Google Chrome 25

Since I looked at Google Chrome 23, the search giant hasn't added a whole lot that users will notice, even though it's incremented by two version numbers. In Chrome 24, Chrome's developers tweaked JavaScript performance and bookmark searching, and added support for MathML and a few other minor HTML5 items. In the current version, Chrome 25, we get a new Speech API for voice recognition and speech-to-text, but no sites actually use this yet. We also get some protection from unwanted extension installation?something I'm running into lately with friends who were using Chrome.

Back in Chrome 23, Google finally joined all the other major Web browsers by including support for the Do Not Track privacy system first introduced by Mozilla and encouraged by the FTC. Unfortunately, most users will probably never see Chrome's Do Not Track option, since it's buried in advanced settings. The new version also adds GPU-accelerated video decoding and easier site privacy settings from the address bar. With its continual improvements and feature adds, Chrome remains the Web browser of choice, thanks to blazing speed, and ground-breaking features and leading technology support.?

Unique features like Chrome Instant, built-in Flash and PDF display, leading Web standards support, and a minimalist application window keep Chrome at the top of the browser competition?Firefox (Free, 4 stars), Internet Explorer 9 (Free, 4 stars), Opera (Free, 4 stars), and Maxthon. All those still struggle to equal Chrome's Spartan user interface, speedy operation, and leading emerging standards support.

Emulating a trend started by IE9, Chrome's speed is now boosted by hardware acceleration, the use of your PC's graphics processor to speed up operations. To this Chrome's adds support for 3D WebGL graphics that even works on older computers, such as those running Windows XP?something IE9 can't boast.

But speed involves more than pure performance results on tests. Speed also comes with new standards support, in Chrome's case, for Google's SPDY initiative, which rewrites the basic transport protocol of the Web?HTTP. SPDY eliminates redundant interactions and compresses some sent data to speed up browsing. Only sites that support the standard, like some of Google's own, will benefit from the speedup, however.

Another speeder-upper comes in the form of Chrome's many "instant" features. First, there was Google Instant, by which Web search results start appearing as soon as you start typing in the Google search box. Then came Instant Pages, in which Chrome tries to guess which link you're likely to click on next, and preload that page in the background. Another "instant" feature, pre-loads the first-proposed autocomplete site in the background when you start typing in the browser's address bar, so that it springs into view instantly when you click on the auto suggestion's entry.

Chrome boasts all the Web browser tools we've come to expect: bookmark syncing, a built-in PDF reader, and extensions. The browser's fine design, compatibility, and especially the speed have impressed the Web community enough to make Chrome the fastest growing browser in terms of market share. On this measure, it's got anywhere from 17 to 34 percent, depending on whose numbers you believe. According to one often-cited source, NetMarketShare, the browser has actually started dropping of in usage share from a high of 19.58 percent in May 2012 to 17.48 percent in January 2013. Even a source more favorable to Chrome, StatCounter, has its meteoric growth tapering off, only adding a tenth of a percent of market share in January 2013.

Speech
For a more Siri-like experience in the browser, the Speech API supported in Chrome starting with version 25 adds to the browsers previously existing support for HTML Speech Input standard introduced in version 11. Unlike HTML5 Speech Input, the new API enables scripted speech output and user input for forms, dictation, and device control. According to the W3C the standard is "not a W3C Standard nor is it on the W3C Standards Track." The community group behind the API is headed up by Google employees, and it's not supported by any other released browser at present, and the only implementation of it relies on Google's servers. The spec allows for other translation mechanisms, but this raises the question of each browswer implementing it differently. Since both Macs and PCs have had built-in speech recognition for years, it would make sense to just use the local capability.

Google has posted a test page that shows off the new API, with no more than a microphone icon and a text box. As with pages using WebRTC access to webcam and microphone, the browser first displays a bar at the top that lets you Allow or Deny access to the mic. Once you allow it, pressing the mic and talking lets you produce text in a surprising choice of languages?even Latin! The text appears after you release the mic button, and in my quick tests the transcribed speech was surprisingly accurate.

Yes, it's a cool feature, but I worry that its real purpose is to get your words stored on Google's servers rather than just to help you interact with your computer. Then again, you?ve got to pay for all this great technology somehow.

Swift Setup
Even the setup process shows Chrome's commitment to speed: Just click the Install button on the Chrome Web page, and you'll have the browser up and running in less than a minute, with no wizard to go through and no system restart. The browser's available for Mac OS X and Linux, as well as Windows. It also updates itself automatically in the background, but with version 25, extensions are no longer silently updated. This protects users from unwanted extensions installing themselves, but it also means updates you want will be less hands-free.

Starting with version 17, a change in the first-run appearance of the browser occurred. You still saw a generous dialog box giving you the option to use Bing, Google, or Yahoo as your search engine, but the first view of the browser window asks you to sign into a Google account. This doesn?t change the behavior of the browser, but it does show Google?s increasingly solipsistic view of the Web, and raises concerns about browser tracking. On the plus side, it does give you the benefit of being able to sync your different browser settings and bookmarks on different computers (more on this later).

Chrome Instant Pages
Not to be confused with Chrome Instant (see below) or Google Instant (which works on all browser to load Google search results as you type), Chrome Instant Pages requires both Chrome and a site that supports the feature. Of the latter, there is now just one important one: Google Search. The idea is that when you perform a search in Google, the browser will pre-load the page for the result link you're most likely to click on.

In several tests on a slower Wi-Fi connection, however, I only noticed an occasional improvement for simple pages. It seemed only to work for the first result link. Heavy multimedia sites still took their time to load. On a very fast wired connection, some page result were extremely fast, but in that case, you don't really benefit from pre-loading. I saw a definitely faster load for grainger.com than in Opera on the same connection. The idea makes a lot of sense though, particularly for multipage articles, where it's most likely that the next link you'll hit is the one labeled "Next."

The only drawback: If the site guesses your next click wrong, page load could be slower than without Instant Pages, and you'll have wasted bandwidth loading a page you never visited. But this is a technique that's been done using JavaScript or HTML and CSS for years, so I'm not sure why we need a browser-specific solution to preloading pages, but Instant Pages does have the ability to load outside sites, rather than just pages of your own. If you don't like the idea of your browser loading pages before you click on a link, you can turn off the feature in the Under the Hood section of Options (accessible from the wrench icon), and uncheck "Predict network actions to improve page load performance."

Built-in Flash and PDF Support
Chrome is the only browser to come with Adobe Flash built in, rather than requiring a separate (and annoying) installation. And not having to perform the frequent required updates of the Flash plugin separately is another boon?it updates automatically with the browser. With version 10, many of the security issues with Flash (famously bemoaned by Apple's Steve Jobs) went away, thanks to running the plugin in an isolated sandbox so that it doesn't have access to critical system areas.

Chrome boasts a PDF reader as well, so you don't have to worry about installing any Adobe plugins for viewing specialized Web content. When you load a PDF, an intuitive toolbar shows when your mouse cursor is in the southeast vicinity of the browser window. From this, you can have the document fill the width of the window, show a full page, or zoom in and out. By default, you can select text for cutting and pasting, but I couldn't copy and paste images. You can print the PDF as you would any Web page.

Chrome's PDF viewer not only does what its name implies, but also serves as a print preview feature. Unlike IE's print preview, Chrome's shows up in a tab rather than its own window. But you have to go through it to print: In IE, I can just click the printer icon to send a page to the printer if I don't want to fuss with settings. I could choose between color and B&W, portrait and landscape, and choose the target printer, or print to PDF.

An Advanced button got me into the printer's own settings dialog, but this dismissed the print preview, making me have to choose Print from the menu again. But Chrome didn't let me choose a zoom percentage for the printout as Firefox and IE did, nor did it let me turn page headers on and off or choose margin sizes in a Page Setup dialog as those two did. So Chrome's print preview is a decent start, but it's still a bit behind the competition.

Interface
Minimalism has been a hallmark of Chrome since its first beta release. Tabs are above everything, and the only row below them holds the combined search/address bar, or "Omnibox." Here you can type any part of an address or page title, and the most likely site candidates will be presented in a dropdown. Optionally you can display bookmark links in a row below this. And the control buttons on the top-right of the browser window have been reduced to the absolute minimum?just one.

Google has removed the Page icon and placed some of its functions under the wrench button. Some of the Page options have been combined into buttons on one line in the menu, such as Cut, Copy, and Paste. I like what Google's done with the Zoom choice on the menu, adding plus and minus buttons that save you from having to fly out another submenu.

Another theme in the Chrome interface is that everything looks like a Web page, displaying in the main browser window, rather than in separate dialog boxes. This includes the interfaces for History, Extensions, Bookmarks, and even Options.

Mac users haven't been overlooked in the interface department, either. The browser supports OS X Lion's full screen view, along with overlay scrollbars that only appear when you're scrolling. Other more minor characteristics of the OS X "Aqua" style give Chrome on the Mac a more Mac-y appearance. Chrome also supports the new MacBooks' high-resolution Retina displays natively.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/temvDoCLwxU/0,2817,2373853,00.asp

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Menendez' bill could have aided donor's investment

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. Robert Menendez sponsored legislation with incentives for natural gas vehicle conversions that would benefit the biggest political donor to his re-election, the same eye doctor whose private jet Menendez used for two personal trips to the Dominican Republic, an Associated Press investigation found.

The disclosure reflects the latest intersection between the New Jersey Democrat who is the subject of an ethics inquiry on Capitol Hill and the Florida doctor involved in a federal criminal investigation.

Dr. Salomon Melgen invested in Gaseous Fuel Systems Corp. of Weston, Fla., and joined its board of directors in early 2010, according to the company's chief executive and a former company consultant. GFS, as the company is known, designs, manufactures and sells products to convert diesel-fuel fleets to natural gas. The amount of Melgen's investment is confidential under rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but a 2009 document filed with the SEC showed the company required a minimum individual investment at that time of $51,500.

Menendez was a principal supporter of a natural gas bill from 2009 through 2012 that would boost tax credits and grants to truck and heavy vehicle fleets that converted to alternative fuels. The bill stalled in the Senate Finance Committee, and after it was revived in 2012, the NAT GAS Act failed to win the needed 60 votes to advance.

While the bill was under consideration between 2009 and 2011, the former consultant for GFS spent $220,000 lobbying Menendez's staff and other congressional and federal officials on the act's provisions as well as other regulatory issues, according to interviews and Senate records.

There is no evidence that Menendez offered direct help or intervened on behalf of the company or Melgen. Instead, the connection between the two men's interests in natural gas is the latest example of the close symmetry between the senator ? who recently rose to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ? and his millionaire backer. It illustrates the way Menendez's political clout has at times overlapped with Melgen's financial investments.

In recent weeks, Menendez has acknowledged other dealings with Melgen. Menendez was compelled to reimburse $58,000 for two flights aboard Melgen's private jet that he had previously failed to report, prompting scrutiny by the Senate Ethics Committee. Menendez also acknowledged that his office had contacted U.S. health agencies in 2009 and 2012 to question their billing practices and policies amid a dispute between Melgen, an eye specialist, and federal health authorities. FBI agents in January searched Melgen's offices in Florida and seized files as part of a criminal investigation.

Menendez also raised concerns last year with state and Commerce Department officials about the Dominican Republic's reluctance to enforce a port security contract with a company that Melgen partly owns.

A spokeswoman for Menendez, Patricia Enright, told the AP that the senator personally had no known discussions with either Melgen or others associated with GFS about the legislation or its impact on the company.

"Sen. Menendez has long been a proponent of the increased deployment of natural gas vehicles because they would reduce air pollution, increase energy security, and lower transportation costs," Enright said. "The senator's staff first began working on this issue in early 2009 and introduced the bipartisan NAT GAS Act later that year."

She said it was unclear whether the senator will continue to support the bill he had sponsored.

Melgen's attorney in Miami, Kirk Ogrosky, told the AP in a statement that "Dr. Melgen has never discussed his involvement with Gaseous Fuel Systems Corp. with either Sen. Menendez or his staff."

An SEC document filed last week by GFS showed that Melgen remains on the company's board of directors. An earlier document filed by the firm in May 2011 was the first to show Melgen as a director. That SEC record showed a $6 million investment in the firm from two unnamed individuals.

The company's top executive, Ken Green, said Melgen is a key investor but has had no influence on the company's decision-making and has not attended any director's meetings since he joined the firm.

"Dr. Melgen hasn't ever been to our offices, not once," Green told the AP. "He's a passive investor."

Green said the Senate bill that Menendez supported would provide only limited help to his company because most of its provisions are aimed at heavy on-road vehicles like truck rigs and bus fleets. GFS has pioneered an engine conversion system that can be installed on diesel-fueled vehicles, but Green said it is marketed exclusively for off-road equipment, such as massive mining trucks. The tax credits proposed by the bill would do little to offset the cost to buyers of the off-road trucks, which can cost as much as $8 million, Green said.

"This bill won't do much of anything for us," he said.

But in 2010, when Melgen first invested in GFS, the firm was actively considering marketing its natural gas engine devices for on-road vehicles. The bill, both in its 2009 and 2012 versions, authorized changes to IRS rules allowing larger tax credits for on-road, natural gas-supplied trucks and vehicles as well as grants for research. The proposal also urged the Environmental Protection Agency to streamline rules covering the conversion of diesel and gas engines to natural gas and alternative fuels.

GFS said in October 2010 in a press release that its strategy "integrates four related areas of business development," including "on-road coal truck conversions." The release, written by the company's consultant and then-director of strategic projects, Elio Muller, also said that "a vast number of on-road 18-wheeler tractor-trailer trucks hauling coal" in the Appalachian region of Kentucky and West Virginia could be converted to combination diesel-natural gas engines with the GFS system.

Muller, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration involved in several Tampa businesses, said last week that he introduced Melgen to Green and other GFS officials in early 2010. Green also said Muller was instrumental in bringing the company to Melgen's attention. Muller said he has known Melgen from Florida's Democratic political circles dating back to the late 1990s. At one point, Muller drew up plans to start a business, Melgen & Muller Inc., but the men never followed through.

Melgen has made investments in health-related companies since the 1990s, according to SEC reports, but his GFS stake is his only evident natural gas-related investment. Green said he met several times with Melgen and found him to be an "intelligent investor" but could not explain his sudden interest in natural gas.

"I don't know how he found out about natural gas, but he liked what we were doing and thought it was innovative," Green said.

By early 2010, when Melgen formally joined GFS, Menendez had already taken on a key role in backing the natural gas bill, joining Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah as out-front sponsors.

The NAT GAS Act quickly drew energy and environmental battle lines. Oil and alternative energy magnate T. Boone Pickens led corporate natural gas industry backers of the bill, aided by the Obama administration and influential environmental groups. Arrayed against the bill were top oil and coal firms and even some green activists, joined by industrialists David and Charles Koch, whose political action group, Americans for Prosperity, harnessed opposition from conservative groups.

Green said he did not authorize or hire any lobbyists on behalf of GFS because he was skeptical about broadening into the markets for on-road trucks. But he did not block the activities of Muller, who in addition to his consulting role with GFS, had also started his own firm, Diesel 2 Gas. It aimed to license GFS technology and use the firm's parts to outfit on-road trucks.

In June 2010, representing both GFS and Diesel 2 Gas, Muller testified before an EPA panel in Ann Arbor, Mich., about what he called "cumbersome and unnecessary" rules that hurt GFS and other natural gas firms. The EPA agreed to alter its regulations in April 2011.

Between 2009 and 2011, Muller also ran an independent consulting firm, Muller Group Inc., which paid $220,000 to lobbyists from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP to lobby for the NAT GAS Act and related issues.

Muller said he accompanied the lobbyists in at least one meeting with Menendez' staff about the bill but could not recall details. Melgen and Muller joined Menendez at a signing ceremony in Miami in January 2010 for the senator's book, "Growing American Roots." And last June, they joined Menendez at the annual U.S.-Spain Council Annual Forum in Jersey City.

Muller said he did not discuss his lobbying activities with Melgen, even though they were both involved with GFS.

Both Muller and Melgen also have fundraising ties to Menendez. Muller gave $5,000 to Menendez' New Jersey Senate re-election campaign in 2011. Melgen has been a staunch supporter, giving more than $14,000 directly to Menendez since the late 1990s and, through his eye clinic, donating $700,000 last year to a "super" political committee that supported Democratic Senate candidates. The committee, in turn, spent $582,000 to back Menendez' campaign.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/menendez-bill-could-aided-donors-investment-085804198.html

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Bersani ultimatum may bring new Italy election closer

ROME (Reuters) - Italy could be inching closer towards another election within months after center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani issued an ultimatum to anti-establishment 5-Star Movement boss Beppe Grillo to support a new government or return to the polls.

Last week's inconclusive election, in which Grillo won a huge protest vote, left no group with a working majority in parliament, making an alliance with a rival the only way out.

In an interview on RAI state television late on Sunday, Bersani underlined his opposition to two of the options currently being floated - another technocrat government like the outgoing one led by Mario Monti or a grand coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's center-right.

That would leave only one possibility to avoid elections - Grillo's backing for the center-left, which won the lower house in the election but does not have enough support to rule in the Senate.

"Now (Grillo) must say what he wants, otherwise we all go home, including him," Bersani said.

Grillo has repeatedly said his populist movement would not give a vote of confidence to any government of established parties, although it could support individual laws.

The uncertainty in Italy, during a long limbo before talks to form a government begin after March 15, has unsettled international markets.

The spread between Italian 10-year benchmark bonds and German bunds - a measure of investor confidence - widened on Monday to an almost three-month high as the country entered its second week of gridlock.

Grillo last week called Bersani a "dead man talking" when he first made overtures to the 5-Star Movement, which became Italy's single biggest party in its first national test, taking a quarter of the vote.

Bersani's ultimatum may not work against Grillo and his tactics are apparently opposed by some of the leadership of his Democratic Party (PD).

The Genoese comic is widely believed to want to get back to the polls to wipe out the old order and boost his vote. He is also believed to fear his novice lawmakers could be suborned by cynical traditional politicians once they get into parliament.

"It's in his interest to go back to the ballot box as soon as possible," said Maurizio Pessato, vice chairman of polling institute SWG.

"Grillo can't win more than 8 million votes promising to get rid of the establishment and then immediately ally himself with the old guard," he added.

Nichi Vendola, leader of the leftwing SEL party which is allied with Bersani, attacked Grillo on Monday, accusing him of trying to win more votes by rejecting an alliance.

"Even he is at a crossroads. Either he takes the challenge of a radical transformation of our country or he will be more of a politician than the others," Vendola said.

"If there is no agreement, it is better to return to the polls," Vendola added on his Facebook page.

PRESIDENT HOLDS KEY

President Giorgio Napolitano, who is responsible for navigating the new crisis, has said he wants to avoid snap elections. He says he is not constitutionally permitted to dissolve parliament because his mandate ends on May 15.

Parliament must elect a new president before then, but although an election could theoretically be called as early as June, extended negotiations to try to avoid a vote are more likely to push the date back to the autumn.

Another election could, in any case, produce the same deadlocked result unless electoral law is changed first, which would require at least a temporary government.

One solution being floated is a temporary administration, perhaps of non-politicians, formed to pass a small number of pre-agreed reforms with elections in six months or a year.

Analysts also point out that before formal negotiations begin, politicians including Grillo are trying to gain an advantage through a string of statements to the press.

These may not hold once Napolitano starts banging heads in the negotiations.

In addition, Bersani needs to get through what could be a stormy meeting of his party leadership on Wednesday, when he is likely to come under fierce criticism for the conduct of the election, in which his colorless performance threw away a previously dominant opinion poll lead.

The name of young Florence mayor Matteo Renzi, an exciting orator who challenged Bersani for the leadership last year, is again emerging as a possible replacement.

Grillo has rebuffed Italy's media, calling them an arm of the establishment, and over the weekend staged his latest stunt to arouse their ire and frustration.

Wearing a hood over his head and hiding behind a pair of huge aviator sunglasses, Grillo took long walks on the beach near his Tuscan villa, refusing to speak to pursuing photographers and reporters.

On Monday and Tuesday, Grillo will meet the 163 novice 5-Star lawmakers, to talk about their strategy ahead of parliament's first session on March 15, and the subsequent consultations with Napolitano.

"Grillo is in the driver's seat," said Pessato, the pollster. "There will be another vote in a year's time at the maximum."

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Barry Moody and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/prospect-italy-vote-heightens-grillo-faces-ultimatum-091130173--business.html

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Mental illness: A difficult diagnosis with sometimes deadly ...

When something as horrific as the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings occurs, human nature tells us to seek rational explanation, to ask why. That question doesn't get us very far.

"I don't think anybody is an expert in this kind of thing," said Bonnie Nagel, a neuropsychologist at Oregon Health & Science University. "It dumbfounds us all."

A few strands of connective tissue tie the nation's recent mass shootings together. Gun access is one. Mental health is another.

In many massacres, the killer was a young man in his late teens or early 20s. He either suffered from a mental illness or exhibited symptoms of one before he killed. Even Clackamas Town Center shooter Jacob Roberts, though never diagnosed with a mental illness, behaved like a person grappling with depression and suicidal notions before he opened fire outside Macy's. He sold his belongings, quit his job and told friends he was leaving Portland for Hawaii.

"There's one commonality in most of these cases: They want to die," said Portland social worker Mark McKechnie.

That reality leads to other, better questions: How do we reduce the chances of another Virginia Tech, Aurora or Newtown? Are we doing enough to help young people, particularly young men, control their anger and manage their own mental health care?

Parent and support-group leader Margaret Puckette

School counselor Sarah Turner

Child psychiatrist Dr. Ajit Jetmalani

Neuropsychologist Bonnie Nagel

On this point, experts understand. Millions of children don't receive the mental health support they need. Those with potentially severe mental illnesses, the type that can morph into something deadly as adolescence evolves into young adulthood, aren't diagnosed early enough. They're not getting the compassionate, thorough care that will help them make smart decisions once they reach the age of consent.

"It makes me uncomfortable to sound like I'm on the same page as the NRA," said Dr. Stewart Newman, a Beaverton psychiatrist. "But we have to look at access to mental health if we're serious about modifying risk. Will it stop the next Adam Lanza? No. Will it improve lives? Absolutely."

MRI research

Scientists know what mental illness looks like. But researchers cannot pinpoint what in the complicated mix of tissue, blood vessels, synapses and neurons leads two people with the same basic hardware to go in radically different directions.

"Parents will say to me, 'Can you do an MRI of my child and tell me what's going on?' No. We're not there," said Nagel, an OHSU researcher who specializes in the development of adolescent brains. "We're not near the point where we can look at one kid and say, 'bipolar,' or 'schizophrenia.'"

In a typical study, Nagel and colleagues conduct MRIs on 300 or so 12-year-old test subjects, then follow up every few months to see whether the children have begun using drugs or alcohol or feeling depressed. They compare the MRIs from healthy children to those with mental health problems in the hope of identifying differences. Her team also uses DNA and hormone samples.

"Part of the challenge is that we're waiting on human nature to evolve," Nagel said. "It's not like an animal study in which we can manipulate scenarios. We have to wait for things to happen."

Child psychiatrists don't struggle to explain the elements that create a killer: "A critical absence of empathy and a critical lack of self-regulation," said Dr. Ajit Jetmalani, director of OHSU's child and adolescent psychiatry division.

Those are injuries that a doctor can diagnose, somewhat like cancer or a broken bone. But cancer is caused by cells multiplying, and a broken bone comes from blunt trauma. A lack of empathy can stem from so many potential sources: Was the patient abused? Did his parents' divorce hit him especially hard? Is his brain missing a certain correct mix of chemicals?

Figuring out how much of a mental illness is environmental and how much is biological helps determine the best course of treatment, say how much of a doctor's time should be spent finding the best possible medication vs. guiding the patient through talk therapy. Precise answers are a long way off: 10 or 20 years, Nagel says, not one or two.

"And I suspect it's always going to be more subtle than, 'Here's the sign of a kid in trouble. Here's how we know this is one to worry about,'" she said.

The teen years

Many mental illnesses that peak in a person's 20s begin to emerge in the teenage years. That's a time of dramatic physical and psychological changes for every child, posing another problem fending off future Newtowns:

How do you differentiate between normal adolescent angst, short-term stress and true, long-term mental illness that could turn a troubled youngster into a dangerous young man?

"This is the transition between childhood and adulthood. It's the first time the stakes are very high for kids, the first time grades matter, the first time they can do permanent damage to their records. And they're all going through all of these changes," said Sarah Turner, the seventh-grade counselor at Evergreen Middle School in Hillsboro.

Schools have kids from 8 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m., longer than many working parents see their children awake during the week. Administrators, teachers and counselors are often the first to spot signs of trouble, to identify an Adam Lanza or Jared Loughner in the making.

That's harder than it sounds, particularly given the differences between boys and girls. Girls often express their distress in more obvious ways. They're also far less likely to turn out to be killers.

"Base rates of depression are far higher in females than males. Is that really the case? Or are we just better adept at diagnosing in females?" said Nagel, the OHSU researcher. "We don't like to talk about sex and gender issues in mental health, but there's clearly something we've been remiss in not considering."

Turner and other school counselors and teachers say that during the past decade, their conversations have turned more toward the challenges facing boys.

"It's become really evident that we haven't set up our schools in a way that leads to success for boys. Boys are tactile, they need to engage and be moving," she said. "We haven't quite figured out how to structure schools in a way that maximizes the learning experience for boys and also helps us identify which ones may be suffering from something that requires care."

In schools that are as overcrowded and underfunded as many in Oregon, simply keeping order becomes the priority.

"We're a school of 800 kids, with classrooms that are anywhere from 34 to 37 kids. If you have two or three kids whose behavior is bubbling up, is external, those are the ones who are going to get the attention," Turner said. "You might not notice that you have a quiet kid who may have something very troubling going on under the surface."

In other words: The chair throwers get attention. The "internalizers" may not. Sometimes not until it's too late.

Assessing threats

Will Henson watched coverage of Newtown knowing that his phone was about to ring off the hook. He's a psychologist and special education consultant who works with school districts to assess potential threats and minimize risk.

His is a growth industry.

"It takes something like Newtown or Clackamas Town Center to make us all suddenly aware of the risk. That kid who seemed kind of vaguely creepy last week seems like someone you want to get help this week" he said. "We focus a lot on what I call 'day of' -- people jump to talking about limiting access to guns or putting armed guards in schools. I wish we had more conversations about crisis assessment before someone is actually in a crisis, because the system would look very different."

Henson recommends creating a broad network of adults to keep an eye on kids, and a well-defined, well-understood system for identifying true threats.

"Every kid out there who plays violent video games says things that don't sound good. We have kids who make hit lists when they're angry. Boys in particular love to draw guns, violent pictures, talk about the violent movies they've seen," he said. "I often find it more useful to go to a staff and tell them which risk factors we're not seeing. I can say, 'We've got no history of violence, no recent losses or major life stressors, no history of threats, a stable home life with supportive adults, no access to weapons. So I'm not seeing the kind of risk factors I'd be really worried about.'"

In Oregon, Hillsboro offers a model of the group approach experts such as Henson suggest. Seven years ago, the school district won a $9 million, three-year federal grant aimed at bringing public and private agencies together to better identify kids in need.

One way they do that is through attendance figures. A child who misses too much school gets put under the supervision of a "Care Team" that includes administrators, teachers, police officers, psychiatrists and social workers. They work with the student and his parents to figure out why the child hasn't been attending.

"What we found early on was that so many of the kids who were missing a lot of school had underlying mental health issues," said Leslie Rodgers, a social worker and care coordinator for the district. "Kids don't just stop going to class. They were being bullied, they were anxious about their work, they were depressed to the point that they couldn't get out of bed. Or their parents had their own mental-health problems and didn't notice what was going on with their child."

Rodgers and her coworkers meet with families, often at home rather than at school. They hold workshops for teachers: "We still have teachers who say, 'Suicide? I can't even mention the word in front of the class, because I'll give them ideas,'" Rodgers said. And in general, they try to create an atmosphere in which every adult feels responsible for keeping an eye on every child, even the quiet ones.

It's working. During the three-year grant period, attendance improved districtwide. Fewer dropouts meant more revenue, and Hillsboro leaders have continued to find money to pay for Rodgers and her colleagues. Yet every January, when budget-cutting season rolls around, they worry.

"We have jobs because we took mental health outcomes and tied them to attendance. Otherwise, how do you measure mental health? What are the statistics you use to prove that you've created a more positive, safer school culture and should thus stay employed?" she said.

Assigning a dollar value to mental health is a challenge for everyone. At OHSU, Nagel's grant applications often focus on targeting early indicators of drug abuse and alcohol addiction, not other mental illnesses. It's much easier to win research money for addiction, in large part because it's easier to calculate the financial costs of drug and alcohol abuse.

Finding a doctor, insurance

A big part of Rodgers' job is serving as a parental conduit for information and contacts. When the file of a high-needs kid hits her desk, she says a silent prayer that the child's family qualifies for the Oregon Health Plan.

"If they're on public insurance, I know I can at least guarantee them access," she said. "If they're privately insured, it could be a couple of months before they even get in to see a doctor."

Federal and state regulators have pushed "mental health parity," since the 1990s. Laws now require insurers to offer some mental health coverage and prohibit them from placing limits on psychiatric care -- say co-pays or caps on how many hours of therapy a patient can receive -- that go beyond those on medical and surgical coverage.

Still, middle-class Americans struggle to find doctors and persuade insurers to pay for care. Private companies insure a majority of Americans but account for only a quarter of what we spend each year on mental health, according to a 2011 Kaiser Family Foundation study.

The problem: Mental health care is different from other forms of medicine, yet the business model is the same. Billing codes and billable hours drive treatment.

"Insurance companies do not pay me to get on the phone and talk to a school counselor or a social worker. They don't pay me to stop at a patient's house to make sure a young man understands the reasons he needs to take his pills," said Newman, the Beaverton psychiatrist, who practices at Mind Matters, which was founded to serve middle-income families that don't qualify for public insurance. "There's no billing code for continuity of care."

The result: Simply finding a doctor, let alone one who'll provide nuanced, individualized, all-hours care, can be tough. Ninety-million Americans live in federally designated "mental health professional shortage areas," a far greater need than dentists (45 million people) or primary care physicians (57 million). A recent study estimated that for every child psychiatrist working today, the United States needs two more.

"I want to be able to get a referral from a pediatrician who is worried about a child on Friday and say, I can see you Tuesday morning," Newman said. "Right now, the best I can usually do is, 'I'll see you in three weeks.'"

Such lags can have fatal consequences for children with long-term mental health needs.

A child whose initial experience with the mental health care system is frustrating or uncomfortable is less likely to maintain that treatment when they turn 18, the magic number in our mental health system. After that, federal and state privacy laws prevent doctors from sharing information about a young adult's care and condition unless the patient has signed a release or the doctor believes there is an "imminent threat."

Many doctors and counselors interpret that to mean they cannot share any information with parents, even in cases in which a mother or father has been intimately involved in a child's care up to that point. Medicaid statistics show that mental health spending increases each year for children as they approach 18, then falls off sharply. Spending picks up again at 25.

"A lot of these shooters are between 18 and 25," said Jetmalani, the head of child and adolescent psychiatry at OHSU. "That's not a coincidence."

Leaders in the Oregon Psychiatric Association, the Oregon Council of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the National Alliance on Mental Illness want to convince other doctors and public institutions to broaden the way they interpret HIPAA and other privacy laws. Jetmalani and Newman, among others, say their profession should err on the side of averting tragedy rather than protecting confidentiality. They're working with Jerry Gabay, a Portland activist and former lawyer who has a painful and deeply personal understanding of why 18 matters.

Doctors first diagnosed his daughter, Susanna, with major depressive disorder at 17. She was hospitalized for a psychotic episode in the spring of 2010, while a junior in the honors program at the University of Oregon.

During that stay, she signed a disclosure form allowing doctors to talk to her parents. But Gabay and his wife had no idea how much distress she was in, and doctors did not seek their help when Susanna refused to try a new medication.

A month later, she committed suicide.

Parents as advocates

The mothers who meet every other Sunday afternoon at the Providence Child Center in Northeast Portland hear the clock ticking. The legal barriers that arise at 18 come up at almost every gathering of Talk It Over, a support group for parents of mentally ill children. It's one of the realities longtime attendees slide across a hospital conference table to new arrivals along with tissue boxes and tubs of Silly Putty to squeeze as stress relief.

Among support-group members, the Newtown killings didn't prompt cries of "why." These parents know the basic elements of tragedy: A troubled kid didn't get the help he needed. He grew into a troubled young man. Something set him off, turning all the worst-case scenarios they lay awake at night fearing for their children into a horrible reality we all share.

"See this?" Erin Quinton, a school teacher like Adam Lanza's mother, slaps a thick blue binder she carries almost everywhere. The three-ring notebook bulges with a collection of doctor's bills, patient notes, emails, letters and phone messages Quinton has collected. "This is my life."

Quinton bristles when news accounts refer to the 26 people who died in the Sandy Hook massacre. There were, she notes, 28 lost souls -- if you count Lanza and his mother.

"I call myself an advocate for my kid, but the truth is that I'm a pain in the neck, a note-taker, a list maker, somebody who takes every single piece of paper that has to do with my child and files it away in case I need it one day," Quinton said. "You start to feel kind of crazy yourself."

Her story is typical: Early warning signs -- blank stares, a lack of empathy, social struggles -- blossomed into something worse as puberty hit. Now she knows the difference between a child taking his or her medication and one who has stopped: "It's the difference between a text asking me how I am and one threatening to kill me. It's not subtle."

She's taken the seemingly extreme step that moms at Talk It Over routinely advise one another: When all else fails, call 9-1-1.

"It sounds horrible doesn't it?" said Margaret Puckette, who founded Talk It Over to help pass along lessons she learned with her daughter. "But think about the worst-case here: your child is bigger than you, so you can't force him to take his medication. He's on a waiting list for a hospital bed, but it's going to be a week or two. In the meantime, he's home, untreated, refusing help and threatening you.

"Sometimes, given all the problems with our system, calling the police is the only way to get help."

You do what you have to do. To protect your kid, yourself and everybody else.

-- Anna Griffin

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/03/mental_illness_a_difficult_dia.html

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Sony HQ in Tokyo Sold for Y111 Billion ? Real Estate Japan | Tokyo ...

Electronics giant, Sony Corp., announced that it has sold its Tokyo office building to Nippon Building Fund and to an unnamed Japanese institutional investor for 111 billion yen.

This decision came after the company announced that it was also planning to sell its office in Manhattan for more than $1 billion.

The Tokyo headquarters was completed in 2011 and the site where it was built was once known as the company?s ?holy land,? where also the Trinitron TV was launched.

The 25-story building houses 5,000 workers on Sony?s TV and audio division. Although the building was? officially sold to investors, Sony has made it clear that the division would remain in the central Tokyo building for 5 years?under a leasing agreement.

According to Sony representatives, the company is revamping its business portfolio and the sale of the building is part of this reorganization.? The corporate overhaul involves thousands of job cuts, the sale of its chemical division and an investment in Olympus to help maintain its place in the global market.

The company?s stock plummeted below 1,000 yen a share in the previous year for the first time since the Walkman was released. The stock has since come back, going up 3.56% at 1,338 yen on Thursday in Tokyo. Because of the strong yen, the slow demand on key export markets and the fierce competition from other firms outside Japan, Sony decided to take appropriate action, starting with corporate reorganization and reanalyzing their business strategies.

Source: JapanTodayPhoto by?mk7?via Creative Commons?

Tokyo Apartments For Sale | Tokyo Apartments For Rent | Real Estate Japan

Source: http://www.realestate.co.jp/2013/03/01/sony-hq-in-tokyo-sold-for-y111-billion/

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Chris Cooper cast as Green Goblin in "Amazing Spider-Man" sequel

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Chris Cooper has been cast as Norman Osborn - the Green Goblin's corporate alter ego - in Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," a spokesman for Sony told TheWrap.

The character is one of Peter Parker's most infamous villains, and was portrayed by Willem Dafoe in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy. "Chronicle" star Dane DeHaan has already been cast as Harry Osborn, who is Norman's son and Parker's best friend.

Spider-Man, played by Andrew Garfield, will have his hands full in his next big-screen adventure, as it's been previously announced that he'll be facing off against Jamie Foxx ("Django Unchained") as Electro and Paul Giamatti ("Sideways") as the Rhino.

The teenage superhero will also be juggling multiple romantic relationships, too. Emma Stone is returning as Gwen Stacy, while Shailene Woodley ("The Descendants") is portraying Mary Jane Watson - a character previously played by Kirsten Dunst.

Production for the second film in the planned trilogy is already underway, with its release scheduled for May 2, 2014.

Cooper, an Academy Award winner in 2002 for best supporting actor in "Adaptation," was seen in theaters as the maniacal oil executive Tex Richman in 2011's "The Muppets," and will next appear in "August: Osage County."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chris-cooper-cast-green-goblin-amazing-spider-man-215826547.html

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