Monday, December 31, 2012

Body of Georgian soldier found in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? NATO says the body of a Georgian soldier who was reported missing earlier this month has been found in southern Afghanistan. The coalition says he had been captured, without providing further details.

A statement Sunday says Afghan police found the body and turned it over to NATO forces Saturday. He went missing Dec. 18 in the restive province of Helmand.

The solider from the NATO-led coalition is believed to be the first to have gone missing since a U.S. Army sergeant was captured by the Taliban more than three years ago. The dead soldier was among the 1,500 troops form the former Soviet republic of Georgia serving in Afghanistan. NATO says an investigation is underway into his capture and death.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/body-georgian-soldier-found-afghanistan-054903225.html

top chef texas great pacific garbage patch ben affleck and jennifer garner google privacy changes windows 8 preview leap year moratorium

Turkey discussing disarmament with Kurdish leader: aide

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has begun discussing disarmament with Kurdish militants after concluding that it is unlikely to defeat them militarily, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's chief adviser said on Monday.

The government has been in talks in recent months with Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to end a hunger strike by jailed PKK members, but Monday's comment was the first confirmation that attempts to negotiate a wider peace settlement were on the agenda.

"The main aim for the government is to disarm them. You cannot get results and abolish an organization only with armed struggle," Yalcin Akdogan said in an interview with NTV television.

He said the government was cautious about the prospects of progress: "We have to see how Qandil (PKK headquarters in northern Iraq) will react ... The organization (PKK) also saw that they cannot get anywhere through armed struggle."

After his capture in 1999, Ocalan let it be known that he was open to a political settlement that secured more rights for the Kurds who inhabit Turkey's southeast.

In July 2011, a month after Erdogan's AKP party won a third term, he proposed peace talks with Ankara, and leaked recordings indicated that senior intelligence officials had held secret meetings with PKK leaders in Oslo.

But the initiatives ran aground, and the last nine months have been some of the bloodiest of a conflict that has now lasted almost three decades and claimed more than 40,000 lives, most of them PKK fighters.

With any hint of concessions to the PKK fiercely opposed by nationalists, and therefore politically fraught, it is not clear on what basis the government now considers it might be able to negotiate a truce.

DECLARATION

Akdogan gave no further details but the daily Hurriyet said directors of the MIT intelligence agency had met Ocalan for four hours on December 23 with the goal of issuing a declaration on ending the conflict in the first months of 2013.

"Getting the group to put down its weapons formed the main item on the agenda in the talks," the paper said, without specifying its sources.

"If the target is achieved, the PKK, which has halted operations due to winter conditions, would begin to disarm in the spring."

Hurriyet said Ocalan had demanded to be put in direct contact with the PKK, and given better jail conditions. It said he would not talk with his lawyers or the main legal pro-Kurdish party until the talks with the state were completed.

Ocalan, who founded the PKK in 1974 to fight for an independent Kurdish state, is in virtual isolation on the island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara and has not even seen his lawyers for months.

But after he gave the order through his brother in November to end the 68-day hunger strike by hundreds of PKK militants in prisons across Turkey, it was obeyed immediately.

The justice minister then said there would be further talks with the PKK, and Akdogan made clear on Monday that Ankara saw Ocalan as its main interlocutor.

Negotiations with a group designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union would have been unthinkable only a few years ago.

But Erdogan for his part is under pressure to stem the violence, which has included Kurdish bomb attacks in major cities as well as fighting in the mountainous southeast.

Akdogan said 10 militants had been killed in fighting in southeast Turkey on Monday.

Erdogan's government has widened cultural and language rights for Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of Turkey's 75 million population, since taking power a decade ago.

But Kurdish politicians want greater political reform including steps towards autonomy for their region.

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-discussing-disarmament-kurdish-leader-aide-200209570.html

super bowl snacks appleton super bowl recipes denver weather planned parenthood what time does the superbowl start kobayashi

Cowboys vs. Redskins: Live Game Grades, Analysis for Washington

In arguably the most significant game for the Redskins in the last two decades, the Dallas Cowboys travel to Washington tonight to battle for the NFC East division crown. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. EST.

After starting the season 3-6, the Redskins have bounced back following their bye week and have won six straight.

Tonight the Redskins have the chance to defeat their bitter rivals, crown themselves division champs and solidify their spot in the playoffs.

We'll be bringing you live grades and analysis throughout the game. Be sure to check back after each quarter for updated info and stop by after the game for the Redskins' final report card.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1462370-cowboys-vs-redskins-live-game-grades-analysis-for-washington

jorge posada maurice sendak state of the union sotu boehner john boehner demi moore hospitalized

FDA approves 1st new tuberculosis drug in 40 years

(AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson & Johnson tuberculosis drug that is the first new medicine to fight the deadly infection in more than four decades.

The agency approved J&J's pill, Sirturo, for use with older drugs to fight a hard-to-treat strain of tuberculosis that has not responded to other medications. However, the agency cautioned that the drug carries risks of potentially deadly heart problems and should be prescribed carefully by doctors.

Roughly one-third of the world's population is estimated to be infected with the bacteria causing tuberculosis. The disease is rare in the U.S., but kills about 1.4 million people a year worldwide. Of those, about 150,000 succumb to the increasingly common drug-resistant forms of the disease. About 60 percent of all cases are concentrated in China, India, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Sirturo, known chemically as bedaquiline, is the first medicine specifically designed for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. That's a form of the disease that cannot be treated with at least two of the four primary antibiotics used for tuberculosis.

The standard drugs used to fight the disease were developed in the 1950s and 1960s.

"The antibiotics used to treat it have been around for at least 40 years and so the bacterium has become more and more resistant to what we have," said Chrispin Kambili, global medical affairs leader for J&J's Janssen division.

The drug carries a boxed warning indicating that it can interfere with the heart's electrical activity, potentially leading to fatal heart rhythms.

"Sirturo provides much-needed treatment for patients who have don't have other therapeutic options available," said Edward Cox, director of the FDA's antibacterial drugs office. "However, because the drug also carries some significant risks, doctors should make sure they use it appropriately and only in patients who don't have other treatment options."

Nine patients taking Sirturo died in company testing compared with two patients taking a placebo. Five of the deaths in the Sirturo group seemed to be related to tuberculosis, but no explanation was apparent for the remaining four.

Despite the deaths, the FDA approved the drug under its accelerated approval program, which allows the agency to clear innovative drugs based on promising preliminary results.

Last week, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen criticized that approach, noting the drug's outstanding safety issues.

"The fact that bedaquiline is part of a new class of drug means that an increased level of scrutiny should be required for its approval," the group states. "But the FDA had not yet answered concerns related to unexplained increases in toxicity and death in patients getting the drug."

The FDA said it approved the drug based on two mid-stage studies enrolling 440 patients taking Sirturo. Both studies were designed to measure how long it takes patients to be free of tuberculosis.

Results from the first trial showed most patients taking Sirturo plus older drugs were cured after 83 days, compared with 125 days for those taking a placebo plus older drugs. The second study showed most Sirturo patients were cured after 57 days.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-31-FDA%20Approval-Tuberculosis/id-e579644bede1499e96b5c844e971e6e5

London 2012 Soccer dwight howard Olympics closing ceremony PGA Championship 2012 John Witherspoon george michael usain bolt

French court rejects 75 percent millionaires' tax

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Constitutional Council on Saturday rejected a 75 percent upper income tax rate to be introduced in 2013 in a setback to Socialist President Francois Hollande's push to make the rich contribute more to cutting the public deficit.

The Council ruled that the planned 75 percent tax on annual income above 1 million euros ($1.32 million) - a flagship measure of Hollande's election campaign - was unfair in the way it would be applied to different households.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the government would redraft the upper tax rate proposal to answer the Council's concerns and resubmit it in a new budget law, meaning Saturday's decision could only amount to a temporary political blow.

While the tax plan was largely symbolic and would only have affected a few thousand people, it has infuriated high earners in France, prompting some such as actor Gerard Depardieu to flee abroad. The message it sent also shocked entrepreneurs and foreign investors, who accuse Hollande of being anti-business.

Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the rejection of the 75 percent tax and other minor measures could cut up to 500 million euros in forecast tax revenues but would not hurt efforts to slash the public deficit to below a European Union ceiling of 3 percent of economic output next year.

"The rejected measures represent 300 to 500 million euros. Our deficit-cutting path will not be affected," Moscovici told BFM television. He too said the government would resubmit a proposal to raise taxes on high incomes in 2013 and 2014.

The Council, made up of nine judges and three former presidents, is concerned the tax would hit a married couple where one partner earned above a million euros but it would not affect a couple where each earned just under a million euros.

UMP member Gilles Carrez, chairman of the National Assembly's finance commission, told BFM television, however, that the Council's so-called wise men also felt the 75 percent tax was excessive and too much based on ideology.

FRANCE UNDER SCRUTINY

Hollande shocked many by announcing his 75 percent tax proposal out of the blue several weeks into a campaign that some felt was flagging. Left-wing voters were cheered by it but business leaders warned that talent would flee the country.

Set to be a temporary measure until France is out of economic crisis, the few hundred million euros a year the tax was set to raise is a not insignificant sum as the government strives to boost public finances in the face of stalled growth.

Hollande's 2013 budget calls for the biggest belt-tightening effort France has seen in decades and is based on a growth target of 0.8 percent, a level analysts view as over-optimistic.

Fitch Ratings this month affirmed its triple-A rating on France but said there was no room for slippage. Standard & Poor's and Moody's have both stripped Europe's No. 2 economy of its AAA badge due to concern over strained public finances and stalled growth.

The International Monetary Fund recently forecast that France will miss its 3 percent deficit target next year and signs are growing that Paris could negotiate some leeway on the timing of that goal with its EU partners.

The INSEE national statistics institute this week scaled back its reading of a return to growth in the third quarter to 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent, and the government said it could review its 2013 outlook in the next few months.

Saturday's decision was in response to a motion by the opposition conservative UMP party, whose weight in fighting Hollande's policies has been reduced by a leadership crisis that has split it in two seven months after it lost power.

The Constitutional Council is a politically independent body that rules on whether laws, elections and referenda are constitutional.

($1 = 0.7564 euros)

(Reporting by Emile Picy; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-french-court-rejects-75-percent-upper-tax-115449992--business.html

msft etan patz obama dog doug hutchison larry brown thomas kinkade pat summit

12/30/2012 - CSM Basketball Foothill College Tournament

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

Source: http://www.collegeofsanmateo.edu/calendar/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=8565

katherine jenkins peyton manning broncos mexico city earthquake stand your ground law dancing with the stars season 14 david garrard michael bay ninja turtles

Argentina asks NY appeals court to block payouts for debt holdouts

  • Argentine zoos lone polar bear dies from excessive heat

    Buenos Aires News.Net - Friday 28th December, 2012

    The Buenos Aires zoo's only polar bear died earlier this week due to the high temperatures that have been affecting the Argentine capital, an official said. "Winner died from excessive heat. The ...

  • UAE Argentia discuss trade relations

    Buenos Aires News.Net - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Argentina have held talks to consolidate their trade and investment cooperation. The meet was held Thursday between Jassem Mohammed Al Qasimi, director of ...

  • Defaulted bonds Argentina makes its case before the New York Appeals court

    Merco Press - Friday 28th December, 2012

    Argentina will be making a presentation before the US Court of Appeals for the second circuit, in Manhattan on Friday regarding Federal Judge Thomas Griesa recent ruling that Argentine defaulted ...

  • Argentinas fight on defaulted debt takes new step

    Tampa Bay Online - Friday 28th December, 2012

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- It's been a decade since Argentina tarnished its reputation worldwide and became an economic misfit by engaging in the biggest sovereign debt default in history, ...

  • Argentine president to visit Brazil

    People's Daily - Friday 28th December, 2012

    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will meet on Friday her Argentine counterpart Cristina Kirchner for talks on enhanced bilateral cooperation, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.The ...

  • Former Argentine minister jailed

    BBC - Friday 28th December, 2012

    Former Argentina Finance Minister Felisa Miceli has been sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. A court found her guilty of covering up an allegedly illegal financial operation and of ...

  • PM Thatcher ?never never expected? Argentina to invade the Falklands ?it was such a stupid thing to do?

    Merco Press - Friday 28th December, 2012

    The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina caught PM Margaret Thatcher by surprise, newly released government papers have shown. The then-prime minister only saw it was likely after ...

  • Catena Malbec 2010 Argentina

    The Globe and Mail - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    Price $19.95 From a winery that played a big role in putting Argentine malbec on the global map, Catena's 2010 lays out the appeal beautifully. It's full, juicy and smooth, with generous ...

  • The Best Beaches Within Reach of Buenos Aires

    Argentina Independent - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    Share/Bookmark As Buenos Aires gradually turns from colourful springtime metropolis to suffocating summer furnace, the proper thing to do is join the ...

  • Chinese ships detained off the Argentine coast

    Buenos Aires Herald - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    Two Chinese ships were caught illegally fishing in an exclusive economic zone off the Argentine coast reports said yesterday, after being pursued by the Argentine Coast Guard when they attempted to ...

  • Buenos Aires Zoos last Polar bear Winner killed by heatwave

    General Sources - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    Zoo?s last polar bear killed by heatwave: Winner dies after becoming ?nervous and irritated? amid scorching heat and noise from Christmas Eve ...

  • UAE to strengthen trade relations with Argentina

    WAM - Thursday 27th December, 2012

    WAM Abu Dhabi, Dec 27th, 2012 (WAM) - Director of Economic Affairs and International Cooperation at the Foreign Ministry and Argentinean ambassador to UAE Ruben Eduardo Caro discussed on Thursday ...

  • Source: http://www.buenosairesnews.net/index.php/sid/211650139/scat/d9ed072d737073b4

    Mars landing Gabby Douglas John Orozco Garrett Reid shawn johnson Tony Sly Lauren Perdue

    Sunday, December 30, 2012

    Top-Flight Commercial Real Estate Tips And ... - Maynas Eric

    Owning a piece of commercial real estate offers excitement, but it does so at the cost of time and money needed to deal with it. This can make you wonder where to begin to make sure that everything is taken care of. It can be challenging to learn all you must know regarding ownership of commercial property, but the tips in this article can help you on the road to acquiring and owning commercial property.

    Occupation is the key when you purchase commercial properties for rent. If you have any open spaces, then you are losing money. If you?re struggling to keep your properties rented, you should consider why that is, and try and fix anything that might be scaring away prospective tenants.

    A borrower must be the one who orders an appraisal in a commercial real estate loan. Banks will not allow them to be used later. Do the right thing and order it yourself.

    TIP! When selling a property, you should make certain that whatever price you set is realistic. There are many things that can impact your value greatly.

    Take note that commercial transactions take more time, they are complex and they take more involvement than home purchases are. If you want things made easier, you might want to change what you?re getting yourself into. However, all of this is required because it facilitates higher returns on your investments.

    Find an appropriate lender before beginning your search for investments. Don?t make the mistake of thinking that commercial lending is the same as residential lending. Depending on how you view the situation, they are often better. While it is often more difficult to get a commercial loan, it becomes more worthwhile when you consider that this route allows you to sidestep personal liability. Furthermore, financial institutions are ultimately able to approve loans in larger amounts.

    Think larger when you?re thinking about two commercial properties that are viable. The difficulty in securing financing doesn?t increase linearly with the size of the building you are buying. However, buying several units will cause the price of an individual unit to decrease.

    TIP! Hire a qualified commercial real estate attorney to avoid legal problems later. If something does not go correctly in your real estate deals, you are going to need the right person working for you in order to keep your name clean and unblemished.

    Whether buying or selling, negotiate. Protect your interests by standing up for yourself regardless of who is on the other side of the table. Negotiate a fair price rather than accepting one that is too high or too low.

    Understand how the firm you?re looking to work with conducts its business and measures results. Learn how they will determine how much space you will need, property selection criteria, negotiation methods and other details that will affect you at the end of the day. Make sure you know what you are getting into before signing.

    Speak to a tax adviser prior to buying a property. They?ll be able to estimate how much tax you?ll pay for the property you wish to buy, as well as how much income tax you?ll pay on your returns. You can work with him to narrow down areas where you?ll best invest your money.

    TIP! There are different types of commercial real estate brokers. For example, full-service brokers represent both the landlord and tenants.

    Emergency Repairs

    You should always know who takes care of emergency repairs. You should ask your landlord who is in charge of handling emergency repairs. You should not only commit emergency numbers to memory and post them in a conspicuous location, but you should also know how long it takes various workers to get to your office in an emergency. Consider how an emergency will affect your business operations, and have an emergency operating plan in place.

    There are many factors to consider as you view available properties. For example, you should take note of statistics regarding local employers, workforce availability and the accessibility of skilled labor. For example, buying a home near a large employment center, such as a university or hospital, will lead to a higher value and faster sale down the road.

    TIP! Before you consider leasing or renting, look into whether or not pest control is covered in the lease. Especially when you rent in an area known to be infested by bugs or rodents, ask your rental agent about pest control policies.

    Real Estate

    You should ask the real estate firm about how they acquire their assets before agreeing to do business with them. They should be able to discuss the question openly and tell you that their best interest differs from yours. Understand that there is still a profitable business to be ran behind the curtains, but a good firm will find an agreeable median between their financial needs and your real estate demands.

    Prior to selecting a real estate broker, determine what kind of negotiating tactics they have. Know what sort of education and background they have. Look for a broker who always adopt an ethical approach, has values and know where to get good deals. Request to see examples of previous negotiations, both those that were unsuccessful and those that were successful.

    TIP! You should thoroughly look into the brokers that you are considering, and determine their level of expertise and experience when dealing with commercial real estate. Verify they have experience in working with the type of properties you are interested in.

    As shown in this article, in order to be successful with commercial real estate, you must have a significant amount of knowledge, a strong commitment to succeed, and a stellar work ethic. It also takes perseverance in the face of adversity. Apply the tips from this article, and you will be one step closer to purchasing a commercial property that is the perfect fit for you, and your needs.

    Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/top-flight-commercial-real-estate-tips-and-suggestions-2

    kings island red hot chili peppers tour orange juice photos doomsday clock nate robinson sharia law

    Saturday, December 29, 2012

    NASA prepares twin spacecraft for crash landing

    Ebb and Flow, two spacecraft that have been investigating the moon's gravitational field, will end their existence by smashing into the moon's north pole next week. The event is not likely to be visible from Earth, but the?Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter?may catch a glimpse. ? ?

    By Alicia Chang,?Associated Press / December 13, 2012

    This artist rendering released by NASA shows the twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow orbiting the moon. The duo is preparing for a crash landing on the moon next week.

    AP Photo/NASA

    Enlarge

    After nearly a year circling the moon,?NASA's?Ebb and Flow will meet their demise when they crash ? on purpose ? into the lunar surface.

    Skip to next paragraph

    ' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
    ' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

    '; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

    Just don't expect to see celestial fireworks. Next week's impact near the moon's north pole by the washing machine-sized spacecraft won't carve a gaping crater or kick up a lot of debris. And it'll be dark when it happens.

    "We are not expecting a big flash or a big explosion" that will be visible from Earth, said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Still, it'll mark a violent end to a successful mission that has produced the most high-resolution gravity maps of Earth's closest neighbor. On Friday, engineers will turn off the science instruments in preparation for Monday's finale.

    Previous unmanned trips to the moon have studied its lumpy gravitational field, but Ebb and Flow are the first ones dedicated to this goal. Since entering orbit over New Year's weekend, the formation-flying spacecraft have peered past the craggy surface into the interior.

    Initially, the spacecraft flew about 35 miles (56 kilometers) above the surface and later dropped down to 14 miles (22 kilometers). About an hour before Monday's impact, they will fire their engines until they run out of fuel and slam at 3,800 mph (6,115 kph) into a predetermined target ? a mountain near the north pole that's far away from the Apollo landing sites.

    Ebb will hit first followed by Flow 20 seconds later. Though the drama won't be visible from Earth, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will fly over the crash site afterward and attempt to spot them.

    The last time?NASA?aimed at the moon was in 2009. The world watched through telescopes and over the Internet as a spacecraft and its booster rocket smashed into a permanently shadowed crater ? a one-two punch that fizzled when spectators saw little more than a fuzzy white flash.

    The mission's end will also mark the close of a student campaign that used cameras aboard the spacecraft to image lunar targets including on the moon's far side. The MoonKAM project was spearheaded by a science education company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Ride died of pancreatic cancer in July at age 61.

    Even after Ebb and Flow complete their mission, scientists will continue to pore over the bounty of data they collected.

    Among their findings so far: The moon is more beat up than previously imagined. The crust is much thinner than thought. And there's no evidence that Earth once had two moons that collided to form the one we see in the night sky.

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

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/RnMERHgbLHI/NASA-prepares-twin-spacecraft-for-crash-landing

    san onofre paula deen birth control recall nick carter leslie carter aaron carter sister pfizer

    Rumor: Apple Building Bluetooth Smart Watch

    Screen Shot 2012-12-27 at 8.52.04 AMAccording to Chinese gadget news site Tech.163, Apple may be in the process of developing its own smart watch that connects to your Apple devices via Bluetooth. Based on the report, Intel will be working with Apple to create the smart watch, with a 1.5-inch PMOLED display made by RiTDisplays with ITO-coated glass. Apple has long had a small hold in the watch market thanks to its iPod nano, which is easily attached to a wrist band turning it into a full functioning watch.

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QFRt8VspQrA/

    bestbuy gamestop black friday deals Sephora Cyber Monday 2012 Walmart.com detroit lions

    Use a Kneaded Eraser as a Cheap Sugru Alternative

    Use a Kneaded Eraser as a Cheap Sugru AlternativeSugru, that multi-purpose moldable plastic, has many fantastic uses. You can do some of the same things, however, for a fraction of the cost by using a kneaded eraser (a.k.a. putty rubber) instead.

    It's not exactly the same as Sugru, since the kneaded eraser doesn't harden and continues to be pliable under pressure. However, just like Sugru, you can mold the kneaded eraser around objects or shape it into different forms, as Instructables user robotman9 has found. It's also washable and slightly sticky when worked with.

    The biggest benefit is that kneaded erasers cost about a dollar at art or office supply stores.

    Sugru for cheap! | Instructables

    Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/CfMP8aO63Kw/use-a-kneaded-eraser-as-a-cheap-sugru-alternative

    bobby valentine bobby valentine nicki minaj miguel cabrera Karrueche Tran dodd frank Lark Voorhies

    Friday, December 28, 2012

    As winter storm bears down on Midwest, death toll climbs

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A winter storm system that blew through Christmas Day with Gulf Coast tornadoes and snow in the nation's midsection headed for the Northeast on Wednesday, spreading blizzard conditions that slowed holiday travel.

    The death toll rose to six with car accidents on snow and sleet-slickened highways in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

    Post-Christmas travelers braced for flight delays and a raft of weather warnings for drivers, a day after rare winter twisters damaged buildings in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

    Snow blew across southern Illinois and southern Indiana early Wednesday as the storm tracked up the Ohio River valley toward the Eastern seaboard and New England.

    There were whiteout conditions in parts of southwestern Indiana, where 6 inches or more of snow had fallen by midmorning around Evansville. State police reported dozens of vehicles stuck after not being able to get up a hill on a central Indiana highway, while some roads around Evansville were impassable with wind gusts around 30 mph.

    A blizzard warning was in effect for much of the state's southern two-thirds and more than a dozen counties issued travel watches asking residents to make only essential driving trips.

    "People need to not travel. They need to just go where they're going to be and stay there," said Rachel Trevino, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service bureau in Paducah, Ky., which covers southwestern Indiana.

    In snowy Arkansas, the storm left more than 189,000 customers without electricity Wednesday, utility Entergy Arkansas said.

    Severe thunderstorms were forecast for the Carolinas while a line of blizzard and winter storm warnings stretched from Arkansas up the Ohio River to New York and on to Maine.

    Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during the outbreak Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

    Rick Cauley's family was hosting relatives for Christmas when tornado sirens went off in Mobile. Not taking any chances, he and his wife, Ashley, hustled everyone down the block to take shelter at the athletic field house at Mobile's Murphy High School in Mobile.

    It turns out, that wasn't the place to head.

    "As luck would have it, that's where the tornado hit," Cauley said. "The pressure dropped and the ears started popping and it got crazy for a second." They were all fine, though the school was damaged, as were a church and several homes, but officials say no one was seriously injured.

    Camera footage captured the approach of the large funnel cloud.

    Mobile was the biggest city hit by numerous twisters. Along with brutal, straight-line winds, the storms knocked down countless trees, blew the roofs off homes and left many Christmas celebrations in the dark. Torrential rains drenched the region and several places saw flash flooding.

    More than 750 flights around the U.S. were canceled as of Wednesday morning, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. The cancelations were mostly spread around airports that had been or soon would be in the path of the storm.

    Holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions from the same fast-moving storms. In Arkansas, highway department officials said the state was fortunate the snowstorm hit on Christmas Day when many travelers were already at their destinations.

    Two passengers in a car on a sleet-slickened Arkansas highway died Wednesday when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck an SUV head-on. In Oklahoma, the Highway Patrol said a 76-year-old Wisconsin woman died Tuesday when the car she was riding in was hit head-on by a pickup truck on Interstate 44.

    The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had earlier reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in another crash Tuesday on a snowy highway. The storm's winds were blamed Tuesday for toppling a tree onto a pickup truck in Texas, killing the driver, and another tree onto a house in Louisiana, killing a man there.

    Trees fell on homes and across roadways in several communities in southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, saying eight counties reported damages and some injuries.

    It included McNeill, where a likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

    The snowstorm that caused numerous accidents pushed out of Oklahoma late Tuesday, carrying with it blizzard warnings for parts of northeast Arkansas, where 10 inches of snow was forecast. Freezing rain clung to trees and utility lines in Arkansas and winds gusts up to 30 mph whipped them around, causing about 71,000 customers to lose electricity for a time.

    Christmas lights also were knocked out with more than 100,000 customers without power for at least a time in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

    Blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky up to Cleveland with predictions of several inches to a foot of snow. By the end of the week, that snow was expected to move into the Northeast with again up to a foot predicted

    Jason Gerth said the Mobile tornado passed by in a few moments and from his porch, he saw about a half-dozen green flashes in the distance as transformers blew. His home was spared.

    "It missed us by 100 feet and we have no damage," Gerth said.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-storms-toll-6-dead-155424097.html

    the last lecture kim jong un josh powell madonna halftime show linsanity the alamo anencephaly

    Thursday, December 27, 2012

    House to return to session Sunday evening

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House will be back in session Sunday evening as the "fiscal cliff" looms, threatening across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts with the new year.

    Officials said the Republican leadership informed the GOP rank and file of the plan to meet during a conference call Thursday.

    It is unclear what legislation the House might consider Sunday, since Speaker John Boehner is publicly insisting that the Senate must make the next move to avert the cliff.

    With the Senate in session, Democrats in both chambers of Congress have been harshly critical of the House's absence.

    The "fiscal cliff" deadline is four days away.

    The officials who disclosed plans for the Sunday session did so on condition of anonymity, saying no public announcement had yet been made.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-return-session-sunday-evening-201945000--politics.html

    resolute national enquirer whitney houston casket photo jk rowling qnexa kingdom of heaven national enquirer whitney houston arizona republican debate

    Top 4 Small-Cap Stocks In The Agricultural Chemicals Industry With ...

    Below are the top small-cap agricultural chemicals stocks on the NYSE and the NASDAQ in terms of earnings per share.

    The trailing-twelve-month earnings per share at Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE: RNF) is $2.65. Rentech Nitrogen's operating margin for the same period is 47.77%.

    The trailing-twelve-month earnings per share at CVR Partners LP (NYSE: UAN) is $1.88. CVR Partners' ROE for the same period is 28.92%.

    The trailing-twelve-month earnings per share at China Green Agriculture (NYSE: CGA) is $1.48. China Green Agriculture's revenue for the same period is $203.93 million.

    The trailing-twelve-month earnings per share at Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) is $1.30. Intrepid Potash's PEG ratio is 1.96.

    Tags: Agricultural Chemicals Industry, Highest EPS, small-cap

    Posted in: Trading Ideas

    ?

    Source: http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/12/12/3200341/top-4-small-cap-stocks-in-the-agricultural-chemicals-industry-with-the-h

    cruise ship italy patriots broncos game saints willis mcgahee willis mcgahee ship aground off italy nfl playoff schedule 2012

    Frequency Tunes Out the Noise When Tuning In to Videos

    One of the most irritating things about enjoying videos, movies, and TV shows online is the sheer number of places you must navigate to in order to get the content. Each of the major television networks havs its own channel, some of which serve up some full episodes some of the time, while others just serve up teaser clips and ongoing snippets, like the opening monologues for "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson."

    Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/26f9e436/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C769250Bhtml/story01.htm

    Cotto vs Trout Robin Givens Gus Malzahn hyperemesis gravidarum miranda kerr lindsay lohan Ronda Rousey

    Free Pilates Fundamentals ? Cornerstone Clubs Health and Fitness ...

    Free Pilates Fundamentals

    pilates-at-cornerstone

    Would you like to start practicing Pilates but don?t know where to start?

    Pilates Reformer Fundamentals is an?introductory course?required for all new Pilates students. The?Fundamentals class teaches you machine set up and safety, proper body mechanics, form and breathing ? preparing you for reformer training.

    During January 2013 only, The Cornerstone Clubs are offering a series of two 90 minute Fundamentals classes absolutely FREE (a $49 value!).

    At the Treehouse:?Thursday, January 10 and January 17 @ 6:30pm

    At Warrington:?Saturday, January12 & January 19 @ 10:00am

    What makes Pilates so special?

    • Balances strength and flexibility
    • Increases core strength and stability
    • Improves postural problems
    • No impact ? easy on the joints
    • Enhances functional fitness, ease of everyday movement
    • Improves balance, coordination, and circulation
    • Heightens body awareness
    • Develops longer, leaner muscles

    SIGN UPS are required! Please see member services to reserve a machine.

    The Treehouse ? 215.862.2200 |?Warrington ? 215.918.5900


    Source: http://www.cornerstoneclubs.com/archives/8826

    ncaa basketball tournament 2012 megamillions winning numbers lotto winner michael oher jerry lee lewis cesar chavez winning lotto numbers

    TEDxFIU in Review: Dr. Pedro ?Joe? Greer - News at FIU - Florida ...

    As a young physician in Miami, Dr. Pedro ?Joe? Greer?s experience with the city?s homeless population inspired him to found Camillus Health Concern and Saint John Bosco Clinic.

    Now an assistant dean in FIU?s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Greer challenged the TEDxFIU audience to think beyond the business of medicine to truly improve lives in their communities.

    The United States is one of the top spenders on health care among industrialized nations, yet has some of the worst health outcomes. Greer explained that many of the factors leading to poor health in America are not scientific, but social ? things like poverty, violence, racism and food deserts.

    The solution, Greer argued, begins in the medical school classroom, where aspiring physicians should be trained in social accountability alongside human anatomy. Medical schools should be accountable to society, not industry.

    Watch his full TEDxFIU talk below:

    See other TEDxFIU in Review posts:

    Source: http://news.fiu.edu/2012/12/tedxfiu-in-review-dr-pedro-joe-greer/49948?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tedxfiu-in-review-dr-pedro-joe-greer

    Jim Lehrer 666 Park Avenue Kara Alongi Sahara Davenport Resident Evil 6 arnold schwarzenegger pirate bay

    Online video streaming service restored by Netflix- AMZN | US ...

    Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX), which is one of the biggest video- streaming service providers across the world, revealed that they have restored the access to their movies and television shows. The access was disrupted by the Web storage and computing system of Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN).

    According to Joris Evers who is a spokesman on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) behalf disclosed that many of their American customers were not able to get an access over the online content since yesterday around 3.30 p.m. till late on the eve of Christmas. He further added that the problem was caused due to issues with Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services, which is a business being hosted on the internet and is entirely different from an online retail store. Presently subscription and on-demand services are the most important revenue generating source for the company, which used to offer DVD rentals through email. The reports of the third quarter clearly reflected that streaming services contributed about seventy percent of the sales. Reed Hastings, who is the chief executive officer is trying hard to make Los Gatos, California based Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) to be available around the world so that people will be able to get an instant access to the content through the internet.

    In an email Evers communicated: ?We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX) subscriptions or Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX)-capable devices this Christmas morning can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night?. He ended by writing: ?We are investigating the cause and will do what we can to prevent re-occurrence?

    Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN), who is one of the world?s biggest online retailers, deals in renting of data storage space and computer resources to other organizations and businesses globally. The issues that were interrupting the service of Amazon were resolved and they are looking forward to smoother operations for customers, as told by Tera Randall, a spokeswoman for Amazon. The streaming services in Europe remained unaffected with all this, Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX) stated.

    The shares of Netflix, Inc.(NASDAQ:NFLX) is at $89.50.

    The shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is at $255.83

    Tagged NASDAQ:AMZN, NASDAQ:NFLX

    About Brent Watts

    Brent Watts before joining Market Buzz Media, Brent worked for Hubbard Broadcasting sister station KSTP in the Twin cities as part of the production team and now wants to focus his attention back into the newsroom. He graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from University of St. Thomas and worked on St. Thomas?s T.V. station, Campus Scope, as a reporter and anchor. Brent gained valuable forecasting skills from The New England Shore Line to the Mountains of West Virginia. During his free time he loves watching and playing Ice Hockey.

    View all posts by Brent Watts ?

    Source: http://usmarketbuzz.com/online-video-streaming-service-restored-by-netflix-amzn-658

    hocus pocus mta schedule PECO chris christie Hurricane Sandy update weather channel mta

    Reduce Pain With Your 2013 New Year's Resolution | Advanced ...

    Between 40 and 50 percent of Americans pledge to make New Year?s resolutions each year, and health-related goals consistently rank among the most popular. People make these resolutions to look or feel better in the coming year, but there are also significant long-term pain prevention benefits.

    You might be surprised to learn that maintaining a proper weight and basic level of fitness is crucial to protect your spine and major joints from excessive strain, wear and tear.? In fact, people who are overweight are at greater risk for low back pain, sleep disorders, spinal disc pain and joint pain, due to added weight-related strain on the spine and joints such as the knees, hips and ankles. It makes sense if you think about it; more weight means more pressure and strain that can cause pain.?

    ?Losing weight is the best way to decrease obesity-related pain, but there are certainly other things to consider,? said Satvinder Dhesi, MD, a physician with Advanced Pain Management in Milwaukee. ?The ability to lose weight requires individuals to be both healthy and active. There are many elements that can help people reduce stress and become more active, including: physical therapy, interventional pain procedures, supportive shoes, walking assistance devices and even investing in a supportive mattress.?

    Along with decreasing pain or one?s risk for long-term chronic pain, other weight loss benefits include:

    • By losing 5-10 percent of body weight, blood pressure is lowered and LDL (?bad?) cholesterol is reduced.
    • Lowering body weight can improve sleep apnea and other sleep problems.
    • 90 percent of all diabetes, 80 percent of heart disease and 60 percent of cancers are preventable with healthier lifestyles and normal body weight.

    ?We encourage everyone to choose healthier eating and exercise habits in the New Year,? said Dr. Dhesi. ?Weight loss is really the first step in an overall healthier life.?

    So as you think about your New Year?s Resolutions this year, consider the pain reducing benefits of losing weight.

    What are your resoultions for 2013? Tell us your thoughts!

    Source: http://www.apmhealth.com/blog/2012/12/reduce-pain-with-your-2013-new-years-resolution/

    steve jobs fbi safehouse brown recluse brown recluse front door alyssa bustamante protandim

    Wednesday, December 26, 2012

    Social Media in 2013 |

    SCORE OC counselor Jerome Chiaro graduated from Cal State University, Fullerton with a B.A. in entrepreneurship and specializes in helping small businesses across the nation on Social Media, Internet Marketing and Restaurant Marketing with his consulting firm: Restaurant Management University. He has published multiple e-books and video training series such as Restaurant Management Blueprint (a restaurant back-office management software), The Restaurant Road Map (an SEO and internet marketing guide for restaurants), and Facebook ?Like? Machine (a Facebook marketing guide).

    SCORE OC: What area of social media should small businesses concentrate on for 2013?

    Chiaro: The quick answer is Facebook. Facebook recently passed Google as the most visited website on the internet and they are vying back and forth for the #1 spot. As a small business owner, you can?t afford to not have a presence on Facebook.

    There is so much out there now, Pinterest is getting big, Twitter is growing very fast ? Tumblr, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Yelp, Instagram and the list goes on and on. Eventually, small businesses can and should brand their business on each site, but the key is to concentrate on the one site that will reach your target market the fastest ? and 9.5 times out of 10 that is Facebook.

    A deeper answer would be email marketing. Email marketing is often overlooked within the ?social media world,? but it is still the quickest, most effective form of communication for small businesses and is the core of any social media campaign. There are some rumors of email attrition, but the statistics show that email will still be the dominant marketing medium for the next few years.

    SCORE OC: Do you have any tips for new Twitter users?

    Chiaro: Yes, don?t treat Twitter like Facebook :) And don?t copy/paste your Facebook messages to Twitter. Twitter is a completely different platform, with a different language and niche. They tend to be younger, edgier, techier, hipper even.

    For list-building, use the search bar to find and follow as many of your target market niche as you can. Most of the time people will reciprocate and will follow you back.

    Once you?ve beefed up your following, start to build relationships with your followers. I use the 80/20 rule with my clients: 80 percent of your posts should be value-driven, no agenda attached; and 20 percent can be promotional-oriented. The most successful Twitter ?retweets? are provocative, engaging and use popular culture.

    SCORE OC: What are the biggest mistakes you think small business owners make when it comes to social media?

    Chiaro: I think the biggest mistake is doing it all by yourself. A common misconception with social media is that ?it?s is a free way to market your business.? Yes, it is ?free,? but it?s hard to gain any traction without help. Social media can be time consuming, daunting even. To list-build, engage and run promotions is almost a full-time job for any business.

    Many of my clients hire independent contractors or even college student interns to help execute their social media marketing plan. The younger generation is so quick on social media technology and they understand the language very well because they use it constantly. They usually end up completing each project better, faster, and cheaper than any small business owner could have.

    Optimized with InboundWriter

    Source: http://scoreoc.org/2012/12/24/social-media-in-2013/

    man of steel Adrienne Maloof Telemundo real housewives of beverly hills Pink Floyd 12 12 12 Concert miley cyrus

    FreedomWorks Feud: War Inside Tea Party Group Gets Nastier | Mother Jones

    Mother Jones:

    A legal probe is launched, and FreedomWorks' president accuses ex-chairman Dick Armey of trying to subvert the group.

    Read the whole story at Mother Jones

    "; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/freedomworks-feud-tea-party-group_n_2358741.html

    dallas tornado ncaa basketball oikos kentucky wildcats oakland school shooting nike nfl jerseys katie couric

    Shinzo Abe elected as Japan's prime minister

    TOKYO (AP) ? The lower house of Parliament has named conservative Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh ah-bay) as Japan's new prime minister.

    The rise of Abe, whose nationalist positions have in the past angered Japan's neighbors, ends more than three years at the helm for the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan and brings back the conservative, pro-big business Liberal Democratic Party that governed for most of the post-World War II era.

    Abe, who was also prime minister in 2006-2007, led the LDP to victory in parliamentary elections Dec. 16. He was to name his Cabinet later Wednesday after a vote in Parliament's upper house, where his party is weaker. But the lower house has the final say.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-26-Japan-Politics/id-511d2395a4804e059502329c2c1f3997

    unlv sam young ncaa bracket ramon sessions portland trail blazers nba trade blagojevich

    Tuesday, December 25, 2012

    Hero dog missing snout seems to have beaten cancer

    File - In this August, 12, 2012 file photo provided by the University of California, Davis, a Bunggal family member plays with Kabang the dog in the Philippines. A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing its snout to save two young girls. Veterinarian Gina Davis says the dog named Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer it was suffering from. (AP Photo/UC Davis, Anton Lim, File)

    File - In this August, 12, 2012 file photo provided by the University of California, Davis, a Bunggal family member plays with Kabang the dog in the Philippines. A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing its snout to save two young girls. Veterinarian Gina Davis says the dog named Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer it was suffering from. (AP Photo/UC Davis, Anton Lim, File)

    (AP) ? A veterinarian at the University of California, Davis, has some good news about a dog from the Philippines who became an international hero after sacrificing her snout to save two young girls.

    After completing six weekly intravenous chemotherapy infusions, Kabang appears to have beaten the cancer she was suffering from, Gina Davis, the primary care veterinarian at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/Ti87pl).

    The dog, however, is still facing treatment for heartworms in her arteries before she can have the gaping wound on her face closed. Full treatment of that condition was put on hold during cancer therapy.

    Kabang ? a female mongrel ? had the first of three arsenic-based heartworm shots on Dec. 4 and is expected to receive the other two in the second week of January, Davis said.

    "It will be one to two months for her to recover from that before she goes in and has the surgery," Davis said.

    Kabang had her snout and upper jaw sheared off when she jumped in front of a speeding motorcycle, saving her owner's daughter and niece from serious injury or death, according to newspaper reports in the Philippines.

    The dog ended up in Davis earlier this year after a nurse from Buffalo, N.Y., spearheaded a fundraising campaign to bring her to the U.S. Veterinarians in the Philippines were apparently unable to treat her injuries.

    Surgeons are planning to perform two or three procedures. The first will involve dental work, extractions and covering exposed roots.

    They will then try to close the dog's wound and restore nasal functions. The dog's bony structures are currently exposed to air, increasing the chance of infection, Davis said.

    Kabang may return to the Philippines in May or June. The bill for her treatment is expected to top $10,000.

    Davis said despite Kabang's many conditions, the dog appears to be in good spirits.

    "She has come through everything very well," Davis said. "Her appetite is still good. She's still bright and happy."

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-25-US-Dog-Missing-Snout/id-b94a23c53d08434bb82218f16ee3ba51

    cherry blossom festival nc state erika van pelt pat robertson hunger games trailer hunger games trailer in plain sight

    Volunteers at Colo. base track Santa's progress

    Lizzie Solano, center, and her sister Sarah take phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house, during the fifth annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, when NORAD continually projects Santa Claus's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

    Lizzie Solano, center, and her sister Sarah take phone calls from children asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their house, during the fifth annual NORAD Tracks Santa Operation, at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Monday Dec. 24, 2012. Over a thousand volunteers at NORAD handle more than 100,000 thousand phone calls from children around the world every Christmas Eve, when NORAD continually projects Santa Claus's supposed progress delivering presents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

    (AP) ? Volunteers at a Colorado Air Force base monitoring maps showing Santa Claus' progress are several hours into their goodwill mission and have answered more than 24,000 phone calls from children wanting to know everything from old Saint Nick's age, to how reindeer fly, to when they can expect their presents.

    Phones have been ringing nonstop Monday at Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters of the North American Aerospace Command's annual Santa-tracking operation.

    Dozens of helpers at NORAD are taking calls and tracking Santa's location on large projection screens. They're posting updates for nearly 1.2 million Facebook fans and 104,000 Twitter followers.

    The maps show Santa is in Pakistan and heading west. He has delivered more than 2 billion presents so far, according to the "NORAD Tracks Santa" website.

    Volunteers started taking calls at 4 a.m. Mountain time on Monday and will keep updating until 3 a.m. on Christmas morning.

    NORAD Tracks Santa began in 1955 when a newspaper ad listed the wrong phone number for kids to call Santa. Callers ended up getting the Continental Air Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor, and a tradition was born.

    Following is a sampling of calls received at the base:

    ___

    GIFTS IN HEAVEN: One little boy from Missouri phoned in to ask what time Santa delivered toys to heaven, said volunteer Jennifer Eckels, who took the call. The boy's mother got on the line to explain that his sister had died this year.

    "I think Santa headed there first," Eckels told him.

    ___

    IS HE THERE YET?: James Solano took a call from a young girl and her father in Bangkok, asking when Santa would arrive. Solano checked the map and said it wouldn't be long.

    "The dad was saying, 'We've got to get to bed soon,'" said Solano, an Army colonel.

    "It was kind of neat," he said. "They were very thrilled."

    ___

    SANTA KNOWS: Glenn Barr took a call from a 10-year-old who wasn't sure if he would be sleeping at his mom's house or his dad's and was worried about whether Santa would find him.

    "I told him Santa would know where he was and not to worry," Barr said.

    Another child asked if he was on the nice list or the naughty list.

    "That's a closely guarded secret, and only Santa knows," Barr replied.

    ___

    THE REAL DEAL: A young boy called to ask if Santa was real.

    Air Force Maj. Jamie Humphries, who took the call, said, "I'm 37 years old, and I believe in Santa, and if you believe in him as well, then he must be real."

    The boy turned from the phone and yelled to others in the room, "I told you guys he was real!"

    ___

    Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-24-Monitoring%20Santa/id-4f1a0ad4194d42e589f32fbce3b9242e

    groundhog day 2012 serrano staten island chuck dr jekyll and mr hyde edwin jackson punksatony phil 2012 groundhog day

    Sunday, December 23, 2012

    Even in this economy, America keeps on truckin'

    19 hrs.

    Truck buyers could be in for quite a holiday gift from General Motors this year. The maker is offering incentives of as much as $9,000 on some of its full-size pickups this month, hoping to clear out a massive backlog of Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras on dealer lots.

    ?We have the oldest trucks out there,? which means they need the biggest givebacks to remain competitive, conceded Mark Reuss, president of GM?s North American operations.

    But GM isn?t alone. Ford, Chrysler, Nissan and Toyota have all ramped up givebacks on their pickups in recent months ? and the deals are made even sweeter when you consider today?s near record-low finance rates.

    The heavy discounting might not seem much of a surprise considering what has happened in the truck market over the last half decade. But, in fact, after taking a big hit during the recession, sales of full-size pickups have actually been growing fast this past year ? and there?s even been a ?bump? in demand since Superstorm Sandy devastated the East Coast, said analyst Jim Hall, of 2953 Analytics, in Detroit.

    That?s been great news for Ford, which will end 2012 with its big F-Series once again the best-selling vehicle in the U.S., and Chrysler?s Ram brand is scoring well with the 2013 remake of its full-size 1500 pickup.?

    General Motors also hopes for a rebound when it launches all-new versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra around the middle of 2013.

    ?There is nothing more core to our business than trucks,? noted Reuss, during a well-attended preview of the two trucks at a movie soundstage in the Detroit suburbs. ?And we think we?re timing this very well.?

    Since Henry Ford bolted a bed onto the back of a Model T a century ago, pickups have been a major factor in the American automotive market.? During their peak, a decade back, they accounted for as much as 17 percent of overall U.S. new vehicle sales, or 2.46 million during the record year of 2004.

    But demand began to collapse even before the nation fell into a recession and dipped to just 1.5 million for 2011.? Part of the problem was that trucks had lost their cool at a time when the hippest buyers were likely to look at a fuel-sipping Prius rather than a gas-guzzling pickup.

    ?The recreational pickup market is now pretty minor,? and not likely to bounce back, according to analyst Hall.?

    But the commercial market is another matter entirely.? As the economy has slowly recovered, so has demand for trucks.? There has traditionally been a close link between the housing industry and demand for pickups, noted GM?s Reuss.? And the latest numbers for housing starts, he said, suggests that sales will likely get even stronger in the months ahead.

    Dealers are already reporting a surge in sales along the East Coast, in part due to the need to replace vehicles destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. And ?contractors who might have needed one truck before may now need two to take on all the added work? repairing the damage wrought by the storm.

    For the industry, that?s the good news.? ?The market is getting stronger,? beamed Reuss during the Silverado and Sierra preview, but ?it is very, very competitive.?

    GM clearly had to increase incentives to cut back on a 140-day dealer supply of the two trucks ? about double the normal industry inventory.? But even Chrysler, which has seen strong demand for its new Ram 1500, has been forking over rebates and other incentives adding up to about $4,700 per truck in recent months.

    ?Everyone?s been discounting,? said?analyst Hall.? ?Trucks are always going to have some discount on them considering the market is so competitive.?

    In an unusual twist, Asian makers are adding to that pressure. Despite bold pronouncements, Toyota and Nissan have largely failed to make inroads with their Tundra and Titan models, and have had to be even more aggressive just to maintain their own meager shares.

    Manufacturers are hoping they can compete with more than just cashback deals, of course.? The new GM pickups have gone through significant redesigns for 2014 that Phillippi calls ?evolutionary? on the outside, while he describes the interior updating as ?huge.?

    Gone are the days when driving a truck meant living the hard life.? Those old-fashioned metal or plastic instrument panels have been gilded with leather and aluminum accents.? Even the most basic cloth seats now can be ordered with seat heaters.? And the Silverado and Sierra updates will get many of the high-tech infotainment and safety features more commonly found in up-market sedans or crossovers.?

    They even can be ordered with WiFi to easily allow an owner to conduct business on the road ? the center console concealing a cavernous storage area big enough for hanging folders and a large laptop computer.

    The pickup truck market is likely never to reach the peaks set in the early years of the new millennium. But even without the urban cowboys that drove it to record levels, sales are clearly rebounding.? Pickups are back up to nearly 12 percent?of the U.S. market and if the housing market continues its own revival trucks will gain another point or two in the coming years, most analysts predict.

    The good news is that competition will likely remain intense, forcing makers to continue upgrading their products even while offering hefty incentives.

    Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/even-economy-america-keeps-truckin-1C7660205

    ron white ron white buckyballs buckyballs awake mario batali lone ranger

    AP IMPACT: Big Pharma cashes in on HGH abuse

    A federal crackdown on illicit foreign supplies of human growth hormone has failed to stop rampant misuse, and instead has driven record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies, an Associated Press investigation shows.

    The crackdown, which began in 2006, reduced the illegal flow of unregulated supplies from China, India and Mexico.

    But since then, Big Pharma has been satisfying the steady desires of U.S. users and abusers, including many who take the drug in the false hope of delaying the effects of aging.

    From 2005 to 2011, inflation-adjusted sales of HGH were up 69 percent, according to an AP analysis of pharmaceutical company data collected by the research firm IMS Health. Sales of the average prescription drug rose just 12 percent in that same period.

    ___

    EDITOR'S NOTE ? Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.

    ___

    Unlike other prescription drugs, HGH may be prescribed only for specific uses. U.S. sales are limited by law to treat a rare growth defect in children and a handful of uncommon conditions like short bowel syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that causes reduced muscle tone and a lack of hormones in sex glands.

    The AP analysis, supplemented by interviews with experts, shows too many sales and too many prescriptions for the number of people known to be suffering from those ailments. At least half of last year's sales likely went to patients not legally allowed to get the drug. And U.S. pharmacies processed nearly double the expected number of prescriptions.

    Peddled as an elixir of life capable of turning middle-aged bodies into lean machines, HGH ? a synthesized form of the growth hormone made naturally by the human pituitary gland ? winds up in the eager hands of affluent, aging users who hope to slow or even reverse the aging process.

    Experts say these folks don't need the drug, and may be harmed by it. The supposed fountain-of-youth medicine can cause enlargement of breast tissue, carpal tunnel syndrome and swelling of hands and feet. Ironically, it also can contribute to aging ailments like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

    Others in the medical establishment also are taking a fat piece of the profits ? doctors who fudge prescriptions, as well as pharmacists and distributors who are content to look the other way. HGH also is sold directly without prescriptions, as new-age snake oil, to patients at anti-aging clinics that operate more like automated drug mills.

    Years of raids, sports scandals and media attention haven't stopped major drugmakers from selling a whopping $1.4 billion worth of HGH in the U.S. last year. That's more than industry-wide annual gross sales for penicillin or prescription allergy medicine. Anti-aging HGH regimens vary greatly, with a yearly cost typically ranging from $6,000 to $12,000 for three to six self-injections per week.

    Across the U.S., the medication is often dispensed through prescriptions based on improper diagnoses, carefully crafted to exploit wiggle room in the law restricting use of HGH, the AP found.

    HGH is often promoted on the Internet with the same kind of before-and-after photos found in miracle diet ads, along with wildly hyped claims of rapid muscle growth, loss of fat, greater vigor, and other exaggerated benefits to adults far beyond their physical prime. Sales also are driven by the personal endorsement of celebrities such as actress Suzanne Somers.

    Pharmacies that once risked prosecution for using unauthorized, foreign HGH ? improperly labeled as raw pharmaceutical ingredients and smuggled across the border ? now simply dispense name brands, often for the same banned uses. And usually with impunity.

    Eight companies have been granted permission to market HGH by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which reviews the benefits and risks of new drug products. By contrast, three companies are approved for the diabetes drug insulin.

    The No. 1 maker, Roche subsidiary Genentech, had nearly $400 million in HGH sales in the U.S. last year, up an inflation-adjusted two-thirds from 2005. Pfizer and Eli Lilly were second and third with $300 million and $220 million in sales, respectively, according to IMS Health. Pfizer now gets more revenue from its HGH brand, Genotropin, than from Zoloft, its well-known depression medicine that lost patent protection.

    On their face, the numbers make no sense to the recognized hormone doctors known as endocrinologists who provide legitimate HGH treatment to a small number of patients.

    Endocrinologists estimate there are fewer than 45,000 U.S. patients who might legitimately take HGH. They would be expected to use roughly 180,000 prescriptions or refills each year, given that typical patients get three months' worth of HGH at a time, according to doctors and distributors.

    Yet U.S. pharmacies last year supplied almost twice that much HGH ? 340,000 orders ? according to AP's analysis of IMS Health data.

    While doctors say more than 90 percent of legitimate patients are children with stunted growth, 40 percent of 442 U.S. side-effect cases tied to HGH over the last year involved people age 18 or older, according to an AP analysis of FDA data. The average adult's age in those cases was 53, far beyond the prime age for sports. The oldest patients were in their 80s.

    Some of these medical records even give explicit hints of use to combat aging, justifying treatment with reasons like fatigue, bone thinning and "off-label," which means treatment of an unapproved condition

    Even Medicare, the government health program for older Americans, allowed 22,169 HGH prescriptions in 2010, a five-year increase of 78 percent, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to an AP public records request.

    "There's no question: a lot gets out," said hormone specialist Dr. Mark Molitch of Northwestern University, who helped write medical standards meant to limit HGH treatment to legitimate patients.

    And those figures don't include HGH sold directly by doctors without prescriptions at scores of anti-aging medical practices and clinics around the country. Those numbers could only be tallied by drug makers, who have declined to say how many patients they supply and for what conditions.

    First marketed in 1985 for children with stunted growth, HGH was soon misappropriated by adults intent on exploiting its modest muscle- and bone-building qualities. Congress limited HGH distribution to the handful of rare conditions in an extraordinary 1990 law, overriding the generally unrestricted right of doctors to prescribe medicines as they see fit.

    Despite the law, illicit HGH spread around the sports world in the 1990s, making deep inroads into bodybuilding, college athletics, and professional leagues from baseball to cycling. The even larger banned market among older adults has flourished more recently.

    FDA regulations ban the sale of HGH as an anti-aging drug. In fact, since 1990, prescribing it for things like weight loss and strength conditioning has been punishable by 5 to 10 years in prison.

    Steve Kleppe, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a restaurant entrepreneur who has taken HGH for almost 15 years to keep feeling young, said he noticed a price jump of about 25 percent after the block on imports. He now buys HGH directly from a doctor at an annual cost of about $8,000 for himself and the same amount for his wife.

    Many older patients go for HGH treatment to scores of anti-aging practices and clinics heavily concentrated in retirement states like Florida, Nevada, Arizona and California.

    These sites are affiliated with hundreds of doctors who are rarely endocrinologists. Instead, many tout certification by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine, though the medical establishment does not recognize the group's bona fides.

    The clinics offer personalized programs of "age management" to business executives, affluent retirees, and other patients of means, sometimes coupled with the amenities of a vacation resort. The operations insist there are few, if any, side effects from HGH. Mainstream medical authorities say otherwise.

    A 2007 review of 31 medical studies showed swelling in half of HGH patients, with joint pain or diabetes in more than a fifth. A French study of about 7,000 people who took HGH as children found a 30 percent higher risk of death from causes like bone tumors and stroke, stirring a health advisory from U.S. authorities.

    For proof that the drug works, marketers turn to images like the memorable one of pot-bellied septuagenarian Dr. Jeffry Life, supposedly transformed into a ripped hulk of himself by his own program available at the upscale Las Vegas-based Cenegenics Elite Health. (He declined to be interviewed.)

    These promoters of HGH say there is a connection between the drop-off in growth hormone levels through adulthood and the physical decline that begins in late middle age. Replace the hormone, they say, and the aging process slows.

    "It's an easy ruse. People equate hormones with youth," said Dr. Tom Perls, a leading industry critic who does aging research at Boston University. "It's a marketing dream come true."

    ___

    Associated Press Writer David B. Caruso reported from New York and AP National Writer Jeff Donn reported from Plymouth, Mass. AP Writer Troy Thibodeaux provided data analysis assistance from New Orleans.

    ___

    AP's interactive on the HGH investigation: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/hgh

    ___

    The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate(at)ap.org

    EDITOR'S NOTE _ Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the second of a two-part series.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-big-pharma-cashes-hgh-abuse-073401816--finance.html

    usain bolt Closing Ceremony London 2012 Tom Daley Leryn Franco The Campaign Kinesio tape randy travis