Companion apps are nothing new, but while they can serve up bonus material for a TV show or medal counts for the Olympics, they can't see exactly what you're watching and display relevant information in realtime. Akamai's Hyperconnected Living Room concept demoed here at NAB aims to enhance the dual-screen experience by both pushing out on-demand movies and other streaming content and bringing related info to your slate, exactly when you'd expect to see it.
Akamai says it cooked up this demo especially for NAB "to get people thinking about the possibilities" of a second-screen experience. Those possibilities, if you haven't guessed, generally require you to open up your wallet. When Mission Impossible was playing on the big screen, pricing for a character's sunglasses popped up on the tablet. During a basketball game, we were prompted to buy tickets for an upcoming game. Depending on what you're watching, you may also see trivia from IMDB or links to players' stats.
To connect an iPad to the service, an Akamai rep simply signed into the web-based interface on both the TV and the tablet (though the service is generally compatible with any web-connected device). Once linked, the tablet can function as a remote for pausing and selecting content to stream, and users can personalize what ads and info they receive by providing details such as age, location and even clothing size. If you can't watch Mad Men without wondering where to buy Don Draper's fedora, you'll be all over the video demo below.
The massive problems of the patent system really started getting renewed attention between 2002 and 2004 or so, highlighted by the publication of the book Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System Is Endangering Innovation and Progress, and What to Do About It by Adam Jaffe and Josh Lerner. By that point, the combination of two key events in the late 90s was clearly being felt on the patents system. First, and most importantly, was the impact of the State Street decision that announced to the world that the courts considered software and business method patents legal. Also important was the 1999 publication of Rembrandts in the Attic: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents by Kevin Rivette and David Kline, which led patent lawyers and tech companies alike to suddenly both ramp up their patenting, but also to look to sell off "unused" patents to companies (lawyers) who did nothing but threaten and sue over them. Suddenly, patent trolls became a big, big issue.
Around the time of the Jaffe and Lerner book, the USPTO seemed to actually take much of the criticism to heart. One big part of Jaffe and Lerner's criticism was the simple fact that patent examiners had significant incentives to approve patents, and almost none to reject patents. That is, the metrics by which they were measured included the rate of how many patent applications they processed. But, since there is no such thing as a truly final rejection of a patent, people would just keep asking the USPTO to look at their application again. Each time an examiner had to do this, their "rate" would decline, since they'd be spending even more time on the same old patent application. But approving a patent got it off your plate and let the court system sort out any mess. However, after the book was published, the USPTO actually seemed to pay attention and changed its internal incentives a bit to push for high quality approvals. Not surprisingly, this meant that the approval rate dropped. But, since there was more demand for bogus patents to sue over, more people appealed the rejections and the backlog grew.
Patent system lovers started whining about the "backlog," but what they were really pissed off about was the fact that their bogus patents weren't getting approved. Unfortunately, their message resonated with the new regime of the Obama administration, mainly Commerce Dept. boss, Gary Locke, and head of the USPTO, David Kappos. Back in 2010, we noted that the USPTO had shifted back to approving "pretty much anything" and had clearly decreased their quality standards in an effort to rush through the backlog. Not surprisingly, in stating this, we were attacked mercilessly by patent system supporters, who insisted that we were crazy, and the truth was that David Kappos had found some magic elixir that made all USPTO agents super efficient (or something like that -- their actual explanations were not much more coherent). No matter what, they insisted that it was entirely possible to massively ramp up the number of approvals, decrease the backlog and not decrease patent quality.
Needless to say, we've been skeptical that this was possible.
And now the data is in, suggesting we were absolutely right all along. A new study done by Chris Cotropia and Cecil Quillen of the University of Richmond and independent researcher Ogden Webster used information obtained via FOIA requests to delve into what was really going on in the patent office (link to a great summary of the research by Tim Lee). The key issue, is (once again) the fact that patents are never truly rejected in full, and the people applying for patents just keep on trying again and again until someone in the USPTO approves it. However, the USPTO, to hide some of this, counts some of those "rejections" that eventually get approved as "rejections" to artificially deflate the actual "approval rate" of patent applications.
When the researchers corrected for all of this, they found that the actual patent approval rate in 2012 was almost 90% of all patents eventually get approved. 90%! That's about where it was in 2004 and 2005 (as discussed above), though in 2001 it actually came close to 100%! However, as noted above, by the second half of 00's corrections had been put in place and the approval rate had declined to under 70% in 2009 -- meaning that the USPTO was actually rejecting bad patents. But over the past three years, we've shot right back up. And it's clear that if the approval rate is much higher, the USPTO is approving many, many more bad patents.
In fact, it's likely that the story is even worse than before. Back in 2004 and 2005 when the approval rates were similar, it was really before the public was aware of just how bad the patent troll problem was, so you had many fewer people trying to get their own bad patents to troll over. In the past five years or so that has changed quite a bit. So the number of applications has shot up massively as well. In 2004 there were 382,139 applications. By 2011 that had shot up by 50% to 576,763.
I don't think anyone thinks that we suddenly became 50% more inventive between 2004 and 2011. No, the truth is that people were suddenly flooding the USPTO with highly questionable patent applications on broad and vague concepts, hoping to get a lottery ticket to shake down actual innovators. And, the USPTO under David Kappos complied, granting nearly all of them. Incredible.
When Thomas Jefferson put together the first patent system -- after being quite skeptical that patents could actually be a good thing -- he was quite careful to note that patents should only be granted in the rarest of circumstances, since such a monopoly could do a lot more harm than good. And yet, today, we encourage tons of people to send in any old bogus idea, and the USPTO has turned into little more than a rubber stamp of approval, allowing patent holders to shake down tons of people and companies, knowing that many will pay up rather than fight, and then leaving the few cases where someone fights back to be handled by the courts (who seem ignorant of the game being played).
The end result is a true disaster for actual innovation and the economy. We should all be able to agree that bad patents are not a good thing. And the USPTO is, undoubtedly, approving tons of awful patents when its true approval rate is hovering around 90%.
A recent study has shown that bottom-dwelling goosefish, also known as monkfish, prey on dovekies, a small Arctic seabird and the smallest member of the puffin family. To understand how this deep-water fish finds a shallow-feeding bird in offshore waters, researchers looked at when, where, and how these animals were most likely to be in the same place at the same time.
Remains of fourteen dovekie were recovered from the stomachs of 14 goosefish caught during the winters between 2007 and 2010. The goosefish were captured in gillnets deployed at depths between 275 and 495 feet in waters 65 to 95 miles south of Chatham, Mass. The Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association collected the specimens and provided them for the research study.
Researchers from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, Mass. and the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., wanted to know how the birds could be captured so far from shore by a fish that lives on the ocean bottom in deep water. Their findings, recently published online in the Northeastern Naturalist, suggest that it is all a matter of timing.
Goosefish (Lophius americanus) are highly opportunistic predators. Distributed from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, N.C., the fish are typically partially buried on soft bottom habitats and attract a variety of prey by using a modified dorsal fin ray that resembles a fishing pole and lure.
Dovekies, a small black and white puffin species, breed along the Arctic coast and head south in the winter, typically as far as New England. The dovekie (Alle alle), also known as little auk, is the smallest of the auks. It lives in the open ocean and can dive to depths o more than 100 feet to prey on small fish, crustaceans, and zooplankton.
Study co-author Anne Richards of the NEFSC says tagging studies that she and colleagues have conducted reveal that goosefish swim considerable vertical distances from the bottom to near the surface, especially during their spring and fall migrations onshore and offshore in response to water temperatures and related factors.
Goosefish leave the bottom to use the currents during migration periods or to spawn at the surface. If prey items are encountered during their vertical movements, the goosefish take advantage. Hence, timing may be the key factor in bringing dovekies and goosefish together in the same place.
"Given the common name 'goosefish', it is not surprising to find birds in goosefish stomachs, but it is surprising to find that this predation occurs over deep water, "Richards said. "Goosefish do not actively seek out the dovekies, but when such tasty morsels are available in the water column, the fish are going to consume them."
Another source of data used in the study is the NOAA NEFSC food-habits database, which contains decades of predation information collected from the stomachs of fish that are caught during regular research vessel surveys. While not a particularly good measure of how often or how many birds are eaten by fish, these data confirm that not only goosefish, but also spiny dogfish, Atlantic herring, pollock, Atlantic cod, red hake, and fourspot flounder will eat birds.
Lead author Matthew Perry, a research wildlife biologist at the USGS Patuxtent Wildlife Research Center, says he became interested in goosefish predation when he learned from a sea scalloper on Nantucket that Chatham gillnetters were finding birds inside goosefish stomachs.
"I was studying long-tailed ducks and thought, to avoid being eaten, these birds fly 30 to 50 miles to Nantucket Sound each night and return to the ocean in the morning," said Perry, who studies several species of seaducks. "People ask why don't dovekies fly to Nantucket Sound at night like the long-tailed ducks to avoid goosefish? My explanation is that dovekies have small wings and can't make the routine flight."
"One thing we know is that dovekies cannot dive to the bottom in 300 to 400 feet of water," Perry said. "Goosefish probably come up from the ocean bottom to within 10 to 20 feet of the water surface at night. As dovekies dive for amphipods, small crustaceans, in the morning at first light, goosefish seize the opportunity and might use their 'fishing lure' to simulate one of these prey species by attracting the dovekies with their typical 'sit and wait' behavior."
The magnitude of fish predation on seabirds is poorly understood. Perry says most food habit studies for goosefish have been conducted during summer when the dovekies have migrated north to their Arctic breeding areas; thus, they seldom have been recorded as prey. Perry hopes more telemetry tracking of goosefish will be done in winter when birds are in the area and are potential prey.
As for what's ahead, Richards says ongoing use of electronic tags on goosefish will provide more information on their vertical movements.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Goosefish capture small puffins over deep water of Northwest AtlanticPublic release date: 10-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
A recent study has shown that bottom-dwelling goosefish, also known as monkfish, prey on dovekies, a small Arctic seabird and the smallest member of the puffin family. To understand how this deep-water fish finds a shallow-feeding bird in offshore waters, researchers looked at when, where, and how these animals were most likely to be in the same place at the same time.
Remains of fourteen dovekie were recovered from the stomachs of 14 goosefish caught during the winters between 2007 and 2010. The goosefish were captured in gillnets deployed at depths between 275 and 495 feet in waters 65 to 95 miles south of Chatham, Mass. The Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association collected the specimens and provided them for the research study.
Researchers from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) in Woods Hole, Mass. and the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., wanted to know how the birds could be captured so far from shore by a fish that lives on the ocean bottom in deep water. Their findings, recently published online in the Northeastern Naturalist, suggest that it is all a matter of timing.
Goosefish (Lophius americanus) are highly opportunistic predators. Distributed from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, N.C., the fish are typically partially buried on soft bottom habitats and attract a variety of prey by using a modified dorsal fin ray that resembles a fishing pole and lure.
Dovekies, a small black and white puffin species, breed along the Arctic coast and head south in the winter, typically as far as New England. The dovekie (Alle alle), also known as little auk, is the smallest of the auks. It lives in the open ocean and can dive to depths o more than 100 feet to prey on small fish, crustaceans, and zooplankton.
Study co-author Anne Richards of the NEFSC says tagging studies that she and colleagues have conducted reveal that goosefish swim considerable vertical distances from the bottom to near the surface, especially during their spring and fall migrations onshore and offshore in response to water temperatures and related factors.
Goosefish leave the bottom to use the currents during migration periods or to spawn at the surface. If prey items are encountered during their vertical movements, the goosefish take advantage. Hence, timing may be the key factor in bringing dovekies and goosefish together in the same place.
"Given the common name 'goosefish', it is not surprising to find birds in goosefish stomachs, but it is surprising to find that this predation occurs over deep water, "Richards said. "Goosefish do not actively seek out the dovekies, but when such tasty morsels are available in the water column, the fish are going to consume them."
Another source of data used in the study is the NOAA NEFSC food-habits database, which contains decades of predation information collected from the stomachs of fish that are caught during regular research vessel surveys. While not a particularly good measure of how often or how many birds are eaten by fish, these data confirm that not only goosefish, but also spiny dogfish, Atlantic herring, pollock, Atlantic cod, red hake, and fourspot flounder will eat birds.
Lead author Matthew Perry, a research wildlife biologist at the USGS Patuxtent Wildlife Research Center, says he became interested in goosefish predation when he learned from a sea scalloper on Nantucket that Chatham gillnetters were finding birds inside goosefish stomachs.
"I was studying long-tailed ducks and thought, to avoid being eaten, these birds fly 30 to 50 miles to Nantucket Sound each night and return to the ocean in the morning," said Perry, who studies several species of seaducks. "People ask why don't dovekies fly to Nantucket Sound at night like the long-tailed ducks to avoid goosefish? My explanation is that dovekies have small wings and can't make the routine flight."
"One thing we know is that dovekies cannot dive to the bottom in 300 to 400 feet of water," Perry said. "Goosefish probably come up from the ocean bottom to within 10 to 20 feet of the water surface at night. As dovekies dive for amphipods, small crustaceans, in the morning at first light, goosefish seize the opportunity and might use their 'fishing lure' to simulate one of these prey species by attracting the dovekies with their typical 'sit and wait' behavior."
The magnitude of fish predation on seabirds is poorly understood. Perry says most food habit studies for goosefish have been conducted during summer when the dovekies have migrated north to their Arctic breeding areas; thus, they seldom have been recorded as prey. Perry hopes more telemetry tracking of goosefish will be done in winter when birds are in the area and are potential prey.
As for what's ahead, Richards says ongoing use of electronic tags on goosefish will provide more information on their vertical movements.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Apr. 9, 2013 ? Researchers have discovered that using two kinds of therapy in tandem may be a knockout combo against inherited disorders that cause blindness. While their study focused on man's best friend, the treatment could help restore vision in people, too.
Published in the journal Molecular Therapy, the study builds on earlier work by Michigan State University veterinary ophthalmologist Andr?s Kom?romy and colleagues. In 2010, they restored day vision in dogs suffering from achromatopsia, an inherited form of total color blindness, by replacing the mutant gene associated with the condition.
While that treatment was effective for most younger dogs, it didn't work for canines older than 1 year. Kom?romy began to wonder if the older dogs' cones -- the photoreceptor cells in the retina that process daylight and color -- might be too worn out.
"Gene therapy only works if the nonfunctional cell that is primarily affected by the disease is not too degenerated," he said. "That's how we came up with the idea for this new study. How about if we selectively destroy the light-sensitive part of the cones and let it grow back before performing gene therapy? Then you'd have a younger, less degenerated cell that may be more responsive to therapy."
So, Kom?romy and colleagues recruited more dogs with achromatopsia between 1 and 3 years old. To test their theory, they again performed gene therapy but first gave some of the dogs a dose of a protein called CNTF, which the central nervous system produces to keep cells healthy. At a high enough dose, its effect on photoreceptors is a bit like pruning flowers: It partially destroys them, but allows for new growth.
"It was a long shot," said Kom?romy, associate professor in MSU's Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
But it worked.
"We were just amazed at what we found," he said. "All seven dogs that got the combination treatment responded, regardless of age."
While achromatopsia is quite rare, Kom?romy said it's a good model disease for other disorders affecting the photoreceptors, conditions that constitute a major cause of incurable blindness in dogs and humans. Those disorders affect individuals of both species in much the same way, so the combination treatment's promise isn't just for Fido.
"Based on our results we are proposing a new concept of retinal therapy," he said. "One treatment option alone might not be enough to reverse vision loss, but a combination therapy can maximize therapeutic success."
The research was funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida and University of Miami also participated in the study.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Andr?s M Kom?romy, Jessica S Rowlan, Amanda T Parton Corr, Shelby L Reinstein, Sanford L Boye, Ann E Cooper, Amaliris Gonzalez, Britt Levy, Rong Wen, William W Hauswirth, William A Beltran, Gustavo D Aguirre. Transient Photoreceptor Deconstruction by CNTF Enhances rAAV-Mediated Cone Functional Rescue in Late Stage CNGB3-Achromatopsia. Molecular Therapy, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/mt.2013.50
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Amid the myriad tributes to conservative icon Margaret Thatcher, Texas Congressman Steve Stockman definitely stands out as the most hardcore ? and combative ? fan of the former British Prime Minister.?
After learning of Thatcher's death this morning, Stockman tweeted this conservative call-to-arms:?
Twitter/@SteveWorks4You
He elaborated in an extensive statement posted to his House website, using Thatcher's death as an opportunity to slam President Barack Obama and other "leftists."
Here's the full text:?
This morning we mark the loss of one of the greatest champions of human freedom, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who as the United Kingdom?s first female Prime Minister led a nation out of economic misery and into a new age of strength and prosperity.
Like Barack Obama, Baroness Thatcher inherited a country that was demoralized, economically broken and bankrupted by expansive government.? Unlike Obama, Baroness Thatcher restored prosperity and optimism.? Where Obama has failed, Baroness Thatcher succeeded.? While Obama forges chains of dependency and government bloat, Baroness Thatcher took a sledgehammer to the machinery of liberalism.? Baroness Thatcher?s record of creating explosive economic growth and a stronger nation by embracing conservative values makes the utter failure of Obama?s stale liberalism starker and more disturbing.
Baroness Thatcher created prosperity by rejecting politics of consensus demanded by her liberal opponents, which she derided as ?the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.?? She believed in one thing, the power of human freedom to improve lives, create prosperity and renew a nation?s spirit.
She is still hated by leftists who would rather live in equalized misery than allow people to achieve as much as they can work for, leftists who now hold the levers of government in the United States and hurl personal invectives because they cannot deny she left her countrymen stronger and more prosperous.
While many mourn, Baroness Thatcher reminded us ?I fight on I fight to win.?? The best way to honor Baroness Thatcher is to crush liberalism and sweep it into the dustbin of history. What are you doing this morning to defeat liberal politicians?
Buckle up ? climate change could make this a bumpy flight.
That's according to a newly published study by two British scientists who say increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will make "clear air turbulence" ? which can't be easily spotted by pilots or satellites ? more common over the North Atlantic. That means the potential for gut-wrenching flights between the U.S., Europe and points east.
According to Scientific American, researchers Paul D. Williams and Manoj M. Joshi, "used computer simulations to fast-forward to the year 2050. They fed that future climate data to 21 turbulence-predicting algorithms."
According to the BBC:
"The modelling suggested the average strength of transatlantic turbulence could increase by between 10% and 40%, and the amount of airspace likely to contain significant turbulence by between 40% and 170%, where the most likely outcome is around 100%. In other words, a doubling of the amount of airspace affected.
" 'The probability of moderate or greater turbulence increases by 10.8%,' said Dr Williams."
The possible consequences go beyond mere passenger discomfort and could well show up on the bottom line for airlines, Williams tells the BBC.
"It's certainly plausible that if flights get diverted more to fly around turbulence rather than through it then the amount of fuel that needs to be burnt will increase," Williams says. "Fuel costs money, which airlines have to pay, and ultimately it could of course be passengers buying their tickets who see the prices go up."
Some 600 flights crisscross the North Atlantic corridor each day, according to the BBC reports.
Apr. 6, 2013 ? Researchers using a tool called BEAMing technology, which can detect cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples, were able to identify oncogenic mutations associated with distinct responses to therapies used to treat patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), according to a researcher who presented the data at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington D.C., April 6-10.
Data from a subanalysis of the phase III GIST-Regorafenib In Progressive Disease (GRID) trial indicated that this blood-based screening technology may provide physicians with a real-time, comprehensive picture of a patient's tumor mutations, according to George D. Demetri, M.D., director of the Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.
"Our results show that it is possible to sum the total of all of the heterogeneity in a cancer and get a clear picture of the entire tumor burden, using a simple blood sample," Demetri said.
In this era of targeted cancer therapies, the goal is to focus cancer treatments on a specific molecular target. However, as researchers discover more about cancers and their heterogeneity, they are finding many patients have anywhere from one to dozens of different mutations in their tumors.
"It is a real issue that when you do a biopsy on one tumor, and then biopsy a different tumor in that same patient a few inches away or on the other side of the body, you may get a different answer when you do the molecular analysis," Demetri said. "With this blood test, you get a robust summary statement about all the different mutations present across the different tumors in the body. I believe this testing technology has promise to become a standard part of care in the next five to 10 years."
Data from the main analysis of the phase III GRID study showed that the molecularly targeted drug regorafenib significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo for patients with GIST. The researchers hope these results will ultimately lead to the drug's approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Demetri. The drug is intended to treat patients with advanced GIST whose disease has failed to be controlled by the only two other FDA-approved therapies for GIST, imatinib and sunitinib (Sutent).
Demetri and colleagues conducted an exploratory analysis on patients in the GRID study to assess GIST genotypes. They isolated DNA from archival tumor tissue, which was then analyzed for mutations in two genes, KIT and PDGFRA, which generate the cancer-driving proteins that are the targets of imatinib, sunitinib and regorafenib. The researchers believed that primary mutations would be detectable using traditional analysis, but that those mutations that developed after treatment with imatinib and sunitinib would not be detectable. They then took blood samples drawn at study entry after failure of both imatinib and sunitinib, and analyzed them for mutations via BEAMing technology.
Mutations in the KIT gene were detected in 60 percent of the blood samples compared with 65 percent of the tumor tissue samples. However, when focusing their analysis on secondary KIT mutations, which are the mutations that drive resistance to targeted therapies like imatinib and sunitinib, the researchers found mutations in 48 percent of blood samples compared with only 12 percent of tissue samples. In addition, nearly half of blood samples in which secondary KIT mutations were found harbored multiple secondary mutations.
Importantly, regorafenib was clinically active compared with placebo in patients with secondary KIT mutations.
According to Demetri, the results show a clear association between the presence of different cancer-driving gene mutations in patients' blood samples and clinical outcomes.
"By using this technology, we hope to develop the most rational drug combinations and better tests to match patients with the most effective therapies going forward," Demetri said.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
LONDON (Reuters) - More than three decades after Margaret Thatcher became Britain's prime minister, her economic legacy - reviled and revered - still ripples across the world.
Whether it is euro zone finance ministers demanding debt-laden countries privatize state-run companies, U.S. politicians seeking spending cuts and curbs on unions, or Britain itself putting its Royal Mail on the auction bloc, the tenets of Thatcherism, for better or worse, are alive.
Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87, stood for deregulation, a smaller state, free markets and privatization. If that sounds familiar, it is because her playbook has been copied around the world.
None of those policies were common in 1979 when Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister with the country reeling in post-war economic decay.
"She shifted the boundaries of what was politically possible," said Steve Davies, a director and economic historian at Britain's Institute of Economic Affairs think tank.
"On the one side policies such as privatization and deregulation came to be taken seriously. On the other, policies that were taken seriously - like the command economy - are no longer taken seriously."
Thatcherism - and its U.S. cousin Reaganomics, after the president, Ronald - were seen as radical departures. The term privatization, for example, was barely known before her tenure. A Google search in 2013 brings up more than 14.5 million hits.
When Thatcher took over Britain, much of its industry like those of other European countries was in the hands of the state.
She sold off steelmakers, carmakers, aerospace firms, oil and gas giants, airlines and the telecoms monopoly - often to strong objections from political opponents and workers within the former state-owned industries. Even public housing was offered for sale, at a discount, to the tenants who lived in it.
There is still opposition. The U.S. public services union ASCME, for example, describes privatization as "driven by wrong-minded public officials and corporate greed."
FILE - This is a 1980 file photo showing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Ex-spokesman Tim Bell says that Thatcher has died. She was 87. Bell said the woman known to friends and foes as "the ... more? FILE - This is a 1980 file photo showing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Ex-spokesman Tim Bell says that Thatcher has died. She was 87. Bell said the woman known to friends and foes as "the Iron Lady" passed away Monday morning, April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/File) less? ?
And not all privatizations were successful. Bold competition has brought down costs and encouraged growth in some areas such as telecommunications. Complex, heavily infrastructured businesses such as railways - privatized by her successor John Major - have arguably done less well.
But the debate now is generally on how far privatization should run, not on whether it should be unwound.
Sell-offs of state-owned businesses are now a de rigeur part of euro zone bailout programs. In Greece, the European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout requires the sale of real estate, more than 20 companies, and dozens of marinas and ports.
Thatcher's economic influence outside of Britain was most visible in Eastern Europe. After the fall of the Communist bloc at the end of her tenure, new leaders there made her a hero and embraced privatization as the express route to capitalism.
In many countries the transfer of state assets to private hands was a success; in others, less so.
In Russia, a privatization scheme designed by self-professed Thatcherites was brazenly run by its own beneficiaries. It awarded the crown jewels of Soviet industry to a handful of politically-connected insiders, creating a caste of overnight billionaires, more than a few of whom would later become Thatcher's neighbors in London's exclusive Belgravia district.
"The emergence of oligarchic structures and dramatic increases in inequality... demonstrate the limitations of applying Baroness Thatcher's legacy too literally," said Erik Berglof, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
DEREGULATION
Thatcher's "big bang" deregulation of British financial markets saw the City of London strut into its role as Europe's banking capital, and helped turn global finance into the swaggering industry it became for the past generation.
Other industries faced the opposite fate on her watch. Her biggest battles were with coal miners, in a state-run sector that was already in rapid decline after Britain discovered cheaper, safer and cleaner offshore natural gas.
When she took power there were nearly a quarter of a million coal miners in Britain, sustaining communities that had known little else since the industrial revolution. When she left there were barely 50,000 people still working in the mines. Today only a few thousand remain.
Her embrace of deregulation would get mixed reviews at the moment, given the excesses that led to the financial crisis of 2008. Indeed, there has been something of a backlash against the relatively unfettered wealth-creation Thatcher espoused.
[Related: Thatcher 'leaned in' before it was a thing]
"Thatcher created a more dynamic and laissez-faire society, but the social cost in terms of communities destroyed was immense," said Timothy Ash, a strategist at Standard Bank who remembers long lines of police vans outside his school, which was adjacent to a coal mine that was later closed down.
But free market economics - epitomized by Europe's single market, which Thatcher supported even as she waved her handbag threateningly at much of the rest of the bloc's ideas - has become the dominant economic philosophy in most of the world.
Again, the argument today is on the issue of how much you can protect your economy or control excesses, rather than on the assumption that you should run things from the center.
"There are still legitimate question about outcomes," said Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York. "But she tremendously advanced the case of free markets for goods, capital and labor around the world."
(Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Sujata Rao; Editing by Peter Graff)
New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) reaches for the ball after it was knocked away by Oklahoma City Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha, right, in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) reaches for the ball after it was knocked away by Oklahoma City Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha, right, in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City Sunday April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton (2) shoots in front of Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins (5) in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, right,drives around Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) gestures in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 7, 2013. Kncks guard Jason Kidd, left, looks on. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) is fouled by New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler (6) while shooting in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ? Carmelo Anthony had 36 points and 12 rebounds, J.R. Smith hit a pair of shot-clock beaters in the final 2 minutes and the New York Knicks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 125-120 on Sunday for their 12th straight win.
Smith connected on a 23-foot jumper from the right wing as the 24-second clock expired to put New York up 117-113 with 1:30 to play, then swished a 3-pointer with 56.8 seconds left that all but sealed New York's 50th win of the season.
It's the first time the Knicks have reached the landmark in 13 years.
Russell Westbrook had 37 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for Oklahoma City, which fell a game behind San Antonio for first place in the West with five games left.
Kevin Durant scored 27, falling behind Anthony in the NBA scoring race.
Anthony came up with a season-high nine of his 12 rebounds on the offensive end as the Knicks amassed 23 points off of 19 offensive boards. Anthony's last three baskets came on tip-ins. He twice put back his own misses, then tipped in Smith's missed free throw in the final minutes to help close it out.
Smith had 22 points, Raymond Felton scored 16 with eight assists and Tyson Chandler chipped in 15 points as Oklahoma City allowed its most points of the season.
Anthony, playing at Oklahoma City for the first time since April 2010, added to one of the more colorful histories of any visiting player despite failing to extend his run of 40-point games to four. He tied Bernard King's Knicks record with three in a row, going for 50, 40 and 41 in his previous three games.
Anthony hit game-winners in the closing seconds of Denver's only two games at Oklahoma City in 2009, then was knocked unconscious in the third quarter before returning in the fourth as the Nuggets rallied to win the 2010 game.
He had missed his final chance with the Nuggets after his sister's death and then sat out last season's meeting because of wrist and ankle injuries.
After Oklahoma City had rallied from 12 down to take a 105-104 lead on Durant's jumper in the lane with 6:57 remaining, the Knicks didn't allow Durant to score again while Anthony's relentlessness on the boards paid off. He twice stretched one-point leads with tip-ins of his own misses before Smith finally provided a bigger cushion.
Anthony's scoring average improved a tenth of a point to 28.44, while Durant's stayed about the same at 28.35.
It was just the sixth home loss for the Thunder, who snapped a string of 21 straight games at Chesapeake Energy Arena that had been decided by double digits ? 18 wins, three losses.
The Knicks allowed a 16-5 spurt by the Thunder and then lost Anthony ? the third New York starter to pick up two fouls in the opening 8 minutes ? but still were able to rally back from a 21-14 hole behind three 3-pointers from Jason Kidd and take the lead late in a fast-paced first quarter.
New York's reserves opened the second quarter with a 9-3 spurt, and Anthony hit a left-wing jumper and a transition 3-pointer in a string of seven straight Knicks points that bumped the lead out to a dozen. Chandler's two-handed slam of Smith's alley-oop made it 65-53 in the final minute of the first half before Oklahoma City got the final three points of the half on free throws.
Westbrook had a pair of steals to spark a quick string of six straight Thunder points early in the third quarter, and Oklahoma City was able to whittle a 12-point New York lead down to one five different times before Anthony hit a 3-pointer and then put back his own miss to provide some cushion. Smith followed with a fallaway jumper to make it 91-83.
NOTES: The Knicks' Kenyon Martin missed his second straight game with a sore left knee. ... New York's 65 points matched the most given up by the Thunder in the first half this season. Denver had 65 in a 114-104 win at Oklahoma City on March 19. Houston's 122 points were the previous high allowed by the Thunder. ... Chandler was called for a technical foul in the fourth quarter when Nick Collison knocked the ball into his face in the process of fouling him and Chandler followed through to knock Collison to the floor.
The PGA leaderboard for the Valero Texas Open is crowded at and near the top as play is underway on Saturday as the tournament before the 2013 Masters heads into golf's traditional moving day.
Many eyes were on Rory McIlroy to start the day, the former number 1 golfer on the PGA Tour is playing this weekend in San Antonio to try to win and to prepare for the 2013 Masters golf tournament next weekend in Augusta, Ga.
Rory finished with a 5-under-par 67 and moved within three shots of leader Billy Horschel yesterday.
On Friday, Horschel had six birdies, including a stretch of four in five holes midway through the round, and he did so despite hitting only seven of 14 fairways.
A group of three players -- Daniel Summerhays, Charley Hoffman and Steven Bowditch -- were two shots back at 6 under and six others were tied at 5 under (including McIlroy).
Play is underway Saturday, see a current leaderboard below and a live leaderbaord here.
US golfer Charley Hoffman has taken the lead with an early 3 under par score for Saturday's play so far.
Overall, Hoffman now stands alone at the top at minus 9.
Leaderboard Valero Texas Open (Apr 4 - 7)
Course: AT&T Oaks Course Par: 72 Yardage: 7,435
Pos Name 1 2 3 4 Today Thru Total Strokes
1 Charley Hoffman 71 67 29 - -3 8 -9 167
2 Billy Horschel 68 68 32 - E 8 -8 168
T3 Bob Estes 72 69 52 - -4 14 -7 193
T3 Jim Furyk 69 70 34 - -2 9 -7 173
T5 Ryan Palmer 71 71 59 - -4 16 -6 201
T5 Steven Bowditch 69 69 36 - E 9 -6 174
T7 Padraig Harrington 68 73 49 - -2 13 -5 190
T7 Rory McIlroy 72 67 40 - E 10 -5 179
T7 Daniel Summerhays 69 69 33 - +1 8 -5 171
T10 Marcel Siem* 76 67 60 - -3 16 -4 203
T10 Martin Laird 70 71 50 - -1 13 -4 191
T10 Jeff Overton 69 72 50 - -1 13 -4 191
T10 K.J. Choi 72 67 37 - +1 9 -4 176
T10 Ben Kohles 69 70 37 - +1 9 -4 176
T15 Bud Cauley 71 71 62 - -1 16 -3 204
T15 Nathan Green 69 72 48 - E 12 -3 189
T17 Martin Flores* 71 72 62 - -1 16 -2 205
T17 Nicholas Thompson* 71 73 61 - -2 16 -2 205
T17 David Lynn 72 70 60 - E 15 -2 202
T17 Ken Duke 73 68 57 - +1 14 -2 198
T17 Charl Schwartzel* 72 73 45 - -3 12 -2 190
T17 D.J. Trahan 70 71 45 - +1 11 -2 186
T17 Brendon de Jonge 70 69 39 - +3 9 -2 178
T24 Jason Kokrak 74 68 68 - +1 17 -1 210
T24 Shane Lowry 70 72 64 - +1 16 -1 206
T24 Steve LeBrun 72 69 62 - +2 15 -1 203
T24 Joe Durant 70 71 50 - +2 12 -1 191
T24 Jason Gore 69 71 47 - +3 11 -1 187
T24 Lee Janzen 70 69 44 - +4 10 -1 183
T24 Joe Ogilvie* 71 74 38 - -2 10 -1 183
T24 Andres Romero* 69 76 38 - -2 10 -1 183
T32 William McGirt 70 72 69 - +2 17 E 211
T32 Paul Haley II* 73 70 64 - +1 16 E 207
T32 Kevin Chappell* 75 69 60 - E 15 E 204
T32 Fredrik Jacobson* 70 74 60 - E 15 E 204
T32 Aaron Baddeley* 74 70 56 - E 14 E 200
T32 Richard H. Lee* 74 70 52 - E 13 E 196
T32 Brendan Steele* 72 72 52 - E 13 E 196
T32 Matt Bettencourt 67 73 44 - +4 10 E 184
T32 Ben Curtis* 74 71 39 - -1 10 E 184
T32 Henrik Norlander* 74 71 39 - -1 10 E 184
T32 Retief Goosen 70 69 41 - +5 9 E 180
T43 Justin Leonard 72 71 74 - +2 F +1 217
T43 Brad Fritsch* 70 73 65 - +2 16 +1 208
T43 Jeff Gove* 71 73 61 - +1 15 +1 205
T43 Bryce Molder 68 74 63 - +3 15 +1 205
T43 Brian Harman 72 69 55 - +4 13 +1 196
T43 Seung-yul Noh* 73 71 53 - +1 13 +1 197
T43 Matt Kuchar* 74 70 53 - +1 13 +1 197
T43 Charlie Beljan* 71 74 48 - E 12 +1 193
T43 Alistair Presnell 69 72 52 - +4 12 +1 193
T43 Brian Gay 71 70 52 - +4 12 +1 193
T43 Peter Tomasulo 67 73 49 - +5 11 +1 189
T43 Neal Lancaster* 75 70 45 - E 11 +1 190
T43 John Mallinger* 73 72 45 - E 11 +1 190
T43 Gary Woodland* 71 74 40 - E 10 +1 185
T43 Russell Knox* 73 72 40 - E 10 +1 185
T43 Todd Baek* 73 72 36 - E 9 +1 181
T59 Scott Stallings 73 70 75 - +3 F +2 218
T59 Harris English 68 75 70 - +3 17 +2 213
T59 Luke List* 73 71 62 - +2 15 +2 206
T59 Stuart Appleby* 75 69 58 - +2 14 +2 202
T59 Chris DiMarco* 75 69 58 - +2 14 +2 202
T59 Brian Davis 69 72 61 - +5 14 +2 202
T59 Peter Hanson 70 71 56 - +5 13 +2 197
T59 John Merrick* 74 71 49 - +1 12 +2 194
T59 John Peterson* 70 75 41 - +1 10 +2 186
T59 Justin Bolli* 76 69 37 - +1 9 +2 182
T69 John Huh* 74 69 67 - +4 16 +3 210
T69 Troy Matteson* 76 69 50 - +2 12 +3 195
T69 Matt Every* 70 75 47 - +2 11 +3 192
T69 Brendon Todd* 73 72 42 - +2 10 +3 187
T73 Cameron Percy 72 71 77 - +5 F +4 220
T73 Scott Langley 73 70 72 - +5 17 +4 215
T73 Jimmy Walker* 71 73 56 - +4 13 +4 200
T73 Ian Poulter* 70 75 51 - +3 12 +4 196
T73 D.A. Points* 74 71 51 - +3 12 +4 196
T78 Greg Chalmers 72 71 73 - +6 17 +5 216
T78 Wes Short Jr. 71 71 74 - +7 17 +5 216
T78 Kyle Stanley* 74 70 57 - +5 13 +5 201
T78 Johnson Wagner* 74 70 57 - +5 13 +5 201
82 Joey Snyder III* 72 73 65 - +13 13 +14 210
T83 Chad Campbell 75 71 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Will Claxton 76 70 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Donald Constable 76 70 MC MC - - - 146
T83 John Daly 76 70 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Tim Herron 77 69 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Robert Karlsson 73 73 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Michael Letzig 77 69 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Nick O'Hern 74 72 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Rod Pampling 71 75 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Chez Reavie 75 71 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Chris Stroud 73 73 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Cameron Tringale 77 69 MC MC - - - 146
T83 Aaron Watkins 78 68 MC MC - - - 146
T96 Robert Allenby 75 72 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Jonathan Byrd 73 74 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Zack Fischer 75 72 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Tom Gillis 74 73 MC MC - - - 147
T96 James Hahn 76 71 MC MC - - - 147
T96 J.J. Henry 73 74 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Jerry Kelly 73 74 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Jin Park 74 73 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Tim Petrovic 74 73 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Jordan Spieth 71 76 MC MC - - - 147
T96 Lee Williams 76 71 MC MC - - - 147
T107 Jamie Donaldson 74 74 MC MC - - - 148
T107 Scott Gardiner 76 72 MC MC - - - 148
T107 Justin Hicks 77 71 MC MC - - - 148
T107 Brandt Jobe 74 74 MC MC - - - 148
T107 Colt Knost 74 74 MC MC - - - 148
T107 D.H. Lee 73 75 MC MC - - - 148
T107 David Lingmerth 77 71 MC MC - - - 148
T114 Gary Christian 77 72 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Gonzalo Fernandez-Casta 75 74 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Ross Fisher 76 73 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Tommy Gainey 72 77 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Bobby Gates 76 73 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Andres Gonzales 75 74 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Morgan Hoffmann 73 76 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Billy Mayfair 77 72 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Dicky Pride 76 73 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Patrick Reed 74 75 MC MC - - - 149
T114 Duffy Waldorf 76 73 MC MC - - - 149
T125 James Driscoll 76 74 MC MC - - - 150
T125 Hunter Haas 79 71 MC MC - - - 150
T125 Scott McCarron 77 73 MC MC - - - 150
T125 Tag Ridings 73 77 MC MC - - - 150
T125 Vaughn Taylor 75 75 MC MC - - - 150
T130 Ricky Barnes 79 72 MC MC - - - 151
T130 Scott Brown 75 76 MC MC - - - 151
T130 David Duval 79 72 MC MC - - - 151
T130 Troy Kelly 78 73 MC MC - - - 151
T130 Steve Marino 76 75 MC MC - - - 151
T135 Cameron Beckman 78 74 MC MC - - - 152
T135 Jason Bohn 76 76 MC MC - - - 152
T135 Eric Meierdierks 77 75 MC MC - - - 152
T135 James Shindler 74 78 MC MC - - - 152
T135 Darron Stiles 79 73 MC MC - - - 152
T135 Robert Streb 77 75 MC MC - - - 152
T135 David Toms 75 77 MC MC - - - 152
T142 Rich Beem 76 77 MC MC - - - 153
T142 Roberto Castro 79 74 MC MC - - - 153
T142 Shawn Stefani 78 75 MC MC - - - 153
T145 Arjun Atwal 76 78 MC MC - - - 154
T145 Derek Ernst 80 74 MC MC - - - 154
T145 Jim Herman 79 75 MC MC - - - 154
T145 David Mathis 76 78 MC MC - - - 154
T145 Charlie Wi 77 77 MC MC - - - 154
150 Carl Cooper 80 75 MC MC - - - 155
151 Mathias Gronberg 82 74 MC MC - - - 156
152 Heath Slocum 80 77 MC MC - - - 157
153 Bill Lunde* 79 31 CUT CUT - - - 110
154 Andrew Svoboda* 12 CUT CUT CUT - - - 12
155 Sang-Moon Bae 83 WD WD WD - - - 83
156 Jeff Maggert* 15 CUT CUT CUT - - - 15
Louisville guard Bria Smith (21) drives the ball against California guard Brittany Boyd (15) in the first half of a national semifinal at the Women's Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Louisville guard Bria Smith (21) drives the ball against California guard Brittany Boyd (15) in the first half of a national semifinal at the Women's Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
California guard Afure Jemerigbe (2) goes up for s shot against Louisville forward Sara Hammond (00) in the first half of the women's NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament semifinal, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. Louisville's Antonita Slaughter (4) and Bria Smith (21) defend. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
California guard Layshia Clarendon (23) drives against Louisville guard Bria Smith (21) in the first half of a national semifinal at the Women's Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Louisville head coach Jeff Walz and Jude Schimmel (22) talk on the sideline against California in the first half of a national semifinal at the Women's Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
California guard Afure Jemerigbe (2) and Louisville guard Jude Schimmel (22) battle for a loose ball in the first half of a national semifinal at the Women's Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, April 7, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? The more Louisville extends its remarkable run, the more coach Jeff Walz wants to make sure his Cardinals enjoy every moment.
As long as they have one more upset in them for the NCAA championship game.
The upstart Cardinals got 18 points ? all on 3-pointers ? from Antonita Slaughter and they methodically clawed back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat California 64-57 on Sunday night in the NCAA semifinals.
For a team that has beaten Baylor, Tennessee and now the second-seeded Golden Bears, a little celebration was in order.
"We're going to go on Bourbon Street," said Walz, whose team has one last practice Monday before Tuesday night's title game. "I'll tell the kids, as long as they're back by 2, we're OK."
Bria Smith scored 17 on 6 of 7 shooting for the fifth-seeded Cardinals (29-8), who became the first team seeded lower than fourth to win a Final Four game. The result ensures an all-Big East Conference final in the league's last season in its current form: Louisville will play Connecticut, which beat Notre Dame 83-65, one night after the Louisville men's team plays Michigan for the championship.
The Cardinals are the 10th school to have both basketball teams reach the Final Four in the same season. Only UConn won both titles in the same season, back in 2004.
"The way I look at it, I think the men are trying to feed off of our success," Walz said with a smirk before adding on a serious note that he'd received word from Atlanta that the Louisville men "were in the hotel lobby jumping up and down and cheering for us."
Layshia Clarendon scored 17 for Cal (32-4), which had won the Spokane Region as a second seed. Gennifer Brandon added 12 for the Golden Bears and Brittany Boyd added 10 points.
"Credit Louisville, which obviously has been really hot," Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "They outfought us in the second half."
It was the third straight upset by Louisville, which had to beat defending national champion Baylor and the powerful Lady Vols just to get to the Big Easy. They will need to summon one more to win it all. Not that they're worried about it.
"No one expects us to be here," Slaughter said. "No one expects us to be in the championship game. Just come together as a team and win as a team."
Shoni Schimmel, who had been one of the stars of the tournament, struggled early for Louisville, but finished with 10 points, including a clutch transition pull-up that gave Louisville a 57-54 lead with 2:06 left.
Clarendon responded with a left win 3 of her own to tie it, but Sara Hammond, playing with four fouls for the last 7:20, gave the Cardinals the lead for good with a strong move inside as she was fouled. Suddenly, Cal was forcing desperate 3s and not hitting them.
After shooting 58. 6 percent (17 of 29) in the first half, Cal shot only 30 percent (9 of 30) in the second, negating the Bears' 38-26 advantage in rebounds.
"In the first half we got out a lot on the run. We didn't get a chance to run at all (in the second half) because we weren't getting stops," Clarendon said. "We made a lot of mistakes. It's not like we played somebody who was too good and just flat out beat us."
On Saturday night, the Louisville's men's team had to erase a 12-point second-half deficit against Wichita State, so the women didn't need much inspiration when they went into halftime trailing 37-27. They came out and quickly narrowed their deficit with a 7-0 run that began with Schimmel's 3. Smith added a mid-range jumper and Hammond scored inside to make it 37-34.
Cal was back up 47-39 when Clarendon spun into the lane for a pull-up jumper, but the Cardinals then scored the next seven points, starting with Slaughter's deep 3 and ending with Jude Schimmel's free throws that made it as close as 47-46.
The Cardinals finally pulled back into the lead when Hammond's free throws made it 53-52 with 3:40 left.
"We come out, we executed perfectly to start the second half," Walz said. "Once we took the lead, I could see it in our kids' eyes, the excitement, 'Hey, we can do this, we're going to do this.'
"We're playing our best basketball at the end of the year and that's all that matters," Walz added. "We're figuring out a way to pull them out."
Before tip-off, Walz had the relaxed look of a coach who had been there before, which of course he had in 2009, when Louisville climbed out of a 12-point hole to beat Oklahoma State in the national semifinals before falling to Connecticut in the title game. He walked over to the Cal bench for a friendly chat with Gottlieb, giving her a hug before he walked back toward his bench, and then went across the court to welcome some fans in the front row.
Walz's team also appeared more composed in the first few minutes, racing to an 8-2 lead with the help of Slaughter's first 3 and a pair of layups by Smith. Smith's third basket inside the first five minutes gave Louisville a 10-6 lead, then Cal started to look more comfortable.
Talia Caldwell's putback marked the beginning of a 12-1 run, capped by Clarendon's transition jumper that gave the Golden Bears an 18-11 lead.
Jude Schimmel's 3 got Louisville as close as 25-22 midway through the half, but the Cardinals had trouble keeping pace while Shoni Schimmel, their leading scorer, missed six of her first seven shots.
Cal, which had won with strong rebounding all season, also controlled the game in that department, 23-11 overall and 8-3 in offensive rebounds in the first half. Complicating matters for Louisville was that Hammond, their leading rebounder (6.5 per game), sat out most of the half with two fouls.
Seattle Police returned marijuana taken from street dealers this week. (ABC News)Attitudes about marijuana are changing rapidly in the U.S., so much so that even law enforcement is coming up with some unique ways of dealing with those who consume or even sell the drug.
In what the Seattle Police Department described as its ?first time ever? event, authorities returned small amounts of marijuana confiscated from street dealers as part of a police investigation.
Since voters decided to legalize marijuana in November 2012, Washington state authorities have attempted to navigate the unfamiliar waters of drug legalization. For the most part, that has involved figuring out how to deal with individuals smoking or attempting to purchase pot.
A poll released on Thursday found that for the first time a majority of Americans favor legalizing the consumption and sale of marijuana. But Colorado and Washington are the only two states that have so far passed legalization measures on a statewide level.
But how does the law apply to selling small amounts of cannabis? As with alcohol, the current state marijuana legalization does not allow for consumption in public places or for nonlicensed individuals to sell the drug.
So, after a number of complaints from local residents, SPD investigated two dozen individuals suspected of dealing drugs in an area known as the ?Ave.?
?Turns out that marijuana dealers actually accounted for the majority of the problem. In the spirit of I-502, Seattle Police coordinated with the King County Prosecutor?s Office to forge ahead with an innovative approach to equitably deal with those responsible,? reads an explanation on the SPD?s blog.
In other words, individuals who were only carrying marijuana and did not have outstanding criminal records were let go.
?In street dealing cases, this would be the first time. Ever,? SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb told Seattle PI.
But the SPD did issue the pot dealers warning, discouraging them from continuing to sell pot and to not consume it in public places like the Ave.
?The offender will have been shown to have been warned about marijuana sales, and that they still returned, despite our attempt at gaining their cooperation,? explained Narcotics Lt. Mike Kebba. "The admonishment letter is reasonable, because we are not restricting their freedom to go anywhere. SPD will just be requiring them to comply with the law while in public places and refrain from drug dealing.?
Hey Peeps ? I?ve taken these lessons and Fergie is a GREAT instructor! ?Highly recommend ? lots of fun and you DO learn golf!!! ?Robbin
?
Golf Season is finally upon us!! Got all the latest and greatest clubs,bags,shoes,balls if you need anything give me a call. HAPPY HOUR GOLF LESSONS starting soon Learn to play in a fun and relaxed atmosphere with Happy Hour Prices!! Only $150 for 6 lessons including a playing lesson and video analysis! Make your own group and call for special pricing. Wallingford Country Club Golf Pro James Ferguson ? TEL: 203-284-9189.
A man looks at the latest Nikkei stock index on display in an electric signboard of a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 4, 2013. Weak economic reports on hiring and service industry growth in the U.S. sent Asian stock markets lower Thursday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
A man looks at the latest Nikkei stock index on display in an electric signboard of a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 4, 2013. Weak economic reports on hiring and service industry growth in the U.S. sent Asian stock markets lower Thursday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
A man looks at the latest Nikkei index and other stock information on display in an electric signboard of a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 4, 2013. Weak economic reports on hiring and service industry growth in the U.S. sent Asian stock markets lower Thursday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Passersby are reflected in an electric stock price display of a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 4, 2013. Weak economic reports on hiring and service industry growth in the U.S. sent Asian stock markets lower Thursday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
LONDON (AP) ? Japanese stocks outperformed all others for the second day running Thursday while the yen sank after the country's central bank announced a bold new approach to fixing the economy.
In the run-up to policy decisions from Europe's two main central banks, the Bank of Japan, under new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, surprised by announcing that it would expand money supply massively to stoke inflationary pressures in the country and get the economy out of its two-decade stagnation.
At the end of a two-day meeting, the central bank said it would double the money supply through the purchase of government bonds and other measures. Kuroda has vowed to do whatever necessary to break Japan's economy out of its deflationary slump ? falling prices have crippled growth in the world's No. 3 economy for the past two decades.
"Despite speculation earlier in the week over the possibility that not all of the BoJ policy committee were on board with the ultra-accommodative plans of new Governor Kuroda, the latter has still managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and surprise the markets," said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International.
The announcement turned around Japan's main Nikkei 225 stock index, which at one stage was trading over 2 percent lower, as well as piling the pressure on the yen, as investors priced in the prospect of more money floating around the Japanese economy.
The Nikkei ended 2.2 percent higher to close at 12,634.54 while the dollar was trading 2.8 percent higher at 95.52 yen.
The developments in Japan helped shore up markets elsewhere.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent to 6,416 while Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent to 7,904. The CAC-40 in France was 0.8 percent higher at 3,784.
The focus in Europe will turn to policy announcements from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England. Neither is expected to make any changes though investors will be interested to hear what ECB president Mario Draghi says in his ensuing press conference, especially when it comes to the recent crisis in Cyprus.
"The market consensus is for the BoE and ECB later this morning to leave policy on hold but the economic situation in both the UK and eurozone warrants further monetary easing in our view," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.
Wall Street appeared headed for a higher open following a disappointing session on Wednesday when traders were spooked by some soft U.S. economic figures ? Dow futures were up 0.4 percent and the broader S&P 500 futures trading 0.5 percent higher.
Traders in the U.S. will have one eye on Friday's nonfarm payrolls figures for March, a data series that often sets the market tone for a week or two after their release.
The advance in Tokyo didn't ripple around Asia, however. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.2 percent to 1,959.45 as bellicose rhetoric between North Korea and the U.S. rattled the local market. Early Thursday, North Korea warned that its military has been cleared to attack the U.S. though experts say the North has not demonstrated that it has missiles capable of long range or accuracy. Washington said it was working to defuse the situation.
Australia's resource-heavy S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.9 percent to 4,913.50, hurt by drops in commodities prices. Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets were closed for a public holiday.
Oil prices were flat, with the benchmark New York rate up a cent at $96.46 a barrel.
Apple has gone one for two in another Samsung patent spat being reviewed by the International Trade Commission. According to a March 26 preliminary decision that was kept confidential until late Thursday, ITC Judge Thomas Pender has determined that Samsung infringed Apple?s patent on text selection on mobile devices, but did not infringe a second patent which allows a device to detect when something has been plugged into its headphone jack. The full commission must now review Pender?s decision. If it upholds it, Samsung could face an importation ban on infringing devices.
Welcome to AllThingsD's new Livefyre commenting system. For more information, read about it here.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v2ZiilwcVZOoOO-rXg1PA49XH1nS8vWpwYnpMgIRb50wFwIRTlPHZQlLlqZPgu74KdHHAcvxcAzW2GLF6_5oSQUxYODTmcrYaTEW1lkWI=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 10-Apr-2013
Share ] 
