LA archbishop relieves retired cardinal of duties

FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2007 file photo, Cardinal Roger Mahony speaks during an annual multi-ethnic migration Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez has relieved retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of his remaining duties, on the same night the church released thousands more files on priest sexual abuse. Gomez released a statement Thursday Jan. 31, 2013, saying he has told Mahony he will no longer have any administrative or public duties. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2007 file photo, Cardinal Roger Mahony speaks during an annual multi-ethnic migration Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez has relieved retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of his remaining duties, on the same night the church released thousands more files on priest sexual abuse. Gomez released a statement Thursday Jan. 31, 2013, saying he has told Mahony he will no longer have any administrative or public duties. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Archbishop of Los Angeles announced Thursday night that he has relieved retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of his remaining duties and a former top aide to Mahony has stepped down from his current post as auxiliary bishop of Santa Barbara, on the same night the church released thousands of pages of personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Archbishop Jose Gomez said in a statement, referring to the newly released files made public by the church Thursday night just hours after a judge's order. "The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."

Gomez announced that he has "informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties."

Mahony, who retired in 2011 after more than a quarter-century at the helm of the archdiocese, has publicly apologized for mistakes he made in dealing with priests who molested children.

Gomez also said Thomas Curry, former vicar of the clergy under Mahony who was the cardinal's point person in dealing with priests accused of molestation, has stepped down from his Santa Barbara post. Curry also issued an apology earlier this month.

Earlier Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ordered the diocese to turn over thousands of pages from the confidential files of priests accused of child molestation without blacking out the names of top church officials who were responsible for handling priests accused of abuse.

The judge gave the archdiocese until Feb. 22 to turn over the files to attorneys for the alleged victims, but they were released almost immediately.

The church said in a statement that the files' release "concludes a sad and shameful chapter in the history of our local church."

The archdiocese, the nation's largest, had planned to black out the names of members of the church hierarchy who were responsible for the priests, and instead provide a cover sheet for each priest's file, listing the names of top officials who handled that case. The church reversed course Wednesday after The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and plaintiff attorneys objected in court.

A record-breaking $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 alleged victims paved the way for the ultimate disclosure of the tens of thousands of pages, but the archdiocese and individual priests fought to keep them secret for more than five years.

A first round of 14 priest files made public in Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago showed that Mahony and other top officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark about sexual abuse in their parishes. Those documents, released as part of an unrelated civil lawsuit, were not redacted and provided a glimpse of what could be contained in the larger release.

The files, some of them dating back decades, contain letters among top church officials, accused priests and archdiocese attorneys, complaints from parents, medical and psychological records and ? in some cases ? correspondence with the Vatican.

Similar document releases in other dioceses, including Boston, have shown top church officials shuffled molesting priests from parish to parish, failed to call police and kept parishioners in the dark.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-31-California%20Church%20Abuse/id-1471964673b04d5aa7e6b913b5d07e25

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Home loans point to boost from central bank scheme

LONDON (Reuters) - Home loan approvals in Britain rose last month to the highest since January 2012, a sign that a Bank of England scheme may be starting to boost the flow of credit and support a flagging economy.

Net mortgage lending also jumped sharply to its highest level since April, offering hope that the bank's Funding for Lending Scheme - which went into operation in August - is starting to bear fruit.

The scheme is a response to worries that ultra-low official interest rates and the extra funds the bank has pumped into the financial system are not getting through to households and businesses.

The lack of lending has contributed to a grim economic outlook that has brought Britain to the verge of a "triple-dip" recession.

"On the face of it, those figures would support the Bank of England's claims that the FLS is starting to make its presence felt," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank.

"We would need to see a few more months of good data before we can validate the claim, but at least we're moving in the right direction," he said.

There was no immediate market reaction to the data.

Mortgage approvals rose to 55,785 in December from 54,011 in November, above analysts' expectations and the highest since January 2012, when the imminent end of a government incentive for first-time home-buyers boosted demand.

Net mortgage lending increased by 1.036 billion pounds ($1.63 billion), the largest amount since April, and interest rates on new secured loans to households fell to their lowest since April as well.

Evidence of benefit for businesses in Wednesday's data was less clear, though one measure of lending to firms posted its smallest annual percentage fall since November 2011.

Before the 2008 financial crisis, monthly mortgage approvals ran at around 90,000, but the number of home sales has slumped since then and the property market has largely ceased to be a major driver of consumer spending.

Last week similar data from the British Bankers' Association showed a tick up in mortgage approvals in December, although they were 4 percent down on the year.

Overall net household lending rose by 1.685 billion pounds after stagnating the month before. Within that, unsecured consumer lending rose by 649 million pounds, the biggest rise since September and a much stronger increase than forecast.

A quarterly Bank survey found that British banks planned to increase the supply of mortgages in early 2013 after a record rise in the availability of this type of credit in the three months to December. The poll also pointed to an improvement in terms on which loans are extended.

The BoE's preferred gauge of money supply, M4 excluding intermediate other financial corporations, rose 5.2 percent on the year, the sharpest rise since the second quarter of 2008.

Britain's economy shrank more than expected at the end of 2012, with a slump in oil production, lower factory output and a hangover from the London Olympics pushing it to the brink of its third recession since 2008.

(Reporting by David Milliken and Olesya Dmitracova; editing by Patrick Graham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/december-mortgage-approvals-rise-highest-since-january-2012-093546509--finance.html

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Pipe theft report leads Lincoln police to pot bust

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) ? Authorities say they discovered a budding marijuana-growing operation after residents of a Lincoln house called police to report the theft of marijuana pipes.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/TBcgDU ) that officers were called to the house Saturday morning. Residents had reported that two people, one of them armed with a handgun, forced their way inside the house and took two hookah pipes.

Officers questioning the residents noticed marijuana, paraphernalia and several bottles of fertilizer. They also saw light shining from under a door barred with a padlock and a power cord snaking into the room.

After getting a search warrant, police say they found three marijuana plants, grow lights and other equipment.

Police arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of manufacturing marijuana and ticketed his roommates for having marijuana paraphernalia.

___

Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pipe-theft-report-leads-lincoln-police-pot-bust-185522957.html

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The Art of Gaming in the Context of Contemporary Art

An installation view of Game Room, with a view to Wilshire Blvd. (All photos courtesy the Hammer Museum)

LOS ANGELES ? Games are everywhere these days. We keep them in our phones, our computers, our television sets. Where once we could content ourselves with a small selection of board games and a pack of cards, we now have a myriad of games at our fingertips, ready to download or purchase at a moment?s notice.

But what makes for a good game? Why do we gravitate toward some games and quickly tire of others? Game design as a field has evolved a highly detailed understanding of gaming, and gaming as a whole is starting to shift away from the stereotype of the pimply male nerd in his parent?s basement.

Game Room, a special exhibition at the Hammer Museum, asks us to revisit games in a less electronic format and start to look at game design in the context of contemporary art. In Sarah Brin?s accompanying essay, ?The Aesthetics of Play,? she notes that the show wants to emphasize ?the values of process, interpersonal dynamics, and participation.?

A close-up of Eddo Stern?s Moneymakingworskhop.

?Let?s say I have my phone in here right now,? said Allison Agsten, curator of Public Engagement, in an interview with Hyperallergic, ?and let?s say, six years ago, I said, ?How many games are in this room??, perhaps you?d say six, because that?s how many we have in here.? The ubiquity of games has changed dramatically, she noted, pointing at 2007 as the introduction of the iPhone and the transformation of the field as ubiquitous gaming meant that gamers were no longer glued to Game Boys and Palm Pilots.

The show features works by artists like Noa P. Kaplan, Sarah Bay Williams, Alexis Smith, and Eddo Stern. For those familiar with the recent works of Stern, a prolific video game designer and artist, this particular installation stands out for its lack of electronics or projections.? His ?Moneymakingworkshop? consists of a complex series of rules and repetitions around making making money by pounding them out of gold foil. Remnants of previous games lay scattered beneath the table.

?There?s no clear win state,? Agsten noted of most of the games. Sitting next to us during the interview was a pack of Alexis Smith?s ?Playing Cards, Made in USA.??It?s striking to see a pack of playing cards, which I?ve not played for years, and note that it?s handheld nature makes it about the size and weight of a mobile phone. The cards themselves feature quotes from Walt Whitman?s ?Leaves of Grass? and is skinned to represent moments from American history, in contrast to the monarchy images of traditional cards. Ironically, Agsten pointed out that the cards were handled less than Stern?s installation, perhaps a sign that visitors felt hesitant to open the pack and lose a card.

My attention turned to Samara Smith?s ?Chain Reaction (Westwood),? with Situationist instructions for walking around the Westwood neighborhood that surrounds the Hammer. ?When I played this game, I saw the neighborhood in a way I hadn?t seen it in a while,? Agsten explained. It was originally designed for Brooklyn, but I felt it had greater resonance in a city like Los Angeles, where the idea of strolling can seem foreign.

What would a Situationist derive look like in Los Angeles? Samara Smith provides cards for exploration.

?She adapted it for Westwood, and originally what she calls the release object, one of them was graffiti. So when I was walking around play testing it, I said, oh my god, we don?t have any graffiti here.? It was a notable change from Westwood?s earlier years and perhaps indicative of the city?s general tendency to forget rather than enshrine its history (captured so well in Norman Klein?s History of Forgetting).

One of Sarah Bay Williams?s papier mach? pi?atas.

Smith?s Westwood-specific release objects now include a ?handmade object,? an independent business, and a ?for lease sign,? all of which have resonance in a neighborhood in regular flux as it commercializes swiftly. When a visitor sees a release object, they?re allowed to wander the neighborhood freely until they encounter a ?lead object,? which include a Starbucks cup, a Target bag, and a Subway bag.

Game Room?as a whole is higly participatory and tactile. Situated in a museum like the Hammer, it may not seem approachable, but Agsten noted that visitors, especially children, felt comfortable with picking up and playing with the objects. As Sarah Brin noted in her essay on the works:

Of all the activities that are enacted in a museum, looking might be cited as the most important ? or at least the most common. There is a tendency to regard artworks as static objects and to believe that the museumgoer?s role is to visually examine them. After an item is viewed, some observers will arrive at an evaluative conclusion based on context as well as their personal preferences and associations.

Artists who design games, on the other hand, can create something more tactile and personal, and, as Brin notes, ?bridge the gap between creators and their publics.?

The most tempting piece, Sarah Bay Williams?s ?Pi?atas: Recreational Items from Unfortunate Events,? hangs tantalizingly above the room, with references to classic games like badminton and kick the can. A bat hangs nearby but is secured tightly to the wall. On the last day of the installation, February 17, the museum will host a pi?ata smashing. What?s inside? With an artist designing the objects, you can bet it won?t be the usual assortment of candies.

Game Room?runs at the Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood Village, Los Angeles)?until February 17.

Tagged as: Alexis Smith, Allison Agsten, Eddo Stern, gaming, Hammer Museum, Noa P. Kaplan, Samara Smith, Sarah Bay Williams, Sarah Brin

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Source: http://hyperallergic.com/64084/the-art-of-gaming-in-the-context-of-contemporary-art/

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What RIM Needs to Prove with BlackBerry 10

RIM's day of reckoning is almost here. Tomorrow, the once-mighty Canadian company will officially unveil its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, along with new hardware. It's a chance at rebirth, reinvention, and getting out from under its walking corpse reputation. But for that to happen, RIM needs to prove it's back on the right track. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5QxVykaeyVU/what-rim-needs-to-prove-with-blackberry-10

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This Google Maps Birdhouse Shows Birds Where to Stay

Birdhouses are usually designed to blend into their local environments—but not this one. Taking inspiration from Google Maps, artist Shuchun Hsiao decided to give birds a taste of the search giant's navigational aids, too. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5lRwzKNbrrw/this-google-maps-birdhouse-shows-birds-where-to-stay

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Massive Sinkhole in Southern China Disrupts Thousands of Residents [VIDEO]

An enormous sinkhole in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou (previously known as Canton) destroyed five shops and split apart another building, shocking local residents and China's ever-vigilant social media.

The huge sinkhole, which caused no fatalities, opened near a subway construction site and was well documented online through amateur videos, as well as followed closely on Weibo, China?s microblogging tool similar to Twitter. The hole is currently about 1,000 square feet across and almost 30 feet deep (90 square meters and 10 meters deep) and appears to be expanding.

Officials have evacuated 300 nearby residents, who have been moved to a shelter. The collapse also took down several electrical wires and telephone poles, leaving roughly 3,000 surrounding homes without power.

Many Weibo users are suggesting that the sinkhole was caused by the subway construction, another case of dangerous ?overdevelopment without regard to safety.

?In the end it cannot withstand the overdevelopment of subways,? one user said.

Guangzhou, China's third-largest city with 13 million inhabitants, has seen sinkholes before; a collapse occurred in 2004 on the same road near a large mall. That sinkhole was measured at 98 square feet and was reportedly caused by the construction of an underground tunnel. As construction seems to be a common factor in these accidents, many Chinese are urging for more regulations.

?Terrifying. Precautions need to be made to prevent this from happening, yet again!? said one commenter.?

As China continues to rapidly develop its infrastructure, it has been continually faced with cases of poor construction planning. According to reports on Caixin Online, a Chinese newspaper, China has seen a drastic increase of sinkholes. In 2007, 54 sinkholes were reported. By 2009, 129 had been documented. Just last summer, over just three weeks, China?s capital city, Beijing, reported 99 sinkhole-type collapses.

Luckily, no one died in Guangzhou. But even with no death toll, it has proven to be incredibly disruptive to residents and troublesome for governments to reconstruct damaged infrastructure.?

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/massive-sinkhole-southern-china-disrupts-thousands-residents-video-1047334

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Datacolor Spyder4 PRO

A well-calibrated monitor is a must for photo editors, designers, and content creators, but there's no reason for anybody to be working with a monitor that delivers skewed colors or is too dark or too bright. There are a number of free calibration apps that you can use to improve your monitor's overall image quality, and if you use Windows 7 or Windows 8 you can use the built-in utility to perform a basic calibration. However, if you want to make sure your monitor is consistently displaying accurate colors you'll have to spend a few bucks on a solution that measures and adjusts things like white point, gamut, and luminance.

The Datacolor Spyder4 Pro offers an affordable way to calibrate multiple monitors so that they all produce consistent color and image detail and stay that way (it's a good idea to recalibrate every so often as monitors tend to change over time). It uses a colorimeter and software to create a profile for each monitor and measures ambient light to tune your monitor according to your lighting conditions. It delivers as advertised and is a snap to use, but it could use a longer USB cord and an auto adjustment option for brightness settings.

Design and Features
The Spyder4 Pro consists of a colorimeter, a stand, and calibration software. A colorimeter measures color and compares it to a known standard, such as the sRGB and Adobe color standards. The three-legged Spyder resembles a Klingon warship and sports a two-tone gloss and matte black finish. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and connects to your PC via a weighted USB cord. The weight did a good job of holding the meter in place when hung over the top of the monitor but the 67-inch cord was barely long enough to reach my full sized tower PC situated beneath my desk. Another foot or so would provide some much needed leeway. On the top of the Spyder is an activity LED and an ambient light sensor and the bottom contains a 7-color sensor. A stand is provided for measuring ambient light and for storing the Spyder when not in use.

The Spyder4 Pro works with LCD and CRT monitors as well as laptop screens. Whereas the Spyder4 Express ($119 list) only lets you calibrate one monitor, the Spyder4 Pro supports multiple monitor calibrations and can be installed on multiple PCs. It doesn't do projector calibrations though; for that you'll have to upgrade to the Spyder4 Elite ($249.99 list) or go with X-Rite's ColorMunki Display.

Installation
Installing and using the Spyder4 Pro is a breeze. It's important to make sure your monitor has been on for at least 30 minutes before calibrating and that the software is installed and running before you plug in the colorimeter. The first time you run the software you're asked to enter an activation code (found on the CD sleeve). You can automatically activate the software via the internet or do it manually. Either way you'll have to furnish your name and email address to complete the activation. Once activated you are given a license code that must be used if you are going to reinstall the software or use it on an additional PC. (Check out the slideshow for more info on the step-by-step process of calibrating using the Spyder4 Pro.)

The calibration process is wizard driven. The Welcome screen has you check off certain pre-calibration procedures such as warming up the monitor, adjusting ambient light, and resetting the monitor to its default settings. It also offers a handy video tutorial on calibration for the uninitiated. In fact, there are help screens available throughout the process that will guide you through the calibration procedure.

First, select the type of display that you're calibrating (LCD, CRT, laptop). Then enter the manufacturer and model information on the following screen. You'll then be prompted to enter the gamut type (unknown, normal, wide), and backlight type (unknown, CCFL, white LED, RGB LED). Next, select the type of controls your monitor has (contrast, brightness, Kelvin presets). If you're calibrating a CRT monitor you can add an RGB slider control to the list (see preferences), but Datacolor suggests leaving that box unchecked when calibrating an LCD monitor.

A Calibration Settings screen shows recommended target values that include gamma, white point, brightness, and ambient light settings. You can choose your own settings using the dropdown boxes; options include four gamma settings (1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4), four white point settings (5000k, 5800k, 6500k, native), brightness (native, CRT, LCD), and ambient light (on, off). Select "on" for ambient light if you want to calibrate your monitor to match your lighting environment, which is a good idea.

Now, the colorimeter will take an ambient light reading and produce a result with a suggested brightness and white point setting. In my case it suggested a brightness setting of 180 cd/m2 with a white point of 6500k. You will then be directed to place the Spyder4 on the screen. Adjust the weight so that the colorimeter sits flush on the screen with the weight positioned at the rear of the cabinet. The Spyder will now measure brightness, color, and white point and display the actual readings and suggested target levels. If you elected to change the monitor's RGB setting manually, here's where you do it. Using your monitor's OSD controls, adjust the RGB color levels until they match their targets. It may take multiple tries as you have to update the settings each time to see where you are. As mentioned, this option should be left unchecked for LCD monitors. Unless you have an intimate knowledge of how colors interact with each other, you may end up with severe tinting issues.

Next comes the brightness level adjustment, which has to be done manually using the OSD controls. It would be nice to have an automated luminance option similar to the one provided with X-Rite's ColorMunki Display. The Spyder will now measure the various shades of red, green and blue (from dark to light), and shades of grays (from black to white) and adjust settings accordingly. Once the calibration is finished you then save the profile, which is automatically loaded each time you fire up your PC. Here you can also set a reminder to recalibrate, ranging from never to six months.

At this point you can use a variety of images to compare picture quality before and after the calibration. Each image can be enlarged so you can look for changes in detail and color saturation. The Profile Overview compares the calibrated monitor to other displays in your profile list and shows how accurately it displays colors in the sRGB, NTSC, and Adobe color spaces. You can quit the program or use the Advanced Analysis feature to run individual tests for gamut, tone response, brightness and contrast, and white point when using the monitor's various picture presets. These tests can be saved as charts, providing a nice visual as to how your monitor stacks up. When it comes time to recalibrate, simply use the ReCAL option at startup and you'll have a freshly calibrated monitor within minutes.

Performance
The calibration process took a little more than five minutes to complete, and the results were outstanding. I tested the Spyder4 Pro on three different monitors and in each instance the calibration provided noticeably superior picture quality than what you get out of the box. Highlight and shadow detail appeared sharper, and the resulting luminance level was easy on the eyes?not too bright and not too dim. Moreover, color output matched up nicely across all three monitors, much more so than before they were calibrated.

With the Datacolor Spyder4 Pro you can calibrate all of your monitors and laptops to deliver consistent color quality across all of your systems. Its ease of use and excellent help options ensure that even novice users can achieve noteworthy results without paying a fortune. I'd love to see Datacolor add an auto-brightness feature and tack on another foot of USB cable to the colorimeter, but neither of these minor gripes prevent me from recommending the Spyder4 Pro to anyone who wants to fine tune their monitor. As good as the Spyder4 Pro is, the X-Rite Colormunki Display is a better deal. It offers support for projectors and ambient light monitoring and features an automated brightness adjustment, which is why it is our Editors' Choice for calibration tools.

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Ticketmaster makes online 'CAPTCHA' puzzles easier

This image provided by Ticketmaster shows the newly designed program for ticket purchases. Ticketmaster, often the subject of fan anger when tickets to popular concerts get sold out in seconds, is removing an annoyance that can slow down the buying process: the jumble of letters that people need to decipher known as ?CAPTCHA.? The puzzles provided by Google Inc. are meant to deter automated systems known as ?bots? from buying up mass numbers of tickets the instant they go on sale in order to resell them for a profit. (AP Photo/Ticketmaster)

This image provided by Ticketmaster shows the newly designed program for ticket purchases. Ticketmaster, often the subject of fan anger when tickets to popular concerts get sold out in seconds, is removing an annoyance that can slow down the buying process: the jumble of letters that people need to decipher known as ?CAPTCHA.? The puzzles provided by Google Inc. are meant to deter automated systems known as ?bots? from buying up mass numbers of tickets the instant they go on sale in order to resell them for a profit. (AP Photo/Ticketmaster)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Ticketmaster, often the target of fan anger when tickets to popular concerts get sold out in seconds, is removing an annoyance that can slow down the buying process: the jumble of letters that people need to decipher known as "CAPTCHA."

The puzzles provided by Google Inc. are meant to deter automated systems known as "bots" from purchasing large numbers of tickets the instant they go on sale. Scalpers have been known to employ bots to acquire tickets, which they resell for a profit.

CAPTCHA, an acronym that stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," was developed by Carnegie Mellon computer scientists in 2000. Google bought the company that spun off from the university in 2009 in part to help it digitize books.

Since only humans, not computers, can decipher CAPTCHA codes, websites install the systems to keep tickets out of the hands of large-scale scalpers. In the fight against more sophisticated bot operators, CAPTCHA codes have become increasingly more difficult ? so difficult that the puzzles started slowing down flesh-and-blood fans.

Take a recent CAPTCHA puzzle, which looks like a bunch of distorted letters that is meant for a buyer to interpret and type: "dsrific LCDAppr." Because of the way the letters are bent out of shape on screen, it's tough even for humans to tell if the two instances of the letter "p'' are capitalized or not.

Ticketmaster is overhauling its website to provide easier puzzles. It has run trials online, and in the next several weeks, it will replace all its online puzzles provided by Google with easier ones provided by a New York-based startup called Solve Media. On mobile devices, Ticketmaster is eliminating the need for puzzles entirely, using its own technology that verifies the user through a "push" notification to the device.

Fans using the website will now see common phrases, such as "freezing temperatures," or multiple choice questions such as "which one is a country?" followed by a drop-down menu of answers including "monster truck," ''puppy" and "Spain."

The key is that Solve Media looks for certain digital clues ? which it won't divulge ? to determine if the ticket-buyer is a person or a bot. The technology will dole out an easy puzzle to a person. It will give a bot a difficult one.

That has already made the fan experience better, says Kip Levin, Ticketmaster's executive vice president of eCommerce. The average time it takes to solve these puzzles has been halved from about 14 seconds to about 7 seconds, the company said.

"Anecdotally, we're starting to see an uptick in fan satisfaction," Levin said. "We're happy with what we've seen from a security standpoint as well."

Some puzzles are in the form of ads. A puzzle sponsored by Southwest Airlines Co. makes buyers enter the words "Bags Fly Free." One by TurboTax requires buyers to type "File Free."

Ari Jacoby, the CEO and cofounder of Solve Media, called advertising the "third leg of the stool" for his business after improving user experience and security. Because the sponsored puzzles use company slogans or product names as answers, they are "highly effective and memorable," Jacoby said.

Solve Media has more than 6,000 customers including magazine publisher Meredith Corp. and online portal AOL Inc., which is also an investor. Advertisers have included a range of major brands such as McDonald's, Toyota, CBS and Pizza Hut.

In February, Solve Media expects to serve up 200 million puzzles. Adding Ticketmaster will boost the number of possible ads it can send out. In 2011, Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment Inc. sold 141 million tickets, although it's unclear how many were purchased online.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-29-Ticketmaster-CAPTCHA/id-7704158bc3f241ecb35efe800f483a9d

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'RHOBH's' Yolanda Foster: Brandi should 'zip it'

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

She may be the newest member of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," but that won't keep Yolanda Foster down -- she filmed the show while also battling Lyme disease, and on her first day out of the house, dropped by TODAY to chat with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.

"While I was shooting the show I was really, really sick," she explained, sitting next to her Real Husband of Beverly Hills, Grammy-winning songwriter-producer David Foster. "As I watch myself (on the show) I'm like, 'Ok, girl, get to the point!' Because I had such tremendous brain fog."

Still, in her role as the show's "voice of reason," she had to deal with the mysterious brain workings of her fellow castmates, most of whom seemed to always have a problem with someone. Take Brandi Glanville's repeated comments about LeAnn Rimes, who is now married to Brandi's ex, Eddie Cibrian. "I think that Brandi would be a lot more powerful if she would just zip it and just walk her walk," said Yolanda. "(But) people tune in because they love to see that (sort of behavior)."

Despite the drama, David said he could never have told his wife they couldn't make the show, as she's using it as a platform to launch herself and her ideas. "Yolanda has a purpose, she has a goal ... it's a great way to get your name out there," he said. "Could you imagine (me) saying, 'No, you can't'?"

The pair have been together "7 years almost," said Yolanda, and here's one of the goals she wants to reach: "My goal is I want to piss off all of his ex-wives, because I want to be married to him longer than any of them," she grinned.

"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/01/29/16754787-yolanda-foster-beverly-hills-housewife-brandi-glanville-should-just-zip-it?lite

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The need to feed programs Campylobacter's 'Sat Nav'

Jan. 29, 2013 ? A rumbling tummy is our body's way of telling us "it's time for lunch." Likewise, bacteria need to know when it's time to eat.

Researchers at the Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park have uncovered how the food-borne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter jejuni can change its swimming behaviour to find a location with more food.

Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food-borne illness in the UK, with more than 371,000 cases annually. When people get infected, the bacteria need to find their way from the source of contamination, most often undercooked poultry, to the cells lining the gut, passing through thick layers of mucus. In these different locations, Campylobacter must find enough food to sustain itself as well as a suitable environment to carry out respiration, the process of generating energy.

Using a newly developed assay, the researchers found that Campylobacter balances the directions given by two different systems to either seek out more nutritious locations, or to find places where respiration is most efficient. Genetic tools were used to show that the system controlling swimming towards food overrides the other system, suggesting that the "need to feed" is the foremost concern for Campylobacter.

Unlike other food poisoning bugs, such as E. coli or Salmonella, Campylobacter has a whole range of systems that can detect different chemicals in the environment, and alter swimming behaviour accordingly: the 'Sat Nav' of the bacterial world.

The work is published in the journal PLOS ONE. Dr Mark Reuter, the lead author says "we know that Campylobacter can swim, and that this is very important for causing disease, but aimless swimming isn't efficient. The bugs need to know where they want to go."

Discovering how these 'Sat Nav' systems help target the bugs to the site of infection may help prevent future disease, and may be relevant to other food-borne and gut-associated pathogens.

The Institute of Food Research, which is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has a research team dedicated to studying Campylobacter. They are looking at what makes Campylobacter such a successful pathogen and to find weaknesses in its biology that could lead to new ways of controlling it.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Norwich BioScience Institutes.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Mark Reuter, Arnoud H. M. van Vliet. Signal Balancing by the CetABC and CetZ Chemoreceptors Controls Energy Taxis in Campylobacter jejuni. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e54390 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054390

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/top_news/~3/DuGZauZSX8I/130129190235.htm

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A Cheat Sheet for Becoming an Epic Writer ... Without Cheating

Let?s get one thing straight?

This cheat sheet is not about ?how to blatantly copy what your competitors are doing to get lots of traffic and leads?.

? that?s not cool.

This is about how to make your writing (and writing ability) a bit more ? Awesome!

But before I get into all of that, I need to make two very important points.

1. Planning is Crucial

I can almost guarantee that you can cut the time it takes you to write a post in half if you take the time to plan it out first.

This post took me about an hour of planning before the words went on paper (or screen? you know what I mean).

Some posts take me longer to plan, others not as long, but there is always a planning stage. I don?t skip it.. I?ve done it the other way and I know it doesn?t work as well.

I don?t know about you, but I hate staring at my blank computer screen not knowing what to write first.

2. The Real Work is Figuring Out How to Say It

Planning is easy. Actually it?s kind of fun for me. I don?t see it as a chore. I guess it?s because planning allows my mind to run free.

? it allows me to think of new ideas to see which one sticks.

? allows me pour all of it on paper and try to put the pieces together in a way that it?ll make sense to you.

Maybe I?m weird, but I don?t think I?m alone on this one. Let me know in the comments if you find this process to be as much fun as I do. =)

But back to my point. The real work is figuring out HOW you?re going to say what?s in your head. What words are you going to use. How will it start? How will it end? ? and all these are extremely important questions because:

1. words is all you have
2. boring, mundane writing does exist ? and it doesn?t work.
3. useful, entertaining, and inspirational writing is more effective
4. your content will make or break your online business.

The ?HOW? is the hard part. This is where ?Writer?s Block? runs wild. This is where people get stuck ? and that?s where the Epic Writer?s Cheat Sheet comes in.

Of course, this isn?t the whole enchilada. I go into much more detail inside the Writer?s Bootcamp, but I?m hoping this cheat sheet will comes in handy when you?re trying to figure out what to do and what not to do in your writing.

Here it is:

The Epic Writer?s Cheat Sheet

Cheat #1: Talk to ONE Person

Change anything in your writing that suggests you?re talking to a group of people. Do this in your blog posts, landing pages and especially your sales pages.

Cheat #2: Write Great Headlines

Read my post on 11 Brilliant Headlines you can steal from best selling magazines. Steal some of those headlines and use them on your own blog. ? go ahead, it?s OK.

Cheat #3: Start Strong

I spend quite a bit of time on the opening sentence for all my articles. The idea is making your first sentence so compelling that they have no choice but to read the second.

Use these openers ? just make sure they make sense with the rest of the article.

• ?Let?s get one thing straight?
• ?I know you?re smart, so??
• ?If you?re like me then??
• ?I got bad news.?

Cheat #4: Inject Personality

Try adding seemingly unrelated remarks to your content to show that you?re actually human ? like a real person ? with feelings and stuff, ya know?

Add side notes like this: (hey, did you know I?m releasing an epic writing course real soon?)

Or not.. you can be a robot if you want. I just won?t be reading your blog =)

Cheat #5: Embrace Brevity

If your reader has to pull out a thesaurus to figure out what you?re trying to say, then change that sentence so they don?t have to. Use simple words. Use short sentences.

Why complicate things when you can simplify them?

Cheat #6: Don?t Ask for Permission

Epic writers don?t ask for permission, they write with authority. They don?t apologize for having an opinion and taking a stand. So remove any of the following from your content:

?In my opinion?
?In my honest opinion? (IMHO)
?? you might think differently but??
?? you may not agree but ??

? and here?s a cool graphical representation of my Epic Writer?s Cheat Sheet. Save it. Print it out. Do whatever you want with it. It?s yours to keep.

Yea? you?re welcome. =)

Three Down .. 2 More To Go

This is part 3 of the Epic Writing Series. If you want to get notified when the next 2 parts are ready, enter your email below and sign up. You?ll also get a really good deal when the epic writing course is released.

? wanna find out when the course will be released? People on this list already know? jump on it:

Source: http://www.inboundpro.net/cheat-sheet-becoming-epic-writer

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Nicholas Stern: 'I Got It Wrong On Climate Change... It's Far, Far Worse'

The Guardian:

The Stern review, published in 2006, pointed to a 75% chance that global temperatures would rise by between two and three degrees above the long-term average; he now believes we are "on track for something like four ". Had he known the way the situation would evolve, he says, "I think I would have been a bit more blunt. I would have been much more strong about the risks of a four- or five-degree rise."

Read the whole story at The Guardian

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/nicholas-stern_n_2567259.html

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Judge approves BP agreement for Gulf oil spill

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge has accepted an agreement by BP Plc to plead guilty for its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and pay $4.5 billion in penalties for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The April 2010 explosion on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers. The mile-deep Macondo oil well then spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf over 87 days, fouling shorelines from Texas to Florida.

"The judge has accepted the plea," a court official said on Tuesday.

The company had said previously it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts related to the workers' deaths, a felony related to obstruction of Congress and two misdemeanors. It also faces five years' probation and the imposition of two monitors who will oversee its safety and ethics for the next four years.

With the plea agreement approved, BP has 60 days to send a remedial plan to the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency laying out how it plans to meet all of its stipulations.

The agencies will then review the plan and likely send it back to BP with proposed changes. The plan could go back and forth among all three parties before a final plan agreed to by all sides is reached.

(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-judge-approves-bp-agreement-gulf-oil-spill-184118722--finance.html

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Heffernan: Celebrating Jane Austen's masterpiece of manners

?An old maid writes with the detachment of a god.?

In honor of the bicentennial of the publication of ?Pride and Prejudice,? I give you the above words, by D. A. Miller, America's most swashbuckling reader of Jane Austen.

That?s the central mystery of Jane Austen?s novels. And what a mystery it is. The author?s voice, though we?re always reminded it belonged to a sour-faced spinster who couldn?t score a husband to save her life, flatly refuses to make itself meek. Meek? Jane Austen?s voice doesn?t even make itself human.

Rather, the Austen world spirit sweeps in omnisciently to ?Pride and Prejudice,? which turns 200 today, laying down universal truths like Solomon or HAL. From there it manipulates the pouts and slaps and rosy countenances of all the single ladies?the Catherines and Elizabeths and Emmas?all the coquettes, ing?nues and hysterics for whom Jay McInerney and all of us wild-eyed Janeites still pine.

The sadistic Austen voice brings authority, stern judgment and only the ghost of a chance for redemption: Her girls, after all, are always caught in the gears of a tightly engineered Austen marriage plot, from whose bourn. No traveler returns.

The Austen voice can mock, rig and savor that plot only because it?that Austen-god?suspends itself well outside the life-threatening grip of courtship and matrimony.

This, anyway, is the argument of Miller in his book, ?Jane Austen, or the Secret of Style.? I can think of no better way to celebrate the bicentennial of ?Pride and Prejudice,? Austen?s great novel of bulimia (among other matters) than with Miller?s book, which like anything good?Mr. Darcy, strong tea, food?can make the brain ache in big doses.

?Great novel of bulimia?? That?s right. Professor Miller, who taught me in graduate school to see the god in the spinster, also showed me what a tyrant Austen was about the importance of being thin and brief (good) versus being fat and prolix (bad, very bad). (Worse than you know.)

His lecture on this subject led to my fascination with the character of Charlotte, Elizabeth?s would-be best friend. You?ll recall that Elizabeth Bennet is the heroine of ?Pride and Prejudice,? the witty resourceful daughter of an emotionally abusive dad who likes Elizabeth best because she?s kind of a tomboy, and smart; she also sucks up to him by slagging off her sisters. In that way, Elizabeth reminds many female reader-types of ourselves?trying to upstage other maybe prettier girls as frivolous nitwits in the name of winning the attention of Important Men. Oh, and then hating ourselves for it.

In any case, Elizabeth has a friend, Charlotte. Charlotte is plainer than Lizzie, with no game in the drawing room. In short, she?s nowhere near as cool as Lizzie, so Lizzie bestows confidences on her?huge emotional outpourings of shame and remorse that she reserves for Charlotte alone, believing, in the immemorial way of popular girls, that the plainer girl is lucky to hear even the snotty, hiccupping self-pity of a superstar like Elizabeth Bennet.

Of course, Lizzie never reciprocates by listening to Charlotte, which is why she is appalled to find out that Charlotte is not with her in lockstep on her oft-repeated resolution not to marry a loser. Charlotte, who?s been an obedient sidekick to Lizzie for half the novel, turns the tables and boldly elopes with a loser?a former suitor of Lizzie?s, in fact?and Lizzie is absolutely crushed. Deservedly so. She can?t control everyone! (Only her maker, Austen, can.) It?s a horror when you realize this; take it from me.

How is this bulimia? I?ll tell you. Lizzie is all about being brief and witty; only goofy girls or sententious men talk too much. To monopolize conversations is like eating whole cakes. It shows no restraint and it?s disgusting. At the same time there?s much talk of Lizzie?s light-footedness and general low body weight. This is in contrast to the droning bore, Miss Bates, who is coded as fat and also can?t shut up.

But how does Lizzie keep her conversation and her figure in fighting shape? Does she have naturally modest appetites for food and attention? No. She is roiling with the same hungers everyone has, but she?s put herself in an empire-waist straitjacket of wit, wit and more wit, so she has nowhere to go when she just wants to babble and sob. To binge. To purge.

That?s where Charlotte comes in. By expressing herself to Charlotte at length and in sordid hues?gorging on cupcakes of emotion and then barfing them up in the silent, yielding bin of her friend?Lizzie frees herself up to impress Mr. Darcy by seeming slim and tart. (Is that the acid reflux?)

Go back and read ?Pride and Prejudice? and see for yourself. It?s about courtship, all right, but it?s also about the ways we try vainly to keep ourselves aloof from emotions and the whims and longings of our mortal bodies. Some of that, in younger years especially, involves using our friends. (Susanna Sonnenberg explores this and more in her beautiful and unsparing new book, ?She Matters: A Life in Friendships.?) And some of it involves becoming authors ourselves and hoping that that will, once and for all, immunize us from being human. Here?s to that effort, vain and tender. Happy birthday, ?Pride and Prejudice.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/happy-anniversary--jane-austen--spinster-god-195103217.html

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TV veteran developing news show for Fuse

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Fuse television network has turned to news veteran Rick Kaplan, who has run CNN and MSNBC and produced programs like "Nightline," to develop a music news program aimed largely at people some 40 years younger than him.

"Fuse News" is set to debut Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern time with pre-Grammy Awards coverage. The half-hour show, originating from Fuse's studios across from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will be repeated at midnight.

"A lot of people are covering music in different ways," said Mike Bair, president of MSG Media, Fuse's corporate ownership. "But not a lot of people are covering it deeper and in a respectful way. We thought there was a real opportunity for us."

Fuse, available in some 70 million homes, is overshadowed by MTV, but unlike its competitor has kept its focus on music and is looking for a signature show.

Kaplan, 65, walked through a busy newsroom with TVs tuned to a Fuse countdown of sexy rap videos one recent afternoon. The 47-time Emmy winner had most recently produced Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News" and Christiane Amanpour's stint on ABC's Sunday morning and has formed his own consulting company.

Bair reached out to Kaplan through a mutual friend to gauge interest, and the idea intrigued Kaplan.

"While he's not in the target audience for Fuse (the network's median age is around 27), I think he also saw the opportunity," Bair said.

A whiteboard in Fuse's office already lists story plans for the first month. The collapse of the traditional music industry has made for many changes ripe for examining.

One future story will talk about bands scalping tickets to their own concerts, another about the sound quality issues behind the resurgence of vinyl. If "Fuse News" was on the air last week, it wouldn't treat the story about Beyonce lip-synching at the inauguration as a joke, but rather look into how widespread the practice is, Kaplan said.

"I want it to be a place where if you're involved in the industry in any way ? and that means anybody with a headset ? this will be the place where you will want to go," Kaplan said.

Kaplan's tastes run to the Eagles, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Now he's learning about electronic dance music, and even liking some of it. Liz Walaszczyk, a 28-year-old producer and contributing correspondent on "Fuse News," is gently introducing her boss to bands like the Xx.

And he's introducing her to the news.

Walaszczyk, who booked bands for Carson Daly's NBC show before joining Fuse, said that she finds blogs like Pitchfork and Stereogum helpful but that there's a void in serious music journalism. Kaplan is teaching her the importance of detail in every question asked and picture selected for her stories.

"I hear his voice and I think, 'This man has spoken to so many legends,'" she said.

Co-anchors for the show are Alexa Chung and Matte Babel. Former Gawker writer Elaine Moran and Jack Osbourne are contributing correspondents.

Yes, the news producer who once worked with Walter Cronkite is telling Ozzy's kid what to do.

Kaplan brushed aside a question about whether some people in the television news business might consider his current gig a comedown.

"Oh, God no," he said. "By no means. People who say that don't get it. It's a great privilege to be asked to do this program. It's the only serious program in this industry. It's a serious attempt to report on music in a credible way."

He said he's having a blast.

"In many ways, what Fuse is attempting to do with this show is more cutting edge than what any of the networks are doing," he said. "We're not starting a magazine show. We're not tinkering with the evening news."

The show will also have studio guests and music performances. Kaplan has hired Audrey Gruber, a former CBS News and CNN producer, to eventually take over for him when the show is up and running.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tv-veteran-developing-news-show-fuse-221446265.html

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Flood Insurance Delay Paints Bleak Picture For Sandy Victims

Patch:

In New Jersey, thousands of families are still displaced with little indication of when and if they?ll be able to return to their pre-Sandy lives. They are hoping their insurance can make them whole again by providing the funding necessary to make repairs and raise their homes, but the process is proving to be a slow one. As the winter creeps on, the future of many of those who?ve lost their homes to Sandy remains uncertain.

Read the whole story at Patch

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/flood-insurance-hurricane-sandy-victims_n_2565050.html

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New York City's schools could lose 2,500 teachers by next year

(Reuters) - New York City's public schools over two years will lose $724 million in state aid and as many as 2,500 teachers through attrition, because of a labor union conflict over a teacher evaluation system, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

The schools lost $250 million of that total earlier this month after the city and United Federation of Teachers failed to agree on a way to evaluate teacher performance.

City schools would lose that same baseline funding amount in the state's coming fiscal year, which begins April 1, plus another $224 million under the state budget proposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo last week, Bloomberg said at a joint legislative hearing.

State legislators passed a law in 2010 that tied state aid to teacher evaluations. About 99 percent of the state's school districts have implemented some kind of evaluation plan, Cuomo has said.

Lawmakers on Monday began to review Cuomo's proposed budget. Bloomberg is scheduled to present his own budget for the city on Tuesday.

Separately, the city's $22 billion public school system, which is controlled by the mayor, lost $200 million in federal education funding when it missed the deadline.

As a result of the missing funds, the city will lose 700 teachers through attrition this year and could lose another 1,800 in fiscal 2014, Bloomberg said during the televised hearing.

The state used to pay for about half of New York City's school budget but now pays 39 percent, even as the system has expanded with more students, Bloomberg said.

City schools could lose $1 billion altogether in baseline state funding without action on the teacher evaluations, said New York City Comptroller John Liu, who testified after Bloomberg.

Liu, a Democrat, is a possible contender for mayor this year as Bloomberg's third term expires.

He blamed Bloomberg for losing the money, saying the impasse was fueled by "quite a dose of ideology" from the mayor, whose testimony "very much clarified exactly where the responsibility lies."

Bloomberg, however, said that the union tried to introduce new provisions to an agreement at the last minute that would have made the evaluation system a "fraud" because it would have expired in two years - the same amount of time required to conduct the evaluations, making the process pointless.

The state's education department "accepted plans they knew were total frauds," Bloomberg told lawmakers. "It's a fraud on the public."

"I made a decision that we would be better off" without the funds if it meant the city could avoid such a flawed system, he said.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew has said the union is not the obstacle, and that it is willing to negotiate a new teacher evaluation system by Cuomo's next deadline on September 1.

The school system, the largest in the United States, serves about 1.1 million students in more than 1,700 schools, according to the city's Department of Education.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/york-citys-schools-could-lose-2-500-teachers-192833730.html

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Video: Art Auction Oversight Under Scrutiny

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50618703/

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'First time' may predict lifelong sexual satisfaction

Jan. 28, 2013 ? Research conducted by Matthew Shaffer, a doctoral psychology student at UT and C. Veronica Smith, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Mississippi, reveals that the first sexual experience can set the tone for the rest of one's sexual life.

The study is published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy and is the first to look at whether the circumstances of losing one's virginity have lasting consequences.

"The loss of virginity is often viewed as an important milestone in human development, signifying a transition to adulthood," said Shaffer. "However, it has not been studied in this capacity. We wanted to see the influence it may have related to emotional and physical development."

The researchers examined how first-time sexual satisfaction impacts long-term sexual function as well as how first-time physical and emotional responses affect long-term sexual experiences. They found that positive first-time experiences were predictive of physical and emotional satisfaction. Specifically, those who felt loved and respected by their partner found later encounters more emotionally satisfying.

The researchers asked 331 young men and women about how they lost their virginity. The anonymous participants ranked the experience according to emotions related to anxiety, contentment and regret. They also answered questions about their sex life using scales measuring sense of control, satisfaction and well-being. Finally, the participants filled out a diary for two weeks describing each sexual experience.

A series of analyses revealed those who were most emotionally and physically satisfied the first time found their sex lives the most fulfilling. Those who reported higher levels of anxiety and negativity with the first time reported lower overall sexual functioning.

"While this study doesn't prove that a better first time makes for a better sex life in general, a person's experience of losing their virginity may set the pattern for years to come," said Shaffer.

Shaffer suggests that a first-time sexual experience may create a general pattern of thought and behavior that guides sexual experiences and understanding of information concerning sexuality.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. C. Veronica Smith, Matthew J. Shaffer. Gone But Not Forgotten: Virginity Loss and Current Sexual Satisfaction. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 2013; 39 (2): 96 DOI: 10.1080/0092623X.2012.675023

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/living_well/~3/L5jWJFwKgz0/130128104732.htm

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Anne Hathaway, Tommy Lee Jones win Screen Actors Guild awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Hathaway took home prizes at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday, as Hollywood actors picked the best performances of 2012 in film and television on an evening that will likely define some of the top Oscar races next month.

Jones, 66, won the best supporting actor trophy for his turn as Thaddeus Stevens, the radical congressman in "Lincoln," beating strong competition from Robert De Niro's gruff father in "Silver Linings Playbook." The category is seen as one of the closest races at the Oscars on February 24.

Hathaway, 30, won her first SAG award for her supporting role as the tragic Fantine in musical "Les Miserables."

"I got my SAG card when I was 14 .. And I have loved every single minute of my life as an actor," said Hathaway, accepting the statuette.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) ceremony is among the most-watched during Hollywood's awards season because actors make up the largest voting bloc in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars. The SAG honors are chosen by about 100,000 actors working in the United States.

Lincoln," about U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's battle to end slavery, French revolution musical "Les Miserables," and comedy "Silver Linings Playbook," about a bipolar man's unlikely romance, went into Sunday's show with four nominations apiece, including the top prize of best ensemble cast.

The cast of Iranian hostage drama "Argo" and British comedy "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," about a group of seniors who retire to a ramshackle hotel in India, received two nominations each.

Briton Daniel Day-Lewis is seen as a shoo-in for SAG's best actor prize after picking up a slew of awards already for his towering performance as Lincoln. Day-Lewis is also seen as a front-runner for a record third Oscar next month.

All eyes on Sunday are focused on the lead actress category, to be announced toward the end of the two-hour SAG ceremony, where award watchers say Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence are in a tight race.

Chastain won a Golden Globe this month for her role as a feisty CIA agent credited with tracking down Osama bin Laden in thriller "Zero Dark Thirty." Lawrence also took home a Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy for her portrayal of a young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook."

Both SAG and the Academy Awards combine the drama and comedy categories, putting the two actresses in a head-to-head battle.

Strong performances by Bradley Cooper, Australian actress Jacki Weaver and comedian Chris Tucker could also help "Silver Linings Playbook" to win best ensemble cast on Sunday.

However, the SAG winner may not be an indicator of Oscar best picture success for the quirky romance, especially in a year where the race for the biggest Oscar prize is seen as wide open.

"Sometimes smaller indie films with great acting can win the big prize at SAG, but they don't have the technical credentials to win best picture at the Oscars," said Dave Karger, movie correspondent for Fandango.com.

In an indicator of movie industry sentiment, "Argo" won the Producers Guild Award in Los Angeles, beating "Lincoln," "Les Miserables," and "Silver Linings Playbook" which are all Academy Award best picture contenders.

SAG also presents awards for performances in TV dramas, comedies and mini-series. It will give a lifetime achievement award to actor Dick Van Dyke.

"Modern Family" won the best comedy cast ensemble award for the third time. Alec Baldwin won best TV comedy actor for the 8th time for his role as an egotistical executive in "30 Rock" and his co-star Tina Fey took the honors for TV comedy actress.

Drama ensemble acting nominees include the casts of "Boardwalk Empire," "Homeland," "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad" and "Downton Abbey."

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis, editing by Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anne-hathaway-tommy-lee-jones-win-screen-actors-020458701.html

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Store Ice Cream in Freezer Bags for Easier Scooping

David Galloway

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Reddit user CorbinMontego found that, if you store your ice cream container in a freezer bag, it won't freeze into the frozen dessert brick and you can scoop it out much more easily.

Of course you could always let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes, but when you want ice cream now that may not be an appealing alternative. For immediate consumption use this tip or just cut it with a knife.

Found a method to keep ICE CREAM soft. It doesn't have to bend your spoon. As soft as when you first open it, everytime. | Reddit

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Arx9U-3K53k/store-ice-cream-in-freezer-bags-for-easier-scooping

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What Else Will Michelle Obama Do With 4 More Years | Your Health ...

From Your Health Journal?..?Always love articles from the Washington Post, and try to promote their site when possible. Today?s article review from The Post is called New bangs, Twitter feed, now what else will Michelle Obama do with 4 more years as first lady? Mrs. Obama has done an excellent job in the fight against childhood obesity, and should be commended for her work. She has brought attention to this issue, gotten many high profile people involved in her Let?s Move initiative, and has helped many families. Let?s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. Sure, this is an ambitious goal. But with your help, we can do it. Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let?s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years. Giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices. Providing healthier foods in our schools. Ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food. And, helping children become more physically active. But, now she has 4 more years in the White House, will she continue pushing the fight against childhood obesity or take on more causes? When Mrs. Obama was asked if she was interested in any more causes, she hinted towards woman?s health, but my guess, she will continue her fight against childhood obesity. If the wheels not broke, why fix it. Please visit The Washington Post site to read the complete article. The link is provided at the bottom of this page for their site, but I included a short snip from the article below.?

From the article?..

Michelle Obama has a new look, both in person and online, and with the president?s re-election, she has four more years as first lady, too.

That?s got many people wondering: What will she do with them?

Take on a new cause? Travel more? Trace the path of another first lady and keep the Obama political brand alive by running for office?

The answers are to be determined.

The first lady is trying to figure out what comes next for this self-described ?mom in chief? who also is a champion of healthier eating, an advocate for military families, a fitness buff and the best-selling author of a book about her White House garden.

For certain, she?ll press ahead with her well-publicized efforts to reduce childhood obesity and rally the country around its service members.

?But beyond that, the first lady is exploring ways that she can make a real difference for Americans, not just for these next four years, but for years to come,? said Kristina Schake, Mrs. Obama?s communications director.

Here are five areas to watch.

NEW ISSUES

Will she take on a new cause? It?s possible.

When Parade magazine asked last year whether she?d take up any new issues, Mrs. Obama identified women?s health issues. ?How do we strengthen families and make them healthier, an issue not just in America but around the world,? she said.

Her marquee causes ? the ?Let?s Move? campaign against childhood obesity and the ?Joining Forces? effort to help military families ? took a back seat last fall as she campaigned doggedly for President Barack Obama?s re-election.

Look for her to begin publicizing those efforts anew.

Do not expect to see Mrs. Obama push more contentious issues such as gun control or immigration, both second-term priorities for the president. Her public approval rating was 73 percent in a December poll by CNN and she?d like to keep it there.

Some feminists remain unhappy that the Ivy League-educated lawyer hasn?t used her position to champion what they view as more substantive issues.

Robert Watson, an American studies professor at Lynn University, said he hopes Mrs. Obama will use her popularity to pivot away from the ?velvet-glove? issues first ladies typically embrace and say, ?I?m swinging for the fence.?

To read the complete article?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=11956

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