wantonness lease: February 2013

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Justices asked to void marriage law provision

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a section of federal law that only recognizes male-female marriages.

In a filing with the court, the administration says Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act denies legally married same-sex couples many federal benefits that are available only to legally married heterosexual couples. Federal tax and Social Security survivor's benefits are among them.

In its brief, the administration said the provision "violates the fundamental constitutional guarantee of equal protection."

The brief was filed as the justices prepare to hear arguments next month in a challenge to the 1996 law.

President Barack Obama last year said he personally supports gay marriage. He said in last month's inaugural address that the law should treat gay people like anyone else.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/justices-asked-void-marriage-law-provision-164112274--politics.html

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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Fun. takes song of the year at Grammy Awards

Taylor Swift performs on stage at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Musical group fun. perform at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Dan Auerbach, left, and Patrick Carney accept the award for best rock album "El Camino" at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Skrillex arrives at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

From left, Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Country Winston and Ted Dwane, of musical group Mumford & Sons, arrive at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? You can cross one major trophy off the list for fun. at the Grammy Awards.

The pop-rockers won song of the year for their transcendent anthem, "We Are Young," featuring Janelle Monae, during Sunday night's telecast, taking the first of four major awards the group's been nominated.

"I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote the chorus to this song," lead singer Nate Ruess joked. "This is in HD, everyone can see our faces, and we are not very young."

Most of the attention has been on Frank Ocean going into the awards ? he won a trophy for urban contemporary album and is up for four more trophies during the telecast. But his fellow lead nominees got an early lead on the R&B singer.

"We Are Young" helped fun. earn a starring role at these Grammys with nominations in all four major categories after the release of their first album, matched only by Christopher Cross in 1981, and six overall. The band turned in a powerful early performance of "Carry On" early in the show as a downpour on stage began mid-song and guitarist Jack Antonoff got a kiss from girlfriend Lena Dunham of "Girls" fame after winning.

Fun. may have picked up a major win, but it was The Black Keys and Skrillex who had the early lead thanks to strong runs in the pre-telecast awards show.

The Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach took the early lead during the pre-telecast show, picking up three trophies and assisting with a fourth. Auerbach won producer of the year alone and best rock song for "Lonely Boy" and rock album for "El Camino" with his bandmate Patrick Carney, joining electronic dance music innovator Skrillex atop the early leaderboard. He was also producer for another winner, Dr. John.

A slew of artists sit one back going into the main awards show at the Staples Center, including fellow top nominees Kanye West and Jay-Z, Gotye, former best new artist winner Esperanza Spalding, jazz man Chick Corea and Christian singer-songwriter Matt Redman.

West and Jay-Z won best rap song and best rap performance for the song "... in Paris" from their "Watch the Throne" collaboration and lost a third for short form video for "No Church in The Wild," which featured Ocean. Ocean will be up for five awards later in the evening.

Other early winners included Rihanna, Beyonce, Mumford & Sons and Taylor Swift, who opened the show as the Mad Hatter. Swift dressed in white top hat, tails, shorts and tall boots during the surreal version of her hummable hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" that included a troop of mime clowns and a guy on a tricycle with a flame-thrower attached.

The singer pretended to talk to the offending boyfriend on the phone: "I'm busy opening the Grammys and we're never getting back together."

Justin Timberlake debuted new tracks "Suit & Tie" with Jay-Z and "Pusher Love" in a performance that was broadcast in retro black and white. Elton John and Ed Sheeran teamed on "The A Team" and Miguel and Wiz Kalifa teamed up on "Adorn."

Adele won the first award of the night on the main telecast, taking home best pop solo performance for "Set Fire to the Rain (Live)," in one of the night's least-surprising moments ? though the singer was somewhat taken aback.

"I just wanted to be part of the night, because I loved it last year, obviously," she said of winning a record-tying six awards in 2012.

Carrie Underwood won best country solo performance for "Blown Away."

The Grammy pre-telecast awards show at the Nokia Theatre had 70 trophies up for grabs, including rock, pop, rap and country categories.

Skrillex won best dance recording for "Bangarang," featuring Sirah, best dance/electronica album for "Bangarang" and best remixed recording a year after winning those same awards in his first appearance at the Grammys.

"You know what, I thought I'd get used to it, but I tripped over every word when I was up there," Skrillex said of his acceptance speeches. "I felt like I just wanted a pool of ice water and just couldn't even breathe or think. It was crazy. I think it was even crazier than last year."

Gotye won best alternative album for "Making Mirrors" and best pop/duo performance for "Somebody That I Used To Know," featuring Kimbra.

Celebrities rolled down the red carpet in the early afternoon, showing a fair amount of skin despite CBS's mandate that stars dress appropriately with butts, breasts and other sensitive areas covered adequately.

Nevertheless, Jennifer Lopez showed up on stage in a dress slit all the way to her hip.

"As you can see, I read the memo," Lopez joked.

Celebrities also felt an increased Los Angeles Police Department presence in light of a manhunt involving an alleged cop killer. Police were everywhere, including atop the hotel across from the Staples Center.

Frank Ocean remains in contention for five awards and will perform.

"It feels cool," Ocean said on the red carpet. "It's really bright, a lot of beautiful ladies walking around being fancy. I have to perform tonight so the wheels are constantly spinning. You can't really just sit in your seat and take it all in."

Three of the night's major awards are still to come. Jack White's "Blunderbuss" competes with fun.'s "Some Nights," Ocean's "channel ORANGE," Mumford's "Babel" and The Keys' "El Camino" for the night's top award, album of the year.

Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," featuring Kimbra, Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" join the fun., Ocean and Black Keys entries in record of the year.

And rounding out the major categories, fun., Ocean, Alabama Shakes, Hunter Hayes and The Lumineers are up for best new artist.

There was no shortage of mashups the Grammys have become famous for, either. Elton John, Mavis Staples, Mumford, Brittany Howard, T Bone Burnett and Zac Brown are saluting the late Levon Helm, who won the Americana Grammy last year a few months before his death. The Keys will join Dr. John and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on stage. Sting, Rihanna and Bruno Mars will perform together. Other team-ups include Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley, and Alicia Keys and Maroon 5.

___

AP writers Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Mesfin Fekadu, Sandy Cohen, Anthony McCartney and Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://grammy.com

___

Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-10-Grammys/id-2831f30c0f6344f094620e0faa6604f3

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Yandex passes Bing to become fourth largest search provider according to comScore

Bing, Microsoft's attempt to take on Google directly. When it first launched there was quite a bit of fanfare and its market share grew quickly. It didn't exactly hack away at Mountain View's dominance, but it certainly made a small dent. Since then, things have slowed down and other players have asserted themselves in the global search battlefield. While Baidu has been riding high for quite some time, Yandex is a relative new-comer to the leader board. And, somewhat surprisingly, has already surpassed Microsoft for global market share according to stats provided to us by comScore. Though the margin is small, the Russian company saw more searches performed through its site than Microsoft in both November and December of 2012. The difference is small enough that those positions could swap again but, where as Bing has seen its numbers plateau over the last six months, Yandex has continued to grow. Of course, neither is anywhere near challenging Google which accounts for roughly 65 percent of the search traffic according to comScore's numbers and both only see about half the traffic of the number three competitor, Yahoo. Microsoft can still claim one victory over Yandex in the number of unique searchers, though. If you're curious for more we've put the entire chart after the break.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Google

Comments

Via: DailyTech, Search Engine Watch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/09/yandex-passes-bing-to-become-fourth-largest-search-provider/

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Monday, February 4, 2013

Photonics: On track for downsizing

Jan. 31, 2013 ? The ability to miniaturize photonics devices to sizes compatible with computer chips inches closer.

Optical communications, or photonics, technology has failed to match the miniaturization of electronic components, mainly because of fundamental laws of classical optics. The smallest photonic devices are limited to sizes of at least a micrometer. Researchers from the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (IME) in Singapore have now realized a device design that beats such size restrictions and can be easily integrated into a silicon chip1.

Using so-called 'plasmonic techniques', the researchers, led by Shiyang Zhu at the IME, demonstrated optical resonator structures, which allow a beam of light to circulate in a closed path, that can be used as on-off switches for light. The device is based on plasmonic effects that guide the light along the surface of the metal. "The performance of our devices is comparable to the best reported results for related plasmonic resonators," says Zhu.

Conventional optical instruments, such as lenses, modify light as it passes through them. Plasmonic structures, however, act more like antennae that amplify light as it moves along their surface. Plasmonic features are typically created using metals such as gold or silver. However, integrating these noble metals with silicon chips is not only expensive, but also requires techniques that are incompatible with established silicon processing techniques.

As a workaround, Zhu and co-workers used copper to generate the desired plasmonic effects. Copper is widely used as electronic wires in silicon computer chips, and it has an established track record in the computer industry. The researchers built their plasmonic resonator devices from two copper structures that guide light along them -- a long wire adjacent to a circle (see image). The smallest width of the copper circuit is only about 180 nanometers, which is much smaller than conventional light guides.

The closeness of the wire and the circle is critical for efficient device operation. When light of a specific wavelength, which is determined by the dimensions of the circle, passes through the wire, some of it can leak into the circle where it becomes trapped. Light can only pass through the structure if it does not match the resonance wavelength of the circle.

The wavelength at which this resonance occurs is very sensitive to parameters such as temperature. In the future, this sensitivity in the circuits could be harnessed for use as switches that control how light passes through the wire, says Zhu. "The next step is to design and demonstrate active plasmonic devices, such as thermo-optic switchers and high-speed electro-optic modulators."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Shiyang Zhu, G. Q. Lo, and D. L. Kwong. Performance of ultracompact copper-capped silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide-ring resonators at telecom wavelengths. Optics Express, Vol. 20, Issue 14, pp. 15232-15246 (2012) DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.015232

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/computers_math/information_technology/~3/-Lc7GY8Jdyo/130203145428.htm

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Man charged in fatal shooting of ex-SEAL/author

In this April 6, 2012, photo, former Navy SEAL and author of the book ?American Sniper? poses in Midlothian, Texas. A Texas sheriff has told local newspapers that Kyle has been fatally shot along with another man on a gun range, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Paul Moseley)

This photo provided by the Erath County Sheriff?s Office shows Eddie Ray Routh. He was charged with murder in connection with a shooting at a central Texas gun range that killed former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/ Erath County Sheriff's Office)

Map showns path of texas gunman following a double shooting

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) ? A 25-year-old Iraq war veteran charged with murdering former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend turned his semi-automatic handgun onto the pair while they were at a Texas shooting range, authorities said Sunday.

Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster was arraigned early Sunday on two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, at the shooting range about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Capt. Jason Upshaw with the Erath County Sheriff's Office said Routh used a semi-automatic handgun, which authorities later found at his home. Upshaw declined to give any more details about the type of gun used.

Routh has not made any comments indicating what his motive may have been, Upshaw said. Sheriff Tommy Bryant said Routh was unemployed and "may have been suffering from some type of mental illness from being in the military himself," but he didn't know if Routh was on any medication.

"I don't know that we'll ever know. He's the only one that knows that," Upshaw said.

The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that Routh was a corporal in the Marines from June 2006 to January 2010. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and Haiti in 2010. His current duty status is listed as reserve.

Routh is being held on $3 million bond. Authorities did not know whether Routh had a lawyer yet.

Bryant said the trio went to the shooting range around 3:15 p.m. Saturday. Someone else came across the bodies of Kyle and Littlefield around 5 p.m. and called 911.

Upshaw said autopsies were still pending and he could not say how many times the men were shot or where on their bodies they were hit.

After the shootings, Routh left the shooting range in Kyle's black pickup truck, Bryant said, first going to his sister's home in Midlothian, where he told her and her husband what he had done. The couple called local police.

Routh arrived at his home in Lancaster, about 17 miles southeast of Dallas, at about 8 p.m. Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and took him to the Lancaster Police Department.

Travis Cox, the director of a nonprofit Kyle helped found, told the Associated Press on Sunday that Kyle and Littlefield had taken Routh to the range. Littlefield was Kyle's neighbor and "workout buddy," Cox said.

"What I know is Chris and a gentleman ? great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield ? took a veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them," Cox said.

A knock on the door at Routh's last known address went unanswered Sunday. A for-sale sign was in front of the small, wood-framed home.

Kyle, a decorated veteran, wrote the best-selling book, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009. Kyle said in his book that Iraqi insurgents had put a bounty on his head. According to promotional information from book publisher William Morrow, Kyle deployed to Iraq four times.

Kyle's nonprofit, FITCO Cares, provides at-home fitness equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans.

"Chris was literally the type of guy if you were a veteran and needed help he'd help you," Cox said. "And from my understanding that's what happened here. I don't know how he came in contact with this gentleman, but I do know that it was not through the foundation."

Cox described Littlefield as a gentle, kind-hearted man who often called or emailed him with ideas for events or fundraisers to help veterans.

"It was just two great guys with Chad and Chris trying to help out a veteran in need and making time out of their day to help him. And to give him a hand. And unfortunately this thing happened," Cox said.

Lt. Cmdr. Rorke Denver, who served with Kyle on SEAL Team 3 in Iraq in 2006, called Kyle a champion of the modern battlefield.

"Everybody was aware in 2006 that something special or something unique with his skill set was developing and starting to grow and then it just carried on until he hung up his guns, at least in an active military capacity, and moved on," Denver said. His book, "Damn Few," about training SEALs, will be released this month.

Denver wasn't surprised that Kyle apparently used a shooting range to help someone with PTSD.

"For us, for warriors, that's a skill set that has become very familiar, very comfortable for us," said Denver, a lieutenant commander in a reserve SEAL team. "So I actually see it as kind of a perfect use of Chris' unique skill set and expertise of which he has very few peers."

Craft International, Kyle's security training company, had scheduled a $2,950-per-person civilian training event at Rough Creek Lodge called the "Rough Creek Shoot Out!" for March 1-3. The price included lodging, meals and shooting instruction. Kyle was scheduled to teach the first class, called "precision rifle."

Kyle is survived by his wife, Taya, and their two children, Cox said.

___

Sherman reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press writers Andale Gross and Erica Hunzinger in Chicago contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-03-Sniper%20Author-Shooting/id-e1f37b96a437418da426ee95da712b77

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