After just two months of marriage, the reality-TV duo is calling it quits! See more celeb pairs who are back to going solo
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Monday, October 31, 2011
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(AP)
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
NBA cancels all games through Nov. 30 (AP)
NEW YORK ? As NBA players and owners wait to see who will blink first, fans are stuck staring at a blank calendar.
NBA Commissioner David Stern canceled the rest of the November games Friday, saying there will not be a full NBA season "under any circumstances."
The move came about after labor negotiations broke down again when both sides refused to budge on how to split the league's revenues, the same issue that derailed talks last week.
Now, a full month of NBA games have been canceled, and Stern said there's no way of getting them back.
"We held out that joint hope together, but in light of the breakdown of talks, there will not be a full NBA season under any circumstances," he said.
"It's not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now," added Stern, who previously canceled the first two weeks of the season.
And he repeated his warnings that the proposals might now get even harsher as the league tries to make up the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be lost as the lockout drags on.
"We're going to have to recalculate how bad the damage is," Stern said. "The next offer will reflect the extraordinary losses that are piling up now."
Just a day earlier, Stern had said he would consider it a failure if the sides didn't reach a deal in the next few days and vowed they would take "one heck of a shot" to get it done.
Instead, negotiations broke off again over the division of basketball-related income, just as they did last Thursday. Union executive director Billy Hunter said the league again insisted it had to be split 50-50, while Stern said Hunter just walked out and left rather than discuss going below 52 percent.
Owners are insistent on a 50-50 split, while players last formally proposed they get 52.5 percent, leaving them about $100 million apart annually. Players were guaranteed 57 percent in the previous collective bargaining agreement.
"Derek (Fisher) and I made it clear that we could not take the 50-50 deal to our membership. Not with all the concessions that we granted," Hunter said. "We said we got to have some dollars."
Instead, they'll now be out roughly $350 million, the losses Hunter previously projected for each month the players were locked out. He believed a full season could be played if a deal were made this weekend, but Stern emphatically ruled out any hope of that now.
"These are not punitive announcements; these are calendar generated announcements," Stern said.
No further talks have been scheduled.
There was a sense of optimism entering the day after progress was made on salary cap issues during about 24 hours of talks over the previous two days. Then the sides brought the revenue split back into the discussion Friday and promptly got stuck on both issues.
Stern said the NBA owners were "willing" to go to 50 percent. But he said Hunter was unwilling to "go a penny below 52," that he had been getting many calls from agents and then closed up his book and walked out of the room.
Hunter said the league initially moved its target down to 47 percent during Friday's six-hour session, then returned to its previous proposal of 50 percent of revenues.
"We made a lot of concessions, but unfortunately at this time it's not enough, and we're not prepared or unable at this time to move any further," Hunter said.
Union president Fisher said it was difficult to say why talks broke down, or when they would start up again.
"We're here, we've always been here, but today just wasn't the day to try and finish this out," he said.
There was some good news.
Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said there was essentially a "tentative agreement" on most system issues, with Stern rattling off some of them: Owners agreed to keep the midlevel exception starting at $5 million a year; and contract lengths would be five years for players staying with their teams and four when leaving for another.
"And then we hit a wall," Stern said.
The small groups that were meeting the previous two days grew a bit Friday. Union vice presidents Chris Paul ? wearing a Yankees cap for his trip to New York ? and Theo Ratliff joined the talks, and economist Kevin Murphy returned after he was unavailable Thursday. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stayed for the session after taking part Thursday.
Fisher said there were still too many restrictions in the owners' proposal. Players want to keep a system similar to the old one, and fear owners' ideas would limit player movement and the choices available to them in free agency.
And though they might be inclined to give up one if they received more concessions on the other, players make it sound as if they are the ones doing all the giving back.
The old cap system allowed teams to exceed it through the use of a number of exceptions, many of which the league wants to tweak or even eliminate. Hunter has called a hard cap a "blood issue" to players, and though the league has backed off its initial proposal calling for one, players think the changes owners want would work like one.
"We've told them that we don't want a hard cap. We don't want a hard cap any kind of way, either an obvious hard cap or a hard cap that may not be as obvious to most people but we know it works like a hard cap," Hunter said. "And so you get there, and then all of a sudden they say, `Well, we also have to have our number.' And you say, `Well wait a minute, you're not negotiating in good faith.'"
But if players think what's being proposed is a hard cap, here's another warning: Silver won't rule out the league seeking one again.
"Our response is then let's have a hard cap, which is what we wanted," he said.
"We don't think it's a hard cap. ... We've all been wasting our time if they believe this is a hard cap. We've been spending literally hundreds of hours negotiating the specifics of a system, where they're now saying is the equivalent of a hard cap. We've been clear from the beginning from a league standpoint we would prefer a hard cap."
When players offered to reduce their guarantee from 57 percent to 53 percent, Hunter said that would have transferred about $1.1 billion to owners over six years. Now, at 52.5, he said that would grow to more than $1.5 billion.
But even a 50-50 split would be too high for some hardline owners, because it would reduce only $280 million of the $300 million they said they lost last season. Owners initially proposed a BRI split that players said would have had them around 40 percent.
Though they will miss a paycheck on Nov. 15, Hunter said each player would have received a minimum of $100,000 from the escrow money that was returned to them to make up the difference after salaries fell short of the guaranteed 57 percent of revenues last season.
The real losses, though, could be felt by arena staff and other people who work in fields connected to the game. Stern apologized to them in making the announcement.
But Jeff Lee, a 37-year-old cafe owner and Warriors season-ticketholder in the East Bay, said he isn't discouraged about Friday's setback.
"I'm pretty certain that the season's going to start sooner or later," Lee said. "I know when the season starts it's going to be well worth the wait."
___
AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in Oakland, Calif. contributed to this report.
___
Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: twitter.com/Briancmahoney
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Telikin Touch
- Type
- All-in-one, Touchscreen All-In-One
- Processor Family
- Intel Atom
- RAM
- 2 GB
- Storage Capacity (as Tested)
- 320 GB
- Graphics Card
- Intel GMA 3150
- Primary Optical Drive
- Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
- Operating System
- Linux
The Telikin Touch is an 18-inch all in one PC centered on communication: it's got a simple to use touch interface, so it doesn't have the steep learning curve for a neophyte computer user. The Telkin Touch is built into a standard looking all in one PC chassis, with webcam and an 18-inch widescreen. The Telikin Touch was initially designed to be a "senior friendly" PC with a touch interface so users wouldn't need to use the keyboard and mouse. However, the system's information retrieval and social networking features should appeal to the general population and families too.
?The Telikin Touch is built around a white and clear plastic all in one chassis with an Intel Dual Core D525 processor, 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 320GB hard drive, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and a 1,600 by 900 resolution 18-inch display. The system includes a webcam for video conferenceing, a standard wired USB mouse and keyboard, and is pre-loaded with a Linux-based operating system. The Linux operating system inherently protects the end users from Windows-based threats like malware, though of course this means that end users will have less access to store-bought software. To that end, Telikin has pre-loaded the system with an Office-compatible suite of programs, as well as lifetime updates to the pre-loaded programs and operating system.
Telikin also has preloaded a primary interface that feeds the user news, weather, calendar info, web browsing, video chat, address book, email, DVD playback, CD playback, and tech support. Phone and email tech support is free for the first 60 days, and $9.95 a month afterward. The system can support up to three separate logins, so you can keep emails and video chat records private. The Telikin Touch also has built in support for HP printers, in case the user needs to print things like online boarding passes or mailing labels. The Telikin Touch has a MSRP of $799 and is available now.
Stay tuned to pcmag.com for a review of the Telikin Touch.
?
Product not yet reviewed by PCMag editors
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/b_lTOwNdQ7E/0,2817,2395274,00.asp
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MetroPCS Communications Inc. Third Quarter Earnings on Deck ...
Scottrade: $7 Online Trades. Real-Time Stock Quotes 
S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE:PCS) will unveil its latest earnings on Tuesday, November 1, 2011. MetroPCS Communications is a wireless communications carrier that offers broadband mobile services in the United States.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet
Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 23 cents per share, a rise of 4.5% from the company?s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 29 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 23 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 18.6% versus last year to 83 cents.
Past Earnings Performance: The company is looking to break the streak of missing estimates in the past two quarters. Last quarter, it fell short of analyst expectations by reporting net income of 24 cents per share against an estimate of profit of 28 cents per share. The quarter before that, it missed forecasts by 3 cents.
Investing Insights: Here?s Why Chipotle?s Stock Keeps Winning.
Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $1.22 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 19.6% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $4.87 billion for the year, a rise of 19.7% from last year?s revenue of $4.07 billion.
Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 14 analysts rating it as a buy, one rating it as a sell and 11 rating it as a hold.
A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 5.5% to $84.3 million (23 cents a share) from $79.9 million (22 cents a share) the year earlier, but fell short analyst expectations. Revenue rose 19.4% to $1.21 billion from $1.01 billion.
Key Stats:
The company has enjoyed double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth for the past four quarters. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 17.8%, with the biggest boost coming in the first quarter when revenue rose 23.1% from the year earlier quarter.
The company has seen net income rise in two straight quarters. In the first quarter, profit rose more than twofold.
Competitors to Watch: Leap Wireless Intl., Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S), NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NTLS), Telephone & Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS), United States Cellular Corp. (NYSE:USM), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. (NASDAQ:SHEN), Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR), and Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGY).
Stock Price Performance: During August 30, 2011 to October 26, 2011, the stock price had fallen $1.56 (-13.9%) from $11.25 to $9.69. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between October 27, 2010 and November 8, 2010 when shares rose for nine-straight days, rising 18.7% (+$1.92) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 22, 2011 and August 2, 2011 when shares fell for eight-straight days, falling 40.5% (-$6.97) over that span. Shares are down $2.94 (-23.3%) year to date.
(Source: Xignite Financials)
Investing Insights: Here?s Why Chipotle?s Stock Keeps Winning.
?
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Breaking Dawn Television Trailer: Go Team Jacob!
Step aside for a moment, Edward.
While Robert Pattinson's beloved Twilight Saga is featured in a pair of new Breaking Dawn clips - hoisting his new wife into his arms HERE and reacting to her wild, unexpected news HERE - the following teaser is all about Jacob Black.
Oh, yes, it's all Taylor Lautner all the time, as we see Jacob respond to Bella's pregnancy, standing up for her and staring down Edward. Enjoy now!
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/breaking-dawn-television-trailer-go-team-jacob/
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Mortgage rates for the past 52 weeks, at a glance (AP)
By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? 1?hr?43?mins?ago | The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was nearly unchanged for a second straight week after rising from a record low, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Three weeks ago, the average rate fell below 4 percent for the first time in history. Here's a look at rates for fixed and adjustable mortgages over the past 52 weeks. |
| Current week's average Last week's average 52-week high 52-week low |
| 30-year fixed 4.10 4.11 5.05 3.94 |
| 15-year fixed 3.38 3.38 4.29 3.26 |
| 5-year adjustable 3.08 3.01 3.92 2.96 |
| 1-year adjustable 2.90 2.94 3.40 2.81 |
| All values are in percentage points. |
| Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. |
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Copyright ? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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What Makes a Rabbit's Foot Lucky?
Ed note: As Halloween rapidly approaches in the US, AiP will be exploring superstitions, beliefs, and the things that go bump in the night. [Evil laugh.]
At some point, most of us have likely had a token that we believed would protect us or bring us luck. It could have been a baseball cap, a pair of socks, a key chain, a piece of jewelry, a rock or some other otherwise ordinary object that held deeper meaning for us or offered comfort when we needed it most. ?I?ve had a variety of tokens, including a Cat?s Eye marble a two-dollar bill and a black stone with the word ?Ahoy? engraved on it. The stone is my most recent token?a gift from a friend, it typically finds its way into my pocket or on my person to help me face things that make me nervous.
I?ve never had a rabbit?s foot, though. And while I am willing to accept that carrying one is no stranger than carrying a rock to help things go smoothly, there?s something slightly creepy?to me?about carrying a dead animal?s body part around for luck. Even if it?s artificial. (Though, if it?s not the real thing, is it still lucky? It didn?t go through the ?fortune-making? process, after all.)
Do You Have a Fetish?
Lucky charms are in essence fetishes: objects culturally invested with magical properties. But they are also constructed to carry social power as well. Why does one carry a lucky token? Because one believes that fortune is needed in some way. But it might also suggest that the owner of the token is unlucky, or lacks confidence?which is perhaps why our lucky tokens are often small, discrete objects. This is in keeping with the general belief that the owner falsely or overly values such items; they are childish and trivial items that can be readily dismissed by others.[i]
Despite this undercurrent, the behavior persists. So where do lucky tokens get their power from?
Subversive Elements
Folklorist Bill Ellis traces the lore of the rabbit?s foot to an interesting thread of subversion evident in the ways these tokens were certified?the process by which they were created determined the effectiveness of the charms. For example, one advertisement read, ?the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left handed, red-headed, bow-legged Negro riding a white horse.?[ii]
Ellis labels these descriptive terms as ?backward elements??that is, they run counter to positive, fortuitous signs: the rear and left side is the ?sinister side,? red hair and physical deformities were regarded as unlucky, the dark of the moon and Friday the 13th are both regarded as sinister times, and albino mules or horses were regarded as unlucky.
While some online sources suggest that the fecund nature of rabbits translates into a proliferation of good fortune for the bearer, Ellis notes that rabbits were also familiars.[iii] There are countless tales of witches being identified when animals are marked or maimed (with a silver bullet) while conducting mischief and similarly placed wounds appear on a local woman. We know how such stories go: There?s a farmer whose crops are disappearing overnight, so he sets up a watch and winds up shooting a white rabbit. Though he searches, he can?t find the rabbit, but the next day he learns that a local village woman?who has a reputation for being strange?has died from a mysterious wound in approximately the same area where he shot the rabbit. [Cue spooky music.]
Even more curious, for the rabbit?s foot to be a powerful token, the animal must be killed on a grave?and the more wicked the person buried beneath, the better. President Cleveland allegedly had a rabbit?s foot from a rabbit killed on the grave of Jesse James.[iv] Yes, that Jesse James?though in all fairness, I don?t know how the claims were verified.
Does it seem strange to anyone else that an item that is supposed to be lucky has such an ominous weight to it?
Dead Out of Luck?
Gold locket containing the hair of Marie Antoinette.
Carrying tokens from the dead is actually not at all a new practice. The veneration of relics is a manifestation of the power that body parts can hold for some people. It was also fairly common to keep a lock of hair in the mid 19th-century as a keepsake of the departed?there were even lockets marketed specifically for the purpose.[v] Thus, the properly slain rabbit could serve as a substitute for the deceased?a rabbit?s foot standing in for Jesse James? little finger, for example.
Mixing all of these sinister signs transfers power to the owner of the token. If the preparatory ritual is followed correctly, the rabbit?s foot can take on elements of the deceased. Possession of such an item allows the owner to counteract the negativity that surrounds it. There is social power in being able to take an object of this nature:
Possessing a fetish that embodies the essence of a dangerous Other?whether trickster, badman, or witch?and using it for one?s own purposes effectively neutralizes the thread represented by that Other.?[vi]
The owner of such a token manipulates existing ideology to empower himself. Ellis links the rabbit?s foot lore to African American magical traditions?where the rabbit is a familiar in Anglo traditions, the rabbit is a clever creature in the African tradition of B?rer Rabbit, who consistently employed wit, creativity, and intelligence to manage conflicts:
(T)he law was one area in which Black impotence was particularly visible. White policemen and sheriffs frequently enforced regulations against such victimless crimes as gambling and moonshining, and they often did it in a way that upheld White interests. For this reason, figures such as B?rer Rabbit (and later badman heroes such as Stagolee and Railroad Bill) were seen as heroic precisely because they resisted a legal code that the Black community saw as intrinsically corrupt ? the fetish-makers saw the tradition as a way of empowering individuals to saw ?Yo? know ah?m de law? and imitate the badman?s wy of making ?things go mah way.?[vii]
The rabbit?s foot is thus not a token of luck solely because it may provide parallels to fecundity, but because it reminds the bearer of courage in adverse situations.
Artificial Fortunes
The power of the rabbit?s foot stems from the ritual process of creation. However, the market has been flooded by artificial creations. Do these fake feet have the same power? Yes, because it?s been allowed to take on a life of its own, liberating it from human control.[viii] The belief in the power of the artifact transcends the actual power of the artifact, which allows the owner to overlook the technicalities of creation?and permits the item to draw on a history as a source for its power.
The personal relationship to these items can?t be forgotten?perhaps a beloved relative owned a rabbit?s foot, or one was gifted to the owner at a momentous occasion. The positive associations we tie to these items also imbue them with a power that may be meaningful only to the individual, but is meaningful all the same.
Whatever your lucky token, I hope it brings you much good fortune.
?
Lead Image Credit: Flickr/Vern Hart | Locket: Flickr/Kotomicreations
Referenced: Bill Ellis (2002). Why Is a Lucky Rabbit?s Foot Lucky? Body Parts as Fetishes. Journal of Folklore Research, 39 (1), 51-84
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4dd0145204fabd9c19d2c9fc270d939a
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Source found for immune system effects on learning, memory
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists.
Earlier studies by Staci Bilbo, an assistant professor in psychology & neuroscience, had shown that laboratory rats experiencing an infection at an early age have an aggressive immune response to subsequent infections, which also harms their learning and memory.
In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself.
The researchers found that specialized immune system cells in the brain called microglia release a signaling molecule called Interleukin-1, or IL-1, in response to an infection. IL-1 is also crucial to normal learning and memory in the hippocampus region of the brain. But too much IL-1 can impair learning and memory in laboratory animals.
"These same molecules go up in response to any brain infection. I don't really understand why you would build a brain that way, except that there are clearly benefits in other aspects of immunity, outside the brain," Bilbo said.
In a series of experiments she has been conducting for nearly a decade, very young rats are exposed to infection and then challenged again later with a second infection consisting of only harmless, dead bacteria. The "second hit" has been shown to affect learning and memory while these rats mount a highly effective immune response.
"The microglia remember that infection and respond differently," she said. "The infection itself wasn't doing permanent damage. It was changing the immune system somehow."
The second infection doesn't even have to be directly involved with the brain. A bacterial lesion on a limb produces enough of a signal to make the glia in the brain pump out extra IL-1. "These rats handle peripheral infection really well, but at a cost to the brain," Bilbo said.
To find out what had changed in the brains of the infected rats, the team used techniques borrowed from immunology to sort out one specific cell type from brain tissue rapidly enough that they could see what the cells had been doing.
The work adds to an emerging picture of glial cells acting in the brain much the same way immune system macrophages operate elsewhere in the body ? gobbling up other cells and tearing them apart. The glia also perform a pruning function to streamline the brain's neural architecture as it matures. But some brain disorders appear to be a case of dysfunctional pruning, Bilbo said.
To test how the immune response affected memory, Bilbo's team placed all the rats in a novel environment and exposed them to a sound and a mild shock through their feet. A normal rat remembers the environment after one trial, freezing in place immediately when they enter the familiar setting a second time.
But rats exposed to infection, who tend to overproduce IL-1, stroll through the previously painful experience as if they've never seen it before, Bilbo said.
Even without experiencing the second immune challenge, the rats infected as youngsters also seem to show cognitive declines earlier than their normal control counterparts. "This is intriguingly similar to what you see in Alzheimer's. It's really kind of scary," Bilbo said.
"These findings could help us understand why some humans are more vulnerable than others to cognitive impairments from chronic infections, aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said Raz Yirmiya, a professor of psychobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved in the research. "This might also lead to new approaches toward diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic procedures for these conditions."
Any illness that triggers an immune response tends to slow a person's cognition down as their body enters a recovery mode, but these animals have some sort of permanent change in their immune response, Bilbo said. The newborn rats exposed to infections in these experiments are roughly equivalent to a third-trimester human fetus, but it would be too soon to say what parallels these findings may have in humans, she said.
###
Duke University: http://www.duke.edu
Thanks to Duke University for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114651/Source_found_for_immune_system_effects_on_learning__memory
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Coroner: Amy Winehouse died from too much alcohol (AP)
LONDON ? Amy Winehouse died as the unintended consequence of drinking too much alcohol, a British coroner ruled Wednesday.
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying the singer died of accidental alcohol poisoning. "The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.
The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. An initial autopsy proved inconclusive, although it found no traces of illegal drugs in her system.
Pathologist Suhail Baithun told the inquest into the singer's death that Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" ? the level in her blood put her more than five times over the legal drunk-driving limit.
Police Detective Inspector Les Newman, who was called after a security guard found Winehouse, said empty vodka bottles were scattered around her bedroom.
Winehouse's doctor, Dr. Christina Romete, said the singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after a period of abstinence.
Romete, who saw Winehouse the night before she died, said the singer was "tipsy but calm." She said Winehouse had not spoken of suicide, and talked about her upcoming birthday.
Romete said Winehouse had been prescribed drugs including the sedative Librium to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, but the coroner said these had played no role in her death.
Winehouse family spokesman Chris Goodman said it was a relief to the family "to finally find out what happened to Amy."
"The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain to us that she could not win in time," he said.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Police: Father of smothered TN twins not fiance
GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) ? A detective says a mother accused in the smothering deaths of her newborn twins told him the babies' father might not be her fiance and that DNA tests proved it.
Twenty-five-year old Lindsey Lowe sobbed audibly Tuesday as Hendersonville Police Det. Steve Malach described how Lowe had told him of the affair in December and January.
Lowe's attorney, John Pellegrin, said after the hearing that it was the first time Lowe had heard the results of the paternity test.
Lowe is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Malach testified that Lowe told him she covered the mouths of the infants after giving birth on Sept. 12 so that her parents would not hear their cries.
The case was sent to the grand jury.
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Customer Support Solution Provider UserVoice Launches New Reporting Tools
UserVoice, makers of tools for managing customer support and feedback,?is today launching a new reporting tool for?businesses?using its "Instant Answers" service. The service, which is built into the UserVoice Full Service system, allows companies to automatically connect their help requests to available Knowledge Base entries in order to provide an immediate answer to incoming queries. With today's launch of the reporting tool, those companies will now be able to tell how effective their Knowledge Base is at providing those answers to their customers.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ljkmcLH02o0/
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Panel: Boys should get HPV vaccine given to girls (AP)
ATLANTA ? A vaccine against cervical cancer hasn't been all that popular for girls. It may be even a harder sell for boys now that it's been recommended for them too.
A government advisory panel on Tuesday decided that the vaccine should also be given to boys, in part to help prevent the cancer-causing virus through sex.
Public health officials have tried since 2006 to get parents to have their daughters vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes most of the cervical cancer in women.
They have had limited success, hitting a number of hurdles. Some parents distrust the safety of vaccines, especially newer products. Others don't want to think about their daughters having sex one day, or worry that the vaccine essentially promotes promiscuous behavior.
Tuesday's vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' was the first to strongly recommend routine vaccination for boys since the vaccine was first approved for them two years ago. Officials acknowledged the low rate in girls encouraged them to take a new, hard look.
Experts say a key benefit of routinely vaccinating boys could be preventing the spread of the virus to others through sex ? making up somewhat for the disappointing vaccination rate in girls. But the recommendation is being framed as an important new measure against cancer in males.
"Today is another milestone in the nation's battle against cancer," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administrator who oversees the agency's immunization programs.
Federal health officials usually adopt the panel's recommendations and ask doctors and patients to follow them.
The vaccine has been advised for girls since 2006. Just 49 percent of adolescent girls have gotten at least the first of the three HPV shots. Only a third had gotten all three doses by last year.
"Pretty terrible," Schuchat said.
Schuchat attributed the low rates for girls to confusion or misunderstanding by parents that they can wait until their daughter becomes sexually active. It works best if the shots are given before a girl or boy begins having sex.
Some conservatives argue the vaccine could promote promiscuous behavior. It has come up in the GOP presidential campaign. Texas Gov. Rick Perry came under attack for a 2007 executive order requiring adolescent girls to get the vaccine (with an opt-out clause). When conservative lawmakers rebelled, he backed down.
An estimated 75 to 80 percent of men and women are infected with HPV during their life, but most don't develop symptoms or get sick, according to the CDC. Some infections lead to genital warts, cervical cancer and other cancers, including of the head and neck.
The HPV vaccine is approved for use in males and females ages 9 to 26; it is usually given to 11- and 12-year olds when they get other vaccines. The committee also recommended that males 13 to 21 years get vaccinated.
Tuesday's vote follows recent studies that show the vaccine prevents anal cancer in males, and may work against a type of throat cancer. A study that focused on gay men found it to be 75 percent effective against anal cancer.
While anal cancer has been increasing, it's still fairly rare. Only about 7,000 U.S. cases in men each year are tied to the strains targeted in the HPV vaccine. In contrast, about 15,000 vaccine-preventable cervical cancers in women occur annually.
Preventing a cancer that's primarily associated with gay men may not be much of a selling point, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a family practice doctor in Washington, D.C. and an assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.
Some parents may say "`Why are you vaccinating my son against anal cancer? He's not gay! He's not ever going to be gay!' I can see that will come up," said Mishori, who supports the panel's recommendation.
Schuchat indicated the CDC is ready for that kind of argument: "There's no data suggesting that offering a vaccine against HPV will change people's subsequent sexual behavior," she said.
So far, the threat of genital warts hasn't been persuasive: Some data suggest that less than 1.5 percent of adolescent males have gotten the vaccine over the past two years.
Meanwhile, some feel it's unlikely that most parents will agree to get their sons vaccinated primarily to protect girls. A survey of 600 pediatricians last year found that nearly 70 percent of doctors thought families would deem vaccination of their boys as unnecessary.
Experts at the committee meeting noted an earlier analysis that showed vaccinating boys would not be cost-effective if the female vaccination were high.
"If you do reach high coverage of females, will you stop vaccinating males?" asked Dr. David Salisbury, director immunization for the United Kingdom's Department of Health.
There are two vaccines against HPV, but Tuesday's vote applies only to Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, which costs $130 a dose. The other vaccine wasn't tested for males.
The committee's recommendation ? and the greater insurance coverage of the vaccine that is expected to follow ? will make it easier for more boys to get the shots, said Dr. Mark Feinberg, chief public health and science officer for Merck Vaccines.
Merck officials bristled at the idea that males would see the vaccine as mainly meant for gay men, noting that HPV-caused anal cancers can occur in heterosexual men.
Maura Robbins of Chicago said she's likely to have her 12-year-old son, Cole, vaccinated against HPV ? but probably not until he's a little older. "I would just like to see some long-term testing and long-term results," she said.
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.
___
Online:
HPV info: http://www.cdc.gov/hpv/
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What you need to know from this week on ?The Ultimate Fighter?
Two fights in one show tonight, which is nothing but good news. More fighting means less time for silly pranks. Who wins the fights? Who is the most hated man int the UFC? Why is Jason "Mayhem" Miller making that face? Read on for spoilers and an episode recap.
The show starts out a reminder of how the last episode ended. Akira Corassani won, even though it seems like tapped in the first round, and Michael Bisping worried about the speck of wood in Jason Miller's eye before removing the plank from his own. Bisping? continued to trash talk about his team's one victory, which helped Miller's assistant coach Ryan Parsons see the light.
"You're the most hated man in the UFC. I didn't get it before. I get it now," Parsons said.
Miller bragged that he had more money than Parsons. Bisping is a class act, as always.
Also a class act? Gator, Mayhem's dog who finally made an appearance in this episode. Adorable puppies make everything better.
Steven Siler (Team Miller) vs. Diego Brandao (Team Bisping) -- featherweight
Round 1: Brandao started with a flying knee that landed nowhere near Siler. Not long after that, he landed a huge right hook that sent Siler to the ground. Brandao followed up with some punches on the ground, but they weren't needed. The fight was over.
Again, Bisping started with the trash talk. Miller responded, "Could you be any more of a douchebag?" Bisping just blathered on after that, saying not a whole lot of note. Miller congratulated Brandao, who wants to win so that he could support his parents.
Bisping continued to trash talk all the way into the locker room, infuriating Miller's coaches. Miller calmed them down, but was befuddled by where Bisping gets his confidence. I don't get it, either.
While Bisping tries to plot out the next fight, Team Mayhem's Roland Delorme showed his badly swollen foot to his coaches. Miller and Parsons are worried that it's a skin infection, and they send him to the doctor.
At the fight announcements, Bisping runs through a long list of rules to keep fighters from "looking like [expletives.]" What he fails to mention is that his fighters are guilty of violating most of the rules. He calls out John Dodson (Team Mayhem*) vs. John Albert (Team Bisping), meaning that T.J. Dillashaw will face Delorme in the final bout.
*Considering Dodson's Benedict Arnoldian ways earlier in the season, he is deserving of an asterisk. His team still doesn't talk to him much, but he says he does not have any regrets because, "If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin."
Dodson (Mayhem*) vs. Albert (Bisping ) -- bantamweights
Round 1: Dodson is the exact ball of energy that Miller described him as. He starts out by peppering Albert with kicks, but eventually clips him with a punch and a knee. Albert responds with a takedown, but Dodson works his way out from the bottom. He gets top position, then the fight gets back to stand-up. Albert tries to finish the round with a takedown, but Dodson shakes him off, and gets top position to land a bevy of strikes.
Round 2: This round was much slower, and featured more jawing between Bisping and Miller early on then actual striking. Albert landed intermittent kicks, and Dodson got off a punch occasionally. He backed Albert up with every punch. Again, Albert tried to get a takedown by jumping on Dodson's back, but Dodson landed on top and had better position. Dodson ended the round with a takedown.
Via the judges decision, Dodson won and moved to the next round. He admitted that it was a conservative game plan.
Bisping ends the episode by peeking into Team Miller's ready room, and did even more smack talk. It's not getting old or anything. He ended it by saying, "Go back to 'Bully Beatdown."
"I know one bully," Miller responded.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Packers Beat Vikings 33-27 To Stay Unbeaten
MINNEAPOLIS ? Aaron Rodgers had some competition from fearless rookie Christian Ponder. The defending champion Packers still kept their cool.
Rodgers kept Green Bay unbeaten with three touchdowns and 335 yards passing, holding off the plucky Ponder in the rookie's first start to defeat the Minnesota Vikings 33-27 on Sunday.
Rodgers completed his first 13 passes and finished 24 for 30, another near-unstoppable afternoon for him. Ponder was picked off twice in the third quarter by Charles Woodson, who almost grabbed a couple more interceptions, but he kept the Vikings in it the whole game after a 71-yard completion on his first play.
Adrian Peterson rushed 24 times for 175 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (1-6), but James Starks put the game away with two big gains for first downs before the 2-minute warning and finished with 75 yards on 13 carries.
Mason Crosby had four field goals for the Packers (7-0), including a franchise record 58-yarder, delighting the thousands of Packers fans in attendance who made the trip across the border.
This rivalry is still fierce, as evidenced by a couple of skirmishes early in the game.
Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, frustrated by some unwelcome contact from Packers guard T.J. Lang during one second-quarter play, gave Lang a swift kick to the groin area, a caught-on-camera personal foul that drew a penalty and is likely to bring Robison a fine.
Ponder's first foray against the Packers, despite the mistakes, showed flash and promise.
He went 13 for 32, but the kid from Florida State never looked rattled ? including one third-down completion when Clay Matthews leveled him as he threw, drawing a disputed late hit call ? and finished with 219 yards and two touchdowns.
With Donovan McNabb watching by himself on the sideline, wearing a backward black baseball hat with his hands on his hips, Ponder moved around in the pocket and put the ball there for his receivers in stride, which McNabb struggled to do. Ponder also ran four times for 31 yards.
Ponder found Michael Jenkins for a score with 7:49 left after a rare three-and-out by the Packers to cut the lead to six points and had the ball back with plenty of time to win it before a couple of errant heaves effectively ended the comeback.
Rodgers found a jogging Greg Jennings more than open on an egregiously blown coverage by the Vikings for a 79-yard touchdown on the second play of the second half, giving the Packers their first lead at 20-17.
Green Bay has quite the grip on the NFL right now, after hitting stride last winter and winning the Super Bowl as a remarkably confident wild-card team. The Packers haven't slowed done one bit this fall, with Rodgers and his rocket right arm leading the reign.
The Vikings have struggled in the secondary at full strength, and they weren't even close to that. Safety Jamarca Sanford was recovering from a concussion. Antoine Winfield was still on the sideline with a stiff neck, and fellow cornerback Chris Cook ? their best player in pass coverage ? was not even at the stadium. He was in the county jail, for an alleged domestic assault.
The rest of the Vikings were in the building, but they're just not in Green Bay's league this year. This usually tight rivalry has been this one-sided in decades.
The Packers won for the eighth time in the last 11 meetings, and the common denominator there, of course, is Rodgers.
He's connecting on roughly seven of every 10 passes, and many of those rare incompletions have been drops by his otherwise-stellar receivers. Rookie Randall Cobb was wide open on a drag route across the middle on third-and-16 at the 20, but the pass from Rodgers glanced off his hands and the Packers settled for three points.
Yes, Jared Allen tacked two sacks on his NFL-leading total to give him 11 1/2, but Rodgers spread the ball around to just about every receiver and made a perfect throw to just about every spot on the field. He went 6 for 6 on his first drive, firing passes to six different players during a ho-hum 91-yard march for the tying score.
The only three incompletions he threw in the first half? Two drops and a spike to stop the clock.
To keep this game competitive, the Vikings needed a timely turnover or two, and the rookie Cobb gave them one at the end of the first quarter when he fumbled a fair catch with teammate M.D. Jennings getting in his way. The Vikings recovered at midfield and scored a few minutes later to make it 14-7.
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Hurricane Rina gaining strength on path to Cancun (AP)
CANCUN, Mexico ? Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Hurricane Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast, following a projected track that has it whirling through Cancun and the resort-filled Mayan Riviera, Mexico's most popular tourist destination.
Rina's maximum sustained winds have increased to 110 mph (175 kph), said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun.
The area, dotted with Mayan ruins, also includes Playa del Carmen, another popular spot for international tourists.
Douglas Baird, 40, of Glasgow, Scotland, said he had been in Playa del Carmen for 11 days on a tour with 10 other people. He plans to stay for the five remaining days of his vacation.
"I'll go to the bar," he said about his plans for waiting out his first hurricane. "It won't be a problem."
Cancun Tourism Director Maximo Garcia said the city alone now has about 22,000 tourists even in the pre-holiday low season. Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, has some 83,000 hotel rooms, most in the Mayan Riviera-Cancun area.
Garcia said authorities had asked hotel managers to warn tourists of the hurricane.
But Wendy Powers, a 49-year-old from Louisiana who was taking a stroll at a shopping mall with two other friends, said she hadn't heard anything about the storm until a reporter told her about it. Still, she said she wasn't worried.
"We had Katrina and we survived it," Powers said. "If the one coming here is a category 1 or 2, we could have a beach party."
Laura Valles, a receptionist at the Hotel Jashita in coastal Tulum, said four of its 15 guests moved inland to hotels at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, some 90 miles (150 kilometers) west, and others were still deciding what to do.
"We are letting those with a reservation know they will have to change their dates," Valles said.
Yassir Espinoza, a clerk at the small Plaza Azul hotel in Cozumel, said tourists were being warned of the impending storm.
"We told them if there is a hurricane there won't be any electricity or water for at least three days," she said.
In Cancun's hotel zone, a string of pickup trucks hauled small boats and jet skis away from marinas, while workers at shopping malls began boarding up windows.
At least eight cruise ships were changing itineraries away from the storm's path, said Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Vance Gulliksen.
Three cruise ships from the company Norwegian and one from Royal Caribbean have canceled their Friday port of call in the area, said Hiram Toledo, Quintana Roo port administrator.
The area was badly damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when Cancun's famous white-sand beaches were largely washed away. Insurance officials estimated total damage at $3 billion.
State officials said they were readying more than 1,100 shelters that could handle nearly 200,000 people, though so far there was no word of any planned evacuations.
The hurricane was centered about 275 miles (440 kilometers) southeast of Cozumel Tuesday afternoon and was moving west-northwest at near 3 mph (6 kph), the Hurricane Center said.
Forecasters said Rina was likely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of about 115 mph (185 kph) by night.
The forecast track shows it curving east toward Cuba by the weekend, but senior hurricane specialist Michael Brennan at the hurricane center said it could also move toward southern Florida.
The center said the storm could produce as much as 16 inches (40 centimeters) of rain over at least parts of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula while raising water levels by as much as 5 to 7 feet (about a meter) in places.
The rainfall particularly worries authorities in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, where about 300,000 people are still flooded following eight days of heavy rains.
In Central America, which was affected earlier by Rina's outer bands, fishermen on Monday found a Nicaraguan navy boat that had gone missing with 29 people aboard. It had been used to evacuate an island.
___
Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon and Olga R. Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this story.
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Apple stock to jump 25 percent over next year: Barron's (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Shares of a handful of large tech companies including Apple Inc, Oracle Corp and eBay Inc are likely to increase by more than 20 percent over the next year, according to Barron's.
The financial publication listed 10 tech stocks as its top picks in its weekly edition on Sunday.
The No. 1 pick for 2012 is data-storage company Fusion-io Inc, which Barron's highlighted as a possible takeover target. The paper placed a $52 price target on Fusion-io over the next year, indicating the stock will more than double.
Barron's also said some larger technology names are primed for sharp increases.
Although Apple's earnings disappointed investors last week, Barron's said the stock could rise 25 percent over the next year.
Apple shares on Friday closed at $392.87.
Barron's cited a likelihood for market-share gains and increased sales of Apple's latest iPhone model, as well as the potential for share buybacks or a dividend under new Chief Executive Tim Cook.
Apple rounded out the Barron's list at No. 10.
The paper also predicted that Oracle shares would rise 25 percent to $40 over the next year on steady revenue gains, and that eBay shares will rise 24 percent, to $40, because investors are underestimating revenue growth from its non-auction businesses. Oracle came in at No. 2 on its top 10 list and eBay was No. 8.
Hewlett Packard also received a bullish prediction from Barron's, which estimates that its stock will rise 21 percent, to $30, over the next six months, purely on valuation.
"Whatever your opinion of new CEO Meg Whitman, the price looks too extreme," said Barron's, which put H-P as its No. 7 pick.
Rounding out the paper's list were Tibco Software, with a 12-month price target of $35; Electronic Arts Inc, with a two-year target of $40; Nuance Communications, with a 12-month price target of $30; Ancestry.com, with an 18-month price target of $44; and Fortinet Inc, with a three-year price target of $25.65.
(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tilt, A Wedge-Shaped Multitool For The MacBook Pro
Tilt is a mishmash of notebook accessories, shoved surprisingly neatly into a sleek plastic box. This box then clips onto your MacBook Pro, and provides more functions than you’re likely to need.
The first is the most obvious. Tilt will tilt you computer slightly forward. Some say this makes for easier typing, some says that the [...]
The first is the most obvious. Tilt will tilt you computer slightly forward. Some say this makes for easier typing, some says that the [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/pwtkAOpuDtA/
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Super-Powered Launch App Quicksilver Adds Support For OS X Lion
If you're on a Mac and haven't expanded your horizons beyond Spotlight, you owe it to yourself to check out Quicksilver, a free, open sourced launchbar app that can prove very handy once you've gotten over the learning curve. The app has just been updated with a slew of new features including automatic Plugin updates (see their blog for a full rundown), and has also been optimized for Mac OS X Lion. Quicksilver has an interesting history. The app was originally developed by Blacktree Software, which ceased active development several years ago ??but not before open-sourcing their code. Since then it's seen periodic updates, but they've been few and far between, to the point that some longtime fans gave up?and looked elsewhere.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rVnEbr1g9gk/
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Snake stores sperm for five years before giving birth
FAMILY planning campaigners looking for a mascot should consider the eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake. A female of the species can store sperm in her body for at least five years before using it.
The rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) in question was collected in Florida in 2005 and kept in a private collection for five years, with no contact with other snakes. In late 2010, she unexpectedly gave birth to 19 snakelets. To find out what had happened, Warren Booth of North Carolina State University in Raleigh took samples of DNA from the mother and her young.
Booth studies "virgin birth", in which a female produces young without any contribution from a male. But in this case the snakelets carried genes that their mother didn't, so she must have mated before she was captured and stored the sperm (Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01782.x).
Previous studies have hinted that reptiles can store sperm for several years, but this is the first case confirmed by genetics. Booth suspects other reptiles can store sperm even longer. "How long is anyone's guess," he says.
It's becoming clear that snakes have unconventional ways of reproducing, including virgin birth and long-term sperm storage, says William Holt of the Institute of Zoology in London, though so far no one knows how they do it.
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