CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) ? NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne has apologized for comments he made on his Twitter account about public breastfeeding.
According to multiple media reports, Kahne posted messages on his account that he saw a mother breastfeeding a child in a supermarket, calling it "nasty" and saying he didn't "feel like shopping any more or eating."
Reports say Kahne then sent a crude reply message to a Twitter user who took issue with his comments.
After apparently deleting the offending posts from his Twitter feed, Kahne posted an apology on his Facebook page Wednesday, saying it wasn't his intention "to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children. I want to make that clear."
Kahne said he understands his comments were "offensive to some people" and apologized.
"In all honestly, I was surprised by what I saw in a grocery store," Kahne said. "I shared that reaction with my fans on Twitter. It obviously wasn't the correct approach, and, after reading your feedback, I now have a better understanding of why my posts upset some of you.
"My comments were not directed at the mother's right to breastfeed. They were just a reaction to the location of that choice, and the fashion in which it was executed on that occasion."
Kahne said he respects the mother's right to feed her child "whenever and wherever she pleases."
Kahne also posted a personal reply to the user he'd insulted.
"I wanted to apologize for saying what I said to you yesterday," Kahne wrote. "It was out of line."
Kahne's team said its "concerns have been conveyed" to Kahne.
"We appreciate that he chose to follow up with his fans and others who were upset by the comments," Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement.
NASCAR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
John Baumann and the folks at The Swiss Colony bring on the food! The dinner for all involved included roast turkey, prime rib, ham, crab legs and shrimp, along with gourmet prepared side dishes. For the kids of the four families, personalized stockings are given as gifts leading into the holiday season. The big attraction is a Swiss Colony made Gingerbread House that is seven feet tall and five feet wide, weighing in at six hundred pounds. John states his appreciation for those who have served to protect our country, and feels it is his privilege to be able to give to the families of those who served.
Protesters gesture during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Protesters gesture during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Labor strikes spread through Yemen Wednesday as workers demanded reforms and dismissal of managers over alleged corruption linked to the country's outgoing president.
Corruption was one of the grievances that ignited mass protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. After months of stalling, Saleh last month signed an agreement to transfer power.
The deal includes immunity for prosecution for the longtime leader, but protesters reject that. They are also demanding that his relatives and associates, also suspected of corruption, be removed from their posts in the government and military and put on trial.
The strikes are following a pattern. Workers lock the gates to an institution, and then they storm the offices of their supervisors, demanding their replacement with bosses who are not tainted with corruption allegations. So far the scenario has played out in 18 state agencies.
"This is the real revolution, the institutions revolution," said Mohammed Gabaal, an 40-year-old accountant who is on strike. "The president has appointed a ring of corrupt people all over government agencies."
The case of the Military Economic Institution stands out. Hundreds of workers demonstrated in front of the building on Wednesday.
The key agency hauls in significant revenues from naval transport and other investments, but its budget is kept secret. Striking workers are demanding dismissal of the agency manager, Hafez Mayad, who is from Saleh's tribe and is seen as one of the regime's most powerful and corrupt figures.
Opponents of the Saleh regime charge that armed civilians who attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa got their funds from Mayad.
Other strikes are under way at the state TV, Sanaa police headquarters and another institution affiliated with the military.
The wave of strikes began last week when employees of the national airline, Yemenia Airways, walked off their jobs demanding dismissal of the director, Saleh's son-in-law, charging him with plundering the company's assets and driving it into bankruptcy. The government gave in to the demands.
Months of political turmoil in Yemen, pitting tribes and army units against each other during mass demonstrations as Saleh fought to stay in power, have given the dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen more freedom of action. The Islamist militants have taken over territory in Yemen's south, including several towns.
A military official said three soldiers and three militants from Ansar al-Sharia group, which is suspected of links to al-Qaida in Yemen, were killed in clashes Wednesday in the provincial capital of Abyan, Zinjibar. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
Passer cette ?tape
Connexion
Connexion
Rejoignez Twitter !
asih terbuka kesempatan buat Anda yg ingin ikut serta di Sony World Photography Awards 2012 bit.ly/rBIahVIl y a environ 6 heuresvia HootSuiteRetweeted by 1 person
DES MOINES, Iowa ? All across Iowa next Tuesday, tens of thousands of Republican voters will travel through a chilly Midwestern night to the warmth of a local church or gymnasium for caucus meetings to select presidential candidates, the first voting in the 2012 election campaign.
These Midwestern, mostly white voters hardly resemble America as a whole, and their voting system puzzles most people. Yet Iowa holds substantial sway over how the nation chooses the president.
"Iowa will choose the next president of the United States in their early caucuses," Republican hopeful Michele Bachmann said recently. "This is the cannon shot."
The caucuses ? essentially community meetings ? have served as a launching pad to the nomination, and often to the White House, for the past 40 years, though they've been around since the 1840s. Candidates tend to lavish attention on Iowa, hoping that a good showing will give them a burst of publicity to improve their chances in New Hampshire, which votes Jan. 10, and in other early voting states.
It's this contest that helped propel Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore to their parties' nominations in 2000. It also helped Democrat John Kerry become Bush's challenger in 2004. And the caucuses gave Democrat Barack Obama his first win in 2008, though Mike Huckabee won on the Republican side, not the eventual GOP nominee, John McCain.
The caucus process seems arcane and mysterious, even to people in Iowa. That is in part because most people don't even participate. About 359,000 people ? 17 percent of registered voters in Iowa ? showed up for Democratic and Republican caucuses in 2008. Turnout will certainly be lower this year, since Obama is unopposed. And the GOP turnout may not exceed the record-setting 120,000 attendees that the party's contest saw four years ago.
Caucuses are held in all of the state's 1,774 voting precincts, some in remote spots where only a handful of voters gather, others in big community centers or schools that host several precincts under one roof. In all, Republicans will gather in about 800 locations.
This relatively small number of voters, and their overwhelmingly white makeup, routinely bring Iowa's caucuses under attack by outsiders who want more clout for their own states. Only 5 percent of Iowa's electorate is Hispanic and only 3 percent is black, compared with a national electorate that is 16 percent Hispanic and 12 percent black.
For their part, Iowans jealously guard their first-in-the-nation nominating contests.
While both parties in Iowa use the caucus system to choose candidates, Republicans and Democrats go about things differently.
For the GOP, the caucuses are simply a straw poll, meaning the results are not binding. While Democrats use the caucuses to choose delegates who are expected to support their favored candidate, Republicans handle that later at county and district conventions.
After electing a temporary chair to run the meeting and a secretary to record the proceedings, any Republican who chooses can briefly speak in favor of a candidate. Ballots are then passed out and participants mark their choices in private. Those ballots are quickly counted and the results called into party headquarters, where they are posted online as they are received.
Any Republican voter can participate, including those who register when they arrive at the event. People too young to vote can also take part if they will be 18 by the general election.
Democrats, when there are multiple candidates, take a more convoluted approach.
Democrats break into preference groups at their caucuses, publicly declaring which candidate they favor. Candidates must get support from 15 percent of those attending the caucus in order to receive votes. Once they break into those groups, activists try to attract those whose candidates have fallen short of the 15 percent threshold.
After the results are reported to party headquarters, the numbers are run through a formula that changes the value of votes based on a county-by-county analysis of Democratic performance in the last gubernatorial and presidential elections.
"The Republican caucuses and Democratic caucuses are two different beasts," said Democratic strategist Phil Roeder. "In the big picture, it makes for a very different result."
Democratic strategist Jerry Crawford put it another way: "Democrats always like to make things more difficult."
Although the Republicans have a simpler system, caucuses by both parties require more time and greater participation than in a primary election.
Activists said that level of commitment means that for a candidate to be successful, he or she must make connections with voters, then build an organization that can get them to their precinct gatherings.
"People still expect to see the candidates in person," said Steve Scheffler, who heads the influential Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. "The candidates who have spent the most time here will benefit."
___
Associated Press writer Libby Quaid in Washington contributed to this report.
Did you get what you really wanted this year? Unfortunately, Santa didn't have enough room in his sleigh to bring HDTVs for everyone. Stop blaming the big man and start shopping for yourself. Amazon is making the New Year look bright, by offering up great HDTVs at affordable prices.
We just found Sony's 55-inch KDL55EX720 1080p 3D LED HDTV listed for $1296.32. In case you're keeping score, this 3D-capable HDTV originally listed for $2399.99 when it was first released. That makes this a nice discount, and it even includes free shipping. Take a peek for yourself on Amazon's product page:
Because this is an active 3D TV, the KDL55EX720 has a full 1080p HD image, for both 2D and 3D viewing. It also has a built-in 3D sync transmitter. That means you just need to add 3D glasses (and maybe even a Blu-ray 3D player) for 3D viewing right out of the box.
However, this also makes for a nice 2D TV, with Sony's X-Reality Engine, Edge LED backlighting, and Motionflow XR 240 technology all built right into the set. There are also options to connect to the web. If you don't have an Ethernet jack near your AV setup, just add in the optional UWA-BR100 adapter so you can hook this big boy up to your home's wireless network.
Whichever way you go, that networking is very important, since the KDL-55EX720 has a lot of awesome web-based features built into the set. Add it to your home network, and you can enjoy instant, on-screen access to services such as Qriocity, Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, Pandora, and much more.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to add in entertainment options, thanks to the TV's four HDMI inputs, one composite and one component input, a PC input, and two USB ports.
Just remember that when ordering this 3D TV, you need to buy directly from Amazon (not one of its third-party merchants). They are offering the discount, as well as free shipping on this model. A few other perks include free 30-day returns and Amazon's TV Low Price Guarantee. That means if you can find this set for less within 14 days of the TV's ship date, Amazon will refund you the difference on the price.
Also Check Out:
Please note: all deals posted on Big Picture Big Sound are current as of the posting date and time. These deals are frequently time- or stock-limited and generally do not last. Final pricing and stock are determined by the individual deal provider, not by Big Picture Big Sound so you will need to click through on the offer link to see if it is still available. Through our affiliate relationships with many online vendors, Big Picture Big Sound may earn a small commission on any referred sale.
Beyond the Arc: Georgetown's win over Louisville on Wednesday is the sort of thing we'll be seeing a lot of this season in the Big East, a league stocked with good teams, but no great ones beyond Syracuse.
December 26, 2011, 8:26 PM ? After months of waiting, the Galaxy Nexus (and by extension, Android 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich") is finally here. We've already done an extensive review of the hardware, so here we will be looking much more closely at Ice Cream Sandwich. Whether you are an Android veteran or a smartphone first-timer, this new version of Google's mobile operating system has a few things you should know about before getting started.
Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is the biggest update to Android since the OS launched, and the changes are pretty significant. They aren't too dramatic for people used to Android, but people new to the OS may have some difficulties starting out. While Android 2.x was perhaps not the easiest OS to master, once you got the hang of it, it was rather straightforward. ICS, on the other hand, was designed to be easier to use, but even long-standing Android users will have to spend some time learning its ins and outs.
Here's one issue: Not all icons are clearly labeled, so it can be difficult to know what a button does in a particular app. The new Calendar app, for instance, has a small unlabeled square (it looks like a small calendar) that takes you to the present date. Other than pressing the button, you have no visual cues to tell you what that icon actually does. This isn't the same Android that we've all come to know, but rather a new OS that carries on the Android legacy.
A Fresh New Look
ICS is by far the most visually appealing version of Android that I have seen to date. The holographic interface in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) has been passed on to ICS, though it doesn't translate that well on a smaller display. On a tablet, the holographic interface looks as if it has some depth, but on a phone it appears extremely two-dimensional. ICS, however, adds a few new colors to Android's repertoire, swapping out the old green and gray for a vibrant blue.
Text is also much easier to read thanks to use of the new high-resolution font Roboto. Roboto was designed to be used on HD displays, and is a massive step up from the old Droid Serif in Android 2.x. The font looks a lot cleaner than the one used on Honeycomb, and complements the holographic UI quite nicely.
One of the biggest interface changes concerns the use of software navigation buttons for Android smartphones. Pre-Honeycomb Android devices all used hardware buttons for basic navigation (Home, Menu, Back, Search), while software keys were exclusive to Honeycomb tablets. The Galaxy Nexus has a buttonless design, and chances are high that we will be seeing more Android phones that take advantage of ICS software buttons.
The software keys include Back and Home, with the Menu and Search buttons replaced by a Recent Apps button (more on that later). While software keys work fine on a larger-sized tablet, I was initially worried that the software keys in ICS would be too easy to hit by accident on a smartphone. Fortunately, this was not the case, and not once in my time with Ice Cream Sandwich did I ever accidentally exit out of an app because of any of the software buttons.
One issue I do have with ICS is centered on the nestled menus. Whereas in previous versions of Android the menus would all appear in the same spot, ICS has you hunting around the screen looking for the three dots that indicate a menu drop-down. Again, not a big problem, but it makes navigation inconsistent from one app to another. In general, it seems menus appear in either the top-right or bottom-right of apps, the exception being that older apps will have the menu icon appear down next to Recent Apps.
Features Galore
More than just a pretty face, ICS also adds loads of new features to the Android OS. As mentioned earlier, you now have a Recent Apps button that allows you to quickly jump from one app to another. When you press Recent Apps, a carousel with the last 15 apps you've opened will pop up. You can either tap an app to go to it, or swipe it left or right to close it. It works extremely well and quickly became one of my favorite things in ICS.
MANILA, Philippines ? Philippine disaster management officials say the number of people who died in massive flash floods in the southern Mindanao region a week ago was smaller than earlier reported.
Civil Defense chief Benito Ramos said Tuesday that he has corrected an earlier death toll from the health department of nearly 1,500 to 1,249 based on an actual count of identified and unidentified bodies recovered by soldiers, police, firemen and other rescue workers.
He says the exact number of missing could no longer be determined but the search for bodies will continue.
He says rains overnight Monday over the eastern provinces of Mindanao have forced the evacuation of thousands of families, many by helicopter.
CINCINNATI - The Bengals had just enough left to stay in the thick of playoff contention.
Andy Dalton threw a pair of touchdown passes, and Cincinnati withstood yet another fourth-quarter comeback by Arizona, holding on for a 23-16 victory Saturday that kept the Bengals in the running for a wild card.
Another small crowd at Paul Brown Stadium saw the Bengals (9-6) secure only their third winning record in the last 21 years and keep up their postseason hopes.
They pulled it off with another solid performance by their rookie quarterback and a close call in the closing minutes.
Dalton threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham and a 19-yarder to Jerome Simpson, who did a somersault over a defender and landed on both feet in the end zone. Dalton joined Peyton Manning (26), Charlie Conerly (22) and Dan Marino (20) as the only NFL rookies to throw 20 touchdowns.
Down 23-0 heading into the fourth quarter, the NFL's best comeback team nearly pulled off its most improbable one yet. Arizona (7-8) took advantage of Cedric Benson's two fumbles, getting a pair of touchdown passes by John Skelton and Jay Feely's field goal with 3:16 left.
The Cardinals had their chance to pull even. Early Doucet got behind the defense on a fourth-down play from the Cincinnati 17-yard line, but tripped at the goal line and fell, letting the pass fall incomplete.
Arizona got the ball one last time, but the clock ran out on them after a completion, ending the Cardinals' four-game winning streak and their playoff chances.
Cincinnati's defense dominated the first three quarters. Arizona didn't cross midfield until Skelton completed a pass with 13:25 to go.
Skelton started for the second consecutive week in place of Kevin Kolb, who hasn't fully recovered from a concussion. Skelton was 23 of 44 for 297 yards with three interceptions and five sacks that helped the Bengals get the 23-0 lead.
It could have been worse. Mike Nugent, the NFL's most accurate kicker, missed field goals of 35 and 48 yards in the first half.
Arizona has rallied from fourth-quarter deficits six times this season, one shy of the NFL record. The Cardinals have won three games in overtime, tying the league record.
With another comeback nearly in their grasp Saturday, they stumbled at the goal line.
Dalton was 18 of 31 for 154 yards and two touchdowns on a sunny, 39-degree afternoon in front of only 41,273 fans, leaving the stadium one-third empty.
Dalton's second touchdown pass had a highlight finish.
Simpson got open for a catch-and-run to the goal line. With Daryl Washington between him and the end zone, Simpson jumped and twirled past the linebacker, landing on both feet in the end zone and raising both arms like a gymnast who just stuck the landing.
For most of the game, the Cardinals couldn't do anything right. Rookie cornerback Patrick Peterson picked off a Dalton pass in the third quarter, but the interception was nullified by Arizona's second roughing-the-passer penalty of the game.
Worse, Peterson hurt his left hamstring on the play, pulling up on the return. The first-round pick left the game.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More news
Tebow throws 4 INTs in loss
??Jairus Byrd and Spencer Johnson returned Tim Tebow interceptions for touchdowns on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter to help the Buffalo Bills snap a seven-game skid and seal a 40-14 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday.
Raiders stay alive with 16-13 OT win over Chiefs
??Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 36-yard field goal 2:13 into overtime Saturday, giving the Oakland Raiders a 16-13 victory over Kansas City that eliminated the Chiefs from the playoff race and kept their own AFC West hopes alive.
New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire, left, gets tangled up with Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett (5) in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire, left, gets tangled up with Boston Celtics power forward Kevin Garnett (5) in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony, left, fouls Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo, right, loses the ball as he is fouled by New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo, on floor, holds onto the ball as he slips in front of New York Knicks guard Toney Douglas (23) and Knicks center Tyson Chandler in the second quarter of their NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks know it will never be easy against the Celtics.
Not beating them in one game, and certainly not beating them for a division title.
But pulling out the kind of nail biter that's long gone Boston's way in this rivalry only reinforced the Knicks' belief that they can do it ? and even the Celtics see a difference.
Anthony scored 37 points, including a pair of free throws with the game tied and 16 seconds left, and New York survived a seesaw season opener Sunday to edge the Celtics 106-104.
"Most importantly for us, as a new team, we showed something," Anthony said. "We came together as a team. Even when we got down, there wasn't no frowns. Nobody was down. Mentally everybody was still up about it, and we willed our way to this win."
Amare Stoudemire added 21 points and Toney Douglas had 19 for the Knicks, who led by 17 in the first half, trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, then pulled out a thrilling Christmas victory in the delayed opener to the 2011-12 season.
Rajon Rondo had 31 points and 13 assists, nearly leading the Celtics back without an injured Paul Pierce. But Kevin Garnett missed a jumper just before the buzzer, the kind of shot Boston always seems to make against the Knicks.
"They seem to have a little swag and confidence behind them," Garnett said. "It's good for the city. It's good for the Knicks. I'm going to see how consistent they are with that, but for the most part Carmelo played really well."
Brandon Bass had 20 points and 11 rebounds in his Celtics debut, and Ray Allen added 20 points.
Garnett finished with 15 points. He and Allen had a sleepy Christmas start, with Rondo keeping the Celtics in the game until they got going in the second half.
"I thought we were as soft as you could be in the first quarter and then I thought we joined in to the 2011-12 season, and from that point on I was pretty happy with the way we played," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I thought we competed well."
But it wasn't enough against the Knicks, who withstood a costly knee injury to first-round pick Iman Shumpert to beat the team that swept them out of the first round of last season's playoffs. Shumpert will miss two to four weeks with a sprained right knee ligament.
Pierce has a bruised right heel but hopes he can return Tuesday when the Celtics visit the Miami Heat.
Even without him, the Celtics fought back to tie it at 69 on Rondo's layup midway through the third quarter. They surged ahead by eight going into the final period after Bass scored the final six points, then extended it to 89-79 on Bass' jumper to open the fourth.
Anthony, who scored 20 in the fourth, tied the game at 100 on a 3-pointer with 3:25 to play. It stayed tight until he was fouled on a drive with 16.3 seconds left, making both for a 106-104 lead. Rondo grabbed the rebound of Marquis Daniels' potential go-ahead 3-pointer to give the Celtics a final chance, but Garnett was off on his jumper, then appeared to shove the Knicks' Bill Walker away.
Coming off their first winning season in a decade, the Knicks added a defensive presence by signing Tyson Chandler away from the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks and have loftier expectations than they've seen in years. The original NBA schedule had them opening against Miami, but instead they got a chance to see if they've closed the gap against Boston.
"I think we wanted to come out and set the tone early," Stoudemire said. "It's a long year but this game was very important for us to get off to a great start."
Though the Celtics won all eight meetings last season, the Knicks have been listed some places as the favorites in the Atlantic Division, which the Celtics have ruled since their Big Three came together in 2007.
"Everybody knows how optimism kicks in before the season starts, but then once reality sets in after the first month of the season, we'll see," Pierce said before the game. "But it's definitely a possibility. I mean, they have the talent, but we have the talent, too."
But the Knicks will be without newcomer Baron Davis for a few weeks because of a herniated disc in his back, and now Shumpert is out, leaving little depth in the backcourt.
The Knicks led 49-32 with 7? minutes left in the first half before the Celtics cut it to 62-52 at halftime.
The first game since renovations began at Madison Square Garden included the usual cast of celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Chris Rock and John McEnroe, and some new confusion, as at least one Celtics player had to ask how to get to the court from the new visitors' locker room.
Notes: Rivers said Pierce may come off the bench when he does return, since he's had only one practice so far. ... The Knicks were without Mike Bibby, who dressed but didn't play because of a sore back. Reserve Jared Jeffries was lost during the game to a sore right calf and will miss a week or two. ... Stoudemire provided pregame breakfast to MSG staff in appreciation of the support in his first season with the team.
___
Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney
If you want a shot at wearing the crown, you don?t celebrate your upcoming season by throwing a Miami Heat-like preseason celebration. You take a good look at the real King and figure out what he did to get there.
Maybe that?s why Durant, in preparation for another NBA regular season that kicks off Sunday, has spent some quality time working on Dirk Nowitzki?s one-footed, off-balance, can?t-be-blocked signature shot.
Take note, league. Among the many teams with a legitimate shot to dethrone the Mavericks as defending world champions are the Thunder and their unique weapon ? a player with Dirk-like skills.
?I kind of gave a wink to Dirk because, like I said, I stole that from him,? Durant said this week about using the shot in a preseason game against the Mavs. ?He?s such a great basket-maker at that shot and he does it on every type of play, going to the middle, baseline. I?m just trying to perfect it a little bit like he has. It?s going to take me a long time, but I?m working on it.?
Yep. Wanna be the king, study him first. Then go after him and his crew. LeBron James, please take note.
?He?s been working on a lot of the moves that Dirk has mastered,? Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. ?He has the length, and he has the touch that he can score in different areas of the floor like Dirk. It takes years to master that but Kevin has a pretty good package himself.?
This season, for the Thunder as much as everyone else, is going to be about many things: A compressed 66-game schedule that will take a heavy toll on players? bodies who have not had a long enough training camp and preseason to be ready. A continued clustering of multiple stars on teams, from Miami to New York to Los Angeles to Boston, that creates the potential for more Heat-like juggernauts (and, perhaps, pressure-fueled flameouts).
And the question of what, exactly, the young guns coming up like the Clippers and Thunder can do and what, exactly, older teams like Dallas, San Antonio and the Lakers have left.
For the Thunder, who have two young stars in Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook ? as well as a defensive force in Kendrick Perkins and other key guys around them ? the key might be doing like the Mavs: Believe in what you have, keep working at it, and wait for your moment.
Only, in the NBA about to unfurl Sunday, there are going to be a lot of dangerous teams with a lot of chances to make the moment their own.
?I really think that (Dallas is still) as good as any team in the league,? Brooks said. ?But there?s other good teams in the West. The Spurs won 60, or close to 60 games last year, the Lakers are always going to be good, there?s some good, younger teams coming up.?
There are good teams everywhere. Out East, the Miami Heat return their Big Three and a team loaded with wings, question marks, calm and injuries.
They, as much as anyone, will go a long way toward dictating the flow and future of the season.
The Heat?s wings include the Big Three, Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier and Mike Miller. Haslem is healthy, but Battier has been sidelined with a quad injury and Miller is expected to miss the start of the season because of a hernia.
The question marks stand most notably at center, where Joel Anthony is defensively sound but offensively, well, absent. Eddy Curry is an experiment with variables that include a poor track record and signs that he already might not physically be healthy enough for even a shortened season. Those injuries aside, though, there is a calm in Miami that might just make this Heat team what they were last year minus all that drama. Whether that also makes LeBron less likely to mentally vanish when things get tough remains to be seen.
Boston remains dangerous, if a year older, and the New York Knicks are an intriguing team. With Baron Davis injured for an undetermined amount of time, they?ll rely on Carmelo Anthony at point-forward. But along with Amar?e Stoudemire and new addition Tyson Chandler they?re a team with three of its own stars and enough firepower to score on anyone. Depth is another matter, and defense is always worrisome under Mike D?Antoni?s up-tempo offensive system, though he insists this team will play serious defense this year. If that?s true, and some of their guys emerge from the bench, they could be surprisingly great.
The Bulls remain the Bulls but with Rip Hamilton plugged in at shooting guard. And while the Dwight Howard drama engulfs Orlando, the Magic still have, for now, Dwight Howard.
And that?s just the East.
Out West, as Brooks alluded, there?s an equally full slate of good teams. The Mavericks lost Chandler, Finals hero J.J. Barea and Caron Butler but added Lamar Odom, Delonte West and Vince Carter. It?s an interesting swap, and they still have their core, but no one?s sure yet how that new mix will gel and to what extent this new-look team will be better or worse off than last season. Still, at least a few NBA executives said privately they believe Dallas will be better this year once all the parts learn to work together.
Sans Odom, the Los Angeles Lakers have an angry Kobe, no Phil Jackson, a new coach with an enormous amount of challenges in Mike Brown and now not quite the star power we?ve come to expect of them. But, as noted, they have Kobe. And with Kobe, anything is possible, particularly when he still gets to play with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.
Then, amazingly enough, there?s this: The Los Angeles Clippers have the potential to be anywhere between pretty good and downright amazing. With Chris Paul now a Clipper, Blake Griffin?s game has the potential to be that much better. Throw in the parts around them ? Chauncey Billups, Mo Williams, DeAndre Jordan and Butler ? and they?re not to be underestimated.
San Antonio won 61 games last year, Memphis ran the Spurs out of the playoffs, Denver is deep and Portland could be good as well.
That?s an awfully impressive ? and fun ? run of teams plying for dominance. Sunday?s Christmas Day opening slate sees five games that?ll get things going, including Heat-Mavs, Lakers-Bulls, Thunder-Magic, Knicks-Boston and Warriors-Clippers.
It?s a great tip-off for a deep league with an incredible cast of players and storylines ? and a lot of challengers for the throne. Dirk & Co. might be defending champions, but there are 10 or more teams that could unseat them if things break the right way.
Starting Sunday, they and everyone else get a shot to show just what they got.
You can follow Bill Reiter on Twitter @foxsportsreiter or email him at foxsportsreiter@gmail.com.
A man who helped make our world smaller died last week. As noted in the New York Times obituary linked below, Norman Krim didn't invent the transistor, but he was a driving force behind its use, having persuaded his employer, Raytheon, to manufacture them on a large scale. They were designed for use in hearings aids initially but, as IEEE Spectrum's Harry Goldstein explains, some later batches proved too "noisy" for that purpose and wound up in the hands of hobbyists instead, who used them in a variety of electronic projects. Krim was also intent on making things smaller even before the transistor, and led a team at Raytheon in the late 1930s that developed miniaturized vacuum tubes for use in battery-powered radios. Later in his career, he was also involved the early days of the Radio Shack chain, buying two stores in Boston then expanding to seven before selling the business to the Tandy Corporation. He was 98.
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) ? An electronics company engineer who the U.S. government considers a one-man sperm bank has fathered an estimated 14 children through free donations of his semen that he advertises over the Internet.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the San Francisco Bay-area sperm donor poses a threat to public health and has ordered him to stop or face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
But Trent Arsenault, a healthy, 36-year-old bachelor who professes a strong religious upbringing, sees his sperm giveaways as acts of compassion and insists he's not abandoning his genetic generosity without a fight.
"Whatever happens with me sets a precedent, which could mean a lot of childless couples," he told Reuters on Monday. "Does the government need to be in people's bedrooms?"
He and the FDA are now embroiled in what is believed to be the first legal battle of its kind, one that has drawn national media attention and could test the limits of the agency's authority to regulate private donations of sperm offered as gifts directly to prospective mothers rather than through commercial sperm banks.
Such donations, often provided by men who are close friends of the recipients, have grown more frequent as single women, lesbian partners and heterosexual couples with fertility problems increasingly turn to alternative sources for artificial insemination.
Arsenault's prolific willingness to share his genetic material, which he promotes on a website touting his fitness as a donor, caught the scrutiny of the FDA.
PROLIFIC DONOR
During the past five years, he has given his sperm on more than 328 occasions to at least 46 women, resulting in 14 births, according to the FDA's best estimates from documentation Arsenault himself provided. This, the agency maintains, poses a risk to public health.
"Under FDA's regulations, sperm donors are required to be screened for risk factors that may increase the chances of transmitting a communicable disease," FDA spokesperson Rita Chappelle explained in an email.
Sperm banks must comply with precise requirements that include a battery of tests to ensure that the donated sperm does not carry human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B or C, syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, human T-lymphotropic virus, cytomegalovirus or various genetic disorders.
Arsenault gets himself screened every six months for that entire list of diseases but cannot afford the specific FDA-approved tests he is supposed to undergo within seven days of each sperm donation, at a cost of $1,700, he said.
The stringent, costly testing regimen is the main reason sperm banks charge hundreds of dollars for their services, says Sherron Mills, executive director of the Pacific Reproductive Services in San Francisco.
Rates there range from $425 to $600 or more per insemination, and any woman who finds such a sum too onerous to pay is probably unable to afford routine costs associated with being a parent, Mills said. "Once you have kids, it costs every bit as much every month," she said.
INSPECTORS AT THE DOOR
FDA regulators paid four visits last year to Arsenault's home in Fremont, California, a few miles east of San Francisco, to inspect what they regarded as his sperm-bank operation there, even though he only provides his own semen and does not charge for his services.
The FDA's inquiry culminated last fall with one final visit by agency officials to his home, accompanied by police, to hand-deliver the cease-and-desist order.
Chappelle declined to say whether the agency is investigating any other freelance sperm donors, many of whom advertise their services on the Internet. But Arsenault has retained a lawyer who is handling his court challenge.
Pending the outcome of the case, the FDA has refrained from enforcing its order, and Arsenault said he has continued to donate sperm.
Besides providing greater health safeguards, Mills said, sperm banks offer their customers stronger legal protection from donors who might try to assert their paternity rights after a child is born.
Arsenault signs forms waiving any parental rights. But Mills said such agreements have been voided in some California cases when a medical doctor was absent from the transaction.
Eleanor Nicoll, spokeswoman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said the involvement of a physician is beneficial in and of itself. "If you're trying to address a medical problem, you should seek medical treatment," she said.
But Arsenault argues that outlawing the kind of free service he provides runs the risk of driving some women to seek sperm donations from more questionable sources.
"If you shut out the sperm donors, they are going to have to meet some bar dude," he said. "Spouses would have to cheat on each other."
Arsenault said he gets to know couples before donating to them and maintains relationships with many of the children conceived with his sperm, one reason he doesn't want to stop.
"I have made a commitment to families I donated to," he said. "It's a big emotional process to partner with a donor."
This week at HuffPost Arts we saw the sexiest Pepper-Spraying cop meme yet and drooled over the year's best street art. We heard from Shepard Fairey himself on his Time cover and saw some crazy cool sculptures by the sea. We also heard about Damien Hirst's dotted plot for global domination. Yup, that was our week. What happened in yours?
WASHINGTON ? The Senate-approved bill temporarily preventing a Jan. 1 payroll tax increase and benefit cutoff for the long-term unemployed faces uncertain prospects in the House, where many rank-and-file GOP lawmakers have told their leaders they are ready to reject the measure.
House Speaker John Boehner is expected to be pressed about the next move for Republicans when he appears on NBC's "Meet the Press" show Sunday morning.
The House plans a Monday vote on the bill, which also forces a reluctant President Barack Obama to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country and across ecologically sensitive aquifer that provides water to eight states.
The 89-10 Senate vote Saturday came after a bruising battle between Democrats and Republicans that produced the compromise two-month extension of the expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits and forestalled cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursements.
House GOP leaders held a conference call Saturday with rank-and-file lawmakers in which participants said strong anger was expressed about the Senate bill, including its lack of House-approved cuts in last year's health care overhaul law and its failure to erase the reductions in doctors' payments for more than two months.
"You can't have an economic recovery with this," Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said of the bill.
A House GOP aide said later, "Members are overwhelmingly disappointed in the Senate's decision to just `kick the can down the road' for two months."
The Senate vote capped a year of divided government marked by raucous partisan fights that tumbled to the brink of a first-ever U.S. default on its debts and three federal shutdowns, only to see eleventh-hour deals emerge. It also put the two sides on track to revisit the payroll tax cut early next year as battles for control of the White House and Congress heat up.
While Obama and Democrats used the fight to portray themselves as defenders of beleaguered middle- and lower-income Americans, Republicans used it to cast themselves as champions of job creation.
Democrats said when Congress revisits the issue of renewing the tax cuts and jobless benefits early next year, they would win the political battle because they would be viewed as protecting peoples' household budgets.
Republicans, though, said they would once again focus the fight on jobs, with some predicting they would try adding provisions to repeal pollution curbs and other government regulations that they say make it harder for companies to hire people.
Acid rain poses a previously unrecognized threat to Great Lakes sugar maples Public release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Erickson ericksn@umich.edu 734-647-1842 University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The number of sugar maples in Upper Great Lakes forests is likely to decline in coming decades, according to University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues, due to a previously unrecognized threat from a familiar enemy: acid rain.
Over the past four decades, sugar maple abundance has declined in some regions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, due largely to acidification of calcium-poor granitic soils in response to acid rain.
Sugar maple forests in the Upper Great Lakes region, in contrast, grow in calcium-rich soils. Those soils provide a buffer against soil acidification. So sugar maple forests here have largely been spared the type of damage seen in mature sugar maples of the Northeast.
But now, a U-M-led team of ecologists has uncovered a different and previously unstudied mechanism by which acid rain harms sugar maple seedlings in Upper Great Lakes forests.
The scientists have concluded that excess nitrogen from acid rain slows the microbial decay of dead maple leaves on the forest floor, resulting in a build- up of leaf litter that creates a physical barrier for seedling roots seeking soil nutrients, as well as young leaves trying to poke up through the litter to reach sunlight.
"The thickening of the forest floor has become a physical barrier for seedlings to reach mineral soil or to emerge from the extra litter," said ecologist Donald Zak, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment and co-author of an article published online Dec. 8 in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Zak is also a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
"What we've uncovered is a totally different and indirect mechanism by which atmospheric nitrogen deposition can negatively impact sugar maples," Zak said.
The new findings are the latest results from a 17-year experiment at four sugar maple stands in Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas.
By the end of this century, nitrogen deposition from acid rain is expected to more than double worldwide, due to increased burning of fossil fuels. For the last 17 years at the four Michigan sugar maple test sites, Zak and his colleagues have added sodium nitrate pellets (six times throughout the growing season, every year) to three 30-meter by 30-meter test plots at each of the four Michigan maple stands. Adding the pellets was done to simulate the amount of nitrogen deposition expected by the end of the century.
Seedling-establishment data from the nitrogen-spiked test plots were compared to the findings from a trio of nearby control plots that received no additional nitrogen. Most of the fieldwork and analysis was done by 2010 SNRE graduate Sierra Patterson, who conducted the study for her master's thesis.
Patterson and her colleagues found that adding extra nitrogen increased the amount of leaf litter on the forest floor by up to 50 percent, causing a significant reduction in the successful establishment of sugar maple seedlings.
When the number of seedlings on nitrogen-supplemented treatment was compared to the number of seedlings on the no-nitrogen-added treatment, the mean abundance of second-year seedlings was 13.1 stems per square meter under ambient nitrogen deposition and 1.6 stems per square meter under simulated nitrogen deposition.
The mean abundance of seedlings between three and five years of age also significantly declined under simulated nitrogen deposition: 10.6 stems per square meter grew under ambient nitrogen deposition, compared to 0.6 stems per square meter under simulated nitrogen deposition.
"Increasing nitrogen deposition has the potential to lead to major changes in sugar maple-dominated northern hardwood forests in the Great Lakes region," said Patterson, who now works as a botanist for the Huron-Manistee National Forests in Michigan.
"In terms of regeneration, it looks like it'll be difficult for new seeds to replace the forest overstory in the future," she said "So the populations of sugar maples in this region could potentially decline."
The article is titled "Simulated N deposition negatively impacts sugar maple regeneration in a northern hardwood ecosystem." The other authors are Andrew J. Burton of Michigan Technological University, Alan F. Talhelm of the University of Idaho and Kurt S. Pregitzer of the University of Idaho.
Funding for the study has been provided by grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Division of Environmental Biology.
"The surprising results reported in this study are an example of the value of long-term research," said Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the work.
"Uncovering the unexpected link between nitrogen deposition and sugar maple seedling success depended on the ability to simulate increased nitrogen deposition year after year," Twombly said. "The manipulations used to reveal the details of this link could not have worked in other than a long-term study."
###
For more information:
Read the full Journal of Applied Ecology paper: http://pubs.acs.org/toc/esthag/0/0
Donald Zak: http://www.snre.umich.edu/profile/drzak
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Acid rain poses a previously unrecognized threat to Great Lakes sugar maples Public release date: 15-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Erickson ericksn@umich.edu 734-647-1842 University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The number of sugar maples in Upper Great Lakes forests is likely to decline in coming decades, according to University of Michigan ecologists and their colleagues, due to a previously unrecognized threat from a familiar enemy: acid rain.
Over the past four decades, sugar maple abundance has declined in some regions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, due largely to acidification of calcium-poor granitic soils in response to acid rain.
Sugar maple forests in the Upper Great Lakes region, in contrast, grow in calcium-rich soils. Those soils provide a buffer against soil acidification. So sugar maple forests here have largely been spared the type of damage seen in mature sugar maples of the Northeast.
But now, a U-M-led team of ecologists has uncovered a different and previously unstudied mechanism by which acid rain harms sugar maple seedlings in Upper Great Lakes forests.
The scientists have concluded that excess nitrogen from acid rain slows the microbial decay of dead maple leaves on the forest floor, resulting in a build- up of leaf litter that creates a physical barrier for seedling roots seeking soil nutrients, as well as young leaves trying to poke up through the litter to reach sunlight.
"The thickening of the forest floor has become a physical barrier for seedlings to reach mineral soil or to emerge from the extra litter," said ecologist Donald Zak, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment and co-author of an article published online Dec. 8 in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Zak is also a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
"What we've uncovered is a totally different and indirect mechanism by which atmospheric nitrogen deposition can negatively impact sugar maples," Zak said.
The new findings are the latest results from a 17-year experiment at four sugar maple stands in Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas.
By the end of this century, nitrogen deposition from acid rain is expected to more than double worldwide, due to increased burning of fossil fuels. For the last 17 years at the four Michigan sugar maple test sites, Zak and his colleagues have added sodium nitrate pellets (six times throughout the growing season, every year) to three 30-meter by 30-meter test plots at each of the four Michigan maple stands. Adding the pellets was done to simulate the amount of nitrogen deposition expected by the end of the century.
Seedling-establishment data from the nitrogen-spiked test plots were compared to the findings from a trio of nearby control plots that received no additional nitrogen. Most of the fieldwork and analysis was done by 2010 SNRE graduate Sierra Patterson, who conducted the study for her master's thesis.
Patterson and her colleagues found that adding extra nitrogen increased the amount of leaf litter on the forest floor by up to 50 percent, causing a significant reduction in the successful establishment of sugar maple seedlings.
When the number of seedlings on nitrogen-supplemented treatment was compared to the number of seedlings on the no-nitrogen-added treatment, the mean abundance of second-year seedlings was 13.1 stems per square meter under ambient nitrogen deposition and 1.6 stems per square meter under simulated nitrogen deposition.
The mean abundance of seedlings between three and five years of age also significantly declined under simulated nitrogen deposition: 10.6 stems per square meter grew under ambient nitrogen deposition, compared to 0.6 stems per square meter under simulated nitrogen deposition.
"Increasing nitrogen deposition has the potential to lead to major changes in sugar maple-dominated northern hardwood forests in the Great Lakes region," said Patterson, who now works as a botanist for the Huron-Manistee National Forests in Michigan.
"In terms of regeneration, it looks like it'll be difficult for new seeds to replace the forest overstory in the future," she said "So the populations of sugar maples in this region could potentially decline."
The article is titled "Simulated N deposition negatively impacts sugar maple regeneration in a northern hardwood ecosystem." The other authors are Andrew J. Burton of Michigan Technological University, Alan F. Talhelm of the University of Idaho and Kurt S. Pregitzer of the University of Idaho.
Funding for the study has been provided by grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Division of Environmental Biology.
"The surprising results reported in this study are an example of the value of long-term research," said Saran Twombly, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the work.
"Uncovering the unexpected link between nitrogen deposition and sugar maple seedling success depended on the ability to simulate increased nitrogen deposition year after year," Twombly said. "The manipulations used to reveal the details of this link could not have worked in other than a long-term study."
###
For more information:
Read the full Journal of Applied Ecology paper: http://pubs.acs.org/toc/esthag/0/0
Donald Zak: http://www.snre.umich.edu/profile/drzak
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
SonyIndonesia 
45? 
ryuganji 
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
Share ]