Thursday, February 28, 2013

How can I find foreclosed property owners such as ... - Zillow Real ...

If you're asking how to find foreclosed properties to purchase, they are normally listed on the local MLS just like any other property. Athough the seller is a bank, they normally hire?a real estate agent to market and sell the property for them, and the process is very similar to a standard sale.

If you are talking about purchasing a property that is?being foreclosed on, but you want to purchase it?before the bank takes ownership, then you need to go to the auctions. The banks set auction dates for properties that are in default.The auctions typically happen on the steps of the county courthouse. Normally, you pay all cash, and you are unable to do any inspections, etc. You must do all your due diligence prior to the auction date including liens on title, past due taxes, etc. You can get lists of properties that will come up on the auction block through title?companies.?

If you're asking how do you determine?the owner of a foreclosed property, then you can pull up public records online (you may have to subscribe to a site) and it will give you the name, and possibly contact info, of the property owner.

Hopefully, I came close to answering your question.

Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/How-can-I-find-foreclosed-property-owners-such-as-banks-etc/480676/

jon jones vs rashad evans earth day 2012 jon jones rashad evans ufc jones vs evans watergate mlb pregnant man

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Robo5: simple, fun and free puzzle game

Robo5

Robo5 takes cool steampunk style and draws it in fun, cartoon artwork to provide hours of both casual and intense gameplay. The concept of the game is simple, but you can tell that's exactly what the developers were aiming to accomplish. It's hard to argue with the combination here, especially when it's free to play for a large set of levels and just $1.99 to unlock it all.

Hang with us after the break and see a little more about what makes Robo5 a fun game.

read more



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-OSYzf6b8z0/story01.htm

best cyber monday deals macaulay culkin Larry Hagman macys apple apple jcpenney

Adult home takes unusual approach to elderly care

CHESTNUT RIDGE, N.Y. (AP) ? At the Fellowship Community's adult home, workers are paid not according to what they do, but what they need; aging residents are encouraged to lend a hand at the farm, the candle shop or the pottery studio; and boisterous children are welcome around the old folks.

It's a home for the elderly in a commune-like setting, 30 miles from Manhattan, that takes an unusual approach, integrating seniors into the broader community and encouraging them to contribute to its welfare.

"It's a great place to live, and I think there's probably no better place in the world to die," says Joanne Karp, an 81-year-old resident who was supposed to be in her room recovering from eye surgery but instead was down the hall at the piano, accompanying three kids learning to play the recorder.

The 33-bed adult home is at the center of Fellowship Community, a collection of about 130 men, women and children founded in 1966 that offers seniors ? including the aging baby boom generation ? an alternative to living out their final years in traditional assisted-living homes or with their grown sons and daughters.

At most adult homes, a resident in decline would eventually have to go to a hospital or nursing home. But Fellowship has an exemption from state law that allows dying residents to stay there because "people have wanted to stay, and we have wanted to keep them," said administrator Ann Scharff, who helped found the community.

"We provide a space in which people can prepare to die in a way that is accepted and nourishing to them and fraught with meaning," Scharff said. "It's not something you run away from, but it's part of the whole spectrum of life, just as birth is part of life and is prepared for."

Situated on a hilltop in suburban Rockland County, Fellowship looks a bit like a village out of the past. Besides the farm and the pottery and candle shops, there are a dairy barn with 10 cows, a print shop, a metal shop, a "weavery" and a wood shop.

The 33-acre farm goes beyond organic, running on "biodynamic," or self-sustaining, principles, as much as a small farm can, said Jairo Gonzalez, the head gardener. Solar panels sparkle on the barn roof, and cow manure becomes compost.

Most of the adult home workers live in buildings surrounding it, as do about 35 independent seniors who don't yet need the services but plan to live out their days in the community. At meals, elders, workers and children dine together.

"We don't subscribe to 'Children should be seen and not heard,'" Scharff said.

Caring for the elderly is the main activity, but all the workers also have other responsibilities.

"In a typical work week, someone will be inside helping the elderly, meaning bringing meals, bathing, meds," said Will Bosch, head of the community's board of trustees. "But they'll also be doing building and grounds maintenance, planting, harvesting, milking."

Organizers decline to call it a commune but concede the spirit is similar. The philosophy behind it is called anthroposophy, "a source of spiritual knowledge and a practice of inner development," according to The Anthroposophical Society in America.

Elder care is practiced in somewhat similar fashion in at least two other anthroposophy-inspired communities: Camphill Ghent in Chatham, N.Y., and Hesperus Village in Vaughan, Ontario, near Toronto.

The area around Fellowship has several other organizations with ties to anthroposophy, including a private school, a bookstore and a co-op grocery that sells some of the community's crops. Fewer than half the adult home residents at Fellowship Community have any connection to anthroposophy, at least when they enter, Scharff said.

"We're an age-integrated community built around the central mission of care of the elderly," Bosch said. "The members want to be of service. They come because they know this is a place where they can contribute."

So Karp, the 81-year-old, teaches music and entertains the community at the piano.

"I think the reason people really appreciate this place is because they can be active and they can contribute and there's always something that needs doing," Karp said. "And it's nice when kids are glad to see you."

Other residents, or members, as they're called, have found similar niches.

Gwen Eisenmann, 91, a retired poet, leads poetry discussions and also likes to set the table before meals. Larry Fox, 74, a psychologist, treats patients at the Fellowship's medical office and said, "Where could I be at my age and be so happy to get up in the morning and look forward to the day?"

It's difficult, Bosch said, to find people to sign up for the communal life and work. It appeals to "people who are dismayed with the materialism of the world and are trying to get above it," he said. "People who are interested in an alternative lifestyle , not based on pocketing the most money they can for the least amount of work."

When elders come in, they pay a "life lease" of $27,500 to $50,000, depending on the space they will occupy in the adult home or the "lodges" surrounding it. In addition, they pay $700-$1,500 per month in rent, and up to $3,000 a month for care, depending on what they need.

Revenue from the adult home provides 60 percent of the nonprofit Fellowship Community's $3 million operating budget, with the rest coming from donations and the sale of produce, milk and crafts, home officials said. Donations completely fund the capital budget, make up any annual shortfall and subsidize the adult home.

The adult home is licensed and inspected by the state and is in good standing. It doesn't accept federal or state aid. Workers are paid according to need, and their housing, food and transportation ? there are community cars ? are included.

"Two people doing the same job might get very different stipends," Bosch said. "One might have children, one might not."

Matt Uppenbrink, 44, a former businessman in the fashion world who now lives at Fellowship with his wife and two children, is on the community's "financial circle" but also does his bit in the adult home.

"When I got my MBA, I didn't think I'd be helping somebody to go to the toilet," he said. "But years ago, with Grandma and Grandpa in the house, that's how it was done. What we do here is like helping a friend or helping a loved one. My dad is in a nursing home, and I wish he had this instead."

Rachel Berman, a 47-year-old former New York City teacher, lives at the community with her 10-year-old daughter.

"We cook, we farm, we care for the elderly," Berman said. "I was in the Peace Corps, and I lived for a while on a kibbutz in Israel, so community life was important to me."

The workers "get to see the stages of an elder's journey, different approaches to the end of life," Uppenbrink said. "You get to see the process happen. It gives you something to work with in terms of your own future."

___

Online:

Fellowship Community: http://www.fellowshipcommunity.org

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the impact of that so-called silver tsunami on society.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aging-commune-alternative-ny-183008588.html

watchmen hitch justin beiber lamar odom perfect game jon jones vs rashad evans results rashad evans

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Music sales post small rise in 2012, first since '99

LONDON (Reuters) - The music business broke a 12-year losing streak in 2012, posting a small but symbolic 0.3 percent rise in trade revenues to $16.5 billion, figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) showed on Tuesday.

The slight increase will come as a relief to record label bosses who have watched the value of sales plummet from a peak of $28.6 billion in 1999, as illegal downloads and a reluctance to embrace the digital age hit revenues hard.

Once again it was the digital sector that showed the strongest growth, and for the first time more than compensated for losses in physical revenues.

"At the beginning of the digital revolution it was a common theme to say digital is killing music," said Edgar Berger, president, international, at Sony Music Entertainment.

"Well the reality is, digital is saving music. I absolutely believe that this marks the start of a global growth story. The industry has every reason to be optimistic about its future."

Record companies' digital sales rose about nine percent last year over 2011 to $5.6 billion and accounted for 34 percent of income overall.

Download sales increased 12 percent to 4.3 billion units globally. Digital album sales rose 17 percent to 207 million.

Subscription services such as Spotify and Deezer "came of age" last year, according to the IFPI, and are expected to cross the 10 percent mark as a share of total digital music revenues for the first time.

Spotify has more than five million paying subscribers compared with three million at the end of 2011, and is the second largest source of digital music revenue in Europe.

Deezer has also expanded rapidly, reaching three million paying subscribers worldwide.

GLOBAL REACH IMPROVES

Executives said the increasing number of digital platforms had helped companies broaden their revenue base, and more services coming on stream were good news for the business.

"Until recently, the vast majority of our revenues came from a handful of countries," said Stu Bergen, head of global marketing, recorded music, at Warner Music Group.

"Today, digital channels mean we can monetize markets worldwide much more effectively."

There are ongoing tensions, however, between record labels and the technology companies who distribute their music, particularly over how revenues are shared and who has the real power in a rapidly shifting business landscape.

According to the IFPI, the most successful album of 2012 was British singer Adele's "21" which sold 8.3 million copies from 18.1 million in 2011.

U.S. artist Taylor Swift came second last year with "Red" (5.2 million), British boyband One Direction took third and fourth positions with "Up All Night" and "Take Me Home" respectively (4.5 million and 4.4 million), and U.S. singer Lana Del Rey came fifth with "Born to Die" (3.4 million).

In the digital singles charts, Canada's Carly Rae Jepsen claimed the crown with "Call Me Maybe" (12.5 million copies sold) followed by Belgian-Australian Gotye with "Somebody That I Used to Know" and Psy of South Korea with "Gangnam Style".

Brazil's Michel Telo was sixth with "Ai Se Eu Te Pego".

While the focus was on growth in the digital sector, physical format sales still accounted for 58 percent of revenues in 2012 down from 61 percent in 2011, and declines in the CD market in many countries continued to pose major challenges.

The IFPI, which represents the recorded music industry led by three "major" labels Universal, Sony and Warner Music Group, also stressed the role the music industry played in the broader digital and social media explosion.

It said the top four figures in terms of Twitter followers were pop stars - Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Rihanna - followed by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Officials vowed to continue their fight against online piracy by urging Internet service providers to block access to illegal sites, demanding search engines to prioritize legal providers and discourage advertisers from featuring commercials on illegal sites.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/music-sales-post-small-rise-2012-first-since-130921716.html

geraldo rivera supreme court health care joe oliver joba chamberlain new york mega millions jetblue jetblue

Monday, February 25, 2013

Scientists find genes linked to human neurological disorders in sea lamprey genome

Feb. 24, 2013 ? Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have identified several genes linked to human neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury, in the sea lamprey, a vertebrate fish whose whole-genome sequence is reported this week in the journal Nature Genetics.

"This means that we can use the sea lamprey as a powerful model to drive forward our molecular understanding of human neurodegenerative disease and neurological disorders," says Jennifer Morgan of the MBL's Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering. The ultimate goals are to determine what goes wrong with neurons after injury and during disease, and to determine how to correct these deficits in order to restore normal nervous system functions.

Unlike humans, the lamprey has an extraordinary capacity to regenerate its nervous system. If a lamprey's spinal cord is severed, it can regenerate the damaged nerve cells and be swimming again in 10-12 weeks.

Morgan and her collaborators at MBL, Ona Bloom and Joseph Buxbaum, have been studying the lamprey's recovery from spinal cord injury since 2009. The lamprey has large, identified neurons in its brain and spinal cord, making it an excellent model to study regeneration at the single cell-level. Now, the lamprey's genomic information gives them a whole new "toolkit" for understanding its regenerative mechanisms, and for comparing aspects of its physiology, such as inflammation response, to that of humans.

The lamprey genome project was accomplished by a consortium of 59 researchers led by Weiming Li of Michigan State University and Jeramiah Smith of the University of Kentucky. The MBL scientists' contribution focused on neural aspects of the genome, including one of the project's most intriguing findings.

Lampreys, in contrast to humans, don't have myelin, an insulating sheath around neurons that allows faster conduction of nerve impulses. Yet the consortium found genes expressed in the lamprey that are normally expressed in myelin. In humans, myelin-associated molecules inhibit nerves from regenerating if damaged. "A lot of the focus of the spinal cord injury field is on neutralizing those inhibitory molecules," Morgan says.

"So there is an interesting conundrum," Morgan says. "What are these myelin-associated genes doing in an animal that doesn't have myelin, and yet is good at regeneration? It opens up a new and interesting set of questions, " she says. Addressing them could bring insight to why humans lost the capacity for neural regeneration long ago, and how this might be restored.

At present, Morgan and her collaborators are focused on analyzing which genes are expressed and when, after spinal cord injury and regeneration. The whole-genome sequence gives them an invaluable reference for their work.

Morgan, Bloom, and Buxbaum collaborate at the MBL through funding by the Charles Evans Foundation. Bloom is based at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research/Hofstra North Shore-Long Island Jewish in New York. Buxbaum is from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Marine Biological Laboratory, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Jeramiah J Smith, Shigehiro Kuraku, Carson Holt, Tatjana Sauka-Spengler, Ning Jiang, Michael S Campbell, Mark D Yandell, Tereza Manousaki, Axel Meyer, Ona E Bloom, Jennifer R Morgan, Joseph D Buxbaum, Ravi Sachidanandam, Carrie Sims, Alexander S Garruss, Malcolm Cook, Robb Krumlauf, Leanne M Wiedemann, Stacia A Sower, Wayne A Decatur, Jeffrey A Hall, Chris T Amemiya, Nil R Saha, Katherine M Buckley, Jonathan P Rast, Sabyasachi Das, Masayuki Hirano, Nathanael McCurley, Peng Guo, Nicolas Rohner, Clifford J Tabin, Paul Piccinelli, Greg Elgar, Magali Ruffier, Bronwen L Aken, Stephen M J Searle, Matthieu Muffato, Miguel Pignatelli, Javier Herrero, Matthew Jones, C Titus Brown, Yu-Wen Chung-Davidson, Kaben G Nanlohy, Scot V Libants, Chu-Yin Yeh, David W McCauley, James A Langeland, Zeev Pancer, Bernd Fritzsch, Pieter J de Jong, Baoli Zhu, Lucinda L Fulton, Brenda Theising, Paul Flicek, Marianne E Bronner, Wesley C Warren, Sandra W Clifton, Richard K Wilson, Weiming Li. Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2568

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/31_IzH_8VG8/130224142915.htm

peeps nhl playoffs masters 2012 masters the borgias shroud of turin warren sapp

Saturday, February 23, 2013

In honor of Former President George Washington's birthday today, who is your fav...

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

Source: http://www.facebook.com/WFXLTV/posts/10151476408256273

Jenny Johnson olivier martinez ny lottery Ohio Lottery Colorado Lottery Pa Lottery Ebates

Yes, Bovada has NFL Combine odds (and ends)

NFL Combine odds (and ends) from Bovada:

?

?

2013 NFL Combine - Fastest 40 Yard Dash Time?????????

Over/Under??????????????????? 4.32 seconds????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Most Bench Press Reps??

Over/Under??????????????????? 44

?

2013 NFL Combine - Highest Vertical Leap?????

Over/Under??????????????????? 43

?

2013 NFL Combine - 40 Yard Dash Time - Geno Smith???????????

Over/Under ?????????????????? 4.75 seconds????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Vertical Leap - Geno Smith????????

Over/Under??????????????????? 35?

?

2013 NFL Combine - 40 Yard Dash Time - Manti T'eo??

Over/Under ?????????????????? 4.75 seconds????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Who will record a faster 40 Yard Dash (Note: If odds are both on same sides, they will not be below)???????????

Geno Smith??????????????????

Manti Te'o????????????????????

?

2013 NFL Combine - 40 Yard Dash Time - Cordarrelle Patterson ???????

Over/Under ?????????????????? 4.37 seconds????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Vertical Leap - Cordarrelle Patterson ???

Over/Under??????????????????? 40?

?

2013 NFL Combine - 40 Yard Dash Time - Dee Miliner? ??????????

Over/Under ?????????????????? 4.45 seconds????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Who will record the most Bench Presses???????????

Bjoern Werner?????????????? -200???? (1/2)

Barkevious Mingo?????????? +150???? (3/2)

?

2013 NFL Combine - Who will record a faster 40 Yard Dash???

Xavier Rhodes???????????????????????????

Johnthan Banks????????????????????????

?

2013 NFL Combine - Who will record the most Bench Presses???????????

Luke Joeckel????????????????????????????

Eric Fisher???????????????????

?

2013 NFL Combine - 40 Yard Dash Time - Rich Eisen??

Over/Under ?????????????????? 6.18 seconds????

?

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/pro-sports-blogs/x2082697873/Yes-Bovada-has-NFL-Combine-odds-and-ends?rssfeed=true

Zayn Malik

Friday, February 22, 2013

Cooling may prevent trauma-induced epilepsy

Feb. 20, 2013 ? In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures.

"Traumatic head injury is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy in young adults, and in many cases the seizures can't be controlled with medication," says senior author Matthew Smyth, MD, associate professor of neurological surgery and of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "If we can confirm cooling's effectiveness in human trials, this approach may give us a safe and relatively simple way to prevent epilepsy in these patients."

The researchers reported their findings in Annals of Neurology.

Cooling the brain to protect it from injury is not a new concept. Cooling slows down the metabolic activity of nerve cells, and scientists think this may make it easier for brain cells to survive the stresses of an injury.

Doctors currently cool infants whose brains may have had inadequate access to blood or oxygen during birth. They also cool some heart attack patients to reduce peripheral brain damage when the heart stops beating.

Smyth has been exploring the possibility of using cooling to prevent seizures or reduce their severity.

"Warmer brain cells seem to be more electrically active, and that may increase the likelihood of abnormal electrical discharges that can coalesce to form a seizure," Smyth says. "Cooling should have the opposite effect."

Smyth and colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota test potential therapies in a rat model of brain injury. These rats develop chronic seizures weeks after the injury.

Researchers devised a headset that cools the rat brain. They were originally testing its ability to stop seizures when they noticed that cooling seemed to be not only stopping but also preventing seizures.

Scientists redesigned the study to focus on prevention. Under the new protocols, they put headsets on some of the rats that cooled their brains by less than 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Another group of rats wore headsets that did nothing. Scientists who were unaware of which rats they were observing monitored them for seizures during treatment and after the headsets were removed.

Rats that wore the inactive headset had progressively longer and more severe seizures weeks after the injury, but rats whose brains had been cooled only experienced a few very brief seizures as long as four months after injury.

Brain injury also tends to reduce cell activity at the site of the trauma, but the cooling headsets restored the normal activity levels of these cells.

The study is the first to reduce injury-related seizures without drugs, according to Smyth, who is director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery program at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

"Our results show that the brain changes that cause this type of epilepsy happen in the days and weeks after injury, not at the moment of injury or when the symptoms of epilepsy begin," says Smyth. "If clinical trials confirm that cooling has similar effects in humans, it could change the way we treat patients with head injuries, and for the first time reduce the chance of developing epilepsy after brain injury."

Smyth and his colleagues have been testing cooling devices in humans in the operating room, and are planning a multi-institutional trial of an implanted focal brain cooling device to evaluate the efficacy of cooling on established seizures.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Michael C. Purdy.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Raimondo D'Ambrosio, Clifford L. Eastman, Felix Darvas, Jason S. Fender, Derek R. Verley, Federico M. Farin, Hui-Wen Wilkerson, Nancy R. Temkin, John W. Miller, Jeffrey Ojemann, Steven M. Rothman, Matthew D. Smyth. Mild passive focal cooling prevents epileptic seizures after head injury in rats. Annals of Neurology, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/ana.23764

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/KatBMfm6X7A/130221091833.htm

j lo sacha baron cohen ryan seacrest octavia spencer meryl streep oscars school shooting ohio billy crystal oscar winners 2012

Wall Street drops on growth concerns, fear index jumps

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Thursday and gauge of investor concern hit its highest in two months after reports cast doubt over the health of the U.S. and euro-zone economies.

The second day of sharp declines in equity markets put the S&P 500 on course for its worst two-day loss since November.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, a measure of investor fear, jumped 6.7 percent to 15.67.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index of business conditions in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region fell in February to minus 12.5, the lowest in eight months.

In Europe, business activity indexes dealt a blow to hopes that the euro zone might emerge from recession soon, showing the downturn across the region's businesses unexpectedly grew worse this month.

"The PMI numbers out of Europe were really a blow to the market," said Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"The market was expecting signs that recovery is still there, but the numbers just highlighted that the euro-zone problem is still persistent."

The abrupt reversal in markets, which started on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting suggested stimulus measures may end earlier than thought, looks set to halt a seven-week winning streak for stocks that had lifted indexes close to all-time highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 53.87 points, or 0.39 percent, to 13,873.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 10.30 points, or 0.68 percent, to 1,501.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 35.08 points, or 1.11 percent, to 3,129.33.

The two-day decline marked the U.S. stock market's first sustained pullback this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 has fallen 2 percent over the period, but is still up 5.2 percent so far this year.

"The upside momentum in markets appears to be coming to an end as we consolidate recent gains," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at Sarhan Capital in New York. "If the S&P breaks under its 50-day moving average, something more serious could be in store."

The S&P 500 would need to fall 1.9 percent to reach that level of 1,473.62.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares gained 2.1 percent to $70.66 and helped curb the Dow's decline after the world's largest retailer reported earnings that beat expectations, though early February sales were sluggish.

Wall Street will soon face another test with the upcoming debate in Washington over the automatic across-the-board spending cuts put in place as part of a larger congressional budget fight. Those cuts, set to kick in on March 1 unless lawmakers agree on an alternative, are expected to depress economic growth.

Semiconductor stocks ranked among the weakest of the day, pressuring the Nasdaq as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index <.sox> fell 2.3 percent. Intel Corp fell 2.9 percent to $20.13 while Advanced Micro Devices lost 6.7 percent to $2.53 as the S&P 500's biggest percentage decliner.

The semiconductor sector has performed well so far in 2013, rising 8.4 percent.

In other company news, shares of supermarket operator Safeway Inc jumped 12.3 percent to $22 after the company reported earnings that beat expectations.

In contrast, shares of VeriFone Systems Inc tumbled nearly 40 percent to $19.28 after the credit-card swipe machine maker forecast first- and second-quarter profits well below expectations.

Of the 427 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 69.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.9 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Berry Petroleum Co jumped 17.2 percent to $45.23 after oil and gas producer Linn Energy LLC said it would buy the company in an all-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion, including debt. Linn Energy shares advanced 1.9 percent to $37.36.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-st-opens-lower-jobless-data-143541850--finance.html

love actually strikeforce davy jones deep impact miesha tate vs ronda rousey idiocracy usssa baseball

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Sony seeks head start over Microsoft with new PlayStation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp said it will launch its next-generation PlayStation this year, hoping its first video game console in seven years will give it a much-needed head start over the next version of Microsoft's Xbox and help revive its stumbling electronics business.

The new console will have a revamped interface, let users stream and play video games hosted on servers, and allow users to play while downloading titles as well as share videos with friends. Its new controller, dubbed DualShock 4, will have a touchpad and a camera that can sense the depth of the environment in front of it.

Sony, which only displayed the controller but not the console, said on Wednesday the PlayStation 4 would be available for the year-end holiday season and flagged games from the likes of Ubisoft Entertainment SA and Activision Blizzard Inc, whose top executives also attended the glitzy launch event.

It did not disclose pricing or an exact launch date.

Sony's announcement comes amid industry speculation that Microsoft Corp is set to unveil the successor to its Xbox 360 later this summer. The current Xbox 360 beats the seven-year-old PlayStation 3's online network with features such as voice commands on interactive gaming and better connectivity to smartphones and tablets.

But all video game console makers are grappling with the onslaught of mobile devices into their turf.

Tablets and smartphones built by rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd already account for around 10 percent of the $80 billion gaming market. Those mobile devices, analysts predict, will within a few years be as powerful as the current slew of game-only consoles.

"It looks good and had a lot of great games but the industry is different now," Billy Pidgeon, an analyst at Inside Network Research, said of the new PlayStation.

"It'll be a slow burn and not heavy uptake right away."

MIGRATION TO MOBILE

Console makers will also have to tackle flagging video game hardware and software sales, which research firm NPD group says have dropped consistently every month over the last year as users migrate to free game content on mobile devices.

PlayStation 4 will have an app on Android and Apple mobile devices that connects to console games and can act as a second screen, Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said in an interview.

"Playstation 4 ... really connects every device in the office and the smartphone and the tablet out there in the world," Tretton said.

The console, which has been in development for the last five years, will have 8 GB of memory and will instantly stream game content from the console to Sony's handheld PlayStation Vita through a feature called "Remote Play," the company said.

"What Sony is banking on is the ease of the use of this system," Greg Miller, PlayStation executive editor at video game site IGN.com, said.

After six years, Sony PlayStation sales are just shy of Xbox's 67 million installed base and well behind the 100 million Wii consoles sold by Nintendo Co Ltd, according to analysts.

Tretton said it would be a big undertaking to manufacture and distribute the console in Sony's four major markets by the end of the year, adding that it would be a "phased rollout" that starts before the end of the year.

Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia predicted Sony would probably get a couple of million units of the PlayStation 4 out by the 2013 holiday season and 7 million or 8 million out a year later.

Sony also announced a strategic partnership with video game publisher Activision Blizzard to take its Diablo III game to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Activision's upcoming sci-fi shooter game "Destiny" in development by its Bungie Studio will also be available on PlayStation consoles.

(Editing by Gary Hill, Bernard Orr and Edwina Gibbs)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-unveils-playstation4-console-000356495--finance.html

john king

Improvement in child cancer survival rates threatened by lack of new drug development

Remarkable improvements in survival from childhood cancer have taken place in high- income countries over the past 50 years, but further progress is being threatened by increasingly strict research regulations and insufficient development of new drugs, according to a major new Lancet Oncology Series on improving cancer care for children and young people.

"In high-income countries, we have nearly reached optimisation of present anticancer treatments", says Series leader Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones from the Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK. "New regulatory approval and research strategies are urgently needed to speed the development of new, effective, and safer treatments for children with cancer if we are to continue to improve the cure rate, reduce toxicity compared to existing treatments, and minimise side effects in later life."*

Although more children and young people in high-income countries are surviving cancer than ever before, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease in children aged 1 to 15 years, and more than 5000 children still lose their lives to cancer every year in these regions.

Increased participation in international, collaborative clinical trials has successfully raised survival from 30% to 80% over the last half century. "But an increasingly complex and strict regulatory environment for clinical research and data sharing is limiting children's access to early-phase clinical trials and delaying the development of new drugs"*, explains co-leader Richard Sullivan, professor of cancer policy and global health at King's College London and King's Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre. "For example, the implementation of the EU Clinical Trials Directive, in 2004, has almost quadrupled costs, led to substantial delays, and even the discontinuation of trials."*

Other factors leading to longer clinical development include: the complex nature of the biology underlying childhood cancers; the difficulty of identifying targets suitable for drug treatment; a lack of long-term sustainable funding for research and development, particularly outside the USA; and little economic incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop anticancer drugs adapted for children.

To fast track the most relevant and new medicines for childhood cancers will require a renewed focus on the potential role of adult cancer drugs in children as well as newer methods and clinical trial design that aim to more rapidly predict the optimal (ie, effective and safe) dose.

In recent years, it has been industry that has driven the clinical trials in children to meet regulatory requirements rather than the paediatric oncology expert community who understand the clinical unmet needs of children and young people with cancer, write the authors. "The trend in the past few years for industry to drive the development of clinical research plans contrasts with the need for broad research and development partnerships that can deal with complex biology and drug development."

"Fostering open collaborations with many groups from industry, regulatory bodies, academia, governments, and patient advocacy will be crucial to speeding up drug development", says co-author Professor Gilles Vassal from the Institut Gustave Roussy, Paris-Sud University, France. "The key is precompetitive collaboration that benefits all stakeholders, ensuring broad access to the results."*

According to Professor Pritchard-Jones, "new biology-driven approaches are needed, but this will only be achieved through increased international cooperation in clinical trials and sharing of research tissue samples and data. This is necessary as these diseases are already rare, and dividing patients into increasingly smaller biological subgroups might amount to just a handful of trial participants a year in each country." *

She adds, "The introduction of drugs that are less toxic and more targeted than those currently used necessitates a partnership between clinical and translational researchers, the pharmaceutical industry, drug regulators, and patients and their families. This therapeutic alliance will ensure that efforts are focused on the unmet clinical needs of young people with cancer."

As well as drug development challenges, more needs to be done to address the long-term consequences of cancer treatment. Estimates suggest that one in 1000 adults in high-income countries are survivors of childhood cancer, and 40% of these survivors experience adverse effects throughout life.

"These are serious issues that can have a real impact on a person's quality of life", says Sullivan, "It is essential that academic programmes and trial investigators ensure better follow-up of survivors to appropriately address the complications childhood cancer survivors may experience in later life."*

The authors conclude by calling on every country to develop a national cancer plan that recognises the unique demographic and care needs of young people with cancer, adding that, "If policy makers continue to fail to pay attention to this issue then in 10 years?the infrastructure will not be in place to deal with what will have become the most common disease-related cause of death in childhood."

Journal reference: Lancet Oncology

Provided by Lancet

Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-child-cancer-survival-threatened-lack.html

vanessa bryant Prince Harry naked Prince Harry Vegas Melky Cabrera Mayim Bialik Rich Kids of Instagram felix hernandez

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Firefox 19 Launches With Built-In HTML5-Based PDF Viewer, Android Version Gets Themes And Now Works On More Devices

Subway1.png-600x311It's been a long time coming, but Firefox now finally features a built-in PDF viewer. Previously available in the Firefox betas, the HTML5-based PDF viewer has now made it into the stable release with the launch of Firefox 19 for Windows, Mac and Linux today. This new PDF viewer, which is the result of a research project named PDF.js, makes use of the standard HTML5 APIs to allow the browser to quickly render standard PDF files without the need for a plugin like Foxit Reader or Sumatra PDF.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Hqj1ahVHGJU/

frozen four joe avezzano kanye west theraflu joey votto the masters live mega millions winner holy thursday

Sunday, February 17, 2013

IRS Calls On Snoop Lion To Pay $500K Tax Debt

Snoop LionSnoop Lion, formerly Snoop Dogg, will have to clear up his finances with the IRS after the agency filed a massive tax lien against the rapper. The lien claims that Snoop still owes taxes from both 2009 and 2011 amounting to $546,270.29.

Snoop has previously been called out by the IRS back in 2008 when a lien was filed calling for the rapper to pay $476K, but he managed to settle his debt efficiently.

According to TMZ, the documents claim the rapper owes $101,952.44 for 2009 and $444,317.85 for 2011.

Snoop is currently gearing up for the release of ?Reincarnated? which will be accompanied by a documentary that details the rapper?s adoption of Rastafarianism. The doc is currently set to hit theaters on March 15th, while the album is expected to drop in the next few months.

Source: http://theversed.com/2013/02/16/irs-calls-on-snoop-lion-to-pay-500k-tax-debt/

march 30 rimm pauly d project adrienne rich autism cesar chavez day raspberry ketone

This week at Microsoft: Surface Pro, Xbox, and Reddit

Happy Friday everyone, I do trust that you are ready for a break. However, before you go off into that brave wild, let?s take a look back at the last seven days of Microsoft. After all, it?s how we end cap off each and every week, and who are we to buck tradition.

As always, ensure that you are following TNW?s Microsoft channel on both Twitter and Facebook, and let?s dig into the news.

Surface Pro sells out on tight supply

Last Saturday the Microsoft fan community was ablaze with notes concerning what appeared to be a near-complete sell out of the Surface Pro tablet hybrid?s 128 gigabyte SKU. Starting with Microsoft?s own website, there were widespread reports of tight supply in partner stores as well.

Microsoft confirmed the supply constraints, stating that it was ?working with [its] retail partners [...] to replenish supplies as quickly as possible.? Microsoft products such as the Surface RT and the Zune HD managed to at least partially sell out on their debut, putting the Surface Pro?s launch in perspective.

Still, there was demand for the device, meaning that Microsoft?s new device is not an utter flop. Sales numbers at the year mark will score the game, however.

Xbox reins supreme yet again

For the 25th consecutive month, the Xbox 360 console was the bestselling console. Microsoft, now two years into its program of dominance, sold?281,000 units in Janurary. Total spend for the Xbox ecosystem, according to the NPD Group, was $338 million during the month.

This in the year that Microsoft will replace the Xbox 360 with a device that likely runs on a shared core with Windows, and will support a huge number more games, apps, and services. Microsoft has masterfully kept the Xbox brand not just alive, but thriving. We?ll learn more at E3.

Skype > Messenger

Details on the Skype-Messenger?transition were announced today. Here?s the short version: Messenger users are about to be shunted to Skype against their will. Naturally, this was long coming, and the switch has been trumpted for months.

Still, moving day is rapidly approaching. Here?s the gist:

The software giant will commence moving the Messenger userbase to Skype, sans the ability to say no, on April 8th. Clients that are English-based are up first for migration. The process will conclude?with?the what the firm described as ?Brazilian Portuguese? on April 30th at the earliest.

If you intend on pining after the days when Messenger ruled?supreme, don?t.

AMA

And finally this week, Microsoft?s own Bill Gates took to Reddit to answer questions, and generally be an amazing badass. You can read the full text of his AMA, or ?ask me anything? here.

However, for a sample, we have you covered:

Now go make a long island and tune out. Top Image Credit:?ToddABishop

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNextWebMicrosoft/~3/fjMBw6XwsiI/

jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees full moon aubrey o day masters live johan santana

Friday, February 15, 2013

Strange case of suicide in an Israeli jail reveals spy secrets

JERUSALEM/CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian immigrant, reported to have been recruited by Israel's Mossad spy agency, was charged with grave crimes before he committed suicide in an Israeli jail, one of his lawyers said on Thursday.

The closely guarded case has raised questions in Australia and Israel about the suspected use by the Mossad of dual Australian-Israeli nationals and the circumstances behind the 2010 detention and death of 34-year-old Ben Zygier.

Israel on Wednesday broke its silence over an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report which said that Zygier, who moved to Israel, was jailed in isolation over suspected misconduct while spying for the Mossad.

Partially lifting a gag order on the case, an Israeli court said a dual-nationality citizen had been imprisoned secretly under a false name for "security reasons", and found dead in his cell in what was eventually ruled a suicide.

Israeli criminal attorney Avigdor Feldman said he met with the man, dubbed "Prisoner X", a day before his death.

"I met with a balanced person, given the tragic outcome, who was rationally weighing his legal options," Feldman told Channel 10 Television.

He said the detainee was charged with "grave crimes" and that there were ongoing negotiations for a plea bargain. The attorney did not elaborate on the allegations, which he said the prisoner denied. Reporting in Israel on the case is still subject to strict government censorship.

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida quoted on Thursday unidentified Western sources as saying Zygier took part in the killing by a Mossad hit-team of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mahbouh in Dubai in 2010.

Zygier, the newspaper reported, offered Dubai information about the operation in return for the emirate's protection.

Offering a different version, Australia's Fairfax Media said Australian security officials suspected Zygier may have been about to disclose Israeli intelligence operations, including the use of fraudulent Australian passports, either to the Canberra government or to the media before his arrest.

"His interrogators told him he could expect lengthy jail- time and be ostracized from his family and the Jewish community," Feldman said. "There was no heart string they did not pull, and I suppose that ultimately brought about the tragic end."

In a separate interview Feldman appeared to inadvertently confirm the man was a Mossad spy.

"The Mossad liaison I was in touch with informed me that, unfortunately, my client was no longer alive," Feldman told Kol Barama Radio. Israel has neither denied nor confirmed that "Prisoner X" was a Mossad officer.

The jailhouse suicide of Zygier has focused attention on the agency's recruitment of foreign-born Jews who could spy under cover of their native passports.

SUSPICIONS

Australian media have reported that Zygier had been one of at least three Australian-Israeli dual nationals under investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation over suspicions of espionage for Israel.

Australia complained to Israel in 2010 after Dubai said forged Australian passports were used by the Mossad squad. Mahbouh's killers, authorities in the emirate said, also had also had British, Irish, French and German passports.

Mossad is widely reputed to have stepped up its shadow war in recent years against Iran's nuclear program, Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, suspected nuclear procurement by Syria and arms smuggling to Palestinians through Dubai, Sudan and Egypt.

In an apparent reversal from previous statements, Australian Foreign minister Bob Carr said on Thursday his ministry had known about Zygier's jailing in Israel as early as February 2010. On Wednesday he said Australian diplomats in Israel only found out about the detention after his death in custody later that year.

Israel's Justice Ministry said a court has ordered an inquiry into possible negligence in Zygier's death.

Zygier, who came from a prominent Jewish family in Australia and was also known as Ben Alon and Ben Allen, was buried in Melbourne. He had been married with two young children. His relatives have declined all comment on the case.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell and Dan Williams; Editing by Jeffrey Heller/Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-lawyer-sheds-light-australian-spy-mystery-141236215.html

stacey dash christopher columbus columbus day columbus day Stacy Dash Amber Tamblyn Lilit Avagyan

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Catholic hospitals: Progress in birth control rule

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A trade group for Roman Catholic hospitals says the latest federal rules on birth control coverage are an improvement.

But the Catholic Health Association said Wednesday it won't make a final judgment until after canvassing its members.

Religious leaders have been seeking a broader exemption from the Department of Health and Human Services requirement that employers provide insurance that covers contraception. It's part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Churches are exempt. The agency's latest compromise also creates a buffer between religious charities and birth control coverage.

U.S. bishops last week said the new rules don't answer all their objections, but they will work on finding a solution.

The Catholic Health Association says its concerns are narrower in scope. Bishops also want an exemption for for-profit business owners.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/catholic-hospitals-progress-birth-control-rule-233556866.html

Valentines Day Quotes happy valentines day Affenpinscher kate middleton state of the union paczki fat tuesday

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Sciences Reference & Instruction Librarian, University of Iowa ...

Reporting to the Head, Sciences Library, this position supports the education and outreach endeavors of the Sciences Library to relevant academic departments.

Specific responsibilities:

? Develop, promote, provide and assess subject-based education programs and research services;

? Investigate emerging technologies and work with others to develop and revise programs to respond to the changing information needs of patrons;

? Assist users with research and information management tools through individual and small group consultations;

? Cultivate relationships with faculty and researchers to identify opportunities for library partnerships;

? Provide reference information services (in person and virtual) for liaison departments;

? Provide consultation services for liaison departments;

? Participate as a member of a team that plans and develops collections and services supporting instruction and research;

? Serve on library committees and contribute to and learn from the profession through such avenues as local, state and national professional organizations and publications.

Required Qualifications:

? Master?s degree from an ALA-accredited library science program;

? Subject background in science or mathematics and/or experience providing research and user education services to academic science departments;

? Excellent written and oral communication skills;

? General knowledge of information literacy and instruction principles;

? General knowledge of traditional and electronic information sources;

? Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a team environment;

? Demonstrated commitment to diversity in the workplace or community;

? Demonstrated interest in professional development and contribution.

Desired Qualifications:

? Experience providing reference, research and instructional services in an academic science library;

? Demonstrated skill in using electronic and print information resources in mathematical sciences and physics;

? Ability to efficiently manage multiple projects and priorities;

? Ability to work with and think creatively about emerging as well as established technologies;

? Ability to work in an embedded environment outside the library;

? Experience developing class and subject guides, such as LibGuides;

? Experience with course management software, web design software and citation management software;

? General understanding of the mission and functions of a research library and the information needs of academic users;

? Familiarity with methods and techniques for user education and collection development.

Universal Competencies

? Positive Impact/Achieving Results: Ability to utilize existing resources and learning to achieve or exceed desired outcomes of current and future organizational goals/needs. Able to demonstrate ethical behavior in diverse situations while producing results.

? Service Excellence/Customer Focus: Ability to meet or exceed customer service needs and expectations and provide excellent service in a direct or indirect manner. Ability to effectively transmit and interpret information through appropriate communication with internal and external customers.

? Collaboration and Embracing Diversity: Ability to work with a variety of individuals and groups in a constructive and civil manner while appreciating the unique contribution of individuals from varied cultures, nationalities, genders, ages, etc.

The University and Iowa City: A major research and teaching institution, the University of Iowa offers internationally recognized programs in a diverse array of academic, medical, and artistic disciplines, from otolaryngology to fiction writing, printmaking to space science, hydraulic engineering to dance. The University consists of a faculty of 2,000 and a permanent staff of 13,000 serving 30,500 students, more than 40% of whom are from out of state and close to 10,000 of whom are registered in graduate and professional degree programs. Approximately 9% of the University?s faculty and staff and 10% of its student body are members of minority groups, and 8% of the students are from foreign countries.

Iowa City is a community of some 68,000 people (more than 150,000 live in the surrounding area) with excellent educational, recreational, and cultural advantages. It is consistently cited in the national media as a city with an excellent quality of life. The city is readily accessible via interstate highways and a major airport is only 30 minutes away. The community is growing in its diversity; within the Iowa City Community School District, 33% of the students are minority, with 17% identifying as African-American, 9% as Latino/Hispanic, 7% as Asian-American, and .4% as Native American during the 2011/12 school year.

Salary and appointment: Appointment will be made at the Librarian level with a salary range of $43,000 to $46,000. Start date is negotiable. The University of Iowa offers an attractive package of benefits including 24 days of paid vacation per year, your choice between two retirement plans and two University of Iowa health insurance plans, dental insurance, pre-tax child and health care spending accounts, and additional options.

Application Procedure: To apply for this position, please visit the University of Iowa Jobs@UIOWA website at http://jobs.uiowa.edu. Please provide a cover letter, resume and the names/contact information for three professional references. To help facilitate your application process, note the requisition number 62231. Applications must be received by March 10, 2013.

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. WOMEN AND MINORITIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

For more information about the University of Iowa Libraries and community, please see http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/about/employment/

Source: http://alanis.simmons.edu/blogs/jobs/2013/02/12/sciences-reference-instruction-librarian-university-of-iowa-libraries-iowa-city-ia/

PECO Hurricane Sandy update ellen degeneres tomb of the unknown soldier tomb of the unknown soldier HMS Bounty dominion power

PFT: Flacco talks won't begin until next week

Brian CushingAP

What might Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine be looking for in a safety?

WR Brian Hartline and S Chris Clemons continue to look like the likeliest Dolphins free agents to return next season.

Patriots DT Vince Wilfork?s offseason training program made room for shoveling snow last weekend.

Taking a look at the Jets linebacking corps.

Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti has no problem leaving football matters to G.M. Ozzie Newsome.

Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons says there?s no blueprint for going from his job to head coach.

Former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano warns owner Jimmy Haslam not to lose touch with the team.

Should Steelers LB James Harrison stay or go?

Texans LB Brian Cushing will give some updates on his rehab in an interview with the team?s website on Tuesday.

Colts players hosted local students at a show about Jackie Robinson as part of Black History Month.

The Jaguars made some changes in?their front office and announced that Macky Weaver, nephew of former owner Wayne Weaver, will be leaving the team.

Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck is working with former NFL LB Isaiah?Kacyvenski to promote a product designed to help diagnosis head injuries.

Some people don?t get why the Broncos drafted QB Brock Osweiler last year.

The Chiefs added TE Kevin Brock?to their roster.

DT Richard Seymour?s contract voided, but the Raiders still have remnants of it on their cap.

Marty Schottenheimer?s new book spares no criticism of former Chargers G.M. A.J. Smith.

G Charlie Bryant and DT Nick Hayden are the newest additions to the Cowboys roster.

A look at the state of the Giants defensive line.

How is Eagles coach Chip Kelly handling being on the podium during his press conferences?

What is WR Santana Moss? future with the Redskins?

The Bears signed CB LeQuan Lewis, who spent time with the Buccaneers and Cowboys last season.

People are talking about the Lions making a run at signing RB Reggie Bush.

S Charles Woodson and LB A.J. Hawk loom large as the Packers set their strategy for the offseason.

A vote for the Vikings and WR Percy Harvin to part ways.

The Falcons waived DB/LB Matt Hansen, who injured his knee while with the team last offseason.

A letter from Charlotte?s mayor got the ball rolling on the deal that will provide money for the Panthers? desired stadium renovations.

S Rafael Bush was to be an exclusive rights free agent, but said he?s already re-signed with the Saints.

Should the Buccaneers keep CB Eric Wright for the 2013 season?

An explanation of why trading WR Larry Fitzgerald doesn?t make sense for the Cardinals.

The Rams have teamed with Washington University to promote heart-healthy nutrition and lifestyles.

The rhino named after 49ers T Alex Boone will be living in an enclosure named after the Ravens as part of the San Francisco Zoo?s Super Bowl bet with the Maryland Zoo.

Eric Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune wonders if the Seahawks and Vikings should be talking about a trade involving QB Matt Flynn and WR Percy Harvin.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/11/flacco-negotiations-not-expected-to-begin-until-next-week-in-indy/related/

Buckwild 2013 Calendar chris christie sofia vergara American Horror Story Patti Page anonymous

Michigan AFL-CIO Files Federal Lawsuit Seeking To Stop Right-to-work Law

MLive:

LANSING, MI -- The Michigan AFL-CIO and union partners are seeking to block the state's controversial new right-to-work law, arguing that it conflicts with federal labor statutes in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Attorneys for the AFL-CIO filed a federal lawsuit today in Detroit, seeking a declaratory judgement that PA 348 of 2012 is unlawful and requesting a permanent enjoinder barring state officials from enforcing it.

Read the whole story at MLive

"; 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/2013/02/12/michigan-afl-cio-files-fe_n_2669367.html

awake mario batali lone ranger aaron brooks dave matthews band solar flares 2012 whitney houston will

Art Daily: The New York Public Library Appoints Kenneth Weine as Vice President of Communications & Marketing

New Yorkers can point to many people, things, and institutions in their city that make it arguably the greatest city in the world. Full Stop reports that the New York Public Library is one such institution, and Paul Holdengr?ber, director of the library's conversation series, "LIVE?

Read More ?

Source: http://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/2013/02/08/art-daily-new-york-public-library-appoints-kenneth-weine-vice-preside

ariel winter Paige Butcher David Petraeus Petraeus Mia Love wall street journal us map

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Death takes no holiday: Tracking gun violence over one long January weekend

San Antonio Express-News via Zuma Press

One of 91 deaths identified by guns across America on a long holiday weekend: Officers with the Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff's Office investigate the shooting death of Jesse Rosas, whose bullet-riddled body was found on the side of a road near San Antonio on Jan. 21. Police have not identified any suspects.

It was after midnight, early on a Saturday in the college town of Moscow, Idaho, and student Jason "Cowboy" Monson was at the police station to get back his Desert Eagle .45-caliber handgun.

In McDonough, Ga., about the same time, two teenage brothers were still awake. A friend was sleeping over, and their mother had let the boys handle her .38-caliber revolver, which was unloaded. She'd gone to bed.

In South Valley, N.M., it was quiet at the Griego household as 15-year-old Nehemiah waited for his father to come home from the night shift at a homeless shelter. The son was holding his father's AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

In the next few hours, the freshman in Idaho, one of the brothers in Georgia, and most of the Griego family would be dead, victims of three forms of gun violence ??suicide, accident and murder ??that are everyday occurrences in the United States.

Their deaths, and scores of others, occurred over a holiday weekend, the third weekend in January, when America celebrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a victim of gun violence. It also was the weekend the nation swore in a re-elected president whose inaugural address referred to guns, though he didn?t actually say the word: "Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."

Interactive map: A long weekend of gun deaths. Click to enlarge.

?


By the end of the long weekend ??after President Barack Obama had spoken and the red, white and blue confetti strewn along Pennsylvania Avenue had been cleaned up???at least 91 people across America had been killed by guns. That's more than three times the number of caskets needed in Connecticut after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. These 91 people died, not in a single burst of violence over a few minutes, but spread over a three-day weekend, like an autoworker stealing an entire convertible one part at a time to escape notice.

In the aftermath of the Dec. 14 Newtown shooting, during a renewed national debate about gun rights and gun control, NBC News picked the weekend of Jan. 19-21 to examine gun deaths across America. Today and on Monday and Tuesday, we'll tell you what we found and introduce you to some of the victims and their families. We also invite you to look at our online map?and to draw your own impressions from the stories of violence.

We don't pretend to have found all the gun deaths over that weekend. There is no official census of gun deaths, and it takes the federal government many months to compile national crime and suicide statistics. We drew our list from the deaths that were reported in the press, and confirmed the details with authorities in all but a few cases. If you only want to know how many people are killed by guns on an average day in America, simply divide the annual figure, about 31,300, by 365 days, and there's your average: about 86 people a day.

As part of a weeklong special report, "Flashpoint:Guns in America," NBC News charted every death attributable to firearms that we could find over the three-day weekend in January ending on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We found that, as President Barack Obama was being sworn in for his second term, at least 91 people were losing their lives to gunfire.

Why did we find ?only? 91 in three days? The main reason is that hardly any suicides get reported in the media. Suicides by gun are twice as common as gun homicides. Some homicides don't get any publicity either. Unless a killer chooses a public place, annihilates an entire family or shoots up a Wal-Mart, he might not even get on a website, in the newspaper or on TV, not on a holiday weekend competing with the festivities in the nation's capital and the Ravens-Patriots and Falcons-Seahawks games.?The Griego family massacre in New Mexico was the only incident that long weekend to get significant national news attention.?It also could be that holiday weekends with NFL championships are safer, with so many young men ? who are statistically far more likely to shoot someone???inside instead, watching the games.

Guns in America: Weapon of choice for criminals, but also a deterrent?

Our goal was not, however, merely to count the deaths, but to share the stories of the people who died, to see what lessons one might learn from those whose deaths usually go unnoticed, that don't prompt the president to order the White House flag to half-staff.

#####

It's an inescapable conclusion, even from our small sample, that there are many ways to get killed with a gun in America.

Based on interviews with police, prosecutors and family members in all but a few of the cases, we tallied 53 homicides where one person killed another. There were another three homicides where multiple people were killed. There were six murder-suicides, and six suicides. Five accidental shootings. Three shootings by police, and at least two by civilians in self-defense. That's 78 horrors with 91 dead. On a different randomly chosen weekend, the count might shake out differently.

You can get killed throwing your daughter a 17th birthday party, if your angry estranged husband shows up. Without a gun, you might have an angry confrontation and maybe some tears. With a handgun, the birthday girl in Grapevine, Texas, lost her mother and father in a murder-suicide, police said.

Or you can get killed buying a taco from a vendor on the street in Los Angeles, if you get into an argument with the wrong person, and that person has a gun.

Or catching a train: A bystander was killed at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in San Leandro, Calif., when a couple of gangs started trading shots.

You can get killed spending an afternoon with grandma. Just as the president was beginning his inaugural address and talking about making children safe, a gunman in Cocoa, Fla., burst into a home before a children's birthday party, shooting to death the mother of several of the children and seriously wounding their grandmother.

Or visiting a strip club. A U.S. Army soldier from Oklahoma's Fort Sill was killed outside a strip club during a dispute over a woman.

Manatee County Sheriff's Office

James Brady, 26, was shot and killed in Bradenton, Fla., Jan. 20, as he and two other masked men attempted to rob a resident in his carport, police said.? One alleged robber, Jared Lee, has been charged with felony murder in Brady's death. Authorities are seeking a third man, Charles Jones.

You can get killed for what may seem like like a pretty good reason, if, as the National Rifle Association?s Wayne LaPierre put it after the Newtown shooting, you're a ?bad guy with a gun? who happens to run into a ?good guy with a gun.? There were two shootings by citizens that apparently were justified over the long weekend, including one by a man in Bradenton, Fla., who was ready with his own handgun and a concealed weapons permit when three armed robbers wearing masks confronted him and his roommate in their carport, according to police. He killed one of them, and authorities determined it was in self-defense. There also were three shootings by police officers that have tentatively been ruled as justified, including one in which an ex-con was shot dead after he threatened to kill his hostage following an armed robbery.

Las Vegas Police

Las Vegas Police Lt. Hans Walters, 52, killed his wife, former police officer Kathryn Michelle Walters, and their 5-year-old son, Maximilian, called 911 to confess and then set his house on fire on Jan. 21, according to police. Walters killed himself with the handgun as police moved in.

But as we saw last week when a former Los Angeles police officer allegedly went on a murderous rampage against fellow law enforcement officers, the ?good guys? aren?t immune to the demons that trigger gun violence. Over the inaugural weekend, a Las Vegas police lieutenant used a handgun to kill his wife, herself a former police officer, and their 5-year-old son, before killing himself, according to police, just as the president was taking his seat on the West Front terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Monday morning.

You can get killed when your fists are outgunned, like the 22-year-old man who his family said was standing up for his friends in a brawl, when someone else pulled a gun and shot him dead, according to police. They were in Torrance, Calif., attending a punk rock festival headlined by a band called "Aggression."

You can become an ironic headline, like the 20-year-old man in Lafayette, La., who was shot dead about 60 yards from the Martin Luther King Jr. recreation center, on Monday, the day when Dr. King's legacy of nonviolence was being celebrated. That shooting occurred about the time the Obamas left the White House for their inaugural ball.

Or you can be ignored as just another victim of a street crime or a drug deal, barely making the local newspapers if you're killed in a "confrontation at a mobile home park" or "shot and killed in an argument in a parking lot."

#####

One of the surprises in our snapshot of gun violence was how young many of the victims were.

Oregon State Police

Kayla Ann Hendrickson, 16, was killed alongside an Oregon highway on Jan. 19, by her boyfriend, Jacob Allen Green, 24, after an argument, according to police. Green committed suicide near the California border, they said.

Twenty of the 91 were too young to buy a beer at a baseball game. There's the 16-year-girl in Oregon named Kayla, who was shot to death by the highway, apparently by her 24-year-old boyfriend, who then shot and killed himself with the handgun, according to police. The 6-year-old girl in Cleveland ???her name was Navaeh, and her family called her "Nae Nae" ??who somehow got her hands on what police said was the illegal handgun of her felon father, and shot herself in the face. The 18-year-old in Baton Rouge, Terrance, who was playing with a .357 Magnum; when it went off, the bullet missed him, and hit his 2-year-old brother, Travin, in the chest.

It's hard to miss how male the victims are: Out of 91 dead, 75 were men or boys. And the men were even more likely to be the ones pulling the trigger.

There's no way to count them all, but the press accounts of these deaths are sprinkled with deadly encounters fueled by drugs and alcohol. We didn't trace the race or ethnicity of victims or shooters for this project; though research indicates that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be involved in gun violence. But the cases over this weekend were not limited to "urban" violence, with the deaths happening in cities and small towns and suburbs across many class and ethnic groups.

Looking through the deaths from just that one weekend, one wonders how many of these deaths could have been prevented by the gun-control and gun-safety changes that are being discussed in Washington. There are no easy answers, but one can draw an overall conclusion: Because the types of gun deaths vary greatly, so the solutions would have to vary as well.

David Hemenway, a professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health, says it will require a national mindset shift to make big inroads into the number of gun deaths, similar to the change that occurred in how child abuse ? a condition once considered so endemic that it couldn?t be addressed ? was viewed after new laws against it were passed in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"If it was in your safety to have a gun in the home, people in public health would try to get you to own a gun," he said last month at a forum?on gun violence?sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Reuters news agency. "But what evidence we have is that it's against your self interest."

Improvement in mental health efforts, as proposed by the president, might make a difference, particularly in the 12 suicides and murder-suicides. But many of the cases will forever remain a mystery.

Warwick, R.I., Police Capt. Robert Nelson, who is investigating the murder-suicide of a longtime married couple on the MLK Day weekend, said the law enforcement system is set up to find and punish wrongdoers, not determine root causes: ?We don?t have clear motive, and you know, you rarely do,? he told NBC News. ?? As seen around the country, when someone kills somebody else then kills themselves as a result of that, you very rarely have any clear motive.?

In the Griego family massacre in New Mexico, as in the Newtown school shooting, there still is no clear understanding of what may have driven a young man to commit mass murder. Nehemiah Griego, 15, is facing murder charges in adult court. Police say the minister's son shot his mother and three younger siblings with a .22-caliber rifle as they lay in their beds early on that Saturday, then waited to shoot his father with the father's military-style AR-15 rifle.

What about the proposal to take "weapons of war" ??or assault-type weapons ???off the streets, as Obama put it? Police are reluctant to give out details of the type of weapon used in a crime, because that's the sort of fact that they can use when interrogating witnesses and suspects. You'll see a lot of "unknown" for gun type on our map, and we don't have reliable information in most deaths about whether a gun was purchased or owned legally. There are several cases in which guns were not possessed legally.

The weekend of gun violence does leave an impression that few crimes are committed with the assault weapons whose legality is being debated in Washington. We saw one Detroit homicide where a witness said the gun was an AK-47, but police won't say one way or another. And Nehemiah Griego is said to have used a .22-caliber rifle, then a .223-caliber military-style AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Most of the killing, however, is done with handguns that are not on the political radar, one or two victims at a time, not crimes that depend on high-capacity magazines with more than 10 bullets.

?Certainly I?m not naive enough to say that if we were to ban military-style assault rifles and if we were to ban high-capacity magazines, that we?re not going to have killings or murders," said George Gasc?n, the San Francisco district attorney, an advocate of banning those weapons and high-capacity magazines. He was discussing the death of Daniel Colon, 44, who was killed with an unknown weapon on the morning of the inauguration, as he was walking home with his cousin from a bar where he had celebrated the football victory by the 49ers. "All we?re saying is that we can reduce the mayhem, and we can have greater control to make sure that the people that own weapons do so in a lawful fashion.?

Accidental shootings of children may be the most preventable, when children get their hands on guns that adults have not secured.

In McDonough, Ga., where the mother was asleep, the sheriff's office says the mother had let the children handle her .38-caliber revolver earlier in the evening, when it was unloaded. Sometime in the night, one of the boys loaded the gun.

The mother was awakened around 2:30 a.m. by a gunshot.

The mother's 14-year-old son had pointed the gun at his 15-year-old brother's chest and squeezed the trigger, the sheriff?s office said. The sheriff and the district attorney haven't released the names of the boys, and say they haven't decided whether to charge the brother with a crime. The sheriff's office said it didn't consider charging the grieving mother, because her gun was legally owned.

Many gun owners say they need their guns to be at hand and ready in case of an intruder breaking in during the night. "You try to look at the science," Hemenway, the Harvard professor, said at the gun violence forum. "There's no evidence at all suggesting that having the gun that you can get within two seconds matters more than the gun you can get within 10 seconds. ... There is a huge amount of evidence that having an unsecured gun leads to all sorts of death in the family."

#####

Looking at the gun deaths across the land, on just one weekend, is a reminder how ingrained the gun culture is in America, a large part of the story the country tells about itself,?especially in the way its young men find identity.

Consider Jason "Cowboy" Monson, the freshman from the University of Idaho who went down to the police station to get his gun back.

On Friday, just before our weekend clock began, Jason's roommate spoke with his resident adviser in the dorm, saying he was afraid because Jason was keeping his Desert Eagle handgun under his pillow.

Jason was raised on a small horse farm in Middleton, Idaho, hunting and fishing, playing football for a Christian school. He was raised around guns. Jason's father is a county sheriff's patrol sergeant, and his mother is a former Boise police officer. (His parents did not respond to a request from NBC News for an interview.) Jason won a national speech competition with 4H, and was studying communications. He was also in the Air Force ROTC and hoped to serve his country. He had a new girlfriend and a sense of humor, and posted a lot of funny stuff on his Facebook page.

His online summary of himself was unassuming: "im a total cowboy. I hunt cowboy mounted shoot and drive an old ford diesel. Ive broken several bones and most recently chainsawed my foot, that was a great two months, insert sarcasm. I own several guns and will be in the ROTC at the u of I this fall. any questions message me."

Family photo

Jason Monson aims a blank pistol at the camera. Jason, who grew up on a small horse farm in Idaho, was active in Cowboy Mounted Shooting, which uses blanks.

Cowboy Mounted Shooting looks like a lot of fun. (Watch a primer on YouTube.) The riders train skilled horses and compete on an obstacle course, wearing a Western long-sleeved shirt and a cowboy hat and shooting guns loaded with powder cartridges--blanks--at ballooons. Jason had already won a couple of belt buckles. One of his fellow competitors described him as "very nice, respectful, personable and outgoing." It's a great sport for someone who likes people, horses, and guns.

When the roommate reported the gun, Jason was not at the dorm. The school called the city police, and an officer came and took the gun away. The police chief in Moscow (for non-Idahoans: that's "MOS-ko"), David Duke, said there was no hint that Jason had made any threat against anyone, and Jason wasn't in a whole lot of trouble.

After all, this is Idaho, where guns are freely allowed with no registration, and one can openly carry a gun without any permit. Jason had violated no criminal law by bringing his handgun to his dorm room, the police chief said. It was against the school rules to have it there???students have to keep their guns in the central gun locker provided by the school. Jason could have faced student judicial charges, but it wasn't a criminal matter.

When Jason got back to the dorm, his roommate had been moved to another room, and Jason was told that his gun had been confiscated. He called the Moscow police about 10 p.m. to get his gun back, and the officer asked him to come down to the station. He came down about 1 a.m., and the officer said he could have his gun, but not until Tuesday, after the MLK holiday, so he'd have a chance to lock it up at school.

At 8:46 a.m. local time Sunday morning, just as the Obama family was participating in a day of service by fixing up an elementary school in the nation's capital, Moscow police got another call from the University of Idaho, from the same dorm.

One of Jason's suitemates had found him, shot in the head, next to notes he'd written to his family.

Idaho has one of the highest rates of suicides in the country, mostly from guns. It also was?the only state in the union without its own certified suicide prevention hotline with counselors trained in suicide prevention; a hotline opened in November, but it's open ?only Monday through Thursday, 9 to 5. Chief Duke says he gets a call about suicide on campus every couple of years or so.

It turned out that the Desert Eagle .45 was not Jason's only gun. Sometime in the night, he'd gone out to his pickup truck for his Smith and Wesson Model 66 .357-caliber revolver.

In his obituary, his parents took the opportunity to plead against gun control: "Let us drag the evil hiding in the darkness of the most dangerous places on earth: Gun free zones."

Jason's photo with his obituary shows Cowboy Monson with a big grin, wearing a black hat and astride a reddish-brown horse at a canter. Jason is looking directly at the camera, where he is pointing his blank pistol.

That image is the profile photo atop his Facebook page, too, now and perhaps forever, along with the cover image of two semi-automatic rifles criss-crossed over the U.S. Constitution.

Tuesday: Meet some of the victims and their families touched by gun violence

Also contributing to this story and map for NBC News: Daniel Arkin, Meredith Birkett, John Brecher, David Friedman, Kriss Chaumont, Tracy Connor, Polly DeFrank, Matthew DeLuca, Miranda Leitsinger, Shezad Morani, Lisa Riordan Seville, Jonathan Sweeney and Lisa Wilkins.

More from Open Channel:

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook?

Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/10/16912259-death-takes-no-holiday-tracking-gun-violence-over-one-long-january-weekend?lite

drew brees drew brees sandusky Sam Champion Hulk Hogan sex tape orioles venezuela