Back Pain is something that is instigated through the nerves, bones and muscles of the spine. It may become serious and spread throughout the body. One must follow certain tips to prevent this problem.When encountering a sore back, exuberant tips can be followed. A citation, ice. Ice can be purely applied after an exertion that caused this back pain or constraint. Ice packs with addition to Rolfing can do wonders to this physical agony.Another exemplary aid would be the heat therapy. It relieves agony faster and gives a touch of relaxation. Heating Pads, Wraps and Baths can curtail the pain.Another remedy can be inducing physical activity on your Hamstring. The tighter hamstring muscles of your body may inhibit motioning of your hip bones hence putting load on your lower back. This may cause a sudden rush of pain and a burning sensation. What one must do is stretch their hamstring muscles which are the muscles of your back thighs to a certain extend so that they become a bit loosened and the load of the pain lowers.Painkillers can also prevent this pain. For instance, Paracetamol and Buprofen. These remedies can cure back pain of your body.
Apparently the stars have come into alignment. Or perhaps Hell has frozen over. Whatever the cause, for the first time ever, more Facebook users are accessing the site on mobile devices than on desktops. Not only that, Facebook is actually generating revenue from mobile ads. Perhaps mobile is not just a fad after all. Hmmmm. Time to rethink that marketing strategy, maybe even upgrade the corporate website. Smart thinking and here?s why: Location-based, real time information is no longer a novelty. It has become the norm. Where do people need that information? On their mobile devices. When do they want that information? Now. Who do they want to share it with? Their social network: friends, family, coworkers, even strangers.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is getting a lot of press lately. Even though the very term ?mobile marketing? has become a bit ubiquitous, there is still some confusion as to what mobile marketing actually is. That is because there are actually two different definitions of the term. According to Wikipedia, ?Mobile marketing is marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone?. It is also defined as ?The use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication?. So, in addition to being marketing messages viewed on the small or ?third? screen, the first two being the television and the computer monitor, it is also marketing that it specifically geared toward mobile devices. The first case would be a website as it is rendered on a cell phone or tablet, the second would be SMS messages and push ads. Clearly, it is the medium AND the message.
Mobile and Social
While social media was the buzz word for 2012, this year it is mobile marketing?and rightly so. However, it is important to recognize that there really is no social without mobile, nor mobile without social. In fact, many social networks are mobile-only platforms. For instance, Instagram, Facebook?s recently acquired photo-sharing application and Twitter?s new love-child, Vine, for micro-video sharing. Both were designed as mobile-only apps. Those two examples highlight the synergistic relationship between social and mobile. Another great example is the Super Bowl. Many of the brands incorporating mobile into their marketing message used social media as the catalyst. Kraft demonstrated the marriage of social and mobile deliciously with their Oreo brand. Their Super Bowl ad ended with a call to action: vote for your favorite, the cookie or the creme, on Instagram. In another commercial, automotive brand Lincoln and comic Jimmy Fallon used a Twitter hashtag to create a 90 second spot optimized for mobile viewing. We are seeing that social media play a crucial role in the success of mobile advertising. Many advertisers are successfully using social media to prompt consumers to use their mobile devices as the starting point to learn more about a brand or product.
The take-away: Social has gone mobile. Mobile needs social for ultimate success. Be kind to your marketing effort. While you are busy building up your social presence, don?t forget to make sure your efforts are mobile-friendly. Right now, mobile and social are in the honeymoon phase. Both are happy, basking in the sun, but remember what your parents told you. Marriage is hard work. Part of that work is making sure your website is mobile responsive, getting rid of any flash-based content and adding prominent social sharing buttons that people can actually click.
Kimberly Reynolds is a social media and mobile marketing consultant that transforms ordinary websites into powerful marketing machines. ?A serial entrepreneur since she was 12, selling books door-to-door, she now trains small business owners on how to leverage social media and the mobile web to attain financial freedom. ?If you are interested in how to use social media to outshine your competition, visit her website for a free social media analysis and social media training. Also, visit her on Google.
@qrkim
Social Media Strategist & Coach. MOBILE 1st! Mobile Marketing #QR #NFC #Joomla Web Design. Christian. QwikR.me RT does NOT = endorsement. Cube 3D Printer Makes Professional Creativity Cheap - Advertise here with BSAThere are so many 3D printer solutions ... http://t.co/gC6RcMbM - 19 mins ago
The Harbaugh family, Justin Timberlake, and the lies of a Falcons fan deep in NOLA
By Rembert Browne on
For two hours yesterday evening I tried to write with the voice of someone who had his life together. You know, someone who was in a good place, mentally and emotionally. Not someone who took three walks of shame to the ATM in Harrah's Casino a day earlier; not someone who was on day eight of the Emergen-C, Mucinex, and Tums diet; not someone who'd gained a laughable amount of weight thanks to New Orleans's refusal to grill its cuisine; and not someone capable of living in a world where b-list celebrities and rich people are happiest mingling at a Pitbull concert.
I tried and I failed. End result: ten snapshots from Super Bowl weekend, through the lens of a sick, exhausted, jaded, rapidly unraveling man who would rather cut off his right arm than put on another event wristband.
Harbaughs and Satin
By the end of an incredible 20-minute sequence of events on Saturday afternoon, I was sure anything was possible.
It began with discovering a pop-up shop in the French Quarter operated by Starter apparel, which in itself could have been the non-Beyonc? news of the weekend. Then, upon entering, I learned that Starter was relaunching their satin jacket line.
Faint-worthy news.
Following that, and looking around, the collection of people in the room didn't make much sense. You'd expect stupid tweens like myself to be crawling, drooling over the opportunity to get a hand on these. Instead, the scene was a bunch of really old white people, some slightly younger white people, and really little white kids running around. What had we stumbled upon?
HARBAUGHS.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images
Grantland publisher and fellow tween-at-heart David Cho and I had stumbled upon the Harbaugh family. At the Starter pop-up. Nothing made sense.
And then Jack and Jackie Harbaugh, Jim and John's parents, walked into the room. I still can't explain why, but this felt like watching royalty make an entrance. I was already standing up, so I couldn't honor them in that way, but I felt the need to show my respect somehow. So I took off my hat.
And then we talked to the Harbaugh parents for 10 minutes. We were talking to the parents of the Super Bowl, among the family of the Super Bowl, in the shadow of satin jackets.
This was Narnia.
Something everyone should know about Jack and Jackie Harbaugh: These are the nicest people ever created. While I'm sure your parents are fine people, the Harbaughs make your mom and dad look like Joe Jackson and Joe Jackson. They have this innocent "Grandparents on Vacation" vibe to them that lures you in, but there's also this quiet confidence that screams, "WE ARE REALLY GOOD AT PARENTING, AREN'T WE?"
I love them, even more than that middle Starter Jacket that I warned management I would have stolen were it not behind glass.
Long live Starter. Long live the Harbaughs.
Pitbull and Flo Rida
There are few things quite like the moment when you find yourself singing along with an artist you hate. Whether in a car, or a store, or as a commercial is playing in the privacy of your own home, it's traumatic. Chris Brown is a great example, for he is our worst human but still makes catchy music that, at times of extreme weakness, can cause even the most staunch #TeamBreezy enemy to throw up the deuces.
This was the scene as Pitbull began his long set at the Bud Light Hotel on Friday night, one that followed another long set by Flo Rida. Yes, Pitbull and Flo Rida shared a bill. And yes, it was as terrible as you'd expect. And yes, after three hours, I was hooked.
Pop music, man. Nothing chips away at your soul like it, until all that's left is you, cold and shamed, lying naked on the floor at the Pitbull and Flo Rida concert.
I don't know what songs they did, but they did all of them. Flo Rida ended up shirtless, sweating on everyone he could. Pitbull wore a black suit and rapped in Spanglish. Everyone loved it.
I think this is the best way to sum up the evening:
That's Guy Fieri's head.
Because of course Guy Fieri was there.
Celebrities "R" Us
There was Mark Cuban dancing, and Tom Arnold taking pictures with people who wanted to take pictures with Tom Arnold ? all in the same VIP area. Elsewhere, at a different party a day later, Lil Jon sat at the same long dinner table as Gayle King, and then four hours later that same Lil Jon, in that same venue, could be seen DJing with Diplo. Where was Aaron Rodgers? In the VIP area, doing that thing where you tap someone on the shoulder and turn around, confusing the person tapped because they're all, "Who just tapped me on the shoulder?" Aaron Rodgers did that. Former Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers did that. Not far from this action: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters's Jeremy Renner. And then, one day later, en route to the Super Bowl, Busta Rhymes (with Spliff Star, natch) and Jamie Foxx were spotted walking with security. Oh, and Guy Fieri.
It's a lot to take in. Just give it some time.
Justin Timberlake Performed One INXS Song; He Should Consider All of Them
Justin Timberlake, for four minutes, made Jay-Z seem like a mere mortal. That's how on fire he was on Super Bowl eve, performing a solid percentage of his catalogue as well as three new songs from his upcoming album, in a giant tent located in a giant field, all in the name of DirecTV.
The band was great, his backup singers were lively and entertaining (at one point doing The Jackson 5's "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)," classic dance move included ? go to 1:56 right now), the lighting was semi-ravey (a huge plus), and, as we sometimes forget, since he likes to not make albums, Justin Timberlake can sing his face off.
The highlight of this show was meant to be a "surprise" Jay-Z appearance, for their collaboration "Suit and Tie." While this was great, it was not the moment. That belonged to JT's cover of INXS's "Need You Tonight." The song is so iconic, sensual, and perfect, it's basically uncoverable. But not for JT. He did the song over-justice.
Beyond vocal talent, there's a level of confidence required to make it believable for the listener. Ne-Yo can't make that cover work. On the scale of cool, Ne-Yo is closer to me than Michael Hutchence. Old D'Angelo? Probably. Justin Timberlake? 100 percent. I hope this becomes a mainstay in his live sets, because I've never been so impressed with him as a performer. And that's saying something, seeing as that "Bye Bye Bye" at the 2000 VMAs was a revelation.
The Super Bowl Tickets Are Real. God Bless America
Free idea for the next Super Bowl: Someone should set up a camera at the entrance to the stadium and record the pure elation on the faces of people whose tickets are successfully scanned, proving that their tickets are, in fact, real. I couldn't stop watching people's faces. It was the best type of joy. It makes sense, though, considering the hoops jumped through to score tickets, the traveling to New Orleans, and the staying alive until Sunday necessary. Then to push through the long line at the Superdome and have it all come down to that one scan.
It's sad knowing that there were most certainly rejected fake tickets. But that's part of the game. And it makes the sight of watching person after person push through that final barrier all the more enjoyable.
Performances Bad ? Beyonc? Great
Perhaps the shocker of the Super Bowl was how underwhelming it was to watch and listen in the arena. I guess I expected it to be thunderously loud, but Alicia Keys's national anthem was so quiet, when the camera cut to Ray Lewis, who was sing-preaching along in the way only he could, the stadium got loud enough to make Alicia inaudible for six seconds. Jennifer Hudson and the Sandy Hook Elementary School choir had better luck, but it still wasn't the fill-up-the-stadium-with-sound event that I'd expected.
And then there was Beyonc?.
While she dealt with the same sound issues, watching her diva out in real life was just fantastic. When she moves, it's like she's saving the rainforest, the whales, and the music all at once. Visually, she's a commanding solo artist. And she's a powerhouse of a front woman with Destiny's Child. But there's no greater Beyonc? than when she's got the Beyonc? Army with her.
You know, the 100-woman, similarly dressed, similarly weaved, none-quite-as-talented-or-pretty crew that's ready to dance "Single Ladies" like it's the last time they'll ever piston their thighs. This crew is the greatest gift Beyonc? has given to us. The Army. Seeing it on TV on awards show has been beautiful. But in person I felt as if our nation, and subsequently our allies, were strengthened. Thank you, Mrs. Carter.
Blackout
When it's not your fault, there's something amazing about things going horribly wrong. Like, nothing is better. That's what this blackout was: a giant screw-up that resulted in an entire stadium of people unsure what to do with themselves other than drink and boo and yell "I GUESS NEW ORLEANS WASN'T READY FOR THAT JELLY" and throw out electricity-bill payment conspiracy theories. It lasted about 30 minutes, but it felt like four hours and I wanted it to go on for three days.
Perhaps the oddest inconvenience of the blackout, beyond the football stoppage, was the ceiling power outage knocking out a considerable amount of the Superdome's power outlets. There was no rhyme or reason nor algorithm to figuring out which ones worked, so for the remainder of the game, there was a steady stream of people with phone chargers and dying phones hoping to luck out and find a power source. Being the first to plant one's flag and colonize new phone-charging land was a rare feat, though, because if a place had power, a community of cell phone users had already settled, waiting for their turn.
Complete chaos, on and off the field. I'm still mad I'm not in the Superdome right now.
Neutrally Biased
Over the course of the week, I'd made the conscious decision to not be such a jerk while I was in New Orleans, with regard to my Falcons fandom. I brought a jersey and had the most serious of intentions to wear it every day. But I only wore it once, for a few hours, because no one likes a party pooper. It was weird being in a city plastered with the insignia of two teams you don't care about, especially when one of those teams could have been yours.
Somehow, I got over it.
And then the actual game took place, and those weird, rude feelings of neutral unhappiness returned, only this time much stronger. Even before either team scored, it became clear that in order to have an enjoyable time I'd almost have to become an imposter. Between my dark-pink shirt and the fact that I was placed in Ravens territory, I had no choice in the matter. I was now a Ravens fan. It felt icky, but it was right.
As the game trucked along, the high-fives and embraces in my section grew more intense. I didn't have a jersey, and clearly wasn't as emotional as everyone else, but I wasn't cheering for the 49ers, so I was welcome. And by the time the Ravens were convincingly ahead at the half, I was joining in with their cheers, and all-in with what looked to be a Ravens Super Bowl win.
And then it started happening, the Niners comeback, and the weird, unsure, jerklike feelings returned. Were the 49ers going to do to the Ravens what they did to the Falcons? And if they did, which result would make me feel better: Baltimore feeling my pain or the Niners having their soul-crushing ways stopped once and for all?
Neither was ideal, because now all I could think about was the Falcons game, a scenario I had worked so hard to forget all week. But it was back. To torture me.
When the Ravens held off a Niners drive that, with a touchdown, would have given them the lead with less than two minutes left, my section became ecstatic, then quiet. Well, everyone was quiet except for one fabulously drunk girl who drove 18 hours to New Orleans from Canada. She was picking fights with anyone she could fall on, and was quite good at standing up, yelling, plopping back into her seat, taking a swig, and occasionally crying. When the Ravens got the ball back, with time still left in the game, she stood on her chair, turned to face the Ravens faithful, and yelled, "WE WON THE SUPER BOWL!"
Never in my life have I seen someone get universally Shhhhhed. Everyone was so angry at her, because she had surely just jinxed the Super Bowl. It was not a pretty sight.
For me, watching the nerves was incredible. I loved it. I loved watching the Ravens fans squirm and the Niners fans slump with depression. For those five seconds, I was the happiest person in the Superdome.
The jerk was back.
And then, a minute later, the Ravens won the Super Bowl. Not even I could find bitterness in their joy.
The Clothing MVP of Super Bowl XLVII
Why waste time on words:
Ravens purple, gray, and white camo pants won the streets of the Super Bowl. This landslide victory is twofold, for being the coolest, most practical piece of battlewear seen exiting the game and for the sheer number of people seen wearing the trousers. In a 10-minute span, I counted 32 Ravens camo pants-wearers. And I was surely missing some, because I kept distracting myself by approaching these fashionistas just to say, "Congrats, I like your pants."
As the shirt of the young man in front of Ray Lewis Camo Guy casually says, "Rule #1 Don't Fuck with Baltimore." One has to assume this is as much about fashion as it is about football.
The Monday Aftermath
After a spectacle like the Super Bowl, the instinct is to blow town as fast as possible. While smart, travel-wise, the trade-off for getting out of Dodge too quickly is missing the glory that is the morning after.
I spent the majority of the week in a Wyndham Hotel stripped of all its Wyndham-ness and temporarily renamed The Bud Light Hotel. For the previous 100 hours, from sunup to sundown, the lobby and patio area operated more like a club than a place of residence, with Bud Light and all of its cousins available for consumption, at all times, all under a haze of dubstep.
Entering the area Monday morning, post?Super Bowl, it was like that moment when the bar turns the lights on after last call and everyone finally gets an in-focus look at the people they've been bumping into, followed by a wave of shame.
Seeing the area ? once filled to the brim with beer and loud music and loud people ? replaced by a coffee station and soft jazz and lost souls was my sign that it was time to go home. New Orleans and the Super Bowl had defeated me. The fun was over. Back to reality.
I exited the hotel and walked to a major street with hopes of flagging down a cab. A charter bus pulled up in front of me. The passengers: 40 new arrivals, with suitcases and beads, headed to a hotel.
The Super Bowl was over, which meant it was back to the main event: Mardi Gras.
For 10 seconds, I considered turning around and asking the staff of the Wyndham formerly known as the Bud Light Hotel formerly known as the Wyndham what their rates were like during Mardi Gras. While my body begged me to just go home, New Orleans had stolen a part of my soul and made it its own. I love this lawless, delicious place.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama honored the Miami Heat for winning the 2012 NBA Championship title after falling short just a year before.
"Everybody doing their part, is what finally put the Heat over the top," Obama said, as he welcomed the team to the White House Monday to celebrate their victory.
The Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the NBA Finals last June.
The president also recognized the franchise's work off the court. He thanked them for supporting military service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Obama said one of the things he's proudest of is that many of the team members? including LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade? "take their roles as fathers seriously."
"For all the young men out there who are looking up to them over time, for them to see somebody who cares about their kids and is there for them, day in, day out, that's a good message to send," Obama said.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team hopefully will serve as an inspiration to the nation of what can be done "when you come together and sacrifice your egos for a greater goal" and "hard-hat work ethic."
James, who presented Obama with an autographed basketball, said the team including members that hail from Illinois, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and South Dakota were honored to be in the executive mansion.
"We're in the White House right now, which is like, like 'mama I made it,'" James said, as the audience laughed and cheered.
The crowd of well-wishers included actress Gabrielle Union, U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Heat last visited the White House after winning the 2006 title.
ABOARD RMS QUEEN MARY (Reuters) - Egypt's army stepped forward on Tuesday from its new place in the shadows of the fledgling democracy and pledged to defend the state after a week of bloody street violence in cities along the Suez Canal.
It was a measure of the canal's place in Egypt's economy, and the world's, that army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi explained the military deployment ordered by President Mohamed Mursi in terms primarily of protecting a waterway he called a "vital strategic interest" - it handles about a tenth of all global trade by sea.
As the United States, sponsor of the armed forces, sounded an alarm on Monday, the Egyptian admiral who heads the state's Suez Canal Authority was completing a symbolic sail along its 192 km (120 miles) between Port Said on the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red Sea. "Traffic," he said, "is 100 percent safe".
Still bringing in over $5 billion a year in hard-currency tolls - more than two percent of national income - while unrest since the fall of Hosni Mubarak has hobbled tourism and undermined the pound, the canal has been generating massive income for Egypt since it was nationalized in 1956.
After the violence that has killed at least 52 people in the past week, mainly in Port Said and Suez, at either end of the canal, the authorities are keen to keep it that way, all too aware of past closures caused by war.
"The army's deployment in the two provinces of Port Said and Suez aims to protect the vital, strategic interests of the state, foremost among them the Suez Canal, which we will not allow to come to harm," General Sisi said on Tuesday.
The day before, the canal's managers issued a statement to reassure the owners of the 17,000 vessels that passed through last year carrying a record 740 million tonnes of cargo:
"In a strong, pacifying message to the world maritime traffic, Admiral Mohab Mameesh, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, boarded two passing ships in the Canal for two days successively to assure that the traffic of ships in the Canal is 100 percent safe," the agency's English-language statement read.
The world's trading powers are also looking on anxiously, knowing that the cost of sending goods from Asia to Europe via South Africa would be a drain on a struggling economic recovery.
For now, at least, most shipping companies assume trouble will remain on shore and not trouble the canal's management:
"We feel pretty confident about Suez," Commodore Christopher Rynd, senior captain of Britain's Cunard line and master of the liner Queen Mary 2, told Reuters after passing through last week, before the riots. "It's simply so important to Egypt."
Last year, the volume of cargo transported exceeded levels set in 2008, shortly before the global financial crash and rise of Somali pirates reduced the number of ships passing Suez.
OPEN TO ALL
Built by French engineers and opened in 1869, the canal is governed by an international treaty, the 1888 Convention of Constantinople, by which its operators are bound to keep it open to civilian or military vessels in times of peace or war. The reality, however, has often been rather more complex.
In World War Two, Egypt's colonial master Britain denied access to Germany and its allies.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the army officer who broke from colonial control, nationalized the waterway for Egypt in 1956. Britain and France attacked the canal zone with the support of Israel. Though U.S. pressure forced the invaders to withdraw, sunk and scuttled ships blocked the passage for several months.
The longest closure - eight years - was to come a decade later when Israel invaded the Sinai peninsula in 1967, turning the canal into a frontline buffer until 1975.
The need to maintain Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel and keep the canal open, experts say, helped push the United States towards building a much closer relationship with those in power in Cairo over succeeding decades. Central to that was a colossal aid package direct to Egypt's military, widely seen as a major factor in helping Mubarak stay in power until 2011.
"The U.S. government does not have a long-term policy and strategy for U.S.-Egyptian relations," said Hayat Alvi, who specializes in the Middle East at the U.S. Naval War College.
"But I don't doubt that the U.S. is pressuring Egypt into a hands-off policy on the Suez. It's too critical for commerce and military transport and mobility."
So far, that "hands-off" strategy seems to be holding. As well as commercial shipping, warships from the United States, Israel and a range of others including Iran, Russia and China have used the canal in the last year without difficulty.
Gary Roughead, a former chief of U.S. naval operations and now at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, believes Egypt's newly elected Islamist rulers are trying to maintain the status quo on the canal: "I think they remain committed to its neutrality," he said. "Being free from bias with regard to who uses the canal, I believe, makes it much easier for them."
GROWING FRUSTRATION
In the cities along the canal edge, there are angry complaints that local people get too little from the waterway, feeding into other resentments against leaders in Cairo.
"I don't feel any benefits from Suez Canal revenues," said Rasha Gharib, a 39-year-old government employee in Ismailia, which lies at the mid-way point and hosts the canal authorities' headquarters.
"The services of the Canal Administration benefit only its employees in terms of hospitals, social clubs and other services. This is despite the danger we could face due to any accidents in the waterway, since nuclear-powered ships pass through."
Mursi's government says it remains committed to the canal. It has announced a new investment plan. China's state-owned port operator Cosco Pacific already owns 20 percent of the Port Said Container Terminal. The Dubai Ports facility at Ain Sokhna, on the Red Sea near the canal's southern entrance, has expanded considerably.
With trade expanding and uncertainty still the rule after the Arab Spring, the Israeli government is looking to invest in offering an alternative Asia-Europe route, overland by rail.
On the canal itself, other coming investments include a Saudi-backed road bridge and a major Qatari-funded program to expand gas, coal, steel and other facilities. In the cities, some complain Cairo is selling off a national treasure.
"What is happening in Port Said and Suez is not thuggery but the killing of the masses for uncovering the conspiracy to seize the Suez Canal and deliver it to non-Egyptian investors," said a statement from a youth coalition in Port Said issued this week.
Officials in Israel and Washington still complain Egypt's government has done too little to stop weaponry being smuggled across the canal, eventually to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Western military officers, however, say Cairo still shows commitment to Western allies, notably in providing security for the passage of major warships, particularly aircraft carriers.
On its recent voyage from Europe to the Gulf, the Queen Mary 2, a leviathan of an ocean liner carrying 2,500 passengers on the first leg of a round-the-world cruise, formed up in a convoy at dusk off Port Said with some two dozen other vessels.
Shortly after midnight, a cluster of launches approached, pilots scrambled up rope ladders and the vessels slowly fell in line astern for the 12-hour passage to the Red Sea. The liner and cargo ships heading south passed a northbound convoy of a similar size in Great Bitter Lake in the interior.
Container vessels, which make up about half the tonnage using the canal, took the lead followed by three massive - and potentially explosive - liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers.
Troops are a visible presence along the way; some wave at large ships from checkpoints. For Commodore Rynd on the Queen Mary 2, the Suez Canal remains a secure route: "But," he adds, "if we didn't think we could do it safely, we wouldn't do it."
(Additional reporting by Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo and Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing Peter Apps and Alastair Macdonald)
Did you know that as of Jan 26, 2013, it's "illegal" to unlock your phone? Of course you did. You've seen the "Sky is falling!" headlines
It's not quite that simple, but that's what you'll hear around the Internets today. The too-long-didn't-read simple version is that you'll likely not be affected in any way (minus the personal freedom aspect). But after seeing so many people worried, and some of the poor information they were receiving, we knew it was time to talk about it a bit.
In 1998 Congress passed a law that provides copyright protection to the software (and software means written code, remember) that locks your cell phone to a certain carrier. This has nothing to do with rooting, or bootloader unlocking. It only covers locking your phone to a GSM carrier through software. As a provision of this law, the Librarian of Congress (which I imagined as a totally hot babe with her hair in a bun, and was quickly disappointed when I investigated) is allowed to grant exceptions, and did until his October 2012 decision to allow the DMCA to regulate cell phone locking. Fast forward to today, when the exceptions expired, and now the software used to lock phones is covered under the same copyright laws as most other software.
It sounds scary. But it's really not. Let's have a look.
Families and supporters of those accused of soccer violence from the Port Said soccer club react to the announcement of verdicts for 21 fans on trial in last years Port Said stadium incident which left 74 people dead, in Port Said, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say at least 8 people have died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Mohammed Nouhan, Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
Families and supporters of those accused of soccer violence from the Port Said soccer club react to the announcement of verdicts for 21 fans on trial in last years Port Said stadium incident which left 74 people dead, in Port Said, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say at least 8 people have died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Mohammed Nouhan, Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
An Egyptian soccer fan of Al-Ahly club displays scales to fans celebrating a court verdict that returned 21 death penalties in last years soccer violence, inside the club premises in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say military to deploy in Port Said after at least 8 people died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Ahmed Ramadan)
Egyptians say funeral prayers in a mosque for three people who died in demonstrations marking the second anniversary of the January, 25, 2011, Egyptian revolution in Suez, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. The unrest was the latest in a bout of violence that has left a total of at least 38 people dead in two days, including over 10 killed in clashes between police and protesters marking Friday's second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abd El-Latef, Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
Families and supporters of those accused of soccer violence from the Port Said soccer club react to the announcement of verdicts for 21 on trial in last years Port Said stadium incident which left 74 people dead, in Port Said, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say at least 8 people have died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Mohammed Nouhan, Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
Families and supporters of those accused of soccer violence from the Port Said soccer club react to the announcement of verdicts for 21 fans on trial in last years Port Said stadium incident which left 74 people dead, in Port Said, Egypt, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Egyptian security officials say at least 8 people have died in the Mediterranean city of Port Said after a judge sentenced 21 people to death in connection to one of the world's deadliest incidents of soccer violence. (AP Photo/Mohammed Nouhan, Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
CAIRO (AP) ? Relatives and angry young men rampaged through the Egyptian city of Port Said on Saturday in assaults that killed at least 27 people following death sentences for local fans involved in the country's worst bout of soccer violence.
Unrest surrounding the second anniversary of Egypt's revolution also broke out in Cairo and other cities for a third day, with protesters clashing for hours with riot police who fired tear gas that encompassed swaths of the capital's downtown.
The divisive verdict and bloodshed highlight challenges being faced by President Mohammed Morsi, who took office seven months ago following an Egyptian revolution that ousted autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. Critics say Morsi has failed to carry out promised reforms in the country's judiciary and police force, and claim little has improved in the two years after the uprising against Mubarak.
The Islamist leader, Egypt's first freely elected and civilian president, met for the first time with top generals as part of the newly formed National Defense Council to discuss the deployment of troops in two cities. The military was deployed to Port Said hours after the verdict was announced, and warned that a curfew could be declared in areas of unrest. The military was also deployed to the canal city of Suez, where protesters attacked the main security compound there after eight people were killed late Friday.
Saturday's riot in Port Said stemmed from animosity between police and die-hard soccer fans know as Ultras, who also were part of the mass uprising against Mubarak that began on Jan. 25, 2011, and at forefront of protests against the military rulers who assumed temporary power after his ouster.
It also reflected tensions after the uprising that reached into all sectors of Egyptian life, even sports.
Survivors and witnesses said Mubarak loyalists had a hand in instigating last year's attack, which began Feb. 1 after Port Said's home team Al-Masry won a match, 3-1, against Cairo's Al-Ahly. Some say "hired thugs" wearing green T-shirts posing as Al-Masry fans led the attacks.
Others say, at the very least, police were responsible for gross negligence in the Feb. 1 soccer brawl that killed 74 Al-Ahly fans.
Anger at police was evident in Port Said, home to most of the 73 men accused of involvement in the bloodshed, although the trial was held outside Cairo.
Judge Sobhi Abdel-Maguid did not give his reasoning when he handed down the sentences for 21 defendants. Executions in Egypt are usually carried out by hanging.
Verdicts for the remaining 52 defendants, including nine security officials, are scheduled to be delivered March 9. Some have been charged with murder and others with assisting the attackers. All the defendants ? who were not present in the courtroom Saturday for security reasons ? can appeal the verdict.
Supporters of those sentenced to death said they were being used as scapegoats. The rioters attacked the city's prison after the verdict was read live on state television to try and free the defendants. A police lieutenant and police officer were killed in the assault.
Residents also focused their anger against the government, attacking a power station, the governor's office and local courthouse. They staged a sit-in along the main road leading into the city and occupied a police station.
Security officials said a total of 27 people were killed and some 400 wounded, many by gunfire, throughout the city. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
Victims were killed when police fired tear gas, bird shot and other live ammunition at the mob. Two soccer players who died? one from Port Said's Al-Marikh club and the other a former player of its Al-Masry club ? apparently were killed on their way to do training near the prison. One of the players was shot three times, a local health official said.
Some 220 kilometers (135 miles) away in Cairo, the divisive nature of the trial was on display.
Relatives of those killed at the soccer game erupted in joy in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
Families yelled "Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is great" and pumped their fists in the air. Others held up pictures of the deceased, most of whom were young men from Cairo's poor neighborhoods. One man fainted while others hugged. The judge smacked the bench several times to try to restore calm.
Supporters of Cairo's Al-Ahly celebrated the verdict in the team's club before heading toward Interior Ministry headquarters, which manages the police, for more protests.
Lawmakers had formed a fact-finding committee that found some evidence toward collusion from authorities, but the evidence was not conclusive.
Nine of those on trial are security officials, charged with assisting the attackers for failing to search for weapons as is customary and allowing known criminals to attend the game. One was a senior officer who locked the exit designated for Al-Ahly fans. Many victims suffocated or were trampled to death in the corridor trying to escape the violence. Others were thrown off bleachers, undressed, beaten with iron bars and had the words "Port Said" carved into their skin.
Police reform researcher Karim Ennarah said the lack of a proper investigation raises the specter that some of those on trial are innocent. The state prosecutor's office, tasked with investigating the case, was long run by a Mubarak holdover.
"We still operate in a state that doesn't hold its employees, specifically in the security sector, to account," Ennarah said. "There might have been democratic elections, but it still is a very undemocratic state in terms of how police work."
The most high profile case since Egypt's uprising was that of Mubarak himself. He was found guilty of failing to stop the killing of around 900 protesters. The verdict angered people who wanted him executed on charges of ordering deadly force. He was sentenced to life in prison in what even some of his opponents argue was a verdict based on flimsy evidence aimed at appeasing an angry public.
A lawyer of one of the defendants given a death sentence Saturday said this verdict too was political.
Days before the verdict, Morsi declared the victims "martyrs of the revolution", granting families up to $15,000 in compensation.
"There is nothing to say these people did anything and we don't understand what this verdict is based on," Mohammed al-Daw told The Associated Press by telephone.
"Our situation in Port Said is very grave because kids were taken from their homes for wearing green T-shirts," he said, referring to the Al-Masry team color.
The president, once a detainee under Mubarak for his political activities with the Brotherhood, had vowed to restore security in his first 100 days in office. Instead, critics say he has waged a personal campaign against anti-Brotherhood figures rather than carry out comprehensive reform.
His Muslim Brotherhood allies blamed "misleading" media outlets for enflaming the public against the government. The main opposition bloc said it holds Morsi responsible for "the excessive use of force by the security forces against protesters."
Fans of Al-Ahly, mostly young men in their teens, promised more violence in the days leading up to the verdict if the death penalty was not handed down. Their main Facebook page had called for bloodshed.
"This was necessary," said Nour al-Sabah, whose 17-year-old son Ahmed Zakaria died in last year's melee. "Now I want to see the guys when they are executed with my own eyes, just as they saw the murder of my son."
"We are not really that happy," Mohamed Ahmed, a survivor of the attack, said. "The government helped the Ultras of Port Said by blocking the gates of the stadium until people suffocated to death."
Meanwhile, Port Said resident and activist Rasha Hammouda said the city wants those involved in killings to be brought to justice.
"We have no problem with execution of those who killed, but bring everyone who is involved," she said.
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Associated Press writer Mariam Rizk contributed to this report.
