D3 reveals Earth Defense Force 4 for Japan

Earth Defense Force 4 has been revealed by publisher D3.

It?s the fourth instalment in the cult ?B-movie? alien shooting romp. Sadly, however, a European release has not yet been confirmed.

"Unfortunately I have no additional information that I can share about EDF4,? a D3 statement released to Eurogamer read. ?The game is being released by D3 Japan and they will be handling the launch of the title in Japan. If more information becomes available to me, I'll be sure to keep you posted."

The previous two releases in the series ? Earth Defense Force 2017 and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon were both released in the UK.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mcvuk/stream/~3/uAvYbmYwyMs/099558

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L&L Energy to administer HunTai coal washing plant in China

EBR Staff Writer Published 13 July 2012

L&L Energy subsidiary TaiFung Coal has reached an agreement with HunTai Coal in Yunnan Province to operate and manage HunTai's newly built 600,000 ton capacity washing plant.

The company will be remunerated with a management fee of $0.5m for the next 12 months for operating the plant and it can also earn revenues up to $63m by wholesaling the washed coal and generating $5.9m net income.

L&L vice president and director Ed Moy said the company is recognized in the coal washing industry.

"Through management innovation, the Company is able to synergize its expertise with other entities to produce more revenue and profit," Moy added.

The HunTai coal washing plant is built near its targeted customer, Yunnan Coal Energy, which requires approximately 3 million tons of washed coking coal each year.

US based L&L Energy is a coal mining company.

Source: http://coal.energy-business-review.com/news/ll-energy-to-administer-huntai-coal-washing-plant-in-china-130712

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4 Free Sites for Learning a New Language | Learning and Living in ...

Speaking more than one language is generally a good thing. It can help you professionally, it can introduce you to new cultures and people, and it can make vacations in faraway places a lot more fun. However, the majority of adult Americans don?t speak more than one language. This is understandable. For adults, learning anything as complicated as another language is a challenge. And if you?re out of school, it can be especially hard to find time or resources to learn a language on your own.

So, how do?you learn a new language? Many people recommend either taking a private or group class, or using language learning software like Rosetta Stone. Unfortunately, all of these options can be pretty pricey. While there?s no free equivalent to Rosetta Stone, there are plenty of free online resources that offer useful language learning tools. Here are some of our favorites:

For Starting a New Language

LiveMocha

LiveMocha offers activities, self-paced lessons, and writing and speaking exercises in 38 languages. You can even get personal feedback on your grammar and writing ? all for free. LiveMocha is able to offer this for free by relying on its community of learners to help each other out. You?ll be asked to review short, simple assignments in English; in return, you?ll get help from from real people who speak the language you?re studying. If working with other learners appeals to you, LiveMocha is simply one of the best resources out there.

BBC Languages

BBC Languages offers courses and other resources for people starting a new language. Languages offered include French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese. Since the site is run by the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation), it includes many resources for accessing and reading the news in other languages. One downside of this site is that the main page isn?t very well organized, so it can be hard to know where to begin. Still, it?s a good resource for self-motivated learners.

For Practice or Reference

Verbling

Verbling is a free video chat service that pairs you with conversation partners who speak the language you?re learning. Like LiveMocha, learners are expected to teach each other ? you?ll spend half the call speaking your native language, and the other half speaking theirs. Verbling even suggests easy conversation topics to help you get started. While this service isn?t for absolute beginners, it?s useful for anyone who needs practice speaking and listening.

WordReference.com

WordReference is the best online foreign language dictionary you can find. It includes English definitions for words in 15 different languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese. These definitions often include examples to help you understand how the word is used in context. Many of these examples come from the WordReference forum, where native speakers answer questions about various words and phrases. The site?s interface is well-organized and simple, with very few ads, so it?s easy to find exactly what you?re looking for. Personally, I can?t say enough good things about this site ? I relied on it when I was a student, and I still use it every time I have to write something in another language. I haven?t opened a paper foreign language dictionary in years.

I hope this has given you a good starting point. Feel free to tell us about any great resources you think I?ve missed! And be sure to let us know ? what language do you want to learn?

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Tagged as: ESL, learning a new language, LiveMocha, BBC Languages, Verbling

Source: http://blog.gcflearnfree.org/2012/07/12/4-free-sites-for-learning-a-new-language/

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Just how unlucky is Friday the 13th?

The number 13 is synonymous with bad luck. It's considered unlucky to have 13 guests at a dinner party, many buildings don't have a 13th floor, and most people avoid getting married or buying a house on a day marked by this dreaded number. Particularly superstitious folks even avoid driving on Friday the 13th.

But is there any statistical proof to support the notion that Friday the 13th ? or even just the number 13 itself ? is unlucky?

"No data exists, and will never exist, to confirm that the number 13 is an unlucky number," said Igor Radun of the Human Factors and Safety Behavior Group at the University of Helsinki's Institute of Behavioural Sciences in Finland. "There is no reason to believe that any number would be lucky or unlucky."

Radun might very well be correct, but there are a few bits of scientific research that have given superstitious people a little more cause for concern, even if the scientists who performed the work aren't alarmed by their findings. [15 Weird Things Humans Do Every Day, and Why]

Does accident risk go up?
For starters, in a 1993 study published in the British Medical Journal, researchers analyzed the traffic flow and number of injuries from car accidents??on the southern section of London's M25 motorway during the five months that the 13th fell on a Friday between 1990 and 1992.

They compared these numbers to data collected on Friday the 6th of the same months, and found that although there are consistently fewer vehicles on the road during the 13th ? possibly as a result of superstitious people choosing not to drive that day, the researchers proposed ? "the risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52 percent" on the 13th.

But before triskaidekaphobics, or those who fear the number 13, say "I told you so," it should be noted that although the data were authentic, the authors didn't mean for their conclusions to be taken seriously.

"It's quite amusing and written with tongue firmly in cheek," said Robert Luben, a researcher at the school of clinical medicine at the University of Cambridge and one of the study's authors. "It was written for the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, which usually carries fun or spoof articles."

Many people took the study at face value, however, and it continues to be cited as valid evidence regarding the misfortune of both the number 13 and Friday the 13th.

"(Some people) clearly didn't understand that the paper was just a bit of fun and not to be taken seriously," Luben told Life's Little Mysteries. "Many also assumed that the authors were 'believers.' I'm sure that most of these people hadn't read the paper, which suggests that people being superstitious affects their behavior."

Mixed findings
Since the 1993 study, other studies have been written showing that it's just women who have more accidents on Friday the 13th, with further studies concluding that's actually not the case. Other research results attempting to measure just how unlucky the number 13 is have been mixed.

For example, in 2005, the United Kingdom newspaper The Telegraph analyzed the winning lottery balls dating back to when the UK National Lottery began in 1994. They found that the number 13 was the unluckiest ball, because it was drawn a total of 120 times since 1994, compared with the luckiest ball, number 38, which was drawn a total of 182 times. But, "of course, there is no way of predicting which balls will be luckiest in the future," the article cautions.

Not everyone has found similar patterns.

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"Unfortunately, most of studies dealing with Friday the 13th and the number 13 are solely focused on statistical data, such as accident data, stock exchange data, etc., without any attempt to establish a 'direct' relationship between belief, or superstition, and behavior," said Radun, who is co-author of the 2004 study "Females Do Not Have More Injury Road Accidents on Friday the 13th," which was published in the journal BMC Public Health. "Therefore, it is not surprising that contradictory results may occur. ? In our study, we did not find that either women or men have more injury road accidents on Friday the 13th compared to previous and following Fridays." [Superstitions Bring Real Luck, Study Reveals]

Superstitions influence behavior
Luben agrees that studies about statistics surrounding the number 13 should acknowledge how people's superstitions influence how they act. He wrote in his study that "superstitions affect behavior in all cultures in all parts of the world in some form or other." So whether you vow to never play the number 13 in a lottery or declare that 13 is your lucky number just to go against the grain, the stigma surrounding the number still influenced your decision.

"There are no lucky or unlucky numbers; they exist only in our heads ? or in the heads of some of us ? and they might become lucky or unlucky only if we make them as such," Radun said.

But many triskaidekaphobics, who count author Stephen King and former president Franklin Roosevelt among their ranks, don't need statistical evidence or hard facts to back up their conviction that the number is truly cursed. As with any superstition, no matter how irrational it may be, some people will still choose to believe in it.

More on msnbc.com about Friday the 13th:

Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LifesLittleMysteries.com. All rights reserved. More from LifesLittleMysteries.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48175579/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Girlfriend assaulted with steak sauce over ?Fifty Shades of Grey?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/fifty-shades-grey-steak-sauce-assault-171428353.html

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Mississippi's last abortion clinic stays open ? for now

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? A federal judge on Wednesday continued to block a state law that threatens to shut down Mississippi's only abortion clinic and make it nearly impossible for women to get the procedure in the state.

U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III temporarily blocked the law July 1 and extended that order Wednesday, though he did not say when he would rule on the clinic's request for a preliminary injunction that would put the law on hold for a longer period. If he grants that request, the case eventually would go to trial.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can't place undue burdens on, or substantial obstacles to, women seeking abortions. The Mississippi law would require anyone performing clinic abortions to be an OB-GYN with privileges to admit patients to a local hospital. The doctors at the clinic in Jackson do not have those privileges, which the clinic maintains aren't necessary.

Supporters of the law passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature this year said it's designed to protect patients, and Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has said he hopes it will help make Mississippi "abortion-free."

The clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, said it has been unable to obtain admitting privileges for its two out-of-state OB-GYNs because local hospitals have not responded to their requests.

"They're out to close us down," the clinic's owner, Diane Derzis, said of state officials.

Admitting privileges can be difficult to get because hospitals might not grant them to out-of-state physicians, or hospitals with religious affiliations might not give them to doctors who perform abortions.

When clinic employees called a Catholic hospital to ask about applying for privileges, Derzis said, "we were told not to bother."

The clinic said it would face "irreparable harm" if the law were to be enforced because hospitals haven't said when ? or if ? they'll consider the privileges.

"If they're denied or if the hospitals are dragging their feet, that's going to be more clear evidence that there's a substantial obstacle" to an abortion, clinic attorney Robert McDuff said.

Another attorney representing the clinic, Michelle Movahed of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said clinic physicians and nurses fear they could face criminal prosecution or lose their medical licenses if the law takes effect and the clinic can't comply with all parts of it.

"It's that vulnerable position that constitutes irreparable injury," Movahed said.

State officials said the privileges help protect patients by ensuring they have continuity of care if a woman needs to go to the hospital. They also note that while the clinic might have to wait to get hospital privileges, "inconvenience is not 'irreparable harm.'"

The state attorney general's office declined to comment after the hearing.

Steven Aden, an attorney for a Washington-based anti-abortion group, Alliance Defending Freedom, sat with state attorneys in court Wednesday. He said he was acting as a consultant for the state to defend the law.

"All the state is doing here is to apply a common-sense rule that's applicable to all ambulatory surgical centers," Aden said.

When the governor signed the measure into law in April, he said, "If it closes that clinic, then so be it." Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said: "We have an opportunity today with the signing of this bill to end abortion in Mississippi and also to protect women."

Clinic attorneys said such statements demonstrate that officials were trying to enact unconstitutional barriers to abortion.

Special Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Bryant argued that any anti-abortion statements by elected officials were "weak evidence" that the purpose of the law was to prevent abortions.

Jordan responded that the governor, lieutenant governor and bill sponsor made public statements about wanting to end abortion.

"It's not like we're talking about random elected officials here," Jordan said.

Terri Herring of the Pro Life America Network lobbied for the law and attended the court hearing. After the judge's decision, Herring said the hospitals should deny admitting privileges for the abortion clinic's doctors.

"There's no vetting process for fly-by-night physicians who come in and perform abortions at the clinic," Herring said.

The clinic uses out-of-state physicians because in-state physicians generally don't want to face the social pressure of having protesters at their offices, homes or churches, clinic employees say.

Opponents of the law say any patient experiencing complications could receive immediate care from emergency room physicians.

The clinic for the past several years has also had a transfer agreement with a local OB-GYN who has hospital admitting privileges. He doesn't perform abortions at the clinic but provides backup help by agreeing to meet clinic patients at a hospital if there's an emergency.

Derzis said that since she acquired Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2010, no woman has had to be taken from the clinic by ambulance.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 established a nationwide right to abortion. In 1992, the court's decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey upheld the Roe decision and allowed states to regulate abortions before fetuses are viable. But the 1992 decision also said states may not place undue burdens on or create substantial obstacles to women seeking abortions.

If the clinic closed, the closest clinics to Jackson are about 200 miles away, in Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama.

Mississippi physicians who perform fewer than 10 abortions a month can avoid having their offices regulated as an abortion clinic, and thus avoid restrictions in the new law. The clinic's owner has said the clinic is unlikely to stay open and perform that few abortions per month. The Health Department said it doesn't have a record of how many physicians perform fewer than 10 abortions a month.

Clinic operators say almost all the abortions in the state are done in their building. They say in court papers that the clinic did about 3,000 abortions in 18 months.

____

Associated Press writer Jeff Amy contributed to this report.

____

Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-continues-block-mississippi-abortion-law-200120952.html

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Skip a stone on a mountain lake from your desk

1 hr.

John Roach

Stuck in a cubicle but wish you were in the mountains skipping stones? So do I. And now we can, sort of, thanks to a promotional robot sitting on the side of a lake in Sun Valley, Idaho, waiting for you to play with it.

To do so, surf over to www.stoneskippingrobot.com?and?tell Skippy how hard and what angle to fling the stone.?Skippy will do the rest. Just sit back and watch your stone skip across an idyllic mountain?lake.

Skippy was built by Eleven Inc., a San Francisco-based marketing firm hired?to help the resort town attract visitors.

"This place truly sells itself if you're here," Daniel Murphy, director of interactive production for Eleven, told me today via satellite phone from Sun Valley?where he is managing the Skip Town campaign.

"It is everything you imagined about the great American wilderness ... we just needed to bring it to the people."

That's how the idea for?Skippy was born.

The robot is "a heavily modified clay pigeon thrower," said?M David Low, a creative technologist for Eleven, who is also in Sun Valley.

Instead of clay pigeons, it throws stones, for one. Skippy is controlled by the Arduino platform. Users set the angle and power for their stone toss. Given the remoteness of Skippy's location (a private lake outside of Sun Valley), there's a slight lag in communications, Low noted.

The skips are all recorded in real time. As soon as your stone is skipped, you get kicked to a results page where you can relive and share the the video of your skip.

So far, "thousands" of people have skipped stones, Murphy said, and tens of thousands have visited the campaign website. Some of those visitors may not be skipping their own stones given the long line.

For those city folk too impatient to wait in line, you can watch Skippy skip the?stones of others or view the video below to learn more about the campaign.

The folks in Sun Valley, of course, want this experience to whet your appetite for a real mountain vacation. You can register to win a trip as you wait for your turn to skip. Having spent nearly a decade of my life there, I can say it's certainly worth a visit.

--Via Technabob?

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/skip-stone-mountain-lake-your-desk-876348

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