women in technology: June 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Gas Logs Vent Free - Beat The Summer Heat With Effective And ...

by Hansen Wholesale
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Gas Logs Vent Free More Details about Gas Logs Vent Free here.

With the rising temperature in June and July Ceiling fans plays an important role by circulating cool air in your room. Since electricity rates are rising the ceiling fan is one of the most common electronic equipment that allows you to reduce your electricity bills significantly. Besides that nowadays markets are full of attractive and beautiful Ceiling fans that help to make your furnishings of room look beautiful.

At present time the demand for ceiling fan has moved away from conventional fan with wood blades and complex glass shade. Now a smart and educated consumer finds ceiling fans that are well matched with the modern kitchen, stylish living room and even customary dining room and bedroom. During the purchase of a ceiling fan a consumer should consult the seller to find which type of style and size is advisable and effective for his requirement.

Selecting the appropriate size of ceiling fan for any desired location is essential for its performance and appearance. Since there is no clear or accurate medium to calculate right size of ceiling fan for particular area one can see number of calculators and charts online that provide different valuation. Ceiling fans are usually measured by their blade's length which must match with the size of the room where it has to be installed. The size of blades for home use purposes starts from 28 to 56 inches. The bulk of cooling of fan is experienced in the area under the blades of it. The more you move away from its blades, the cooling start getting reduced. One can notice that there is substantial decrease in the cooling when you move just 2 to 3 feet away from the tip of There is a significant drop off in airflow just outside of 2 feet from the angle of the blades of the fan. Eventually, the right size fan for a room is not only based on size of the room only, customer should also keep in account the outline of the area where it has to be installed.

Hunter Ceiling fans are regarded as the best fans that are offered in the market. From the past 100 years hunter is engaged in developing fans for both household purposes and commercial purposes. The main factors contributing to the success of hunter ceiling fans are that they are manufactured by talented workforce who is very proud of their work. That is why the similar tradition is gifted to the present generation of hunter fans.

Ceiling Fans with Lights refers to those fans which have decorative lights installed in centre, which not only makes the room glow with attractive lightening but also provide effective cooling and airflow to the room.

Thus Ceiling fans are not only affordable to purchase but are very effective in summers. Along with this they help in reducing the electricity bills considerably. Now days with introduction of Ceiling fans with lights they also enhance the d?cor of the area where they are placed.

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More Details about Gas Logs Vent Free here.

Keywords: Ceiling Fans, Hunter Ceiling Fans, Ceiling Fans With Lights, Gas Logs Vent Free

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Head of PMO - West Yorkshire - Harvey Nash HNIT Job Search ...

Head of PMO, PMO Director, Enterprise Head of PMO, Head of Business Change, Head of Change, Enterprise Portfolio Management Office, Programme Management Office - Bradford, West Yorkshire, Permanent

An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Head of PMO to join a brand business based in Bradford which has a significant ongoing change portfolio. The position will be wholly responsible for effective governance, control and management of all business change and systems enabled change across the group.

ESSENTIAL requirements:
? Significant experience of developing and maintaining a full group wide PMO for all types of business change.
? Strong experience of the full lifecycle in change management - strategic vision, business modelling, target operating model, portfolio planning (conception to business case/ sign off), delivery and benefits realisation.
? Knowledge of full range of industry standard best practices in portfolio management
? Corporate understanding - experience of operating at senior management level
? Excellent man management skills - a natural leader

DESIRABLE skills:

? Financial services sector - although this is NOT essential
? PRINCE2 and/ or MSP qualifications

The opportunity on offer is rare in the current economic climate and has a very competitive salary package on offer. The business in question is well known as a great place to work with strong values in honesty, empathy and diligence.

Register initial interest with a CV - PLEASE note that if the above essential requirements are not present, your application will not be considered.

Source: http://www.harveynash.com/uk/hnit/jobs/details.asp?jobid=1415310&Sourceapply=4

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Jo-Anne's Ramblings: A Baby Shower For A Beautiful Niece

Wow I have had a busy Friday no surprise there as all Fridays are busy for me but yesterday afternoon I agreed to pick Little Leo up from day care and drive him home so it was around 5.30pm before I could really relax, I did manage to read about 10 blogs yesterday but didn't get back to my blog to read all the great comments I had till this afternoon.

Today I went to a baby shower for my beautiful niece Samantha, Jessica was going to come with me but when she got her she was crying and complaining that she had a headache and was just so tired as she had been up since 4am with Leo. So being me I told her to go and have a sleep while I took Leo with me to the baby shower.

Now I couldn't remember the address for the baby shower so I went to mums place but mum had already left so then I went to my sisters place and she gave me the address then I went and called in to see Natasha and made sure she knew were to go and she said she did and that she would come with me so I took her and Blain with me.

There was a good turn out of people from Sam's family as well as from her partner "TommyLee" family. I made sure everyone had presents for her becuase that is what I do and when I got home I settled down to read some more blogs I only got through around 8 or 10 before I left then I read all my comments and then read some more blogs then I went and had a nice hot bath and now I am writing this.

Tim left this morning for work at 7am so he should be home around 5 or 6pm thankfully it has stopped raining and I hope it is fine tomorrow as well as I have washing to do but since I was out for half the day I decided to do the washing tomorrow. I am also going to do a chicken pasta dish for lunch,so I am now ringing Kathy then Natasha and letting them know in case they want to come.

Source: http://jo-annemotherandnanna.blogspot.com/2012/06/baby-shower-for-beautiful-niece.html

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U.S. to ship helicopter-plane to Japan, delay flight

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U.S. to ship helicopter-plane to Japan, delay flight

Reuters | June 29, 2012 | 04:31 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said Friday it would start shipping 24 hybrid aircraft to Japan next month but would not fly them until final results of crash investigations confirmed for Tokyo that the helicopter-plane is safe.

The Marine Corps' MV-22 tilt-rotor troop transport's troubled past has stirred safety concerns and protests on Okinawa, the southern Japanese island where the Pentagon intends to deploy it as part of a streamlined U.S. military presence.

Long-running friction involving Okinawa has complicated the Obama administration's plans to boost the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific after 10 years of land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"In recognition of the remaining concerns of the Japanese government about the safety of the aircraft," the Defense Department will refrain from flights until final investigation results are presented to the Japanese government "and the safety of flight operations is confirmed," a Pentagon statement said.

The Pentagon said it anticipated presenting the results in August. In the meantime, Japan will be the only place worldwide where such flights will be suspended, including over the continental United States.

REVOLUTIONARY DESIGN

The aircraft, a revolutionary design, are to be shipped initially to Iwakuni, the only U.S. Marine Corps air station in the main Japanese islands, for unloading in late July.

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Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/48019143?__source=RSS*tag*&par=RSS

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Tips For Using Social Media For Your Product Launch

social media tips In this age of new media, social media networks provide great tools for communicating with your customers, clients, fans and followers. Below are a few tips for using social media when launching your next new product:

1. In the days before your product launch generate buzz about your new product on your social networking sites. Create status updates in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn letting your fans and followers know that something new is on the way. Create engagement by taking a photo of a part of the new product and post on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram and invite your followers to guess what it is.

2. Announce your new product on your social networks to allow your followers to be the first to get the details. These are your loyal followers and they deserve a reward for their loyalty! Depending on your product, you may wish to create a new Facebook Page or Twitter account for the product. If so, invite your current fans and followers to your new profiles.

3. Create a video featuring your new product and post on YouTube. Be sure to share links to your various social networks.

4. Create a Twitter hashtag for your product and generate conversation about your product. Ask for opinions, people love to give their opinions, and then use that feedback to improve your product and customer experience.

5. Create Facebook Ads for your product to help drive traffic and create awareness among those who are not yet your followers.

6. Don?t forget your email database! Be sure to send an email blast linking to your social networks for more information. Encourage them to share the news of your new product.

7. Run contests giving away your new product or contests aimed at improving engagement, such as photo or video contests. Be sure to market those campaigns across your social networks.

8. And last, but certainly not least, be sure to utilize your blog! Content and traffic on social networking sites is great, but even better is to give those viewers somewhere to learn more about your product, your industry, your expertise and your company.

Have you utilized social media to launch a product? What works for you?

Source: http://digitalsherpa.com/how-to/tips-for-using-social-media-for-your-product-launch

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What's new in Android 4.1 'Jelly Bean'

Google showed off Android 4.1 'Jelly Bean,' its latest phone and tablet operating system, at its I/O developers conference on Wednesday. Jelly Bean's new features include better support for voice commands, a smoother interface, a predictive keyboard, and Google Now.

By Jeff Ward-Bailey / June 29, 2012

Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," the latest iteration of Google's mobile operating system, offers voice controls and other improvements. Here, Hugo Barra, director of product management at Google, unveils "Jelly Bean" at the company's I/O developers conference.

Stephen Lam/Reuters

Enlarge

With all the emphasis on hardware at the Google I/O keynote on Wednesday, it was easy to overlook the software powering the Nexus devices on display: Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," the successor to the current "Ice Cream Sandwich" operating system.

Skip to next paragraph Jeff Ward-Bailey

Blogger

Jeff began writing for the Monitor's Horizons blog in 2011, covering product news and rumors, innovations from companies like Apple and Google, and developments in tech policy.

smsold: #GoogleChrome browser comes to #Apple #iPhone http://t.co/wUtyGRlU @apple @applenws

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Source: http://twitter.com/smsold/statuses/218901844259389440

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Apple Reminds Teachers And IT Pros About Free Web iPad-In-Education Webcast Series

One of the ways that working in education is different from almost any other industries is the annual summer break. The summer break let?s schools and districts tackle large projects in ways that simply aren?t possible in other fields. Deploying a brand-new network, building an expansion, and taking part in professional development programs are just a few examples.

With the end of the school year, Apple is taking the opportunity to remind schools and educators about a free professional development program that it?s offering. Called the Tune In Series, the program is a series of webcast events covering the iPad and many of the technologies that Apple introduced during its education event in January. The series is running every week through the end of August.

The free program, aimed teachers and IT leaders, covers a range of Apple technologies and their potential impact in the classroom. Each day of the week, Apple will tackle a different technology and will invite questions from the audience.

The five topics that will be covered each week include the iPad in education (Monday), content creation (Tuesday), iTunes U (Wednesday), iOS device licensing and deployment (Thursday), and Apple Configurator (Friday).

Some of the webcasts are clearly geared more towards teachers like those covering content creation and iTunes U. Others, most notably the sessions on licensing and Apple Configurator, seem more designed more for IT professionals.

The content creation webcasts looks particularly intriguing as it will cover iLife and iWork (for Mac and iOS) as well as iBooks Author. Similarly the iTunes U webcasts will focus not just on iTunes U as a resource for the classroom, but also on how teachers to produce and distribute their own classes.

The daily sessions, which start noon Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Pacific), have actually been running since the end of April, though Apple appears to be making an effort to remind educators of them now that school is out for the summer. Although focused on educators, the free sessions are open to anyone. Advanced registration is required.

The series is just one of many education webcasts that Apple has offered. Recordings of several previous webcasts are available for free (registration required) on Apple?s education site.

Source: http://www.cultofmac.com/176496/apple-reminds-teachers-and-it-pros-about-free-web-ipad-in-education-webcast-series/

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Making Your Partnership Work: A Guide for Ministry Leaders (Cross ...

What does it take to build a successful ministry partnership?

Daniel Rickett reflected on 20 years of experience and found the essential components to be a blend of vision, relationship, and results. In ?Making Your Partnership Work,? he shows how to build a partnership by focusing on nine imperatives of partnership:

Creating shared vision

Establishing compatibility

Applying ground rules

Keeping the relationship open and personal

Building intercultural understanding

Fostering trust

Measuring progress

Tracking agreements, contributions, and outcomes

Learning and handling change together

?Making Your Partnership Work?its like having a personal coach eager to help you build your ministry partnership.

Making Your Partnership Work: A Guide for Ministry Leaders

Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission

?Mary has done an incredible job in storying, through numerous case studies, the wedding as well as the marriage of good accountability and good cultural relationship. This book has showcased the deeply rooted but often glossed over relational challenge over money, men and materials that has bugged the kingdom from time immemorial. Here is a book that celebrates the vulnerability of both sides, examines the age-long mutual suspicion, and raises the bar to promote the dignity and integrity of both the giver and the receiver. I sense this book practically promotes nonthreatening, God-honoring accountability and sustainability of church family values in our quest to make Christ known across the globe. ?I commend the grace and boldness given to her to put this together. It is a worthy work, because money matters a lot in mission. I enjoyed reading it, perhaps because there are so many true-life stories in virtually every chapter. I extol this work joyfully to the body of Christ worldwide as an unbiased, well-set-out and constructively presented view on money and global Christianity. I will particularly love to have numerous copies to give to missions leaders in Africa while recommending it for use in field preparatory trainings.? (Timothy O. Olonade, executive secretary, Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA) )

?In matters of money, American evangelical mission has certainly made a mark in many positive ways, but our methodology in applying the funds has not always made such a positive mark. In this volume, Mary Lederleitner pulls some of those skeletons out of our dusty closets for a fresh examination of what we did right and what we could have done better. She offers many practical ways to avoid pitfalls as we move toward a more globalized mission partnership in the twenty-first century.? (Gilles Gravelle, director of research and field project development, The Seed Company )

?Cross-Cultural Partnerships brings the rare combination of mind, heart and experience of a seasoned yet compassionate accountability expert who is also a missionary with extensive field experience. Its realistic portrayal of the issues and practical suggestions for policy and action make this an invaluable read for anyone wanting to address one of the critical, central issues in partnerships within the growing global church.? (Phill Butler, director, Vision Synergy, and author of Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships )

?Mary takes us straight to the intersection of mission, money, culture and partnerships. She walks us through key issues regarding money that can complicate, derail and even destroy cross-cultural partnerships. Using biblical perspectives, categories from anthropology and practical experience, she provides valuable guidance. This is a must-read for anyone struggling with the role of money in such contexts.? (John Watters, former executive director of Wycliffe Bible Translators International )

?In our globalized world the North American missions community needs Cross-Cultural Partnerships! I found it filled with practical, down-to-earth advice built on extensive experience and solid research. Mary is much more than just an accountant with a decade of living experience working through issues of partnering with others; she truly knows how to compassionately listen, apply what she learns to test it out and then pass it on to the rest of us in ways that will benefit the whole body of Christ.? (Scott Moreau, professor of missions and intercultural studies, Wheaton College Graduate School, and author of Introducing World Missions )

?Mary Lederleitner?s conversational style combined with her fair-minded approach creates a book that is friendly as well as informative about a tough subject.She wastes no time pointing out the gorilla in the room when it comes to money in cross-cultural partnerships?cultural differences.Important as it is, culture is no excuse for bad behavior, and she tackles that as well with helpful material on how to prevent and detect embezzlement and fraud.If you read only one of the few books on money in mission partnerships, read this one.? (Daniel Rickett, author of Making Your Partnership Work and Building Strategic Relationships )

?Money is the defining and dividing issue in cross-cultural partnerships, and Mary Lederleitner has given us the essential cultural insights and very practical tools and applications to navigate these treacherous waters. Writing from years of experience, Mary shines light on our harmful assumptions and then guides us to better and biblical ways to achieve accountability, build capacity and create sustainable partnerships with lasting impact for the kingdom of God.This very compact book is a must for everyone who aspires to partner with Majority World leaders and churches. Its fresh insights and applications make it invaluable as a training tool, one that I will use in seminars for Western and Majority World church and mission leaders.? (Sherwood Lingenfelter, provost and senior vice president, Fuller Theological Seminary )

?I began reading Cross-Cultural Partnerships and became practically glued to it! Its case studies enlarge my own understanding of the issues. This book will contribute to better beliefs and practices regarding the proper place of money in kingdom partnerships.? (Alex Araujo, director of new mission initiatives, Partners International )

?Over the years Mary?s insights into the world of missions have informed, challenged and delighted me. Her organizational awareness, hands-on field experience and heart for others provide a 360 perspective on cross-cultural partnerships. This book is a tremendous resource for churches, mission agencies and any who wish to develop international partnerships.? (Adele Calhoun, copastor, Redeemer Community Church, and author, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook )

?Mary Lederleitner has winsomely brought the field of intercultural communication to bear on the thorny and complex relationship between cross-cultural partnerships and money. . . . Mary has given us a missiologically grounded text that is comprehensive, enlightening, eminently readable and thoroughly practical. I highly recommend it!? (Dr. Evvy Campbell, professor of missions and intercultural studies, Wheaton College )

?From years of experience working with NGOs in a number of countries around the world, Mary Lederleitner writes knowledgeably about the strains that differences in worldview and in cultural expectations regarding accountability in handling money can place on mission partnerships, themselves entered into with the best of intentions. This book is practical, well focused and vision-expanding. I recommend it highly.? (Dwight P. Baker, associate director and associate editor, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Overseas Ministries Study Center )

?When it comes to investing financial resources through cross-cultural partnerships, there are vast opportunities to build God?s kingdom. There is also an array of thorny tensions about money, arising mainly from cultural misunderstanding. Mary Lederleitner has done a great job of affirming the opportunities and navigating the cultural tensions. At last, here is a readable book with careful biblical insight about money and partnership, with gleanings from leading missiologists and expert partnership practitioners. Mixed in are real-life stories of partnership failures and great successes. Cross-Cultural Partnerships is an essential resource for Christian mission in the twenty-first century.? (Werner Mischke, vice president, Mission One )

One of the biggest challenges in global mission work is moneynot merely the need for it, but working through cross-cultural differences surrounding how funds are used and accounted for. Cross-cultural missteps regarding financial issues can derail partnerships between supporting churches and agencies and national leaders on the ground. North Americans dont understand how cultural expectations of patronage shape how financial support is perceived and understood, and Western money often comes with subtle strings attached. So local mission work is hampered by perceived paternalism, and donors are frustrated with lack of results or accountability. How do we build financial partnerships for effective mission without fostering neo-colonialism? Cross-cultural specialist Mary Lederleitner brings missiological and financial expertise to explain how global mission efforts can be funded with integrity, mutuality and transparency. Bringing together social science research, biblical principles and on-the-ground examples, she presents best practices for handling funding and finance. Cross-cultural partnerships can foster dignity, build capacity and work toward long-term sustainability. Lederleitner also addresses particular problems like misallocation of funds, embezzlement and fraud. This book is an essential guide for all who partner in global mission, whether pastors of supporting churches or missionaries and funding agencies.

Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission
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Source: http://gdlpclub.com/b/2012/201206/32454.html

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Scientists help create an extra second of summer: Leap second to be added on July 1, 2012

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) ? Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) will be adding a leap second at 00:59 BST on 1st July to its atomic clocks, to ensure UK time remains synchronized with international time.

The insertion of the leap second is required as Earth does not rotate at a constant speed, whereas atomic clocks, several of which are located at NPL's site in Teddington, are much better at keeping time. Due to the unpredictable nature of Earth's movement, leap seconds are occasionally required to bring atomic time back into alignment with astronomical time. This procedure ensures that on average the Sun remains overhead at noon.

Peter Whibberley, Senior Research Scientist in NPL's Time and Frequency Group, said: "The purpose of leap seconds is to make sure our time scale based on atomic clocks remains in step with the time based on the Earth's rotation. The Earth is a poor timekeeper compared to our clocks, and its rotation changes unpredictably due to changes in its atmosphere and molten core. The leap second correction to our atomic clocks means we get an extra second of summer time."

Historically, time was measured using the passage of the Sun across the sky -- Earth rotation time is still used by astronomers to track stars and spacecraft. Since the start of the 1960s, an atomic time scale, known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), has been the world's official time. The stability and global availability of UTC are essential for the smooth operations of satellite navigation and international telecommunications.

Over the last decade there has been considerable debate about the detrimental effects of inserting a leap second on computers and other equipment needing precise time. One minor effect is that some systems fail to implement a leap second at the correct instant and display an inaccurate time, but there is no agreement on the seriousness of this and other problems attributed to leap seconds.

The decision to introduce this year's leap second was taken by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), and timekeeping experts at NPL and other national timing centres will make the necessary changes to the atomic time scales on 00:00 30th June (UTC).

The future of the leap second is one of keen debate among the official international time measurement community. Some countries, including the US, have called for an end to leap seconds, but other countries disagree, and experts at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have delayed a decision on the future of the leap second until 2015.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120629142607.htm

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The Luckiest President: Inside Obama's Health Care Triumph

David Goldman / AP

Supporters of President Obama's health care law celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington on June 28, 2012, after the court announced its ruling

During the Tea Party summer of 2009, when suburban revolutionaries with funny hats and nasty signs began screaming about Obamacare and tyranny, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel urged the President to settle for a less comprehensive health plan. But Obama said no, he felt lucky. At the end of the summer, after Obama?s approval ratings had sagged and Obamacare?s approval ratings had plunged, Emanuel asked during an Oval Office meeting whether he still felt lucky.

?My name is Barack Hussein Obama and I?m sitting here,? said Obama, in an anecdote first reported by Jonathan Alter in his book The Promise. ?So yeah, I?m feeling pretty lucky.?

Today, Obama must be feeling even luckier.?Obamacare has survived, thanks to Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative George W. Bush appointee who surprised legal pundits by upholding the plan?s insurance requirement as a tax, even though Obama always insisted it wasn?t a tax. The other four conservative Justices wanted to strike down the entire law, but because one Republican in a robe defied expectations, Obama has secured an achievement that Democrats have dreamed of since FDR and Truman, extending health insurance to the uninsured, while laying the groundwork for systemic reforms. As Vice President Joe Biden said, it?s a big you-know-what deal.

And as the Duke of Wellington once said, it was a near run thing.

It?s worth recalling just how narrow a needle Obama had to thread to get his health plan to this point. During the 2008 campaign, Obama had criticized the individual mandate, arguing that the real problem with health care was that it was too expensive, and that the path to universal coverage was to make it cheaper. But when he decided to push for health reform in the spring of 2009, he discovered that Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, a centrist Democrat who took the lead on reform, thought a mandate was the only path to a filibuster-proof majority. So the White House let Baucus pursue a bipartisan solution.

Do you remember how the pressure mounted that spring and summer, as the Tea Party exploded, Republicans began attacking Obamacare as an assault on liberty, Sarah Palin began warning of ?death panels,? and even Baucus? close friend and primary negotiating partner, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, accused the President of trying to pull the plug on Grandma? Emanuel was screaming at Baucus to hurry up and deliver a bill, but Baucus felt like he needed to make every effort to reach out to Republicans ? not just to try to pick off a few GOP votes but also to appease red-state Democrats who didn?t want a partisan bill. So he slow-walked the bill, and the Fox News drumbeat kept getting louder, and the polls kept getting uglier.

Ultimately, it became clear that Republicans weren?t going to play, which meant Obama and Baucus needed the votes of every one of the 58 Democrats and two independents in the Senate. If Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota hadn?t been seated after winning a lengthy recount by a handful of votes, no Obamacare. If Arlen Specter hadn?t switched to the Democratic Party after his vote for Obama?s stimulus doomed his chances in a Tea Party-dominated GOP primary, no Obamacare. If Emanuel hadn?t cut backroom deals for individual Senators ? the ?Cornhusker Kickback? for Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the ?Louisiana Purchase? for Mary Landrieu of Louisiana ? no Obamacare. If Obama had insisted on including the ?public option? beloved by liberals but anathema to independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, no Obamacare. If centrists like Evan Bayh of Indiana or Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas had decided that the President and Baucus hadn?t made enough of an effort to bring in Republicans, no Obamacare.

And then, after the House and Senate finally managed to pass comprehensive reforms before the Christmas holiday, but before the two bills could be reconciled into a final compromise legislation, an unknown Massachusetts Republican named Scott Brown won a stunning upset to claim the late Ted Kennedy?s Senate seat, upending the filibuster-proof Democratic majority. It looked like Obamacare was dead after all. House and Senate Democrats were at one another?s throats, drowning in recriminations. Again, Emanuel pushed Obama to cut a deal for a modest bill rather than destroy his presidency in an ignominious defeat. Again, Obama felt lucky.

The President barely mentioned health care in his 2010 State of the Union address. But somehow, he got the bill across the finish line. There was yet another hiccup near the end over abortion, but the White House worked out a deal that kept pro-life House Democrats on board. And with some legislative legerdemain, the House passed the Senate bill, so Obama no longer needed 60 votes, and the Senate approved some tweaks that didn?t require 60 votes, as well as a sweeping student-loan reform that had to be included for reasons I don?t even remember right now.

Most legal scholars scoffed at the notion that the Supreme Court might find the law unconstitutional, but it turned out to be a very serious threat. Just the other day, an Obama campaign operative told me the White House seemed blithely confident that the court would uphold the bill, that Obama didn?t seem to have a Plan B. ?They seem to think it?s going to be fine,? he said in a tone of voice that didn?t suggest he thought it was going to be fine.

It turned out that they were right. Without a single vote to spare in the court, the same margin it had in Congress, Obamacare survived. Barack Hussein Obama is a lucky guy. And today, 32 million uninsured Americans are sharing his good fortune.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/time/topstories/~3/-OeebCjH8rw/

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7 seconds put Errani in 2nd round; Federer wins

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ? Count 'em: 7 seconds.

That's how long French Open runner-up Sara Errani "played" at Wimbledon on Wednesday against qualifier CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. ? enough time to wrap up a 6-1, 6-3 victory in the first round.

How's that possible? Because action was suspended by rain a night earlier, with the 10th-seeded Errani at match point as the 132nd-ranked Vandeweghe served.

When they resumed, after the customary several-minute warmup ritual of baseline strokes, volleys, overheads and serves, Vandeweghe tossed up a ball and hit it into the net. Moments later, she hit her second serve into the net, too, to complete the double-fault that ended the match, right then and there ? leaving both women smiling and spectators guffawing. Errani joined in the laughter as she packed away her racket bag, and kept right on giggling during her news conference.

Asked by an Italian reporter to recount what happened, Errani said, justifiably: "There's not much to tell."

Asked by another whether she'd bothered to take a shower, Errani assured him she planned to later.

"I had talked to my coach to plan what I wanted to do in the match," Errani said, "but there was no need."

All in all, it was exactly the sort of unusual happening that Day 3 kept producing in what's shaping up as a wet and wild week at the All England Club. Another: Prince Charles visited his nation's most famous tennis club, something he hadn't done in 42 years.

Four of the top 13 seeded women were sent packing Wednesday, including 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, 2011 French Open champion Li Na, and former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki.

The fifth-seeded Stosur's 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 loss to 72nd-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands means Australia will have zero men or women in the third round for the first time since 1939.

"It's a pretty woeful performance by all of us," said Stosur, the last of nine Australians in the tournament.

Wozniacki, who hadn't departed any Grand Slam tournament in the first round in more than five years, blew two match points in the second set and was beaten 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 by 37th-ranked Tamira Paszek of Austria. It was the first match of the fortnight played with the Centre Court's retractable roof closed.

"I had over two years where I was winning these matches," said No. 7 Wozniacki, who is dating 2011 U.S. Open golf champion Rory McIlroy and is still seeking her first major title. "I feel lately it's going the other way a little bit. It's not the first match this year where I have match points and not winning. You know, it's frustrating."

No. 11 Li lost to 52nd-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-4 in a second-round match, and 13th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova was beaten by 31st-ranked Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

Adding to the anything-can-happen vibe, at least for the better part of an hour: No. 1 Maria Sharapova trailed 38th-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova throughout the first set, fended off five set points, and was ahead 7-6 (3), 3-1 when their second-round match was suspended by darkness.

That was one of four singles matches halted in progress, while four others were postponed entirely, adding to the backlog created by showers.

Before the rain came, Prince Charles sat in the Royal Box at Centre Court, watching six-time champion Roger Federer stumble once and awkwardly tweak his left knee but otherwise easily reach the third round by beating 68th-ranked Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

"I'm fine. No pain, which is good," Federer said. "It could be dangerous with the left knee. I'm happy it was only basically a bruise to the ground, and not anything in the knee itself."

Federer and Fognini offered slightly stilted bows on their way off the court. Afterward, Federer chatted with and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall for a few minutes, discussing tennis, polo and Federer's young twin daughters.

"They do brief you beforehand," said Federer, owner of a record 16 major championships, but none in the last 2 1/2 years. "I guess you don't do anything stupid. You behave. Obviously we were asked to bow, which is obviously no problem to do."

He said the royals "thought I played great ... which was unnecessary, but of course, I do appreciate it."

His performance was hardly out of the ordinary, of course. Nor was the 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory turned in by top-seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic against 20-year-old American Ryan Harrison under the roof in the day's last match. Or straight-set wins by Andy Roddick to reach the second round and Kim Clijsters to get to the third.

Djokovic's second-round match against Harrison actually was much tighter than the score implies. Each man hit eight aces. Djokovic had one more winner, 31-30, and one more unforced error, 15-14. What made the difference? Djokovic converted 3 of 3 break points, and Harrison went 0 for 6.

"I was in trouble in the second set," Djokovic acknowledged. "It could have easily gone the other way."

But there were other interesting happenings.

Heather Watson, a British player ranked 103rd, became the first woman from the tournament's host country to reach the third round since 2002 by eliminating Jamie Hampton of the United States 6-1, 6-4.

Sloane Stephens, an unseeded 19-year-old American making her main-draw debut at the All England Club, saved five set points in the opener and wound up eliminating No. 23 Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3. In the third set, Stephens was behind love-30 in four consecutive service games, before coming back to win each of them.

"I do still have some lapses," she said. "They're less now than I used to have in the past. I really don't get as upset when I lose points now. I'm not that emotional anymore."

No. 21-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada needed only slightly longer than Errani to finish off his rain-interrupted victory, coming back after a night's sleep to take the one game he was missing for a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. Raonic is scheduled to face Sam Querrey of the United States in the second round Thursday.

Errani is supposed to back out there Thursday, too, facing Anne Keothavong of Britain.

Seems safe to say Errani will need to put in a little more time and effort on court ? weather permitting, of course.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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Exxon's CEO: Climate, energy fears overblown

FILE - In a Thursday Oct. 6, 2011 file photo, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson addresses the third annual Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum in Washington. Tillerson says fears about climate change, drilling, and energy dependence are overblown. In a speech Wednesday, June 27, 2012, Tillerson acknowledged that burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, but said society will be able to adapt. The risks of oil and gas drilling are well understood and can be mitigated, he said. And dependence on other nations for oil is not a concern as long as access to supply is certain, he said(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson says fears about climate change, drilling, and energy dependence are overblown.

In a speech Wednesday, Tillerson acknowledged that burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, but said society will be able to adapt. The risks of oil and gas drilling are well understood and can be mitigated, he said. And dependence on other nations for oil is not a concern as long as access to supply is certain, he said.

Tillerson blamed a public that is "illiterate" in science and math, a "lazy" press, and advocacy groups that "manufacture fear" for energy misconceptions in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He highlighted that huge discoveries of oil and gas in North America have reversed a 20-year decline in U.S. oil production in recent years. He also trumpeted the global oil industry's ability to deliver fuels during a two-year period of dramatic uncertainty in the Middle East, the world's most important oil and gas-producing region.

"No one, anywhere, any place in the world has not been able to get crude oil to fuel their economies," he said.

In his speech and during a question-and-answer session after, he addressed three major energy issues: Climate change, oil and gas drilling pollution, and energy dependence.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Tillerson, in a break with predecessor Lee Raymond, has acknowledged that global temperatures are rising. "Clearly there is going to be an impact," he said Wednesday.

But he questioned the ability of climate models to predict the magnitude of the impact. He said that people would be able to adapt to rising sea levels and changing climates that may force agricultural production to shift.

"We have spent our entire existence adapting. We'll adapt," he said. "It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution."

Andrew Weaver, chairman of climate modeling and analysis at the University of Victoria in Canada, disagreed with Tillerson's characterization of climate modeling. He said modeling can give a very good sense of the type of climate changes that are likely. And he said adapting to those changes will be much more difficult and disruptive than Tillerson seems to be acknowledging.

Steve Coll, author of the recent book "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," said he was surprised Exxon would already be talking about ways society could adapt to climate change when there is still time to try to avoid its worst effects. Also, he said, research suggests that adapting to climate change could be far more expensive than reducing emissions now. "Moving entire cities would be very expensive," he said.

Legislation or regulation that would help slow the emissions of global warming gases would likely lead to lower demand for oil and gasoline, and could reduce Exxon's profit.

DRILLING

Tillerson expressed frustration at the level of public concern over new drilling techniques that tap natural gas and oil in shale formations under several states. He said environmental advocacy groups that "manufacture fear" have alarmed a public that doesn't understand drilling practices ? or math, science or engineering in general. He blamed "lazy" journalists for producing stories that scare the public but don't investigate the claims of advocacy groups.

Drilling for oil and gas will always involve risks of spills and accidents, he said. But those risks are manageable and worth taking because they are small given the amount of energy they produce.

Drilling in shale formations, he said, only poses a small risk to those living nearby. It is neither life threatening nor long lasting and can be controlled in the event of an accident.

Drillers force millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and some hazardous chemicals into shale formations. The technique breaks up rock and creates escape routes for oil and gas. If the drilling wastewater is not treated properly or if it seeps through cracked drilling pipes, it could contaminate drinking water.

The industry's biggest challenge, he said, is "taking an illiterate public and try to help them understand why we can manage these risks."

ENERGY SECURITY

Tillerson made a distinction between energy security and energy dependence. He said that energy security ? making sure that the economy has access to energy ? is crucial.

But he said access to energy is not in peril. "Some of the fears around energy security are not well founded," he said.

The quest for energy independence, though, is misguided, he said. It doesn't matter where the U.S. gets oil because crude is priced globally. Even if the U.S. used only oil from North America, a disruption in the Middle East would increase global prices, hurt the U.S. and global economies, and force Americans to pay more at the pump.

Even if the U.S. no longer needed Middle Eastern oil, it would likely want to play a major role in helping maintain the region's security, Tillerson said.

____

AP writers Seth Borenstein and Dina Cappiello contributed to this story from Washington. Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey.

Associated Press

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Analysis: Morgan Stanley faces Facebook fallout, limits damage

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The State of Superhero Gaming | The Smoking Jacket

When Batman: Arkham Asylum came out in 2009, it really was the best superhero video game ever released, and raised the bar for every other one forever. Now, as we approach the release of Beenox?s The Amazing Spider-Man on June 26, the first game in a few years to be free of that series? yearly iteration cycle, gamers are all aflutter. Will we finally, as all advance hype indicates, get the Spider-Man game we?ve always wanted?

Batman and Spider-Man have an unusual pull on most gamers because they are the superheroes whose origins to which we can most closely relate. Spider-Man was a skinny nerd, awkward with girls, and gifted with a sudden, marvellous ability that let him rise above his tormentors. And while most of us are not the sons of murdered billionaire parents, there is something about the quality and expression of Batman?s anger that appeals to us ? a thoughtful vigilantism. Both are, for gamers (and movie-goers, it seems) the most human and relatable heroes. So, understandably, we?re very particular about the videogames that purport to put us in these superheroes? tights. And the way they control is at the height of these concerns.

To reference another game that involves forces that could be seen as superpowers, 2002?s Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is widely regarded as the finest execution of Star Wars lightsabering in any videogame, including LucasArt?s recent Force Unleashed releases. Its responsive system gave you the ability to turn on a dime and jump out of any animation. It came with various stances, so you could adjust your fighting style depending on your enemy. Your avatar could flip, twirl, dodge and attack, just like in the movies. But more importantly, the control of the character was just like how you thought it would feel. That?s key.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast trailer

Batman: Arkham Asylum won so many awards for Game of the Year because the team at RockSteady managed the difficult task of creating a game that corresponded to how we thought it would feel to be Batman. It was the perfect storm of story, gadgets, stealth and brutal brawls. It wasn?t play-acting. In the game, you were Batman, and could do all the cool things you saw Batman do in the comics and the movies and in your mind.?Maybe even going back to all the times you played at being Batman when you were a kid, when you were Batman for Halloween, when you made a fake utility belt, wore a cape, made a batcave out of cardboard. They tapped into all of that, and that?s why I will always love them.

And so, dauntingly, Beenox is releasing The Amazing Spider-Man in the long skyscraper-sized shadow of 2004?s Spider-Man 2 by Treyarch, whose controls gamers feel, are perfect.

When Spider-Man 2 was released, it was a revelation. I spent hours playing that game, not even bothering with any missions ? just swinging around the city. I felt like Spider-Man swinging around Manhattan. Interestingly, Treyarch didn?t simplify things. They made swinging hard. If we look at the continuum between something like Tony Hawk?s 1-button activation of death-defying tricks and Skate?s carefully micro-managed system where every button controls a different limb, Spider-Man 2 definitely fell more on the Skate side. I still remember the elegant hand ballet of having to depress a trigger, hit a button and move a stick in sequence to get the most effective swing. It was difficult to master, at times frustratingly so, and more like driving a standard when most cars are automatic. But the degree of control you had when you finally mastered it was breathtaking and incredibly satisfying. You thought to yourself, ?This is what Spider-Man would have to go through for every swing. Amazing.?

All indications are that Beenox?s upcoming release aims to do away with that complicated system. Web-swinging is now a one-button right trigger affair, whose webs no longer attach to anything real (i.e. the side of a building) and instead, cling to the clouds. Or, you may opt for the much vaunted ?Web-Rush? system, a mechanic that slows down time and allows you to plot out a course to a possible perch, toward which your Spider-Man will dutifully go.

The Amazing Spider-Man trailer

I can see why these chose to do this. The?Spider-Man 2 controls had its drawbacks. The need for webs to attach to something tangible, like the side of a building, inevitably led to you swinging toward it. Swinging wasn?t a smooth affair. It was more like a sailboat than a motorboat. You tacked from swing to swing. Still, I can?t help but feel that something is lost in the simplification. All I can do is hope the rest of the game more than makes up for it.

Sherwin Sullivan Tjia is the author of five books:?Gentle Fictions,?Pedigree Girls?(Insomniac Press),?The World is a Heartbreaker?(Coach House Books),?The Hipless Boy?(Conundrum Press). His latest is a choose-your-own-adventure story told from the perspective of a cat. It?s called?You Are a Cat!?(Conundrum Press). His most recent invention, the E-Z-Purr, is a CD with over an hour of cats purring! and is available for purchase from?CD Baby.

Related on?The Smoking Jacket:
Alan Wake, American Nightmare
Getting Into Max Payne, Again
Predicting Meta Critic Game Scores

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

NBA Draft 2012: Of Darko, Greg Oden and the Scariest Moment in Professional Sports

There is no scarier moment in professional sports than tonight around 8 pm when NBA Commissioner David Stern will shakes hands with a very tall young man in a flashy suit and a commemorative baseball cap. At least if you?re an NBA GM and that young man is about to become the highly-paid employee upon which your future rests.

Why do GMs have nightmares about Draft Day? Here?s Exhibit A:

?He?s going to own the game. Own the game. We?re going to have to build a new arena. The only thing that could destroy a kid like that is a woman. I?ve seen a lot of kids come through here in my day. And none of them have ever played like that. That kid?s going to be a star. He?s a 7-footer that plays like a point guard. That kid?s something special.?

The guy making those lofty pronouncements? Detroit Piston scout Will Robinson, who found future All-Stars Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman when they were diamonds in the rough.

About whom was he enthusing?? Darko Milicic.

In the 2003 NBA Draft the Pistons owned the number two pick, and passed on Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony to pick the Serbian power forward so talented that a few pundits thought that Cleveland should take him with the first pick instead of LeBron James.

It wasn?t a woman who destroyed Milicic. Just a lack of NBA skills and commitment. His career stats: 6.0 points per game, and 4.2 rebounds

But Robinson was hardly alone. ESPN?s Chad Ford was equally effusive in his praise of the young Serbian.

?Darko is really one of a kind. He runs the floor, handles the ball, shoots the NBA 3 and plays with his back to the basket, so you can slot him in at the 3, 4 or 5 positions. OK, a few other guys can do that too; what sets Darko apart is his toughness in the post.?

Welcome to the world of the NBA Draft. Where? else in the world of business does a top manager have to make a decision so important, so public, and with so much possibility for it blowing up in his face?

Indeed,Darko was not even the most legendary draft day bust of the last decade. That honor would go to Greg Oden of the Portland Trailblazers.

?You can see why he?d be a No. 1 pick. I think he?s one of the best centers to come out of college. He?s quick and agile, he?s 7-feet, 250. I?ve never seen that in a center before.?

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Merkel rejects EU debt sharing

BRUSSELS, Belgium ? Economic growth was the mantra Thursday as European leaders gathered to sign off on measures to boost it around the continent. Yet expectations of a breakthrough on the explosive issue of pooling European debt have fallen by the wayside.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn told reporters he expected leaders would agree on new growth measures for Europe, as well as taking some kind of action to reduce borrowing rates for Spain and Italy, which are approaching unmanageable levels.

?I expect that there will be a decision on a further step toward rebuilding the economic and monetary union,? he said shortly before the summit was to start. ?We also need concrete decisions on a short term stabilization of financial markets, especially sovereign debt markets.?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has resolutely opposed the issuing of mutual debt known as Eurobonds. Other leaders have backed the idea of eurobonds as a key way of fixing the eurozone?s problems as they would help lower indebted countries? borrowing costs. But Merkel has been reluctant to expose her country to new potential costs, and is concerned that eurobonds may minimize the pressure on countries like Greece and Spain to reform their economies.

?I think we should stop talking about eurobonds now because, with the German government?s ?no,? with this definitive ?no? from Mrs. Merkel, eurobonds are now a non-issue,? the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said Thursday.

?I personally continue to see it as a good solution, a sensible one, but there is no sense in conducting theoretical debates when the house is on fire,? Schulz told Germany?s ZDF television.

Global stock markets mostly sank Thursday as European leaders prepared for the summit.

Markets and investors, who felt burned by past promises they saw as too weak to solve Europe?s debt crisis, want a breakthrough this week to ensure the region?s debt crisis doesn?t engulf the world economy, but they aren?t expecting one. Any breakthrough would hinge on Merkel, who brings the weight of the continent?s largest, strongest economy with her to the meeting in Brussels.

The France-sponsored plan to stimulate growth and increase government tax revenues is relatively modest. Although worth C130 million ($162 million), it is expected to consist mostly of European funds already earmarked for development.

Far more urgent in the short term is finding a way to keep the cost of borrowing money sustainable for weaker EU countries.

The leaders of Italy, France and Spain are pressing Germany to agree to share debts before markets push the 17-nation eurozone any closer to collapse. The EU?s top officials and the International Monetary Fund have argued the same.

Merkel isn?t likely to budge. She has argued repeatedly ? as recently as Wednesday ? that short-term solutions such as pooled debt or a more active European Central Bank are useless unless governments prove they can manage their budgets. She wants a grand, ambitious political union first.

European Parliament head Schulz, who is a member of Germany?s centre-left opposition Social Democrats, urged the EU leaders to ?talk about a debt redemption fund, or we should perhaps talk about a banking license for the European Stability Mechanism, there are solutions other than Eurobonds that are possible.?

While they may not be able to change Merkel?s mind, other leaders who avoided confronting her in the past may not hold back this time.

Italy?s Prime Minister Mario Monti, at risk of losing his job because of voter frustration with austerity measures, has been increasingly outspoken.

Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday night, he said Italians have made great sacrifices and gotten their country?s deficit under control but the yields on Italian debt have soared to one-year highs anyway.

If Italians become discouraged that their efforts aren?t helping, then Monti warned of ?political forces which say ?let European integration, let the euro, let this or that large country go to hell?, which would be a disaster for the whole of the European Union.?

Monti said he?s ready to work until Sunday night ? instead of the scheduled Friday end of the summit ? to ensure that leaders produce a growth package convincing enough to calm financial markets.

Spain?s prime minister is sounding especially desperate.

?The most urgent issue is financing,? Mariano Rajoy said. ?We can?t continue for a long time to finance ourselves with these prices; there are many institutions and financial entities that don?t have access to financial markets.?

Simon Tilford of the Center for Economic Reform said, ?We?re seeing the French, Italians and Spanish showing a greater readiness to act as one.?

In the past, they were reluctant to isolate Merkel, he said.

?But that flexible approach ... has delivered very little. They have grown alarmed and frustrated,? he said. ?If anyone is to lead the charge, it may be Monti, he is the one who has the most credibility on the European stage? ? and the most to lose if pressure on Merkel fails.

While France has been the traditional partner ? and counterweight ? to Germany in European dealings in the past, President Francois Hollande has just seven weeks of governing under his belt, and built his career as a consensus-builder. And his country?s economy is weaker, with growth forecast at just 0.4 per cent this year.

Hollande was grinning broadly Wednesday night at the one concession he has been able to wring from Merkel so far, an agreement to put growth on the European agenda alongside austerity measures.

Merkel, standing stiffly at Hollande?s side ahead of bilateral talks in Paris, agreed to push for the $162 billion stimulus package that Hollande has vaunted, even though it is largely just a re-packaging of existing EU funds.

Shortly after his meeting with Merkel, Hollande talked to President Barack Obama about their common push for growth.

Even if leaders of all 26 other EU nations line up against Merkel, she cannot bend very far.

She needs the German Parliament to approve the eurozone?s permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and a European budget-discipline pact, both expected to happen Friday. And many measures floated as possible solutions could require changes to Germany?s constitution.

Amid calls for Greece or other Mediterranean states ? and even Germany ? to pull out of the euro, Merkel argued Wednesday for greater unity.

?We need more Europe. Markets are waiting for that.?

But she also insisted that jointly issued eurobonds ? which some experts say would help defuse the prospect of unaffordable bailouts for Spain or Italy by making their debt less expensive to pay off ? would be ?economically wrong and counterproductive? before governments have shown they can comply with budget rules.

?Supervision and liability must go hand in hand,? she said.

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News organizations don't all get ruling right

This television frame grab shows CNN broadcasting the Supreme Court's decision on President Barack Obama's health care law on Thursday, June 28, 2012. Both CNN and Fox News Channel incorrectly reported Thursday that the law's central provision, requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance, had been struck down. Both networks backtracked when it became clear that the court upheld the provision. Broadcast networks broke into regular programming to deliver special reports and generally got it right. To get the news out quickly, competitive news organizations had to wade through pages of legal writing. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A rush to quickly report the Supreme Court's decision on President Barack Obama's health care law on Thursday tripped up some news organizations that got it wrong and had to quickly correct themselves.

Both CNN and Fox News Channel initially reported incorrectly that the law's central provision, requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance, had been struck down. In an apology, CNN said it "regrets that it didn't wait to report out the full and complete opinion regarding the mandate."

The Associated Press got it right, as did other news organizations and broadcast television outlets, generally. A minute after the AP flash alert at 10:07 a.m., The New York Times asked its readers for time, with Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt posting that reporters and editors were analyzing the decision.

"Once we are comfortable with its basic meaning, you can expect a torrent of coverage," he said. The Times next sent news via Twitter at 10:20.

It was a particularly embarrassing muff for CNN, which has suffered through one of its worst ratings quarters in several years, primarily due to a paucity of big news. The network eagerly awaited the Supreme Court's decision Thursday, running a "countdown clock" on its screen during the morning ticking down to 10 a.m.

Anchor Wolf Blitzer and reporter Kate Bolduan quickly reported that the health care law was struck down, based on a reading of Chief Justice John Roberts' decision that the mandate was not a valid exercise of congressional power under the commerce clause. Later in the reading, the justices found other reasons for upholding that portion of the law.

CNN's screen read: "Supreme Ct. Kills Individual Mandate."

"The court striking down that mandate is a dramatic blow to the president," said John King, CNN reporter.

The network also sent an email reporting that the mandate had been struck down and posted the news on Twitter.

By 10:13 a.m., some doubt had seeped in and the onscreen headline read: "Supreme Court Rules on Obama Law."

"Let's take a deep breath and see what the justices actually decided," Blitzer said. "It could be more complicated than we originally thought."

By 10:15, the network was reporting that the entire law had been upheld, and King called it "a huge, huge victory for President Obama."

Fox made the same initial mistake, with Bill Hemmer touting the "breaking news" that the individual mandate had been declared unconstitutional. Fox anchor Bret Baier tweeted the same news. Within two minutes, however, Megyn Kelly was citing the SCOTUSblog in casting doubt on that interpretation, even ordering producers to change an onscreen headline that read: "Supreme Court Finds Health Care Individual Mandate Unconstitutional."

"We're trying to do the best we can," Hemmer said.

Michael Clemente, Fox executive vice president of news and editorial, was unapologetic. "We gave our viewers the news as it happened ... Fox reported the facts, as they came in."

Several members of Congress tweeted incorrect information about the ruling, perhaps based on the initial misreading by cable networks.

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California called it a "big win for liberty and the Constitution. Rep. Tom Rooney (R, Fla.) said it was "great news for the American people, victory for constitution."

On CBS, Jan Crawford spoke on the air as she scanned the decision. "It appears, based on our quick summary, that the mandate, the individual mandate at the heart of this case may be in jeopardy under one provision of the constitution but they may have upheld the mandate under another provision."

ABC initially bobbled one detail ? calling the ruling 6-3 instead of 5-4 ? but correctly reported the outcome in a special report by Terry Moran. NBC's Pete Williams said that "the bottom line here is the Supreme Court has upheld the health care law."

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AP Television Writer Frazier Moore and AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.