Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/hcATES8Texo/
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Paula Patton: Post-Baby Slimdown ?One of the Hardest Things I?ve Done?
"It was really the most grueling and one of the hardest things I've done," Patton, 36, tells PEOPLE about her intense training while attending Thursday's Reebok Crossfit Sport of Fitness campaign launch in New York.
Davis, Dujardin win lead honors at SAG awards (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the maids of honor at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where their Deep South drama "The Help" won them acting prizes and earned the trophy for overall cast performance.
Davis won as best actress and Spencer as supporting actress for "The Help," while Jean Dujardin was named best actor for the silent film "The Artist" and Christopher Plummer took the supporting-actor award for the father-son tale "Beginners."
The wins boost the actors' prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.
In "The Help," Davis and Spencer play black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.
"I just have to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It's all of our burden, all of us," Davis said, accepting the ensemble prize on behalf of her "The Help" co-stars.
Accepting her best-actress award, Davis singled out two performers in the audience who inspired her early in her career: "The Help" co-star Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Davis' co-star in the 2008 drama "Doubt" and one of the nominees she beat out for the SAG prize. Streep had been nominated as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," a role that won her the dramatic actress award at the Golden Globes over Davis.
A French film star who is a newcomer to Hollywood's awards scene with "The Artist," Dujardin played a silent-era screen idol fallen on hard times as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.
"I was a very bad student. I didn't listen in class. I was always dreaming," Dujardin said. "My teachers called me `Jean of the Moon,' and I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream."
Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for "Driving Miss Daisy."
Backstage, Plummer joked when asked if he would like to win an Oscar, an honor so elusive during his esteemed 60-year career that he did not even receive his first Academy Award nomination until two years ago, for "The Last Station."
"No, I think it's frightfully boring," Plummer said. "That's an awful question. Listen, we don't go into this business preoccupied by awards. If we did, we wouldn't last five minutes."
Spencer, a veteran actress who had toiled in small TV and movie parts previously, had a breakout role in "The Help" as a brassy maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble.
"I'm going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed ? whether emotionally, physically or financially," Spencer said.
On the television side, comedy series awards went to "Modern Family" for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for "30 Rock"; and Betty White as best actress for "Hot in Cleveland."
"You can't name me, without naming those other wonderful women on `Hot in Cleveland,'" the 90-year-old White said. "This nomination belongs to four of us. Please, please know that I'm dealing them right in with this. I'm not going to let them keep this, but I'll let them see it."
The TV drama show winners were: Jessica Lange as best actress for "American Horror Story"; and Steve Buscemi as best actor for "Boardwalk Empire," which also won the ensemble prize.
For TV movie or miniseries, Kate Winslet won as best actress for "Mildred Pierce," while Paul Giamatti was named best actor for "Too Big to Fail."
Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." The TV stunt award went to "Game of Thrones."
The winners at the SAG ceremony often go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars ? Colin Firth for "The King's Speech," Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for "The Fighter."
The same generally holds true for the weekend's other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for "The Artist." The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union's awards show.
The guild's ensemble prize, considered the ceremony's equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting what will win the top award at the Oscars.
While "The King's Speech" won both honors a year ago, the SAG ensemble recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.
Though "The Help" won the ensemble prize this time, "The Artist" and George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" are considered stronger contenders for the best-picture Oscar.
Both "The Artist" and "The Descendants" also were nominated for writing and directing Oscars, categories where serious best-picture candidates generally need to be in the running. "The Help" missed out on nominations in both of those Oscar categories.
Mary Tyler Moore received the guild's lifetime-achievement award, an honor presented to her by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
SAG President Ken Howard put in a plug during the show for the guild's planned merger with another Hollywood union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The boards of both groups have approved the merger, and ballots will be sent to members of each union.
"As one union, SAG-AFTRA will support a future of great entertainment for all of us," Howard said.
___
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.
___
Online:
http://www.sagawards.com
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Source: Greek deal sees 70 pct loss for investors
BRUSSELS (AP) ? A person familiar with the negotiations to slash Greece's massive debt says private creditors participating in the deal would face an overall loss on their bondholdings of around 70 percent.
Athens and representatives of banks and other investment funds holding Greek government bonds over the weekend came close to a final deal designed to make Greece's debt sustainable. That is a precondition for further bailout money for Greece from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.
The person said Monday that the 70 percent loss was produced by cutting the bonds' face value in half, reducing the average interest rate to less than 4 percent and pushing repayment of the bonds decades into the future.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Greek lenders Eurobank and Alpha Bank say a planned merger to create the country's largest bank by assets could be put on hold because of debt-relief negotiations between the crisis-hit country and private creditors.
The banks said Monday that "an accurate timeline cannot be given" to complete the deal announced last August because of the negotiations.
The closely watched talks would see private holders of Greek bonds cancel half their debt and likely accept additional losses in a swap for bonds with a longer maturity.
Greece's finance ministry expressed surprise at the announcement, arguing that the negotiations had produced "nothing new or different" to factors already taken into account by both banks.
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As?US wavers on pipeline, Canada eyes China
KITAMAAT VILLAGE, British Columbia?? The latest chapter in Canada's quest to become a full-blown oil superpower unfolded this month in a village gym on the British Columbia coast.
Here, several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific in order to deliver oil to Asia, chiefly energy-hungry China. The stakes are particularly high for the village of Kitamaat and its neighbors, because the pipeline would terminate here and a port would be built to handle 220 tankers a year and 525,000 barrels of oil a day.
But the planned Northern Gateway Pipeline is just one aspect of an epic battle over Canada's oil ambitions ? a battle that already has a supporting role in the U.S. presidential election, and which will help to shape North America's future energy relationship with China.
It actually is a tale of two pipelines ? the one that is supposed to end at Kitamaat Village, and another that would have gone from Alberta to the Texas coast but was blocked by the Obama administration citing environmental grounds.
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Those same environmental issues are certain to haunt Northern Gateway as the Joint Review Panel of energy and environmental officials canvasses opinion along the 731 mile route of the Northern Gateway pipeline to be built by Enbridge, a Canadian company.
The fear of oil spills is especially acute in this pristine corner of northwest British Columbia, with its snowcapped mountains and deep ocean inlets. People here still remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, and oil is still leaking from the Queen of the North, a ferry that sank off nearby Hartley Bay six years ago.
Story: GOP tries new strategy to get Canada pipelineThe seas nearby, in the Douglas Channel, "are very treacherous waters," says David Suzuki, a leading environmentalist. "You take a supertanker that takes miles in order to stop, (and) an accident is absolutely inevitable."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada's national interest makes the $5.5 billion pipeline essential. He was "profoundly disappointed" that U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the Texas Keystone XL option but also spoke of the need to diversify Canada's oil industry. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.
"I think what's happened around the Keystone is a wake-up call, the degree to which we are dependent or possibly held hostage to decisions in the United States, and especially decisions that may be made for very bad political reasons," he told Canadian TV.
Gingrich attacks
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich quickly picked up the theme, saying that Harper, "who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American ... has said he's going cut a deal with the Chinese ... We'll get none of the jobs, none of the energy, none of the opportunity."
He charged that "An American president who can create a Chinese-Canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country."
But the environmental objections that pushed Obama to block the pipeline to Texas apply equally to the Pacific pipeline, and the review panel says more than 4,000 people have signed up to testify.
The atmosphere has turned acrimonious, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver claiming in an open letter that "environmental and other radical groups" are out to thwart Canada's economic ascent.
He said they were bent on bogging down the panel's work. And in an unusually caustic mention of Canada's southern neighbor, he added: "If all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach: Sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further."
Environmentalists and First Nations (a Canadian synonym for native tribes) could delay approval all the way to the Supreme Court, and First Nations still hold title to some of the land the pipeline would cross, meaning the government will have to move with extreme sensitivity.
Alberta has the world's third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela: more than 170 billion barrels. Daily production of 1.5 million barrels from the oil sands is expected to increase to 3.7 million in 2025, which the oil industry sees as a pressing reason to build the pipelines.
Critics, however, dislike the whole concept of tapping the oil sands, saying it requires huge amounts of energy and water, increases greenhouse gas emissions and threatens rivers and forests. Some projects are massive open-pit mines, and the process of separating oil from sand can generate lake-sized pools of toxic sludge.
Meanwhile, China's growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $16 billion in Canadian energy in the past two years, state-controlled Sinopec has a stake in the pipeline, and if it is built, Chinese investment in Alberta oil sands is sure to boom.
"They (the Chinese) wonder why it's not being built already," said Wenran Jiang, an energy expert and professor at the University of Alberta.
In a report on China's stake in Canadian energy, Jiang notes that if every Chinese burned oil at the rate Americans do, China's daily consumption would equal the entire world's.
Harper is set to visit China next month. After Obama first delayed the Keystone pipeline in November, Harper told Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Pacific Rim summit in Hawaii that Canada would like to sell more oil to China, and the Canadian prime minister filled in Obama on what he said.
Jiang reads that to mean "China has become leverage."
But oil analysts say Alberta has enough oil to meet both countries' needs, and the pipeline's capacity of 525,000 barrels a day would amount to less than 6 percent of China's current needs.
"I don't think U.S. policymakers view China's investment in the Canadian oil sands as a threat," says David Goldwyn, a former energy official in the Obama administration.
"In the short term it provides additional investment to increase Canadian supply; that's a good thing. Longer-term, if Canadian oil goes to China, that means China's demand is being met by a non-OPEC country, and that's a good thing for global oil supply. Right now we are spending an awful lot of time finding ways for China to meet its demand from some place other than Iran. Canada would be a great candidate."
Pipelines are rarely rejected in Canada, but Murray Minchin, an environmentalist who lives near Kitamaat Village, says this time he and other opponents are determined to block construction. "They are ready to put themselves in front of something to stop the equipment," Minchin said. "Even if it gets the green light it doesn't mean it's getting done."
Native communities offered 10 percent ownership
Enbridge is confident the pipeline will be built and claims about 40 percent of First Nation communities living along the route have entered into a long-term equity partnership with Enbridge. The communities together are being offered 10 percent ownership of the pipeline, meaning those which sign on will share an expected $400 million over 30 years.
But of the 43 eligible communities, only one went public with its acceptance and it has since reneged after fierce protests from its members.
Janet Holder, the Enbridge executive overseeing the project, says pipeline leaks are not inevitable, new technologies make monitoring more reliable, and tugboats will guide tankers through the Douglas Channel.
At the Kitamaat hearings, speakers ranged from Ellis Ross, chief of the Haisla First Nation in British Columbia, to Dieter Wagner, a German-born Canadian, retired scientist and veteran sailor who called the Douglas Channel "an insane route to take."
Ross used to work on whale-watching boats, and refers to himself as a First Nation, a term applicable to individuals as well as groups. He testified that the tanker port would go up just as marine life decimated by industrial pollution was making a comeback in his territory.
He held the audience spellbound as he described an extraordinary nighttime encounter last summer with a whale that was "logging" ? the half-doze that passes for sleep in the cetacean world.
"...Midnight I hear this whale and it's right outside the soccer field. ... It's waterfront, but I can hear this whale, and I can't understand why it's so close, something's got to be wrong.
"So I walk down there with my daughter, my youngest daughter, and I try to flash a light down there, and quickly figured out it's not in trouble, it's sleeping. It's resting right outside our soccer field.
"You can't imagine what that means to a First Nation that's watched his territory get destroyed over 60 years. You can't imagine the feeling."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46181932/ns/world_news-americas/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tom Waits: Silent Night - Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis (Little green footballs)
Fresh iPhone Apps for Jan. 27: Frequency, Steam Mobile, RAGE HD update, Baseball Superstars 2012 (Appolicious)
Start your weekend with all the best videos the Internet has to offer with Frequency, an iPad app that makes finding and organizing great videos from all over the place a snap. It?s our top Fresh App today, followed by Steam Mobile, an iOS app that ties to the popular digital video game download portal and lets you impulse-buy during Steam?s crazy game sales no matter where you are. A big update with new levels to RAGE HD tops off our games picks for this weekend, followed by a new, free edition to the Baseball Superstars series from Gamevil.
Frequency makes it easy to group videos into channels and see everything you want quickly and easily, but it also helps you search through all that information for the best bits. The app will pull highlights from all your channels that you can flip through more quickly, keep you up to date on trends and allow you to find things you?re already following quickly with its TUNER feature. It also includes AirPlay support, which means you can watch your videos on your other iOS devices, including Apple TV.
Steam lets you search for games, see new releases, read about titles and watch their trailers, all from your iOS device. You can buy games for yourself or for friends, or add them to your ?wishlist? for later (or to encourage people to give you gifts). You?ll need a Steam account to access your account through the app, and the system is currently still in beta, so you?ll need to wait for developer Valve to send you an invite. But downloading the app and signing-in puts you on Valve?s list of interested users, which might help fast-track your beta invite.
A big update has just dropped for the title, bringing new content to iOS players. RAGE HD contains two new levels to work through, filled with pesky, murderous mutants. Those levels can be downloaded through in-app purchase, and the game now supports HDMI output so you can play on your TV and iOS 5. It?s also received a host of bug fixes to tighten up the experience.
Baseball Superstars 2012 features HD graphics and online play that allows you to take on other players as well as trade your baseball team members with your friends. It also features a story campaign you can work through on your own with multiple endings, and Game Center support for achievements and leaderboards.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
sfbreakingnews: Breaking news. USDN inc. Had business license suspended as of 2/9/2009 according to a California Secretary of State website #BoT #CCSF
Breaking news. USDN inc. Had business license suspended as of 2/9/2009 according to a California Secretary of State website Source: http://twitter.com/sfbreakingnews/statuses/162779835968667648
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Struggling in US, F-35 fighter pushes sales abroad (AP)
TOKYO ? Detractors say the F-35 stealth fighter, the costliest military plane ever, is destined to go down as one of the biggest follies in aviation history. But it may have found a savior: deep-pocketed U.S. allies hungry to add its super high-tech capabilities to their arsenal.
The program marked a major success last month when Japan chose it over the Boeing F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon as a replacement for 42 aircraft in its aging air force. It was the F-35's first victory in an open-bidding competition, though countries from Britain to Israel previously made commitments and others are expected to follow.
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin also is looking to bring F-35s to South Korea in a deal that could be Seoul's biggest single defense outlay ever ? 60 top-of-the-line fighters worth more than $7 billion. A decision could come as soon as October.
In the U.S., however, the stealth jet has been called a boondoggle. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, has slammed the F-35 as a "scandal and a tragedy," a "train wreck" and "incredibly expensive."
With U.S. defense budget cuts looming and many critics of the program still unconvinced, foreign support is a make-or-break issue for the program, which has been described as too big to fail. It could become the cornerstone of global air strategy for the next few decades, or a trillion-dollar bust.
"The U.S. fighter jet industry has all of its eggs in this one basket," said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. So many countries have bought into the program, he said, there is now no realistic choice but to forge ahead with it.
"It would be almost impossible for the U.S. to cancel the F-35, since the repercussions would be global," he said.
The F-35 is the world's only "fifth generation" fighter jet, combining state-of-the art stealth technology with highly advanced avionics and maneuverability. The first F-35 flew in 2006, and 42 have been produced so far. China and Russia are working on rival ? and some experts say superior ? aircraft.
About 130,000 people in 47 states and Puerto Rico have jobs related to the project. The only states without F-35 work are Hawaii, North Dakota and Wyoming.
"Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 program. It must succeed," Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley said in September.
The Pentagon envisions buying 2,443 F-35s for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, but some members of Congress and Department of Defense officials are balking at the price tag, which has jumped from $233 billion to $385 billion. Some estimates suggest it could top out at $1 trillion over 50 years, making it the most expensive program in military history.
In frustration over cost overruns, Congress added a requirement that Lockheed Martin cover extra costs on future F-35 purchases to the defense bill it passed last month.
"The delays and cost increases that F-35 has suffered have put it under substantial political pressure in Washington, so a win like the Japan program is a major boost," said James Hardy, Asia Pacific specialist with IHS Jane's in London.
Success rides heavily on foreign investment because the more F-35s are produced, the cheaper each jet is to build and maintain.
Lockheed Martin, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems, has been careful to bring in international partners. The fighter is being developed with support from Britain, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Canada.
Among the leading international partners, the U.K. is planning to buy 138 F-35s, Italy 131 and Canada 65. Australia has ordered 14 and has plans to buy as many as 100 for 16 billion Australian dollars ($17 billion).
The Israeli government selected the F-35A as its air force's next generation aircraft in 2010 ? making it the first country to receive the F-35 through the U.S. government's Foreign Military Sales process.
Singapore also has said it will buy F-35, although it hasn't set numbers yet, and there may be longer-term interest from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and India, said Hardy, of IHS Jane's.
The wide range of buyers is in contrast to Lockheed Martin's last stealth fighter, the now discontinued F-22 "Raptor." It was hailed as a wonder of technology but failed in large part because Congress deemed it too sensitive to sell even to Washington's closest allies.
Narushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who has advised the Japanese government on defense issues, said he thinks the F-35 is Japan's best option.
"If this was about a Cold War-type competition, then the F-22 would have been better. But if this is a long-term peacetime competition, you need numbers and presence, and close coordination among allies," Michishita said.
But defense analyst Carlo Kopp of the private Air Power Australia think tank said he thinks it was a mistake for his country and others to buy in. He said the F-35 program should have been canceled years ago and that the policy of pushing forward with it at any cost only threatens to create a budgetary sinkhole that would weaken the defenses of the U.S. and its allies.
"It will never become a viable combat aircraft due to cumulative poor choices made early in the design, and later Band-Aid fixes," Kopp said.
Further cost increases could prompt foreign buyers to cut their orders, which would put even more pressure on Lockheed Martin. Other problems also continue to trouble its international partners:
? Concerns about whether Lockheed will be able to deliver on time prompted Australia to caution that it won't decide until later this year whether to buy any more than the 14 ordered so far.
? Structural glitches have emerged that compromise the F-35's ability to land on aircraft carriers. That's a big issue for Britain, where the plane is slated to replace its carrier-friendly Harrier jets by 2020. British media have also reported that the F-35 can't fire British air-to-air missiles.
? Canada and Norway may have difficulty operating the F-35 on icy runways. The plane's single-engine design ? unlike the twin-engine F-22 or F-15 ? could also be an issue. If the engine goes out, planes and pilots in the Arctic could be lost.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Millions now manage aging parents' care from afar
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Kristy Bryner worries her 80-year-old mom might slip and fall when she picks up the newspaper, or that she'll get in an accident when she drives to the grocery store. What if she has a medical emergency and no one's there to help? What if, like her father, her mother slips into a fog of dementia?
Those questions would be hard enough if Bryner's aging parent lived across town in Portland, Ore., but she is in Kent, Ohio. The stress of caregiving seems magnified by each of the more than 2,000 miles that separate them.
"I feel like I'm being split in half between coasts," said Bryner, 54. "I wish I knew what to do, but I don't."
As lifespans lengthen and the number of seniors rapidly grows, more Americans find themselves in Bryner's precarious position, struggling to care for an ailing loved one from hundreds or thousands of miles away.
The National Institute on Aging estimates around 7 million Americans are long-distance caregivers. Aside from economic factors that often drive people far from their hometowns, shifting demographics in the country could exacerbate the issue: Over the next four decades, the share of people 65 and older is expected to rapidly expand while the number of people under 20 will roughly hold steady. That means there will be a far smaller share of people between 20 and 64, the age group that most often is faced with caregiving.
"You just want to be in two places at once," said Kay Branch, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska, but helps coordinate care for her parents in Lakeland, Fla., about 3,800 miles away.
There are no easy answers.
Bryner first became a long-distance caregiver when, more than a decade ago, her father began suffering from dementia, which consumed him until he died in 2010. She used to be able to count on help from her brother, who lived close to their parents, but he died of cancer a few years back. Her mother doesn't want to leave the house she's lived in for so long.
So Bryner talks daily with her mother via Skype, a video telephone service. She's lucky to have a job that's flexible enough that she's able to visit for a couple of weeks every few months. But she fears what may happen when her mother is not as healthy as she is now.
"Someone needs to check on her, someone needs to look out for her," she said. "And the only someone is me, and I don't live there."
Many long-distance caregivers say they insist on daily phone calls or video chats to hear or see how their loved one is doing. Oftentimes, they find another relative or a paid caregiver they can trust who is closer and able to help with some tasks.
Yet there always is the unexpected: Medical emergencies, problems with insurance coverage, urgent financial issues. Problems become far tougher to resolve when you need to hop on a plane or make a daylong drive.
"There are lots of things that you have to do that become these real exercises in futility," said Ed Rose, 49, who lives in Boston but, like his sister, travels frequently to Chicago to help care for his 106-year-old grandmother, Blanche Seelmann.
Rose has rushed to his grandmother's side for hospitalizations, and made unexpected trips to solve bureaucratic issues like retrieving a document from a safe-deposit box in order to open a bank account.
But he said he has also managed to get most of the logistics down to a routine.
He uses Skype to speak with his grandmother every day and tries to be there whenever she has a doctor's appointment. Aides handle many daily tasks and have access to a credit card for household expenses. They send him receipts so he can monitor spending. He has an apartment near his grandmother to make sure he's comfortable on his frequent visits.
Even for those who live near those they care for, travel for work can frequently make it a long-distance affair. Evelyn Castillo-Bach lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla., the same town as her 84-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer's disease. But she is on the road roughly half the year, sometimes for months at a time, both for work with her own Web company and accompanying her husband, a consultant for the United Nations.
Once, she was en route from Kosovo to Denmark when she received a call alerting her that her mother was having kidney failure and appeared as if she would die. She needed to communicate her mother's wishes from afar as her panicked sister tried to search their mother's home for her living will. Castillo-Bach didn't think she could make it in time to see her mother alive once more.
"I won't get to touch my mother again," she thought.
She was wrong. Her mother pulled through. But she says it illustrates what long-distance caregivers so frequently go through.
"This is one of the things that happens when you're thousands of miles away," Castillo-Bach said.
Lynn Feinberg, a caregiving expert at AARP, said the number of long-distance caregivers is likely to grow, particularly as a sagging economy has people taking whatever job they can get, wherever it is. Though caregiving is a major stress on anyone, distance can often magnify it, Feinberg said, and presents particular difficulty when it must be balanced with an inflexible job.
"It's a huge stress," she said. "It can have enormous implications not only for someone's quality of life, but also for someone's job."
It can also carry a huge financial burden. A November 2007 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare, a division of United Health Group, found annual expenses incurred by long-distance caregivers averaged about $8,728, far more than caregivers who lived close to their loved one. Some also had to cut back on work hours, take on debt of their own and slash their personal spending.
Even with that in mind, though, many long-distance caregivers say they don't regret their decision. Rita Morrow, who works in accounting and lives in Louisville, Ky., about a six-hour drive from her 90-year-old mother in Memphis, Tenn., does all the juggling too.
She has to remind her mother to take her medicine, make sure rides are lined up for doctor's appointments, rush to her aid if there's a problem. She knows her mom wants to stay in her home, to keep going to the church she's gone to the past 60 years, to be near her friends.
"We do what we have to do for our parents," she said. "My mother did all kinds of things for me."
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SOTU Response: We???re Still in Bad Shape (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Tuesday night was the night of speeches. First there was the State of the Union; then there was the GOP response. While I'm not a fan of Mitch Daniels, I liked his answer. It was more factual and current then Obama's State of the Union address, and it highlighted the importance of the 2012 elections. As a country, we cannot do another four years of Obama, and the answer is electing a Republican president.
Gov. Daniels crafted an impressive response to Obama's State of the Union address. I particularly liked Daniels' speech when he stated, "The president did not cause the economic and fiscal crises that continue in America tonight. But he was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse: the percentage of Americans with a job is at the lowest in decades. One in five men of prime working age, and nearly half of all persons under 30, did not go to work today."
While I'm not in either of those demographics, I didn't go to work yesterday. In fact, I gave up looking for traditional employment in November 2011. There are no jobs out there. There are no jobs for the uneducated, and there are no jobs for the educated. I fall into the latter category. I have two degrees, and I'm thinking about getting a third degree. I shouldn't need three degrees to find a job. With two degrees I'm already overeducated, but that's the world Obama has created.
I had a job in 2008, and I still had a job in 2009 after Obama was elected. I wasn't downsized until April 2009. Supposedly, the recession ended during that summer, but a more than two years later, I'm still not traditionally employed. It's a problem, and it's not just a problem for me. It's a problem for the nation.
The United States cannot thrive with high unemployment. "The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy; it borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation, no entity, large or small, public or private, can thrive, or survive intact, with debts as huge as ours," said Gov. Daniels.
It's been more than two years since the recession officially ended. Yet, the unemployment rate is still a whopping 8.5 percent. While Obama wants to take credit for the improvements no matter how marginal, I don't see enough improvement.
The answer to the economy is to elect a Republican president. We can't do another four years of Obamanomics. That means we need to pay close attention during this year's primaries. We need to scrutinize each candidate as if our lives depended on it. Then, we, as a nation, need to pick the best republican presidential candidate so we can get this nation and its jobs and its citizens back on track.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mortgage applications retreated last week: MBA (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Applications for home mortgages retreated last week, giving back some of the previous week's surge as interest rates rose, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, fell 5 percent in the week ended Jan 20.
The index had soared more than 20 percent the previous week.
The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications slipped 5.2 percent, while the gauge of loan requests for home purchases was off 5.4 percent. The refinance share of total mortgage activity decreased to 81.3 percent of applications from 82.2 percent.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.11 percent, up 5 basis points from 4.06 percent.
The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.
(Reporting By Leah Schnurr; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins Star and Playoff MVP, Snubs Obama White House Visit
Congratulating the Boston Bruins on the 2011 Stanley Cup championship, President Barack Obama welcomed the team, with one notable omission, to the White House.
Goaltender Tim Thomas, the team's linchpin and only the second American player ever to win playoff MVP, having posted two shutouts in the Final, skipped the event.
Thomas said months ago he would not attend due to political and ideological differences with the Obama administration, and he stayed true to his word yesterday.
Bruins team president Cam Neely said he could've forced Tim Thomas to go, but did not do so, and feels the decision was Thomas' and the team honors his choice.
"Everybody has their own opinions and political beliefs. He chose not to join us," said Neely. "We certainly would have liked to have him but that's his choice."
"All the guys came except for Tim. It's his decision and his choice."
While his politics aren't common knowledge among many fans, Thomas hasn't hidden his leanings as an unabashed Glenn Beck fan and "true Tea Party patriot."
On the one hand, when the President asks you to visit the White House event, shouldn't you just go, regardless of political differences with the administration?
On the other hand, should Thomas be praised - whether you agree with his views or not - for using a unique moment to make a political statement of his own?
Thomas will no doubt lose a lot of supporters over this, but you have to at least respect an athlete who uses his fame or influence for something he believes in.
Right? Tell us if we're on point or off the mark in the comments.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/tim-thomas-boston-bruins-snubs-obama-white-house-visit/
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'Underworld' slays the box office with $25.3M
Cast member Kate Beckinsale arrives at the premiere of "Underworld Awakening" in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. "Underworld Awakening" will be released in theaters Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
Cast member Kate Beckinsale arrives at the premiere of "Underworld Awakening" in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. "Underworld Awakening" will be released in theaters Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kate Beckinsale returned to the "Underworld" as the vampire warrior Selene and helped propel the fourth film in the franchise, "Underworld Awakening," to a first-place debut with $25.3 million. Last week's No. 1 movie, the thriller "Contraband," fell to third place with just over $12 million.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:
1. "Underworld Awakening," Sony Screen Gems, $25,306,725, 3078 locations, $8,222 average, $25,306,725, one week.
2. "Red Tails," Fox, $18,782,154, 2512 locations, $7,477 average, $18,782,154, one week.
3. "Contraband," Universal, $12,039,605, 2870 locations, $4,195 average, $45,937,525, two weeks.
4. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," Warner Bros., $10,737,239, 2630 locations, $4,083 average, $10,737,239, five weeks.
5. "Beauty and the Beast," Disney, $8,779,676, 2625 locations, $3,345, $33,588,056, two weeks.
6. "Haywire," Relativity Media, $8,425,370, 2439 locations, $3,454 average, $8,425,370, one week.
7. "Joyful Noise," Warner Bros., $5,917,437, 2735 locations, $2,164 average, $21,745,419, two weeks.
8. "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol," Paramount, $5,554,254, 2519 locations, $2,205 average, $197,363,441, six weeks.
9. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," Warner Bros., $4,515,497, 2485 locations, $1,817 average, $178,321,726, six weeks.
10. "The Iron Lady," Weinstein Co., $3,684,279, 1076 locations, $3,424 average, $12,585,958, four weeks.
11. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Sony, $3,528,514, 1907 locations, $1,850 average, $94,553,582, five weeks.
12. "War Horse," Disney, $3,150,502, 2525 locations, $1,248 average, $72,285,180, five weeks.
13. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," Fox, $3,076,168, 2070 locations, $1,486 average, $124,682,205, six weeks.
14. "We Bought a Zoo," Fox, $2,783,440, 2065 locations, $1,348 average, $69,565,025, five weeks.
15. "The Devil Inside," Paramount, $2,668,865, 2207 locations, $1,209 average, $51,289,972, three weeks.
16. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $2,372,298, 560 locations, $4,236 average, $51,259,658, 10 weeks.
17. "The Artist," Weinstein Co., $2,371,803, 662 locations, $3,583 average, $12,119,718, nine weeks.
18. "The Adventures of Tintin," Paramount, $2,218,841, 1340 locations, $1,656 average, $72,321,006, five weeks.
19. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Focus Features, $1,763,380, 731 locations, $2,412 average, $18,328,977, seven weeks.
20. "Hugo," Paramount, $937,620, 650 locations, $1,442 average, $55,887,402, nine weeks.
___
Online:
http://www.hollywood.com
___
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Thoroughbred Racehorses Get Speed from Just a Few Ancestors (LiveScience.com)
Thoroughbred horses owe their amazing sprinting capabilities to just a couple of ancestors, according to a new study that traces the genetics of these racehorses.
The research finds that a genetic variant associated with speed likely originated with a single mare in the mid-17th century. The gene variant became widespread in modern thoroughbreds, thanks to a single stallion named Nearctic, the father of the most-bred stallion of modern times.
"Changes in racing since the foundation of the Thoroughbred have shaped the distribution of 'speed gene' types over time and in different racing regions," study researcher Emmeline Hill, a genomics scientist at University College Dublin, said in a statement.
Built for speed
In 2010, Hill and her colleagues announced they had discovered how variations in the genetic code of thoroughbreds translated to speed. A gene called MSTN, associated with muscle growth, comes in two varieties, or alleles: C and T. Horses with two copies of the C allele are fast, short-distance sprinters. Horses with one C and one T tend to be strong middle-distance runners. And T/T horses have less speed, but greater stamina. [Top 10 Animal Recruits in War]
Now, Hill and her colleagues have traced the history of the C and T alleles, reaching back into the horse family tree to learn where these genetic variations arose and how they spread as the demands of horse breeders changed. The C variant doesn't show up in distant horse cousins such as zebras, the researchers found, revealing that the stamina-bestowing T was the norm in ancestral wild horses. That makes sense, Hill and her colleagues report today (Jan. 24) in the journal Nature Communications, as wild horses needed the ability to roam over long distances.
The C allele shows up in other breeds of domesticated horses besides thoroughbreds, the researchers found. European and Asian horses have it, as do almost all American quarter horses, another talented sprinter and the most popular horse breed in the U.S. today.
Registered thoroughbreds haven't reproduced outside their breed since 1791, so the researchers knew that the C allele had to have been in the line by that time. Fortunately for their research, thoroughbred breeding records are, well, thorough, and all modern thoroughbreds can trace their paternal lineages back to one of three stallions: Byerly Turk, which lived in the 1680s; Darley Arabian, born in 1704; and Goldolphin Arabian, born in 1729.
By testing historical samples related to Darley Arabian, the researchers were able to determine that he lacked the C allele. It's not clear whether the other two stallions had this allele, but their contribution to the gene pool is minimal compared with Darley. That makes it most likely that the C variant entered the thoroughbred line through a single mare bred in the 17th century, right before the thoroughbred population closed off to outbreeding.
"The results show that the 'speed gene' entered the Thoroughbred from a single founder, which was most like a British mare about 300 years ago when local British horse types were the preeminent racing horses," Hill said.
Dominating genes
But that finding didn't explain how the C allele became so widespread in modern thoroughbreds. To find out, the researchers examined the pedigrees of 56 elite-performing C/C and T/T horses. They found that the genetic data converged on one horse, Nearctic, born in 1954 to a stallion named Nearco, who was known as one of the best racehorses of the era. Nearctic, in turn, sired a horse named Northern Dancer, in 1961.
Northern Dancer never came in lower than third in his time as a racehorse, and he won 14 of the 18 races he ran. When he retired, he became the most influential stud horse of the era, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. At one point in the 1980s, it cost $1 million to have Northern Dancer breed with a mare.
Northern Dancer's prolific breeding allowed the C allele to spread far and wide among thoroughbreds, the researchers found. But it wasn't just good looks and luck that made Northern Dancer popular. In the late 1800s and into the 1900s, horses began at racing younger and younger ages, starting at 2 rather than 5 or 6. At the same time, races were becoming shorter. The C allele, which leads to fast muscle growth early in life, made for good sprinters for this new type of racing.
This little gene means big bucks for horse breeders and owners. The winnings of all of Northern Dancer's 635 registered foals, for example, exceeded $26 million at the time of their sire's death in 1990. Hill is a co-founder of Equinome, a company which tests for the C and T alleles. This test is used by the racing industry to determine the optimal racing distances for individual Thoroughbreds.
The study also reveals the power of racing trends in determining the genetics of racehorses, Hill said.
"This just goes to show the power breeders have to shape the genetic make-up of their horses," she said. "Decisions regarding the race pattern in each racing jurisdiction and the commercial demand for certain types will also rapidly influence the genetic make-up of the population."
You can follow LiveScience?senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.
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Miley Cyrus Goes Braless, Shows Off New Short Haircut (omg!)
Miley Cyrus may have left her bra at home, but there was a good reason for it -- she was preoccupied with her brand-new haircut!
On Friday, the underwear-less star, who sported a white T-shirt underneath an unbuttoned flannel and denim cut-off shorts, met up with some friends at the Los Angeles eatery Wokcano, while debuting her freshly cropped off hair.
PHOTOS: Miley's most provocative outfits
"Just got a hurrrr cut," the 19-year-old tweeted that day.
"I didn't do anything to crazy. But I did take 5 inches off!" she later added, responding to a fan via Twitter.
PHOTOS: Miley's wild life so far
Cyrus was last spotted with her longer locks when she stepped out with her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth at the 2012 People's Choice Awards, where she wowed in a David Koma dress, Neil Lane jewelry, Jimmu Choo heels and a Marchesa clutch.
PHOTOS: Liam, Jennifer Lawrence and other stars in Hunger Games sneak peek
Hemsworth, who turned 22 on January 13, is the proud owner of a new puppy, a gift from Cyrus herself.
"Meet Ziggy," the former Disney starlet wrote beneath an adorable snapshot of her man's pet, which she shared via Twitter January 12.
Tell Us: Do you like Miley's hair long or short?
Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Ga. judge orders president to appear at hearing (AP)
ATLANTA ? A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and can't be president.
It's one of many such lawsuits that have been filed across the country, so far without success. A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.
An Obama campaign aide says any attempt to involve the president personally will fail and such complaints around the country have no merit.
The hearing is set for Thursday before an administrative judge. Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi on Friday denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
RedPad: Android tablet for Chinese politicians that costs twice as much as the iPad (Yahoo! News)
An Android tablet designed for Chinese officials without special features inexplicably costs $1,600
Would you buy a $1,600?Android tablet that doesn't have any special features compared to other slates half its price? A relatively unknown Chinese manufacturer seems to think people would, and released a tablet called the RedPad ? a?Honeycomb device specifically meant for?China's government officials, that costs almost two grand.
The 9.7" RedPad?is a pretty standard Android?tablet fare, with 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage, which is usually the lowest capacity found in mid-range slates. For $2,000, you'd think buyers will get a top-of-the-line device or at least a few extras. But the only bonus they will get is a rather shoddy looking leather case, and an inscription of China's "Serve the People" slogan at the back of the tablet. The total cost for manufacturing each device is $480, so why it's priced at $1,600 is beyond us. An?interview with the company spokesperson, Xianri Liu, reveals RedPad's somewhat twisted reasoning for that price point: the company believes people think expensive things are good. Therefore, RedPad must be good.
He also argues that RedPad comes with a bunch of apps including tablet versions of periodicals, and a state-sanctioned Chinese version of?Twitter. Installing those kinds of apps on the?iPad, he says, will cost as much as $1,600 in a year. A device of that price point targeted toward?politicians will almost certainly cause a stir not only within China, but all over the internet.
Liu says the company plans to release RedPad to market, and compete with?Apple's iPad?? a feat that will be extremely hard to accomplish when the tablet costs that much.
[via?Penn Olson,?The Verge]
(Source)
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
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Supreme Court ruling confuses religious workers
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Aleeza Adelman teaches Judaic Studies to second graders at The New Orleans Jewish Day School in Metairie, La., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. A Supreme Court ruling that appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for an exemption to anti-discrimination policies has some employees of those institutions wondering whether they'd have any protection if they were fired. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
DETROIT (AP) ? Aleeza Adelman teaches Jewish studies at a Jewish school, yet she considers herself a teacher whose subject is religion, not a religious teacher. She's rethinking how to define her job after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling left her wondering what could happen if she ever needed to defend her right to keep it.
The high court ruled last week that religious workers can't sue for job discrimination, but didn't describe what constitutes a religious employee ? putting many people employed by churches, synagogues or other religious organizations in limbo over their rights.
"I think of myself as a teacher who is just like any other teacher," said Adelman, who works at the New Orleans Jewish Day School. "Yes, my topic of teaching happens to be Jewish stuff, but if I were to just think in general about it, am I different from the teacher across the hall who is teaching secular studies?"
The justices denied government antidiscrimination protection to Cheryl Perich, a Detroit-area teacher and commissioned minister who complained to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that her firing was discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The commission sued the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford Township, Mich., over her firing.
Perich got sick in 2004 and tried to return work from disability leave despite a narcolepsy diagnosis. She was fired after she showed up at the school and threatened to sue to get her job back. A federal judge threw out the lawsuit on grounds that Perich fell under the so-called ministerial exception, which keeps the government from interfering with church affairs. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated her lawsuit, arguing that her primary function was teaching secular subjects so the ministerial exception didn't apply.
The high court disagreed, but didn't set rigid rules on who can be considered a religious worker of a religious organization. That appears to give wide leeway to churches and other religious organizations to decide who qualifies for the exception.
Rita Schwartz, president of Philadelphia-based National Association of Catholic School Teachers, said she's comforted by the fact that the justices didn't set a broad precedent. But she said it leaves employees of religious-based institutions in an unsettled position until or unless they are deemed a ministerial employee.
"I don't mind that title unless it is used to deny my rights as a citizen," said Schwartz, whose association was formed in 1978. "I don't give up my rights at the schoolhouse door. I should not have to do that."
Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote a separate opinion, argued that the ministerial exception should be tailored for only an employee "who leads a religious organization, conducts worship services or important religious ceremonies or rituals or serves as a messenger or teacher of its faith."
Schwartz also is concerned about how far the exception can go. She supported maintenance workers in a dispute several years ago in which she said Catholic officials argued that the workers were ministerial employees because "they polished the pews in the chapels and they repaired the crucifixes on the walls."
David Lopez said he sees both sides of the argument as an English instructor at both a Detroit-area Catholic high school and at a community college. At the college, he has the protections of collective bargaining, but at the high school he is an at-will employee with a year-to-year contract.
"I either accept that because I like the environment or I work at a public school where I have better protections," said Lopez, whose day job is at Gabriel Richard High School in suburban Riverview.
"I enjoy teaching students who are actually interested in what I'm trying to teach them," he said. "I lose the protection, but by the same token it's a pleasant environment. It's hard to put a price tag on something like that."
Adelman said she has the highest respect for administrators at the New Orleans Jewish school and believes she would be treated fairly if a problem arose. Still, she'd like to think that she wouldn't lose protections just because of what she teaches.
"If I felt discrimination in the workplace? Of course, I would definitely want to feel I have the right to speak up about any issue, and the fact that I'm a religious educator ... is not going to cause problems along the way," she said.
___
Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub
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