Romney plans aggressive push before Iowa caucuses

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives at a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives at a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Ann Romney, right, speaks as her husband Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laughs in the background during a campaign stop at J's Homestyle Cooking Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, answers a question about his stance on abortion asked by Richard Pint, left, of Waterloo during a campaign stop at J's Homestyle Cooking Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)

(AP Photo/The Waterloo Courier, Matthew Putney)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) ? Feeling optimistic, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday was positive on TV with an upbeat, new ad but in person went negative against President Barack Obama. He also announced an aggressive schedule of campaign events for the days leading up to next week's caucuses.

Romney, who is wrapping up a bus tour of eastern Iowa on Friday, planned to campaign in New Hampshire early Saturday before returning to Iowa that evening for a series of events on the economy. Those events are to be followed by six campaign rallies, mostly in eastern Iowa, from Sunday through Tuesday's caucuses, including an early morning one before voters start gathering to declare their candidate preferences.

Romney will then spend caucus night in Des Moines before flying to New Hampshire on Wednesday morning.

The newly planned events show a confident Romney campaign in the final five days of the campaign for Iowa. While Romney had spent months working to lower expectations that he would win here, the latest polls show him in strong position to win outright or finish in second place behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Romney's six rallies begin New Year's Day in Council Bluffs, in the western part of the state. In 2008, he did well in nearby counties where agribusiness drives the economy. He'll hold another set of rallies in eastern Iowa, where he also performed well.

The plans come as Romney began running a new, minute-long TV ad in Iowa. The spot shows clips from Romney's announcement speech in June. Romney also talks in the ad about the "spirit of enterprise" and focuses on the opportunities America has provided its people.

Romney repeated the pitch from the ad during an early-morning stop at a diner. He ignored his Republican rivals, who are also campaigning furiously in the state, and focused instead on the Democratic president.

"We have a choice in this coming election of what kind of America we're going to have," Romney told the crowd at J's Homestyle Cooking. "It's not just about replacing a president. It's about saving the soul of America. Are we going to change America into something we don't recognize?"

The former Massachusetts governor had two other events scheduled Thursday, including at Music Man Square in Mason City, the birthplace of playwright Meredith Willson. Willson set his play, "The Music Man," in a fictional Iowa town that he based on Mason City.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-29-US-Romney/id-2625cd8ac6244cdb95d3ffa425cd3b92

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The Best Christmas Gadget I Ever Received [Past Perfect]

When I was a kid, I'm not sure how old, I got a little red Panasonic RQ-44A cassette player for Christmas. I learned about design, music, and even audio engineering on it. I still kind of miss it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/e6uLALMYlQE/the-best-christmas-gadget-i-ever-received

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WTCommunities: The case for a safe, alternative #energy source: #Nuclear power: http://t.co/GJ2WzSir via @wtcommunities #twtc nuclear-power energy #fuel

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Rumor: Galaxy S3 expected in Q2 2012; Samsung working on Galaxy S 3D

?

Samsung announced the Galaxy S II at MWC early this year and it seems they?re ready to unveil the successor in the next couple of months. According to a report from ETNews, Samsung is expected to announce Galaxy S3 at MWC expo and will go on sale sometime in second quarter of next year. Expectedly, it will one up the current Galaxy S flagship device with quad-core CPU and hopefully an HD display, Android 4.0 OS and more.

Samsung is also said to be developing 3D technologies for Android devices. Tentatively named Galaxy S 3D, it will pit against the likes LG?s Optimus 3D and HTC EVO 3D. In addition to a 3D screen, the device will be able to record images and videos in three-dimension. 3D handset may also debut in Q2 2012.

Via

Source: http://sammyhub.com/2011/12/27/rumor-galaxy-s3-expected-in-q2-2012-samsung-working-on-galaxy-s-3d/

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How Does NORAD 'Track' Santa? (LiveScience.com)

For more than 50 years, NORAD ? the North American Aerospace Defense Command ? has used its high-tech missile-tracking systems to track Santa's progress during his annual Christmas Eve flight around the world.

For a 24-hour period, about 1,200 military volunteers take shifts manning the command center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado; they monitor radar screens and field calls from excited 7-year-olds who ask for updates on Santa's location. They also update Kris Kringle's progress on the Google Earth map on the NORAD Tracks Santa website, as well as the Facebook page and the Twitter feed.

For the first time this year, people can even keep constant tabs on Santa's sleigh by downloading the NORAD Tracks Santa iPhone and Android apps. In other words, the program is a big deal, and it get bigger every Christmas.

But how do they do it? How does NORAD "track" Santa? [Is There a Santa Claus?]

When asked whether the volunteers plan the jolly old elf's route ahead of time, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Bill Lewis, a Santa tracker, was having none of that.

"We don't plan it, he does," Lewis said. "We just monitor his travels with our ground-based radar, satellites, fighter aircraft, and, of course, the Santa Cams ? he passes over certain cities, and based on the track we're projecting, we've got cameras set up."

The NORAD team monitors a radar system called the North Warning System, which consists of 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America, for indications that Santa Claus has left the North Pole.

"Rudolph's nose puts off quite the heat signature," Lewis told Life's Little Mysteries.

The Christmas program isn't so out of the ordinary for the men and women of NORAD: "365 days a year we track possible threats to the homeland. So tracking Santa as an airborne object fits into our mission set," he said.

Through his experience as a Santa Tracker, Lewis was able to offer a bit of insight into an age-old question: How Santa manages to make it all the way around the world, sort through all the gifts for the good boys and girls and get home before dawn. "Santa has this way of transcending time. We've estimated that he travels at the speed of starlight," Lewis said. [Can Tech Help Santa Deliver the Goods? 5 Tech Upgrades for Claus ]

That's 671 million miles (1 billion kilometers) per hour, which means Santa can travel more than 16 billion miles (26 billion km) in the 24 hours allotted for his journey. A trip round the world is only 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers), so at his estimated flight speed, Santa could technically circumnavigate Earth 650,000 times if he wanted.

He doesn't, of course ? instead, he takes it slow and downs a mindblowing number of cookies and glasses of milk along the way.

This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111227/sc_livescience/howdoesnoradtracksanta

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Islamists kill dozens in Nigeria Christmas bombs (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? Islamist militants set off bombs across in Nigeria on Christmas Day - three targeting churches including one that killed at least 27 people - raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war.

The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia law across the country, claimed responsibility for the three church bombs, the second Christmas in a row the group has caused mass carnage with deadly bombings of churches. Security forces also blamed the sect for two other blasts in the north.

St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, a satellite town about 40 km (25 miles) from the center of the capital Abuja, was packed when the bomb exploded just outside.

"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out," Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters. "Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are. I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."

Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka. Residents said many were wounded in Gadaka, but there were no immediate further details.

A suicide bomber killed four security officials at the State Security Service in one of the other bombs, which struck the northeastern town of Damaturu, police said. Residents heard two loud explosions and gunfire in the town.

A Reuters reporter at the church near Abuja saw the front roof had been destroyed, as had several houses nearby. Five burnt out cars were still smoldering. There were scenes of chaos, as shocked residents stared at the wreckage in disbelief.

"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound: 'Gbam!' Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.

Father Christopher Barde, Assistant priest of the church, said: "The officials who counted told me they have picked up 27 bodies so far."

"I happen to also live close by the church. Help was very slow in coming to the injured," he said.

Police cordoned off the area around the church. Thousands of furious youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.

Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.

"We are so angry," shouted Kingsley Ukpabi, as a queue of hooting vehicles lined up behind his flaming barrage.

ATTACKS INCREASE

Boko Haram - which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "Western education is sinful" - is loosely modeled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

It has emerged as the biggest security threat in Nigeria, a country of 160 million split evenly between Christians and Muslims, who for the most part live side by side in peace.

Boko Haram's low level insurgency used to be largely confined to northeastern Nigeria, but it has struck several parts of the north, center and the capital Abuja this year.

Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts around Jos killed 32 people, and other people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast.

The sophistication of the explosives it uses and the number of attacks it carries out have increased this year.

The sect was blamed for dozens of bombings and shootings in the north, and has claimed responsibility for two bombings in Abuja this year, including Nigeria's first suicide bombing, which killed at least 23 people at the U.N. headquarters.

Rights groups say more than 250 people have been killed by Boko Haram since July 2010.

At the church near Abuja, a wounded man whose legs were almost shattered to pieces by the blast was loaded onto a stretcher near an ambulance by security services.

"I'll survive," he said in a hushed voice.

The blast in Jos, a tinderbox of ethnic and sectarian tensions that sometimes sees deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians, was accompanied by a shooting spree by militants, who exchanged fire with local police, said Charles Ezeocha, special taskforce spokesman for Jos.

"We lost one policeman and we have made four arrests. I think we can use them to get more information and work on that," he said. Police found four other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated, he added.

President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the incidents "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) for ever. It will end one day."

The White House condemned "this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day." A statement said: "We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what initially appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Vatican hoped "this senseless violence does not weaken the will of the Nigerian people to live peacefully and promote dialogue."

The attacks were condemned by a number of other countries, including Britain, France and Italy.

Gun battles between the security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people Thursday and Friday in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said Saturday.

Boko Haram became active in about 2003 and is concentrated mainly in the northern Nigerian states of Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.

The group considers all who do not follow its strict ideology as infidels, whether they are Christian or Muslim. It demands the adoption of sharia, Islamic law, in all of Nigeria.

(Additional reporting by Tife Owolabi and Buhari Bello in Jos, Mike Oboh in Kano and a correspondent in Maiduguri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/wl_nm/us_nigeria_blast

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Health Tip: Discuss Weight With Your Child (HealthDay)

(HealthDay News) -- Talking about weight with your child can be difficult, but it's important to foster a healthy attitude toward weight and eating.

The American Dietetic Association offers these suggestions for having this discussion:

• If your son or daughter is overweight, encourage the child to take action to lose weight. Take steps toward this end as a family, so your child doesn't feel isolated.
• Never bribe or punish your child to lose weight.
• Make sure both parents and other family members agree on how to best handle weight issues, so the message to the child is clear and consistent.
• Talk to your child's doctor about weight.
• Seek help from local programs or professionals who can help your child deal with weight issues.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111227/hl_hsn/healthtipdiscussweightwithyourchild

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Google Books for Chrome now lets you read offline

So you're really enjoying War and Peace, but since you can't carry that tome around with you everywhere (it weighs like eight pounds, right?), you're reading whenever you get a chance on your smartphone, tablet, and laptop with Google Books. There's been one piece missing to that puzzle until now: unlike the phone and tablet apps, Google Chrome didn't offer offline reading. With a new update, you can hover over a book cover and click the "make available offline" checkbox, allowing you to read when you're stuck without an internet connection. It's especially good news for Chromebook users, as it gives them one more thing they can do without the internet. One thing to note, however: only EPUB books can be cached ? those that are in PDF format are simply too big to cache for now.

Image Credit: ben.gallagher (Flickr)

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/24/2658270/google-books-chrome-offline-cache-reading

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ESO_Observatory: Our #Outreach Community Newsletter for December is out! http://t.co/583sNp8r #scicomm #astrocomm

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Our #Outreach Community Newsletter for December is out! ow.ly/89tOL #scicomm #astrocomm Il y a environ 2 heures via HootSuite Retweeted by 3 people

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Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

A Franciscan monk attends Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Palestinian Christians attend Christmas celebrations at the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Two Palestinian Muslim women pose for a snapshot in front a nativity scene inside the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pakistani Christians walk around an illuminated display of nativity scenes specially set up on the eve of Christmas celebrations, at a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on a raw, breezy and rainy night.

With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.

Bethlehem, like the rest of the West Bank, fell onto hard times after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in late 2000. As the fighting has subsided in recent years, the tourists have returned in large numbers.

By late night, the Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of town, said some 100,000 visitors, including foreigners and Arab Christians from Israel, had reached Bethlehem, up from 70,000 the previous year.

Thousands of Palestinians from inside West Bank also converged on the town.

"It's wonderful to be where Jesus was born," said Irma Goldsmith, 68, of Suffolk, Virginia. "I watch Christmas in Bethlehem each year on TV, but to be here in person is different. To be in the spot where our savior was born is amazing."

After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, along with a 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) Christmas tree, was awash in Christmas lights, and the town took on a festival-like atmosphere.

Vendors hawked balloons and corn on the cob, and bands played Christmas songs and tourists packed cafes that are sleepy the rest of the year. As rain began falling in the early evening, many people cleared out of the square and raced to nearby restaurants.

Festivities were to culminate with Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

Among the visitors were a surprisingly large number of veiled Muslim women with their families, out to enjoy an evening out in what is normally a quiet town.

"We love to share this holiday with our Christian brothers," said Amal Ayash, 46, who came to Manger Square with her three daughters, all of them covered in veils. "It is a Palestinian holiday and we love to come here and watch."

Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion.

Pilgrims from around the world also wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.

"It's a real treat to come here," said John Houston, 58, a restaurant owner from Long Beach, California. "It makes me feel really good to see what I have been learning from the time I was a kid in Sunday school until today."

Houston said he was surprised by Bethlehem's appearance, which is a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times. Today, it is a sprawling town of cement apartment blocs and narrow streets that combined with several surrounding communities has a population of some 50,000 people.

Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a barrier Israel built to stop Palestinian militants from attacking last decade.

Palestinians say the barrier has damaged their economy by constricting movement in and out of town. Twenty-two percent of Bethlehem residents are unemployed, the Palestinian Authority says. Israeli settlements surrounding Bethlehem have added to the sense of confinement.

The Christmas season is essential for Bethlehem's economy, which depends heavily on tourism.

Most visitors entering Bethlehem, including the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, had to cross through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint to reach town.

Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, arrived in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem, and later, celebrated Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.

In his homily, he referred to the Arab Spring, imploring Arab leaders to have "wisdom, insight and a spirit of selflessness toward their countrymen" and praying for reconciliation in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa.

He also noted the Palestinian campaign to join the United Nations, and complained that the U.N. was "less than united" in its support for the now-stalled initiative. He also criticized the international community for pushing the Palestinians to "re-engage in a failed peace process" which has "left a bitter taste of broken promises and of mistrust."

The patriarch lamented the Israeli barrier enveloping Bethlehem ? "let us tear down the walls of our hearts in order to tear down the walls of concrete" ? and prayed for peace for both Palestinians and Israelis

The Palestinians have subtly tried to draw attention to their plight with this year's Christmas slogan, "Palestine celebrating hope," a veiled reference to their bid to win U.N. recognition. With peace talks at a standstill, the Palestinians are seeking membership as a state in the United Nations and recently gained admission to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency.

"We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we'll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique," said Mayor Victor Batarseh, who is Christian.

Late Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a meeting of Christian leaders that he is committed to reaching peace with Israel, despite a three-year standstill in negotiations.

"I hope they will come back to their senses and understand that we are seekers of peace, not seekers of war or terrorism," said Abbas, a Muslim. "The mosque, church and synagogue stand side by side in this Holy Land."

Today, only about one-third of Bethlehem's residents are Christian, reflecting a broader exodus of Christians from the Middle East in recent decades. Overall, just 60,000 Christians live in the Palestinian territories, making up less than 2 percent of the population, according to Palestinian officials.

As Christians throughout the world prepared to celebrate, Pope Benedict XVI began a busy two weeks of celebrations at the Vatican with an evening Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Midnight Mass was moved up to 10 p.m. a few years ago to spare the 84-year-old pontiff such a late night.

After a few hours rest, Benedict will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech ? Latin for "to the city and the world," where the pope usually reflects on the hardships facing the world, and ends with Christmas greetings delivered in dozens of languages.

President Barack Obama was spending the holiday with his family in Hawaii. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama wished all Americans a merry Christmas and happy holidays, with a special message of thanks to U.S. troops, especially those serving in Afghanistan.

"Let's take a moment to give thanks for their service; for their families' service; for our veterans' service," the president said Saturday. Obama noted that with the Iraq war over, the last troops from that conflict are home for the holidays.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-24-ML-Holy-Land-Christmas/id-5662ad443e074920a04717a71d52fb63

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Wives in ads, kids on the bus as GOP voting nears

Republican presidential candidate, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann eat burritos at Dos Amigos Burritos while campaigning in Concord, N.H. Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Republican presidential candidate, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann eat burritos at Dos Amigos Burritos while campaigning in Concord, N.H. Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife Callista, shake hands with supporters during a campaign stop in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ? Mitt Romney's wife gushes about his silly side and devotion to their five sons and 16 grandchildren. Rick Santorum's college-age daughter opines online about missing the campus coffee shop and chats with friends about their Friday night plans. Jon Huntsman's daughters generate much-needed buzz for him with a joint Twitter account and online videos, including at least one that went viral.

Days away from voting in the Republican presidential race, the path to the nomination is quickly becoming a crowded family affair with spouses and offspring pitching in and doing far more than just smiling from the sidelines.

Ann Romney, Anita Perry and Callista Gingrich are starring in new TV ads for the husbands they've loyally campaigned for. Romney extols her husband's character and says "to me that makes a huge difference" in a candidate. Perry tells the "old-fashioned American story" of how she and her husband were high school sweethearts who had to wait until he was done flying airplanes around the world for the Air Force before they could marry. Callista Gingrich wishes the nation a Merry Christmas "from our family to yours" in Gingrich's new holiday-themed TV ad.

Candidate kids, including those born to Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, are helping, too, acting as surrogates, strategists and, in some cases, sounding boards for parents competing for the right to challenge President Barack Obama next fall.

Such involvement can be a huge asset to the presidential hopefuls, typically in highlighting a politician's softer side.

But the relatives are hardly polished public speakers who agree with everything their loved one says or does, and their slip-ups, potential conflicts and backgrounds can have consequences for the candidates.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-25-Campaign-A%20Family%20Affair/id-70d06ed47c474a48bc07379e8d2d0410

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EU court upholds delisting Washington backed MKO terror group

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld a decision to remove the notorious Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the EU's list of terrorist organizations.

In 2008, the ECJ's Court of First Instance ruled that the EU had been wrong in listing the MKO as a terrorist organization, since it had failed to provide the group with evidence that formed the basis of a decision to keep it on the terrorism list.

Following the court's ruling, the European Union removed the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations in 2009.

France appealed against the decision, saying some of Paris' closest allies still list the MKO as a terrorist organization. The ECJ, however, rejected the appeal.

MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up camp in Diyala Province, near the Iranian border.

MKO is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The group has also carried out numerous acts of terrorism against Iranian civilians and government officials.

Source: http://www.nejatngo.org/en/post.aspx?ID=4091

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Us Weekly's Top 10 Films of 2011 (omg!)

2011 introduced audiences to new movie stars (Felicity Jones, Rooney Mara) and helped established actors (George Clooney, Brad Pitt) reclaim their box office moo. Us Weekly's Mara Reinstein recaps the year's 10 best films:

1. The Descendants
George Clooney dials down the charisma to play a family man in kris in a compassionate drama. No cool effects? No tidy end? No problem.

VIDEO: 2011's must-see holiday flicks

2. The Artist
The silent movie about silent movies enchants from the first moments to the exhilarating, toe-tapping finale.

3. Moneyball
It's easy to root for this real-life underdog story, featuring Brad Pitt's stellar turn as an innovative-yet-devoted baseball general manager. He's never been more appealing.

PHOTOS: Brad Pitt's best movie roles ever

4. Melancholia
They all can't be heart-warmers! This apocalyptic drama, with Kirsten Dunst as a manic bride, never loses its grip.

5. Bridesmaids
Female friendship, bad Brazilian food and Wilson Phillips! Cheers to this instant Saturday-night cable classic.

6. War Horse
Steven Spielberg's movie epic follows the relationship between a soldier and his horse. Not treacly, just terrific.

7. The Help
The engaging hit drama is bolstered by top-notch performances from Viola Davis (an overworked maid in the racist South) and Emma Stone (the author who tells her story).

PHOTOS: Breakout stars of 2011

8. 50/50
Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets cancer and tries to laugh about it. Amazingly, this unusual concept succeeds.

9. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The searing adaptation exceeds the hype. Rooney Mara for best actress, anyone?

10. Like Crazy
Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin go deep playing a devoted-but-conflicted long-distance couple in a poignant -- and criminally underappreciated! -- love story.

For more honorable mentions, including My Week With Marilyn and The Ides of March, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now!

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_us_weeklys_top10_films_2011_000809183/43996131/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/us-weeklys-top-10-films-2011-000809183.html

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Holiday Card Spoofs Republican Candidates: Find The Funny Sends Rudolph GOP Parody (VIDEO)

Having played Andrew Jackson and next appearing as Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Walker knows a thing or two about off beat presidential-themed entertainment. Combine that with a wicked sense of humor and some talented friends, and you've got a bleakly funny new holiday card.

Walker, who featured on Broadway in "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" and stars in the upcoming "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," is a member of a comedy troupe in New York City called Find the Funny. Though the weekly show the group puts on is on hold for now (or, was supposed to be on hold, as his next film, "Paradise Lost," is now running into production problems), that didn't stop them from sending out this GOP-parodying holiday card.

About a minute in, what seems like a sweet clip from "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" turns into a smorgasbord of GOP presidential candidate greatest hits, with the voices of Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry substituted in for the words of some of the delightful little toys from Santa's workshop.

Happy Holidays, indeed.

WATCH (mocking begins at 1:00):

FTFHOLIDAYCARD from Rodolfo Valdez on Vimeo.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/24/holiday-card-spoofs-repub_n_1168931.html

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Mayor Sly Continues To Waste Time On KCPS

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2011/12/mayor-sly-continues-to-waste-time-on.html

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The Origins of Positive-Constructive Daydreaming

Once accused of being absent-minded, the founder of American Psychology, William James, quipped that he was really just present-minded to his own thoughts. William James didn?t just live in his own head, but he also studied the phenomenon, coining the term ?stream of thought? in 1890. In his famous textbook Principles of Psychology, he opened an early chapter with the following: ?We now begin our study of the mind from within?. He clearly saw the internal stream of consciousness as an important topic within psychology.

Daydreaming may be regarded as a feature of William James? stream of thought. It is characterized by a shift of attention away from focusing on a physical or mental task to a series of thoughts derived from long-term memory (often taking a narrative form). Daydreaming may be regarded as falling within the general phenomenon of mind-wandering except that much of mind-wandering may be characterized by shifts of attention from an already ongoing task towards new sensory reactions in the individual?s physical, social, or bodily environment rather than towards one?s thoughts derived ultimately from long term memory.

This is an exciting time for mind-wandering in psychology. In the past decade, research has shed much light on the mental state of inattention. Amidst all this research, however, we want to make sure daydreaming doesn?t get overlooked. Here we trace the development of research on daydreaming, and place it within the context of modern research on mind-wandering. We hope this article makes important distinctions which may further future research and theory on these important topics. We want to emphasize the adaptive value of attending to your own internal stream of consciousness?regardless of the label psychologists decide to put on the experience.

***

Heavily influenced by the writings of William James, Sigmund Freud, and Kurt Lewin, Jerome L. Singer started to develop his research program on daydreaming and the stream of consciousness at Teachers College, Columbia University in the 50?s. The German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin argued for different ?levels of reality? ?shifts from responses directly evoked by ?environmental forces? to possibilities and fantasy. Lewin?s ideas, along with the writings of William James, and Freud?s emphasis upon clinical free association all encouraged Singer?s belief that systematic experimentation was key to exploring ?the mind within?.

Singer and his assistant and later close collaborator, John Antrobus, began their study of ?decoupled attention? by interviewing volunteer ?normal? adults about their daydreams and the circumstances under which they drifted into daydreams. What immediately became clear was that daydreaming is a normal, widespread, human phenomenon that people are aware of consciously and can report reliably on questionnaires. Large numbers of people from different walks of society, gender, and ethnicity reported considerable daydreaming in their daily lives. Additionally, those who reported they daydreamed more in their daily lives also showed similar patterns under systematic laboratory conditions. Singer reported on his exciting findings in his seminal 1966 book ?Daydreaming: An Introduction to the Experimental Study of Inner Experience?.

To capture these ongoing mental processes in the laboratory, Singer and his colleagues used carefully controlled procedures based on signal detection research. With this methodology, participants are seated in a soundproof booth and different tones are presented through headphones. The individual is requested to press a button whenever a high or low tone is presented. Correct signal detections are financially rewarded. Every 15 seconds they are also asked to report whether they experienced what psychologist Leonard Giambra refers to as ?task-unrelated images or thought? (TUITS). Analysis of the content revealed that people?s task-unrelated thoughts ranged widely from fantasies about the experimenters to highly personal memories or daydreams.

Moving beyond the signal detection approach, Singer and his colleagues used ?thought sampling? methods, in which participants were interrupted either during the experiment or in their daily lives by a paging device, in which they had to immediately report their thoughts and emotions. This methodology led to all sorts of interesting research and theory. Another early pioneer was Eric Klinger, whose research showed that most people?s daydreams and night dreams reflect ?current concerns? ranging from constant thoughts of incomplete tasks to unresolved desires, ranging from sexual and social strivings to altruistic or to revenge urges and the panoply of human motivations.

These early investigators also noticed that people differed in their styles of daydreaming. To capture these individual differences, Singer and his colleagues developed The Imaginal Processes Inventory (IPI). For a full list of the correlates of this inventory, see this book chapter. Three main styles of daydreaming emerged from the scales: Positive-Constructive Daydreaming (representing playful, wishful and constructive imagery), Guilty-Dysphoric Daydreaming (representing obsessive, anguished fantasies), and Poor Attentional Control (representing the inability to concentrate on ongoing thought or external tasks). Psychologist Lenoard Giambra and his colleagues made an important contribution to the literature by using the IPI to measure daydreaming patterns across the lifespan.

Tang and Singer found that these three different styles of daydreaming were associated with different basic personality traits drawn from the well studied ?Big Five?. A Positive-Constructive daydreaming style was associated with Openness to Experience, reflecting a curiosity, sensitivity, and exploration of ideas, feelings, and sensations. Poor Attentional Control was related to low levels of Conscientiousness, and Guilty-Dysphoric daydreaming was positively related to neuroticism. Tang and Singer concluded: ?The convergence of these models?suggests that these factorial structures are probably reflections of something fundamental about our brain and our physiological experience.? It turns out, they were right.

***

With the emergence of modern cognitive neuroscience research, came the ability to physically see what happens in our brain when we turn our attention inward. Current neuroimaging research supports Singer?s idea, proposed in his 1966 book, that daydreaming is the default mental state of the human mind. Researchers have discovered a brain network?the default network? which consists mainly of communication among the medial temporal lobe, and the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices. Research shows that this particular brain network is related to various aspects of our self, such as our self-representations, dreams, imaginations, current concerns, autobiographical memories, and perspective-taking ability. Those with higher default network activity during rest have a tendency to ?mind-wander? more frequently in their daily lives.

This brain network must not be confused, however, with the working memory brain network. Consisting mainly of communication between the lateral frontal and parietal cortices, the working memory system involves attention to the outside world. This brain network is highly active when one must concentrate on an externally imposed task, such as listening to a boring classroom lecture, or taking an IQ test. In most people, the working memory network and the default network ?anticorrelate? with each other; when one network is activated, the other is deactivated. This is generally a good thing! Sometimes it?s important to quiet the inner chatter and pay attention to other people?s noise or significant communication efforts.

In recent years, Michael J. Kane and his colleagues at the Attention and Memory Laboratory at University of North Carolina at Greensboro have conducted fascinating research showing that individual differences in functioning of the working memory network are related to mind-wandering. In a recent study, they had participants complete various measures of working memory and attentional control. Participants also completed measures of reading comprehension that consisted of materials encountered in daily life. They found that people?s inability to maintain on-task thoughts was related to errors in reading comprehension, and those with higher levels of working memory and attentional control showed less off-task thoughts during reading and also performed better on the reading comprehension tasks.

In other studies, Kane and his colleagues used experience-sampling. In one study, over the course of 7 days, participants were instructed 8 times a day to report when their thoughts had wandered from their current activity. They found that those with a higher working memory were able to maintain on-task thoughts better, and mind-wandered less, than those scoring lower in working memory. Consistent with the earlier studies by Singer, another study found that participants whose minds wandered during a laboratory task also mind-wandered more in their daily lives. The researchers concluded that ?The propensity to mind-wander appears to be a stable cognitive characteristic and seems to predict performance difficulties in daily life, just as it does in the laboratory.? Based on their studies, Kane and Jennifer McVay proposed that mind wandering represents a ?failure of executive control? and is influenced both by (a) the presence of automatically generated thoughts induced by the environment and mental cues, and (b) the ability of the working memory brain network to deal with this interference.

Kane and his colleagues are certainly correct that there are conditions that increase the likelihood of mind wandering while reducing the ability to notice that the mind has wandered. Jonathan Smallwood and his colleagues have found this to be the case among people drinking alcohol and smokers deprived of their nicotine. Antrobus, Singer and their colleagues have found that pre-experimental conditions such as overhearing a simulated radio broadcast announcing dramatic U.S. war involvement can increase mind wandering, as can systematically varying the gender of the experimenter and participants when the two are of the opposite sex. Kane and McVay?s research does also show that individual differences in the ability to control attention contribute to the ability to keep wandering thoughts at bay.

But not all researchers agree that mindwandering reflects a ?failure?. Jonathan Smallwood disagrees with Kane?s control-failure interpretation of mindwandering, instead arguing that mind wandering consumes executive resources by accessing a global mental workspace. His research, conducted with Kalina Christoff and other researchers, have found that there is substantial overlap between the brain regions activated during mind wandering and during concentration on an external task. In Smallwood?s interpretation, mind-wandering is not so much a failure of working memory as it is a competition between two different?and equally as important? streams of consciousness.

Whether or not mind wandering represents a ?control failure?, of course, depends on who is making the judgment. From the vantage point of the experimenter, or teacher, who wants the person to concentrate on their task, mind wandering is an epic fail. From the vantage point of the mind wanderer, who may be preoccupied by dreams of future success, or concerns about a recent breakup, such thoughts may sometimes be much more important than performance on the externally imposed task. As Bernard Baars bluntly (but so aptly) puts it:

?It is useful to remember that experimental subjects who are college students are in the midst of major life changes and that they may well be riding an emotional rollercoaster that experimenters simply do not know about. Under those conditions it is difficult to maintain that beep detection is or even should be the most relevant task in their lives, even during an experiment. Teachers and professors spend much of their lives drawing the attention of distractible students to their favorite topics, whether it be medieval scholasticism, eye-blink conditions, or the rules of French grammar. Perhaps our classroom values are spilling into the research domain; our emphasis on executive control of attention may, in fact, include a bit of academic imperialism. Fortunately, such biases should be open to correction.?

***

As we see it, you don?t have to choose between high working memory or daydreaming. Every time your mind wanders from an external stimulus, it isn?t an executive control failure, and every time you are able to focus on an external task, it isn?t necessarily a win. Let?s come back to the Imaginal Processes Inventory. Only one of the three main styles of daydreaming represents poor attentional failure.

Don?t get us wrong, we do think that Michael Kane?s research program is important. After all, there are times when you do want to pay attention. When you?re trying to read something for comprehension, such as when taking a high stakes test such as the SAT?s or GRE?s, that?s not the time to have sexual fantasies or have dysphoric thoughts about your current existential crisis. Increasing the ability to control attention when you want to is an important skill, and has a place in psychological research.

But among all this talk of ?mind wandering? and ?executive control failure?, let?s please not forget about the third daydreaming style that has been identified: Positive-Constructive Daydreaming. This style of daydreaming?which Jerome L. Singer has spent most of his career studying? is a normal, universal feature of human cognition. As Eric Klinger and his colleagues have shown, Positive-Constructive Daydreaming is not pathological. Jonathan Smallwood and Jonathan Schooler have argued that mind wandering is a goal-driven process, even though it?s not directed toward an external task. As they also note in a recent review, mind wandering may serve multiple adaptive functions, such as future planning, sorting out current concerns, cycling through different information streams, distributed learning (vs. cramming), and creativity.

In most instances when you don?t have to focus on an external task, it?s important to build your positive-constructive daydreaming muscle. Not all of life is about apprehending the current outside environment. Planning for the future, even imagining a future self, can be just as important.

Images:

Image 1: iStockphoto; Image 2: Imagination by `archanN at deviantART

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=dcf307751aa7288b6855e9dd4d159f85

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READ FIRST: Want Feedback? JUST ASK!

Howdy-hey, guys and gals! Your friendly neighborhood Sato here.

Pending some restructuring and changes here in the Creative Realm, if you want your piece to be reviewed, all you have to do is ask!

This makes getting constructive criticism an opt-in system, rather than opt-out.

It will prevent a WIP (Work-In-Progress) piece from getting unwarranted attention. If you want no one to comment, put "WIP" somewhere either in the title of your post, or in the body somewhere.

Easy-peasy as that!

Again! If you want your piece to receive some sort of constructive criticism, you must ask. Otherwise, it will be treated as a WIP and left alone!

Thanks for reading!

-VV

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/prsW6aCdYNg/viewtopic.php

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A few questions about Alaska jobs, and maybe resort jobs too

? ? Tell me is there a way to make it known to AK Fishing Lodge's your intention to want a job like that, instead of waitng for it pop up?

? Is there a service or someone who has applied to these jobs and best know the proper way to do so, at creating a resume they will look at , as my?current?resume is so truck related I would have trouble getting a lodge to look at it,?

?By the way I am down 33 lbs so far with my new dedication of 90 days to getting fit and losing weight, may add 60 more days to the end , thus including March and April , here in the colds of Grand Forks , ND.

?But seriously , I am curious how best to prepare the applications to get people to at?least?call you and give you the courtesy of ?phone?interview, without being "Too Creative" , yet grabbing their attention, still...

? I do hope you all have a great Holiday Season

?remember to always designate, please

? Patrick

Source: http://my.coolworks.com/xn/detail/561627%3ATopic%3A265243

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No prosecution from Ariz. Fiesta Bowl ticket probe (AP)

PHOENIX ? An investigation into whether politicians violated gift and disclosure laws when they accepted free game tickets or trips from the Fiesta Bowl led a prosecutor to conclude Wednesday that a maze of state laws was so complex and contradictory that he cannot pursue charges.

Inconsistent rules, vague reporting mandates and a legal requirement that prosecutors prove a defendant "knowingly" violated the law were major factors in his decision, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said. In the end, there was not enough evidence to press charges against any of the 31 elected officials and three lobbyists who were investigated.

Montgomery said that for a successful prosecution, his office would have to prove that the officials and lobbyists knew when they filed required disclosure statements that "it was incomplete or false."

"I understand the `appearance of impropriety' argument, and how it can be reported," Montgomery said. "But there's a difference ... in what it looks like and what we can do as prosecutors."

Montgomery cited problems with records provided by the Fiesta Bowl, noting that many were too vague to stand up in court or directly contradicted reimbursement check records from legislators.

The decision removed a pall that has been cast over many lawmakers since April, when Montgomery began investigating whether politicians violated a law banning acceptance of free game tickets in most cases and failed to report receiving free trips or tickets.

Montgomery called on the Legislature to overhaul and consolidate reporting and gift laws for lobbyists and elected officials, toughen reporting requirements, ban gifts outright and make some violations a felony. He said changes were needed "in order for the public's expectation of open and honest government to be met."

Combining the laws into one simplified statute will help clear up confusion and help prosecutors if they need to pursue a case, he said.

He advocated the gift ban or, at the least, the allowance of only gifts of very low retail value. Under his recommendations, elected officials should accept "nothing ? you can accept a handshake and that's it," Montgomery said.

He said he wants a law to require quarterly financial reporting, up from the current yearly mandate, and an online system for easier compliance.

In addition to a possible felony charge for "knowing and intentional" violations, Montgomery wants clarifications that allow misdemeanor criminal or civil penalties for reckless reporting failures. He suggested that legislative staff attorneys be removed from their role advising lawmakers, to avoid any attorney-client privilege issues.

Federal authorities are separately investigating other aspects of the Fiesta Bowl scandal, including an alleged scheme to reimburse employees for political contributions. One former executive has been charged in that case.

The county attorney's probe was prompted by an internal bowl investigation into illegal political contributions and lavish spending by top bowl officials. Montgomery took over the case after the Arizona Attorney General's office declared a conflict of interest.

That internal probe, released in March, listed many current or former lawmakers as the recipients of game tickets or free trips. Many failed to report them on their disclosure reports. The Fiesta Bowl asked politicians who received more than $161,000 worth of free trips or game tickets to explain how they benefited the tax-exempt group, and implied it may seek repayment if the expenditures can't be justified. Some had already done so.

Montgomery investigated 28 current or former state lawmakers, three elected officials who are not legislators, and three prominent lobbyists. The politicians were split about evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

The 8-month probe involved going through 4,000 pages of documents that included nearly 10 years of financial disclosure statements, Montgomery said.

Senate President Steve Pierce, a Republican, referred inquiries to the spokesman for the chamber's Republicans, who was not immediately available. House Minority Leader Chad Campbell said in a statement that Democrats support the ethics reforms and gift bans that Montgomery outlined.

The county attorney said some lawmakers told his office that they accepted the trips as ambassadors of the state, not for personal benefit or enjoyment. Some disclosed them routinely, while others failed to do so until the scandal hit and then filed amended reports. Former state Senate President Russell Pearce typically disclosed all gifts, tickets and trips, but not the Fiesta Bowl trips, which Montgomery said could indicate the Republican legislator believed he did not have to report those items.

"There were some legislators who were angry that I was investigating them because they thought it was clear they had done nothing wrong," Montgomery said.

Topping the recipients were Pearce, who received more than $39,000 in tickets, trips and other freebies. From 2002 through 2009, Pearce went on VIP trips sponsored by the Fiesta Bowl to games in Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Pasadena, Boston and Dallas. Other top recipients were former Republican lawmaker Robert Blendu with $17,213, and Democratic state Sen. Linda Lopez with $16,877.

Longtime bowl President and CEO John Junker was fired after the internal investigation. On June 13, the bowl hired University of Arizona President Robert Shelton to lead the efforts to repair its reputation. The bowl's lawyer said it has been cooperating with local, state and federal investigations and made substantial changes to avoid a repeat.

The scandal at the Fiesta Bowl, which also hosts the national football championship every four years, put its role as one of the four top-tier bowl groups in jeopardy. But it avoided the worst sanctions ? the loss of the championship game and its NCAA license.

The Bowl Championship Series fined the Fiesta Bowl $1 million, and the NCAA placed it on probation for a year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_sp_ot/us_fiesta_bowl_investigation

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Nicole Polizzi aka ?Snooki? Being Sued For $7 Million!

Nicole Polizzi aka “Snooki” Being Sued For $7 Million!

“Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, has been slapped with a lawsuit by SRG Ventures for a whopping $7 million! The 24 year-old reality star [...]

Nicole Polizzi aka “Snooki” Being Sued For $7 Million! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/_2WqBQ2WO6s/

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Perform a Complete Financial Tuneup with This Customizable 31-Step Checklist [Personal Finance]

Getting your finances in order means thinking about insurance, retirement, credit, budgeting, and much more. That doesn't have to be overwhelming, though. This checklist from the New York Times can help make sense out of all the things you should be doing.

You can build a personalized plan of attack by removing some items that don't apply to you (e.g., increasing student loan payments) or you're not ready to do right now. The checklist shows how long each item typically takes, so you could also focus on just 5-10 minute tasks, for example, or print out your entire customized financial tasks list.

Tips and related reading materials are also included for each of the 31 steps, making this a good general personal finance resource. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

31 Steps to a Financial Tuneup | The New York Times

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/LQ34-BPnz9c/perform-a-complete-financial-tuneup-with-this-customizable-31+step-checklist

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PFT: Jones insists Garrett's job safe

Getty Images

1.? Packers (No. 1; 13-0):? The 13th win ended up being a bit unlucky, but not even the absence of Greg Jennings is likely to keep the Packers from getting to 16-0.

2. Ravens (No. 2; 10-3):? Baltimore residents have never been so glad the Colts left.

3. Steelers (No. 3; 10-3):? Nearly two years after Ben Roethlisberger lost Pittsburgh, he has almost completely won the town back.

4. Patriots (No. 4; 10-3):? Maybe Tom Brady?s next endorsement deal will be with the folks who make Valium.

5.? Saints (No. 5; 10-3):? That Lambeau Field rematch is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.

6. Texans (No. 7; 10-3):? The team that employs T.J. Yates > the team that used to employ T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

7.? 49ers (No. 6; 10-3):? Once the hottest team not playing in Wisconsin, the Niners are cooling off at the worst possible time.

8. Broncos (No. 9; 8-5):? Next up, the quarterback who screamed profanities at a coach faces the quarterback who tells the coach ?God bless you,? even when the coach hasn?t sneezed.

9. Falcons (No. 11; 8-5):? If Julio Jones can stay healthy, he can become one of the best receivers in the league.

10. Jets (No. 12; 8-5):? One of these years, maybe the Jets won?t make it so hard on themselves to get to the playoffs ? and to succeed once they get there.

11. Giants (No. 16; 7-6):? Somehow, the Giants saved their season, and Tom Coughlin saved his job.

12. Lions (No. 14; 8-5):? Sometimes, a personal foul can win a game.? As long as all of the officials have their eyes closed at the same time.

13. Cowboys (No. 8; 7-6):? If Dan Bailey were any more iced, he?d be a beer at the bottom of a cooler on the 4th of July.

14. Raiders (No. 10; 7-6):? Well, at least they won?t have to give up another first-round pick for Carson Palmer.

15. Titans (No. 13; 7-6):? If Jake Locker had been the Week One starter, he?d be a candidate for rookie of the year.

16. Bengals (No. 15; 7-6):? How empty would the stands be in Cincinnati if the Bengals didn?t have a winning record?

17. Chargers (No. 19; 6-7):? There?s still an incredibly remote chance that my preseason prediction for AFC champion will be right.

18. Bears (No. 17; 7-6):? When Brian Urlacher said that Tim Tebow is a good running back, Urlacher should have added that Caleb Hanie is a piss-poor quarterback.

19. Seahawks (No. 18; 6-7):? The Seahawks could be a serious contender in 2012.

20. Cardinals (No. 20; 5-8):? The Cardinals could be a serious contender in 2012.

21. Dolphins (No. 21; 4-9):? The Dolphins could be a serious contender in 2012.

22. Chiefs (No. 22; 5-8):? The Chiefs could be a serious contender in 2012.

23. Panthers (No. 23; 4-9):? The Panthers could be a serious contender in 2012.

24. Bills (No. 24; 5-8):? Well, there?s always 2013.

25. Eagles (No. 25; 5-8):? It was refreshing to see the Eagles finally kill a coach other than their own.

26. Jaguars (No. 29; 4-9):? Here?s hoping the Jags become competitive while Maurice Jones-Drew still has some gas in the tank.

27. Browns (No. 27; 4-9):? Maybe whoever was supposed to check Colt McCoy for a concussion was suffering from a concussion.

28. Redskins (No. 28; 4-9):? I wonder how much DeAngelo Hall paid for his standing-room-only, field-level ticket for Sunday?s game.

29. Buccaneers (No. 26; 4-9):? Giving up 41 points to the Jaguars is like giving up 100 to a normal team.

30. Vikings (No. 30; 2-11):? If the ?72 Dolphins won?t be able to open their champagne this year, maybe they can give the bottle to Les Steckel.

31. Rams (No. 31; 2-11):? Well, at least Steve Spagnuolo won?t be the second coach fired this year.? Or the third.

32. Colts (No. 32; 0-13):? Andrew Luck has no problem coexisting with Peyton Manning.? The problem is the other 52 members of the team.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/13/jerry-jones-insists-jason-garretts-job-is-safe/related/

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Video: Sandusky keeps talking

Too promiscuous to donate an organ? Maybe

If you've had two or more sex partners in the last year, you could be a risky organ donor, at least according to a proposed federal health guideline that has drawn sharp protests from transplant experts who say it's far too broad.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45560062#45560062

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SAP to pay $3.4B for SuccessFactors (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? SAP said Saturday it is paying $3.4 billion to acquire SuccessFactors, a software company specializing in human resources tasks. It is the latest move in the escalating rivalry between SAP and Oracle Corp., and underscores the increased interest in technology companies that deliver software over the Internet, or in the so-called "cloud."

The deal calls for subsidiary SAP America Inc. to pay $40 per share in cash for SuccessFactors. That is a 52 percent premium over SuccessFactors' closing stock price of $26.25 on Friday. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

SAP AG is one of the world's biggest business software makers. The German company's specialty is business applications, such as those used for payroll and managing relationships with customers and suppliers.

SuccessFactors, based in San Mateo, Calif., is a big maker of cloud-based human resources applications. The company focuses on applications for managing relationships with employees, such as organizing and developing performance reviews and bonuses. The company says it has more than 3,500 customers. It lost $12.5 million on $205.9 million in revenue last year.

"The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth, and the combination of SuccessFactors' leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse," Bill McDermott, an SAP co-CEO, said in a statement.

The deal is part of the growing rivalry between SAP and Oracle. Oracle's push into SAP's turf of business applications has been a multibillion-dollar affair. Oracle's boisterous CEO Larry Ellison has pursued big-ticket acquisitions that have made his database software company a major player, behind SAP, in many different realms of the business software world. SAP is the dominant maker of business applications.

The feud has gotten personal. Oracle won a $1.3 billion jury verdict against SAP last year over the widespread theft by a now-shuttered SAP subsidiary of documents from password-protected Oracle customer websites. Oracle alleged the information was used to steal business. A judge threw out the award, calling it "grossly excessive" and setting the stage for a retrial.

Oracle landed a publicity jackpot from the trial. Ellison used it to repeatedly shame SAP publicly. SAP admitted the theft and agreed to pay $20 million to settle criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice over the former subsidiary's practices.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_sap_successfactors

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Monti takes Italy's austerity plan to lawmakers

Italian Premier Mario Monti waits to meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte at the Chigi Premier palace in Rome, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. Monti takes a package of austerity and growth-boosting measures to a skeptical Parliament on Monday as Europe enters a crucial week aimed at saving the euro. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Premier Mario Monti waits to meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte at the Chigi Premier palace in Rome, Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. Monti takes a package of austerity and growth-boosting measures to a skeptical Parliament on Monday as Europe enters a crucial week aimed at saving the euro. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Premier Mario Monti listens to a journalist's question during a press conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Italy's new government has approved emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at helping save the euro from collapse. Premier Mario Monti announced approval of the measures Sunday evening following a three-hour Cabinet meeting. He says the goal is to "reawaken" the Italian economy. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Premier Mario Monti listens to a journalist's question during a press conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Italy's new government has approved emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at helping save the euro from collapse. Premier Mario Monti announced approval of the measures Sunday evening following a three-hour Cabinet meeting. He says the goal is to "reawaken" the Italian economy. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italian Premier Mario Monti gestures during a press conference in Rome, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011. Italy's new government has approved emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at helping save the euro from collapse. Premier Mario Monti announced approval of the measures Sunday evening following a three-hour Cabinet meeting. He says the goal is to "reawaken" the Italian economy. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

ROME (AP) ? Italy's new premier began trying to persuade a skeptical Parliament that his new plans to cut spending and boost growth will return Italy's ailing economy to health, as Europe entered a crucial week for the survival of the 17-nation euro currency.

Premier Mario Monti was briefing both Parliament chambers Monday on the package, which includes euro30 billion ($40.5 billion) in spending cuts and tax hikes and euro10 billion ($13.5 billion) to boost Italy's anemic growth.

Monti's government agreed Sunday to slap taxes on primary residences and luxury goods like yachts, high-performance cars and private airplanes, increase the age at which retirees can draw full pensions, trim the cost of Italy's political class and give incentives to companies that hire women and young workers.

"Without this package, we believe Italy would collapse, Italy would go into a situation like that of Greece, a country we admire but we don't want to imitate," he told the Foreign Press Association before heading to Parliament.

The package, passed as an emergency decree, takes immediate effect but Parliament must still approve it within 60 days. The Senate president has said he expected passage before Christmas, although lawmakers already were indicating they want changes.

Monti acknowledged Monday that some of the more painful measures might aggravate Italy's looming recession, with the government forecasting an economic contraction of up to 0.5 percent next year and followed by flat growth in 2013. But he said the measures were necessary and if they helped to bring down Italy's bond yields, that would give Italy more financial relief than any negative impact from individual measures.

Markets appeared to welcome the measures: The yield on Italian 10-year bonds was down 0.41 percentage points at 6.14 percent Monday, and the Milan Stock Exchanged traded in positive territory, with banks benefiting the most.

Unions blasted the pension reform as "socially unbearable" and two unions announced a two-hour strike for next Monday. Politicians on all sides called the measures severe but many appeared resigned to "holding our nose and voting," as Maurizio Sacconi, a labor minister under ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi, put it.

Democratic Party lawmaker Vannino Chiti indicated center-left lawmakers would try to spread more pain to the well-off, favoring more taxes on the wealthy and higher penalties on money repatriated from overseas tax havens.

"They are stringent measures. We will try to distribute them better," Chiti told Sky TG24.

Monti, a former EU commissioner, has been under extreme pressure to come up with speedy and credible measures that will persuade markets to stop betting against the common currency. Italian borrowing costs have spiked since October, which could spell disaster if Italy is unable to keep up payments to service its enormous euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt, which is equivalent to 120 percent of its GDP.

Italy needs to refinance close to euro200 billion ($270 billion) of that debt by May.

Unlike Greece, Portugal and Ireland, EU nations that got bailouts after their borrowing rates skyrocketed over 7 percent, Italy is the eurozone's third-largest economy and is considered to be too big to be bailed out. An Italian default would be disastrous for eurozone and could send both Europe and the United States into recession.

Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, welcomed Monti's package as "a very important step to shore up the public finances and support economic growth, while preserving social equity and fairness."

He said the "timely and ambitious" measures showed new economic decision-making from Italy.

On Friday, eurozone leaders are holding a critical summit to prevent the collapse of the common currency; expectations are growing that they will agree to a tighter integration of the 17 EU countries that use the euro.

"We need absolutely to avoid one thing, that the euro ? which was born to unite the people of Europe even more ? divides them from a psychological point of view," Monti said.

He said his technocratic government, which has no politicians, was in a position to push through the painful reforms necessary to secure Italy's future because it did not have to worry about future elections.

"We want to save Italy, but we also want to be the technical figures, and then disappear from the scene, with the full trust of the world and of public opinion," Monti said.

Monti said his new measures were designed to be as fair as possible so the sacrifices are equally shared; he is renouncing his own salary as premier and economy minister.

And on Monday, he warned that more financial reforms were on the way: including opening up Italy's rigid labor market and reducing the duplicate functions of provincial governments.

The measures approved Sunday include a 2 percent increase in value-added tax from the second half of 2012 from 21 percent to 23 percent.

Other taxes include a new tax on first homes to replace one annulled by Berlusconi plus higher levies and second and third homes, and new taxes on boats over 10 meters (30 feet) long, luxury cars and private helicopters and planes. The measures left out any income tax increase on high earners, which had been opposed by Berlusconi's conservatives.

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, chairman of luxury carmaker Ferrari, said the luxury auto tax doesn't "make me the happiest person in the world, but I think when you have to do something, it has to have an effect on everyone."

Church-owned buildings escaped being assessed property taxes; Monti, who has one of Italy's most influential lay Catholics in his Cabinet, said the issue hadn't been considered by the government yet.

At the same time, the measures cut employment costs, give fiscal breaks to companies that invest to grow their businesses and increase investments in local public transport.

The measures raise the pension age to 66 years for men in 2012 and for women by 2018, and also increases to 42 years and one month the years of service for a man to retire with full benefits, 41 years and one month for a woman. The reforms include a hold on inflation adjustments for larger pensions.

Unions and center-left politicians have been particularly critical of the pension measures, saying certain classes of workers, including those who do physical labor, shouldn't be forced to work extra years. They also complained that women who take time off to raise children will have to work well into old age to meet the seniority requirements to draw a pension.

"It is not easy, especially because these cuts hit heavily on the pensions," conceded Italian worker Massimo Gatti in Rome's historic center. "Let's just hope we can resolve the problem, and above all save Italy."

___

Barry reported from Milan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-05-EU-Italy-Financial-Crisis/id-2f5ded11446e4fa686b1ce96e7b66c66

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