Davis, Dujardin win lead honors at SAG awards (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the maids of honor at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where their Deep South drama "The Help" won them acting prizes and earned the trophy for overall cast performance.

Davis won as best actress and Spencer as supporting actress for "The Help," while Jean Dujardin was named best actor for the silent film "The Artist" and Christopher Plummer took the supporting-actor award for the father-son tale "Beginners."

The wins boost the actors' prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.

In "The Help," Davis and Spencer play black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.

"I just have to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It's all of our burden, all of us," Davis said, accepting the ensemble prize on behalf of her "The Help" co-stars.

Accepting her best-actress award, Davis singled out two performers in the audience who inspired her early in her career: "The Help" co-star Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Davis' co-star in the 2008 drama "Doubt" and one of the nominees she beat out for the SAG prize. Streep had been nominated as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," a role that won her the dramatic actress award at the Golden Globes over Davis.

A French film star who is a newcomer to Hollywood's awards scene with "The Artist," Dujardin played a silent-era screen idol fallen on hard times as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.

"I was a very bad student. I didn't listen in class. I was always dreaming," Dujardin said. "My teachers called me `Jean of the Moon,' and I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream."

Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for "Driving Miss Daisy."

Backstage, Plummer joked when asked if he would like to win an Oscar, an honor so elusive during his esteemed 60-year career that he did not even receive his first Academy Award nomination until two years ago, for "The Last Station."

"No, I think it's frightfully boring," Plummer said. "That's an awful question. Listen, we don't go into this business preoccupied by awards. If we did, we wouldn't last five minutes."

Spencer, a veteran actress who had toiled in small TV and movie parts previously, had a breakout role in "The Help" as a brassy maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble.

"I'm going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed ? whether emotionally, physically or financially," Spencer said.

On the television side, comedy series awards went to "Modern Family" for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for "30 Rock"; and Betty White as best actress for "Hot in Cleveland."

"You can't name me, without naming those other wonderful women on `Hot in Cleveland,'" the 90-year-old White said. "This nomination belongs to four of us. Please, please know that I'm dealing them right in with this. I'm not going to let them keep this, but I'll let them see it."

The TV drama show winners were: Jessica Lange as best actress for "American Horror Story"; and Steve Buscemi as best actor for "Boardwalk Empire," which also won the ensemble prize.

For TV movie or miniseries, Kate Winslet won as best actress for "Mildred Pierce," while Paul Giamatti was named best actor for "Too Big to Fail."

Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." The TV stunt award went to "Game of Thrones."

The winners at the SAG ceremony often go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars ? Colin Firth for "The King's Speech," Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for "The Fighter."

The same generally holds true for the weekend's other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for "The Artist." The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union's awards show.

The guild's ensemble prize, considered the ceremony's equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting what will win the top award at the Oscars.

While "The King's Speech" won both honors a year ago, the SAG ensemble recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.

Though "The Help" won the ensemble prize this time, "The Artist" and George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" are considered stronger contenders for the best-picture Oscar.

Both "The Artist" and "The Descendants" also were nominated for writing and directing Oscars, categories where serious best-picture candidates generally need to be in the running. "The Help" missed out on nominations in both of those Oscar categories.

Mary Tyler Moore received the guild's lifetime-achievement award, an honor presented to her by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

SAG President Ken Howard put in a plug during the show for the guild's planned merger with another Hollywood union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The boards of both groups have approved the merger, and ballots will be sent to members of each union.

"As one union, SAG-AFTRA will support a future of great entertainment for all of us," Howard said.

___

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.sagawards.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_mo/us_sag_awards

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Neeson's 'The Grey' tops box office with $20M

NEW YORK (AP) ? Beware the Liam in Winter. Liam Neeson's "The Grey" topped the weekend box office with $20 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, continuing the actor's success as an action star in the winter months.

The Alaskan survivalist thriller opened above expectations with a performance on par with previous Neeson thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown." Those films, both January-February releases, opened with $24.7 million and $21.9 million, respectively.

But the R-rated "The Grey," which has received good reviews, drove home the strong appeal of Neeson, action star. It's an unlikely turn for the 59-year-old Neeson, previously better known for his dramatic performances, like those in "Schindler's List" and "Kinsey."

"Liam is a true movie star, period," said Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films. It's the second release for the newly formed distributor, created by theater chains AMC and Regal.

"My guess is that Liam Neeson in action thrillers would work just about any time of year."

January is often a dumping ground for less-stellar releases, a tradition held up by two badly reviewed new wide releases: "Man on a Ledge," with Sam Worthington, and "One for the Money" with Katherine Heigl.

"One for the Money" fared better, earning $11.8 million, while "Man on a Ledge" opened with $8.3 million.

Those were reasonably solid returns, and, in an unusual twist, were both ultimately for Lions Gate Entertainment. Its film studio, Lionsgate, released the romantic comedy "One for the Money." The action thriller "Man on a Ledge" was released by Summit Entertainment, which Lions Gate bought for $412.5 million earlier this month.

"One for the Money" was helped by a promotion with Groupon, the Internet discount site, with which Lionsgate previously partnered for "The Lincoln Lawyer." David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate, said the large number of older, female subscribers of Groupon matched well with the audience of "One for the Money."

Groupon email blasts, he said, had a significant promotional effect.

Last week's box-office leader, "Underworld: Awakenings," Sony's Screen Gem's latest installment in its vampire series, came in second with $12.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $45.1 million.

The unexpectedly large haul for "The Grey," strong holdovers (such as the George Lucas-produced World War II action film "Red Tails," which earned $10.4 million in its second week) and the bump for Oscar contending films following Tuesday's nominations added up to a good weekend for Hollywood. The box office was up about 15 percent on the corresponding weekend last year.

So far, every weekend this year has been an "up" weekend, after a somewhat dismal fourth quarter in 2011.

"'Mission: Impossible,' I think, really helped reinvigorate the marketplace, and that's carried over into the first part of the year," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "That's good news for Hollywood after the down-trending box office of 2011."

Oscar favorites "The Descendants," ''Hugo" and "The Artist" sought to capitalize on their recent Academy Awards nominations. Each expanded to more theaters and saw an uptick in business.

Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," which is nominated for five Oscars including best picture, added 1,441 screens in its 11th week of release. It added $6.6 million and has now made $58.8 million, making it one of Fox Searchlight's most successful releases.

Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight, said the film's nominations and its recent Golden Globes wins (for best drama and best actor, George Clooney) "played a big role" in its weekend box office.

Paramount's "Hugo," which led Oscar nominations with 11 including best picture, saw a 143 percent jump in business over its last weekend. In its tenth week of release, it earned $2.3 million, bringing its total to $58.7 million.

The Weinstein Co.'s "The Artist," with 10 Oscar nominations including best picture, expanded a modest 235 screens to bring it to a total of 897 screens in its 10th week of release. It earned $3.3 million, with a total of $16.7 million.

The Weinstein Co. is being careful with the black-and-white, largely silent film. Thus far, it has appealed particularly to older audiences.

"It's not the same type of picture as any other picture in the marketplace," said Erik Loomis, head of distribution for the Weinstein Co. "Now that the nominations are out, we're going to look to capitalize on it as best we can. ... We're being very, very meticulous with it. We're not throwing it out there and grabbing every theater we can. At some point, we'll open the floodgates on the movie, maybe closer to the awards."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "The Grey," $20 million.

2. "Underworld: Awakening," $12.5 million.

3. "One for the Money," $11.8 million.

4. "Red Tails," $10.4 million.

5. "Man on a Ledge," $8.3 million.

6. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," $7.1 million.

7. "The Descendants," $6.6 million.

8. "Contraband," $6.5 million.

9. "Beauty and the Beast," $5.3 million.

10. "Haywire," $4 million.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-29-US-Box-Office/id-3a45dd8e69224f159d9850fb268e5b4f

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Rep. Barney Frank mourns ex-Boston Mayor White (AP)

BOSTON ? Retiring Rep. Barney Frank says former Mayor Kevin White was a political pioneer who opened up the Boston political system to African-Americans, women and gays, and pushed Frank to abandon plans to pursue an academic career and get into politics.

White died Friday at his Boston home. He was 82.

Frank, a liberal Democrat who worked for White in the City Hall for three years, describes him as Boston's "first modern mayor" who refused to let Interstate 95 run through the city because he wanted to protect low-income homes.

White led the city for 16 years, including during racially turbulent times in the 1970s.

His family announced that a public viewing is set for Tuesday and public funeral Mass is set for Wednesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_kevin_white

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Topless protesters detained at Davos forum (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Three topless Ukrainian protesters were detained Saturday while trying to break into an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders to call attention to the needs of the world's poor.

After a complicated journey to reach the heavily guarded Swiss resort town of Davos, the women arrived at the entrance to the congress center where the World Economic Forum takes place every year.

With temperatures around freezing in the snow-filled town, they took off their tops and climbed a fence before being detained. "Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso, while others held banners that said "Poor, because of you" and "Gangsters party in Davos."

Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and their papers were checked. They were told that they weren't allowed to demonstrate, and will be released later, he said.

The activists are from the group Femen, which has become popular in Ukraine for staging small, half-naked protests to highlight a range of issues including oppression of political opposition. They have also conducted protests in some other countries.

"We came here to Switzerland to Davos to explain position of all poor people of the world, to explain that we are poor because of these rich people who now sit in the building," said protester Inna Schewcenko.

Protesters from the Occupy movement that started with protests against practices on Wall Street held a separate demonstration in Davos on Saturday. A small group of protesters are camped in igloos in Davos to call for more help for the needy.

About 40 protesters from the Occupy movement gathered in front of the town hall. Some held placards with slogans such as "If voting would change anything, it would be illegal" and "Don't let them decide for you, Occupy WEF." The event has been peaceful.

A member of the Occupy camp was invited to speak at a special event outside the Forum on Friday night discussing the future of capitalism attended by British opposition leader Ed Miliband.

Soon after the panel discussion began, some activists in the audience jumped up and started chanting slogans, and the protester panelist walked off the stage.

Other members of the audience told the activists to "shut up" and arguments disrupted the panel for about 20 minutes. The discussion then resumed, without the Occupy panelist.

___

Anja Niedringhaus and Paolo Santalucia contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_davos_forum_protests

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Department of Insurance confirms fraud probe into Lap-Band | 89.3 ...

Google Maps

A Google Maps screenshot of a Lap-Band billboard on W 11th Street, Los Angeles, Calif. The billboards are under fire after the FDA criticized their misleading displays.

The Department of Insurance in California has launched a fraud probe into Lap-Band affiliated surgery centers connected with the 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign, according to Aetna Insurance and the Department of Insurance.

"I can now confirm that the DOI has initiated an investigation into the surgery centers of 1-800-GET-THIN," said Dave Althausen, deputy press secretary with the California Department of Insurance.

Aetna, a major insurance company, is also working with the Southern California Fraud Division of the Department of Insurance to investigate "alleged fraud against our members by the surgery centers affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN," according to spokesperson Anjie Coplin.

"1-800 GET-THIN does not, has not and has never engaged in any type of medical billing as it is only a marketing company that does not provide any medical services," said Robert Silverman, president of 1-800-GET-THIN.

"1-800-GET-THIN has never engaged in any type of insurance fraud and has not been contacted by the Department of Insurance. 1-800-GET-THIN is unaware of any criminal probe or investigation."

The probe comes a month after inquiries by the Food and Drug Administration into Lap-Band weight-loss surgery ads, and less than a week after calls from Congress to investigate the safety of 1-800-GET-THIN's marketing campaign.

"We believe the Committee should hold hearings to examine whether FDA device regulation has been ineffective in protecting the public from dangerous medical devices like the Lap-Band," said Rep. Henry Waxman in a letter to the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the L.A. Times reported. Rep. Diana DeGette and Rep. John D. Dingell also signed the letter.

At least five Southern California patients have died after Lap-Band procedures at clinics in Beverly Hills and West Hills that are affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN campaign, reports the Los Angeles Times after investigating various lawsuits, autopsy reports and other public records.

The Lap-Band surgery involves attaching an inflatable silicone device placed around the top portion of the stomach to treat obesity by reducing excess body fat.

Source: http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/01/27/30988/department-insurance-confirms-fraud-probe-lap-band/

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Senate Republicans take aim at PUC Chair Ellen Anderson (Star Tribune)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192348762?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Rescuers searching for survivors in Rio collapse

Firefighters carry away a body from the rubble after a building collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Firefighters carry away a body from the rubble after a building collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

A firefighter stands on the remains of a building that collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

A firefighter searches for a victim among the smoldering rubble of a building that collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building, which collapsed on Wednesday, killed at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Firefighters put out a fire in the smoldering rubble of a collapsed building in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Firefighters search for victims in front of the Municipal Theater, behind, where a building collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The sign on the theater's door, background top, reads "Sceneries." The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Rescue workers feverishly dug through the wreckage of three downtown buildings Friday, hunting for survivors of a collapse that killed at least 12 people and left 17 more missing, police and municipal authorities said.

Officials believe unauthorized construction work inside a 20-story, 72-year-old building damaged its structure and caused it to crumble, wrenching down two neighboring office buildings of approximately the same age about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Police investigators were interviewing the buildings' tenants and workers, including construction worker Alexandro Fonseca, who was inside an elevator when the tallest building fell, but was pulled from the wreckage alive.

Fonseca told news media gathered at the site that workers had removed several walls on the ninth floor, but said that didn't affect the building's infrastructure. He didn't know if there was an engineer in charge of the project.

Rio's Regional Council of Engineering has said the last time they authorized refurbishing in the building was in 2008. But Mayor Eduardo Paes said a license from city hall is not required for internal construction projects, and the responsibility for such projects lies "exclusively in the hands of workers."

Paes said at a news conference Thursday night that the focus would remain on saving lives and supporting the families of victims. There were 390 workers searching the site, and more than 400 truckloads of debris had been removed, according to the mayor's office.

The head of Rio state's Civil Defense agency said the hunt for survivors will continue for 48 hours more.

City officials said the accident should not cast doubt on Rio's ability to organize and host the upcoming Olympics and World Cup.

"This was an isolated incident that occurred on private property," the mayor's office said in a statement. "The case is entirely unrelated to the preparations for the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympic Games and other events that are already part of the city's calendar."

The families of the missing spent the night in a nearby government building, holding out increasingly slim hopes. Some relatives recognized belongings of victims as workers picked through hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble.

Searchers pulled out Alessandra Alves Lima's purse. Nearby they found the ID card of Edson Menezes. A dentist saw some of the computer material from his office being carried from the site.

Other family members got nothing: no news, no sign of their loved ones.

Afonso Celso Menezes rushed to the site after being alerted by a cousin that the building where his sister worked had crumbled. He didn't want to leave without news of Kelly Menezes. She worked in finance and stayed late closing the month's books in the 20-story building, which housed several accounting offices. By Friday, there was no sign of the 28-year-old.

The office buildings in Rio's historic center were full of a wide range of businesses. Most tenants were gone by the time of the collapse Wednesday, but some had remained to finish leftover work. Several of the missing were in a computing course.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-LT-Brazil-Building-Collapse/id-869265fc7d7647baab7da1f1fa6f9afe

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Haley Smith Aims for a Fourth Job on American Idol

She's already a House cleaner, a busser and a meat packer.

But Haley Smith, an 18-year old who - by her own admission - lives "in the middle of nowhere" in Colorado, hopes to add a fourth job to her resume: American Idol champion!

The nature lover auditioned on last night's Aspen-based episode and blew the judges away with a cover of "Tell Me Something Good." Randy and Jennifer both loved her retro vibe, comparing her to artists from the 1960s and 1970s, while Steven said it was an "honor" to her Haley sing.

That's high praise. See for yourself if it was deserved:

Haley Smith American Idol Audition

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/haley-smith-aims-for-a-fourth-job-on-american-idol/

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Demi Lovato Not In Rebab For Substance Abuse

Reps for the singer/actress deny rumors that she recently checked into a Malibu treatment center.
By Jocelyn Vena

Demi Lovato
Photo: FilmMagic

After a report surfaced that Demi Lovato had entered treatment again, her camp has confirmed to MTV News that the story is anything but true.

A gossip website reported on January 19 that the singer/actress had checked into a Malibu treatment center to deal with substance-abuse issues. However, the Blind Gossip report didn't pick up steam until this week. When MTV News reached out to her reps for comment on Wednesday (January 25), they said, "Demi's team confirmed it's untrue."

Earlier this week, Lovato did have some news for her fans when she announced she was taking a break from Twitter. "Twitter break. It's for the best actually. Who allows me to have this thing anyways?!!! I just get myself in trouble! Haha. Anyway... BYE!" she tweeted on Saturday.

It's not the first time Lovato has left the social networking site. She quit tweeting in October 2010, shortly before she entered a treatment facility to deal with personal issues including eating disorders and cutting. Lovato joined Twitter again in May 2011, months after she left the center.

Since returning to the spotlight, she has focused her music career, including her 2011 album, Unbroken, which launched her empowering hit single "Skyscraper." She is currently working on the video for her next single, "Give Your Heart a Break."

Lovato has become a voice for young people struggling with personal issues. In December, she visited and spoke to patients at the Timberline Knolls Center, where she had received treatment.

"To be able to share my story and let them know that it gets easier ... Life is beautiful ... you are worthy of it," Lovato said. "Please say a prayer for all of those struggling with eating disorders, self-harm, mood disorders and substance abuse."

Related Videos

• Demi Lovato's Year In Review

Related Photos

• The Evolution Of: Demi Lovato

Related Artists

• Demi Lovato

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677878/demi-lovato-rehab.jhtml

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Summary Box: Discounts, higher costs ding H&M net (AP)

PROFIT DROP: Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB on Thursday said fourth-quarter net income dropped 2 percent on higher raw material costs and heavy discounting to attract customers during an economic downturn.

GROWING: But the company's revenue increased 4 percent, and H&M said its market share is growing.

DIGITAL: H&M plans to launch online sales in the U.S. this year. It also intends to open 275 new stores, including its first Latin American store, in Mexico.

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

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Strange new species found in Suriname

In a Conservation International video, researchers describe what they've been finding during a Rapid Assessment Program survey of southwest Suriname's species.

By Alan Boyle

Surveying the biodiversity of the world's last wild areas is often a depressing business, due to the effects of deforestation and development, but in a roadless region of the South American country of Suriname, scientists have come upon a good-news story.

"We can say for sure that this is still a pristine area, in contrast to most of the places that we visit," Trond Larsen, director of Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program, told me today.

---

Part of the payoff for Conservation International comes in the form of scientific discovery. Today, the nonprofit group is reporting the identification of 46 potentially new species, observed during a three-week expedition to southwest Suriname in 2010. The list includes a fancifully named "cowboy frog," a strangely spiked species of armored catfish, and colorful breeds of beetles and katydids. Check out our slideshow to get a close look at a few of the newly identified critters.

As far as Larsen is concerned, it's just as important to document the nearly 1,300 previously known species that were observed during the survey. After all, the main purpose of the Rapid Assessment Program is not just to add names to a list, but to lay down a baseline for assessing the health of an entire ecosystem.

"It's a quick and dirty way to go into an area ... and say something meaningful about the importance of that place," Larsen said.

CI-Suriname

This map of South America highlights the region known as the Guiana Shield in medium-toned green and the country of Suriname in dark green. The Guiana Shield is one of the world's most biologically diverse regions.

Thanks to the RAP survey, Larsen and his colleagues know that the remote area along Suriname's Kutari and Sipaliwini Rivers is an important place. "It's one of the last really vast areas of unroaded tropical wilderness," he said.

Conservation International's survey was conducted by 53 scientists in collaboration with students and the region's indigenous Trio people.

Leeanne Alonso, a former director of the RAP program who is now with Global Wildlife Conservation, said the scientists were impressed by "the amazing diversity of birds and mammals of the region."

"You can really get up close to wildlife here," she said in a news release. "A camera trap recorded a jaguar about one hundred yards from our camp." The cameras captured nighttime glimpses of a giant armadillo, a peccary and an ocelot as well.

Conservation International Suriname

This ocelot (Leopardus paradalis) was captured on film by a camera trap on Aug. 8, 2010.

The scientists also observed cave petroglyphs near the Trio village of Kwamalasamutu, at a site that Conservation International is helping local communities preserve as an ecotourism destination. The site, known as Werehpai, is the oldest known human settlement? found in southern Suriname: Radiocarbon dating and archaeological studies suggest that the first signs of habitation go back at least 5,000 years.

"The Kwamalasamutu area's pristine nature and cultural heritage make it a unique destination for more adventurous tourists, who enjoy trekking through the dense rainforest to discover flora and fauna," said Tjon Sie Fat, executive director of Conservation International's operation in Suriname. "CI-Suriname and the Trio are hoping to further develop a niche market ecotourism site here."

Trond Larsen / Conservation International

Petroglyphs have been discovered in a cave system near the Trio village of Kwamalasamutu in Suriname.

The region's newfound species add to the strangeness of the setting. Among the finds reported in the RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment series are these:

• Cowboy frog: This potentially new species of frog (Hypsiboas sp.) was discovered during a night survey in a swampy area of the Koetari River. It has white fringes along its legs and a spur on each heel ? which inspired the amphibian's nickname.
• Armored catfish with spines: There are numerous species of catfish that are "armored" with external bony plates, but this one (Pseudacanthicus sp.) is unique because of the spines covering its plates of armor. Larsen noted that the fish live in a river that is infested with giant piranha fish. "Presumably, the spines are adapted to protect against the piranha," he said.
• Crayola katydid: The Suriname species (Vestria sp.) is one of only a few types of insects that are named after the popular brand of crayons, because of their striking coloration. The "Crayola" critters are the only katydids known to employ chemical defenses to repel bird and mammalian predators.

Such species will take their place alongside other strangely named critters found in that region of Suriname, including the Pac-Man frog and the conehead katydid. And there may be more to come: Conservation International is planning to send another RAP expedition to southern Suriname in March.

More about species:

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Don't miss our slideshow featuring the strange species of Suriname.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10227567-strange-species-found-in-suriname

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Bachmann says she'll seek 4th term in House (AP)

MINNEAPOLIS ? Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Wednesday she will seek a fourth term in the U.S. House following her failed presidential bid.

Bachmann declared her plans in an interview with The Associated Press. The Republican congresswoman had been mum on her plans since folding her presidential campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month.

"I'm looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.," Bachmann said.

Bachmann will be a formidable candidate in Minnesota's 6th District, where other Republican hopefuls had stood aside until she made a decision on running for re-election. Some experts had speculated that Bachmann might instead turn to a career in talk media.

Bachmann is a potent fundraiser who raised $13.5 million in her last House race, but would likely start from scratch after the presidential campaign. A campaign finance report that would show how much money she can bring to the race isn't due until the end of the month.

Bachmann also faces uncertainty over how her district will be reshaped. One redistricting plan put forth by Democrats would throw her into a race with Rep. Betty McCollum, a six-term Democrat who represents the St. Paul area. A special redistricting panel is due to issue maps late next month.

Ken Martin, chairman of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer Labor Party, said the announcement wasn't a surprise. No Democrats have announced plans to run yet because they're waiting on redistricting, but Martin said they would attack Bachmann for being absent from the district and for missing votes in Washington while running for president.

"She's really opened the door for us this year to make a good run at her," Martin said.

Bachmann was an early media favorite in the chase for the GOP presidential nomination after winning the Iowa straw poll in midsummer, but she eventually faded.

Her announcement came in an interview to react to President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech. Just as she did on the campaign trail, Bachmann criticized Obama for "doubling down on failures that didn't work."

"We have to radically scale back on government spending, we have to radically cut back on debt accumulation," Bachmann said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_ho/us_bachmann_house

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5th person arrested in Megaupload case

AUCKLAND?? A fifth person has been arrested in the Megaupload file-sharing case, a U.S. official confirmed Wednesday.

The U.S. Justice Department official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is still pending, said Dutch police have arrested Andrus Nomm, 32, a citizen of Estonia and a resident of both Turkey and Estonia.

Police in New Zealand last week arrested Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three other Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content, costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue.

On Wednesday, a judge in New Zealand denied bail to Dotcom pending his first extradition hearing on Feb. 22, saying he poses a flight risk.

Dotcom, 38, insists he is innocent and poses no flight risk.

In all, U.S. authorities have charged seven men in the conspiracy case and are still seeking the arrest of the remaining two men.

Authorities in the U.S. are seeking to extradite the four men arrested in New Zealand and are also expected to seek Nomm's extradition.

Dotcom, a German national also known as Kim Schmitz is accused of masterminding a scheme that made more than $175 million in a few years by infringing copyrighted content without authorization. His lawyer has said that the company simply offered online storage and that his client is innocent.

The prosecutor said he was a "flight risk at the extreme end of the scale" because it was believed he had access to funds, had multiple identities, and had a history of fleeing criminal charges.

Three other men charged with Dotcom will also be remanded, but their lawyers have said they will contest the decision.

? 2012 msnbc.com

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46122134/ns/business-world_business/

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PFT: Jones praises Eli, slams Romo

Getty Images

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has just completed the fourth year of a five-year rookie contract.? He thinks he?s done enough to merit additional security.

?Definitely,? Flacco said Monday, via the team?s official website. ?We?ll see how it goes; if it goes, it goes, if it doesn?t, it doesn?t.?

So far, it hasn?t been going anywhere.? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, there have been no talks toward a new contract.

Why does Flacco think he has earned an extension?? ?I think I?m the quarterback that I am,? Flacco said.? ?I think the first four years that I?ve played here we?ve gone to the playoffs every time [and] won a game. I think the last two years that I?ve played in the playoffs, I?ve played well in the playoffs.?

I think.? I get.? The point.

But he wasn?t done.? ?And like I said earlier, I think when you watch the film and you?re a guy in this organization, I think that you can say, ?Hey, he?s played pretty damn good for us,?? Flacco added.? ?But like I said, you never know what?s going to happen.

Though owner Steve Bisciotti said last year that he envisioned negotiations beginning in 2012, there?s a chance that, once the two sides start talking, they?ll realize that there?s a significant disconnect between what the Ravens want to pay and what Flacco wants to be paid.? On one hand, Flacco?s camp surely will point to performances like the one he put together on Sunday in the AFC title game.? On the other hand, the team surely will point to his consistent pattern of inconsistency.

In the end, both sides would be wise to work something out.? While the Ravens could do a lot better at the position, they could do ? and have done ? a lot worse in the past.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/23/jerry-jones-eli-is-the-biggest-difference-between-giants-and-cowboys/related/

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Madonna's Greatest Tunes: 'W.E.' Cast Weighs In!

From 'Like a Prayer' to 'La Isla Bonita,' stars pick their favorite songs by the 'W.E.' director.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna attends the New York City premiere of "W.E."
Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

NEW YORK — At the latest premiere of Madonna's film, "W.E.," it seemed like everyone just wanted to know what it was like to work with the pop icon as she embarked on writing and directing the film, based on the historical romance between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson.

But between doting words about their director, the cast also weighed in on their favorite Madonna songs of all time. "It's like you'd have to be living under a rock to not be aware and to really know her work. I always liked 'La Isla Bonita,' " Oscar Isaac told MTV News. "It's a good one."

That particular song got a co-sign from Isaac's co-star James D'Arcy. "I'm the generation that grew up with her in the '80s," he said. "It's not the first time I've been asked that question, unsurprisingly. I'm not sure it is my favorite, but it's the one that I can't stop thinking about when I get asked that question."

David Harbour showed some love to "Open Your Heart," adding, "Bravo! And I like 'Like a Prayer' too."

The film's leading lady, Andrea Riseborough, couldn't nail down one moment in Madge's career as her favorite. "I think she's wonderful, and now I have a completely different relationship with her," she told MTV News. "They're all incredible, they all mark different periods in culture, don't they?"

When the cast wasn't gushing about Madge's musical career, they were giving her props for her role as the film's director. "She is really funny, really detail-oriented, meticulous, well-versed in her craft, really impressive," Isaac said. "[She] demanded the best out of everyone."

"Truly I had so much to learn from her because she's been really in front of the camera and behind it her whole life," Riseborough added. "I always felt on this particular project there was nobody better to [tell] this story of a couple who were really hounded. She's also incredibly instinctive, and emotionally she knew what tone to pick."

D'Arcy noted that as a director, Madonna is "absolutely first-rate. She was exemplary. She knew exactly the story she wanted to tell, she had a clear vision. She was good fun. You can't really ask for much more."

Harbour had equally high praise for Ms. Ciccone. "She was very exact and really a perfectionist and she worked us all really hard," he said. "So she was a terrifically strong director."

The film did garner one Oscar nod on Tuesday (January 24) for Best Costume Design. At the premiere, Madonna said any Academy Award recognition would be a coup for the flick.

"W.E." opens on February 3, and the soundtrack — featuring Madge's Golden Globe-winning track, "Masterpiece" — drops on January 31.

What's your favorite Madonna song of all time? Sound off in the comments!

See the complete list of Academy Awards Nominations.

Related Artists

• Madonna

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677811/madonna-we-cast-favorite-songs.jhtml

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Spokesman: Paterno in serious condition (AP)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_paterno

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Anonymous Deleted CBS.com and Took Down Universal [Hackers]

Taking a shorter break than their last vacation, Anonymous is back at it already. Reports are coming in that they had completely knocked out CBS.com for a good period of time. This wasn't your regular DDoS attack because if you went to CBS.com at the time Anon attacked it, there was nothing except an index page with a single file. Basically, Anonymous gained access to CBS.com and deleted EVERYTHING. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/3XoHlIGG5-A/anonymous-deleted-cbscom

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International Development - Communications Manager Washington ...

Join an Innovative Social Enterprise

Serving the International Aid & Development Community

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Devex is a social enterprise serving its members ? leading firms, donor agencies, and NGOs working in international development, global health and humanitarian assistance ? through business information and recruiting services. We operate devex.com, the most popular international development website. Our members include CARE, Microsoft, World Bank, UNDP, ADB and thousands of international development professionals working around the world. Our international organization is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has offices in Barcelona, London, Manila, and Tokyo.

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Our diverse global team includes 100 professionals with experience in business, journalism, information technology, and international development. Our team members are dedicated and enthusiastic about our mission, and have excellent academic and professional credentials with a global outlook. If this describes you, we encourage you to submit your application. We are building a team of the best-and-brightest professionals to lead this exciting social enterprise to the next level.

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Communications & Marketing Associate

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The world?s most popular international aid & development web media brand ? Devex ? has an opportunity for a web-savvy communications and marketing professional who gets our market.

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Do you know how to create buzz in the global development community?? Do you have ideas about what kind of content aid workers are looking for?? Do you want to help build the Devex brand around the world?

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Devex is seeking a bright and driven professional with some communications and/or marketing experience, the ability to write for the web, and strong project management skills.? This is a full-time staff position available in our Washington, DC.? There?s lots of room for growth and compensation is competitive.

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Responsibilities

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Primary Responsibility: Project Management

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• Project manage marketing and communications projects such as special featured content for the Devex website or marketing materials, micro-sites, and special promotions on social media
• Coordinate Devex role as a media sponsor for major international development events

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Manage Devex Events

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• Organize, manage, and market Devex events in Washington, DC

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  • These include our annual 500-person career fair (the leading international development career fair in the world), networking receptions, launch events, and other special events for Devex and our members

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Minimum Qualifications

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• Communications and/or marketing experience
• Some knowledge of global development
• Excellent writing skills
• Relevant undergraduate degree
• International travel experience and a global mindset
• Passion for issues in global aid and international development
• At least 2 years of relevant work experience, preferably at a public relations, marketing, or communications agency

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Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with international aid & development organizations
• Experience managing events
• Network of contacts in the international development, humanitarian aid, and global health community
• Work experience at public relations, marketing, or communications agency

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Job Location?

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This is a full-time position available in the Devex Washington, DC offices.

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Application Instructions

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Please?click ?Apply Now??to send your application. You must have a well filled-out profile on Devex.com to be considered for the position. No phone calls please.

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Source: http://www.devex.com/en/jobs/communications-manager-washington-dc-18713

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Video: Measuring the South Carolina exit polls

>>> for a look at what voters had to see as they left the voting booths today, we want to turn to tamryn hall with a look at the exit polls .

>> good evening. the republican primary voters have been interviewed all day and this is an overwhelmingly conservative electorate. 37% call themselves very conservative. nearly as many describe themselves as somewhat conservative and 31% said they're moderate or liberal. what was on their minds as they went to the polls? south carolina has one of the worst unemployment rates in the nation and republican primary voters expressed great concern about the economy. in fact, 78% indicated they were very worried about the direction of the economy in the next few years. it may not come as a surprise that the top issue, the thing that mattered most today was the economy. another big concern is electability. the ability to beat barack obama . there we see nearly half. 45% said that was the quality that mattered most to them. finally with so much breaking news out of south carolina this week we found that a lot of voters were on the fence until the last minute. 53% said they made their minds up within the last few days. some of them today. we'll be watching closely to see what difference those late deciders made this this primary, lester.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46083881/

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Will Type For Food: Communications devolution

Seeing an e-reader on the train the other day, I was inspired with an overwhelming desire not to get one. No surprises there as I am an old grouch in a younger person's body, and I have that inspiration almost every day, but seriously, why buy them? Because you can't get a paper book with buttons on it? If I had a book like that, I'd spend all my time changing channels and never bother actually reading a book, which would somewhat defeat the purpose, old bean.

It's getting harder to keep up with the latest thing in the world of stuff. we don't just have to deal with the communications revolution, but the communications insurrection that happened after the first communications revolution, and then the communications putsch that happened after the communications insurrection, and then the communications coup, and the ongoing communications civil war, and so on, and so on. If I had kept up with all the things I was meant to keep up with in the thirty odd years that I have been on this earth, I would now be in possession of not only a laptop, and a blog, and an email, and a mobile phone, and a television, but I would also have an iPod, an iPad, an iBook, a video player, a cassette deck, a tape answering machine, a Super 8 player, a twitter account, a tumblr account, a fax machine, a Nintendo, an Atari, a Commodore 64, a Kodak camera, a ham radio set, a UHF, several phrase books of Japanese-English, French-English, Auslan-English, and possibly a set of message flags, a pigeon farm, and a telegraph machine. What would I do with all those things? I don't even want a bloody NBN, which Stephen Conroy keeps threatening me with.*

I mean, it's all a bit much for me. When I was a kid, communications was simple: the phone would ring, you would race your brothers to get it, and wrestle it out of their hands before shouting

HELLOTWOOHONEFOURONESIX!

And waiting for the lovely connection ladies on the other end to ask you nicely if your parents were around.** Now that is what communications should be about, ladies and gentlemen. Why did things ever change?

*Should be another ten years or so before it arrives anyway, there is that at least.

**Yes, we had a telephone exchange in Balranald. I guess we must have been one of the last places in Australia to get a wired up properly.

Source: http://willtypeforfood.blogspot.com/2012/01/communications-devolution.html

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NW storm cuts power, thousands try to stay warm (AP)

SEATTLE ? Tens of thousands of Pacific Northwest residents faced the prospect of a chilly weekend after a powerful storm brought snow and ice and left a tangle of fallen trees and damaged power lines. Several Oregon counties saw their worst flooding in more than a decade.

The National Weather Service forecast more rain and winds gusting as high as 40 mph Saturday in Western Washington, a combination that could bring down even more snow-laden and ice-damaged trees.

Nearly 230,000 customers were without power late Friday night in Western Washington, about 220,000 of them Puget Sound Energy customers.

The utility has brought in repair crews from across the West and planned to field more than 800 linemen on Saturday, in addition to tree-trimming crews, spokesman Roger Thompson said.

"The wind is a wild card that could set us back," he said, adding PSE hoped to have the majority of the outages restored by Sunday, although some customers will probably be without power into early next week.

The Weather Service predicted weekend lows in the mid-30s.

Several warming shelters have been opened in the area to aid people whose homes are without heat.

Despite warnings from emergency officials, the first cases of possible carbon monoxide poisoning surfaced Friday night. Two families in the Seattle suburb of Kent were taken to hospitals after suffering separate cases of possible poisoning. Both had been using charcoal barbecues indoors for heat.

The storm was already blamed for three deaths. A mother and her 1-year-old son died after torrential rain on Wednesday swept away a car from an Albany, Ore., grocery store parking lot. An elderly man was fatally injured Thursday by a falling tree as he was backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a backyard shed near Seattle.

On Washington's Mount Rainier, a blizzard kept rescuers from searching Friday for two campers and two climbers missing since early this week. Just east of that region, about 200 skiers and workers were able to leave the Crystal Mountain ski resort after transportation officials reopened the area's main highway, closed two days earlier by fallen trees.

Near Tacoma, three people escaped unharmed Friday when a heavy snow and ice load on the roof of an Allied Ice plant caused the building to collapse. West Pierce Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Hallie McCurdy said they heard loud noises and got out just in time.

As floodwaters receded, residents of Oregon's Willamette Valley began taking stock of damage in soaked cities.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber paid a visit Friday to the hard-hit town of Turner, where 100 homes were damaged or still underwater.

Friday's mainly dry streets belied a morning of terror barely 24 hours earlier, when emergency crews conducted 55 boat rescues as water filled streets, homes and businesses.

"You just watch the water rise hour by hour, and there's nothing you can do about it," Mayor Paul Thomas said. "It's a long, slower sort of torture."

Kitzhaber said the state would work with local and federal officials to try and get disaster funding to Turner and other communities hard-hit by flooding.

The governor praised residents' strong sense of community as neighbors helped each other.

Nancy Ko saw that spirit first-hand. From the safety of higher ground, she watched a live feed from a security camera as water rose over the curb and lapped against the front door of the convenience store and cafe she owns just feet from Mill Creek.

Out of the blue, five strangers showed up and plopped sandbags in front of the door, preventing damage that she believes would have otherwise been far more severe.

"Just a godsend," said Ko, a Korean immigrant who has owned the store for six years. "Good person, amazing persons."

Elsewhere in the Willamette Valley, a 35-year-old woman who drove a Ford Mustang into 4 feet of floodwater was plucked from the roof Friday by deputies who arrived by boat to save her. It was one of a number of dramatic rescues in western Oregon, left sodden by as much as 10 inches of rain in a day and a half that has brought region's worst flooding in 15 years.

Interstate 5, the main road connecting Seattle and Portland, was briefly closed near Centralia so crews could remove fallen power lines.

Much of Washington's capital, Olympia, was without power.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's office, legislative buildings and other state agencies in Olympia lost electricity for several hours before power was restored. The governor thanked repair crews late Friday by hand-delivering peanut butter cookies.

The storm was "a constant reminder of who's in charge. Mother Nature is in charge, she gives us a wake-up call every once in a while, this is one of those," Gregoire said.

It was still snowing in the Cascades, with up to 2 feet possible in the mountains over the weekend.

At Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, airlines were trying to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled Thursday. The airport's largest carrier, Alaska Airlines, canceled 50 of its 120 daily departures Friday. On Thursday, Alaska and sister airline Horizon canceled 310 flights to and from Seattle, affecting 29,000 passengers.

In Seattle, Carly Nelson was negotiating an icy sidewalk on her way to Starbucks. Nelson has been frequenting her neighborhood coffee shop to avoid cabin fever.

"I'm pretty tired of it. It gets old pretty fast. All my friends are stranded in little pockets and you can't get together to go to yoga," she said. "I'm just looking forward to being able to go wherever I want to go."

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Cooper reported from Oregon. Associated Press writers Doug Esser, Ted Warren, Rachel La Corte, Nigel Duara and Nicholas K. Geranios contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_northwest_storm

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More Evidence for Oxaliplatin as Colon Cancer Chemotherapy (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Adding oxaliplatin to a standard chemotherapy regimen boosts survival rates for patients with advanced colon cancer, according to a new study that bolsters previous research on the drug by looking at a broader group of patients.

"Physicians and patients should be reassured from our findings that oxaliplatin is associated with marginally but consistently superior survival for patients diagnosed before age 75 years in community settings," the study authors said in a news release.

In past studies, oxaliplatin, as an adjuvant to the established treatment of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), improved survival by up to 23 percent. But the new study looked at a different group of colon cancer patients, who were older, sicker, more racially diverse and had never participated in a controlled clinical study.

The study, led by Dr. Hanna Sanoff, an assistant professor of medicine, hematology and oncology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, appears in the Jan. 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Colon cancer is one of the world's deadliest diseases, with more than 100,000 Americans diagnosed last year, the researchers noted. Of these, roughly a third had an advanced -- stage 3 -- cancer, for which surgery is the principal treatment.

Surgery alone produces disease-free survival rates of between 15 percent and 50 percent five years following treatment, according to study background information. To improve their chances, patients often also undergo post-surgical chemotherapy.

Up until 2004, the drug 5-FU -- given in combination with leucovorin, which boosts its effects -- was the chemotherapy of choice for colon cancer, sparking a 26 percent drop in death rates compared to patients undergoing surgery alone.

But in 2004, several U.S. National Cancer Institute studies indicated that by adding oxaliplatin to the 5-FU mix, patients could see survival rates rise by yet another 23 percent.

The one caveat: Only a tiny slice of cancer patients (less than 2 percent) participated in those clinical trials, and those tended to be younger, healthier and less diverse than the larger general population of colon cancer patients.

To determine whether oxaliplatin would show a similar benefit among a "real-world" population of patients, the authors sifted through five cancer registries containing survival information on more than 4,000 people with stage 3 colon cancer. All were younger than 75, and all had begun chemotherapy -- either a standard regimen or in combination with oxaliplatin -- within four months of having surgery between 2004 and 2009.

Researchers compared their survival rates with those of nearly 8,300 patients who had participated in one of five different clinical trials using oxaliplatin.

The addition of oxaliplatin to standard chemotherapy protocols was found to be just as effective in prolonging survival among the community-based set of patients -- including the elderly, minorities and those with additional complicating health issues -- who were not enrolled in studies.

For her part, Dr. Felice Schnoll-Sussman, a gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, said the finding "goes along with what we've previously known."

"So, it's not surprising," she said. "But, certainly this is positive. The analysis doesn't focus on some of the most common adverse reactions seen with this combination. But in terms of survival, it certainly supports our previously held belief that oxaliplatin increases survival and lowers the chance of cancer returning in some of those stage 3 post-surgery patients."

More information

For more on colon cancer, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120120/hl_hsn/moreevidenceforoxaliplatinascoloncancerchemotherapy

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