Saturday, December 31, 2011

Afghan president welcomes US remarks on Taliban (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed remarks from the Obama administration saying that Taliban insurgents were not America's enemies.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview with Newsweek magazine that the Islamist militants did not represent a threat to U.S. interests unless they continued to shelter al-Qaida.

Biden's comments came amid reports that the Obama administration and other governments are trying to establish a peace process with the Taliban to help end the 10-year war.

"I am very happy that the American government has announced that the Taliban are not their enemies," Karzai said in a speech to the Afghan Academy of Sciences. "We hope that this message will help the Afghans reach peace and stability."

A senior U.S. official has told The Associated Press that Washington plans to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives in Europe and the Persian Gulf region next year.

The U.S. outreach this year had progressed to the point that there was active discussion of two steps the Taliban seeks as precursors to negotiations, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Trust-building measures under discussion involve setting up a Taliban headquarters office and the release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of about five Afghan prisoners believed affiliated with the Taliban.

On Tuesday, Karzai said his government would accept the Taliban establishing a liaison office in Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia for the purpose of holding peace talks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

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Oops: Droid 4 makes an early appearance in Best Buy promo

With its backlit keys and shaved corners, it could only be the Droid 4 leading the pack of phones in this Best Buy promo shot. The slider hasn't yet reached the shop floor, but that hasn't stopped it from promoting the big box retailer's Rewards Zone offers. While Verizon has already let a festively-colored Droid RAZR and a pair of Xoom 2 Xyboard tablets out of the gates this winter, keyboard hunters have been left out in the cold. Hopefully, this snafu will translate into a release very soon.

Oops: Droid 4 makes an early appearance in Best Buy promo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid Life  |  sourceBest Buy  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/29/oops-droid-4-makes-an-early-appearance-in-best-buy-promo/

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Debra Messing Is Dating 'Smash' Costar Will Chase

Once again, Debra Messing has linked up with a guy named Will! The former Will & Grace star, who only recently announced that she was separated from husband Daniel Zelman, is reportedly dating actor Will Chase, her costar on the upcoming NBC musical drama Smash.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/debra-messing-dating-smash-costar-will-chase/1-a-414320?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Adebra-messing-dating-smash-costar-will-chase-414320

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iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak now available for original iPad, iPhone 4, older models

Thanks to pod2g and all his hard work, an untethered jailbreak is now available for the original iPad, iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and older models. Both redsn0w and Corona have been updated to support the new, untethered jailbreak.
A few days ago, @pod2g gave the untether
...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/r4k4jtr_lqo/story01.htm

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

What to expect at NKorea funeral for Kim Jong Il (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? Wailing and sobbing mourners beat their chests and dropped to their knees as North Korean President Kim Il Sung's hearse, draped with a red flag and bedecked with white magnolias, crawled through the streets of Pyongyang in 1994.

But even as they cried out on a hot summer's day for the leader they called "Father," they began pledging their loyalty to his son, leader-in-waiting Kim Jong Il, who cut a solemn and somber figure in a dark blue suit, a black band wrapped around his left arm.

Same setting, different season: Similar shows of grief are expected when North Korea lays Kim Jong Il to rest in a winter chill during two days of funeral ceremonies on Wednesday and Thursday. As in 1994, the events will be watched closely for clues to who will gain power and who will fall out of favor under the next leader, his son Kim Jong Un.

---

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jean H. Lee, the Associated Press bureau chief for Korea, has made 11 trips to North Korea since 2008, including eight visits this year.

---

This state funeral, however, is also likely to bear the hallmarks of Kim Jong Il's rule, including more of a military presence for the man who elevated the armed forces as part of his "songun," or "military first," policy.

Kim, who has been lying in state since he died Dec. 17, celebrated major occasions with lavish, meticulously choreographed parades designed to show off the nation's military might, such as the October 2010 display when he introduced his son and anointed successor to the world.

"A display of weapons may also be a way to demonstrate that the military remains loyal to the succession process," said Ahn Chan-il of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in South Korea. "There may even be a small-scale military parade involving airplanes."

Like his father was in 1994, Kim Jong Un has appeared stoic in a dark blue Mao-style suit in appearances at Kim Jong Il's bier ? but so far without the black armband that Kim Jong Il wore at the funeral to mark him as head mourner.

Kim Jong Un would have been a boy when his grandfather died, and there's no sign of the young Kim in footage of the 1994 funeral. But it's clear from footage of him during the mourning period for his father that he is well-schooled in the behavior expected as heir to the nation's leader.

The 1994 funeral is likely to be the template for this week's events.

At the time, details about the funeral in a country largely isolated from the West were shrouded in mystery, revealed only after state TV aired segments of the events in what was the world's best glimpse of the hidden communist nation.

Most foreigners aside from those living in North Korea were shut out, and the same is expected this week, though Rev. Moon Hyung-jin, an American citizen and son of Seoul-based Unification Church founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon, is planning to attend Wednesday's funeral, according to church officials. The Moon family has business ties with the North.

In 1994, the formation of the funeral committee was examined closely for signs of who was expected to rise in power in the post-Kim Il Sung era; observers likewise dissected the 232 names on last week's list.

When Kim Il Sung died, it was unclear whether North Korea would hew to traditional Korean mourning rites or follow rituals seen elsewhere in the communist world.

According to the official account, what appeared to the world as North Korean ritual was a highly personal response by Kim Jong Il, who is credited by his official biography with choreographing every detail of his father's funeral.

The biography says it was the son who proposed turning the massive assembly hall where his father worked for 20 years into a public place of mourning ? and then, a year later, into a permanent shrine where Kim Il Sung's embalmed body still lies.

Kim Jong Il's biography also gives him credit for breaking tradition by picking a smiling image of the late president taken in 1986 instead of the somber image typical for Korean funerals.

To this day, the portraits that hang in every building and on the lapels of nearly all North Koreans show a smiling Kim Il Sung. And since Kim Jong Il died, pictures erected at mourning sites across the nation show him beaming as well.

The official biography says Kim Jong Il picked one of his father's neckties for the body and ordered the portrait bedecked with magnolias, the national flower, not traditional black ribbon.

After the closed-door funeral, Kim was seen in the footage leaving the hall and standing on a dais sheathed in red, surveying the scene alongside top party and military officials as the black Lincoln Continental bearing his father's body departs the palace grounds to a military salute.

A car with the massive portrait ringed with white magnolias led the motorcade, followed by the hearse bearing the president's body, and then a phalanx of police in white helmets riding on motorcycles in a "V" formation.

Kim Jong Il and other members of the funeral committee followed slowly in sedans. Soldiers in jeeps flanked the procession.

North Koreans lined the streets and filled the air with theatrical wails, many of the women in traditional black dresses and with white mourning ribbons affixed to their hair.

The procession reached the central square that bears Kim Il Sung's name, where hundreds of thousands of mourners were waiting. The hearse circled the square before returning to the assembly hall for a gun salute.

A similar procession may be in the works for Wednesday, but with the late leader's trademark red "kimjongilia" begonias replacing the magnolias, and snow and frost as a backdrop.

State media said a national memorial service for Kim Jong Il would start midday Thursday and include an artillery salute, three minutes of silence and locomotives and vessels blowing their sirens.

Footage Tuesday from Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang showed long lines of people carrying wreaths and bunches of white flowers toward a building with a huge picture of a smiling Kim Jong Il on its facade. They piled flowers beneath the photo, bowing and crying as they stood in the cold. Some pledged their loyalty to Kim Jong Un. Light traffic flowed through Pyongyang's streets, people drinking hot tea at makeshift tents set up on the sidewalks.

The funeral for Kim Jong Il, who made it state policy to revere his father as North Korea's "eternal" president, will likely be similar to Kim Il Sung's but probably not outdo it, said Prof. Jeong Jin-gook of the Daejeon Health Sciences College in South Korea.

"Kim Il Sung still remains the most respected among North Koreans," he said.

Kim Jong Il may have put his personal stamp on his father's funeral, but so far Kim Jong Un is sticking to tradition. From the blue suit to the solemn bows before the begonia-bedecked bier, the young leader-in-waiting has closely followed his father's cues.

Still, he is credited with one directive that seems likely fodder for his official biography: According to state media, he instructed the city to keep mourners lined up in subzero temperatures warm with hot water and tea.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow Jean H. Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il_the_funeral

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Terminales Xperia de Sony Ericsson con Android 4.0

Noticias

Fecha:? 19/12/2011? Fuente:? GSMspain

Los usuarios de la gama Xperia de Sony Ericsson ya pueden probar la ?ltima versi?n del sistema operativo Android.


Terminales Xperia de Sony Ericsson con Android 4.0En la compa??a Sony Ericsson parecen decididos a proceder muy pronto con la esperada actualizaron de todos sus smartphones de la familia Xperia, a la ?ltima versi?n del sistema operativo Android, es decir, la 4.0 tambi?n conocida como Ice Cream Sandwich. Para ir abriendo boca, la Comunidad de Desarrolladores de Sony Ericsson ha lanzado un v?deo en el que ya puede verse un Xperia Arc funcionando bajo esta versi?n de Android.

No obstante, la compa??a sigue trabajando en dicha actualizaci?n, ya que esta versi?n Alpha de Android 4.0 tiene todav?a muchas limitaciones. Google Mobile Services, que ofrece soporte para Gmail o Google Maps no est? operativo, as? mismo, ni la radio FM, ni las conexiones v?a Wi-Fi o Bluetooth pueden ser activadas. Aun as?, podemos ver muchas de las novedades de la ?ltima versi?n de Android como la nueva forma de manejar el reproductor de m?sica con la pantalla bloqueada, o la original manera de eliminar avisos del men? de notificaciones con solo deslizar un dedo.

Aun as?, Sony Ericsson ha puesto esta ROM a disposici?n de todos aquellos que quieran probarla en su Xperia arc S, Xperia Neo V y Xperia Ray. Para ello, es imprescindible disponer del terminal desbloqueado (rooteado), lo cual puede hacerse mediante el servicio "Unlock Boot Loader Service" de Sony Ericsson. No obstante esta opci?n s?lo est? recomendada para usuarios avanzados, ya que la compa??a no se hace responsable de lo que pudiera salir mal en este proceso de "trasteo" con el m?vil.



Comentarios
Hola! tengo una duda a ver si me podeis ayudar.
Estoy pensando sacarme el ARC (normal) que es el que tiene movistar, mi duda es si ya es un poco tarde para pillarlo,quiero decir que si sus 512 de memoria se quedan cortos o si su 1gb podr? mover con fluidez la version 4 de android.

Graciasde antemano!

Los ?ltimos en salir tendran antes la actualizaci?n, entre marzo y abril. Por eso dicen que seran el Arc S, Ray y Neo V.

Pero los demas de la gama, el Arc. Neo, Play, Mini, Mini Pro y Activ lo tendran entre Abril y Mayo, un mes despues.

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericss...2-news-3559.php

Saludos.

Tiene muy buena pintaa un saludo y gracias por la info

Eso no os olvideis del Neo normal! Aunque supongo que lo que hagan para el Neo V deber?a servir para el normal no?

Saludos

De los minis nada no?

Muy bien por Sony.

Espero que no dejen olvidao el Xperia NEO porque en la noticia mencionan que ponen la beta a disposi?n para el NEO V.


Source: http://www.gsmspain.com/noticias/2341_Terminales-Xperia-de-Sony-Ericsson-con-Android-4-0-Los-usuarios-de-la-gama-Xperia-de-Sony-E.html

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Vanderbilt University GPA and Test Score Graph

In 2010, less than 20% of Vanderbilt University applicants got accepted. To get in, applicants are going to need grades and standardized test scores that are well above average. In the graph above, the blue and green dots represent accepted students. As you can see, most successful Vanderbilt applicants had averages in the "A" range, SAT scores of about 1850 or higher, and ACT composite scores of 26 or higher. A large number of applicants had 4.0 GPAs. Clearly the higher your grades and test scores, the better your chance of an acceptance letter.

Keep in mind that there are a significant number of red and yellow dots (rejected and waitlisted students) mixed in with the green and blue. Many students with grades and test scores that were on target for Vanderbilt did not get in. Note also that a few students were accepted with test scores and grades below the norm. This is because Vanderbilt, like many of the country's most selective colleges, has holistic admissions. The folks in the admissions office are interested in much more than raw numbers. Rigorous high school courses, strong extracurricular involvement, glowing letters of recommendation, and a winning application essay are all important parts of the Vanderbilt's admissions equation.

To learn more about Vanderbilt University, high school GPAs, SAT scores and ACT scores, these articles can help:

  • Lists Featuring Vanderbilt University:

Source: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/vanderbilt-university-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm

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Hacked Powermat lets you touch-to-charge your iPhone in stop-and-go traffic

When you're cruising down the highway, you've got much better things to do than fiddling with iPhone cables -- like, you know, texting and playing Angry Birds. Thankfully, this handy little Powermat hack brings the fun of wireless charging to the comfort of your mobile office, to help free up your hands a bit -- at least until Siri learns how to steer. Video after the break and instructions in the source link -- but please, pull over to the side of the road before attempting to install.

Continue reading Hacked Powermat lets you touch-to-charge your iPhone in stop-and-go traffic

Hacked Powermat lets you touch-to-charge your iPhone in stop-and-go traffic originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGeeked  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/26/hacked-powermat-lets-you-touch-to-charge-your-iphone-in-stop-and/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

The Note's Must-Reads for Monday, December 26, 2011 (ABC News)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/179194593?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Treasury: U.S. debt grew to $14.8 trillion in 2011

Politico
? December 24, 2011

By MJ Lee

The Treasury Department quietly released the balance of the U.S. government?s checkbook the Friday before Christmas, in a year-end report that showed the country diving deeper into the red with net liabilities of $14.8 trillion.

The government?s biggest liabilities for 2011 included $10.2 trillion in federal debt securities held by the public and $5.8 trillion owed to federal employees and veterans.

The government?s overall net liability is calculated by subtracting net assets from liabilities. In 2010, the figure was $13.5 trillion.

The Government Accountability Office?s auditor?s report stated that it could not express an opinion on the government?s annual financial statements, citing serious financial management problems at the Defense Department that made the department?s statements impossible to audit, the government?s ?inability to adequately account for and reconcile intragovernemtntal activity,? as well as its ?ineffective process for preparing the consolidated financial statements.?

?Restoring fiscal sustainability will require substantial additional changes, including tax reforms to increase revenue and changes to make our entitlement programs sustainable over time,? Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a messaging accompanying the report.

He added, ?But these reforms, if done in a broad-based and balanced way and phased in over time to give Americans a chance to plan and adjust, will not impose an unfair or excessive burden on the citizens of this country.?

Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/treasury-us-debt-grew-148-trillion-2011

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Smartphones Taking Bite Out of Point-and-Shoot Market (NewsFactor)

People will spend less coin on digital cameras this holiday season as they increasingly rely on smartphone cameras to capture both spontaneous moments and vacation shots, a survey from the research firm NPD Group suggests.

While the results should not surprise, given the higher quality cameras increasingly built into popular phones -- the iPhone 4S packs an 8-megapixel model, up from 5 on the iPhone 4 -- the survey offers a quantified look at how much the smartphone market is eating into the low-end camera market.

Who Needs A Camcorder?

The percentage of photos taken with a smartphone by a sample group answering online questions rose from 17 last year to 27, while the share of photos taken by camera dropped from 52 percent to 44 percent.

In separate findings, NPD's Retail Tracking Service found that so-called "point-and-shoot" camera sales fell 17 percent in units and 18 percent in dollars for the first 11 months of 2011. The drop in pocket camcorder sales was slightly lower, 13 percent in units, but steeper in dollars, 27 percent, while flash camcorders declined 8 percent in units and 10 percent in dollars.

Just over 30 percent of respondents said they now use phones for taking photos while on vacation, and just over 50 percent said they use phones for casual photos. The numbers were similar for video, with a higher number, about 55 percent, using their handy smartphones to capture spontaneous moments for posterity (or YouTube).

"Thanks to mobile phones, more pictures are being taken than ever before," said Liz Cutting, executive director and senior imaging analyst at NPD, in releasing the results. "Consumers who use their mobile phones to take pictures and video were more likely to do so instead of their camera when capturing spontaneous moments, but for important events, single purpose cameras or camcorders are still largely the device of choice."

The survey was taken Nov. 11-21 from a sample of adults over 18 and teens ages 13-17.

Big Potential

Manufacturers and carriers are increasingly seeing the value of good cameras as a selling point and differentiator. In June, HTC and T-Mobile released the MyTouch 4G, with an 8-megapixel camera, promising no shutter lag -- a big drawback of many digital cameras. With its fast data speed, the MyTouch is a good option for taking good pictures and sharing them quickly, T-Mobile said at the time.

"Smartphone cameras are getting good enough that people will only buy a digital camera if it is much better," said analyst Gerry Purdy of MobileTrax. The benefits of a dedicated, higher-end camera over a phone, he said are optical zoom, available only on select phones, large lens capture and better digital image capture chips.

"It's a trade-off of fidelity vs. convenience," Purdy said. "People want to have a really good camera for a wedding, but convenience is going to drive the popularity of camera phones, which are good enough for most situations."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111223/bs_nf/81512

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Wednesday's "M:I:4"'s $8.6M reinvigorates box office (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" shot its way to the top of the box office Wednesday, collecting a solid $8.6 million, according to early studio estimates.

By contrast, on the Wednesday before Christmas last year, Universal's "Little Fockers" was the No. 1 film with just $7.1 million.

The strong "M:I:4" showing led a flurry of strong weekday performances by other new films Wednesday.

In its first full day of domestic wide release, Sony's "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" grossed $3.5 million at 2,914 domestic locations.

Paramount's Steven Spielberg-directed "Tintin," meanwhile, took $2.3 million during its U.S. debut Wednesday. It's playing at 3,087 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

In its sixth day of release, "Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows" grossed $4.3 million, continuing a strong rebound after a disappointing first weekend.

Paramount/Skydance's "M:I:4" -- the fourth in the "Mission: Impossible" series -- now has grossed $25.7 million domestically and $85 million internationally.

The PG-13 film, directed by Brad Bird and starring Tom Cruise, opened at 425 large-format screens Friday. Its wide release began at 5 p.m. Tuesday, making Wednesday its first full day of wide release. It is now screening at 3,455 locations.

Warner Bros.' "Sherlock Holmes -- A Game of Shadows," which opened to $39.6 million, has grossed a total of $54 million. The PG-13 movie directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, is showing signs of strength at its 3,703 locations. The movie took in $4.9 million on Monday, $5.2 million on Tuesday.

Sony's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," David Fincher's R-rated adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novels, opened at 7 p.m. Tuesday. In its first five hours of release, the movie grossed $1.55 million. It more than doubled that in its first full day Wednesday, and has now taken in a total of $5.1 million at 2,914 locations.

Paramount's other new release, Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin," opened at 3,087 locations Wednesday and, because it opened in Quebec December 9, now has a North American total of $5.57 million. Internationally, the motion-capture animated movie has grossed nearly $240 million.

This is the weekend Hollywood has been looking forward to. After a wretched few weeks, studios are expecting audiences to return to movies in large numbers.

Still to be released: Fox's comedy "We Bought a Zoo," on Friday, and DreamWorks' World War I drama "War Horse," also from Spielberg, which hits theaters on Sunday. Also Sunday, Summit releases its R-rated sci-fi thriller "The Darkest Hour."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_wednesdays_m4_8_6m_reinvigorates_box_office_214709308/43986588/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/wednesdays-m-4-8-6m-reinvigorates-box-office-214709308.html

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Top 15 cable programs in Nielsens for Dec. 12-18 (AP)

Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Dec. 12-18. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:

1. NFL Football: St. Louis vs. Seattle (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 7.13 million homes, 9.88 million viewers.

2. "Republican Presidential Debate" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), Fox News, 5 million homes, 6.71 million viewers.

3. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 3.98 million homes, 5.29 million viewers.

4. "Republican Debate Analysis" (Thursday, 10:55 p.m.), Fox News, 3.97 million homes, 5.38 million viewers.

5. NFL Football: Dallas vs. Tampa Bay (Saturday, 8:29 p.m.), NFL Network, 3.75 million homes, 5.61 million viewers.

6. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 3.74 million homes, 5.23 million viewers.

7. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 3.7 million homes, 5.21 million viewers.

8. "Storage Wars" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), A&E, 3.694 million homes, 5.2 million viewers.

9. "Gold Rush" (Friday, 9 p.m.), Discovery, 3.693 million homes, 5.38 million viewers.

10. "Rizzoli & Isles" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 3.65 million homes, 4.9 million viewers.

11. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.4 million homes, 4.85 million viewers.

12. "Storage Wars Texas" (Tuesday 10:30 p.m.), A&E, 3.26 million homes, 4.28 million viewers.

13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.14 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.

14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.32 million viewers.

15. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.01 million homes, 4.49 million viewers.

___

USA is owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal. ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co. NFLN is owned by the NFL Enterprises LLC. A&E and History are owned by the A&E Television Networks. The Discovery Network is owned by Discovery Communications Inc. Fox News Channel is owned by News Corp. TNT is owned by Time Warner Inc.

___

Online:

http://www.nielsen.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_en_tv/us_cable_nielsens

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Wal-Mart pulls formula after baby dies in Missouri

This photo provided Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, by the Holman Howe Funeral Home, shows Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo., who died Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Federal health agencies are testing samples of liquid and powdered infant formula and some distilled water used to prepare the powder by the Missouri parents of a 10-day-old boy who died from an apparent bacterial infection. Cornett died Sunday night after he was fed Enfamil Newborn powder bought at a Walmart store in Lebanon, Mo. The store has stopped selling the product, and the company pulled a batch of the infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide. (AP Photo/Holman Howe Funeral Home)

This photo provided Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, by the Holman Howe Funeral Home, shows Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo., who died Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Federal health agencies are testing samples of liquid and powdered infant formula and some distilled water used to prepare the powder by the Missouri parents of a 10-day-old boy who died from an apparent bacterial infection. Cornett died Sunday night after he was fed Enfamil Newborn powder bought at a Walmart store in Lebanon, Mo. The store has stopped selling the product, and the company pulled a batch of the infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide. (AP Photo/Holman Howe Funeral Home)

FILE - This photo taken Nov. 14, 2011, shows the rain-soaked handle of a shopping cart outside the Wal-Mart store in Mayfield Hts. Wal-Mart has pulled a batch of powdered infant formula from more than 3,000 of its stores nationwide after a newborn Missouri boy who was given the formula became gravely ill with a suspected bacterial infection and died after being taken off life support, the retailer said Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, File)

(AP) ? Wal-Mart and health officials awaited tests Thursday on a batch of powdered infant formula that was removed from more than 3,000 stores nationwide after a Missouri newborn who consumed it apparently died from a rare infection.

The source of the bacteria that caused the infection has not been determined, but it occurs naturally in the environment and in plants such as wheat and rice. The most worrisome appearances have been in dried milk and powdered formula, which is why manufacturers routinely test for the germs.

Wal-Mart pulled the Enfamil Newborn formula from shelves as a precaution following the death of little Avery Cornett in the southern Missouri town of Lebanon.

The formula has not been recalled, and the manufacturer said tests showed the batch was negative for the bacteria before it was shipped. Additional tests were under way.

"We decided it was best to remove the product until we learn more," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Dianna Gee said. "It could be returned to the shelves."

Customers who bought formula in 12.5-ounce cans with the lot number ZP1K7G have the option of returning them for a refund or exchange, Gee said.

The product is not exclusive to Wal-Mart. The manufacturer, Mead Johnson Nutrition, declined to answer questions about whether formula from that batch was distributed to other stores.

"We're highly confident in the safety and quality of our products," said Christopher Perille, a spokesman for the company based in the Chicago suburb of Glenview.

A second infant fell ill late last month after consuming several different types of powdered baby formula, but that child recovered, health officials said.

Powdered infant formula is not sterile, and experts have said there are not adequate methods to completely remove or kill all bacteria that might creep into formula before or during production.

Preliminary hospital tests indicated that Avery died of a rare infection caused by bacteria known as Cronobacter sakazakii. The infection can be treated with antibiotics, but it's deemed extremely dangerous to babies less than 1 month old and those born premature.

The bacteria are "pervasive in the environment," Perille said. "There's a whole range of potential sources on how this infection may have got started."

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration said the agency is investigating the death, along with the Centers for Disease Control and the Missouri Department of Health. Investigators have collected samples from the family and are testing unopened formula purchased at stores.

Siobhan Delancey said the FDA gets four to six reports a year of infant infections related to formula and has not found a powder that tested positive since 2002.

The FDA is also investigating the other case of illness, which involved a baby from Illinois whose case was reported in neighboring Missouri. But the agency does not believe there is any connection between the two, Delancey said.

Public health investigators will look at the formula itself, as well as the water used in preparing it and at anything else the baby might have ingested, Perille said.

Only two to three cases a year are reported. New Mexico saw two in 2008, including one infant who died and another who suffered severe brain damage. A Tennessee infant died in 2001 after being infected.

It could be several days before test results are available.

The family submitted two types of infant formula for testing ? the powdered version and a pre-sterilized, ready-to-eat liquid ? as well as the distilled water used to prepare the powdered product.

"We're just trying to test anything that was consumed by the baby," Laclede County Health Director Charla Baker said.

Avery was taken to a pediatrician Dec. 15 ? a week after he was born ? after showing signs of stomach pain and lethargy. When the pain persisted the next day, his parents took him to an emergency room.

He died Sunday at a hospital in Springfield after being removed from life support.

The Missouri Department of Health advised parents to follow safety guidelines for preparing powdered infant formula, including washing hands, sterilizing all feeding equipment in hot, soapy water and preparing enough formula for only one feeding at a time.

A flood of calls from worried parents prompted Missouri officials to clarify that the formula pulled by Wal-Mart is not being provided to participants in the Women, Infants and Children federal program for low-income parents.

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Associated Press Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this report.

___

Alan Scher Zagier can be reached at http://twitter.com/azagier .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-22-US-Wal-Mart-Infant-Formula/id-ad9af34b1ff4494787a02410922c4131

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Abuse victims in Joplin struggle to find housing (AP)

JOPLIN, Mo. ? When the deadly Joplin tornado destroyed her father's home, Alisha Courtney had no place to turn. So she went back to live with her abusive boyfriend, just weeks after fleeing his regular beatings. Now she's reaped the consequences: she's lost custody of her 3-year-old daughter after police raided his home and allegedly found a methamphetamine lab.

"That's the only place I could go," said Courtney, 41. "It was the hardest thing in the world. And it cost me my daughter," who is now in foster care.

Nearly seven months after the May 22 tornado that claimed 161 lives, women and social service workers are dealing with what happens when a city loses thousands of buildings, including entire neighborhoods and much of its low-cost housing. Abused spouses and family members often have nowhere to go when it's time to move out.

Lawyers and victims' advocates in Joplin are reporting surging caseloads of women looking for options. Lafayette House, a shelter where Courtney is now staying, finds itself full all the time even after increasing its beds by 25 percent after the tornado. In mid-June, 59 women were staying at the shelter, more than double the number before the tornado. Legal Aid of Western Missouri reports a 40 percent increase in its domestic violence cases the past seven months compared to this time last year.

Women staying at a shelter would normally find their own place or move in with relatives after a few weeks. However, "We have women who are ready to leave staying way longer," said Louise Secker, community services director at Lafayette House. Some, like Courtney, are winding up back in the troubled situation they left.

Family violence tends to increase in cities after a crisis. Now, as the holiday season approaches with its added stress, Joplin mental health workers fear another spike in abuse cases.

City officials estimate a current shortage of 1,400 rental units, with nearly half of those classified as affordable housing. The tornado spared much of suburban Joplin but wiped out some older neighborhoods. As much as 70 percent of the losses in some of the most heavily damaged areas were apartments and rental houses. Normally, they would be available for people seeking new places to stay.

The nature of domestic violence ? an underreported crime where victims and their assailants have numerous legal and emotional ties ? makes collecting definitive statistics difficult, said Jamie Rodriguez, a Legal Aid of Western Missouri lawyer dispatched to Joplin by Equal Justice Works, a national nonprofit. But her observations and those of other social service workers suggest that the pent-up trauma among Joplin tornado survivors is considerable.

"It seems like the level of violence has escalated," said Karen Scott, a sexual assault nurse examiner at Freeman Health System. "We're seeing more serious injuries. More fractures, rather than someone who gets slapped, or punched, for example."

Similar increases were seen in Gulf Coast cities after Hurricane Katrina. A 2009 study by the American Medical Association found that women living in temporary trailer parks set up in Mississippi were three times more likely to become victims of domestic or sexual violence than before the storm.

In New Orleans, women's shelters operated by the Catholic church saw an estimated 20 percent increase for several years after the 2005 hurricane, said Mary Claire Landry, director of the Archdiocese of New Orleans' domestic violence and sexual assault services.

One resident of Lafayette House in Joplin said her boyfriend exploited her lack of housing alternatives after the tornado. The 45-year-old woman, who asked not that her name not be used because she fears repercussions from her boyfriend, has an 8-inch scar on her partially shaved head after needing surgery to reduce swelling in her brain from a recent domestic attack.

She said that when she got in a fight with her boyfriend before the tornado, she would stay with her daughter. But then her daughter lost her home and her car.

"He knows I can't afford to go anywhere, and that my car is broken down," she said. "It's something he holds over my head. It's leverage. To keep me coming back."

In addition to the physical devastation, the tornado weakened many residents' support systems. Church congregations were scattered, neighbors displaced, family members relocated.

"All the things they used to turn to our gone," said Linnea Hanshaw, a Lafayette House emergency services worker.

For Courtney, moving to Lafayette House in early October provided a chance to break out of that cycle. She plans to take courses toward a high-school equivalency degree and hopes to get financial aid from the Shawnee Tribe to continue in college. She sees her daughter Amelia just once a week on unsupervised visits but hopes to leave the shelter and get an apartment next month. She anxiously awaits her first overnight visit with Amelia on Christmas Eve.

___

Alan Scher Zagier can be reached at http://twitter.com/azagier

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_us/us_joplin_tornado_domestic_violence

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Friday, December 23, 2011

The Cars In Depth Automotive Font Archive | Cars In Depth


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Jalopnik?s Question Of The Day is ?What?s the greatest automotive typeface of all time??.? I?m not sure what the answer is because there are so many great automotive logos and scripts using a wide variety of typefaces and type families. I work with fonts for a living. My day gig is running a small embroidery shop and I do work for a number of car and motorcycle clubs and individual enthusiasts. It?s nice to be able to embroider names or other lettering in the same or similar font as used in a logo or badge. I started collecting True Type Fonts that were identical or similar to those used in automotive logos and scripts. To make sure that I would know where to find them if I needed them, I put up a webpage with the list along with links to download the files if I inadvertently deleted them. It?s a simple page with jpegs of what the fonts look like, a few notes, and links to the ttf files. Cars In Depth is making the automotive font archive publicly accessible, and you?re welcome to download as many fonts as you please. If you know of any automotive fonts that aren?t in the archive, please drop us an email via the contact link.

The Cars In Depth Automotive Font Archive

Share on Facebook This entry was posted in It's Not 3D But... and tagged Automotive Fonts. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.rokemneedlearts.com/carsindepth/wordpressblog/?p=6432

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AllPurposeRoto, NFL Game Plan, Fantasy Football - Dec 23,2011

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Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/allpurposeroto/2011/12/23/allpurposeroto-football-show-weekly-thursday-show

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Done Deal ? Akamai Buys Rival Cotendo For $268 Million

cotendoAkamai has indeed acquired Cotendo, one of its largest competitors, in a deal valuing the CDN and site acceleration services company at approximately $268 million. The confirmation comes nearly a month after Israeli business press reported that Akamai was mulling an acquisition of the website and mobile acceleration technology vendor for up to $350 million.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bE9aiHl1keo/

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Maytha Alhassen: Remixing Public Diplomacy: American "Hip Hop Jam Sessions" in Post-Revolution Tunisia

This past summer, in the heat of the Arab revolution movements, I joined American hip hop collective Remarkable Current (RC), Tunisian hip hop artists and youth activists for the remaining days of the tour--a tour that occurred only a couple of weeks after a national curfew was lifted and 24 hour sit-ins in the Tunis's famous Casbah took place. My experience in Tunis has taught me that the U.S. should reexamine its diplomatic approach: one that challenges the notion of top-down diplomacy and includes youth in the dialogue. After all, it was the Tunisian youth, from a self-immolated 26 year-old street vendor to a jailed rapper to those who are still organizing sit-ins and food-banking for Libyan refugees, who were the architects and infrastructure builders of the thawret al-ahrar (revolution of the free) or thawret al-karama (revolution of dignity) and are demanding political incorporation into its democratic transition. And hip hop (music, break-dancing, graffiti-ing, etc), a shared global language of youth culture, as demonstrated by the inspirational relationship building between RC and Tunisian youth, offers a genuine medium for information exchange and developing transnational solidarity.

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Hip hop music has emerged as the youth's national anthem for the Dignity movements blazing across regional boundaries in the Arab world. As the era of the 60s protest movements in the U.S. proved with songs like "We Shall Overcome" and "Can't Turn Me 'Round," there seems be a natural link between music and political movements. This has been the case throughout Arab history as well. Egypt's beloved "Dark Nightingale" Abdel Halim Hafez's "High Dam" recounted his country's struggle over colonialism that led to the completion of the Aswan Dam in 1964, ("This isn't a story about the Dam/It's a story about the struggle behind the Dam... It's the story of a war/Between us and colonialism"). Lebanon's national hero Fairouz crooned similar allegiant ballads but also used the popularity of her voice to protest civil war strife by silencing it during the senseless bloodshed. In some cases, governments, as has happened in Syria, have co-opted hip hop's popularity by supporting and exclusively giving national TV airtime to artists with pro-regime lyrics. An interesting phenomenon developing in the Arab world is the transnational musical productions forged between Arab and American artists, especially African Americans responsible for pioneering hip hop.

"Remarkable Current has more of an impact on Tunisia than Secretary Hillary Clinton," asserted Tunisian youth activist Achref Aouadi (I-Watch Tunisia). Can practioners of hip hop aid in ameliorating the U.S.'s sullied reputation with Tunisians? Does American hip hop collective RC's focus on oneness and positive, uplifting messages provide a 'bab' (door, opening) for critical engagement? How do those skeptical of American involvement, critical of the Western response to the Tunisian revolution receive a U.S. State Department sponsored concert tour?

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U.S. embassy Tunisia's Alum Coordinator Aouadi, one of the organizers of the Embassy's May 27-June 3 hip hop concert tour featuring RC and local Tunisian rappers, seems to think so. The grad student, who is a passionate proponent of "people to people diplomacy" and deeply embedded in the Tunisian hip hop scene, explained the basic formula: The secretary meets with elites and RC meets and connects with the locals. For Aouadi, Secretary Clinton's visit last March to meet with Tunisia's interim regime paled in comparison to the critical impact RC's visit had with youth. He credits this "people to people diplomacy" through the soundtrack to the Tunisian thawra, hip hop, for creating the possibility of incalculably meaningful and enduring exchange between the U.S. and Tunisia.

The U.S. lost significant credibility with Tunisian civil society the moment the administration tiptoed around the illegitimacy and impetuosity of Ben Ali's regime. When President Obama prodded Ben Ali's forces to exercise "restraint" instead of condemning the excessive dictatorial violence unleashed on protesters, it left a sting still felt to this day. As such, clarion calls by American public officials to "congratulate" and offer their "support" to a Tunisia in transition has fallen on skeptical ears.

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Remarkable Current, the musical collective founded by Anas Canon launched a cultural envoy and musical exchange program called "Hip Hop Ambassadors." The initiative is consciously modeled as a 21st century update to an earlier century's "Jazz Ambassadors" run by the State Department that emerged out of the Cold War context of the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Led by jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Quincy Jones, the productive outcome of these tours were concerts and "jam sessions" of intercultural dialogue and musical exchange. In accordance with this mission, RC intentionally recruits American musicians who are not only eminent in their fields, but also ones who "exude a loving spirit and a disposition of universal inclusiveness." Canon explains, ?When walking on to the stage or visiting an orphanage, you don't have to speak the local language to communicate that you are there to share yourself with them. People can feel when you are as excited to meet them as they are to meet you." Thanks to modern technology these meetings end up in collaborative endeavors.

For example, Tunisian rapper El General, who lyrically scribed the unofficial national anthem of thawret al-karama "Rais Lebled" and one of those suspicious of Western intentions, surprisingly agreed to collaborate with RC on a track produced by Canon, a melodic and linguistic version of Arabic and English stylings called "Pick Up the Pieces." Ranked by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2011, El General was the symbolic representation of youth grievances with the state and the drastic politically repressive measures it takes to silence those critiques.

The "hip hop jam session" between African American hip hop musicians and Sfax native El General is at that the core of the philosophy undergirding RC's hip hop diplomacy: critical cross-cultural exchange and dialogue achieved through musical collaborations. In preceding days, RC collaborated with Tunis-based rap group Empire on a beat and hook written by Canon who was inspired by the self-immolated marginalized fruit and vegetable stand vendor Mohammed Bouazizi, the culminative fire to the keg powder of years of escalating organized opposition to the regime. The hook celebrates the profundity of his sacrifice: "Hey Bouazizi, hey Bouazizi, set it off, set it off one time because a young man's spark will make an old man fly." The track, "A Young Man's Spark (Bouazizi)," along with "Pick Up the Pieces" have already been playing on Tunisia's national radio station Radio Mosaique and are available for free digital download online.

At the close of their last show, which ended with concert goers demonstrating their adeptness in the art of break-dancing and (even) salsa dancing on stage to RC's hip hop rendition of James Brown's "I Feel Good," I was reminded of Aouadi's strong investment in the power of people to people diplomacy. How many of these youth would have an opportunity to interact with Secretary Clinton or Vice President Biden? How many would even watch a televised conference with these U.S. public officials?

From the likes of Aouadi and other grad-educated activists to Bouazizi and dissenting interior dwellers to that of state censored and harassed rappers like El General, these concert attendees are the architects and construction workers of the revolution. If these youth voices, some of the lead organizers of civil society and new Tunisia, are marginalized and political elites are once again viewed as the primary and sole representation of state politics, we risk supporting the re-creation of the conditions that produced a Ben Ali. We also risk continuing a legacy with a disillusioned Arab populace of questionable American credibility.

My generation stands to learn from the enfranchisement blueprint designed by Tunisian youth (ones taking cues from the Civil Rights movement). Americans of all generations stand to learn about Tunisians beyond their historic revolution. How much did we know about Tunisia before December 2010? And what do we know about them now? What are the hopes and dreams of those Tunisians striving for "karama" (dignity)? The interaction between youth and envoys like RC artists through a shared global language (hip hop and social media technologies) may be a "bab" for this bilateral political and cultural education.

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Follow Maytha Alhassen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mayalhassen

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maytha-alhassen/remarkable-current-tunisia_b_1151966.html

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Meteorite shockwaves trigger dust avalanches on Mars

Friday, December 16, 2011

When a meteorite careens toward the dusty surface of the Red Planet, it kicks up dust and can cause avalanching even before the rock from outer space hits the ground, a research team led by an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona has discovered.

"We expected that some of the streaks of dust that we see on slopes are caused by seismic shaking during impact," said Kaylan Burleigh, who led the research project. "We were surprised to find that it rather looks like shockwaves in the air trigger the avalanches even before the impact."

Because of Mars' thin atmosphere, which is 100 times less dense than Earth's, even small rocks that would burn up or break up before they could hit the ground here on Earth crash into the Martian surface relatively unimpeded.

Each year, about 20 fresh craters between 1 and 50 meters (3 to 165 feet) show up in images taken by the HiRISE camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, is operated by the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and has been photographing the Martian surface since 2006, revealing features down to less than 1 meter in size.

For this study, the team zoomed in on a cluster of five large craters, which all formed in one impact event close to Mars' equator, about 825 kilometers (512 miles) south of the boundary scarp of Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system. Previous observations by the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which imaged Mars for nine years until 2006, showed that this cluster was blasted into the dusty surface between May 2004 and February 2006.

The results of the research, which Burleigh first took on as a freshman under former UA Regents Professor H. Jay Melosh, are published in the planetary science journal Icarus. Previous studies had looked at dark or light streaks on the Martian landscape interpreted as landslides, but none had tied such a large number of them to impacts.

The authors interpret the thousands of downhill-trending dark streaks on the flanks of ridges covering the area as dust avalanches caused by the impact. The largest crater in the cluster measures 22 meters, or 72 feet across and occupies roughly the area of a basketball court. Most likely, the cluster of craters formed as the meteorite broke up in the atmosphere, and the fragments hit the ground like a shotgun blast.

Narrow, relatively dark streaks varying from a few meters to about 50 meters in length scour the slopes around the impact site.

"The dark streaks represent the material exposed by the avalanches, as induced by the the airblast from the impact," Burleigh said. "I counted more than 100,000 avalanches and, after repeated counts and deleting duplicates, arrived at 64,948."

When Burleigh looked at the distribution of avalanches around the impact site, he realized their number decreased with distance in every direction, consistent with the idea that they were related to the impact event.

But it wasn't until he noticed a pair of peculiar surface features resembling a curved dagger, described as scimitars, extending from the central impact crater, that the way in which the impact caused the avalanches became evident.

"Those scimitars tipped us off that something other than seismic shaking must be causing the dust avalanches," Burleigh said.

As a meteor screams through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, it creates shockwaves in the air. Simulating the shockwaves generated by impacts on Martian soil with computer models, the team observed the exact pattern of scimitars they saw on their impact site.

"We think the interference among different pressure waves lifts up the dust and sets avalanches in motion. These interference regions, and the avalanches, occur in a reproducible pattern," Burleigh said. "We checked other impact sites and realized that when we see avalanches, we usually see two scimitars, not just one, and they both tend to be at a certain angle to each other. This pattern would be difficult to explain by seismic shaking."

In the absence of plate tectonic processes and water-caused erosion, the authors conclude that small impacts might be more important in shaping the Martian surface than previously thought.

"This is one part of a larger story about current surface activity on Mars, which we are realizing is very different than previously believed," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator of the HiRISE project and one of the co-authors of the study. "We must understand how Mars works today before we can correctly interpret what may have happened when the climate was different, and before we can draw comparisons to Earth."

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University of Arizona: http://uanews.org

Thanks to University of Arizona for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116106/Meteorite_shockwaves_trigger_dust_avalanches_on_Mars

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Obama: No reason government should shut down (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama says there is no reason for the government to shut down over Congress' struggle on how to extend a payroll tax cut.

He said Congress "cannot and should not leave for vacation until they've made sure that a tax increase doesn't happen."

His remarks came as congressional leaders were sounding a more optimistic note Thursday that deals could be reached on a massive spending bill and on extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Obama have been pushing back against the idea of completing the year-end spending deal without action assured on unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut.

Without a spending deal by Friday or a temporary stop-gap measure, much of the government would shut down this weekend.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Andrew Brandt: The Secret Word on Hurd

A criminal complaint was filed yesterday against Sam Hurd, the now-former wide receiver of the Chicago Bears. It is a shocking account of a pattern of activity from a player well-respected and seen as nothing like the one depicted in the complaint. An official at the Bears told me "He seemed like a great guy, quoting the Bible and always friendly." Most con men are.

The complaint includes an affidavit attached to it, required to show probable cause to arrest, wherein the federal agent swears under oath that this story is true.

Days before signing with Bears

On July 27, T.L. (a Hurd co-conspirator) attempted to purchase 4 kgs of cocaine on behalf of Hurd from a Homeland Security confidential informant.

They set up a meeting in Dallas and federal agents intervened, stopping T.L. for a routine traffic stop where they discovered marijuana and $88,000. T.L. said both the money and car belonged to Hurd. A vehicle registration check showed that the car did belong to Hurd. T.L. said that he routinely performed maintenance on Hurd's cars. The authorities seized the money and released T.L.

On July 28 Hurd contacted and met with federal agents, stating that he was a Dallas Cowboy and that the $88,000 was his. He claimed he withdrew the money from a certain bank account and packed the money in his car prior to leaving it with T.L. for "maintenance and detailing." The agents reviewed the bank statement, which didn't corroborate Hurd's story as the transactions and amounts differed.

On July 29, Hurd signed a three-year contract with the Bears that provided a $1.35 million signing bonus and a 2011 salary of $685,000.

More summer heat

On Aug. 14, T.L. again tried to broker a deal for Hurd with the informant, this for purchasing 5 kgs of cocaine.

On Aug. 15, federal agents learned of Hurd's association with four California men arrested on July 25th possessing money, drugs, and weapons. Hurd's cell phone number appeared in texts describing drug dealing and money laundering.

Season starts, drug activity continues

On Sept. 9, T.L. again tried to broker a deal for Hurd with the informant for 5 kgs of cocaine.

On Dec. 6, T.L. met the informant at a Firestone store in Texas where he contacted Hurd and passed the phone to the informant. Hurd expressed his desire to purchase 5 kgs of cocaine and said T.L. would give him Hurd's phone number in case the informant was ever in the Chicago area.

Sting set up

On Dec. 14, Hurd met the informant and an undercover agent at Morton's Steakhouse in Chicago. Hurd was interested in purchasing 5-10 kgs of cocaine and 1,000 lbs of marijuana per week. They negotiated a price of $25,000 per kg of cocaine and $450 per lb of marijuana. Hurd acknowledged that he currently distributed about 4 kgs of cocaine per week in the Chicago area and that while his partner did smaller deals, Hurd focused on "higher-end" ones.

Hurd also inquired as to Mexican cell phones -- believing them to be safe from law enforcement hearing conversations -- while also disclosing that he had money seized in Dallas months earlier.

The undercover agent provided Hurd with 1 kg of cocaine. Hurd left the restaurant, placed the bag in his vehicle, and was subsequently arrested by authorities.

The charge

Hurd is officially charged with "knowingly, intentionally and unlawfully combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together, and with other persons known and unknown, to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams... of cocaine, a controlled substance." He faces the possibility of up to 40 years in prison

A federal judge in Chicago ruled that Hurd must stand trial in Texas because the criminal charges were filed there.

Hurd is represented by Los Angeles attorney David Kenner, whose past clients include Snoop Dogg.

Bigger issues

More worrisome for the NFL -- other than the disturbing facts of the story itself -- is that the authorities claim to have a list (possibly in the double digits) of NFL clients that Hurd served.

Unfortunately for the Bears and perhaps the Cowboys and the NFL, this story is only the beginning.

As with many criminals, people who thought they knew Hurd are shocked. Stay tuned.

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Follow Andrew Brandt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/adbrandt

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-brandt/sam-hurd-arrested_b_1155181.html

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