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Thoughtware.TV ? 2006-2011 Shape the future by contributing videos on humanity's scientific enlightenment and technological progress
Source: http://www.thoughtware.tv/videos/watch/6310
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Kyoto U. / INAH / The Daily Citizen / NBC
The weirdest science stories of 2011 include (clockwise from top left) the one about the game-playing chimps, the update on the 2012 Maya apocalypse, a bird-death epidemic and the zodiac debate.
By Alan Boyle
Even with the supposed Mayan doomsday coming up, it's going to be hard for?2012 to match 2011 when it comes to weird science: What other year can boast a bird-killing?"aflockalypse," a chupacabra prowling around?the nation's capital, two Loch Ness-type monster sightings and two doomsday predictions. (News flash: The predictions?were wrong.)
That's why the Weird Science Awards exist: To pay tribute to the strange but scientific (or pseudo-scientific) tales of each year. This year's?winners of the fifth annual Weirdies will take their place alongside glow-in-the-dark cats and dogs, reattached rabbit penises, the 2,700-year-old marijuana stash and the Stone Age sex toy as talismans of this wacky age.
We're offering 30 nominees from the past year, and it's up to you to pick the top 10 award-winners. One of the nominees ? the one about pee pressure ? is a?laureate from this year's Ig Nobel award ceremony, which honors "research that makes people laugh and then think." You can use that as your judging criterion, or you can go for the article that makes you laugh, and then ask, "What on earth?were they thinking?"
Write-in votes and second-guessing are encouraged;?you can register them in your comments below.
The 10 nominees that get the most votes as of noon ET on Jan. 3 will be recognized as the 2012 Weirdy winners, and to mark the occasion, we'll review the year in weird science on Wednesday with Ig Nobel creator Marc Abrahams.
Weirdest story of 2011?
171809
Animals die in 'Aflockalypse'
7%
171810
Pole-shift makeover
5%
171811
13th zodiac sign
4%
171812
Tiny periodic table
2%
171813
Gorilla walks like human
2%
171814
Zombie ants
16%
171815
'Bownessie' pictures
0%
171819
Weird-life debate
2%
171820
Flies on meth
5%
171821
Chimps play games
1%
171822
He-she birds
1%
171823
Nessie in Alaska?
3%
171824
Cryonics founder frozen
1%
171825
Dog's off-and-on glow
3%
171826
Undersea anomaly
2%
171827
Orange goo in Alaska
3%
171828
Chupacabra or fox?
1%
171829
Rock, paper ... win!
2%
171830
Tool-using dolphins
3%
171831
Corpse-dissolving machine
5%
171832
Cleverbot passes test
1%
171833
Tool-using fish
2%
171834
Pee pressure
4%
171835
Doomsayer doubly wrong
6%
171836
Holding hands for 1,500 years
3%
171837
The devil in the fresco
1%
171838
New brick in Maya legend
3%
171839
77,000-year-old beds
0%
171840
Shroud made in a flash?
2%
171841
Samoa skips Friday
2%
171842
None of the above
8%
VoteTotal Votes: 416
Here are the nominees from the past year, in chronological order:
Review the nominees, then cast your vote. We'll?talk about the winners?next Wednesday on "Virtually Speaking Science." In the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with these Weirdies from past years:
More year-end reviews:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9779631-its-boom-time-for-weird-science
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Facebook: Now Five Times More Than Twitter
-- Facebook and Twitter are often mentioned in the same breath. Both are pioneering social media platforms that have changed how people and brands communicate. But year-end numbers from Nielsen shows the advantage Facebook had over Twitter in the U.S. this year. From January to October 2011, Facebook had 137.6 million average monthly U.S. visitors. That's over five times as many as Twitter's 23.6 million unique U.S. users.
Despite its place far behind Facebook - Blogger, too - in the social media world, Twitter has become more ingrained in the country's consciousness. A good example is the NBA's use of tweets during live broadcasts. So when Lebron James has a night off and tweets about a game he's watching, or when a team's owner comments about the performance of one of his players, the NBA TV channel puts those tweets on the screen soon after they are online.
Google+, the fledgling social network Google launched in June, had an average of 8.2 million unique U.S. visitors. One new estimate has Google+ at 62 million global users visitors with the potential to hit 85 million global users by February and, once network effects kick in, 400 million by the end of 2012.
Although MySpace has become an afterthought lately, the social network pioneer had 17.9 million U.S. visitors per month, according to Nielsen. Globally, MySpace fell from 54.3 million uniques in November 2010 to 24.9 million uniques in November 2011, according to comScore. MySpace, now owned by Specific Media, launched a new music player in mid-December but has yet to unveil the revamped product it hopes will bring back both users and advertisers.
Tumblr, on the other hand, is growing like a weed. The social-minded blogging service finished the year with 10.9 million U.S. visitors per month. When Nielsen tracked Tumblr back in May for its Q3 social media report, the service was up nearly 200 percent year-over-year.
( NielsenWire)
Into The Beyond: Sirius XM's Lynx Portable Radio
- Sirius XM's new Lynx Portable Radio gives subscribers an expanded Sirius XM 2.0 programming lineup and a host of features that go beyond what radio can typically offer. For example, Lynx listeners can automatically start playing a song from the beginning, hear the previous 30 minutes of any live Sirius XM content, listen to the previous five hours of preset station's programming and build a library of up to 200 hours of programming from favorite channels.? The Lynx also offers access to Sirius XM Xtra channels that include 12 Latin channels, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Radio and live NFL games. The unit has a retail price of $249.99 or $313.98 with either the home kit or vehicle kit.
( Press release)
FCC's Repeal of Cross-Ownership Rules
-- The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that suggests leaving in place most of its ownership rules except one: the current limits on ownership of radio and TV stations in the same market. As the FCC explains in the notice, it believes the radio/TV cross-ownership rules can be eliminated in favor of existing rules on local radio and local TV. "We believe that the local radio and television ownership rules adequately protect our localism and diversity goals and seek comment on this proposal."
But the FCC wants to stick with existing rules on local TV ownership, local radio ownership and newspaper/broadband cross-ownership. While the FCC acknowledges that the newspaper industry is in decline, it doesn't yet see a need to loosen current regulations on newspaper ownership. "In short," the notice explains, "the media marketplace is in transition, particularly as a result of broadband Internet; but new media are not yet available as ubiquitously as traditional broadcast media. Our nation has not yet reached universal deployment or adoption of broadband."
As the Broadcast Law Blog explains, "the FCC suggested that other ownership rules could be waived in some instances, so the details of waivers and exceptions could become an important aspect of any final decision in this proceeding." It also notes that the FCC's conclusions are tentative and the public can formally voice its opinion for 45 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.
( Broadcast Law Blog)
Live Nation Goes Indy
-- Live Nation is booking acts for the not-yet-opened venue Deluxe in Indianapolis. The 500-capacity venue is housed in the Old National Centre, which has two other Live Nation venues: the 2,000-capacity Egyptian Room and 2,500-seat Murat Theatre.
( IBJ.com)
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45809312#45809312
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Ball Dropping tomorrow in Times Square said to have more lights this year yet is more energy efficient
At the beginning of this week, my article on the science of Snow Crystals was published here on the Guest Blog. If you haven?t read it yet, you can check it out here. This weekend millions of eyes will be focused on another type of crystal.
In honor of New Year?s Eve, let?s switch gears from checking out crystals made by nature (snowflakes) and focus our attention on the spectacular Waterford crystals and lights adorning the Ball that will be dropping to mark the end of 2011 in NYC.
The tradition of the Ball dropping in New York?s Times Square dates back to 1907. The first ball used was made of iron and wood and had only 120 25W light bulbs on it, but check out?
?THE SPECS on this year?s ball:
BIG: The Geodesic sphere is 12 feet in diameter and weighs in at 11, 875 pounds. That is about ?the length of an average SUV? and ?the weight of four compact cars,? according Lighting Science Group Design Works who did the ball?s most recent makeover in 2008.
BRIGHT: 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles of various sizes, some with intricately carved facets, shapes and motifs with different themes like joy, love and friendship.
MORE COLORFUL THAN EVER: This year?s ball has 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs (three times more than last year). Philips Lighting says that its red, green, white and blue LED modules help to create a color palette of over 16 million colors and billions of color patterns.
MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT than last year: According to the Times Square Alliance?s website this year?s ball is ?10-20% more energy efficient than last year?s already energy-efficient Ball, consuming only the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to operate two traditional home ovens.?
So since it has been sort of a mild winter and we haven?t had a chance to see snow crystals drop from the New York City sky yet, we will at least be able to see that exquisitely luminous ball of white and colored crystals drop this Saturday night. And now you know some of the specs and science behind it. The science hidden in plain sight. Happy New Years, everyone!
Sources: Times Square Alliance and Lighting Science.
Photo Credit: (Energy Efficient in 2012) stock photo by Raja R/raja4u on stock xchng, Author pic by Erica Angiolillo
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5747415db5b315e2d0abc7b27c187d79
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AUDIO: Who 'owns' your Twitter followers? - Lawyer Leigh Ellis and author Kate Bussmann discuss who actually owns yo... ow.ly/1gqpvb 
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FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2011 file photo, Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. is interviewed by The Associated Press interview at his office in Boston. Watch the political advertising and Elizabeth Warren, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, either ?sides with extreme left? protesters or has a history of being too cozy with Wall Street. Or Republican freshman Sen. Scott Brown, whom she hopes to defeat next year, is portrayed as an enemy of the environment. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2011 file photo, Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. is interviewed by The Associated Press interview at his office in Boston. Watch the political advertising and Elizabeth Warren, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, either ?sides with extreme left? protesters or has a history of being too cozy with Wall Street. Or Republican freshman Sen. Scott Brown, whom she hopes to defeat next year, is portrayed as an enemy of the environment. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2011 file photo, Massachusetts Democratic Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren speaks in Boston. Watch the political advertising and Warren, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, either ?sides with extreme left? protesters or has a history of being too cozy with Wall Street. Or Republican freshman Sen. Scott Brown, whom she hopes to defeat next year, is portrayed as an enemy of the environment. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File )
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Watch the political advertising and Elizabeth Warren, the leading Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, either "sides with extreme left" protesters or has a history of being too cozy with Wall Street. Or Republican freshman Sen. Scott Brown, whom she hopes to defeat next year, is portrayed as an enemy of the environment.
Outside groups on both sides are spending millions of dollars on the race, highlighting the national prominence of the fight over the seat held for nearly 50 years by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. But the level of spending also foreshadows the role that such groups, including special political action committees, will play in many of next fall's big political matchups.
The flood of money and ads from outside the state is expected to surge as the Warren-Brown race intensifies.
"Massachusetts is at the end of the spear of what will be the big trend and the big story of 2012," said Ken Goldstein, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks spending on political ads.
Super PACs have been showing their strength in marquis Senate races. The Supreme Court, in a trio of decisions capped by the landmark Citizens United case in 2010, eased restrictions on the use of corporate money in political campaigns and paved the way for such spending. Massachusetts is front and center, with the conservative Crossroads GPS spending $1.1 million on one spot casting Warren as aligned with radical elements of the Occupy Wall Street movement and another that has her siding with Wall Street bankers.
Crossroads GPS is an affiliate of American Crossroads, a group with ties to Karl Rove, a top political adviser to President George W. Bush. The groups spent more than $38 million to defeat Democrats in the 2010 midterms, raising money from large donors, including many whose identities remain unknown.
Crossroads GPS was by far the largest and most influential super PAC in that campaign year.
Last month, one Crossroads ad used spliced images of Warren with rowdy Occupy Wall Street protesters to claim that she "sides with extreme left" protesters who "attack police, do drugs and trash public parks."
Warren at one point said her philosophies provided the intellectual underpinnings for the Occupy movement, but she has backed off a bit, saying she supports the movement but that the protesters must follow the law.
A second Crossroads ad then painted Warren as being too cozy with Wall Street when she headed a congressional panel that oversaw the Treasury's handling of the $700 billion financial industry bailout, a charge Warren has dismissed as ridiculous given her background as a consumer advocate and leading critic of many Wall Street's practices.
The attacks prompted Warren to spend about $1 million on her first TV campaign ad, in which she says: "Before you hear a bunch of ridiculous attack ads, I want to tell you who I am."
Warren is an especially inviting target for Republicans because many voters don't know much about her, which Anthony Corrado, a campaign finance expert at Colby College in Maine, said explains why these groups have become active at such an early stage of the campaign.
"The first information can often have a powerful influence," he said.
Outside groups have also gone after Brown.
The League of Conservation Voters and the League of Women Voters have spent nearly $3 million on separate ad campaigns accusing Brown of casting anti-environmental votes. Both groups have also run ads against Democrats in other states.
The League of Women Voters' ad rapped Brown for voting with other Senate Republicans to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from controlling gases blamed for global warming. It showed a child breathing through an oxygen mask and urged Brown to "protect the people and not the polluters." Brown complained that the ad was "political demagoguery."
One spot by the League of Conservation Voters slammed Brown for siding with "big oil" and voting "repeatedly against protecting our environment and public health." He has denounced that ad as a distortion.
The League of Conservation Voters said Brown scored a zero on the group's national environmental report card.
The early wave of attack ads has hurt both candidates, a recent University of Massachusetts-Lowell/Boston Herald poll found. The percentage of voters who said they had an unfavorable view of Brown rose from 29 percent to 35 percent between late September and early December. Those viewing Warren unfavorably increased from 18 percent to 27 percent.
Brown wants third-party groups to pull their negative commercials. Warren draws the line at unfair attack ads but defends the rights of political action committees and other independent groups to run ads.
Such talk won't stop outside groups from swarming the airwaves with negative ads, however.
"This is just a harbinger of things to come," said Corrado.
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PALM HARBOR, Florida?? Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at age 80, a Florida animal sanctuary said.
The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor announced that Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure.
Sanctuary outreach director Debbie Cobb on Wednesday told The Tampa Tribune that Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting, and liked to see people laugh. She said he seemed to be attuned to human feelings.
Based on the works of author Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Tarzan stories, which have spawned scores of books and films over the years, chronicle the adventures of a man who was raised by apes in Africa.
Story: Endangered baby gorilla born at Chicago Zoo diesCheetah was the comic relief in the earliest Tarzan films, which starred American Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller. Cobb said Cheetah came to the sanctuary from Weissmuller's estate sometime around 1960.
Cobb said Cheetah wasn't a troublemaker. Still, sanctuary volunteer Ron Priest said that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would throw feces.
The chimp was unusually long-lived, surviving beyond both Weissmuller and Maureen O?Sullivan, who played Tarzan?s mate Jane in many of the early films. Chimpanzees live an average of 35 to 45 years in captivity. Guinness World Records cited Cheetah as the world?s oldest non-human primate.
Slideshow: Guinness World Records 2012 (on this page)Many chimpanzees have played Tarzan?s simian sidekick over the franchise?s long run in both films and television. The Cheetah who died Dec. 24 is not the one who appeared in the first two Weissmuller films, ?Tarzan the Ape Man? (1932) and ?Tarzan and His Mate? (1934), but is thought to have played the role in the 1930s and ?40s.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45804175/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/
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WEST CHESTER, Ohio ? For "Anybody but Romney" Republicans in a key conservative region of Ohio, Newt Gingrich has been picking up support as an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.
The former House speaker has moved to the top in recent polling in Ohio, just as Republican presidential candidates prepare for the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, followed closely by the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. Ohio's presidential primary is scheduled for March 6, one of the biggest prizes for Republicans among about a dozen states voting on "Super Tuesday."
Mitt Romney hasn't excited some of the party's staunchest conservatives for reasons that include his past support of abortion rights and enactment of a Massachusetts health care plan that's often compared to President Barack Obama's overhaul.
Some conservatives had flirted with supporting Herman Cain, drawn to his business background and unconventional campaign style. But Cain suspended his campaign this month following allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and a longtime extramarital affair. Cain's decision and Gingrich's performance in nationally televised debates helped some make up their minds.
"He's sold me," said Dan Keith, 61, of Hamilton. Keith and his wife, Pat, said they are convinced that Gingrich has the experience and savvy to be strong against Obama. "I can't see anybody else coming onto the scene that we would go to."
The Keiths said they were undecided when first interviewed three months ago.
"I think before, people liked the other candidates because they were an alternative to Romney. But I'm hearing more people who like Gingrich as Gingrich," said Bill Langdon, co-owner of the Grand Ole Pub, a popular gathering spot for Republican partisans in West Chester. Langdon had been interested in Cain, but doubted whether Cain could win the presidential nomination.
Gingrich is now his choice. "He's the guy they think can go toe-to-toe with the president," Langdon said.
Sandra Arno, of nearby Springdale, turned out for Cain's visit to West Chester in November and liked what she heard. She was deciding between him and Gingrich before Cain stopped campaigning, and most recently was leaning toward the former speaker.
"I think they're both very intelligent, and I think Newt will be good as the candidate," Arno said.
Republican-dominated suburbs like this one ? home of House Speaker John Boehner ? just north of Cincinnati provide a stronghold of votes in a state that no GOP nominee has ever reached the White House without winning. Their enthusiastic turnout to vote for George W. Bush by 2-to-1 margins in 2004 is credited with delivering Ohio to clinch his re-election. It's important for the Republican nominee to be able to attract big numbers in GOP-oriented suburban and rural regions to offset Democratic urban bastions led by Cleveland.
Ohio could be more crucial to Gingrich than some of his rivals because the former House speaker failed to qualify for Virginia's primary ballot. Gingrich's campaign has said he will pursue an aggressive write-in campaign in Virginia, although state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots.
The state party said over the weekend that both Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the March 6 ballot. Failing to get on the ballot in Virginia, where Gingrich lives, underscores the difficulty first-time national candidates have in preparing for the long haul of a presidential campaign.
In Ohio, a series of Quinnipiac University polls tracked Gingrich's rise from low single-digits to 36 percent between September and early December. Cain had fallen to 7 percent after leading the pack at 28 percent in October. The sexual harassment allegations against Cain surfaced in late October.
Lori Viars, a conservative activist and anti-abortion leader in Lebanon, predicted that a Romney nomination would keep some Christian evangelicals on the sidelines in November because of concern about his previous positions on issues, led by abortion. Some in her crowd ? Viars is among them ? might also hesitate over Gingrich's personal history, which includes two divorces and acknowledged marital infidelity.
"Newt makes a lot of sense," Viars said. "But everyone makes mistakes, and he certainly is right on a lot of issues."
Several of those who have come around to Gingrich say they're not put off by his personal past.
"Would I want him as marriage counselor? No," said Keith. "But that's not what we're electing."
Keith's wife thinks Gingrich's candidacy is on firmer ground because he's already undergone years of scrutiny.
"They've already raked him over the coals pretty good," Pat Keith said.
Other Republican activists say it's still too soon to pick a candidate in a state where there has been little campaigning, and with the GOP field likely to be smaller by the time of Ohio's primary in March.
This region of Ohio is home to some of the nation's first tea party groups, and a number of activists are loyal to Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who has attracted a band of followers with libertarian-minded calls to bring home U.S. troops and keep the government out of personal decisions.
Cincinnati tea party leader Mike Wilson, though, is "watching and waiting."
Wilson's favorite candidate was Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who dropped out in August. Wilson doesn't share the worry about Romney becoming the nominee. He also said a respectable Iowa finish by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann or Texas Gov. Rick Perry could give either of those conservative favorites some traction heading into the contests that follow.
Wilson said Romney can defeat Obama and would work with a Republican-controlled House, should it stay in GOP hands.
"I think we know who the ultimate opponent is ? Barack Obama," Wilson said. "With John Boehner as speaker, I think Romney will sign a lot of Republican legislation over the next four years."
___
Follow Dan Sewell on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell
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Brees threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns, the last a 9-yard strike to Darren Sproles that set the record with 2:51 to go.
?So many people contributed to this, and I?m happy for them,? Brees said.
It was Brees? final pass of the game and it gave him 5,087 yards passing ? with one game still to play. Marino finished with 5,084 yards for the Miami Dolphins in 1984.
As Sproles spiked the ball, Brees put his arm over his head and started walking toward midfield while the Superdome crowd went wild and his teammates chased him down.
?Obviously it?s a special moment for the players, especially Drew,? Saints coach Sean Payton said. ?I couldn?t be more proud of him.?
Brees? four touchdowns gave him 276 for his career, moving him ahead of Joe Montana (273) and Vinny Testeverde (275) for ninth all-time. He is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 5,000 yards twice ? he had 5,069 in 2008.
Brees? first scoring pass went for 8 yards to Marques Colston and the second for 9 yards to Jimmy Graham. Graham?s TD catch was his 10th of the season, a new franchise high for a tight end. In the third quarter, Brees hit Robert Meachem for a score from 24 yards, which made it 28-10.
The Saints also had 463 total yards, giving them more than 6,857 offensive yards for the season, breaking the 2008 club record of 6,571 yards. New Orleans continues to close in on the NFL-record of 7,075 offensive yards in a season set by the 2000 St. Louis Rams.
Brees might have broken the record in the third quarter if not for Sproles? 92-yard kickoff return, which set up John Kasay?s 29-yard field goal. Brees also was intercepted twice in the game, once in the Falcons end zone, but New Orleans was still dominant enough to take a three-score lead.
The game became a romp when Julio Jones was stripped by Scott Shanle and Malcolm Jenkins returned it 30 yards for a score to make it 38-16 in the fourth quarter. The Superdome crowd was in full celebration by then, but the play also meant fans would have to wait until later in the fourth quarter before Brees finally got his chance to break the passing record.
Uncharacteristically, Brees had only a yard passing during a span of a little more than 18 minutes. Knowing he was closing in the record, the crowd howled, ?Drewwww? each time he took the field. He finally gave the fans what they wanted after Atlanta failed on a fourth-down try at its own 33. That gave Brees, who needed only 30 yards for the record at that point, just enough space to work with.
Matt Ryan had 258 yards passing and one TD, including a 21-yard scoring strike to Jones that gave the Falcons a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter.
New Orleans responded with a 10-play, 81-yard scoring drive on which Brees completed four of six passes for 48 yards, the last three to Colston, who had six catches for 69 yards in the first half.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=81bea2662cbd6b25f4a62c2ae6bf31c7
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Mike Brown can still coach. Kobe Bryant can still make his teammates better. Pau Gasol can still play tough.
The Lakers got some much-needed reassurances Tuesday night in a 96-71 victory over the Utah Jazz. Despite the fatigue of a third game in three days ? their only such stretch of this lockout-shortened season ? the Lakers took full advantage of Utah not being up to game speed in its season debut.
Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against Raja Bell #19 of the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on December 27, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
STEPHEN DUNN, GETTY IMAGES
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The Jazz shot 28.2 percent from the field through three quarters against a Lakers defense still without center Andrew Bynum. The Lakers led, 71-46, entering the fourth quarter and soon enough sewed up Brown's first victory as Lakers coach.
Despite Bynum's second-to-last suspension absence, Jazz center Al Jefferson shot 2 for 16 from the field in his 24 minutes. Even so, his worst moment actually came on defense, when he fell so completely for Metta World Peace's 3-point fake that Jefferson was staring up at the rim, preparing to rebound, while World Peace steamed through the paint all alone for a rousing dunk.
Brown said about the Lakers' tremendous third-quarter rally in the Sunday opener against Chicago: "It was exciting to know what we're capable of." But this complete domination ? against a far less imposing opponent ? was a relief for the Lakers to know what they can still do.
After Brown talked pregame about the team being too reliant on Bryant to create offense Monday night in Sacramento, Bryant took just one shot in 10 first-quarter minutes ? making the 3-pointer ? as he got teammates involved. Bryant finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists despite logging 35 and 38 minutes the past two nights with a torn wrist ligament.
The Lakers had lost their past eight games, counting the two sloppy exhibitions against the Clippers and the season-ending sweep to Dallas last postseason, so some feel-good vibes were welcomed. Even with lead in the 20-plus-point range, Gasol was pumping his fist after finishing through contact and Bryant was giving his he-can't-guard-me grin after being fouled by longtime rival Raja Bell.
Gasol, who didn't look strong often in the last postseason, had 22 points and nine rebounds despite his sprained right shoulder.
The Lakers avoided their fourth 0-3 start in franchise history (1978-79, 1960-61, 1957-58).
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lakers-333282-bryant-despite.html
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Watch Packers vs Bears Live Stream Online Preseason Internet TV partner(s) are CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and NFL Network. Football Game NFL also treated as National Football League is consider as the highest level of professional American football in the United States. NFL was first formed by eleven teams in 1920 and the Commissioner was Roger Good ell Founded August 20, 1920, in Canton, Ohio. Most titles goes to Green Bay Packers (13 titles). At first it was the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922.
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Packers vs Bears Game Preview:
Teams Name: Packers vs Bears
Competition Events: National Football league (NFL)
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Last week, we asked our readers to share the story behind their favorite tech-related holiday gift. The best story wins an Xbox Kinect Bundle (pictured below) courtesy of Target, and a pack of games from Activision, featuring DJ Hero, DJ Hero 2 Party Bundle (2 turntables + microphone), Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (with 2 Xbox 360 wireless Guitars), Cabela?s Big Game Hunter (with Top Shot Elite), and Rapala for Kinect.
[More from Mashable: The Procrastinator?s Guide to Gift Giving: We?ll Get to That Later]
[More from Mashable: Best Buy Stores Offer BoGo Deal on 32GB iPhone 4]
Thank you to all our readers who submitted stories. We loved all of them. Happy Holidays!
Read Also: Open Thread: Show Us Your Favorite Tech Gifts!
Image courtesy of Flickr, www.metaphoricalplatypus.com
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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Grapevine police investigate the scene where they found seven people dead outside Dallas in Grapevine, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)
Grapevine police investigate the scene where they found seven people dead outside Dallas in Grapevine, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)
Police tape hangs in front of an apartment complex where 7 people were found dead, Sunday Dec. 25, 2010, in Grapevine, Texas. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)
Police tape stretches through a Grapevine, Texas, apartment complex where police found seven people dead in an apartment on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 in Grapevine, Texas. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)
Police line tape lines the scene where police found seven people dead in an apartment on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 in Grapevine, Texas. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Scott Goldstein) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; AP MEMBERS ONLY
Grapevine police investigate the scene where they found seven people dead outside Dallas in Grapevine, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. Four women and three men who police believe to be related were found apparently shot to death, and authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Michael Ainsworth) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT;
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) ? Six members of a Texas family apparently opened Christmas presents just before a relative dressed as Santa Claus showed up, opened fire and killed them before killing himself, police said Monday.
Grapevine police spokesman Sgt. Robert Eberling said the shooter showed up in the Santa outfit shortly before gunfire erupted and was a member of the family. The identity of the shooter and the victims will be released after autopsies are conducted Monday, he said.
Police went to the apartment midday Sunday after dispatchers received a phone call in which no one was on the line. They found four women and three men, aged 18 to 60, dead. A motive for the shootings remains unclear.
Investigators worked overnight, meticulously searching the apartment, along with three vehicles parked outside.
"It appears they had just celebrated Christmas. They had opened their gifts," Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling said Sunday, adding that the apartment was decorated for the holiday, including a tree.
Two handguns were found near the bodies, and it appears all died of gunshot wounds, he said.
Grapevine Police Lt. Todd Dearing said investigators believe that the victims were related, though some were visiting and didn't live in the apartment. He said police are looking for other relatives to inform of the deaths.
"Seven people in one setting in Grapevine, that's never happened before. Ever," Dearing said.
Many of the nearby apartments are vacant, and police said no neighbors reported hearing anything on a quiet Christmas morning when many people were not around.
Jose Fernandez, a 35-year-old heavy equipment mechanic who moved to the complex with his family about six months ago, said he always felt safe in the area, but is now afraid to let his 10-year-old son play freely outside.
"This is really outrageous especially on Christmas," said Fernandez, who was visiting family for the holiday and returned to find several police cars parked outside his home.
"This has shocked everybody. It has scared everybody. I guess something like this can happen anywhere, but seven people dead. It's just very scary," he added.
___
Associated Press writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this report.
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Onlookers gather around a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze)
Onlookers gather around a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze)
Onlookers and security staff gather around a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Dele Jones)
An armed soldier walks past a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Dele Jones)
A victim of a bomb blast at a Catholic church near Nigeria's capital lays on a bed at Suleja General Hospital in Suleja, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Dele Jones)
A victim is tended to by medics in an ambulance following a blast at a Catholic church near Nigeria's capital lays on a bed at Suleja General Hospital in Suleja, Nigeria, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast. (AP Photo/Dele Jones)
MADALLA, Nigeria (AP) ? At a Nigerian Catholic church where a terror attack killed 35 people on Christmas, women tried to clean the sanctuary ahead of Mass on Monday while one man wept uncontrollably amid the debris.
Outside St. Theresa Catholic Church, crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the dirt parking lot, angry over the attack claimed by a radical Muslim sect and fearful that the group will target more churches.
Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ.
Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties. In the chaos after the bombing, Jataudarde said one mortally wounded man, cradling his shredded stomach, begged him for religious atonement.
"Father, pray for me, I will not survive," the man said, according to the priest.
At least 52 people were wounded in the attack, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.
On Christmas, attacks by the radical Muslim sect left 39 dead across Africa's most populous nation. A bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast.
After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.
"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
This Christmas attack comes a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.
Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.
Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."
"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."
___
Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
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One of the most important decisions you?ll have to make when choosing a virtual private server (VPS) is whether a Linux or Windows-based option is right for you. While dedicated IT professionals will often swear by one system or another, it is often less clear which one provides a greater benefit for small and medium-sized businesses. While many basic functions are shared between the two, there are several notable differences that may help tip the scales.
Both a Windows and a Linux VPS will operate in the same basic way ? by dividing a physical server into virtual slices that can be occupied by your business, allowing you to store data and run applications. This division can happen using either the Linux kernel for container-based virtualization or the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor which creates parent and child partitions that support multiple server slices. Both Windows and Linux VPS options support PHP and MySQL and give you access to a set of resources you can scale up as they are needed; it?s the details that make the difference.
There are a number of benefits to choosing a Windows-based VPS, starting with a more familiar graphical user interface (GUI). The Windows GUI is well-known and easy to use, and is especially helpful if you?re just getting into the world of virtual private servers. In addition, a Windows Hyper-V/Server 2008 combination will offer support for ASP and ASP.NET for website hosting, something that a Linux VPS doesn?t excel at. Remote desktop access is also a benefit for Windows VPS, which allows direct access from anywhere to your VPS server via your GUI. This makes configuration and server management far easier than through the text-based SSH interface offered by Linux solutions. You?ll also get better support for Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Access ? while they may work with Linux, they are work natively with Windows.
One of the key benefits to a Linux VPS is cost ? because Linux is an open-source program, many virtual private server plans are cheaper with a Linux option instead of Windows. Most Linux server applications are also available freely, and while support for certain distributions of Linux may not be as robust as that for Windows, you will not need to bear the cost of licensing fees. Linux also offers you greater choice when it comes to VPS control panels ? while the Plesk panel will work with both Windows and Linux VPS solutions, cPanel can only be used with Linux. You?ll also typically see a greater level of reliability from Linux-based options because of the passionate community support that many flavors of the OS enjoy. Linux can be optimized to work in almost any environment, providing increased performance overall. SSH Access also offers a benefit for Linux VPS users ? while it is more complicated to use because it is text-based, the lack of a heavy GUI will lighten your server load, so to speak.
Ultimately, the choice between a Linux and Windows VPS comes down to which OS offers you the best value for your dollar. Linux is a great option for businesses owners that are more technically adept or that want direct control over their server via SSH. Linux also has more variants of its OS to choose from. Windows solutions, meanwhile, work seamlessly right out of the virtual box and, when Hyper-V is combined with Windows Server R2 2008, can provide ease of use along with live migration services and failover protection in the form of high availability (HA) clustering.
Source: http://www.hostreview.com/blog/111223-linux-vps-vs-windows-vps-making-an-informed-decision
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2011) ? Tecnalia, through the Interreg project Medisen, is contributing to develop biosensors capable of detecting the presence of tumour markers of lung cancer in exhaled breath. This is possible because of the changes produced within the organism of an ill person, changes reflected in the exhaled breath of the patient and which enable determining the presence of this type of marker during the initial stages of the disease.
Some illnesses such as lung and stomach cancer or liver diseases which, due to the difficulty of diagnosis, have symptoms that are often confused with routine disorders. Therefore, in most cases, the disease is only detected at an advanced stage. New methods for early detection are being investigated as an urgent need.
Tecnalia, through the Interreg project Medisen, is contributing to develop biosensors capable of detecting the presence of tumour markers of lung cancer in exhaled breath. This is possible because of the changes produced within the organism of an ill person, changes reflected in the exhaled breath of the patient and which enable determining the presence of this type of marker during the initial stages of the disease.
Patients with lung cancer, treated in the Section of Medical Oncology of the Institute of Onco-Haemathology of the Donostia Hospital (IDOH) have collaborated in this phase of the project. For that, the Ethic Committee of the Clinical Research of Euskadi (CEIC) gave the authorization to the Instituto Biodonostia for the clinical trials
Human breath, whether from a healthy or ill person, is composed of a hundreds of organic compounds: acetone, methanol, butanol, hydrocarbons, amongst others. There is not a single specific component in the exhaled breath capable of acting as a marker for the diagnosis of lung cancer. A range of biomarkers and its combination should be selected. The compounds of interest are generally to be found at 1-20 parts per billion (ppb) in healthy human breath but can be increased 10-100-fold in the breath of sick patients. In order to be able to detect these changes the development of novel materials was required.
During the first phase of the project, breath samples were collected by the hospital staff by a breath collecting device. A detailed analysis of the most representative compounds present in the breath samples has been carried out and the family or families of compounds required to act as markers for the presence of lung cancer selected. Organic compounds have been analysed using gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry analysis (GC/MS). Then, the GC/MS results of breath tests have been analysed by statistical and structural algorithms to discriminate and identify "healthy and "cancerous" patterns that really provide information for the design of the sensor.
In parallel, novel materials for the detection of the selected organic compounds have been developed by Tecnalia in order to increase the sensitivity of the devices. Participating together with Tecnalia in this project were the Instituto de Tecnolog?as Qu?micas Emergentes de La Rioja (Inter-Qu?mica) designing the sensor device and the University of Perpignan (France) testing the novel materials.
As a conclusion, the biosensors will facilitate the diagnosis of certain diseases; mainly those located in the lungs, at the initial stages of the illness, which could increase considerably the chances of survival.
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l la VERACRUZ, Mexico ? A group of gunmen attacked three passenger buses in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Thursday, killing seven passengers in what authorities said appeared to be a violent robbery spree.
The Defense Department said in a statement that soldiers chased the five assailants and returned fire whey they were "attacked," killing all of the gunmen.
The army said the gunmen, who were carrying rifles, started the attacks in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, killing three people who were loading vegetables into a truck in the town of El Higo, in northern Veracruz. In the same town, they tossed a grenade that killed another person.
Later, the gunmen went to a nearby highway, stopped and robbed a bus and killed two of the passengers aboard, according to the army statement.
They later stopped another bus and sprayed it with gunfire, killing four passengers. When the driver of a third bus stopped and got off to see what was happening, they killed him too.
Veracruz state government spokeswoman Gina Dominguez said that while the gunmen's identities and cartel affiliation have not yet been established, the men killed match witness descriptions of the assailants in the bus attacks, Dominguez said.
The bloody pre-Christmas bus shootings brought up memories of the brutal murder of dozens of bus passengers whose bodies were found in mass graves in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas in April. A total of 193 bodies had been found in 26 graves, and officials say most of those were Mexican migrants heading to the United States who were kidnapped off buses and killed by the Zetas drug cartel.
In the Tamaulipas killings, the Zetas gunmen stopped and boarded buses and removed male passengers and killed them, either because they believed a rival gang was trying to send reinforcements into the region aboard buses or because they wanted to force some of the passengers to join their gang.
The buses attacked Thursday were covering local routes in northern Veracruz, though authorities did not release the names of the bus lines operating the route.
There was no immediate information on the identity of the dead bus passengers, or the four people killed in El Higo.
The area has been the scene of bloody battles between the Zetas and their former allies, the Gulf cartel.
The two gangs split in 2010.
The U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros, a Mexican border city north of where the attacks occurred, said in a statement that "several vehicles," including the buses, were attacked, but did not specify what the other vehicles were.
The consulate urged Americans to "exercise caution" when traveling in Veracruz, and "avoid intercity road travel at night."
While the specific area where the Thursday attacks occurred is not frequented by foreign travelers, it adjoins an area to the west known as The Huasteca that is popular among Mexican tourists and some foreigners.
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