Former Secretary of State Rice joins CBS News

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has joined CBS News as a contributor.

CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager and president David Rhodes say Rice "will use her insight and vast experience to explore issues facing America at home and abroad."

Rice served as secretary of state during President George W. Bush's second term. She was the first African-American woman to hold the post.

Rice was Bush's national security adviser during his first term and worked on the National Security Council under President George H.W. Bush.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-20-CBS-Rice/id-e5aacfab22a2453a950c3651e133c5eb

birth control recall nick carter leslie carter aaron carter sister pfizer signing day 2012 football gasland

Belmont Home of the Week: 1 Radcliffe Rd. - Belmont, MA Patch

Fluid, open spaces. This outstanding custom-built multi-level home was skillfully fabricated in 1978 to withstand the progression of residential building with its timeless design and a floor plan that parallels the new construction of today. It is comprised of 11 above-ground rooms that often flow effortlessly to accommodate large families and combine their uses for streamlined entertaining. It has also been lovingly sustained by its current long-time owner with significant updates and continuance maintenance, all to the benefit of its next fortunate title holder.

The main floor consists of an 18 x 15 square foot sunken living room with an oversized floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace that spills directly into a 15 x 12 square foot dining area. The spacious 20 x 13 square foot modern chef's kitchen offers an abundance of counter space, and seating is available at a handy center island or a lovely breakfast nook under a bay window that overlooks the rear landscape. The 16 x 13 square foot family room also boasts a brick fireplace and includes a slider to easily oscillate activities onto the attached deck.

Only seven steps lead to the second level that hosts a large 21 x 13 square foot master suite (another progressive feature for this age home) with a walk-in closet and full, private bath, two additional bedrooms at 11 x 10 and 12 x 10 square feet, a full, family bath and a 9 x 7 square foot laundry center. The above-ground lower level can accommodate various uses, including an in-law suite, guest lodging or simply a favored entertainment center. This spectacular floor offers a cozy 18 x 13 square foot playroom with a fireplace set in a full wall of brick, a fully-equipped wet bar, kitchen and a bedroom with a full bath.

In addition to its comfortable and versatile surroundings, this home supplies many amenities and conveniences, such as central vacuum, a security system, whole-house fan, oversized deck and an attached two-car garage. One visit to this property and it will be easy to understand the longevity of its current owners. This is the type of residence that will fulfill the needs of an evolving family and that decision will be backed with a lifetime of personal memories.

Location: 1 Radcliffe Rd.

Price: $949,000

Rooms: 11

Bedrooms: 4

Baths: 4 full

Living Area: 3,400 sq. ft.

Lot Size: 18,154 sq. ft. (.42 acre)

Listing Agent: Jayne Savage, Century 21 Adams Realty

If you are a Realtor or a home owner selling a home and want to be featured in an upcoming Home of the Week, please email Michele Taranto at m.taranto@aol.com.

Source: http://belmont.patch.com/articles/belmont-home-of-the-week-1-radcliffe-rd

andrew young real life barbie zipper armenian genocide asteroid mining memorial day ivan rodriguez

How to Teach a Child to Dive

Few sports are as effective as swimming when it comes to giving the body a full and complete workout. Many athletes agree that swimming is a great way to give all of your major muscle groups a good amount of effective exercise, and if you?re thinking about ways to improve your child?s motor skills, swimming is definitely a great activity to keep in mind. When your children are growing up, it?s important to get them involved in things like recreational sports. This will help them to develop important abilities that will be significant for the rest of their lives. Things like motor skills, teamwork, and sportsmanship are the types of things kids learn when they engage in recreational sports. Swimming is a great example when it comes to sports that kids might enjoy, and the great thing about it is that it doesn?t have to be competitive in nature. Anyone can swim completely alone, and simply enjoy the activity for what it is. Whether you want your child to compete or are just looking to encourage some serious health and fitness, swimming is a great thing to teach any youngster, if not simply for reasons of general safety. An important part of swimming is the dive, arguably one of the first things that anyone needs to learn when it comes to aquatics. When you?re teaching a youngster how to swim, you?re definitely going to want to make sure they also know how to dive properly. We?ll talk about the best techniques for teaching a little one how to dive into the water.

Make sure your kids know never to dive into the shallow end, and explain to them why this is important while you teach them how to dive. Get down on one knee so that you can be right there on the same level as your little ones, and start teaching them how to assume the proper diving position. Show them to put their hands together above their heads, with their shoulders at their ears and their chins tucked into their chests. Show them to lean forward until they nearly fall, and then push off the side of the pool, jumping into the water. It?s a good idea to demonstrate this yourself a few times before you have your little ones give it a try.

Help your children into the proper position, so they can understand exactly how to dive correctly. Assist them into the water and do everything you can to walk them through the basic muscle movements. Next you?ll want to demonstrate by yourself a couple more times. Help your child to understand the proper technique by demonstrating from a kneeling position a few times before attempting a standing dive. When your children feels confident, they?ll be ready to go ahead and give it a shot as well. Teaching your kids how to dive isn?t as tough as it might seem, and with these easy steps in mind you?ll realize that you don?t have to pay for expensive PADI dive courses to make sure your kids know the right technique.

Source: http://www.everydayhowto.net/recreation-and-sports/how-to-teach-a-child-to-dive/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-teach-a-child-to-dive

marion barber marion barber syracuse ohio state girl with the dragon tattoo ohio state basketball collateral

Potential to prevent, reverse disabilities in children born prematurely, study suggests

Jan. 17, 2013 ? Physician-scientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital are challenging the way pediatric neurologists think about brain injury in the pre-term infant. In a study published online in the Jan. 16 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the OHSU Doernbecher researchers report for the first time that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells' ability to fully mature. This discovery opens up new avenues for potential therapies to promote regeneration and repair of the premature brain.

"As neurologists, we thought ischemia killed the neurons and that they were irreversibly lost from the brain. But this new data challenges that notion by showing that ischemia, or low blood flow to the brain, can alter the maturation of the neurons without causing the death of these cells. As a result, we can focus greater attention on developing the right interventions, at the right time early in development, to promote neurons to more fully mature and reduce the often serious impact of preterm birth. We now have a much more hopeful scenario," said Stephen Back, M.D., Ph.D., lead investigator and professor of pediatrics and neurology in the Pap? Family Pediatric Research Institute at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

Researchers at OHSU Doernbecher have conducted a number of studies in preterm fetal sheep to define how disturbances in brain blood flow lead to injury in the developing brain. Their findings have led to important advances in the care of critically ill newborn infants.

For this study, Back and colleagues used pioneering new MRI studies that allow injury to the developing brain to be identified much earlier than previously feasible. They looked at the cerebral cortex, or "thinking" part of the brain, which controls the complex tasks involved with learning, attention and social behaviors that are frequently impaired in children who survive preterm birth. Specifically, they observed how brain injury in the cerebral cortex of fetal sheep evolved over one month and found no evidence that cells were dying or being lost. They did notice, however, that more brain cells were packed into a smaller volume of brain tissue, which led to, upon further examination, the discovery that the brain cells weren't fully mature.

In a related study published in the same online issue of Science Translational Medicine, investigators at The Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto studied 95 premature infants using MRI and found that impaired growth of the infants was the strongest predictor of the MRI abnormalities, suggesting that interventions to improve infant nutrition and growth may lead to improved cortical development.

"I believe these studies provide hope for the future for preterm babies with brain injury, because our findings suggest that neurons are not being permanently lost from the human cerebral cortex due to ischemia. This raises the possibility that neurodevelopmental enrichment -- or perhaps improved early infant nutrition -- as suggested by the companion paper, might make a difference in terms of improved cognitive outcome," Back said.

"Together, these studies challenge the conventional wisdom that preterm birth is associated with a loss of cortical neurons. This finding may change the way neurologists think about diagnosing and treating children born prematurely," said Jill Morris, Ph.D., a program director at the National Institute's of Health's National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

More than 65,000 premature babies are born in the United States each year. Children who survive preterm birth commonly suffer from a wide range of life-long disabilities, including impaired walking due to cerebral palsy. Currently, children have a 10 times greater risk of acquiring cerebral palsy than of being diagnosed with cancer. By the time they reach school age, between 25 and 50 percent of children born prematurely are also identified with a wide range of learning disabilities, social impairment and attention deficit disorders.

This study, "Prenatal Cerebral Ischemia Disrupts MRI-Defined Cortical Microstructure Through Disturbances in Neuronal Arborization," was supported by National Institutes of Health grants P51RR000163 and NCRR P51 RR000113; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grants 1RO1NS054044 and R37NS045737, R37NS045737-06S1/06S2 and 1F30NS066704; a Bugher Award from the American Heart Association; March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; and a Heubner Family Neurobiology of Disease Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. J. M. Dean, E. McClendon, K. Hansen, A. Azimi-Zonooz, K. Chen, A. Riddle, X. Gong, E. Sharifnia, M. Hagen, T. Ahmad, L. A. Leigland, A. R. Hohimer, C. D. Kroenke, S. A. Back. Prenatal Cerebral Ischemia Disrupts MRI-Defined Cortical Microstructure Through Disturbances in Neuronal Arborization. Science Translational Medicine, 2013; 5 (168): 168ra7 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3004669

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/4Y-fPdNgDeI/130117162920.htm

heart attack grill madden 13 cover dalai lama tamera mowry slow jam the news madden cover obama slow jams the news

Cooper closing in on choosing new head football coach

Cooper expects to have a new head football coach identified within the next 10 days, athletic director John Windham said Monday.

Windham, who stepped down as the Pirates? head coach in December to become the school?s first full-time athletic director, said the school?s search committee has conducted six interviews with potential candidates and expects to do four-to-six more before a finalist is chosen at the Lubbock Cooper Independent School District board meeting on Jan. 24.

?We?re in the middle of interviews, going through and pulling names,? Windham said. ?It?s gone great. The process has been smooth, and the interview committee we?ve put together has called in some great candidates, both internally and externally. So it?s gone well.?

According to a statement on the Cooper ISD web site written by superintendent Pat Henderson, the search committee is composed of Windham, deputy superintendent Thom Vines, assistant superintendent Macy Satterwhite, human resources director Will Truby and Cooper High School principal Angie Inklebarger.

In the statement, Henderson said the committee will ?narrow the field of applicants to three or four finalists,? and will discuss those choices with the school board at its Jan. 24 meeting. From there, the committee will rank the finalists and send its recommendation for a new head football coach to Henderson, who will take that recommendation to a special board meeting to be held either in late January or early February.

Applications will be accepted through Friday. Windham, who stepped down as head coach on Dec. 13, did not list any candidates or interview subjects by name.

?I think we?re moving fairly quickly,? Windham said. ?We want to make sure we get the right candidate and everybody understands the process. We?ve been thorough and doing our due diligence so we can get the right man for the job.?

Windham spent 17 years at the school and his entire 14-year head-coaching stint with the Pirates, compiling an 80-70 career record with five district championships, seven playoff appearances and three bi-district titles. His 2001 team that made the playoffs ended a 29-year postseason drought for the school.

The Pirates have captured two district championships in the past five years, and made their deepest run in the postseason in 2010, reaching the regional semifinals. A big part of the reason for splitting the jobs of head football coach and athletic director, Windham said, was the anticipated move to Class 4A in the very near future.

That can be seen in the growth Cooper has experienced in all sports over the past decade. The school?s volleyball, girls basketball, softball and baseball programs routinely make deep runs in the playoffs, and in 2011 every sport at the school reached the postseason.

In terms of facilities, a new football stadium, new fieldhouse and indoor practice facility, plus new softball and baseball fields were constructed all within the last five years.

With the move to 4A, Windham anticipates the athletic department will continue to grow in size and in number of sports offered, feeling that golf, tennis and soccer are right around the corner to being added. That, he said, helped facilitate the need to make the move now so as to be prepared when the move to 4A actually happens.

?(We?re looking) just for the bet fit for Lubbock Cooper and what we have going out here,? Windham said. ?The best person will fit into our family we have here at Lubbock Cooper and continue the success we?ve had.?

To comment on this story:

george.watson@lubbockonline.com ? 766-2166

terry.greenberg@lubbockonline.com ? 766-8700

Source: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2013-01-14/cooper-closing-choosing-new-head-football-coach

cleveland plain dealer barry sanders barry sanders john scott jimmie johnson juan pablo montoya crash chardon high school shooting

Article Marketing Service Have a Solution To Your Marketing Woes ...

Number of View: 27

There are various companies in the market that provide you article marketing services, but it is up to you to decide from so many options which ones you will choose. You also have the option to do things on your own. It is ideal to do so especially if you know what you are doing. If you outsource your work, make sure that it is being done by a company that has some success in marketing and promotion on the Internet. You want the best results so you should choose the best. Some people are not good at delegating work, but as a business owner, you don?t have time in the day to do everything. So it is going to be to your benefit to look for good help.

Your article marketing expert can get you a lot of web traffic but some of them can also end up in a disaster where apart from spending a lot of money you do not get the desired results. All the services should include article ghost writing and article distribution services. They services should also give expert advice on deciding your written marketing strategy.

The characteristics that differentiate first class services from the bad ones are as follows. They should be able to send articles to a lot of directories. By lot directories we only mean a lot of directories in number but a lot of them which are relevant to your product and company. A good approach would be if the article marketing services submit your articles to news letter services. This increases the visibility of your article. Publishing article is not the only weapon to win the battle on internet, but a full proof Article marketing strategy has to be planned by high quality services.

To learn more about article marketing services and its various techniques, click here?Article Marketing Services

VN:F [1.9.20_1166]

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

VN:F [1.9.20_1166]

The estimated reading time for this post is 98 seconds

Tags: Article Marketing Services

Source: http://www.writingspeakingtips.com/article-marketing-service-have-a-solution-to-your-marketing-woes/

gina carano burger king delivery etta james at last john king obama sings al green heidi klum and seal ohare airport

NBA ??? Clippers e Rockets KO, Miami a valanga.

? 13/01/2013Posted in: NBA News, News

Score & Schedules:

Orlando @ LA Clipppers 104 ? 101

Atlanta @ Washington 83 ? 93

Charlotte @ Indiana 88 ? 96

Houston @ Philadelphia 100 ? 107

Utah @ Detroit 90 ? 87

Phoenix @ Chicago 97 ? 81

Menphis @ Dallas 83 ? 104

Miami @ Sacramento 128 ? 99

Stats:

Points:

1. Mario Chalmers (MIA), Isaiah Thomes (SAC) 34 pt.

2. Aron Afflalo (ORL), Blake Griffin (LAC), Jrue Holiday (PHI) 3o pt.

3. James Harden (HOU) 29 pt.

Rebounds:

1. Nikola Vucevic 15 reb.

2. Yohakim Noah (CHI) 13 reb.

3. Al Horford (ATL), Taddheus Young (PHI), David West (IND) 12 reb.

Assists:

1. Chris Paul (LAC) 16 ass.

2. David West (IND) 10 ass.

3. Jameer Nelson (ORL), Jrue Holiday (PHI) 9 ass.

About raffop

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/playitusa/~3/wNHlEbYlKns/

lottery winner lottery numbers mega millions lottery jackpot winning numbers mega millions megamillions drawing olbermann

UBS Microsoft - Business Insider

Microsoft's Surface is off to a very slow start, in UBS analyst Brent Thill's opinion.

He estimates Microsoft sold just 1 million Surface RT tablets, down from his previous estimate of 2 million.

For some context, Apple is expected to have sold well over 20 million iPads. That's part of the problem. People are choosing iPads over Surfaces, says Thill. He also blames narrow distribution. Microsoft only sold the Surface at its stores last quarter.

He's cautiously optimistic about the Surface line. He thinks the Surface Pro which runs on an Intel chip will be strong with corporations, providing a good iPad alternative.

Overall, Thill says he's cutting estimates for Microsoft's holiday quarter based on bad data points about the holiday quarter:

Cutting FQ2 by $1.1B/$0.08 to $21.3B/$0.76 (Street $21.7B/$0.76) on lower Windows division revs to $5.9B (from $6.7B) on CQ4 PC sales -6.4% per IDC and our revised Surface RT sales e.stimate of 1M units (prior 2M). PCs also hit MBD transactional revs cutting MBD to $5.6B from $5.9B. With PC weakness likely to linger we cut FQ3 to $21.0B/$0.76 from $21.5B/$0.78 (Street $20.9B/$0.78). FY13 est?s cut to $79.6B/$2.80 (revs +8.0%, margins 36.6%) from $80.8B/$2.90.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ubs-microsoft-2013-1

swain match day nene dark shadows trailer nate mcmillan clooney arrested southern miss

Ravens LB Ayanbadejo bashes Pats on Twitter

Updated: January 13, 2013, 10:53 PM ET

ESPN.com news services

The war of words between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots already is under way.

While New England was in the process of defeating the Houston Texans on Sunday to set up an AFC Championship Game rematch with Baltimore, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo ripped the Patriots on Twitter, particularly criticizing their no-huddle offense.

"New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can't really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight," Ayanbadejo tweeted.

Ayanbadejo will get an opportunity to see New England's offense in person next Sunday when the Ravens visit the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season. New England won last year's meeting, 23-20, thanks to a missed field goal by Baltimore's Billy Cundiff as time expired.

The Patriots gained 457 yards of total offense in Sunday's 41-28 victory over the Texans, as Tom Brady passed for 344 yards while orchestrating a hurry-up offense that confounded Houston throughout the contest.

But Ayanbadejo was unimpressed, referring to the Patriots' approach as "a gimmick."

"Are you watching the game pats vs texans?" Ayanbadejo tweeted. "If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It's a gimmick."

He later tweeted: "Their offense is good enough to be successful with out that."

Ayanbadejo proceeded to make a critical reference to the Spygate scandal and Patriots coach Bill Belichick's decision to cut wide receiver Tiquan Underwood one day before Super Bowl XLVI.

SN: AFC Championship Game

For the second straight year, the Patriots and Ravens meet with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Which team is headed to New Orleans? Cast your vote!

"You know the same organization that did spygate and cut a guy the day b4 the Super Bowl," he tweeted.

Ayanbadejo also referred to the Patriots' 2007 season, when they completed the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history but lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

"18-1," he tweeted.

The Ravens rallied past the Patriots for a 31-30 victory in Week 3 this season. Ayanbadejo, who did not record a tackle in that contest, posted several tweets stating that he "Can't Wait!" for the latest rematch between the rivals.

Source: http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8841830/2013-nfl-playoffs-brendon-ayanbadejo-baltimore-ravens-bashes-new-england-patriots-twitter

anderson cooper kim kardashian pregnant chicago bears adrian peterson tony romo hillary clinton weather

GOP Senator Promotes Iranian Propaganda To Oppose Chuck Hagel

This morning, during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Republican Senator and rising party star Kelly Ayotte (NH) cited Iranian propaganda in explaining her opposition to President Obama?s nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.

?I have not made up my mind,? Ayotte began, before warning that Hagel has not expressed sufficient commitment to using military force against Iran if it develops nuclear weapons. She then pointed to Iranian propaganda, noting that the country ?reacted favorably? to his nomination:

AYOTTE: Iran, this week, kind of reacted favorably somewhat. There were statements that were favorable to his nomination, in fact, they said they were hopeful that with his nomination, they hoped that we would change our policies. What I want to make sure is that Iran is actually not hopeful, but they are fearful as a result of our nominee from a Secretary of Defense perspective, because I think that will cause them to stop marching toward acquiring a nuclear weapon, not hope that we?ll change our policies, they need to change their policies.

On Tuesday, the Iranians responded to the Hagel nomination and used it to take a backhanded slap at the United States, saying, ?We hope there will be practical changes in American foreign policy and that Washington becomes respectful of the rights of nations.? Unfortunately, neo-conservatives ? desperate to derail Hagel ? jumped on the propaganda from Iran?s foreign ministry to make their case.

Hagel has warned against the consequences of war with Iran, but has stated that his position is ?fully consistent with the policy of presidents for more than a decade of keeping all options on the table, including the use of military force, thereby increasing pressure on Iran while working toward a political solution.? As a senator, Hagel also voted in favor of several rounds of targeted sanctions against Iran including packages in 1998, 2000, and 2006.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com/c/34726/f/638927/s/27795a44/l/0Lthinkprogress0Borg0Csecurity0C20A130C0A10C130C1440A10A10Cgop0Esenator0Epromotes0Eirans0Epropaganda0Eto0Eoppose0Echuck0Ehagel0C/story01.htm

ron paul nevada buffalo chicken dip soul train nevada caucus ufc 143 what time does the super bowl start super bowl 2012

Brazil: Indigenous squatters resist eviction

A man wearing a headdress and another wearing a ski mask sit on a windowsill on the site of an old Indian museum, now abandoned, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Police in riot gear on Saturday surrounded the abandoned museum, now an indigenous settlement of men and women living in 10 homes, preparing to enforce their eviction. Their settlement is next to the Maracana stadium, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. The streets around the stadium will also undergo a vast transformation as part of the area's transformation into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man wearing a headdress and another wearing a ski mask sit on a windowsill on the site of an old Indian museum, now abandoned, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Police in riot gear on Saturday surrounded the abandoned museum, now an indigenous settlement of men and women living in 10 homes, preparing to enforce their eviction. Their settlement is next to the Maracana stadium, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. The streets around the stadium will also undergo a vast transformation as part of the area's transformation into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man wearing a headdress and another wearing a ski mask sit on a windowsill on the site of an old Indian museum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Police in riot gear on Saturday surrounded the site, now an indigenous settlement of men and women living in 10 homes, and prepared to enforce their eviction. The settlement is next to the Maracana stadium, pictured in background, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. The streets around the stadium will also undergo a vast transformation as part of the area's transformation into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

An Indian man wearing a headdress and holding a bow and arrow stands behind two policemen in riot gear on the site of an old Indian museum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Police on Saturday surrounded the site, now an indigenous settlement of men and women living in 10 homes, and prepared to enforce their eviction. The settlement is next to the Maracana stadium, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. The streets around the stadium will also undergo a vast transformation as part of the area's transformation into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

An Indian man climbs a ladder next to a message that that reads in Portuguese, "Please, don't weaken our fight," on the site of an old Indian museum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. Police in riot gear on Saturday surrounded the site, now an indigenous settlement of men and women living in 10 homes, in preparation for their eviction. The settlement is next to the Maracana stadium, pictured in background, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. The streets around the stadium will also undergo a vast transformation as part of the area's transformation into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Police in riot gear form a cordon outside an old Indian museum, in preparation for the eviction of an indigenous settlement of men and women living on the grounds of the old museum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013. The settlement is next to the Maracana stadium which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup. Authorities say the compound must go as the area around the stadium is also being refurbished, expected to be transformed into a shopping and sports entertainment hub. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Police in riot gear surrounded a settlement of indigenous people next to Rio de Janeiro's storied Maracana stadium on Saturday, preparing to evict them as soon as an expected court order arrived.

The site commander, police Lt. Alex Melo, explained officers were "waiting for the order, and understand it can come at any time."

But the order still had not arrived after a tense, daylong standoff. Frightened residents wondered why law enforcement came without an order to enter, and federal public defenders who have worked on the protracted legal battle over the space tried to mediate.

"This is absolutely arbitrary. They can't enter without an order," said public defender Daniel Macedo. "If they did, they could be charged with a crime, with abuse of authority. It could be a blood bath, which could look really bad for the government of Brazil and the state."

The indigenous group includes men and women of about 10 ethnicities ? mostly Guarani, Pataxo, Kaingangue and Guajajara ? who have been squatting for years in 10 homes they built on the site of an old Indian Museum, abandoned since 1977.

The police arrived early in the morning and surrounded the compound. By noon, the residents locked the main gate. As supporters arrived, the Indians lowered a wooden ladder over the brick wall surrounding the complex to let them in, later pulling the ladder back up.

During the nerve-racking wait on Saturday, the squatters painted their faces and bodies and donned elaborate headdresses, at times playing rattles and flutes or whistling bird calls. Some displayed ornamental bows and arrows over the wall and through the gate separating them from the black-clad police in body armor.

The settlement and the remains of the building that lodged the museum are adjacent to the Maracana, which is being refurbished to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympics and the final match of the 2014 World Cup.

Blighted streets around the stadium are also to undergo a vast transformation to become a shopping and sports entertainment hub, complete with parking lots. Most of a favela, or shantytown, about 500 meters away has already been demolished to make way for the new development.

The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, told a news conference in October that the building's razing is necessary for hosting the World Cup.

"The Indian Museum near the Maracana will be demolished," Cabral said then. "It's being demanded by FIFA and the World Cup Organizing Committee. Long live democracy, but the building has no historical value. We're going to tear it down."

However, a letter from FIFA's office in Brazil to the federal public defender's office published in the newspaper Jornal do Brazil said that the soccer authority "never requested the demolition of the old Indian Museum in Rio de Janeiro."

The indigenous have been resisting their possible eviction for months, operating with little or no information from authorities about what to expect, or what alternatives are available to them, said their leader Carlos Tukano.

"I know they are going to come in, and our proposal is to remain firm, but without moral or physical aggression," he said. "We cannot fight them with bows and arrows; they are armed."

Most of the approximately 30 Indians who live there and about 200 sympathizers packaged the compound Saturday to discuss how to peacefully deal with a possible police action. Several men, masking their faces with shirts, climbed high into the upper floors of the tumble-down building and surveyed the scene with professional bows and arrows.

The squatters believe they have history and the law on their side.

The crumbling mansion with soaring ceilings that housed the old museum was donated by a wealthy Brazilian to the government in 1847 to serve as a center for the study of indigenous traditions.

After the museum closed more than three decades ago, Indians of various ethnicities started using it as a safe place to stay when they came to Rio to pursue an education, sell trinkets in the streets or get medical treatment.

"They would come here without money, without knowing anyone, and sleep in the streets," Tukano explained. He himself is from a village deep in the Amazon. "We made this our space."

The head of Rio state legislature's Human Rights Commission, representative Marcelo Freixo, called for the need to stay calm and avoid violence.

"Conflict here is not in anyone's interest," he said before addressing the squatters and supporters inside the compound. "If there is a judicial order, the police will have to enforce it, but we have avoid any injuries with dialogue."

As he spoke, state public defender Eduardo Newton proposed an alternative legal tactic.

Under state law, Newton said, there can't be a mass eviction without proper legal proceedings. With group approval, he began gathering documents that would prove that more than 10 families lived on the grounds so he could try for a rushed stay on the eviction notice.

Police, meanwhile, police continued to stand guard the compound.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-12-Brazil-Indigenous%20Evictions/id-252ca9e4b36343d7bb051330b6b98a23

Olga Korbut Usain Bolt 2012 Olympics Katie Ledecky Aaron Ross Sikh temple lollapalooza Nastia Liukin

Kenya Princeton University Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary

Rating (0 votes): Not yet rated

Added: 11-01-2013
From: puclass14 ( Send PM )
(56) | (0) | (0)

Description:
In January 2012, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University organized a joint field computational ecology course in Kenya. This course brings together 6 Ph.D. students from Ecology and 10 Ph.D. students from Computer Science in an effort to foster inter-disciplinary research in computational ecology.
Channels: Schools and Education? Proud of Princeton U.?
Tags: education? university? princeton? prep? schools? college? lodging? entertainment? shopping? dining? yourtowntube? business?

Video URL : http://www.yourtowntube.com/video/6714/Kenya-Princeton-University-Dept-of-Ecology--Evolutionary
Embed URL: <embed width="452" height="361" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" name="main" id="main" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://www.yourtowntube.com/player/vPlayer.swf?f=http://www.yourtowntube.com/player/vConfig_embed.php?vkey=1f2a38ba2ec1416ef6f5" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed>

Source: http://www.yourtowntube.com/video/6714/Kenya-Princeton-University-Dept-of-Ecology--Evolutionary

khloe and lamar oklahoma city thunder rajon rondo sunoco titanic ii babe ruth new jersey nets

Jelly Bean however rolling out to Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 . 1 , seven " model now joins the entertaining

The Jelly Bean (Android 4, 1, one ) update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 ten. one that started back in early December is still rolling out across the world, and people of the seven -inch design in the Americas are now reporting an OTA as properly.

Early in the drop of 2012 we observed an update roadmap from Samsung that included the Tab 2, so we shouldn't be shocked that it can be here. We have no concept of the mechanics behind Samsung's update schedule, butwe hope that the rest of the earth will see the Jelly Bean update in quick buy. To examine for your very own update, look in the options underneath "About tablet" or use Samsung Kies' update software. As 4. 1. 1 provides substantially smoother overall performance and fantast ic new characteristics like Google Now, this is one update you won't want to skip.

By using : Android Central forums. Thanks, Salvador!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BloggerVillage/~3/D7ZJFQteY4k/jelly-bean-however-rolling-out-to.html

ozzie guillen fidel castro darvish george zimmerman website edmund fitzgerald uss enterprise white house easter egg roll 2012 andy cohen

Improbable comeback by College of Staten Island men's basketball squad

Trailing by 24 points at halftime, the College of Staten Island tried to find some kind of coherent locker-room message prior to the second-half tip.

?I guess the message was ?Let?s chip away,?? said junior point guard Jonathan Chadwick-Myers of the deep 38-14 hole the Dolphins found themselves in against visiting Medgar Evers. ?It was crazy to think we could come back, but we talked about taking it one possession at a time.?

CSI opened the second half on a 17-2 run and pulled out a dramatic 60-55 victory over the deep and talented Cougars in the rematch of the past two CUNY Conference Tournament championship games.

The victory for the 10-2 Dolphins (6-0 CUNY) was their 20th consecutive in conference play, including three postseason triumphs last season. They outscored the visitors 46-17 in the second half in a comeback that had even 23rd-year head coach Tony Petosa scratching his head trying to remember anything resembling the electrifying rally.

?Basketball is a funny game,? said Petosa after his squad had won its fourth straight. ?They did everything they wanted to against us in the first half, then we came out and completely turned it around.?

Medgar Evers jumped out to a quick 11-0 lead and held CSI to seven first-half baskets. CSI held Medgar Evers to six second-half baskets.

FIRST LEAD OF GAME

Chadwick-Myers, the CUNY?s leading scorer, hit a driving layup to give the Dolphins their first lead, 55-53, with 1:05 remaining. Dylan Bulger, a 6-foot-11 junior center, sank two free throws after Michael Taylor?s driving layup and CSI had a 57-55 edge with 37.5 seconds left.

Medgar Evers continued to misfire from the perimeter while Chadwick-Myers made two free throws and Bulger one to put the icing on the cake.

The comeback began with defensive intensity and was aided by offensive penetration, with junior guard Bloochy Magloire attacking the basket and scoring 14 of his game-high 20 points after intermission. Javon Cox had 13 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists, while Bulger added nine points and 11 rebounds.

?We kind of had the momentum,? said Chadwick-Myers, who had 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. ?We all felt it. And Bloochy got hot in the second half.? 

NOTES: Medgar Evers dropped to 2-4 in CUNY play and 5-9 overall as reigning MVP Winston Douglas had 18 points and 12 rebounds ... Petosa stuck with his five starters the entire second half. ?We had things rolling pretty good and I never saw the need to change the lineup,? he said ... Senior swingman Herschel Jenkins was cleared to play after missing most of the season with a broken hand. He played six minutes in the first half ... CSI topped Medgar Evers in last year?s CUNY final, avenging a title-game loss two years ago ... The Dolphins travel to second-place John Jay (6-1 after a 78-73 win at Brooklyn) on Wednesday night and host Hunter next Saturday afternoon at 1 following the third annual Matty White Alumni Game. 

EDGAR EVERS (55)

Douglas 6-11 3-5 18, Prime 3-9 1-1 7, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Hudson 1-3 0-0 2, Williams 1-3 1-2 3, Oliver 3-11 0-0 9, Deare 1-7 2-2 4, Taylor 4-14 2-3 12.

Totals: 19-58 9-13 55. 

CSI (60)

Cox 6-8 1-1 13, Chadwick-Myers 4-14 3-4 12, Magloire 8-20 2-2 20, Van Manen 3-4 0-3 6, Bulger 3-7 3-6 9, Jenkins 0-2 0-0 0, King 0-3 0-0 0, Husslein 0-0 0-0 0.

Totals: 24-58 9-16 60.

Halftime: 38-14, Medgar Evers.

Three-point goals: Medgar Evers 8-25 (Douglas 3-5, Oliver 3-10, Deare 0-1, Taylor 2-6); CSI 3-18 (Chadwick-Myers 1-6, Magloire 2-9, Jenkins 0-1, King 0-2). Rebounds: Medgar Evers 36 (Douglas 12, Williams 7); CSI 43 (Cox 11, Bulger 11, Chadwick-Myers 7). Assists: Medgar Evers 9 (Deare 3); CSI 8 (Chadwick-Myers 3). Turnovers: Medgar Evers 18, CSI 15. Total fouls: Medgar Evers 22, CSI 14. Fouled out: Douglas, Williams. 

Source: http://www.silive.com/colleges/index.ssf/2013/01/improbable_comeback_by_college.html

limbaugh aaron smith wilt chamberlain joe arpaio cat in the hat green eggs and ham wiz khalifa and amber rose

Hot chocolate for grown-ups: Warm up winter with a steaming cup of ...

Now that the weather is finally cooler, I find myself wanting to cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate. Not the watery, too-sweet instant version I grew up with (and loved) but my grown-up fantasy version of rich, steaming chocolate, made with the good stuff.

Fortunately, there are some excellent options in Houston, including the delicious Mexican hot chocolate at Hugo?s made from cocoa beans toasted and ground at the restaurant and whipped to frothy perfection. With a hint of cinnamon and vanilla aroma, it?s heavenly.

Michael?s Cookie Jar serves another of my favorites. It's made from?Vahlrona chocolate, which has an intense depth of flavor like no other. Michael tops it with mini-marshmallows for that nostalgic touch.

?An over-the-top hot chocolate experience can be had at the?Four Seasons?poolside happy hour on Thursdays featuring extra-large mugs of hot chocolate with toppings.?

An over-the-top hot chocolate experience can be had at the Four Seasons poolside happy hour on Thursdays from 4:30 until 8:30 p.m. It features extra-large mugs of hot chocolate made with your choice of dark, milk or white?Callebaut Belgium chocolate.

Top it off with these delectables from the ?hot chocolate bar: Mini-marshmallows, whipped cream, Jimmies/sprinkles, chocolate shavings, candy canes, chopped candy bars, chopped pistachios, candied orange peel, grated cinnamon, raspberries and red hots.?

Also available: A choice of syrups like raspberry, gingerbread, peppermint, espresso and caramel. Or spike up that steaming cup of cocoa with a shot of?Pinnacle Fluffed or Whipped Vodka, Patron XO Caf?, Navan Vanilla, Wild Turkey 101 or Meyers Dark Rum.?($7 for the mug of chocolate and toppings, $1 extra for the syrup and $4 per shot for the liquor.)

If you'd rather make a fabulous cup of hot chocolate at home, Vosges offers several ?drinking chocolates? (available at some Whole Foods Market and online), including La Parisienne Couture Cocoa, Aztec Elixir Couture Cocoa, and Bianca Couture Cocoa.

La Parisienne is my favorite with bits of real vanilla bean in the mix. The Aztec Elixir contains chilies, Mexican vanilla beans, and cinnamon. Bianca contains lemon myrtle, lavender, vanilla, and white chocolate.

I also really enjoy the drinking chocolates from Allegro, available at Whole Foods Market.?Known for coffee, the company also offers a wonderful assortment of single origin bean drinking chocolates made with cocoa beans from around the world.

Styles include Columbian, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Mayan, Peruvian. Several varieties are organic. Wonderfully complex and rich, these drinking chocolates are a treat to experience.

Source: http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/01-10-13-hot-chocolate-for-grown-ups-warm-up-the-winter-with-a-steaming-cup-of-cocoa-served-poolside/

varez ward solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots

White House Considering Withdrawing All Troops From Afghanistan

Story Created: Jan 9, 2013 at 7:46 AM AKST

Story Updated: Jan 9, 2013 at 7:50 AM AKST

President Barack Obama chats with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the start of a dinner at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 28, 2010. Photo Credit: Courtesy of White House

President Obama will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai this Friday to discuss ongoing negotiations over the U.S.'s post-2014 role in Afghanistan, but the White House says not to expect any final decision about how many U.S. troops -- if any -- will stay in Afghanistan after the war's official drawdown at the end of next year.

In a conference call this afternoon, the Obama administration's Ben Rhodes told reporters that "they're not going to finalize that decision" in this discussion, but rather attempt to "reach a common understanding of how we can achieve" mutual objectives for the post-2014 relationship. Then, he says, negotiators in Washington "will be able to take that guidance and be able to finalize an agreement."

Among the topics up for discussion include the impending transition for the 2014 drawdown, as well as the plan for U.S. support in Afghanistan beyond that date. According to the White House, any continued U.S. troop presence will be guided by a few key goals: Assuring the continued progress of ongoing counterterrorism efforts and training and equipping the national Afghan security forces, while also guaranteeing full Afghan sovereignty.

"That's what guides us and that's what causes us to look for different potential troop numbers, or not having potential troops in the country," said Rhodes. "With the Afghans we'll be discussing how best to achieve those missions."

In that vein, Rhodes says the White House is not ruling out the possibility of withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan post-2014.

"That would be an option that we would consider. Because again, the president does not view these negotiations as having a goal of keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan," he said. "He views these negotiations as in service of these two missions" of counterterrorism and training and equipping Afghan forces.

"There are of course many different ways of accomplishing those objectives -- some of which might involve US troops, some of which might not," Rhodes said.

Despite speculation about the White House's plans for U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the war, Doug Lute, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for South Asia, told reporters that he would not "lend any credibility" to the "wide range of numbers that have been available publicly" with regard to post-2014 U.S. troop presence.

Those numbers, he said, are predicated upon certain variables that are still up in the air.

At present, Lute says, Mr. Obama and Karzai will be more focused on what post-2014 missions might require U.S. troops in Afghanistan and what authorities the U.S. would need to implement those missions rather than exactly how many troops they'd require.

"They're going to be talking about missions and authorities -- not numbers," he said.

Source: http://www.ktva.com/news/local/White-House-Considering-Withdrawing-All-Troops-From-Afghanistan-186179342.html

halloween chipotle lsu football lsu football Jessie Andrews

juhanbotha: FREE BOWLING!!! | Studio City Sports & Recreation, Art ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://dmishch8.blogspot.com/2013/01/juhanbotha-free-bowling-studio-city.html

red hot chili peppers tour orange juice photos

Skip the subway, take a ski lift to work instead

3 hrs.

John Roach , NBC News

The future of mass transit will come with sweeping views, private cars, and schedule-free travel if a proposed gondola-based system takes off from sketchpads at a design firm, which stands a shot at occurring in fast-growing Texas.

Gondolas are enclosed cabins that dangle from moving wires. They are commonly used to transport skiers and snowboarders up mountains and tourists around amusement parks. Michael McDaniel and his colleagues at ?Frog, an international design firm, believe the ski lifts can improve transit in big cities.

?Just given that the technology was developed for traversing extremes in elevation, it actually makes itself very handy for navigating through the urban fabric,? McDaniel told NBC News.

Construction costs for gondolas range between $3 million and $12 million per mile compared to $35 million per mile for surface rail, $132 million per mile for elevated rail and $400 million per mile for subways, according to Frog?s calculations.

In addition, the cabins are always moving through the station. If passengers want a private car for themselves and their friends, they can wait a few seconds for an empty one. Gondolas also eliminate the need for riders to plan their day around a bus or train schedule.

?They are getting the same freedom that they would have with their own automobile but without the burden or complexity of having an automobile,? McDaniel said. A hub-and-spoke design would permit a main line to circle an urban core and shoot out individual lines to more distant neighborhoods.

He and colleague Jared Ficklin came up with the concept while looking at a century-old photograph of their office building in downtown Austin, Texas. Rail tracks crisscross the intersection in front of the building. Today, the city plans to re-lay tracks for an expanded light rail system.

The designers saw irony in the fact that the future of their city?s transportation was a recreation of what existed during their grandparents? childhood. There had to be a better way, they thought.?

Ficklin drew inspiration from his ski-bumming days in Colorado, where resorts such as Telluride now use chair lifts to move people around town in addition to up the slopes. Why not extend the concept to bigger cities?

To find out if the idea was feasible, the designers used it as a training exercise for junior designers at their firm. ?About halfway through the research, we started looking at what we were discovering and were like, ?Wow this actually seems kind of feasible,'?? McDaniel said.

He presented the concept, called the Wire, at a design conference in San Francisco in November 2012. An article about the presentation caught the eye of Alan McGraw, the mayor of Round Rock, Texas, an Austin suburb. He is on a transportation planning committee for the greater Austin area.

McGraw went to Frog?s offices and met with the designers. He was impressed with the presentation and drawings, which show, for example, transit stations located in the top floors of skyscrapers and parking garages.

What?s more, since most of the infrastructure is overhead, real estate costs and right-of-way issues are minimized. ?You are going over all of your problems, literally,? McGraw told NBC News.

McGraw, who is a skier himself, said he had often wondered why overhead ski-lift-like transportation systems were absent from cities.

?When I bring it up, people just laugh and then they just kind of move on,? McGraw said. Dig a little deeper, though, and ?it goes from giggles to 'Okay, why not?'?? he added.

Some potential marks against the concept include unknown operation and maintenance costs, which could eat up the savings gained from the lower construction costs.?

In addition, the fastest gondolas move no more than 15 miles per hour. That?s fine for dense urban cores in places such as New York City, but less than ideal for covering the wide open spaces of Texas.

?It is not the answer to all of the problems,? McGraw said, but a gondola system is a potential piece to the transportation puzzle and worth considering, which he and his committee have begun to do.?

?From communication to the automobile, we are innovating,? he said. ?We are trying to make things work better and more efficiently. Well, why aren?t we doing that with mass transportation as well??

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/skip-subway-take-ski-lift-work-instead-1B7872322

odd fellows eli whitney blake griffin dunk on kendrick perkins

Exocomets may be as common as exoplanets

Jan. 7, 2013 ? Comets trailing wispy tails across the night sky are a beautiful byproduct of our solar system's formation, icy leftovers from 4.6 billion years ago when the planets coalesced from rocky rubble.

The discovery by astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Clarion University in Pennsylvania of six likely comets around distant stars suggests that comets -- dubbed "exocomets" -- are just as common in other stellar systems with planets.

Though only one of the 10 stars now thought to harbor comets is known to harbor planets, the fact that all these stars have massive surrounding disks of gas and dust ? a signature of exoplanets -- makes it highly likely they all do, said Barry Welsh, a research astronomer at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory.

"This is sort of the missing link in current planetary formation studies," Welsh said. "We see dust disks -- presumably the primordial planet-forming material -- around a whole load of stars, and we see planets, but we don't see much of the stuff in between: the asteroid-like planetesimals and the comets. Now, I think we have nailed it. These exocomets are more common and easier to detect than people previously thought."

Welsh will present the findings on Monday, Jan. 7, during a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, Calif. Three of the new exocomets were reported in the Oct. 2012 issue of the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific by Welsh and colleague Sharon L. Montgomery of the Department of Physics at Clarion University.

Welsh also will participate in a media briefing on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at 2:30 p.m. PST in Room 204 on Level 2 of the Long Beach Convention Center.

Welsh summarized the current theory of planet formation as "interstellar dust under the influence of gravity becomes blobs, and the blobs grow into rocks, the rocks coalesce and become bigger things -- planetesimals and comets -- and finally, you get planets."

Many stars are known to be surrounded by disks of gas and dust, and one of the closest, beta-Pictoris (?-Pic), was reported to have comets in 1987. In 2009, astronomers found a large planet around ?-Pic about 10 times larger than Jupiter. Three other stars -- one discovered by Welsh in 1998 -- were subsequently found to have comets.

"But then, people just lost interest. They decided that exocomets were a done deal, and everybody switched to the more exciting thing, exoplanets," Welsh said. "But I came back to it last year and thought, 'Four exocomets is not all that many compared to the couple of thousand exoplanets known -- perhaps I can improve on that.'"

Detecting comets may sound difficult -- after all, the snowballs are typically only 5-20 kilometers (3-13 miles) in diameter. But Welsh said that once comets are knocked out of their parking orbit in the outer reaches of a stellar system and fall toward a star, they heat up and evaporate. The evaporating comet, which is what we see with comets such as Halley and next year's highly anticipated Comet ISON, creates a brief, telltale absorption line in the spectrum of a star.

The six new exocomet systems were discovered during three five-night-long observing runs between May 2010 and November 2012 using the 2.1-meter telescope of the McDonald Observatory in Texas. The telescope's high resolution spectrograph revealed weak absorption features that were found to vary from night to night, an outcome that Welsh and Montgomery attributed to large clouds of gas emanating from the nuclei of comets as they neared their central stars.

All of the newly discovered exocomets -- 49 Ceti (HD 9672), 5 Vulpeculae (HD 182919), 2 Andromedae, HD 21620, HD 42111 and HD 110411 -- are around very young type A stars, which are about 5 million years old, because Welsh's detection technique works best with them. With a higher resolution spectrograph, he might be able to detect comets around the older and yellower G and F stars around which most exoplanets have been found.

Nevertheless, all evidence suggests that these dusty A stars should have planets, and planets are the only thing that could knock a comet out of its orbit and make it fall toward its star.

"If it quacks, waddles and has feathers, then it's probably a duck," he said.

The work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley. The original article was written by Robert Sanders.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

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

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130107162222.htm

censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills

Salvors ready Shell drill ship for tow attempt

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the conical drilling unit Kulluk sits grounded near a beach 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2012. The Kulluk grounded after many efforts by tug vessel crews and Coast Guard crews to move the vessel to safe harbor during a winter storm. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the conical drilling unit Kulluk sits grounded near a beach 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2012. The Kulluk grounded after many efforts by tug vessel crews and Coast Guard crews to move the vessel to safe harbor during a winter storm. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter)

Royal Dutch Shell PLC incident commander Sean Churchfield announces the preparations for an attempt to pull the Shell drill ship Kulluk off rocks near a remote Alaska island at a press conference in the Dena?ina Civic and Convention Center on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, in Anchorage, Alaska, as Coast Guard press officer Amy Midgett, Noble Drilling vice president of operations Tommy Travis, and Duane Dvorak of the Kodiak Island Borough listen in. The drill ship ran aground on Monday, Dec. 31, 2012 off Sitkalidak Island near Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Royal Dutch Shell PLC will try to move its grounded drill ship out of the worst of the North Pacific's fury with a towing attempt when conditions allow.

Shell incident commander Sean Churchfield said at a press conference Saturday that naval architects have pronounced the Kulluk fit to be towed. The attempt will depend on weather, tides and readiness, he said.

"I can't offer you firm times. Right now, the preparation for the tow depends on the weather and operational constraints," Churchfield said. "We will be looking to move the vessel as soon as we are ready and able."

If the drill ship can be pulled from the rocks off Sitkalidak Island, it will be towed 30 miles to shelter in Kodiak Island's Kiliuda Bay, a cove about 43 miles southeast of the city of Kodiak.

The Kulluk is a circular barge 266 feet in diameter with a funnel-shaped, reinforced steel hull that allows it to operate in ice. One of two Shell ships that drilled last year in the Arctic Ocean, it has a 160-foot derrick rising from its center and no propulsion system of its own.

The tow attempt will be made by the same vessel that lost the Kulluk last month while attempting to move it to Seattle. A line between the 360-foot anchor handler, the Aiviq, and the Kulluk broke Dec. 27. Four re-attached lines between the Aiviq or other vessels also broke in stormy weather.

The attempt to rein in the drill ship was complicated by engine failure experienced by the Aiviq's four engines. A preliminary investigation pointed to bad fuel but that is not conclusive, Churchfield said. The Edison Chouest Offshore crew has treated fuel and changed filters.

"Thus far, we have not seen a repeat of those problems," he said.

Fuel tanks remain intact on the Kulluk and there are no plans to remove an estimated 150,000 gallons of diesel from the Kulluk, which would present a different set of risks, Churchfield said. Other cargo also will remain.

Coast Guard Capt. Paul Mehler, the federal on-scene coordinator, said no divers have been in the water but soundings from small Coast Guard boats and discussions with local fishermen indicate the vessel rests on a rocky bottom.

Not every piece of equipment was in place Saturday afternoon, he said.

"The two that I know, we have a large generator and we have a piece of a tow connection. It's actually an expandable piece that would do the gig. That's the key piece we're missing right now," Mehler said.

More than 600 people were working on the recovery.

Dan Magone, who has worked on other major groundings in Alaska, a day earlier expressed skepticism that the vessel could simply be towed.

"I'd really be shocked if this thing is so lightly aground and so lightly damaged that they can just go pull this thing off right away," said Magone, president of Magone Marine, in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Dutch Harbor.

Magone is not working on the salvage of the Kulluk but has experience with other major groundings, including the Selendang Ayu, a cargo ship wrecked in December 2004 on Unalaska Island. Smit Salvage, the Dutch company hired to salvage the Kulluk, also worked on that wreck.

Magone's company is under contract for two other wrecks ? fishing boats from which fuel has been removed ? but he's waiting until spring to finish the job. That's often the routine for winter groundings in the region, he said.

"The insurance company doesn't want to pay any more money than they have to to get the wrecks out of there, so why risk our equipment and our crew and spend a thousand percent more money playing around in the wintertime when you can just wait until the weather's good and do it then?" Magone said.

"That's pretty normal. Of course with a big fiasco like this, there's all kinds of pressure and everything. But there's a limit to what you can do," he said.

Shell has reported superficial damage above the deck and seawater within that entered through open hatches. Water has knocked out regular and emergency generators, but portable generators were put on board Friday.

The condition of the hull will be key in determining whether the Kulluk can be refloated.

The Coast Guard must review and sign off on a salvage plan. Brian Thomas of the Coast Guard's salvage engineering response team in Washington, D.C., said the team's marine engineers give technical advice and assess risks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-05-Shell-Arctic%20Drill%20Ship/id-b966fc5f4a0644b5b3c4a881ac12550b

florida panthers tannehill joel ward mock draft north country brian mcknight sbux

Sony confirms production end for PlayStation 2 worldwide

It's not just Japan that's ending production of the PlayStation 2, apparently. Sony tells The Guardian that production is over on a worldwide scale. Of course, it shouldn't be too hard to find one anytime soon, as Sony says over 1.5 billion units are already out in the wild. Of course, the first production run of Sony's PlayStation 3 also included full PS2 backwards compatibility, so that number's magnified even more. And then there's always the possibility that Sony will eventually put many (or most) of its PlayStation 2 games online in some form. Regardless, it's a sad day for Sony's most popular console, and we're pouring out a cold one for the console that helped birth modern gaming. We'll miss ya, dude. It was a good run.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

Comments

Via: Joystiq

Source: The Guardian

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/lGGtKsFGKy0/

Adam Lanza Facebook Golden Globes the hobbit Rob Parker mick jagger Newton Shooting Newtown Shooting

Republican Sen. McConnell rules out more taxes in U.S. fiscal fight

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday ruled out raising tax revenues on top of the tax hike on the wealthy in the "fiscal cliff" deal, and said the full focus must now be on spending cuts to curb U.S. deficits.

But Democrats said they would push for a "balanced" approach of more tax revenue from the rich as well as spending reductions as Congress headed toward another fiscal battle in March over raising the federal debt ceiling.

"The tax issue is finished, over, completed," McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

"That's behind us. Now the question is what are we going to do about the biggest problem confronting our country and our future, and that's our spending addiction."

McConnell used the Sunday morning news shows to lay out his position in the upcoming fight over raising the U.S. debt ceiling and funding the government that is expected to come to a head in March, just three months after the struggle to avert the January 1 fiscal cliff of severe tax hikes and spending cuts that economists said could have brought a recession.

Republicans want big spending cuts in programs including Medicare healthcare for the elderly and the Social Security pension program as a condition for raising the U.S. borrowing limit.

President Barack Obama has said he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling, arguing that Congress must pay the bills for spending it has already approved.

McConnell said the White House should start working with Congress immediately to find savings, before the March deadline to raise the borrowing limit brings another fiscal crisis.

"We could do things very quickly, these are not new issues," he said on ABC.

Asked whether Republicans would threaten a U.S. default in their press for spending cuts, McConnell said, "It's not even necessary to get to that point. Why aren't we trying to settle the problem? Why aren't we trying to do something about reducing spending?"

On CBS's "Face the Nation," he said, "We now have a debt of $16.4 trillion. That's as big as our economy. That alone makes us look a lot like Greece."

'LINE IN THE SAND'

Democrats said they will continue to push for more revenue as well as spending cuts to curb deficits, issues they said should be dealt with separately from the debt ceiling.

"Well, if Mitch McConnell is going to draw the line in the sand, it's going to be a recipe for more gridlock," Representative Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said on "Fox News Sunday."

"As we go forward, we need to adopt the same framework as the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, meaning, a combination of cuts and revenue," Van Hollen said, referring to the commission that presented a sweeping plan to cut deficits.

"We're talking about looking at the tax code, putting everything on the table from the standpoint of closing loopholes, and we know that we can do that. Special subsidies for big oil, for example, $38 billion right there," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Pelosi, of California, said any savings found in Medicare and Social Security should be plowed back into the programs.

In what could be a replay of last year's standoff over the debt ceiling, House Republicans will put forward a plan "that says: OK, Mr. President, if you want to increase the borrowing authority of this country, here is a menu of options where you can reduce spending of equal or greater amount," said Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan.

"Mitch McConnell is exactly right," Jordan said on Fox News. "They just got revenue. We've got to cut spending. We've got $16 trillion debt. The credit card is maxed out."

Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, said Obama will discuss curbing the debt in his State of the Union address this month, "but it has to be done in a balanced way."

On CNN's "State of the Union," Durbin, of Illinois, said more money should be wrung from taxes, citing various deductions, special treatments and loopholes. "We can do that and use the money to reduce the deficit."

In his several television appearances, McConnell also defended the deal he helped to broker with Vice President Joe Biden to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Most of his fellow Republicans in the House opposed the deal for being focused almost entirely on raising revenue through a tax increase on families making more than $450,000 a year, while postponing significant spending cuts.

"What we did was prevent tax increases on 99 percent of the American public. Nobody in the Senate, not the 90 percent of Senate Republicans who voted for this, voted to raise anybody's taxes," McConnell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The deal extended lower tax rates for most taxpayers set during the George W. Bush administration that were set to expire on January 1, but let rates rise on the top incomes.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republican-senator-mcconnell-rules-more-taxes-fiscal-fight-141844038--business.html

jamie lynn sigler mega millions jackpot black panther party frank martin pink slime eagle cam trayvon martin case