Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193849229?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Space Station Dodges Debris From Destroyed Chinese Satellite (SPACE.com)
The International Space Station fired its thrusters Saturday (Jan. 28) in order to steer clear of orbital debris from China's 2007 anti-satellite test.
The dodging maneuver was required to avoid space junk from the Chinese satellite Fengyun 1C, which peppered low-Earth orbit with an estimated 3,000 pieces of shrapnel when it was intentionally destroyed by China five years ago. The remaining debris has required several similar avoidance maneuvers by the space station in recent years.
Rocket thrusters on the space station's Russian-built Zvezda service module fired at 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT) in a 1-minute, four-second burn to slightly raise the laboratory's orbit, leaving it on a path that reaches just over 251 miles (404 kilometers) above Earth at the highest point, NASA officials said in an update.
Saturday's maneuver was "designed to place the station at the correct altitude and trajectory for future visiting vehicle activities and to avoid a repetitive coincidence of possible conjunctions with a piece of Chinese Fengyun 1C satellite debris," NASA officials explained.
A conjunction is what scientists call instances in which space debris will fly close enough to the station to cause concern. Since the space station orbits Earth at about 17,500 mph (28,164 kilometers per hour), even a small piece of orbital debris can cause serious damage if it hits. [Photos: Space Debris & Cleanup Concepts]
The Fengyun 1C satellite debris had the potential to cause seven conjunctions with the space station, so steering the $100 billion safely into the clear was required, according to an earlier NASA update.
The space station is currently home to a six-man crew that includes three Russians, two Americans and one Dutch astronaut. NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston typically orders a dodging maneuver when debris is expected to fly inside a safety perimeter, which is shaped like a pizza box, that extends about 15 miles (25 km) around the space station, as well as a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below the orbiting lab.
When there is not enough time to plan a dodging maneuver, station astronauts can take shelter inside the Russian Soyuz vehicles that ferry them to and from the station until a piece of space junk has safely zoomed by. The Soyuz capsules, two of which are docked at the station now, each seat three people and can double as lifeboats.
Maneuvers to avoid space junk conjunctions are not uncommon for the space station and other satellites orbiting Earth.? Earlier this month, the space station fired its thrusters to avoid debris from a 2009 satellite crash between an U.S. and Russian spacecraft.
Space junk poses an ongoing threat to astronauts on the space station , as well as other satellites in orbit. To date, there are about 6,000 tons of space junk orbiting Earth ranging from tiny bolts and paint chips to huge spent rocket stages and dead satellites.
More than 500,000 pieces of space junk are currently tracked every day by NASA and the U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network in order to avoid collisions in orbit.
You can follow Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Fur flies in snub of Scorsese "Hugo" dog (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? It's no secret that during Hollywood's awards season, complex character roles often get overlooked in favor of more uplifting performances. But when Martin Scorsese saw such a slight befall his "Hugo" star, he was not about to slink away with his tail between his legs.
The esteemed filmmaker took a stand and barked loudly for that actor -- and now Blackie the Doberman is at the center of a heated award campaign.
In an op-ed piece in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, Scorsese -- whose 3D adventure "Hugo" leads this year's Academy Awards race with 11 nominations -- voiced his outrage over the Doberman pinscher's omission from nominations for the inaugural Golden Collar Awards.
"How could she not be nominated?" he wrote, noting the two nods -- two! -- for the plucky little terrier Uggie of "The Artist" fame. (Notably, the silent movie romance is second only to "Hugo" in Oscar nods with 10.)
Oh, the injustice.
So Scorsese -- he of "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" fame -- took the matter one step further, urging a write-in campaign for Blackie.
Dog News Daily, the online magazine behind the Golden Collars, took up the gauntlet Sunday, inviting fans of Blackie to make their preference known.
"We will do what Mr. Scorsese so eloquently requests of the LA Times readers as well as fans of HUGO and Dobermans everywhere," the site's editors wrote. "If Blackie receives 500 write-in 'NOMINATE HUGO'S BLACKIE' posts by Monday, February 6th on Dog News Daily's FACEBOOK PAGE then the Golden Collar nominating committee will request that the panel of 14 judges add HUGO'S BLACKIE as the 6th Nominee in the Best Dog in a Theatrical Film category."
Should Blackie be added to the ballot, she'll be competing with Uggie, arguably this year's highest-profile canine. The Jack Russell terrier received his Golden Collar nominations for performances in both "The Artist" and "Water for Elephants."
Uggie, too, is at the center of a social media campaign, instigated by Moveline on Facebook to urge an Oscar nod for the terrier.
In the campaign for Blackie, hardly a whimper. Until now. The muzzles are off and the dog race is on.
Also vying for top dog at the February 13 Golden Collars are Cosmo ("Beginners"), Denver ("50/50") and Hummer ("Young Adult"). But Scorsese is mad about Blackie.
In his op-ed piece, Scorsese pointed out the dynamics working against actors of the Doberman persuasion. "Jack Russell terriers are small and cute," Scorsese reminded readers. "Dobermans are enormous and -- handsome. More tellingly, Uggie plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master's life in one of the films, while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children. I'm sure you can see what I'm driving at.
"We all have fond memories of Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, the big stars, the heroes, but what about the antiheroes? We have learned to accept the human antihero, but when it comes to dogs, I guess we still have a long way to go."
(Reporting by Sheri Linden; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Peru: 27 killed in fire at rehabilitation center
ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)
ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)
A police officer stands next to a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
Police officers stand next a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
Relatives of patients of the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts, react in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)
LIMA, Peru (AP) ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 27 people and critically injuring five as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.
The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.
Authorities said 26 people died at the scene, and prosecutors spokesman Raul Sanchez said Saturday night that one of six men hospitalized in critical condition died later.
Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, said most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.
The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.
"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."
One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.
Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.
"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.
AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.
Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.
"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.
Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.
The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.
Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.
She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.
Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.
Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.
Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.
"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.
Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.
One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.
"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.
___
Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Peru: 27 killed in fire at rehabilitation center (AP)
LIMA, Peru ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 27 people and critically injuring five as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.
The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.
Authorities said 26 people died at the scene, and prosecutors spokesman Raul Sanchez said Saturday night that one of six men hospitalized in critical condition died later.
Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, said most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.
The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.
"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."
One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.
Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.
"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.
AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.
Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.
"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.
Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.
The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.
Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.
She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.
Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.
Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.
Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.
"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.
Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.
One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.
"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.
___
Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
IMF chief presses for more cash to fight crisis
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde shows her bag as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde, right, gestures next t Donald Tsang, left, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde gestures during during a plenary session at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/keystone/Laurent Gillieron)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director, Christine Lagarde, attends a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
International Monetary Fund, IMF, managing director Christine Lagarde gestures as she speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The head of the International Monetary Fund appeared to be making headway Saturday in her drive to boost the institution's financial firepower so that it can help Europe prevent its crippling debt crisis from further damaging the global economy.
Christine Lagarde, who replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the fund six months ago, is trying to ramp up the IMF's resources by $500 billion so it can help if more lending is needed in Europe or elsewhere. The IMF is the world's traditional lender-of-last-resort and has been involved in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Insisting that the IMF is a "safe bet" and that no country had ever lost money by lending to the IMF, Lagarde argued that increasing the size of the IMF's resources would help improve confidence in the global financial system. If enough money is in the fund the markets will be reassured and it won't be used, she said, using arguments similar to those that France has made about increasing Europe's own rescue fund.
"It's for that reason that I am here, with my little bag, to actually collect a bit of money," she said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps town of Davos.
Her plea appeared to find a measure of support from ministers of Britain and Japan, sizable IMF shareholders that would be expected to contribute to any money-raising exercise.
George Osborne, Britain's finance minister, said there is "a case for increasing IMF resources and ... demonstrating that the world wants to help together to solve the world's problems," provided the 17 countries that use the euro show the "color of their money."
European countries have said they're prepared to give the IMF $150 billion, meaning that the rest of the world will have to contribute $350 billion. However, many countries, such as Britain and the U.S., want Europe to do more, notably by boosting its own rescue fund.
Osborne said he would be willing to argue in Parliament for a new British contribution, though he may encounter opposition from some members from his own Conservative Party.
Japan's economy minister, Motohisa Furukawa, said his country would help the eurozone via the IMF, too, even though Japan's own debt burden is massive. Unlike Europe's debt-ridden economies, Japan doesn't face sky-high borrowing rates, partly because there's a very liquid domestic market that continues to support the country's bonds.
Europe once again dominated discussions on the final full day of the forum in Davos. Despite some optimism about Europe's latest attempts to stem the crisis, fears remain that turmoil could return.
Whether the markets remain stable could rest for now on if Greece, the epicenter of the crisis, manages to conclude crucial debt-reduction discussions with its private creditors. It's also seeking to placate demands from its European partners and the IMF for deeper reforms.
A failure on either front could force the country, which is now in its fifth year of recession, to default on its debt and leave the euro, potentially triggering another wave of mayhem in financial markets that could hit the global economy hard.
One German official even said Saturday that Greece should temporarily cede sovereignty over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner to secure further bailouts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because talks on the idea are confidential.
"The fact that we're still, at the start of 2012, talking about Greece again is a sign that this problem has not been dealt with," Britain's Osborne said.
For Donald Tsang, the chief executive of Hong Kong, efforts to deal with the 2-year-old debt crisis have fallen short of what is required. The failure to properly deal with the Greek situation quickly has meant the ultimate cost to Europe has been higher, he said.
"I have never been as scared as now about the world," he said.
Most economic forecasters predict that the global economy will continue to grow this year, but at a fairly slow rate. The IMF recently reduced its forecasts for global growth in 2012 to 3.3 percent, from the 4 percent pace that the IMF projected in September.
Lagarde sought to encourage some countries that use the euro to boost growth to help shore up the ailing eurozone economy, which is widely expected to sink back into recession, adding that it would be counterproductive if all euro countries cut their budgets aggressively at the same time.
"Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation ... but other countries have space and room," Lagarde said.
Though conceding that there aren't many such countries, Lagarde said it is important that those that have the headroom explore how they can boost growth. She carefully avoided naming any countries, but likely had in mind Germany, Europe's largest economy and a major world exporter. She didn't specify how to boost growth or how one eurozone country could help others grow.
Lagarde said members of the eurozone should continue the drive to tie their economies closer together. On Monday, European leaders gather in Brussels in the hopes of agreeing on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.
Britain's Osborne said eurozone leaders should be praised for the "courage" they have shown over the past few months in enacting austerity and setting in place closer fiscal ties, but said more will have to be done if the single currency is to get on a surer footing.
Fiscal transfers from rich economies to poorer ones will become a "permanent feature" of the eurozone, Osborne predicted.
While politicians and business people were discussing the state of the global economy within the confines of the conference center, protesters questioned the purpose of the event as income inequalities grow worldwide.
Protesters from the Occupy movement that started on Wall Street have camped out in igloos at Davos and were demonstrating in front of City Hall to call attention to the needs of the poor and unemployed.
In a separate protest, three Ukrainian women were arrested when they stripped off their tops ? despite temperatures around freezing ? and tried to climb a fence surrounding the invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders.
"Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso.
Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later in the day.
___
Frank Jordans and Edith M. Lederer in Davos, and Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this report.
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Stars Hit Sundance!
Celebrities braved the snow and flocked to the Sundance Film Festival, but the films weren't the only hot tickets in Park City, Utah, this year.
The place to be seen in the day was definitely T-Mobile's The Village at the Lift where celebrities like Kate Bosworth, Liv Tyler and Victoria Justice could enjoy McCaf? lattes, hit up the uber cool Puma Social Lounge or get Mac makeup touchups.
But what would Sundance be without mentioning the swag?! The biggest celebs were gifted everything from Soul headphones at the Miami Oasis Lounge, Solstice designer sunglasses at the Gen Art Bertolli Meal Soup Chalet, the new Nintendo 3DS at its gaming lounge and sexy DL1961 Premium Denim at the Talent Resources Suite. But the winner for the best celeb lounge had to be the Vevo Sorel lounge, where almost every hot celebrity stopped by even The Bachelor's Ben Flajnik, who received several of the brand's hottest snow boots. But the biggest swag of all was at the Fender Music Lodge where Emily Blunt was gifted a trip to Vomo Island Resort in Fiji!
In the evening, stars Christina Hendricks and Tommy Lee dined at ChefDance where some of the world's leading chefs prepared a different delicious menu every night. The best part was the Yogurtland station for dessert as guests left. After dinner, the hottest acts in music today such as Ludacris, Deadmau5 and OneRepublic preformed at Park City Live and Drake at Bing Bar. Common also hosted an exclusive Express concert for his Sundance film LUV.
Also worth mentioning were the Grey Goose Blue Door Lounge and Acura Studio which served as the exclusive A-List lounges for several film dinners and after-parties. Rashida Jones, James Marsden and Emma Roberts were all spotted partying the night away at the lounges while sipping cocktails til 2 a.m.
For the late-night celebs, the hotspot was the T-Mobile Presents Google Music at Tao. Nick Lachey, Drake, Paris Hilton and Kirsten Dunst were all spotted at the pop-up nightclub getting their groove on and trying not to be seen.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InTouchWeekly/~3/j865zdURBac/stars_hit_sundance.php
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Friday, January 27, 2012
In race to be most generous, Romney leads
By Sevil Omer, msnbc.com
When it comes to donating to charity?and church, Mitt Romney?is the man to beat.??
The release?this week of?the GOP candidate's?tax records cast a spotlight on his considerable wealth, but it also revealed?the extent of his generosity.
The records show Romney?and his wife, Ann,?contributed $7 million in charity over?the tax years 2010 and 2011, much of it going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Romney earned $42.5 million during that?period, which means he gave away roughly 16.5 percent of his income. He also paid out $6.2 million in taxes.
On both a percentage and an actual basis, Romney gave away more money than his chief rival for the GOP nomination, Newt Gingrich. He also donated more than President Obama, although the Democrat was not too far behind.
The average person donates 2 to?3 percent of?his or her?income to charity, experts say. For those who earn $10 million or more, the rate is?6.5 percent,?said Joseph J.?Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts.
"He's pretty generous, and no one can fault Romney for his level of giving," Thorndike told msnbc.com.
"It's remarkable," added Russell James, director of graduate?studies in charitable planning at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. ?I have never seen giving at the level Romney is giving at."
A look at others:
- Obama and his wife, Michelle, donated $245,000, or 14.4 percent, of their $1.7 million total income to 36 different charities, according to IRS documents.?The Fisher House Foundation, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America were among the listed charities. It was the president's highest?rate of giving, experts say, adding that?Obama's giving has been?keeping pace with the increase in?earnings from?best-selling books.?In 2005, Obama's?donations jumped to $77,315, 4.7 percent the family's income, and $60,307 (6.1 percent) in 2006. From 2000 through 2004,?however, the then-Illinois senator and his wife?had?donated?about 1 percent of their annual earnings, according to The New York Times and TaxProf Blog.
-
Vice President Joe?Biden and his wife, Jill,?donated $5,350 (1.3 percent) of their $379,178 adjusted gross income to charity in 2010.
?Ever since Nixon, presidents and their taxes have been in the spotlight,? Thorndike told msnbc.com. ?I?m sure he didn?t know he was going to start the tradition of releasing records, returns that were going to be pored over and read. Since then, there?s also been a strong incentive to not look cheap.?
For the record,?former President?Richard Nixon reported donating $295 to charity and church in 1972, according to the tax project. That's one-tenth of one percent of his annual adjusted income of $268,777 for that year.
Click below to view tax records of the various candidates (pdf):
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
Source: http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10237305-in-race-to-be-most-generous-romney-leads
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Video: Apple's Blowout Quarter
A breakdown of the tech giant's Q4 earnings, which beat Street estimates, with Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital Markets managing director/software & wireless research, who says Apple is gobbling up the market share so much that it is a tsunami in its own rig...
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46128695/
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
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[OOC] yu-Gi-Oh: Bloodied Decks
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Judge forces defendant to decrypt laptop, fuels debate over Fifth Amendment rights
"I conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer," Blackburn wrote, adding that there was strong evidence to suggest that Fricosu's computer contained information pertinent to the case. Fricosu's lawyer, Phil Dubois, is hoping to obtain a stay on the ruling, in the hopes of taking the case to an appeals court. "I think it's a matter of national importance," Dubois explained. "It should not be treated as though it's just another day in Fourth Amendment litigation." It remains to be seen whether Dubois succeeds in his appeal, though civil libertarians are already paying close attention to the case, since the US Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on the matter.
Judge forces defendant to decrypt laptop, fuels debate over Fifth Amendment rights originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Microsoft To Ditch ?Microsoft Points?? Oh, Please Let It Be True.
Microsoft Points are dead! Or, they're dying. At least according to InsideMobileApps. Dead, dying, being taken to a farm, whatever ? but man do I hope it's true.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xESeRZPpOCs/
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Monday, January 23, 2012
The Presidential Horse Race
In the above animation, each horse is a candidate, with its horizontal position representing that candidate?s standing in the polls. Our starting line is March 2010, when the major polling firms began releasing national polls of likely Republican voters on a consistent basis. The horse?s position is the determined by the average of the last five polls, to smooth out the margins of error. The data is gathered from Real Clear Politics? aggregation of major polls. Check back regularly?we?ll update the race as new polls come in.
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Witness in 'Rockefeller' case found bloodstains
FILE - In this July 8 2011 file photo, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German man who masqueraded as a member of the famous Rockefeller family, appears in an Alhambra, Calif. court. Gerhartsreiter faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 in the cold case murder of John Sohus, 27, who disappeared from San Marino, Calif. in 1985. (AP Photo/Sarah Reingewirtz, Pool, File)
FILE - In this July 8 2011 file photo, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German man who masqueraded as a member of the famous Rockefeller family, appears in an Alhambra, Calif. court. Gerhartsreiter faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 in the cold case murder of John Sohus, 27, who disappeared from San Marino, Calif. in 1985. (AP Photo/Sarah Reingewirtz, Pool, File)
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, center, a German immigrant who masqueraded as a member of the famous Rockefeller family, appears during a preliminary court hearing in Alhambra, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Gerhartsreiter a convicted kidnapper faces a charge of murdering the son of his former landlady a quarter century ago, when he lived in California under one of his many pseudonyms. (AP Photo/Pasadena Star News, Walt Mancini, Pool)
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German immigrant who masqueraded as a member of the famous Rockefeller family, appears as he in handcuffed during a preliminary court hearing in Alhambra, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Gerhartsreiter a convicted kidnapper facing a charge of murdering the son of his former landlady a quarter century ago, when he lived in California under one of his many pseudonyms. (AP Photo/Pasadena Star News, Walt Mancini, Pool)
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German immigrant who masqueraded as a member of the famous Rockefeller family, walks into to a preliminary court hearing in Alhambra, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Gerhartsreiter a convicted kidnapper facing a charge of murdering the son of his former landlady a quarter century ago, when he lived in California under one of his many pseudonyms, is faced with the murder of John Sohus, 27, who disappeared from San Marino, Calif. in 1985. (AP Photo/Walt Mancini, Pool)
ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) ? A forensic scientist testifying Friday in the murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune said she found four bloodstains in the Southern California guesthouse where the suspect lived.
Criminalist Lynne Herold gave the testimony in a preliminary hearing to determine whether Christian Gerhartsreiter should stand trial for the death of John Sohus, whose remains were found at his former home in San Marino in 1994, nearly 10 years after he and his wife vanished.
Herold and her colleagues from the Los Angeles County coroner's office used a chemical reaction at the time to find the stains in the Sohuses' guesthouse, where Gerhartsreiter was a tenant known as Christopher Chichester when the couple disappeared, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/yLd5Yp ).
Herold said three of the four stains showed patterns indicating they had been wiped or something like a body had been dragged through them.
She said she did not take a blood sample because in 1994 such a stain could not be tested for DNA analysis, and it may never be known whose blood it was.
Herold testified that she remembers the investigation despite the passing of so many years, because it was among the most memorable of her career.
"It has from Day One sort of been stuck in my head, and it probably always will be one of those cases that you just never forget," she said.
Many of the witnesses in the preliminary hearing have had difficulty remembering details because so many years have passed.
The couple disappeared in 1985. Gerhartsreiter left town soon afterward.
He is charged only with killing 27-year-old John Sohus; no sign of Linda Sohus has been found.
Gerhartsreiter has previously been exposed as a veteran impostor. On the East Coast, he claimed to be "Clark Rockefeller," a member of the famous family, and married a woman with whom he had a daughter. She divorced him when she found out he had duped her.
Last year, Gerhartsreiter was convicted of kidnapping his daughter in Boston during a custody dispute. He is serving a four- to five-year prison sentence for that crime. He would be eligible for parole this year if he was not facing the California charge, which could bring him 26 years to life in prison if he's convicted.
___
Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com
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Friday, January 20, 2012
The helix in new colors
Thursday, January 19, 2012
ESO's VISTA telescope, at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, has captured a striking new image of the Helix Nebula. This picture, taken in infrared light, reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are invisible in images taken in visible light, as well as bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies.
The Helix Nebula is one of the closest and most remarkable examples of a planetary nebula. It lies in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer), about 700 light-years away from Earth. This strange object formed when a star like the Sun was in the final stages of its life. Unable to hold onto its outer layers, the star slowly shed shells of gas that became the nebula. It is evolving to become a white dwarf star and appears as the tiny blue dot seen at the centre of the image.
The nebula itself is a complex object composed of dust, ionised material as well as molecular gas, arrayed in a beautiful and intricate flower-like pattern and glowing in the fierce glare of ultraviolet light from the central hot star.
The main ring of the Helix is about two light-years across, roughly half the distance between the Sun and the nearest star. However, material from the nebula spreads out from the star to at least four light-years. This is particularly clear in this infrared view since red molecular gas can be seen across much of the image.
While hard to see visually, the glow from the thinly spread gas is easily captured by VISTA's special detectors, which are very sensitive to infrared light. The 4.1-metre telescope is also able to detect an impressive array of background stars and galaxies.
The powerful vision of ESO's VISTA telescope also reveals fine structure in the nebula's rings. The infrared light picks out how the cooler, molecular gas is organised. The material clumps into filaments that radiate out from the centre and the whole view resembles a celestial firework display.
Even though they look tiny, these strands of molecular hydrogen, known as cometary knots, are about the size of our Solar System. The molecules in them are able to survive the high-energy radiation that emanates from the dying star precisely because they clump into these knots, which in turn are shielded by dust and molecular gas. It is currently unclear how the cometary knots may have originated.
###
ESO: http://www.eso.org
Thanks to ESO for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116855/The_helix_in_new_colors
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Toddler's cuss word on 'Modern Family' draws ire
Toddler's cuss word on 'Modern Family' draws ire
LYNN ELBERLYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer?
?In this image released by ABC, from right, Jesse Tyler Ferguson portraying Mitchell Pritchett, and Eric Stonestreet portraying Cameron Tucker are shown with Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays their adopted daughter Lily in a scene from "Modern Family," airing Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC. A group opposed to the use of profanity is protesting Wednesday's episode of "Modern Family," in which the character Lily is shown, but not heard, using an expletive. (AP Photo/ABC, Peter "Hopper" Stone)
In this image released by ABC, from right, Jesse Tyler Ferguson portraying Mitchell Pritchett, and Eric Stonestreet portraying Cameron Tucker are shown with Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays their adopted daughter Lily in a scene from "Modern Family," airing Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC. A group opposed to the use of profanity is protesting Wednesday's episode of "Modern Family," in which the character Lily is shown, but not heard, using an expletive. (AP Photo/ABC, Peter "Hopper" Stone)
In this image released by ABC, from left, Jesse Tyler Ferguson portraying Mitchell Pritchett, and Eric Stonestreet portraying Cameron Tucker are shown with Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who plays their adopted daughter Lily in a scene from "Modern Family," airing Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 at 9 p.m. EST on ABC. A group opposed to the use of profanity is protesting Wednesday's episode of "Modern Family," in which the character Lily is shown, but not heard, using an expletive. (AP Photo/ABC, Peter "Hopper" Stone)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? An anti-profanity crusader is asking the ABC television network to pull this week's "Modern Family" episode about a cursing toddler.
A college student who founded the No Cussing Club in 2007 said Tuesday that he's called on club members to contact ABC and ask that the episode be dropped.
McKay Hatch says that he wants the network to at least realize people are uncomfortable with the idea of a toddler using profanity. He says ABC should set a better example.
In the episode titled "Little Bo Bleep," the tot playing Lily says the word "fudge" during taping as a substitute for an obscenity. It's to be bleeped when the show airs on Wednesday night.
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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer's ICS update currently awaiting Google's approval
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer's ICS update currently awaiting Google's approval originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Vegetarian orang-utans eat world's cutest animal
When fruit is scarce, try chomping on a slow loris. That seems to be the strategy adopted by the normally vegetarian orang-utans, which have been spotted knocking the small primates out of trees and killing them with a bite to the head.
Sumatran orang-utans (Pongo abelii) get almost all their nutrients from fruit and other plant products, but there are a few isolated reports of them eating meat (American Journal of Primatology, vol 43, p 159). Madeleine Hardus of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and colleagues have now observed three more cases, bringing the total to nine.
In 2007 Hardus was tracking two orangs in the canopy above her ? a female called Yet and her infant Yeni ? when Yet abruptly changed direction and approached a slow loris (Nycticebus coucang). She knocked it out of the tree, crashed down to the ground, bit the stunned loris's head, then carried the body back into the tree to eat it. When Yeni begged, she was allowed to share the meat. The great apes each chomped on opposite ends of the dead primate, sharing it between them like lovers might a strand of spaghetti.
Searching through the scientific literature, Hardus found detailed studies of six orang-utan hunts. All stunned their prey before eating it, which Hardus thinks may be to avoid being bitten. Slow lorises are unique among primates in that their saliva is toxic.
All the documented hunts took place when there was little fruit available, which may push the apes to meat-eating, says Hardus.
By contrast, chimpanzees hunt more when fruit is abundant, perhaps because it doesn't matter if they waste energy on a failed hunt.
The sample is unavoidably small, but the data have been thoughtfully analysed, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University.
Only five individual orang-utans have been observed hunting. Yet has so far been caught in the act four times ? three times by Hardus, and once by another researcher ? making her the best documented hunter.
In other accounts, the apes stumbled upon their prey, but Yet systematically changed direction and headed straight for the loris, which Hardus says may be because she has learned to smell them. Because a few cases have been documented within a 40-kilometre range, all using the same killing method, she thinks it may be a cultural behaviour, passed from orang-utan to orang-utan.
Journal reference: International Journal of Primatology, DOI: 10.1007/s10764-011-9574-z
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Build a Simple, Handmade Cooking Stove with a Log, a Saw, and Some Newspaper [Outdoors]
If you're camping and forgot the stove, need another cooking surface and don't want to build a fire, or (more likely) just want to show off a cool camping trick and cook a meal at the same time, go outside, take a saw with you, and grab a log. That's all you'll need for this simple, handmade stove, brought to you by our friends in Russia.
English Russia (careful, ads may be NSFW) walks us through how to make a "Russian Stove," using a log, newspaper, and a chain saw. The chain saw is optional - a normal saw would work just fine. Cut the log evenly on both sides so it stands up freely. Then cut it into vertical segments most of the way down the length of the log. Stuff in some newspaper into the cracks as deep as you can get it, leaving a wick at the bottom, and light it up.
That's all there is to it?the log burns from the inside out, and you have a simple, handmade stove. The top is flat so you can put a frying pan or other vessel on top with food or liquid inside you'd like to heat. Practical? Absolutely not?you're far better bringing a camp stove or building a fire if you're actually going to be roughing it, and it's unlikely you'll happen to have a frying pan, a saw, newspaper, and food to cook but somehow forget the camp stove. Even so, this trick wins points for being fun, unusual, and a reminder that you can get the job done without modern conveniences if you're roughing it.
It might be worth a try for fun, just be careful?there's no safety guard or anything to keep you from getting singed. Check out the photos at the link below (again, fair warning: ads on the site below may be NSFW) for a step-by-step with photos. Would you give this a try, or planning to stick to the camp stove? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks to Conrad for sending in the tip!
Simple Handmade Stove | English Russia
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
TiVo users watch less Live TV than everyone else
Continue reading TiVo users watch less Live TV than everyone else
TiVo users watch less Live TV than everyone else originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
PermalinkHollywood Reporter | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/tivo-users-watch-less-live-tv-than-everyone-else/
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Russian ship reappears near Turkish port (AP)
ANKARA, Turkey ? A Russian ship suspected of delivering munitions to Syria in violation of an EU arms embargo after an unscheduled stop in Cyprus has anchored off Turkey's coast, officials said Saturday.
Foreign Ministry official Selcuk Unal said Turkish coast guard and customs officials would board the Chariot before allowing it to dock at the port of Iskenderun.
Unal said the ship left the Syrian port of Tartus early Saturday and reached Iskenderun later the same day. He said the ship's captain confirmed that the ship had arrived from Syria. But it's unclear what type of cargo the St. Vincent and Grenadines-flagged ship may have offloaded at Tartus.
The Chariot initially made its way to the Cypriot port of Limassol on Tuesday after running low on fuel because of rough seas. It's arrival at the European Union member country meant the vessel would be subject to the embargo the bloc imposed to protest Syria's crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule.
Customs officials inspecting the vessel found that it was carrying "dangerous cargo" inside four containers that Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said was of a type that necessitated its seizure under EU embargo rules.
A Cypriot official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the containers carried a shipment of bullets.
But Cypriot authorities allowed it to leave Wednesday after the ship's owners, St. Petersburg-based Westberg Ltd., said it would head to Turkey instead of Syria.
The ship then vanished off radar screens after apparently switching off its Automatic Identification System, or AIS, that enables the vessel to be tracked.
Turkey, citing navy intelligence, said the ship made its way to Tartus after leaving Cyprus.
U.S. officials said Friday they had expressed concerns to both Russia and Cyprus.
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was "continuing to seek clarification" about the ship and its cargo.
But Cyprus government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou on Saturday repeated that authorities "acted in accordance with EU regulations" and that no one from either the EU or elsewhere has raised any questions about the government's handling of the matter.
Arms trafficking expert Hugh Griffiths said he has been monitoring the Chariot ? a purpose-built ship to carry dangerous cargoes such as ammunition, explosives and missiles ? which has a history of delivering arms to sensitive destinations in the Middle East and Africa.
He said ships switching off their AIS is "standard operating procedure" for ships involved in drugs trafficking and clandestine arms shipments.
Griffiths, who works for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said although the EU has an information-sharing system on suspect air cargo companies, no such mechanism exists to automatically alert other member states of suspicious ships.
He said this is especially important for countries like Cyprus situated near busy shipping lanes near conflict zones.
"Had the Cypriot government known the profile of (this) vessel, its track record and the fact that destabilizing arms transfers are what it does, then they might not have been so willing to take the word of the ship's owner or captain," he told The Associated Press.
With foreknowledge of a suspicious ship, EU authorities would have been able to provide the kind of support that smaller countries with limited resources may need to properly handle such cases.
Last summer, Cyprus experienced a disaster when 85 confiscated containers loaded with Iranian gunpowder exploded at a naval base, killing 13 people and knocking out the island's main power station.
The containers were seized in February 2009 from a Cypriot-flagged ship that was suspected of transporting them from Iran to Palestinian militants in Gaza through Syria.
___
Menelaos Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus.
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