In this photo provided by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on his Twitter site, McCain visits troops at a Patriot missile site in southern Turkey, Monday, May 27, 2013. McCain quietly slipped into Syria for a meeting with Syrian rebels on Monday, confirms spokeswoman Rachael Dean. She declined further comment about the trip. (AP Photo/John McCain via Twitter)
In this photo provided by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on his Twitter site, McCain visits troops at a Patriot missile site in southern Turkey, Monday, May 27, 2013. McCain quietly slipped into Syria for a meeting with Syrian rebels on Monday, confirms spokeswoman Rachael Dean. She declined further comment about the trip. (AP Photo/John McCain via Twitter)
FILE - In this Saturday, May 25, 2013 file photo, Republican Sen. John McCain speaks at a news conference at the World Economic Forum, held at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention center, in Southern Shuneh, 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Amman, Jordan. McCain has quietly slipped into Syria for a meeting with Syrian rebels, spokeswoman Rachael Dean confirmed Monday, May 27, 2013. She declined further comment about the trip. The visit took place amid meetings in Paris involving efforts to secure participation of Syria's fractured opposition in an international peace conference in Geneva. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. John McCain, a proponent of arming Syrian rebels, quietly slipped into Syria for a meeting with anti-government fighters Monday.
Spokeswoman Rachael Dean confirms the Arizona Republican made the visit. She declined further comment about the trip.
The visit took place amid meetings in Paris involving efforts to secure participation of Syria's fractured opposition in an international peace conference in Geneva.
And in Brussels, the European Union decided late Monday to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime after June 1, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said following the meeting.
Two years of violence in Syria has killed more than 70,000 people. President Barack Obama has demanded that Assad leave power, while Russia has stood by Syria, its closest ally in the Arab world.
McCain has been a fierce critic of Obama administration policy there while stopping short of backing U.S. ground troops in Syria, but he supports aggressive military steps against the Assad regime.
Gen. Salem Idris, chief of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, accompanied McCain across the Turkey-Syria border. McCain met with leaders of the Free Syrian Army from across the country, who asked him for increased U.S. support, including heavy weapons, a no-fly zone and airstrikes on Syrian government and Hezbollah forces, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the senator's unannounced visit.
The White House declined to comment late Monday.
A State Department official said the department was aware of McCain crossing into Syrian territory on Monday. Further questions were referred to McCain's office.
Last Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to provide weapons to rebels in Syria, as well as military training to vetted rebel groups and sanctions against anyone who sells oil or transfers arms to the Assad regime. McCain is a member of the committee.
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Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Paris contributed to this report.
Jodi Arias reacts after she was found of guilty of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in their suburban Phoenix home, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Jodi Arias reacts after she was found of guilty of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in their suburban Phoenix home, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)
Jodi Arias reacts after she was found of guilty of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in their suburban Phoenix home, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)
From left, Kathy Brown, of Paradise Valley, Virginia Aguiar, of Scottsdale, Jane Crook, of Scottsdale, react to a guilty verdict for Jodi Arias, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, outside of Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend in Arizona after a four-month trial that captured headlines with lurid tales of sex, lies, religion and a salacious relationship that ended in a blood bath. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, David Wallace) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES
Spectators react to a guilty verdict in the murder trial of Jodi Arias, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 in Phoenix. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2009 killing of her one-time boyfriend Travis Alexander after a four-month trial. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Virginia Aguiar reacts in Phoenix, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 to a guilty verdict in the trial of Jodi Arias, a waitress and aspiring photographer charged with killing her boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in Arizona in 2008. The four month trial included graphic details of their sexual escapades and photos of Alexander just after his death. (AP Photo/Matt York)
PHOENIX (AP) ? The jury has rendered its verdict ? Jodi Arias is guilty of first-degree murder ? but the trial is far from finished.
The same jury now returns to the courtroom Thursday to decide whether she deserves to die for killing her one-time boyfriend on June 4, 2008 at his suburban Phoenix home.
The sheer brutality of the attack and previous testimony from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner that Travis Alexander did not die a quick death will be at the heart of the prosecution's argument that Jodi should receive the ultimate punishment for her crime.
Alexander was stabbed and slashed nearly 30 times, shot in the forehead and had slit his throat from ear to ear, leaving the motivational speaker and businessman nearly decapitated. His decomposing body was found in his shower about five days later by friends.
Arias spoke out about the verdict minutes after her conviction Wednesday, telling a TV station that she would "prefer to die sooner than later."
"Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," a tearful Arias told Fox affiliate KSAZ. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it."
Arias, 32, fought back tears as a court clerk read aloud the highly anticipated verdict after a four-month trial in which the jury heard 18 days of testimony from the defendant, saw a series of gruesome crime scene photos and heard a raunchy phone sex chat between Arias recorded with Alexander just weeks before he died.
The next portion of the trial is called the "aggravation phase," and it will focus on whether the jury believes the crime was committed in an especially cruel, heinous and depraved manner. If jurors find the aggravators exist, the next step will be the penalty phase during which the panel will recommend either life in prison or death. The process could take several more weeks to wrap up.
The trial quickly became an Internet sensation and transformed Arias from a little-known waitress to a morbid curiosity and a star of a real-life true-crime drama that the public followed incessantly. The presence of cameras in the courtroom, the advance of Internet streaming video and social media, the salacious details of the case, and the attention it got on cable networks like HLN gave the trial the feel of a celebrity proceeding.
The jury heard all about the stormy relationship between Alexander and Arias after they met at a conference in Las Vegas in 2006 and he persuaded her to convert to Mormonism. They began dating but broke up five months later, at which point prosecutors said she began stalking him and became increasingly obsessed with Alexander.
The 30-year-old victim was a rising star at a legal services company called Prepaid Legal, where he gave rousing motivational speeches to colleagues and was a beloved co-worker to people across the organization.
Arias sought to portray him as an abusive sexual deviant in her trial, hoping that the jury would buy her claims that she killed him in self-defense after being unable to take the abuse anymore. She claimed he attacked her and forced her to fight for her life. Prosecutors said she killed out of jealous rage after Alexander wanted to end their affair and planned to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.
Alexander's family members wept and hugged each other after the verdict. They thanked prosecutor Juan Martinez and the lead detective on the case, but declined comment until after sentencing.
Alexander's friend Chris Hughes said he was happy with the verdict, pointing out a bold proclamation Arias made in one of her jailhouse interviews that she wouldn't be found guilty.
"She said, 'No jury would convict me. Mark my words.' This jury convicted her," Hughes said. "Luckily we had 12 smart jurors. They nailed it."
When asked about Alexander's family, Arias told the station, "I just hope that now that a verdict has been rendered, that they'll be able to find peace."
Arias seemed to cry silently when asked about her mother. With tears falling, she said her mom "has been a saint and I haven't treated her very well."
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said no more media interviews with Arias would be granted. She has been placed on suicide watch.
Outside court, more than 200 spectators and reporters watched for the verdict on their smart phones. A ripple of relief spread as people learned the result. The crowd cheered, with some people jumping, waving, high-fiving and dancing in approval.
Hughes said it was frustrating to hear the defense besmirch his friend's reputation during the trial, but praised the jurors for the verdict. He said he and the Alexander family were shocked by the international attention the case had received.
"Travis was grandiose, so it's interesting how this played out ... it is a bit of a circus. We were all surprised that it's like this," he said.
Testimony began in early January. The trial quickly snowballed into a made-for-the-tabloids drama, garnering daily coverage from cable news networks and spawning a virtual cottage industry for talk shows, legal experts and even Arias, who used her notoriety to sell artwork she made in jail. She also sent out tweets via an intermediary, attracting tens of thousands of followers.
Arias said she recalled Alexander attacking her in a fury after a day of sex. She said Alexander came at her "like a linebacker," body-slamming her to the tile floor. She managed to wriggle free and ran into his closet to retrieve a gun he kept on a shelf. She said she fired in self-defense but had no memory of stabbing him.
She acknowledged trying to clean the scene of the killing, dumping the gun in the desert and working on an alibi to avoid suspicion. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth. However, none of Arias' allegations that Alexander had physically abused her in the months before his death, that he owned a gun and had sexual desires for young boys, were corroborated by witnesses or evidence during the trial. She acknowledged lying repeatedly before and after her arrest but insisted she was telling the truth in court.
Arias spent 18 days on the witness stand describing an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, a shocking sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically violent in hopes of gaining sympathy from jurors.
But aside from her admitted lies, Arias had yet another formidable obstacle to overcome.
Her grandparents had reported a .25-caliber handgun stolen from their Northern California home about a week before Alexander's death ? the same caliber used to shoot him ? but Arias insisted she didn't take it. Authorities believe she brought it with her to kill him. The coincidence of the same caliber gun stolen from the home also being used to shoot Alexander was never resolved.
Meanwhile, the entire case devolved into a circus-like spectacle attracting dozens of enthusiast each day to the courthouse as they lined up for a chance to score just a few open public seats in the gallery. One trial regular sold her spot in line to another person for $200. Both got reprimands from the court, and the money was returned.
Many people also gathered outside after trial for a chance to see Martinez, who had gained celebrity-like status for his firebrand tactics and unapologetically intimidating style of cross-examining defense witnesses.
The case grew into a worldwide sensation as thousands followed the trial via a live, unedited Web feed. Twitter filled with comments as spectators expressed their opinions on everything from Arias' wardrobe to Martinez's angry demeanor. For its fans, the Arias trial became a live daytime soap opera.
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Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Assembly Republican leaders say a $500 million boost in state revenue should be tapped to pay for an increase in public school spending.
The Republicans issued a press release on Thursday saying they would support a $100 per-student spending increase. Senate Republican leaders have called for as much as a $200 per-student increase.
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a memo Thursday showing the new, more positive budget estimates. They roughly $500 million increase above earlier estimates will give lawmakers room to pay for additional spending and tax cuts.
Gov. Scott Walker has said in recent weeks that he also wants to increase funding for K-12 schools and broaden his tax cuts as originally proposed.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Wisconsin's state budget got a huge boost on Thursday.
New revenue projections released to key lawmakers and obtained by The Associated Press show the state will collect more than half a billion dollars more than first expected, which will make it easier for the Legislature to direct more money to public schools and tax cuts as leaders have said they want to do.
The latest figures come from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who was among legislative leaders briefed on the highly anticipated numbers, told the AP that projections are for more than $500 million more in tax revenues to be collected over the next two years.
Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Scott Walker have said in recent days that they want to increase funding for public education and make even greater tax cuts.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said statements from Republican leaders will be released later Thursday. Walker's spokesman Tom Evenson had no immediate comment.
Walker's budget, released in February, did not include any spending increase for K-12 education. In recent weeks, Walker and Republicans have said they were committed to providing schools more money, but haven't said how much.
Republican Senate President Mike Ellis said Wednesday that he wanted to allow spending to increase by $200 per student during each of the next two years, which would cost about $408 million.
Walker and other Republicans have said they want to deepen his planned income tax cut. As it stands now that cut would cost about $343 million and average $83 for the average taxpayer.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The uncle of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev (TAM'-ehr-lun tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) says his nephew has been buried in Virginia.
Ruslan Tsarni said Friday that the body was buried in a cemetery in Doswell, Va., near Richmond, with the help of a "faith coalition."
The burial this week ended a frustrating search for a community willing to take the body, which had been kept at a funeral parlor in Worcester (WUH'-stur), Mass., as cemeteries refused to take the remains.
Tsarni says he's relieved by the resolution, saying, a "corpse must be in the soil."
Tsarnaev was killed April 19 in a getaway attempt after a gunbattle with police. His younger brother, Dzhokhar (joh-HAHR'), was captured later in the day and remains in custody.
Named: RCMP, VPD, City of Vancouver, justice minister, crown prosecutors. Pickton siblings accused of 'abetting' murders.
Protesters on Dec. 18, 2012, the day Wally Oppal released his missing women's report.
The gruesome saga of convicted serial killer Robert Pickton's trial and a scathing public inquiry may be over, but families of four of the Coquitlam pig farmer's victims today launched the first lawsuit to emerge from the tragedies.
Seven of the women's children filed civil suit documents in the BC Supreme Court this morning, containing shocking allegations of negligence or gross negligence by authorities -- including the RCMP, Vancouver Police Department, City of Vancouver, Minister of Justice Shirley Bond, and Crown Prosecutors -- and directly accusing Pickton's siblings Dave and Linda of full knowledge and "abetting" his crimes.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and neither have those named yet responded to the lawsuits, which were filed by lawyers on behalf of the children of murdered women Dianne Rock, Sarah de Vries, Cynthia Feliks and Yvonne Boen.
Pickton was convicted of six counts of second degree murder, after 27 other murder charges were dropped. However, he confessed to an undercover officer of killing 49 women.
Though the serial killer's siblings never testified in his trial or the inquiry -- despite lawyers' requests to Commissioner Wally Oppal that Dave testify -- this is the first legal case to accuse the Pickton family of responsibility in Robert's crimes.
"David Pickton and Linda Wright were at all times aware that Robert Pickton was bringing Vancouver-based sex workers to the Pickton Property and causing them harm," the court filings allege. "David Pickton and Linda Wright knew that Robert Pickton and others tortured and killed sex workers and other persons at the Pickton Property, and were aware that Robert Pickton represented a danger to persons attending the Pickton property. The Pickton Siblings, and each of them, owed a duty of care ... as occupiers of the Pickton Property ... and accordingly were negligent or grossly negligent."
'Something we want behind us': Dave Pickton
When reached by phone, Dave Pickton told The Tyee he knew nothing about the lawsuit. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.
"This is first time I've heard of it," Dave Pickton told The Tyee. "If they've got a problem, it's with the government and my brother -- not us.
"They can do whatever the hell they want.... This is something we want behind us -- for everybody to move forward."
The case is being brought forward by lawyers Jason Gratl, Robin Whitehead and Neil Chantler, on behalf of seven family members. Among other unproven accusations contained in the documents:
That the Vancouver Police Department, RCMP, New Westminster Police, and prosecution service "caused unnecessary psychological suffering" by failing to inform victims' family members of DNA discovered in ground meat on Pickton's farm.
That Crown Counsel "knew or ought to have known that Robert Pickton presented a substantial danger to the life and security of sex workers."
That VPD and RCMP investigations of Robert Pickton "were negligent and, in particular, the investigations were deficient" for failing to follow up on informants' tips or properly interrogate allegations against Pickton.
That David Pickton "lied to police investigators about his brother Robert with the intention to obstruct and hinder the police investigation and to undermine his prosecution" for a 1997 attempted murder charge which was dropped by the Crown, the documents alleged. "His intention was to assist Robert Pickton to get away with the crime of attempted murder."
Five RMCP officers named
Though Oppal's December 2012 report accused the various police forces involved in the Pickton investigation of "colossal failure," as well as racial bias, he did not name any individual police officers.
Today's lawsuit, however, levels accusations against five officers by name: Richard Hall, Earl Moulton, Brad Zalys, Ruth Chapman (all four members of Coquitlam RCMP detachment), and Frank Henley (a member of the RCMP "E" Division). The RCMP did not respond to interview requests regarding the lawsuit, or about the named police officers.
"There are clear findings of misconduct, poor conduct by police officers, and arguably negligence in Oppal's report -- so there's no doubt these claims are founded in large part on what Oppal found after nine months of hearings," lawyer Neil Chantler told The Tyee. "Of course, they hope it will bring closure. It's the final step in what's been a long process."
Chantler explained that the Pickton siblings were named because, under the province's Occupiers Liability Act a property-owner can be held responsible for harm caused on their property.
"(The Act) essentially creates a standard of care that landowners are required to meet," Chantler said. "It provides that people who are harmed on a piece of land may sue the landowner. All three siblings owned the land on which these women are presumed to have been murdered."
But the lawyer said that families "reluctantly" filed suit because they feared Oppal's recommendation of compensation for victims' children is not being implemented, despite Attorney General Shirley Bond's promise that B.C. would immediately begin action on the commissioner's ideas.
"We are not going to wait," Bond told reporters on Dec. 17. "Today we are taking immediate action.... It's a beginning and there's much more to be done.
"I want to assure the families and friends of victims, as well as all British Columbians, that our government will use the recommendations in this report to make changes and protect vulnerable women in our province. These will not happen overnight; we have a long journey ahead of us.... It has taken years to get to this place, but I am hopeful that we can move forward together."
More lawsuits coming: lawyer
When he released his final report on Dec. 17, 2012, Oppal called the missing women investigation a "colossal failure" but insisted that naming individual police officers or authorities by name would not be useful.
"I have come to the conclusion that there was systemic bias by the police," Oppal said. "It was important for me to understand the underlying causes of police failures.
"The women were poor -- they were addicted, vulnerable, Aboriginal. They did not receive equal treatment by police. As a group, they were dismissed.... These women were vulnerable; they were treated as throwaways."
The City of Vancouver -- named in the document -- declined to comment on the matter as it is before the courts, a spokesperson told The Tyee.
The Coquitlam RCMP and Ministry of Attorney General also declined to comment on the lawsuit, instead forwarding The Tyee to other departments' spokespeople. Minister of Justice Shirley Bond and the BC RCMP "E" Division did not return interview requests in time for publication.
Chantler said today's lawsuit is only the first in a series, but that families hoped to give the government time to implement recommendations before using a legal avenue.
"There are more," he told The Tyee. "We're working with some other families on bringing claims as well, and there will be more filed.
"They'd hoped this would be unnecessary, but this is what needs to be done in order to bring them that closure."
David P. Ball is a freelance writer and photojournalist on Coast Salish territories. Find his previous articles published in The Tyee?here.
The FBI and some U.S. Attorneys' offices around the country may be reading emails without a warrant, according to documents obtained by the ACLU and made public Wednesday.
The documents "paint a troubling picture of the government?s email surveillance practices," wrote Nathan Freed Wessler, attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, in a blog posting.
"Not only does the FBI claim it can read emails and other electronic communications without a warrant ? even after a federal appeals court ruled that doing so violates the Fourth Amendment ? but the documents strongly suggest that different U.S. Attorneys? offices around the country are applying conflicting standards to access communications content," he wrote.
The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures.
"The documents we received from the FBI don?t flat out tell us whether FBI agents always get warrants, but they strongly suggest that they don?t."
The ACLU obtained documents from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys' offices via federal Freedom of Information Act requests.
The FBI told NBC News, via an emailed statement, that in "all investigations, the FBI obtains evidence in accordance with the laws and Constitution of the United States, and consistent with Attorney General guidelines."
The bureau's field offices "work closely with U.S. Attorney?s Office to adhere to the legal requirements of their particular districts as set forth in case law or court decisions/precedent."
NBC News also contacted the Department of Justice for comment, and will update this post when we hear back.
Last month, the ACLU shared IRS Criminal Tax Division memos and manuals which indicated the agency is not always following a 2010 appellate court ruling that the government must obtain a warrant before ordering email providers to turn over messages. That information also was obtained through a FOIA request.
In a statement to NBC News then, the IRS did not directly address the ACLU's concerns, but did say "Respecting taxpayer rights and taxpayer privacy are cornerstone principles for the IRS. Our job is to administer the nation's tax laws, and we do so in a way that follows the law and treats taxpayers with respect."
The ACLU said the FBI and U.S. Attorneys' Office documents show "if nothing else" that "federal policy around access to the contents of our electronic communications is in a state of chaos. The FBI, the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, and DOJ Criminal Division should clarify whether they believe warrants are required across the board when accessing people?s email."
The civil liberties organization is also pushing for passage of amendments to the federal Electronics Communication Privacy Act. The act was passed in 1986, before email and the Internet became part of everyday life.
The law, as now written, does not require the government to have a search warrant when requesting access to emails and messages more than 180 days old that are stored online. Such information can be gathered by obtaining a subpoena, which is easier to get than a warrant.
A bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont ? who authored the original ECPA bill 27 years ago ? would update the law by requiring a search warrant if the government wants to read emails stored with third-party providers, such as Google or Yahoo.
It would also eliminate the 180-day rule and require the government to notify a person whose emails or other electronic communications have been disclosed, within 10 days of obtaining a search warrant. The bill is making its way through the Senate.
?When ECPA was enacted, email was primarily a means of communicating information, not storing it," Leahy said in a statement. "Today, we use our email accounts as digital filing cabinets, where we store many of the personal documents and sensitive information that the Fourth Amendment was meant to protect. This bill takes an essential step toward ensuring that the private life of Americans remains private.?
This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. ET May 8.
Check out moreNBC News Tech on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.
The punk exhibit at the Met (Jennifer Graylock/FilmMagic)
When the legendary downtown music club CBGB closed its doors in New York City in 2006, its many obituaries were quick to pay homage to its infamous bathrooms?facilities so vile even rock stars, who presumably have seen everything, struggled to find the right adjectives to describe their disgust.
?Legendarily nasty,? David Byrne of the Talking Heads once politely declared.
The dungeon-like restrooms, with their missing doors and walls covered floor to ceiling in graffiti and other substances that would make a health inspector cringe, seemed to be a vivid metaphor for CBGB?s status as the place where the anarchic world of punk rock got its start in America in the 1970s.
Still, it may be surprising to some to see a recreation of CBGB?s bathrooms, right down to the toilet grime, about 80 blocks north in the rarefied world of Manhattan?s pristine Upper East Side. It's the opening centerpiece of the Metropolitan Museum of Art?s newest exhibition: ?Punk: Chaos to Couture,? which examines the movement?s influence on high fashion.
The show, which opens to the public on Thursday and runs through Aug. 14, combines punk-era artifacts like the CBGB re-creation with clothes from designers like Zandra Rhodes and Vivienne Westwood, who have been credited as the first designers to translate the punk aesthetic to fashion.
The exhibit then transitions into more recent designs seemingly influenced by punk over the last four decades, including creations from Christian Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Burberry.
About 100 different designs are on display, many of which showcase what the museum touts as punk?s ?do it yourself? ethos, including dresses made out of trash bags and clothes constructed with other unusual materials like wire, metal chains and other hardware.
?No other movement has had a more enduring influence on high fashion,? Andrew Bolton, the show?s curator, said during a preview of the exhibit on Monday. ?Punk was all about celebrating individual creativity and not being afraid. It was about being brave and challenging the status quo, elements that have been embraced by the fashion world.?
For the celebrity obsessed, one of the most recognizable items in the exhibit is Gianni Versace?s safety-pin dress, which made a star out of model/actress Elizabeth Hurley. Hurley made headlines when she wore the gown to the 1994 premiere of ?Four Weddings and a Funeral,? starring her then-boyfriend Hugh Grant.
The clothes are accompanied by music and videos of old concert footage from the defining musical artists of the era, including Sid Vicious, Johnny Rotten, Blondie and the Ramones.
While the artists have been widely credited for their influence on rock music, Bolton said the Met?s goal was to also honor their style and how it shaped the fashion world.
?We always wanted the show to be about treating punks heroically and with the reverence they deserve in the history of fashion,? Bolton said. ?When you look at Sid Vicious or Johnny Rotten, they are extraordinary in terms of their individuality and their heroism [in terms of style]. We wanted to create almost altar pieces to them with the show.?
But the Met?s show has prompted mixed reactions among veterans of the punk movement who see the irony of a fancy museum paying homage to a genre that found its genesis in rebelling against the establishment and rich people.
On Monday, the punk exhibit was the central theme of the Met?s annual Costume Institute Ball, which was organized by fashion luminaries, including Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and attended by dozens of celebrities and society types who turned out in expensive frocks allegedly inspired by the punk aesthetic.
It was an event that seemed to be the antithesis of everything the punk movement rebelled against during its early days. Ahead of the ball, Legs McNeil, a legendary rock writer who created Punk magazine in 1975, raged against the exhibit and the ball in an interview with the New York Times, calling it a ?masturbatory fantasy for Anna Wintour and Vogue,? whom he accused of trying to co-opt a style that the fashion world once rejected.
In a review of the show published Monday, Times fashion critic Suzy Menkes gave the exhibit a lukewarm review for its ?sanitized and bloodless version of punk?s origins and influences.? Among other things, she criticized the exhibit for ignoring the Mohawk, a hairstyle that came to life in the punk era, in favor of outfitting mannequins with frizzy wigs.
But Bolton has pushed back against his critics, insisting it was never his goal to offer a ?comprehensive history? of the punk movement but rather to examine the ?impact? of punk on couture over the last 40 years.
?It meant many different things to people, and it still does. People feel an ownership of it, even those who didn?t live through it and experience it directly,? Bolton said.
He added, ?Punk began as an impulse, as a feeling. It?s this emotional connection that makes it so difficult to define or identify or characterize. What we tried to do was show how it engaged and inspired the imagination.?
Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl, left, jokes with Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts before an NBA basketball game in Denver, Sunday, April 14, 2013. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
In recent years, George Karl has marked off major career accomplishments, and Wednesday he got another big one ? his first NBA coach of the year award.
With a roster of players that didn't have an all-star, a schedule that put the Nuggets on the road for 22 of their first 32 games and injuries to key players, the Nuggets flourished under Karl's direction. They finished with a franchise-record 57 wins, had the league's best home record (38-3) and had streaks of 15 wins overall and 24 consecutive home wins. Their 57-25 mark was the fourth-best record in the NBA.
"What I hope everybody understands is this is not about me," Karl said Thursday morning at news conference where he accepted the Red Auerbach Trophy. "It's about a lot of people, and a lot of people in my past. And I am proud to have that trophy."
The Nuggets finished third in the Western Conference, though they were upset by sixth-seeded Golden State in the first round of the playoffs.
But this is a regular-season award, and the Nuggets were as good as most teams in the league. As a result, Karl received 404 votes, including 62 first-place votes. The award is voted on by a panel of 121 sports writers and broadcasters.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra finished second in the voting followed by New York's Mike Woodson, San Antonio's Gregg Popovich and Indiana's Frank Vogel.
During the season, Karl earned two Western Conference coach of the month awards. He is the sixth-winningest coach in NBA history and his 1,131 wins are the most of any active coach.
He is the second coach in franchise history, after Doug Moe, to garner the honor. Moe won the 1987-88 season when the Nuggets went 54-28 and advanced to the conference semifinals.
In 8? seasons as the Nuggets head coach, Karl is 423-257 in the regular season with three division titles and 21-39 in the playoffs. In 25 seasons as head coach, Karl is 1,131-756 in the regular season and 80-105 in the playoffs. He's coached 22 times in the postseason.
Streetsblog Chicago's John Greenfield tips us to the anonymous (for now) Logan Square Driver, who Greenfield says is the Stephen Colbert of the Safe Streets Movement.
Like Colbert's skewering of conservative media by posing as an oft clueless bloviator, Logan Square Driver advocates making streets safe for pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-drivers by donning the guise of an entitled asshole motorist who feels sharing the road with bicycles is an inconvenience, at best.
Logan Square Driver's Twitter feed has been live since last September. The Tumblr site went up a couple weeks ago. Greenfield writes whoever is behind the anonymous (for now) blog has a good knowledge of the local transportation history and the urban planning issues at the heart of the "drivers versus cyclists" argument. Calling motorists "True Warriors," Logan Square Driver asks drivers to make fun of cyclists who choose to use a "toy" to get around town while "dressed like a superhero."
Take this post where LSD theorizes on what could happen if trucks are lost.
My hat goes off to Michael Ennis, who deploys this tactic beautifully when complaining about Seattle?s anti-driver policies hurting ?Boeing executives who need to move airplane parts around the region, and for the freight industry that needs to get goods to market.? He paints a picture in which anything that hurts the working man who just wants to use his car to drive around the block to pick up a gallon of milk also hurts the successful executive who wants to ship two tons of steel to a factory!
This risk when using this tactic, of course, is the the brighter members of the co-op-shopping crowd may recognize that it is, in fact, trucks, rather than passenger vehicles, that deliver such goods. Have no fear! Instead, take a page from the True Warriors in Prospect Park West, who, led by Chuck Schumer?s lovely wife, went so far as to sue to remove bike lanes. Fedex and the Postal Service, it turns out, use the same road space as our single-occupant-vehicles! In other words, anything that inconviences us, inconveniences them (the engines of our economy, I remind you), which further inconveniences us! In other words, anything that inconviences drivers is by definition exponentially inconvenient to everyone! Including ambulance drivers!
The Twitter feed is just as funny, but in a smaller number of characters.
In a city that's given us the @MayorEmanuel Twitter feed, the SoYeahDuh! Tumblr and Twitter and other social media accounts parodying real-life Chicago politicians, political and social issues and everyday life, Logan Square Driver is a welcome addition.
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local user config is deleted for roaming profiles
#1 ? webname?
Posted Today, 05:56 PM
When running a local Domain server for a couple of PC's as i do. The users local data is wiped on logging off , thus the preferences for this app and the download lists dissapear each time DUHH
can a different location be spacified for the config file and file lists on the command line so that this app can be used
thanks
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Exactly 18 years ago today, Reggie Miller beat New York in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals with his iconic ?eight points in 8.9 seconds? run. And now with New York and Indiana meeting again to relive their playoff rivalry, Miller and Spike Lee are having their own little game-within-the-game.
To juice up the fans? emotions earlier in the day, Reggie baited them all on Twitter:
Later, Spike made out like Chris Bosh in a postgame interview, videobombing Miller like a pro.
But the best part of all didn?t come until the final moments of New York?s 26-point blowout win. As the seconds were ticking away in the fourth quarter, we?re pretty sure we could make out a ?Reg-gie sucks!? chant serenading down from the upper deck. Eighteen years later and the fans still haven?t forgotten.
What do you think?
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Tags: Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, Reggie Miller, Spike Lee
If you use Adobe software like Photoshop, Dreamweaver or Illustrator for work or play be forewarned, Adobe is changing the way you buy its software.
At its MAX customer conference being held this week in Los Angeles, the company announced that it will only be selling future versions of its software on a subscription basis via its Creative Cloud.
The last version of Adobe software for purchase the old fashioned way, where you pay once and install it on your PC, is Creative Suite 6. There will be no Creative Suite 7.
Creative Cloud was launched about a year ago but it didn't win people over immediately because it felt more like a new way to buy Adobe software than a new product, the Next Web's Harrison Weber explains.
Since then, Adobe users have started to realize the benefits, namely that Creative Cloud gives them access to lots of Adobe's software without having to pay for new software licenses. Some half a million people have become cloud customers, David Wadhwani, Adobe's SVP of Digital Media said in a press release.
Weber has done the math and says that if you use more than one Adobe product, Creative Cloud will cost you less.
A single app subscription costs $19.99 per month. But for $49.99 per month, you can get access to the whole suite which is all of Adobe's major tools like Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and a bunch of smaller tools like Acrobat.
Anyone who owns a copy of Creative Suite version 3 or later can get the first year of Creative Cloud for $29.99 per month. For teams, Adobe will charge $70/month and offer the first year for $40/month as a an upgrade.
Adobe's screen-grabbing, no-coding graphics tool Adobe Fireworks was originally included with the Creative Cloud, but Adobe just announced that it was killing that product.
We'll see if Adobe's customers kick and scream and fight the change.
If this goes well, it could be a sign for other software makers trying to get their customers to move to a subscription and cloud model.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures in front of St. Basil Cathedral while walking in Red Square, with a poster marking the upcoming Victory Day at right, in Moscow, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. John Kerry is making his case to Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia to take a tougher stance on Syria at a time when Israel's weekend air strikes against the beleaguered Mideast nation have added an unpredictable factor to the talks. (AP Photo/Mladen Antonov, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures in front of St. Basil Cathedral while walking in Red Square, with a poster marking the upcoming Victory Day at right, in Moscow, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. John Kerry is making his case to Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia to take a tougher stance on Syria at a time when Israel's weekend air strikes against the beleaguered Mideast nation have added an unpredictable factor to the talks. (AP Photo/Mladen Antonov, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives at Moscow Vnukovo Airport on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry will start his visit to Russia on Tuesday by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall and meeting with World War II veterans. (AP Photo/ Mladen Antonov, Pool)
US Secretary of State John Kerry, center, gestures next to Yuri Filatov, right, of Russian Foreign Ministry Protocol and Alexandr Darchiyev of Russian Foreign Ministry North America's Department after Kerry's arrival at Moscow Vnukovo Airport on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will start his visit to Russia on Tuesday by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall and meeting with World War II veterans. (AP Photo/ Mladen Antonov, pool)
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington on Monday, May 6, 2013. Carney answered questions on Syria and chemical weapons, as well as Israeli action in Syria. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday argued the U.S. case to Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia to take a tougher stance on Syria at a time when Israel's weekend air strikes against the beleaguered Mideast nation have added an unpredictable factor to the talks.
Putin and Kerry met in the Kremlin more than three hours behind schedule. The former Massachusetts senator thanked Putin for Russia's cooperation on the Boston Marathon bombing investigation. On Syria, Kerry said the US and Russia share common interests: Stability in the region, not wanting to see extremism grow and hopes for a peaceful transition in Syria.
"It is my hope that today we'll be able to dig into that a little bit and see if we can find some common ground," the secretary said going into the talks.
Putin, through an interpreter, said that he looked forward to working together with U.S. leader on the problems of today. Kerry arrived in Moscow earlier Tuesday for the high-level talks with Russia, which is the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
U.S. officials had said that Kerry hoped to change Moscow's thinking on Syria with two new angles: American threats to arm the Syrian rebels and evidence of chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime.
Over the weekend, Israeli warplanes targeted what Israel claimed were caches of Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror group. Such weapons would allow Hezbollah to strike Tel Aviv and as far as southern Israel from inside Lebanese territory.
Israel's willingness to hit Syrian targets it sees as threats to its own existence has complicated the Obama administration's internal debate over what to do about Syria.
Israel's actions put Damascus and Moscow on notice that the U.S. and its allies may not wait for an international green light to become more actively engaged in the Syrian conflict. The administration said last week it was rethinking its opposition to arming the Syrian rebels or taking other aggressive steps to turn the tide of the two-year-old civil war toward the rebels.
At the same time, Israeli involvement in the war carries risks. Instead of prodding Russia into calling for Assad's ouster, it could bring greater Arab sympathy for Assad and prompt deeper involvement from Iran and Hezbollah, actors committed as much to preserving Assad as to fighting the Jewish state.
Although Israel hasn't officially acknowledged it carried out the airstrikes, Syrian officials on Monday were blaming Israel, calling them a "declaration of war" that would cause the Jewish state to "suffer."
Russia, alongside China, has blocked U.S.-led efforts three times at the United Nations to pressure Assad into stepping down.
U.S. officials are hoping Syria's behavior could shift Russia's stance.
"We have consistently, in our conversations with the Russians and others, pointed clearly to Assad's behavior as proof that further support for the regime is not in the interest of the Syrian people or in the interest of the countries that have in the past supported Assad," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
U.S. officials said the administration doesn't believe the weekend activity will force President Barack Obama's hand, noting that the main U.S. concern is the use of chemical weapons by Assad, while Israel's top concern is conventional weapons falling into the hands of its enemies.
The chemical weapons argument is now under surprising attack, with former war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte saying over the weekend she and fellow members of a four-member U.N. human rights panel have indications the nerve agent sarin was used by Syrian rebel forces, not by government forces.
That theory was rejected by U.S. officials. The State Department said the administration continues to believe that Syria's large chemical weapons stockpiles remain securely in the regime's control.
The Obama administration opened the door to new military options in Syria after declaring last week it strongly believed the Assad regime used chemical weapons in two attacks in March. Two days after that announcement, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said arming the Syrian rebels was a policy consideration.
Until now, U.S. efforts to bolster the rebels' fighting skills and gather intelligence on the groups operating inside Syria have been limited to small training camps in Jordan, according to two U.S. officials who weren't authorized to speak about secret activities and demanded anonymity.
There are several options for escalation, ranging from arming the rebels to targeted airstrikes and no-fly zones. However, arming the rebels is the most likely escalation, officials said.
While the Israeli actions have made Kerry's Russia efforts more unpredictable, some in Congress tried to be optimistic.
Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he hopes Kerry can persuade Russia to use its influence to convince the besieged Syrian leader that he should step down.
"Hopefully the cooperation on the (Boston) Marathon bombing will open the door there," Ruppersberger said.
After visiting Moscow for the first time since he became secretary of state, Kerry will travel to Rome for talks with members of the new Italian government, as well as meetings with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh to discuss Middle East peace prospects.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
May 6, 2013 ? Brown University scientists have found that a species of bat uses blood flow to reshape its tongue while feeding. The quick dynamic action makes the tongue an effective "mop" for nectar and could even inspire new industrial designs.
Nectar-feeding bats and busy janitors have at least two things in common: They want to wipe up as much liquid as they can as fast as they can, and they have specific equipment for the job. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes the previously undiscovered technology employed by the bat Glossophaga soricina: a tongue tip that uses blood flow to erect scores of little hair-like structures exactly at the right time to slurp up extra nectar from within a flower.
The bat's "hemodynamic nectar mop," as the paper dubs the tongue tip, features speed and reliability that industrial designers might envy, said lead author Cally Harper, a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University. As a matter of what nature can evolve, she said, the tongue tip is surprisingly clever.
"Typically, hydraulic structures in nature tend to be slow like the tube-feet in starfish," Harper said. "But these bat tongues are extremely rapid because the vascular system that erects the hair-like papillae is embedded within a muscular hydrostat, which is a fancy term for muscular, constant-volume structures like tongues, elephant trunks and squid tentacles."
In other words, the bat's cylindrical tongue has a mesh of muscle fibers that contract so that the tongue becomes thinner but longer (extending farther into the flower). The discovery reported in the paper is that the same muscle contraction simultaneously squeezes blood into the tiny hair-like papillae.
As blood is displaced to the tongue tip, the papillae flare out perpendicular to the axis of the tongue. In their erect state, they not only add exposed surface area, but also width, allowing the tongue to function as a highly effective nectar gathering device.
The entire extension and retraction of the tongue tip occurs within an eighth of a second. Hovering requires a lot of energy, so nectar-feeding bats must get a lot of calories quickly for it to be worthwhile.
Scientists knew about the papillae before this paper, but had always thought they were as passive as the strings on a floor mop. Recent insights by other scientists into the mechanics of hummingbird tongues prompted Harper to take a closer look at the shape of the tongue tip in bats and how it is involved in gathering nectar.
In detailed anatomical studies, Harper was able to observe clear vascular connections between the main arteries and veins of the tongue and the papillae. In experiments she could get them to erect by pumping in saline.
But the color videos of bats feeding on nectar, while challenging to create, Harper said, were especially convincing.
"That was one of my favorite parts of the study -- the Aha moment," she said. "We shot color high-speed video of the bats gathering nectar, which is challenging to obtain because color cameras require a lot of light and the one thing that bats don't like is a lot of light."
But along with professors and senior co-authors Beth Brainerd and Sharon Swartz, Harper figured out how to focus a lot of light right where the tongue tip would be without shining any of that light into the bats' eyes.
What Harper could then see is that when the papillae extend, they turn from a light pink to a bright red as they fill with blood.
"That was really the icing on the cake as far as nailing this vascular hypothesis," Harper said.
Harper said she does not know for sure whether other nectar-feeding bats also have blood-activated papillae on their similar-looking tongues. The honey possum might also employ the idea, the authors speculate in PNAS.
Other species such as hummingbirds and bees employ different rapid means of morphing their tongues for improved nectar feeding. Any or all of these highly evolved designs, the authors speculate, could give people technological inspiration.
"Together these three systems could serve as valuable models for the development of miniature surgical robots that are flexible, can change length and have dynamic surface configurations," Harper, Brainerd and Swartz wrote.
Or maybe the discovery can just be applied to making one heck of a mop.
Funding for the study came from Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society, the American Microscopical Society, The Bushnell Graduate Research and Education Fund, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-07-1-0540) and the National Science Foundation (1052700 and 0723392).
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Take a closer look at the curious 17-year life of the flying bug as the East Coast prepares for an invasion.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
Backyard bug-watchers are seeing the winged bugs known as cicadas come out of their holes in New Jersey and North Carolina after 17 years of underground slumber ??and scientists say a full-scale outbreak may not be far behind.
"There are some pretty convincing reports coming out," John Cooley, an expert on cicadas at the University of Connecticut, told NBC News. "It's fair to say it's starting, but it's still in the very early stages. It certainly isn't going all crazy. ... When it really happens, it's not going to be like this. It's going to be shovel loads of cicadas."
Cooley maintains one of the most closely watched websites for this spring's emergence, Magicicada.org. Little bug logos are popping up on different areas of Magicicada's interactive map, which means a smattering of Internet users are seeing cicadas coming out of the ground. In some cases, they're even seeing the bugs crawling around as adults.
Cooley, however, says that we ain't seen nothing yet. "When it really happens, we expect that website will just light up," he said.
The outlook is similar on other bug-watching sites ? such as Radiolab's Cicada Tracker, which is encouraging listeners to put out their own soil-thermometer setups. Those readings are considered key leading indicators for cicada activity, because researchers have found that the bugs emerge en masse when the springtime soil temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius). A different temperature tracker set up by the Sutron information network for the Washington area suggests that the nation's capital still has a way to go before the cicadas come out.
Insects are expected to emerge by the billions on the East Coast, across an area stretching from North Carolina to Connecticut. This army of bugs, known as Brood II, spends 17 years feeding on plant roots underground. Sometime between late April and early June, depending on the weather, the insects burrow out of the ground as nymphs. The juveniles shed their outer skins, crawl up trees or buildings, and fly around to find their mates. The females lay their eggs, and then the adults die in droves. All this happens in the course of four to six weeks.
After another few weeks, a new generation of nymphs hatch from the eggs, drop to the ground, burrow into the soil and begin the next 17-year cycle.
Magicicada.org
An interactive map provided by Magicicada.org shows this spring's cicada sightings.
Ron Edmonds / AP
Red-eyed cicadas cluster on leaves in Annandale, VA., during the Brood X emergence of 2004. Like Brood II, Brood X comes out every 17 years - but the timing of the cycle is different.
Brood II is just one of several broods of 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas: The last big bug outbreak featured Brood XIX, which created a huge buzz in Southern states in 2011. This year's emergence is expected to begin in the South as well, though that's not guaranteed.
"Our expectation has been that we would hear from folks in North Carolina first," said Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association. However, the only cicada sighting she's actually been able to confirm was made in New Jersey. Although the insects tend to swarm in rural or suburban areas, there's a chance they could be sighted in urban enclaves such as New York's Central Park or the Bronx Zoo as well.
Cooley said he expected the pace of sightings to accelerate in the days ahead. "Within a week or so, it ought to really be going," he told NBC News. "Spring can't hold off forever."
When it comes, a cicada emergence can fill the skies with flying bugs, and fill the ears with a hum as loud as a jet engine or lawn mower. Those who have been through the full-frontal buzz say the experience can be disconcerting if you're not prepared for it. But cicadas are not considered a threat to humans. In fact, they can be quite delicious.
For true bug fans, the best response to the emergence is to lie back and enjoy it. "I'm looking forward to it," said Cornell University entomologist Cole Gilbert, who's expecting to catch the trailing edge of the Brood II outbreak in upstate New York. "I think it's pretty cool."
More about cicadas:
Thanks to the rapid rise of crowdsourcing and social media, this year's event is sure to become the most tweeted cicada emergence in history:?Cicada Mania?suggests using the hashtag?#BroodII?for the 2013 outbreak, and?#Cicadas?for general cicada issues. If you want to see the Twitterverse from the cicadas' point of view, just follow?@Brood_II. There's a Cicada Mania?Facebook page?for entomophiles. And if you're an entomophobe, you'll find kindred spirits on the?"I Hate Cicadas!!!!!!" Facebook page.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the?Cosmic Log?community by "liking" NBC News Science's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space,?sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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