How iPads are revolutionising social games
“Rule-breaking is creative,” Alistair Aitcheson says in his presentation to the audience at GameHorizon. “Laughter trumps fairness.” It’s this theory of schadenfreude he has come to the conference to discuss: how pitting us against each other can strengthen friendships, and bring players of games closer.
Aitcheson is a one-man indie studio, a first class mathematics graduate who has spent the past three years running his business as an entirely one-man enterprise. Mainly focusing on iOS games, he launched Gr [...]
EU lifting of Syrian oil sanctions aids jihadists
The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country’s key resources.
Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated with al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in al-Hasakah gover [...]
Hard to believe Obama’s claims of ignorance in IRS scandal
The standard police warning about con men applies to politicians, as well: When they tell you something that sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
So it goes with the White House claim that it knew nothing — nothing! — about the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service.
Of course the White House knew. And we already have the first piece of evidence.
The Friday hearing on what amounted to political profiling of anti-Obama groups took a huge step toward demolishing White House efforts to distance itself from th [...]
Frank Lampard says José Mourinho’s management skills are second to none
Frank Lampard has lauded the man-management of Jose Mourinho ahead of an expected second coming to Chelsea.
Asked what makes Mourinho so successful, Lampard told Talksport: “It’s a presence and an aura and a way with people. He galvanises people. His own self-confidence reflects back on his teams. He did that to me personally.
“Tactically he’s fantastic. He’s very astute. As a team he sets you up brilliantly.
“But what he does is he gets the best out of players and gets this togetherness that I’d [...]
ADHD in Childhood May Raise Risk for Obesity in Adulthood
MONDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) — Boys who are diagnosed with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are twice as likely to become obese adults as those who didn’t have the disorder when they were young, a new 30-year study shows.
Researchers found that men with childhood ADHD tended to have a higher body-mass index (BMI) and obesity, even if they no longer had symptoms of the disorder. Socioeconomics made no difference; well-off or poor, they tended toward obesity.
“The bottom line is, boys wh [...]
Gibbs: Why I stopped reading Dowd
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday he stopped reading acerbic New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd because “it’s largely the same column for the last, like, eight years.”
“I don’t normally read Maureen,” Gibbs said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
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“Oh, yes, you do,” host Mika Brzezinski responded.
“I don’t largely because it’s sort of largely the same column for the last, like, eight years,” Gibbs said.
Dowd’s column on Sunday unfavorably compared President Barack Obama’s handling of the IRS s [...]
WordPress CEO says 72,000 blogs left Tumblr after Yahoo deal
WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg
(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)
WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg said that his company saw a major uptick in Tumblr defections after news of the $1.1 billion acquisition was reported on.
Writing on his personal blog Sunday evening, Mullenweg said that WordPress usually imports about 400 to 600 blog posts per hour. After news of the deal was announced, the number of imported posts jumped to more than 72,000.
Although some have trumped up the news, saying that Tumblr users are concerned with what the future hold [...]
‘No proof’ Israel shot Gaza child
20 May 2013
Last updated at 08:53 ET
The pictures of Mohammed and Jamal al-Dura under fire in Gaza were shown around the world in 2000
An Israeli investigation has said a French news report in 2000 which blamed Israeli troops for shooting dead a Palestinian child was baseless.
It said raw footage of the incident provided no evidence that Israeli bullets killed 12-year-old Mohammed al-Dura, as the France 2 report claimed.
Scenes of the child being shot in Gaza became one of the most enduring images of the second Palestinia [...]
JPMorgan shareholders ready to grill the board
Jamie Dimon faces a key vote Tuesday on whether he should hold both the CEO and chairmanship.
JPMorgan’s annual meeting in Tampa Tuesday could turn into the Jamie Dimon show, but shareholders want more.
Dimon has been in the spotlight for weeks as calls to split the CEO and chairman roles he holds have grown louder.
Tuesday’s meeting will be Dimon’s day of reckoning but shareholders are hoping to also get a chance to grill the board .
“The board needs to show us that they are more than just a rubber stamp o [...]
Wilshere reveals new England kit
Jack Wilshere has tweeted a picture of the new England kit, which is set to be worn for the first time against the Republic of Ireland on 29 May.
England and Arsenal midfielder Wilshere put out the picture of the kit being worn by a student at his old school.
Nike have taken over from Umbro
as the Football Association’s kit supplier this year.
The deal with Nike lasts until 2018 and brings a 60-year association with Umbro to an end.
The classic-style kit bears resemblance to the kit worn by West Germany wh [...]
Study: Older Whooping Cough Vaccine More Effective
MONDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) — The older vaccine for whooping cough that was phased out in the late 1990s is more effective than the current version of the vaccine, a new study contends.
Teenagers who received four shots with the older vaccine — called whole-cell vaccine — before they were 2 years old were significantly less likely to become infected with whooping cough during a recent outbreak in California, compared to children who received all of their immunizations with the new vaccines, called th [...]
Government of the inept, unqualified and unbelievable
By DOUG THOMPSON – Capitol Hill Blue
May 20, 2013
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
In the American military, sexual abuse is so prevalent that even those in charge of overseeing programs to protect victims are themselves in jail for rape and assault.
At the Internal Revenue Service, groups with the gall to question the many inept, unethical and probably illegal actions of President Barack Obama become targets of harassment.
On Capitol Hill, public approval of those elected to represent “the p [...]