(Reuters) - Popular Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow lost his starting job to newly-acquired Peyton Manning on Tuesday and the National Football League team said a decision on his future has not yet been made.
"We're going through that process now," John Elway, Denver's head of football operations, said at Manning's introductory news conference when asked about Tebow's status.
Tebow became a sports and cultural phenomenon last season when he made up for his poor accuracy throwing the ball with powerful runs and charismatic leadership. He salvaged Denver's season with a six-game winning streak that helped them secure a division title and playoff berth.
But his performance was not enough to keep the Broncos from signing 11-time Pro Bowl quarterback Manning to a reported five-year $96 million contract that would give him the league's top average annual salary.
Tebow, a college-style quarterback whose public displays of religiosity polarized public opinion, became the talk of the NFL and inspired a wide following of fans.
Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback who won two Super Bowls with Denver, said he spoke with Tebow on Monday evening about the possibilities, which include being traded.
"The toughest thing about this whole thing is Tim Tebow because of what I think of Tim Tebow," Elway said.
"The things that he did last year was tremendous and helped turn this organization around from a 4-12 team to a playoff team and winning the division. I've got a great deal of respect for him as a person and the things that he does.
"We just had to make a decision ... what would be the best opportunity for the Denver Broncos to be competitive for a world championship ... and Peyton Manning was that."
INSPIRED FANS
Elway said Tebow was disappointed, but did not say so.
"It was a typical Tim Tebow response in the fact that he was very positive. He said, 'Well, we're talking about Peyton Manning and I understand exactly what you're doing.'
"Now we'll go look at that and see what is the best thing for the Denver Broncos."
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been nike skate shoes men
mentioned as a possible landing spot for Tebow, who rose to fame at the University of Florida, where he won a pair of BCS national championships and the Heisman Trophy as most outstanding college football player.
The Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Green Bay Packers were other teams that have reportedly inquired about Tebow.
After being named Denver's starter last October, Tebow was the talk of the NFL. The phrase 'Tebow Time' was coined to capture the fact that five times his Broncos won games with late comebacks despite his woeful 46.5 percent completion rate.
His post-touchdown, knelt-in-prayer pose - known as "Tebowing" - inspired fans around the world. Many have posted pictures of themselves "Tebowing" on sites such as Tebowing.com.
Manning called Tebow a greatnike sb blazers sale
player, said he has plenty of respect after watching him play last season and would welcome him as a team mate if the Broncos do not trade him.
"If Tim Tebow is here next year I am going to be the best team mate I can be to him, and he and I are going to help this team win games," said Manning.
"If other opportunities present themselves for him I am going to wish him the best. He is going to be a great player wherever he is."
(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)
2012年3月21日星期三
Late Gundogan strike fires Dortmund into cup final
Substitute Ilkay Gundogan hit the winner in the last minute of extra time as German league leaders Borussia nike shoes sanfrancisco
Dortmund beat second division Greuther Fuerth 1-0 in Tuesday's German Cup semi-final.
"It's going to take a while for that goal to sink in, I need to have a sit down in the changing rooms to take it in," admitted the 21-year-old after his 120th-minute winner.
Just seconds before the match went to penalties, Gundogan fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Fuerth's coach switched goalkeepers just two minutes before and Jasmin Fejzic was beaten at the near post.
Dortmund will now face either Borussia Moenchengladbach or Bayern Munich, who meet in Wednesday's other semi-final, in the German Cup final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on May 12.
"I don't care who we play now," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
"We deserved to reach the final, but I had already resigned myself to penalties and I do feel really sorry for the goalkeeper."
Fuerth battled hard throughout at nike store airport
their sold-out Trolli Arena stadium with each one of the 15,500 seats taken as the second-division leaders were denied their first cup final appearance.
Dortmund could have won the game over the 90 minutes as both Japan winger Shinji Kagawa and Germany midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz fired just wide in the second half.
Borussia had the better of the chances with 17 shots on goal after the first 100 minutes compared to the Bavarians' four.
Dortmund will be looking to claim their third German Cup title having last won the trophy in 1989.
In Wednesday's other semi-final, Gladbach host Bayern looking for their third consecutive victory over the Bavarian giants this season.
Gladbach have won both their Bundesliga matches against Bayern this season, a 1-0 victory in Munich on the first day of the season and then a 3-1 home win in January.
Moenchengladbach midfielder Patricknikeid football cleats
Herrman, who scored two of the three goals against Bayern in January, is set for a return against the Bavarians a month after fracturing his collarbone.
Bayern will be without Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger who is working his way back to full fitness after tearing ankle ligaments in February.
Bayern are in fine form having scored 20 goals in their last three games while Gladbach needed a late goal to seal a 2-1 win at Leverkusen on Saturday in the league, the same day Bayern won 6-0 at Hertha Berlin.
Dortmund beat second division Greuther Fuerth 1-0 in Tuesday's German Cup semi-final.
"It's going to take a while for that goal to sink in, I need to have a sit down in the changing rooms to take it in," admitted the 21-year-old after his 120th-minute winner.
Just seconds before the match went to penalties, Gundogan fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Fuerth's coach switched goalkeepers just two minutes before and Jasmin Fejzic was beaten at the near post.
Dortmund will now face either Borussia Moenchengladbach or Bayern Munich, who meet in Wednesday's other semi-final, in the German Cup final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on May 12.
"I don't care who we play now," said Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp.
"We deserved to reach the final, but I had already resigned myself to penalties and I do feel really sorry for the goalkeeper."
Fuerth battled hard throughout at nike store airport
their sold-out Trolli Arena stadium with each one of the 15,500 seats taken as the second-division leaders were denied their first cup final appearance.
Dortmund could have won the game over the 90 minutes as both Japan winger Shinji Kagawa and Germany midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz fired just wide in the second half.
Borussia had the better of the chances with 17 shots on goal after the first 100 minutes compared to the Bavarians' four.
Dortmund will be looking to claim their third German Cup title having last won the trophy in 1989.
In Wednesday's other semi-final, Gladbach host Bayern looking for their third consecutive victory over the Bavarian giants this season.
Gladbach have won both their Bundesliga matches against Bayern this season, a 1-0 victory in Munich on the first day of the season and then a 3-1 home win in January.
Moenchengladbach midfielder Patricknikeid football cleats
Herrman, who scored two of the three goals against Bayern in January, is set for a return against the Bavarians a month after fracturing his collarbone.
Bayern will be without Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger who is working his way back to full fitness after tearing ankle ligaments in February.
Bayern are in fine form having scored 20 goals in their last three games while Gladbach needed a late goal to seal a 2-1 win at Leverkusen on Saturday in the league, the same day Bayern won 6-0 at Hertha Berlin.
2012年3月15日星期四
Assad’s in-box: Alleged emails of Syrian dictator and wife give glimpse into inner circle
As the Syrian death toll continues to mount, countries from around the world have vehemently condemned its leader Bashar al-Assad for prolonging his bloody, year-long crackdown on unrest. But the dictator and his London-born wife Asma al-Assad appear to live in a surreal psychological bubble, insulated from the grotesque violence that has claimed the lives of 8,000 Syrians, according to a cache of some 3,000 alleged emails and documents obtained by Syrian activists and published by the Guardian Wednesday.
The supposed emails portray a dictator both sentimental and sinister. Assad, who allegedly used the email address Sam@alshahba.com according to the hacked emails, took to his iPad to send his wife American country music favorites from iTunes and to search for "America's Got Talent" videos. In addition to the light fare, he also sent out rabidly paranoid articles to his inner circle that accuse the American envoy to Syria of recruiting al-Qaida-linked "Arab 'death squads'" to try to topple him, as the Guardian reports:
Assad's emails reveal his inner fears and suspicions. On 16 October, as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria, Assad circulated from his iPad an article to a list of undisclosed recipients an article alleging that the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was responsible for "recruiting Arab 'death squads' from al-Qaida-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police".
He sent another rabid article to his wife on 23 July that described Rupert Murdoch as a Jew and an Israeli citizen and "pretty much" Satan.
But the dictator, who trained as an eye doctor in the UK before assuming the Syrian presidency from his late father Hafaz al-Assad, also "kept up a flow of personal, loving emails to his wife using the disguised accounts....Sometimes he searched the internet for video clips that impressed him, on one occasion sending her a clip from America's Got Talent of 'the best illusion of all time' — a man appearing to saw another man in half and then putting him back together again, to the delight of the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan," the Guardian wrote.
The hacked emails show his wife Asma al-Assad (who allegedly used the email address ak@alshahba.com), to be mostly obsessed with luxury shopping.
"On 3 February 2012, she was browsing the internet for luxury shoes, according to an email titled "Christian Louboutin shoes coming shortly," the Guardian reports. "Does anything catch your eye" she asks a friend, who responded frankly: "I don't think they're going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately."
The authenticity of the emails has not yet beennikes for cheap
independently verified. The Guardian explains why it believes the emails are genuine, and its extensive efforts to vet them, here.
"Activists say they were passed username and nike outlet park city
password details believed to have been used by the couple by a mole in the president's inner circle," the paper writes. "They say the details allowed girls nike shox
uninterrupted access to the two Inboxes until the leak was discovered in February."
The UN's special envoy to Syria, former UN chief Kofi Annan, recently returned from meeting Assad in Damascus last weekend, and is due to brief the UN Security Council on Syria this Friday.
The supposed emails portray a dictator both sentimental and sinister. Assad, who allegedly used the email address Sam@alshahba.com according to the hacked emails, took to his iPad to send his wife American country music favorites from iTunes and to search for "America's Got Talent" videos. In addition to the light fare, he also sent out rabidly paranoid articles to his inner circle that accuse the American envoy to Syria of recruiting al-Qaida-linked "Arab 'death squads'" to try to topple him, as the Guardian reports:
Assad's emails reveal his inner fears and suspicions. On 16 October, as the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria, Assad circulated from his iPad an article to a list of undisclosed recipients an article alleging that the US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was responsible for "recruiting Arab 'death squads' from al-Qaida-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police".
He sent another rabid article to his wife on 23 July that described Rupert Murdoch as a Jew and an Israeli citizen and "pretty much" Satan.
But the dictator, who trained as an eye doctor in the UK before assuming the Syrian presidency from his late father Hafaz al-Assad, also "kept up a flow of personal, loving emails to his wife using the disguised accounts....Sometimes he searched the internet for video clips that impressed him, on one occasion sending her a clip from America's Got Talent of 'the best illusion of all time' — a man appearing to saw another man in half and then putting him back together again, to the delight of the judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan," the Guardian wrote.
The hacked emails show his wife Asma al-Assad (who allegedly used the email address ak@alshahba.com), to be mostly obsessed with luxury shopping.
"On 3 February 2012, she was browsing the internet for luxury shoes, according to an email titled "Christian Louboutin shoes coming shortly," the Guardian reports. "Does anything catch your eye" she asks a friend, who responded frankly: "I don't think they're going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately."
The authenticity of the emails has not yet beennikes for cheap
independently verified. The Guardian explains why it believes the emails are genuine, and its extensive efforts to vet them, here.
"Activists say they were passed username and nike outlet park city
password details believed to have been used by the couple by a mole in the president's inner circle," the paper writes. "They say the details allowed girls nike shox
uninterrupted access to the two Inboxes until the leak was discovered in February."
The UN's special envoy to Syria, former UN chief Kofi Annan, recently returned from meeting Assad in Damascus last weekend, and is due to brief the UN Security Council on Syria this Friday.
Gingrich: No One Understands Me
PALATINE, Ill. – Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich late Wednesday expressed frustration with both the news media and the Republican Party establishment for failing to understand his “large ideas” for transforming American politics.
As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder following his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama – two states he said he had a chance of winning – the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day Dinner in this Northwestern suburb of Chicago.
“The thing I find most disheartening of this campaign is the difficulty of talking about large ideas on a large scale, because the news media can’t cover it and candidly, my opponents can’t comprehend it,” Gingrich said, while also vowing to continue his campaign to the convention in Tampa this summer.
He called himself the only candidate of the four still in the contest “focused on ideas and … solutions and not just the usual politics” and the only one advocating wholesale change to a political system that is “methodically and deliberately stupid.”
Other parts of his speech covered topics ranging from President Abraham Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad to the anti-fraud system of the American Express credit card company. Gingrich spoke of the need for a “technological revolution” in government, but lamented that no one but him seemed to understand that.
“Let me just talk for a second about technology and grand opportunities,” he said. “Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who’s been able to talk about this. That’s why I’m still running.”
The former House speaker from Georgia has recently focused his campaign on the issue of high gas prices, promising as president to restore them to no more than $2.50 a gallon. But he often also speaks at length on a wide range of topics, covering everything from brain science to space exploration to the need to utilize modern management practices to reform entire sectors of the government.
“I want to be the candidate of science and technology,” he said. “Whether it’s on energy, it’s on stopping crooks in Medicare and Medicaid, it’s on getting into space, which I was ridiculed (for), or it is on helping you makebuy nike air max
sure that your family doesn’t suffer from something that could be avoided.”
And he chided fellow Republicans for failing to see nike outlet albertville mn
the need for a party makeover. The GOP, he said, has been governing like the Democratic Party since 2006, when it lost control of the Congress.
“We cannot be a normal party,” he told the nike shox girls
suburban Republican crowd. “If we run a normal campaign, trying to govern within the framework of the current system, we have no future, because people would rather have Democrats do it. They at least enjoy it.”
As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder following his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama – two states he said he had a chance of winning – the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day Dinner in this Northwestern suburb of Chicago.
“The thing I find most disheartening of this campaign is the difficulty of talking about large ideas on a large scale, because the news media can’t cover it and candidly, my opponents can’t comprehend it,” Gingrich said, while also vowing to continue his campaign to the convention in Tampa this summer.
He called himself the only candidate of the four still in the contest “focused on ideas and … solutions and not just the usual politics” and the only one advocating wholesale change to a political system that is “methodically and deliberately stupid.”
Other parts of his speech covered topics ranging from President Abraham Lincoln promoting the transcontinental railroad to the anti-fraud system of the American Express credit card company. Gingrich spoke of the need for a “technological revolution” in government, but lamented that no one but him seemed to understand that.
“Let me just talk for a second about technology and grand opportunities,” he said. “Other than Ronald Reagan, I know of no Republican in my lifetime who’s been able to talk about this. That’s why I’m still running.”
The former House speaker from Georgia has recently focused his campaign on the issue of high gas prices, promising as president to restore them to no more than $2.50 a gallon. But he often also speaks at length on a wide range of topics, covering everything from brain science to space exploration to the need to utilize modern management practices to reform entire sectors of the government.
“I want to be the candidate of science and technology,” he said. “Whether it’s on energy, it’s on stopping crooks in Medicare and Medicaid, it’s on getting into space, which I was ridiculed (for), or it is on helping you makebuy nike air max
sure that your family doesn’t suffer from something that could be avoided.”
And he chided fellow Republicans for failing to see nike outlet albertville mn
the need for a party makeover. The GOP, he said, has been governing like the Democratic Party since 2006, when it lost control of the Congress.
“We cannot be a normal party,” he told the nike shox girls
suburban Republican crowd. “If we run a normal campaign, trying to govern within the framework of the current system, we have no future, because people would rather have Democrats do it. They at least enjoy it.”
2012年2月12日星期日
Missoula company makes deal to build ocean sensors
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Missoula company is getting a $2.5 million contract to make special sensors invented by a University of Montana professor that will be used to monitor oceans, the National Science Foundation announced.
The contract announced Friday with Sunburst Sensors LLC has the company making 110 of the devices developed by chemistry professor Mike DeGrandpre.
"It's a big thing for Missoula," DeGrandpre said. "We'll be hiring. We just don't really know (how many). We haven't scaled up to this level before."
DeGrandpre started Sunburst Sensors in 1999, the Missoulian reported (http://bit.ly/yWTITS ), but he continues to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Montana. The company is run full-time by Jim Beck, a mechanical engineer who joined Sunburst Sensors in 2005.
"We've really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving our work and getting national recognition," Beck said. "It's going to be a lot of work. There will be some growing pains, but we're definitely excited we were chosen for this."
Over the next three years, the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments will be deployed as part of the 30-year Ocean Observatories Initiative. The sensors, which cost about $22,000 each, are designed to track pH levels and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in water. Officials said most of the sensors will be moored off coastal North America.
DeGrandpre said the company's selection for the contract is recognition that it is building a good product.
"Not getting it financially wouldn't be devastating," he said. "But oceanographers know our company. If we didn't get it, that would signal our technology isn't the best."
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he developed have a pressure housing system and sensor information system that make them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors are also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.
"We can look at small changes in levels from more time and across more space," DeGrandpre said.
The contract announced Friday with Sunburst Sensors LLC has the company making 110 of the devices developed by chemistry professor Mike DeGrandpre.
"It's a big thing for Missoula," DeGrandpre said. "We'll be hiring. We just don't really know (how many). We haven't scaled up to this level before."
DeGrandpre started Sunburst Sensors in 1999, the Missoulian reported (http://bit.ly/yWTITS ), but he continues to work as a chemistry professor at the University of Montana. The company is run full-time by Jim Beck, a mechanical engineer who joined Sunburst Sensors in 2005.
"We've really made a lot of progress over the past several years in proving our work and getting national recognition," Beck said. "It's going to be a lot of work. There will be some growing pains, but we're definitely excited we were chosen for this."
Over the next three years, the Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments will be deployed as part of the 30-year Ocean Observatories Initiative. The sensors, which cost about $22,000 each, are designed to track pH levels and the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in water. Officials said most of the sensors will be moored off coastal North America.
DeGrandpre said the company's selection for the contract is recognition that it is building a good product.
"Not getting it financially wouldn't be devastating," he said. "But oceanographers know our company. If we didn't get it, that would signal our technology isn't the best."
The sensors are part of a plan to better understand ocean acidification, in which bodies of water absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the air.
DeGrandpre said the submersible sensors he developed have a pressure housing system and sensor information system that make them able to collect information more accurately. The sensors are also able to send continuous information through satellite transmitters.
"We can look at small changes in levels from more time and across more space," DeGrandpre said.
More Than Beads: Mardi Gras for Families
There's more to Mardi Gras than beads and boobs, at least if you stay off Bourbon Street.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Though the carnival celebration has long been synonymous with debauchery, the key components of New Orleans Mardi Gras seem to have been dreamed up with kids in mind. Lavish costumes and intricate masks, beautiful floats on parade, music all day long and people throwing treats -- it seems like a vacation tailormade for children. And the good news for parents? Most of the events are free.
But what about the boobs?
They're easy enough to avoid, said Jennifer Day at the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Avoiding the flashers means avoiding Bourbon Street from the weekend before Fat Tuesday, the apex of the celebration, through the day itself. "It's a huge party," she said, "but definitely adults only."
The famous French Quarter consists of more than just Bourbon Street, however, and it doesn't need to be avoided altogether. Families should feel comfortable heading to Jackson Street and Chartres Street, also in the French Quarter, on Fat Tuesday and the days leading up to it to see the incredible costumes. Eileen Ogintz, author of the syndicated family travel column seconded Jackson Square for the "great street performers playing musical instruments and tap dancing."
Cats Play Dress Up for Mardi Gras Watch Video
Mardi Gras in Full Swing Watch Video
When to Go The secret of a truly family-friendly Mardi Gras is to think of the event as a season instead of just a raucous few days. There are plenty of festivities leading up to the big event that are less crowded and far more appropriate for the kids. Weekend parades start two weeks before Fat Tuesday. The parades move to a daily schedule the Wednesday before (Feb. 15 – 21 in 2012). Travelers will also pay less for their hotel rooms by avoiding the peak travel days surrounding the event.
Kid-friendly Attractions For parade viewing, the rule of thumb, says Day, is that the party gets wilder the farther downtown you go. She suggests viewing anywhere from Napoleon Avenue to the Lee Circle roundabout. And if you can get your hands on one of the so-called Mardi Gras ladders, definitely do -- they resemble very tall high-chairs and make it easier for the kids to catch treats being thrown along parade routes.
Be sure to sample a king cake. Readily available in New Orleans and ubiquitous during Mardi Gras, the cake is made of cinnamon-filled dough and baked in a hollow circle and topped with glaze and sugar. There's a tiny plastic baby baked inside. The tradition is that whoever gets the piece of cake with the baby has to buy the next king cake or throw the next party. The baby is said to represent the baby Jesus and is eaten to celebrate King's Day, the start of the Mardi Gras season.
In nearby Jefferson Parish, Family Gras attracts parents and kids -- 80,000 of them in 2011. Family Gras takes place two weekends before Fat Tuesday and includes music acts. This year the Bacon Brothers (as in Kevin Bacon) and the Doodlebops will be there. Fright Night Friday, when families are encouraged to dress up in their scariest costumes, and Sports Saturday, when everyone wears his or her favorite team's colors, are two of the festivities that take place at Family Gras.
Santorum's surge means new strategy for Romney
WASHINGTON (AP) — Staggered by Rick Santorum's surge, Mitt Romney is trying to reset his presidential campaign by defining himself as a strict conservative.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running as a social conservative.
"I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual gathering Friday. It was a speech that, advisers said, Romney viewed as an important chance to speak directly to the conservatives who rejected him in three contests last Tuesday.
He insisted that he is a conservative in both record and background, trying to convince the GOP's skeptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.
He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the GOP base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him skeptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.
Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as having views more in line with their own.
Romney's new message comes as he's trying to prove he can win over a broad spectrum of Republicans. He has yet to win a majority of GOP votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from Super Tuesday, March 6, when 10 states hold nominating contests.
In offering the defense, though, Romney drew attention to the problem he's faced throughout the primary contest.
"I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm severely conservative,'" conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Friday.
Romney's conservative opposition remains divided — the former House speaker has won one state and the former Pennsylvania senator four. But Santorum is suddenly threatening Romney's dominance in states where his team had previously felt comfortable.
This past week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. While Romney's team decided not to compete in Missouri's nonbinding primary and acknowledged early that Minnesota might pose problems, they were much more optimistic about Colorado. Romney spent several days campaigning there ahead of the caucuses, but his team spent just $32,000 on TV ads in the state.
In a sign it's nervous about continued losses, Romney's team abruptly added campaign events in Maine, where results from the caucuses were to be announced Saturday. He also held a town hall in the state Friday night; it was the first event where he took questions from voters since he campaigned in South Carolina in January.
Romney's team is preparing an aggressive push against Santorum in Michigan, where Romney was born and where Romney is a household name and where his advisers had hoped for an easy victory. Romney's father, George, served as governor of Michigan and chairman of American Motors Corp. before mounting a failed bid for president in 1968.
Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of this week's contests. Advisers say that will change, with Romney taking on Santorum's record on union issues during his time in the Senate from heavily unionized Pennsylvania.
Santorum joined a filibuster of a national right-to-work act and voted to defend legislation that sets pay for public sector workers. He defends that record as an issue of states' rights.
Romney has also planned a more aggressive campaign schedule in Michigan in the coming weeks. He plans to stop in Grand Rapids on Wednesday and the Detroit area on Thursday, and stay in the Midwest through the end of the week. He's likely to spend some time campaigning in Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6, Super Tuesday, and is the second Rust Belt state to hold a nominating contest.
Romney's big advantage is money. He and his allies, the super PAC Restore Our Future, have spent a combined $25 million on TV ads to date, helping to drive wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. That dwarfs the $7.1 million Gingrich and his allies have spent on airtime and the $2.5 million Santorum backers have shelled out.
Still, Romney is facing a crush of primaries and caucuses on March 6, when his financial edge will be tested. But he always could add to that himself. He hasn't said if he'll contribute any of his considerable personal fortune to the campaign. In 2008, he spent $45 million.
RalDetroit Symphony webcast sets record for viewers
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit symphony has set what it believes is a record for the most viewers of a live, online performance by a U.S. symphonic group.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said Saturday a Friday performance of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" drew about 15,000 viewers.
New York-based digital media expert Vince Ford told the orchestra live webcasts by other ensembles get about 10,000 viewers.
Detroit symphony officials say about 50,000 people have listened to its webcasts since they started 10 months ago. They credit the recent increase in viewers to partnerships with Russian classical music platform ParaClassics and Detroit Public Television. The concert was simulcast on ParaClassics' website.
The symphony's executive producer of digital me
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said Saturday a Friday performance of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Symphonic Dances" drew about 15,000 viewers.
New York-based digital media expert Vince Ford told the orchestra live webcasts by other ensembles get about 10,000 viewers.
Detroit symphony officials say about 50,000 people have listened to its webcasts since they started 10 months ago. They credit the recent increase in viewers to partnerships with Russian classical music platform ParaClassics and Detroit Public Television. The concert was simulcast on ParaClassics' website.
The symphony's executive producer of digital me
Rag & Bone show: From Brit roots to Asia
NEW YORK (AP) — Rag & Bone designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright put their cool, modern twist on clothes that are classic in the truest sense of the word for their fall collection that debuted Friday at New York Fashion Week.
The British-born designers started with English mainstays, including tweeds, tails and jackets fit for military officers. But a recent trip to India also got them thinking about former British colonies and the traditional dress in those mostly Asian places, they explained backstage before the show.
"We looked at the British Empire and the influence of British culture there," Neville said. Then they saw a reciprocal relationship and how those faraway lands have moved into European fashion, too, he said.
On the runway that meant folded skirts — a particularly nice one done in walnut-colored leather — that was paired with a polo-neck T-shirt and a high-neck, below-the-hip raj jacket, and draped, low-slung dhoti pants with a striped wool biker tailcoat.
The tapestry-style brocade outfits, jazzed up with flashes of silver and copper, were dressier than garments the crowd of stylists, editors and retailers might be used to seeing from Rag & Bone but the silhouettes were in keeping with the theme. The most tempting looks in the chilly, raw space along the Hudson River were the cozy belted blanket coats and wraps.
Backstage had a much warmer feeling, with the designers' young children running around, moving between the models, makeup artists and hairstylists. Wainwright also showed to a select few — including his sons — photos of his new daughter, born Friday morning before he rushed off to do two fashion shows.
"My wife is very understanding," he said.
The British-born designers started with English mainstays, including tweeds, tails and jackets fit for military officers. But a recent trip to India also got them thinking about former British colonies and the traditional dress in those mostly Asian places, they explained backstage before the show.
"We looked at the British Empire and the influence of British culture there," Neville said. Then they saw a reciprocal relationship and how those faraway lands have moved into European fashion, too, he said.
On the runway that meant folded skirts — a particularly nice one done in walnut-colored leather — that was paired with a polo-neck T-shirt and a high-neck, below-the-hip raj jacket, and draped, low-slung dhoti pants with a striped wool biker tailcoat.
The tapestry-style brocade outfits, jazzed up with flashes of silver and copper, were dressier than garments the crowd of stylists, editors and retailers might be used to seeing from Rag & Bone but the silhouettes were in keeping with the theme. The most tempting looks in the chilly, raw space along the Hudson River were the cozy belted blanket coats and wraps.
Backstage had a much warmer feeling, with the designers' young children running around, moving between the models, makeup artists and hairstylists. Wainwright also showed to a select few — including his sons — photos of his new daughter, born Friday morning before he rushed off to do two fashion shows.
"My wife is very understanding," he said.
Blackburn bounce back as QPR downed
Blackburn bounced back from their 7-1 mauling at Arsenal to down fellow strugglers QPR 3-2 on Saturday.
Nigerian international Ayegbeni Yakubu, back in the starting line-up after suspension, fired Rovers ahead on 15 minutes, latching on to a Steven Nzonzi flick-on before rifling a shot past Paddy Kenny.
Rovers took a stranglehold on the game when Nzonzi added a second eight minutes later.
David Hoilett surged into the box and teed up Nzonzi who swept hope emphatically to the delight of the Ewood Park faithful.
It got worse for Rangers on the stroke of half-time as Blackburn went 3-0 up. Scott Dann headed across the area for Hoilett whose shot flew in off QPR's transfer window signing Nedum Onuoha.
Blackburn suffered a setback shortly after half time when the rampant Hoilett suffered an injury and was replaced by Adam Henley.
However the substitution barely disrupted Rovers pressure, and they might have gone 4-0 up soon afterwards only for Yakubu's chip to hit the crossbar.
QPR, without the suspended Djibril Cisse, struggled to create much in attack, with Onuoha squandering a half chance on 65 minutes before Taye Taiwo shot wide.
However the introduction of Jamie Mackie for Akos Buzsaky midway through the half was the cue for a Rangers fightback.
The Scottish international finished from close range to make it 3-1 and could have had another shortly afterwards only to shoot tamely at Paul Robinson.
QPR continued to dominate possession however and both Adel Taarabt and Sean Wright-Phillips had chances to make it 3-2.
Mackie scored in the dying minutes to give Rangers hope but time ran out as Rovers grabbed only their fifth win of the season.
Nigerian international Ayegbeni Yakubu, back in the starting line-up after suspension, fired Rovers ahead on 15 minutes, latching on to a Steven Nzonzi flick-on before rifling a shot past Paddy Kenny.
Rovers took a stranglehold on the game when Nzonzi added a second eight minutes later.
David Hoilett surged into the box and teed up Nzonzi who swept hope emphatically to the delight of the Ewood Park faithful.
It got worse for Rangers on the stroke of half-time as Blackburn went 3-0 up. Scott Dann headed across the area for Hoilett whose shot flew in off QPR's transfer window signing Nedum Onuoha.
Blackburn suffered a setback shortly after half time when the rampant Hoilett suffered an injury and was replaced by Adam Henley.
However the substitution barely disrupted Rovers pressure, and they might have gone 4-0 up soon afterwards only for Yakubu's chip to hit the crossbar.
QPR, without the suspended Djibril Cisse, struggled to create much in attack, with Onuoha squandering a half chance on 65 minutes before Taye Taiwo shot wide.
However the introduction of Jamie Mackie for Akos Buzsaky midway through the half was the cue for a Rangers fightback.
The Scottish international finished from close range to make it 3-1 and could have had another shortly afterwards only to shoot tamely at Paul Robinson.
QPR continued to dominate possession however and both Adel Taarabt and Sean Wright-Phillips had chances to make it 3-2.
Mackie scored in the dying minutes to give Rangers hope but time ran out as Rovers grabbed only their fifth win of the season.
Carrington's Grammy-nominated CD spotlights women
NEW YORK (AP) — Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington couldn't have imagined producing an all-female jazz album like her Grammy-nominated "The Mosaic Project" when she launched her career three decades ago. Back then, she got used to being the only woman on the bandstand.
"The pool of female jazz musicians was not the same before," said Carrington. "But now there's like a surge of younger players ... and that made me feel like I can actually do a project like this."
Over the years, Carrington has helped mentor a new generation of female instrumentalists who have gone beyond the roles of singers and pianists that women traditionally filled in a male-dominated jazz world.
The inspiration for "Mosaic Project" came at the 2007 Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel when Carrington performed in a quartet with Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma, pianist Geri Allen, and bassist Esperanza Spalding.
"I looked up on the stage and there were four women, and it just felt very organic and natural, and I thought maybe I would use it as a nucleus for a group for a recording project," she said.
The 46-year-old Carrington says that having the CD with 21 female performers receive a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album is "just icing on the cake for a project that I did deep from my heart."
"I think people could feel its honesty," said Carrington, speaking by telephone from her home in Medford, Mass. "I wasn't trying to go for any kind of gimmick effect. It was a sincere attempt to just celebrate the really great women in jazz — people that I've been close to over the years."
The album carries its own Grammy pedigree. The featured vocalists include Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Dee Dee Bridgewater, who between them have won more than half of the Grammys awarded in the jazz vocal category over the past 15 years. There's also Spalding, the upset winner over Justin Bieber for best new artist at last year's Grammys, who plays bass on all 14 tracks and sings on two of them, including her own whimsical "Colors."
Carrington says she felt a strong connection with Spalding the first time they played together after meeting six years ago as faculty members at Boston's Berklee College of Music. The drummer performed on Spalding's CD "Chamber Music Society" and the soon-to-be-released "Radio Music Society." They also recently formed a collective trio with Allen that plays open-ended arrangements of jazz standards.
"Terri has played with so many masters from so many different generations, and she carries with her in her sound elements of all of the music that she's been part of," said Spalding, interviewed at last summer's Newport Jazz Festival after leading a band that included Carrington. "Terri's never talking about being a woman or that it's different or harder or easier or anything. She's just a musician's musician."
Carrington's grandfather, who died shortly before she was born, played drums with Gene Ammons and Duke Ellington, among others, and her father was a professional saxophonist. She started playing tenor sax at 5, but at 7 her teeth fell out and she started practicing on her grandfather's drum set in the cellar.
"My father wanted a son to carry on the music tradition in the family so he was very disappointed, but then as soon as I started playing music he was really happy and definitely encouraging," she said.
She gave her first major performance at age 10 at the Wichita Jazz Festival with trumpeter Clark Terry, whose band she joined after receiving a scholarship to Berklee and then moving to New York. In 1989, she released her debut CD, the Grammy-nominated crossover "Real Life Story," with an impressive guest list that included Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr. and Wayne Shorter.
Carrington wouldn't make another album as a leader until 13 years later when she recorded "Jazz Is a Spirit" for a European label. But she built up an impressive resume playing in groups led by Shorter, Danilo Perez and Herbie Hancock as well as high-profile TV gigs on Arsenio Hall's show and the Quincy Jones-produced "Vibe."
She took to heart lessons learned from Jones and Hancock when the opportunity came to produce "Mosaic Project." Carrington selected songs and wrote arrangements to match each singer's personality, assembling a lineup that is cross-generational and cross-cultural.
"I wanted to make a product that had these different colors and styles and shapes come together that felt like one total picture — and that's what inspired the word 'mosaic,'" said Carrington, in an earlier interview at the Newport festival. "I'm a person that likes to play different styles and genres. ... I'm a jazz musician at heart, but I play many R&B and funk gigs."
Carrington also meant the album to spotlight some of the best female jazz musicians of recent decades by featuring vocal arrangements with lots of space for the instrumentalists and three instrumental tracks that she wrote. Besides her Red Sea bandmates, the lineup includes percussionist Sheila E., trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, keyboard player Patrice Rushen, pianist Helen Sung, and Israeli-born clarinetist Anat Cohen.
Cohen places "Mosaic Project" in a historic lineage that includes the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm swing band of the 1940s and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, formed in 1990.
"When I started playing, it was still like,'Oh wow, you're a woman playing jazz,'" said Cohen. "Today it's not a thing anymore. There are definitely way more women out there doing their thing and being accepted by the audience and other musicians."
Carrington insists that "Mosaic Project" shouldn't be seen as any kind of feminist statement. Close your eyes and listen, she says, and "you don't hear gender."
"There's some aggressive qualities and a lot of just beautiful qualities to it. The idea is to be able to be aggressive and seductive at the same time. And that's what a woman can be and has to be in life a lot of times."
"The pool of female jazz musicians was not the same before," said Carrington. "But now there's like a surge of younger players ... and that made me feel like I can actually do a project like this."
Over the years, Carrington has helped mentor a new generation of female instrumentalists who have gone beyond the roles of singers and pianists that women traditionally filled in a male-dominated jazz world.
The inspiration for "Mosaic Project" came at the 2007 Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel when Carrington performed in a quartet with Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma, pianist Geri Allen, and bassist Esperanza Spalding.
"I looked up on the stage and there were four women, and it just felt very organic and natural, and I thought maybe I would use it as a nucleus for a group for a recording project," she said.
The 46-year-old Carrington says that having the CD with 21 female performers receive a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album is "just icing on the cake for a project that I did deep from my heart."
"I think people could feel its honesty," said Carrington, speaking by telephone from her home in Medford, Mass. "I wasn't trying to go for any kind of gimmick effect. It was a sincere attempt to just celebrate the really great women in jazz — people that I've been close to over the years."
The album carries its own Grammy pedigree. The featured vocalists include Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson and Dee Dee Bridgewater, who between them have won more than half of the Grammys awarded in the jazz vocal category over the past 15 years. There's also Spalding, the upset winner over Justin Bieber for best new artist at last year's Grammys, who plays bass on all 14 tracks and sings on two of them, including her own whimsical "Colors."
Carrington says she felt a strong connection with Spalding the first time they played together after meeting six years ago as faculty members at Boston's Berklee College of Music. The drummer performed on Spalding's CD "Chamber Music Society" and the soon-to-be-released "Radio Music Society." They also recently formed a collective trio with Allen that plays open-ended arrangements of jazz standards.
"Terri has played with so many masters from so many different generations, and she carries with her in her sound elements of all of the music that she's been part of," said Spalding, interviewed at last summer's Newport Jazz Festival after leading a band that included Carrington. "Terri's never talking about being a woman or that it's different or harder or easier or anything. She's just a musician's musician."
Carrington's grandfather, who died shortly before she was born, played drums with Gene Ammons and Duke Ellington, among others, and her father was a professional saxophonist. She started playing tenor sax at 5, but at 7 her teeth fell out and she started practicing on her grandfather's drum set in the cellar.
"My father wanted a son to carry on the music tradition in the family so he was very disappointed, but then as soon as I started playing music he was really happy and definitely encouraging," she said.
She gave her first major performance at age 10 at the Wichita Jazz Festival with trumpeter Clark Terry, whose band she joined after receiving a scholarship to Berklee and then moving to New York. In 1989, she released her debut CD, the Grammy-nominated crossover "Real Life Story," with an impressive guest list that included Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr. and Wayne Shorter.
Carrington wouldn't make another album as a leader until 13 years later when she recorded "Jazz Is a Spirit" for a European label. But she built up an impressive resume playing in groups led by Shorter, Danilo Perez and Herbie Hancock as well as high-profile TV gigs on Arsenio Hall's show and the Quincy Jones-produced "Vibe."
She took to heart lessons learned from Jones and Hancock when the opportunity came to produce "Mosaic Project." Carrington selected songs and wrote arrangements to match each singer's personality, assembling a lineup that is cross-generational and cross-cultural.
"I wanted to make a product that had these different colors and styles and shapes come together that felt like one total picture — and that's what inspired the word 'mosaic,'" said Carrington, in an earlier interview at the Newport festival. "I'm a person that likes to play different styles and genres. ... I'm a jazz musician at heart, but I play many R&B and funk gigs."
Carrington also meant the album to spotlight some of the best female jazz musicians of recent decades by featuring vocal arrangements with lots of space for the instrumentalists and three instrumental tracks that she wrote. Besides her Red Sea bandmates, the lineup includes percussionist Sheila E., trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, keyboard player Patrice Rushen, pianist Helen Sung, and Israeli-born clarinetist Anat Cohen.
Cohen places "Mosaic Project" in a historic lineage that includes the all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm swing band of the 1940s and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, formed in 1990.
"When I started playing, it was still like,'Oh wow, you're a woman playing jazz,'" said Cohen. "Today it's not a thing anymore. There are definitely way more women out there doing their thing and being accepted by the audience and other musicians."
Carrington insists that "Mosaic Project" shouldn't be seen as any kind of feminist statement. Close your eyes and listen, she says, and "you don't hear gender."
"There's some aggressive qualities and a lot of just beautiful qualities to it. The idea is to be able to be aggressive and seductive at the same time. And that's what a woman can be and has to be in life a lot of times."
Rio calm in second day of police strike
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Few police officers have adhered to a strike just days before this city's world-famous Carnival kicks off, official said Saturday.
Col. Robson Rodrigues da Silva, the administrative chief of staff of Rio de Janeiro state's police force, told reporters that the city's streets were "calm and the number of police officers that have joined the strike is very low."
Silva didn't say how many of the state's 58,000 police and firefighters had adhered to the strike. Union officials said that anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent were expected to join.
The work stoppage started Friday despite legislative approval of a 39 percent pay raise to be staggered over this year and the next.
Silva attributed the low adherence rate to the "energetic measures adopted to make sure the strike does not affect Rio's peace and tranquility especially now with Carnival just a few days away."
He said 17 police officers have been arrested for joining the strike movement and inciting others to follow them. Top police officials say police are not legally able to strike, but that question is being debated in Brazil's court system.
A police strike could be disastrous for Brazil's Carnival celebration, the world's largest. It draws about 800,000 tourists every year.
Carnival starts officially next Friday, but massive street parties that can draw up to 2 million people to the streets have already kicked off the merry maelstrom that consumes this city every summer. Rio's Carnival pumps more than $500 million into the city's economy annually.
"I am certain that Carnival will be held with complete tranquility," federal Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told reporters. "The government is ready to send in troops if necessary."
The government has said about 14,000 soldiers were ready to patrol the streets at the request of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, who has said that so far they are not needed.
Meanwhile, a police strike in Salvador, Brazil's third largest city, entered its 12th day with strikers expected to hold an assembly to decide if the work stoppage will continue, said G1, Globo TV's Internet portal.
Salvador's Carnival is Brazil's second largest, and while officials vow it will go on, many visitors have canceled their trips to the city.
The strike sparked an immediate spike in violence, with murder rates more than doubling since the strike started last Tuesday. The murders, as well as a rash of shop lootings and holdups, have scared tourists away from Salvador in the run-up to the city's iconic Carnival festivities.
Col. Robson Rodrigues da Silva, the administrative chief of staff of Rio de Janeiro state's police force, told reporters that the city's streets were "calm and the number of police officers that have joined the strike is very low."
Silva didn't say how many of the state's 58,000 police and firefighters had adhered to the strike. Union officials said that anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent were expected to join.
The work stoppage started Friday despite legislative approval of a 39 percent pay raise to be staggered over this year and the next.
Silva attributed the low adherence rate to the "energetic measures adopted to make sure the strike does not affect Rio's peace and tranquility especially now with Carnival just a few days away."
He said 17 police officers have been arrested for joining the strike movement and inciting others to follow them. Top police officials say police are not legally able to strike, but that question is being debated in Brazil's court system.
A police strike could be disastrous for Brazil's Carnival celebration, the world's largest. It draws about 800,000 tourists every year.
Carnival starts officially next Friday, but massive street parties that can draw up to 2 million people to the streets have already kicked off the merry maelstrom that consumes this city every summer. Rio's Carnival pumps more than $500 million into the city's economy annually.
"I am certain that Carnival will be held with complete tranquility," federal Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told reporters. "The government is ready to send in troops if necessary."
The government has said about 14,000 soldiers were ready to patrol the streets at the request of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, who has said that so far they are not needed.
Meanwhile, a police strike in Salvador, Brazil's third largest city, entered its 12th day with strikers expected to hold an assembly to decide if the work stoppage will continue, said G1, Globo TV's Internet portal.
Salvador's Carnival is Brazil's second largest, and while officials vow it will go on, many visitors have canceled their trips to the city.
The strike sparked an immediate spike in violence, with murder rates more than doubling since the strike started last Tuesday. The murders, as well as a rash of shop lootings and holdups, have scared tourists away from Salvador in the run-up to the city's iconic Carnival festivities.
Webinar-Sean McKay, VP of Business Development at American IRA-A National Provider of Self Directed IRAs, Invites All To ‘The ABCs of Self-Direction’ on February 15th
Sean McKay, VP of Business Development at American IRA-a National Provider of Self Directed IRAs, invites all to a free Webinar 'ABCs of Self-Direction' on February 15th. This is a basic webinar designed for those that would like to learn about Self-Directed IRAs.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 11, 2012
Sean McKay, VP of Business Development at American IRA-a National Provider of Self Directed IRAs, invites all to a free Webinar 'ABCs of Self-Direction' on February 15th. This is a basic webinar designed for those that would like to learn about Self-Directed IRAs.
Sean McKay says, "This is our 'basics' presentation for those looking to learn about the flexibility available to them within Self-directed IRAs. We provide these webinars free of charge as part of our mission to educate the public that their retirement account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more!"
Here are just some of the many topics that will be covered in this webinar:
*Benefits of Self-Direction
*Freedom to invest in what you know and understand
*Possible IRA Investments
-Real Estate
-Tax Lien Certificates
-Private Placements
-Precious Metals
-And more..
*Investment Restrictions
*People Restrictions
*Types of IRAs and who they are for
*Investing in Real Estate
*Options if you are short on funds
*Account funding options
Cost: These webinars are open to the public and free to all!
About:
American IRA, LLC was established in 2004 by James C. Hitt in Asheville, NC.
The mission of American IRA is to provide the highest level of customer service in the self directed retirement industry. Mr. Hitt and his team have grown the company to over $250 million in assets under administration by educating the public that their self-directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more!
To learn more about American IRA, LLC and self-directed IRAs/self-directed Solo 401(k)s, please contact our office at 1-866-7500-IRA(472).
As a self-directed IRA administrator they are a neutral third party. They do not make any recommendations to any person or entity associated with investments of any type (including financial representatives, investment promoters or companies, or employees, agents or representatives associated with these firms ). They are not responsible for and are not bound by any statements, representations, warranties or agreements made by any such person or entity and do not provide any recommendation on the quality profitability or reputability of any investment, individual or company. The term "they" refers to American IRA, located in Asheville, NC.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) February 11, 2012
Sean McKay, VP of Business Development at American IRA-a National Provider of Self Directed IRAs, invites all to a free Webinar 'ABCs of Self-Direction' on February 15th. This is a basic webinar designed for those that would like to learn about Self-Directed IRAs.
Sean McKay says, "This is our 'basics' presentation for those looking to learn about the flexibility available to them within Self-directed IRAs. We provide these webinars free of charge as part of our mission to educate the public that their retirement account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more!"
Here are just some of the many topics that will be covered in this webinar:
*Benefits of Self-Direction
*Freedom to invest in what you know and understand
*Possible IRA Investments
-Real Estate
-Tax Lien Certificates
-Private Placements
-Precious Metals
-And more..
*Investment Restrictions
*People Restrictions
*Types of IRAs and who they are for
*Investing in Real Estate
*Options if you are short on funds
*Account funding options
Cost: These webinars are open to the public and free to all!
About:
American IRA, LLC was established in 2004 by James C. Hitt in Asheville, NC.
The mission of American IRA is to provide the highest level of customer service in the self directed retirement industry. Mr. Hitt and his team have grown the company to over $250 million in assets under administration by educating the public that their self-directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more!
To learn more about American IRA, LLC and self-directed IRAs/self-directed Solo 401(k)s, please contact our office at 1-866-7500-IRA(472).
As a self-directed IRA administrator they are a neutral third party. They do not make any recommendations to any person or entity associated with investments of any type (including financial representatives, investment promoters or companies, or employees, agents or representatives associated with these firms ). They are not responsible for and are not bound by any statements, representations, warranties or agreements made by any such person or entity and do not provide any recommendation on the quality profitability or reputability of any investment, individual or company. The term "they" refers to American IRA, located in Asheville, NC.
Palin, in CPAC Speech, Pushes for Extended GOP Primary
Former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Saturday gave her full-throated support to an extended GOP presidential primary, arguing that a long race will help, not hurt, the eventual nominee.
Her comments, made during a high-profile appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, rebuts the concerns of many Republicans that a longer primary will hurt the party’s eventual nominee in the fall against President Obama.
“As if competition weakens our nominee,” said Palin, whose well-received speech was routinely interrupted by applause from a boisterous audience. “Yet in America we believe competition strengthens us. Competition elevates our game. Competition leads us to victory in 2012.”
The ex-governor of Alaska didn’t mention any of the candidates still seeking the nomination by name, much less offer an endorsement. But she did urge the audience to pick a candidate “who can instinctively turn right to constitutional conservative principles.”
“It’s too late to teach it or to spin it,” she said. “It’s either there or it isn’t.”
The call for an “instinctive” conservative seems like an implicit criticism of Mitt Romney, whose past support for gay and abortion rights, and signing of a Massachusetts law requiring individuals to buy health insurance, have convinced some Republicans that he is a moderate at heart.
Palin, whose endorsement is one of the most prized in the GOP, has been coy toward the GOP race: She’s praised former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but stopped short of an official endorsement. Her husband, Todd, has endorsed
Her comments, made during a high-profile appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, rebuts the concerns of many Republicans that a longer primary will hurt the party’s eventual nominee in the fall against President Obama.
“As if competition weakens our nominee,” said Palin, whose well-received speech was routinely interrupted by applause from a boisterous audience. “Yet in America we believe competition strengthens us. Competition elevates our game. Competition leads us to victory in 2012.”
The ex-governor of Alaska didn’t mention any of the candidates still seeking the nomination by name, much less offer an endorsement. But she did urge the audience to pick a candidate “who can instinctively turn right to constitutional conservative principles.”
“It’s too late to teach it or to spin it,” she said. “It’s either there or it isn’t.”
The call for an “instinctive” conservative seems like an implicit criticism of Mitt Romney, whose past support for gay and abortion rights, and signing of a Massachusetts law requiring individuals to buy health insurance, have convinced some Republicans that he is a moderate at heart.
Palin, whose endorsement is one of the most prized in the GOP, has been coy toward the GOP race: She’s praised former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but stopped short of an official endorsement. Her husband, Todd, has endorsed
More Remains Found in Calif. With Killer's Help
Authorities searching with the help of a convicted serial killer found more human remains Saturday — the first bones discovered at an abandoned well on a cattle ranch where a death row inmate claimed 10 or more victims may be buried, authorities said.
The discovery marked the third straight day that remains were found with a map prepared by Wesley Shermantine. He and his childhood friend, Loren Herzog, were called the "Speed Freak Killers" for a methamphetamine-fueled killing spree that had as many as 15 victims.
Two sets of remains had been found Thursday and Friday near property once owned by Shermantine's family about 60 miles south of Sacramento.
The latest remains were found after crews dug slowly through 30 feet of soot and debris at the well near Linden, Calif., said San Joaquin County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Les Garcia.
It was not clear whether they belonged to one or more people, and Garcia said they had not yet been identified.
The search was called off after dark Saturday, but was set to resume Sunday.
Dental records identified remains found Thursday in Calaveras County as those of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, Garcia said. Authorities were awaiting the results of a DNA analysis to confirm the identification, Garcia said.
Cyndi Vanderheiden's father, John Vanderheiden, said he was almost sure the remains are those of his daughter, who disappeared in 1998.
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AP
FILE - In this undated file photo provided by... View Full Caption
"There will be closure after that," he said.
The remains found Friday have not been identified, but Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler's parents believe they are those of their 16-year-old daughter. Wheeler's parents said they were notified that the remains were found in a spot where Shermantine said their daughter was buried after she disappeared in 1985.
"They said they found her wrapped in a blanket," Paula Wheeler, the girl's mother, told The Associated Press by phone from the family's home in Crossville, Tenn. "This is a happy day. We can finally have some closure."
Shermantine recently agreed to disclose the locations of bodies in return for a bounty hunter's offer of $33,000.
He is giving hand-drawn maps to authorities, who are focusing on the spot where Saturday's remains were found, though layers of backfill were making excavation difficult.
Shermantine was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death. Herzog was convicted of three murders and sentenced to 77 years to life in prison, though that was later reduced to 14 years. An appeals court tossed his first-degree murder convictions after ruling his confession was illegally obtained.
Herzog was paroled in 2010 to a trailer outside the High Desert State Prison in Susanville. He committed suicide outside that trailer last month after Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla told him Shermantine was disclosing the location of the well along with two other locations.
Padilla has promised to pay Shermantine as much as $33,000 to disclose the locations of the bodies. He said he hopes to collect on rewards being offered by the state of California for information about several missing persons suspected of being victims of Herzog and Shermantine.
Shermantine has said he wants the money to pay off an $18,000 restitution order that prevents him from buying the limited luxuries like candy bars that inmates with money in their accounts can afford. He also said he want to buy headstones for his deceased parents.
The discovery marked the third straight day that remains were found with a map prepared by Wesley Shermantine. He and his childhood friend, Loren Herzog, were called the "Speed Freak Killers" for a methamphetamine-fueled killing spree that had as many as 15 victims.
Two sets of remains had been found Thursday and Friday near property once owned by Shermantine's family about 60 miles south of Sacramento.
The latest remains were found after crews dug slowly through 30 feet of soot and debris at the well near Linden, Calif., said San Joaquin County sheriff's spokesman Deputy Les Garcia.
It was not clear whether they belonged to one or more people, and Garcia said they had not yet been identified.
The search was called off after dark Saturday, but was set to resume Sunday.
Dental records identified remains found Thursday in Calaveras County as those of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, Garcia said. Authorities were awaiting the results of a DNA analysis to confirm the identification, Garcia said.
Cyndi Vanderheiden's father, John Vanderheiden, said he was almost sure the remains are those of his daughter, who disappeared in 1998.
null
AP
FILE - In this undated file photo provided by... View Full Caption
"There will be closure after that," he said.
The remains found Friday have not been identified, but Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler's parents believe they are those of their 16-year-old daughter. Wheeler's parents said they were notified that the remains were found in a spot where Shermantine said their daughter was buried after she disappeared in 1985.
"They said they found her wrapped in a blanket," Paula Wheeler, the girl's mother, told The Associated Press by phone from the family's home in Crossville, Tenn. "This is a happy day. We can finally have some closure."
Shermantine recently agreed to disclose the locations of bodies in return for a bounty hunter's offer of $33,000.
He is giving hand-drawn maps to authorities, who are focusing on the spot where Saturday's remains were found, though layers of backfill were making excavation difficult.
Shermantine was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death. Herzog was convicted of three murders and sentenced to 77 years to life in prison, though that was later reduced to 14 years. An appeals court tossed his first-degree murder convictions after ruling his confession was illegally obtained.
Herzog was paroled in 2010 to a trailer outside the High Desert State Prison in Susanville. He committed suicide outside that trailer last month after Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla told him Shermantine was disclosing the location of the well along with two other locations.
Padilla has promised to pay Shermantine as much as $33,000 to disclose the locations of the bodies. He said he hopes to collect on rewards being offered by the state of California for information about several missing persons suspected of being victims of Herzog and Shermantine.
Shermantine has said he wants the money to pay off an $18,000 restitution order that prevents him from buying the limited luxuries like candy bars that inmates with money in their accounts can afford. He also said he want to buy headstones for his deceased parents.
Obama attack-ad touts free condoms in 2012 race [VIDEO]
Democrats moved Saturday to make contraception an issue in the 2012 election by releasing a video attack-ad that portrays opposition to the White House’s proposed regulation of churches as a GOP-led effort to deny free contraception to all women.
The ad shows President Barack Obama speaking on Feb. 10 saying that his revised church regulation would ensure “the insurance company, not the [church-run] hospital, not the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge, without copays, and without hassles.”
The Democratic National Committee ad next shows a stark message on a black screen: “The Republicans want to take that right away … who do you think think should make decisions about contraception? You or your employer?”
Unmarried women lean Democratic, partly because of the Democrats’ support for federal aid. In contrast, married women lean Republican, partly because of Republican aid and applause for families.
The same message showed up on Obama’s campaign website, where a Feb. 10 headline described Obama’s Feb. 10 message as “Moving Forward with Contraceptive Coverage”.
The 70-second attack-ad came the day after a variety of religious groups decried Obama’s Feb. 10 announcement that he would require insurance companies to provide free contraceptive services and abortion-related drugs to the religious groups’ employees.
The announcement was a symbolic side-step by Obama around his controversial Jan. 20 regulation.
The regulation — which is based on the 2010 Obamacare health-sector law — said religious congregations would be fined by the state if they did not use their own money to buy services and drugs they abhor.
The new attack-ad marks a White House effort to recover from the resulting controversy.
The opposition came from Catholic, evangelical, Baptist and Jewish denominations, civil-liberties groups, establishment media, plus most Republicans and some Democratic legislators. A Rasmussen poll, for example, showed that 65 percent of Catholics opposed Obama’s insurance directive to religious groups. That number matters because it could indicate much lower support support among Midwestern white Catholics and Southern Hispanic Catholics.
Under the Feb. 10 sidestep, Obama simply declared that the cost of the birth-control services was zero so religious groups would not have to pay for these services their insurance company provided to their employees.
Many progressive organizations lauded the president’s revised semantics.The Washington Post, for example, described the maneuver as an “effort by the White House to walk a careful middle line that would retain the support of women’s groups and liberal lawmakers… while easing tensions with Catholic critics, who reacted with cautious optimism and even praise to the shift.”
The Catholic Church criticized the Feb. 10 announcement, saying it sidestepped their worries about the Jan. 20 regulation.
The opposition to the regulations is spurred by critics’ charges that it is a progressive effort to use the power of the state to regulate their religious groups.
Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, which operates the largest chain of abortion clinics in the country, was repeatedly invited to lobby for the regulations at the White House in the months leading up the Jan. 20 announcement.
Democrats have been trying to portray the church regulation as a health-care mandate and as a dispute between Obama and the Catholic bishops.
This spin has been partly successful because many media outlets portray the dispute as an effort by the Catholic Church to curb contraception.
However, this portrayal hides the broad opposition among many religious groups to the federal directive, and it downplays the White House’s ideological and political calculations.
Those ideological priorities were highlighted in early February when a White House official said that they had no idea how many women would be aided by the requirement that church pay for contraceptive and birth-control services that they abhor.
Only a small proportion of American women work in church-run facilities that do not cover contraception and abortion services. Contraceptive services, however can be bought on the free market — there are few regulations limiting access — and the government also subsidizes birth-control services.
For example, the government spent $1.85 billion on Title X services in 2006, according to an August 2011 report by Planned Parenthood. Most of that spending is done via Medicare, which provides cheap or free contraceptives to poor women.
Critics’ skepticism of the White House’s motives were also boosted by the timing of the Jan 20 announcement that churches would have to pay for contraception and abortion-related drugs. The announcement came only two days before the Jan. 22 anti-abortion “March For Life” in Washington, D.C.
The ad shows President Barack Obama speaking on Feb. 10 saying that his revised church regulation would ensure “the insurance company, not the [church-run] hospital, not the charity, will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge, without copays, and without hassles.”
The Democratic National Committee ad next shows a stark message on a black screen: “The Republicans want to take that right away … who do you think think should make decisions about contraception? You or your employer?”
Unmarried women lean Democratic, partly because of the Democrats’ support for federal aid. In contrast, married women lean Republican, partly because of Republican aid and applause for families.
The same message showed up on Obama’s campaign website, where a Feb. 10 headline described Obama’s Feb. 10 message as “Moving Forward with Contraceptive Coverage”.
The 70-second attack-ad came the day after a variety of religious groups decried Obama’s Feb. 10 announcement that he would require insurance companies to provide free contraceptive services and abortion-related drugs to the religious groups’ employees.
The announcement was a symbolic side-step by Obama around his controversial Jan. 20 regulation.
The regulation — which is based on the 2010 Obamacare health-sector law — said religious congregations would be fined by the state if they did not use their own money to buy services and drugs they abhor.
The new attack-ad marks a White House effort to recover from the resulting controversy.
The opposition came from Catholic, evangelical, Baptist and Jewish denominations, civil-liberties groups, establishment media, plus most Republicans and some Democratic legislators. A Rasmussen poll, for example, showed that 65 percent of Catholics opposed Obama’s insurance directive to religious groups. That number matters because it could indicate much lower support support among Midwestern white Catholics and Southern Hispanic Catholics.
Under the Feb. 10 sidestep, Obama simply declared that the cost of the birth-control services was zero so religious groups would not have to pay for these services their insurance company provided to their employees.
Many progressive organizations lauded the president’s revised semantics.The Washington Post, for example, described the maneuver as an “effort by the White House to walk a careful middle line that would retain the support of women’s groups and liberal lawmakers… while easing tensions with Catholic critics, who reacted with cautious optimism and even praise to the shift.”
The Catholic Church criticized the Feb. 10 announcement, saying it sidestepped their worries about the Jan. 20 regulation.
The opposition to the regulations is spurred by critics’ charges that it is a progressive effort to use the power of the state to regulate their religious groups.
Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, which operates the largest chain of abortion clinics in the country, was repeatedly invited to lobby for the regulations at the White House in the months leading up the Jan. 20 announcement.
Democrats have been trying to portray the church regulation as a health-care mandate and as a dispute between Obama and the Catholic bishops.
This spin has been partly successful because many media outlets portray the dispute as an effort by the Catholic Church to curb contraception.
However, this portrayal hides the broad opposition among many religious groups to the federal directive, and it downplays the White House’s ideological and political calculations.
Those ideological priorities were highlighted in early February when a White House official said that they had no idea how many women would be aided by the requirement that church pay for contraceptive and birth-control services that they abhor.
Only a small proportion of American women work in church-run facilities that do not cover contraception and abortion services. Contraceptive services, however can be bought on the free market — there are few regulations limiting access — and the government also subsidizes birth-control services.
For example, the government spent $1.85 billion on Title X services in 2006, according to an August 2011 report by Planned Parenthood. Most of that spending is done via Medicare, which provides cheap or free contraceptives to poor women.
Critics’ skepticism of the White House’s motives were also boosted by the timing of the Jan 20 announcement that churches would have to pay for contraception and abortion-related drugs. The announcement came only two days before the Jan. 22 anti-abortion “March For Life” in Washington, D.C.
Rio calm in 2nd day of police strike
IO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Few police officers have adhered to a strike just days before this city's world-famous Carnival kicks off, official said Saturday.
Col. Robson Rodrigues da Silva, the administrative chief of staff of Rio de Janeiro state's police force, told reporters that the city's streets were "calm and the number of police officers that have joined the strike is very low."
Silva didn't say how many of the state's 58,000 police and firefighters had adhered to the strike. Union officials said that anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent were expected to join.
The work stoppage started Friday despite legislative approval of a 39 percent pay raise to be staggered over this year and the next.
Silva attributed the low adherence rate to the "energetic measures adopted to make sure the strike does not affect Rio's peace and tranquility especially now with Carnival just a few days away."
He said 17 police officers have been arrested for joining the strike movement and inciting others to follow them. Top police officials say police are not legally able to strike, but that question is being debated in Brazil's court system.
A police strike could be disastrous for Brazil's Carnival celebration, the world's largest. It draws about 800,000 tourists every year.
Carnival starts officially next Friday, but massive street parties that can draw up to 2 million people to the streets have already kicked off the merry maelstrom that consumes this city every summer. Rio's Carnival pumps more than $500 million into the city's economy annually.
"I am certain that Carnival will be held with complete tranquility," federal Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told reporters. "The government is ready to send in troops if necessary."
The government has said about 14,000 soldiers were ready to patrol the streets at the request of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, who has said that so far they are not needed.
Meanwhile, a police strike in Salvador, Brazil's third largest city, entered its 12th day with strikers expected to hold an assembly to decide if the work stoppage will continue, said G1, Globo TV's Internet portal.
Salvador's Carnival is Brazil's second largest, and while officials vow it will go on, many visitors have canceled their trips to the city.
The strike sparked an immediate spike in violence, with murder rates more than doubling since the strike started last Tuesday. The murders, as well as a rash of shop lootings and holdups, have scared tourists away from Salvador in the run-up to the city's iconic Carnival festivities.
Col. Robson Rodrigues da Silva, the administrative chief of staff of Rio de Janeiro state's police force, told reporters that the city's streets were "calm and the number of police officers that have joined the strike is very low."
Silva didn't say how many of the state's 58,000 police and firefighters had adhered to the strike. Union officials said that anywhere from 50 percent to 70 percent were expected to join.
The work stoppage started Friday despite legislative approval of a 39 percent pay raise to be staggered over this year and the next.
Silva attributed the low adherence rate to the "energetic measures adopted to make sure the strike does not affect Rio's peace and tranquility especially now with Carnival just a few days away."
He said 17 police officers have been arrested for joining the strike movement and inciting others to follow them. Top police officials say police are not legally able to strike, but that question is being debated in Brazil's court system.
A police strike could be disastrous for Brazil's Carnival celebration, the world's largest. It draws about 800,000 tourists every year.
Carnival starts officially next Friday, but massive street parties that can draw up to 2 million people to the streets have already kicked off the merry maelstrom that consumes this city every summer. Rio's Carnival pumps more than $500 million into the city's economy annually.
"I am certain that Carnival will be held with complete tranquility," federal Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo told reporters. "The government is ready to send in troops if necessary."
The government has said about 14,000 soldiers were ready to patrol the streets at the request of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, who has said that so far they are not needed.
Meanwhile, a police strike in Salvador, Brazil's third largest city, entered its 12th day with strikers expected to hold an assembly to decide if the work stoppage will continue, said G1, Globo TV's Internet portal.
Salvador's Carnival is Brazil's second largest, and while officials vow it will go on, many visitors have canceled their trips to the city.
The strike sparked an immediate spike in violence, with murder rates more than doubling since the strike started last Tuesday. The murders, as well as a rash of shop lootings and holdups, have scared tourists away from Salvador in the run-up to the city's iconic Carnival festivities.
2012年2月10日星期五
Holiday Party Survival Tips for Guys From Pat Neely
Pat and Gina Neely's "The Neelys' Celebration Cookbook" is shown. Ben Fink, published by Knopf
Pat and Gina Neely, the starring husband and wife team of “Down Home with the Neelys” on the Food Network, decided to focus on where their love of food started — entertaining guests at home. Known for celebrating life’s smallest holidays and accomplishments, the two have plenty of experience in making parties wonderful for both hosts and guests. In their latest cookbook, “The Neelys’ Celebration Cookbook,” they include party inspiration, holiday menus, and a ton of new recipes. Read the excerpt below as Pat Neely gives his survival tips for men for holiday stress. Or, check out their delicious BBQ Shrimp recipe that’s the perfect New Years Eve appetizer.
Pat’s Top Ten Party Tips for Guys
To me, throwing a party is kind of like getting ready for a trip. You’ve got to pack and prepare your house to go away, which may feel overwhelming, but once you get to the vacation site, it’s paradise. It’s been that way for years in our house. I don’t think Gina knows how to do a subtle celebration (in my opinion, just like my mom!), and she’s not indecisive— she knows what she wants. So, in light of my years of experience helping Gina, I’ve got some tips for the guys out there like me.
1. If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
2. Hands off the guest list. In our household, I have input on about 10 percent of the list! (And that’s fine with me. Gina rules the party anyway, and always invites people I enjoy.)
3. Be prepared to do all of the “Honey Do”s. (“Honey, do this. . . . Honey, get the box out of the car. . . . Honey, get the grocery list. . . .”)
4. Inform all your golf buddies to give you a rain check. Forget it, no golf.
5. Put your weightlifting belt on. There’s going to be some heavy lifting.
6. The best reply: “Yes, dear” (and with a smile!). Guys, it’s much easier to say yes than no,” and what follows when you say yes is so much better.
7. Restock your bar, because you may need a drink before the guests arrive.
8. Designate a personal corner. Every time we have a big family gathering, I find myself a peaceful corner after the party is really going, so I can just observe, and sometimes— most of the time— it is a true joy to admire the loved ones around me. Seize that moment. (I also do a head count, so I can tell Gina how many folks she really invited, or how many showed up. Two Thanksgivings ago, I counted fifty- seven people: I’ve got five siblings, Gina has four, there were mothers, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and then the third of the group that was unrelated but whom we still call family. I have toyed with the idea of installing a turnstile just so I don’t have to keep counting.)
9. Try to avoid segregating the women and the men. Gina hates it when the guys are watching a game upstairs, so she’ll come up and remind them to get downstairs and mingle (Super Bowl and March Madness being the exceptions to this rule).
10. Start to clean up before the party is over. If you start picking up and taking the trash out, you’ll usually find that two or three people will pitch in, and then the others will feel guilty and ask how they can help.
Excerpted from The Neelys’ Celebration Cookbook by Pat and Gina Neely. Copyright © 2011 by Pat and Gina Neely. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Pat and Gina Neely, the starring husband and wife team of “Down Home with the Neelys” on the Food Network, decided to focus on where their love of food started — entertaining guests at home. Known for celebrating life’s smallest holidays and accomplishments, the two have plenty of experience in making parties wonderful for both hosts and guests. In their latest cookbook, “The Neelys’ Celebration Cookbook,” they include party inspiration, holiday menus, and a ton of new recipes. Read the excerpt below as Pat Neely gives his survival tips for men for holiday stress. Or, check out their delicious BBQ Shrimp recipe that’s the perfect New Years Eve appetizer.
Pat’s Top Ten Party Tips for Guys
To me, throwing a party is kind of like getting ready for a trip. You’ve got to pack and prepare your house to go away, which may feel overwhelming, but once you get to the vacation site, it’s paradise. It’s been that way for years in our house. I don’t think Gina knows how to do a subtle celebration (in my opinion, just like my mom!), and she’s not indecisive— she knows what she wants. So, in light of my years of experience helping Gina, I’ve got some tips for the guys out there like me.
1. If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
2. Hands off the guest list. In our household, I have input on about 10 percent of the list! (And that’s fine with me. Gina rules the party anyway, and always invites people I enjoy.)
3. Be prepared to do all of the “Honey Do”s. (“Honey, do this. . . . Honey, get the box out of the car. . . . Honey, get the grocery list. . . .”)
4. Inform all your golf buddies to give you a rain check. Forget it, no golf.
5. Put your weightlifting belt on. There’s going to be some heavy lifting.
6. The best reply: “Yes, dear” (and with a smile!). Guys, it’s much easier to say yes than no,” and what follows when you say yes is so much better.
7. Restock your bar, because you may need a drink before the guests arrive.
8. Designate a personal corner. Every time we have a big family gathering, I find myself a peaceful corner after the party is really going, so I can just observe, and sometimes— most of the time— it is a true joy to admire the loved ones around me. Seize that moment. (I also do a head count, so I can tell Gina how many folks she really invited, or how many showed up. Two Thanksgivings ago, I counted fifty- seven people: I’ve got five siblings, Gina has four, there were mothers, cousins, nieces, and nephews, and then the third of the group that was unrelated but whom we still call family. I have toyed with the idea of installing a turnstile just so I don’t have to keep counting.)
9. Try to avoid segregating the women and the men. Gina hates it when the guys are watching a game upstairs, so she’ll come up and remind them to get downstairs and mingle (Super Bowl and March Madness being the exceptions to this rule).
10. Start to clean up before the party is over. If you start picking up and taking the trash out, you’ll usually find that two or three people will pitch in, and then the others will feel guilty and ask how they can help.
Excerpted from The Neelys’ Celebration Cookbook by Pat and Gina Neely. Copyright © 2011 by Pat and Gina Neely. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Video: Little Girl’s Adorably Evil Laugh
You’ll never believe the maniacal laugh that comes out of this adorable, one-and-a-half year old.
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström of Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström of Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
Obama Wears Indonesian Garb To East Asia Summit Dinner
BALI, Indonesia — After nixing the tradition of wearing festive local garb at the APEC summit in Hawaii this past weekend, President Obama got on board at the East Asia Summit in Bali, joining his counterparts in wearing an embroidered Indonesian dress shirt to dinner Friday night.
Just five days ago, Obama explained his decision to end the practice of wearing matching costumes at APEC. “I got rid of the Hawaiian shirts because I looked at pictures of some of the previous APEC meetings and… I thought this may be a tradition that we might want to break,” he said at a press conference in Hawaii.
Obama, the first U.S. president to attend the East Asia Summit, arrived at dinner Friday in an ornate green dress shirt with orange accents. The other leaders wore similar shirts in a variety of colors.
Earlier today the president said he was pleased to be attending the summit for the first time. “This is another example of how the United States is refocusing on the Asia Pacific, and engaging more deeply in regional organizations, so we can meet our common challenges together,” Obama said following a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian president.
Just five days ago, Obama explained his decision to end the practice of wearing matching costumes at APEC. “I got rid of the Hawaiian shirts because I looked at pictures of some of the previous APEC meetings and… I thought this may be a tradition that we might want to break,” he said at a press conference in Hawaii.
Obama, the first U.S. president to attend the East Asia Summit, arrived at dinner Friday in an ornate green dress shirt with orange accents. The other leaders wore similar shirts in a variety of colors.
Earlier today the president said he was pleased to be attending the summit for the first time. “This is another example of how the United States is refocusing on the Asia Pacific, and engaging more deeply in regional organizations, so we can meet our common challenges together,” Obama said following a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian president.
Child Discipline: Divide and Conquer
My husband and I were raised very differently when it comes to discipline. He has vague memories of his much older sister being forced to sit at the dinner table until she either fell asleep or ate the food on her plate, but he himself has no recollection of this type of severe discipline. In fact, I joke around that he was left to raise himself and his parents were just fortunate that he made the right choices and turned out well. My home, however, operated a bit differently. There was the fear of God, the fear of “the switch” (a stick from the lilac bush that sat on top of the fridge, peeking out to remind us it was there), and the fear of things that we loved being taken away. I have yet to find out if the wrath of God is real, but I can say for certain that the switch made only the rare appearance and my entire Barbie collection survived my naughty childhood.
To complicate things further, before becoming a parent I taught middle school. I learned how to discipline based on my interactions with a room of thirty plus tweens, some of whom not only talked back but cursed in my face. While the tantrums of a twelve year old and those of a two year old are sometimes similar, I can’t exactly send my children to the discipline office every time they act out.
My first child turned out to love order and discipline as much as her very calm father, so I got used to parenting while living inside a pretty unusual reality. My daughter rarely threw a tantrum and chose to do the “right” thing without even being told most of the time. I have to admit – my husband and I became lazy parents. We didn’t need to install child safety anything, perfect our “you’re in time out” voice, or even learn to effectively count to three (does that evenwork?), then just for fun God sent us our son. He is me to his very core. His eyes flash when he’s about to do something naughty like knock over his sister’s favorite something, and his tantrums can last for hours. HOURS.
This is when we figured out that sometimes parents need to divide and conquer. My husband’s patience matches our daughter’s, so when she launches into one of her nearly tween diatribes, he is able to listen calmly and speak with her in their very rational language without acting from a place of frustration. Likewise, when our son’s anger wells up and he is about to explode, I am the one who has been there, done that and can slide in to diffuse the ticking time bomb. We’ve not only found that my husband is better at dealing with our daughter while I’m better at dealing with our son, but we’ve also found that the kids tolerate a different level of discipline from each of us.
When I had my first child, my brother suggested that I go ahead and put my name on the Supernanny waiting list. While I don’t think we need her – I hope we don’t! – I’m not sure that she would approve of our divide and conquer philosophy. With a little luck, she won’t read this…
To complicate things further, before becoming a parent I taught middle school. I learned how to discipline based on my interactions with a room of thirty plus tweens, some of whom not only talked back but cursed in my face. While the tantrums of a twelve year old and those of a two year old are sometimes similar, I can’t exactly send my children to the discipline office every time they act out.
My first child turned out to love order and discipline as much as her very calm father, so I got used to parenting while living inside a pretty unusual reality. My daughter rarely threw a tantrum and chose to do the “right” thing without even being told most of the time. I have to admit – my husband and I became lazy parents. We didn’t need to install child safety anything, perfect our “you’re in time out” voice, or even learn to effectively count to three (does that evenwork?), then just for fun God sent us our son. He is me to his very core. His eyes flash when he’s about to do something naughty like knock over his sister’s favorite something, and his tantrums can last for hours. HOURS.
This is when we figured out that sometimes parents need to divide and conquer. My husband’s patience matches our daughter’s, so when she launches into one of her nearly tween diatribes, he is able to listen calmly and speak with her in their very rational language without acting from a place of frustration. Likewise, when our son’s anger wells up and he is about to explode, I am the one who has been there, done that and can slide in to diffuse the ticking time bomb. We’ve not only found that my husband is better at dealing with our daughter while I’m better at dealing with our son, but we’ve also found that the kids tolerate a different level of discipline from each of us.
When I had my first child, my brother suggested that I go ahead and put my name on the Supernanny waiting list. While I don’t think we need her – I hope we don’t! – I’m not sure that she would approve of our divide and conquer philosophy. With a little luck, she won’t read this…
Child Discipline: Divide and Conquer
My husband and I were raised very differently when it comes to discipline. He has vague memories of his much older sister being forced to sit at the dinner table until she either fell asleep or ate the food on her plate, but he himself has no recollection of this type of severe discipline. In fact, I joke around that he was left to raise himself and his parents were just fortunate that he made the right choices and turned out well. My home, however, operated a bit differently. There was the fear of God, the fear of “the switch” (a stick from the lilac bush that sat on top of the fridge, peeking out to remind us it was there), and the fear of things that we loved being taken away. I have yet to find out if the wrath of God is real, but I can say for certain that the switch made only the rare appearance and my entire Barbie collection survived my naughty childhood.
To complicate things further, before becoming a parent I taught middle school. I learned how to discipline based on my interactions with a room of thirty plus tweens, some of whom not only talked back but cursed in my face. While the tantrums of a twelve year old and those of a two year old are sometimes similar, I can’t exactly send my children to the discipline office every time they act out.
My first child turned out to love order and discipline as much as her very calm father, so I got used to parenting while living inside a pretty unusual reality. My daughter rarely threw a tantrum and chose to do the “right” thing without even being told most of the time. I have to admit – my husband and I became lazy parents. We didn’t need to install child safety anything, perfect our “you’re in time out” voice, or even learn to effectively count to three (does that evenwork?), then just for fun God sent us our son. He is me to his very core. His eyes flash when he’s about to do something naughty like knock over his sister’s favorite something, and his tantrums can last for hours. HOURS.
This is when we figured out that sometimes parents need to divide and conquer. My husband’s patience matches our daughter’s, so when she launches into one of her nearly tween diatribes, he is able to listen calmly and speak with her in their very rational language without acting from a place of frustration. Likewise, when our son’s anger wells up and he is about to explode, I am the one who has been there, done that and can slide in to diffuse the ticking time bomb. We’ve not only found that my husband is better at dealing with our daughter while I’m better at dealing with our son, but we’ve also found that the kids tolerate a different level of discipline from each of us.
When I had my first child, my brother suggested that I go ahead and put my name on the Supernanny waiting list. While I don’t think we need her – I hope we don’t! – I’m not sure that she would approve of our divide and conquer philosophy. With a little luck, she won’t read this…
To complicate things further, before becoming a parent I taught middle school. I learned how to discipline based on my interactions with a room of thirty plus tweens, some of whom not only talked back but cursed in my face. While the tantrums of a twelve year old and those of a two year old are sometimes similar, I can’t exactly send my children to the discipline office every time they act out.
My first child turned out to love order and discipline as much as her very calm father, so I got used to parenting while living inside a pretty unusual reality. My daughter rarely threw a tantrum and chose to do the “right” thing without even being told most of the time. I have to admit – my husband and I became lazy parents. We didn’t need to install child safety anything, perfect our “you’re in time out” voice, or even learn to effectively count to three (does that evenwork?), then just for fun God sent us our son. He is me to his very core. His eyes flash when he’s about to do something naughty like knock over his sister’s favorite something, and his tantrums can last for hours. HOURS.
This is when we figured out that sometimes parents need to divide and conquer. My husband’s patience matches our daughter’s, so when she launches into one of her nearly tween diatribes, he is able to listen calmly and speak with her in their very rational language without acting from a place of frustration. Likewise, when our son’s anger wells up and he is about to explode, I am the one who has been there, done that and can slide in to diffuse the ticking time bomb. We’ve not only found that my husband is better at dealing with our daughter while I’m better at dealing with our son, but we’ve also found that the kids tolerate a different level of discipline from each of us.
When I had my first child, my brother suggested that I go ahead and put my name on the Supernanny waiting list. While I don’t think we need her – I hope we don’t! – I’m not sure that she would approve of our divide and conquer philosophy. With a little luck, she won’t read this…
Video: Little Girl's Adorably Evil Laugh
You’ll never believe the maniacal laugh that comes out of this adorable, one-and-a-half year old.
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström, a photographer from Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström, a photographer from Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
Brain Imaging Captures Female Orgasm in Action
Rutgers researchers have peeked inside the brain during one of the body’s most private sensations – orgasm.
Psychology professor Barry Komisaruk and colleagues captured the crescendo of brain activity in a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging snapshots taken over seven minutes. They then transformed the images into a colorful animation – the brighter the color, the more activated the brain is.
“We’re looking at the sequence of brain regions that get recruited at increasing intensity leading up to orgasm,” said Komisaruk. “It’s such a compelling behavioral and sensory phenomenon with so many implications and so little understanding.”
The brain belongs to Nan Wise – a 54-year-old sex therapist turned Rutgers PhD student.
“When I first started grad school in ’80s, we didn’t have these methods,” said Wise, who went back to school four years ago. “Now we can study how the brain is recruiting these regions to create the big bang of orgasm.”
When Wise reaches orgasm, almost every area of her brain is activated.
“Secondary to an epileptic seizure, there’s no bigger brain networking event,” said Wise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to examine the connectivity of the brain.”
By understanding the events in the brain that lead to orgasm, Wise and Komisaruk hope to find clues about what might be going wrong in the 25 percent of women who rarely or never have one.
“Where does the blockage occur?” said Komisaruk. “To understand how to get around that could be tremendously useful.”
But Wise, who is both a scientist and a sexual woman, appreciates the intricacies of intimacy.
“I think the caveat is understanding that sexuality is very complex,” said Wise, describing the physical, psychological and emotional components of orgasm. “Theoretically, it’s going be helpful to know how things work. And perhaps at some point we might be able to see where something’s breaking down.”
Understanding orgasm could also have implications for treating pain.
“A lot of the same regions involved in pleasure are involved in pain, and we haven’t been able to suss out how those systems work yet,” said Wise.
The study of sexuality continues to be controversial, according to Justin Garcia, a developmental biologist at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
“But we need to keep researching love and sex,” said Justin Garcia, a developmental biologist at the Kinsey Institute. “They’re the most consistent human experiences on this planet.”
Garcia says studying sex in the lab (or a noisy MRI machine) doesn’t take away the magic in the bedroom.
“It’s kind of like knowing all the ingredients in a wonderful dessert,” he said.
By normalizing sexuality as a valid thing to study, Wise hopes people become more willing to discuss it.
“We need to get over discomfort of talking about sex,” she said. “It’s good for us!”
Wise said the video of her brain during orgasm draws its share of giggles.
“I think it’s OK to chuckle,” said Garcia. “First it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think really hard.”
Psychology professor Barry Komisaruk and colleagues captured the crescendo of brain activity in a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging snapshots taken over seven minutes. They then transformed the images into a colorful animation – the brighter the color, the more activated the brain is.
“We’re looking at the sequence of brain regions that get recruited at increasing intensity leading up to orgasm,” said Komisaruk. “It’s such a compelling behavioral and sensory phenomenon with so many implications and so little understanding.”
The brain belongs to Nan Wise – a 54-year-old sex therapist turned Rutgers PhD student.
“When I first started grad school in ’80s, we didn’t have these methods,” said Wise, who went back to school four years ago. “Now we can study how the brain is recruiting these regions to create the big bang of orgasm.”
When Wise reaches orgasm, almost every area of her brain is activated.
“Secondary to an epileptic seizure, there’s no bigger brain networking event,” said Wise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to examine the connectivity of the brain.”
By understanding the events in the brain that lead to orgasm, Wise and Komisaruk hope to find clues about what might be going wrong in the 25 percent of women who rarely or never have one.
“Where does the blockage occur?” said Komisaruk. “To understand how to get around that could be tremendously useful.”
But Wise, who is both a scientist and a sexual woman, appreciates the intricacies of intimacy.
“I think the caveat is understanding that sexuality is very complex,” said Wise, describing the physical, psychological and emotional components of orgasm. “Theoretically, it’s going be helpful to know how things work. And perhaps at some point we might be able to see where something’s breaking down.”
Understanding orgasm could also have implications for treating pain.
“A lot of the same regions involved in pleasure are involved in pain, and we haven’t been able to suss out how those systems work yet,” said Wise.
The study of sexuality continues to be controversial, according to Justin Garcia, a developmental biologist at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
“But we need to keep researching love and sex,” said Justin Garcia, a developmental biologist at the Kinsey Institute. “They’re the most consistent human experiences on this planet.”
Garcia says studying sex in the lab (or a noisy MRI machine) doesn’t take away the magic in the bedroom.
“It’s kind of like knowing all the ingredients in a wonderful dessert,” he said.
By normalizing sexuality as a valid thing to study, Wise hopes people become more willing to discuss it.
“We need to get over discomfort of talking about sex,” she said. “It’s good for us!”
Wise said the video of her brain during orgasm draws its share of giggles.
“I think it’s OK to chuckle,” said Garcia. “First it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think really hard.”
Brain Imaging Captures Female Orgasm in Action
Rutgers researchers have peeked inside the brain during one of the body’s most private sensations – orgasm.
Psychology professor Barry Komisaruk and colleagues captured the crescendo of brain activity in a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging snapshots taken over seven minutes. They then transformed the images into a colorful animation – the brighter the color, the more activated the brain is.
“We’re looking at the sequence of brain regions that get recruited at increasing intensity leading up to orgasm,” said Komisaruk. “It’s such a compelling behavioral and sensory phenomenon with so many implications and so little understanding.”
The brain belongs to Nan Wise – a 54-year-old sex therapist turned Rutgers PhD student.
“When I first started grad school in ’80s, we didn’t have these methods,” said Wise, who went back to school four years ago. “Now we can study how the brain is recruiting these regions to create the big bang of orgasm.”
When Wise reaches orgasm, almost every area of her brain is activated.
“Secondary to an epileptic seizure, there’s no bigger brain networking event,” said Wise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to examine the connectivity of the brain.”
By understanding the events in the brain that lead to orgasm, Wise and Komisaruk hope to find clues about what might be going wrong in the 25 percent of women who rarely or never have one.
“Where does the blockage occur?” said Komisaruk. “To understand how to get around that could be tremendously useful.”
But Wise, who is both a scientist and a sexual woman, appreciates the intricacies of intimacy.
“I think the caveat is understanding that sexuality is very complex,” said Wise, describing the physical, psychological and emotional components of orgasm. “Theoretically, it’s going be helpful to know how things work. And perhaps at some point we might be able to see where something’s breaking down.”
Understanding orgasm could also have implications for treating pain.
“A lot of the same regions involved in pleasure are involved in pain, and we haven’t been able to suss out how those systems work yet,” said Wise.
The study of sexuality continues to be controversial, according to Justin Garcia, an evolutionary biologist at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
“But we need to keep researching love and sex,” said Garcia. “They’re the most consistent human experiences on this planet.”
Garcia says studying sex in the lab (or a noisy MRI machine) doesn’t take away the magic in the bedroom.
“It’s kind of like knowing all the ingredients in a wonderful dessert,” he said.
By normalizing sexuality as a valid thing to study, Wise hopes people become more willing to discuss it.
“We need to get over discomfort of talking about sex,” she said. “It’s good for us!”
Wise said the video of her brain during orgasm draws its share of giggles.
“I think it’s OK to chuckle,” said Garcia. “First it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think really hard.”
Psychology professor Barry Komisaruk and colleagues captured the crescendo of brain activity in a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging snapshots taken over seven minutes. They then transformed the images into a colorful animation – the brighter the color, the more activated the brain is.
“We’re looking at the sequence of brain regions that get recruited at increasing intensity leading up to orgasm,” said Komisaruk. “It’s such a compelling behavioral and sensory phenomenon with so many implications and so little understanding.”
The brain belongs to Nan Wise – a 54-year-old sex therapist turned Rutgers PhD student.
“When I first started grad school in ’80s, we didn’t have these methods,” said Wise, who went back to school four years ago. “Now we can study how the brain is recruiting these regions to create the big bang of orgasm.”
When Wise reaches orgasm, almost every area of her brain is activated.
“Secondary to an epileptic seizure, there’s no bigger brain networking event,” said Wise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to examine the connectivity of the brain.”
By understanding the events in the brain that lead to orgasm, Wise and Komisaruk hope to find clues about what might be going wrong in the 25 percent of women who rarely or never have one.
“Where does the blockage occur?” said Komisaruk. “To understand how to get around that could be tremendously useful.”
But Wise, who is both a scientist and a sexual woman, appreciates the intricacies of intimacy.
“I think the caveat is understanding that sexuality is very complex,” said Wise, describing the physical, psychological and emotional components of orgasm. “Theoretically, it’s going be helpful to know how things work. And perhaps at some point we might be able to see where something’s breaking down.”
Understanding orgasm could also have implications for treating pain.
“A lot of the same regions involved in pleasure are involved in pain, and we haven’t been able to suss out how those systems work yet,” said Wise.
The study of sexuality continues to be controversial, according to Justin Garcia, an evolutionary biologist at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
“But we need to keep researching love and sex,” said Garcia. “They’re the most consistent human experiences on this planet.”
Garcia says studying sex in the lab (or a noisy MRI machine) doesn’t take away the magic in the bedroom.
“It’s kind of like knowing all the ingredients in a wonderful dessert,” he said.
By normalizing sexuality as a valid thing to study, Wise hopes people become more willing to discuss it.
“We need to get over discomfort of talking about sex,” she said. “It’s good for us!”
Wise said the video of her brain during orgasm draws its share of giggles.
“I think it’s OK to chuckle,” said Garcia. “First it makes you laugh, and then it makes you think really hard.”
10 Year Old Joyrider Wreaks Havoc, But Cops Like Him
A 10-year-old boy sneaked into a Florida impound lot, stole a pickup truck, led police on a brief chase, and knocked down a utility pole, which then set a house on fire.
The arresting officer said the pint-sized joy rider was “one of the nicest” kids he ever arrested.
“Maybe he had a need for speed,” said Eatonville Police spokesman Sgt. Eric McIntyre.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday when police received a call about a child who appeared to be stealing a truck, McIntyre said. The boy, who has not been identified by police, somehow climbed the lot’s 10-foot chain link fence and hopped in one of the cars.
Eatonville police arrived on foot, assuming the 10 year old wasn’t capable of driving. To their surprise, the boy mowed down the fence and “drove away into an adjacent field,” McIntyre said. “Then he entered into the roadway,” where he was motoring along at 40 mph.
“It was almost like a movie, I couldn’t believe it,” David Brock, an eyewitness, told ABC News affiliate WFTV. ”You have nothing else to do but to jump into a car and wreak havoc? I mean, wow!”
The boy’s joyride came to an end two blocks later, McIntyre said, when he crashed into a utility pole, knocking a power line onto a home, causing it to catch on fire.
“I believe it was an electrical-type fire on the outside of the house,” McIntyre said, adding that nothing on the inside of the home was damaged.
The truck, however, sustained an estimated $4,000 in damages according to the Eatonville Public Works facility that owned it.
Police don’t know how the boy found the keys. But they did find out how he learned to drive.
“Word on the street — and word from grandma — is she taught him how to drive,” said McIntyre. “She taught him how to drive tractors in the farm and drive around in the field that she owns.”
The boy lives with his mother in the tiny town of Eatonville, and his grandmother lives in Georgia, McIntrye said.
After the boy wrecked the pickup truck, he tried to run away on foot, but the chief of police arrested and cuffed him about a block and a half later.
The state attorney’s office has 30 days to file charges which could include burglary of a vehicle, grand theft in the third degree and resisting an officer.
“With a juvenile there is a very broad array of decisions that can be made,” said Danielle Tavernier, a spokesperson for the Orange and Osceola County State Attorney’s Office, who expects to receive the paperwork on this case soon. “They take a lot of things into consideration — criminal history, age, family, if they have parents to go home to.”
At his age, McIntyre said, “you can’t really lock him up.” It’s more likely he’ll be asked to participate in “a diversion program to teach right and wrong … just to keep him good and straight for six months to a year.”
Despite the boy’s expensive scrape, police said he was far more polite than most kids who get in trouble.
“This young man was very, very extremely cooperative,” said McIntyre. “He had no attitude and he was very pleasant. I can only tell you that was one of the nicest children I’ve ever come in contact with that has ever committed any kind of act like that.”
The arresting officer said the pint-sized joy rider was “one of the nicest” kids he ever arrested.
“Maybe he had a need for speed,” said Eatonville Police spokesman Sgt. Eric McIntyre.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. Wednesday when police received a call about a child who appeared to be stealing a truck, McIntyre said. The boy, who has not been identified by police, somehow climbed the lot’s 10-foot chain link fence and hopped in one of the cars.
Eatonville police arrived on foot, assuming the 10 year old wasn’t capable of driving. To their surprise, the boy mowed down the fence and “drove away into an adjacent field,” McIntyre said. “Then he entered into the roadway,” where he was motoring along at 40 mph.
“It was almost like a movie, I couldn’t believe it,” David Brock, an eyewitness, told ABC News affiliate WFTV. ”You have nothing else to do but to jump into a car and wreak havoc? I mean, wow!”
The boy’s joyride came to an end two blocks later, McIntyre said, when he crashed into a utility pole, knocking a power line onto a home, causing it to catch on fire.
“I believe it was an electrical-type fire on the outside of the house,” McIntyre said, adding that nothing on the inside of the home was damaged.
The truck, however, sustained an estimated $4,000 in damages according to the Eatonville Public Works facility that owned it.
Police don’t know how the boy found the keys. But they did find out how he learned to drive.
“Word on the street — and word from grandma — is she taught him how to drive,” said McIntyre. “She taught him how to drive tractors in the farm and drive around in the field that she owns.”
The boy lives with his mother in the tiny town of Eatonville, and his grandmother lives in Georgia, McIntrye said.
After the boy wrecked the pickup truck, he tried to run away on foot, but the chief of police arrested and cuffed him about a block and a half later.
The state attorney’s office has 30 days to file charges which could include burglary of a vehicle, grand theft in the third degree and resisting an officer.
“With a juvenile there is a very broad array of decisions that can be made,” said Danielle Tavernier, a spokesperson for the Orange and Osceola County State Attorney’s Office, who expects to receive the paperwork on this case soon. “They take a lot of things into consideration — criminal history, age, family, if they have parents to go home to.”
At his age, McIntyre said, “you can’t really lock him up.” It’s more likely he’ll be asked to participate in “a diversion program to teach right and wrong … just to keep him good and straight for six months to a year.”
Despite the boy’s expensive scrape, police said he was far more polite than most kids who get in trouble.
“This young man was very, very extremely cooperative,” said McIntyre. “He had no attitude and he was very pleasant. I can only tell you that was one of the nicest children I’ve ever come in contact with that has ever committed any kind of act like that.”
Breast Cancer: FDA Revokes Avastin Approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it will revoke the approval of Avastin for breast cancer, citing a lack of evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the agency's accelerated approval program, which offers patients early access to promising drugs while confirmatory clinical trials are carried out.
"Unfortunately the additional studies failed to confirm Avastin's initial promise," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said today.
The additional studies, carried out by Avastin maker Genentech, found only a small effect on tumor growth and no evidence that patients lived longer than they would taking standard chemotherapy. Because the drug can cause severe high blood pressure, bleeding, heart failure and perforations in the nose, stomach and intestines, an FDA advisory panel in June recommended revoking its approval.
The recommendation triggered an outcry from breast cancer patients who say Avastin slowed their disease.
"I want every available weapon in my arsenal as I fight this devastating disease," Priscilla Howard, a metastic breast cancer patient who had been taking Avastin for more than two years ,urged the panel.
But without a reliable indicator of which women with breast cancer might benefit, Hamburg said she was unable to leave it on the market for that use.
"I feel deeply for these women who are seeking therapies that may work for them," she said, adding that she was speaking as a doctor and a woman. "Sometimes despite the hopes of investigators, patients, industry and even the FDA itself, the results of rigorous testing can be disappointing."
The drug will remain on the market for treatment of other cancers, which means breast cancer patients can use it off-label.
"If an individual patient sits down with their physician and goes over the risks and benefits and wants to continue, that is a decision that they can make," said Hamburg.
However, the FDA decision could free up insurers to deny coverage of the drug, which can cost up to $100,000 a year. In June, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said Medicare would continue to cover Avastin for breast cancer treatment even if the FDA withdrew its approval.
A spokeswoman for Genentech said the decision was disappointing, but insisted the company would continue working to optimize Avastin and identify breast cancer patients most likely to benefit.
"Despite today's action, we will start a new Phase III study of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel in previously untreated metastatic breast cancer and will evaluate a potential biomarker that may help identify which people might derive a more substantial benefit from Avastin," a company spokeswoman said in a statement today. (Paclitaxel is also a chemotherapy drug.)
Hamburg welcomed Genentech's effort and said she looks forward to working with them on Avastin.
The FDA has approved 39 drugs through the accelerated approval program. When asked how many accelerated approvals had been revoked, Hamburg said she was unsure.
Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the agency's accelerated approval program, which offers patients early access to promising drugs while confirmatory clinical trials are carried out.
"Unfortunately the additional studies failed to confirm Avastin's initial promise," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said today.
The additional studies, carried out by Avastin maker Genentech, found only a small effect on tumor growth and no evidence that patients lived longer than they would taking standard chemotherapy. Because the drug can cause severe high blood pressure, bleeding, heart failure and perforations in the nose, stomach and intestines, an FDA advisory panel in June recommended revoking its approval.
The recommendation triggered an outcry from breast cancer patients who say Avastin slowed their disease.
"I want every available weapon in my arsenal as I fight this devastating disease," Priscilla Howard, a metastic breast cancer patient who had been taking Avastin for more than two years ,urged the panel.
But without a reliable indicator of which women with breast cancer might benefit, Hamburg said she was unable to leave it on the market for that use.
"I feel deeply for these women who are seeking therapies that may work for them," she said, adding that she was speaking as a doctor and a woman. "Sometimes despite the hopes of investigators, patients, industry and even the FDA itself, the results of rigorous testing can be disappointing."
The drug will remain on the market for treatment of other cancers, which means breast cancer patients can use it off-label.
"If an individual patient sits down with their physician and goes over the risks and benefits and wants to continue, that is a decision that they can make," said Hamburg.
However, the FDA decision could free up insurers to deny coverage of the drug, which can cost up to $100,000 a year. In June, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid said Medicare would continue to cover Avastin for breast cancer treatment even if the FDA withdrew its approval.
A spokeswoman for Genentech said the decision was disappointing, but insisted the company would continue working to optimize Avastin and identify breast cancer patients most likely to benefit.
"Despite today's action, we will start a new Phase III study of Avastin in combination with paclitaxel in previously untreated metastatic breast cancer and will evaluate a potential biomarker that may help identify which people might derive a more substantial benefit from Avastin," a company spokeswoman said in a statement today. (Paclitaxel is also a chemotherapy drug.)
Hamburg welcomed Genentech's effort and said she looks forward to working with them on Avastin.
The FDA has approved 39 drugs through the accelerated approval program. When asked how many accelerated approvals had been revoked, Hamburg said she was unsure.
Is the 'Real Donald Trump' Real?
Donald Trump owns hotels, hosts a TV show, and occasionally almost runs for president. But today he has taken multi-tasking to a whole new level. While sitting in the audience of “Live with Regis and Kelly,” for the heartfelt final show in the long career of Regis Philbin, Trump sent a tweet from his account “@RealDonaldTrump.” Or at least there was a tweet sent from his account.
As with many of his tweets these days it was political in nature, about the healthcare debate: “Regardless of the USC’s ruling, ObamaCare can only be defeated politically. It must be legislatively repealed or America will go bankrupt.”
The tweet was sent at 9:57am, at the very moment when Philbin, an old and dear friend of Trump, was speaking on camera with his final thoughts on his career, and the show he was leaving behind. Trump was seated in the audience along with celebrities John McEnroe, Alan Alda, Tony Danza, and ABC’s very own Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. During the show, the camera fell on Trump several times, but it wasn’t on him at the moment this tweet was sent.
It’s unclear whether he snuck out of the Regis farewell to tweet about health care, was tweeting from the audience while Regis was saying goodbye, or maybe the @RealDonaldTrump isn’t quite as real as advertised.
Many celebrities have others tweet for them. Trump aides reached for comment did not know the timing or genesis of this tweet.
As with many of his tweets these days it was political in nature, about the healthcare debate: “Regardless of the USC’s ruling, ObamaCare can only be defeated politically. It must be legislatively repealed or America will go bankrupt.”
The tweet was sent at 9:57am, at the very moment when Philbin, an old and dear friend of Trump, was speaking on camera with his final thoughts on his career, and the show he was leaving behind. Trump was seated in the audience along with celebrities John McEnroe, Alan Alda, Tony Danza, and ABC’s very own Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. During the show, the camera fell on Trump several times, but it wasn’t on him at the moment this tweet was sent.
It’s unclear whether he snuck out of the Regis farewell to tweet about health care, was tweeting from the audience while Regis was saying goodbye, or maybe the @RealDonaldTrump isn’t quite as real as advertised.
Many celebrities have others tweet for them. Trump aides reached for comment did not know the timing or genesis of this tweet.
Is the “Real Donald Trump” Real?
Donald Trump owns hotels, hosts a TV show, and occasionally almost runs for president. But today he has taken multi-tasking to a whole new level. While sitting in the audience of “Live with Regis and Kelly,” for the heartfelt final show in the long career of Regis Philbin, Trump sent a tweet from his account “@RealDonaldTrump.” Or at least there was a tweet sent from his account.
As with many of his tweets these days it was political in nature, about the healthcare debate: “Regardless of the USC’s ruling, ObamaCare can only be defeated politically. It must be legislatively repealed or America will go bankrupt.”
The tweet was sent at 9:57am, at the very moment when Philbin, an old and dear friend of Trump, was speaking on camera with his final thoughts on his career, and the show he was leaving behind. Trump was seated in the audience along with celebrities John McEnroe, Alan Alda, Tony Danza, and ABC’s very own Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. During the show, the camera fell on Trump several times, but it wasn’t on him at the moment this tweet was sent.
It’s unclear whether he snuck out of the Regis farewell to tweet about health care, was tweeting from the audience while Regis was saying goodbye, or maybe the @RealDonaldTrump isn’t quite as real as advertised.
Many celebrities have others tweet for them. Trump aides reached for comment did not know the timing or genesis of this tweet.
As with many of his tweets these days it was political in nature, about the healthcare debate: “Regardless of the USC’s ruling, ObamaCare can only be defeated politically. It must be legislatively repealed or America will go bankrupt.”
The tweet was sent at 9:57am, at the very moment when Philbin, an old and dear friend of Trump, was speaking on camera with his final thoughts on his career, and the show he was leaving behind. Trump was seated in the audience along with celebrities John McEnroe, Alan Alda, Tony Danza, and ABC’s very own Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and Sam Champion. During the show, the camera fell on Trump several times, but it wasn’t on him at the moment this tweet was sent.
It’s unclear whether he snuck out of the Regis farewell to tweet about health care, was tweeting from the audience while Regis was saying goodbye, or maybe the @RealDonaldTrump isn’t quite as real as advertised.
Many celebrities have others tweet for them. Trump aides reached for comment did not know the timing or genesis of this tweet.
Video: Little Girl's Adorably Evil Laugh
You’ll never believe the maniacal laugh that comes out of this adorable, one-and-a-half year old.
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström, a photographer from Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
The little girl, Olivia, pushes her toy car off the edge of the table, and when it crashes to the floor, she lets out an evil laugh that rivals the evilest of movie villains. She then looks down at the car that’s plummeted by her hands, clenches her fists and smiles up at the camera in delight.
Her father, Thomas Ekström, a photographer from Oslo, Norway, said he saw his lovable villain do something wicked the day before and decided to catch her in the act. Since he posted the video to YouTube on Wednesday it has over 600,000 views.
“I didn’t expect this kind of reaction,” he wrote on his YouTube page. “I will pass on your greetings to my daughter, though I expect this is all part of her plan…”
Watch the video below. First the toy car, then the world!
2012年2月3日星期五
Review: "Big Miracle" Has Heart
In 1988, three California gray whales found themselves trapped in the ice off the northernmost point of the United States, some 300 miles above the Arctic Circle. As word quickly spread, the whales garnered the attention of everyone from Greenpeace to the Russian Navy. "Big Miracle" is their story.
And it's an amazing story. The script, by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, stays mostly true to the events, with regards to the whales, as they actually unfolded. But packed in around this incredible drama are a number of subplots that do little more than distract from the story.
The film stars John Krasinski as a TV news reporter stranded in Point Barrow, Alaska, stuck doing stories about how much the locals love guacamole. But one day, while videotaping snowmobile tricks, he catches sight of a flume of water shooting up from an opening in the ice. Before you know it, the story is running on the Anchorage affiliate and then gets picked up by Tom Brokaw's national news broadcast on NBC (of course, this being a Universal film).
Soon reporters and well-intentioned nuts from around the globe are descending on Point Barrow, and the Reagan administration and a oil driller (Ted Danson) are joining the rescue effort in a cynical attempt to burnish their respective images with environmentalist. After days of desperately trying to cut a path to freedom for the ice, it becomes apparent that the whales' only hope for survival is a Russian ice cutter patrolling a nearby area.
Drew Barrymore stars as Rachel, a Greenpeace activist who just happens to be Adam's ex-girlfriend. Rachel is a tree-hugger right out of the GOP's central casting: unkempt, self-righteous, pushy, rude, ideological, totally lacking in nuance—in short, totally unpleasant. Is it any wonder Adam dumped her? Why wouldn't he be make googly eyes at LA-based reporter Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell), with whom he gets drunk and commiserates about the state of her career?
And director Ken Kwapis fails to mine the story for any real tension, which is a shame, because there's plenty available. Among the factions involved in the whole kerfuffle, you've got whale-eating Inuit, Greenpeace, Big Oil, the U.S. military, Ronald Reagan and the Commies—how is this not a white-knuckle ride? Because Hollywood thinks folks are more interested in Adam's romance with Rachel, or Jill's frustrations with her job prospects.
"Big Miracle" isn’t nearly the film it could've been, but beneath all the Hollywood dreck is an inspiring story about a group of people who managed to get over themselves long enough to do some good.
And it's an amazing story. The script, by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, stays mostly true to the events, with regards to the whales, as they actually unfolded. But packed in around this incredible drama are a number of subplots that do little more than distract from the story.
The film stars John Krasinski as a TV news reporter stranded in Point Barrow, Alaska, stuck doing stories about how much the locals love guacamole. But one day, while videotaping snowmobile tricks, he catches sight of a flume of water shooting up from an opening in the ice. Before you know it, the story is running on the Anchorage affiliate and then gets picked up by Tom Brokaw's national news broadcast on NBC (of course, this being a Universal film).
Soon reporters and well-intentioned nuts from around the globe are descending on Point Barrow, and the Reagan administration and a oil driller (Ted Danson) are joining the rescue effort in a cynical attempt to burnish their respective images with environmentalist. After days of desperately trying to cut a path to freedom for the ice, it becomes apparent that the whales' only hope for survival is a Russian ice cutter patrolling a nearby area.
Drew Barrymore stars as Rachel, a Greenpeace activist who just happens to be Adam's ex-girlfriend. Rachel is a tree-hugger right out of the GOP's central casting: unkempt, self-righteous, pushy, rude, ideological, totally lacking in nuance—in short, totally unpleasant. Is it any wonder Adam dumped her? Why wouldn't he be make googly eyes at LA-based reporter Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell), with whom he gets drunk and commiserates about the state of her career?
And director Ken Kwapis fails to mine the story for any real tension, which is a shame, because there's plenty available. Among the factions involved in the whole kerfuffle, you've got whale-eating Inuit, Greenpeace, Big Oil, the U.S. military, Ronald Reagan and the Commies—how is this not a white-knuckle ride? Because Hollywood thinks folks are more interested in Adam's romance with Rachel, or Jill's frustrations with her job prospects.
"Big Miracle" isn’t nearly the film it could've been, but beneath all the Hollywood dreck is an inspiring story about a group of people who managed to get over themselves long enough to do some good.
2012年1月31日星期二
Car To Buy Announces Top Performer Award for 2012 Car and Truck Models - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
California's Dreaming: It Thinks It Can Force You To Buy A Car You Don't Want
Forbes
Last Friday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandated that by 2025, 15% of new cars sold in California must have zero or near-zero emissions – in other words, that they be electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles such as the Nissan ...
Forbes
Last Friday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandated that by 2025, 15% of new cars sold in California must have zero or near-zero emissions – in other words, that they be electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles such as the Nissan ...
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