Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The Captain Hall of Fame: Phillips, Kirk, Sparrow and More



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/film/~3/9D_5S1d2Hfg/story01.htm
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Hadoop 2: Big data's big leap forward



The new Hadoop is nothing less than the Apache Foundation's attempt to create a whole new general framework for the way big data can be stored, mined, and processed.


It ought to not only further stimulate the way apps are written for Hadoop, but also allow for the creation of entirely new data-crunching methodologies within Hadoop that simply weren't possible because of its earlier architectural limitations. In short, good stuff.


So what's been holding Hadoop back all this time? More importantly, where's it going from here?


Various criticisms of Hadoop have revolved around its scaling limitations, but the biggest constraint on scale has been its job handling. All jobs in Hadoop are run as batch processes through a single daemon called JobTracker, which creates a scalability and processing-speed bottleneck.


With Hadoop 2, the JobTracker approach has been scrapped. Instead, Hadoop uses an entirely new job-processing framework built using two daemons: ResourceManager, which governs all jobs in the system, and NodeManager, which runs on each Hadoop node and keeps the ResourceManager informed about what's happening on that node. (Each running application also has its own governor, ApplicationMaster.)


This setup is so unlike the previous MapReduce that Apache gave it an entirely new name: YARN, or Yet Another Resource Negotiator, with the new MapReduce running as one of many possible components for it. In fact, Apache claims that any distributed application can run on YARN, albeit with some porting. To that end, Apache's maintained a list of YARN-compatible applications, such as the social-graph analysis system Apache Giraph (which Facebook uses). More are on the way from other parties, too.


As radical as this approach is, Apache wisely decided not to break backward compatibility, and so MapReduce 2 still has the same APIs as its predecessor. Existing jobs just need a recompile to work properly.


It's also hardly coincidence that YARN makes Hadoop far more cross-compatible with other Apache projects for massaging big data. Use one, and it becomes far easier to use the rest. Such a rising tide for Hadoop would help lift all of Apache's related boats.


The biggest win of all here is how MapReduce itself becomes just one possible way of many to mine data through Hadoop. Apache's own Spark, another candidate for porting to YARN, might be better suited to some kinds of work than MapReduce, so Hadoop 2 gives you more flexibility to choose the engine that's the best fit.


The two big Hadoop vendors out there, Cloudera and Hortonworks, both have their own discussions of how YARN is crucial stuff, even if they approach Hadoop from markedly different directions. Cloudera's Impala offers the ability to run low-latency SQL queries against HDFS-stored data, which makes them best suited to live analytics; Hortonworks has chosen to go with Apache's native Hive technology, which is best for data warehouse operations (like long-running queries with lots of join-type operations).


Porting apps to YARN isn't a trivial effort, though, so the payoff involved in reworking Hadoop this radically will be strongly based on how much gets deployed within the new framework. But the fact that both Cloudera and Hortonworks are solidly behind Hadoop 2 and haven't forked the product -- or stuck with its earlier iterations -- is major evidence Hadoop 2 isn't just smoke or mirrors. Or tangled yarn.


This story, "Hadoop 2: Big data's big leap forward," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/hadoop/hadoop-2-big-datas-big-leap-forward-228909?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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Live Chat: UFC 166 preview, Bellator pay-per-view and more


I can only speak from personal experience and due to the volume of combat sports I watch, very little of it gets me excited or out of my chair. I can also say without hesitation UFC 166 is one such an event.


Ultimately, we'll have to see how the fights play out, but in terms of pre-fight anticipation, this one is most certainly forcing me to think about what could happen, what it all might mean and how fun it all might be. That's what a special event should and does do.


However, there's some hand wringing going on about Bellator's pay-per-view. Innumerable questions and claims are made about the event and how, if it goes poorly, it would spell the end for Bellator. None of this could be further from the truth.


There's a lot going on, so join me today to discuss all of this and more. In terms of today's chat, anything is up for discussion, but I will lead with this and it all kicks off at 1 p.m. ET.


As is customary, I'll post the video window here as the event draws near and I'll answer any questions you may have if you post them in the comments section below. Be sure that you click the 'rec' button for those comments/questions you believe most deserve a response.


Be sure to link this page and use the hashtag #chatwrappers on Twitter or even Facebook when you're watching this to let everyone know you're taking part is this activity of ours.


Talk with you all at 1 p.m. ET.


Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/16/4844320/live-chat-ufc-166-preview-bellator-pay-per-view-and-more
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Citigroup results hit by bond trading slowdown


By David Henry


(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Tuesday as bond market trading volume dropped, hurting revenue at the No. 3 U.S. bank and across Wall Street.


The bank's bond trading revenue dropped 26 percent, or $956 million (597.7 million pounds), excluding an accounting adjustment, and revenue at most of its major businesses dropped.


The fall in fixed-income revenue could spell trouble for investment banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley, which post results later this week. Volumes dropped after the Federal Reserve said it plans to continue its bond buying stimulus program, giving assurance to investors that they can hold onto their bonds for a little longer.


Late in the quarter, investors also grew increasingly concerned about the government's fiscal impasse, which made many reluctant to trade.


"I don't think anybody wanted to get in front of that," said Diane Jaffee, who oversees about $6.5 billion of relative value mutual funds for TCW, and counts Citigroup among her top 10 holdings. The budget and debt ceiling crises continue to weigh on trading volumes in the fourth quarter, analysts said.


Investors pointed to Citi's efforts to control costs as the most positive part of the quarterly earnings. Similar moves could be imminent at other banks, especially as Wall Street bonus season - typically a huge part of their budgets - approaches.


In last year's third quarter Citigroup took a $4.7 billion charge before taxes, related to selling its Smith Barney brokerage business. For the bank's board, that hit was the last straw in a series of perceived missteps that ended up costing Vikram Pandit, then the bank's chief executive, his job.


Pandit's successor, Michael Corbat, has struggled to improve Citigroup's fortunes in an environment where client business is tepid and new regulations are raising banks' expenses. Those regulations are designed to make the banking system safer after the financial crisis, which forced Citigroup to seek government rescues three times.


'UNEVEN' BUSINESS CONDITIONS


Corbat told analysts in a conference call that business conditions would remain "uneven" for the rest of the year.


"While many of the factors which influence our revenues are not within our full control, we certainly can control our costs, and I am pleased with our expense discipline and improved efficiency year-to-date," Corbat said in a statement.


The bank's expenses fell nearly $500 million from the second quarter to $11.66 billion as performance-based compensation and transaction costs fell, partly reflecting a weak revenue environment, Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach told analysts.


Citigroup, which has said it was aiming to reduce costs by $1.2 billion annually, said on Tuesday it plans to cut areas like marketing expenses in the fourth quarter. But Gerspach said that no major new expense reduction plans are expected in the quarter.


Investors said that from the outside, it is hard to evaluate how the bank's cost-cutting is affecting its daily operations.


"All these banks are doing a lot on that front (cost cutting), including Citigroup, but it's hard to see from the outside what is happening," said David Ellison, portfolio manager in Boston at Hennessy Funds, which has about $4 billion under management and owns Citigroup shares.


"There's a dumpster in the driveway, but all the activity is in the house, and you can't tell what's happening inside."


CUSTOMER TRADING SLOWDOWN


The third quarter is typically a slow one for bond trading, a state that was only exacerbated by the Fed announcement, according to analysts.


Under generally accepted accounting principles, Citigroup's net income rose to $3.23 billion, or $1.00 per share, from $468 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.


Excluding the Smith Barney charge, as well as the impact of tax benefits and changes in the value of Citigroup debts and those of trading partners, third-quarter earnings slipped to $3.26 billion, or $1.02 per share, from $3.27 billion, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier. On that basis, revenue fell 5 percent to $18.22 billion.


Analysts on average expected earnings of $1.04 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. A spokeswoman for the bank said that estimate was comparable to the adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share.


Citigroup shares were up 14 cents to $49.74 in midday trading.


On some fronts, Corbat is making progress. Citigroup has winnowed down the assets it is looking to shed, known as Citi Holdings, to $122 billion, down 29 percent from a year earlier and down 7 percent from the second quarter. Citi Holdings now accounts for a little more than 6 percent of the bank's overall assets, compared with about 9 percent in last year's third quarter.


But results were weak at many businesses at Citicorp, the bank's main operations. Revenue for its retail banking business fell 7 percent to $9.24 billion, and revenue for its securities and banking business fell 2 percent to $4.75 billion.


Revenue at its transaction services business was $2.613 billion, about $6 million below the same quarter last year. The bank's transaction services business, long a key driver of profitability, is facing intense competition now.


The bank earned enough taxable income in the United States to use about $500 million of its deferred tax assets, which amount to tax credits and other benefits that Citigroup can only use when it earns enough money domestically. The bank had about $54 billion of deferred tax assets at the end of June, most of which relate to U.S. taxes.


(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by John Wallace and Andrew Hay)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/citigroup-adjusted-profit-hit-bond-trading-slowdown-115608478--sector.html
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Italy remembers 1943 roundup of Jews amid turmoil

ROME (AP) — Italy on Wednesday marked the 70th anniversary of the roundup and deportation of Jews from Rome's ghetto amid turmoil over the late Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke and his Holocaust-denying final statement.


Priebke died Friday in Rome, where he was serving a life term for his role in the 1944 massacre of 335 civilians at the Ardeatine Caves outside the capital. It was one of the worst atrocities of Germany's World War II occupation of Italy.


His death unleashed a torrent of emotion because he left behind a testament in which he not only defended his actions but denied that Jews were gassed in Nazi concentration camps.


His testament has enraged Rome's Jewish community, which gathered Wednesday in Rome's main synagogue to commemorate the Oct. 16, 1943, roundup of Jews and warn of the continued dangers posed by Holocaust deniers like Priebke.


The head of Italy's Jewish communities, Renzo Gattegna, referred to Priebke in his remarks but refused, amid applause, to pronounce his name "to not profane this sacred place."


He said the Nazis were assassins of innocents.


"Their followers are assassins of memory. They will never win," he declared.


On Tuesday, a Senate committee passed a bill criminalizing such Holocaust denial — passage that was given greater impulse because of the outcry over Priebke's final testament.


The head of Rome's Jewish community, Riccardo Pacifici, said the uproar over Priebke has shown the "beautiful face of Italy," given the solidarity by both civil and Catholic Church officials to deny him a church funeral.


The anniversary came during the continued debate about what to do with Priebke's remains. Plans by a fringe Catholic church to celebrate a funeral Mass for him were called off Tuesday amid clashes between Priebke's right-wing supporters and protesters.


Rome's mayor and prefect announced that negotiations were underway with Germany to take in the remains, which reportedly were spirited out of the church compound overnight and taken to a military air base.


Wednesday's commemorations began at 5:30 a.m. with the sounding of the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet, to commemorate the moment when Nazi forces began rounding up more than 1,000 Jews from Rome's ghetto and nearby neighborhoods.


The Jews spent two days in a military college before being deported by train to Auschwitz. Only 16 survived.


___


Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-remembers-1943-roundup-jews-amid-turmoil-110428039.html
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Scientists Figured Out a Way to Cheat Newton's Third Law


Ever since the late 17th century, it's been understood that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That's Newton's Third Law of Motion. But a group of German scientists recently came up with a trick that appears to break that law, one that lets light accelerate all by itself. And it could bring us faster electronics in the process.


This is not a simple trick. It involves fiddling with the mass of photons, particles that are believed not to have a mass at all, and requires a form of negative mass, a state that scientists believe does not exist. That's the trick part. And that's also why it merely appears to break Newton's third law. All that said, it's pretty impressive.


What these German scientists basically did is create an optical diametric drive. The basic principle behind a diametric drive calls for an object with positive mass to collide with an object with negative mass causing both to accelerate forever in the same direction. In the 1990s NASA tried and failed to build one, because it would make an awesome spaceship engine. However—and that's a big however—diametric drives are difficult to build because there's no such thing as an object with negative mass, at least not one that scientists have observed.


Bear with me here. To get around these basic rules of physics and quantum mechanics, our friends the German scientists used photons to create something called effective mass. This is what a particle seems to have when it's responding to forces, and there is such a thing as negative effective mass. So the scientists sent a series of laser pulses through a two loops of fiber-optic cable—one bigger than the other—that connect at a contact point. As the pulses are traveling through the different-sized loops at slightly different times, they share photons creating an interference that gives them effective mass, some positive and some negative. In this so-called optical diametric drive, the pulses accelerate in the same direction. Cool, huh? Complicated, but cool.


Needless to say, the idea of laser pulses that accelerate continuously bears big implications for anything that uses fiber optic cables. This method could make computers, communications networks, and so forth to get faster and more powerful. Just remember that it's a highly experimental new technology; it's going to take a while before this makes your iPhone better. [Nature Physics via New Scientist]


Source: http://gizmodo.com/scientists-figured-out-a-way-to-cheat-newtons-third-la-1445922077
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

John Boehner's Last Greedy Move


This is probably the penultimate twist in the debt limit saga, both because there isn’t much time left, and because this is John Boehner’s last real move.



House Republican leaders, not content with back-seat status, and, as always, under pressure from conservative hardliners, will attempt to rush out a bill to increase the debt limit and reopen the government tonight.


In many ways, their plan mirrors the deal Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are nearing in the Senate. The debt limit would be increased until February 7 and funding for the government extended until January 15. It differs in three ways.





Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/10/15/john_boehner039s_last_greedy_move_317909.html
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The Very First Hashtag, @Reply, and Retweet Ever

The Very First Hashtag, @Reply, and Retweet Ever


For better or worse (ok, probably worse), the hashtag, @reply, and retweet have become inextricable from modern language, and it's hard to imagine a time when saying "hashtag blessed" would have seemed insane. But all things must originate from somewhere, and Quartz has managed to track down the founding fathers of all three.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-very-first-hashtag-reply-and-retweet-ever-1445615063
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Mosque bombing kills governor in east Afghanistan

Afghan police and officials examine the mosque in Puli Alam, Logar Province, Afghanistan, where a bomb hidden in the base of a microphone killed Afghan Governor Arsallah Jamal, Tuesday, Oct 15, 2013. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban have been targeting Afghan officials, military and NATO troops as part of a campaign to retake territory as international troops draw down ahead of a full pullout at the end of 2014. (AP Photo/Ahsanullah Majuze)







Afghan police and officials examine the mosque in Puli Alam, Logar Province, Afghanistan, where a bomb hidden in the base of a microphone killed Afghan Governor Arsallah Jamal, Tuesday, Oct 15, 2013. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban have been targeting Afghan officials, military and NATO troops as part of a campaign to retake territory as international troops draw down ahead of a full pullout at the end of 2014. (AP Photo/Ahsanullah Majuze)







In this Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 photo, Governor Arsallah Jamal smiles to attend an opening ceremony of a school in Muhammad Agha, Logar province, Afghanistan. A bomb planted inside a mosque killed the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Logar province as he was delivering a speech Tuesday morning, Oct. 15, 2013 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said. (AP Photo/Ahsanullah Majuze)







In this Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 photo, Governor Arsallah Jamal, left, attends an opening ceremony of a school in Muhammad Agha, Logar province, Afghanistan. A bomb planted inside a mosque killed the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Logar province as he was delivering a speech Tuesday morning, Oct. 15, 2013 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said. (AP Photo/Ahsanullah Majuze)







FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2007 file photo, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, talks with Khowst Province Gov. Arsallah Jamal at the Tirazye District Center in Khowst Province, Afghanistan. Afghan officials say a bomb placed inside a mosque in the country’s east has killed Jamal, now the governor of Logar province. They say the explosion took place as Jamal was delivering a speech on Tuesday morning, Oct. 15, 2013 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, Pool, File)







FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2007 file photo, then Khowst Province Gov. Arsallah Jamal meets with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Khowst Province, Afghanistan. Afghan officials say a bomb placed inside a mosque in the country’s east has killed Jamal, currently the governor of Logar province. They say the explosion took place as Jamal was delivering a speech on Tuesday morning, Oct. 15, 2013 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, Pool, File)







KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A bomb in a mosque killed a provincial governor Tuesday in the highest profile assassination in recent months, part of an intensified campaign to intimidate Afghanistan's administration as it prepares for elections and the withdrawal of foreign troops after 12 years of war.

The bomb killed Gov. Arsallah Jamal of eastern Logar province as he delivered a speech at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The attack also wounded 15 people, five of them critically, said his spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwesh.

Jamal was a close confidant and adviser to President Hamid Karzai, who strongly condemned that bombing, saying it was an attack "against Islam."

"Terrorists and the Taliban working in the name of Islam carry out attacks that result in the killing of innocent Muslims. Surely it is not the act of Muslims, but those who have been hired to kill Muslims," Karzai said.

He did not elaborate, but he has often blamed foreign interests, mostly in neighboring Pakistan, of being behind many of the high profile attacks against members of his administration in recent years.

No group has claimed responsibility, but it bore the hallmarks of the Taliban, which has been fighting Karzai's administration and the foreign military presence in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion in late 2001. The group has made attacking government officials a key part of its official military campaign this year.

In a message Monday timed for the Eid al-Adha holiday, the secretive leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, called for his fighters to intensify their campaign against Afghan and NATO forces, and he urged all Afghans to boycott the April 5 election that will elect Karzai's successor. All foreign military combat forces are to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Logar, which is located just south of Kabul, was once a mostly calm province. But it has recently seen an influx of Taliban fighters and increased attacks against government forces.

Jamal, 47, was Karzai's campaign manager during the 2009 presidential elections. He also was governor of Khost province until he was appointed to his current post in Logar in April.

A high-profile target, Jamal had survived a number of assassination attempts, including suicide bombings against his office in Khost in May and July 2009, and a suicide car bomb attack that targeted his convoy in August 2007.

At the scene of Tuesday's mosque bombing, debris was scattered on the green prayer carpets where worshippers had knelt in prayer hours earlier. Blood spattered the gray marble walls.

Although details of the bomb have not been released, numerous officials have said it was planted somewhere inside a microphone stand in front of Jamal. Logar's deputy police chief, Rais Khan Abbul Rahimzai, said an investigation was underway.

Sophisticated explosives have been used to kill government officials, including bombs in turbans and even inside people's bodies.

Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of a government-appointed peace council, was killed in his home in September 2011 by an insurgent posing as a Taliban peace envoy. The militant detonated a bomb in his turban as he kissed Rabbani in a traditional greeting.

The killing of Jamal was the highest profile attack against a Karzai confidant since December, when a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger from the Taliban severely wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Asadullah Khalid. Karzai said both attacks were planned by insurgents in Pakistan.

The Taliban, believed to be based in Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, have intensified attacks on government officials and members of Karzai's administration.

In June, a Taliban suicide bomber struck outside Afghanistan's Supreme Court, killing 17 people. In April, insurgents attacked a courthouse and government offices in Farah province, killing 46 people, including two judges, six prosecutors, administration officers and other working.

Jan Kubis, the U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, condemned the attack and said such bombings violate international humanitarian law.

"The U.N. mission reiterates its call for such attacks to cease immediately and for respect of the sanctity of protected religious places such as mosques," Kubis said.

The wave of attacks since the NATO handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces has led to a spike in casualties, both among Afghan forces and civilians. The U.N. has blamed insurgents for most of them.

Eid al-Adha is one of Islam's most important holidays. Muslims around the world slaughter sheep, cows and goats during the four-day celebration, giving much of the meat to the poor. The holiday commemorates the readiness of the Prophet Ibrahim, known to Christians and Jews as Abraham, to sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God's command.

___

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-15-Afghanistan/id-ce7042c04bd248b0a5f3cd0fa1eddd4c
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Kanye West's Long-'Gone' Song Debuts In Hot 100's Top 20


Kanye West debuts on the Hot 100 this week with a song that's eight years old. "Gone" (featuring Cam'ron and Consequence), from West's 2005 sophomore album Late Registration, starts at No. 18 after a YouTube clip featuring the song as a backing track went viral.



(Per Billboard policy, songs showing renewed activity past their initial release cycles are eligible to chart if ranking in the top half of the Hot 100 and genre hybrid rankings.)


The song's revival started when Marina Shifrin, a writer and comedian, quit her job as a video editor by creating a video for her boss in which she dances around her deserted office (at 4:30 a.m.) to the appropriately-themed "Gone."


Views for the kiss-off clip soared – it currently stands at more than 15 million global views – drawing praise as one of the awesomest ways to quit a job ever and spawning hordes of parody and response videos.


U.S. digital sales of "Gone" spiked from minuscule levels in the previous week to 9,000 in this week's sales tracking frame, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Overall usage of "Gone" across these videos on YouTube pulled in 6.2 million U.S. streams for the song, according to Nielsen BDS, enough to send the title onto the Streaming Songs chart at No. 4.


"Gone" concurrently debuts on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at No. 6 and Rap Songs at No. 4.


 


With its No. 18 start, "Gone" represents the fifth-highest start of West's 59 Hot 100 chart entries. He launched at a career-best No. 3 with "Love Lockdown" five years ago this month. His 59 hits mark the 12th-most in the Hot 100's 55-year history. Among rappers, only Lil Wayne (120), Jay Z (80) and Drake (65) have more.


View Marina's viral video below



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/music/~3/WS2GfAdwRMQ/story01.htm
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Votes sell for about $5 in Afghanistan as presidential race begins


By Hamid Shalizi


MARCO, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Sayed Gul walked into a small mud brick room in eastern Afghanistan, a bundle wrapped in a shawl on his back. With a flick, he plonked the package onto a threadbare carpet and hundreds of voter cards spilled out.


"How many do you want to buy?" he asked with a grin.


Like many others, Gul left a routine job - in his case, repairing cars in Marco, a small town in the east - to join a thriving industry selling the outcome of next year's presidential elections.


Gul, who had a long, black beard and was dressed in the traditional loose salwar kameez, said he was able to buy voter cards for 200 Pakistani rupees ($1.89) each from villagers and sell them on for 500 rupees ($4.73) to campaign managers, who can use them in connivance with poll officials to cast seemingly legitimate votes.


From each card, Gul said, he made enough money to pay for a hearty meal like kebabs with rice, and maybe even a soda.


There are months to go until polling day on April 5, but many presidential candidates are already alarmed by the scale of the illicit trade in voter cards and questioning how legitimate the election will be. An election marred by more fraud than the last polls in 2009 will play into the hands of Taliban insurgents and risk a breakdown of government as multinational troops pull out of the war-ravaged nation.


"When people buy and sell voter cards for the cost of lunch, it means that Afghan democracy is for sale," said Azizullah Ludin, who was the chairman of the Afghan election watchdog in 2009 and is now himself running for president.


The United States, which has led an international effort to restore democracy in Afghanistan since it helped oust the hardline Islamic Taliban regime in 2001, desperately wants the election to be the crowning moment of its presence before Western combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.


The winning candidate will replace President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third five-year term. Among the candidates are his elder brother Qayum, former foreign minister Zalmay Rassoul, another former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and a former Islamist warlord turned parliamentarian, Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf.


Some of the candidates and their supporters were on opposite sides of the Afghan civil war in the 1990s and charges of fraud in the election could set off fresh tensions, strengthening the Taliban.


The threat of the insurgents, who oppose the election, was used at the last poll in 2009 to perpetuate widespread rigging, observers said.


Thomas Ruttig, the co-founder of the Afghan Analysts Network, described how a group of men claiming to be Taliban fighters stormed a polling booth in an eastern province when the vote was on. "Everyone fled. The ballot boxes were empty beforehand, and full afterwards," he said.


The nomination process for the 2014 poll ended only days ago, but the voter card trade is already starting to worry Western diplomats instructed to monitor the election for their governments.


While it may be difficult to measure the scale of fraud compared to 2009, security will clearly be a bigger threat to the process next year, according to Davood Moradian, the director of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies.


"Last time, there was a degree of certainty about the security situation surrounding the election. This time because of the transition and withdrawing of international troops, the security will be more challenging," Moradian said.


THE TRADE IN BALLOT CARDS


Last week, a group of diplomats from various European embassies swapped stories over dinner about how easy it was to pick up a voter card.


One had first-hand experience, recounting how he had registered as a Panjshiri, or a native of the Panjshir Valley in the north, at a polling station in Kabul.


One of his Afghan staff also signed up with false details. Their fingerprints were taken but no one asked for proof of identity and the voter cards were printed out in about five minutes.


Government officials are struggling in vain to stem the trade in the cards and people like Gul have even started to sell cards in some of major cities around the country.


Women's voter cards are the easiest to trade because men can obtain them on their behalf - without providing a photograph or their fingerprints.


This is because in Afghanistan's ultra-conservative culture, it is insulting to ask a woman to show her face and many are not allowed to leave the house without an escort, if at all.


Men's cards have photographs and fingerprints, but with the help of election officials who have been enticed or threatened into cooperation, these can be used to vote by anyone who holds them.


"Very recently we have sacked a whole team of election officials in Momand Dara district because they were making up fake lists and giving away voter cards," said Akhtar Mohammad Ajmal, the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in the eastern Nangarhar province.


"I don't deny there is voter fraud but we are working hard to tackle it."


In Kandahar, police were involved in the theft of registration lists from a polling station.


The growing strength of the Taliban means that swathes of the country will be beyond the reach of independent observers, leaving the door wide open to manipulation by corrupt officials.


In a recent of example of the hazards faced by monitors, Taliban gunmen shot and killed the IEC head in the northern province of Kunduz last month, a day after he warned that deteriorating security threatened next year's election.


VOTER CARDS FOR POTATOES


Traders like Gul say they are not engaging in criminal behavior, but merely responding to the demands of rich politicians and poor villagers who choose to trade their votes for a few extra meals.


In parts of the northern and lawless province of Kunduz, voter cards have become a form of currency and are being exchanged for bags of rice and potatoes, local officials told Reuters, adding that most of those buying the cards work for candidates as campaigners.


Most of Gul's cards came from his home district of Ghani Khil, a Taliban hotspot in Nangarhar where the physical danger of voting is enough to put many villagers off.


The Independent Election Commission, which was created to ensure elections are free and fair, has had little to say on the matter of voter card trading so far.


"We have heard of this and it is major concern for us," said commission spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor. "But we have certain measures in place to scrutinize the fraud."


This week, Noor said the watchdog had expelled the first presidential candidate from the race for failing to provide required documentation, including evidence of support from 100,000 legitimate votes from 20 provinces.


"He was missing most of his documents, including his support list," Noor told Reuters.


(Additional reporting and writing by Jessica Donati in Kabul; Editing by John Chalmers and Raju Gopalakrishnan)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/votes-sell-5-afghanistan-presidential-race-begins-210130793.html
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Greed is good: 9 open source secrets to making money



In the beginning, open source software looked like a saintly gift to the commonweal. Programmers would work hard, then give away the fruits of their labor to anyone who wanted it. Everyone would benefit from this act of pure charity.


Over time, however, companies realized they could make money and give away the software at the same time. They could do well by doing good. This wasn't a shock to some of the original open source advocates -- it was how some intended it to be. Richard Stallman, for one, always said that "free speech" was more important to him than "free beer." He embraced the idea that companies could charge anything they like -- as long as the user could fiddle with the code and distribute the result.


[ InfoWorld presents the Bossies 2013, the best open source software for clouds, mobile, developers, and more. | Track trends in open source with InfoWorld's Open Sources blog and Technology: Open Source newsletter. ]


Many companies took this as a blessing to make money and serve their destiny. The smartest figured out how to use open source to strengthen their business, spread their brand, and bolster their power. Open source was not so much a charity as a different kind of marketing, a way to squeeze into the marketplace.


The savviest open source devotees embrace this self-interest. Everyone along the chain, they note, must be motivated to contribute for a reason. The genius of open source, they explain, is that it helps coordinate our selfishness and turn it into something that benefits everyone. The contributors become equals, and there's little squabbling about rights to blocks of code. The sharing lets everyone concentrate on the quality of the software, not on licensing issues.


Here are nine ways companies use open source to profitable ends. While these approaches may offend the naive, most fall under the heading "Before you do good you must do well." A project backed by a flourishing business is much better than a pile of code that may or may not be fixed in the future. Freedom without stability isn't worth very much.


Open source profiteering strategy No. 1: Open source as low-cost marketing
Advertising costs money. Trade shows are expensive. Marketing budgets are never adequate. Many companies see open source as a cheaper alternative. Releasing all or part of the product as an open source package can attract users who will use the product and discover what it does. The product speaks for itself and brings in the users, then the sales force steps in when it's time to upsell.


Some open source companies such as MySQL have said it's a mistake to focus too much on how many are getting the product for free. It's not usual for companies to cite figures where 90 percent or more are not paying. They usually don't cost the company very much because the open source packages cost little to distribute.


The trick is to make sure that the moneymaking features are compelling enough to support the rest of the product. They should be a small part of the product but crucial for the folks who will pay. Sometimes the extra may be a feature that increases stability for enterprise clients that want their software to run smoothly 24/7. Others offer privacy and force users of the open source version to broadcast their work to the world. These small features are supporting hundreds if not thousands of companies today.


Source: http://podcasts.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/greed-good-9-open-source-secrets-making-money-228428?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_
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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Love Is Lost: David Bowie Remixed By LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy

David Bowie's newest album, The Next Day, is getting an expanded three-disc re-release on November 5. That was a surprise in and of itself, but it's coming with a little extra: a rollicking ten-minute remix of the song "Love Is Lost," by James Murphy.

Read more...


    






Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/4nLpESyUcjM/love-is-lost-david-bowie-remixed-by-lcd-soundsystems-1443851189
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Friday, October 11, 2013

Your Afternoon “Aww”: Can You Guess Which ABC Family Star This Pomeranian Belongs To?



By Jillian Kirby

University of Florida grad turned Assistant Editor — loves shoes, baked goods and all things Bravo.




From Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars to The Fosters and Switched At Birth, ABC Family is full of shows that leave viewers glued to the TV. If you’re like us and can’t get enough of the network’s dramas, then we have a feeling you’ll recognize today’s celebrity pet with ease. Take a peak at the mystery starlet’s precious Pomeranian below, along with five clues to help you guess today’s Afternoon “Aww”!


1. Appeared in Sean Paul’s “Hold My Hand” music video.


2. Before acting, the star modeled around the world including  Bangkok, Hong Kong and Barcelona, Spain.


3. Her big TV debut was on Degrassi: The Next Generation.


4. Is a spokesperson for Pantene Nature Fusion shampoo.


5. Was featured in several American Eagle campaigns.


Hmm so which ABC Family star are we talking about? Check out the photo and celeb name below!




Source: http://okmagazine.com/meet-the-stars/your-afternoon-aww-can-you-guess-which-abc-family-star-this-pomeranian-belongs-to/
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