SEA WORLD DIVE CENTER BORACAY: TECHNICAL DIVING

Technical Diving Is Scuba Diving's "Extreme" Sport, Taking Experienced And Qualified Divers Far Deeper Than In Mainstream Recreational Diving. Technical Diving Is Marked By Significantly More Equipment And Training Requirements To Manage The Additional Hazard This Type Of Diving Entails. Tec Diving Isn't For Everyone, But For Those Who Hear Its Challenge Call, The PADI Tec Rec Courses Are The Answer

What Is Technical Diving?

Technical Scuba Diving Is Defined As Diving Other Than Conventional Commercial Or Research Diving That Takes Divers Beyond Recreational Scuba Diving Limits. It Is Further Defined As And Includes One Or More Of The Following: - Diving Beyond 40mMetres Deep. - Required Stage Decompression. - Diving In An Overhead Environment Beyond 40m Of The Surface. - Accelerated Decompression And Or The Use Of Variable Gas Mixtures During The Dive.

Because In Technical Diving The Surface Is Effectively Inaccessible In An Emergency, Tec Divers Use Extensive Methodologies And Technologies And Training To Manage The Added Risks. Even With These, However, Tec Diving Admittedly Has More Risk, Potential Hazard And Shorter Critical Error Chains Than Does Recreational Scuba Diving.

How Long Has Technical Diving Been Around?

Tec Diving Not Only Has More Risk, But It Requires Significantly More Effort, Discipline And Equipment. It's Not For Everyone, And You Can Be An Accomplished, Avid Top-Notch Diver Your Entire Life Without Making A Tec Dive. That Said, There's A Cadre Of Individuals Who Want To Visit Places Underwater That Relatively Few People Can. Many Spectacular, Untouched Wrecks Lie At Depths Well Below 40m. Deep Reefs Have Organisms You Don't Find In The Shallows. Some People Enjoy The Challenge And Focus Tec Diving Requires. Still Others Love Being Involved With Cutting Edge Technologies. These Reasons Make Tec Diving Rewarding.

The PADI Tec Rec Difference

The Tec Rec Program Debuted In 2000. Although Tec Rec Is Not The First Tec Diving Program (Cave Diver Training Has Been Around For Decades), It Repeatedly Receives Accolades For Its Merits. - Tec Rec Courses Are Integrated Into An Instructionally Valid, Seamless Course Flow That Takes You From Beginning Tec Diver To One Qualified To The Outer Reaches Of Sport Diving Using Different Gas Mixes. - Each Level Introduces You To New Gear, Planning And Procedures Appropriate To Extend Your Diving Limits. - The Tec Diver Course Is An Integrated Sequence Of Three Sub courses: Tec 40, Tec 45 And Tec 50. You Can Complete Them Continuously Or You Can Complete Each Level Separately With A Time Span Between Them. This Gives You Learning Efficiency, Instructional Integrity And Schedule Flexibility.

The Scuba Gear You'll Use

• 18 Years Or Older.
• A Mature, Responsible Person Who Will Follow The Required Procedures And Requirements Strictly And Faithfully.
• Medically Fit For Tec Diving (Physician's Signature Required).
• Willing To Accept The Added Risks That Tec Diving Presents.
• An Experienced Diver With At Least 100 Logged Dives.
• Certified As A PADI Enriched Air Diver And PADI Deep Diver Or Equivalent (For This Program Equivalency Is Proof Of Training In Recreational Deep Diving 18m To 40m Consisting Of At Least Four Dives And Training In Nitrogen Narcosis Considerations, Contingency/Emergency Decompression, Making Safety Stops And Air Supply Management OR, Have A Minimum Of 20 Logged Dives Deeper Than 30m)

The Fun Part

The Fun Part Of Tecrec Is Rising To The Challenges As You Dive Deeper And Longer Than Most Divers Ever Do.

PADI TECHNICAL DIVING FLOW CHART

Source: http://seaworldboracay.blogspot.com/2013/07/technical-diving.html

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Obama draws contrasts between House, Senate GOP

WASHINGTON (AP) ? There's a new cadence to President Barack Obama's musings about Congress: Why can't House Republicans be more like their mates in the Senate?

As Obama presses his economic agenda across the country, he's playing one chamber against the other, hoping Americans will hear his calls for compromise and conclude it's not his fault almost nothing is getting done in Washington.

Call it a congressional two-step: Praise Senate Republicans for modest displays of cooperation, then contrast them with House Republicans, whom Obama has started describing as stubborn saboteurs. It's a theme Obama has used repeatedly to bolster his argument that he's the one acting reasonably as he prepares for clashes this fall with Congress, whose relations with Obama have always been notoriously strained.

"A growing number of Republican senators are trying to get things done," Obama said Tuesday as he unveiled a new fiscal proposal in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Days earlier, Obama accused the House GOP of risking another financial crisis by issuing ultimatums over the debt ceiling and government funding.

"We've seen a group of Republicans in the House, in particular, who suggest they wouldn't vote to pay the very bills that Congress has already racked up," Obama said. "That's not an economic plan. That's just being a deadbeat."

Obama has reason to be cautiously optimistic about the Senate, which passed a far-reaching immigration overhaul Obama sorely sought with bipartisan support and struck a deal over Obama's nominees that has led to a flurry of confirmations after months of logjam. A number of prominent GOP senators have also criticized a Republican plan to threaten a government shutdown unless funding is cut off for Obama's health care law.

But even in the Senate, there's skepticism about Obama's intentions. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Obama's contrasting tone about the House and Senate amounts to a divide-and-conquer strategy that calls into question the White House's outreach.

"These discussions have been going on for five years and no agreements have been reached yet," Sessions said. "It could be the president is playing the Senate like a fiddle."

On most issues ? including pressing tax and spending matters ? Senate and House Republicans are unified in their opposition. There was no telling Republicans apart Tuesday, for instance, as they panned a corporate tax cut and jobs spending package the White House had portrayed as a concession to Republicans ? who oppose using tax revenue to support more spending. That proposal will be among the topics Obama discusses Wednesday when he meets separately with House and Senate Democrats.

For a president who vowed to change Washington and bust through gridlock, peeling off a handful of votes on immigration and nominees is hardly a case study in government by consensus. In fact, when Obama persistently knocks House Republicans, it only seems to reinforce that he's unlikely to get any major legislation through the House in his final years.

Senators, who represent statewide constituencies, may have fewer misgivings about working with Obama, and in recent weeks Obama's top aides, including his chief of staff and budget director, have held regular meetings with some Senate Republicans that both sides describe as productive and affable.

In the House, where most members come from lopsided districts that overwhelmingly favor or oppose the president, there's even less middle ground to navigate. In fact, White House aides say it would be counterproductive to cozy up to House Republicans, who need to prove they're actively fighting Obama's agenda lest they face a primary challenge from someone more conservative.

"They worry they'll face swift political retaliation for cooperating with me," Obama said last week in Galesburg, Ill.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said leaders want Obama more engaged with the GOP rank and file. He said Republicans perceive Obama's recent speeches as an attempt to get his head in the game for upcoming fights rather than a genuine attempt to move forward on policy.

So with prospects dim for striking deals with the House on his second-term priorities, Obama has settled for what he can accomplish: encouraging deal-making in the Senate in hopes it pressures the House and making the argument that if progress fails to materialize, it's Republicans' fault.

"Don't underestimate the deep ideological difference of opinion between the president and most of my colleagues on the Republican side," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the immigration bill's chief supporters. On other issues, "I don't think there's going to be a lot of progress as long as he insists that government spending is the source of prosperity."

___

Reach Josh Lederman at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-07-31-Obama-Congress/id-919d417f675a469a8f5a7d73bf2022cc

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Is he coming back? Phelps vague about future

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US attends the unveiling of a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US attends the unveiling of a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US attends the unveiling of a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US unveils a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US unveils a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Former Olympic and world swimming champion Michael Phelps of the US attends the unveiling of a mosaic installed in his honour at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 28, 2013 .(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? When Michael Phelps walked away from swimming after the London Olympics, he was adamant about one thing: His career was over.

Now, it sounds like he's not so sure.

While saying he's never been happier with his life ? and certainly doesn't miss the grind of what it took to become the most winningest athlete in Olympic history ? Phelps left the door open to change his mind before the 2016 Rio Games.

"I don't know what's going to happen in the future," Phelps said Monday. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow."

In Barcelona for the world swimming championships, Phelps spoke to The Associated Press and other international media organizations in a series of one-on-one interviews set up by his sponsor, Speedo. When asked by the AP, yes or no, whether he'll compete at the next Olympics, Phelps coyly said he hasn't planned that far ahead in his life.

That's a striking change from his comments before and immediately after the London Games, when he insisted his retirement was set in stone and it had always been his goal to quit swimming before he tuned 30.

Phelps will be 31 at the time of the opening ceremony for the Rio Games.

"I don't know. We're in 2013," he said, before adding, "There's nothing in the works right now."

There's plenty of time for a comeback. Phelps would likely want to begin training before the end of the year, which would allow him to get into peak condition leading up to the next world championships in 2015, an important stepping stone for the Olympics.

Phelps certainly isn't training at the moment. He jammed the small toe of his right foot on the edge of a sofa while at home in Baltimore, and aggravated the injury when he played in a golf tournament at Lake Tahoe.

He's wearing a boot cast on his foot while in Barcelona to cope with a small stress fracture.

After some sightseeing and promotional appearances, Phelps took in a second night of swimming at the Palau Sant Jordi before getting ready to head back to the U.S. on Tuesday. He was accompanied by his new girlfriend, Golf Channel reporter Win McMurry.

"I have no plans to do anything," Phelps said. "I love what I'm doing now. I'm able to travel so much, play golf. I'm on my schedule. I've never been able to have that. I've never been able to do really whatever I want to do. I go wherever I want to go. I see whatever I want to see. It's nice waking up at 10, 11, 12 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm pretty lazy besides playing golf. I don't do much."

He does have some projects away from the pool, including a series of swim schools and a foundation devoted to water safety. He said those are fulfilling projects, but he's still trying to sort out where he wants to go in his life.

"Peter (Carlisle, his agent) asked me where I want to be in one year, five years and 10 years," Phelps said. "I'm still in the process of putting everything down on paper."

While passionate about golf, Phelps seems to realize it doesn't present much of a career path other than playing in celebrity tournaments. He once talked bravely about not setting any limits on how far he could go in the sport, even joking that the only way he would be at the Rio Games was at a golfer (the sport is returning to the Olympic program in 2016).

But the game has clearly humbled him since London, despite getting lessons from famed coach Hank Haney as part of a show for the Golf Channel.

"I'm competitive in everything," Phelps said. "But golf has a very slow learning curve. For me to be able to get where I want to be, it's going to take some time to get there. It's not something that's going to take 24 hours and, bang, I'll be able to shoot par and be a scratch golfer. It's so annoying. It's probably the most humbling thing I've ever done, the most humbling sport I've ever done, the toughest thing I've ever done."

Phelps' competitive side showed after the U.S. men lost in the 400-meter freestyle relay on Sunday. The Americans were edged at the finish by the French, a repeat of last summer's Olympics when a team that included Phelps also settled for silver.

"We should never lose that relay with the talent we have on the team," he said.

While vague on a possible comeback, Phelps was downright candid with this thoughts about the relay ? perhaps because the head coach of the U.S. men's team is Bob Bowman, who was Phelps' longtime coach and remains a good friend and business partner.

Phelps made his feelings known to Bowman in a series of blunt texts, suggesting the Americans should have gone with Jimmy Feigen in the leadoff spot and Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian as the anchor.

Instead, Adrian went first and Feigen took over for the finish despite being the least experienced member of the U.S. foursome. He acknowledged paying too much attention to the teams next to him, the Australians and the Russians, and not noticing the French coming up in an outside lane until it was too late.

"I was so fired up," Phelps said. "We have enough guys on that team who can swim faster than that, and that was just frustrating for me to watch."

Not frustrating enough to announce his comeback.

Not yet anyway.

That said, it's clear just about everyone on the U.S. team would love for Phelps to rejoin them in time for Rio. Though he always had to be treated a bit differently than everyone else because of his fame, he seemed to get along well with his fellow swimmers. He still stays in contact with many of them; in fact, he was hanging out with Allison Schmitt and Conor Dwyer at his home the day he hurt his toe.

Phelps has been catching up with the U.S. team during his quick trip to Barcelona.

"It was so good to see him. We miss him so much," said Missy Franklin, the star of the women's squad. "The team's not the same without him. But we still have an incredible team and he has taught us so much, and I think we're all excited to carry on his legacy after him."

The most experienced member of the team, Natalie Coughlin, said it was strange to be at a meet of this magnitude without Phelps.

"I haven't been on a team without Michael in 14 years, so this is pretty crazy," Coughlin said. "I would love to see Michael back. But I just want to see him be happy. He's enjoying his life right now and enjoying his time away from the pool and well deserved ? very well deserved."

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-07-29-SWM-Swim-Worlds-Phelps-Future/id-e3df11ca619941a2a9461e936c2dd886

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Plasmonic black metals: Breakthrough in solar energy research?

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The use of plasmonic black metals could someday provide a pathway to more efficient photovoltaics -- the use of solar panels containing photovoltaic solar cells -- to improve solar energy harvesting, according to researchers.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/gqRJHRPCqVg/130730132620.htm

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Sources: Clintons' Patience With Weiner Thin (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/322608487?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Manchester man arrested over Twitter abuse against feminist campaigner Caroline Criado Perez

28 Jul 2013 19:28

The 21-year-old was arrested in Manchester on suspicion of harassment offences. It follows allegations of 'malicious communications' received by officers from London's Metropolitan Police on Thursday.

A man from Manchester was arrested today over vile threats sent to a feminist campaigner on Twitter.

The 21-year-old was arrested in Manchester on suspicion of harassment offences.

It follows allegations of 'malicious communications' received by officers from London's Metropolitan Police on Thursday.

Twitter is facing calls to take faster and stronger action against online abuse after Caroline Criado Perez was subjected to a sustained barrage of threats.

The tweets including threats to rape and kill her after she successfully campaigned for a woman's picture to be put on a new bank note.

A campaign in her support, calling on Twitter to introduce a button to allow speedy reporting of abuse, has already received more than 12,500 signatures and she has received support from MPs and celebrities.

There are also attempts being made to organise a boycott of the free social media platform on August 4.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: ?A 21-year-old man has today been arrested in the Manchester area on suspicion of harassment offences.

?The arrest is in connection with an allegation of malicious communications received by officers in Camden on Thursday, 25 July.?

Ms Criado Perez said: ?It's sadly not unusual to get this kind of abuse but I've never seen it get as intense or aggressive as this.

?It's infuriating that the price you pay for standing up for women is 24 hours of rape threats. We are showing that by standing together we can make a real difference.

?We made the Bank of England change its mind, we can do the same with Twitter.?

Ms Criado Perez, a freelance journalist, organised a campaign which included a petition signed by more than 35,500 people after the Bank of England decided to replace Elizabeth Fry with Winston Churchill on new ?5 notes.

The move would have meant there were no women apart from the Queen on sterling banknotes.

Her campaign was a success, with an announcement by the Bank last week that the author Jane Austen will feature on the new ?10 when it is introduced in 2017.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has written to Tony Wang, the general manager of Twitter UK, criticising Twitter's response to the 'disgraceful, appalling and unacceptable' comments.

She wrote: ?Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak ? simply directing Caroline away from Twitter towards the police, and, belatedly, directing users to abuse reporting forms on Twitter.?

Mr Wang said that the company takes online abuse seriously.

He tweeted: ?We encourage users to report an account for violation of the Twitter rules by using one of our report forms.

?Also, we're testing ways to simplify reporting, e.g. within a Tweet by using the 'Report Tweet' button in our iPhone app and on mobile web.

?We will suspend accounts that, once reported to us, are found to be in breach of our rules.?

Source: http://feeds.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/~r/menews/news/~3/_9iHzSkvQQE/manchester-man-arrested-over-twitter-5376951

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Yandex co-founder dies of cancer in London hospital ? RT News

Published time: July 28, 2013 12:23
Edited time: July 28, 2013 13:27

Russia's largest search engine Yandex has announced the death of co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ilya Segalovich. The technical creator behind one of the world?s leading IT companies died of cancer at the age of 48.

Ilya Segalovich died on Saturday afternoon in one of London?s hospitals after his artificial breathing machine was switched off by doctors who on Thursday diagnosed their patient with brain death.

On Sunday, the news was confirmed by Yandex?s spokesman. The company?s co-founder and CEO Arkady Volozh explained in a blog post that Segalovich was diagnosed with stomach cancer metastases in September last year, but miraculously recovered from the disease, having undergone chemotherapy.? However, just last week Segalovich?s doctors found a tumor in his brain, which, complicated by meningitis, proved fatal.

?I was friends with Ilya since school; we sat behind the same desk for four years. And then we created Yandex together. Last night he died. Everything happened too quickly and unexpectedly,? one of Volozh?s posts reads.

Ilya Segalovich and Arkady Volozh founded Yandex in 1997. After 15 years of development the company became the leader of the Russian internet search market, beating American rival Google locally.

It was Segalovich who thought up the name Yandex, which stands for ?Yet Another iNDEX? and also contains Russian letter ? which means ?I? the company?s website informs.
?
According to Alexa.com, Yandex is the most popular Russian website and 20th most-popular internet portal in the world, providing over 50 services including internet search, news, mail, weather forecasts, maps, traffic information, etc.
?
An oversubscribed Yandex IPO in New York in 2011 raised $1.4 billion, more than any other internet company IPO since Google?s in 2004. Today company market value is estimated at $10 billion.
?
Member of the Yandex board of directors, where his voice ?weighted? 6.87 percent of the shareholder voting rights, Segalovich owned 2.5 percent of the Yandex shares worth $250 million.

Criticism of Google and Apple

In 2012 Ilya Segalovich lashed at Google, maintaining that the American company is anticompetitive.
?
In April interview to The Guardian chief technology officer at Yandex accused Google of overindulgent use of its dominant position on the market to shut out rival companies in cyber space.
?
Google?s primary weapons to hinder competitors are its Chrome browser and Android platform, Segalovich said last year.
?
The California giant's mobile platform Android is a "strange combination of openness and not openness," Segalovich added.
?
"You cannot contribute to [Android], it's semi-open source?If you download an application it does not work if it's not Android marketplace. So that's an interesting question," Segalovich pointed out.
?
In the same interview Russian IT specialist shared he did not believe in the Apple business model because it creates a "closed ecosystem".
?
?I myself don't like the closed platforms; I think it is important that you have choice.??

Philanthropist and opposition sponsor

Born in the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in 1964, Segalovich went to school in the then-USSR?s Kazakhstan, but finally graduated from Moscow Geological Exploration Institute where, he studied geophysics.
?
Segalovich and his wife Maria Yeliseeva, with whom he had several children, founded Maria?s Children charity helping Russian orphans to adapt to society. The family had six children, three from Yeliseeva?s previous marriage, one child of their own and three foster girls.
?
In an interview to Forbes he revealed that worked as a volunteer election observer during the 2012 presidential elections in Russia. Segalovich was also sponsoring opposition Coordination Council, announced opposition blogger Aleksey Navalny on Thursday.
?
?I don?t know what can replace his encyclopedic knowledge of technology, and his pure vision of the product," Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh wrote in a statement. "But he has left behind a whole new generation of programmers, a whole school. And his ethical standards are a benchmark for us all.?

Source: http://rt.com/news/yandex-founder-segalovich-dies-703/

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Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls Egypt?s Military Chief Worse than Pharaoh, Compares Him to ?Zionist Enemies and Their Treacherous Agents?

The Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Leader is accusing Egypt's military chief who forced former President Mohammed Morsi out of power of acting worse than Pharaoh, comparing his behavior in recent days to "the bitter Zionist enemies and their treacherous agents."

This latest tirade from Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie comes on the heels of bloody weekend clashes between supporters of Morsi and security forces that claimed the lives of 72 people, according to the Health Ministry, Egypt Independent reports.

Badie is accusing Defense Minister and Commander of the Egyptian Military Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of "committing massacres the likes of which we have only seen committed by the bitter Zionist enemies and their treacherous agents."

Mohammed-Badi-Egypt

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammad Badie (File photo: AP)

He also accused Israel of pulling the strings behind the scenes of the so-called Arab Spring protests that have gripped the Arab world for the past two years, attributing to the Jewish state expansionist ambitions. "Zionist fingers are at play in countries of the Arab Spring, so as to fulfill the vision of the Great Israel."

Badie continued with his theory, accusing the "Zionists" (i.e. Israel) of planting assassins in Libya and Tunisia to target more secular political activists opposed to Islamist rule.

Ynet reports that Badie suggested that Gen. Sisi is worse than the biblical Pharaoh. Badie said that Pharaoh killed children of believers and let women live, while Sisi and the security forces "are worse; you kill everybody."

The Egyptian presidency says it is "saddened" by the weekend bloodshed but linked the killings to "terrorism."

Al Arabiya reports that Mostafa Hegazy, an adviser to interim President Adly Mansour, told reporters, "We are saddened by the spilling of blood on the 27th." But he added "we cannot decouple this [incident] from the context of terrorism."

For their part, demonstrators and Morsi supporters accuse security forces of having used live fire against unarmed protesters on Saturday. Al Arabiya reports that the Interior Ministry insists security forces fired only tear gas.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances behind Saturday's bloody events. Hegazy says the Egyptian leadership will "be taking a stance after investigation ends, regardless of whoever is found responsible."

But even before the investigation ends, he is calling the protest site in Cairo a "terror-originating spot," adding "There is a wave of terror and we will break this wave."

Besides Badie, other Brotherhood officials are also firing back against the new Egyptian leadership. Ynet reports that senior Freedom and Justice Party [linked with the Muslim Brotherhood] official Essam el-Erian posted on Facebook, "They will not be content until they bring back everything from the era of the corrupt, murderous security and intelligence state."

"They've stepped up their efforts to do so by committing massacres never before seen in Egyptian history," he added.

Badie has made a variety of anti-Israel statements in the past including a call for Muslims to wage "Holy Jihad" to conquer Jerusalem from Israel.

He has also referred to Jews repeatedly as "apes" and "pigs" in his speeches.? Here is one example cited by the Investigative Project: "The Zionists, the West and the lackey rulers conspired together. If the Muslim Brotherhood had remained in the field, the Zionist Entity would not have stood not its flag raised. Of old God forced the Jews to become pigs," Badie said in a 2010 sermon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/muslim-brotherhood-leader-calls-egypt-military-chief-worse-153824233.html

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Gov. Brown hopes to shutter California's notorious youth prison system; Santa Cruz County facility not set up for long-term offenders

SAN JOSE -- After years of failed attempts to better serve juvenile offenders and the public's safety, California's once-sprawling youth corrections system may soon bow to a final, unprecedented strategy: shutting its locked gates for good.

Budget pressure in a system with annual costs of $200,000 per ward drove Gov. Jerry Brown this week to propose halting all new intakes at the Division of Juvenile Justice. If approved by state legislators, beginning next year the state's three remaining prisons would then shrink themselves to oblivion, as current inmates complete their terms. Under the plan, county probation departments would assume the custody and treatment of all juvenile offenders -- an expansion from current practice where only the most serious and violent are housed by the state.

But Brown's vision represents far more than just belt-tightening. Already, it's being described by youth crime experts across the country as a historic proposal given the state's size and the notorious history of its youth prisons. Mesh cages, 23-hour cell confinement and brutal staff beatings are all a well-documented part of that legacy.

"California is at the front end, cutting edge of what is going to be the huge trend going forward," said Bart Lubow, who directs national juvenile justice reforms for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "And that is the policy embrace of the fundamental truth that kids do better when they are near their homes and in their communities."

Santa Cruz County is a relatively low user of the state's juvenile incarceration system, with just three county youths currently in the state system, said Scott MacDonald, chief of the county's Juvenile Hall and probation department.

That could be partially attributed to the county's higher-than-average rate of trying juvenile offenders as adults for serious crimes. A study released last year by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice found that Santa Cruz County's rate of using the practice was 31.4 filed per 1,000 cases, compared to the state average of 25.4 per thousand.

Strong partnerships with local organizations have also helped keep a lot of the county's lower-level youth offenders out of the state system, MacDonald said.

Still, the change will come with fiscal implications, said MacDonald. The county's Juvenile Hall, which has 42 beds and currently houses about 20 youths, wasn't designed for keeping violent offenders or high-need offenders for long periods of time.

"Capacity isn't as much as an issue," he said. "We're not a facility geared toward accommodating that long-term custody for serious offenders."

The Casey Foundation's Lubow and other juvenile crime experts said they are unaware of any other state that has entirely eliminated its youth corrections system.

Corrections chief Matthew Cate described the Brown administration's plan to ultimately shutter the system -- save for a newly formed oversight board -- as a boon to public safety. "The biggest benefit is it keeps wards close to home," Cate said. "The evidence shows, especially with young people, that it eases the return to communities and reduces victimization."

California's state system has already reached milestones that youth advocates could only have dreamed of a decade ago. The in-custody population has plunged from more than 10,000 wards in 1996 to just 1,100 today. And for the first time in recent history, conditions inside the youth prisons have finally begun to improve, said the system's longtime chief rival, Donald Specter of the Marin-based Prison Law Office.

Specter and others who have spent decades attempting to overhaul the state's mammoth warehouses say they never imagined the reforms would ultimately become so costly, and the population so shrunken, that the institution would ultimately fold. But they share concerns about the county alternative: that absent a state option, more youth offenders will be sent into the adult prison, or housed in facilities even less equipped than those run by the state.

Unlike adults, juvenile offenders have a legal right to treatment, education and training, and the short-term model of a juvenile hall does not meet those needs. Likewise, county ranch programs are generally not secure enough to provide for maximum security.

Acknowledging accommodations will be needed, the Brown Administration has proposed giving counties one year and $10 million to prepare.

The change cannot come soon enough for Maria Sanchez, a typist from Santa Clarita whose 18-year-old son has spent the past year in the state's youth prison system after a robbery arrest. The teen began getting in trouble at age 13, attracted by gangs in his low-income neighborhood.

Sanchez said the state prison experience has battered her son. In visits, he has limped, sported a black eye and showed her bruises on his ribs, she said. And he has been spent 23 hours a day in his cell for as long as four months at a time, she added, emerging for a recreation hour shackled at the hands and feet.

Sanchez's observations are echoed in volumes of state-sanctioned reports prompted by a Prison Law Office lawsuit. Under a resulting 2004 settlement agreement, the state has labored to overhaul education, safety, treatment and mental health care programs. By all accounts, broader changes took years to even begin. That has led the state system's most dedicated reformers to now question whether counties will be able to create better alternatives for the high-end offenders in question, who typically suffer from severe mental illness and childhood trauma.

In Santa Clara County, Deputy Probation Chief Robert DeJesus said despite a highly-regarded ranch program and a juvenile hall with bed space, the county will struggle without the state option. Currently there are 14 county juvenile offenders in state custody, including three admitted last year.

"With only one year, that's going to be extremely difficult for Santa Clara County to respond," DeJesus said.

The changes won't impact some counties, such as Santa Cruz County, as much as others, but that doesn't mean the transition will be just smooth sailing.

Jessica M. Pasko of The Santa Cruz Sentinel contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_19694374?source=rss_emailed

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Video: Steroid suspensions coming in baseball

Open: This is Face the Nation, July 28

The latest from Egypt with Clarissa Ward, insight from Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., plus political analysis from David Gergen, Michael Gerson, and Dee Dee Myers. Finally, a midsummer look at baseball and possible suspensions with Bob Nightengale and Bill Rhoden.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsVideo/~3/XuiK-vkfdNw/

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Treasure Coast Real Estate | LEXINGTON GREEN Homes For Sale ...

by Paul Kitchen on July 28, 2013

Find LEXINGTON GREEN Homes For Sale and LEXINGTON GREEN Home Values. We also have information on mortgages, insurance, movers and other Treasure Coast Real Estate Services for anyone looking to sell or buy a home in beautiful Palm Beach COUNTY Florida.

Paul Kitchen and Starfish Team provide clients, family and close friends with professional, honest and dependable service. A resident of Treasure Coast, Paul is extremely familiar with the local neighborhoods including LEXINGTON GREEN, school districts and the Treasure Coast Real Estate market in this beautiful Florida town.

Paul Kitchen
Broker-Owner
Starfish Real Estate
8985 SE Bridge Road Hobe Sound, Florida 33455
(561) 935-9412
(800) 793-7304 toll free
Treasure Coast Real Estate
Treasure Coast Real Estate Blog

Tagged as: LEXINGTON GREEN, Treasure Coast Real Estate

Source: http://www.treasure-coast-living.com/2013/07/28/treasure-coast-real-estate-lexington-green-homes-for-sale-july-2013/

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Leaked Samsung Galaxy Note III specs include 5.7-inch display, LTE-Advanced, Android 4.3

Galaxy Note 3 Specs

Samsung?s upcoming Galaxy Note III is among the most highly anticipated smartphones of 2013. While sales of the third-generation flagship phablet won?t approach handsets like the Galaxy S4 or Apple?s iPhone lineup, Samsung?s Galaxy Note handsets have regularly been among its top-selling high-end devices. We have seen plenty of leaks thus far and while some reports suggest there are still a few wrinkles to be ironed out, South Korea?s Business Daily claims to have gotten its hands on the device?s final specs.

[More from BGR: Samsung smashes Apple as smartphone explosion continues in Q2]

According to a new report on Friday, the Galaxy Note III was initially supposed to include a 6-inch display but Samsung reworked the device and opted for a 5.7-inch panel instead. Other highlights include a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor (some versions may carry Samsung?s Exynos 5 Octa processor), 3GB of RAM, a metal-look insert wrapped around the edges of the phone like the one on the Galaxy S4, the new Android 4.3 operating system and support for newer LTE-Advanced networks capable of delivering data speeds twice as fast as current 4G LTE networks.

[More from BGR: How Samsung?s ?gadget spam? is crushing Apple in the world?s top smartphone market]

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Note III at a press conference on September 4th ahead of the IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany. An image said to be pulled from the Galaxy Note III?s specs sheet follow below.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leaked-samsung-galaxy-note-iii-specs-5-7-151535031.html

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Junk Squad Helps Politicians Text Their D*ck Pics Safely (VIDEO)

Finally, there's a squad out there who can help our greatest politicians solve their most insurmountable problem: safe d*ck-pic texting. Thanks to Team Coco for forming the Junk Squad... too bad they weren't here in time to deliver Carlos from Danger.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/junk-squad-politicians-dick-pics_n_3660071.html

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Syrian troops capture historic mosque in Homs

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian state media says government forces have captured a historic mosque that has been under rebel control for more than a year in the central city of Homs.

State TV quotes an unnamed military official as saying that troops took control Saturday of the 13th-century mosque of Khalid Ibn al-Walid in the heavily disputed northern neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.

The mosque is famous for its nine domes and two minarets. It has been a symbol for rebels in the city that is known as "the capital of the revolution." On Monday, government troops shelled the mosque, damaging the tomb of Ibn al-Walid, a revered figure in Islam.

Government troops launched an offensive on rebel-held areas in Homs late last month and have been pushing into Khaldiyeh and nearby neighborhoods.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-troops-capture-historic-mosque-homs-150054579.html

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Swiftmud Pulls Funding on Florida Friendly Landscaping Program

Published: Thursday, July 25, 2013 at 12:51 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 26, 2013 at 12:54 a.m.

NEW PORT RICHEY | The Southwest Florida Water Management District is pulling funding from a program that helps homeowners save on their water bills while also offering other conservation tips.

The district, commonly known as Swiftmud, says the push to cut funding to the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Program is meant to save money and bring more resources in-house. Much of the program's information is already available online, Swiftmud says.

But the move has surprised local officials and left many wondering why the district would withdraw its support when millions of gallons of water are being conserved yearly.

Just in Hillsborough, the program is saving about 45 million gallons a year, said Stephen Gran, who heads Hillsborough County's extension service. In Pasco, the program saves millions yearly, as well, though officials there haven't tallied the precise numbers.

"My goal is to save 25 million gallons a year," said Chris Dewey, Pasco's coordinator.

Extension services rely on grants from a combination of agencies, including Tampa Bay Water, to run the conservation effort. Under the program, experts visit homeowners and neighborhood associations to show strategies to cut their water usage and help them save money. The program operates in 11 counties, including Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco.

Swiftmud is just one agency that provides funding, but the extension services say its support is critical to keep the program coordinators in the field meeting with homeowners.

Dewey meets with homeowners and associations about 20 to 25 times a month, said B.J. Jarvis, director of the Pasco extension service. In addition to water-saving tips, he teaches them about drought-tolerant species and fertilizer and pesticide use.

Without the Swiftmud funding, she said, the extension service and others like it would be left scrambling to keep the program afloat.

Swiftmud said it doesn't dispute the program's importance and says that many of its water-saving tips are already available on its website. Eliminating support to the 11 Florida-Friendly programs would save Swiftmud about $500,000 a year. It also would allow it to pour more resources into its own water-saving program called Florida Water Star.

Source: http://www.theledger.com/article/20130725/news/130729560

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Google unveils new Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3 and Chromecast

Your gadgets

Rosa Golijan NBC News

18 hours ago

Google

The new Nexus 7 tablet will be available July 30, with pricing starting at $229 for a 16 GB, Wi-Fi only model.

Google unveiled a brand new Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3, and Chromecast, a tiny device that gets video content from phones and computers onto TVs, during an event in San Francisco on Wednesday.

"Today, we are going to talk about two things," Sundar Pichai ? senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps ? said as the event began. The first is a new Android device, the second, a new Chrome device.

The new Nexus 7 and Android 4.3
Pichai turned the stage over to Hugo Barra, vice president of Android product management, for the Android portion of Wednesday's announcement. Barra explained that the new Nexus 7 is a few millimeters thinner and narrower than the prior model. "It's a much more comfortable grip," he said.

The new 7-inch tablet has a better screen as well. It has gone from offering 1,280-by-800 pixels in the prior model to 1,920-by-1,200 pixels in the new one and from 216 pixels per inch (ppi) to 323 ppi. The RAM jumps from 1GB to 2 GB. The tablet has a 1.2-megapixel camera in the front and a 5-megapixel camera in the back. The new Nexus 7 will be available in three flavors: A 16GB Wi-Fi-only model for $229, a 32GB Wi-Fi-only model for $269 and a 32GB LTE-capable model for $349.

The new tablet, available July 30, will ship with Android 4.3, the newest version of Jelly Bean. While Android 4.2 introduced multi-user functionalities, Android 4.3 adds "Restricted Profiles." This feature allows apps to be restricted on a user level so that apps can behave differently based on the active user. Android 4.3 will also support Bluetooth Smart, which is a low-energy Bluetooth standard.

Google

Comparing the last-generation Nexus 7 and the new Nexus 7.

While Android 4.3 will ship with the new Nexus 7, it will be pushed out to the last-generation Nexus 7, Nexus 4, and Galaxy Nexus beginning on Wednesday. The HTC One and Samsung S4 which are sold with the "Nexus Experience" will receive Android 4.3 at a later time.

Google

Chromecast costs $35 and works with your home's Wi-Fi network.

Chromecast
"The average household has three televisions," Pichai said, adding that many users struggle to get video content from their phones, tablets and laptops to their televisions. Google's solution to this problem is called Chromecast. Unsurprisingly, it's based on Chrome.

Chromecast is a small dongle which you plug into your television's HDMI input in order to push content from your phone, tablet, or computer.

Just open up YouTube, for example, and you'll find a new "Cast" button that'll get things started. You'll be able to push content, adjust the volume and more right from your phone. (And yes, you'll even have a "Cast" button on the iOS version of the YouTube app, not just on its Android counterpart.) Other apps, such as Netflix, Google Play Movies, Google Play Music and Pandora will also offer support for Chromecast.

You can seamlessly switch between controlling your television from various devices ? be they phones, tablets, or laptops ? instantly. This means that you're not suddenly going to lose control of a movie if the person who pushed it to your TV happens to leave the room.

The Chromecast dongle is priced at $35 and comes with three months of Netflix access. It can be ordered beginning on Wednesday.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f1b59e6/sc/5/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cgoogle0Eunveils0Enew0Enexus0E70Etablet0Eandroid0E40E30Echromecast0E6C10A732363/story01.htm

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The commitments keep rolling in. Florida State picked up commitment No. 21 over...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151471132636326&set=a.80932876325.93480.53993751325&type=1

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Changes eyed in door-to-door mail delivery

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Americans for generations have come to depend on door-to-door mail delivery. It's about as American as apple pie.

But with the Postal Service facing billions of dollars in annual losses, the long-cherished delivery service could be virtually phased-out by 2022 under a proposal a House panel was considering Wednesday. Curbside delivery, which includes deliveries to mailboxes at the end of driveways, and cluster box delivery would replace letter carriers slipping mail into front-door boxes.

The proposal is part of a broader legislation by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa, R-Calif., designed to cut costs at the cash-strapped agency by up to $4.5 billion a year. The Postal Service had a $16 billion loss last year.

The agency has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery, which is less expensive to provide than door-to-door service, in new residential developments since the 1970s. The Postal Service in April began deciding whether to provide curbside or neighborhood cluster box delivery for people moving into newly built homes, rather than letting the developers decide.

"A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America's changing use of mail," Issa said. "Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service."

About one in three mail customers has door-to-door delivery, Issa said. The shift would help provide safe and secure delivery areas, Issa said, especially for elderly customers who receive things like Social Security checks and prescriptions through the mail.

Rep. Steve Lynch, D-Mass., said the plan to move some 30 million addresses from door-to-door to curbside and cluster box service would be virtually impossible in dense urban areas such as his hometown of South Boston crowded with triple-deckers ? three apartments stacked on top of each other.

"You'd have to knock houses down in my neighborhood to build cluster boxes," Lynch said. "This will not work."

It might work in places like Manhattan with big apartment buildings, he said.

The financially beleaguered U.S. Postal Service, an independent agency, gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations, but is subject to congressional control.

The Postal Service is pursuing a major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, it has reduced annual costs by approximately $15 billion, cut its workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and consolidated more than 200 mail-processing locations.

The service's losses are largely due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. About $11.1 billion of last year's losses were due to payments for future retiree health costs.

The Postal Service is considering several options to fix its finances, including negotiations with unions to reduce labor costs and another possible increase in prices.

The service earlier this year backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery after running into opposition in Congress. It has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully over the past several years to have Congress approve ending Saturday mail delivery and to free it from the advance health payments.

Postal officials have said that to restore the service to long-term financial stability, the agency needs more flexibility to reduce costs and come up with new revenues.

The Senate last year passed a bill that would have stopped the Postal Service from eliminating Saturday service for at least two years and required it to try two years of aggressive cost cutting instead. The House didn't pass a bill.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/changes-eyed-door-door-mail-delivery-135435463.html

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Fermilab: High Energy Physics on the Prairie [Slide Show]

The Tevatron shut in 2011, but particles still fly for science outside Chicago

By Mariette DiChristina

SCIENCE CATHEDRAL: The graceful shape of the 16-story Robert Rathburn Wilson Hall is the headquarters for the lab's administrators. Image: Mariette DiChristina

• 

  We?ve long understood black holes to be the points at which the universe as we know it comes to an end. Often billions of times more massive than the Sun, they...

  Read More??

What?s it like to visit the only U.S. lab focused on high-energy particle physics? I found out recently, when I went to give a talk to the physicists working there as part of their colloquium series. As usual, I learned more from the scientists than they ever have from me.

Although its Tevatron accelerator, four miles in circumference, closed in 2011 and CERN?s Large Hadron Collider in Europe has superseded it for experiments involving the highest energy levels, particle physics remains alive and well in many studies at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill., near Chicago. New instruments are also being built, including ?the most powerful neutrino experiment in North America,? NOvA, which after its completion in 2014 will probe fundamental questions about the role of elusive neutrino particles in the early universe; the Muon g-2, which will study these short-lived particles starting in 2016; and MicroBooNE, which, among other things, will follow up on low energy excess events found by MiniBooNE in its quest to determine neutrino mass.

Fermilab also has a rich history of accomplishments from work conducted using the Tevatron, including discoveries of the bottom quark in 1974 and the top quark in 1995?two important components of the Standard Model. Researchers there also announced the discovery of another particle, the tau neutrino, in 2000.

>> View the Fermilab slide show

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/history-of-science/~3/zCRc7mZ3gLo/article.cfm

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NM company faces setbacks in horse slaughter plans

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A New Mexico company's hard-fought attempt to convert its cattle plant to a horse slaughterhouse was dealt a series of new blows Monday, with the state denying its wastewater permit and actor Robert Redford, former Gov. Bill Richardson and the state attorney general announcing plans to intervene in a lawsuit seeking to block a return to domestic horse slaughter.

The New Mexico Environment Department told Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, which has a lapsed discharge permit, that it won't renew the permit without a public hearing because of extensive comments already received.

Valley Meat Co. attorney Blair Dunn said the lack of a permit would not prevent the plant from opening as planned Aug. 5, but it would increase the cost of doing business because the plant would have to haul its waste.

Dunn accused the state of unfairly targeting a small, family-owned business. He noted that many dairies are operating around the state with lapsed permits.

He said the state ignored Valley's request for a renewal until the horse slaughter debate became so divisive and Gov. Susana Martinez announced her strong opposition.

The denial came the same day that Redford and Richardson joined the fray, announcing formation of an animal protection foundation whose first act was to seek to join a federal lawsuit filed by The Humane Society of the United States and other groups to block the planned Aug. 5 opening of Valley Meat and another recently approved horse slaughterhouse in Iowa. The plants would be the first horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. to operate in more than six years.

Also Monday, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said he had filed a motion to intervene on behalf of horse slaughter opponents.

"Horse slaughter has no place in our culture," said Redford.

In a telephone interview, Redford said he has been passionate about horses all of his life, and his love of the animals inspired his famous movies "The Horse Whisperer" and "The Electric Cowboy."

The goal of the Foundation to Protect New Mexico Wildlife is to connect with other horse rescue and anti-slaughter groups to raise public awareness of the plight of horses in the West, he said, then assess longer term goals for the foundation. The group will also seek to protect wildlife and support animal shelters.

Redford said he and Richardson have both donated seed money to the group, but declined to say how much.

A lifelong horse lover, Richardson in a statement said he is committed to do "whatever it takes to stop the return of horse slaughterhouses in this country and, in particular, my own state."

"Congress was right to ban the inhumane practice years ago, and it is unfathomable that the federal government is now poised to let it resume," he said.

Dunn, the Valley Meat attorney, questioned why groups like Redford and Richardson's don't "use their money to actually save animals instead of harassing people in their lawful business?"

After more than a year of delays and a lawsuit by Valley Meat, the Department of Agriculture in June gave the company the go-ahead to begin slaughtering horses. USDA officials said they were legally obligated to issue the permits, even though the Obama administration opposes horse slaughter and is seeking to reinstate a congressional ban that was lifted in 2011.

Another permit was approved a few days later for Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa.

Meat from the slaughterhouses would be shipped to some countries for human consumption and for use as zoo and other animal food.

The move has divided horse rescue and animal welfare groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes about what is the most humane way to deal with the country's horse overpopulation and what rescue groups have said are a rising number of neglected and starving horses as the West deals with persistent drought.

An Aug. 2 hearing is set for the request by animal protection groups for a temporary restraining order to prevent the plants from opening.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nm-company-faces-setbacks-horse-003104419.html

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Royal baby's family tree: Kate and William's childhoods were very ...

WILLIAM

PRINCE WILLIAM'S early years will forever be overshadowed by the death of his mother Princess Diana. Images of the 15?year?old Prince and his brother Harry, 12, marching solemnly behind her coffin are etched on the memory of all who watched her funeral in 1997. It was a defining moment and the fact that he appears to have emerged without a trace of bitterness is to William's immense credit.

It was the fervent desire of his mother that William should have as normal a childhood as possible. Yet with the burden of the destiny that he carries it was never going to be entirely possible. When he was a little boy he is said to have expressed a desire to become a policeman so that he could look after Diana. Harry, replied: "Oh no you can't. You've got to be King."

William was raised in apartments 8 and 9 at Kensington Palace, which were combined in 1981 to create Charles and Diana's London residence. His nanny Barbara Barnes, whom he affectionately called Baba, took charge of his early upbringing.

He attended Ludgrove School in Wokingham, Berkshire, then Eton which went against the tradition started by Prince Philip of sending royal children to Gordonstoun.

William was nicknamed Wombat by his doting parents but his childhood was scarred by the disintegration of their marriage.

The constant thorn of Charles's relationship with Camilla in his mother's side was not easy to bear and he felt Diana's unhappiness at being marooned in a loveless relationship with his father.

They might have tried to hide it from the children but William's parents were often at war. He is said to have been deeply shocked by his mother's infamous "three people in this relationship" television interview for the BBC.

Diana was a hands?on, loving mother whose approach to raising her boys was very different from the rather aloof style of parenting which was the norm among the previous generation of royals. William has inherited that warmth and has an easy way with people, reminiscent of Diana at her best.

Determined that William should have a wider view of life she took him to McDonald's and he accompanied her on visits to meet Aids victims and residents of hostels for the homeless.

William says: "I was influenced a lot by my visits to hostels with my mother when I was younger. I learned a lot from it, more so now than I did at the time."

In 1991 there was a scare when he was accidentally struck on the head by a golf club wielded by a friend at school and suffered a fractured skull. However any lasting damage from his childhood is emotional.

For years William never spoke in public about the loss of his mother but in a candid interview in 2009 he said: "Never being able to say the word 'mummy' again in your life sounds like a small thing. However for many, including me, it's now really just a word ? hollow and evoking only memories."

Yet he has many fond childhood memories as well, including a good relationship with his grandmother the Queen.

He says: "Being a small boy it's very daunting having the Queen around and not really knowing what to talk about. I'm probably a bit of a cheeky grandson."

KATE

THE upbringing of Kate Middleton was solidly middle class with none of the traumas suffered by her husband. Born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading in 1982 she grew up in a modest, red?brick semi in the village of Bradfield Southend, Berkshire. It was bought by her parents Carole and Michael in 1979 for ?34,000 and Kate had her own small bedroom.

Kate used to love dressing up as a clown in giant dungarees and playing musical statues. She once revealed that her favourite childhood memory was of the "amazing white rabbit marshmallow cake mummy made when I was seven".

Along with her sister Pippa and brother James she was christened at the village church. Both parents worked for British Airways ? Michael was a manager, Carole was a flight attendant ? and they've been happily married since 1980.

In 1984 when Kate was a toddler a posting for her father took the family to Amman, the capital of Jordan. They returned to the UK two years later in time for Kate to start primary school and her parents launched their party planning and supplies business. When she was eight years old Kate joined the Brownies.

Apart from having a colourful uncle Gary, Kate's childhood and family life were mercifully free of scandal. She has revealed that her nickname used to be Squeak as in Pip and Squeak.

In common with William, Kate has a scar on her head ? hers is the result of a childhood operation.

She loved her prep school St Andrew's in Pangbourne, Berkshire, so much she once told her mother she wanted to be a teacher. Kate adored swimming, hockey and netball. When she was 10 she played the lead role of Eliza Doolittle in a production of My Fair Lady and carried on acting until she went to university.

The only hiccup seems to have been in her early teens when she dropped out of Catholic all?girls school Downe House in Thatcham, Berkshire, after two terms. It has been suggested that she was bullied because of her gangly figure and shy personality. Intriguingly this unhappy period is not mentioned in her official biography, published by Clarence House before her marriage.

Later Kate thrived at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, and did well in her GCSEs and A?levels.

After leaving Marlborough in July 2000 Kate took a gap year during which she studied at the British Institute in Florence, undertook a Raleigh International programme in Chile and crewed on Round The World Challenge boats in the Solent.

Kate was rumoured to have had a picture of Prince William on her bedroom wall when she was a teenager but has laughed off the claims, stating in her first television interview. "He wishes. No, I had the Levi's guy on my wall, not a picture of William ? sorry."

In contrast to William's childhood Kate saw her parents supporting each other, taking care of the children jointly and building up the family business. Recently Michael and Carole moved to a ?4.7million manor house.

Even during the days of their courtship William is said to have loved spending time with Kate's family because the stability they enjoy was something he never really experienced within his own home.

Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/416831/Royal-baby-s-family-tree-Kate-and-William-s-childhoods-were-very-different

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