See the realities of comercial air travel baggage handleing first hand, download a leaked version of Facebook Messanger for Windows, and listen to the most streamed songs of 2011 on Spotify.
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On Hugh Hewitt?s radio show on Thursday night, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney cited a 2008 book by former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, saying that it demonstrated his rebuke of a philosophy that is plaguing the Department of State?? a mentality that stresses the importance of agreement over the importance of results. (RELATED:?Newt Gingrich: John Bolton will be my secretary of state)
?I had the interesting experience of reading his book, ?Surrender is Not an Option,???Romney said, ?and in it he describes in some depth the mentality of people who spend their entire life in government, and that is in many cases they?re more inclined towards getting an agreement than actually getting the results. And as someone from the private sector, I?m a results-oriented guy.?
Romney said he wasn?t prepared to name a member of his cabinet at that time, but added that he would never say ?never? on the possibility.
?John Bolton insists on good results for America and is someone I respect,? Romney said. ?I think he?s a fine man with great capacity. I?m not planning right now on naming my cabinet early, but you never say ?never? in this business. But I think John Bolton is right ? we need to have a dramatic shake-up in the approach that is taken by our State Department.?
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Lithium ion batteries currently power everything from laptops to electric cars, and Russia and China are gearing up to dominate the industry by launching the world?s largest Li-ion battery plant. Planned for Novobirsk, Russia, the facility will be a joint venture between Chinese firm Thunder Sky and RUSNANO (a Russian state-run corporation) and it will be able to produce up to 500,000 batteries (of all sizes) per year.
The collaborative facility, named Liotech, will have an area exceeding 40,000 square feet ? making it the largest lithium-ion battery factory in the world. It will be able to?produce big automotive and bus batteries as well as batteries for smaller gadgets and emergency power supplies.
The Russian and Chinese firms have reportedly signed multiple contacts to supply the batteries to countries around the world, and 500 people are set to get new jobs at the plant. RUSNANO Managing Director Sergey Polikarpov told?CleanTechnica: ?The new factory is an outstanding example of the local impact of transferring the foreign high technology. It has led to construction of modern production facilities. When plant capacity has been met, more than 500 individuals will be employed. In realizing a program to replace imports, we are creating an entire cluster of new high-tech production for materials and components related to the batteries and also an engineering center which is an excellent synergy?.
Liotech CEO Alexander Erokhin added, ?Implementation of public electric transport equipped with our lithium-ion batteries will significantly improve the environment in large cities in Russia. Use of the batteries in combination with alternative sources of energy will promote the development of ?green technology? and increase the energy efficiency of the Russian economy. We are already seeing interest in our storage batteries from Russian Railways, the Moscow Metro, electric power networks and power generating companies, businesses in the military industrial complex, the public utilities sector, and telecommunications companies.?
+ Liotech
Via CleanTechnia
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It's rare that I get to take some local pride and puff my chest about a movie being shot in Ohio. Take Shelter, a small, suspenseful character-piece, was filmed in Loraine County, near Cleveland. Several of the actors in the production are local actors, including Tova Stewart, the adorable seven-year-old who plays the onscreen deaf daughter. The young gal, who is also deaf in real-life, is from Columbus and was in attendance at the theater I saw Take Shelter at. And I can beam with even more local pride at the fact that Take Shelter is unwaveringly magnificent. It's a remarkably tense movie, deeply realized, expertly crafted, and one of the best films of the year. Curtis (Michael Shannon) is a working-class family man in rural Ohio. He works as a manager of a two-man drill team, scouring the earth for valuable deposits. His wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), cares for their recently deaf daughter, Hannah (Stewart), and sews pillows and embroidery on the side. They are making ends meet to save up for Hannah's cochlear implant surgery. This family tranquility is interrupted when Curtis begins having strange visions. He sees dark, ominous storms that no one else seems to see. He hears loud cracks of thunder during clear skies. He feels the dark rain fall on his person. He wakes from frightful dreams detailing friends and family turning on him. What does it all mean? Curtis feels compelled to remodel the storm shelter in the backyard. He even purchases a cargo container and buries it in the yard, collecting some end-of-the-world provisions. Could Curtis just be crazy? His mother has been in a psychiatric home since she abandoned Curtis as a child. She began having schizophrenic episodes in her mid 30s, and Curtis is now 35. Is he being warned of what lies ahead or is he succumbing to the pull of a hereditary mental illness? This is very likely the most nerve-racking, tense, dread-filled film I've watched since 2009's Oscar-winner, The Hurt Locker. Writer/director Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories) masterfully lays out the particulars of his tale. Even the family drama has some nicely constructed tension. Curtis' family is living paycheck to paycheck, so his backyard project is a real financial setback. By borrowing equipment from his work, Curtis is even risking losing his job, the only way he can afford his child's cochlear implant. Not only do we dread stormy weather and strange flocking patterns for birds, we dread the everyday struggles of keeping afloat. Curtis following his visions can very likely put his family into financial ruin, but is that a risk worth taking? Nichols nicely creates an authentic small-town setting. There are small, acute character touches that enrich the story, like when Dewart (Shea Wigham) concludes that the best compliment a man can give is that "he's lived a good life." When Curtis and Samantha watch their daughter sleep, they share behavior they are still trying to kick in adjusting to having a deaf child ("I still take my boots off not to wake her," he confides. "I still whisper," she returns). These people and their troubles feel believable, and their reactions to Curtis' strange behavior feel extremely believable. Whispers begin to spread and people start to treat madness like it's a communicable illness. Religion seems like a natural landing zone when discussing anything apocalyptic and/or prophetic, but Nichols sidesteps this discussion. There could have been some interesting theological room to explore here, considering a Biblical prophet would likely be derided as mentally ill in our modern age. Nichols keeps things secular. Curtis is admonished for missing church again, but that's about the extent of religion in the man's life. He does not seek out spiritual advice. He seeks out psychiatry, at least if he could afford it he would. There are some terrific standard thriller moments, like some well-calculated jump scares and many nightmare fake-outs, but the film's real skill is drawing out tension to the point where you want to shout at the screen. This is a deliberately paced thriller knotted with unbearable tension. We become conditioned to start doubting the onscreen imagery after Curtis' series of nightmares. Every time there's a storm now the audience, too, fears the validity of what we witness. What is the significance of these portent signs? There's a moment toward the climax, where a storm door needs to be opened, and I simultaneously was dreading every second leading up to that door opening and silently screaming in anticipation. Every part of me wanted to see what was going to happen next and I could not guess where Nichols would take us. I was a nervous wreck. The dread was so heavy, so all consuming, and not just from an apocalyptic standpoint. Curtis understandingly thinks he may be nuts, especially since his own mother is a paranoid schizophrenic. The threat isn't just the strange apocalyptic signs but also Curtis himself unraveling and lashing out. He worries that he'll become a danger to his own family, and if he cannot discern the difference between reality and fantasy it's only a matter of time before he jeopardizes his loved ones. He fears he'll be ripped away from his family. He wants to be better, he wants to be "normal," but he can't trust his own senses. Take Shelter is also so effective thanks to Shannon, a talented actor who always seems to be on the brink of freaking out. The bug-eyed, crazed, monotone actor has planned plenty of nutcases in the movies. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2009 for Revolutionary Road for playing such a nutter. He's a live wire of an actor, simmering, waiting for the final cue to explode. Shannon uses this intensity to his great advantage, wonderfully mirroring the movie's compounding dread. Shannon's character is troubled, that's for sure, and worries about slipping into insanity. His performance is simply riveting, searching for answers amidst the desire to keep his family safe at all costs, even if that eventually means his removal. When he has to confront his central dilemma, the legitimacy of his visions, Shannon is racked with fear, eyes glistening with tears, terrified to go on faith, and your eyes are glued to the screen, completely taken in by the depth of the performance. I hope Shannon gets some due recognition come awards season because I doubt I'll see few performances more compelling. Chastain has had quite a breakout year for herself with lead roles in Tree of Life, The Help, and The Debt. She has a remarkable vulnerability to her, radiating an ethereal vibe (no doubt why Terrence Mallick chose her), and both aspects are put to fine use in Take Shelter. She's much more than the oft underwritten put-upon wife, silently enduring her husband's foibles. She's desperate for an answer to explain her husband's actions and motivations. She's alert, angry, compassionate, and deeply concerned. Chastain holds her own with Shannon, and the two elevate each other's performance subtlety, making their supportive relationship even more believable. Take heed movie lovers, and make sure to find Take Shelter, an intelligent, expertly constructed, suspenseful drama with powerful performances and a powerful sense of dread. Shannon's coiled intensity nicely fits the mounting tension. Nichols has created a taut thriller, a fiercely felt human drama, and an involving character-piece attuned to the talents of its cast. Take Shelter is a commanding, unsettling film that puts the audience in the unreliable position of the main character's point of view. You may almost hope for some actual apocalypse just to validate the guy's struggle. When was the last time you secretly hoped for the end of the world just to give one person a sense of relief? Take shelter from inferior movies and find a theater playing this tremendous movie. Nate's Grade: A
November 6, 2011Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/take_shelter/
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You are here: Home ? Comics ? Art ? The Parade of Time: Glastonbury Underwear
At this time of year it is good to confront our own mortality as shown via drop-butt underwear.
Via sweet juniper!
Source: http://www.comicsbeat.com/2011/12/26/the-parade-of-time-glastonbury-underwear/
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Summertime Answered:
Doesn't bother me.
Shirley Answered:
Yes, berry angry hun. STRAWBERRY angry?
Cricket Answered:
It's okay, Hussein will be dethroned
rmack Answered:
While millions of Americans are losing their jobs and homes ?he goes on lavish trips?THAT pisses me off.
RJC Answered:
Not at all?.however I do like the questions because they bring 0bamas hypocrisy to light.
You know,,,"Americans need to eat their peas."
Daniel Answered:
not at all
Lear 45 Continued II Answered:
F**K' him and feed him fishheads! Elitist Bastard!
Butch Answered:
u mean u get angry when da Prez ackts white?
Don't you?I'm sure 99% of us can't afford a $4.1 MILLION Dollar Vacation.
And how many people make less PER YEAR than the $10,000/NIGHT Room at the The Four Seasons in Hawaii on her vacation?(I know it's not tax money, but doesn't she stand as one of those that the OWS Hates?)
I find it appalling, obscene and just plain wrong that these people are paying this much, and yet are representing me.They don't represent me, they know NOTHING about me and my needs and my life.
You should be offended.
Answered:
Doesn't bother me at all. He is, after all, a politician and that's what they do ? Self first, party second, country after that. I've gotten use to the politician mind-set and very little of what they do surprises me. I try to vote them out of office but they have bamboozled enough people to vote for them so remain on the public dole for life.
Eve Answered:
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being "I detest the use of the teleprompter, vacations and golf" I'd give it a 0 on the "angry scale."
mr joe cool Answered:
Yes because he is on vacation while countrie is turning to ****
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POCATELLO, Idaho ? Jenni Lake gave birth to a baby boy the month before her 18th birthday, though she was not destined to become just another teenage mother.
That much, she knew.
While being admitted to the hospital, she pulled her nurse down to her at bed level and whispered into her ear. The nurse would later repeat the girl's words to comfort her family, as their worst fears were realized a day after Jenni's baby was born.
"She told the nurse, `I'm done, I did what I was supposed to. My baby is going to get here safe,'" said Diana Phillips, Jenni's mother.
In photographs, the baby's ruddy cheeks and healthy weight offer a stark contrast to the frail girl who gave birth to him. She holds the newborn tightly, kissing the top of his head. Jenni, at 5 feet and 4 inches tall, weighed only 108 pounds at the full term of her pregnancy.
A day after the Nov. 9 birth, Phillips learned that her daughter's decision to forgo treatment for tumors on her brain and spine so she could carry the baby would have fatal repercussions. The cancer had marked too much territory. Nothing could be done, Phillips said.
It was only 12 days past the birth ? half spent in the hospital and the other half at home ? before Jenni was gone.
Even so, her family and friends insist her legacy is not one centered in tragedy, but rather in sacrifice.
This month, her family gathered at their ranch style home in Pocatello, where a Christmas tree in the living room was adorned with ornaments picked out just for Jenni, including one in bright lime green, her favorite color. She had passed away in a bedroom down the hall.
Recalling Jenni's infectious laugh and a rebellious streak, her mother held the baby close, nuzzling his head, and said, "I want him to know everything about her, and what she did."
___
The migraines started last year, when Jenni was a 16-year-old sophomore at Pocatello High School. She was taken to the family doctor, and an MRI scan found a small mass measuring about two centimeters wide on the right side of her brain.
She was sent to a hospital in Salt Lake City, some 150 miles south of Pocatello, and another scan there showed the mass was bigger than previously thought.
Jenni had a biopsy Oct. 15, 2010, and five days later was diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma, a type of brain tumor. With three tumors on her brain and three on her spine, Jenni was told her case was rare because the cancer had spread from her brain to another part of her body with no symptoms.
Her parents, who are divorced, remember they were brought into a room at the hospital and sat down at a long table as doctors discussed her chances of survival.
"Jenni just flat out asked them if she was going to die," said her father, Mike Lake, 43, a truck driver who lives in Rexburg, north of Pocatello.
The answer wasn't good. With treatment, the teen was told she had a 30 percent chance to make it two years, Lake said. While he was heartbroken, Lake marveled at how strong she seemed in that moment. "She didn't break down and cry or anything," he said.
But her mom recalled Jenni did have a weak moment that day.
"When they told her that she might not be able to have kids, she got upset," said Phillips, 39.
Jenni started aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments, while also posting videos on a YouTube site titled "Jenni's Journey," where she hoped to share her story with updates every other day. She managed to upload only three videos, though, as her treatments left her tired and weak.
On her second video, posted Nov. 20, 2010, Jenni appears distraught while a family friend records her having lunch with her mom.
"Last night, like, I was just lying in bed and I was thinking about everything that was going on and it just like, it just hit me, like everything, and I don't know, it made me cry," Jenni says on the video.
Her mom is shown burying her face in her hands. "Do you know how hard it is to be a mom and know that she's sick and there's nothing you can do," she says, before collapsing into tears.
Jenni persists: "It's hard. It's like, I don't know how long this is going to last and I just want it to go away ... I feel like this is holding me back from so much ..."
By March of this year, the tumors had started to shrink, the family said.
In a picture taken at her prom in early May, Jenni is wearing a dark blue strapless dress and gives the camera a small smile. There's a silver headband in her hair, which is less than an inch long. Chemotherapy took her shoulder-length blond tresses.
Her boyfriend, Nathan Wittman, wearing a black dress shirt and pants, is cradling her from behind.
___
Jenni started dating Nathan a couple of weeks before she received her diagnosis. Their adolescent relationship withstood the very adult test posed by cancer, the treatments that left her barely able to walk from her living room to her bedroom, and the gossip at school.
"The rumors started flying around, like Nathan was only with her because she had cancer," said Jenni's older sister, Ashlee Lake, 20, who tried to squelch the mean-spirited chatter even as the young couple ignored it.
They were hopeful, and dreamed of someday opening a restaurant or a gallery.
Jenni had been working as an apprentice in a local tattoo shop. "She was like our little sister," said the owner, Kass Chacon. But in May, Jenni's visits to the shop grew less frequent.
She had been throwing up a lot and had sharp stomach pains. She went to the emergency room early one morning with her boyfriend and when she returned home, her family members woke up to the sound of crying. "We could hear Jenni just bawling in her room," said her sister, Kaisee, 19.
She had learned that she was pregnant, and an ultrasound would show the fetus was 10 weeks old.
Jenni's journey was no longer her own.
From the start of treatment, she was told that she might never have children, her mother said, that the radiation and chemotherapy could essentially make her sterile.
"We were told that she couldn't get pregnant, so we didn't worry about it," said Nathan, 19.
Jenni, the third of her parents' eight children, had always wanted to be a mom. She had already determined to keep the baby when she went to see her oncologist, Dr. David Ririe, in Pocatello two days after she found out she was pregnant.
"He told us that if she's pregnant, she can't continue the treatments," Phillips said. "So she would either have to terminate the pregnancy and continue the treatments, or stop the treatments, knowing that it could continue to grow again."
Dr. Ririe would not discuss Jenni's care, citing privacy laws, but said, generally, in cases in which a cancer patient is pregnant, oncologists will consider both the risks and benefits of continuing with treatment, such as chemotherapy.
"There are times during pregnancy in some situations, breast cancer being the classic example, where the benefits of chemotherapy may outweigh the risk to mother and baby," Ririe said. "There are other times where the risk outweighs the benefits."
There was no discussion about which path Jenni would choose. Her parents didn't think of it as a clear life or death decision, and Jenni may not have, either. They believed that since the tumors had already started to shrink earlier, she had a strong chance of carrying the baby and then returning to treatment after he was born.
"I guess we were just hoping that after she had the baby, she could go back on the chemotherapy and get better," her mother said.
___
Jenni and Nathan named the baby Chad Michael, after their dads. Nathan has legal custody of the child, who is primarily cared for by Nathan's mother, Alexia Wittman, 51.
"Nathan will raise him," she said. She brings the baby to Jenni's house to visit her family whenever they ask.
Jenni didn't show regret for her decision, not in the final weeks of her pregnancy as she grew weaker, and not when she started to lose her vision as the cancer took its course, her family said.
Jenni's last words were about her son as he was placed beside her a final time, her father said. As she felt for the baby, she said: "I can kind of see him."
___
Jenni's Journey: www.facebook.com/jennis.journey
Jenni's YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/jennisjourney
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TOKYO ? Sori Yanagi, whose designs for stools and kitchen pots brought the simplicity and purity of Japanese decor into the everyday, has died. He was 96.
The pioneer of Japan's industrial design died of pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital Sunday, Koichi Fujita of Yanagi Design Office said Monday.
Yanagi's curvaceous "butterfly stool," evocative of a Japanese shrine gate, won an award at La Triennale di Milano in 1957 and helped elevate him to international stature.
The work later joined the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Louvre museum in Paris.
Another typical Yanagi design was the stackable plastic stool, humorously called the "elephant stool," because of its resemblance to the animal's chunky feet.
The lines and curves of Yanagi designs were as distinctly Japanese as they were universal, winning him fans ? and a place in homes not only in Japan but around the world ? for his tea pots, ceramic cups and even the lowly whisk, which became artwork with his touch.
Yanagi chose design for his career after falling in love with the work of architect Le Corbusier while studying at a Tokyo fine art university.
Credited with paving the way on the international stage for younger Japanese designers, Yanagi also took up more monumental pieces, such as bridges and the Olympic torch, as well as a motorcycle and toys.
He supported Japanese traditional art throughout his life, and he served as head of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo, which his philosopher father founded.
Funeral arrangements were not being disclosed as the ceremony is for family and close friends. He is survived by his wife Fumiko and four children, Fujita said.
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama
(This version CORRECTS the spelling of kitchenware in the headline.)
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Source: www.globalnews.ca --- Sunday, December 25, 2011
OTTAWA - Canadians stationed overseas received a special visit over Christmas. ...
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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f0d9ebd5cb042a7b64cc2fb1e4a058c0
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WASHINGTON ? House Republicans on Thursday caved to demands by President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and fellow Republicans for a short-term renewal of payroll tax cuts for all workers. The breakthrough almost certainly spares workers an average $20 a week tax increase Jan. 1.
After days of wrangling that even Speaker John Boehner acknowledged "may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world," the Ohio Republican abruptly changed course and dropped demands for immediate holiday season talks with the Senate on a full-year measure that all sides said they want. Senate leaders had insisted on the two-month extension to buy time for talks next year.
The House and Senate plan to act on the two-month extension Friday.
House Republicans were under fire from their constituents and GOP establishment figures incensed that they would risk losing the tax cut issue to Democrats at the dawn of the 2012 presidential and congressional election year. House GOP arguments about the legislative process and the "uncertainty" a two-month extension would mean for business were unpersuasive.
"In the end House Republicans felt like they were reenacting the Alamo, with no reinforcements and our friends shooting at us," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas.
The compromise legislation would renew the tax break through Feb. 29, along with jobless benefits and a "fix" to prevent doctors from absorbing a big cut in Medicare payments. Its $33 billion cost would be covered by an increased fee on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers ? and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.
"Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut - about $1,000 for the average family," Obama said in a statement. "That's about $40 in every paycheck. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay."
If the cuts had expired as scheduled, 160 million workers would have seen a 2 percentage point increase in their Social Security taxes. And up to 2 million people without jobs for six months would start losing unemployment benefits averaging $300 a week.
The GOP retreat ends a tense standoff in which Boehner's House Republicans came under great pressure to agree to the short-term extension passed by the Senate on Saturday. The speaker was initially open to the idea, but rank-and-file Republicans revolted, and the House instead insisted on immediate talks on the year-long measure passed by the House, which contains curbs to unemployment insurance and other ideas backed by conservatives ? as well as deeper spending cuts to pay for the full-year cost.
After Senate leaders tried but failed to match the House's goal for a full-year pact, the chamber on Saturday instead gave sweeping approval for the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, jobless benefits and doctors' Medicare fees that otherwise would have been cut 27 percent. The House had just days before passed a full-year extension that included a series of conservative policy prescriptions unpalatable to Obama and congressional Democrats.
Obama, Republicans and congressional Democrats all said they preferred a one-year extension but the politics of achieving that eluded them. All pledged to start working on that in January.
"Has this place become so dysfunctional that even when we agree to things we can't do it?" Obama asked. "Enough is enough.".
The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, was a driving force behind Thursday's agreement, imploring Boehner to accept the deal that McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid had struck last week and passed with overwhelming support in both parties.
"There remain important differences between the parties on how to implement these policies, and it is critical that we protect middle-class families from a tax increase while we work them out," Reid said after Boehner's announcement.
The breakthrough emerged as a firewall erected by tea party-backed House Republicans crumbled Thursday.
"I don't think that my constituents should have a tax increase because of Washington's dysfunction," said freshman Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.
The Republican establishment, too, put new pressure on House Republicans to compromise.
The 2008 GOP presidential nominee, John McCain, former Bush administration confidant Karl Rove and The Wall Street Journal editorial page were among conservative voices urging House Republicans to retreat.
Just hours before he announced the breakthrough, Boehner had made the case for a year-long extension. But on a brief late afternoon conference call, he informed his colleagues it was time to yield.
"He said that as your leader, you've in effect asked me to make decisions easy and difficult and I'm making my decision right now," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., paraphrasing Boehner's comments.
Kingston said the conference call lasted just minutes and Boehner did not give anyone time to respond.
There was still carping among tea party freshmen upset that GOP leaders had yielded.
"Even though there is plenty of evidence this is a bad deal for America ... the House has caved yet again to the president and Senate Democrats," said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan. "We were sent here with a clear set of instructions from the American people to put an end to business as usual in Washington, yet here we are being asked to sign off on yet another gimmick."
Almost forgotten in the firestorm is that McConnell and Boehner had extracted a major victory last week, winning a provision that would require Obama to make a swift decision on whether to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil to the U.S. and create thousands of construction jobs. To block the pipeline, Obama would have to declare that is not in the nation's interest.
Obama wanted to put the decision off until after the 2012 election.
House Republicans did win one concession in addition to a promise that Senate Democrats would name negotiators on the one-year House measure: a provision to ease concerns that the 60-day extension would be hard for payroll processing companies to implement.
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Korean mobile phones giant, Samsung Group, has unleashed its first set of dual-SIM Android phones - the Galaxy Y Duos and the Galaxy Y Pro Duos.
The devices, 11.98mm thick, come with a metallic casing, which the company claims gives it an elegant and appealing look. The phones sport 3.14 and 2.6-inch displays, will run on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and are powered by an 832MHz processor. It is unclear, as yet, if the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) will port on these phones.
The phones incorporate the ChatON service, which provides a unified platform for e-mail, social networking and instant messaging.
The Pro Duos are focused at professionals and office users and ships with a full QWERTY keypad and a scaled-down 2.6-inch display. Preloaded software includes an office suite - Polaris and a security tool - Find My Mobile.?
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Availability
The?Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos are set to release first in Russia, in Jan. 2012, followed by Europe, CIS, Latin America, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Africa. In addition, the Galaxy Y Duos will be available in China and Southeast Asia also.
To contact the editor, e-mail:
Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/272459/20111225/samsung-galaxy-y-series-duos-pro-smartphones.htm
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Statement issued Thursday by the office of Marlin Stutzman:
Washington, D.C. ? This week, Congressman Marlin Stutzman (IN-03) sent news of an early Christmas present to thirteen Northeast Indiana high school seniors and one Air Force Airman. Students were notified of their nomination to one of the U.S. Service Academies ? the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Each candidate has maintained a record of academic excellence, developed leadership, and demonstrated outstanding potential to be a successful officer in the United States Military.
?I?m proud to nominate each of these students,? said Stutzman. ?The world looks to America as the ?shining city on the hill? because men and women of character defend freedom. These students have worked hard for a chance to test themselves at the academies. Out of the many applicants who contacted my office, this group stood out. After a thorough and difficult review process, these young men and women have earned their nominations.?
The service academies will make their final appointment decisions.
The following students received news of their nominations this week:
Allen County
DeKalb County
Elkhart County
Noble County
Source: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20111222/BLOGS01/111229812
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Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintained its Allot Communications (NASDAQ: ALLT) Buy rating and commented on Allot's sell-off in a research report published today.
In the report, Bank of America Merrill Lynch states, "This morning an article on Bloomberg news suggested that Allot's DPI (deep packet inspection) equipment may have been unlawfully distributed to Iran through Rantek, a Danish distributor. The stock is down ~5% on the news. Allot issued a press release which confirmed our view that many of the facts may have been taken out of context. We believe the sell-off is unwarranted and maintain our Buy on the stock."
Shares of Allot Communications were trading at $15.74 at the time of posting, down 5.69% from Thursday's market close.
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(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga.
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The warrant for Leigh Steinberg's arrest was issued after he failed to appear in court last week in a case involving a judgment owed to a landlord, Carole Levitzky, a spokeswoman for Orange County Superior Court, said Thursday.
Court papers show Steinberg was ordered to pay $1.4 million last year to the Irvine Company in a default judgment for office space he leased in Newport Beach.
Steinberg stopped paying under the terms of his lease in 2009, according to court papers filed by the landlord, which declined to comment on the case.
Steinberg was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in 1996's "Jerry Maguire," which turned "Show me the money!" into an enduring catchphrase, though Steinberg isn't actually known for using that phrase.
Steinberg said he's not hiding or running from the law. He said he has an office open for business in Irvine and thousands of friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter.
The 62-year-old agent said he's still representing athletes and he's acting as a consultant on projects related to sports in movies, television and video games.
Steinberg said he had asked his attorney to change the date of his Dec. 15 hearing and was told it was taken care of. Steinberg said he was unaware he had a warrant in the case, which stems from some payments he missed in 2009 before moving to less expensive office space.
"Since when in this country do you put people in jail for having debt?" he said in a phone interview Thursday. "The point is, I had some financial struggles, which I regret. And I am working hard right now to pay the debts I owe."
Steinberg said his financial troubles stem in part from his divorce several years ago. He separated from his wife in 2006.
The Irvine Company earlier this month asked the court to require Steinberg to apply a portion of his income stream to pay the judgment, alleging process servers have been unable to directly contact him.
"Steinberg is a semi famous figure with huge apparent notoriety but shows signs of significant recent deterioration," Brooke Brandt, an attorney for the Orange County real estate company, wrote in a Dec. 9 court filing. "He appears to have a phalanx of security protection around him that prevents process servers from gaining access to him unless he allows it."
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Steinberg is considered the first super agent in sports, having represented such NFL stars as Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Warren Moon and Ben Roethlisberger, as well as boxer Oscar De La Hoya. His resume includes representing eight No. 1 overall NFL draft picks. He began his career in 1975 and was able to secure huge signing bonuses for some of football's biggest stars.
___
Associated Press writer John Rogers contributed to this report from Los Angeles. AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson contributed from San Diego.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn (Tim Ghianni, Reuters) - A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to making threatening drunken profanity-laced telephone calls to U.S. Congressman Eric Cantor, prompting the House majority leader to praise investigators on Wednesday.
Glendon Swift, 64, pleaded guilty Tuesday to threatening a family member of a federal official and accepted prosecutor's recommendation for a 13-month prison sentence for the October 27 calls, according to court documents. He was arrested November 2.
Swift, who lives in Lenoir City outside Knoxville, Tennessee, called the Republican congressman's suburban Richmond, Virginia, offices, threatening Cantor and his family and prompting an investigation by the Capitol Police and FBI.
The congressman's staff saved recordings of the calls. They included derogatory comments about Cantor's Jewish faith and threats to "destroy" him, according to court documents.
Swift admitted it was his voice on recordings and told FBI agents he "got drunk the other night and started cussing people out," according to court documents.
According to the FBI, the profanity-laced remarks included, "How about if I rape your daughter? How about that, if I come into your house and kill your wife?"
Swift pleaded guilty in federal court in Knoxville. The charge carries up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Swift's attorney, federal public defender Jonathan Moffatt could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The congressman's office deferred to law enforcement about case details, but conveyed the congressman's response via email.
"Leader Cantor appreciates the dedicated service of law enforcement and the U.S. Capitol police for their continued efforts to keep members of Congress and their families safe," spokeswoman Laena Fallon said.
Sentencing has been set for April 4.
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Com brings out the living legend during his show on the West Coast.
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During last night?s performance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, California, Common brought out Stevie Wonder to accompany him during a freestyle.
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Com spit the freestyle in between bits of Wonder singing with a live band. The show was in celebration of his most recent release, The Dreamer, The Believer, which landed in stores this past Tuesday.
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Source: http://www.dropthevibe.com/common-performs-freestyles-with-stevie-wonder-in-los-angeles-california
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WASHINGTON?? The U.S. government asked scientists Tuesday not to reveal all the details of how to make a version of the deadly bird flu that they created in labs in the U.S. and Europe.
Don't miss these Health stories
Have you ever been tempted to sneak a peek at those notes your doctor is scribbling about you? If you have, you?re like most patients, new Harvard research shows.? But chances are, your doctor would rather you keep your nose out of his notes.
The lab-bred virus, being kept under high security, appears to spread more easily among mammals. That's fueled worry that publishing a blueprint could aid terrorists in creating a biological weapon, the National Institutes of Health said.
But the NIH said it was important for the overall findings to be published in scientific journals, because they suggest it may be easier than previously thought for bird flu to mutate on its own and become a greater threat.
"It's very important research," NIH science policy director Dr. Amy Patterson told The Associated Press. "As this virus evolves in nature, we want to be able to rapidly detect . . . mutations that may indicate that the virus is getting closer to a form that could cross species lines more readily."
Bird flu, known formally as H5N1 avian influenza, occasionally infects people who have close contact with infected poultry, particularly in parts of Asia. It is highly deadly when it does infect people because it's different from typical human flu bugs. The concern is that one day it may begin spreading easily between people.
The NIH paid for two research projects, at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and at the University of Wisconsin, to better understand what might fuel the virus' ability to spread. The NIH said researchers genetically engineered bird flu that could spread easily among ferrets ? animals whose response to influenza is similar to humans.
So the government's biosecurity advisers ? the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity ? reviewed the research as it was submitted to two scientific journals, Science and Nature. Following the board's recommendation, the Department of Health and Human Services asked the researchers and journal editors not publish the full genetic information that could enable someone to copy the work.
Patterson said publishing the general findings, however, could help scientists better monitor bird flu's natural evolution and spur further research into new treatments. The government will set up a way for scientists who are pursuing such work to be given the unpublished genetic details, she said.
Patterson said researchers were making changes in their scientific reports.
But in a statement, Science editor-in-chief Dr. Bruce Alberts said his journal "has concerns about withholding potentially important public health information from responsible influenza researchers" and was evaluating how best to proceed.
Nature's editor-in-chief, Dr. Philip Campbell, called the recommendations unprecedented.
"It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers," he said in a statement. The journal is discussing how "appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45738690/ns/health-cold_and_flu/
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PRAGUE ? Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who wove theater into politics to peacefully bring down communism in Czechoslovakia and become a hero of the epic struggle that ended the Cold War, has died. He was 75.
Havel died Sunday morning at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic, his assistant Sabina Dancecova said.
Havel was his country's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent "Velvet Revolution" that ended four decades of repression by a regime he ridiculed as "Absurdistan."
As president, he oversaw the country's bumpy transition to democracy and a free-market economy, as well its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Even out of office, the diminutive Czech remained a world figure. He was part of the "new Europe" ? in the coinage of then-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ? of ex-communist countries that stood up for the U.S. when the democracies of "old Europe" opposed the 2003 Iraq invasion.
A former chain-smoker, Havel had a history of chronic respiratory problems dating back to his years in communist jails. He was hospitalized in Prague on Jan. 12, 2009, with an unspecified inflammation, and had developed breathing difficulties after undergoing minor throat surgery.
Havel left office in 2003, 10 years after Czechoslovakia broke up and just months before both nations joined the European Union. He was credited with laying the groundwork that brought his Czech Republic into the 27-nation bloc, and was president when it joined NATO in 1999.
Shy and bookish, with wispy mustache and unkempt hair, Havel came to symbolize the power of the people to peacefully overcome totalitarian rule.
"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred," Havel famously said. It became his revolutionary motto which he said he always strove to live by.
Havel was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and collected dozens of other accolades worldwide for his efforts as a global ambassador of conscience, defended the downtrodden from Darfur to Myanmar.
Among his many honors were Sweden's prestigious Olof Palme Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, bestowed on him by President George W. Bush for being "one of liberty's great heroes."
An avowed peacenik whose heroes included rockers such as Frank Zappa, he never quite shed his flower-child past and often signed his name with a small heart as a flourish.
In an October 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Havel rebuked Russia for invading Georgia two months earlier, and warned EU leaders against appeasing Moscow.
"We should not turn a blind eye ... It's a big test for the West," he said.
Havel also said he saw the global economic crisis as a warning not to abandon basic human values in the scramble to prosper.
"It's a warning against the idea that we understand the world, that we know how everything works," he told the AP in his office in Prague. The cramped work space was packed with his books, plays and rock memorabilia.
Havel first made a name for himself after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring reforms of Alexander Dubcek and other liberally minded communists in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Havel's plays were banned as hard-liners installed by Moscow snuffed out every whiff of rebellion. But he continued to write, producing a series of underground essays that stand with the work of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov as the most incisive and eloquent analyses of what communism did to society and the individual.
One of his best-known essays, "The Power and the Powerless" written in 1978, borrowed slyly from the immortal opening line of the mid-19th century Communist Manifesto, writing: "A specter is haunting eastern Europe: the specter of what in the West is called 'dissent.'"
In the essay, he dissected what he called the "dictatorship of ritual" ? the ossified Soviet bloc system under Leonid Brezhnev ? and imagined what happens when an ordinary greengrocer stops displaying communist slogans and begins "living in truth," rediscovering "his suppressed identity and dignity."
Havel knew that suppression firsthand.
Born Oct. 5, 1936, in Prague, the child of a wealthy family which lost extensive property to communist nationalization in 1948, Havel was denied a formal education, eventually earning a degree at night school and starting out in theater as a stagehand.
His political activism began in earnest in January 1977, when he co-authored the human rights manifesto Charter 77, and the cause drew widening attention in the West.
Havel was detained countless times and spent four years in communist jails. His letters from prison to his wife became one of his best-known works. "Letters to Olga" blended deep philosophy with a stream of stern advice to the spouse he saw as his mentor and best friend, and who tolerated his reputed philandering and other foibles.
The events of August 1988 ? the 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact invasion ? first suggested that Havel and his friends might one day replace the faceless apparatchiks who jailed them.
Thousands of mostly young people marched through central Prague, yelling Havel's name and that of the playwright's hero, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the philosopher who was Czechoslovakia's first president after it was founded in 1918.
Havel's arrest in January 1989 at another street protest and his subsequent trial generated anger at home and abroad. Pressure for change was so strong that the communists released him again in May.
That fall, communism began to collapse across Eastern Europe, and in November the Berlin Wall fell. Eight days later, communist police brutally broke up a demonstration by thousands of Prague students.
It was the signal that Havel and his country had awaited. Within 48 hours, a broad new opposition movement was founded, and a day later, hundreds of thousands of Czechs and Slovaks took to the streets.
In three heady weeks, communist rule was broken. Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones arrived just as the Soviet army was leaving. Posters in Prague proclaimed: "The tanks are rolling out ? the Stones are rolling in."
On Dec. 29, 1989, Havel was elected Czechoslovakia's president by the country's still-communist parliament. Three days later, he told the nation in a televised New Year's address: "Out of gifted and sovereign people, the regime made us little screws in a monstrously big, rattling and stinking machine."
Although he continued to be regarded a moral voice as he decried the shortcomings of his society under democracy, he eventually bent to the dictates of convention and power. His watchwords ? "what the heart thinks, the tongue speaks" ? had to be modified for day-to-day politics.
And post-revolutionary life contained many challenges.
In July 1992, it became clear that the Czechoslovak federation was heading for a split. Considering it a personal failure, Havel resigned as president.
But he remained popular and was elected president of the new Czech Republic uncontested.
He was small, but his presence and wit could fill a room. Even late in life, he retained a certain impishness and boyish grin, shifting easily from philosophy to jokes or plain old Prague gossip.
In December 1996, just 11 months after his first wife, Olga Havlova, died of cancer, he lost a third of his right lung during surgery to remove a 15-millimeter (half-inch) malignant tumor.
He gave up smoking and married Dagmar Veskrnova, a dashing actress almost 20 years his junior.
Holding a post of immense prestige but little power, Havel's image suffered in the latter years as his people discovered the difficulties of transforming their society in the post-communist era.
His attempts to reconcile rival politicians were considered by many as unconstitutional intrusions, and his pleas for political leaders to build a "civic society" based on respect, tolerance and individual responsibility went largely unanswered.
Media criticism, once unthinkable, became unrelenting. Serious newspapers questioned his political visions; tabloids focused mainly on his private life and his flashy second wife.
Havel himself acknowledged that his handling of domestic issues never matched his flair for foreign affairs. But when the Czech Republic joined NATO in March 1999, and the European Union in May 2004, his dreams came true.
"I can't stop rejoicing that I live in this time and can participate in it," Havel exulted.
Early in 2008, Havel returned to his first love: the stage. He published a new play, "Leaving," about the struggles of a leader on his way out of office, and the work gained critical acclaim.
Theater, he told the AP, was once again his major interest.
"My return to the stage was not easy," he said. "It's not a common thing for someone to be involved in theater, become a president, and then go back."
Key dates in the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which ended Sunday with the last convoy of troops leaving:
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2003
_March 20: U.S. forces attack Baghdad with missiles and bombs in a failed attempt to kill Saddam Hussein. U.S. and allied ground troops roll into Iraq.
_April 9: American troops storm Baghdad and the statue of Saddam is toppled in Firdous Square, the symbolic collapse of his regime.
_May 1: President George W. Bush declares an end to major combat operations.
_July 22: Saddam's sons Oday and Qusay are killed in a gunfight in Mosul.
_Aug. 7: A car bomb strikes the Jordanian Embassy, the first such attack of the war. Twelve days later, a truck bomb demolishes the headquarters of the United Nations in Baghdad, killing top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.
_Sept 3: U.S. announces an Iraqi administration largely made up of Iraqi exiles who opposed Saddam.
_Oct. 26: A barrage of rockets slams into the Al-Rasheed Hotel in the Green Zone, killing an American lieutenant colonel and injuring 17 other people. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the war, who was visiting Baghdad, escapes injury.
_Dec. 13: Saddam is captured in an underground hideout near Tikrit.
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2004
_Feb. 1: Two suicide bombers attack Kurdish political offices in Irbil, killing 117 people and injuring 133.
_March 2: Multiple explosions rock Baghdad and Karbala at the climax of a Shiite festival, killing nearly 200 people in the deadliest attack so far.
_March 31: Four Blackwater security contractors are ambushed and killed in Fallujah, setting off the first battle for the insurgent-dominated city west of Baghdad.
_April 4: Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launch attacks across southern Iraq after the U.S tries to close his newspaper. Fighting rages until the end of August.
_April 18: U.S. announces an investigation into abuses against detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison as gruesome photos emerge showing Iraqi prisoners humiliated.
_May 17: The head of the Iraqi Governing Council, Ezzedine Salim, is killed in suicide attack near the entrance to the Green Zone.
_May 19: U.S. jets mistakenly bomb a wedding party in western Iraq, killing 42 people, including women and children.
_June 28: The U.S. transfers sovereignty to the Iraqis but retains most real power. The civilian head of the occupation authority, L. Paul Bremer, leaves the country.
_July 1: Trial of Saddam begins with the ousted leader appearing at his first hearing.
_Sept. 30: A car bomb strikes American troops handing out candy to children, killing up to 35 children.
_Nov. 7: U.S. soldiers and Marines launch the biggest attack of the war to date to seize the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
_Dec. 21: A bomb kills 22 people, including 18 Americans, at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul.
___
2005
_Jan. 26: A helicopter crashes in western Iraq, killing 31 Americans.
_Jan. 30: Iraqis select a new parliament in the first elections since the fall of Saddam. Shiite and Kurdish parties take an overwhelming majority after Sunnis largely boycott.
_Feb. 28: A vehicle bomb kills 127 people in Hillah in the deadliest blast to date.
_March 4: Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena is freed by Italian intelligence but the rescuing agent is killed when U.S. troops fire on their vehicle en route to Baghdad airport.
_Aug. 28: An Iraqi commission submits a draft constitution to parliament.
_Aug. 31: Rumors of a suicide bomber panics Shiite marchers in a religious procession at a Baghdad bridge and nearly 10,000 people reportedly die in the stampede.
_Sept. 14: A series of bombings kills 160 people in Baghdad in a dramatic escalation of the insurgency.
_Oct. 15: Iraqis approve the new constitution in a referendum.
_Oct. 24: The Palestine and Sheraton hotels, favored by Western journalists, are struck by multiple truck bombs.
_Nov. 19: U.S. troops kill 24 people, including 15 noncombatants, in Haditha after an insurgent attack.
_Dec. 15: Iraqis choose a new parliament in the first election under the new constitution.
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2006
_Feb. 22: Sunni militants bomb the Shiite Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, triggering a wave of sectarian violence that brings Iraq to the brink of civil war.
_June 7: The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is killed in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.
_June 17: U.S. troops launch a battle to take control of the western city of Ramadi in a bloody conflict that persists for more than a year.
_July 9: Shiite militias kill 40 Sunnis in the Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad as sectarian war spreads to the capital.
_Nov. 23: Bombs kill more than 200 Shiites in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
_Dec. 30: Saddam is executed by hanging.
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2007
_Jan. 10: President Bush orders 30,000 reinforcements to Iraq in an effort to stem the sectarian war and stabilize Baghdad.
_Jan. 28: Followers of a Shiite cult launch a battle in Najaf that kills nearly 300 people.
_Feb. 3: A bomb in a Baghdad market kills 135 people.
_Feb. 27: Shiite militias besiege British bases in Basra, ultimately prompting most British forces to leave the country.
_March 23: Iranians seize 15 British navy personnel patrolling near Basra, releasing them April 4.
_March 27: A blast in Tal Afar kills 152 people, setting off a wave of Shiite reprisals that claim 70 Sunni lives.
_April 18: Bombs across Baghdad kill nearly 200 people.
_Aug. 14: A series of bombings directed against the Yazidi religious community in the north kills nearly 800 people.
_Aug. 29: Muqtada al-Sadr announces a cease-fire after a public backlash against his militia following a clash in Karbala that killed 50 people. Attacks against U.S. troops in Shiite areas begin to drop.
_Sept. 16: Blackwater security guards mistakenly believing they were under attack kill 17 civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad.
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2008
_Jan. 8: U.S. and Iraqi forces launch operations in Baghdad to secure the capital.
_Jan. 23: Operations begin in Mosul against al-Qaida's last major urban stronghold.
_Feb. 21: Turkey launches an offensive in northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels from the PKK.
_March 25: Heavy fighting breaks out in Basra as Iraqi forces try to crush Shiite militias, which launch counterattacks in Baghdad. Fighting rages for a month until the Shiites accept a cease-fire.
_Oct. 26: U.S. special operations troops strike in Syria to break up a ring smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.
_Nov. 27: The Iraqi parliament approves an agreement with the U.S. calling for the departure of all U.S. troops by the end of 2011.
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2009
_May 27: The last British combat troops leave Iraq.
_Aug. 19: A massive truck bomb kills about 100 people in Baghdad.
_Oct. 25: Bombs targeting government buildings kill 127 in Baghdad.
___
2010
_March 7: Iraqi parliamentary election fails to give power to a single bloc, leading to months of political negotiations and infighting that drag on until a power-sharing deal in November.
_Aug. 18: U.S. combat operations in Iraq end as its last combat brigade departs for Kuwait. Thousands of troops remain behind in a supporting role.
___
2011
_April 8: The Iraqi army raids Camp Ashraf, home to Iranian exiles. The raid kills 34 civilians and produces calls for the Iraqi government to honor agreements for the protection of the camp.
_May 5: Car bomb in Hillah kills nearly 30 people.
_June 21: A bomb in the southern city of Diwaniyah kills 20 and injures 30.
_Oct. 21: President Barack Obama announces all troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year.
_Dec. 15: The U.S. military officially declares the end of its mission.
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