Several CEOs Announce New Investments

Today, the President will host an education roundtable with business leaders, Secretary Duncan, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, America’s Promise Alliance Chair Alma Powell and Founding Chair General Colin Powell to discuss building upon strong industry-led partnerships that are working to transform the American education system. Other corporate partners in attendance include representatives from the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and the United Way.

“A world-class education is the single most important factor in determining not just whether our kids can compete for the best jobs but whether America can outcompete countries around the world. America's business leaders understand that when it comes to education, we need to up our game. That's why were working together to put an outstanding education within reach for every child,” said President Barack Obama.

The President’s meeting with these leading CEOs builds on his continued leadership to work with the business community on the pressing needs of American education. Through efforts such as Change the Equation, with its focus on corporate investment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, Skills for America’s Future with its support of business partnerships with community colleges, and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, the private sector is responding not just with financial support, but with commitments that take advantage of their areas of expertise and the skills of their employees. 

New Commitments Being Announced Today:

Community Engagement and Investment to Transform the Nation’s Lowest-Performing Schools: America’s Promise Alliance Grad Nation Community Impact Fund will raise $50 million to support the goal of ending the dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and career. The first planning grants from this social venture fund will be awarded in the fall to communities that demonstrate a commitment to local action aligned with the goals of the Grad Nation Campaign, including student supports for our most vulnerable young people.  Applicants will be communities with a low-performing school and a willingness and capacity to build a multi-sector, collaborative approach that includes partnerships with the business community and local school system, and the capacity to raise matching funds to promote local investment to sustain this work.

Expanding Opportunities for Students to Prepare for Livable Wage Jobs: Bank of America will announce a $50 million pledge to education over the next 3 years, launching this goal through $4.5 million in grants. The investment will support programs that bridge the achievement gap to post-secondary education completion and connect the underserved and unemployed, as well as returning veterans, and individuals with disabilities, to workforce success in high-growth sectors, in particular through community colleges.  Recognizing the need for knowledgeable and skilled workers to compete in the global economy, Bank of America is investing in education as part of its comprehensive lending, investing and volunteer activities aimed at strengthening the economic and social health of communities.

Research and Development for Next Generation Learning Models and Resources for Students and Teachers: Building on its history of commitment to education and recent $25 million STEM Scholarship grant program in Washington State, Microsoft Education is announcing a new $15M investment in research and development for immersive learning technologies including game based instruction and the creation of a lifelong learning digital archive. Through the creation of these innovative solutions, the disengaged can become passionate problem solvers and the struggling student can be offered other pathways to success.  Rooted in this investment is the understanding that technical innovation alone will not help. Therefore, over the next 3 years, Microsoft is committing to train over 150 thousand educators and leaders and provide access to professional learning communities and training to every teacher in the United States through the new Partners in Learning Network.

Supporting a Statewide Focus on Education System Redesign: In the past four years, the Nike School Innovation Fund (NSIF) has provided $7 million in innovation grants and thousands of volunteer hours by senior Nike leaders and other employees to support students, teachers and principals in three Oregon public school districts. The Fund is announcing a new commitment as a primary partner of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and his initiative to help make the state’s entire education system more nimble, innovative and supportive of the key grades of 9 to 12. With this news, Nike’s commitment to strengthening education in Oregon totals $10 million. The NSIF will now provide a year of funding, expertise and policy guidance that is expected to serve as a model for the Governor’s larger statewide education transformation plan.

Participants in Today’s Meeting Include:
• Marguerite Kondracke, President & CEO, America’s Promise
• Alma Powell, Chairwoman, America’s Promise
• General Colin Powell, Founding Chairman, America’s Promise
• Craig Barrett, Former President & CEO, Intel
• Glenn Britt, CEO, Time Warner Cable
• Steve Case, Former Chairman & CEO, America Online
• Brian Gallagher, President & CEO, United Way Worldwide
• William Green, President & CEO, Accenture
• Fred Humphries, Senior Vice President, Microsoft
• Rhonda Mimms, Foundation President, ING
• Kathleen Murphy, President, Fidelity Personal Investments
• Ed Rust, CEO, State Farm
• Randall Stephenson, Chairman & CEO, AT&T

FSU Cowgirls Abbie Cornish Krista Allen Hayden Panettiere Jules Asner

It's official, folks! CyanogenMod 7 is now deemed stable enough to be called, well, stable. The ROM is available now for your flashing pleasure on over 30 devices -- including some tablets. Don't worry, it doesn't disappoint; I've been using it through the development process for months and it's well worth the wait.

If you haven't been following the updates on its progress, here's a quick recap: It's based on Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, it's got built-in root access with all the command-line goodies, Apps2SD capability (built-in), Incognito Mode for the Android Browser, built-in CPU frequency adjustment and scaling (including overclock and choice of governor), loads of UI improvements and interface tweaks, OpenVPN and SIP calling settings, USB/WiFi/Bluetooth tethering, FLAC support, an FM Radio player, and loads of other features and enhancements.

It's even got a one-click UI theme-switcher that T-Mobile helped develop (open-source, no less).

Even if you aren't into flashing custom ROMs on your expensive new smartphone, you have to admit that this release is a pretty great thing... After all, it means a fully-functional version of Android 2.3.3 is now running, with loads of bells and whistles, on about 30 devices whose manufacturers and carriers are simply too lazy to update.

Alright, enough jabbering. You can learn more about the ROM at CyanogenMod.com, or jump straight to the download mirror if you already know what you're doing!

CyanogenMod 7.0 now stable, released for over 30 Android devices originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When someone who should know better calls Paul Newman 'the salad guy', maybe it's time to think again

People are conditioned to believe that if a celebrity endorses something, it must be important to them or, they're getting paid loads of money. I understand celebrity chefs endorsing food. That makes sense. And it makes sense to me that a model would put their face on a wrinkle cream or an athlete would promote an energy drink. It even makes sense that Jennifer Aniston would endorse a ubiquitous and universally appealing beverage. Water.

But endorsing is one thing. Having a food item named after you is a different matter. That says: this is me. It's like having personalised fragrance in that it's interactive. You can buy Mariah Carey's perfume, spritz yourself and presume that you're going to smell just like her. Likewise, if you buy Sylvester Stallone's high-protein pudding, you're a tiny bit closer to being like Rocky.

Scores of celebrities have climbed on board. Hulk Hogan has the Hulkster Cheeseburger ? a microwaveable cheeseburger and bun all in one. This saves time from having to assemble it separately, I guess. More time to wrestle! Paradoxically, supermodel Heidi Klum has her face on her own line of candy. Heidi Klum's fat-free fruit flirtations. Good luck with those.

Last week, I was in Holland & Barrett buying dried apricots when I spotted the Elizabeth Hurley fruit and oat bars. I knew she'd become a part-time organic farmer, but I'd never seen the bars. There she is on the wrapper wearing a black mini dress, pink wellies with a pineapple on her head. On closer inspection I realised that no, it wasn't a pineapple but a bunch of bananas. Much more appropriate. She's even got her big black sunglasses on. Just in case paparazzi are lurking in the snacks aisle.

Sorry, the GUILT FREE snacks aisle. At under 100 calories they are "perfect for the moments you want something sweet". You know what else they're perfect for? Moments you want to ponder what's wrong with people.

Of course, there are celebrities who have an entire line of food with a genuine purpose and there seems to be more gravitas to it. Terence Stamp, for instance, has a delicious gluten-free line. And the most well known, naturally, is Paul Newman. I find it comforting to see his face peering out from the Fig Newmans cookies.

It does have drawbacks though. I was having a conversation recently with a young person who had never heard of Paul Newman. I was taken aback ? even though she was 14, that seemed old enough to have seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. "Oh, wait," she paused. "You mean the salad dressing guy?" The salad dressing guy. Paul Newman! That was disturbing.

I asked a couple of my friends ? if they were to have their own food item what it would be. My friend Carla said she'd have her name on a cherry pie that had no calories. No calories at all? She should meet Elizabeth Hurley and the two of them could come up with a taste-free food line. Another friend said her signature food item would be chips that once eaten, made you look younger. I'm not sure what my item would be but it would definitely be something "on the side".

But best of all was my friend, Helena, who said her food item would be called Tru Jerks. "It's jerky made from the hides of men who have let me down or tortured me in my life."

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From the Root:

I can't decide if I want to applaud journalist Mac McClelland or verbally backhand her. Both reactions to McClelland's Good-magazine essay, "I'm Gonna Need You to Fight Me on This: How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD," are visceral and near involuntary.

Read more here.

 

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Enjoying a weekend sporting event, Lily Allen was among the stars on-hand at the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup polo match at Cowdray Park Polo Club, Midhurst, UK on Sunday (July 17).

Wearing a cream-colored coat, star-patterned dress and black heels, the newlywed certainly looked prim and proper in all of her pre-baby pregnancy glow.

Meanwhile, Lily has fired back at weekend tabloid rumors alleging that her company, Lucy In Disguise, is facing a bleak future following the announcement of its Covent Garden store closure, telling Vogue, "I'm really excited that Lucy in Disguise continues to expand with the planned opening of a brand new shop and the expansion of our online business."

Allen's statement to the mag comes after an earlier Twitter rant, in which she warned, "If any other publication wants to write deliberately misleading articles about Lucy in Disguise, feel free, I WILL sue you

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A few moments ago, version 2 of the Banshee music player for Linux was released, bringing with it a whole slew of new features, and the addition of an official -- but alpha-quality -- Windows build. The Mac OS X build of version 2 is due later today.

The most notable new feature is support for the Amazon MP3 store -- you can buy and download music from within Banshee -- but unfortunately it's only available in the Linux build at the moment (OS X and Windows support are planned, however). There have also been some significant improvements to artist, album, and queue interactions -- and yes, you can finally right click a track, album or artist and select 'play after' to insert it into the queue.

Beyond actual playback, the user interface has been tidied up -- it now looks a whole lot smarter -- and the Ubuntu One Music Store and SoundMenu extensions have been made official. For a complete list of changes, additions and bug fixes, check the change log.

When Windows support initially appeared in February, we found it rough around the edges and fraught with stability issues. With version 2, Banshee for Windows is still a bit unstable, but it's shaping up to be a good alternative to Winamp, iTunes, or whatever other music library manager you use. It's almost as attractive as its GNOMEish brother, too!

Download Banshee 2 for Linux and Windows (Mac OS X coming soon)

Banshee music player now works in Windows, supports Amazon MP3 downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kelly Brook Robin Tunney Kate Groombridge Dania Ramirez Lucy Liu

Levine is a highly regarded photographer and observer of the music scene of the 80s and early 90s, particularly around NYC. Her first one-person show is at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York from 21 July to 19 August

Eva Mendes Sarah Polley Aisha Tyler K. D. Aubert Sara Spraker

Pulled Apart By Horses show the kids how to RAWK at Underage (5 Aug, Victoria Park, E2), where Ms Dynamite, Is Tropical and Johnny Flynn join the bill ?

SBTRKT, Gold Panda, Three Trapped Tigers and Becoming Real will take to Transgressive's Alternative Stage at Leeds Festival (26-28 Aug, Bramham Park) ?

Tom Vek headlines Sunday at Beacons (11?14 Aug, Heslaker Farm, Skipton), where Jamie xx and Dananananaykroyd are also among the additions to the new arts and music fest ?

Coming soon

Go to the dark side at goth weekender DV8Fest (Thu to 24 Jul, various venues, York) with Gary Numan, Utah Saints and O. Children ?

Or take the young ones to the family-friendly Deer Shed (Fri to 24 Jul, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe) with I Am Kloot and Frankie & The Heartstrings ?

Now booking

Get tickets for the 2012 versions of last weekend's heavy-hitting Sonisphere (6-9 Jul, Knebworth House, Stevenage) and T In The Park (5-8 Jul, Balado) festivals at 2011 prices.

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Washington, DC – On Sunday, July 17th, Dr. Jill Biden will lead a Presidential Delegation to Frankfurt, Germany for the Women’s World Cup Final between the United States of America and Japan.  This is the sixth FIFA Women’s World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association soccer teams.

The United States continues to be a force in women’s soccer, with a record that includes two Women’s World Cups in 1991 and 1999, and three Olympic Women’s Gold Medals in 1996, 2004 and 2008.  The 2011 Women’s World Cup serves as a great opportunity to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of America’s female athletes at all levels, from girls taking part in their first sporting events to the athletes participating in this year’s World Cup Final, and recognize the importance of the foundation laid by Title IX.

While in Germany, Dr. Biden and the Delegation will meet with the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team and their friends and family to wish them luck and offer support on behalf of the Administration and fans across the Nation.

The Presidential Delegation will include:

• The Honorable Philip D. Murphy, United States Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Department of State
• Chelsea Clinton 

Shanna Moakler Portia de Rossi Jolene Blalock Nichole Robinson Monet Mazur

by Chris Bodenner First divorce parties in Japan, now funeral strippers in Taiwan: Funeral strippers work on Electric Flower Cars (EFC) which are trucks that have been converted to moving stages so that women can perform as the vehicles follow...

Abbie Cornish Krista Allen Hayden Panettiere Jules Asner Whitney Able