Gay marriages resume in California after five-year hiatus

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Same-sex couples - some in shorts and jeans, some in their work clothes - rushed to be wed in California on Friday after a court abruptly ended the state's five-year ban on gay marriage in the wake of landmark rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court.

On a balcony overlooking the grand staircase at San Francisco City Hall, an ornate space that has long been a magnet for weddings, the couple whose case sparked this week's Supreme Court decision exchanged vows. The ceremony was officiated by state Attorney General Kamala Harris, and the ring bearer was the couple's 18-year-old son.

"This is the first day of the rest of our lives together, said Kristin Perry, who with her fianc?e, Sandy Stier, filed the lawsuit against Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California in 2008.

Stier turned to the horde of reporters and well-wishers crowding the room, smiled and said: "Thank you so much for coming to our wedding."

At the city clerk's office, other couples waited for their marriage licenses. Two men - one in jeans and the other wearing a pair of shorts - exchanged vows after Stier and Perry.

Four hundred miles to the south, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, a second couple who were plaintiffs in the case, wed at City Hall in Los Angeles.

"You are just as in love today as you were when you met 12 years ago," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who conducted the ceremony, told the two men, who wore suits with boutonnieres.

The California marriages capped a historic week for gay rights in the United States. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued two key rulings - one that extended federal benefits to married gay couples and another that allowed a federal court's order striking down the California marriage ban to stand.

TAKEN BY SURPRISE

On Friday, a panel of three federal appellate court judges responded by formally lifting an injunction against the marriages. That move took brides, grooms and public officials by surprise. They had expected the judges to wait for a more formal ruling from the Supreme Court due in about three weeks.

Within minutes, couples were descending upon San Francisco City Hall, and California Governor Jerry Brown had ordered county clerks throughout the state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Cassie Coleman and Rosa Sanchez were at work when the ruling came down. They agreed via text message to meet at City Hall, and called their mothers to ask permission. They got some roses - red and pink.

"That was it," Sanchez said. "We just jumped in."

The impromptu weddings and the jubilant participation by public officials prompted angry responses from some opponents of gay marriage.

"This outrage tops off a chronic pattern of lawlessness, throughout this case, by judges and politicians hell-bent on thwarting the vote of the people to redefine marriage by any means, even outright corruption," said Andy Pugno, general counsel for the ProtectMarriage.com Coalition.

But he did not, however, actively threaten to fight on.

"It remains to be seen whether the fight can go on, but either way, it's a disgraceful day for California," he said.

John Eastman, a constitutional law professor at Chapman University who was a key backer of the ban, said the appellate court judges should have waited for a 25-day "reconsideration" period to elapse, in which opponents would have had one last chance to ask the Supreme Court to change its mind.

California briefly allowed gay marriages in 2008, before the ballot initiative was enacted. It now becomes the 13th state, and the largest, to allow same-sex marriage - just in time, advocates point out, for Gay Pride weekend.

"On my way to S.F. City Hall," tweeted Harris minutes after the injunction was lifted. "Let the wedding bells ring!"

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Dana Feldman in Los Angeles, Tim Gaynor in Phoenix and Ronnie Cohen in San Francisco; writing by Sharon Bernstein; editing by Mary Milliken and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-lifts-ban-gay-marriage-california-001242022.html

Claire Danes Amy Poehler Australian Open Girls Hbo Golden Globes homeland homeland

PTSD tied to raised heart disease risk

By Andrew M. Seaman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may also be at increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to a new study of Vietnam War veterans.

After following nearly 300 pairs of male twins, all Vietnam vets, for more than a decade, researchers found that almost a quarter of the men diagnosed with PTSD also had heart disease, compared to less than a tenth of the men without the combat-related stress disorder.

"As time goes by, it's become more and more clear that PTSD is not just something that impacts psychological health. It has broad repercussions throughout the body," said Dr. Viola Vaccarino from the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta, the study's lead author.

Behavioral symptoms of PTSD include reliving the traumatic event in memories or nightmares, avoiding situations that may trigger those memories and feelings of paranoia, fearfulness and guilt, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The symptoms tend to start shortly after a person experiences a traumatic event, such as combat, terrorist attacks, serious accidents, natural disasters and personal violence or abuse.

Physically, Vaccarino's team notes, PTSD sufferers are known to often have raised levels of stress hormones and other chemicals signaling overactivation in the fight-or-flight pathways of the nervous system.

Previous research, including one study examining U.S. veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, have found that people diagnosed with PTSD and other stress disorders are more likely to develop heart troubles (see Reuters Health story of August 5, 2009 here:).

Vaccarino said, however, that other studies found conflicting results and some relied on data from interviews and questionnaires, which may provide inaccurate information.

For its study, Vaccarino's group used data from a study of twins who were all Vietnam War veterans born between 1946 and 1956. None of the men in the new analysis had heart disease when the study started, between 1987 and 1992.

The 281 twin pairs were asked to return for follow-up exams and interviews between 2002 and 2010 - about 13 years later - and were tested to see how many of the men had developed heart disease.

Overall, 137 participants had met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD at the start of the study and 69 men developed heart disease by the time of their follow-up exam.

About 23 percent of those with PTSD had heart disease, compared to about 9 percent of those without the stress disorder.

The results translated to those with PTSD at the outset being twice as likely as men without the disorder to develop heart disease by the end of the study.

That difference remained even after the researchers accounted for the higher rates of smoking, drinking and high blood pressure among the PTSD sufferers, which could also contribute to heart risks.

Vaccarino told Reuters Health that she and her colleagues were able to confirm their findings by imaging the participants' hearts and showing reduced blood flow in the men with PTSD.

While their study cannot prove that PTSD caused heart disease in the men, she said, people should know the two conditions share an association.

"This study and the other studies provide pretty good evidence that there's an association here and it's likely to be causal, but we don't have the proof," said Dr. Stephen Sidney, director for research clinics at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland.

"There is enough of an association that physicians should be aware of it," said Sidney, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Vaccarino said more research is needed to find out exactly how the two conditions are related, but "in the meantime, we need to act on those things that are protective against heart disease in general."

"Patients with PTSD need to realize that they need to take care of their heart, because they are at a higher risk," she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/11AIhhY Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online June 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ptsd-tied-raised-heart-disease-risk-205231393.html

leap day michigan primary results olympia snowe davey jones dead boston weather dr seuss birthday derrick williams

Exploding Bullets Frozen In Plexiglass Are Terrifyingly Beautiful

Just because a piece of glass might claim to be "bulletproof" doesn't necessarily mean that it's actually, well, bulletproof. But if your bullet-resistant glass is sturdy enough, that speeding bullet will usually just end up lodged in layers of polycarbonate. That's what intrigues photographer Deborah Bay.

She recently found herself struck by the unexpected beauty of a bullet lodged in a slab of plexiglass. Speaking to The Smithsonian, Bay explains:

I thought it was intriguing. You could see all the fragments of metal. You could see the spray of the shattered plastic and then you could see the trajectory lines that were running through the panel of plexiglass.

Eventually, Bay recruited the help of some friendly cops, who gladly obliged her by shooting off a veritable cornucopia of bullets into bulletproof, plexiglass panels. Then, moving the glass to a black backdrop, she used a medium format camera with a macro lens and creatively colored lighting to produce the series entitled "The Big Bang." As The Smithsonian notes:

The patterns that the projectiles leave on the plexiglass on impact look like galaxies, stars and meteors flying through space. The more the photographer combs collections of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the more she sees the resemblance. It?s this intuitive leap from the macro to the cosmic that inspired the series? clever name.

While undeniably beautiful, the photographs are also highly topical?gun control currently being a major point of partisan contention. And Bay is very aware of this, particularly as a resident of Texas, a state with 51 million registered firearms. The irony of the title paired with such a destructive subject matter highlight's Bay's ultimate goal: ?I just want people to think about what these bullets can do.?

You can see the entire photo series over on her website or, if you happen to be in Santa Barbara California between July 16 and August 25, in person at Wall Space Gallery. [Smithsonian Magazine]

Images courtesy of ?Deborah Bay.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/exploding-bullets-frozen-in-plexiglass-are-terrifyingly-610736872

Met gala lauryn hill teacher appreciation week Jodi Arias trial cinco de mayo Mike Jeffries Abercrombie Charles Ramsey Interview

Lead Costs Developing Economies Nearly $1 Trillion Annually

The report by New York University researchers is the first to calculate the economic cost of children exposed to lead in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other developing regions

By Brian Bienkowski and Environmental Health News

Lead-based paint remains one of the primary routes of exposure for children worldwide. Image: Flickr/Ben W

Childhood lead exposure is costing developing countries $992 billion annually due to reductions in IQs and earning potential, according to a new study published today.

The report by New York University researchers is the first to calculate the economic cost of children exposed to lead in Africa, Asia, Latin America and other developing regions. The researchers found that, despite major declines in exposure in the United States and Europe, lead is still harming brains and bottom lines in poorer regions around the world.

The toxic metal is annually taking a 1.2 percent chunk out of the entire world?s gross domestic product, according to the new report.

?Childhood lead exposure represents a major opportunity lost,? said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a professor at New York University School of Medicine and senior author of the study published online in Environmental Health Perspectives.??Prevention may actually accelerate economic development, which is critically needed in these countries.?

Low levels of lead affect children?s IQs, their ability to pay attention and how well they do in school. It also has been linked to violent and antisocial behavior.

The researchers found that Africa?s economy is harmed the most, with annual economic losses estimated at $137.7 billion, or 4 percent of its gross domestic product ? a number that represents a country?s economic output and financial health. Lead exposures cause annual estimated economic losses of $142.3 billion in Latin America, which is 2 percent of its gross domestic product, and $699.9 billion in Asia, which is 1.88 percent of its gross domestic product.

By comparison, economic losses from lead exposure were estimated at $50.9 billion and $55 billion for the United States and Europe.

Trasande and a colleague estimated blood lead levels for children under 5 years old in developing countries. They used previous research to determine how much lead levels would reduce IQ points in the population, and then how much their earnings would drop.

Information about children in many countries is spotty, so the researchers had to estimate exposure, which is a limit of the study, said Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a professor of children's environmental health at Simon Fraser University who is a leading researcher on child lead exposure. He did not participate in the new study.

But the dollar amount is likely conservative, Lanphear said.

?They didn?t look at things like criminal behavior, cardiovascular problems. They focused primarily on children?s intellectual ability,? he said. ?The study probably quite substantially underestimates lead?s effect on IQ and GDP (gross domestic product).?

Lead exposure in the United States has rapidly declined since the 1970s, largely due to the phase-out of lead in gasoline. In the 1970s, about 88 percent of kids 5 years old or younger had excessive blood lead levels (greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood), according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2011, about 5.8 percent of U.S. kids had excessive blood lead levels. This dramatic decrease is in spite of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cutting its lead guideline in half, to 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood, last October in response to mounting scientific evidence that low levels can harm children?s developing brains.

Similar trends have occurred in Europe.

But worldwide lead consumption has risen, from about 4.7 million tons in 1970 to 7.1 million tons in 2004, according to a 2010 United Nations report. The increase is largely driven by demand for lead batteries, according to the report.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/chemistry/~3/qCaFSo4y-FQ/article.cfm

Kaepernick Tattoos superbowl time what time is the super bowl groundhog day Ed Koch Groundhog Day 2013 What Time Is The Superbowl

Meet Mark Cerny: PS4 System Architect, Knack Creator, Busiest ...

For most mortals, designing a brand new cutting edge gaming system from the ground up would be a full time job, and then some. However, for none-more-diligent PS4 system architect Mark Cerny, that wasn?t quite enough responsibility, so he set about crafting a launch title for the new platform at the same time.

Said title, Knack, is a lovely counterpoint to the bulging biceps of Killzone: Shadow Fall and the steely realism of #DRIVECLUB. Harking back to classic action platformers of yore, such as Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter and so on, it?s a bold, bright and hugely enjoyable romp that injects the PS4 launch line-up with a pleasing splash of color.

The day after the physical form of PS4 was finally unveiled at E3, I sat down with the hardest working man in the business to find out more about his twin endeavors.

PlayStation.Blog: So, Mark, we didn?t see you on stage this time?
Mark Cerny: I was on stage talking about the system architecture back in New York in February, but this time the focus was on the games.

PSB: Were you happy to sit this one out?
Mark Cerny: I was in the nosebleed seats with the rest of the audience! It was a lot of fun. To be honest, it was the first time I saw the console. They offered to show it to me but I wanted to see it at the same time as the rest of the world. I had intentionally not seen it until the big reveal.

PSB: I thought you personally crafted it with your own hands!
MC: I could tell you how big it was because I know what the power consumption is ? but my responsibility was the inside of the system. We have a great design centre to create the look for it.

PSB: And what?s your verdict?
MC: I think it?s beautiful.

PSB: As well as serving as system architect you?re also creating Knack. PlayStation consoles have a long heritage of launching with a colorful character-based action/platformer. How important do you think it is to have such a title ready at release?
MC: As system architect I knew there would be quality core games for launch for the core gamer. I just wanted to make sure there was something for the rest of the family to enjoy as well.

PSB: What was the original seed of the idea for Knack?
MC: The seed of the idea was that we have a character who could pick up items from the environment and incorporate them into his body, but that turns out to be very hard to make a game around! Our initial concept was that Knack would maybe break down a building or a wall, and he?d incorporate the resulting bricks into his body, but when we prototyped this we ended up with a giant amorphous blob of a character.

It took a year and a half to figure out that the secret was to design the character more intensively. The character is made from ?relics? ? these are left over from some long lost civilisation, if you dig down deep into the earth you find them. They?re a power source, and the doctor has managed to imbue them with consciousness. With that storyline we were able to then design relics in specific shapes and build various versions of Knack out of them.

PSB: What does the PS4 hardware allow you to do in this game that hasn?t been possible in similar action titles up until now?
MC: The big thing for us on PS4 is that development has been faster it?s saved us a year. Implementing an idea like ?hey, let?s have a character that has 5,000 objects driven by a custom physics simulation? has just been a heck of a lot easier than it was on prior platforms. I think we?re going to see much richer titles as a result of that.

PSB: What element of Knack do you think players will be most surprised by?
MC: Each level is a different variation on the theme of ?Here?s this character who has this ?knack? that lets him grow and transform.? In some levels he?ll slowly grow, and in other levels he get big really fast ? by picking up icicles for example ? but then if he goes out into the sun he?ll melt down quickly.

The way I look at it ? there?s a bit of Crash Bandicoot in there, a bit of Katamari Damacy, which is a game I love and must have bought three of four times over the years. And there?s a bit of God of War too. You can see that game?s influence on Knack ? especially in the control set, where the right stick is the dodge. Actually God of War 3 was one of my consulting projects!

PSB: How hard has it been juggling your role as PS4 system architect with that of game designer?
MC: I have to be in Tokyo every month anyway for the hardware work, so spending time with the Knack team is not that difficult. It?s just across the street.

It?s a very talented studio. For example, the lead background artist from Shadow of the Colossus is on Knack, he designed the very soft look of our world. There?s also quite a few members of the team that made Ape Escape, that was my game director and producer?s first project. In fact they were both artists on the game ? it?s a very talented artistic team.

PSB: So we?ve got a team who?s worked on Shadow of the Colossus, Ape Escape, God of War 3 ? that?s quite a disparate set of influences?
MC: Well, I worked on Killzone 3 as well, but I wouldn?t say that had an influence on this title! That?s just our past history.

PSB: Knack is being made at Japan Studio, but it doesn?t have a particularly Japanese feel. At the same time it doesn?t feel ?Western? either. Was a universal approach intentional?
MC: It?s intentional. The original concept was ?let?s make an international title?. The problem is that if you have a mascot, that mascot is going to be immediately identifiable as a Japanese mascot, or a US mascot, or whatever. Our way to get around that was to make the character an effect, so the first question was ?what sort of effect should he be?? We came up with the idea that he would pick up things in the environment and get bigger, and a year or so later Knack was born.

PSB: What?s the scope of Knack? Exactly how big is it?
MC: It?s not apparent from the E3 demo, but it is a very story driven adventure. The first time through should take about ten hours, and then we have included a lot of features that make it interesting to play again.

For example, there are hundreds of secret rooms and many contain treasure chests. Some of those are part of gadgets that will help Knack in his quest ? you need to collect all the parts before you can build the gadget. Others are crystal relics where if you collect enough of them you can unlock a variation on the Knack character you can use in a subsequent play-through. There are also a couple of additional features that we?re not talking about at this point.

PSB: Clearly Knack is aimed at a younger crowd, but will there be something in there for my generation of gamers, who grew up on Crash, Spyro et al?
MC: Oh, we are definitely speaking to the nostalgia that people feel for the play experiences of the past. If you play this game on the hard difficulty setting it will definitely challenge you. And the control scheme is on the simpler side but you?ll need really think about how best to use it. So, yes, I think many people will go to the store and get, say, Watch Dogs or Killzone or the like for themselves and they?ll get Knack for another member of the family, but I also think a lot of core gamers will end up getting Knack for that old school ? with a twist ? feel.

Source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/06/26/meet-mark-cerny-ps4-system-architect-knack-creator-busiest-man-in-gaming/

College World Series Alex Cobb phil mickelson superman flag day man of steel man of steel

Sam Mendes NOT Confirmed to Direct Next Bond Film

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/sam-mendes-not-confirmed-to-direct-next-bond-film/

Alex Morgan Misty May Treanor Marvin Hamlisch Megan Rossee grenada grenada Sikh

Xinjiang's Deadliest Violence in Years Renews Focus on Ethnic Tensions (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315466406?client_source=feed&format=rss

Colorado shootings dark knight rises Aurora shooting James Eagan Holmes jeremy lin Sage Stallone Mermaid Body Found