As Mississippi rises, inspections up on rebuilt levee (Reuters)

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) ? Concerns about rising waters in the Mississippi River have prompted engineers to step up investigations of the Birds Point levee, only partially rebuilt after the government intentionally blew it up last spring, officials said on Tuesday.

The levee in the southeastern part of Missouri was breached in May to spare the town of Cairo, Illinois, instead flooding 130,000 acres of farmland. It was rebuilt to a temporary level last fall and inspected about once a week.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Major Jon Korneliussen said inspections are now occurring daily, with the Mississippi waters rising because of winter rains. The river stood at 27 feet on January 15, but had risen to 40 feet by Monday.

Kornelussen said the river was expected to crest on Friday at 42 feet. That is much higher than earlier in the month, but still well below the top of the levee, which averages more than 50 feet along the four-mile stretch where it was breached in three places.

Additional work on the levee has been suspended until the end of flood season, usually in June or July.

"Until then, we have to watch and make sure nothing happens," Kornelussen said.

He said most of the water is coming from the Ohio River, which meets the Mississippi near Cairo. Last spring heavy rain caused record-breaking flooding along the Mississippi. The river rose to nearly 62 feet at Cairo, when the levee was breached to allow the water to flow across farmland and back into the twisting Mississippi.

Congress allocated the Corps $802 million in December to fix levees up and down the river, including the Birds Point area.

(Reporting By Bruce Olson; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/us_nm/us_mississippi_flooding_levee

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NJ woman denied bail in online sex abuse case (AP)

TRENTON, N.J. ? A New Jersey waitress cried in court Monday as she heard a prosecutor accuse her of "extreme sexual assault" on a 5-year-old girl she was baby-sitting and of streaming video of the abuse online.

Authorities say Jennifer Mahoney, 32, of Manalapan, laughed while she sexually assaulted the child, and again as she streamed the video to at least two other people. They say she confessed twice to different sets of investigators.

Mahoney has been charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and was denied bail at a federal court hearing in Trenton. She had requested to wear a global positioning device, stay away from the victim and post her parents' home as collateral for bail, which has been set at $500,000.

"Law enforcement has recovered a video capture of extreme sexual assault," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Clabby said. "There is danger to the public, and the risk of flight."

During the hearing in U.S. District Court, Mahoney wiped away tears, buried her face in her hands and cried softly as her attorney, Herbert Ellis, rubbed her back. Later, she rocked quickly back and forth in her chair, not speaking except to reply, "Yes, your honor," when asked whether she understood her rights.

Ellis, her lawyer, said he needs to speak to Mahoney in detail before deciding how to proceed. He said he wants to see her videotaped confession to authorities to determine how it was given and under what circumstances.

Mahoney has been in custody since Dec. 14, the day after three pornographic videos showing assaults on the girl were found on the computer of a 32-year-old Texas man to whom she had streamed them, prosecutors said.

That man, Robert Ramos Jr. of Austin, was charged with possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors. Prosecutors in Texas say he set up seven fake Facebook accounts to solicit teenage girls to send him nude photos and videos of themselves engaged in sexual acts.

When the FBI questioned her, she acknowledged performing a sex act on the child while she was baby-sitting her, court documents say.

She also told investigators she streamed live video of one of the sexual assaults to two men using a chat service and acknowledged filming another assault with her cellphone and sending video of it to two other people, court documents say. No other mention of a second recipient is included in court documents.

Later on the day of her arrest, she gave a separate videotaped confession to New Jersey authorities, Clabby said.

Two of the videos appeared to have been made in Mahoney's bedroom, the third in the bathtub of her home, the affidavit says.

The affidavit describes the sexual assaults in graphic terms. On one, the FBI agent notes, there is no audio. But, the agent notes, "it appears that the adult female is talking and laughing during the video, and it appears that the adult female is talking to another person over the Internet via a webcam."

Ramos remains in custody in Texas. Court documents include a transcript of a handwritten statement Ramos gave to the FBI in which he acknowledges soliciting underage girls to send him nude photos but insists he never had sexual contact with a minor.

"What I have done was stupid and not worth anything," he wrote. "I am very sorry and have made some terrible mistakes."

His lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday.

___

Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_hi_te/us_child_molestation_streaming_video

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Mitt Riffs Hard on Newt (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192984365?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy (AP)

CAIRO ? A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_sc/ml_egypt_ancient_cancer

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Germans float direct EU control over Greek budget

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

BERLIN (AP) ? Germany is proposing that debt-ridden Greece temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts, an official in Berlin said Saturday.

The idea was quickly rejected by the European Union's executive body and the government in Athens, with the EU Commission in Brussels insisting that "executive tasks must remain the full responsibility of the Greek government, which is accountable before its citizens and its institutions."

But the German official said the initiative is being discussed among the 17-nation currency bloc's finance ministers because Greece has repeatedly failed to fulfill its commitments under its current euro110 billion ($145 billion) lifeline.

The proposal foresees a commissioner holding a veto right against any budgetary measures and having broad surveillance ability to ensure that Greece will take proper steps to repay its debt as scheduled, the official said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.

Greece's international creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? already have unprecedented powers over Greek spending after negotiating with Athens stringent austerity measures and economic reforms in return for the first bailout.

The so-called troika of creditors is currently negotiating another euro130 billion rescue package for the heavily indebted country. German news magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday cited an unnamed troika official as saying Greece might actually need a euro145 billion package because of its prolonged recession.

The German proposal, first reported by the Financial Times, is likely to spark controversy in Greece.

Despite the quick rejection from the EU Commission, Germany's demand underlines the frustration of the eurozone with Greece's slack implementation of the promised reforms, spending cuts and privatizations. During every verification mission last year, the troika found huge implementation shortfalls, which in turn increased gaps in Athens' budget and intensified the need for a second bailout.

A powerful budget commissioner would further diminish the political leeway of Greece's government, just as politicians there are gearing up for an election set to take place this spring.

A government official in Athens said a similar proposal had been floated last year but got nowhere. Greece would not accept such a measure, he added. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal proposal has been made by the EU or Germany yet.

The unprecedented and sweeping powers for creditors would indeed deal a huge blow to Greece's sovereignty, but they could help mobilize more support for the government in Athens from its European partners.

Several German lawmakers have repeatedly said that giving more money to Greece is unthinkable without stricter enforcement and control of the conditions attached to the rescue packages.

Greece is currently locked in a twin effort, seeking to secure a crucial debt relief deal with private investors while also tackling the pressing demands from its European partners and the IMF for more austerity measures and deeper reforms.

Failure on either front would force the country to default on its debt in less than two months, pouring new fuel on the fires of Europe's debt crisis.

In that case, Greece would likely leave the eurozone, which would bring disaster to the country, destabilize the currency bloc, fuel panic on financial markets and ultimately threaten the fragile world economy.

Despite two weeks of intensive talks, a debt relief agreement with private investors worth some euro100 billion has yet to be reached.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met anew with representatives of international banks and other private institutions Saturday, with a final deal being very close, officials in Athens said.

A statement from the creditor representatives said the two sides are "close to the finalization" of the voluntary writedown that would roughly halve Greece's privately held debt. "We expect to conclude next week as discussions on other issues move forward," they said.

The statement also referred to a previous framework agreement which indicated that the creditors have accepted an interest rate below 4 percent for the new bonds to be issued in place of the old ones ? a very favorable rate that will make it easier for the Greek government to service its debt.

With the current troika mission still ongoing and no final deal with the private sector creditors, Greece is unlikely to feature prominently at a summit of the EU's 27 leaders Monday, according to officials in Brussels.

___

Demetris Nellas in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-28-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-bdbb9a3778b84d3484972bcdf3f43f1e

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Apple CEO responds to allegations of Chinese worker abuse (Yahoo! News)

New auditing website takes an Apple-friendly look at abuse-riddled Chinese factories

Is Apple finally getting tough on their abusive Chinese suppliers? Maybe.?Intent on stemming the increasing complaints from the public and investors alike,?Apple CEO Tim Cook fired off an email yesterday to combat claims from "people questioning Apple's values," detailing what the company is doing to find "problems" in their supply chain.

Tech giant Apple may have a?net worth greater than most first-world countries, but working conditions at their Chinese suppliers' factories are notoriously third world. Addressing this, Cook wrote an email addressed to all employees to explain what the company is doing to combat abuses.

"Earlier this month we opened our supply chain for independent evaluations by the Fair Labor Association. Apple was in a unique position to lead the industry by taking this step, and we did it without hesitation. This will lead to more frequent and more transparent reporting on our supply chain, which we welcome. These are the kinds of actions our customers expect from Apple, and we will take more of them in the future."

Apple's new website,?Supplier Responsibility, allows visitors to track the company's progress in addressing issues regarding their suppliers. There, you can learn more about Apple's requirements with regard to labor and human rights, worker health and safety, and environmental impact of the companies it contracts work out to.

Public outrage over Apple suppliers, especially notorious Chinese company?Foxconn, is nothing new. Two workers were killed in a?Foxconn iPad factory explosion in 2011, and the high rate of worker suicides has forced the contractor to install suicide-prevention netting.?The Daily Show, among others, have compared Foxconn factories to prisons.

(Source)

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120127/tc_yblog_technews/apple-ceo-responds-to-allegations-of-chinese-worker-abuse

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Explaining Modern Finance And Economics Using Booze And Broke ...

Courtesy of reszatonline, who brings us the following allegory by way of Tim Coldwell, we are happy to distill (no pun intended) all of modern economics and finance in a narrative that is 500 words long, and involved booze and broke alcoholics: in other words everyone should be able to understand the underlying message. And while the immediate application of this allegory is to explain events in Europe, it succeeds in capturing all the moving pieces of modern finance.

From reszatonline

Helga is the proprietor of a bar.

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers? loans).

Word gets around about Helga?s ?drink now, pay later? marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga?s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Helga?s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga?s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank?s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.These ?securities? then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don?t really understand that the securities being sold to them as ?AA? ?Secured Bonds? really are debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation?s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga?s bar.

He so informs Helga.

Helga then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Helga cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy.

The bar closes and Helga?s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank?s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Helga?s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms? pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Helga?s bar.

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Your rating: None Average: 4.8 (38 votes)

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/explaining-modern-finance-and-economics-using-booze-and-broke-alcoholics

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Davos leaders look to China's investments abroad (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Chinese investors are trying to follow the rules when spending money abroad, the head of one of China's biggest private equity firms said Thursday, as global leaders increasingly look to China to prop up the world economy.

Worries that Europe's slowdown would hurt stronger economies are overshadowing discussions at this week's World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Attention turned Thursday to how China can help, even as some remain wary about its growing dominance.

John Zhao, CEO of Hony Capital, said foreign prejudice about Chinese investments is unfair, but acknowledged that some companies are still learning a game that much of the world has been involved in for decades.

Chinese companies and government funds have been using vast reserves of cash to buy up foreign companies and invest in foreign government bonds in recent years. But with billions of dollars in Chinese investments pouring into their countries, some governments have accused China of seeking to exploit the economic weakness of others to grab valuable natural and technological resources at rock bottom prices.

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has also repeatedly accused China of breaking global trade rules by giving unfair protection to its companies and domestic industries.

"The vast majority of Chinese companies are trying to follow the rules as they understand it," he said. "But many Chinese companies are still trying to learn the rules."

The director general of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, said China will continue to face "public perception problems" from its investments abroad.

"We will see in the years to come, as China's investments grow and grow. ... We will have the same sort of political turbulences as we have had on trade for the last 10 years," he said.

The head of the Asian Development Bank that Asia has already been affected by the ongoing European financial crisis in two ways ? through the withdrawal of credit in Asia by many European banks and financial institutions and a drop in trade, which will impact China because Europe is its largest export market.

"I really hope that the European financial crisis can be overcome," Haruhiko Kuroda said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Davos forum, where business and political leaders gather every year in an invitation-only event, is under growing criticism by those who feel it's too removed from the real world.

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and other leaders brought things crashing back down to earth, appealing for the millions of people who do not have enough food to eat.

"The world can feed itself. Africa can feed itself. The problem is we have vulnerable populations who do not have access," Okonjo-Iweala said.

The head of the U.N. food agency, Jose Graziano da Silva, agreed. "The problem is the access ? they don't have the money to buy it or they don't have the water and land they need if they are subsistence farmers."

Malnourished people, particularly kids, are more susceptible to dying from malaria and other diseases in Africa, said Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose philanthropy has mainly focused on promoting health.

Gates also rode to the rescue of a beleaguered health fund by pledging $750 million to fight three of world's killer diseases. A donor backlash over losses at the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria forced it to cancel more than $1 billion in new spending last year. The fund's executive director said Tuesday he is resigning.

Leaders at the Davos forum are looking later Thursday at challenges to democratic institutions around the world, including protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street.

Activists from Occupy Davos are camping out in igloos and yurts to call attention to income inequality.

"With 50 million people going below the poverty line, and over 200 million becoming unemployed with the recent crisis, it's stopped being a question of hardship and starting to become an issue of human rights violations," said Salil Shetty, the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

"This is a man-made crisis and the people who have caused the crisis, many of whom are in Davos, should be held to account," he told The Associated Press.

___

John Heilprin and Edith M. Lederer in Davos contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_davos_forum

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5 Weird Planetary Systems

Earlier this month, scientists made new discoveries of two new planets orbiting dual stars and suggested that such planets might be common. What's stranger still is that two suns might not be the limit.

In fact, scientists already know that there are solar systems containing many more stars out there. HD98800, a system about 150 light years from Earth, has two pairs of double stars with one set surrounded by a ring of space dust. And then there's Castor, located in the constellation Gemini. Although it appears in the sky as a single point of light, Castor is actually a system made of six stars: three sets of binary stars, all whirling around a common center of mass.

Astronomers haven't found planets in systems such as these?yet. "There's no reason you couldn't have planets around multiple stars," SETI astrophysicis Laurance Doyle says. But the pulls of many different orbits would make it difficult. "Everything would have to balance just right," he says.

A planet in a system like Castor's would be constantly tugged about by the gravity of its many stars. Imagine a rope pull in which you're on one side and six burly guys are on the other, says Doyle. They're yanking on the rope, but they're out of sequence, so you can hold your own. But if all six yank at the same time, you've had it, "and the planet goes zooming out of the system," he says.

Though this makes the existence of a planet in a system with many stars unlikely, it doesn't make it impossible. And if there were such a planet, its sunsets would be incredible.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/deep/5-weird-planetary-systems?src=rss

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Ukraine: Activist protest arrival of US Navy ship (AP)

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine ? Anti-Western activists in southern Ukraine have protested the arrival of a U.S. Navy ship that will take part in joint military drills.

Some 100 mostly elderly protesters rallied in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol against Ukraine's cooperation with the U.S. and NATO.

The activists burned a mock American flag, shouted "Yankee Go Home" and hurled other insults upon the arrival of the Vella Gulf guided missile cruiser.

The ship will take part in anti-piracy and other drills with the Ukrainian navy.

Under President Viktor Yanukovych Ukraine gave up the goal of joining NATO, but continues military cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO members.

The military alliance remains unpopular among the majority of Ukrainians, especially in the pro-Russian east and south.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_eu/eu_ukraine_us_ship

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Common Household Chemicals Might Harm Kids' Immunity (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to high levels of a group of common household chemicals may impair children's immunity, a new study suggests.

The team of researchers, from the United States and Denmark, showed that elevated exposures to perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in early childhood was associated with a reduced immune response to two routine immunizations.

"We found that PFC pollution is apparently making the immune system more sluggish, so that it doesn't react as vigorously to vaccines as it should," said study author Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

The findings appear in the Jan. 25 issue of the Journal of the Medical Association.

PFCs are commonly used in a wide range of household products including nonstick cookware, carpets, upholstery and food packaging such as microwave popcorn bags; previous research has found that the chemicals are present in most people's bloodstreams.

Other recent studies have linked increased exposure to the chemicals with early menopause and elevated cholesterol levels. But Grandjean said this is the first study in humans to find an association between high levels of PFCs in the blood and an impaired immune response.

"What we don't know is whether this association represents a general immune system dysfunction, and if it has implications in regards to infections, allergies or even cancer," Grandjean said. "We are looking at something that appears to be just the tip of the iceberg, and we'd very much like to know what the rest of the iceberg looks like."

For the study, Grandjean and his colleagues followed 587 children born in the Faroe Islands between 1999 and 2001. In the Faroes, located in the North Atlantic Sea between Iceland and Norway, frequent intake of seafood is associated with increased exposure to PFCs.

To examine the chemicals' effects on immunity, the research looked at antibody levels to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines, which children in the Faroes are given at 3, 5 and 12 months of age, with a booster shot at 5 years of age. The children's prenatal exposures to five kinds of PFCs were measured by conducting blood tests on their mothers in the last weeks of their pregnancies. Postnatal exposure was assessed through blood tests at age 5. The researchers then measured serum antibody concentrations against tetanus and diphtheria vaccines at ages 5 and 7.

Grandjean's team found that all of the five PFCs measured showed negative associations with antibody levels. In children who had twice the average levels of PFCs in their blood at age 5, their immune response to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines at age 7 was only half of what it should have been, Grandjean said.

The researchers noted that most levels of PFCs measured in the children studied at age 5 were lower than the levels found in a group of 3-year-olds to 5-year-olds in the United States studied in 2001 and 2002.

Another children's environmental health expert said the findings were concerning. "It's one more thing, along with a number of other findings about perfluorinated chemicals, that suggests we should all be concerned about them in general and try to decrease everybody's exposure to them," said Dr. Jerome Paulson, medical director of the Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Grandjean said that in addition to avoiding products made with PFCs such as microwave popcorn and nonstick cookware, parents who want to reduce their young children's exposure to PFCs should vacuum their rugs and upholstery more frequently "to control the levels of house dust."

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on exposure to PFCs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120124/hl_hsn/commonhouseholdchemicalsmightharmkidsimmunity

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Rep. Giffords to resign from Congress this week

FILE - This Jan. 8, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Gabrielle Giffords waving at the start of a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors one year after the Arizona congresswoman was wounded in a shooting that killed six in Tucson, Ariz. Giffords announced, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 she will resign from Congress this week. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)

FILE - This Jan. 8, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Gabrielle Giffords waving at the start of a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors one year after the Arizona congresswoman was wounded in a shooting that killed six in Tucson, Ariz. Giffords announced, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 she will resign from Congress this week. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 2, 2012, file photo Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, reacts after leading the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of a memorial vigil remembering the victims and survivors one year after the Arizona congresswoman was wounded in a shooting that killed six othersin Tucson, Ariz. Giffords said Sunday Jan, 22, 2012, that she will resign from Congress this week. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

This video image provided by the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shows Giffords announcing her plans to resign, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Office of Gabrielle Giffords)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago.

According to officials in Washington, her resignation, first disclosed on the congresswoman's Facebook page, is expected to take effect on Monday.

The Democratic congresswoman was shot in the head last January as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. While her progress has seemed remarkable, she said she has more work to do to recover, and it is best for her state if she resigns her seat in the House.

Her shooting prompted an agonizing national debate about super-charged rhetoric in political campaigns.

In a two-minute video posted to her Facebook page, Giffords says: "I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice."

She says, "I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country."

Under state law, a special election will be called to fill out the remainder of Giffords' term.

In a statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that "since the tragic events one year ago, Gabby has been an inspiring symbol of determination and courage to millions of Americans."

Democratic officials had held out hope for months that the congresswoman might recover sufficiently to run for re-election or even become a candidate to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.

The shooting on Jan. 8, 2011, left 6 victims dead, a federal judge and a Giffords staffer among them. Twelve others were wounded.

A 23-year-old man, Jared Lee Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the shooting. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and is being forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison facility in an effort by authorities to make him mentally ready for trial.

In the months since she was shot, Giffords has been treated in Houston as well as Arizona as she re-learned how to walk and speak.

She made a dramatic appearance on the House floor Aug. 2, when she unexpectedly walked in to vote for an increase in the debt limit. Lawmakers from both parties cheered her presence, and she was enveloped in hugs.

More recently, she participated in an observance of the anniversary of the shooting in Arizona.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-Giffords-Resign/id-f2722ae2db504d97a59400881df75dd1

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Editorial: RIM's new CEO isn't the shakeup it needed

For a brief moment, I had hopes that RIM had made a move that would unseat it from the funk it's been sitting in for years. And then I watched the introductory video of newly-appointed CEO Thorsten Heins. Anyone who assumes that a simple CEO swap is the answer to all of RIM's issues is woefully misinformed, or worse, just blinded by false hope. Sure, removing Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis -- both of which have been rightly criticized for not responding to market pressures quickly enough -- is a start, but it's not like they're gone. In fact, the two are still situated at a pretty fancy table within Research in Motion's organizational chart.

RIM, we've been here before

RIM seems to be as lost as my BlackBerry

Dear RIM, I'm your customer and I don't wear a suit

Have a listen at this: Mike is hanging around as the Vice Chair of RIM's Board and Chair of the Board's new Innovation Committee. You heard right -- the guy who has outrightly failed to innovate at anything in the past handful of years is now championing an innovation committee. Sounds right up his alley, no? Jim's staying put as an outright director, and if you think anyone at RIM is going to brush aside the input of the founders, you're wrong. Jim and Mike may have new titles, but they're still here, and I have no reason to believe that they'll act radically different going forward than they have in the past. Oh, and about Thorsten Heins? Let's go there.

Continue reading Editorial: RIM's new CEO isn't the shakeup it needed

Editorial: RIM's new CEO isn't the shakeup it needed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/P3wjp-BUS1w/

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Home prices likely to keep falling in 2012

By Martin Wolk

The housing market ended the year on a positive note with strong sales in December, but a glut of unsold homes will likely push prices lower through much of this year, forecasters said Friday.

Sales of existing homes hit an 11-month high last month and the number of properties on the market fell to the lowest level in nearly seven years, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Unseasonably warm weather may have helped boost sales, but analysts said a strengthening job market and record low mortgage rates should buoy housing in coming months. Still, they were troubled by the high level of "distressed homes" for sale, including short sales of underwater properties or sales of foreclosed properties. Nearly one-third of existing-home sales were distressed last month, according to the Realtors.

In addition, one-third of Realtors said home sales fell through last month because of declined mortgage applications or appraisals that fell short of the required values.

"These strong negative undercurrents in the housing market and absence of support from strong labor market conditions will continue to trim home sales in the near term," said Asha Bangalore, economist at Northern Trust Co.

The median sale price for an existing home in December was $162,500, down 2.5 percent from December 2010. For the full year, the median price for existing homes fell nearly 4 percent.

"Home sales will gradually improve in 2012. ... However, prices will continue to decline in the near term, despite the better sales," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist of PNC. He pointed out that many home foreclosures are stuck in the pipeline due to paperwork issues and will pressure home prices in the year to come.

"The market for single-family homes picked up in the second half of 2011, after being stuck near the bottom for nearly three years," said economist Patrick Newport of IHS Global Insight. "This pickup is real, but the road to recovery will be a slow one."

While the home sales pace was a touch below economists' expectations, December marked the third straight month of gains, adding to hopes that a tentative recovery was taking shape.

But a glut of unsold properties that is weighing down on prices and stringent lending practices by banks is likely to make progress painfully slow.

There were 2.38 million unsold homes on the market last month, the fewest since March 2005. That represented a 6.2 months' supply at December's sales pace, the lowest since April 2006 and down from a 7.2 months' supply in November.

The Realtors group noted, however, that the inventory of unsold homes tends to decline in winter.

Data earlier this week showed single-family home starts rose for a third straight month in December and optimism among builders this month was the highest in four-and-a-half years.

"It is very encouraging that the current phase of the recovery is being driven by economic fundamentals as opposed to being fostered by temporary stimulus," said Millan Mulraine, a senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.

Reuters contributed to this report.

{"contentId":"10201735","totalVotes":"5974"}

What are home prices doing in your area?

Existing home sales increased 5 percent last month, the highest pace in nearly a year. So, which investments may be the best bets as housing shows signs of life? CNBC's Diana Olick has the details.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201735-housing-ends-year-on-strong-note-but-prices-still-falling

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Another one bites the dust as Google closes Picnik

Given the spate of closures, abandonments and wound-up projects, we can't help but suspect Google's mantra switching from "don't be evil" to "sic transit gloria mundi." Mountain View's winding up online-image editing site Picnik in preparation for integration with Google+, joining Wave, Knol, Friend Connect, Gears, Health, Powermeter and at least ten other services that have been shuttered as part of Larry Page's "spring clean." In a statement on the site, the guys are moving over to the Google+ team to "focus on even awesomer things," so expect to see live-editing of your photos appear there before the end of summer. In the meantime, you can enjoy Picnik's premium service until the doors close on April 19th and those who previously stumped up (with, you know, cash) for the added features will receive a full refund.

[Thanks, Henry]

Another one bites the dust as Google closes Picnik originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joe Paterno Alive But In 'Serious' Condition: Ex-Penn State Coach Battles Lung Cancer

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Joe Paterno's doctors said Saturday that the former Penn State coach's condition had become "serious," following complications from lung cancer in recent days.

The winningest major college football coach, Paterno was diagnosed shortly after Penn State's Board of Trustees ousted him Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. While undergoing treatment, his health problems worsened when he broke his pelvis ? the same injury he sustained during preseason practice last year.

"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement to The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious. His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."

Paterno's sons Scott and Jay each took to Twitter on Saturday night to refute reports that their father had died.

Wrote Jay Paterno: "I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight."

Quoting individuals close to the family, The Washington Post reported on its website that Paterno remained connected to a ventilator, but had communicated his wishes not to be kept alive through any extreme artificial means. The paper said his family was weighing whether to take him off the ventilator on Sunday.

The 85-year-old Paterno has been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with the Post. Paterno was described as frail and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted from his bedside.

Roughly 200 students and townspeople gathered Saturday night at a statue of Paterno just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium. Some brought candles, while others held up their smart phones to take photos of the scene. The mood was somber, with no chanting or shouting.

"Drove by students at the Joe statue," Jay Paterno tweeted. "Just told my Dad about all the love & support--inspiring him."

Penn State student David Marselles held a candle in his right hand and posed next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of Paterno that he keeps at his apartment. A friend took a photo on the frigid night.

"I came to Penn State because of Joe Paterno. Since I was a little kid, I've been watching the games ... screaming `We Are ... Penn State' because of him. ... He inspired me to go to college," Marselles said. "With such a tragic event like this, I just thought it was necessary to show my support."

The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.

Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator who was on Paterno's staff during two national title seasons, was arrested Nov. 5 and ultimately charged with sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. His arrest sparked outrage not just locally but across the nation and there were widespread calls for Paterno to quit.

Paterno announced late on Nov. 9 that he would retire at the end of the season, but hours later he received a call from board vice chairman John Surma, telling him he had been terminated. By that point, a crowd of students and media were outside the Paterno home. When news spread that Paterno had been dumped, there was rioting in State College.

Police on Saturday evening barricaded the block where Paterno lives, and a police car was stationed about 50 yards from his home. Several people had gathered in the living room of the house. No one was outside, other than reporters and photographers.

Trustees said this week they pushed Paterno out in part because he failed a moral responsibility to report an allegation made in 2002 against Sandusky to authorities outside the university. They also felt he had challenged their authority and that, as a practical matter, with all the media in town and attention to the Sandusky case, he could no longer run the team.

Paterno testified before the grand jury investigating Sandusky that he had relayed to his bosses an accusation that came from graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the showers of the Penn State football building.

Paterno told the Post that he didn't know how to handle the charge, but a day after McQueary visited him, he spoke to the athletic director and the administrator with oversight over the campus police.

Wick Sollers, Paterno's lawyer, called the board's comments this week self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, Sollers said.

"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.

Sandusky says he is innocent and is out on bail, awaiting trial.

The back and forth between Paterno's representative and the board reflects a trend in recent weeks, during which Penn State alumni ? and especially former players, including Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris ? have questioned the trustees' actions and accused them of failing to give Paterno a chance to defend himself.

Three town halls, in Pittsburgh, suburban Philadelphia and New York City, seemed to do little to calm the situation and dozens of candidates have now expressed interest in running for the board, a volunteer position that typically attracts much less interest.

While everyone involved has said the focus should be on Sandusky's accusers and their ordeals, the abuse scandal brought a tarnished ending to Paterno's sterling career. Paterno won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and those two national championships, the last in the 1986 season. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.

Throughout his coaching years, Paterno maintained that, yes, winning was important, but even more important was winning with honor.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/joe-paterno-ex-penn-state-coach-serious-condition-cancer_n_1221653.html

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Dempsey to Israel as allies seek unity on Iran (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? The United States' top military officer arrives in Israel on Thursday as the allies coordinate efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program - and play down suggestions they are at odds on strategy.

The United States, which is leading Western pressure on Tehran to curb controversial uranium enrichment, has voiced concern that the Israelis could attack their foe preemptively and deepen instability in an already volatile region.

This week's postponement of joint military maneuvers - and sharp remarks in Washington disowning the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist which many suspect was the work of Israeli agents - have fueled speculation that General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, may be flying in from Europe to lay down the law and rein in his close ally.

Officials on both sides rejected that idea: "Chiefs of staff deal with preparing their militaries for various options," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday.

"They don't deal in passing diplomatic messages."

Barak also said that any decision about an Israeli attack on Iran was "very far off." Like the United States, Israel does not believe Iranian assurances that its nuclear research has no military purpose. It says it would use force to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring atomic weapons that Israel believes would threaten the survival of the Jewish state.

Along with an unusually dovish comment last week from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iran appeared to be having an effect, Barak's remarks appeared designed to counter suggestions that Israel was losing patience with U.S. President Barack Obama's diplomatic approach.

Both sides also insisted that they postponed a joint air defense exercise, planned for May, for operational reasons that were entirely unrelated to the situation with Iran.

FRICTION

A record of barely concealed friction between Netanyahu's right-wing coalition and the Democrat in the White House has added to speculation about differences over Iran - differences which are now particularly sensitive as Obama campaigns for re-election in November and faces criticism from some U.S. voters for lacking vigor in his support for Israel.

Barak further played down the importance of Dempsey's first visit to Israel in his current capacity by noting that, as Israeli defense minister, he was in regular direct contact with his U.S. counterpart, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

"The dialogue between us is conducted on the basis of mutual respect," Barak said. "This administration gives unprecedented support to Israel's defense establishment."

A U.S. official said that Dempsey, who was to arrive on Thursday evening for a stopover after a European trip, was "meeting with counterparts and important close allies, regardless of any current political situations." He will leave again on Friday as Israel shuts down for the Jewish sabbath.

Iran denies seeking the bomb, but its secretive nuclear projects and advances in ballistic missile development have drawn international censure and sanctions. The U.S. navy has also maneuvered in the Gulf in the face of an Iranian threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil-export channel.

Israel, which is presumed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has urged Washington to stiffen penalties on Iran's energy sector and central bank, and hinted it could resort to unilateral attacks if it deems diplomacy a dead end.

Such differences between the allies have been seized upon by Obama's Republican rivals ahead of this year's presidential election. The incumbent says he is determined to rein in Iran and has sought to burnish his pro-Israel credentials.

A senior Israeli official played down the unilateral Israeli "military option" on Thursday and appealed to U.S. interests in a Middle East where the popular Arab uprisings have shaken U.S.-aligned leaders, some of whom, like those in the Gulf, share Israeli and Western views of Iran as a threat.

"America is, to my regret, perceived in the Arab world as a country that has become weak and may be unable to provide them with the protection they desire in the face of Iran," Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor told Army Radio.

Should the Obama administration succeed in rolling back such perceptions among its Arab allies, Meridor said, it "would shore up their status, which is so important -- important for them and, by the way, for us -- in the Arab world."

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/wl_nm/us_iran_nuclear_israel_usa

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January finance reports: Harris County ? Off the Kuff

January is a very busy month for campaign finance reports, since they are due for all levels of government. I?ve been busy updating the 2012 Primary Election pages for Harris County and elsewhere in Texas with reports as I can find them. Here?s an overview of some races of interest in Harris County. I?ll have similar reports for State Rep and Congressional races next week.

Let me preface this post by saying that I loathe the County Clerks? Campaign Finance Reports page. You can?t search for an individual by name, you can only search for all candidates whose last name starts with a given letter. All of the reports are scanned PDFs, which means that most of them are handwritten, though even the ones that are electronically generated are then apparently printed and scanned. This has the effect of creating much larger files, which are then harder to navigate, and Adobe being what it is they managed to crash Chrome on my PC and IE9 on my laptop. They do open in the browser with a direct link, unlike the city?s reporting system which opens each report as an Acrobat file for download, which I then have to upload and share to make available on my page, so as long as your browser continues to function that?s nice. All I know is that when I am named Supreme Commander of the world, my first official action will be to outlaw paper filing of campaign finance reports. It?s 2012, for Pete?s sake.

OK, rant off. Here are the highlights:

District Attorney

Incumbent Pat Lykos starts the year in good shape, having raised $194K with $320K on hand; she spent $40K during the cycle. Primary opponent Mike Anderson reported no money raised or spent. He was a late entrant and likely hasn?t had any fundraisers yet. I?m sure he?ll have sufficient resources to wage a campaign. On the Democratic side, Zack Fertitta had an impressive haul, taking in $170K, with $141K on hand. I don?t know exactly when he named a treasurer, but I?m pretty sure he didn?t start raising money until a couple of months into the cycle. His primary opponent Lloyd Oliver, who is listed for some bizarre reason in the county financial reporting system as ?Oliver Lloyd? ? I only found his report by accident, looking for other L-named candidates ? reported no money raised or spent.

Sheriff

Sheriff Adrian Garcia will have a tough race in November, and he starts the year well armed for it, having collected $187K and maintaining $302K. He has two primary opponents ? Delores Jones has $1,038 on hand, while perennial contender Charles Massey El had no report visible; yes, I checked under M and under E. There are eight Republican hopefuls, but only four filed reports. Ruben Monzon raised $33K; Carl Pittman raised $13K and reported $24K in loans; Brian Steinacher claimed the princely total of $750 raised. The most interesting report belonged to Louis Guthrie, who claimed to raise $96K with $30K in loans. That caught my eye at first, but he only listed $21K on hand, which made me suspicious enough to read the whole report. The individual contributions he detailed added up to only $6450 in cash plus about $18K in kind for things like printing and food, which are usually considered expenses. Something is definitely off there, but even if you took him at his word, the four of them together raised less than Garcia did.

County Attorney

Not really on anyone?s radar since it?s a lower profile office and there are no contested primaries, but Democratic incumbent Vince Ryan raised $29K and has $126K on hand. Republican challenger and former State Rep. Robert Talton raised $14,650 and had $10,500 in loans, but spent $14,978 and was left with $10,367 on hand.

Tax Assessor

In the battle of Guys Whose Surnames Both Start With The Letter S And Are Thus Convenient To Find In The Otherwise Wack Harris County Finance Reporting System, incumbent Don Sumners reported no cash raised and $3,911 on hand, while current Council Member Mike Sullivan made good use of his remaining Council campaign fund, which allowed him to report $53K on hand. He actually raised $8200 for this cycle, and had $15K in loans outstanding. Democratic challenger Ann Harris Bennett, who was listed under the Bs, raised no money and had $1,856 on hand, presumably left over from her 2010 race for County Clerk. Remind me to ask Clerk candidates in 2014 about how they propose to overhaul the finance reporting system.

Constable

I didn?t bother looking at a lot of these reports, as there are just so many Constable candidates. Among those I did look at were ones for the open Precinct 1 seat. Alan Rosen did the most, raising $43K with $37K on hand. Cindy Vara-Leija raised $22K and had $15K on hand; Grady Castleberry, who also had a July report, raised $2K but had $19K in loans and $23K on hand. Quincy Whitaker?s January report was not visible as of this publication; his July report claimed $5K raised and $18K spent but did not list any loans or cash on hand.

That?s your Harris County finance report. I?ll have state and federal candidates next week. The one other county race I?m watching is the Democratic primary for Travis County DA, featuring incumbent Rosemary Lehmberg and former judge Charlie Baird. The Statesman noted their totals, and I have their reports linked on the non-Harris page ? here?s Lehmberg, and here?s Baird. Check that page and the Harris page for more reports as they come in. Greg has more.

Related Posts:

Source: http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=42597

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Death row inmate wins new hearing over mail mix-up

WASHINGTON (AP) ? An Alabama death row inmate deserves a new court hearing because his lawyers at a top-flight New York firm abandoned him, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a case one justice called "a veritable perfect storm of misfortune."

The court voted 7-2 to reverse a federal appeals court ruling that cut off appeals for Cory Maples, who was convicted of killing two men execution-style in 1995. Maples missed a deadline to appeal when court notices to his lawyers at the Sullivan and Cromwell firm were returned unopened and a local court clerk took no further action. The lawyers at the prominent New York firm had been representing Maples without charge.

Deadlines usually are sacrosanct at the high court, where defendants also typically are held responsible for the mistakes of their lawyers.

But Maples' case is different because he is facing execution and his lawyers didn't simply err, they abandoned him, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion.

"Through no fault of his own, Maples, an inmate on death row, was left unrepresented at a critical time," Ginsburg said in an opinion that also criticized Alabama for using inexperienced lawyers and paying them poorly to represent defendants in death penalty cases.

But Justice Samuel Alito, who often votes against criminal defendants, said in a separate opinion that Maples' circumstances were unique. "What occurred here was not a predictable consequence of the Alabama system, but a veritable perfect storm of misfortune," Alito said

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Scalia said the court should have stuck with its usual practice of holding defendants responsible for their lawyers' mistakes. "One suspects that today's decision is motivated in large part by an understandable sense of frustration" with Alabama's refusal to waive its deadlines in this case, Scalia said in an opinion joined by Thomas.

The quality of Maples' representation was an issue from the start of his case. A jury convicted him of killing two men in Morgan County in northern Alabama and sentenced him to death by a 10-2 vote. One of Maples' lawyers told jurors the defense team "may appear to be stumbling around in the dark."

His legal case appeared to brighten, however, when the Sullivan and Cromwell lawyers agreed to represent him for free in his appeals. The New York-based firm has 800 lawyers and offices in a dozen cities.

From December 2001 until May 2003 not much happened in the case. But then an Alabama court rejected claims that had been prepared and filed on Maples' behalf by the firm's lawyers. The court sent a notice to the lawyers, as well as a local attorney in Alabama, starting a 42-day clock for appealing the order.

What neither the court nor Maples knew was that during the previous summer both lawyers had left Sullivan and Cromwell, one for a job in Europe and the other to clerk for a federal judge. "The attorneys Maples thought were vigilantly representing him had abandoned the case. They did not inform Maples or the Alabama court of this reality," Ginsburg said.

The notices sent to the firm were not passed to other lawyers but were returned to Alabama. The local lawyer did nothing, thinking the New Yorkers were on the case. The court clerk likewise did nothing when the notices came back indicating the lawyers were no longer at the firm, even though the lawyers' personal telephone numbers and home addresses were in the court's file on Maples.

Only after the deadline passed did Maples find out what had happened. Other lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell tried to continue the appeal, but both state and federal courts ruled that Maples was out of luck.

Wednesday's decision leaves Maples on death row with his conviction and sentence in place. But it means a court will hear his claims that his inexperienced, poorly paid trial lawyers did such a bad job on his behalf that their work violated the Constitution's guarantee of representation for criminal defendants.

The case is Maples v. Thomas, 10-63.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-18-Supreme%20Court-Return%20to%20Sender/id-dc7635d92ab941ccae2ac9d44b7623ba

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Use It Better: The Worst Tech Predictions of All Time

"Everyone's always asking me when Apple will come out with a cell phone. My answer is, 'Probably never.'"?David Pogue, The New York Times, 2006 Image: Wikimedia Commons/Linux insidev2

In my Scientific American column this month, I pondered why it's so hard to predict the future of technology. It sometimes seems as though it's not even worth the effort; inevitably you wind up looking like an idiot.

Especially if the gist of your prediction is that something won't happen or isn't possible. You wind up with enough egg on your face to make an omelet.

If you're not convinced, have a look at these whoppers: some of the biggest muffed tech predictions of all time, and spoken by people you'd expect would know better.

* "I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."?Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3Com and inventor of Ethernet, writing in a 1995 InfoWorld column

Metcalfe is well aware how silly his prediction came to look. He ate his words?literally. In 1999, addressing the Sixth International WWW Conference, Metcalfe put a copy of his infamous column into a blender, pureed it, and drank it.

* "There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television or radio service inside the United States."?T.A.M. Craven, Federal Communications Commission commissioner (1961)

Needless to say, Mr. Craven is no longer the commissioner of the FCC.

* "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."?Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

Of course, Watson was referring to room-size mega-machines filled with vacuum tubes. But still.

* "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."?Sir William Preece, chief engineer, British Post Office, 1876

How're the messenger boys working out for you, England?

* "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication."?Western Union internal memo, 1876.

Oops! Western Union sent its last telegram in 2006.

* "Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."?Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946

He was right. We've moved on to aluminum and plastic.

* "Everyone's always asking me when Apple will come out with a cell phone. My answer is, 'Probably never.'"?David Pogue, The New York Times, 2006

Yeah, Okay. I'll admit it. My prediction was wrong?but my thinking was right. I knew that Steve Jobs would never tolerate the micromanagement that the carriers (Verizon, AT&T and so on) then exercised on every aspect of every phone they carried. "I cannot imagine Apple giving veto power to anyone over its software design. It just ain't gonna happen," I wrote.

What I didn't realize, of course, is that Jobs planned an end-run?a deal that Cingular ultimately accepted, which ran like this: "You let us design our phone without your input, and I'll give you a five-year exclusive." And the rest is history.

The Bill Gates Collection

Maybe the most quoted bad tech prediction of all time never really happened. It's the famous 1981 Bill Gates quote: "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Unfortunately, there's no evidence that he ever actually said that (and he emphatically denies that he did).

That doesn't let Mr. Gates off the hook, though?he's made plenty of doozies.

* World Economic Forum, 2004: "Two years from now, spam will be solved."

Today, spam accounts for over 90 percent of all e-mail sent.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=0acb5b07ec28cf7bf31a40740e901651

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Is Space Digital? (preview)

Feature Articles | Space See Inside

An experiment going up outside of Chicago will attempt to measure the intimate connections among information, matter and spacetime. If it works, it could rewrite the rules for 21st-century physics

By Michael Moyer ?| January 17, 2012?|

Image: Illustration by Vault49

In Brief

• Space may not be smooth and continuous. Instead it may be digital, composed of tiny bits. Physicists have assumed that these bits are far too small to measure with current technology.?
• Yet one scientist thinks that he has devised a way to detect the bitlike structure of space. His machine?currently under construction?will attempt to mea?sure its grainy nature.
• The experiment is one of the first to investigate the principle that the universe emerges from information?specifically, information that is imprinted on two-dimensional sheets.
• If successful, the experiment will shift the foundations of what we know about space and time, providing a glimpse of a new physics that could supplant our current understanding.

Craig Hogan believes that the world is fuzzy. This is not a metaphor. Hogan, a physicist at the University of Chicago and director of the Fermilab Particle Astrophysics Center near Batavia, Ill., thinks that if we were to peer down at the tiniest subdivisions of space and time, we would find a universe filled with an intrinsic jitter, the busy hum of static. This hum comes not from particles bouncing in and out of being or other kinds of quantum froth that physicists have argued about in the past. Rather Hogan?s noise would come about if space was not, as we have long assumed, smooth and continuous, a glassy backdrop to the dance of fields and particles. Hogan?s noise arises if space is made of chunks. Blocks. Bits. Hogan?s noise would imply that the universe is digital.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=eff8bd6ea22d18e50763ad1e668cc6ac

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