singhlija: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca , Mexico, 2002 Stella Johnson

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Source: http://mpdrolet.tumblr.com/post/39221262902

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Velasquez defeats Dos Santos to reclaim UFC heavyweight title

Cain Velasquez waited 13 miserable months for the chance to put the UFC heavyweight belt back around his waist.

When he finally got Junior Dos Santos back in the cage, Cain didn't waste another minute.

Velasquez reclaimed the UFC heavyweight title Saturday night, thoroughly battering Dos Santos on the way to a lopsided unanimous decision in UFC 155.

Velasquez (11-1) took early control of the rematch of his only career loss, flooring the Brazilian champion with a big right hand midway through the first round. Velasquez spent most of the match stalking and pounding on Dos Santos (15-2), who never fully recovered from the first-round shot that left him swollen and woozy.

?I was so tired, but I had to endure,? Velasquez said. ?My coaches and everybody helped me so much. He's tough, too. ... It feels so good to get this. This is my wife's Christmas present. I promised her I would do this.?

Velasquez won every round on every judge's scorecard in the UFC's traditional year-end event in its hometown. The three judges scored the bout for Velasquez 50-45, 50-44 and 50-43. The Associated Press also favored Velasquez 50-44, giving a 10-8 advantage to Velasquez in the first round.

Dos Santos took the UFC belt away from Velasquez in November 2011 in just 64 seconds, earning a first-round stoppage victory with one vicious overhand right in Anaheim, Calif. Velasquez refused to blame a knee injury for his only defeat ? but in the rematch, he demonstrated exactly what he can do at full strength.

?I knew that Junior was a tough striker and he was able to end our last fight that way, so I was prepared for him this time,? Velasquez said. ?I was able to effectively use my striking and my grappling to control him throughout the fight and get the title back.?

Jim Miller won a narrow unanimous decision over Joe Lauzon in a sensationally bloody fight on the undercard, and rising middleweight Costa Philippou stopped Tim Boetsch in the third rounds. Yushin Okami grappled his way past Alan Belcher and Derek Brunson easily beat veteran Chris Leben.

But 12,423 fans bought a record $3.2 million in tickets at the MGM Grand Garden to see the second meeting in what seems certain to be a memorable heavyweight trilogy ? although UFC President Dana White said Velasquez is likely to fight again, probably against Alistair Overeem, while Dos Santos heals.

?I don't know if you saw (Dos Santos) after the fight, but he looked terrible,? White said. ?It's going to be a while until he starts training again.?

Dos Santos' loss was his first in the UFC in 10 fights with mixed martial arts' dominant promotion, and his first defeat anywhere since November 2007. Dos Santos expected the rematch to last longer, but also predicted a second knockout.

Instead, Dos Santos barely avoided getting stopped in the first round, and he headed straight to a hospital after the bout. White initially thought Dos Santos had a broken jaw, but the fear was unfounded.

?His game was very effective, and tonight he was better than me,? Dos Santos said. ?It's not usual for me to take a punch, but he walks forward all the time. His takedowns, his grappler game is very effective, so congratulations for him.?

Velasquez immediately showed the rematch would bear little resemblance to the first fight, pursuing Dos Santos from the opening bell and quickly backing up the champion. Velasquez then floored Dos Santos with that huge right to the head midway through the round, and Dos Santos had to cover up in the corner while barely surviving an onslaught of strikes and ground-and-pound.

After brusquely swatting aside his stool and choosing to stand in his corner between rounds, Velasquez went to work on the ground in the second, and the former Arizona State wrestler repeatedly got the boxing specialist into bad positions.

Dos Santos struggled to regain his rhythm, and Velasquez managed another takedown early in the third round before repeatedly tagging the champion with shots that left his face discolored and puffy.

At the final bell, Velasquez collapsed on his back at the center of the cage, pointing skyward with both hands. Although Overeem is tops among several heavyweights who would like a title shot, a third bout between Velasquez and Dos Santos can't be too far away.

?Cain Velasquez, like you said (last year), I'm going to come back and I'm going to take my belt again,? Dos Santos said.

Dos Santos' win over Velasquez last year in the UFC's first fight on American network television catapulted the hard-punching Brazilian heavyweight into an international spotlight. Both fighters injured their knees in the month leading up to their first fight, but stayed in the bout because of its importance.

Dos Santos defended his title against Frank Mir earlier this year and got a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike while emerging as one of the promotion's most likable stars.

Miller and Lauzon also turned in one of the UFC's best fights of 2012 in its final show, starting when Miller opened a gaping gash over Lauzon's right eye early in the first round. Blood gushed out of Lauzon's face and onto the canvas, yet he blinked it away and survived the round to a standing ovation.

Lauzon bled substantially for the final two rounds, yet traded big shots with Miller and even took down his fellow veteran, although submission holds were nearly impossible due to the blood slickening both fighters' bodies. Miller narrowly avoided two submission attempts by Lauzon in the final seconds before celebrating his second win in four fights.

?Joe Lauzon is a tough kid,? Miller said. ?I knew I was going to have to bring my best effort to put him away and I was never able to. That's how good he is on the ground. And even in the last minute, look what he was trying to do to win the fight.?

After two dull main-card bouts resulted in wins for Okami and Brunson, Philippou (12-2) and Boetsch entertained the crowd ? but Boetsch (16-5) left his first loss in two years with big cuts on his forehead and nose along with an apparently injured hand. Philippou was impressive in his fifth straight victory, winning as a fairly late replacement for Chris Weidman, his training partner.

In the early fights, veteran Jamie Varner (21-7-1) continued his comeback with a split-decision victory over Melvin Guillard (47-13-3), and heavyweight Todd Duffee (9-2) returned to the UFC after an acrimonious 2 1 / 2-year absence with a nasty first-round knockout victory over Phil De Fries.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/velasquez-defeats-dos-santos-to-reclaim-ufc-heavyweight-title/article6797368/?cmpid=rss1

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In Internet Promotion, You Have To Work Smarter, Not Harder | Cop ...

Sometimes, an idea for a business comes to mind. Thankfully, the internet does offer that. With your ideas, you can turn it into a money making enterprise, and with good marketing, you can becomes very successful. The tips presented below can help you get off to a great start in the field of Internet marketing.

TIP! If you regularly email current or potential customers, ensure that you change the links that you place in the emails once in a while. The link blocks that stay the same in each email are generally ignored.

Words like ?limited? add a sense of urgency and uniqueness to your advertisement. Many people turn to online retailers because they feel local stores have nothing new or fresh to offer. They want to have something that everyone else doesn?t. If you sell a limited edition of something, they will want to buy it to be different, and understand they have to buy it quickly before it runs out.

Most often you will be advised not to mix business with your home life, but this may qualify as an exception. That is because there is no high pressure, and it can almost be viewed as a type of lucrative hobby. Think about doing it with a spouse.

TIP! Viral videos can be an enormous help for generating traffic. Creating a viral video takes innovation and lots of luck.

Try offering different versions of your site to people all over the world. Create as many possible versions of your website as you can, offering a variety of different languages. This is a proven technique for drawing in more global customers. If people are able to read your content in their own language, it?s much more likely that they?ll purchase something from you.

Use the signature line in forums and email to promote your business. Include it at the bottom of every message board or forum posting, for example. Every email you send out should have a link to your site within your signature. This is a way to subtly advertise your website and could increase your ratings in search engines too. Create an enticing line that encourages readers to click and put it near the link.

TIP! You must have a truly fine website to have Internet marketing success. Check frequently for broken links, outdated information and any other problems that could detract from the message and product you are presenting.

Use high resolution images to showcase your products on your website. Your customers need to be able to visualize the items they are about to buy, and see the detail of your high-quality products. Create an area on your web site where buyers can submit their photographs of your product. Another effective use of photography is to show how customers changed as a result of using your product.

Try to be thorough when designing your website by having a relevant and content oriented site. Give knowledge to your customers in a short time, so they are informed prior to purchasing a product. Avoid being redundant and be certain that your information is current and up to date.

TIP! Always address complaints from customers personally. You might want to use outsourcing for your business needs, but this could cause customers to become even more dissatisfied.

Create a game that your customers can play. Free games are a great way to attract visitors, as people are always looking for something fun and free to do online. Use the game to subtly advertise your products for services. For example, a great game idea for a hair-product site would be a hairstyling game that features options to buy your products.

TIP! AJAX and Flash should be used very little. This kind of content can be great if you want an original website, but search engines will not be able to interpret any of it.

Incorporate Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets into your online marketing efforts. These social media websites give you the perfect way to keep in contact with your customers. They are perfect for promotions, updates and even deeper conversations. Although, it is always best to manage how you interact with the customers because you don?t want to always be advertising something in all your comments. Rather, you should offer informative insights into your products and business while slipping in an occasional marketing message.

As you can see from the above article, the end goal for all businesses should be longevity. Whether your business size is large or small, continued success comes from an effective marketing strategy. Every business starts at the bottom, so implement these tips to increase business today.

Source: http://www.cop15post.com/in-internet-promotion-you-have-to-work-smarter-not-harder.html

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Cain Velasquez reclaims UFC heavyweight title

Junior dos Santos of Brazil, left, and Cain Velasquez of San Jose connect with each other during their UFC 155 heavyweight championship mixed martial arts match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec, 29, 2012 in Las Vegas. Velasquez won with a unanimous decision. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Cain Velasquez of San Jose celebrates after his UFC 155 heavyweight championship mixed martial arts match against Junior dos Santos of Brazil at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec, 29, 2012 in Las Vegas. Velasquez won with a unanimous decision. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Cain Velasquez, center, of San Jose, reacts as UFC president Dana White secures the UFC heavyweight championship following his victory over Junior dos Santos, left, of Brazil at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec, 29, 2012 in Las Vegas. Velasquez won the bout with a unanimous decision. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Costa Philippou of Long Island, N.Y. reacts after the referee called the fight in the third round against Tim Boetsch of Sunbury, Pa. during their UFC 155 middleweight mixed martial arts match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec, 29, 2012 in Las Vegas. Philippou won by a technical knock out. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Yushin Okami of Japan takes a punch to the face by Alan Belcher of Biloxi, Miss. during their UFC 155 middleweight mixed martial arts match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday, Dec, 29, 2012 in Las Vegas. Okami won the bout by an unanimous decision. (AP Photo/David Becker)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Cain Velasquez waited 13 miserable months for the chance to put the UFC heavyweight belt back around his waist.

When he finally got Junior Dos Santos back in the cage, Cain didn't waste another minute.

Velasquez reclaimed the UFC heavyweight title Saturday night, thoroughly battering Dos Santos on the way to a lopsided unanimous decision in UFC 155.

"I was so tired, but I had to endure," Velasquez said. "My coaches and everybody helped me so much. He's tough, too. ... It feels so good to get this. This is my wife's Christmas present. I promised her I would do this."

"I knew that Junior was a tough striker and he was able to end our last fight that way, so I was prepared for him this time," Velasquez said. "I was able to effectively use my striking and my grappling to control him throughout the fight and get the title back."

"I don't know if you saw (Dos Santos) after the fight, but he looked terrible," White said. "It's going to be a while until he starts training again."

"His game was very effective, and tonight he was better than me," Dos Santos said. "It's not usual for me to take a punch, but he walks forward all the time. His takedowns, his grappler game is very effective, so congratulations for him."

Dos Santos struggled to regain his rhythm, and Velasquez managed another takedown early in the third round before repeatedly tagging the champion with shots that left his face discolored and puffy.

"Cain Velasquez, like you said (last year), I'm going to come back and I'm going to take my belt again," Dos Santos said.

Dos Santos defended his title against Frank Mir earlier this year and got a lucrative sponsorship deal with Nike while emerging as one of the promotion's most likable stars.

"Joe Lauzon is a tough kid," Miller said. "I knew I was going to have to bring my best effort to put him away and I was never able to. That's how good he is on the ground. And even in the last minute, look what he was trying to do to win the fight."

In the early fights, veteran Jamie Varner (21-7-1) continued his comeback with a split-decision victory over Melvin Guillard (47-13-3), and heavyweight Todd Duffee (9-2) returned to the UFC after an acrimonious 2?-year absence with a nasty first-round knockout victory over Phil De Fries.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-30-UFC%20155/id-8550bde3b0f94c8db2125561827ed7e3

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National ? Nowhere to use Japan's growing plutonium stockpile

ROKKASHO ?

How is an nuclear-powered island nation riddled with fault lines supposed to handle its nuclear waste? Part of the answer was supposed to come from this windswept village along Japan?s northern coast.

By hosting a high-tech facility that would convert spent fuel into a plutonium-uranium mix designed for the next generation of reactors, Rokkasho in Aomori Prefecture was supposed to provide fuel while minimizing nuclear waste storage problems. Those ambitions are falling apart because years of attempts to build a ?fast breeder? reactor, which would use the reprocessed fuel, appear to be ending in failure.

But Japan still intends to reprocess spent fuel at Rokkasho. It sees few other options, even though it will mean extracting plutonium that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

If the country were to close the reprocessing plant, some 3,000 tons of spent waste piling up here would have to go back to the nuclear plants that made it, and those already are running low on storage space. There is scant prospect for building a long-term nuclear waste disposal site in Japan.

So work continues at Rokkasho, where the reprocessing unit remains in testing despite being more than 30 years in the making, and the plant that would produce plutonium-uranium fuel remains under construction. The Associated Press was recently granted a rare and exclusive tour of the plant, where spent fuel rods lie submerged in water in a gigantic, dimly lit pool.

The effort continues on the assumption that the plutonium Japan has produced ? 45 tons so far ? will be used in reactors, even though that is not close to happening to a significant degree.

In nearby Oma, construction is set to resume on an advanced reactor that is not a fast-breeder but can use more plutonium than conventional reactors. Its construction, begun in 2008 for planned operation in 2014, has been suspended since the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns, and could face further delays as Japan?s new nuclear watchdog prepares new safety guidelines.

If Japan decided that it cannot use the plutonium, it would be breaking international pledges aimed at preventing the spread of weapons-grade nuclear material. It already has enough plutonium to make hundreds of nuclear bombs ? 10 tons of it at home and the rest in Britain and France, where Japan?s spent fuel was previously processed.

Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have similar problems with nuclear waste storage, but Japan?s population density and seismic activity, combined with the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, make its situation more untenable in the eyes of the nation?s nuclear-energy opponents. Some compare it to building an apartment without a toilet.

?Our nuclear policy was a fiction,? former National Policy Minister Seiji Maehara told a parliamentary panel in November. ?We have been aware of the two crucial problems. One is a fuel cycle: A fast-breeder is not ready. The other is the back-end (waste disposal) issue. They had never been resolved, but we pushed for the nuclear programs anyway.?

Nuclear power is likely to be part of Japan for some time to come, even though just two of its 50 functioning reactors are operating and Japan recently pledged to phase out nuclear power by the 2030s. That pledge was made by a government that was trounced in elections Dec 16, and the now-ruling Liberal Democratic Party was the force that brought nuclear power to Japan to begin with.

Liberal Democrats have said they will spend the next 10 years figuring out the best energy mix, effectively freezing a nuclear phase-out. New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he may reconsider the previous government?s decision not to build more reactors.

Construction at Rokkasho?s reprocessing plant started in 1993 and that unit alone has cost 2.2 trillion yen so far. Rokkasho?s operational cost through 2060 would be a massive 43 trillion yen, according to a recent government estimate.

The reprocessing facility at this extremely high-security plant is designed to extract uranium and plutonium from spent fuel to fabricate MOX ? mixed oxide fuel, a mix of the two radioactive elements. The MOX fabrication plant is set to open in 2016.

Conventional light-water reactors use uranium and produce some plutonium during fission. Reprocessing creates an opportunity to reuse the spent fuel rather than storing it as waste, but the stockpiling of plutonium produced in the process raises concerns about nuclear proliferation.

Fast-breeder reactors are supposed to solve part of that problem. They run on both uranium and plutonium, and they can produce more fuel than they consume because they convert uranium isotopes that do not fission readily into plutonium. Several countries have developed or are building them, but none has succeeded in building one for commercial use. The United States, France and Germany have abandoned plans due to cost and safety concerns.

The prototype Monju fast-breeder reactor in western Japan had been in the works for nearly 50 years, but after repeated problems, authorities this summer pulled the plug, deeming the project unworkable and unsafe.

Monju successfully generated power using MOX in 1995, but months later, massive leakage of cooling sodium caused a fire. Monju had another test run in 2010 but stopped again after a fuel exchanger fell into the reactor vessel.

Some experts also suspect that the reactor sits on an active fault line. An independent team commissioned by the Nuclear Regulation Authority is set to inspect faults at Monju in early 2013.

Japan also burned MOX in four conventional reactors beginning in 2009. Conventional reactors can use MOX for up to a third of their fuel, but that makes the fuel riskier because the plutonium is easier to heat up.

Three of the conventional reactors that used MOX were shut down for regular inspections around the time three Fukushima Daiichi reactors exploded and melted down following the March 201l earthquake and tsunami. The fourth reactor that used MOX was among the reactors that melted down. Plant and government officials deny that the reactor explosion was related to MOX.

Japan hopes to use MOX fuel in as many as 18 reactors by 2015, according to a Rokkasho brochure produced last month by the operator. But even conventionally powered nuclear reactors are unpopular in Japan, and using MOX would raise even more concerns.

When launched, Rokkasho could reprocess 800 tons of spent fuel per year, producing about 5 tons of plutonium and 130 tons of MOX per year, becoming the world?s No. 2 MOX fabrication plant after France?s Areva, according to Rokkasho?s operator.

The government and the nuclear industry hope to use much of the plutonium at Oma?s advanced plant, which could use three times more plutonium than a conventional reactor.

Meanwhile, the plutonium stockpile grows. Including the amount not yet separated from spent fuel, Japan has nearly 160 tons. Few countries have more, though the U.S., Russia and Great Britain have substantially more.

?Our plutonium storage is strictly controlled, and it is extremely important for us to burn it as MOX fuel so we don?t possess excess plutonium stockpile,? said Kazuo Sakai, senior executive director of Rokkasho?s operator, JNFL, a joint venture of nine Japanese nuclear plant owners.

Rokkasho?s reprocessing plant extracted about 2 tons of plutonium from 2006 to 2010, but it has been plagued with mechanical problems, and its commercial launch has been delayed for years. The operator most recently delayed the official launch of its plutonium-extracting unit until next year.

The extracted plutonium will sit there for at least three more years until Rokkasho?s MOX fabrication starts up.

Giving up on using plutonium for power would cause Japan to break its international pledge not to possess excess plutonium not designated for power generation. That?s why Japan?s nuclear phase-out plan drew concern from Washington; the country would end up with tons of plutonium left over. To reassure Japan?s allies, government officials said the plan was only a goal, not a commitment.

Japan is the only nation without nuclear weapons that is allowed under international law to enrich uranium and extract plutonium without much scrutiny. Government officials say they should keep the privilege. They also want to hold on to nuclear power and reprocessing technology so they can export that expertise to emerging economies.

Many officials also want to keep Rokkasho going, especially those in its prefecture. Residents don?t want to lose funding and jobs, though they fear their home state may become a waste dump.

Rokkasho Mayor Kenji Furukawa said the plant, its affiliates and related businesses provide most of the jobs in his village of 11,000.

?Without the plant, this is going to be a marginal place,? he said.

But Rokkasho farmer Keiko Kikukawa says her neighbors should stop relying on nuclear money.

?It?s so unfair that Rokkasho is stuck with the nuclear garbage from all over Japan,? she said, walking through a field where she had harvested organic rhubarb. ?We?re dumping it all onto our offspring to take care of.?

Nearly 17,000 tons of spent fuel are stored at power plants nationwide, almost entirely in spent fuel pools. Their storage space is 70% filled on average. Most pools would max out within several years if Rokkasho were to close down, forcing spent fuel to be returned, according to estimates by a government fuel-cycle panel.

Rokkasho alone won?t be able to handle all the spent fuel coming out once approved reactors go back online, and the clock is ticking for operators to take steps to create extra space for spent fuel at each plant, Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said.

?Even if we operate Rokkasho, there is more spent fuel coming out than it can process. It?s just out of balance,? he told the AP.

A more permanent solution ? an underground repository that could keep nuclear waste safe for tens of thousands of years ? seems unlikely, if not impossible.

The government has been drilling a test hole since 2000 in central Japan to monitor impact from underground water and conduct other studies needed to develop a potential disposal facility. But no municipality in Japan has been willing to accept a long-term disposal site.

?There is too much risk to keep highly radioactive waste 300 meters underground anywhere in Japan for thousands or tens of thousands of years,? said Takatoshi Imada, a professor at Tokyo Technical University?s Decision Science and Technology department

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/nowhere-to-use-japans-growing-plutonium-stockpile

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Things To Remember When Hiring a Concrete Contractor - Home ...

When it comes to home remodeling, or renovations, often times people don?t consider some of the preliminary stages. For instance, many don?t remember to call in a concrete contractor to help with the foundational work that many other items need to be built on. Furthermore, many forget to include the yard in their search to fix things up properly. If you or someone you know wants to fix up a home and haven?t really taken the time to research hiring contractors yet, consider the following things to remember when it comes down to investing money.

First and foremost, make sure that you find a reputable concrete contractor, before you spend money on a project. This is going to be the most crucial thing that you can do in order to get your work accomplished within a good overall time frame. By making sure that the company you hire is licensed, bonded, and has some years of experience, you can gain peace of mind that that you will be able to move forward with relative ease. If you don?t, you could have a project that may be done haphazardly or could end up being hung up with complications. That will in turn cost you more money to fix than the initial plans call for, so make sure that you don?t hire someone that is known for taking shortcuts.

The second to remember is that concrete requires it?s own separate contractor to get it done well. If you need stairs, platforms, or just about anything mapped out with concrete, you can?t just go with any old company to help you out. Make sure that you seek out an expert that will be able to help you get the job done that you need. There is a finesse to making this type of work shine, and while it might be easy to mix, it?s hard to get right without cracking, breaking or anything that would mire the visual aesthetics.

The last thing to remember is to make sure that you get an estimate and you talk to professionals when it comes to your ideas.

Don?t just go with a company that says yes to everything, because your ideas might be impossible to do. Think about the scope of possibilities so that when you get an estimate it?s reasonable. If you?re looking at a great deal of concrete and you aren?t concerned with financial options, you will still want to get an estimate so that you can gauge the customer service that you?re going to receive if you move forward with any major project.

Whether you?re doing renovations, in the middle of construction, or you just want to change things up in your yard, you can hire a concrete expert to help you get the job done, but make sure that you are selective and go with someone that is going to accomplish the work within a reasonable amount of time at a price that you can afford. Without being selective, you will find problems with the construction process.

Source: http://home-improvement.ezinemark.com/things-to-remember-when-hiring-a-concrete-contractor-7d382ad91736.html

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Fiscal Cliff Talks Continue As Senate Leaders Reach For Last-Minute Deal

WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders groped for a last-minute compromise Saturday to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly prevent deep spending cuts at the dawn of the new year as President Barack Obama warned that failure could mean a "self-inflicted wound to the economy."

Obama chastised lawmakers in his weekly radio and Internet address for waiting until the last minute to try and avoid a "fiscal cliff," yet said there was still time for an agreement. "We cannot let Washington politics get in the way of America's progress," he said as the hurry-up negotiations unfolded.

For all the recent expressions of urgency, bargaining took place by phone, email and paper in a Capitol nearly empty except for tourists. Alone among top lawmakers, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell spent the day in his office.

In the Republicans' weekly address, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri cited a readiness to compromise. "Divided government is a good time to solve hard problems ? and in the next few days, leaders in Washington have an important responsibility to work together and do just that," he said.

Even so, there was no guarantee of success, and a dispute over the federal tax on large estates emerged as yet another key sticking point alongside personal income tax rates.

In a blunt challenge to Republicans, Obama said that barring a bipartisan agreement, he expected both houses to vote on his own proposal to block tax increases on all but the wealthy and simultaneously preserve expiring unemployment benefits.

Political calculations mattered as much as deep-seated differences over the issues, as divided government struggled with its first big challenge since the November elections.

Speaker John Boehner remained at arms-length, juggling a desire to avoid the fiscal cliff with his goal of winning another term as speaker when a new Congress convenes next Thursday. Any compromise legislation is certain to include higher tax rates on the wealthy, and the House GOP rank and file rejected the idea when he presented it to them as part of a final attempt to strike a more sweeping agreement with Obama.

Lawmakers have until the new Congress convenes to pass any compromise, and even the calendar mattered. Democrats said they had been told House Republicans might reject a deal until after Jan. 1, to avoid a vote to raise taxes before they had technically gone up and then vote to cut taxes after they had risen.

Nor was any taxpayer likely to feel any adverse impact if legislation is signed and passed into law in the first two or three days of 2013 instead of the final hours of 2012.

Gone was the talk of a grand bargain of spending cuts and additional tax revenue in which the two parties would agree to slash deficits by trillions of dollars over a decade.

Now negotiators had a more cramped goal of preventing additional damage to the economy in the form of higher taxes across the board ? with some families facing increases measured in the thousands of dollars ? as well as cuts aimed at the Pentagon and hundreds of domestic programs.

Republicans said they were willing to bow to Obama's call for higher taxes on the wealthy as part of a deal to prevent them from rising on those less well-off.

Democrats said Obama was sticking to his campaign call for tax increases above $250,000 in annual income, even though he said in recent negotiations he said he could accept $400,000. There was no evidence of agreement even at the higher level.

There were indications from Republicans that estate taxes might hold more significance for them than the possibility of higher rates on income.

One senior Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, said late Friday he was "totally dead set" against Obama's estate tax proposal, and as if to reinforce the point, Blunt mentioned the issue before any other in his broadcast remarks. "Small businesses and farm families don't know how to deal with the unfair death tax_a tax that the president and congressional leaders have threatened to expand to include even more family farms and even more small businesses," he said.

Several officials said Republicans want to leave the tax at 35 percent after exempting the first $5 million in estate value. Officials said the White House wants a 45 percent tax after a $3.5 million exemption. Without any action by Congress, it would climb to a 55 percent tax after a $1 million exemption on Jan. 1.

Democrats stressed their unwillingness to make concessions on both income taxes and the estate tax, and said they hoped Republicans would choose which mattered more to them.

Officials said any compromise was likely to ease the impact of the alternative minimum tax, originally designed to make sure that millionaires did not escape taxation. If left unchanged, it could hit an estimated 28 million households for the first time in 2013, with an average increase of more than $3,000.

Taxes on dividends and capital gains are also involved in the talks, as well as a series of breaks for businesses and others due to expire at the first of the year.

Obama and congressional Democrats are insisting on an extension of long-term unemployment benefits that are expiring for about 2 million jobless individuals.

Leaders in both parties also hope to prevent a 27 percent fee cut from taking effect on Jan. 1 for doctors who treat Medicare patients.

There was also discussion of a short-term extension of expiring farm programs, in part to prevent a spike in milk prices at the first of the year. It wasn't clear if that was a parallel effort to the cliff talks or had become wrapped into them.

Across-the-board spending cuts that comprise part of the cliff were a different matter.

Republicans say Boehner will insist that they will begin to take effect unless negotiators agreed to offset them with specified savings elsewhere.

That would set the stage for the next round of brinkmanship ? a struggle over Republican calls for savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other federal benefit programs.

The Treasury's ability to borrow is expected to expire in late winter or early spring, and without an increase in the $16.4 trillion limit, the government would face its first-ever default. Republicans have said they will use administration requests for an extension as leverage to win cuts in spending.

Ironically, it was just such a maneuver more than a year ago that set the stage for the current crisis talks over the fiscal cliff.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/fiscal-cliff-senate_n_2382342.html

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

SmackDown results: Big Show taken down by Del Rio, Sheamus and a slew of WWE Superstars on the final SmackDown of 2012

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-12-28/results

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Health and Fitness: Back Pain ? Some Clues to Discovering the ...

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Source: http://fyfedyfolygo.wordpress.com/2012/12/26/health-and-fitness-back-pain-some-clues-to-discovering-the-cause/

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Source: http://jermainefaulkner.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/health-and-fitness-back-pain-some-clues-to-discovering-the.html

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Source: http://tambeoc.posterous.com/health-and-fitness-back-pain-some-clues-to-di

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Source: http://sports-breaking-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/health-and-fitness-back-pain-some-clues.html

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Dr. Oz descends further into psychic quackery ? Respectful Insolence

Regular readers have probably noticed that I?m taking it easy this week, at least compared to my usual ridiculous level of output. It is, after all, the holidays, and last night I even went to see my cousin?s son play basketball and then hung out at the local Knights of Columbus hall. (No, it didn?t spontaneously explode upon my entering it.) I?ll get back to regular blogging after the 1st of the year. Between now and then I?ll be uncharacteristically mellow and brief, because even a clear Plexiglass box of blinking lights needs a break now and then to recharge the ol? Tarial cells. Not that it?s actually much of a rest, but a redistribution of effort to grant writing, from which blog posts are a brief respite.

None of this stops me, however, from being annoyed by certain things even now. For example, I was sitting there, as so often happens, an ad for Dr. Oz?s TV show popped up. It?s been a while since I?ve paid much attention to Dr. Oz, who basically jumped the shark when he declared ?ber-quack Dr. Joe Mercola a ?pioneer? in alternative medicine when from my view the only thing Mercola is a ?pioneer? in is using the Internet to make money off of credulous marks with more money and distrust of science than sense and then let the shark eat whatever scientist was left in him when he decided that faith healing actually works and that John Edward could really talk to the dead.

Apparently Dr. Oz, not satisfied with having become the biggest and richest supporter of quackery in existence, his fame given a jump start by Oprah?s woo-infused empire and then sustained by his apparent decision to ?integrate? pure quackery, pseudoscience, and mysticism with his vanishing focus on real medicine, has decided to embrace nonsense ever the more tightly, the better to provide more bread and circuses to his addled viewers. I suppose I shouldn?t be surprised, but this surprised even me, and in a way I was happy that I missed this when it aired the first time around. I?m referring to the episode set to air today in which Dr. Oz features the ?Long Island medium Theresa Caputo. As if this weren?t bad enough, Dr. Oz promotes her as somehow being able to help his viewers deal with anxiety by communicating with dead relatives on ?the other side.? Yes, in this case, Dr. Oz goes beyond dipping his toe in the water of pure nonsense to diving right in and swimming to the bottom of the cesspit of psychic scams.

Caputo describes herself thusly:

I began seeing spirit at age 4. I suffered from anxiety for years until my mom suggested I go to a spiritual healer/teacher. I went to see Pat Longo and that?s how I found out that I had the ability to communicate with spirit. I have been a practicing medium for over 10 years and a certified medium with the Forever-Family Foundation ? an organization dedicated to connecting science with the afterlife. People ask me to describe the process of receiving information. It?s hard for me to describe because I see, hear and feel things differently than we do in the physical world. My wish for every person I come in contact with, is that they receive a message that will give them healing and closure to embrace life without their loved ones.

Yes, Caputo appears to follow in the footsteps of a long line of ?psychic? scammers and mediums like John Edward and, of course, the ever-vile (or at least viler than most self-proclaimed psychics) Sylvia Browne. None of this stops Dr. Oz from entitling his segment, Can talking to the dead help end your anxiety? I could have made this the world?s shortest episode of The Dr. Oz Show by answering this simply, No.

Not Dr. Oz, who states multiple times in this segment that ?medicine doesn?t have all the answers? or ?doctors don?t have all the answers.? This is, of course, true. Doctors don?t always have all the answers, just as science doesn?t know everything. But as Dara O?Briain puts it, ?Just because science doesn?t know everything doesn?t mean you can fill in the gaps with whatever fairy tale most appeals to you.? Yet that?s exactly what Dr. Oz is doing here: Inserting a belief that a cheesy Long Island woman with bleach blond helmet hair and a fake tan can talk to the dead for science and reason.

As has become the formula for Oz shows that feature psychics and various claimants to paranormal powers, Dr. Oz starts off with a purely credulous segment introducing her, chats with her a bit. This time around, he doesn?t seem to express even the perfunctory claim of ?skepticism? that he normally does (and did, for instance, with John Edward). He simply declares her ?amazing? and wonders if she can help cure anxiety with her claimed ability to speak with a person?s dead relatives.

Next comes the testimonial. we?re introduced to a woman named Deanna who discusses having crippling anxiety, which she attributed to not knowing what?s on the other side. Declaring herself a ?skeptic? going in (don?t they all?), she tells her story, which is lame even by the usual lame standards of psychic tricks. Basically, she says that before her session with Theresa, she prayed to her dead uncle Tony, asking him to tell Theresa the name of a movie, so that she would believe in life after death. The name of the movie? Goodfellas. Amazingly, Theresa apparently managed to name the movie. Anyone want to bet that she did it after the usual psychic cold reading routine? In response, Dr. Oz repeated his mantra that ?we don?t have all the answers in medicine,? adding, ?and so, if there are other options that might be effective?and I don?t have to understand why they work as a doctor?but if there are things that could be helpful to you and particularly to get through a huge problem like anxiety, I think we should stretch our minds out.?

Apparently Dr. Oz has stretched his mind out to the point where its rationality has snapped. Either that, or he knows this is all nonsense and is pandering to his audience. Take your pick. I don?t know which is worse for a doctor: To be completely credulous or to be in on the con.

Next up, of course, are psychic readings, courtesy of Caputo. (You knew this was coming, didn?t you?) It?s the usual cold reading drivel that we?ve seen time and time again from psychics innumerable. Caputo asks a woman whose sister died if it was something to do with the ?heart, lungs, or breast.? All of these are likely to be the top three causes of death in a woman who is relatively young and didn?t die a traumatic death (which Caputo appeared to know in advance). Almost anything that causes death is likely to impact the heart and lungs before the end, and if the woman happened to have died of cancer then breast cancer is the most likely culprit. It turns out that the woman?s sister died of a severe asthma attack that apparently collapsed one or both lungs. Caputo then asks the woman whether her sister took her asthma medication, giving the reason that her sister told her that her passing might have been prevented because ?we knew better.? Caputo then tells her that her sister said that her passing was ?instant? and that she didn?t suffer, which sounds to me like complete nonsense. Caputo has obviously never seen someone die of respiratory failure due to asthma. It is almost never instant, and it frequently involves a long period of intense air hunger and shortness of breath. It is not pleasant.

Of course, what psychics are about is giving the living what they want, and that?s exactly what Caputo does. She tells the woman that her sister wants her to let go of her guilt over her sister?s death. That?s why she told the woman that her sister didn?t suffer when she died. That?s why she provides messages of love from beyond and assurance that there really, really is an afterlife. Consider this. When have you ever seen or heard a psychic tell someone like this woman that her dead relative is in hell, hates her, or blames her for her death? I?ve never heard that, although obviously just because I haven?t heard it doesn?t mean it doesn?t occasionally happen. If it does, though, it must be rare. That?s not what people want to hear from psychics. No! They want to hear that there is a happy, gauzy afterlife where their loved ones now reside, and that all conflicts, guilt, and anger that might have existed in life are now gone. They want to hear that the dead have forgiven them, and that?s what Caputo delivers, just like every other psychic medium scammer out there. She even goes on to tell this woman that her dead father, who apparently died several months before her sister did, knows that she was there with him when he died and that she held his hand as he passed away.

And Dr. Oz falls for it once again, jumping in to ask the woman if this experience was helping her or hurting her. Meanwhile, the second testimonial is a woman who was terrified to go to see a doctor because she was afraid of learning she had heart disease and whose father refused to see a doctor and ended up dying suddenly of heart disease. It?s more of the same, with Caputo empathizing and cold reading and assuring the woman that her father is ?fine? and that her father is assuring her that she?s okay and will be okay if she takes care of herself. Later, during audience questions, Caputo reassures another woman that her father knew she was holding him as he took his last breath.

It?s sad, really. Whenever I think Dr. Oz can?t go any lower, he inevitably proves me wrong. The only thing that Dr. Oz is likely to have achieved here is to publicize yet another psychic scam (which is what Caputo is), such that Caputo will likely be able to increase her charges beyond the already exorbitant $400 for a half hour session that she already charges. I don?t think that it can be repeated too often: Either Dr. Oz is completely credulous and believes this stuff, or he knows it?s a scam and is cynically promoting it anyway, pandering to the lowest common denominator of his audience. I can?t think of a third option right now.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/12/28/dr-oz-descends-further-into-psychic-quackery/

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Childhood Obesity Rates Declining in the US According to New Study

A national study? conducted by the Centers for Disease? Control and Prevention has found that obesity is declining among 2 to 4 year olds from low income families. If this trend continues then parents and health advocates like myself are doing the right thing and childhood obesity has finally passed its peak.

Researchers used height and weight measurements taken from 27 million children who were participating in the federal Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) from 1998 to 2010.? The obesity rates among those children declined to 14.9 percent in 2010.

According to the report a 3-year-old-boy of average height (about 3 feet), is obese if he weighs 37 pounds or more and and extremely obese if he weighs 44 pounds or more.

?The declines we?re presenting here are pretty modest, but it is a change in direction,? said Heidi M. Blanck, one of the study?s authors and the acting director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the disease centers. ?We were going up before. And this data shows we?re going down. For us, that?s pretty exciting.?

There are several different theories as to why childhood obesity is on the decline. Breast feeding has increased since 2000.? Breast milk is the best nutrition for infants 12 months and under and is proven to help children obtain a healthier weight. The Federal Trade Commission found that companies are spending less money on food marketing to children, which may also have a positive impact on childhood obesity rates. Data from 48 major food and beverage marketers also found that cereals marketed to children ages 2 to 11 had about a gram less sugar per serving in 2009 than in 2006 and slightly more whole grain. The WIC program also made significant changes and is providing more funding for fresh produce and less for sugary juice beverages.?

I am hopeful that we are winning this fight against childhood obesity in the United States.? Federal programs like, Let's Move and WIC are doing an excellent job educating families on the importance of feeding their children healthy and nutritious foods.? The food and beverage industry is offering healthier products with less sugar.? Educational materials including books, websites, social media, and PSA are more readily available to families of all income levels.? Our society needs to make these changes permanent. The future of our children depends on it.

Cascia Talbert is a busy blogger, publisher, freelance writer, online merchant and mother of five children, living in The Pacific Northwest. With a B.A. in history and law and a passion for writing and staying healthy, she started The Healthy Moms Magazine in 2007. The Healthy Moms Magazine is currently ranked the top health blog for moms and features several health expert writers and mom bloggers. Ms. Talbert believes that if mothers are well educated on health issues and how to stay healthy, they can pass that information down to their children and reverse the childhood obesity statistics in the U.S.

Ms. Talbert is a featured health blogger at Wellsphere.com and her articles can also be found on ezinearticles.com. She also runs the Healthy Moms Social Network on Ning, is the Chief Marketing Officer for Talbert Nutrition LLC,? and is on the Social Media Advisory Board for America's Wellness Challenge. Follow her on Google+.
Did you find this information helpful? Click Here to show your support for The Healthy Moms Magazine. ?

Source: http://www.thehealthymoms.net/2012/12/childhood-obesity-rates-declining-in-us.html

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Five Love Lessons Hollywood Taught Us In 2012 | The Relationship ...

By Jenina, today at 11:56 am

If you were paying attention, you noticed 2012 (like every year) was a huge year filled with celebrity relationship drama. But if you pay attention beyond the headlines, you'll see that there were bigger lessons and takeaways about love, beyond the people in the situations themselves. None of these are perfect equations by any means, but they're real -- and doing what's real is sometimes the best you can hope for.

So, let's take a walk down memory lane and examine the love lessons learned, thanks to news headlines and some of Tinseltown's hottest.

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/the-relationship-diva/2012/12/five-love-lessons-hollywood-taught-us-in-2012/

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Celebrity Health: 10 Famous Faces Who Fought For Their Health In ...

Anderson Cooper

While on assignment in Portugal, the TV personality was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/anderson-cooper-blinded-portugal_n_2238027.html">temporarily blinded for 36 hours</a>, after sunlight reflecting off water <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/eye-sunburn-anderson-cooper-temporary-blindness_n_2239020.html">sunburned his eyeballs</a>. A <a href="http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/sunburn-and-eye-pain-or-vision-problems">sunburn to the eye</a> can damage the retina or the lens of the eye, causing pain, irritation like something is in the eye and vision loss, according to WebMD. "I wake up in the middle of the night and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/12/05/anderson-cooper-recovers-from-sunburned-eyeballs/">it feels like my eyes are on fire</a>," he said on his talk show, ABC News reported.

Rosie O'Donnell

On August 20, the comedian wrote on her blog that she <a href="http://rosie.com/my-heart-attack/">had a heart attack the previous week</a>. After helping a heavy woman get out of her car, O'Donnell wrote that she experienced chest pains, nausea and clammy skin, highlighting the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/heart-attack-symptoms-women_n_1290952.html">difference in heart attack symptoms for women</a>. She's since started eating more healthy foods, and had <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20635664,00.html">lost 12 pounds</a> by October, according to People magazine. "For the first time, it wasn't hard for me," she said about the changes to her diet. "It took a heart attack for me to learn to take care of myself." Earlier in the year, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/rosie-odonnell-married-michelle-rounds-_n_1833610.html">O'Donnell's wife Michelle Rounds</a> faced a health scare of her own, when she <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/04/michelle-rounds-desmoid-tumors-rosie-odonnell_n_1740270.html">underwent surgery for desmoid tumors</a>, a rare disease characterized by benign tumors that grow quickly in the soft connective tissue of the body.

Paula Deen

The chef notorious for her comfort food shocked fans by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/paula-deen-diabetes_n_1210049.html">revealing she has diabetes</a> in January of this year. While the Food Network star had been diagnosed years before, she continued to promote her heavy-on-the-butter recipes until revealing the diagnosis -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/paula-deen-diabetes-reveal_n_1299484.html">at the same time she unveiled a partnership with diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk</a>. Since then, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/paula-deen-diabetes-diet_n_1527794.html">she's lost 30 pounds</a> and has been exercising more and loading up on veggies and salads -- but she hasn't given up the mashed potatoes completely. "I'm a Southern girl, and that's who I am, that's what I know," she told ET.

Nick Cannon

Cannon faced a number of health scares in 2012, including <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/nick-cannon-mild-kidney-failure_n_1184069.html">kidney problems</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/nick-cannon-blood-clots-lungs-pulmonary-embolism-enlarged-ventricle_n_1283151.html">blood clots in his lungs</a>. After stepping down from his radio show to focus on his health, he revealed that he was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/nick-cannon-autoimmune-disease-lupus-health_n_1316620.html">diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus</a> and a related kidney disorder called <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001512/">lupus nephritis</a>. He has since tuned into what his body needs, and says he feels like he's back on his feet. "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/nick-cannon-kidney-disease-awareness_n_1959105.html">I'm healthier now than I was before</a>, so everything is in tip-top shape," he said on a recent HuffPost Live appearance. "I have to get a lot more sleep, I feel like that was maybe one of the stems of what started all of this, cause I never used to sleep. And fatigue would set in."

Kate Middleton

The exciting announcement of a royal baby on the way came with the unfortunate news that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/kate-middleton-morning-sickness-hyperemesis-gravidarum_n_2232015.html">The Duchess of Cambridge is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum</a>, a form of morning sickness characterized by "extreme, persistent nausea and vomiting during pregnancy that may lead to dehydration" and can persist throughout a pregnancy, HuffPost Parents reported. Only about 1 to 2 percent of pregnant women experience such intense symptoms, whereas as many as 80 percent of expectant mothers deal with some type of morning sickness, which typically tapers off after the first trimester.

Jack Osbourne

The former reality TV star and son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne realized something was wrong when he <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20605555,00.html">started having vision problems</a>. "I couldn't see anything in front of me," he told People magazine. After seeking medical attention, he was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/18/jack-osbourne-multiple-sclerosis-diagnosed-ms_n_1605397.html">diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis</a>. While he's resolved to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/jack-osbourne-multiple-sclerosis-gma_n_1658662.html">"adapt and overcome,"</a> the new father admits that living with the condition is challenging. "I'm learning that one minute you can be fine, and the next I went blind in my right eye," he said on "The Talk," according to People. <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20605803,00.html">"It?s a completely unpredictable disease."</a>

Robin Roberts

The "Good Morning America" co-anchor announced this year that she has a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/paula-deen-diabetes-diet_n_1527794.html">rare blood disorder called myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS</a>, a condition formerly called preleukemia, which causes the bone marrow to produce too few healthy blood cells. In September, she <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/robin-roberts-bone-marrow-transplant_n_1939635.html">underwent a bone marrow transplant</a> and wrote in a blog post for ABC News that her <a href="http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/robin-roberts-journey-thankful-thursday.html">doctors were pleased with the way her body was responding</a>. While she was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/robin-roberts-health-update-new-beginning_n_2164938.html">briefly hospitalized in November due to a virus</a>, Roberts has called the transplant a rebirth. <a href="http://www.wwltv.com/wwltv-perfect-match-program/Sally-Ann-Robin-Roberts-interview-180054701.html">"It's a new beginning,"</a> she said in an interview with her sister for New Orleans' WWL-TV. "I look at it as a clean slate and how many people can say at this point in their life that they get a do over? That they get a chance to start again? And that's how I feel, that in many ways I am starting again."

Jesse Jackson Jr.

The Congressman resigned in November after a medical leave from his position for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/jesse-jackson-jr-house-race-wife-sandi-jackson_n_2283810.html">treatment for bipolar disorder</a>. He was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/bipolar-ii-disorder-jesse-jackson-jr-mood-disorder_n_1773510.html">diagnosed with bipolar II disorder</a>, which is characterized by less severe periods of mania and longer bouts of depression than bipolar I. He was treated at the Mayo Clinic.

Kathy Bates

The actress revealed to People magazine that she had <a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20628972,00.html">undergone a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer</a>. "After much consideration, I underwent a double mastectomy," she told the magazine. "Luckily, I don't have to undergo radiation or chemo. My doctors have assured me I'm going to be around for a long time." Bates also survived ovarian cancer nine years ago, People reported.

Brooke Burke-Charvet

In November, the "Dancing With The Stars" co-host announced she had been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/thyroid-cancer-brooke-burke-charvet_n_2095103.html">diagnosed with thyroid cancer</a>, a less common type of cancer that occurs in the thyroid, a gland near the bottom of the throat involved in hormone functioning. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/brooke-burke-charvet-cancer-free-dwts-reveals-cancer-free_n_2293574.html">Seven days after undergoing surgery</a> for the disease, Burke-Charvet <a href="http://www.modernmom.com/blogs/brooke-burke/thyroidectomy-cancer-results-from-the-bu-great-news">wrote on her blog that she's been deemed cancer-free</a>: <blockquote>"I just got the results back from all of my tests and great news -- the thyroid cancer has been removed from my body and all my lymph nodes are clear. So I'm hoping that this is the end of the story. Woohoo!!! And thank GOD!"</blockquote>

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/celebrity-health-crises-2012_n_2303495.html

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

DIY bar for New Year's Eve | Teresa, Farney, food - Holiday spirits ...

Who can resist the sound of ice clinking in a cocktail shaker? Or a cork popping from a champagne bottle?

And what better time to create those sounds than on New Year?s Eve?

If you don?t have a fully loaded bar or a private wine cellar brimming with vintage offerings, there?s no need to worry. Today, we offer tips for an effortless DIY bar setup suitable for celebrating the arrival of 2013 at home with your best buds and loved ones.

After all, who really wants to drive to an overblown, overpriced, booze-infused New Year?s Eve party?

For assistance, we turned to Michaela Hightower, owner of Soir?e Events & Celebrations. She is a level-one sommelier and party-planner extraordinaire.

BOOZE

The key to any party is stocking the bar.

?You can start with the basics and keep it simple by using spirits that can be blended, shaken and mixed with simple mixers like soda, tonic, fruit juice or club soda,? Hightower said.

Gin, rum, tequila, vodka and whiskey should be included on your shopping list. Hightower also recommends buying a couple of bottles of white and red wine, and about 12 bottles of beer.

?There are also really great mixed packs and cases of beer available in the stores today, so having a few different beer options can be a fun presentation,? she said.

MIXERS-GARNISHES

Hightower suggests having an assortment of cranberry juice, lemon juice, lime juice, sodas (Coke, diet Coke and Sprite), club soda or tonic water.

?Be sure to have some garnishes for the cocktails,? she said. ?A few sliced lemons, lime wedges, cherries, oranges and, of course, lots of ice.?

BUDGET BAR

With everything currently on your shopping list, the bar setup can become pricey. But there are cost-lowering solutions. Hightower offers the following tips:

? Create a signature cocktail that would limit the spirits and mixers required.

? Make it a progressive event, with a signature cocktail paired with the appetizer, one white wine and one red wine paired with the main meal, and one signature cocktail/after-dinner drink to wrap things up.

? Host a ?bar-stocking? party where guests bring their favorite beverage.

BAR TOOLS

Use separate glasses for red wine and white wine, Hightower advises. A red wine glass features a wider bowl, while a white wine glass is smaller with less of a bowl shape.

?Champagne flutes are lovely,? she added, ?but not necessary even if you are serving something bubbly. Sure, the glass is preferred, but for some, being able to smell, swirl and savor sparkling wine, a white wine glass is better because you can get your nose into it.?

As for martini glasses, Hightower cautions, ?While I love the look and recipes of drinks in martini glasses, I ? and most women guests ? don?t like the lack of function of the martini glasses, especially when dressed in heels. The first couple of sips are likely to slosh or spill unless you take a moment to stand still and sip it down.?

Other must-have items for your tool list:

? Tumbler glass

? Cocktail shaker or Hawthorn strainer, mixing glass and stirring spoon

? Wine and beer bottle openers

? Ice bucket and thongs

? Rags (one wet, one dry; kept out of plain sight but nearby) to clean up spills

SERVING TIPS

Get out your tumbler glass and consider making a cocktail that is beautiful and festive, such as Cranberry Ginger Fizz Cocktail (recipe below).

?It has great color, great garnish, looks celebratory and is easy to make,? Hightower said.

When it comes to a sparkling cocktail, Hightower reaches for Prosecco or Cava.

?One of my favorite sparkling wine cocktails to serve during this season is a very simple combination of Prosecco and the Swiss clear cinnamon schnapps Goldschl?ger,? she said. ?The Prosecco has the right amount of zip to hold up to the liquor that has gold flakes swimming around in it. The bubbles also keep the gold in your glass moving.

?Sparkling wines, Cava and Prosecco are going to be less expensive than actual Champagne from France. This is not a statement about quality, though. There are beautiful sparkling wines from around the world available in a variety of price points. Brut sparklers are usually great mixers and tend to be commonly found.

If you need something sweeter, look for a sec or demi-sec style.?

The website galtime.com keeps it simple by suggesting that a splash of lemon-infused simple syrup be added to a bubbly and then garnish it with a lemon wedge.

To make simple syrup, boil equal parts sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the hot syrup and allow to cool. Then fill a champagne flute ? or white wine glass ? halfway with the lemon syrup and top off with bubbly.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

If you?re looking for a way to save substantially, look no further than the invitation. You can control a lot by starting the party later ? galtime.com recommends 8:30 p.m.

?Guests won?t expect a meal, so they?ll only look for appetizers to pair with drinks,? the website states. ?We like taking classic dishes everyone knows and turning them into mini versions of themselves. It adds a touch of sophistication to the celebration but won?t be over-intimidating for picky eaters.?

Cranberry-Ginger Fizz Cocktail
?
Yield: 4 servings

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1/2 orange, cut into slices
1 1/2 cups dry gin (Bombay Sapphire, Beefeater or Tangueray suggested)
1 cup chilled ginger ale
24 candied cranberries, for garnish
4 mint springs, for garnish
Procedure:
Bring sugar and water to boil in medium saucepan; stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; pour off all but 1 cup of syrup, reserving extra for another use.
Bring syrup to boil and then reduce heat to medium. Add cranberries and simmer 2-3 minutes until they begin to burst. Remove from heat and let cool in syrup.
Place 2 tablespoons drained cranberries and 6 tablespoons cranberry syrup in large pitcher; add lemon wedges and orange slices.
Using muddler or wooden spoon, vigorously mash fruit.
Stir in gin and let steep at least 5 minutes.
Strain into medium pitcher. Here is where you can stop if you are creating this in bulk. Prepare the above steps, then wait for guests to arrive to begin next step.
Fill 4 glasses with crushed ice and 1/4 cup ginger ale.
Fill cocktail shaker with ice and then pour half the cranberry mixture into the shaker and shake vigorously for 10 seconds; strain liquid into two glasses. Repeat.
Mound additional ice on top of each glass and garnish with 3 candied cranberries and a mint sprig.
Michaela Hightower, owner of Soiree Events and Celebrations

Prosecco-Goldschl?ger Cocktail
?
Yield: 1 serving

1 bottle Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine)
1-2 ounce Goldschl?ger
Procedure:
Shake Goldschl?ger bottle to get gold off bottom.
Pour 1-2 ounces Goldschl?ger into bottom of champagne flute. Fill remaining glass with Prosecco. Don?t pour too fast.
Service immediately.
Michaela Hightower, owner of Soir?e Events and Celebrations.

Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/teresa-148957-farney-food.html

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John Degenfelder, Kim Lasley, Jill Bacorn are finalists for 2012 ...

W.T. Kirkman Company, Pamo Valley Winery, and
Ramona Rebels Elite Cheer are business finalists

Ramona Chamber of Commerce has selected three individuals, three businesses, and three organizations as 2012 Annual Awards Finalists for, respectively, Ramona Citizen of the Year, Ramona Business of the Year, and Ramona Non-Profit Organization of the Year.

For approximately 50 years, Ramona has recognized individuals and business owners who have continually dedicated their time and resources in making Ramona a better place to work and live, reports the chamber. This year?s finalists were chosen on their volunteerism, impact of services, contributions made to Ramona as a whole along with the selfless giving of time and effort.

John Degenfelder, Kim Lasley and Jill Bacorn are finalists for Citizen of the Year based on their individual contributions to the community, volunteerism, and leadership.

Ramona Rebels Elite Cheer, W.T. Kirkman Company, and Pamo Valley Winery are the business finalists.

?Each business deserves to be recognized for their abundant community support, countless contributions and overall dedication to enriching Ramona,? chamber director Sally Westbrook said on behalf of the Ramona Chamber of Commerce.

Ramona Rotary, Ramona Garden Club, and Ramona Trails Association are finalists under the nonprofit organization category.

?During the challenges of the economy, these agencies have continued to bring a tremendous amount of value to our town,? said Westbrook. ?Their tireless efforts have made things happen that might not otherwise be possible. ?

Selection of a few from the many nominations was challenging and the chamber recognizes the caliber and impressive number of contributions within the community of Ramona, said Westbrook.

?The finalists are to be congratulated and recognized for going over and above community expectations,? she said.

Nominations for the awards came from the entire community and were not limited to chamber members nor were the nominees limited to chamber members. Nominations were accepted from Sept. 1 through Nov. 15.

?Participation in the nominating of all the candidates is very much appreciated,? said Westbrook.

Award recipients for Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, Non-Profit Organization of the Year as well as a Special Lifetime Achievement award will be announced at the Annual Ramona Chamber Installation Dinner on Jan. 13, 2013, in San Vicente Inn. To learn more about the chamber or the installation dinner, visit ramonachamber.com or call the chamber at 760-789-1311.

Fowler, Owen, Davis are finalists for 2011 citizen of the year
Chamber announces award finalists
Chamber accepts nominations for citizen, business of year
Chamber accepts nominations for citizen, business, lifetime awards
Chamber accepts nominations for annual awards

Short URL: http://www.ramonasentinel.com/?p=20051

Source: http://www.ramonasentinel.com/2012/12/26/john-degenfelder-kim-lasley-jill-bacorn-are-finalists-for-2012-citizen-of-the-year-award/

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Newsweek ends its print run with a hashtagged cover

December 31st will mark the end of one of the biggest names in the world of printed news. As noted back in October, however, Newsweek isn't saying die, it's just jumping head first into the warm embrace of digital media. And as the publication revealed via its Twitter account, it will be doing so with a wink and a nod, thanks to a giant #lastprintissue hashtag smack dab in the middle of a classy black and white cover. #godspeed, Newsweek, #godspeed.

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Via: Business Insider

Source: Twitter

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/25/newsweek/

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Christmas Day storms blamed for 3 deaths

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Twisters hopscotched across the Deep South, and, along with brutal, straight-line winds, knocked down countless trees, blew the roofs off homes and left many Christmas celebrations in the dark. Holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions from the same fast-moving storms.

As predicted, conditions were volatile throughout the day and into the night with tornado warnings still out for some parts of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The storms were blamed for three deaths, several injuries, and left homes from Louisiana to Alabama damaged.

In Mobile, Ala., a tornado or high winds damaged homes, a high school and church, and knocked down power lines and large tree limbs in an area just west of downtown around nightfall. WALA-TV's tower camera captured the image of a large funnel cloud headed toward downtown.

Rick Cauley, his wife, Ashley, and two children were hosting members of both of their families. When the sirens went off, the family headed down the block to take shelter at the athletic field house at Mobile's Murphy High School.

"As luck would have it, that's where the tornado hit," Cauley said. "The pressure dropped and the ears started popping and it got crazy for a second." They were all fine, though the school was damaged. Hours after the storm hit, officials reported no serious injuries in the southwestern Alabama city.

The storm system with heavy rains moved into Georgia early Wednesday and expected to hit the Carolinas with severe weather as well.

Meanwhile, blizzard conditions hit the nation's midsection.

Earlier in the day, winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver, and a 53-year-old north Louisiana man was killed when a tree fell on his house. Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, and the Highway Patrol there says a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy U.S. Highway near Fairview.

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

Blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky with predictions of 4 to 7 inches of snow.

A tornado struck a mobile home park near the municipal airport at Troy, Ala., trapping a man in the wreckage of a trailer, said Thomas Johnston of the Pike County Emergency Management Agency. Rescue workers freed the person, who wasn't hurt badly, and no other serious injuries were reported, he said.

An apparent tornado also caused damage in Grove Hill, about 80 miles north of Mobile.

Mary Cartright said she was working at the Fast Track convenience store in the town on Christmas evening when the wind started howling and the lights flickered, knocking out the store's computerized cash registers.

"Our cash registers are down so our doors are closed," said Cartright in a phone interview.

Trees fell on a few houses in central Louisiana's Rapides Parish, but there were no injuries reported, said sheriff's Lt. Tommy Carnline. Near McNeill, Miss., a likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency in the state, saying eight counties have reported damages and some injuries.

Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area, which was expected to be dealing with the same storm system on Wednesday. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

At least three tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 500 flights nationwide were canceled by the evening, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that got a few inches of snow.

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

In Louisiana, quarter-sized hail was reported early Tuesday in the western part of the state and a WDSU viewer sent a photo to the TV station of what appeared to be a waterspout around the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in New Orleans. There were no reports of crashes or damage.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas' Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel "very hazardous or impossible" in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the weather service said.

The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.

In Mobile, a large section of the roof on the Trinity Episcopal Church is missing and the front wall of the parish wall is gone, said Scott Rye, a senior warden at the church in the Midtown section of the city.

On Christmas Eve, the church with about 500 members was crowded for services.

"Thank God this didn't happen last night," Rye said.

The church finished a $1 million-plus renovation campaign in June 2011, which required the closure of the historic sanctuary for more than a year.

___

Associated Press writers Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston, Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., and AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christmas-day-storms-blamed-3-032145273.html

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