My grandfather is dying | A Lateral Plunge: Where life goes from here...

My grandfather is?dying

Posted by Peaches on March 30, 2013 ? 6 Comments?

And I should care more than I do.

At least, that?s what I?ve been taught. You?re supposed to care about your family. You?re supposed to stand by them, be concerned about them, and feel something when things go very well or very badly for them. When one of them is on their death bed, you?re supposed to be distraught. You?re supposed to know some of their likes and dislikes, talents, beliefs?something.

All those sentiments are very true for one side of my family. They are the living definition of family for me and I love Facebook even more because it allows me to remain close to all these people even though we are spread across wide distances. (I add that because so many people complain about the superficiality that it breeds.)

On this side of the family, first, second, and third cousins, aunts, great aunts and uncles, and especially grandparents, always know what is going on in my life and I in theirs. They call and send cards and I do the same (when we can and Facebook isn?t just easier). If somebody is diagnosed with cancer, everybody sends flowers or sweets and that person is never alone unless they request it. If they need blood transfusions or a kidney or something, somebody has it and it is given. At the yearly reunion (which for the ones who live mostly in the same area is just an excuse to have a party because they still see each other regularly) there is always waaaay to much food. We?ve had to start inviting good family friends into the fold just to get rid of some of the food. There?s in-fighting and gossiping, and sibling rivalry between generations much older than mine, but it?s all encased in a tough-nut shell of love; of? ?this is my tribe?. I?ve never been ignored because they somehow found me shameful or revered because of anything I?ve accomplished. I?ve always just been treated as me, occasionally as ?B?s granddaughter?.

If one of my grandparents on that side were dying, I would be home right now, instead of writing this blog; damn the consequences.

That is my family.

The other side of my ?family?, the one this grandfather is from, has never shown me any of that. None of the cousins, aunts, uncles, or either of the grandparents regularly treated me as anything but a nuisance, or perhaps a smudge on the family name. I remember being really sick in elementary school once and neither of my parents could be reached at work and my grandparents on the other side of the family were out of town so the school eventually called these grandparents to come get me from school. I was placed on a couch, given a puke bucket, not allowed to watch TV or drink clear soda (water only), and warned I shouldn?t stain the furniture, and that I was to lay still and be quiet until my mother could come get me. All in all, they?d tout their relation to me when it was convenient; if I had just lost a bunch of weight, or was going to a school dance with some local leader?s son, or when I got accepted to university in London. Otherwise, they seemed to prefer pretending I didn?t exist, at least not on their family tree, so I have trouble feeling close to them.

But now that grandfather is dying.

My mom pressured me to call him. So I did.

?Kellogg? brand ?candle stick? style telephone from c. early 20th century. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was the most awkward 3 minutes I?ve had in a long time and I was just fired a month ago.

He asked who it was and I told him and he had to think for a while. (I guess there are 18 of us grandchildren, even though I have been around for nearly 27 years and he isn?t senile.)

He told me I hadn?t called in a while. (I guess he remembers something! I did call once a few years ago but he sounded like I had interrupted something and indicated he had to go quickly so that phone call lasted maybe 30 seconds longer than this one. I was trying to wish him a Merry Christmas.)

I asked how he was doing and he told me (he?s sick, duh, and hoping to get better) and I asked what he?s been up to (coming home early from Florida because he?s sick, don?t I feel like an idiot).

He asked if I was coming home soon. (I just started a new job two weeks ago. I told him this and said I couldn?t get any time off right now. I told him I was planning to come home for Christmas.)

He asked what my new job was. (I said I worked at a newspaper.)

Oh? (Yeah, grandpa, I?m a reporter.)

He asked if that?s what I got my degree for and his tone sounded funny, but to be fair his voice is raspy now. (Yeah. I have a journalism degree.)

?You finished that?? he asked and sounded a little incredulous. (Ouch. Yeah. Yeah, I finished it.) ?Well, I guess that?s good.? (I?m super duper fucking psyched but yeah, I guess that?s good.)

He reminded me Christmas is a long ways off. (It is. It?s the best I can do without spending thousands of dollars or putting my job and future at risk and leaving my husband behind for who knows how long. I didn?t say that last part. I just said it?s the soonest I could get time off. Enter even more awkward pauses.)

He said he had seen my mother and sister and they were going to dinner the next day. He said my mother has been really helpful in caring for him. (Umm?good. I?m glad she?s been helping. How do I respond to that?)

That last bit sort of went on loop a couple times. I still don?t know what to say to that. Maybe, ?I wish I could be there to help too?. I can?t, so it?s just words. I don?t have a clue.

Then I told him I loved him and he returned the gesture and that was pretty much it.

Until he called back 30 seconds later?and said he?d dialed the wrong number and excused himself quickly and hung up. Part of me will always wonder if he meant to dial again and say something more, and just didn?t at the last minute, or if it was an honest accident. Maybe he bumped the redial button.

I?m just left feeling more confused and cold every time I speak to somebody on that side of the family. Really, if one or two people would just reach out warmly, I would reach back so strongly with both arms.

I hate feeling so rejected and outside the loop, so it?s easier to be angry and then numb about the whole situation then walk around feeling not-good-enough all the time. I felt not-good-enough for a lot of years.

Now I just don?t let their opinion of me matter to me. This, sadly, means a lot of things start to not matter.

I?ve tried to summon tears for my impending grandfather?s death and the only tears I could summon were tears from old rejection wounds because he never gave me enough of himself to have something to mourn.

I felt the same way when his wife, my grandmother, died over ten years ago.

I wasn?t alone in that sentiment either. I?ve never been to another funeral with so few tears shed.

So, if anything can be taken from this whole sorry situation, it?s that if you care you should show it and if you don?t, you should at least still be kind. You?ll only live as long as your memory, so you better leave some people behind who want to remember you.

Now what to do about the guilt of not caring like I should?

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Filed under Blogging, Life, Opinion, The plunge ? Tagged with awkward, cancer, death, distance, Facebook, family, grandfather, guilt, phone calls, should i care

Source: http://alateralplunge.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/my-grandfather-is-dying/

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Former Nev. lawmaker arrested after freeway chase

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Police chased a former lawmaker on a freeway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and arrested him at gunpoint following a struggle, hours after he became the first person ever expelled from the Nevada Legislature.

Steven Brooks was jailed in California's San Bernardino County after being subdued with punches and a Taser. Police alleged he attacked a police dog with a wrench.

"It's hard to know where he was going, what he thought he was doing and why he would be involved in a high-speed chase," Brooks' attorney, Mitchell Posin, told The Associated Press on Friday. "I think he feels the world is against him. But I'm just piecing together bits of information."

Brooks' arrest Thursday near the California city of Victorville was his third since January, and came just hours after colleagues in the Legislature deemed the Democrat from North Las Vegas too dangerous and unpredictable to serve his elected term. Lawmakers wept Thursday as they cited concerns about their own safety and evidence collected about an increasingly bizarre series of public incidents.

Police allege that Brooks threatened a Democratic party Assembly leader before one arrest and threw punches and grabbed for the gun of a police officer in his second arrest about three weeks later. He also was hospitalized for five days for a mental evaluation following another police encounter that didn't result in an arrest.

He was sworn in and then banished from the Legislature building as a possible security risk days after arriving in a hooded sweatshirt and ducking into an office to avoid reporters.

He posed shirtless for a newspaper photograph to show injuries that he said he suffered during his first arrest, but that weren't apparent. He tried unsuccessfully to buy a rifle at a sporting goods store in Sparks. He bought body armor from a radio show host in Las Vegas. He lost his job as a Las Vegas city management analyst. And he reported his car stolen.

Assembly Majority Leader William Horne, D-Las Vegas, who called Brooks "potentially dangerous" and issued an order banning him from the Legislature building in Carson City, said Friday he was saddened by Brooks' arrest.

"I hope they get Steven the help he clearly needs before he or someone else is hurt or worse," Horne said.

During Thursday's arrest Brooks appeared to be punched by one uniformed officer before he was shackled by the wrists and ankles and taken away on an ambulance gurney. Police said the chase followed a call from a tow truck operator who argued with a motorist about the cost of fixing a flat tire on the freeway shoulder in Barstow.

"We just know the tow truck driver was uncomfortable enough to call us for assistance," California Highway Patrol Officer Don Spiker said. "He said the subject was acting strange."

The tow operator didn't immediately respond Friday to messages from The Associated Press.

Barstow police allege Brooks, 41, sped away with the tire still flat and tossed objects from the vehicle before a spike strip was deployed to disable the SUV and he tangled with uniformed officers and the police dog at the side of the freeway. The objects were not described, and police didn't respond to questions about whether Brooks was armed.

Witness Jennifer Simpson said she was alerted to the chase by police helicopters overhead and saw a man get out of a red four-door SUV after it veered to the side of the road near Victorville, about 180 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Simpson, a mother of two who lives in an apartment near the interstate, said the man didn't follow officers' commands to turn around and put his hands in the air. He instead ran back to the SUV, chased by a police dog.

Simpson said the driver shut himself in the vehicle before several officers with guns drawn pulled him out. She said she saw at least one officer punch the man several times.

Simpson's husband videotaped four minutes of the struggle, in which uniformed officers wrestle the driver to the ground in front of the SUV and an officer in a tan uniform raises his arms three times in apparent punching motions. The driver cannot be seen on the ground.

Kris Reilly, city editor of The Daily Press in Victorville, said he arrived to see the motorist a few minutes later, struggling against wrist and ankle restraints as he was loaded on a gurney into an ambulance.

"He was yelling something to the effect that, 'These cops are going down!'" Reilly said. "He was yelling quite a bit."

Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez released a statement alleging that when the police dog was sent into the SUV, Brooks choked and hit the dog with a socket wrench. The dog, named Buck, was treated by a veterinarian head and leg cuts.

"Brooks continued to resist the officers and not comply with their orders," the Barstow police statement said. "A Taser was utilized on Brooks and after this, handcuffs were applied."

The police report does not describe any police officers being injured and doesn't address whether officers punched Brooks.

Telephone and email messages for Ramirez and other Barstow police supervisors weren't returned.

Brooks was examined at Barstow Community Hospital before he was taken to a San Bernardino County jail in Rancho Cucamonga, police said.

Jail records showed Brooks was being held on $100,000 bail on four felony charges including resisting a police officer with force, willful harm to a police service dog, felony evading arrest and throwing objects from a vehicle with intent to harm.

San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said Brooks was due for arraignment Tuesday in Barstow.

Brooks' expulsion from the state Assembly came by voice vote following a recommendation from a bipartisan panel that met largely behind closed doors. The seven panel members voted 6-1 for expulsion after considering a more than 900-page investigative report produced by a Las Vegas lawyer hired as a special counsel.

A coalition of Nevada media outlets is seeking to have the investigative report made public.

Brooks' first arrest was Jan. 19, after he was accused of making threats toward legislative colleagues including Assembly Democratic Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick. North Las Vegas police said Brooks had a gun and ammunition in his car when he was arrested. The state attorney general's office hasn't filed criminal charges in the case.

Brooks was sworn in at the Legislature on Feb. 4, but was arrested again Feb. 10 at his estranged wife's home in Las Vegas after police alleged he tried to punch and grabbed for the gun of an officer who responded to a domestic dispute. Brooks faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges.

___

Associated Press Writer Tami Abdollah in Los Angeles and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

Find Ken Ritter on Twitter at http://twitter.com/krttr and Michelle Rindels at http://twitter.com/RindelsAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-nev-lawmaker-arrested-freeway-chase-080839188.html

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Pope refers to "Muslim brothers" on Good Friday

Pope Francis lies down in prayer during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis began the Good Friday service at the Vatican with the Passion of Christ Mass and hours later will go to the ancient Colosseum in Rome for the traditional Way of the Cross procession. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis lies down in prayer during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis began the Good Friday service at the Vatican with the Passion of Christ Mass and hours later will go to the ancient Colosseum in Rome for the traditional Way of the Cross procession. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis delivers his blessing during the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession celebrated in front of the Colosseum on Good Friday in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis is sitting in silent prayer during this year's Good Friday procession, which is re-enacting Christ's crucifixion and recalling the wars and "violent fundamentalism" that are devastating the Middle East today. The Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum is one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week, when Christians commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A worker adjusts a giant torch lit cross overlooking the ancient Colosseum prior to the start of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession which will be celebrated by Pope Francis, on Good Friday, in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A crowd gathers beneath the ancient Colosseum prior to the start of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession which will be celebrated by Pope Francis, on Good Friday, in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis presides the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession celebrated in front of the Colosseum, not pictured, on Good Friday in Rome, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis is sitting in silent prayer during this year's Good Friday procession, which is re-enacting Christ's crucifixion and recalling the wars and "violent fundamentalism" that are devastating the Middle East today. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis reached out in friendship to "so many Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.

The new pontiff, who has rankled traditionalists by rejecting many trappings of his office, mostly stuck to the traditional script during the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum, one of the most dramatic rituals of Holy Week.

With torches lighting the way, the faithful carried a cross to different stations, where meditations and prayers were read out recalling the final hours of Jesus' life and his crucifixion.

This year, the prayers were composed by young Lebanese, and many recalled the plight of minority Christians in the region, where wars have forced thousands to flee their homelands. The meditations called for an end to "violent fundamentalism," terrorism and the "wars and violence which in our days devastate various countries in the Middle East."

Francis, who became pope just over two weeks ago, chose, however, to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony.

Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Francis recalled Benedict XVI's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."

"That occasion was a sign to the Middle East and to the whole world, a sign of hope," he said.

Friday's outreach followed Francis' eyebrow-raising gesture a day earlier, when he washed and kissed the feet of two women, one a Muslim, in the Holy Thursday ritual that commemorates Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.

Breaking with tradition, Francis performed the ritual on 12 inmates at a juvenile detention center, rather than in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica, where in the past, 12 priests have been chosen to represent Jesus' disciples.

Before he became pope, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio long cultivated warm relations with Muslim leaders in his native Argentina. In one of his first speeches as pope, he called for the church and the West in general to "intensify" relations with the Muslim world.

The Vatican's relations with Islam hit several bumps during Benedict XVI's papacy, when he outraged Muslims with a 2006 speech quoting a Byzantine emperor as saying some of Prophet Muhammad's teachings were "evil and inhuman." And in 2011, the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in the Sunni Muslim world, Cairo's Al-Azhar institute, froze dialogue with the Vatican to protest Benedict's call for greater protection of Christians in Egypt.

However, Francis' past outreach to the Muslim community in Argentina seems to have changed that. Al-Azhar's chief imam, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayyib, sent a message of congratulations to Francis on his election and said he hoped for cooperation.

The Vatican's efforts to reconcile with the Islamic world have not been welcomed by all. Italy's most famous Muslim convert to Catholicism, Magdi Allam, announced last week he was leaving the church because of its "soft" stance on Islam. Allam was baptized by Benedict XVI in 2008 during the high-profile Easter Vigil service when the pope traditionally baptizes a handful of adults. There has been no Vatican comment on his about-face.

Thousands of people packed the Colosseum and surrounding areas for the nighttime procession, holding candles wrapped in paper globes as Francis sat in silent prayer as a giant torch-lit crucifix twinkled nearby. Some in the crowd had Lebanese flags around their shoulders in an indication of the special role Lebanese faithful played in this year's procession.

Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East ? nearly 40 percent of the country's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. As civil war has raged in neighboring Syria, Lebanon's Christian community has been divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Overall, Christians in the Middle East have been uneasy as the Arab Spring has led to the strengthening of Islamist groups in most countries that have experienced uprisings. Thousands of Christians have fled the region ? a phenomenon that the Vatican has lamented, given Christianity's roots in the Holy Land.

"How sad it is to see this blessed land suffer in its children, who relentlessly tear one another to pieces and die!" said one of the Good Friday meditations. "It seems that nothing can overcome evil, terrorism, murder and hatred."

Francis picked up on that message, saying Christ's death on the cross is "the answer which Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in us and around us."

"Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the cross upon themselves as Jesus did," he said.

At the end of the ceremony, a male choir sang a haunting Arabic hymn, a reflection of the Eastern rite influence that infused the ceremony.

On Saturday, Francis presides over the solemn Easter Vigil ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica and on Sunday, he celebrates Easter Mass and delivers an important speech. Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.

In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Friday "we'll have to see" what Francis does with the multilingual greetings.

The Good Friday procession was conducted entirely in Italian, whereas in years past the core elements recounting what happens at each station would be recited in a variety of languages.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-29-EU-Vatican-Good-Friday/id-0653c3732eaa44a1871cdae1213f7ce7

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Iran, Syria, N. Korea block first global treaty to control $70 billion arms trade

Maysun / EPA, file

Syrian Army fighters preparing themselves to shoot against Syrian Army positions in Aleppo, Syria, March 11.

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

UNITED NATIONS -- Iran, Syria and North Korea on Friday prevented the adoption of the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade, complaining that it was flawed and failed to ban weapons sales to rebel groups.

To get around the blockade, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant sent the draft treaty to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and asked him on behalf of Mexico, Australia and a number of others to put it to a swift vote in the General Assembly.

U.N. diplomats said the 193-nation General Assembly could put the draft treaty to a vote as early as Tuesday.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman, told a group of reporters, "We look forward to this treaty being adopted very soon by the United Nations General Assembly."

He declined to predict the result of a vote but said it would be a "substantial majority" in favor.

"A good, strong treaty has been blocked," said Britain's chief delegate, Joanne Adamson. "Most people in the world want regulation and those are the voices that need to be heard."

"This is success deferred," she added.

The point of an arms trade treaty is to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons.

It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

NRA: Treaty threatens gun rights
Arms control activists and human rights groups say a treaty is needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

"The world has been held hostage by three states," said Anna Macdonald, an arms control expert at humanitarian agency Oxfam. "We have known all along that the consensus process was deeply flawed and today we see it is actually dysfunctional."

"Countries such as Iran, Syria and DPRK (North Korea) should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the world how the sale of weapons should be regulated," she added.?

The National Rifle Association opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification if it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights.

The American Bar Association, an attorneys' lobby group, has said that the treaty would not impact the right to bear arms.

Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

Demonstrators from Amnesty International call for a global arms treaty in a protest outside the White House, March 22.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms exporter - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support an arms treaty.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told Iran's Press TV that Tehran supported the arms trade treaty. But Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the conference that he could not accept the treaty in its current form.

"It is a matter of deep regret that genuine efforts of many countries for a robust, balanced and non-discriminatory treaty were ignored.,? he said.

One of those flaws was its failure to ban sales of weapons to groups that commit "acts of aggression," ostensibly referring to rebel groups, he said. The current draft does not ban transfers to armed groups but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari echoed the Iranian concerns. "Unfortunately our national concerns were not taken into consideration," he said.

North Korea's delegate voiced similar complaints, suggesting it was a discriminatory treaty.

Russia and China made clear they would not have blocked it but voiced serious reservations about the text and its failure to get consensus.

A Russian delegate told the conference that Moscow would have to think hard about signing it if it were approved.

If adopted by the General Assembly, the pact will need to be signed and ratified by at least 50 states to enter into force.

Related:

'Not good enough': Rights groups blast draft of arms trade treaty

North Korea is no 'paper tiger', warns US official as regime puts rockets on standby

Israel to grill Obama over possible military strike on Iran

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Chinese Regulations On WMPs - Business Insider

The Chinese stock market took a hit Thursday after its banking regulator issued new regulations to tighten control over banks' wealth management products (WMPs).?

WMPs are essentially a pool of securities (trust products, bonds, stock funds) that have yield that is on average 2 percentage points higher than bank deposits. They are sold as low-risk investments but often are not so.?

With a dearth of investment alternatives, WMPs have grown incredibly popular in China in the past few years, reaching 13 trillion yuan ($2.1 trillion) at the end of 2012, a 50 percent year-over-year increase, according to Fitch.

WMPs have been creating risks in the banking sector and some have called it "ponzi finance":

To lower these risks, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) announced three key regulations to monitor WMPs (via Societe Generale's Wei Yao):

1. "WMPs have to be managed product by product with matching assets, separate accounting and book-keeping." If banks fail to do this they will be prevented from issuing new WMPs.
2. "For outstanding WMPs that have not met the requirement above, they should be treated like regular commercial loans in terms of loss provisions and risk weights by end-2013."
3. "For each bank, the amount of WMPs invested in debt instruments that are not traded on exchanges cannot exceed 35% of the bank?s total outstanding of WMPs or 4% of its total asset, whichever is lower. Such debt instruments include, but are not limited to, trust loans, entrust liabilities, bankers? acceptances, account receivables, and equity investment with buy-back clauses."

Yao however thinks banks have been preparing for this, and writes that the new policy isn't intended to "devastate banks, but to cap future risks."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-regulations-on-wmps-2013-3

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Gods and Beasts

Denise Mina's latest spins a web of Glasgow connections and corruption.

March 29, 2013

Gods and Beasts By Denise Mina Little, Brown 311 pp.

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Reviewed by Anna Mundow for Barnes & Noble Review

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The Scottish writer Denise Mina may be regarded as a crime novelist, but that has never been the whole story. From her first novel, "Garnethill," to her latest, Gods and Beasts, Mina has resisted neat classification. Her fiction, set mainly in Glasgow, is too subtle to be "tartan noir." Her protagonists are often female, but they are too complicated to be heroine sleuths, too difficult to pin down. Paddy Meehan, for example, who first appeared as a watchful girl in "Garnethill," became the prime investigator in "Field of Blood." Now Meehan, an established journalist, is barely glimpsed in "Gods and Beasts," while Detective Sergeant Alex Morrow, familiar from "The End of the Wasp Season," is Mina's chief character.

More confident these days in her hard-won authority, Morrow is as shrewd as ever, whether she is studying a suspect or a fellow cop. "It felt strange to have that double perspective," she reflects as she listens to an anxious, perhaps guilty, colleague, "to have to calculate the gulf between what was said and what was meant" (a Jamesian observation that also sums up what Mina does so well).

"Gods and Beasts" opens, however, in a straightforward way with a crime, or rather its aftermath. A young man sits on a curb, in shock, cradling a toddler, "koala-clamped to his chest," strangers welded together by casual violence. During the armed robbery of a post office, the child's grandfather has been shot to death. Martin Pavel, a bystander, is left holding the boy and replaying the bloody image: "automatic fire, red explosions on the old man's back, the tilt of his torso, the greasy slide."

What follows is equally impressionistic, a series of images ricocheting off a stunned consciousness. Martin registers a paramedic kneeling before him, the hospital where he and the child are "[p]ushed in a canvas wheelchair, through the A&E waiting room, not very clean, not very nice." Then a cubicle: "Time passed. Clocks ticked and trolleys rolled. Nurses shoes squeaked by beyond the curtain." And soon the departure of the boy with his distraught mother, followed by the arrival of DS Alex Morrow and DC Harris, whose questions tether and calm Martin's unruly recollections.

It is gradually apparent that the shooting was coincidental but not random ? the gunman and the grandfather seemed to recognize each other ? and that Martin himself is a conundrum. An American who sounds Scottish, is well educated, tattooed, and a compulsive runner, Martin is familiar with guns, gifted with accents, and haunted by details ? all of which makes him an invaluable yet oddly suspect witness. He is also a stray exotic on the harsh, treacherously shifting terrain that Mina so masterfully depicts.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rbkc9VvKU-8/Gods-and-Beasts

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Getting under the shell of the turtle genome

Mar. 26, 2013 ? The genome of the western painted turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii) one of the most widespread, abundant and well-studied turtles in the world, is published this week in Genome Biology. The data show that, like turtles themselves, the rate of genome evolution is extremely slow; turtle genomes evolve at a rate that is about a third that of the human genome and a fifth that of the python, the fastest lineage analyzed.

As a group, turtles are long-lived, can withstand low temperatures including freezing solid, can survive for long periods with no oxygen, and their sex is usually determined by the temperature at which their eggs develop rather than genetically. The painted turtle is most anoxia-tolerant vertebrate and can survive up to four months under water depending on the temperature. Turtles and tortoises are also the most endangered major vertebrate group on earth, with half of all species listed as endangered. This is the first turtle, and only the second non-avian reptile genome to be sequenced, and the analysis reveals some interesting insights about these bizarre features and adaptations, many of which are only known in turtles.

The western painted turtle is a freshwater species, and the most widespread turtle native to North America. Bradley Shaffer and colleagues place the western painted turtle genome into a comparative evolutionary context, showing that turtles are more closely related to birds and crocodilians than to any other vertebrates. They also find 19 genes in the brain and 23 in the heart whose expression is increased in low oxygen conditions -- including one whose expression changes nearly 130 fold. Further experiments on turtle hatchlings indicated that common microRNA was involved in freeze tolerance adaptation.

This work consistently indicates that common vertebrate regulatory networks, some of which have analogs in human diseases, are often involved in the western painted turtle achieving its extraordinary physiological capacities. The authors argue that the painted turtle may offer important insights into the management of a number of human health disorders, particularly those involved with anoxia and hypothermia.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central Limited, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

1. John Abramyan, Daleen Badenhorst, Kyle K Biggar, Glen M Borchert, Christopher W Botka, Rachel M Bowden, Edward L Braun, Anne M Bronikowski, Benoit G Bruneau, Leslie T Buck, Blanche Capel, Todd A Castoe, Mike Czerwinski, Kim D Delehaunty, Scott V Edwards, Catrina C Fronick, Matthew K Fujita, Lucinda Fulton, Tina A Graves, Richard E Green, Wilfried Haerty, Ramkumar Hariharan, LaDeana H Hillier, Alisha K Holloway, Daniel Janes, Fredric J Janzen, Cyriac Kandoth, Lesheng Kong, Jason de Koning, Yang Li et al. The western painted turtle genome, a model for the evolution of extreme physiological adaptations in a slowly evolving lineage. Genome Biology, 2013 DOI: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-3-r28

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/RJwvlc1opJQ/130328075712.htm

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?Facebook Phone? rumors again flare up after Facebook sends out event invitation

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-phone-rumors-again-flare-facebook-sends-event-115057149.html

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Photographer catches camera thief in Craigslist sting operation

Nidhi Subbaraman , NBC News ? ? ? 3 hrs.

When a San Francisco photographer discovered his stolen camera had turned up for sale on Craigslist, he turned Web sleuth, getting back his camera and assisting in the thief's arrest.

It all began when Jeff Hu and his roommate woke up one morning, after a packed St. Patrick's day house party that went on into the wee hours of the morning. There was the usual mess of cups and empty beer bottles and spills scattered between shifted furniture. But the camera Hu learned to shoot on? Gone.

Hu had lost his bike before, and knew that bike thieves in the San Francisco area made quick work of getting rid of their loot on Craigslist, so he decided to give the notorious classifieds website a check, just in case.

Sure enough, there it was.

"I didn't expect my camera to be there," Hu told NBC News. "I didn't think I would be that lucky to find it, but the first search I did ? it showed up ? in the same city, the day after it was stolen."

Hu recognized the camera, a Canon Rebel T2i, by scratch marks near its SD card slot. Suspiciously, the posting said the camera didn't come with a battery charger, or a lens case, or manual. Certain that it was his, Hu emailed the Craigslist poster asking to buy the instrument.

Then came Hu's first break: The Craigslist seller responded with a name. A quick Facebook search pulled up a person Hu recognized as someone he'd seen at his house, but hadn't spoken to, he said.

One last hurdle: How to prove the camera, marked with a unique serial number, was his? Hu found an application that seemed built for just such a purpose. StolenCameraFinder slurps up an uploaded photo and extracts the serial number of the camera that took it.

By now, Hu had filed a police report and spoken to a dispatcher. If Hu was able to meet the man with the camera, drop by the police department and see if any one can help, he was told.

Hu agreed to meet the suspicious Craigslist contact at a local coffee shop to complete the trade. ("Cash ONLY," the Craigslist post read.) But first, Hu and a friend stopped by the police department. Two plainclothes cops in an undercover car escorted them to the coffee shop.

As planned, the camera and its thief both turned up. From there, the cops took over. "The guy had a fake gun on him so that would have been scary," Hu said.

In the end, the thief was arrested ? Hu says the police already had a warrant out for him ? and after matching up serial numbers and other proofs of ownership, Hu got his camera back from the police. "I was surprised that I was able to find all this information so easily," he said.

With his amateur sleuthing career now behind him, Hu says he now plans to go back to photographing his favorite macros and landscapes.

For a full account of the sting, read Hu's post onPeta Pixel.

Nidhi Subbaraman writes about technology and science. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a1bbba9/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Cphotographer0Ecatches0Ecamera0Ethief0Ecraigslist0Esting0Eoperation0E1C9128131/story01.htm

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RichTextBox Append Or Compare - VB.NET | Dream.In.Code

Example

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??? Cancel Source Edit

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"); ipb.editor_values.get('templates')['menu_item'] = new Template("

#{title}

"); ipb.editor_values.get('templates')['togglesource'] = new Template("

??? Cancel Source Edit

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Emoticons

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","tag":"inline","useoption":"0","example":"[inline]style=\"font-size: 12px;\"[/inline]","switch_option":"0","menu_option_text":"","menu_content_text":"","single_tag":"0","optional_option":"0","image":""},"il":{"id":"38","title":"Abbreviated Inline (IL)","desc":"Abbreviated version of the [inline] tag. ","tag":"il","useoption":"0","example":"[il]Code Here[/il]","switch_option":"0","menu_option_text":"","menu_content_text":"","single_tag":"0","optional_option":"0","image":"il2.png"},"code":{"id":"41","title":"Code","desc":"Allows you to enter general code","tag":"code","useoption":"1","example":"[code]$text = 'Some long code here';[/code]","switch_option":"0","menu_option_text":"","menu_content_text":"","single_tag":"0","optional_option":"1","image":""}}) ); ipb.vars['emoticon_url'] = "http://cdn.dreamincode.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/default"; //Search Setup ipb.vars['search_type'] = 'forum'; ipb.vars['search_type_id'] = 67; ipb.vars['search_type_2'] = 'topic'; ipb.vars['search_type_id_2'] = 316917; //]]>

3 Replies - 60 Views - Last Post: Today, 09:58 PM Rate Topic:

#1 donna2002 ?

Reputation: 0

• Posts: 4
• Joined: 25-March 13

Posted Today, 07:32 PM

I am new to this forum so sorry if I do something wrong. I have a RichTextBox1 and RichTextBox2 on my form. RichTextBox1 is for the user to enter some text. RichTextBox2 is not visible on form. I am trying to get the code to take the users text and put in RichTextBox2 to be able to save all the text each time the user hits saved button. I am not sure the best way to go about this. My code below saves the text ok the first time the saved button is hit but when the user adds more text and save again, it is adding the new text and the old text again. I just want it to save the new text only along with the old text but not add the old text again.

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click         If RichTextBox1.Text.Length > 0 Then             RichTextBox2.AppendText(RichTextBox1.Text)             If RichTextBox2.Text = RichTextBox1.Text Then                 MessageBox.Show("Text was Saved")             End If          Else             'do nothing         End If     End Sub

Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0

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Replies To: RichTextBox Append or Compare

#2 IronRazer ?

Reputation: 69

• Posts: 290
• Joined: 01-February 13

Re: RichTextBox Append or Compare

Posted Today, 08:03 PM

Hello donna2002,
You will need to save the text from textbox2 in a string variable and clear the text from textbox2 before saving the text from textbox1. Thats what it sounds like from the way your explaining it. Try this

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click         If RichTextBox1.Text.Length > 0 Then             Dim txt As String = RichTextBox2.Text             RichTextBox2.Clear()             RichTextBox2.Text = RichTextBox1.Text             If RichTextBox2.Text = RichTextBox1.Text Then                 MessageBox.Show("Text was Saved")             End If         End If     End Sub 

/>

This post has been edited by IronRazer: Today, 08:04 PM

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#3 IronRazer ?

Reputation: 69

• Posts: 290
• Joined: 01-February 13

Re: RichTextBox Append or Compare

Posted Today, 08:56 PM

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#4 donna2002 ?

Reputation: 0

• Posts: 4
• Joined: 25-March 13

Re: RichTextBox Append or Compare

Posted Today, 09:58 PM

Thank you IronRazer for the reply. Yes, that does work but maybe I am not explaining too well. That code does work until the user deletes something or clears his text to start over. I need the RichTextBox2 to always keep the text when the save button is clicked even if the user clears his or does whatever it still needs to keep the old text and add only the new text to RichTextBox2. I am probably not explaining it well. In other words I need both RTB to compare to each other and if there is new text added to RTB1 then add only that text to RTB2 along with what is already in RTB2. I have tried different ways but keep getting RTB2 with too much text adding the old and new text together and having duplicates of the same text when the user only entered it once. I hope that clears it up some. I am not good explaining myself.

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Page 1 of 1

Source: http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/316917-richtextbox-append-or-compare/

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Weekly Radar-?Slow panic? feared on Cyrprus, as central banks ...

US MARCH JOBS REPORT/THREE OF G4 CENTRAL BANKS THURS/NEW QUARTER BEGINS/FINAL MARCH PMIS/KENYA SUPREME COURT RULING/SPAIN-FRANCE BOND AUCTIONS

Given the sound and fury of the past fortnight, it?s hard not to conclude that the messiness of the eventual Cyprus bailout is another inflection point in the whole euro crisis. For most observers, including Mr Dijsselbloem it seems, it ups the ante again on several fronts ? 1) possible bank contagion via nervy senior creditors and depositors fearful of bail-ins at the region?s weakest institutions; 2) an unwelcome rise in the cost of borrowing for European banks who remain far more levered than US peers and are already grinding down balance sheets to the detriment of the hobbled European economy; and 3) likely heavy economic and social pressures in Cyprus going forward that, like Greece, increase euro exit risk to some degree. Add reasonable concerns about the credibility and coherence of euro policymaking during this latest episode and a side-order of German/Dutch ?orthodoxy? in sharp relief and it all looks a bit rum again.

Yet the reaction of world markets has been relatively calm so far. Wall St is still stalking record highs through it all for example as signs of the ongoing US recovery mount. So what gives? Today?s price action was interesting in that it started to show investors discriminating against European assets per se ? most visible in the inability of European stocks to follow Wall St higher and lunge lower in euro/dollar exchange rate. European bank stocks and bonds have been knocked back relatively sharply this week post-Dijsselbloem too. If this decoupling pattern were to continue, it will remain a story of the size of the economic hit and relative underperformance. But that would change if concerns morphed into euro exit and broader systemic fears and prepare for global markets at large to feel the heat again too. We?re not back there yet with the benefit of the doubt on OMTs and pressured policy reactions still largely conceded. But many of the underlying movements that might feed system-wide stresses ? what some term a ?slow panic? like deposit shifts etc ? will be impossible to monitor systematically by investors for many weeks yet and so nervy times are ahead as we enter Q2 after the Easter break.

Cyprus and European banks aside, next week will be about the US employment report and three of the Big Four central banks meeting Thurs. Will the ECB respond to the banking sector and consumer sentiment threats and ease rates or monetary conditions? It has plenty of real sector and inflation evidence already that Q1 underwhelmed in euro. The BoJ meeting will be as important with new governor Haruhiko Kuroda at the helm for the first time amid intense interest in how he will pursue the bank?s new aggressive reflation mandate.

Next week?s big events and data points:

Kenya Supreme Court rules on election outcome Sat

US/China March final manufacturing PMI Mon

Australia rate decision Tues

European March final manufacturing PMI Tues

EZ/Italy Feb jobless Tues

UK Feb mortgage and credit data Tues

German March CPI Tues

Thailand rate decision Weds

US ADP jobs/March final services PMIs Weds

European March final services PMIs Thurs

Spain/France government bond auction Thurs

ECB/BOJ/BOE decisions/pressers Thurs

EZ Feb retail sales Fri

US March employment report Fri

????

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/2013/03/28/weekly-radar-slow-panic-feared-on-cyrprus-as-central-banks-meet-and-us-reports-jobless/

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The best news for BlackBerry: Its success may not hinge on the American market

By Simon Evans MEXICO CITY, March 27 (Reuters) - United States central defenders Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler went into Tuesday's game against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium with just two World Cup qualifying starts between them, but looked like they had been alongside each other for years in a spirited 0-0 draw. Gonzalez, making his third start in a qualifier and Besler making his first, held Mexico at bay in front of more than 95,000 fans as the U.S earned just their second point ever at the home of their arch-rivals. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/best-news-blackberry-success-may-not-hinge-american-190915145.html

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Judge recommends Ceglia case vs Facebook be dismissed

By Jonathan Stempel and Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday recommended the dismissal of a lawsuit against Facebook Inc in which Paul Ceglia, an upstate New York wood pellet salesman, claimed a huge ownership stake in the social media company.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio said there is "clear and convincing evidence" that an alleged 2003 contract with Mark Zuckerberg, now Facebook's chief executive, that Ceglia claimed entitled him to a one-half interest in the company is a "recently created fabrication."

In October, federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced criminal mail and wire fraud charges against Ceglia, whom U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused of seeking "a quick pay day based on a blatant forgery.

Ceglia, who has lived in Wellsville, New York, pleaded not guilty. Each criminal charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Paul Argentieri, a lawyer for Ceglia, was not immediately available on Tuesday for comment.

In his 2010 civil lawsuit, Ceglia claimed that a 2003 contract he signed with Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University freshman, entitled him to the Facebook stake.

Though Zuckerberg had done programming work for Ceglia's company StreetFax.com, Facebook maintained that a separate agreement involving that entity, which did not entitle Ceglia to a big Facebook stake, was the real contract between the two.

"PLETHORA" OF EVIDENCE

In a 155-page recommendation, Foschio said Ceglia's arguments largely consisted of "self-defeating inconsistencies" that established the "fraudulent nature" of his claims.

"Plaintiff has utterly failed to rebut the plethora of evidence establishing that it is highly probable and reasonable the StreetFax document was the operative contract," the Buffalo, New York-based judge wrote.

Foschio also said it is "highly probable and reasonably certain" that the contract Ceglia said was real was "fabricated for the express purpose of filing the instant action."

The case now goes to U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, who will decide whether to approve Foschio's recommendation.

Colin Stretch, deputy general counsel of Facebook, said in a statement that Foschio's recommendation "confirms what we have said from day one: this lawsuit is an inexcusable fraud based on forged documents."

Facebook's market value is now about $60 billion.

The accusations against Facebook and Zuckerberg had been an unusual distraction during the Menlo Park, California-based company's march toward its May 2012 initial public offering.

Facebook's origin was also the focus of separate litigation by Zuckerberg's twin Harvard classmates Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, chronicled in the 2010 movie "The Social Network."

EMAIL TRAIL

Ceglia claimed that Zuckerberg shared his plans for a social networking website while working at StreetFax, and contracted to give him a stake in exchange for a $1,000 investment.

To build his case, Ceglia submitted what he said were emails from Zuckerberg that proved the pair discussed the project that eventually became Facebook.

But Facebook said Zuckerberg did not even conceive of the idea for a social media company until December 2003.

Its lawyers said Ceglia had produced fraudulent documents, citing work by forensic experts who concluded that he had typed text into a Microsoft Word document, and declared it the text of emails with Zuckerberg in 2004.

Ceglia went through a string of lawyers from prominent firms, including DLA Piper and Milberg, who worked with him on various parts of the civil case but later withdrew.

Earlier this month, Ceglia filed a separate civil lawsuit against Bharara and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to halt the criminal case.

The civil case is Ceglia v. Zuckerberg et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, No. 10-00569. The lawsuit against Bharara and Holder is Ceglia v. Holder et al in the same court, No. 13-00256. The criminal case is U.S. v. Ceglia, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No 12-cr-00876.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-recommends-ceglia-lawsuit-vs-facebook-dismissed-213417957--sector.html

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Fabolous, Pusha T Not 'Playing No Games' On 'So Exciting' Tour

Loso tells MTV News duo also prepping 'entertaining' stage show because 'people [already] know what we do as far as rappin' and good lyrics.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Lauren Child and Dan Solomon

Fabolous and Pusha T's "Life Is So Exciting" tour
Photo: MTV

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704029/fabolous-pusha-t-so-exciting-tour.jhtml

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How the world's web browsers are tightening up privacy... | Stuff.co.nz

It's often hard to tell which is the web's priority: helping you learn about the world or helping the world, especially advertisers, learn about you.

However, that balance is beginning to shift, to the delight of consumer advocates and the horror of industry groups.

Browser makers are increasingly embracing privacy controls that could limit the ability of advertisers to track users, threatening to undermine business models that support many popular online services.

The development is driven more by market forces than government action, as highlighted by the recent announcement that the maker of one of the world's most popular browsers, Firefox, is experimenting with new restrictions on the use of cookies - bits of computer code that allow companies to monitor users as they move among websites.

The news has sparked a fervent debate about the economic value of online tracking and the importance of cookies to the smooth functioning of the digital world. On the day of Firefox's announcement last month, an official from the Interactive Advertising Bureau tweeted that the browser's maker had launched a "a nuclear first strike" against the industry.

That prompted fears that internet companies could respond with more sophisticated tools that would allow tracking to continue or even expand.

"We're at risk of an arms race here," says Peter Swire, a Clinton administration privacy expert, now an Ohio State University law professor.

"This could break the internet. It interferes with existing browsing modules and it puts greater pressure on users to take escalating steps to protect their privacy."

Swire was tapped in November to help resurrect talks aimed at giving consumers an easy way to block tracking of their web behaviour. The initiative, called "Do Not Track" and pushed by the Obama Administration, has foundered over deep divisions between internet industry trade groups and privacy advocates.

The two sides have not agreed on what "Do Not Track" even means, much less how it should be implemented.

Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, is a non-profit group that is much smaller than other browser makers, such as Google, Microsoft and Apple. Yet its potential impact is outsized because Firefox is used by about 20 per cent of the world's desktop computers, according to NetMarketShare.

Mozilla is testing its new cookie restrictions on a version of Firefox released to about 10,000 users, says Harvey Anderson, vice-president and general counsel. No decision has been made on a general release, but limiting tracking would make Firefox operate more clearly in the interests of consumers.

Anderson cites a February report by Ovum, an industry research group, showing that 68 per cent of people using the internet in 11 countries say they would limit tracking of their web traffic if they easily could.

"This kind of feature creates a web that's more in line with a user's expectations," he says.

The changes under consideration for Firefox would allow shopping or news websites, for example, to place cookies on a user's computer to enable the tracking of preferences for customised service. It would block cookies from sites users never knowingly visited, such as those of the networks that place advertising on sites maintained by news organisations or other groups.

Firefox's changes would mimic how Apple's Safari browser has long handled cookies. Apple was once a small player in the browser market, but the success of its iPhone and iPad has made Safari the most popular browser on mobile devices.

The biggest player in the desktop browser market, Microsoft, has implemented new privacy controls on its latest generation of Internet Explorer, activating by default a feature that requests ad networks to not track users. The setting has little practical effect because ad networks generally ignore such requests, but the move signalled the rising importance of privacy issues to browser makers.

Digital advertisers say that ads targeted by user behaviour are effective, allowing baseball fans to see ads for game tickets or people learning a language to see ads for travel packages.

The revenue generated by these online businesses pays for many of the free programs and services that users enjoy.

The Digital Advertising Alliance trade group runs a program allowing users to opt out of most forms of targeted advertising.

Browser changes that disrupt online business models would come at a high cost, advertisers say, hitting smaller companies and websites hard.

To survive, these companies might turn to tracking technology that's harder for browsers to block, such as digital fingerprinting that can use basic information about the location of a computer and the software installed to distinguish it from other machines.

"Innovation absolutely will happen. Work-arounds absolutely will happen. But in the time that takes to happen, a lot of blood will be left on the tracks," says Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Anderson says Mozilla takes such concerns seriously and would consider altering the proposed cookie restrictions to make sure they don't unfairly skew the digital advertising market.

Some of the biggest players in online advertising are Facebook, Yahoo and Google, but they probably would avoid the kinds of restrictions Firefox is considering because of an exception that allows cookies to be placed by sites users voluntarily visit.

The role of Google, which gets most of its revenue from advertising and has been criticised in recent years for its approach to personal privacy, has drawn particular attention from those pushing for greater controls.

Google's Chrome browser has features that allow users to limit tracking or opt out altogether from targeted advertising, but the company is not publicly considering the more aggressive actions taken by Apple or Microsoft and under consideration by Mozilla.

"We'll continue to work with [the] industry on a common approach to responding to the Do Not Track feature," Google spokesman Chris Gaither says.

As web traffic increasingly shifts to mobile devices, Google's role is likely to grow.

Smartphones based on its Android operating system are the most popular in the world. Mobile devices, and the browsers made for them, generally have fewer privacy controls than desktop or laptop computers.

Some analysts say the intensity of the debate gives internet advertisers an opportunity to make a public case for the value of tracking before browsers limit it further. Shopping websites, for example, use cookies to recommend books or clothes to regular visitors.

"There's a risk that the industry will see this as an opportunity to escalate, and that will lead down a rat hole," says Jules Polonetsky, director of the Future of Privacy Forum, an industry-supported think tank.

"It's fine for tracking to come out into the sunlight and for companies to realise that if all you're trying to do is sell people stuff.

"Most people are cool with that, as long as they believe people are trying to do things for them rather than to them."

-Washington Post

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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8469714/Tensions-rise-over-online-tracking

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