Indiana stays No. 1 in AP Top 25, Gonzaga No. 2

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) ? Gonzaga has been in 14 NCAA tournaments, five of which ended with an appearance in the Round of 16. But no Gonzaga team has ever before been ranked No. 2 in The Associated Press' Top 25, as the Zags were Monday.

Indiana remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week. Meanwhile, the little school from Spokane with the funny name moved up one spot to its highest ranking ever, surpassing the No. 3 position it enjoyed last week and for the final two weeks of 2003-04.

"It's a special thing to be recognized at this time of year," guard Mike Hart said. "We've got 30 games under our belt. That says a lot. It's not just a few games."

That sentiment was echoed by coach Mark Few.

"The polls mean a lot more this time of year than they do in November, December, even January," Few said. "All of us are being judged on the true body of work. It's definitely rewarding.

"It establishes us as a national program, which I believe we have been for the last 10 years. This group has done a great job of competing at that level, winning games at the highest level."

While the West Coast Bulldogs made some news at the top of the poll Monday, Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs from Down South, moved into the rankings for the first time since a 13-week run in 1984-85, their only appearance in the poll.

Louisiana Tech, which is 25th this week, was led back then to a ranking as high as No. 7 by a forward named Karl Malone. Gonzaga around that time had a point guard named John Stockton. They went on to become one of the greatest combinations in NBA history with the Utah Jazz, were members of the Dream Team and both were inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Stockton's son, David, is a reserve guard for this year's Gonzaga team. David Stockton said this edition of the Zags has its eye on March Madness.

"It's March when we have been validated in the past, and that's the next step," Stockton said.

But he admitted the players and fans were relishing the ranking.

Guard Kevin Pangos cautioned that it is an ethereal honor.

"It can change in a flash in case we lose a game," Pangos said, adding that players were well aware of the carnage at the upper reaches of the poll in recent weeks. "It makes us aware it can happen to us at any time."

Gonzaga's remaining regular season games are at BYU on Thursday and at home against Portland on Saturday.

Louisiana Tech coach Michael White is another who has his eyes on March, even though his team cracked the poll for the first time in more than a quarter century.

"It's not a goal we set out to accomplish," White said. "What we're really striving for is an NCAA tournament berth. But this is something that can't be taken away from them, so I'm happy for them."

The Hoosiers, who have been ranked No. 1 for a total of 10 weeks this season, received all but one first-place vote from the 65-member national media panel. Gonzaga got the other No. 1 vote.

Duke moved up three spots to third and was followed by Michigan and Miami, which dropped from second after falling to Wake Forest, the Hurricanes' first Atlantic Coast Conference loss this season.

Kansas is sixth, followed by Georgetown, Florida, Michigan State and Louisville.

Saint Louis, which beat Butler and VCU last week, moved into 18th in the poll, the Billikens' first ranking since being in for one week last season.

Colorado State, which was 22nd and lost twice last week, and VCU, which was 24th, dropped out.

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Sports Writer David Brandt contributed to this story from Jackson, Miss.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indiana-stays-no-1-ap-top-25-gonzaga-174431698--spt.html

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Catholic activists petition LA cardinal not to join papal conclave

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Roman Catholic activists on Saturday petitioned a U.S. cardinal to recuse himself from taking part in selecting a new pope so as not to insult survivors of sexual abuse by priests committed while he was archbishop of Los Angeles.

The activists delivered a petition with nearly 10,000 signatures to the North Hollywood church where Cardinal Roger Mahony resides.

"It's a total slap in the face to victims to think (Mahony) can cover up 25 years of child sex abuse and then go prancing off to Rome like a prince of the Church," said Joelle Casteix, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

As archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, Mahony worked to send priests known to be abusers out of state to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s, according to church files unsealed under a U.S. court order last month.

Although his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, removed him from all public and administrative duties, Mahony has announced his intention to be among 117 cardinals allowed into the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to vote for the next leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI, 85, announced his resignation effective February 28, making him the first pope in centuries to abdicate rather than die in office.

His eight-year reign will be remembered by many for the child sex abuse scandal in Europe and the United States - most of which took place in the 1980s but which came to light more recently.

In California, at a news conference outside the St. Charles Borromeo Church, where Mahony is in residence, members of the groups held up signs reading, "Respect the victims. Honor the church. Hold leaders accountable."

"This should be a time for new beginnings," said Chris Pumpelly, a spokesman for social justice nonprofit Catholics United, before delivering the petitions to the church. If Mahony were to vote, "it would be a step backward. It would be a validation of the old ways."

It was unclear whether Mahony was at the church at the time, or if he would receive the documents before he left for Rome.

Earlier on Saturday, Mahony was deposed for more than three hours about his handling of sex-abuse cases. It was the first time he was asked about the church files unsealed last month, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Influential Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana, or "Christian Family," has also questioned whether Mahony should be part of the conclave. Many readers responded online that he should not.

On Friday, Mahony took to Twitter to repeat his intent on voting: "Just a few short hours before my departure for Rome. Will be tweeting often from Rome, except during the actual Conclave itself. Prayers!"

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston; and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/catholic-activists-petition-la-cardinal-not-join-papal-054106757.html

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 appears at MWC

Thanks to an anonymous source, we?ve received an image of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 being previewed at the Mobile World Congress. The image of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 was placed on a digital board at Samsung?s booth. The Galaxy Note 8.0 looks like its going to be the focal point at Samsung?s booth this year, seeing as they?re not planning on announcing the Samsung Galaxy S IV until the middle of March, where they?ll be holding their own press event.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is a great medium between the Samsung Galaxy Note II and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. The tablet is aimed at those who want a tablet, but think that a 10-inch tablet is too big to lug around. The feature that separates the Note 8.0 from other small tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7, or the iPad Mini, is the inclusion of the S-Pen. The S-Pen makes taking quick notes, and utilizing the multi-tasking features included in the TouchWiz UI, a breeze.

The Note 8.0 rumored specs are pretty impressive. It will have an 8-inch 1200 x 800 resolution display, either a 1.6 GHz quad-core Exynos 4 processor or Exynos 5 Octa processor, at least 16GB of built-in storage, 5MP rear-facing camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 4,600 mAh battery, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. There will be a Wi-Fi only model, Wi-FI + 3G model, and a Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G LTE model.

All of the information regarding the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, as well as Samsung?s other products, will be released in the upcoming days while Mobile World Congress is taking place. You can expect our team to show you a hands-on demonstration of what the device can do. Until then, be sure to check out the recent news regarding the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 in the timeline below.

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8-0-appears-at-mwc-20130223/

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Deal Alert: Staples selling Nexus 4 for $150, Galaxy S III for $99.

Deal Alert: Staples Selling Nexus 4 For $150, Galaxy S III For $99

www.tmonews.com

Deal hunters take note as Staples is currently offering the Galaxy S III for $99 and the Nexus 4 for $149. The Nexus 4 pricing applies to both new and qualifying upgrade customers ? no word on whether the Galaxy S III price applies to upgrade customers as well. If you want to grab an additional $5...

Source: http://www.facebook.com/tmonews/posts/622506077765378

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Human Skin Depigmented More Than Once

Human skin became more pigmented in response to high UV, and less pigmented later--on independent occasions--in response to less. Steve Mirsky reports

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Penn State anthropologist Nina Jablonski talked about the evolution of human skin pigmentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on February 16th.

Full transcript to come.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b967c1b2af7cf8df3cacfb81dddb4f5b

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HTC One hands-on: design and hardware

The HTC One made quite an entrance in London and New York today with a slick-looking design and re-imagined Android user experience. It's a significant departure from last year's One X -- our favorite handset of 2012 -- and represents the company's most important product to date. The HTC One is positioned to become a true global flagship, a phone that's available unmolested on all carriers worldwide, a device that really competes with the Galaxies and iPhones of the world. We spent some time with the HTC One to understand the direction the company is taking with this handset. Join us after the break for our hands-on video and detailed hardware impressions, then go read our software and camera posts as well.

Gallery: HTC One hardware hands-on

Gallery: HTC One software hands-on

There's no doubt about it -- the HTC One is a fine piece of kit. It's particularly beautiful when viewed from the back and sides, with a semi-pyramidal shape reminiscent of HTC's own J Butterfly and phones like the Xperia Ion. The front is more staid and channels the BlackBerry Z10. Look a little closer and the attention to detail is staggering -- this is a product that stands shoulder to shoulder with the iPhone 5 in terms of materials and build quality.

The unibody polycarbonate design of the One X gives way to a machined aluminum shell that seamlessly incorporates polycarbonate accents. Basically the aluminum is etched to create channels into which the polycarbonate is inset using zero-gap injection molding. It takes 200 minutes to machine one shell, and the result is absolutely stunning -- a solid block of anodized aluminum, white polycarbonate and glass with chamfered, polished edges. HTC even sourced custom-grade aluminum that's harder than what's found on the iPhone 5. The polycarbonate forms a ring around the edge of the device, covers the top and bottom ends and bisects the back with two lines, one of which flows around the camera lens below -- it reminds us of circuit-board traces. Since aluminum can be anodized in different colors and polycarbonate comes in many hues, we'll leave you to imagine the combinations possible beyond the silver and white handset we played with.

In front are two aluminum bands (top and bottom) separated by a vast sheet of Gorilla Glass 2 covering a gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p (468 dpi) Super LCD 3 display. This layout is similar to the Z10 and the chamfered, polished edges remind us of the iPhone 5. Both of these bands feature a matching set of perforations that conceal a speaker (and likely a mic in the bottom piece) -- that's right, the HTC One boast stereo speakers, each with a dedicated proprietary amp design that minimizes distortion and maximizes volume. The top piece also incorporates the proximity / light sensors, a notification LED and a 2.1 megapixel with f/2.0 wide-angle (88-degree) front-facing camera capable of recording 1080p video. You'll find HTC's brand under the glass just below the screen, flanked by two -- yes, just two -- capacitive buttons: back on the left and home on the right. How does this work? Holding the home button brings up Google Now and double-tapping shows the recent apps. There's no menu option.

Other than the aforementioned polycarbonate accents and prominent HTC and Beats logos, the back of the device is home to the main UltraPixel camera and a single LED flash (to the left of the lens). Basically you're looking at a 1/3-inch 4 megapixel BSI sensor with large 2µm pixels capable of gathering 330% more light than the 1.1µm pixels usually found in phones. This sensor is mated with a 28mm f/2.0 autofocus lens which is slightly recessed for protection and equipped with optical image stabilization (OIS), just like Nokia's Lumia 920. HTC's ImageChip 2 handles image processing and enables a bunch of new tricks like 1080p, 60fps and HDR video capture plus an interesting new feature called Zoe Share. Our very limited time with the camera confirms that performance is top-notch -- after all, photography isn't just about megapixels, and the HTC One checks all the important boxes.

Along the edges of the HTC One you'll find a power / lock key (left) and standard headphone jack (right) at the top, a machined aluminum volume rocker on the right side, a micro-USB / MHL port on at the bottom (right) and the micro-SIM holder and matching pin hole on the left side (near the top). The power / lock key is black and doubles as a bidirectional IR blaster for the handset's TV remote software (powered by Peel). Just like with the One X, the battery (rated at 2300mAh) is sealed and there's no microSD card slot. At 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm and 143g, the new phone is slightly taller, thicker and heavier than its predecessor -- it feels solid yet comfortable in hand and just exudes quality. This, combined with the premium looks, make for a very desirable product indeed.

The HTC One is powered by Qualcomm's newly minted quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 paired with 2GB of LP-DDR2 RAM and 32 or 64GB of built-in storage (depending on the version). Wireless functionality includes WiFi a/ac/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, GPS / aGPS, NFC and DLNA -- sadly there's no wireless charging support. Two devices will be available, a U model which includes GSM and WCDMA radios (HSDPA 42Mbps / HSUPA 5.67Mbps) and a UL model which adds LTE (100Mbps download and 50Mbps upload). It's still unclear exactly which bands are supported for which regions -- we know it's coming to most carriers in the US (and indeed, the world), except Verizon. The handset incorporates the Droid DNA's delightfully loud and clear 2.55V headphone amp (it operates with or without Beats audio enabled, but we much prefer it without). HTC's also outfitted the device with HDR microphones which can handle wide range of sound levels without clipping.

In the end, we walked away tremendously impressed with what the HTC One has to offer, especially in terms of hardware. Be sure to take a look at our software and camera posts (spoiler: Sense 5 runs on top of Android 4.1.2). With this phone, HTC's crafted something truly special -- it's now critical that the company follow through with strong marketing and prevent the carriers from fragmenting its vision. Will this be the one? We sure hope so.

Zach Honig contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vWYVmgTDIa8/

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Google Doodle Honors 16th Century Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus

In the early 1500s, famed Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus first proposed that the Earth was not the center of the universe ? a revelation that, more than 500 years later, has catapulted the 16th century scientists into the center of the Google-verse.

The Internet search giant Google honored Copernicus' paradigm-shifting model of the cosmos today with a unique dynamic "doodle" that animates the motion of the solar system's planets around the sun. The Copernicus doodle went live on Copernicus' 540th birthday.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on Feb. 19, 1473, and traveled to Italy at age 18 to attend university. At that time, the prevailing theory of the cosmos stated that the planets (not to mention the sun) all circled the Earth, which was at the center of the universe.

Nicolaus Copernicus
CREDIT: Public Domain

At the University of Bologna, Copernicus studied astronomy under professor Domenico Maria de Novara, during which time he helped observe the night sky. After return to his native Poland to serve as a cleric in Frauenburg, he continued his astronomical observations using a observatory in the tower in which he lived. [The Greatest Astronomers of All Time]

Copernicus is perhaps best known for his work on the motion of solar system planets. The prevailing model ? that the Earth was at the center of the universe ? resulted in a complicated view of the solar system in order to account for the apparent backward motion of some planets across the sky. This "retrograde motion," as it was called, was explained by confusing circles within circles (called epicycles) by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.

But Copernicus' model streamlined the solar system by proposing that the Earth was not the center of the universe ? a heretical view at the time. Instead, Copernicus proposed that the center was near the sun, and that all the planets (Earth included) revolved around it. He also proposed that that it was the Earth's motion around the sun that caused other planets to appear as if they moved backward ? a theory later proven correct.

The Copernican model of the solar system is also known as the heliocentric model. While Copernicus still got some details incorrect (he assumed the orbits of planets were perfect circles, not the ellipses we know today, which still required epicycles), it did lay the foundation for future astronomers.

Copernicus documented his theory in handwritten notes to friends in 1514, when he would have been about 41 years old. It was not until he was 70 and near death that Copernicus formally published his proposal in the book "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres."

Despite Copernicus' work, nearly 100 years later Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei found himself in trouble with Catholic church authorities in 1632 when he also proposed that Earth orbited the sun. Both astronomers were ultimately vindicated, leading to the modern understanding of solar system mechanics scientists have today.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?&?Google+.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceheadlines/~3/Beq7SgWy_F0/19868-nicolaus-copernicus-google-doodle.html

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