Saturday, December 31, 2011

911 Calls from Toronto Mayor?s Residence: Private Information or Public Interest?

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Source: www.care2.com --- Saturday, December 31, 2011
There have been a lot of 911 calls coming from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford?s residence. An article by Robyn Doolittle in the Toronto Star is raising a series of questions about those calls. How many were there really? What is happening at the Ford residence? Does the public deserve to know? Is Ford abusing his [...] ...

Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/911-calls-from-toronto-mayors-residence-private-information-or-public-interest.html

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Congo ex-rebels given perks for backing Kabila: U.N. (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? Former rebels have been promoted to senior posts in Democratic Republic of Congo's military in return for supporting President Joseph Kabila's re-election effort, the United Nations said in a report on Friday.

The finding could deepen divisions within the army and add to doubts over the credibility of the November 28 poll, which was marred by violence and described by Kabila's opponents as fraudulent, although endorsed by the Supreme Court.

The government has been integrating former rebels into the army, the FARDC, in a bid to curb rebellion.

Since February, Congo's senior military have been trying to reduce tensions by cementing the chain of command and eliminating loyalties based on rebel groupings.

But the U.N. report by the Group of Experts, a committee established to monitor the situation in Congo, found that this process had been "hijacked" by former rebels.

Bosco Ntaganda, a former rebel who is currently an FARDC general despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, has managed to secure senior posts for his men in return for backing Kabila's re-election effort, the 127-page report said.

Ntaganda was previously allied to the CNDP, a Rwandan-backed group that fought against Kabila.

"Ntaganda has secured changes to FARDC restructuring in his favour, in return for the CNDP joining President Kabila's electoral alliance," the report said.

That backing may have involved the use of the military to intimidate voters into casting ballots for Kabila, it added.

The local observer group SOPROP said it had seen a "massive (...) presence of heavily armed soldiers" in parts of eastern Congo, where Ntaganda and his allies wield considerable influence, and that people were pressured to vote for Kabila.

Kabila's percentage of the vote was far higher in these areas than elsewhere, a member of the Group of Experts told Reuters, asking not to be named.

"Clearly there was a deal in place ... This shows (electoral support) was part of that deal."

The report also says Ntaganda controls a key minerals smuggling route to Rwanda.

Ntaganda's rise within the army has left other groups marginalized and disgruntled, leading to assassinations, desertions and the re-establishment of links with rebel movements, according to the report.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende denied the report's accusations.

"These are comments, not facts. We are not interested in people's comments. This is the way we are organizing our army, there is no link at all to the election," he said.

More than eight years after the end of a civil war and despite the presence of around 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers, some rebel groups continue to fight the government and target civilians in the mountainous east.

They often use weapons and ammunition bought or captured from the Congolese military, said the report.

Kabila has faced widespread criticism for his failure to bring stability to eastern Congo 10 years after coming to power.

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Alessandra Rizzo)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/wl_nm/us_congo_democratic_election

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Era of consumer backlash: Verizon cites 'feedback' and scraps $2 fee

Less than 24 hours after news of the fee began blazing around the Internet, Verizon said it would not charge customers making a one-time bill payment online or by phone.

Call 2011 the year of the successful consumer revolt in the USA.

Skip to next paragraph

First Netflix and Bank of America backtracked on announced changes their customers didn't like. Now, on the year's final business day, it was Verizon's turn.

Verizon Wireless says it is scrapping plans to institute a $2 fee when customers make a one-time bill payment online or by phone.

The company had framed the new policy as a way to cover transaction costs, but it sparked a storm of criticism, targeting one of the nation's most successful wireless providers.

In the earlier instances, Netflix reneged on a breakup of its Web-streaming and DVD-by-mail lines of business. And Bank of America announced new debit-card fees, only to retract them as customers rebelled.

Can you hear me now, corporate America?

Loud and clear, apparently. At least when consumer unrest might have big implications for the bottom line.

"Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments," Verizon said in a statement, less than 24 hours after news of the fee began blazing around the Internet. "The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan ...."

The consumer wins are at least loosely related to a broader pattern of activism worldwide. Time magazine recently named "The Protester" as its person of the year.

However, overturning a fee is hardly the same as toppling a government in the Middle East. (And for the record, some businesses are succeeding at raising fees or prices.)

But the recent corporate-backlash incidents symbolize what appears to be an increasingly empowered consumer ? motivated by tight financial times and enabled by the echo chamber of social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Part of Verizon's strategy behind the $2 fee, Industry analysts say, was to coax more customers into automated monthly payments of their wireless bills, saving transaction costs for the company.

In its statement late Friday, the company sounded as if it will now pursue that goal through something more akin to carrots than sticks.

"We believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,? said Dan Mead, CEO of Verizon Wireless.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/DV2N36pD2cc/Era-of-consumer-backlash-Verizon-cites-feedback-and-scraps-2-fee

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IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina

Does your employer offer a "wellness rebate program?" No? Then you can't be working for IBM, which has been bribing its staff to eat healthier since 2004. It's a Watson-worthy idea, because what the company pays out in incentives it recoups in lower healthcare costs. Now, after a decade of toing and froing with the USPTO, IBM has finally patented a web-based system that makes the whole process automatic. For it to work, a person must use a micro-payment network to buy food, which allows their purchases to be monitored and compared against their health records. If they've made the right choices, the system then communicates with their employer's payroll server to issue a reward. Completing the Orwellian circle, the proposed system also interacts with servers in the FDA and health insurance companies to gain information about specific food products or policy changes. You can duck the radar, of course, and buy a Double Whopper with cash, but it'll bring you no reward except swollen ankles. This is IBM we're talking about; they've thought of everything.

[Photo via Shutterstock]

IBM wins diet monitoring and reward patent, celebrates with sip of Spirulina originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sony, Samsung wind up LCD joint venture

Japanese electronics giant Sony has agreed to sell its stake in a joint liquid crystal display panel venture in South Korea to its partner, Samsung Electronics, the two companies said on Monday.

Samsung will acquire all of Sony's stake in S-LCD Corp, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean company, they said in a statement.

The Asian electronics giants have worked together since the 1990s in the semiconductor and LCD fields.

They established S-LCD in South Korea in 2004 to jointly produce LCD panels mainly used for televisions. Samsung had a stake of 50 per cent plus one share, with Sony holding the remainder.

For its share transfer, which will close by the end of January, Sony will receive 1.08 trillion won ($A930 million), the statement said.

Sony is increasingly relying on other manufacturers for the key TV component as LCD panel prices continue to slide due to a supply glut.

The two companies have also agreed to enter into a new strategic agreement for the supply and purchase of LCD panels.

The new deal will help Sony secure a "flexible and steady supply" of LCD panels, based on market prices and without the cost of operating a manufacturing facility, the statement said.

Samsung expects "heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations", it said.

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How Tech and Social Media Companies Cashed Out in 2011 (Mashable)

A colleague here at Mashable proposed an Onion-style spoof story entitled "Google Buys Everyone," which would detail how the search giant hoovered every company in existence. As Homer Simpson once said, "It's funny because it's true." Google's insatiable appetite for other companies was just one of the business narratives of 2011, though. The other was the handful of social media IPOs that were eager to align themselves with the loony Dot-com era, a baseless comparison if there ever was one.

[More from Mashable: Twitter?s 15 Major Milestones in 2011]

Whatever the case, for a lot of folks in the social media/tech industry, 2011 was a good year to cash out. Here's a look at the two primary methods: going public or getting acquired (often by Google).


Linking In to Wall Street


Social media's first test of investor enthusiasm came in May, when LinkedIn went public. Judging by the initial success, LinkedIn passed the test with flying colors. Shares doubled on May 19, the day the company went public, and though they have fallen off a bit since, were still way above opening price at press time.

[More from Mashable: iPhone of the Future May Be Powered by Hydrogen Fuel Cells]

LinkedIn's roughly $6.4 billion valuation is mostly based on hope of future growth. The company turned a small ($4.5 million) in its second quarter, but then lost $1.6 million in its third quarter. However, the network grew its revenues by 126% that quarter and it keeps bulging with new subscribers (the current figure is 130 million). With three revenue streams -- advertising, recruiting and premium subscriptions -- LinkedIn is one of the safest social media investments, but at this stage, is bent on growth over stable profits.

LinkedIn's rather pacific IPO was followed by another low-key IPO for Pandora Media in June, but in July the debt ceiling standoff and the European monetary crisis spooked the market. That caused another of the year's most anticipated IPOs, Groupon's, to be delayed until November.

Though Groupon had a strong showing the day it went public, within a few weeks, the stock had fallen so far that it just about wiped out any gains achieved that first day.

And Zynga, which had also pushed back its IPO after the summer's market crash, eventually moved ahead with its plans to go public late in the year. However, it also suffered a dip in stock price.

Given the limited amount of companies going public and their ho-hum stock performances, the comparison between social media IPOs and the Dot-com bubble is pretty weak. The latter era actually lasted from 1995, when Netscape went public, until the 2000 Super Bowl, which was notoriously flooded with Dot-com ads for companies that would cease to exist within a year or two.

In comparison, the trickle of social media IPOs will likely end whenever Facebook goes public (reports say that will happen next April). You call this a bubble? Somewhere, the Pets.com sock puppet is laughing.


The Ever-Expanding Googleplex


Speaking of the '90s, the federal government smackdown of AT&T's proposed $39 billion T-Mobile takeover rings familiar of the days when the Department of Justice was considering splitting Microsoft in two. Citing the possible effect on wireless competition, the DOJ filed suit to block the merger in August. The FCC soon piled on too. The deal is now dead in the water.

Government action likely reined in some of Google's ambitions. Though one report had Google sizing up Yahoo for an acquisition, Google's biggest real-world scrutiny is likely to come from its pending $12 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility.

That proposed acquisition would cap Google's 2011 spending spree, which included restaurant rating firm Zagat, social data startup PostRank, CleverSense and AdMeld, among others.

Google's high profile has caught the attention of the feds. In August, in an appearance that many compared to Bill Gates' 1998 testimony before the Senate, Google chairman Eric Schmidt was questioned by the Senate Judiciary about Google's effect on competition. Despite its many acquisitions, perhaps Google will be able to avoid the wrath of antitrust regulators by learning from Schmidt's deft handling.

Similarly, Microsoft, made its own huge acquisition in 2011, the $8.5 billion purchase of Skype. With its $30 billion-plus war chest, Microsoft is rumored to be looking for other buys as well, including Nokia, which would be an interesting hedge against the Google/Motorola entity.

Apple's $81.5 billion in cash dwarfs Microsoft's booty, however. Anticipating Apple's moves is tough, but linking the company to a potential acquisition target has become a favorite parlor game among bloggers. As the year draws to a close, though, Apple has mostly resisted the urge to snap up other, smaller companies, hence that huge stockpile of money.

Perhaps Apple's reluctance was based on Steve Jobs' disgust for startup founders whose only goal was to sell their companies for a quick buck. Even if Apple holds to that philosophy, though, such savvy entrepreneurs will still have a lot of potential sugar daddies to choose from, including, of course, Google.

Image courtesy of Flickr, cambodia4kidsorg

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111226/tc_mashable/how_tech_and_social_media_companies_cashed_out_in2011

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Samsung Galaxy S and 7-Inch Galaxy Tab Declined ICS (DeviceMAG)

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Source: http://wik.io/info/US/306376091

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Gingrich sharpens attacks on Romney, Paul (AP)

DYERSVILLE, Iowa ? So much for staying positive.

In just the last 24 hours, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has blasted rival Mitt Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate" who isn't "man enough" to take responsibility for the harsh attack ads being run on his behalf. And he lambasted Ron Paul's views as "totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American."

As his lead in Iowa polls has evaporated, Gingrich's rhetoric has grown ever sharper, even as he insists ? sometimes in the same breath ? that he's running a positive campaign.

"I am not going to go negative, period," Gingrich said Tuesday at a campaign stop in Dyersville, Iowa, to appreciative murmurs from the crowd that had crammed into the National Farm Toy Museum to hear him speak. That remark came after a CNN interview in which he said he wouldn't vote for Paul if the Texas congressman became the GOP nominee and he mocked Romney for not having the courage to face him in a one-on-one debate.

It is classic Gingrich, the bomb-throwing leader of the Republican revolution who even now seems to chafe at minding his manners. He acknowledged Tuesday that it has taken "discipline" not to counterpunch as the attacks have flooded in.

So he is trying to have it both ways.

In Dubuque, Iowa, at the first stop of a 22-city bus tour leading up to Jan. 3 caucuses, Gingrich offered Romney praise, then promptly opened fire.

"I don't want to be invidious about Gov. Romney, who I said I think is a very competent manager and a very smart guy," Gingrich said. "But to have somebody who is a Massachusetts moderate, who said he did not want to go back to the Reagan-Bush years, who voted as a Democrat for Paul Tsongas in `92, who campaigned to the left of Teddy Kennedy.... to have him run a commercial that questions my conservatism?"

In the evolving Gingrich playbook, statements which are factually accurate are not attacks.

"I was describing him accurately," he said in South Carolina last week after taking a jab at Romney.

For Gingrich, taking the high road may be a strategy born as much out of necessity as ideology.

His campaign nearly collapsed earlier this year, so he trails the other Republican frontrunners in fundraising, which limits his ability to launch a sustained negative campaign.

The former Georgia congressman also seems to have made the political calculation that to win over voters, he must soften some of the brash rough edges that defined his tenure as House speaker.

After all, he made his political reputation perfecting the art of using words as weapons.

A 1996 memo to Republican House candidates, which Gingrich endorsed in a cover letter, urged Republicans running for office to use words like "traitor," "pathetic" and "sick" to define Democratic opponents, their proposals and their party. "Language matters,'" the memo said.

Campaigning for the White House, he has taken his own advice.

A favorite Gingrich technique in recent weeks has been to extol his campaign's positive tone while eviscerating nameless GOP opponents, using words like "disgusting" and "reprehensible."

"Shame on them for not caring enough about America to be positive," he said.

He has a receptive audience in Iowa voters, weary of being bombarded with nasty robocalls, mailers and television ads as the primary hurtles into the final days.

"I'm just sick of it all," said Bette Carlson, who showed up to hear Gingrich speak at Mabe's Pizza in Decorah, Iowa, Tuesday night. "Anyone who stays out of the mud improves their chances of getting my vote."

Still, the Gingrich camp maintains it is giving the pledge more than just lip service. They note an Iowa staffer had to resign after calling Mormonism ? Romney's religion ? a cult.

And Gingrich argues he has enough cash to run a negative ad war if he wanted to. He notes his campaign made the choice to run positive ads across Iowa beginning Wednesday.

Still, Gingrich might know better than most this election cycle that negative ads work.

He has seen his support slide as the airwaves in Iowa have filled with ads reminding voters of his ethics woes, a public service announcement he shot with Democrat Nancy Pelosi and his lucrative work for Freddie Mac.

The libertarian-leaning Paul has assailed Gingrich for "serial hypocrisy," painting him as a career politician who lined his pockets after leaving office by selling access.

In an interview, Romney called him "zany."

How long can Gingrich keep up the positive facade? Asked if he would he would continue the commitment in a general election against Democrat Barack Obama, Gingrich dodged the question.

"Barack Obama's record is so terrible that if you just tell the truth it sounds negative," Gingrich said

______

Follow Shannon McCaffrey at www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_positive_no_more

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

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saraivaonline: "O X da Quest?o" O ?cone no mundo dos neg?cios, Eike Batista, narra sua trajeto?ria de sucesso. http://t.co/SgfuAI10

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Monday, December 26, 2011

No progress in search for missing Indiana girl

This undated photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Numerous police officers and others are searching in Fort Wayne, Ind., for Lemmon, 9, who was last seen the morning of Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. Allen County Sheriff's Department Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel says investigators have no indication that Lemmon was abducted or what might have happened to her. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department)

This undated photo provided by the Allen County Sheriff's Department shows Aliahna Lemmon. Numerous police officers and others are searching in Fort Wayne, Ind., for Lemmon, 9, who was last seen the morning of Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. Allen County Sheriff's Department Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel says investigators have no indication that Lemmon was abducted or what might have happened to her. (AP Photo/Allen County Sheriff's Department)

(AP) ? For the second straight day, police did not plan to search for a missing 9-year-old Indiana girl who has physical and emotional problems and went missing from a family friend's home on Friday.

More than 100 emergency workers conducted an extensive search Saturday for Aliahna Lemmon around the mobile home park on Fort Wayne's north side where she was last seen. No active search was done Sunday for the girl.

Allen County sheriff's department Cpl. Jeremy Tinkel said a new search wasn't planned for Monday unless new leads arise through tips from the public or interviews.

Police haven't said why they called off the search after one day and aren't searching again. They also haven't said what they think happened to Aliahna.

Aliahna and her sisters were staying at a family friend's nearby home because their mother had been sick with the flu and Aliahna's stepfather works at night and sleeps during the day, The Journal Gazette reported Monday.

Mike Plumadore, 39, told the newspaper Sunday that he left the three girls in his mobile home about 6 a.m. Friday and went to a gas station about a mile away to buy a cigar. Authorities have said the store's surveillance video shows him there about that time.

"I had deadbolted the door," he said. "When I got back, all the girls was here."

He said he smoked his cigar and went back to sleep, then woke up about 10 a.m. when Aliahna's mother called. After that call, he realized the door to the home was unlocked and that Aliahna was gone. He said Aliahna's sisters, both 6 years old, told him that Aliahna had left with her mom.

Plumadore said it wasn't until he talked with Aliahna's mom about 8:30 p.m. that they realized she was missing and police were notified.

Aliahna's mother, Tarah Souders, 28, said miscommunication between the two of them caused the delay in determining that Aliahna had vanished.

"She's never wandered off," Souders said. "She's never done anything like this before."

But Aliahna does have a history of sleepwalking, even unlocking doors and going outside while sleeping, said her grandmother, Amber Story.

"I just hope that she's not suffering or in pain," Story said.

Souders said her daughter also has vision and hearing problems and suffers from attention deficit disorder and emotional problems.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-26-Indiana-Missing%20Girl/id-6ca1bb8fedad43039190385cb60d7e3e

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Android pro as my ethernet hook up



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Sunday, December 25, 2011

A Christian on Hitchens' Atheism and Lowe's Muslim Problem (Time.com)

David Caton owes me one. I interviewed the head of the Florida Family Association last week during his bigoted but successful crusade to get companies like Lowe's to pull ads from All-American Muslim, the Learning Channel reality show about a community of Muslim Americans. Before Caton hung up on me -- he gets angry when you question his complaint that the show presents Muslims in too positive a light and not as crazed radicals plotting to impose Islamic shari'a law from Maine to Monterey -- I corrected his pronunciation of imam, a Muslim cleric, from Eye-mam to the proper Ee-mawm. Later that day, I heard him say it properly on CNN.

But that's all he got right. I concern myself with Caton -- who also likes to hire small planes to haul banners over Orlando warning people that homosexuals visit Disney World -- only for two reasons. One is that a major corporation like Lowe's actually caved to the Evangelical's ugly Islamophobia. The other is that he got his 15 minutes of fame at about the same time that Christopher Hitchens died, on Dec. 15. Hitchens was best known as one of the "angry atheists" for his 2007 best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and narrow-minded fundamentalists like Caton made his work a lot easier. So of course did extremist Muslims, as well as extremist Roman Catholics, Jews, Hindus and all the fanatics who ruin religion the way drunks ruin driving. Which is why Hitchens' attacks on faith, while brilliantly written, could also feel gratuitous. (See "Christopher Hitchens, RIP.")

So it's fitting, at least for the silent majority of Christians who aren't hatemongering zealots but who derive hope and humane inspiration from our beliefs, that Caton and Hitchens should both be in the news during the Christmas season. The holiday's anticommercialization critics are right to argue that Christians spend too much time on outdoor lights at the expense of the inner light kindled by the story of God's incarnation in a manger. I'm as guilty as anyone in that regard. But Caton and Hitchens at least give us Christians a convenient place to start. They prod us on the one hand to assess what isn't Christian -- like demonizing gays and Muslims -- and on the other hand to reaffirm why Christianity and religion itself are a positive and not always poisonous influence in the world.

The crux of the Florida Family Association's campaign is Caton's preposterous claim, as he told me, that "every Eye-mam in this country wants to put the U.S. under shari'a law." Every imam I know here in Miami rejects the idea. "Muslims are only 6 million out of 300 million in this country," one reminds me. "We rely on U.S. law to protect our rights as a minority." They're also a minority who wish Christians well at Christmas: the Koran reverently mentions Jesus and the Virgin Mary almost 60 times. (See "Do Shari'a Courts Have a Role in British Life?")

One way, then, that Christians can practice Jesus' teachings of love, tolerance and charity this yuletide is by resolving to reassure folks like Muslims that we're not like the Florida Family Association. That we're committed to the code of Christmas -- "Peace on earth to people of goodwill" -- trumpeted by the same angels we place atop the trees in our living rooms.

That's also one of the best ways to answer Hitchens as well as other angry atheists like Richard Dawkins and quite a few members of my own hypersecular profession. It's a fairly widely accepted maxim that atheist fundamentalists, as I call them, can be just as intolerant as religious fundamentalists. And the problem they share is that both take religion way too literally. Just as Christian fundamentalists insist on a literal reading of the Bible, angry atheists tend to insist that belief in God qualifies you as a raving creationist. (See "Why Christopher Hitchens Is Wrong About Billy Graham.")

Here's what they refuse to get: Yes, Christians believe that Jesus' nativity was a virgin birth and that he rose from the dead on Easter. But if you were to show most Christians incontrovertible scientific proof that those miracles didn't occur, they would shrug -- because their faith means more to them than that. Because in the end, what they have faith in is the redemptive power of the story. In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, an agnostic says to his Catholic friend, "You can't seriously believe it all ... I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass."

"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea."

"But you can't believe things simply because they're a lovely idea."

"But I do. That's how I believe."

I'm willing to bet it's how most believers believe. Before Hitchens died at 62 from esophageal cancer, he made a point of declaring he was certain no heaven awaited him. But that swipe at the faithful always misses the point. Most of us don't believe in God because we think it's a ticket to heaven. Rather, our belief in God -- our belief in the living ideal of ourselves, which is something even atheists ponder -- instills in us a faith that in the end, light always defeats darkness (which is how people get through the wars and natural disasters I cover). That does make us open to the possibility of the hereafter -- but more important, it gives us purposeful inspiration to make the here and now better.

With all due respect to the memory of Christopher Hitchens, making the here and now better would be difficult without religion. But it's also hard enough without the un-Christian antics of people like David Caton. As Christmas ought to remind us.

See TIME's 2011 Person of the Year.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111225/us_time/08599210292700

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Justice Dept. rejects South Carolina voter ID law, calling it discriminatory (Washington Post)

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Ask and Answer Questions About Traditional Holiday Food and Drink [Help Yourself]

Ask and Answer Questions About Traditional Holiday Food and DrinkEvery day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

The holiday season usually brings out food and drink that you don't typically see during the regular course of the calendar year. We've featured holiday drink recipes and even stronger eggnog recipes. Of course, you could always spice up your holiday cocktails with some rum-flavored caviar. Then there is what to do with that fruitcake you got as a gift. We want to know what holiday food and drink you enjoy and maybe share some recipes. Ask and answer questions about traditional holiday food and drink in the comments.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Jcu6Pj7E4NU/ask-and-answer-questions-about-traditional-holiday-food-and-drink

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Should RIM stop making BlackBerrys? (The Week)

New York ? Top investors are calling for heads after closing the year with embarrassing setbacks

It's been an embarrassing year for RIM. Poor BlackBerry sales, disappointing financial results, and the lowest share prices in almost eight years are just a few of the setbacks the Canada-based smartphone manufacturer has suffered. Now the company reportedly will be forced to delay?the newest generation of BlackBerry 10 handsets thanks to a hardware setback, and frustrated investors are openly calling for a drastic makeover. With Apple and Google tearing away market share, should RIM consider give up on phones altogether?

Yes, it's the only way to save face: The "road map to value restoration," activist shareholder Jaguar Financial tells Reuters, "lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts." The company can't compete in the hardware business, and its PlayBook tablet is a big disappointment. RIM's best bet is to squeeze some cash out of its patent portfolio ? say, by selling its encrypted email technology to other platforms like Android ? while maintaining its high-margin services business.
"Could RIM's survival mean abandoning the BlackBerry?"

No, but they definitely need fewer products:?Quick, says Carmine Gallo at Forbes, "tell me the difference between the BlackBerry Torch 9850, 9860, 9800, and 9810." You can't. Even analysts who follow RIM for a living "can't keep these models straight." Steve Jobs faced the same problem when he returned to Apple in 1997, and he had the "courage" to slash his stable of products from 350 to 10. If RIM cuts the "clutter" too, it can get back on top.
"RIM needs courage to escape clutter and confusion"

What it needs is better Blackberrys: RIM's big plan is to replace its marketing guys and launch a new promotional campaign, says Jay Yarow at Business Insider. Are you kidding? HTC and Samsung barely do any advertising, and look how well they're doing. BlackBerry users aren't bailing because RIM's advertising is "awful" advertising, but because its "products suck." They might return for better phones, but not for better ads.
"RIM's absurd plan to fix itself: Do better advertising In 2012"

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SEE MORE: Motorola's Droid RAZR: 'The best Android' phone yet?

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111220/cm_theweek/222668

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Monday, December 19, 2011

GOP debate in Iowa: Best quotes out of the night

A summary of the one-liners delivered by Republican candidates in Sioux City, Iowa Thursday night.

Republican presidential hopefuls competing to challenge U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012 faced off in a debate on Thursday in Iowa, where the state-by-state Republican nominating contest kicks off in less than three weeks.

Skip to next paragraph

Here are some of their key quotes.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Defending his merit as frontrunner:

"I believe I can debate Barack Obama and I think in seven three-hour debates Barack Obama will not have a leg to stand on."

Before answering a question on the Keystone Pipeline, referencing a Mitt Romney suggestion that Gingrich's ideas are "zany.":

"You know I sometimes get accused of using language that's too strong. So I've been standing here editing. I'm very concerned about not appearing to be zany."

RECOMMENDED: Eight unusual ideas from Newt Gingrich

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR

On how he compares with Gingrich:

"I spent my life in the private sector. I can debate President Obama based upon that understanding. I'll have credibility on the economy when he doesn't. I know what it takes to get this economy going. The president doesn't."

MICHELE BACHMANN, U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN FROM MINNESOTA

On Gingrich's work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac:

"Evidence is that Speaker Gingrich took $1.6 million. You don't need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to still be influence-peddling with senior Republicans."

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL

On Bachmann calling for stronger U.S. action against Iran:

"You're trying to dramatize this that we have to go and treat Iran like we've treated Iraq ... You cannot solve these problems with war."

On foreign policy:

"I would be a different kind of president. I wouldn't be looking for more power. I as the president wouldn't want to run the world."

On whether he would support the eventual nominee:

"Anybody up here can probably beat Obama."

JON HUNTSMAN

On the state of the country:

"We have been kicked around as people. We are getting screwed as Americans."

RICK PERRY, TEXAS GOVERNOR

Referring to the Denver Bronco's quarterback who has a string of seven wins, almost all coming from behind in the fourth quarter:

"I hope I am the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses."

On Washington deadlock:

"That's the reason I've called for a part-time Congress. Cut their pay in half. Send them home. Let them get a job like everybody else back home has."

(Compiled by Lily Kuo; Editing by Bill Trott)

RECOMMENDED: Eight unusual ideas from Newt Gingrich

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/7VLgn7JL_r8/GOP-debate-in-Iowa-Best-quotes-out-of-the-night

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Too Close to Call (TIME)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/175422846?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Clooney: 'People forget that I was married!'





>>> hollywood is getting an early wakeup this morning for the 69th annual golden gloek nbe nominations.

>> we'll get to the announcement in just a moment. first let's bring in the managing editor of " entertainment weekly " magazine. good morning.

>> good morning.

>> it must have been fun looking at all these great movies.

>> a very exciting day. second holiest day next to the oscars.

>> so this is movies and television. let's start with movies. what will be the sure fire stories that we're going to be hearing about?

>> i think you'll be hearing a lot about brides maids, a lot about george clooney , ryan gosling . there is an amazing best actress race this year both with these golden globes and also the oscars. you've got meryl streep , viola davis , michelle williams , glenn close . it will be really interesting to see how the golden globes shake out with those.

>> also a lot of buzz about brad pit in "money ball" as well.

>> you've got the whole "ocean's 11" team actually up for stuff.

>> clooney with "descendants."

>> matt damon for "we bought a zoo." sort of a long shot. i think pitt and clooney you'll hear those names.

>> 15 seconds until we get the announcement. what is the one big story ?

>> i think it was in actor comedy there was johnny gileki instead of jim parsons . that was big. and a lot of new stuff like jessica lang .

>> let's find out who gets a big nomination.

>> good morning, everyone. and welcome to the nomination announcement for the golden globe awards . with us this morning are reshita jones, gerard butler and woody halston. please get us started.

>> best performance by an actor in a mini series or motion picture made for television. hugh bonneville , interest alba, "luther." william hurt "too big to fail." bill nye "page 8 masterpiece" and dominic west "the hour." best performance by an actor in a television series drama. steve bushemi "boardwalk empire" and brian cranston "breaking bad." kelsey grammer , "boss." jeremy irons , damian lewis "homeland." best television series drama. "american horror story fx." "boardwalk empire" hbo. "boss" stars. "game of tloehrones" hbo. "homeland" showtime. best performance by an actor in motion picture , comedy, or musical. jeanne gudardine. "the artist." joseph gordon livt "50/50." ryan gosling "crazy, stupid love." owen wilson "midnight in paris ."

>> best performance by an actress in a supporting role and motion picture bernice bejo "the artist" and jessica kestine. "the help." octavia spencer "the help" and shealene woodly "the descendants." best performance by an actor in a motion picture drama. george clooney "the descendants." leonardo dicaprio "j edgar." michael fasbender "shame" and ryan gosling "the ides of march " and brad pitt "money ball."

>> did you leave one name off of there?

>> it's so weird. it was here but they typexed it out. i don't know what that means. best motion picture in a comedy or musical, "50/50" "the artist" "brides maids" "midnight in paris " and "my week with marilyn ."

>> best performance by an actress in a mini series or motion picture made for television. roman igidi" the hour" and diane lane , elizabeth mcgovern , emily watson "appropriate adult" kate winslet " mildred pierce ." best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture , kenneth briana "my week with marilyn ." albert brooks "drive." jonah hill "money ball." "a dangerous method." christopher plummer "beginners." best director motion picture woody allen "midnight in paris ." george clooney "the ides of march ." michael hasinovichich "the artist." alexander payne "the descendant." martin corsez "hugo."

>> best performance by an actress in a motion picture drama, glenn close "albert nobs" viola davis "the help" rooney mara "the girl with the dragon tatoo" meryl streep "the iron lady ." tilda swenton. we need to talk about kevin. best performance by an actress in an motion picture , comedy, or musical. jodi foster "carnage." charlize theron " young adult ." kristin wigg "brides maids." michelle williams "my week with marilyn ." kate winslet "carnage." best motion picture drama, "ram part" opens january 27th . but i don't see it on the list here. just a lot of things left off today. i just want to say. okay. "the descendants," "the help," "hugo," "the ides of march ," "money ball," " war horse ."

>> congratulations to all the nominees. don't forget to join us on sunday, january 15th , for the golden globe awards hosted by ricky gervais live on nbc.

>> got through it.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45683598/ns/today-entertainment/

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

US attorney: Madoff employee to plead guilty in NY (AP)

NEW YORK ? Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff's former controller will plead guilty next week to conspiracy charges in connection with the largest Ponzi scheme in history, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a letter to a judge that Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz will plead guilty at a court appearance scheduled for Monday. The letter said the charges include a conspiracy to falsify records in a fraud that started in the early 1970s and ran through December 2008. The letter also said she was cooperating.

Cotellessa-Pitz was the controller at Madoff's firm. Her lawyer didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 to stealing billions through the fraud and says he acted alone. He's serving a 150-year prison sentence in Butner, N.C.

In the letter, prosecutors said Cotellessa-Pitz will admit that she conspired to falsify records of a broker-dealer, falsify records of an investment adviser, make false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service.

They said she joined with others to create false books and records for Madoff's private investment business and faked documents in connection with an SEC audit and with tax audits.

The charges carry a potential prison term of up to 50 years, though cooperation usually results in leniency.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_madoff_employee_plea

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Friday, December 16, 2011

77% vs. 43% - The Partisan Divide on Global Warming (Pew)

While 63% of Americans overall believe there is solid evidence of global warming, there is a sharp partisan and ideological divide on the issue. Nearly eight-in-ten Democrats believe that global warming is occurring compared to 43% of Republicans. Just over seven-in-ten (73%) of conservative and moderate Democrats believe there is solid evidence of warming, as do 84% of liberal Democrats. Among Republicans, only 31% of conservatives believe in global warming. An intra-party division exists, as 63% of Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal believe in global warming ? though but they constitute a smaller share of the party than do conservatives. The large partisan and ideological gap over the existence of global warming is also reflected in opinions about whether it represents a serious problem. Nine-in-ten (90%) liberal Democrats say global warming is at least a somewhat serious problem, with 64% calling it "very serious." Nearly three-quarters of conservative Republicans (73%) say global warming either is not too serious a problem or not a problem. Tea Party affiliation is also a useful prism for understanding Republican divisions on global warming. Among all Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who agree with the Tea Party, 30% say there is solid evidence of global warming and 11% say it is mostly caused by human activity. A majority (56%) of Republicans and GOP leaners who do not agree with the Tea Party see solid evidence of global warming, and 28% say it is mostly caused by human activity.

Read More

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/pew/20111216/ts_pew/77vs43thepartisandivideonglobalwarming

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Leaders block quick Senate vote on payroll tax (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Senate has wrapped itself into a partisan tangle over its year-end tax and spending business.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate's top Republican, refused Wednesday to let the chamber vote quickly on a House-passed bill extending this year's payroll tax cut through 2012. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will reject that bill, and only then can he negotiate with House Republicans over a compromise payroll tax measure.

McConnell says the Senate should first vote on legislation financing the federal government, because a temporary bill keeping agencies open expires on Saturday, threatening a government shutdown.

Reid would not allow a vote on the spending bill. Democrats worry that if Congress passes that measure first, it would ease pressure on Republicans to reach compromise on the payroll tax legislation.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

A Republican payroll tax cut bill that sailed through the House despite a White House veto threat is dead on arrival in the Senate, and it will soon be time for talks on a final package, the Senate's top Democrat says.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made the remarks Tuesday shortly after the House used a near-party line 234-193 vote to approve the measure. The bill has drawn nearly universal Democratic opposition because it would force work to begin on the 1,700-mile-long Keystone XL oil pipeline, which President Barack Obama would rather postpone, and would trim federal spending without forcing the wealthy to contribute as much as Democrats want.

The measure would keep 160 million workers from seeing their payroll tax jump on Jan. 1 from this year's 4.2 percent back to its normal level of 6.2 percent ? a $1,000 difference for a family making $50,000. It would also renew expiring extra benefits for long-term jobless people and head off a cut in doctors' Medicare reimbursements, a reduction that could prompt some to stop seeing elderly patients who use that program.

Reid says he will schedule a vote shortly on the House-passed bill to underscore its irrelevance ? a vote that should start the clock ticking on what stands as the year's final, high-stakes partisan faceoff.

"It was dead before it got to the Senate," Reid said of the House legislation. "The Senate will not pass it. The sooner we demonstrate that, the sooner we can begin serious discussions on how to keep taxes from going up on middle-class Americans."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, taunted Senate Democrats after the House passed its legislation.

"The Senate can take up our bill, they can pass it, they can amend it, they can move their own bill," he told reporters, standing beside a video clock counting down the seconds until the payroll tax boost that would otherwise occur Jan. 1. "But it is time for the Senate to act. Democrats who run the United States Senate can't continue to hide and sit on the sidelines."

Boehner also said that when the Senate acts, "we'll begin to then take a look at where we can find common ground."

The payroll measure isn't the only one lawmakers plan to tackle before beginning their year-end vacation, presumably before Christmas.

Bipartisan lawmakers have reached agreement on a $1 trillion measure financing scores of government agencies through next September, a bill that would avert a federal shutdown this weekend when temporary funding expires.

Democrats, though, are refusing to let the legislation move through Congress until the two parties broker a deal on the payroll tax measure. Democrats hope that will build pressure on Republicans to quickly reach agreement on the payroll tax bill, a tactic Boehner called "outrageous."

The House planned to debate a $662 billion defense bill on Wednesday that charts policy for military personnel, weapons systems and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus national security programs in the Energy Department. House and Senate negotiators wrapped up the bill Monday night after including revisions that address administration concerns over handling of terrorism suspects.

The bill would require that the military take custody of a suspect deemed to be a member of al-Qaida or its affiliates who is involved in plotting or committing attacks on the United States, with an exemption for U.S. citizens. The legislation also would deny some suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention.

Also Wednesday, the Senate was expected to reject proposals to amend the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

The Senate seems sure to fall short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the Constitution, a margin the House failed to muster several weeks ago as Republicans there failed to push a similar amendment to passage. The Senate will vote on dueling Republican and Democratic proposals.

Republicans say work on the Keystone oil pipeline, proposed to run from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to Texas oil refineries, would create 20,000 or more jobs. Opponents say the real figure is more like 3,500.

Obama cited a need for studies of how the pipeline could avoid harming fragile lands in Nebraska when he announced last month that work would be delayed until after next year's elections. The GOP bill would give the president 60 days to act or the needed work permit would be automatically granted.

Another provision that Republicans say would create jobs would derail a proposed federal environmental rule aimed at curbing some industrial pollution.

To cover the payroll tax bill's overall cost, which exceeds $180 billion, the measure ignores Democratic proposals to slap a surtax on people earning more than $1 million annually.

Instead, Republicans would raise the money by continuing a pay freeze on civilian federal workers and requiring them to contribute more to their pensions; making higher-earning seniors pay steeper premiums for Medicare; cutting funds from Obama's 2010 health care overhaul; raising some federal fees; and selling portions of the broadcast spectrum.

The Senate version of the payroll tax legislation may also renew some tax provisions that would otherwise expire Jan. 1, including one providing tax breaks to mass transit commuters.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, David Espo, Donna Cassata and Jim Abrams contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_rdp

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Stratolaunch plane could make space tourism affordable

Stratolaunch plane, an enormous aircraft, will be a flying launchpad for space flights. Could this Stratolaunch plane turn extraterrestrial tourism into an everyday affair?

The tycoons of cyberspace are looking to bankroll America's resurgence in outer space, reviving "Star Trek" dreams that first interested them in science.

Skip to next paragraph

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen made the latest step Tuesday, unveiling plans for a new commercial spaceship that, instead of blasting off a launch pad, would be carried high into the atmosphere by the widest plane ever built before it fires its rockets.

He joins Silicon Valley powerhouses Elon Musk of PayPal and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. in a new private space race that attempts to fill the gap left when the U.S. government ended the space shuttle program.

Musk, whose Space Exploration Technologies will send its Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station in February, will provide the capsule and booster rocket for Allen's venture, which is called Stratolaunch. Bezos is building a rival private spaceship.

Allen is working with aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan, who collaborated with the tycoon in 2004 to win a $10 million prize for the first flight of a private spaceship that went into space but not orbit.

Allen says his enormous airplane and spaceship system will go to "the next big step: a private orbital space platform business."

The new system is "a radical change" in how people can get to space, and it will "keep America at the forefront of space exploration," Allen said.

Their plane will have a 380-foot (116-meter) wingspan ? longer than a football field and wider than the biggest aircraft ever, Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.

It will launch a space capsule equipped with a booster rocket, which will send the spacecraft into orbit. This method saves money by not using rocket fuel to get off the ground. The spaceship may hold as many as six people.

"When I was growing up, America's space program was the symbol of aspiration," said Allen, who mentioned his love of science fiction and early human spaceflights. "For me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming what might be possible."

For those attracted to difficult technical challenges, space is the ultimate challenge, Allen said.

"It's also the ultimate adventure. We all grew up devouring science fiction and watching Mercury and Gemini, Apollo and the space shuttle. And now we are able to be involved in moving things to the next level," he said, adding that he admires people like Simonyi who have gone into space to experience it.

Allen is not alone in having such dreams, and the money to gamble on making them come true.

Bezos set up the secretive private space company Blue Origin, which has received $3.7 million in NASA start-up funds to develop a rocket to carry astronauts. Its August flight test ended in failure.

"Space was the inspiration that got people into high-tech ... at least individuals in their 40s and 50s," said Peter Diamandis, who created the space prize Allen won earlier and is a high-tech mogul-turned space business leader himself. "Now they're coming full circle."

Diamandis helped found a company that sends tourists to space for at least $25 million a ride, and seven of the eight rides involved high-tech executives living out their space dreams. One is a former Microsoft colleague of Allen's, Charles Simonyi, who paid at least $20 million apiece for two rides into orbit and attended Allen's Tuesday news conference, saying he wouldn't mind a third flight.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/FgwmquJ4gzY/Stratolaunch-plane-could-make-space-tourism-affordable

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