Saturday, December 31, 2011

Britney Spears Wedding Plans Revealed


Britney Spears Wedding Plans

30-year old, Britney Spears got engaged to her former manager, Jason Trawick after dating for two years, earlier this month. The engagement party was held at?the Chocolate Lounge and Sugar Factory in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Britney, who has two sons, Sean Preston, six, and Jayden James, five, with ex-husband Kevin Federline is eager to plan her 2012 wedding and is opting for a ?traditional Southern-style? wedding with friends and family, rather than?a lavish Hollywood bash.

In Touch Weekly has more: ?She wants a traditional Southern-style wedding with comfort food, surrounded by her family, her two sons and all of her childhood friends, as opposed to a Hollywood wedding.?

Three times a charm for Britney, Trawick is number three, her ex Kevin Federline was the second and her childhood friend, Jason Alexander came in first.

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Source: http://www.fitfabceleb.com/2011/12/30/britney-spears-wedding-plans-revealed-1230/

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Monday, December 5, 2011

3D Video of Asteroid Vesta

TheNextCorner writes "Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and making other scientific measurements." You'll need some red/green or red/blue glasses for the 3D effect.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/6SjWWBZORyg/3d-video-of-asteroid-vesta

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

New accuser is first to sue former Penn State coach (Reuters)

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? A new accuser filed the first lawsuit against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on Wednesday, accusing the coach of sexually abusing him "over 100 times" as a child,

A 29-year-old man identified only as "John Doe A" launched the lawsuit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against Sandusky, Penn State University and The Second Mile, a charity founded by Sandusky to help troubled children.

Although the man is the ninth alleged victim to accuse Sandusky of abuse, the lawsuit is the first filed in the scandal. Legal experts said it may trigger a cascade of lawsuits and may encourage other victims to contact police.

Sandusky said in a television interview this month that he was innocent and was not a pedophile.

The accuser, who is now speaking with law enforcement, said he suffered four years of abuse, starting at age 10, "in the facilities of Penn State, particularly the football coach's locker room, at times within Philadelphia County, at facilities out of state connected with a Penn State bowl game and at the Sandusky home," according to the lawsuit.

He met Sandusky through a program at The Second Mile, said his attorney Jeff Anderson, from St. Paul, Minnesota. Anderson also represents sex abuse victims suing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

"This case is about institutional concealment and callous disregard of child abuse by powerful men in a powerful institution," said lawyer Marci Hamilton at a news conference to unveil the lawsuit.

Sandusky "recruited, groomed and coerced plaintiff, showering him with gifts, travel and privileges," the lawsuit said.

Threats by Sandusky against the alleged victim and his family bought years of silence, broken only when the alleged victim saw national headlines that Sandusky was charged this month with sexually abusing eight other men when they were juveniles.

"I never told anybody what he did to me over 100 times at all kinds of places until the newspapers reported that he had abused other kids and the people at Penn State and Second Mile didn't do the things they should have to protect me and the other kids," wrote the man, who no longer lives in Pennsylvania.

The man, in his note, said it was painful to learn of the other alleged victims that came after him.

"I am hurting and have been for a long time because of what happened but feel now even more tormented that I have learned so many other kids were abused after me," the man wrote.

The Second Mile said it would review the lawsuit and then respond as it saw fit.

"The Second Mile will adhere to its legal responsibilities throughout this process. As always, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," the charity said.

Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, was not immediately available to comment. A spokeswoman for Penn State declined to comment.

Anderson said the alleged victim felt Sandusky, who is free on $100,000 bail, should be confined immediately.

In the wake of the Penn State scandal, allegations of sexual abuse have been made against an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University, Bernie Fine, who was fired on Sunday.

Fine has been named by three men who say he sexually fondled them as juveniles. Unlike Penn State, no charges have been filed against Fine, and a grand jury has just begun looking into the accusations.

The Penn State lawsuit seeks more than $50,000 in damages, a standard amount in Pennsylvania courts to trigger a jury trial.

It seeks compensation for the victim's suffering including "great pain of mind and body, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self esteem, disgrace, humiliation and loss of enjoyment of life."

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington, editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/us_nm/us_crime_coach_pennstate

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Iranian protesters storm British Embassy in Tehran (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Hard-line Iranian protesters stormed British diplomatic compounds Tuesday, hauling down the Union Jack, torching an embassy vehicle and pelting buildings with petrol bombs in what began as an apparent state-approved show of anger over the latest Western sanctions to punish Tehran for defiance over its nuclear program.

The hours-long assault on the British Embassy and a residential complex for staff ? in chaotic scenes reminiscent of the seizing of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 ? could push already frayed diplomatic ties toward the breaking point.

Iran's parliament approved a bill Sunday to downgrade relations with Britain, one of America's closest allies with diplomatic envoys in the Islamic Republic.

Calling Tuesday's attack "outrageous and indefensible," British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Iran's failure to defend the embassy and its staff was a disgrace and would have "serious consequences."

He said all embassy staff had been accounted for and praised Britain's ambassador to Iran for handling a "dangerous situation with calm and professionalism."

Sorting out who to blame may be difficult.

The late-afternoon demonstration outside the British Embassy was organized by pro-government groups at universities and Islamic seminaries, and could not have taken place without official sanction. However, such anti-Western rallies often draw ultraconservative factions such as the basiji, a paramilitary group run by the powerful Revolutionary Guard that is directly controlled by Iran's ruling theocracy.

Riot police initially clashed with mobs in attempts to hold them back, but protesters surged past cordons and scaled the walls at the embassy complex, which they pelted with petrol bombs and stones. Flames shot out of a sport utility vehicle parked outside the brick building and occupiers tossed papers apparently looted from an office.

"Death to England!" some cried outside the compound in the first significant assault of a foreign diplomatic area in Iran in years.

Inside the compound, protesters replaced the British flag with a banner in the name of 7th-century Shiite saint, Imam Hussein. One man showed a picture of Queen Elizabeth II apparently taken off a wall.

Chants called for the closure of the embassy and called it a "spy den" ? the same phrase used after militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and held 52 hostages for 444 days. In the early moments of that siege, protesters tossed out papers from the compound and pulled down the U.S. flag. Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic relations since then.

It was not immediately clear Tuesday if the protesters entered the main embassy building or only reached auxiliary sites.

In another part of Tehran, the official IRNA news agency said about 300 protesters entered a complex used for embassy staff and other officials and replaced British flags with Iranian ones.

Iranian media said six workers were detained by protesters at that site ? with some describing them as hostages ? but the semiofficial Fars news agency said they were released after negotiations with police. Their nationalities were not given.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague downplayed suggestions of a hostage situation, saying there had been "confusing" reports coming out of Iran.

By nightfall ? more than three hours after the assaults began ? Iranian authorities appeared to have regained control of both British compounds. Riot police surrounded the embassy compound and officials said all protesters were driven out.

But sporadic clashes persisted, including some where police fired tear gas to disperse crowds, according to Fars. Some protesters were arrested, it said.

Iran's state TV said Iran's Foreign Ministry expressed regret about "unacceptable behavior" of protesters, saying Iran respects international agreements to protect diplomatic sites.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said he was "deeply disturbed" by Tuesday's events and urged the Iranian government to hold those responsible to account.

"For rioters to essentially be able to overrun the embassy and set it on fire is an indication that the Iranian government is not taking its international obligations seriously," Obama said.

Cameron also condemned Iran for "its unacceptable failure to protect diplomats in line with international law."

"The Iranian government must immediately ensure the continued safety of our staff, return all property and secure the compound immediately. Those responsible for this criminal attack must be prosecuted," he said.

The rally outside the British Embassy ? on a main street in downtown Tehran about a mile from the former U.S. Embassy ? included protesters carrying photographs of nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari, who was killed last year in an attack that Iran blamed on Israeli and British spy services.

The U.S. and many allies fear that Iran's nuclear program could eventually lead to nuclear weapons. Tehran says it only seeks reactors for energy and research, but will not give up the technology to make its own nuclear fuel.

On Monday, the U.S., Britain and Canada announced more sanctions intended to further isolate Iran's economy.

Tensions with Britain date back to the 19th century when the Persian monarchy gave huge industrial concessions to London, which later included significant control over Iran's oil industry. In 1953, Britain and the U.S. helped organized a coup that overthrew a nationalist prime minister and restored the pro-Western shah to power.

In recent years, Iran was angered by Britain's decision in 2007 to honor author Salman Rushdie with a knighthood. Rushdie went into hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to kill him because his novel "The Satanic Verses" allegedly insulted Islam.

In March 2007, Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines for allegedly entering the country's territorial waters in the Gulf ? a claim Britain denies. The 15 were released after nearly two weeks in captivity.

In 2006, angry mobs burned the Danish flag and attacked Danish and other Western embassies in Tehran to protest the reprinting of a cartoon deemed insulting of the Prophet Muhammad in the Nordic country's newspapers.

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_us/iran_britain

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How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street (The Ticket)

Protesters form a wall of signs at the Occupy Portland camp in downtown Portland, Oregon. (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Republican Governors Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build. But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up: How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street?

"I'm so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I'm frightened to death," said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and one of the nation's foremost experts on crafting the perfect political message. "They're having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism."

Luntz offered tips on how Republicans could discuss the grievances of the Occupiers, and help the governors better handle all these new questions from constituents about "income inequality" and "paying your fair share."

Yahoo News sat in on the session, and counted 10 do's and don'ts from Luntz covering how Republicans should fight back by changing the way they discuss the movement.

1. Don't say 'capitalism.'

"I'm trying to get that word removed and we're replacing it with either 'economic freedom' or 'free market,' " Luntz said. "The public . . . still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we're seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we've got a problem."

2. Don't say that the government 'taxes the rich.' Instead, tell them that the government 'takes from the rich.'

"If you talk about raising taxes on the rich," the public responds favorably, Luntz cautioned. But ?"if you talk about government taking the money from hardworking Americans, the public says no. Taxing, the public will say yes."

3. Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the 'middle class.' Call them 'hardworking taxpayers.'

"They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers. We can say we defend the 'middle class' and the public will say, I'm not sure about that. But defending 'hardworking taxpayers' and Republicans have the advantage."

4. Don't talk about 'jobs.' Talk about 'careers.'

"Everyone in this room talks about 'jobs,'" Luntz said. "Watch this."

He then asked everyone to raise their hand if they want a "job." Few hands went up. Then he asked who wants a "career." Almost every hand was raised.

"So why are we talking about jobs?"

5. Don't say 'government spending.' Call it 'waste.'

"It's not about 'government spending.' It's about 'waste.' That's what makes people angry."

6. Don't ever say you're willing to 'compromise.'

"If you talk about 'compromise,' they'll say you're selling out. Your side doesn't want you to 'compromise.' What you use in that to replace it with is 'cooperation.' It means the same thing. But cooperation means you stick to your principles but still get the job done. Compromise says that you're selling out those principles."

7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: 'I get it.'

"First off, here are three words for you all: 'I get it.' . . . 'I get that you're angry. I get that you've seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system."

Then, he instructed, offer Republican solutions to the problem.

8. Out: 'Entrepreneur.' In: 'Job creator.'

Use the phrases "small business owners" and "job creators" instead of "entrepreneurs" and "innovators."

9. Don't ever ask anyone to 'sacrifice.'

"There isn't an American today in November of 2011 who doesn't think they've already sacrificed. If you tell them you want them to 'sacrifice,' they're going to be be pretty angry at you. You talk about how 'we're all in this together.' We either succeed together or we fail together."

10. Always blame Washington.

Tell them, "You shouldn't be occupying Wall Street, you should be occupying Washington. You should occupy the White House because it's the policies over the past few years that have created this problem."

BONUS:

Don't say 'bonus!'

Luntz advised that if they give their employees an income boost during the holiday season, they should never refer to it as a "bonus."

"If you give out a bonus at a time of financial hardship, you're going to make people angry. It's 'pay for performance.'"

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20111201/el_yblog_theticket/how-republicans-are-being-taught-to-talk-about-occupy-wall-street

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Mitsubishi WD-92840

This Mitsubishi WD-92840 is the 92-inch version of the Mitsubishi WD-73840 ($2,599.99, 3 stars) DLP projection HDTV, which we previously reviewed. It's available for $5,999.99 list and stands as one of the largest screens you can readily buy, beating the largest flat panel HDTV, the Sharp Aquos LC-80LE632U, by 12 inches. It supports Vudu and Web-based content, but lacks common Web apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus.

We haven't tested the WD-92840 in the PCMag Labs, but the WD-73840 offered a natural picture that captured a solid movie-watching experience. However, it also suffered from poor black levels and off-axis viewing.

More HDTV reviews:
??? Sony NSX-32GT1 (Google TV)
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??? Mitsubishi WD-73840
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?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/6-MfKDMiD60/0,2817,2396577,00.asp

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

ADATA S101 flash drive brings USB 3.0 speeds, shrugs off shocks and splashes

USB flash drives may not be the hottest tech hardware out there, but that doesn't mean they can't look good. ADATA's latest thumb drive refresh packs the same military-spec rough and tumble credentials of last year's S007, but this time it's guarding some USB 3.0 goodness. While the design of the S107 is nigh-on identical to its predecessor, it's now capable of read speeds of up to 100MB per second. The rubberized storage sticks, available in red and blue, will be available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB sizes, although ADATA is still keeping schtum on pricing and release dates.

Continue reading ADATA S101 flash drive brings USB 3.0 speeds, shrugs off shocks and splashes

ADATA S101 flash drive brings USB 3.0 speeds, shrugs off shocks and splashes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michael Jackson's Family Not Out For 'Revenge'

'There is nothing you can do here today that will bring Michael back,' Joe and Katherine Jackson say in a statement read at Conrad Murray hearing.
By Andrea Duncan-Mao, with reporting by Gil Kaufman


Katherine Jackson arrives at the Los Angeles Superior Court for the sentencing of Dr. Conrad Murray on Tuesday
Photo: Toby Canham/ Getty Images

At Tuesday's (November 29) sentencing hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray — where Michael Jackson's former personal physician received four years in jail for involuntary manslaughter — a statement from Jackson's parents was read in court.

"We still look at each other in disbelief: Is it really possible he is gone? It is simply against the natural order of things," Joe and Katherine Jackson said in the statement, read by Jackson family attorney Brian Panish. "We are not here to seek revenge. There is nothing you can do here today that will bring Michael back."

Do you think Conrad Murray deserved the maximum sentence? Let us know on Facebook.

Along with Katherine, Michael's siblings LaToya, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie were also reportedly in attendance at the hearing.

In regards to the sentence, the family said in the statement: "We respectfully request you impose a sentence that reminds physicians they cannot sell their services to the highest bidder."

The judge agreed, lamenting that due to a new California law to address overcrowding in prisons, he was unable to sentence Murray to state prison. Stating that Murray practiced "horrible medicine" and had "absolutely no remorse," Judge Michael Pastor declined the defense's motion for probation and handed down the stiffest sentence possible — four years — which Murray will most likely serve in a Los Angeles county jail or on home confinement.

Upon leaving the courthouse, Michael's brother Jermaine, when asked if the four-year sentence was enough, shook his head and said, "No." Katherine told local TV station KTLA, "Four years is not enough for someone's life. It won't bring him back. But at least he got the maximum, and I thought the judge was very, very fair."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675068/conrad-murray-sentencing.jhtml

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Ravens can throw down 'hand' gestures

Ravens use their beaks and wings much like humans rely on our hands to make gestures, such as for pointing to an object, scientists now find.

This is the first time researchers have seen gestures used in this way in the wild by animals other than primates.

From the age of 9 to 12 months, human infants often use gestures to direct the attention of adults to objects, or to hold up items so that others can take them. These gestures, produced before children speak their first words, are seen as milestones in the development of human speech.

Dogs and other animals are known to point out items using gestures, but humans trained these animals, and scientists had suggested the natural development of these gestures was normally confined only to primates, said researcher Simone Pika, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany. Even then, comparable gestures are rarely seen in the wild in our closest living relatives, the great apes ? for instance, chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park in Uganda employ so-called directed scratches to indicate distinct spots on their bodies they want groomed.

Still, ravens and their relatives such as crows and magpies have been found to be remarkably intelligent over the years, surpassing most other birds in terms of smarts and even rivaling great apes on some tests.

"(What) I noticed when I encountered ravens for the first time is that they are, contrary to my main focus of research, chimpanzees, a very object-oriented species," Pika said. "It reminded me of my childhood, when my twin brother and I were still little and one of us suddenly regained a favorite toy, which existence both of us had forgotten for a little while. This toy suddenly became the center of interest, fun and competition. Similar things happen, when ravens play with each other and regain objects."

Beak gestures
To see if ravens communicated using gestures, scientists investigated wild ravens in Cumberland Wildpark in Gr?nau, Austria. Each bird was individually tagged to help identify them.

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    2. Ravens throw down 'hand' gestures
    3. Chimpanzees self-medicate with food
    4. Adulterous male birds encourage bad behavior

The researchers saw the ravens use their beaks much like hands to show and offer items such as moss, stones and twigs. These gestures were mostly aimed at members of the opposite sex and often led those gestured at to look at the objects. The ravens then interacted with each other ? for example, by touching or clasping their bills together, or by manipulating the item together. As such, these gestures might be used to gauge the interest of a potential partner or strengthen an already existing bond.

"Most exciting is how a species, which does not represent the prototype of a 'gesturer' because it has wings instead of hands, a strong beak and can fly, makes use of very sophisticated nonvocal signals," Pika told LiveScience.

Origin of gestures
Ravens are known to possess a relatively high degree of cooperation between partners. These findings suggest that gestures evolved in a species that demonstrates a high degree of collaborative abilities, a discovery that might shed light on the origin of gestures within humans.

"Gesture studies have too long focused on communicative skills of primates only," Pika said. "The mystery of the origins of human language, however, can only be solved if we look at the bigger picture and also consider the complexity of the communication systems of other animal groups."

As to whether or not these findings suggest that ravens are smarter than dogs, "I am not an advocate of proposing that a given species is smarter than another one," Pika said. "In my view, all species have adapted to distinct social and ecological settings and niches, and thus, a given species might behave in a distinct situation 'smarter' than another one in the same situation and vice versa. In my opinion, it is much more interesting to investigate why one species can solve a given task better than another one and how and why this behavior evolved."

Pika and her colleagues would like to further explore what other gestures ravens use and what their meaning and function might be. Pika and Thomas Bugnyar detailed their findings online Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2011 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45479506/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Hungary issues Steve Jobs postal sheet, card (AP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary ? Hungary's postal service says it has issued a numbered commemorative sheet incorporating a stamp-sized image of Steve Jobs, in memory of the co-founder of Apple Inc. who died in October.

Magyar Posta said Wednesday that 5,000 copies of the memorial set have been issued, selling for 1,000 forints ($4.40, euro3.30) each.

The sheet includes a perforated portrait of Jobs, while an accompanying card shows silhouettes of some of the inventor's characteristic poses and a quote about Jobs by Erno Rubik, the Hungarian architect who created Rubik's Cube and other mechanical puzzles.

A Budapest software company is planning to unveil a Jobs statue in December.

Jobs died at age 56 on Oct. 5 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The commemorative sheet cannot be used to pay for postage

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_eu/eu_hungary_steve_jobs

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Expanded Gaming in Massachusetts Creates Huge Competition in ...

Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation November 22 permitting casino gambling in Massachusetts. CBS News reports that now Connecticut and Rhode Island are seriously considering legalizing casinos as well to keep up with the increasing competition in New England.

Currently, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority behind the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut is seeking to build a gaming resort?complete with a 600-room hotel and spa, and a casino with slots, table games and poker?in Palmer, Massachusetts. On December 8 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Mohegan Sun will co-host a conference to explore the opportunities for community businesses as a result of new destination casino resorts popping up in Western Massachusetts in the near future. Mohegan Sun planned the conference, Destination Casino Resorts: Opportunities for the Business Community of Western Massachusetts, in partnership with the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, the Massachusetts Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce.

The new law authorizes up to three casinos and one slots parlor in Massachusetts. Other casino developers are currently pursuing casinos in Springfield and Holyoke in Western Massachusetts.

Next year, Rhode Island voters will be asked to answer a ballot question on whether a slot parlor should be made into a full-fledged casino, CBS News reports.

While the Connecticut government cannot project dollar amounts related to the impact from new casinos in Massachusetts, it expects competition to be ?negative for Connecticut?s casinos,? Gian-Carl Casa, spokesman for the state Office of Policy and Management, wrote in an email to CBS News.

Source: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/11/29/expanded-gaming-in-massachusetts-creates-huge-competition-in-new-england-64945

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Bellator 59: ?Pitbull? takes out Pellegrino, Dantas ends Vila?s run

Kurt Pellegrino has retired again. This time it wasn't as voluntary.

The UFC lightweight veteran took a fight with one of the young guns of MMA in Bellator and got waxed.

Patricky "Pitbull" Freire caught Pellegrino with a straight right that dropped him (2:28 mark). When they have someone in trouble, the Pitbull Brothers go for the kill. Patricky jumped on Pellegrino's back and trapped one his arms as he wailed away at the defenseless fighter. Referee Kevin McDonald stopped it, saving Pellegrino from unnecessary damage at the 0:36 mark of the first round.

Pellegrino, 32, retired from active fighting back in May, but couldn't resist the opportunity to fight in his home state when offered the shot with Bellator in Atlantic City, N.J. A native of Point Pleasant, N.J., Pellegrino was 7-5 in the UFC.

In one of the bigger bouts at Bellator 59, Alexis Vila fell short of completing his crazy journey to a tourney title at the age of 40. Vila lost a decision against Eduardo Dantas. Dantas won the Bellator bantamweight tourney and got himself a title shot against Zach Makovsky. Dantas, 22, also took out Ed West and Wilson Reis on his way to the tournament victory.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Bellator-59-8216-Pitbull-8217-takes-out-Pel?urn=mma-wp9960

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Video: AMR Bankruptcy: What's Next?

As long as creditors are secured, they will be able to get their money back, says Basili Alukos, Morningstar equity analyst, who adds that an airline's inventory is expensive and can be sold to repay debt.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45475290/

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ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro


ViewSonic has been in the tablet game for a long time, but its recent efforts have gotten mixed results. The ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro ($599.99 direct) is a business-oriented tablet aimed at vertical markets, where Windows functionality and IT compatibility take precedence. Along the way, it has tweaked and upgraded the tablet, shedding a few of the flaws that held back its predecessor, the ViewSonic ViewPad 10 ($729 list, 2 stars).

Design
The ViewPad 10pro keeps the same form-factor that's now so familiar in the tablet space, consisting of little more than a 10.1-inch capacitive touch screen, with ports and buttons along the edges of the bezel. An integrated light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen, making it brighter when ambient light levels drop. Its 1,024-by-600 resolution falls behind competitors, like the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 ($849 list, 4 stars) (1,280-by-800) and Motion Computing CL900 ($1,125 list, 3.5 stars) (1,366-by-768). What the ViewPad 10pro does have, however, is a full-sized HDMI port, as opposed to the mini-HDMI port found on the Motion CL900. The HDMI port allows you to output 1080p video to an external display, whereas the mini-HDMI port will require you to purchase a mini-HDMI to HDMI port to connect it. While the display is passable, the touch sensitivity isn't as responsive as it should be. I often ran into problems getting my fingers to register any sort of touches when they strayed near the edges of the screen?where all of the scroll bars and close buttons are found.

At 1.79 pounds, the ViewPad 10pro is lighter than its competitors, like the 2.07-pound Acer Iconia Tab W500-BZ467 ($549.99 direct, 3.5 stars), 2.1-pound Motion Computing CL900, and 1.87-pound Fujitsu Q550. The ViewPad 10pro is constructed of aluminum with a glass screen. The aluminum back has a black matte finish, which provides a bit of grip while holding the tablet in one or two hands. However, its thin body (6.7 by 10.7 by 0.58-inches, HWD) doesn't leave a lot of room for heat to escape, hitting temperatures of 97-degrees Fahrenheit (as measured with a Fluke IR thermometer). The warmth can quickly be enough to make you hands sweat, making it more difficult to hold.

The ViewPad 10pro also tweaks the physical controls. The Power, Home, and Back/Undo buttons on the face of the ViewPad have been replaced with four touch-sensitive controls, more typical of Android devices. The new controls include Home and Back/Undo, as well as a button to call up a Control Center utility and a Search button (which might be mistaken for Zoom, as it's labeled with a magnifying glass). Other controls on the ViewPad 10pro include a Power button, Hold button and Volume controls along the top edge of the tablet.

Features
The ViewPad 10pro has a couple of software tweaks worth noting. The first is the keyboard. ViewSonic has ditched the clunky Windows keyboard for Swype, which aims to speed up text entry by letting you zig and zag your finger from one letter to the next, entering entire words in one fluid motion. This function worked smoothly, but it was also tripped up on occasion by the spotty responsiveness of the touch screen.

The second significant software change is the presence of Android. Unlike the previous Viewsonic ViewPad 10, which had dual-boot functionality, the ViewPad 10pro does one better, providing you with Android in Windows 7 (32-bit) via BlueStacks. Instead of requiring you boot into one or the other, BlueStacks allows a virtualized Android 2.3 environment to run in Windows, providing access to the Android interface and apps. Unfortunately, you won't be able to access Android Market, limiting you to apps available through third-parties, such as Amazon.

As mentioned above, the ViewPad 10pro is equipped with a full-size HDMI port, as well as a single USB 2.0 port and a slot for a microSD card. A front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera allows video conferencing, but there is no rear-facing camera. Internally, you'll find 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. On the bottom edge of the tablet is a docking port, but you'll need to purchase the dock separately ($65 street).

The ViewPad 10pro is equipped with a 16GB solid-state drive (SSD), which is fast, and physically small enough to be ideal for a tablet, but its capacity is frustratingly tiny. This is only made worse by the fact that it's running Windows 7, which doesn't leave much room for storage. You'll definitely want to supplement it with a microSD card. Thankfully, ViewSonic hasn't loaded the ViewPad 10pro down with a lot of bloatware. Instead, most of the programs are utilities necessitated by the touch interface, like a touch UI and Web browser from Thinix, and a touch-friendly PDF viewer from Corel, in addition to the BlueStacks and Swype utilities already mentioned. You'll also find a starter version of Microsoft Office 2010 preinstalled.

Performance
ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro The ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro is equipped with a dual-core Intel Atom Z670 processor (1.5GHz). It's the same processor found in the Fujitsu Stytlistic Q550 and Motion Computing CL900. In our Cinebench R11.5 rendering test, which serves as our processor speed benchmark, the ViewPad 10pro scored 0.22 points, beating out the Fujitsu (0.18 points), matching the Motion Computing CL900 (0.22 points), but falling behind the Acer Iconia, which scored 0.39 points with an AMD C-50 processor.

The limited space on the ViewSonic's 16GB SSD left us unable to run either SysMark 2007, our general performance test, or MobileMark 2007, our battery benchmark test. However, testing battery life with a looped video file provides fairly accurate, if anecdotal, results. In our video rundown test, the ViewPad 10pro lasted 4 hours 27 minutes. It beat out the ViewPad 10 consumer model (4:03) and Acer Iconia (3:20), but fell behind the Motion CL900 (7:24) and Fujitsu Q550 (7:42). As with most tablets, the battery in the ViewPad 10pro is sealed inside the chassis and is not accessible to the user.

Though it does introduce a few improvements to the ViewPad line, like the use of Swype and BlueStacks, and a revamped physical control set, the ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro is still a bit of a disappointment. For the business user, the difficulties of an unresponsive touch screen and limited storage space will not only cause frustration, they may hurt the bottom line. A smarter buy would be the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550, which offers similar performance, but a better user experience, along with a swappable longer-lasting battery.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro with several other tablets side by side.

More tablet reviews:
??? ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro
??? T-Mobile Springboard 4G
??? Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet
??? Amazon Kindle Fire
??? HTC Jetstream (AT&T)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/0EZfgJuxknE/0,2817,2396913,00.asp

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Get your Android Central T-shirt yet?

Android Central Shirts

What do you get the Android nerd who has everything? More Android! And we've got a bevy of T-shirts available with everybody's favorite Android Central mascot, Lloyd.

A few things to note: We're selling this crop of shirts at cost -- we're not taking any commission on these initial designs. Premium designs are in the works. And these shirts are 100 percent Lloyd-approved. Accept no substitutes.

So where do you obtain these fine fashion specimens? Just hit up the link below!

Android Central T-shirts now on sale!



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/h79orNljSJE/story01.htm

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Fiesta Bowl's legal bills top $5 million to defend itself

by Craig Harris - Nov. 28, 2011 09:08 PM
The Arizona Republic

The Fiesta Bowl has spent more than $5 million defending itself in local, state and federal investigations since The Arizona Republic nearly two years ago reported that employees said they were illegally reimbursed for making campaign contributions.

The legal bills, disclosed in a civil suit the bowl filed against its insurance carrier, have mounted as the bowl deals with inquiries by the U.S. Department of Justice, the federal Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Election Commission, the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

documentReport citing costs

The legal bills amount to more than one-fifth of the bowl's $22.3 million in net assets as of fiscal 2009-10, according to the most recent records available.

The suit says that since Nov. 15, 2010, the Arizona Attorney General's Office has issued several criminal subpoenas to the Fiesta Bowl demanding that the bowl appear before a state grand jury or produce documents. The suit does not disclose who appeared.

The state's investigation is being run in conjunction with the federal and county inquiries and is ongoing. No one has been charged in the state or county cases.

However, a federal grand jury this month indicted Natalie Wisneski, the bowl's former chief operating officer, alleging her involvement in a cover-up regarding illegal political contributions by bowl employees.

She faces nine charges, including seven felonies, and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

The bowl's civil lawsuit, filed last month in Maricopa County Superior Court, seeks a judgment against Axis Insurance Co. of Georgia to cover the Fiesta Bowl's financial losses incurred by the legal battles.

Axis, which has denied coverage, has not responded to the suit. Messages left at its headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga., were not returned Monday.

Nathan Hochman, the bowl's attorney, could not be reached.

The Fiesta Bowl, a member of the Bowl Championship Series, is operated by four non-profit organizations and will play its annual game Jan. 2 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

The bowl claims Axis should cover its financial losses because all of the investigations "arose from the same wrongful or interrelated wrongful acts."

The suit says the investigations began after The Republic on Dec. 18, 2009, reported that past and present Fiesta Bowl employees said they were encouraged by the bowl to make political contributions and then were allegedly reimbursed. The contributions went to local, state and federal candidates.

Around that time, the Fiesta Bowl, at the urging of its lobbyist, Gary Husk, hired former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods to examine the misconduct allegations. After less than a week of investigation, Woods said his independent review found "no credible evidence that the bowl's management engaged in any type of illegal or unethical conduct."

The State Bar of Arizona said Monday that it is continuing to investigate Husk, who no longer works for the bowl, and Woods. The former attorney general has said he was paid $55,000 for his examination of the bowl, and he gave $20,000 to Husk.

After the Woods investigation, Playoff PAC, a political action committee composed mostly of lawyers who want to dismantle the BCS in favor of a playoff postseason for college football, then filed a complaint with the Arizona Secretary of State. That led the Attorney General's Office to launch a criminal investigation.

In October 2010, the bowl began a new investigation with Minneapolis-based Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. That firm produced a 276-page report in March that alleged widespread financial abuses at the bowl and a cover-up to hide a scheme in which employees were reimbursed for making campaign contributions.

The bowl subsequently fired former Chief Executive John Junker.

The bowl's report was turned over to the Arizona Attorney General, and it has been used in the federal probe and an investigation by the county attorney, who is examining whether elected officials who took gifts from the bowl violated any laws.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said last week that results of his investigation would be released by the end of the year.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has declined to comment on whether anyone else will be charged.

Playoff PAC in September 2010 filed a complaint with the IRS challenging the Fiesta Bowl's non-profit status. And in April 2011, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington, D.C., non-profit organization, filed a complaint with the FEC regarding campaign contributions by bowl employees.

The IRS and FEC investigations are pending, according to the suit.

John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/28/20111128fiesta-bowl-legal-bills.html

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HBT: Signs point to Pujols staying with Cards

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! spoke with an MLB executive who says?he?s ?100 percent certain? Albert Pujols will re-sign with the Cardinals. ?The reason: no one else is really showing interest. At least no one with the kind of money to outbid St. Louis.

I?ve kinda assumed this for a while. It was just bad timing for Pujols to hit the market, with with the Yankees and Red Sox both committing to top-notch first basemen in recent years. ?That left the occasional-spenders out there. Texas. Los Angeles. Detroit. Washington. Maybe the Cubs. Those teams either have a first baseman already or just don?t seem to want to pony up this year.

Albert is going to stay with the Cardinals. He?ll still be very rich. His legacy will be much better for it. And the Cardinals will be a much better team for it, at least for the next several years.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/28/report-its-100-percent-certain-that-pujols-will-stay-with-the-cardinals/related/

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Occupy movements nationwide celebrate Thanksgiving (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Most Americans spent Thanksgiving snug inside homes with families and football. Others used the holiday to give thanks alongside strangers at outdoor Occupy encampments, serving turkey or donating their time in solidarity with the anti-Wall Street movement that has gripped a nation consumed by economic despair.

In San Francisco, 400 occupiers at a plaza in the financial district were served traditional Thanksgiving fixings sent by the renowned Glide Memorial Church to volunteers and supporters of the movement fighting social and economic inequality.

"We are thankful that we are, first and foremost, in a country where we can protest," said the Rev. Cecil Williams, the founder of Glide and a fixture in the city's activist community. "And we are thankful that we believe that there are things that could be worked out and that we have a sense of hope. But we know that hope only comes when you make a stand."

While the celebration remained peaceful in San Francisco, an amplified version of a family Thanksgiving squabble erupted in New York when police ordered a halt to drumming by protesters at an otherwise traditional holiday meal.

About 500 protesters were digging into donated turkey and trimmings at lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park when police told a drummer to drop playing.

About 200 protesters surrounded a group of about 30 officers and began shouting in the park where the Occupy movement was launched Sept. 17.

"Why don't you stop being cops for Thanksgiving?" yelled one protester.

"Why don't you arrest the drummers in the Thanksgiving parade?" hollered another.

A van rolled up with more officers, but they stayed back as protesters eventually decided to call off the drumming and return to their food. Tensions have run high at the park since campers were evicted Nov. 15.

Protester Chris Coon wandered into Zuccotti in a Santa Claus suit with a list of "naughty" people that included former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"Bank of America foreclosed on the North Pole, then I flew here in my sleigh and the NYPD towed my sleigh," Coon said. "So now I'm here in Zuccotti Park protesting the 1 percent."

In San Diego, four Occupy protesters were arrested between midnight and 2 a.m. Thursday at an encampment at the City's Civic Center Plaza, said Officer David Stafford. Three were taken into custody for sleeping overnight in public, while the fourth was arrested for spitting on an officer, Stafford said.

Demonstrators nationwide say they are protesting corporate greed and the concentration of wealth in the upper 1 percent of the American population.

The movement was triggered by the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures, as well as the growing perception that big banks and corporations are not paying their fair share of taxes, yet are taking in huge bonuses while most Americans have seen their incomes drop.

Restaurants and individual donors prepared more than 3,000 meals for the gathering at Zuccotti.

Haywood Carey, 28, of Chapel Hill, N.C., helped serve the meals and said the Thanksgiving celebration was a sign of Americans' shared values.

"The things that divide are much less than the things that bind us together," he said.

In upstate New York, Danny Cashman, 25, an Afghanistan war veteran who works for a company that resells cellphones, said he sleeps at least three nights a week at an encampment in Rochester to show his solidarity with the movement.

"For today, this is my family," Cashman said as he dug into a chicken dinner at the 35-tent encampment in tiny Washington Square Park. "We have a great brotherhood, great friends, a great community."

Pat Mannix, 72, a longtime community activist, dropped off a vegetarian turkey and pies at the camp.

"I give thanks for these young people," she said. "The young people down here are sleeping out in spite of the cold, the wind, the soaking rains, and they are here trying to save democracy."

In Los Angeles, where more than 480 tents have been erected on the lawns of City Hall, activist Teri Adaju, 46, said she typically serves dinner to homeless people on Thanksgiving and knows that many at the Los Angeles encampment were just that.

Still, she added, "Everybody's in good cheer."

In Las Vegas, Occupy protesters had a potluck meal at their campsite near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Organizer Sebring Frehner said he was happy to skip his traditional meal at home.

"Instead of hunkering down with five or six close individuals in your home, people you probably see all of the time anyway, you are celebrating Thanksgiving with many different families ? kind of like the original Thanksgiving," Frehner said.

Trisha Carr, 35, spent her holiday at the Occupy encampment at City Hall in Philadelphia. She has been out of work for more than two years and lost her car and home. She's been living in an Occupy tent for two weeks.

"Some days are harder than others," she said.

The sunny, crisp weather Thursday put her in a good mood, and she watched the annual Thanksgiving parade before coming back to the encampment for a plate full of turkey and fixings.

Carr said her job search has been fruitless, and the government needs to do more to help people like her.

"I had the benefits, I had money in my pocket, I had health care ? I had it all," Carr said. "There should be no reason why people aren't working."

___

Associated Press writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Chris Hawley in New York; Ben Dobbin in Rochester, N.Y; Alicia Chang in Los Angeles; and Cristina Silva in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_re_us/us_occupy_thanksgiving

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