Saturday, December 31, 2011

No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 Louisville renew rivalry (AP)

LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Kentucky coach John Calipari began a list when he was asked whether he and Louisville coach Rick Pitino are too much alike to get along.

"Similarities? We've both taken three teams to the Final Four, we both got fired in the NBA and we're Italians with big noses," Calipari said Friday. "I respect what he's done, respect the program, respect the city and the school."

No. 3 Kentucky (12-1) and No. 4 Louisville (12-1) renew their rivalry in the most anticipated yearly game in the Commonwealth on Saturday at Rupp Arena, where even the smallest details are scrutinized.

So when a video came out this month showing Calipari and Pitino chatting at a high school game in Mount Washington, Ky., there was an abundance of speculation about just what the two coaches discussed.

"We don't send Christmas cards, but we're cordial to each other," Calipari said. "I went up to him, talked to him, told him he's doing a fabulous job with his team, the way they're playing, blah, blah, blah. And he said, `Your team's really good and dah, dah, dah.' OK?

"He said `I hope we beat you' and I said `I hope we beat you' and I went and got a Diet Coke. That was about it. I don't know what to tell you."

The rivalry is as much about the two rabid fan bases as it is the players.

Between the two schools, 13 players have never participated in a Kentucky-Louisville game. This time, the schools have the highest combined ranking in series history. But Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis said he's recognized the passion simply by the amount of tweets he's received from fans about beating Louisville.

"We guess it's a big deal for them," Davis said.

Davis hears even more back and forth about what fans think of the respective leaders of the program.

"(They think) that they hate each other. One always goes out and parties when the other one loses," Davis said. "They look alike, but coach Pitino, I've never seen him coach so I can't say how they remind me of each other."

Only one side will have a reason to celebrate on Saturday night even though Calipari insisted he has no ill-feelings toward Pitino, saying any perceived friction comes from proximity.

"It's two different programs and two different leagues. We're not really recruiting against each other. It's just this one time and our fans are going to be happy or their fans are going to be happy, and that's it," Calipari said. "As far as our team, I'm telling you we respect them. Our players do not have animosity or hatred."

Louisville has been quiet since its 20-game home winning streak was snapped in a 71-68 loss to No. 12 Georgetown on Wednesday night. The Cardinals did not have any media availability ahead of this game and have lost the last two in the series.

"I think Kentucky is the better basketball team right now," Pitino said after the loss to the Hoyas. "Running up and down and trying to outscore Kentucky would be a futile attempt to try to get a `W'."

Kentucky is led by Doron Lamb, averaging 15.8 points, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who is chipping in 13.5 points. Davis is averaging a double-double with 11.6 points and 10.2 rebounds.

"We know they're just as athletic, we know they're a good team, too," Kentucky senior Darius Miller said. "We can't come in thinking that we're more athletic or we're the better team. We've got to come in and play."

Louisville guard Chris Smith measured it in NBA talent.

"Every guy on their team is, I guess, a pro," Smith said. "A win Saturday would come back and erase the sting, but at the same time we're 0-1 in the Big East. We just have to keep our composure and win the game on Saturday."

It certainly won't be easy. Kentucky has the nation's longest home winning streak at 43 games and hasn't lost since Calipari came to Lexington in 2009.

"It's a very hard place to play," said Louisville forward Kyle Kuric, who is averaging 13.5 points. "I'll just leave it at that."

But Miller, who grew up in Maysville, Ky., said he's expecting some wrinkles from the Cardinals, who'll need point guard Peyton Siva to get into the lane often to cause problems for the Wildcats.

"We know they are a very physical team," Miller said. "They play with a lot of intensity and we've got to match that. We've got to make them try to match our intensity and how tough we play."

Louisville freshman Chane Behanan said he's prepared for whatever happens in his first foray against the Wildcats.

"When I moved to Kentucky, I got the feel for it and understanding of it," Behanan said. "It's serious, real serious."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_sp_co_ne/bkc_t25_bluegrass_showdown

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Friday, December 30, 2011

A college football playoff system? Forget it

Coach Tom O'Brien of the North Carolina State Wolfpack gets doused after the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • A playoff system for college football would be a big mistake, says Terence Moore
  • For one thing, student-athletes would have even less time for studying, he says
  • Moore: Where would you play the games? And how would participants be chosen?
  • Home attendance in the playoffs for teams at lower levels is frequently low, Moore says

Editor's note: Terence Moore is a sports columnist of more than three decades. He has worked for the Cincinnati Enquirer, the San Francisco Examiner, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and AOL Sports. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- When it comes to the horror of bringing a playoff system to the big boys of college football, there are several things for members of the Knee-Jerk Society of America to think about.

The problem is, they don't wish to think. They prefer emotion.

Mostly, they fume over the current system that chooses a national champion through a combination of polls and computers with the so-called Bowl Championship Series. They say a playoff system is the best way to determine a champion on the field, and they are correct. But only if you ignore things you have to ... think about.

For instance: Name those screaming the loudest about a playoff system for the Alabamas, the Ohio States and the Southern Californias.

The fans? Yep, because they are, well, fans.

The coaches? Uh-huh. In their minds, a playoff system gives them the chance to add millions to their millions.

The media? Definitely. They have airwaves, cyberspace and newsprint to fill, and if you're ESPN or the networks, a playoff system gives you the chance to add billions to your billions.

Terence Moore

Terence Moore

Guess who gets ignored? The players.

Pro players get paid for their sacrifices regarding extra games, but college players don't. And that's just for starters.

Consider that every team in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division 1-A) has about 120 players. On the high side, an average of five or six of those players make NFL training-camp rosters. Of the nearly 110 left, maybe 40 believe they should have made an NFL training-camp roster. So, a large portion of that 40 joins those five or six in spending more time studying playbooks than textbooks.

That leaves roughly 70 student-athletes on a team each season doing whatever it takes to get a degree -- and it takes a lot for that group, even without an extra game or three.

Just one extra game means a slew of more practices, film sessions and team meetings for those student-athletes.

"A playoff system certainly would have its challenges, and it's already a challenge now," said Roddy Jones, a four-year starter at running back for Georgia Tech. He is a three-time Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference player, and he has earned his undergraduate degree in management along the way to seeking an MBA.

Not only that, Jones is part of an advisory council involving Georgia Tech athletes and administrators. He said an average day for a football student-athlete can start as early as 6:30 a.m., stretch through the end of a tutoring session at 9 p.m. and continue with more studying at the dormitory.

"Time management is the biggest thing," Jones said. "People just see the games on Saturdays, but we're practicing Monday through Friday, and we have classes every day as well. A traditional student has the weekend to get a project done. We don't have that liberty, because we're in a hotel on Fridays, getting ready for the games. It can be a mental grind."

And that's without a playoff system.

That's also coming from Jones, among the elite of student-athletes, who added, "A lot of those games with playoffs would come during finals weeks or at other times that are very stressful for any student, particularly for a student-athlete."

OK, so you couldn't care less whether Johnny can read or write. You just want to know whether Johnny can punt, pass or kick.

Tell me this: A playoff system would have how many games, and who's to say it wouldn't keep expanding before expanding some more? While several athletics directors want a "plus one" approach featuring a championship game after the 35 bowl games, others want two semifinal games and then a championship game.

President Obama wants eight teams playing three rounds.

Washington State coach Mike Leach wants 64 teams.

No doubt, others wouldn't mind putting all of the Football Bowl Subdivision's 120 teams in the postseason.

Where would you play these games? The site of current bowl games, you say, or maybe NFL stadiums, neutral sites or various places on the dark side of the moon? How many -- if any -- of these locations would be available?

If you use bowls, which ones? And since the bulk of the TV and advertising revenue would flow to playoff games, what would happen financially to the bulk of the bowls without playoff games?

How would you choose the participants for a playoff system, and wouldn't that create more controversy?

I know. They have a playoff system in college basketball called March Madness, but here's something else I know: The academic status of participating dribblers often has been a disaster. In fact, if the new academic rules that the NCAA adopted this fall were in place last spring, Connecticut wouldn't be allowed to defend its national championship.

Connecticut barely would have made the tournament.

I also know they have a playoff system for the lower levels of college football. The one for the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA) began November 26, and it will end with the championship game January 7.

Here's something else I know: The last NCAA report on the financial status of its schools at the highest level was for the 2009-10 season, and it showed that only 22 out of those 120 athletics departments turned a profit. Which raises the question: How many football programs for those schools would agree to lose revenue by slicing regular-season games to keep a playoff system from lasting until Valentine's Day?

Zero.

Oh, and home attendance in the playoffs for teams at those lower levels is frequently lower than their regular-season games. Such was the case last season for traditional FCS powers Delaware and Appalachian State, and such is the case this year for North Dakota State, according to its sports information department.

I say that because Georgia fans dominated the Georgia Dome this month for the Southeastern Conference title game. Their LSU counterparts were sparse. Word back in Baton Rouge was that LSU fans were saving their money for the Bowl Championship Series title game next week in New Orleans between LSU and Alabama.

Which raises another question: How many folks would travel multiple times to see their team during a playoff system involving the big boys?

The answer?

Just leave the current system alone.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Terence Moore.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/opinion/moore-football-playoff/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

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Prakash Narain Selected as Mayor Pro Tem of Cypress

By SiliconIndia, Wednesday, 28 December 2011, 05:42 Hrs

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Prakash Narain, an Indian American has been selected as the new Mayor Pro Term of Cypress, by the five member city council. He has been a mayor earlier during the year 2009-2010 and now this will be the second term he would be serving on the Cypress City Council.



Prakash Narain was approved at a council meeting which was held at the Cyprus City Council Chambers, on December 12th, 2011. He will be in charge of this prestigious position for one year, till December 2012.


Prakash Narein, is the first Indian American and first physician to be elected to Cyprus City Council, who was a member of the council for the last five years. In 2006, he was selected to the City Council and three years later, in 2009, he became the Mayor Pro Term. In the year 2010, he was chosen as the mayor of Cyprus.


He also functioned as a member for Acacia Adult Day Care advisory Board and was a former Volunteer Physician Advisor for the Cypress Police Department.


Prakash who grew up in Ranchi, later on settled in Patna with his family. After shifting to US in the year 1980 he joined Chicago?s St. Joseph?s Hospital, where he specialized in Internal Medicine.From UCLA medical center and the VA Westwood hospital at Los Angeles, he completed his geriatrics fellowship


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/siliconindianews/~3/mvOuna8Rnnc/Prakash_Narain_Selected_as_Mayor_Pro_Tem_of_Cypress-nid-101740.html

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It Ain?t No ?Dalliance?, They Like the Crazy Ones (Balloon Juice)

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

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Consumer confidence hits 8-month high

A monthly survey shows consumers' confidence in the economy in December surged to the highest level since April and is near a post-recession peak.

The New York-based Conference Board says Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose almost 10 points to 64.5, up from a revised 55.2 in November. Analysts had expected 59.

The surge builds on another big increase in November, when the index rose almost 15 points from the month before.

Improving confidence is in line with retail reports of a decent holiday shopping season. Still, the December confidence reading is below the 90 level that indicates an economy on solid footing.

Economists watch the confidence numbers closely because consumer spending ? including items like health care ? accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

Story: Economists see growth picking up in new year

Labor market conditions have improved in recent months, with the unemployment rate falling to a 2-1/2 year low in November and applications for first time jobless benefits at the lowest since April 2008.

The survey's present situation index rose to 46.7 this month --- the highest since September 2008 -- from 38.3 in November. The expectations index surged to 76.4 from 66.4 in November.

"Consumers are more optimistic that business conditions, employment prospects and their financial situations will get better," the Conference Board said in a statement.

"While consumers are ending the year in a somewhat more upbeat mood, it is too soon to tell if this is a rebound from earlier declines or a sustainable shift in attitudes."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45796151/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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NBA Commissioner Stern hears boos at Dallas opener

(AP) ? NBA Commissioner David Stern opened his lockout-delayed season by hearing boos from Mavericks fans.

Stern was in Dallas for the NBA finals rematch between the Mavericks and Heat, and he was on the court for the start of the Mavs' banner-raising ceremony honoring their first championship. The jeers came as soon as he started speaking, but he quickly turned them into cheers by offering his congratulations to team owner Mark Cuban.

Cuban's often contentious relationship with Stern could've been as much of a reason for the boos as the lockout, which pushed the opener from Nov. 1 to Christmas and cut the season by 16 games.

Cuban and Miami's Micky Arison were among five owners who voted against the labor deal. Stern said "it doesn't send any signal whatsoever" that the two owners in the most recent finals were against the agreement.

Stern said Arison only objected to the revenue sharing. He also pointed out that Cuban was part of the labor relations committee and the planning committee.

"(Cuban) might not have been enamored with the final outcome because it takes away the advantage that overspending can give you," Stern said.

Stern also said he could have done a better job of explaining his reasons for blocking a proposed trade of Chris Paul from the league-owned Hornets to the Lakers, only to later agree to a deal that sent Paul to the Clippers. He said that "lost in the frenzy" over his action was the fact he quashed the deal in his role as the owners' representative looking out for the best interests of the Hornets ? not as the commissioner looking out for the best interests of the league as a whole.

"Our view was that the best thing was for New Orleans to be a young team," he said.

Stern blamed himself for not clarifying that sooner.

"I don't think it affected the integrity of the league," he said. "I do think I could have done a better communications job. ... It's a job that, as the owners' representative, I was stuck with. But I think that it was better to have me do it than a group of owners do it because I have the singular focus of doing what's best."

The booing Mavs fans may not have realized they had Stern to thank for getting Lamar Odom to Dallas. Odom was supposed to have been in the Lakers-Hornets deal; when he wasn't, he was so upset that the club didn't want him that he asked to be traded.

After the Dallas-Miami game, Stern went to Oklahoma City for the opener between the Thunder and Orlando. Magic star Dwight Howard is trying to force his way to the team of his preference, just like Paul did. Asked if that was bad for the league, Stern said it's always happened, using Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as examples.

"That's the beauty of the soap opera," Stern said. "It will play out like it plays out."

Stern had compliments for another superstar he was about to watch, LeBron James.

"I see a level of acceptance and maturity," Stern said. "He's clearly saying he might've said a few things differently, etcetera, and he's going to let his talent do the talking. I think that's pretty exciting because he's got some pretty exciting talent. So we're happy for him and we're looking forward to how the season winds up."

So, how does he expect the season to wind up?

"I said to Mark, 'It's ironic, the most underrated team in the league is the NBA champion,'" Stern said. "I think Dallas has a pretty good roster. ... I said before last season, 'I think we're going to have to play the season. We're not mailing the trophy to Miami.' It turns out, we mailed it to Dallas. We'll see what happens this year ? but Miami really seems formidable with those three superstars."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-25-BKN-Stern-Openers/id-fd10aae899c5445d86df368600bb8934

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number108: RT @owengood: Honk if you play Madden 12 or NCAA 12 and yell FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN!!!!! when a lineman picks up a fumble and runs it in.

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Honk if you play Madden 12 or NCAA 12 and yell FAT GUY TOUCHDOWN!!!!! when a lineman picks up a fumble and runs it in. owengood

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Oil from 2007 spill surprisingly toxic to fish, scientists report

Thick, tarry fuel oil disgorged into San Francisco Bay from a damaged cargo ship in 2007 was surprisingly toxic to fish embryos, devastating the herring population that feeds seabirds, whales and the bay's last commercial fishery, scientists reported Monday.

Although the bay's herring spawning grounds are now free of toxic oil, studies have found that the moderate-size spill of 54,000 gallons had an unexpectedly large and lethal effect.

The culprit, a common type of ship fuel called "bunker fuel," appears to be especially toxic to fish embryos, particularly when exposed to sunlight, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"That's the big lesson," said John Incardona, a toxicologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. "This bunker oil is literally the dregs of the barrel, and it's much more toxic than crude oil."

The container ship Cosco Busan spilled low-grade bunker fuel after it sideswiped the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on a foggy November morning four years ago. This type of sludge-like fuel is cheap and thus popular among operators of commercial shipping fleets that transport raw materials and goods around the globe.

Scientists have traditionally focused on larger crude oil spills, such as last year's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico or 1989's Exxon Valdez tanker disaster, in which 11 million gallons of oil were discharged into Alaska's Prince William Sound. The Exxon spill is suspected of wiping out the sound's herring fishery, which has never bounced back.

From studies in Alaska, scientists knew that oil could cause heart deformities to developing herring in their embryonic sacs.

But after examining herring embryos placed in cages in shallow waters near the Cosco Busan spill site, researchers were surprised to find that nearly all had died, and their tissues were deteriorating faster than expected in the bay's chilly water.

"We didn't think there was enough oil spilled to cause this much damage," said Gary Cherr, a study coauthor and director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. He described the total spill as similar in size to a large backyard swimming pool.

Oil and water don't mix. The fat-filled herring egg sacs can act like little sponges, soaking up the highly toxic compounds from the bunker fuel. Once exposed to sunlight during low tides, the oil compounds became even more lethal to developing fish.

"Bunker fuel is used worldwide and is spilled relatively often," Cherr said. "It is important to look at small spills in sensitive areas," he added, now that science understands the lethal potential of low concentrations.

The owners and operators of the Cosco Busan in September agreed to pay $44.4 million to cover government claims, the cost of the cleanup ? about half of the spilled oil was captured ? and bay restoration programs. Besides tarring about 30% of the bay's herring spawning grounds, the spill killed about 6,800 seabirds and closed beaches for months.

ken.weiss@latimes.com

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-herring-kill-20111228,0,4022950.story?track=rss

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Breaking News: Charity hails East Africa appeal

Save the Children said its East Africa emergency appeal has become the most successful in the charity's history after Britons donated more than ?7 million in six months.

The appeal, which was launched in July, has surpassed the previous record of ?6.8 million raised for Asian tsunami victims.

Save the Children's chief executive Justin Forsyth said the money was spent on providing food, clean water and healthcare to 1.7 million children affected by the drought in East Africa.

"Even when times are tough at home, this shows that British people care deeply about the world's most vulnerable children," Mr Forsyth said.

"They know that their help - however small - can be the difference between life and death for children facing unimaginable suffering."

One such child is Umi, a baby girl found by Save the Children outreach staff in a remote village in rural Kenya. Mr Forsyth said Umi had life-threatening malnutrition but made a full recovery after the charity intervened.

But he said the scale of the food crisis was enormous and thousands of other children, particularly in Somalia, urgently needed help.

An estimated 250,000 people are in urgent need of assistance in Somalia, he said, just days after International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced Britain was providing more than 9,000 tonnes of food supplies and medicines to drought-ravaged regions in the Horn of Africa.

Mr Mitchell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Somalia was a direct threat to the UK's security because it was one of the "most dysfunctional countries in the world". He said aid made "the difference between life and death" as millions across the region "face a fight for life".

The Government will host a conference on Somalia in London on February 23, Prime Minister David Cameron announced last month. Mr Cameron said Somalia was a failed state during a speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet on November 14.

Source: http://www.osadvertiser.co.uk/news/west-lancashire-breaking-news/2011/12/26/charity-hails-east-africa-appeal-80904-30011559/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

pocketnowtweets: Microsoft Sends Out Windows Phone Chocolate Tile Greetings: http://t.co/sQwLtRIS

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LONDON. December 26. KAZINFORM There has been widespread condemnation in the international community of a series of Christmas Day bomb attacks in Nigeria that killed almost 40 people; Kazinform refers to BBC.

LONDON. December 26. KAZINFORM There has been widespread condemnation in the international community of a series of Christmas Day bomb attacks in Nigeria that killed almost 40 people; Kazinform refers to BBC.

The White House said the attacks were "senseless violence" and the UK foreign secretary called them "cowardly".

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram said it carried out the attacks.

A blast outside a church near the capital Abuja claimed 35 lives, while a policeman died in the city of Jos and four people were killed in Damaturu.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said the attacks were "an unwarranted affront on our collective safety and freedom", adding: "Nigerians must stand as one to condemn them."

'Solidarity'

The White House said initial investigation showed the attacks were "terrorist acts" and pledged to help Nigeria bring those responsible to justice.

Spokesman Jay Carney said: "We condemn this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day. We offer our sincere condolences to the Nigerian people and especially those who lost family and loved ones."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed "solidarity in [Nigeria's] fight against terrorism", while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: "Even on Christmas Day, the world is not spared from cowardice and the fear of terrorism."

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "These are cowardly attacks on families gathered in peace and prayer to celebrate a day which symbolises harmony and goodwill towards others. I offer my condolences to the bereaved and injured."

Israel said it would send medical aid to Nigeria and that it "condemned in the strongest terms these attacks carried out on Christmas Day".

The Vatican said attacking a church was "blind hatred" seeking to "arouse and feed even more hatred and confusion".

President Jonathan, who is a Christian, said: "I want to reassure all Nigerians that the government will not relent in its determination to bring to justice all the perpetrators"; Kazinform cites BBC.

To learn more go to www.bbc.co.uk

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5663449748

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NARSissist: Just saw a couple in Starbucks: guy had an iPhone, girl had a flip phone. Can such a love survive? :/

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Roche's Avastin Receives EU Approval For Ovarian Cancer

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Ovarian Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 25 Dec 2011 - 0:00 PST

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(AP) ? Why do kids believe a chubby guy in a flying sleigh can deliver joy across America? Because their parents do. A whopping 84 percent of grown-ups were once children who trusted in Santa's magic, and lots cling to it still.

Things are changing fast these days, with toddlers wishing for iPads, grade schoolers emailing their Christmas lists and moms wrestling over bargain toys at midnight sales. Despite all the pressures on the rituals of the season, an AP-GfK poll confirms that families are sticking by old St. Nick.

"It's important for kids to have something to believe in," says great-grandmother Wanda Smith of Norman, Okla.

And so they do. Year after year, Santa Claus survives the scoffers and the Scrooges and the 6-year-old playground skeptics. He endures belittling commercials that portray him shopping at Target or taking directions from an iPhone. He shrugs off scolds who say his bagful of toys overshadows the reason for the season.

Two-thirds of parents with kids under 18 say Santa's an important part of their celebrations this year. Moms, especially, have a soft spot for the man in red ? 71 percent of them say he's important, and that's a big jump from 58 percent just five years ago.

His overall popularity is up slightly from an AP-AOL poll in 2006, before the recession hit. In these bleaker times of homes lost to foreclosure and parents sweating out their next paychecks, the poll shows Santa riding high with families both wealthy and poor.

Maybe that's because the big guy's always known how to stretch a dollar to make a kid smile.

Smith, whose childhood gifts were mostly handmade by her mother ? things like cookies and knit scarves ? remembers that every year Santa Claus managed to put one present under the tree for her to share with her two brothers (four more siblings came later).

"One year it was a bicycle, one year we had a sled. One year we got a puppy ? his name was Jack and he was a border collie," recalls Smith, now 70.

"We didn't have a lot," she said, "but we didn't know it. Our mother and daddy made it a wonderful time for us."

In multicultural America, Father Christmas isn't just for Christians any more. Three-fourths of non-Christian adults say they believed in Santa when they were children. And half feel he's important to their holiday celebrations now.

Developmental psychologist Cyndy Scheibe, who's been interviewing kids about Santa since 1986, said lots of Jewish children told her that Santa Claus was real, even though he didn't stop at their houses on Christmas Eve.

And many non-Christian parents embrace Santa because they see Christmas serving as a secular as well as religious holiday in the U.S., she said.

"Santa Claus is more than someone who just comes and gives you a present, it's this whole spirit of giving and magic that you get to be a part of and celebrate," said Scheibe, an associate professor at Ithaca College in New York.

That's what keeps Santa going over the decades and across cultures, she said. "That, and there's almost nothing as much fun as getting to see your kid's face so completely excited."

Scheibe knows firsthand. She used to climb a ladder to the roof every Christmas, her daughter watching, to leave a key tied to a big red bow, because they didn't have a fireplace.

It's not all snowflakes and mistletoe in Santaland, however. Even among Christians, there's tension about how big a role, if any, a jolly old elf deserves in the celebration of Christ's birth.

Almost half of Americans polled said Santa detracts from the religious significance of Christmas more than he enhances it.

When she was growing up, Naomi Stenberg's fundamentalist Baptist parents didn't want her mixed up with Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or Halloween trick-or-treating.

"I didn't understand why everybody else got to believe in Santa, and me and my brother didn't," says Stenberg, 32, now a stay-at-home mom in Baxter, Minn. "I felt left out."

Her own three children have gotten the full Kris Kringle experience, but sometimes she feels ill-equipped to handle the tough queries from her youngest, 6-year-old Rylen.

"She's been asking questions like how does Santa fit through the chimney," she said. "I don't know how to answer things like that."

Matt Hoyt vividly remembers seeing Santa's black boots peeking out from behind his bedroom curtains when he was a boy. He froze. "I was just trying to pretend to be asleep," Hoyt said, "so I'd get my presents."

Only much later did he realize those were probably the black shoes of his dad, hanging his new "Star Wars" drapes. Now Hoyt, a 35-year-old computer engineer from Houston, is awaiting the birth of his first child in April, and wondering how long that child will believe.

In the poll, the median age when adults said they outgrew Santa was 8. Hoyt suspects his child's generation will turn away even earlier. After all, "They've got Google at their fingertips."

But Santa needn't worry. They'll come back someday ... when they're parents.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 8-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

___

AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Online: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-23-US-AP-Poll-Santa-Believers/id-bb66ad6c901f4396add7c3f7887acfa1

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

6 comments Ron Paul has to explain (Politico)

The storyline dogging Ron Paul as his numbers continue to rise in Iowa ? the racist content in newsletters published in the 1990s under his name ? poses a significant impediment to his campaign?s momentum.

But that?s not his only problem.

Continue Reading

Even as he disavows the newsletters ? the Texas congressman asserts he didn?t write them and never even read them ? Paul?s got a collection of other statements that he?ll likely need to explain in greater detail if he expects to capture the Republican Party nomination.

Here are six of them:

The ?disaster? of Ronald Reagan?s conservative agenda

?I think we can further thank Ronald Reagan for doing a good job [on furthering the Libertarian Party]. He certainly did a good job in 1980 pointing out the fallacies of the Democratic liberal agenda and he certainly did a good job on following up to show the disaster of the conservative agenda as well.?

The first rule in modern GOP politics is that you do not diss Ronald Reagan. The Reagan embrace may not be as tight as it was, say, a decade ago, but he is still a revered figure in the party. Thus, the above line from Paul?s nomination speech at the 1987 Libertarian Party convention in Seattle may not go over well with GOP regulars.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are unconstitutional

Fox News?s Chris Wallace: You talk a lot about the Constitution. You say Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid are all unconstitutional.

Ron Paul: Technically, they are. ? There?s no authority [in the Constitution]. Article I, Section 8 doesn?t say I can set up an insurance program for people. What part of the Constitution are you getting it from? The liberals are the ones who use this General Welfare Clause.

Technically, he?s right: None of those programs are explicitly laid out in the Constitution. But even as many in the party are looking to reform entitlements and slash spending, almost no one takes it as far as Paul did in this March 2011 appearance on ?Fox News Sunday.? His position is not only ripe for devastating ads, it puts him at odds with a constituency that turns out to vote in high numbers.

American drug laws are designed to fund rogue governments, CIA programs

?I think that might be the No. 1 reason for the drug laws ? to raise the funds necessary for government to do illegal things, whether it?s some terrorist government someplace or whether it?s our own CIA to fund programs that they can?t get Congress to fund. I think it?s tragic and the sooner we get rid of the drug laws, the sooner this will end.?

While American attitudes toward drug laws have evolved over the years, Paul?s views on the legalization of drugs are still far out of the mainstream. And they are especially far out of the GOP mainstream.

During his 1988 Libertarian presidential campaign, Paul went after Republican nominee George H.W. Bush over his tenure as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and made provocative allegations about CIA involvement in drug trafficking.

Paul has gotten much quieter about his views on drug legalization during the 2012 campaign, but there is a video trail that won?t be easy to dismiss. In his 1988 bid, he frequently gave interviews in which he spoke at length about his desire to see drugs legalized. That year, he appeared on ?The Morton Downey Jr. Show,? a provocative program designed to have people to yell at one another over political issues (Downey previews the segment by saying: ?We?ll talk to a man who could be snorting cocaine in the Oval Office.?); the performance makes the Howard Dean scream video clip seem like Masterpiece Theatre.

None of it will be helpful to him.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_70798_html/43986823/SIG=11mi6549h/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70798.html

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Friday, December 23, 2011

pulse2dotcom: Consumer Electronics Associate Releases Statement On Microsoft Leaving http://t.co/Kvma6I9B #p2 #consumerelectronicsassociation

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Consumer Electronics Associate Releases Statement On Microsoft Leaving goo.gl/fb/UQRAs #p2 #consumerelectronicsassociation pulse2dotcom

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Source: http://twitter.com/pulse2dotcom/statuses/149909269393850368

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How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMS [How To]

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSThe smartphone revolution may be in full swing, but there are still a lot of you out there rocking a basic, inexpensive phone that doesn't have any "smart" features?or so you've been told. If you want to get email, Facebook, driving directions, and other web features on your phone, you can cheat a little bit and get them through SMS messages. Here's how.

Image remixed from an original by Jezper/Shutterstock.

Note that you'll probably want an unlimited text messaging plan if you're going to use these often. While none of these tricks will incur any extra charges, you will be charged for each text message sent and received, which can pile up pretty quickly. For just a few bucks a month, you can get an unlimited plan that will let you search the web, send email, and check Facebook and Twitter as much as you want.

Search the Web with Google

Update: It seems that Google's SMS search service is currently down. It was working yesterday, but as of right now all searches are returning empty results (great timing, Google). Hopefully it will be back up soon, and we'll update this post when it is.

When you're out and about and you need quick info?whether it's the weather forecast, word definitions, unit conversions, or language translations, you can get just about any information you need from Google's SMS Search. Just like Google on the web, it can often detect what you're looking for and give you a straight answer right then and there. Just text your query to 466453 (GOOGLE) and they'll text you back the results. Here are some of the things you can search for:

  • Get Movie Times: Just search for movies in a city (e.g. movies los angeles ca to see showtimes for all the movies in your area. You can also search a specific zip code if you prefer.
  • Restaurants and Other Businesses: Similarly, you can search for local places in a certain city with something like burgers 90028 or Home Depot Los Angeles.
  • Word Definitions: Search for these just like you would on Google with the define operator, e.g. define defenestrate. You can shorten this to just d, e.g. d defenestrate.
  • Translations: to use Google Translate from your non-smartphone, just use the translate operator. For example: translate hello to french.
  • Unit Conversions: You don't even need an operator for this one. Just type in your conversion, like 1 us pint in liters to get an answer.

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSTo get help with any command, just type help and the operator in question, e.g. help definitions. For the full list of operators you can use (and an emulator that will let you test it out), check out Google's SMS Search page.

So, you probably know a lot of these. However, Google has one more operator that makes open-ended searches very easy: the web operator. Just type web and then your search terms to search for just about anything. Can't remember which one was Anne Frank and which one was Hellen Keller? Look one of them up with web anne frank. Want to know the difference between apple cider and apple juice? You can even search web difference between apple cider and apple juice and you'll be able to settle that debate with ease.

Note that any links it gives you will lead you to a mobile browser, where you will incur data charges. Usually, you'll be able to at least get some information from the text message?like that for the most part, apple cider and apple juice are the same. Were you to read the full article, you'd get more detailed information (like that some states define cider as unfiltered apple juice with "pulp" in it), but for searches with short answers, you can get everything you need with a quick text.

Get Driving Directions

If you've freed yourself of a GPS dependency, you're probably pretty used to getting driving directions before you leave the house. If you get lost, though, you can always get instant directions from Google via SMS. Just text directions and your starting and ending addresses to 466453, like so:

directions 123 maple st pasadena ca to 321 main st los angeles ca

It will send you a series of texts afterwards (seriously, it'll be quite a few messages) detailing the entire route for you, so you won't get lost.

Send and Receive Email via Gmail

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSOur favorite way to use email on our non-smartphones is the webapp-supercharging ifttt service. By choosing Gmail as your first step and SMS as your second step, you can create a task that sends you a text message whenever you get a new email from a specific person, or with a certain label.

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSWhat's also really nice about this method is that you choose how the text message is formatted. So, if you don't want to see the message's label, you can remove that from the message, and if you do want to see the beginning of the email's body, you can add that to the SMS from the ifttt interface.

You can also send messages with ifttt, though it isn't quite as simple. Basically, you create a task that sends an email to someone when you send ifttt an SMS message with a specific tag. So, for example, I could make a task that, when I text ifttt a message with the tag #emailadam, it will send that message to my friend Adam's email address (via my Gmail address). You'd have to create a separate task for each person you might want to email, so you won't be able to reply to any email you get, but it can be very handy when you need to send a quick message to someone.

Update and View Your Calendar

If you use Google Calendar, you can use Google's built-in SMS service to view events, and ifttt to add new events. All you need to do is make sure your Calendar is linked to your phone number in Google Calendar under Settings > Mobile Setup. Then, to see your events, you can send any of the following messages to 48368 (GVENT):

  • NEXT: Will reply to you with your next scheduled event.
  • DAY: Will reply to you with your schedule for the current day.
  • NDAY: Will reply to you with your schedule for tomorrow.
  • STOP: Will opt out of the Google Calendar SMS service.

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSTo add new events, we like to use ifttt. Make your first action a tagged SMS message with whatever tag you want (something like #cal should work). For your second action, choose the Quick Add Event from Google Calendar. Whatever you type in that box will be the message it uses for Google Calendar's Quick Add feature (which you can test on the Google Calendar page, if you're not familiar with how it works). Using {{Message}} as your Quick Add Text should be sufficient, so hit Create Action when you're done.

Then, to add a new event, just send an SMS message to ifttt with your event info and the #cal tag. You want the event info to be formatted in a way Google Calendar's Quick Add understands, e.g. Dinner with Adam at 6pm at Din Tai Fung. Google calendar will parse out the location (Din Tai Fung) and time (6pm) and add it as a new event. If you're unfamiliar with Google Calendar's Quick Add feature, head to Google Calendar's main page and click "Quick Add" in the upper left hand corner to see how it works.

Note that you can also use GVENT to add new events to Google Calendar: just send GVENT a message with your Quick Add text and it'll go into your default calendar. What's nice about using ifttt is that you can create multiple tags, each for a different calendar?like #personalcal, #workcal, and so on?and then send events to whatever calendar you want on-the-go.

Update and View Your Social Networks

Depending on what social networks you use, you have a few choices in linking them to SMS on your phone. Most have SMS features built-in, but you can also use ifttt for some things if you want more control. Here are a few examples.

Facebook

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSTo turn on SMS support for Facebook, head to Facebook's Mobile Settings and register your phone with Facebook. Once you've done so, you can edit a few different things:

  • Notifications: This lets Facebook send you SMS notifications when someone comments on your status, posts on your wall, adds you as a friend, or anything else (you can further refine these settings under Facebook's Notification settings, if you only want messages for specific types of notifications). You can also set specific times of day for Facebook to stay silent, and tell it to stop sending you messages if you're using Facebook at the time.
  • Messages: You can get SMS notifications when someone messages you on Facebook, or choose to have Facebook only send notifications when someone specifically messages your phone from Facebook.
  • Daily Text Limit: If you aren't on an unlimited plan, obviously this can eat up a lot of money. Here, you can tell Facebook to limit the number of text messages you receive a day, so you don't go over budget on your phone bill.

To update your status from your phone, just send your status updates to 32665 (FBOOK), and it will post them on your profile.

Alternatively, you can create a new task in ifttt that, whenever you send a tagged SMS to ifttt, sends that to Facebook as a new status. The main advantage of using ifttt instead of Facebook's official method is that you can manage it from the same page as your Gmail, Calendar, and other ifttt tasks. However, using Facebook's official route is easier since you can add it as a separate contact, rather than having to remember a tag.

Twitter

How to Turn Your Dumbphone Into a Smartphone Using Nothing But SMSTo set up Twitter on your phone, just head to Twitter's Mobile Settings page and register your number with them. Once you do, you can manage your notifications from that page?that is, choose whether you get notifications for tweets from certain users, direct messages, and mentions, among other events. Like Facebook, you can also tell Twitter to stop sending you messages at certain hours of the day.

To send tweets or perform other actions from your phone, just text 40404 one of the following commands:

  • Texting 40404 without a command will tweet whatever message you send.
  • Follow: Sending this followed by a username (e.g. follow WhitsonGordon will follow that user on Twitter.
  • Unfollow: Sending this followed by a username (e.g. unfollow WhitsonGordon will unfollow that user on Twitter.
  • On/Off: Turn all Twitter notifications on or off. If you follow the command with a username (e.g. on WhitsonGordon) will turn mobile notifications on or off for a specific user.
  • Get: Followed by a username, this will show you the latest tweet from any given user.
  • Retweet: Followed by a username, this will retweet a specific user's last tweet.
  • Favorite: Followed by a username, this will favorite a specific user's last tweet.
  • DM: Followed by a username and a message, this will send that message to a specific user as a private direct message.

If you use multiple social networks, there's no need to text your statuses to both Facebook and Twitter, either. Remember that with a combination of services, you can post to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ all at the same time if you so desire.

Putting It All Together

Now, while you could use Google and ifttt for pretty much everything, we recommend using official services whenever you can. That way, you can add each individual number as a contact in your phone?like 40404 for Twitter?and just send SMS messages to those contacts whenever you need to do something.

The only hard part, of course, is remember all of the above commands. When you're on the go, you may forget if you need an operator to do unit conversions, or what the operator is for getting the latest tweet from a certain user. I've found the easiest way to remember these is to copy the above information into the "Notes" or "Comments" section on each contact?Google, Facebook, Twitter, ifttt, and whoever else. That way, when you need to do something, you can just look up the contact and find everything you need to know right there.


This obviously isn't quite as easy to use as a smartphone might be, but it's pretty shocking how much you can do with a few well-crafted text messages. Don't forget that you can get even more out of your non-smartphone with Google Voice, and if you're willing to pay for a smartphone, you can always use a smartphone without a data plan too (after all, Wi-Fi is everywhere these days). Got any other tricks or services that work over SMS? Share your favorites with us in the comments below.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/fiB6wNXgGHo/how-to-turn-your-dumbphone-into-a-smartphone-using-nothing-but-sms

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