The Silicon Valley Housing Market Is Only Going To Get Crazier

Editor's note: Glenn Kelman is the CEO of Redfin, a technology-powered real estate broker backed by Madrona Venture Group and Greylock Partners. Silicon Valley home buyers, I wish we had better news. Prices keep rising, with no end in sight. Across the 20 markets Redfin serves, only Phoenix saw more rapid price increases than the Bay Area. Over the last 12 months, San Francisco prices rose 20 percent; San Jose prices jumped 23 percent. When the market moves this fast, the appraisals required by a lender reflect last year?s prices, and sellers just take all-cash deals instead -- even when another bidder with a mortgage offers more money.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lugIJuHXgfk/

jessica capshaw seattle times seattle times walker recall censor pipa and sopa sopa pipa

Home Flipping vs Real Estate Investing The ... - Eliteratur-Blog

Which is preferable: house flipping or real estate investing?

In order to reach an answer, it will help to explain each phrase and put each one in perspective.

Home flipping is the strategy of buying a house and then selling it at a profit in the least amount of time manageable. A house flipper tries to make the most money in the shortest span of time, which is why its called house flipping.House flippers don?t hold onto house, they flip them quick. In fact, the shorter period of time the house flipper holds the property, the better their profits usually are.

Real estate investors want to keep the property for income then either keeping the house for a while and selling or keeping it for rental income.

The real estate investor might buy the property with the purpose of selling it at some time, but usually not in a short (two to three month) period of time.

Which form of investing is the best for you and your family?

The main differentiator is house flippers want fast cash back and real estate investors want appreciation and income from rent

House flip guys aim to get property for the cheap then rehab and sell quickly. In doing it this way, the house flipper locks in fast profits.

Frequently, the property will likely be purchased at a price a lot less compared to its selling price (within the cover anything from fifty to ninety percent of the market price).

Buying and renovating a home is the easiest way to house flip. The house flipper buys the house, renovates and sells it in a very short time.

House flip renovations are popular because if you estimate your fix up costs, you can turn a profit quickly. It can be easy to get professionals who identify the specified renovations needed and the house will look really good for a quick resale when it?s done.

This allows the house flipper to get a fast market for the house and at the same time fetching a really good price for the house.

House flipping tends to be more hassle free than real estate investing especially where the flipper is just buying a house and selling it without doing any renovations.

Where a house flipping pro works is important as well and this depends on the local real estate market in large part, the house flip professional can make a higher return of their invested dollars in shorter period of time if he flips the house quickly. The real estate investor holds the property and rents it to renters, thus making cash flow instead of a quick buck.

In buy and hold real estate investing, the scheme is more long term and for investors looking for a steady income. There is one major advantage in that the investor can build houses as per the needs of the current buyers (given the changing trends in life and buyers? requirements).

The profits fetched can also be higher if the investor is getting benefits such as economies of scale where he/she is able to buy building materials at a much lower price.

I am purely biased, but house flipping is my preferred way of making money in real estate, what do you think?

To get information on how to flip a house and house flipping tips check out our website.

Source: http://www.eliteratur-blog.de/2013/01/home-flipping-vs-real-estate-investing-the-distinctions-between-them/

national inquirer knicks vs heat ash wednesday kate walsh cnn debate equatorial guinea marine helicopter crash

Steeple, cross at U.S. Army base on Afghan frontier raise hackles ...

American Atheists

The chapel at U.S. Forward Operating Base Orgun-E, Afghanistan with its makeshift steeple and cross on Jan. 19, 2013

By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan on Thursday ordered the removal of a steeple and crucifix erected over a remote American base in the Muslim country after a soldier deployed there noted that the symbols violated Army regulations, and could reinforce suspicions that the United States is fighting a holy war.

It is unclear how long ago the Christian symbols at the chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E had been in place. In terms of religious displays, they are hardly ostentatious ? a cross on a small rooftop steeple and cross-shaped windows in the doors. But Sgt. Joel Muhlnickel?was alarmed by the symbolism at Orgun-E, especially the cross that rises up over the rooftops at the base.

"When I think of an army sporting a Christian cross, I think Crusades,"?Muhlnickel wrote in an email from Orgun. "Neither my country nor my army force me to swear allegiance to Odin, Jesus, Buddha or Horus. Freedom from religious oppression is pretty much the reason why the United States was founded."

---

"It is the sort of thing that provides a boundless bonanza of terrorist propaganda for the mujahedeen, the insurrectionists, the Taliban and al-Qaida that we are supposedly fighting to protect our national security," said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the non-profit Military Religious Freedom Foundation. "The message of the cross on the chapel is basically putting out the message in Pashto, Dari and Arabic to please blow me up because I'm a latter day Christian crusader."

The U.S. military provides chapels for troops around the world and has thousands of chaplains deployed ??the majority of them Christian, while there are also Jewish, Muslim and other faith leaders.

Chapels are set up even in outposts as far-flung as Orgun-E.

But Army regulations state that these facilities ? usually nondescript temporary structures ? are to be neutral gathering spaces, not dedicated to any one faith, except when being used for a specific worship service. Portable symbols, icons or statues can be used during religious services, but then must be removed or covered up for others who use the space.

"In general the chapels have to be ecumenical so they can be converted from one religion to another," said Elizabeth Hillman, professor of law at University of California Hastings College of Law and President of the National Institute of Military Justice. "To create permanent structures that evoke one particular religion ? that is problematic.

"I would think that anything that would increase the vulnerability of a forward operating base is a problematic," Hillman added.

American Atheists

The chapel at Forward Operating Base Orgun-E, Afghanistan on Jan. 19, 2013. Military command has ordered the crosses to be boarded over until the facility can get new doors, to restore the chapel's religious neutrality.

Muhlnickel raised his concerns through his chain of command, and then ? unconvinced that it would result in action ? turned to outside organizations, including the nonprofit American Atheists.

"Chaplains know the regulations very well," said Justin Griffith, an Army sergeant at Fort Bragg, N.C., and military director for American Atheists in his personal time.?"Whoever authorized (the steeple and crosses) knew exactly what they were doing. It's intentionally disrespectful to the non-Christians in the U.S. military ... Put it in Afghanistan, the danger is very real, to personnel, even to Christians."?

The Army, contacted by NBC on Tuesday morning, responded to queries Wednesday afternoon, saying the cross had been removed and boards had been placed over the cross-shaped windows while the base ordered new doors.

"The local command in Afghanistan is aware of this chapel and has taken appropriate action to ensure that it is changed into a neutral facility,"?said a statement from an Army Spokesman at the Pentagon.

Hours later, Orgun?command sent out a memo throughout the base explaining that the chapel was to be brought into compliance by eliminating the crosses, and assuring soldiers that it would be handled in a respectful manner.

Griffith, an atheist who often calls out practices that he believes cross the line from the free exercise of religion to unconstitutional?proselytizing or discrimination, has learned that his views are unpopular with many in the military. He's concerned about Muhlnickel suffering reprisal.?

"Sgt. Muhlnickel?s efforts just put the pin back in the grenade," said Griffith. "The military now needs to protect him from any backlash ... and not punish him for speaking out against the dangerous 'crusader' symbolism."

In similar situations that have come to light, military commanders have ordered the removal of the religious symbols. In April 2012, when a Marine Corps squadron revived the "Crusaders" name with the shield and cross logo for fighter jets, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation challenged the move, citing constitutional and security concerns. The next month, the Marine Corps said that the squadron had converted back to the moniker "Werewolves," replacing the logos from the jets, uniforms, buildings and elsewhere.

A chapel at Camp Marmal, another U.S. base in northern Afghanistan, was ordered to remove a large cross from its chapel after complaints, Politico reported. A spokesman from the Pentagon agreed that the Camp Marmal cross had violated Army regulations.

In Afghanistan, where the population is more than 99 percent Muslim, the tiny Christian population worships in secret, out of fear of attack by extremist Muslims. Christian evangelism is illegal in the country, and foreigners suspected of spreading Christian teachings have been deported by the government, and attacked and kidnapped by extremists.

Follow Kari Huus on Facebook

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/24/16647516-steeple-cross-at-us-army-base-on-afghan-frontier-raise-hackles

focus on the family packers vs giants giants score 2012 golden globe nominations texans lana del rey snl enemy of the state

Women allowed in combat: Will that mean it's less safe for men?

With women now allowed to serve on the front lines, are men going to be more in danger on the battlefield?

And will America?s national security be jeopardized by men leaving the infantry in droves because they no longer see it as a tough, elite calling?

These have long been frequently-cited reasons for not allowing women to serve in combat.

RECOMMENDED: Are you smarter than a US Marine? Take the recruitment quiz

?I think some men will leave the infantry,? says one senior Marine Corps officer. ?You?ve got to ask yourself why most young men join the Marine Corps, especially that group that wants to be infantrymen.?

The answer, in many cases, is to ?shoot stuff and blow things up,? he adds. ?So some percentage of those guys would be like, it wouldn?t be as much fun.?

These arguments are often closely linked to the shared physical hardships that lead to espirit de corps.

Can a woman carry her fellow soldiers out of danger, or hike long distances lugging heavy packs without falling behind and holding her fellow soldiers back?

?The answer to that is very straightforward: Create a physical fitness standard,? says Anne Coughlin, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, in Charlottesville, Vir., who is spearheading a conference Feb. 1 on women in combat in Washington, D.C.

?That?s all the litigation would ask for, or ? to be candid ? all that we would want.?

Yet some worry that as women fail to meet physical fitness standards, the Pentagon will be tempted to lower them.

Recent history suggests that some standards are getting higher. The Marine Corps just got rid of the flexed arm hang for women as a physical fitness standard, and instead implemented pull-ups. Women must complete two pull-ups to pass the physical training (PT) test, and eight to max it out. Men receive the highest scores for 18 pull-ups, and must complete two to pass.

?My great fear is that once they?re open, and there are physical tests and so forth ? you have to be able to bench press this, carry this, hump a 70 lb. rucksack or whatever it is ? then the advocates for women in combat will say, ?Those standards aren?t appropriate,? and they?ll attack the standards,? says Peter Mansoor, professor of military history at the Ohio State University and a former executive officer to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq.

?My great fear is not that we open up combat arms positions to women, because I think we should,? he says.?My great fear is that we?ll dumb down the standards because women can?t meet them.?

There?s another possible scenario, and that is that the military will attract more talented female athletes who didn?t want to join the military previously because they didn?t want to be limited by lower standards, says Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women?s Action Network.

A former company commander in the Marine Corps, Ms. Bhagwati was the second woman to complete the Corp?s Martial Arts Program instructor trainer school, earning a black belt in close combat techniques.

?Right now there?s no incentive for women to join the military, because they?re not going to be treated equally,? she says.

While defense officials ?think they?re getting the best, many serious women athletes don?t see the military as a possibility because they know they?re not treated equally.?

That unequal treatment is often rooted in closely held cultural beliefs about femininity and fear of misplaced chivalry on the battlefield.

?If a male soldier is protecting other males he gets the medal of honor, but if he does it for females it somehow becomes an act of crazed chivalry that places national security in danger,? says Professor Coughlin.

It?s a line of thinking that tends to be dismissed even by those who have concerns about women in combat.

?Out of all the arguments, that?s the one to me that holds the least water,? says the Marine Corps officer. ?Most guys don?t even open the doors for women anymore.?

What?s more, women have been serving alongside men in battle for years. ?Everyone?s on the same team ? those instances are extremely binary. It?s you and it?s the enemy,? he adds, ?and we?re going to win.?

With the right to take part in combat on behalf of their nation comes risks, but also full citizenship, says Bhagwati. ?I think in the history of the United States, every marginalized population only gained respect and real citizenship ? not just in the sense of the vote, but of one?s peers ? through military service,? she adds. ?Otherwise you?re not considered 100 percent American. You?re just not.?

RECOMMENDED: Are you smarter than a US Marine? Take the recruitment quiz

Related stories

Read this story at csmonitor.com

Become a part of the Monitor community

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/women-allowed-combat-mean-less-safe-men-004400112.html

jk rowling new book between two ferns ihop statins chardon sean young juan pablo montoya

NBC orders cross-cultural unplanned pregnancy pilot

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - NBC has ordered a pilot about an unplanned pregnancy that unites a white and Latino family.

"Welcome to the Family," a single-camera comedy from Sony Pictures Television, is written and executive produced by "Rules of Engagement" veteran Mike Sikowitz.

Pregnancy-based sitcoms are becoming a thing at NBC, which Tuesday ordered "Girlfriend in a Coma" about a woman who awakens from a coma to discover she has a teenage daughter. A surrogate pregnancy is also at the heart of this season's Ryan Murphy sitcom "The New Normal."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nbc-orders-cross-cultural-unplanned-pregnancy-pilot-225154045.html

seal team 6 touch nitrous oxide rihanna thug life tattoo arizona governor patrick witt leprosy

Computer program finds medieval memes

A new computer program automatically determines the dates of documents from the Middle Ages. It works by looking for words and phrases that were fashionable at the time ? the Ermahgerds of the era ? to determine that a given document is so 1240s, for example.?

The program analyzes property deeds, called charters, written in England between the late 1000s and the mid-1400s. The charters provide a major resource for historians piecing together English history of the time period, but people didn't generally put dates on these documents until after the 1300s.?

The program helps date otherwise mysterious charters, said Gelila Tilahun, a statistician at the University of Toronto who built the program while earning her doctoral degree. Plus, it IDs the memes of the times.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Why a Neanderthal clone is a bad idea

      The idea of cloning a Neanderthal baby makes for fascinating scientific speculation ? and an ethical nightmare. Commentary by bioethicist Art Caplan.

   2. Remains of Richard III stir controversy
   3. Computer program finds medieval memes
   4. Humans called 'a plague on the Earth'

Tilahun hadn't even heard of the charters, which are written in Latin, before she started the project. She still isn't exactly an expert, she says. "I don't know any Latin or, you know, very little medieval history, actually," she told TechNewsDaily. But her program doesn't require her to read Latin or know history. [See also: 10 Medieval Weapons that Changed the Face of Warfare ]

Instead, Tilahun, her doctoral advisor and a University of Toronto historian gave the program a "training set" consisting of the digital files of 326 already-dated charters. (Historians have given many originally undated charters dates by looking for distinctive handwriting or mentions of names or current events.) The program scanned through the training charters, automatically identifying phrases that appeared frequently during certain time periods.?

It then used the patterns it learned to guess years for digital files of other charters the researchers supplied. To test the program, Tilahun and her colleagues gave it a set of charters with known dates, finding that the program's guesses matched.

As a side benefit, the program lists the fleetingly popular phrases it finds. So what were some of the hot sayings of the Middle Ages? "Amicorum meorum vivorum et mortuorum" was common between 1150 and 1240. It's Latin for "of my friends, living and dead." Meanwhile, "Francis et Anglicis," a term of address meaning "to French and English," was used until 1204, when the British lost Normandy to the French.?

The program won't replace historians, though, Tilahun said. It may miss some clues that historians find obvious. For example, if a charter has just one out-of-place word ? "an extreme example would be 'iPad,'" Tilahun said ? the program would ignore the incongruity, but a historian would catch it. Of course, the appearance of iPads in supposedly medieval charters would be easy for anybody to catch, but other words, names or similar clues would require expertise to find.

Tilahun and her colleagues are now trying to train their program to identify the regions charters come from, based on differences between, say, the preferred phrasings of Londoners and Devonshire-dwellers. The researchers are also interested in identifying forgeries by spotting phrases that wouldn't have occurred in a document's supposed year of origin.?

Tilahun has some ideas that are farther afield than these old documents. She's looking to apply a statistical program for identifying bits of DNA that are responsible for turning certain genes on or off. It'll work much like her charters program, she said. "Essentially, it's going from text analysis to analyzing the text of, or the grammar of, our genes," she said.?

Tilahun and her colleagues published their work in the December 2012 issue of the Journal of Applied Statistics. Their paper also appears in arXiv, a free repository of math and physics papers, and was highlighted in MIT Technology Review's arXiv blog.

Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.

? 2012 TechNewsDaily

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50551733/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

clayton kershaw tyler perry face transplant maundy thursday fab melo google glasses kim kardashian and kanye west

Officials: Car bomb attack kills 5 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi officials say a car bomb near a security checkpoint south of Baghdad has killed five people, including two soldiers.

Police officials say the Tuesday morning attack targeted a checkpoint in the town of Mahmoudiya. The blast killed two soldiers and three civilian bystanders, and wounded 15 people.

Mahmoudiya is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the Iraqi capital.

Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Violence has fallen since the peak of insurgency in Iraq several years ago, but lethal attacks still occur frequently.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-car-bomb-attack-kills-5-iraq-090749722.html

Ebates lotto Illinois Lottery texas lottery Dell Levis Fireman Ed

New Asteroid Mining Company Emerges

How much do you know about Asteroid Mining?

Quite a lot, actually. It's part of the space systems engineering textbook I'm writing

What I do know is that 2015, two years from now, is a totally and completely unrealistic goal.

That is not an unrealistic goal to launch prospector spacecraft. Coondoggie's article summary mangles what they intend to do, and you misread it further. Their actual website lists three stages: Prospecting craft to find the asteroids, assay missions to bring back ~20 kg samples, and only then trying to actually mine. This is a sensible plan.

In the mean time, I hope to start building prototype "seed factory" hardware this year. A seed factory is the minimal starter set of machines to start building *other* machines, which in turn becomes your industrial base. Think of it like a bootstrap compiler for hardware. Feed it plans for other machines, it starts making parts. I'm aiming for making 85% of the 2nd generation machines, because 100% is too hard a goal. The other 15% you just buy.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/XWi1DVF6MGU/story01.htm

Diwali elmo nascar Kevin Clash Walmart Black Friday 2012 Paula Broadwell Tilted Kilt

CSIRO telescope takes temperature of Universe

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Helen Sim
helen.sim@csiro.au
61-293-724-251
CSIRO Australia

Astronomers using a CSIRO radio telescope have taken the Universe's temperature, and have found that it has cooled down just the way the Big Bang theory predicts. Using the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array near Narrabri, NSW, an international team from Sweden, France, Germany and Australia has measured how warm the Universe was when it was half its current age.

"This is the most precise measurement ever made of how the Universe has cooled down during its 13.77 billion year history," said Dr Robert Braun, Chief Scientist at CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. Because light takes time to travel, when we look out into space we see the Universe as it was in the past as it was when light left the galaxies we are looking at. So to look back half-way into the Universe's history, we need to look half-way across the Universe.

How can we measure a temperature at such a great distance?

The astronomers studied gas in an unnamed galaxy 7.2 billion light-years away [a redshift of 0.89].

The only thing keeping this gas warm is the cosmic background radiation the glow left over from the Big Bang.

By chance, there is another powerful galaxy, a quasar (called PKS 1830-211), lying behind the unnamed galaxy.

Radio waves from this quasar come through the gas of the foreground galaxy. As they do so, the gas molecules absorb some of the energy of the radio waves. This leaves a distinctive "fingerprint" on the radio waves.

From this "fingerprint" the astronomers calculated the gas's temperature. They found it to be 5.08 Kelvin (-267.92 degrees Celsius): extremely cold, but still warmer than today's Universe, which is at 2.73 Kelvin (-270.27 degrees Celsius).

According to the Big Bang theory, the temperature of the cosmic background radiation drops smoothly as the Universe expands. "That's just what we see in our measurements. The Universe of a few billion years ago was a few degrees warmer than it is now, exactly as the Big Bang Theory predicts," said research team leader Dr Sebastien Muller of Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Helen Sim
helen.sim@csiro.au
61-293-724-251
CSIRO Australia

Astronomers using a CSIRO radio telescope have taken the Universe's temperature, and have found that it has cooled down just the way the Big Bang theory predicts. Using the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array near Narrabri, NSW, an international team from Sweden, France, Germany and Australia has measured how warm the Universe was when it was half its current age.

"This is the most precise measurement ever made of how the Universe has cooled down during its 13.77 billion year history," said Dr Robert Braun, Chief Scientist at CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. Because light takes time to travel, when we look out into space we see the Universe as it was in the past as it was when light left the galaxies we are looking at. So to look back half-way into the Universe's history, we need to look half-way across the Universe.

How can we measure a temperature at such a great distance?

The astronomers studied gas in an unnamed galaxy 7.2 billion light-years away [a redshift of 0.89].

The only thing keeping this gas warm is the cosmic background radiation the glow left over from the Big Bang.

By chance, there is another powerful galaxy, a quasar (called PKS 1830-211), lying behind the unnamed galaxy.

Radio waves from this quasar come through the gas of the foreground galaxy. As they do so, the gas molecules absorb some of the energy of the radio waves. This leaves a distinctive "fingerprint" on the radio waves.

From this "fingerprint" the astronomers calculated the gas's temperature. They found it to be 5.08 Kelvin (-267.92 degrees Celsius): extremely cold, but still warmer than today's Universe, which is at 2.73 Kelvin (-270.27 degrees Celsius).

According to the Big Bang theory, the temperature of the cosmic background radiation drops smoothly as the Universe expands. "That's just what we see in our measurements. The Universe of a few billion years ago was a few degrees warmer than it is now, exactly as the Big Bang Theory predicts," said research team leader Dr Sebastien Muller of Onsala Space Observatory at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/ca-ctt012213.php

kombucha tea separation of church and state dale earnhardt oscar predictions nba all star game 2012 academy awards 2012 nominations academy awards

Family Home and Life: Some of my Favorites from 2012

Here are six of my favorite post from 2012.

1. I love this Tooth Fairy Pillow Book I made for my grand daughter.

2. Here's how to easily ?personalize a clock?for yourself or a gift. I used a vintage graphic from the Graphics Fairy?on one clock.

3.?Butter Buns;?need I say more?

4. I really loved designing and making this cloth?Photo Album. It was fun and turned out great.

5. I am having more fun making these?Pancakes?different ways. Use apple sauce or any fruit puree, use oil instead of cream cheese, add more flour and switch up the spices. Very versatile and so good.

6. I like?making my own scrapbook papers using PicMonkey. It's a great creative outlet and it was free; ?PicMonkey now charges for some of it's features. ?I have used?Ribbet?on occasion too.




?If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Please report it! Copyright? Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.familyhomeandlife.com/2013/01/some-of-my-favorites-from-2012.html

ubaldo jimenez ncaa final country music awards autism awareness angelman syndrome total recall troy tulowitzki

Army general expected to enter plea on sex charges

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) ? An Army general facing court-martial was set to enter his plea Tuesday on a series of sexual misconduct charges.

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair was scheduled for arraignment before a military judge, at which time he would be formally informed of the charges against him and offered an opportunity to plead either guilty or not guilty.

Though the Army has not yet released the final charges against Sinclair, a preliminary list included forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, violating orders, engaging in inappropriate relationships and adultery.

A 27-year Army veteran who served five combat tours, Sinclair faces life in prison if convicted on the most serious offenses.

Sinclair's case is headed to trial following a spate of highly publicized sex scandals involving high-ranking officers that has triggered a review of ethics training across the military. Of the eighteen generals and admirals, from one star to four stars, fired in recent years, 10 lost their jobs because of sex-related offenses.

That tally does not include recently retired Army general David Petraeus, who was forced to resign as CIA director in November after he admitted to an affair with the woman who wrote the biography of his celebrated military career. The investigation of Petraeus also ensnared Marine Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, over thousands of inappropriate emails he exchanged with a Tampa, Fla., socialite.

At an evidentiary hearing for Sinclair in November, prosecutors presented testimony about his conduct with five women who were not his wife, including officers who served under his direct command. The charges involve activities when he was in Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany and at bases in the United States.

Sinclair was deputy commander in charge of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan before being relieved in May during the criminal probe. He has been on special assignment since then at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

The female captain at the heart of the case said she carried on a 3-year sexual relationship with Sinclair, who is married with children. Adultery is a crime under military law, and the admission could end her career.

She testified at the evidentiary hearing that she repeatedly tried to break off the affair with Sinclair, who she says threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about their frequent sexual liaisons in hotels, headquarters and war zones. The woman said she usually wanted to have sex with the general, though she said that on two occasions he exposed himself and physically forced her to perform oral sex, even as she sobbed.

The Associated Press does not publicly identify victims of alleged sexual assaults.

Two female officers who served with Sinclair also testified that they had given the general nude photos at his request.

Sinclair is also accused of possessing alcohol in a war zone and disobeying orders. Maj. Gen. James Huggins, Sinclair's superior officer in Afghanistan, testified he ordered Sinclair to cease contact with the female captain after she reported the affair. Sinclair is alleged to have willfully disobeyed that order by then calling the woman's phone.

Sinclair has not yet spoken publically about the charges against him, but at the pre-trial hearing his defense lawyers tried to paint the female captain as a liar and a scorned lover who was trying to ruin Sinclair's life and military reputation. During the hearings, they characterized her as a manipulative "back-stabber" who blamed others for her mistakes.

The general's wife, Rebecca Sinclair, stayed away from the dayslong military hearing but later went public with an opinion piece in The Washington Post. In that column, she said she was not condoning her husband's infidelity, but she said that a decade of war had taken a toll on military couples and brought pressure on their marriages.

In an interview with the AP, Rebecca Sinclair said her husband called her last spring to tell her about the affair and allegations, and she said they were trying to mend their relationship.

___

Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at www.twitter.com/mbieseck .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/army-general-expected-enter-plea-sex-charges-081619709.html

anna paquin warren buffett 2012 nfl schedule dishonored april 18 delonte west vanessa williams

"Les Miserables" soundtrack tops UK albums chart

LONDON (Reuters) - The soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated movie "Les Miserables" climbed to the top spot in the UK albums chart, the first film cast recording to do so since Madonna's "Evita" in 1997, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday.

A film version of a hugely successful stage musical based on a novel by 19th century French writer Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables" has already picked up a Golden Globe award for best movie musical, and is nominated for a best picture Oscar.

The recording of songs performed by the actors in the movie, including Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, had entered the UK albums chart in fifth position a week ago. It knocked Emeli Sande's "Our Version Of Events" off the top spot.

Hathaway, who plays a character called Fantine, also had the 22nd spot in the singles chart with her performance of "I Dreamed A Dream", one of the most popular songs from the musical.

At the very top of the singles chart, U.S. producer will.i.am's collaboration with Britney Spears, "Scream & Shout", held onto the number one ranking, fending off stiff competition from new entrants 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake.

U.S. rapper 50 Cent's new release, "My Life", featuring Eminem and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, came in at number two while Timberlake, the former 'N Sync star, nabbed the number three spot with his "Suit and Tie" featuring Jay-Z.

(Reporting By Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/les-miserables-soundtrack-tops-uk-albums-chart-190519141.html

Dictionary.com Chicago teachers strike yahoo finance september 11 2001 september 11 2001 dr oz serena williams

Oil rises above $94 on China, US recovery hopes

BANGKOK -- Oil prices rose above $94 on Monday, supported by signs of economic recovery in the U.S. and China.

Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 56 cents to $94.12 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 26 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel in New York on Friday.

Gordon Kwan, head of energy research at Mirae Asset Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, said oil prices were rising on signs that the fragile economic recoveries in the world's two biggest economies appeared to be gaining traction. The U.S. housing market has shown steady improvement, while China's trade growth rebounded strongly in December.

"China and the U.S. appear to be on a very solid track of economic recovery. This supports oil prices at much higher levels." He said that prices were also moving up because of increased energy consumption in China, which is enduring its coldest winter in nearly three decades.

"There is the possibility that West Texas Intermediate could reach $95 per barrel in the coming days and Brent could go to $115," Kwan said.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 39 cents to $110.23 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

- Wholesale gasoline rose 0.3 cent to $2.758 a gallon.

- Heating oil rose 1.1 cents to $3.02 a gallon.

- Natural gas rose 3.3 cents to $3.36 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2013/01/13/2755820/oil-rises-above-94-on-china-us.html

heidi klum red tails trailer joe pa dead laura dekker stephen colbert south carolina seal seal and heidi klum

4 women strip, protest Vatican gay marriage stance

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Four women have gone topless in St. Peter's Square to protest the Vatican's opposition to gay marriage.

Police quickly took the women away Sunday, and the pope appeared not to have been disturbed as he delivered his traditional prayer from his studio window overlooking the piazza.

On their bare backs, the women had painted slogans "In Gay We Trust," and "Shut Up." One of them, Inna Shevchenko, said: "Today we are here to protest against homophobia."

The small demonstration coincided with a march in Paris that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to protest the French president's plan to legalize gay marriage and let gay couples adopt children.

French Catholic bishops and other religious leaders have strongly opposed the proposal, and the Vatican has backed them.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-women-strip-protest-vatican-gay-marriage-stance-123725369.html

sparkle sacagawea new hope baptist church associated press foster friess new orleans hornets ghost rider spirit of vengeance

WHL Roundup: Jarry's fourth shutout leads Oil Kings over Hurricanes 4-0

Tristan Jarry recorded his fourth shutout of the year and second in as many starts Friday as the Edmonton Oil Kings blanked the Lethbridge Hurricanes 4-0 in the Western Hockey League.

The 17-year-old goaltender turned aside all 23 shots he faced and improved his record to 11-4-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in 16 games. Despite being the backup to Laurent Brossoit, Jarry now leads the WHL in shutouts and goals against, while his save percentage is second to Mac Carruth of the Portland Winterhawks.

Mitchell Moroz, Curtis Lazar, Trevor Cheek and Dylan Wruck scored for Edmonton (28-9-5), which has won four of five meetings this season against the Hurricanes.

Ty Rimmer stopped 42 shots in net for Lethbridge (21-19-6).

Edmonton went 0-for-3 with the power play, while Lethbridge failed to score on either of its chances.

Elsewhere in the WHL it was: Brandon 6, Moose Jaw 2; Calgary 6, Regina 1; Swift Current 3, Prince Albert 1; Red Deer 3, Saskatoon 1; Kootenay 7, Medicine Hat 5; Portland 5, Spokane 2; Prince George 1, Kamloops 0; Kelowna 6, Tri-City 3; and Everett 7, Victoria 4.

At Edmonton, Moroz opened the scoring at 16:16 of the first period, deflecting a point shot from David Musil through traffic to give Edmonton the 1-0 lead.

Lazar doubled the margin just 42 seconds into the second period after burying a rebound past Rimmer.

Cheek put the Oil Kings up 3-0 at 16:09 of the second after taking a feed from Keegan Lowe and shovelling it up over Rimmer's glove. The goal was his first since being acquired from the Vancouver Giants at the WHL trade deadline.

Wruck forced a turnover in Lethbridge's zone and sealed the game at 9:44 of the third.

Wheat Kings 6, Warriors 2

At Moose Jaw, Sask., Curtis Honey stopped 32 shots, Nick Walters had three assists and Nick Buonassisi had a goal and an assist as Brandon (15-25-4) beat the Warriors (14-23-7) to end its five-game slide.

---

Hitmen 6, Pats 1

At Regina, Brady Brassart and Jake Virtanen each scored twice and Chris Driedger made 32 stops as Calgary (30-10-4) extended its win streak to six games by crushing the Pats (18-23-4).

---

Broncos 3, Raiders 1

At Swift Current, Sask., Jay Merkley had a goal and an assist and Eetu Laurikainen turned aside 43-of-44 shots as the Broncos (20-20-5) downed Prince Albert (25-15-3) for their third win in a row.

---

Rebels 3, Blades 1

At Saskatoon, Turner Elson, Dominik Volek and Rhyse Dieno scored and Patrik Bartosak stopped 37-of-38 shots as Red Deer (24-18-4) beat the Blades (21-19-1) for its first win in three outings.

---

Ice 7, Tigers 5

At Cranbrook, B.C., Brock Montgomery and Sam Reinhart each scored three times and six of Kootenay's players recorded a multi-point game as the Ice (17-24-1) beat Medicine Hat (19-21-3) for their seventh win in a row.

---

Winterhawks 5, Chiefs 2

At Portland, Ore., Troy Rutkowski had a goal and two assists and Mac Carruth improved to 20-2-0 by making 24 saves as the Winterhawks (36-5-1) beat Spokane (27-14-1) for their 13th consecutive victory.

---

Cougars 1, Blazers 0

At Prince George, B.C., Brett Zarowny stopped all 44 shots he faced and Jordan Tkatch scored the winner at 12:15 of the second period as the Cougars (13-24-5) snapped a seven-game winless streak by blanking Kamloops (28-12-4).

---

Rockets 6, Americans 3

At Kelowna, B.C., Dylen McKinlay scored twice and set up two more and Madison Bowey had a goal and an assist as the Rockets (31-10-2) doubled up Tri-City (23-16-3) for their eighth win in a row.

---

Silvertips 7, Royals 4

At Everett, Wash., Ryan Harrison scored twice and set up another and Connor Cox and Kohl Bauml each had a goal and an assist as the Silvertips (17-24-2) beat Victoria (20-17-3).

Source: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=649947

ground hog day 2012 aaron carter black history month did groundhog see his shadow soul train don cornelius rod parsley barry sanders jr

Kitchen Redecorating: Choosing Your New Kitchen Cabinets ...

Are you tired of opening up precisely the same kitchen cabinets, daily? Although many homeowners really like their kitchen areas, including their particular kitchen cabinets, there are a few who are hunting for a change. If you?re one of those house owners, the ones who are searching for a change, you might like to think about redecorating your kitchen, especially your kitchen pantry shelves.

When it comes to kitchen area remodeling, you will find there?s common misunderstanding that is wrongly believed by many people. That misconception is exactly what kitchen remodeling is actually. Many think that to remodel the kitchen you should change every thing, from the lighting fixtures all the way down on the floor tiles. While a large number of house owners do choose to remodel their whole kitchen, you can find others who only choose to renovate small servings of it. Whether you are wanting to remodel the whole kitchen, all at one time, or you in case are only looking to remodel a part of it, there is a good chance that you might be in the marketplace for new kitchen cabinets; they are probably the most commonly remodeled parts of any kitchen.

Even though choosing a fresh set of cabinets may seem like a fairly easy task, it can be one that you shouldnt make by using an impulse. Since you?ll be stuck with these new cabinets, at least before you move or even decide to renovate again, you will want to make sure that you buy your first choice. There are a number of various ways that you can do this specific. For the best results, you may want to visit your local home improvement store. When visiting one of your local home improvement stores, you should look for a collection of cabinets on display; in fact, you may find a reasonably large number of all of them on display. Observing each of these cabinets is a great method to decide which pantry shelves would look wonderful installed in your kitchen.

In addition to browsing your local home improvement store, you may also want to examine cabinets online. Even though shipping for kitchen cabinets is usually considered superb, you may be capable of finding exactly what you were looking for on-line. It is advised which you find either an online home improvement retailer or an individual who specializes in making their own kitchen cabinets. In fact, if you are looking for any unique list of kitchen cabinets, a group that you can?t find anywhere else, you may be capable of order any custom pair of kitchen cabinets. The price may be more than what you meant on having to pay, but, because previously mentioned, you should get what you look for, especially when redecorating your kitchen.

When looking for the perfect pair of kitchen cabinets, for your next kitchen redecorating project, you should keep a amount of things planned. One of those things is what you will end up using your kitchen cabinets for. What you use your kitchen cabinets for could possibly have an impact about what you can and cannot have. As an example, if you will be utilizing your kitchen cabinets to keep your food or maybe your dishes, you will have to make sure that you obtain cabinets that may offer you the most space. Although decorative kitchen cabinets are wonderful, they are at times limited on the storage space they?ve.

In addition to the size of the safe-keeping, it is also vital that you examine the dimensions of the kitchen cupboard itself. In the us, most home improvement stores sell kitchen cabinets that are not totally put together, but you are often precut in order to size. It may be possible to alter the measurements, however you may find it to get difficult and costly to do so. Although you could be more interested in the color or perhaps design of a kitchen case set, you will need to remember the principles. Even the most beautiful cooking area cabinet arranged will not does one any good whether or not this cannot be placed in your kitchen.

By continuing to keep the above mentioned factors in mind, you ought to be able to go out and find your home cabinet arranged that you were hoping to find. Once you have discovered the kitchen cabinet set of your own dreams, the particular remodeling will start. Whether you determine to install your own personal kitchen cabinets or you let a specialist do it for you personally, your cupboards could be set up in as little as a few days.

Related Posts

Source: http://cottagewoodstudio.com/kitchen-redecorating-choosing-your-new-kitchen-cabinets/

sean young juan pablo montoya free pancakes at ihop martina navratilova high school shooting daytona 500 national pancake day

Turkey sees Kurdish feud behind Paris slayings

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkey's prime minister insisted Friday that the shooting deaths of three Kurdish activists in Paris are probably the result of a feud among Kurdish rebels, pointing out that a code was needed to enter the building where they died.

The three activists, including reportedly the founding member of the autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebel group, were found on Thursday, at a time when their jailed leader is holding peace talks with Turkey.

Kurds have accused Turkey of the slayings, while Turkish officials have suggested the killings may be part of an internal feud or an attempt to derail the talks.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the need for a code to enter the building suggests that either the women knew the killer, or that the killer had the code. Most buildings in Paris have a code to enter known by all residents and anyone else they give it to.

Turkey is holding peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which seeks self-rule for Kurds in the country's southeast, to try to persuade it to disarm. The conflict between the group, known as the PKK, and the Turkish government has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor, said one of the women killed was "very, very probably" Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the PKK in her 50s. The other two victims have been identified as Leyla Soylemez and Fidan Dogan, Kurdish activists in their 20s.

The three women were all killed with multiple gunshots to the head, Thibault-Lecuivre said. France's interior minister has called the slayings an "execution."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-sees-kurdish-feud-behind-paris-slayings-082454229.html

rush limbaugh sandra fluke green book some like it hot duke university whale shark whale shark platypus

Report: Reveal India rape victim's name, says dad

By Reuters

LONDON - The father of an Indian woman whose rape, torture and death provoked international outrage said in an interview published on Sunday that he wanted her name to be made public so she could be an inspiration to other victims of sexual assault.

Reuters has opted not to identify the victim because Indian authorities have banned the media from doing so.

The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died on Dec. 28 in a Singapore hospital, two weeks after a gang rape on a bus in New Delhi that ignited street protests across India and prompted promises from the government for tougher punishments for offenders.

"We want the world to know her real name," the woman's father told Britain's Sunday People newspaper.

"My daughter didn't do anything wrong, she died while protecting herself," he added.

---

"I am proud of her. Revealing her name will give courage to other women who have survived these attacks. They will find strength from my daughter."

'Nobody helped us for an hour,' Indian rape witness says

?

The paper named the father and his daughter, saying that the father had given his permission, but added that it would not publish a photo of her at the family's request.

The father had already called for new legislation on sex crimes to be named in honor of his daughter.

Five men have been charged with her gang rape and murder and will appear in a New Delhi court on Monday.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/05/16372158-report-father-of-india-rape-victim-wants-her-name-made-public?lite

bankofamerica revolution rosh hashanah rosh hashanah boardwalk empire iOS 6 Release Date Canelo Alvarez

Download This App and Learn To Play Blackjack

Contrary to popular belief, Blackjack is not an easy game to play or master. You could learn how to count cards but you'll get kicked out of the casino and possibly banned, like those MIT students from the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions or the movie "21". More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OeuCieXDUhk/download-this-app-and-learn-to-play-blackjack

robert hegyes mary louise parker mary louise parker cher morgellons nhl all star draft seal team 6

EzineArticles Alert: Internet-and-Businesses-Online:List-Building ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://rapegenu.posterous.com/ezinearticles-alert-internet-and-businesses-o

lra eric johnson eric johnson big east tournament ashley olsen new apple tv sun flare

Extreme rainfall in UK 'increasing'

2 January 2013 Last updated at 21:00 ET By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst

The frequency of extreme rainfall in the UK may be increasing, according to analysis by the Met Office.

Statistics show that days of particularly heavy rainfall have become more common since 1960.

The analysis is still preliminary, but the apparent trend mirrors increases in extreme rain seen in other parts of the world.

It comes as the Met Office prepares to reveal whether 2012 was the wettest year on record in the UK.

The study into extreme rain is based on statistics from the National Climate Information Centre, the UK's official climate record.

Upwards trend

Extreme rain is defined as the sort of downpour you would expect once in 100 days.

There are big swings in rainfall from year to year, but the overall trend is upwards since 1960. Last year, for instance, extreme rain fell around once every 70 days.

The phenomenon of more frequent downpours has already been noted elsewhere, particularly in China and India.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

There's evidence to say we are getting slightly more rain in total, but more importantly it may be falling in more intense bursts?

End Quote Professor Julia Slingo Met Office

Scientists say that as the world has warmed by 0.7C, the atmosphere is able to hold 4% more moisture, which means more potential rain.

The change in the UK trend is slight, but if the trend is confirmed it will clearly increase the risk of flooding.

This year is already the wettest in England's recorded history. And a series of downpours in late November brought one of the wettest weeks in the last 50 years, causing major disruption.

Professor Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office, said the preliminary analysis needed further research but was potentially significant.

"We have always seen a great deal of variability in UK extreme rainfall because our weather patterns are constantly changing, but this analysis suggests we are seeing a shift in our rainfall behaviour," she said.

"There's evidence to say we are getting slightly more rain in total, but more importantly it may be falling in more intense bursts - which can increase the risk of flooding.

"It's essential we look at how this may impact our rainfall patterns going forward over the next decade and beyond, so we can advise on the frequency of extreme weather in the future and the potential for more surface and river flooding.

"This will help inform decision-making about the need for future resilience both here in the UK and globally."

The Met Office no longer publishes a seasonal forecast and will not speculate on whether 2013 will produce frequent extreme rain. The immediate forecast, however, is for more stable weather.

Follow Roger Harrabin on Twitter @rharrabin

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20896049#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

where do i vote dixville notch Remember Remember The 5th Of November African painted dogs What Time Do Polls Open Krysten Ritter barack obama

Depardieu, in tax fight, gets Russian citizenship

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 file photo Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and French actor Gerard Depardieu, left, attend the Russian Museum, in St. Petersburg. Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship. A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said President Vladimir Putin signed the citizenship grant on Thursday Jan. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 file photo Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and French actor Gerard Depardieu, left, attend the Russian Museum, in St. Petersburg. Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship. A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said President Vladimir Putin signed the citizenship grant on Thursday Jan. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Pool)

FILE- This April 14, 2010 file photo shows French actor Gerard Depardieu posing for a photograph as his arrives for the inauguration of U.S. fashion designer Ralph Lauren's new shop in Paris. Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who has been sparring with his native country over taxes, has been granted Russian citizenship. A brief announcement on the Kremlin website said President Vladimir Putin signed the citizenship grant on Thursday Jan. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)

MOSCOW (AP) ? Gerard Depardieu, the French actor who has waged a battle against a proposed super-tax on millionaires in his native country, has been granted Russian citizenship.

A brief announcement on the Kremlin website on Thursday revealed that President Vladimir Putin signed the citizenship grant following an application from the actor.

The former Oscar nominee and star of the movie "Green Card" has been vocal in his opposition to French President Francois Hollande's plans to raise the tax on earned income above ?1 million ($1.33 million) to 75 percent from the current high of 41 percent. Russia has a flat 13-percent tax rate.

"I have never killed anyone, I don't think I've been unworthy, I've paid ?145 million in taxes over 45 years," Depardieu wrote in an open letter in mid-December to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who had called the actor "pathetic."

"I will neither complain nor brag, but I refuse to be called 'pathetic,'" the 64-year-old actor wrote in his response.

A representative for the former Oscar nominee declined to say whether he had accepted the Russian offer, and refused all comment. Thursday was a holiday in Russia and officials from the Federal Tax Service and Federal Migration Service could not be reached for comment on whether the decision would require Depardieu to have a residence in Russia.

Depardieu said in his letter to Ayrault that he would surrender his passport and French social security card. In October, the mayor of a small Belgian border town announced that Depardieu had bought a house and set up legal residence there, a move that was slammed by the newly-elected Socialist government.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French government spokeswoman, didn't comment directly on Depardieu's tax fight, but drew a clear distinction between people who have personal or professional reasons to live abroad, and "French citizens who proclaim loudly and clearly that they they're exiling themselves for fiscal reasons."

She said Putin's offer "is an exclusive prerogative of the Russian chief of state."

Depardieu has had increasingly high-profile ties with Russia. Last October he visited the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, to celebrate the birthday of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. And in 2011, he was in Russia's Arkhangelsk region to play the lead role in the film "Rasputin."

"You have to understand that Depardieu is a star in Russia," Vladimir Fedorovski, a Russian writer living in France, told the network Europe 1 on Thursday. "There are crowds around Depardieu. He's a symbol of France. He's a huge ambassador of French culture."

Though France's highest court struck down the two-year tax on Dec. 29, the government has promised to resubmit the law in a slightly different form soon. On Wednesday it estimated that the court decision to overturn the tax would cost it ?210 million in 2013.

In an interview published Sunday, Depardieu told the Sunday Parisien that the court decision made no difference.

France's debt burden is around 90 percent of national income ? not far off levels that have caused problems elsewhere in the 17-country eurozone.

Depardieu has made more than 150 films, among them the 1991 comedy "Green Card" about a man who enters into a marriage of convenience in order to get U.S. residency. Most famously, Depardieu was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1990 film by the same name.

The Kremlin statement gave no information on why Putin made the citizenship grant, but the Russian president expressed sympathy with the actor in December, days after Depardieu reportedly said he was considering Russian citizenship.

"As we say, artists are easily offended and therefore I understand the feelings of Mr. Depardieu," Putin said.

Although France and Russia disagree sharply about how to resolve the civil war in Syria, the two countries have strong commercial relations. In 2011, Russia signed a contract worth more than ?1 billion ($1.33 billion) Friday to buy two French warships ? the largest military deal between a NATO country and Moscow.

Depardieu is well known in Russia, where he appears in an ad for Sovietsky Bank's credit card and is prominently featured on the bank's home page.

Depardieu is not the only high-profile Frenchman to object to the super-tax. Bernard Arnault ? chief of the luxury goods and fashion giant LVMH and worth an estimated $41 billion ? has also said he would leave for Belgium.

France's Civil Code says one must have another nationality in order to give up French citizenship because it is forbidden to be stateless. Thursday's decision by the Kremlin appears to fulfill that requirement.

____

Hinnant contributed from Paris. Silvie Corbet also contributed from Paris.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-03-Russia-Depardieu/id-a9e2d3bb5496463a9db36a1cee3b479c

joe paterno memorial service taco bell breakfast menu ener1 national chocolate cake day epstein joshua komisarjevsky barney frank

Expats who bounce cheques no longer risk prison in UAE: paper

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates will stop imprisoning expatriates for writing cheques that bounce, Abu Dhabi daily The National reported on Tuesday, citing a senior official.

The UAE's tough penalties for defaulting on loans, which is a criminal offence in the Gulf Arab monarchy, were relaxed for Emirati citizens in October after a royal decree.

"In line with the directives of Sheikh Khalifa... and in the spirit of fairness and equality, the courts have stopped as of last month accepting collateral cheques presented as a criminal tool against expatriate debt defaulters," Ali Khalfan Al Dhaheri, head of the legal affairs department at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs was quoted saying.

In July a British businessman who had been jailed for nearly three years in Dubai for writing bad cheques was released when his conviction was overturned following a seven-week hunger strike.

The UAE has no bankruptcy laws to protect debtors and many have called for the decriminalization of bounced cheques.

"Federal public prosecutions in the country have, indeed, released expatriate detainees as has been the case of their Emirati counterparts who were freed last October," The National quoted judge Jassem Saif Buossaiba, head of the judicial inspection department at the Justice Ministry, as saying.

(Reporting By Rania El Gamal; Editing by Angus McDowall)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/expats-bounce-cheques-no-longer-risk-prison-uae-093945187.html

black and tan dwight howard trade ncaa bracket 2012 2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount

Promising compound restores memory loss and reverses symptoms of Alzheimer's in mice

Jan. 2, 2013 ? A new ray of hope has broken through the clouded outcomes associated with Alzheimer's disease. A new research report published in January 2013 print issue of the FASEB Journal by scientists from the National Institutes of Health shows that when a molecule called TFP5 is injected into mice with disease that is the equivalent of human Alzheimer's, symptoms are reversed and memory is restored -- without obvious toxic side effects.

"We hope that clinical trial studies in AD patients should yield an extended and a better quality of life as observed in mice upon TFP5 treatment," said Harish C. Pant, Ph.D., a senior researcher involved in the work from the Laboratory of Neurochemistry at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders at Stroke at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. "Therefore, we suggest that TFP5 should be an effective therapeutic compound."

To make this discovery, Pant and colleagues used mice with a disease considered the equivalent of Alzheimer's. One set of these mice were injected with the small molecule TFP5, while the other was injected with saline as placebo. The mice, after a series of intraperitoneal injections of TFP5, displayed a substantial reduction in the various disease symptoms along with restoration of memory loss. In addition, the mice receiving TFP5 injections experienced no weight loss, neurological stress (anxiety) or signs of toxicity. The disease in the placebo mice, however, progressed normally as expected. TFP5 was derived from the regulator of a key brain enzyme, called Cdk5. The over activation of Cdk5 is implicated in the formation of plaques and tangles, the major hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

"The next step is to find out if this molecule can have the same effects in people, and if not, to find out which molecule will," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal. "Now that we know that we can target the basic molecular defects in Alzheimer's disease, we can hope for treatments far better -- and more specific -- than anything we have today."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. V. Shukla, Y.-L. Zheng, S. K. Mishra, N. D. Amin, J. Steiner, P. Grant, S. Kesavapany, H. C. Pant. A truncated peptide from p35, a Cdk5 activator, prevents Alzheimer's disease phenotypes in model mice. The FASEB Journal, 2012; 27 (1): 174 DOI: 10.1096/fj.12-217497

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BdOiO-r1N-s/130102140535.htm

Jenni Rivera Funeral aspergers Richard Engel Daniel Inouye steelers scarlett johansson 49ers

'EVE' events mark New Year's celebrations in SLC | FOX13Now.com ...

Posted on: 8:32 am, January 1, 2013, by David Wells and Ben Winslow, updated on: 03:17pm, January 1, 2013

SALT LAKE CITY ? Fireworks and live music were among several events in Salt Lake City?s ?EVE? celebration for the new year.

EVE, put on by the Downtown Alliance, has been going on for the past three days. The event is billed as ?family friendly,? with music and activities scattered around the downtown area. On Friday, the Gateway was hosting a glow in the dark bounce room, face painting, and a jumbo Lite Brite.

?When I heard about things indoors that they can run around and jump around, with all the
cold weather I thought that?s it,? said Tomena Goodwin, who was at the Gateway with her four children.

Events were also being held at the Leonardo museum, Temple Square and the Gallivan Center.

Event organizers say they sold thousands of wristbands for EVE this year and attendance was ?on par? with the 2011 celebration. The Salt Lake Film Society reported greater attendance at its events in 2012 than in 2011.

EVE?s popularity and affordability have propelled it on to travel website Travelocity.com?s Top 10 New Year?s destinations list.

Source: http://fox13now.com/2013/01/01/eve-events-mark-new-years-celebrations-in-slc/

university of texas UT Austin Lizzie Velasquez NFL Network att libya engadget

Big Data: Can We Predict Population Trends (Like Happiness) via ...

More than five years ago, I penned a piece entitled Reliability and Validity in a Web 2.0 World. It spoke about the concerns of gathering data from biased samples ? without first understanding in what ways, exactly, those samples may be biased.

Now, with the ubiquity of apps ? downloadable programs for people?s smartphones ? I?m seeing the same problem arise. Developers and entrepreneurs are pursuing data from these apps without understanding the basics of good, reliable, scientific data collection. And why it matters ? especially when you start wanting to analyze all of this ?big data? (a somewhat silly term? in epidemiology, for instance, scientists just call it ?data?).

Can personal health data be collected by these apps without bias, and somehow be transformed into measuring something bigger?

The short answer: no, not easily.

Sure, there are people who are part of a ?quantified self? movement ? who want to track and measure every aspect of their personal health (and assumedly, mental health). But those people are currently outliers, and in no way representative of the population in general.

Such minorities can quickly make up the majority of an effort to collect larger datasets in order to analyze health or well-being trends. While the resulting analyses can tell you something about this group of people, it would be inappropriate to suggest it generalizes to the rest of the population (who, demographically and behaviorally, may look and act very differently).

This won?t change anytime soon, because most health apps are downloaded by people, used once or twice, and then abandoned. There?s a reason most people stop using health apps ? especially ones meant to act as a data diary. They?re boring! Collecting data on yourself is just a very boring task for most of us to commit to actively doing every day (or even every week).

The Complicated Answer: Apps Need to Be Smarter, Connected

Health apps meant to collect data ultimately fail because they require active input by the user. This is why personal health records have largely never taken off in any meaningful way. People are too busy living their lives to be bothered with telling an app what their daily metrics are.

For health apps to ultimately succeed where most other attempts at personal health tracking software has failed is for them to collect their data passively. That means that no input from the user is required.

Of course, we?re a far way from such metrics providing meaningful data. Sure, there are running devices that track how much you run (from Nike, of course). But a running app is useless if it doesn?t talk to my diet app, or my nutrition app, or my exercise app. Or my mindfulness app. It?s one app measuring a single metric in the complex being that is me. It simply isn?t much to go on.

Trust is a Key Cornerstone

Adoption of such networked apps sharing all of your health data have another, less technical, obstacle as well ? trust. Companies like Facebook and Nike ultimately answer to only one set of people ? their shareholders. That means that if it?s in their best interests to analyze your data for things they can make money off of, they will.

Startups are no better, because instead of shareholders, they answer only to venture capitalists ? money lenders who are only looking for the best and quickest return on their investment.

Why would I want to trust my health information ? data that could be used against me for future denial of insurance or setting of my insurance rates ? to companies who have little interest in protecting my privacy?

Which brings us back again to the first point ? a biased sample. People who gladly give all of their health information to for-profit companies to analyze, collate, and eventually associate back to you (even if such data is initially anonymized) are not like most people. Most of us still care about keeping our health information to ourselves, just as most of us still want to keep our financial information to ourselves.

Where We Go from Here

Attempting to gather population-based data (e.g., conducting epidemiological research) from health apps has some issues and opportunities I?ve identified:

• Biased sampling because of the tiny minority of people who actively and continuously use health apps
• Sampling and continued usage could be improved by passive versus active data collection
• Sampling and use could be further improved by use of a trustworthy authority to collect and store data (not a for-profit company or startup)
• Apps that are aware of one another and exchange relevant health data about me are the next generation ? instead of the current wealth of siloed, unaware (stupid?) apps

I think it?s great that developers look at a health problem, develop an app for it, and release it to the world. But all too often these apps go nowhere, with no audience. Or they are orphaned by the original developers for lack of interest. The few popular health apps that gain a robust audience are the exception, not the rule. And even when they do gain widespread acceptance, just like our country?s electronic medical record systems, they don?t talk to one another.

If you want to be able to say something authoritative or meaningful about data collected from an app, you have to show that data comes from a representative sample of the population. Lacking that, your data only tells us about one tiny group in the population ? one that doesn?t look like most of us.

Footnotes: Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, PsyD (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 31 Dec 2012
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Grohol, J. (2012). Big Data: Can We Predict Population Trends (Like Happiness) via Health Apps?. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 1, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/12/31/big-data-can-we-predict-population-trends-like-happiness-via-health-apps/

?

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/12/31/big-data-can-we-predict-population-trends-like-happiness-via-health-apps/

arizona republican debate arizona debate enquirer national inquirer knicks vs heat ash wednesday kate walsh