Holy Grail of gaming. Nvidia will have to conquer bandwidth and latency concerns in order for GRID to take off, however, as well as prove that there?s actually consumer demand for cloud gaming?something OnLive, sadly, has yet to do.
Under the hood

The biggest effect on PC gaming might have nothing to do with computers becoming more streamlined or showing up in the living room, though. Instead, the biggest shock to rock the PC gaming ecosystem may come from the increased computerization of consoles.

As we?ve discussed in depth before, Sony?s upcoming PlayStation 4 console packs an eight-core AMD APU at its heart, and Microsoft?s upcoming Xbox 720 (for lack of a better name) is said to sport a similar chip. If that?s true, all the major home consoles will share the same x86 backbone as traditional PCs.

That could be good, or it could be bad. Theoretically, the shift could put an end to shoddy console ports, as developers will use the same base-level tools to create console and computer games alike. AMD hardware may enjoy a surge in popularity as many new games are optimized for the APUs at the core of the consoles. Heck, one could even envision a proliferation of games designed for a shared multiplayer experience across multiple platforms, ? la the recent Skulls of the Shogun game.
MicrosoftIs ?Skulls of the Shogun? a template for the PC game of the future?

?I think what we?re going to see is a convergence of triple-A, 3D PC games and triple-A, 3D console games, so that more games will be released on multiple platforms going forward,? IDC?s Ward says. ?The back end will be more like PC game development. Converting a game to the right executable format or a specific UI will be relatively painless, so it?ll make sense to release titles on as many platforms as possible.?

One could also envision a few nightmare scenarios related to that. What if, for example, more PC games start sporting streamlined (read: dumbed down) interfaces for easier console portability? Or what about the possibility of face-melting graphics becoming less face-melting in future software generations as more games are built with console hardware in mind?

Ward says not to worry?precisely because premiere Crysis 3-style PC blockbusters are already a rarity.

?There are a lot of low-end gaming laptops and desktops out there that are nowhere near as powerful as consoles or high-end gaming PCs,? he says. ?So you?ve already got a range of computers that have been out there for five or so years, with a wide range of technical capabilities, and game developers and publishers already try to hit a sweet spot in the install base of active users.

?Most developers already don?t really go up to the real ceiling [of PC gaming technology], since it?ll inherently limit their market,? says Ward
One potential result of a shared x86 backbone: More cross-platform Mass Effect, less power PC-optimized Crysis 3.

I tried contacting several cross-platform game developers?from the biggest of the big companies to the popular little guys?to get a feel for their perspective, but no one would speak on the record. The few people I managed to even get on the phone clammed up once they realized the thrust of my questions.

?We?d prefer not to participate in this particular interview because the console transition is such a hot-button topic and we?re generally taking a wait-and-see approach,? one anonymous big-name indie developer told me. ?We don?t like to speculate about this stuff, though we find all of it very, very interesting and I think you?ve asked a lot of great questions here.?

Geez, thanks. Every other developer said something similar (compliments on my reporting style aside).
Not today, not tomorrow, but one day

We?re teetering on the precipice of a new tomorrow for PC gaming. All of these technologies are still in their infancy, but it?s obvious that some sort of convergence is coming.

PCs will no doubt lead the bleeding edge of performance gaming for years to come, technology-wise, but will that matter if games are designed for ubiquitous platform portability? What does the future actually hold? Even the people making games don?t know the answers to these questions.

Consoles and PCs and pixel-pumping tablets like the Razer Edge each handle control so differently that full-blown convergence seems difficult to ever imagine. Nonetheless, the underlying seeds for at least a basic sort of unification are being laid right now. Someday?not today, not tomorrow, but someday?the dividing wall will crumble, and PC fanboys and console fanboys will have no choice but to lay down their pitchforks and torches and call themselves just plain gamers.

On that day, we?ll all be part of the Horde.

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Source: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/65675

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