4 firefighters killed in Houston motel fire

A firefighter is wheeled to an ambulance after fighting a fire at the Southwest Inn, Friday, May 31, 2013, in Houston. A fire that engulfed a Houston motel has injured at least six firefighters, including two critically, and three people are missing. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duff) MANDATORY CREDIT

A firefighter is wheeled to an ambulance after fighting a fire at the Southwest Inn, Friday, May 31, 2013, in Houston. A fire that engulfed a Houston motel has injured at least six firefighters, including two critically, and three people are missing. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duff) MANDATORY CREDIT

A firefighter stands near a fire at the Southwest Inn, Friday, May 31, 2013, in Houston. A fire that engulfed a Houston motel has injured at least six firefighters, including two critically, and three people are missing. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duff) MANDATORY CREDIT

Flames erupt from the Southwest Inn on U.S. 59 in Houston on Friday, May 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duty)

Firefighters battle a fire at the Southwest Inn, Friday, May 31, 2013, in Houston. A fire that engulfed a Houston motel has injured at least six firefighters, including two critically, and three people are missing. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duff) MANDATORY CREDIT

A firefighter sits on the ground during a blaze at the Southwest Inn on U.S. 59 in Houston on Friday, May 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Cody Duty)

HOUSTON (AP) ? Four firefighters searching for people they thought might be trapped in a blazing Houston motel and restaurant Friday were killed when the part of the structure collapsed and ensnared them, authorities said.

At least five other firefighters were hospitalized in the blaze that became the deadliest in the 118-year history of the Houston Fire Department.

Flames were shooting from the roof of the Southwest Inn, along one of Houston's most heavily traveled freeways, U.S. Highway 59, and black smoke was blanketing the area as firefighters tried to extinguish the fire.

Three firefighters were killed at the scene, while the fourth died at a hospital, according to the mayor's office and a medical examiner. Five other people were injured and were hospitalized for treatment of chest pains or leg injuries.

"We took the highest amount of risk possible because we thought we had civilians in the structure," Fire Chief Terry Garrison said. "The structure collapsed and our members who were trying to save lives were lost."

Garrison said everyone else has since been accounted for. A cause of the blaze hasn't yet been determined.

The loss of life is the single worst in the history of the department, which had counted 64 firefighters lost since the city began paying firefighters in 1895. Twice previously, two firefighters were killed in a single fire, in 1953 and most recently in 2000.

"Unfortunately, the building had much more fire in it than we originally thought," Garrison said. "We do know there was a collapse and it caused our firefighters to get trapped."

When a flag-draped body was removed from the smoldering remains around 4 p.m., some four hours after the blaze broke out, firefighters ? working in swirling winds, steamy humidity and temperatures exceeding 90 degrees ? paused and saluted. A procession of ambulances, under police motorcycle escort, left the scene about 90 minutes later and made a ceremonial drive past the fallen firefighters' station, by then draped in black.

"We will provide appropriate services to our fallen firefighters and full honors, but there is nothing we can do that will heal the hurt that we all feel today," Mayor Annise Parker said. "I ask for every Houstonian to offer their prayers to the families of these fallen firefighters, and also to think about what the job of firefighter is and the dangers they face every day."

Names of the victims were not immediately released. Parker said they would be withheld until family members were notified.

"We will work through it, we will get better and we will learn from this," Garrison said.

Jeff Caynon, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said the victims included three men and one woman.

"Houston firefighters mourn the loss of our three brothers and our sister and will forever honor their sacrifices," Caynon said. "This tragedy underscores the inherent dangers of our?profession."

Officials said the five injured firefighters likely would remain hospitalized for at least the night.

The blaze broke out just after noon at a restaurant and bar at the motel, then quickly spread to the section of the building housing the motel. About 150 firefighters responded and were able to get it under control within about two hours.

Front desk clerk Martha Lopez told the Houston Chronicle that a restaurant employee ran into the hotel saying a fire had started in the restaurant. The two began knocking on doors and windows telling guests to get out of the hotel. Lopez had 45 registered guests at the time.

Sammy Sewell, who had been staying at the hotel, said he walked out of his room and heard yelling. He said he turned a corner, saw three women screaming and running at him down a hallway. Then he heard three blasts.

"Next thing you know, it was 'boom!' It scared the crap out of me. I mean, it sounded like a cannon going off. That's how loud it was," Sewell told the newspaper. "I could have sworn it picked this building up and put it back down."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-31-Houston%20Hotel%20Fire/id-dd320afb237a4fdbb126066aff8fc4ae

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Seeing Relationship Red Flags For What They Are - Since My Divorce

Many of the people I?ve interviewed have told me there were relationship red flags from the beginning, even before they were married. It?s not that they didn?t see the red flags at the time but more that they underestimated the impact they?d have on the relationship and the marriage.

My current guest Sandy was married for over twenty years and she too says there were red flags about her relationship from very early on:

?I married what I thought was safe, because of my own heart being broken by men who were unsafe and not knowing myself well enough to know that I could feel incredible love for somebody and attraction for somebody and feel safe.

That didn?t ever happen in my life prior, so I married somebody that I didn?t feel that kind of attraction for, but I thought he had the good values that I needed. And he really loved me, he was very devoted to me. I thought that was a safe formula.

The red flags were his mom, his devotion to his family. That showed up very, very early on. He?s a comedian and he was doing a performance in Toronto on a TV show and his father had a kidney stone, which it wasn?t major. He was in the hospital, he had many kidney stones and my husband left his job to go be with his father, even though his father didn?t want him there.

On one hand I was thinking, ?Oh, this is so nice. He has such a nice family relationship,? and on the other hand, I said, ?His job, he left a job and it wasn?t an emergency.? So there was this confusion that I had about that, but it struck a cord in me, that this was extreme.

He included his parents in everything. We actually took them on our honeymoon.

We went about six months after our marriage. We went to Israel, Holland and Italy. His parents had never been to Israel. Neither had he, I think. He asked me if they could come for two weeks, because this would probably be their only chance. That they would never go on their own. I said, ?This is our honeymoon. This is not supposed to be with parents.? I?m like, ?No, no, no,? and he said, ?Oh, come on.? He was really persuasive and they ended up coming with us. That was challenging.

Throughout the marriage basically his mother would bring him closer and push me away. Whenever we?d have a problem, it was, ?Poor baby, bad wife,? and I didn?t realize until much later, how toxic that was. It felt bad. One of the first things she said to me was, ?I hold grudges, so don?t ever cross me.? That?s such a welcoming statement, isn?t it? And also, ?We don?t babysit by the way, so don?t ever ask us.? There were a lot of things like that.

I?m so looking forward to my kids having kids. I can?t wait to be there for them, but I?m not going to move in with them and I?m not going to tell my daughter that her husband is a bad boy, because she?s having marital issues. I?m going to encourage her to work things out and be independent. There?s a lot of co-dependency in not healthy relationships.

What else was a red flag? There was a an extremism. He fell for me in five minutes. He was really dying to get married and I remember saying to him, ?What do you love about me,? because I didn?t really feel seen.

I?ve talked to other women who?ve told me the same thing. There?s a lot of talk about love, but the actual demonstration of love in it?s true sense, where somebody really respects you and talks out issues and gets you gifts that you want, not that he wants and gets you the ice cream cake that?s in your favorite flavor and not his for your birthday is missing. All of those things were signs of him really not seeing me, but seeing what he wanted to see.

I know that he cared deeply about me, but it?s very different when you feel that true connection, where somebody really gets you and you get them.

Also our connection to Judaism was never the same. Even though we were both Observant, he was only two years into it when I met him and he was fanatical as he was with many things. He?s very black and white. That was also a red flag.

He would have conversations with God. He?d say, ?God just told me this,? and I?d think ?That?s weird but OK, he?s really into it.?

My connection was much more intellectual and spiritual and his was very emotional and very different. I think that was important too.

There could be some outside signs that look good on paper, but when it comes to the practicality of it or the truth of it, it?s very different. I think that?s an important place to look in a relationship.

The value of going back and looking for these red flags isn?t to beat yourself up about why you ignored them or didn?t act on them. The value comes from using these to stop yourself from making the same choices again. It?s less about the other person and more about you.

This means digging deeper and asking what was it about your own development that made you willing to accept the behavior. Then you have to ask yourself what changes you?ve made or that you?re going to work on so you won?t accept the same behavior in the future.

Sometimes the red flags are less about behavior and more about a fundamental difference in values. These are valuable insights you can take with you when you?re ready to start dating again and they?ll help you decide what is and what is not a dealbreaker.

What do you see now as red flags from your relationship with your STBX? What have you learned from them?
Sandy Weiner?is a dating coach at?Last First Date?where she blogs about dating and offers coaching services for completing your online dating profile. You can also sign up for her free report:?Top 3 Mistakes Midlife Daters Make.

Photo Credit: 2013? Jupiter Images Corporation

Source: http://www.sincemydivorce.com/seeing-relationship-red-flags-for-what-they-are/

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Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine?s 2-year-old son has impressive striking

This is Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine's 2-year-old son, and he has some training to do on this laundry basket. Check out his technique on low kicks. Clearly, he has been watching his dad and learning from him. The older Saffiedine is making his UFC debut in July against Robbie Lawler. Will he be as effective as his son is against the laundry hamper?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/strikeforce-champion-tarec-saffiedine-two-old-son-impressive-133912029.html

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal: There's Nothing To Celebrate: NRA's Celebratory Atmosphere At National Conference Is Disgusting

This weekend at its national conference in Houston, the National Rifle Association is celebrating. The organization is celebrating the fact that the Senate, despite the wishes of a majority of Americans, failed to pass the gun violence prevention bill last month.

Don't take my word for it. Take theirs. Just this morning, NRA Executive Director Chris Cox bragged about the organization's efforts to defeat the Senate's bill. "It was great to see the president throw a temper tantrum in the Rose Garden," Cox said.

I think Cox's remarks are disgusting, particularly since President Obama was doing what the NRA refuses to do -- standing with and fighting for families who have lost loved ones as a result of gun violence. I also think the celebratory atmosphere at the NRA's national conference is disgusting.

There is nothing celebratory about the fact that 11,000 Americans die each year from gun violence. In fact, on Wednesday 18 people died as a result of gun violence, including a 13-year-old and 15-year-old. Tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, many more people will die as a result of gun violence.

There's nothing celebratory about the fact that 20 first graders and six educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last year, or the fact that easily accessible assault weapons allowed Adam Lanza to take those 26 lives and injure others in less than five minutes.

There is nothing celebratory about the fact that two brothers suspected of planting bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago were able to get a gun without a proper permit. This gun was used to kill a police officer.

Despite these morbid realities, the NRA is still celebrating this weekend in the Lone Star State, slowly but surely consigning itself to irrelevance as Americans continue to pressure Congress to do something about gun violence weeks after the Senate's failure to pass the gun violence prevention bill. These Americans are confronting pro-gun politicians at town hall meetings, donating money to gun reform groups, and running ads attacking politicians who voted against gun reform. They're even protesting the NRA's national conference this weekend, which is proof that the "Connecticut effect" is not going away and the silent majority continues to get louder and louder.

The NRA is on the wrong side of history. A majority of Americans -- including a majority of NRA members -- want Congress to do something about gun violence, a demand expressed to me by many Newtown parents and other Connecticut residents after the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook. But the NRA chooses to ignore them. The organization would rather spread misinformation about the impact that lax gun laws have on American families and communities.

Ironically, the motto at the NRA's national conference this weekend is "stand and fight." The organization fails to realize that the majority of Americans who support commonsense gun violence prevention measures are prepared to do exactly that.

?

Follow Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@SenBlumenthal

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-richard-blumenthal/theres-nothing-to-celebra_b_3211185.html

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Boston Suspect in Custody (Balloon Juice)

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Electrons are not enough: Cuprate superconductors defy convention

Mar. 18, 2013 ? To engineers, it's a tale as old as time: Electrical current is carried through materials by flowing electrons. But physicists at the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania found that for copper-containing superconductors, known as cuprates, electrons are not enough to carry the current.

"The story of electrical conduction in metals is told entirely in terms of electrons. The cuprates show that there is something completely new to be understood beyond what electrons are doing," said Philip Phillips, a professor of physics and of chemistry at the U. of I.

In physics, Luttinger's theorem states that the number of electrons in a material is the same as the number of electrons in all of its atoms added together. Electrons are the sub-atomic particles that carry the current in a conductive material. Much-studied conducting materials, such as metals and semiconductors, hold true to the theorem.

Phillips' group works on the theory behind high-temperature superconductors. In superconductors, current flows freely without resistance. Cuprate superconductors have puzzled physicists with their superconducting ability since their discovery in 1987.

The researchers developed a model outlining the breakdown of Luttinger's theorem that is applicable to cuprate superconductors, since the hypotheses that the theorem is built on are violated at certain energies in these materials. The group tested it and indeed found discrepancies between the measured charge and the number of mobile electrons in cuprate superconductors, defying Luttinger.

"This result is telling us that the physics cannot be described by electrons alone," Phillips said. "This means that the cuprates are even weirder than previously thought: Something other than electrons carries the current."

"Theorists have suspected that something like this was true but no one has been able to prove it," Phillips said. "Electrons are charged. Therefore, if an electron does not contribute to the charge count, then there is a lot of explaining to do."

Now the researchers are exploring possible candidates for current-carriers, particularly a novel kind of excitation called unparticles.

Phillips, U. of I. undergraduate student Kiaran Dave (now a graduate student at MIT) and University of Pennsylvania professor Charles Kane published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters. The National Science Foundation and the Center for Emergent Superconductivity (through a DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center) supported this work.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jun-Yu Ou, Eric Plum, Jianfa Zhang, Nikolay I. Zheludev. An electromechanically reconfigurable plasmonic metamaterial operating in the near-infrared. Nature Nanotechnology, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2013.25

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/IphBybyx1Lg/130319091727.htm

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Women emerge as crisis leaders in macho Balkans

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, centre, meets with her staff in Pristina on Friday, March 1 2013. Atifete Jahjaga was elected as Kosovo's first female president by the Kosovo lawmakers on 2011 signaling a change on attitude towards woman in politics. Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution. Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union. (AP Photo / Visar Kryeziu )

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, centre, meets with her staff in Pristina on Friday, March 1 2013. Atifete Jahjaga was elected as Kosovo's first female president by the Kosovo lawmakers on 2011 signaling a change on attitude towards woman in politics. Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution. Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union. (AP Photo / Visar Kryeziu )

Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, centre, meets with her staff in Pristina on Friday, March 1 2013. Atifete Jahjaga was elected as Kosovo's first female president by the Kosovo lawmakers on 2011 signaling a change on attitude towards woman in politics. Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution. Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union. (AP Photo / Visar Kryeziu )

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution.

Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union.

During the bloody 1990s, many in the Balkans turned to warrior leaders, mostly male nationalists they thought would protect them from the ethnic conflicts that flattened cities and left over a hundred thousand dead. The new millennium has brought crisis in a different form: economic doldrums, naggingly high unemployment and glaring political corruption.

Encouraged by the EU and influenced by closer ties with the West, more and more it is women who are stepping in to change the old ways of doing business in the macho Balkans. Some see women as less nationalistic and more attuned to the needs of a new era ? diplomacy, consensus, and compromise.

"Women have always been more successful than men, with all due respect," said Duska Latinovic, a nurse from the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia. "Women are ... more sensitive, stronger, emotional, and in these rough times people need more of a heart."

Although overall gender equality standards are still far from those in Western democracies, strongly patriarchal Kosovo and the post-war Serb mini-state in Bosnia have both installed women in their top positions. Male-dominated Serbia and Montenegro have passed laws to increase the numbers of women in leadership positions, part of a slate of efforts to convince the EU they belong in the bloc.

"The power of women in the politics is a soft power," Atifete Jahjaga, the female president of Kosovo told the AP. "It is a positive change that our country and other countries in the region ... are making by giving a chance to women."

The latest political newcomer is the charismatic 43-year-old financial expert Alenka Bratusek, Slovenia's first ever female prime minister. While Slovenia has traditionally been more socially liberal than the rest of the Balkans, Bratusek's election last week was significant because it came at a moment of deep financial and political turmoil in the small Alpine state.

A rising star among veteran Slovenian politicians, Bratusek has been entrusted with consolidating the nation's economy and restoring confidence in state institutions, which have been badly shaken by the EU's broader financial crisis.

"It is important that this happened at a sensitive moment, a period of crisis," sociologist Milica Gaber Antic said. "It's a strong message to other women: 'We women can do it!'"

Many women leaders are already being lauded for steering their countries through the storms.

Croatia's former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, took over the premiership in turmoil after her predecessor Ivo Sanader was forced to resign in 2009 in a whirl of corruption scandals, and then wrapped up her country's accession talks with the EU.

In 2011 in Kosovo ? where Parliament members were recently issued notebooks with an assortment of sayings including one saying that "silence is the only treasure a woman possesses" ? the little-known Jahjaga was elected the first ever female president, part of a U.S.-brokered compromise that put to a rest the bickering between political groups dominated by formal rebel fighters and murky business leaders.

Last week in the ethnically Serb mini-state in Bosnia another little-known female politician, Zeljka Cvijanovic, was proposed as the new head of government after the previous Cabinet resigned. That would make her the first ever woman to lead the government in any of the country's many levels of power-sharing, where no ministry in the central government is headed by a woman.

"As a woman, I hope to add a new flair and a new dimension to the institutions of Republika Srpska," she said in an interview.

Women accounted for only 1.6 percent of Serbia's Parliament in 1990, the lowest rate in Europe. But with strongman Slobodan Milosevic ouster in 2000 and the country's efforts to join the EU, the proportion of women has soared to 20 percent. Serbian law now calls for every third candidate on an election list to be a woman ? a rule requested as part of EU reforms.

It isn't always the same story across the region. During the communist rule that followed World War II, authorities promoted women's inclusion in politics as part of the communist agenda of gender equality. At the time women served at top positions in the governments and were granted equal rights, jobs, salaries and education.

Bulgaria, for example, had the highest percentage of working women in the world in the 1970s, and women in top offices include the vice president, the parliament speaker, four ministers, and the mayor of the capital city, Sofia.

But, old habits die hard. Kosovo's Minister for European Integration Vlora Citaku acknowledged that "it is almost impossible to forget even for a moment that I am a woman ? I've been reminded of that every day since I became a minister."

She said that being a woman in the male-dominated politics is "a tough life."

"First of all they ask you are you married? What your dad think of you traveling alone surrounded by all men?," she scoffed. "I mean, it's all these stereotypes ... There are certain duties that a woman must do in order to be 'complete.'"

And in Slovenia, shortly after Bratusek won Parliament's approval, political opponents tweeted that "her mandate will be as long as her skirt."

Bratusek responded simply: "I wish we women were no longer judged only by the length of our skirts."

_______

Ali Zerdin in Slovenia, Veselin Toshkov in Bulgaria, Sabina Niksic and Irena Knezevic in Bosnia, Alison Mutler in Romania, Monica Scislowska in Poland, Karel Janicek in the Czech Republic, Nebi Qena in Kosovo, Pablo Gorondi in Hungary, Darko Bandic in Croatia, and Predrag Milic in Montenegro contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-04-Balkans-Women%20in%20Power/id-3e18935fe414484c8274f4e985fa720b

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