Monday, December 31, 2012

Video: How will the "fiscal cliff" affect Wall Street? (cbsnews)

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You're Fired Because ... Well ... Hmmm

Lovie Smith

Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith watches the action during the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on December 30, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan.

Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images

For the second year in a row,?Slate?and?Deadspin?are?teaming up for a season-long NFL roundtable. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries. And?click here to play the latest episode of?Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.

Romeo Crennel, Chan Gailey, Andy Reid, Pat Shurmur, and Norv Turner were fired on Monday for the usual reasons that coaches get fired. All of these guys either led franchises to horrible records (Crennel), disappointed their pitchfork-waving fan bases one too many times (Turner), led their franchises to horrible records and disappointed their pitchfork-waving fan bases one too many times (Reid), or coached in Buffalo/Cleveland (Gailey/Shurmur). Really, this could?ve been Black Monday 2011 or Black Monday 2010 or Black Monday 1812.

Then came word that Bears coach Lovie Smith got pink-axed as well. (This hot new term is catching on, I can feel it!) Since making the Super Bowl after the 2006 season, Smith?s Chicago teams have missed the playoffs in five of the last six years. Fair enough, that?s how NFL coaches are evaluated. Or, it would?ve been fair enough if Smith and the Bears had missed the playoffs in the typical way?say, by going 8-8, as they did last year. But this season, Chicago went 10-6. In two of those losses, quarterback Jay Cutler didn?t finish the game (against Houston) or didn?t play (against San Francisco) due to a brain injury. Frontline players like Brian Urlacher, Tim Jennings, and Lance Louis also missed games down the stretch as the Bears tailed off after a 7-1 start. Even so, Chicago would?ve made the postseason if the Packers had beaten the Vikings on Sunday. But Green Bay lost, making the Bears the sixth team with 10 wins or more to miss out on the playoffs since they expanded to 12 teams in 1992.

Lovie Smith, then, was fired after leading a team to a record better than that of last year?s Super Bowl winner because a bunch of teams he didn?t coach happened to have good seasons. Also, he failed to prevent Jay Cutler from getting a concussion.

When a coach gets fired because of things he can?t control, bloodthirsty fans will almost certainly explain it away by saying he?s bad at the things he can control. At least by the accounts of Bears facepainters, Smith was bad at all the little things that get on fans? nerves, like timeout and challenge-flag deployment?the exact same stuff that supposedly makes Andy Reid unworthy of his Hall of Fame mustache. It?s not quite as dumb to blame a coach for misusing his timeouts as it is to run him out of town because the Packers couldn?t stop Adrian Peterson. Still, fans only talk about niggling things like clock management when their teams are losing. I?m guessing that Smith?s ability to tell time didn?t get worse as the season dragged on, nor did it cause Brian Urlacher to get hurt. It?s an excuse, not a cause, a transparently drummed-up charge on the order of canning a guy you don?t like because he took three pens from the supply closet.

This is what we know about Love Smith. His defenses are always great. His special teams units have had an amazing run of success?according to Football Outsiders? metrics, they?ve been in the top four of the NFL for the last seven seasons. His offenses have been mediocre. Add that all together, and you?ve got a coach who?s well above-average, one who could perhaps benefit from some better personnel on the offensive line and a run of good health for his star players.

There are 16 games in an NFL season. 10-6 is a very strong record, and teams with that mark or worse have made the Super Bowl in four of the last five years. Four of Chicago?s six losses came by one score or less. You can blame Lovie Smith for that, or the fact that some dude in Moline washed his lucky shirt at the halfway point of the season. Each of those excuses would make just as much sense.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=afca82293f7da73916ebd52c445170e0

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Nokia Asha 2050 Debuts in China with Full QWERTY Keypad and QQ Button

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Source: www.ibtimes.com --- Sunday, December 30, 2012
The Nokia Asha 205 (dubbed as Nokia 2050) debuted in China with a dedicated QQ button replacing Facebook key. ...

Source: http://www.ibtimes.comhttp:0//www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/419245/20121230/nokia-asha-2050-debuts-china-qwerty-qq.htm

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The Lure of extreme sports Have you ever had the sudden urge to ...

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The Lure of extreme sports Have you ever had the sudden urge to ride your bike off of a cliff and do aerial summersaults into a lake one hundred feet below? Believe it or not, this is just one of the emerging hobbies of extreme sports enthusiasts these days. But you dont need a bike in order to vault off a cliff; a parachute will do just finet least most of the timend if you have a parachute, you dont need a body of water to break your fall. What on earth motivates people to partake in such feats of madness? What about sailing around the world alone or snowboarding off the rock-cragged face of a mountain? Chances are, if youre like most people, you are perfectly content to be an armchair enthusiast when it comes to the intriguing and amazing world of extreme sports. Let the crazy, courageous souls of the world risk their lives and press the limits of human endurance; you say to yourself, while you sit in your safe, comfortable recliner and eat a bowl of ice cream. After all, you risk plenty just driving to work during rush hour traffic.The most important thing in the selection of the isabel marant shoes is to understand the importance of creating a personal image.. You may or may not be one of them, but there seems to be a certain kind of individual who is born to push the limits. They thrive on the challenge and the adrenalin rush experienced when they risk it all and come out intact. They take pride in doing something few humans have ever done before or would ever even dare to try. Its all about taking it to the next level, and then the next.This is a Nice collection of Discount Evening Gowns let's buy now.. Competition is in their blood, and there is a growing number of ways in which these athletes can compete on both an amateur and a professional level. Although many athletes compete in extreme sports competitions, there are others who just embark on various death-defying feats for the pure thrill of it. Scuba diving, sky-diving, and bull riding, for instance, have been around for a long time, but many contemporary and dangerous activities have come along to bump these off the top of the list.When you want to buy a Moncler Jackets Sale on our website, maybe you will worry about fabric quality. So we could ship the fabric sample out to you. You could check it, and then buy the dress from us.. Storm chasing, though technically not a sport, is one of them, and its becoming more popular, especially since TV shows have brought it to the masses. Then theres bungee jumping, something even an amateur can do. Those who have tried it and lived through it can attest to the way their legs shook in the moments before they plummeted toward the ground. As fun as these activities might seem, people dont always survive. Just as with any sport, the athletes assume the risk when they make up their mind to partake.For high school girls, there is no other thing will be more important than choosing a proper wedding wraps for her prom night.. There are a growing number of videos on the Internet showcasing athletes in all manner of extreme recreation that can blow your mind. Some of these feats of athletic danger would never have even been dreamed up years ago, yet they have become a reality. Its amazing what the human body can accomplish if a person can envision it and set his or her mind to it. It leaves one to wonder what the next big craze is going to be in the world of extreme sports.Just as what has mentioned above, Louis Vuitton Women Wallet in early times are very traditional.. What seemingly impossible, death-defying activities are going to spring to life in the next fifty years? Alexandru F Bobica is an author, business owner, and social media promoter. In addition to running TheBros, an internet marketing company he also creates niche sites about diverse topics such as .

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Twitter stoush between MPs

  • MSNBC - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    Add a location to your Tweets When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location ...

  • How to keep Facebook on ?like? list

    Tribune Review - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    On Facebook, I?m connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it?s made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so ...

  • The Pope On Twitter

    EWTN - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    Vatican City, 29 November 2012 (VIS) - Benedict XVI is now present on Twitter. All related information will be reported on Monday 3 December at a press conference to be held in the Holy See Press ...

  • Michigan social media privacy law signed by governor

    Global Post - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    Getting a hold of your social media login info just got a lot harder in Michigan. Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday signed into law legislation that bans employers and schools from asking for ...

  • Four Big Questions for Social Media in 2013

    Forbes - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    Quora , the oldest of which is just five years old. The composition of this young social media ecosystem changes every year and 2013 will be no different. Social media companies will inevitably ...

  • Twitter stoush between MPs

    New Zealand Herald - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    A war of words has broken out on Twitter this morning after National MP Tau Henare was listed in a Herald on Sunday poll as one of the 10 MPs who should have performed better this year. Political ...

  • ?Don?t insult Jonathan on Facebook?

    The Punch - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    The group said some Nigerians had taken delight in using abusive words against President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that such attitude was not common in other ...

  • Salem Police Track Down Graffiti Vandal Who Tagged Building With Twitter Handle

    WBZ - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    SALEM (CBS) ? Police in Salem had an easy time tracking down a graffiti vandal in their city after the suspect left behind a pretty big ...

  • Dish Network CEO Joseph Clayton talks about Hopper Blockbuster wireless mergers

    Business Journal - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    Joseph Clayton, Dish Network's CEO, at his Douglas County office. Dish Network Corp. founder Charlie Ergen grabs headlines for his crusade to create a multibillion-dollar wireless broadband ...

  • How We Used Facebook to Power Our Investigation Into Patient Harm

    ProPublica - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    A typical investigation might proceed like this: a journalist spends months (or more) reporting, keeps it fairly hush-hush, writes several stories, and then monitors comments and the social web as ...

  • How to Fix Facebook

    Fox News - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    NEW YORK ? A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about ...

  • Social Medias Biggest Turn Offs

    Forbes - Saturday 29th December, 2012

    According to the social media gurus at SocialToaster in Baltimore, here are some surefire ways to lose followers on your social networking ...

  • Source: http://www.calcuttanews.net/index.php/sid/211660973/scat/63e88d54af0cf473

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    Lloyd Charmers Dead: Reggae Singer Dies at 74

  • Michael Clarke Duncan

    "The Green Mile" actor Michael Clarke Duncan died at the age of 54 on Sept. 3, 2012 in a Los Angeles hospital after nearly two months of treatment following a July 13, 2012 heart attack.

  • Jerry Nelson

    "Sesame Street" puppeteer Jerry Nelson, shown here with "Sesame Street" character Count von Count in New York in June 2012, died at age 78 on Aug. 23, 2012, in Massachusetts after battling emphysema.

  • Phyllis Diller

    Actress/comedienne Phyllis Diller, who was best know for her stand-up act, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/phyllis-diller-dead_n_1812818.html">died at the age of 95</a> on Aug. 20. 2012 in Los Angeles.

  • Tony Scott

    Director Tony Scott, whose projects include "The Hunger," "Top Gun," "Enemy of the State," died after jumping off a bridge in Los Angeles on Aug. 19, 2012.

  • Scott McKenzie

    "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" singer Scott McKenzie, seen here in the center with "The Mamas And The Papas" 1967, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/scott-mckenzie-dead-dies-san-francisco-73_n_1809989.html">died on Aug. 18. 2012</a>, after battling Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease that affects the nervous system.

  • William Windom

    A 1980 file photo provided by CBS shows actor William Windom, who won an Emmy Award for his turn in the TV comedy series "My World And Welcome To It," died Aug. 16, 2012, of congestive heart failure at his home in Woodacre, north of San Francisco. He was 88.

  • Ron Palillo

    This June 8, 2008 file photo shows actor Ron Palillo at the TV Land Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Palillo, best known as the nerdy high schooler Arnold Horshack on "Welcome Back, Kotter," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/ron-palillo-dead-dies-welcome-back-kotter-heart-attack_n_1776155.html">died Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012</a>, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., of an apparent heart attack. He was 63.

  • Lupe Ontiveros

    This Oct. 7, 2008 file photo shows actress Lupe Ontiveros at Padres Contra El Cancer's 8th annual "El Sueno de Esperanza" benefit gala in Los Angeles. Ontiveros, the popular Texan actress known for her portrayal of Yolanda Saldivar in "Selena," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/lupe-ontiveros-dead-star-_n_1709783.html">died Thursday, July 26, 2012</a>, of cancer at the Presbyterian Hospital in the City of Whittier, Calif., according to friend and comedian Rick Najera. She was 69.

  • Sherman Hemsley

    In this Aug. 11, 1986 file photo, actor Sherman Hemsley poses for a photo in Los Angeles. The manager for Hemsley says the late star of the television sitcom ?"The Jeffersons"? refused treatment for lung cancer in the weeks before he died of what a coroner says were complications from the disease on July 24, 2012. (AP photo/Nick Ut, File)

  • Frank Pierson

    In this Feb. 14, 2004 file photo, Academy President Frank Pierson arrives at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Scientific and Technical Achievements Awards dinner in Pasadena Calif. Pierson's family announced that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/23/frank-pierson-dead-dog-day-afternoon-dies_n_1696126.html">he died of natural causes on Monday, July 23, 2012</a> in Los Angeles after a short illness. He was 87.

  • Jon Lord

    Deep Purple's Jon Lord, seen here in 2004, died at age 71 on Monday, July 16, 2012, after battling pancreatic cancer.

  • Kitty Wells

    This May 1986 file photo shows country music singer Kitty Wells in Nashville, Tenn. Wells, the first female superstar of country music, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/kitty-wells-dead-queen-of-country-dies_n_1677532.html">died at the age of 92 on Monday, July 16, 2012.</a> The singer?s family says Wells died at her home Monday after complications from a stroke. Her recording of "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts. Other hits included "Making Believe" and a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You." (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)

  • Ernest Borgnine

    Perhaps best remembered for his<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/08/ernest-borgnine-movies-films_n_1657787.html" target="_hplink"> Oscar-winning performance in the film "Marty",</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/ernest-borgnine-dead-remembered_n_1658937.html" target="_hplink">Borgnine</a> continued to act until his death, voicing a character on "SpongeBob SquarePants" and earning an Emmy Nomination on the TV series "ER." He was 95 when he passed away on July 8 due to renal failure.

  • Andy Griffith

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/andy-griffith-dead_n_1645969.html" target="_hplink">Andy Griffith,</a> the star of beloved television programs "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Matlock", <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/andy-griffith-cause-of-death-heart-attack_n_1652599.html" target="_hplink">died of a heart attack</a> on Tuesday, July 3. He was 86.

  • Don Grady

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/don-grady-my-three-sons-obituary_n_1633047.html" target="_hplink">The multi talented musician, composer, and actor</a> who memorably starred on the television series "My Three Sons" lost his battle with cancer on June 27. An original Mouseketeer, Grady was 68 he passed away.

  • Nora Ephron

    Director, author, journalist, playwright, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron/" target="_hplink">HuffPost blogger</a>, and three-time Academy Award nominated screenwriter, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/nora-ephron-dead-dies-age-71_n_1627757.html" target="_hplink">Nora Ephron passed away</a> on June 26 after a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/nora-ephron-leukemia-cancer-illness-death_n_1629152.html" target="_hplink">secret multi-year battle with acute myeloid leukemia</a>. With genre defining films like "Sleepless In Seattle", "You've Got Mail", and "When Harry Met Sally", Ephron, 71, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/nora-ephron-influence-movies_n_1628700.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment" target="_hplink">left an indelible mark on the film industry.</a>

  • Yvette Wilson

    Comedienne most famous for her hilarious roles on TV shows "Moesha" and "The Parkers", Wilson <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/yvette-wilson-star-of-moe_n_1600037.html" target="_hplink">lost her battle with cervical cancer</a> on June 14. She was 48.

  • Ann Rutherford

    This Nov. 5, 1971 file photo shows actress Ann Rutherford in New York. Rutherford, who played Scarlett O'Hara's sister Carreen in the 1939 movie classic "Gone With the Wind," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/ann-rutherford-dead-gone-_n_1589753.html">died at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Monday, June 11, 2012</a>. She was 94. (AP Photo/HF)

  • Robin Gibb

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/barry-gibb-tribute-video-robin-gibb-bee-gees_n_1539954.html" target="_hplink">Co-founder of The Bee Gees</a>, Gibb was 62 when he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/20/robin-gibb-dead-bee-gees_n_1531648.html" target="_hplink">lost</a> his battle with colon cancer on May 20.

  • Bob Welch

    From AP: Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac who went on to write songs and record several hits during a solo career,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/bob-welch-dead-fleetwood-mac-gunshot_n_1579166.html"> died June 7, 2012</a>, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. He was 65.

  • Donna Summer

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/donna-summer-queen-of-disco_n_1526799.html" target="_hplink">The Queen of Disco</a> lost her <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/donna-summer-dead-queen-of-disco-dies_n_1524410.html" target="_hplink"> battle with cancer</a> on May 17. Summer, 63, earned that title with dance hits like "Last Dance", "MacArthur Park", and "Hot Stuff".

  • Chuck Brown

    In this Feb. 13, 2011 file photo, Chuck Brown arrives at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Brown, who styled a unique brand of funk music as a singer, guitarist and songwriter known as the "godfather of go-go," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/chuck-brown-dead-godfather_n_1522375.html">died Wednesday, May 16, 2012</a> after suffering from pneumonia. He was 75.

  • Mitchell Guist

    Mitchell Guist, who appeared in segments of the "Swamp People" with his brother, Glenn, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/mitchell-guist-dead-swamp-people_n_1515423.html">died after collapsing Monday, May 14, 2012</a> while working on a houseboat he was building on Belle River.

  • Adam Yauch

    Best known as one of the founding members of the<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/mca-ad-rock-adam-horovitz-beastie-boys-interview_n_1539705.html" target="_hplink"> trailblazing hip-hop group the Beastie Boys</a>, Yauch, also known by his stage name MCA, was also a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/adam-yauch-films_n_1478993.html" target="_hplink">film director</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/adam-yauch-dead-tibet_n_1478359.html" target="_hplink">human rights activist</a>. At age 47, Yauch unfortunately lost his almost three year battle with cancer on May 4.

  • George Lindsey

    George Lindsey, seen here in character as Goober Pyle on "The Andy Griffith Show" in 1982,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/06/george-lindsey-dead-andy-griffith-show-goober-pyle-dies-83_n_1490083.html"> died early Sunday, May 6, 2012.</a> He was 83.

  • Levon Helm

    In this May 15, 2010 photo, Levon Helm performs on the mandolin during a Ramble performance at Helm's barn in Woodstock, N.Y. Helm, who was in the final stages of his battle with cancer,<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/levon-helm-dead-the-band-cancer-battle_n_1434772.html"> died Thursday, April 19, 2012 in New York.</a> He was 71. He was a key member of The Band and lent his distinctive Southern voice to classics like "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

  • Dick Clark

    Radio personality, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/dick-clark-quotes_n_1435713.html" target="_hplink">TV host</a>, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nelson-davis/dick-clarks-business-less_b_1466150.html" target="_hplink">beloved producer</a>, Dick Clark died of a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/dick-clark-heart-attack-death_n_1435551.html" target="_hplink">massive heart</a> attack on April 18. The host of classic programs such as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120418/us-dick-clark-highlights/" target="_hplink">American Bandstand</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/dick-clarks-new-years-eve_n_1437040.html" target="_hplink">Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve was 82.</a>

  • Davy Jones

    Lead singer of hit 60's band <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/davy-jones-dead-monkees-moments-video_n_1310837.html" target="_hplink">The Monkees</a>, Jones' <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/monkees-davy-jones-obituary_n_1312799.html" target="_hplink">heartthrob status</a> was cemented with hits like "Day Dream Believer" and "I Wanna Be Free". He died at age 66 on February 29 after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/davy-jones-autopsy-report_n_1406273.html" target="_hplink">suffering a heart attack</a>.

  • Whitney Houston

    With perhaps one of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/whitney-houston-celebrate-jordin-sparks-sparkle_n_1532870.html" target="_hplink">greatest voices</a> of her generation, Houston was a multi-Grammy winning singer and actress left an indelible mark on both the pop and R&B genres. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/whitney-houston-xanax_n_1279947.html" target="_hplink">Houston's well documented struggles with drug addiction</a> are thought to have contributed to her unexpected and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/11/whitney-houston-dead-sing_n_1270889.html" target="_hplink">untimely demise</a> at age 48 on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/whitney-houston-death-report-last-day_n_1405206.html" target="_hplink">February 11</a>.

  • Don Cornelius

    <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/don-cornelius-dead-soul-train_n_1246642.html" target="_hplink">Cornelius</a>, creator and host of the long-running, groundbreaking<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/don-cornelius-dead-celeb-tweets_n_1247021.html" target="_hplink"> TV dance show "Soul Train,"</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/don-cornelius-autopsy-depression_n_1450184.html" target="_hplink">unfortunately committed suicide </a>Wednesday morning, Feb. 1. He was 75.

  • Ian Abercrombie

    In this Sept. 17, 2005 file photo, actor Ian Abercrombie is shown during the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences third annual Emmy Nominees Tea Party in Los Angeles. Abercrombie, a veteran British stage and screen actor whose TV roles included Elaine?s boss Mr. Pitt on "Seinfeld" and Professor Crumbs on ?Wizards of Waverly Place,?<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/ian-abercrombie-tv-moments_n_1239120.html"> died Thursday, Jan. 22, 2012</a> at a Los Angeles hospital from complications of kidney failure. He was 77.

  • Etta James

    The "At Last" crooner <a href="http://http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/etta-james-dead-legendary_n_1219083.html" target="_hplink">passed away</a> on January 20 due to complications from leukemia. James, also known as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/etta-james-singers-passio_n_1222010.html" target="_hplink">The Matriarch of R&B</a>, was 73.

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/30/lloyd-charmers-dead-reggae-singer-dies-at-74_n_2385080.html

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    Sunday, December 30, 2012

    Matt Duchene scores twice in Canada's 5-1 win over Fribourg in Spengler Cup semifinal

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    Matt Duchene scored twice and added an assist in Canada's 5-1 semifinal victory over HC Fribourg on Sunday at the Spengler Cup.

    Photograph by: Michael Martin , Getty Images

    DAVOS, Switzerland - Matt Duchene scored twice and added an assist in Canada's 5-1 semifinal victory over HC Fribourg on Sunday at the Spengler Cup.

    Jason Spezza, Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Carlo Colaiacovo also scored for the Canadians, who have outscored their opponents 10-1 since an overtime loss to German team Adler Mannheim on Boxing Day to open the tournament.

    Canada will play for the championship on Monday against the winner of Sunday's late game between host HC Davos and Vitkovice Steel.

    Fribourg had two separate 5-on-3 power plays in a tight first period but Canada fought them both off. Devan Dubnyk, earning the start over Jonathan Bernier, made 25 saves for the win.

    Jason Spezza opened the scoring on the power play late in the first period when he tapped in a rebound off a Colaiacovo shot. Pouliot made it 2-0 early in the second when he capitalized on a turnover and made a clever deke to beat Fribourg goalie Cory Schneider.

    Duchene added a short-handed goal late in the second period but Fribourg answered 24 seconds later on a goal from Canadian-born defenceman Joel Kwiatkowski.

    Fribourg pressed the Canadian side in the third period but Duchene made sure Canada stayed on top to stay. He won a clean faceoff to get the puck back to Colaiacovo, who blasted it through traffic at the 6:25 mark to restore Canada's three-goal lead.

    Eight minutes later, Duchene took a nice pass just inside the blue-line from Jason Williams, streaked down the wing and fired home a high wrist shot for an insurance goal.

    Duchene and Kwiatkowski were named the players of the game for their respective teams.

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    Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Duchene+scores+twice+Canadas+over+Fribourg+Spengler+semifinal/7758214/story.html

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    Google lights up a candle to honour the Delhi braveheart

    New Delhi: When the entire nation is mourning the death of the 23-year-old Delhi gangrape victim, Google has been seen grieving over the demise of the Delhi braveheart in its own way.

    In the memory of the braveheart, Google has placed a subtle vigil candle below its search box on the Google India homepage. This gesture is really poignant. When you hover over the candle, the text appears that reads, "In memory of the Delhi braveheart."

    We have often seen Google commerating major historical milestones and anniversaries with their doodles, but this time by placing a glowing candle below the search box Google has not only honoured the braveheart and its family, but it has also paid a tribute to the entire nation mourning the death of the victim and protesting for the justice.

    Generally, Google doodles are seen in place of Google logo, but this time, the emblem appears below the search box.

    Recently, Google showed the same gesture following the tragic news of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. On hovering over the image, a text box appeared that read, "Our hearts are with the families and community of Newtown, Connecticut."

    Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/google-lights-up-a-candle-to-honour-the-delhi-braveheart/313140-11.html

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    Former Hawkeye Ryan Bowen is NBA frequent-flier

    MEMPHIS ? It was almost surprising Ryan Bowen even knew what city he was in on Saturday night.

    The former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player is an assistant coach for the NBA?s Denver Nuggets. On Wednesday, he was here in Memphis to scout the Grizzlies as they played Philadelphia. On Thursday, he was in Oklahoma City to scout Dallas as the Mavericks played the Thunder.

    Denver Nuggets assistant coach Ryan Bowen (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)

    On Friday, Bowen was with the Nuggets as they played at Dallas. And on Saturday, he was back in Memphis when Denver lost to the Grizzlies at FedEx Forum, 81-72.

    When is this man at home in Denver? ?I wasn?t in December, not a whole lot,? he said.

    The Nuggets played 10 of their 15 December games on the road, and 22 of their first 32 this season. January will be better.

    Bowen spends more time on the road than the team, since he is one of three Nuggets coaches who rotate as advance scouts, watching the teams Denver will soon play.

    ?I?ll stay with the team 75 percent of the time,? he said. ?I think I?ve missed seven or eight of our games so far this year.?

    When Bowen is with the Nuggets, he works with players before games, and before and after practices. Ninety minutes before the game here Saturday, Bowen was on the court throwing different kinds of passes to Denver players to set them up for pull-up jumpers. At 37, he still looked like a player himself.

    Bowen played 507 NBA games spread over 10 seasons between 1999 and 2009, the first five of them with the Nuggets. Before that, he had a 120-game career that made him one of the most-beloved Iowa players in the minds of Hawkeye fans. He averaged 14.4 points and 8.7 rebounds in his senior season, 1997-98.

    He is Iowa?s all-time career leader in steals, is fourth in blocked shots, and eighth in rebounds. He was a player who hustled, which had a lot to do with why he kept a playing job in the NBA for so long though he never averaged as much as five points per game in a season.

    Andre Iguodala of the Nuggets slaps hands with Bowen before the Denver-Memphis Grizzlies game on Dec. 29, 2012. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette-KCRG TV9)

    Bowen was in the middle of his second season as the video coordinator for Fran McCaffery?s Iowa program when the Nuggets offered him a job last December.

    ?I just think it was too good an opportunity to pass up,? he said, ?getting in the NBA and getting the chance to work on court with the guys. Being the video coordinator at Iowa, I wasn?t able (by NCAA rules) to work with the guys. I wanted to do that while I was still somewhat young, more of a hands-on approach working with them rather than from afar.

    ?I do enjoy it. It?s weird that three years ago I was here playing with these guys. A lot of times I wonder ?How in the world did I do this?? These guys are so good. You see how strong these guys are, how talented they are, yet not too long ago I was playing at this level.?

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    Source: http://thegazette.com/2012/12/30/former-hawkeye-ryan-bowen-is-nba-coach-scout-and-frequent-flier/

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    Luxury cruise passengers sick; norovirus suspected

    1 day

    NEW YORK --?An unknown illness, suspected of being a norovirus, has sickened 194 passengers and 11 crew members aboard the luxury cruise ship Queen Mary 2, causing vomiting and diarrhea, federal health officials said on Friday.

    Earlier in the week, 189 passengers and 31 crew members on the Emerald Princess came down with the same symptoms.

    The symptoms are those of norovirus, a contagious microorganism that can be acquired from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Norovirus causes an inflammation of the stomach or intestines called acute gastroenteritis, producing stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea, and is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States.

    Each year, norovirus causes some 21 million illnesses, of which 70,000 require hospitalization. It kills about 800 people a year, the CDC says.

    The Queen Mary 2, with 2,613 passengers and 1,255 crew members, is now docked in Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, according to ship owner Cunard Line, which is owned by Carnival Corp. The cruise left Brooklyn, New York, last Saturday and is due to return there next Thursday.

    The CDC learned of the illnesses on the QM2 on Christmas Day on Tuesday, and of those on the Emerald Princess last Saturday. Vessels are required to notify the agency when 2 percent of those on board develop a gastrointestinal illness.

    Although the microbial culprit remains unclear In both cases, another reason to suspect norovirus is that the pathogen "has affected a number of schools, hospitals, nursing homes and children's day care centers this winter" in the United Kingdom, Cunard said in a statement.

    The UK's Health Protection Agency reports that norovirus activity in the country is 83 per cent higher than last year.

    The QM2 sails regularly scheduled crossings between New York and Southampton, England, between April and late November, Cunard spokeswoman Jackie Chase said in an email. "In addition, many of our guests come from the UK."

    The QM2's captain is advising passengers with gastrointestinal symptoms to report to the medical center, Chase said. Those sickened are asked to "isolate themselves in their cabin until non-contagious. They are also asked not to proceed ashore, and any shore excursion costs will be refunded. Room service is provided to affected passengers and every effort is made to make them as comfortable as possible."

    Of the 194 QM2 passengers who had fallen sick, said Chase, all but 12 had recovered as of Friday.

    'Norovirus?active on board'
    In a post on the message board cruisecritic.com on Wednesday, a woman who said her daughter was on the QM2 said she "just received a message from her indicating that the Norovirus is active on board."

    On Thursday, someone reporting being on the ship posted that "the restaurants are still full. The Captain last night recommended that people take all of their meals in the full-service restaurants rather than the buffet, but the buffet remains open as of this morning. We've been kept informed daily of the persistent cases."

    Another post said: "The crew are working like crazy to service all the guests. At lunch today I noticed the hand rails on the promenade deck were wiped three times in about 1 hour."

    In response to the outbreak, the QM2 crew has increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, the CDC said, and is asking passengers and crew to report cases of illness and "encourage hand hygiene."

    Medical personnel are also collecting stool specimens from ill passengers and crew, which a CDC lab will analyze to make a definitive diagnosis.

    When the QM2 docks in Brooklyn, an officer from the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program and an epidemiologist will board, conduct an environmental health assessment "and evaluate the outbreak and response activities," the CDC said.

    Two officers boarded the Emerald Princess, also owned by Carnival, when it arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday and are conducting an environmental assessment.

    The Vessel Sanitation Program has authority to inspect cruise ships that carry 13 or more passengers and call at U.S. ports. It gave the Queen Mary 2 a perfect 100 on its most recent inspection this past summer, but found a few minor infractions, including a lack of serving utensils with breakfast pastries at a buffet.

    Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

    Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/passengers-queen-mary-2-sickened-unidentified-pathogen-1C7753032

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    3D Brain (for iPhone)


    3D Brain (for iPhone), a free educational app, provides a good overview of the brain and its structures. It?s best for students, although there?s plenty of interest to those of us who don?t know a hypothalamus from a hippocampus. Along with providing rotatable, VR-style illustrations of the brain and its components, it has informative text and links to relevant medical articles and databases.

    Its features are the same as 3D Brain (for iPad), and its layout is basically the same. It is more cumbersome, though. Most notably, if you press Info while looking at a brain structure, the information bar fills most of the field of view, blocking your view of the brain structure (and labels, if they?re turned on). Although pinching or stretching shrinks or expands the type size, the bar's width remains the same, so for the most part, you can't look at the structure's illustration and the info about it at the same time, as you can on an iPad.

    A Virtual Tour of the Brain
    When you open the app, you see a page labeled Whole Brain, a depiction of the entire brain with its regions marked in different colors. It's a VR-style 3D illustration; by touching it and dragging your finger, you can rotate it, revealing different regions. One side is translucent, so you can see interior structures. You can also stretch or pinch the diagram to enlarge or shrink it.

    One piece of interactivity that I would have liked to have seen is some response when you tap specific areas in the brain in the diagrams. For instance, the Whole Brain view shows six areas of the brain, each depicted in a different color. Clicking on the Labels button in the taskbar identifies them as the Frontal Lobe, the Parietal Lobe, the Temporal Lobe, the Occipital Lobe, the Cerebellum, and the Brainstem. But if you touch on one of the areas or its label, nothing happens. Granted, you can access separate pages for these areas, as well as 22 brain regions or sub-regions, from the Structures button on the right-hand taskbar that reveals a drop-down menu listing the regions you can examine.

    Basal Ganglia for Beginners
    As an example of how it works, if you choose the second entry on the list, Basal Ganglia, it reveals an illustration with six substructures shown in different colors. Touching the Labels button on the taskbar names the structures: Globus Pallidus, Nucleus Accumbens, etc. Tapping the Info button calls up a wide sidebar on the right side of the screen, with text describing different aspects of the basal ganglia. ?Whichever brain structure you call up, the textual information provided is in the same order: Overview, Case Study (or Studies), Associated Functions, Associated Cognitive Disorders, [Impairments] Associated with Damage, Substructures, Research Reviews, and Links.

    Through links in the Research Reviews section, you can access PubMed abstracts of selected articles related to the brain region. The Links section includes the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) organizational tree for the structure in question, while BrainInfo takes you to images. Whichever of these links you click on, it takes you out of the app, which you'll have to relaunch. It will open to the Whole Brain opening page, where you?ll start from scratch.

    The Spinnable Brain
    3D Brain (for iPhone) gives a good overview of the brain and its structures, with rotatable, expandable diagrams, and relevant, informative text and links. The spinnable VR illustrations of brain structures are the interactive high point of the app. But there are some places in which my user experience fell a bit short.

    The iPhone?s screen size (even with the iPhone 5) does not permit viewing of both text and the full diagrams at the same time, as you can do on an iPad. The lack of touch-sensitive interlinking of the diagrams makes navigation (using the bar at the righthand edge of the screen) awkward. All the links, in text and in the Links section, take you to Web pages outside the app, making you have to relaunch 3D Brain and start from scratch (the Whole Brain screen).

    These quibbles, though, shouldn?t deter anyone interested in the workings of the brain from downloading this free app. The material presented in 3D Brain (for iPhone) as well as its interactive diagrams should be a valuable resource to students and informed laymen alike, but, if you've got an iPad that's the best way to experience the 3D Brain.

    More iPhone App Reviews:

    ??? 3D Brain (for iPhone)
    ??? Google+ Mobile App (for iPhone)
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    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/5-xXjF3fW2c/0,2817,2413571,00.asp

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    Saturday, December 29, 2012

    Pacific Swell : Audubon Society squawks about clearance work in ...

    Birdwatchers in the San Fernando Valley remain angry after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently began clearing about 50 acres of land at the Sepulveda Basin. The Corps now says the work will be halted until the agency meets with local environmentalists.

    Members of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the?Audubon Society have been walking the south part of the basin below Burbank Boulevard this week. They don?t like what they see. Kris Ohlenkamp says it's a travesty.

    "[The Army Corps] said they were going to remove non-native invasive plants. Instead they removed everything," Ohlenkamp says. "Every plant, every shrub, other than a few trees."

    The Army Corps says the work is part of a five-year plan that aims to improve public safety in two ways: by improving flood control and controlling homeless populations and public lewd acts reported in the area.?

    Thomas Beauchamp, operations branch chief for the Los Angeles Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says the Corps' work is part of a vegetation management plan.

    "We mulched the underbrush in that area," he says. "We did thin some trees on Haskell Creek. And we removed a palm tree, a pine tree and a eucalyptus tree."

    Beauchamp maintains that the Army Corps circulated the proposal for public comment, as is required. Under normal circumstances that would be the end of the story. But Beauchamp says the district?s acting chief, Lieutenant Colonel Alex Deraney, has now told the Audubon Society the Corps would stop work ? temporarily ? on this first phase of the plan.

    "The commander made a decision to hold off until we meet with [the] Audubon Society, to discuss the re-vegetation, the purpose of the project, and then move forward," Beauchamp says. "Because obviously we want to have a good relationship with them."

    This first-phase work is 75% completed, Beauchamp says, and he admits that not a lot of work was likely to happen around the tail end of the holiday season anyway. The pause will give the Army Corps time to explain its plan.?This district, he says, gets only about 7% of the money it needs to manage all of the flood control basins in L.A. That's why the long-term plan is to minimize maintenance costs.

    Ohlenkamp says he?s pleased with the Army Corps? move. But he?s not done with his wish list for the engineers. He argues that the Corps? vegetation management plan is inadequate because it doesn?t account for more than 250 species of birds that use the Sepulveda Basin for habitat.

    "Their report [says] there are several birds in the area, mostly flying overhead," Ohlenkamp says, dismissively. "And there are mammals including squirrels and mice. And dogs and coyotes run rampantly through the area. That is the entirety of their biological survey."

    Ohlenkamp argues that the city and county of Los Angeles spent $100,000 improving the Sepulveda Basin when it was still a wildland reserve. One thing members of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society will ask for when they meet with the Army Corps is some compensation for what they say the improvements have destroyed.

    "This is the old Corps of the '50s and '60s that destroyed the Everglades, and they?ve promised to get away from that," Ohlenkamp says. "They?ve said it?s a mandate of the Corps to be good stewards of the environment and assure a diversity of habitats."

    According to Beauchamp and Deraney, the L.A. district of the Army Corps is planning a meeting with environmentalists after the New Year.?

    Source: http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2012/12/29/11762/audubon-squawks-about-sepulveda-basin-army-corps-a/

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    Road trip on tap for NASA's Mars rover in new year

    FILE - This Dec. 12, 2012 file image provided by NASA shows the Mars rover Curiosity at a pit stop, a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay." It took the image on the 125th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Dec. 12, 2012), just after finishing that sol's drive. The Sol 125 drive entered Yellowknife Bay and covered about 86 feet (26.1 meters). The descent into the basin crossed a step about 2 feet (half a meter) high, visible in the upper half of this image. Curiosity will now head for Mount Sharp in mid-February after it drills into its first rock. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech, File)

    FILE - This Dec. 12, 2012 file image provided by NASA shows the Mars rover Curiosity at a pit stop, a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay." It took the image on the 125th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Dec. 12, 2012), just after finishing that sol's drive. The Sol 125 drive entered Yellowknife Bay and covered about 86 feet (26.1 meters). The descent into the basin crossed a step about 2 feet (half a meter) high, visible in the upper half of this image. Curiosity will now head for Mount Sharp in mid-February after it drills into its first rock. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech, File)

    FILE - This file image provided by NASA shows the base of Mount Sharp on Mars. The Curiosity rover is set to drive toward the mountain in mid-February after drilling into a rock. The image was taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, File)

    FILE - This file image provided by NASA shows a color self-portrait of the Mars rover Curiosity. It is set to drive toward a Martian mountain in mid-February after drilling into a rock. On the 84th and 85th Martian days of the NASA Mars rover Curiosity's mission on Mars (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture dozens of high-resolution images to be combined into self-portrait images of the rover. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, File)

    PASADENA, Calif. (AP) ? Since captivating the world with its acrobatic landing, the Mars rover Curiosity has fallen into a rhythm: Drive, snap pictures, zap at boulders, scoop up dirt. Repeat.

    Topping its to-do list in the new year: Set off toward a Martian mountain ? a trek that will take up a good chunk of the year.

    The original itinerary called for starting the drive before the Times Square ball drop, but Curiosity lingered longer than planned at a pit stop, delaying the trip.

    Curiosity will now head for Mount Sharp in mid-February after it drills into its first rock.

    "We'll probably be ready to hit the pedal to the metal and give the keys back to the rover drivers," mission chief scientist John Grotzinger said in a recent interview at his office on the sprawling NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory campus 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

    The road trip comes amid great expectations. After all, it's the reason the $2.5 billion mission targeted Gale Crater near the Martian equator. Soaring from the center of the ancient crater is a 3-mile-high peak with intriguing layers of rocks.

    Curiosity's job is to figure out whether the landing site ever had the right environmental conditions to support microbes. Scientists already know water flowed in the past thanks to the rover's discovery of an old streambed. Besides water, life as we know it also needs energy, the sun.

    What's missing are the chemical building blocks of life: complex carbon-based molecules. If they're preserved on Mars, scientists figure the best place to hunt for them is at the base of Mount Sharp where images from space reveal hints of interesting geology.

    It's a six-month journey if Curiosity drives nonstop. But since scientists will want to command the six-wheel rover to rest and examine rocky outcrops along the way, it'll turn into a nine-month odyssey.

    Before Curiosity can tackle a mountain, there's unfinished business to tend to. After spending the holiday taking measurements of the Martian atmosphere, Curiosity gears up for the first task of the new year: Finding the perfect rock to bore into.

    The exercise ? from picking a rock to drilling to deciphering its chemical makeup ? is expected to last more than a month.

    "We have promised everybody that we're going to go slowly," said Grotzinger, a geologist at the California Institute of Technology.

    Curiosity's low-key adventures thus far are in contrast to the drama-filled touchdown that entranced the world in August. Since the car-size rover was too heavy to land using a parachute and airbags, engineers invented a daring new way that involved lowering it to the surface by cables. The risky arrival proved so successful and popular that NASA is planning an encore in 2020.

    Curiosity joined another NASA rover, Opportunity, which has been exploring the Martian southern hemisphere since 2004. Opportunity's twin, Spirit, stopped communicating in 2010.

    After nailing the landing, Curiosity fell into a routine. The first month was dominated by health checkups ? a tedious but essential prerequisite before driving. A chemistry laboratory on wheels, it's the most high-tech spacecraft to land on another planet so extra care was taken to ensure its tools, including its rock-zapping laser and robotic arm, worked.

    Once it got the green light, it trundled to a waypoint that's home to three unique types of terrain to perform science experiments. Every time Curiosity roves, it leaves Morse code tracks in the soil, providing a visual signal between drives. The message spells out JPL, short for Jet Propulsion Lab, which built the rover.

    So far, its odometer has logged less than a mile. Despite the slow going, scientists have been smitten with the postcards it beamed home, including a stylish self-portrait and tantalizing glimpses of Mount Sharp.

    Huge expectations weigh on the mission with NASA balancing the need to feed the public's appetite while pursuing discoveries at its own pace. Last month, the space agency quashed Internet speculation that Curiosity had detected complex carbon compounds in a pinch of Martian soil by issuing a statement ahead of a science meeting where the team was due to present the latest findings.

    American University space policy professor Howard McCurdy said Curiosity is currently in a transition, caught between the viral landing and the scientific payoff expected at Mount Sharp.

    "It is interesting, but slow," he said in an email. "I expect public interest will rise as the rover gets closer to its destination."

    Curiosity's prime mission lasts two years, but NASA expects the plutonium-powered rover to live far longer. A priority for its human handlers is to learn to operate it more efficiently so that it becomes second nature. Before heading to Mount Sharp, engineers plan a software update to Curiosity's computers to fix remaining bugs.

    "We'll need to be pretty careful," project manager Richard Cook said of the upcoming drive. "We may find terrain that we're not comfortable driving in and we'll have to spend time driving around stuff."

    ___

    Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-12-29-Mars%20Curiosity/id-b6ca6fc0cb924506b9ffe1ba1093c348

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    Obama calls lawmakers to last-minute 'cliff' talks

    By NBC News and wire reports

    President Barack Obama and lawmakers were launching a last-chance round of budget talks days before a New Year's deadline to reach a deal or watch the economy go off a "fiscal cliff."

    NBC News has confirmed that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with House and Senate leaders on Friday afternoon to try to revive negotiations to avoid tax hikes and spending cuts -- together worth $600 billion -- that will otherwise begin to take effect on Jan. 1. ?Scheduled to attend the Oval Office meeting are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker John Boehner and (R-Ohio), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

    Members were divided on the odds of success, with a few expressing hope, some talking as if they had abandoned it, and a small but growing number suggesting Congress might try to stretch the deadline into the first two days of January.

    What happens to you if US goes off 'cliff'

    In order to be ready to legislate if an agreement takes shape, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives convened a session for Sunday.

    And House Majority Leader Eric Cantor advised members to be prepared to meet through Jan. 2, the final day before the swearing-in of the new Congress elected on Nov. 6.

    It "doesn't feel like anything that's very constructive is going to happen" as a result of the meeting with Obama, said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). "It feels more like optics than anything that's real."

    Politics: Lawmakers brace for blame

    The two political parties remained far apart, particularly over plans to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help close the U.S. budget deficit. But one veteran Republican, Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, held out the prospect that if Obama came through with significant spending cuts, Republicans in the House might compromise on taxes.

    Reuters contributed to this report.?

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    Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/28/16208030-obama-bringing-lawmakers-to-oval-office-for-last-minute-cliff-talks?lite

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    Ouya releases SDK for $99 game console, shows off developer ...

    Now that Ouya is shipping the first developer kits?of its upcoming $99 Android-based video game console, the company has opened a software developer portal, launched a software developer kit, and shown off an early preview of the user interface.

    The Ouya team has also posted an unboxing video, giving us a good look at the first developer consoles.

    What we?re looking at isn?t the finished hardware. While the developer kits have the same basic specs as the units that will ship to customers in April (including an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage), these special edition models have clear plastic cases.

    That means you can see the guts of the Ouya game console without even opening it up ? and the same goes for the 2 wireless controllers that come with the kits.

    Unfortunately the game controllers are still works in progress, and the team is still working out some of the kinks.

    The developer kits also include microUSB ports that let you connect the system to a computer for Android programming and debugging. It?s not clear if the final product will have that port ? but one of the key goals of the Ouya project is to create an open platform, so I can?t see why the consumer device would ship without a microUSB port.

    Meanwhile, folks interested in developing games for the Ouya who haven?t been able to snag one of the limited edition developer kits can check out the Developer Portal for details on coding for the Ouya using off-the-shelf hardware to test their games.

    The Ouya is available for pre-order for $99 plus shipping, and it?s expected to ship in April, 2013.

    via Hacker News

    If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, or "like" us on Facebook. Thanks for visiting!

    • Game formatDownloadable
    • Drive capacity8 GB
    • Controller typeWireless
    • Video outputsHDMI
    • Released04/01/2013
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    Source: http://liliputing.com/2012/12/ouya-releases-sdk-for-99-game-console-shows-off-developer-edition-hardware.html

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    U.S. Marine Surprises His Entire Family for Christmas 2012 ...

    December 27, 2012

    ?My husband, Craig, came home and surprised all his family. He was gone for 6 months doing training in Missouri, and we told his family he couldn?t make it for Christmas. He was trying to come home for recruiter?s assistance and we got his final orders right before Thanksgiving. We had a party at his sister?s house when he surprised everybody. Nobody from his family knew he was coming besides me and his friends. It was quiet a surprise for his mom, since she thought she would not see him until June next year!?

    -Bruna H.

    Source: http://welcomehomeblog.com/2012/12/27/u-s-marine-surprises-his-entire-family-for-christmas-2012/

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    Nibbles: 2012?s best food quotes, top Aurora eatery tastes and ...

    ?

    ?

    AURORA ? On May 24 of this year Colorado Table was born.

    I had previously written about local cooking, dining, sustainable food and drink ,but the time was right to create a food-focused home for the Aurora Sentinel newspapers and websites. The culinary scene in Aurora and across the state is clearly booming. New farm-to-table restaurants, ethnic bakeries, microdistillers, farmers markets, natural foods companies, and breweries seem to open almost every day. And we cooks and diners are demanding more information about the content and origin of the food our families consume.

    In the past 12 months of weekly Nibbles column and Aurora Cooks profiles, I?ve been lucky enough to sample great fare and interview dozens of restaurateurs, bakers, and winemakers. Here are a few of my favorite culinary moments of 2012:

    ? ?Here people are so nice here if you?re out of a particular pastry. In France, they would say ?What the hell are you doing? What do you mean you don?t have apple turnovers??? ? Michael Dupont, owner, La Baguette de Normandy

    ? ?Most of my customers are American Jewish and Israeli-born families. This is the food they grew up with too, and they like that I don?t serve pork or alcohol.? ? Chakib Marrakchi, owner, Cafe Paprika

    ? ?Young people ? they love the flavor but it?s too strong ? too sweet or too sour or too spicy ? for old people. It?s the same in Thailand.?- Utumporn Killoran, owner, Thai Street Food

    ? ?I knew that many ethnic places existed in Aurora on an intellectual level, but once I started looking, Aurora became my mecca.? ? Ruth Tobias, author of the ?Food Lovers? Guide to Denver & Boulder?

    ? ?I tell my kids: Don?t go into the meat business, become a dentist ? but you never know.? ? Carmine Lonardo, manager, Carmine Lonardo?s Meat Market and Italian Deli

    ? ?Aurora now has a large group of foodies. Fifteen years ago people thought that Olive Garden was fine Italian cuisine. Now they actually want to find authentic cooking.? ? Sam Armatas, co-owner, Sam?s No. 3

    ? ?I like very fruit-forward wines. For me to get that, I need older grapes, ones that stay on the vine longer.? ? John Balistreri, winemaker, Balistreri Vineyards, Denver

    ? ?We have customers who come in all the way from Laramie. One great thing about Americans is that if they find food they love they?ll come no matter how far they have to drive.? ? Ashok Dugini, owner, Masalaa Indian Vegetarian Cuisine

    ? ?We consider our desserts to be ?European rich? with butter and cream and none of that nasty sweetness you get from a bucket.? ? Jim Pasquierello, owner, Daniel?s of Paris Bakery

    ? ?I kept getting orders (for soul food) from women who don?t know how to cook. They?d come and pick it up and serve it in their dishes as their own.? ? Sandy Hullum, owner, Flava

    ? ?People come in and the first thing they say is ?Did Angie make the custard?? They have to have it. They say it?s just like crack.? ? Angie Stathopoulos, co-owner, The Athenian

    ?

    FAVORITE TASTES OF THE YEAR

    After reviewing the fare I sampled this year at local eateries and bakeries, I started wishing I could assemble some of the dishes for a little Taste of Aurora meal.

    I?d start with an Ethiopian spicy pastry-wrapped veggie sambusa at Meskerem Restaurant, hot Italian sausage and peppers in wine-mustard sauce at Balisteri Vineyards Tasting Room, and fresh cut, skin-on fries (from Kennebec spuds just like In-N-Out Burgers) at Cedar Creek Pub. For an amuse bouche, I?d clear my palate with an eggplant Parmesan grinder with excellent marinara sauce and whole milk mozzarella from Wholly Cannoli Cafe.

    For the pasta course there would be Dan Dan noodles in a sesame-based sauce with beef, wok-ed baby bok choy, cucumber slivers and peanuts at Chef Liu?s Authentic Chinese Cuisine. The entree would have to be Filipino sisig, pork cheeks and ears boiled, chopped, fried and sauteed with vinegar, onions and peppers and served sizzling with an egg broken on top at the Sunburst Grill.

    For sweets, I?d order a wedge of sweet potato pie from Flava, a flaky pain au chocolat at Daniel?s of Paris Bakery, and a cajeta-filled emapanada from Panaderia Tlaquepaque.

    ?

    OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS

    The following eateries opened in the Aurora metro area in 2012:

    Chill Yogurt, 2275 S. Peoria St.;? Yong Gung Chinese Restaurant; 2040 S. Havana St.; Cheapskates Action Sports Bar, 627 S. Parker Rd.; Masala Xpress, Town Center at Aurora, 14200 E. Alameda Ave.; Shin Sa Dong Restaurant, 10293 E. Iliff Ave.; Deelish, 1901 S. Havana St. (now closed); Caribbean Breeze Latin Grill, 15490 E. Colfax Ave.; Tarboosh, 2353 S. Havana St.; El Rico Dicho Menuderia, 10400 E. 6th Ave.; Pho Cafe Asian Cuisine, 12405 E. Mississippi Ave.; The French Press Cafe and Bakery, 15290 E. Iliff Ave.; Blue Lagoon Asian Bistro, 1695 Peoria St.; Las Princesas Bakery, 15343 E. 6th Ave.; Swirk Supreme Food, 2205 S. Peoria St.; Kirk?s Soul Kitchen, 14107 E. Colfax Ave.; Tacos Selene, 15343 E. 6th Ave.; Yogurtland, 18191 E. Hampden Ave.; Top That! Pizza, 24100 E. Commons Ave., Southlands Mall; Savory Spice Shop, 6295 S. Main St., Southlands Mall; Mali Thai Cuisine, 4955 S. Ulster St., Greenwood Village; PizzaDoodle, 6830 S. University Blvd., Centennial; and Pizzeria Di Olinto, 12023 E. Arapahoe Road, Centennial

    ?

    WHAT ABOUT AURORA?

    In December, a fellow food writer who is penning a book focused on recipes from chefs in Denver and Boulder. To expand the scope she asked me to pen a few words about the culinary importance of Aurora. Here?s what I shared:

    ?It?s true that Aurora has a limited number of chefs who graduated from culinary institutes. It?s also true that this city is home to thousands of cooks from across the globe creating incredible dishes in inconspicuous, strip mall kitchens. Where else can you taste genuine Filipino cuisine? Aurora is the epicenter of Colorado?s African community with eateries and dishing everything from Eritrean to Nigerian fare. There are more Korean barbecue joints and kimchi markets here than in any part of the state. Aurora?s big ethnic tent includes Italian meat markets, an English tea room, a great brat house, several Szechuan dumpling palaces, a bevy of pho cafes and an array of Mexican/Central American restaurants, bakeries and shops. If you want to taste the world, come to Aurora.?

    ?

    Send your comments to: jlehndorff@aurorasentinel.com. Read more Nibbles at aurorasentinel.com/colorado-table and ?like? the Nibbles Facebook for regular tasty updates. John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles at 8:25 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU (88.5 FM, 1390 AM, and kgnu.org).

    ?

    Source: http://www.aurorasentinel.com/guide/colorado-table/dining/nibbles-2012s-best-food-quotes-top-aurora-eatery-tastes-and-openings/

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    Friday, December 28, 2012

    Kuwait used "excessive force" at demonstrations: rights group

    KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti security forces appear to have used excessive force to disperse several largely peaceful street protests since October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday, citing activists, protesters and witnesses.

    Tens of thousands of Kuwaitis have taken to the streets over the past two months to protest changes to voting rules used in a parliamentary election on December 1 that they said would skew the outcome in favor of pro-government candidates.

    The Interior Ministry justified the use of force on the grounds that protesters had blocked traffic, thrown stones at the police, and attacked them, HRW said. But participants said the demonstrations were largely peaceful.

    "They said that masked riot police used tear gas and sound bombs without warning to disperse demonstrations and beat protesters while arresting them for participating in 'unauthorized protests,'" the New York-based rights group said.

    Kuwait's Information Ministry, in reaction to the HRW statement, said authorities were required to maintain law and order when illegal marches and demonstrations took place.

    "Kuwait has witnessed several protests in 2012 where streets were blocked and riots took place at residential areas which endangered civilians and public properties," the ministry said.

    "The right to protest is enshrined in our constitution. However, protesters should be aware of both their rights and responsibilities under the law."

    Although Kuwait, an OPEC member state and ally of the United States, tolerates more dissent than other Gulf Arab countries, it has been enforcing a ban on public gatherings of more than 20 people without a permit.

    "Kuwait's rulers need to fully respect the right to assemble peacefully," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at HRW said in the statement issued from Beirut. "Declaring a gathering 'unauthorized' does not give police license to beat protesters."

    Kuwaiti protesters have been less radical in their demands than demonstrators in other Arab countries, calling for the reinstatement of the old voting system, action against corruption and for an elected government rather than one appointed by the prime minister, who is chosen by the emir.

    "The authorities should show they will not tolerate abuses by investigating all allegations of abuse by security forces and punishing those responsible for violating rights," Goldstein said. HRW also said Kuwait should increase the accountability of police by ending the use of masked anti-riot officers.

    "While police agents may have legitimate reasons to mask their identities in limited circumstances, such as when conducting surveillance, policing demonstrations is not one of them."

    Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who used emergency powers to change the voting system, said on December 16 he supported freedom of expression and constructive criticism, but recent events had shown "aspects of chaos, breaching of the law and unguided political discourse".

    The momentum of the protests has slowed since the election, with the last rally on December 15 drawing several hundreds of people.

    (Editing by Jon Boyle)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kuwait-used-excessive-force-demonstrations-rights-group-131546781.html

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    Eckhart Tolle on How to Find God (VIDEO)

    Looking for God? According to spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, your search may be over. God, he says, is really "the power of life itself."

    In this clip from a recent episode of "Super Soul Sunday," Eckhart tells Oprah Winfrey that believing in your personal concept of God is no substitute for the reality of God. "When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises," he says. "You become more conscious of what's around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without."

    To feel that presence, Eckhart advises that you try a simple exercise that he devised to help you quiet your mind. Hold your hands out in front of you. One hand symbolizes the past, the other the future. Focus on the space between your hands. That is the present. "It can be a little reminder to help you behold that sense of presence," he says. "The only thing you ever have is now."

    "Super Soul Sunday" airs Sundays at 11 a.m. ET on OWN.

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    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/eckhart-tolle-how-to-find-god_n_2324408.html

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    Google names 12 best Android apps of 2012

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A homeless woman was in critical condition in a Los Angeles hospital after a man doused her with liquid accelerant and set her on fire as she slept on a bus bench, police said on Thursday. Officers arrested Dennis Petillo, 24, in connection with the early morning attack, and he has been booked in jail on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. The woman, whose name has not been released, was being treated at a local hospital with burns all over her body, said Los Angeles police Lieutenant Damian Gutierrez. ...

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-names-12-best-android-apps-2012-174530724.html

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    Pakistan Taliban chief says group will negotiate, but not disarm

    DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's Taliban said his militia is willing to negotiate with the government but not disarm, a message delivered in a video given to Reuters on Friday.

    The release of the 40-minute video follows three high-profile Taliban attacks in the northern city of Peshawar this month: an attack by multiple suicide bombers on the airport, the killing of a senior politician and eight others in a bombing and the kidnap of 22 paramilitary forces on Thursday.

    The attacks underline the Taliban's ability to strike high-profile, well-protected targets even as the amount of territory it controls has shrunk and its leaders are picked off by U.S. drones.

    "We believe in dialogue but it should not be frivolous," Hakimullah Mehsud said. "Asking us to lay down arms is a joke."

    In the video, Mehsud sits cradling a rifle next to his deputy, Wali ur-Rehman. Military officials say there has been a split between the two men but Mehsud said that was propaganda.

    "Wali ur-Rehman is sitting with me here and we will be together until death," said Mehsud, pointing at his companion.

    Pakistani officials did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

    The Taliban said in a letter released Thursday that they wanted Pakistan to rewrite its laws and constitution to conform with Islamic law, break its alliance with the United States and stop interfering in the war in Afghanistan and focus on India instead.

    Mehsud referred to the killing of the senior politician in his speech and said the political party, the largely Pashtun Awami National Party, would continue to be a target along with other politicians.

    "We are against the democratic system because it is un-Islamic," Mehsud said. "Our war isn't against any party. It is against the non-Islamic system and anyone who supports it."

    Pakistan is due to hold elections next spring. The current government, which came to power five years ago, struck an uneasy deal with the Taliban in 2009 that allowed the militia to control Swat valley, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, Islamabad.

    A few months later, the military launched an operation that pushed the militants back. The U.S. military also intensified its use of drone strikes.

    Now the Taliban control far less territory and the frequency and deadliness of their bombings has declined dramatically.

    The Taliban's key stronghold is in North Waziristan, one of the tribal areas along the Afghan border and the site of most of the hundreds of drone strikes by the United States.

    Mehsud said in his interview that although he was open to dialogue, the Pakistani government was to blame for the violence because it broke previous, unspecified deals.

    "In the past, it is the Pakistani government that broke peace agreements," he said. "A slave of the U.S. can't make independent agreements; it breaks agreements according to U.S. dictat."

    Mehsud said that the Pakistan Taliban would follow the lead of the Afghan Taliban when it came to forming policy after most NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014.

    "We are Afghan Taliban and Afghan Taliban are us," he said. "We are with them and al Qaida. We are even willing to get our heads cut off for al Qaida."

    (Writing By Katharine Houreld; Editing by Nick Macfie)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/head-pakistan-taliban-says-group-negotiate-not-disarm-105343851.html

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