oughtn briefcase: June 2012

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ohio church set to replace burned Jesus statue

MONROE, Ohio (AP) ? A towering roadside Jesus statue destroyed two years ago in a lightning fire will be replaced later this summer in southwest Ohio.

A new 51-foot statue should be in place by late July at the Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports (http://cin.ci/M0rDmw ) several sculpture pieces will be made at a plant near Dayton in the next two weeks and then trucked to the Monroe site for assembly.

The previous statue was ruined when it was hit by lightning two years ago this month. It depicted a waist-up Jesus with arms uplifted, drawing the nickname "Touchdown Jesus," or "Big Butter Jesus" for its creamy color.

The new version will have a full-bodied Jesus with arms reaching out, as if beckoning. It is being constructed with fire-resistant material.

___

Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Crowd-funded Robots Are On Their Way Says ?Mr China?

There's nothing like a good conference to create opportunities for new deals, and F.ounders last week in New York was just such an event. Indeed, on the panel I ran about the international tech scene, Dimitry Grishin, the co-founder and chief executive of Russian e-mail and social networking giant Mail.ru, sat next to Liam Casey, CEO of PCH International, a man described as "Mr China" for his ability to make, ship and deliver just about any piece of hardware, including some for a well known tech brand you're probably using right now. This was perhaps more than fortuitous. For Grishin had that day announced his plans to invest in a personal robotics fund. Grishin Robotics will have $25 million to play with, searching for personal robotics technology and startups catering to everyday people. After that panel Grishin and Casey were seen in deep conversation for over an hour. And when I checked in with Casey he admitted they were looking at working together to... build robots. "Dimitry wants to fund robotic startups. We could potentially build them," he told me.

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As Egypt votes on president, military shows power

CAIRO (AP) ? As Egyptians voted in a second day of elections for a successor to Hosni Mubarak, the ruling military issued an interim constitution Sunday defining the new president's authorities, a move that sharpened the confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood and showed how the generals will maintain the lion's share of power no matter who wins.

With parliament dissolved and martial law effectively in force, the generals granted themselves considerable authorities. They will be the country's lawmakers, control the budget and will control who writes the permanent constitution that will define the country's future.

A significant question will be how their relationship will be with the new president who emerges from the Saturday-Sunday runoff between Ahmad Shafiq, Mubarak's former prime minister, and conservative Islamist Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Already, the Muslim Brotherhood was warning that they would launch protests if Shafiq is declared the winner. After polls closed Sunday night and counting began, the Brotherhood claimed to an early lead based on 1.38 million votes counted from 1 percent of the country's 12,000 polling stations ? with 61 percent to Morsi and 39 percent to Shafiq.

The sample was too small to indicate a real trend yet, but it showed the Brotherhood's eagerness to set Morsi out quickly as the front-runner. The figures were based on results announced by election officials at individual counting centers, where each campaign has representatives who compile the numbers and make them public before the formal declaration. Brotherhood announcements proved generally accurate in the first round of the election, held last month.

"If it happens that they announce he (Shafiq) is the winner, then there is forgery," said Brotherhood spokesman Murad Mohammed Ali. "We will return to the streets" ? though he added, "we don't believe in violence."

Shafiq, who is a former air force commander, is seen as the generals' favorite in the contest and would likely work closely with them. So closely that his opponents fear the result will be a continuation of the military-backed, authoritarian police state that Mubarak ran for nearly 29 years.

A victory by his opponent, the conservative Islamist Mohammed Morsi, could translate into a rockier tussle over spheres of power between his Muslim Brotherhood and the military.

Sunday night, the Brotherhood seemed to lay the groundwork for a confrontation with the military over its power grab. It rejected last week's order by the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolving parliament, where they were the largest party, as a "coup against the entire democratic process." It also rejected the military's right to declare an interim constitution and vowed that an assembly created by parliament last week before its dissolution will write the new charter, not one picked by the generals.

However, the Brotherhood has reached accommodations with the generals at times over the past 16 months since Mubarak's fall, as it reached deals with Mubarak's regime itself. It also has no power to force recognition of the parliament-created constituent assembly, which already seems discounted after parliament's dissolution and is likely to be formally disbanded by a pending court ruling. Lawmakers are literally locked out of parliament, which is ringed by troops.

The race has already been deeply polarizing. Critics of Shafiq, an admirer and longtime friend of Mubarak, see him as an extension of the old regime that millions sought to uproot when they staged a stunning uprising that toppled the man who ruled Egypt for three decades.

Morsi's opponents, in turn, fear that if he wins, the Brotherhood will take over the nation and turn it into an Islamic state, curbing freedoms and consigning minority Christians and women to second-class citizens.

While each has a core of strong supporters ? each got about a quarter of the vote in the first round voting among 13 candidates last month ? others saw the choice as a bitter one. The prospect that the generals will still hold most power even after their nominal handover of authority to civilians by July 1 has deepened the gloom, leaving some feeling the vote was essentially meaningless.

"Things have not changed at all. It is as if the revolution never happened," Ayat Maher, a 28-year-old mother of three, said as she waited for her husband to vote in Cairo's central Abdeen district. She said she voted for Morsi, but did not think there was much hope for him. "The same people are running the country. The same oppression and the same sense of enslavement. They still hold the keys to everything."

The winner will be officially announced Thursday. But the result could be known by as early as Monday morning, based on the results from individual counting stations.

Turnout seemed tepid in most places over the two days of voting. If significantly lower than the 46 percent in last month's first round of the presidential election, it would be a sign of widespread discontent with the choice and doubts over the vote's legitimacy. There were no figures yet from the current voting.

The weekend election followed a series of developments last week that turned the transition period overseen by the generals on its head.

First, the military slapped de facto martial law on the country, giving military police and intelligence agents the right to arrest civilians for a host of suspected crimes, some as secondary as obstructing traffic. Later came the court ruling dissolving parliament and allowing Shafiq to stay in the race despite legislation barring Mubarak regime figures from running for office.

State TV said the ruling military council had issued the interim constitution, expected for the past several days. It gave no details, saying those would be revealed by the generals at a press conference Monday.

But according to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press, the generals would be the nation's de facto legislators and control the budget. They also will name the 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution, thus ensuring the new charter would guarantee them a say in key policies like defense and national security as well as shield their vast economic empire from civilian scrutiny.

The president will be able to appoint a Cabinet and have the powers to approve or reject laws.

The generals, mostly in their 60s and 70s, owe their ranks to the patronage of Mubarak and are led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the ousted leader's defense minister of 20 years. All along, activists from the pro-democracy youth groups that engineered the anti-Mubarak uprising questioned the generals' will to hand over power, arguing that after 60 years of direct or behind-the-scenes domination, the military was unlikely to voluntarily relinquish its perks.

Earlier Sunday, the Brotherhood's speaker of parliament Saad el-Katatni met with the deputy head of the military council, Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Anan and told him the group does not recognize the dissolution of parliament, according to a Brotherhood statement that pointedly referred to el-Katatni by his title.

El-Katatni insisted the military could not issue an interim constitution and that the constituent assembly formed last week would meet in the "coming hours" to go ahead with its work in writing the permanent charter.

Trying to rally the public in the last hours of voting, the Brotherhood presented a Morsi victory as the last hope to prevent total military control.

"We got rid of one devil and got 19," said Mohammed Kanouna, referring to Mubarak and the members of the military council as he voted for Morsi after night fell in Cairo's Dar el-Salam slum. "We have to let them know there is a will of the people above their will."

Security was tight in Cairo on Sunday, with heavier-than-usual army and police presence and army helicopters flying low over the sprawling city of some 18 million people.

Few voters displayed an air of celebration visible in previous post-Mubarak elections.

"It's a farce. I crossed out the names of the two candidates on my ballot paper and wrote 'the revolution continues'," said architect Ahmed Saad el-Deen in Cairo's Sayedah Zeinab district.

"I can't vote for the one who killed my brother or the second one who danced on his dead body," he said, alluding to Shafiq's alleged role in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising and claims by revolutionaries that Morsi's Brotherhood rode the uprising to realize its own political goals.

___

AP correspondent Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Arroyo wins his first game in 5 1/2 weeks

By MIKE FITZPATRICK

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:37 p.m. ET June 15, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) - Jay Bruce thought he sailed around the bases without much trouble at all. His teammates saw it differently, so they didn't pass up a chance to razz the All-Star slugger when he got back to the bench.

Bruce hit an inside-the-park homer that left Jason Bay with yet another injury and the Cincinnati Reds beat the New York Mets 7-3 on Friday night to give Bronson Arroyo his first victory in 5 1/2 weeks.

"They said I looked terrible when I got to the dugout. But I thought I looked fine. I felt fine," Bruce said as a teammate yelled out "speed demon!" in the clubhouse. "Had enough gas to be safe, so that's all that matters."

Brandon Phillips added a two-run shot to extend his recent hitting tear and the NL Central leaders followed up a three-game sweep of intrastate rival Cleveland by winning the series opener at Citi Field, a nice present for manager Dusty Baker on his 63rd birthday.

"First time I won on my birthday in I don't know how long," Baker said. "You can look it up. It ain't good."

Reds slugger Joey Votto and Mets star David Wright were both hit by pitches, but neither led to any trouble.

"That's the way you play the game," Wright said, just about accepting that he was plunked on purpose in retaliation for Votto. "I know we didn't hit Joey on purpose, but you take care of your guys. We'd have done the same thing. I appreciate them keeping the ball down, doing it the right way."

Bay was hurt when he crashed into the left-field wall while trying to catch Bruce's inside-the-park homer. The Mets said he left the game with a possible concussion, the latest setback for a player who has been an injury-plagued bust in New York since signing a $66 million, four-year contract before the 2010 season.

"He looked banged up. He looked like he just had a concussion. Especially, you look at the replay and see how his head hit the wall," Wright said.

Bay missed the final two months of his first season with the Mets because of a concussion he sustained while slamming into the left-field fence to make a catch at Dodger Stadium.

"It's a combination of the way he hustles, and bad luck. You feel for him. You know the way he's worked to overcome some of these injuries," Wright said. "Obviously, with the head injury, you know you've got to be very careful."

Arroyo, who was 0-3 in six starts since beating Milwaukee on May 7, found his form against one of his favorite opponents. The right-hander entered 7-2 with a 2.81 ERA and three complete games in his previous 12 starts against the Mets - with five other outings that lasted eight innings.

This time, Arroyo (3-4) was pulled in the seventh after giving up Kirk Nieuwenhuis' third homer in two games and a two-run drive by Scott Hairston. Using his usual array of slow breaking balls and odd angles, Arroyo yielded four hits while striking out five and walking two.

"At this point in the season, with two wins, I'll take a win any way I can get one," Arroyo said. "I was happy with the performance. I did pretty much what I wanted with the lineup."

Wilson Valdez, making his first major league start in center field, had a two-run double and three RBIs for Cincinnati. Jose Arredondo, Sean Marshall and Aroldis Chapman each worked a hitless inning out of the bullpen.

"That's how you script it," Baker said.

New York starter Dillon Gee (4-5) gave up four runs - three earned - and five hits in six innings. The Mets had just returned from Tampa Bay, where they outscored the Rays 29-9 for a three-game sweep that salvaged a 4-5 road trip against three of baseball's top teams.

Bruce led off the second inning with an opposite-field drive into the left-field corner. Bay raced back, tumbled to the warning track as the ball barely eluded him and then hit his head against the lower part of the fence.

Bay, recently activated from the disabled list, struggled to get to his feet and find the ball. He finally fired it toward the infield, but Bruce slid across the plate to easily beat the relay.

It was Cincinnati's first inside-the-park homer since Drew Stubbs hit one against Toronto on June 17, 2011. The previous inside-the-park shot against the Mets was hit by Blake DeWitt of the Dodgers in Los Angeles on May 6, 2008.

Mets manager Terry Collins and trainer Ray Ramirez came out to check on Bay, who limped slightly as he walked off the field with Ramirez. Wright patted Bay on the head.

Hairston took over in left field. Moments later, he bobbled Ryan Ludwick's double down the left-field line for an error that allowed a run to score.

Bay is batting .187 with four home runs and six RBIs. He was on the disabled list from April 24 until June 6 with a broken rib and is 2 for 25 with a home run since being activated.

"I feel terrible for him. He's had a tough go of it here," Bruce said.

NOTES: Mets INF Justin Turner (sprained right ankle) was traveling to New York from his rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo in anticipation of being activated Saturday, the club said. ... Cincinnati placed Stubbs on the 15-day DL with a strained muscle on his left side and called up utilityman Willie Harris from Triple-A Louisville. Harris, who spent last season with the Mets, opened the ninth with a pinch-hit double and scored on Valdez's single. ... Chris Heisey, who had been subbing for Stubbs in center, sat out after leaving Thursday's game against Cleveland with a mild groin strain.

More news

Red Sox running out of answers

CSN: There was a familiar scene inside the locker room at Wrigley Field Friday. Frustration oozed from both manager and players as a lack of offense led to yet another rough loss.

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Bikeshare Riders Shun Helmets

60-Second Science | Health

A study of the DC bike sharing program found that borrowers wear helmets far less often than do riders on their own bicycles. Karen Hopkin reports.

June 15, 2012?|

More 60-Second Science

Subscribe via iTunes

Bike sharing is a growing phenomenon, and lots of cities are launching programs that allow people to borrow a set of wheels. But do these fly-by-night cyclists play it safe as they tool around town? A new study shows that in Washington DC most of them don?t?at least when it comes to wearing a helmet. The results appear in the American Journal of Public Health. [John D. Kraemer, Jason S. Roffenbender and Laura Anderko, Helmet Wearing Among Users of a Public Bicycle-Sharing Program in the District of Columbia and Comparable Riders on Personal Bicycles]

Researchers at Georgetown University spent a month watching people ride bikes around the nation?s capital. DC is home to Capital Bikeshares, one of the largest programs in the U.S. The researchers noted whether cyclists were on Capital bikes or wheels of their own. They also classified riders as either casual users or likely commuters, depending on when and where the cyclists were spotted.?

What they found is: bikeshare riders tend to shun headgear. While 70 percent of the commuters who rode their own bikes wore helmets, fewer than a third of the bikeshare commuters did the same. And the casual riders were even more lax.

To encourage helmet use, New York City, whose bikeshare system is set to launch in July, is giving them away. Just show up for a fitting. It?s one way to stay a head.

?Karen Hopkin

[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast]

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Romney accuses Obama of political motivation on immigration

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