Review | 'The Central Park Five' exposes a miscarriage of justice ...

?The Central Park Five? begins, like the crime at its heart, in pitch-black woods surrounded by a raging city.

This artful, understated documentary, directed by Sarah Burns, daughter of filmmaker Ken Burns, and her husband, David McMahon, recounts the awful true story of the five teenagers wrongfully convicted of raping and beating a 28-year-old woman who became known as the Central Park Jogger. (The film screens Friday and Sunday as part of the Kansas City FilmFest.)

These men explain (and display) the stark emotional scars of their experiences, but it takes help from sociologists, historians and politicians to remind us how different New York City was in 1989, and how the discovery of a near-dead white woman in the sacred ground of the park was the worst possible scenario for race relations at the time.

The men?s pained recollections, along with video stills from the police precinct that night, artfully convey the desperation inside the interrogation rooms, where detectives wrenched pathetic excuses for confessions from them. The authorities? contortions of logic to explain away the complete lack of DNA evidence ? in a case involving sexual assault and a savage, bloody beating ? remain confounding.

But despite the men?s eventual exoneration in 2002, ?The Central Park Five? becomes an exercise in despair, a function of the unacceptable excuse for closure these men got. The movie is obviously meant to help sway public opinion in that regard.

Everyone ? journalists, family members, even a juror ? admits to varying levels of culpability for the outrage, except for the willfully overzealous police, prosecutors and politicians most responsible. This is hardly a surprise, as three of the Central Park Five are still suing them, as well as the city, for damages, an effort entering its second decade.

?The Central Park Five? takes one of the most sensational crimes of the late 20th century and strips the circus that followed down to its roots. The horrific attack in the woods on that April night 24 years ago was just the beginning.

Showings: 6:15 p.m. Friday; 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

Also airing at 8 p.m. Tuesday on PBS.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/09/4171963/review-the-central-park-five-exposes.html

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China confident it can control bird flu outbreak

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is confident it can control an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu, a senior Chinese health official said on Sunday as the World Health Organization (WHO) said there had now been 21 human cases of the H7N9 flu with six deaths.

China has said it is mobilizing resources nationwide to combat the new strain, monitoring hundreds of close contacts of confirmed cases and culling tens of thousands of birds where traces of the virus were found.

"We are confident we can effectively control it (H7N9)," the head of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission Li Bin told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Health Organization-backed event in Beijing.

Li did not elaborate, but she is the most senior Chinese health official yet to publicly comment on the subject.

In an update from its headquarters in Geneva, the WHO said more than 530 close contacts of the 21 people now listed as confirmed cases are being closely monitored for any signs of similar disease.

"At this time there is no evidence of ongoing human-to-human transmission," it said.

The bird flu outbreak has caused global concern and some Chinese internet users and newspapers have questioned why it took so long for the government to announce the new cases, especially as two of the victims fell ill in February.

The government has said it needed time to correctly identify the virus.

The WHO's representative to China, Dr. Michael O'Leary, repeated that no evidence of transmission between humans has been found and praised China for its efforts to determine the source of the virus.

"I'm very impressed with the action of the laboratories in this regard," O'Leary said at a World Health Day event in the Chinese capital.

"China is demonstrating their ability to get on top of this problem quickly," he said.

In 2003, authorities initially tried to cover up an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China and killed about 10 percent of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

Other strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years and can be transmitted from bird to bird, and bird to human, but not generally from human to human.

(Reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing and Kate Kelland in London, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-confident-control-bird-flu-outbreak-084931042.html

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Texas takes 7-3 win, opening series over Angels

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Yu Darvish was far from perfect this time and still got the same result ? a victory for the Texas Rangers.

Even against the AL West rival Los Angeles Angels and 20-game winner Jered Weaver.

Lance Berkman and David Murphy homered in the first off Weaver, putting the Rangers ahead to stay on the way to a 7-3 victory Sunday night after Darvish had allowed two quick runs only five nights after coming within one out of a perfect game.

"I didn't have everything today. It wasn't my 100 percent, but I had to grind it out," Darvish said through his translator. "The reason I was able to do that was because of all the support from my teammates."

Ian Kinsler also homered for the Rangers, who took two of three in their first series facing Josh Hamilton, who was booed throughout the weekend but had three hits in the finale.

While there were some social media reports that Hamilton made an obscene gesture to fans in right field, the five-time All-Star and 2010 AL MVP who played in the Rangers' only two World Series said that never happened.

"I never would do that. Ever. I never would flip anybody off," said Hamilton, expressing surprise about the constant booing every time he came to the plate. "A little more hectic than I expected. ... A little disappointing more than anything."

Hamilton, who signed a $125 million, five-year deal with the Angels last winter, finished 3 for 13 in the series, and is batting only .160 (4 for 25) on the season.

In an early season matchup of aces, neither Darvish nor Weaver made it past five innings. But that wasn't because of the runs they allowed.

Darvish (2-0) threw 85 pitches over five innings, and was replaced starting the sixth because of a blister on his right ring finger that also had developed in the game against Houston when he retired 26 consecutive batters before giving up a single.

"As far as it developed, I don't really want to talk about it," said Darvish, describing it more like a piece of skin coming off than a blister. "We won the game, so I think everything went well."

Weaver (0-1) did throw to a batter in the sixth, but strained his left elbow when trying to dive out of the way of Mitch Moreland's liner to start the inning.

While Weaver avoided being hit by the ball, he landed awkwardly on his left arm. The pitcher immediately grabbed his arm near the elbow and manager Mike Scioscia and a trainer quickly were on the field. X-rays were negative.

"Pretty painful. It feels a little swollen in there," Weaver said after the game. "I can't move it around too good right now. It's strange. Kind of like jamming your thumb."

Weaver said he "didn't feel anything pop or crack," but said he wasn't sure if he'd make his next scheduled start.

Darvish had 14 strikeouts with no walks in his near perfect opener at Houston, but after a strike on the first pitch to leadoff hitter Mike Trout, he threw four straight balls. Darvish then hit Erick Aybar on the foot and walked Albert Pujols before a run scored on Hamilton's double-play grounder. Mark Trumbo's RBI single quickly made it 2-0.

Berkman' first homer with the Rangers was a two-run shot in the bottom of the first. Murphy added a solo shot two batters later to put Texas ahead to stay.

"I don't think you want to linger down to a team like that," said Berkman, who has hit in all six games and his batting .450.

Darvish retired only two of the first nine Angels he faced. The second time through the lineup, the ace from Japan had five strikeouts.

"Yu Darvish really did good damage control there," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Yu settled down and kept us around until we were able to put some more runs on the board."

Darvish finished with six strikeouts, four walks and a hit batter. He gave up three runs and six hits over his five innings.

Mark Lowe, another former Ranger who heard boos, replaced Weaver on the mound. After a sacrifice bunt by Geovany Soto, Lowe walked No. 9 hitter Leonys Martin before Kinsler's third homer of the season, a three-run liner just over the right-field wall.

Weaver allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked four.

Texas went up 4-2 in the fourth when Soto, the playing catcher for the first time this season, had a leadoff double. He scored on Kinsler's single.

The Angels got that run back in the fifth when Hamilton singled and scored on a double by Trumbo.

NOTES: Robbie Ross, Tanner Scheppers and Joe Nathan combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Darvish. ... After opening the season with series at Cincinnati and Texas, both of Hamilton's former major league teams, the Angels play their home opener Tuesday against Oakland. Los Angeles is the first team since 2007 to open the season with three series in a row against playoff teams from the previous season. ... Soto was the last Rangers player on the opening-day roster to get in a game.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-takes-7-3-win-opening-series-over-043318929--mlb.html

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What API allows for playing & purchasing of music? - Stack Overflow

I've long wanted to integrate various features into the products that I build that allow one to listen to a and purchase a piece of music, while earning a commission on the sale. So far, I've come up empty handed in finding such a thing. Amazon MP3 doesn't seem to offer a listening API, YouTube doesn't offer a purchase API, iTunes doesn't seem to have any API, etc.

In a specific example, writers on RolePlayGateway often associate theme songs with their characters or pivotal moments in story. Readers should be able to click a single button to play the full song while they read the post, and have the ability to purchase the track for their own library. Ideally, commission would be awarded for such purchases.

What API is ideal for easy search, play, and purchase of music?

Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15870188/what-api-allows-for-playing-purchasing-of-music

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Asteroid Wanted in NASA Project

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The $105 million proposal would begin planning on a two-stage program in which a robotic spacecraft would grab a small asteroid and drag it back toward Earth.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/science/space/asteroid-wanted-in-nasa-project.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Kerry mourns first diplomat killed since Benghazi

ISTANBUL (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mourned on Sunday the first death of an American diplomat on the job since last year's Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.

Speaking to U.S. consulate workers on a visit to Istanbul, Kerry called the death of Anne Smedinghoff a "grim reminder" of the danger facing American foreign service workers serving overseas. The Illinois native was one of six Americans killed in an attack Saturday in Afghanistan. She was on a mission to donate books to students in the south of the country.

"It's a grim reminder to all of us... of how important, but also how risky, carrying the future is," Kerry told employees in the Turkish commercial capital.

"Folks who want to kill people, and that's all they want to do, are scared of knowledge. They want to shut the doors and they don't want people to make their choices about the future. For them, it's you do things our way, or we throw acid in your face or we put a bullet in your face," he said.

Kerry described Smedinghoff as "vivacious, smart, capable, chosen often by the ambassador there to be the lead person because of her capacity."

She aided Kerry when he visited the country two weeks ago, serving as his control officer, an honor often bestowed on up-and-coming members of the U.S. foreign service.

"There are no words for anyone to describe the extraordinary harsh contradiction for a young 25-year-old woman, with all of her future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy to improve people's lives, making a difference, having an impact" to be killed, Kerry said.

Smedinghoff previously served in Venezuela.

"The world lost a truly beautiful soul today," her parents, Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff, said in a family statement emailed to The Washington Post.

"Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war," they said. "We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world."

Kerry declared the protection of American diplomats a top priority on his first day as secretary of state.

The issue has been extremely sensitive since Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi almost seven months ago. No one has yet been brought to justice.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-mourns-1st-diplomat-killed-since-benghazi-074326741--politics.html

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Chill Out In This Breezy Beach Tent (Beach Not Included)

For Christmas I bought my nieces a tipi to play in. They're obsessed with it, but I felt a little left, out so I'd like one of these breezy Gandia Blasco tents. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/8wiqts1hDak/chill-out-in-this-breezy-beach-tent-beach-not-included

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