How to Dig Yourself Out of Debt in the New Year

Story Published: Dec 28, 2011 at 7:08 PM MST

Story Updated: Dec 28, 2011 at 7:26 PM MST

BILLINGS - There's no shortage of household debt for the average family. But whether you have a little or a lot of it, there's plenty you can do to help set yourself on a healthier financial path for the new year.

Experts say you can start by getting control of those credit cards. "People will go out and run up numerous credit cards and run them up to the maximum limit, which can have a negative effect on their credit score," said Stacey Trotter, a senior loan approver with Valley Federal Credit Union.

If the temptation to spend is just too much, experts like Debt Reduction Service's branch manager Sharon Welborn say don't bring the cards with you. "Leave the plastic at home. Don't carry credit cards," she advised.

Also, consider just how much you spend eating out or filling up on coffee on a daily basis. It can very quickly eat into your budget. "Those little expenses like that cup of coffee you get everyday or that energy drink. And realize just how fast that adds up," said Welborn.

The simplest solution is just figuring out what's essential. "Is this something you really need or something you really want," is what Trotter said you should ask yourself before you make a purchase.

Managing finances for you and your family is certainly a challenge, but not impossible, and there are plenty of resources available to help you come up with a plan. "We offer all of our financial educational workshops free of charge to the public and to anyone that wants one-on-one counseling," said Welborn of her company's operation.

So with time and discipline, experts say 2012 can be the year you get your financial house in order.

Source: http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/How-to-Dig-Yourself-Out-of-Debt-in-the-New-Year-136349618.html

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GOP's Bachmann limps to Iowa caucus finish line

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. greets a supporter at a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Iowa State Senator Brad Zaun, right, arrives with Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. for a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is limping toward Tuesday's Iowa presidential caucuses.

She's losing staff. She's faced calls for her to abandon her bid. And she has no money.

Yet, the Minnesota congresswoman, at the back of the pack in polls, is vowing to soldier on, even if that means her candidacy will split the vote of pivotal conservatives in Iowa and allow for victories by a candidate who isn't seen as adhering as strongly to GOP orthodoxy ? like Mitt Romney or Ron Paul.

"Nobody's working harder," Bachmann says, declaring her campaign "strong" and suggesting that sheer hustle will carry her to victory.

Regarded as a tea party heroine, the only woman in the Republican race has struggled to revive her campaign since her standing dropped shortly after she won a statewide test vote in Iowa. That turned out to be the high point of her campaign.

She's spent the final week before Iowa's caucuses on a bus tour of the state's 99 counties. On Thursday, she passed around pieces of cake to diners in the town of Nevada to mark the end of the tour that had her cramming in 10 or more meet-and-greets a day in cafes, bowling alleys and pizza shops. Sometimes the crowds barely registered double digits; in other places they spilled out the doors.

But instead of ending the exhausting sprint on a high note, Bachmann found herself facing a new reality: Rick Santorum was the conservative candidate whose standing was rising ahead of the caucuses, not her.

She also found herself feuding with high-level advisers, only the latest to abandon her.

Two top Iowa advisers left the campaign on successive days this week, with her state chairman, Kent Sorenson, quitting and then going so far as to endorse Paul within hours of campaigning with her. A day later, Wes Enos said he was leaving his job as Bachmann's political director.

Furious, Bachmann spent much of Thursday accusing Sorenson of switching allegiances for money. He denied it. But the candidate found herself in a daylong spat rather than hammering home her closing message to voters.

To some, it was another sign of a campaign in free-fall.

"If you can't get your campaign on one page, it's really hard to think you're going to get a country on one page. The timing is horrible," said veteran Iowa Republican strategist David Roederer, who is unaffiliated in this year's race but held top Iowa posts in John McCain's 2008 campaign and George W. Bush's 2000 bid.

It didn't help that the departures came on top of calls by some Iowa pastors that either she or Santorum leave the race so evangelical voters can consolidate their support and block a victory by Romney or Paul. She quickly rejected the plea.

Brad Cranston, a pastor from Burlington who originally liked the idea of a merged campaign, said he's given up on that prospect and will stick with Bachmann. So will Pastor Bill Tvedt of Oskaloosa, even if he knows her chances of winning have taken a hit.

"Maybe she is out of the running at this point," Tvedt said. "I think she can come back. To bail out on the basis of electability is self-defeating to the process."

But even if she stays in the race through Tuesday, it's doubtful she could sustain a campaign beyond that.

Despite her reputation as a prolific fundraiser, she's virtually out of money. Bachmann didn't air a single TV ad in December and won't broadcast one until the day before the caucuses.

Instead, she's rolling out Internet videos, like the one she filmed this week that cast her as the "Iron Lady" of the 21st century.

And she's urging Republicans on the fence to ignore her stagnant or slipping poll numbers ? and Santorum's rise.

It's unclear whether she's having any luck.

Recent college graduate Adam Fischer sized up Bachmann in central Iowa and liked her solidly conservative voting record, but he said he may still opt for Santorum.

"I don't want to become subject to that poll mentality because that's what gets us weak candidates," Fischer said. Then he acknowledged that the one with the head of steam come Tuesday will probably get his vote.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-30-Bachmann-Turmoil/id-7b4c9f4957d145cfa99b8bc5c5008622

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12 must-see skywatching events in 2012

As the year 2011 comes to a close, some might wonder what is looming sky-wise for 2012? What celestial events might we look forward to seeing??

I've selected what I consider to be the top 12 "skylights" for this coming year, and list them here in chronological order. Not all these events will be visible from any one locality ... for the eclipses, for instance, you'll probably have to do some traveling ... but many can be observed from the comfort of your backyard.

Hopefully your local weather will cooperate on most, if not all, of these dates. Clear skies!

Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks
This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that's when you'll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors.?

From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50 to 100 "Quads" in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors.

Feb. 20 to March 12: Best evening apparition of Mercury
In February and March, the "elusive" innermost planet Mercury moves far enough from the glare of the sun to be readily visible soon after sunset. Its appearance will be augmented by two other bright planets (Venus and Jupiter), which also will be visible in the western sky during this same time frame.

Mercury will arrive at its greatest elongation from the sun March 5. It will be quite bright (-1.3 to zero magnitude) before this date and will fade rapidly to +1.6 magnitude thereafter. Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in terms of magnitude, with lower numbers corresponding to brighter objects.

March 3: Mars arrives at opposition
On March 3, Earth will be passing Mars as the two planets wheel around the sun in their respective orbits. Because Mars reaches aphelion ? its farthest point from the sun ? on Feb. 15, this particular opposition will be an unfavorable one. In fact, two days after opposition, Mars will be closest to Earth at a distance of 62.6 million miles.

Compare this with the August 2003 opposition when Mars was only 34.6 million miles away.? Nonetheless, even at this unfavorable opposition the fiery-hued Mars will be an imposing naked-eye sight, shining at magnitude -1.2, just a bit dimmer than Sirius, the brightest star, and will be visible in the sky all night long. ? ?

March 13: Brilliant 'double planet'
The two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, team up to make for an eye-catching sight in the western sky soon after sunset. They will be separated by 3 degrees on this evening, Venus passing to the northwest (upper right) of Jupiter and shining nearly eight times brighter than "Big Jupe." Although they will gradually go their separate ways after this date, on March 25 and 26, a crescent moon will pass by, adding additional beauty to this celestial scene.

1. More space news from msnbc.com

   1. Probes may find remnants of moon's lost sibling

      Two identical NASA space probes are due to arrive at the moon this weekend to learn what is inside Earth's companion and how it formed.

   2. China reveals its space plans up to 2016
   3. First meteor shower of 2012 comes next week
   4. Russian officials rattled by breach at rocket plant

May 5: Biggest full moon of 2012
The moon turns full at 11:35 p.m. ET, and just 25 minutes later it will arrive at its closest point to Earth in 2012, at a distance of 221,801 miles. Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days. [Photos: 'Supermoon' of 2011]

May 20: Annular eclipse of the sun
The path of annularity for this eclipse starts over eastern China and sweeps northeast across southern and central Japan. The path continues northeast then east, passing just south of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. The path then turns to the southeast, making landfall in the western United States along the California-Oregon coast. It will pass over central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, the extreme southwest corner of Colorado and most of New Mexico before coming to an end over northern Texas.

Since the disk of the moon will appear smaller than the disk of the sun, it will create a "penny on nickel" effect, with a fiery ring of sunlight shining around the moon's dark silhouette. Locations that will witness this eerie sight include Eureka and Reading, Calif.; Carson City, Reno and Ely, Nev.; Bryce Canyon in Utah; Arizona's Grand Canyon; Albuquerque and Santa Fe in N.M., and just prior to sunset for Lubbock, Tex.

A partial eclipse of the sun will be visible over a large swath of the United States and Canada, including Alaska and Hawaii, but no eclipse will be visible near and along the Atlantic Seaboard.

June 4: Partial eclipse of the moon
This partial lunar eclipse favors the Pacific Ocean; Hawaii sees it high in the sky during the middle of its night. Across North America the eclipse takes place between midnight and dawn. The farther east one goes, the closer the time of moonset coincides with the moment that the moon enters the Earth's dark umbral shadow.

In fact, over the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, the only evidence of this eclipse will be a slight shading on the moon's left edge (the faint penumbral shadow) before moonset. Over the Canadian Maritimes, the moon will set before the eclipse begins. At maximum, more than one-third of the moon's lower portion (37.6 percent) will be immersed in the umbra.

June 5: Rare transit of Venus across the sun
The passage of Venus in front of the sun is among the rarest of astronomical events, rarer even than the return of Halley's Comet every 76 years. Only six transits of Venus are known to have been observed by humans before: in 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and, most recently, in 2004.

The next one will occur in the year 2114. When Venus is in transit across the solar disk, the planet appears as a distinct, albeit tiny, round black spot with a diameter just 1/32nd of the sun. This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye.?

HOWEVER ... prospective observers are warned to take special precautions (as with a solar eclipse) when attempting to view the silhouette of Venus against the blindingly brilliant solar disc.

The beginning of the transit will be visible from all of North America, Greenland, extreme northern and western portions of South America, Hawaii, northern and eastern portions of Asia including Japan, New Guinea, northern and eastern portions of Australia, and New Zealand. The end will be visible over Alaska, all of Asia and Indonesia, Australia, Eastern Europe, the eastern third of Africa, and the island nation of Madagascar.

Aug. 12: Perseid meteor shower
The Perseids are considered to be among the best of the annual displays thanks to its high rates of up to 90 per hour for a single observer, as well as its reliability. Beloved by summer campers and often discovered by city dwellers who might be spending time in the country under dark starry skies. [10 Perseid Meteor Shower Facts]

Last summer a bright moon wrecked the shower by blotting out many of the fainter streaks, but in 2012 the moon will be three days past last quarter phase on this peak morning ? a fat waning crescent presenting only a minor nuisance for prospective observers.

Nov. 13: Total eclipse of the sun
The first total solar eclipse since July 2010. Virtually the entire path of totality falls over water. At the very beginning, the track cuts through Australia's Northern Territory just to the east of Darwin, then across the Gulf of Carpentaria, then through northern Queensland, passing over Cairns and Port Douglas before heading out to sea.

The rest of the eclipse path, including the point of the maximum duration of totality (4 minutes, 2 seconds) is, unfortunately, pretty much wasted by falling over the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Dec. 13-14: Geminid meteor shower
If there is one meteor display guaranteed to put on a very entertaining show it is the Geminid meteor shower. Now considered by most meteor experts to be at the top of the list, surpassing in brilliance and reliability even the August Perseids.

Bundle warmly against the winter chill; you can start observing as soon as darkness falls on the evening of Dec. 13 as Gemini starts coming up above the eastern horizon and continue through the rest of the night. Around 2 a.m. when Gemini is almost directly overhead, you might see as many as two meteor sightings per minute ? 120 per hour! And the moon is new, meaning that it will not be a factor at all.

Dec. 25: Christmas evening and Jupiter
On Christmas, many will be looking skyward and wondering what that brilliant silvery "star" is hovering just above the waxing gibbous moon. It's not a star (or Santa returning to the North Pole), but the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, serving as a sort of holiday ornament with our nearest neighbor in space to cap off a year of interesting and predictable sky events that we all can enjoy!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

? 2011 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45828528/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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In the Year 9595

Image: Illustration by Daniel Hertzberg

Watson is the IBM computer built by David Ferrucci and his team of 25 research scientists tasked with designing an artificial-intelligence (AI) system that can rival human champions at the game of Jeopardy. After beating the greatest Jeopardy champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, in February 2011, the computer is now being employed in more practical tasks such as answering diagnostic medical questions.

I have a question: Does Watson know that it won Jeopardy? Did it think, ?Oh, yeah! I beat the great Ken Jen!?? In other words, did Watson feel flushed with pride after its victory? This has been my standard response when someone asks me about the great human-versus-machine Jeopardy shoot-out; people always respond in the negative, understanding that such self-awareness is not yet the province of computers. So I put the line of inquiry to none other than Ferrucci at a recent conference. His answer surprised me: ?Yes, Watson knows it won Jeopardy.? I was skeptical: How can that be, since such self-awareness is not yet possible in computers? ?Because I told it that it won,? he replied with a wry smile.

Of course. You could even program Watson to vocalize a Howard Dean?like victory scream, but that is still a far cry from its feeling triumphant. That level of self-awareness in computers, and the time when it might be achieved, was a common theme at the Singularity Summit held in New York City on the weekend of October 15?16, 2011. There hundreds of singularitarians gathered to be apprised of our progress toward the date of 2045, set by visionary computer scientist Ray Kurzweil as being when computer intelligence will exceed that of all humanity by one billion times, humans will realize immortality, and technological change will be so rapid and profound that we will witness an intellectual event horizon beyond which, like its astronomical black hole namesake, life is not the same.

I was at once both inspired and skeptical. When asked my position on immortality, for example, I replied, ?I?m for it!? But wishing for eternal life?and being offered unprovable ways of achieving it?has been a theme for billions of people throughout history. My baloney-detection alarm goes off whenever a soothsayer writes himself and his generation into the forecast, proclaiming that the Biggest Thing to Happen to Humanity Ever will occur in the prophet?s own lifetime. I abide by the Copernican principle that we are not special. For once, I would like to hear a futurist or religious diviner predict that ?it? is going to happen in, say, the year 2525 or 7510. But where?s the hope in that? Herein lies the appeal of Kurzweil and his band of singularity hopefuls. No matter how distressing it may be when the bad news daily assaults our senses, our eyes should be on the prize just over the horizon. Be patient.

Patience is what we are going to need because, in my opinion, we are centuries away from AI matching human intelligence. As California Institute of Technology neuroscientist Christof Koch noted in narrating the wiring diagram of the entire nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans, we are clueless in understanding how this simple roundworm ?thinks,? much less in explicating (and reproducing in a computer) a human mind billions of times more complex. We don?t even know how our brain produces conscious thoughts or where the ?self? is located (if it can be found anywhere at all), much less how to program a machine to do the same. Pop rock duo Zager and Evans were probably closer in their 1969 hit song In the Year 2525?s prediction that the biggest milestones would happen between the years 2525 and 9595, their exordium and terminus.

An irony: amid all this highfalutin braggadocio of how close we are to computers taking over the world and emulating human thought, I had to give my talk on the ?social singularity? (progress in political, economic and social systems over the past 10,000 years) early because Rice University computer scientist James McLurkin could not get his small swarm of robots to work. Either someone?s wireless mic or the room?s wireless network was interfering with the tiny robots? communications system, and no one could figure out how to solve the problem. My prediction for the Singularity: we are 10 years away ... and always will be.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=bf739ecfe328cc73ff3c22111969c414

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Asian stocks mostly down on Europe bank worries (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets were mostly lower Thursday as traders shied away from riskier assets as the year drew to a close, but hopes for a successful bond issue in Italy boosted shares in Europe.

Benchmark oil lingered above $99 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen.

European shares edged up in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was marginally higher at 5,511.32. Germany's DAX rose 0.3 percent to 5,788.06. France's CAC-40 was 0.3 percent higher at 5,788.01. Wall Street was headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures gaining 0.2 percent at 12,099. Broader S&P 500 futures rose 0.1 percent at 1,245.80.

Earlier in Asia, however, investors booked losses amid light trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3 percent to close at 8,398.89. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 0.7 percent lower at 18,397.92. Australia's S&P ASX 200 fell 0.4 percent to end 4,071.10. Benchmarks in India and Singapore were also lower.

Other Asian markets eked out small gains. South Korea's Kospi reversed earlier losses and closed marginally higher at 1,825.74. On mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to end at 2,173.56, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.1 percent to finish at 850.94.

Investor sentiment waned in Asia hours after the European Central Bank said banks had parked $590.72 billion with it overnight Wednesday. That surpassed the record set only Monday and showed that European banks were using money lent by the ECB bank to park money there instead, rather than make loans to each other.

Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong, said the action on the part of the banks "defeated the purpose" of the ECB lending operation, which was to spur business activity.

"Investors are disappointed at the development," Lun said. "Europe still has not found an answer on how to solve its sovereign debt crisis. There's no solution, and they are trying cosmetic measures, which really do not address the problem."

The development also shook confidence in the euro, which on Wednesday dropped to $1.2910 ? its lowest level against the dollar in nearly a year ? before recovering slightly.

Traders were closely watching for the results of an auction of longer-dated bonds by Italy later Thursday. The country held what was deemed a surprisingly successful auction of short-term bonds Wednesday, with sharply lower interest rates than at a similar auction a month before.

Meanwhile, the yen's rise to a 10-year high against the euro put stress on Japan's exporters. Kyodo News agency said the euro briefly fell to 100.35 yen in Tokyo, its lowest level against the Japanese currency since June 2001. Honda Motor Corp. fell 0.8 percent. Sharp Corp. shed 3.2 percent.

Commodity shares in Australia came under pressure amid worries about the state of the global economy. Gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. lost 3 percent. Mining giant Rio Tinto fell 0.4 percent. OZ Minerals fell 2.9 percent after the company said copper concentrate may have spilled from a derailed train.

In currency trading Thursday, the euro fell to $1.2920 from $1.2941 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 77.70 yen from 77.91 yen.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 28 cents to $99.65 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.98 to settle at $99.36 in New York on Wednesday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_as/world_markets

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Over 65 million years, North American mammal evolution has tracked with climate change

ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? Climate changes profoundly influenced the rise and fall of six distinct, successive waves of mammal species diversity in North America over the last 65 million years, shows a novel statistical analysis led by Brown University evolutionary biologists. Warming and cooling periods, in two cases confounded by species migrations, marked the transition from one dominant grouping to the next.

History often seems to happen in waves -- fashion and musical tastes turn over every decade and empires give way to new ones over centuries. A similar pattern characterizes the last 65 million years of natural history in North America, where a novel quantitative analysis has identified six distinct, consecutive waves of mammal species diversity or "evolutionary faunas." What force of history determined the destiny of these groupings? The numbers say it was typically climate change.

"Although we've always known in a general way that mammals respond to climatic change over time, there has been controversy as to whether this can be demonstrated in a quantitative fashion," said Christine Janis, professor of evolutionary biology at Brown University. "We show that the rise and fall of these faunas is indeed correlated with climatic change -- the rise or fall of global paleotemperatures -- and also influenced by other more local perturbations such as immigration events."

Specifically, of the six waves of species diversity that Janis and her Spanish collaborators recently describe online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, four show statistically significant correlations with major changes in temperature. The two transitions that show a weaker but still apparent correlation with the pattern correspond to periods when mammals from other continents happened to invade in large numbers, said Janis, who is the paper's senior and second author.

Previous studies of the potential connection between climate change and mammal species evolution have counted total species diversity in the fossil record over similar time periods. But in this analysis, led by postdoctoral scholar Borja Figueirido, the scientists asked whether there were any patterns within the species diversity that might be significant. They were guided by a similar methodology pioneered in a study of "evolutionary faunas" in marine invertebrates by Janis' late husband Jack Sepkoski, who was a paleontologist at the University of Chicago.

What the authors found is six distinct and consecutive groupings of mammal species that shared a common rise, peak, and decline in their numbers. For example, the "Paleocene fauna" had largely given way to the "early-middle Eocene fauna" by about 50 million years ago. Moreover, the authors found that these transfers of dominance correlated with temperature shifts, as reflected in data on past levels of atmospheric oxygen (determined from the isotopes in the fossilized remains of deep sea microorganisms).

By the numbers, the research showed correlations between species diversity and temperature change, but qualitatively, it also provided a narrative of how the traits of typical species within each wave made sense given the changes in vegetation that followed changes in climate. For example, after a warming episode about 20 million years in the early Miocene epoch, the dominant vegetation transitioned from woodland to a savannah-like grassland. It is no surprise, therefore, that many of the herbivores that comprised the accompanying "Miocene fauna" had high-crowned teeth that allowed them to eat the foods from those savannah sources.

To the extent that the study helps clarify scientists' understanding of evolution amid climate changes, it does not do so to the extent that they can make specific predictions about the future, Janis said. But it seems all the clearer that climate change has repeatedly had meaningful effect over millions of years.

"Such perturbations, related to anthropogenic climatic change, are currently challenging the fauna of the world today, emphasizing the importance of the fossil record for our understanding of how past events affected the history of faunal diversification and extinction, and hence how future climactic changes may continue to influence life on earth," the authors wrote in the paper.

In addition to Janis and Figueirido at Brown, the other authors are Juan Perez-Claros and Paul Palmqvist at the University of Malaga and Miguel De Renzi at the University of Valencia in Spain. Figueirido is also affiliated with Malaga.

Grants from the Fulbright program, the Bushnell Foundation (to Brown) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation funded the research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.

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Journal Reference:

1. Borja Figueirido, Christine M. Janis, Juan A. P?rez-Claros, Miquel De Renzi, and Paul Palmqvist. Cenozoic climate change influences mammalian evolutionary dynamics. PNAS, December 27, 2011 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1110246108

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111227093055.htm

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Swap MP3s in Google Music, Amazon Cloud, and iTunes

Right now, it's a great time to be a music lover with a digital collection, but it may not be so great if you haven't committed to a single device.

I'm a great lover of gadgets, so I have a few iOS devices, a few Android devices, and a Kindle Fire, which uses a version of Android restricted to Amazon. If I want to listen to my music collection, I've got three different options, and some of those options won't work on other devices. I also really like a good bargain, and this year both Amazon and Google are eager to win customer loyalty with fantastic sales and even giveaways on music. That means I've got a pastiche of music sources and cloud storage options, and I've yet to commit to one place to listen to it all. Are you in the same boat? If so, this tutorial is for you.

The best solution is to duplicate the collection in iCloud/iTunes, the Amazon Cloud, and Google Music. All three places offer some free storage of purchased music, and if one source fills up or decides to start charging, you can still rely on the other two. One caveat: They don't work in every country.? I can only guarantee that these services work in the US.

I started with my iPod many years ago. I'd used iTunes to rip all my CDs, and I had a few songs I purchased. Apple and other companies stopped selling music with DRM restrictions years ago, but I still have some earlier DRM-restricted purchases in my collection. I can't move songs with DRM to other cloud players, but there are ways around that problem.? I think that's a common starting point, so let's go from there. If you're using Mac OSX Lion or an iOS 5 device, you can take advantage of iCloud, which is a lot like iTunes only the syncing is stored online, but you can't use it with other devices. You could use an app like DoubleTwist, but I like the idea of just having my music where I need it .

Getting Your iTunes Music to Google Music

1. Google Music is on the Web at music.google.com.?
2. You'll need to sign up for an account.
3. Next, you can download the Google Music Manager to run on your Windows or Mac desktop. This handy little app can be set to upload all your non-DRM iTunes music. It may take a few (or several) hours to upload your collection, but once you've done that step, you can also set it to upload all future non-DRM MP3 and AAC files that end up in your iTunes library. That's important for future purchases. It means any songs you buy from Apple or download from Amazon or any other source are going to end up in your Google Music library without you having to think about it.
   

Getting Your Google Music Back to iTunes

You can use that same Google Music Manager on your desktop to download your music.

1. Go to the preferences and pick Download.
2. Choose the check mark next to "Only include songs since last download."
3. Choose your iTunes music library for the download location.
   
4. That means you'll download any new songs you purchase and make it a two-way street for syncing.
   

Getting Your Music to Amazon Cloud Player

Amazon can do the same thing with their Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, but it's a slightly more manual process. The good news is that you currently have unlimited space for music.

1. You'll need to download two desktop apps. There's a downloader and an uploader.
2. Use the uploader to upload your non-DRM iTunes files into Amazon's Cloud Player. Just point it to your iTunes library.
   
3. Set Amazon to automatically download new purchases as well as adding them to Cloud Player.
4. Drag the songs into iTunes. This will both add them to iTunes and trigger Google Music to upload them.
   
5. Run the uploader again whenever you add more music to iTunes. It won't duplicate existing songs in your Cloud Drive.?

It doesn't take much effort to keep your music stored in all three places, but if you only use two services, you can skip whichever service you don't use. Use a generic folder instead of your iTunes library, for example.

Source: http://google.about.com/od/androidOS/a/Keep-All-Your-Mp3-Songs-In-Amazon-Cloud-Itunes-Icloud-And-Google-Music.htm

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Paul returns to Iowa as rivals eye his supporters

A campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, sits in front of home, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, sits in front of home, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich makes a stop at the National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville, Iowa, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, in Dyersville, Iowa. Gingrich also made stops in Dubuque and Decorah Tuesday afternoon and evening. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Nikole Hanna)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry answers questions during a campaign stop at the Glenn Miller Museum in Clarinda, Iowa, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. speaks during a campaign stop at Scooter's Coffeehouse , Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is rallying his diehard supporters, whom his rivals regard as the greatest complication in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

With less than a week until Iowa's leadoff contest, Paul planned to meet with supporters near Des Moines. The other GOP candidates spread out across the state Wednesday to woo potential caucus-goers, many of whom are still undecided amid a flood of television and radio ads. Paul's rivals also worked to disqualify him on social issues, foreign affairs and even his decades-old newsletter.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday he couldn't vote for Paul if he were to become the GOP nominee and called his views "totally outside the mainstream of every decent American" during an interview with CNN.

Gov. Rick Perry said during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs that his fellow Texan was dangerous: "You don't have to vote for a candidate who would allow Iran to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and then ultimately America."

As Paul's poll numbers have risen, so has scrutiny of him. That has led to questions about a newsletter he published in the early 1990s, when he was not serving in Congress. Among the quotes from the newsletter: "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."

Paul has said many of the passages were written by aides but acknowledged he was responsible.

A conservative with libertarian leanings, Paul commands strong allegiance from his supporters but appears to have little potential to expand his appeal and emerge as a serious challenger for the nomination. Yet he could complicate other candidates' pathway to the nomination.

Some polls show Paul on top in Iowa, and a caucus victory for him could prove embarrassing to candidates such as Rep. Michele Bachmann or former Sen. Rick Santorum. Both essentially relocated to Iowa ? it's Bachmann's birthplace ? with hopes that momentum from here would launch a national campaign.

"If I finish dead last, way behind the pack, I'm going to pack up and go home," Santorum said in a radio interview on WHO in Des Moines. "But I don't think that's going to happen."

Santorum, more than any of the others, has campaigned in Iowa the old-fashioned way ? by doggedly visiting all 99 counties and holding hundreds of town hall meetings.

Bachmann was trying to match that. She scheduled 11 stops Wednesday to build momentum and media attention. She is lagging in fundraising, as her rivals have poured millions of dollars in advertising onto the airwaves.

The candidates and allied groups have spent more than $12 million on commercials to air through caucus day next Tuesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Perry and groups supporting the two men account for almost half the total, according to one estimate.

Gingrich and Perry also planned to continue their bus tours, although at a slower clip.

Romney, who a day earlier looked past his Republican rivals toward the general election during a speech to Iowans, planned the first three stops of his tour in a state he had largely kept at arm's length.

"Mr. President, you have now had your moment," he said Tuesday, criticizing President Barack Obama and sounding every bit the nominee he hopes to become. "We have seen the results. And now, Mr. President, it is our time."

___

AP Special Correspondent David Espo in Des Moines and Associated Press writers Charles Babington in Des Moines, Tom Beaumont in Mason City, Shannon McCaffrey in Dubuque and Kasie Hunt in Davenport, Iowa, and Steve Peoples in New Hampshire contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-28-GOP%20Campaign/id-34268ecc89b24b0794f7c5d75ca26107

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Japan, China come together for restarting talks with North Korea

Home

Argentina News.Net
Sunday 25th December, 2011

BEIJING Death of North Korean leader Kim Jong II and the uncertainty about the new regime, on Sunday saw unlikely allies Japan and China reach out to each other in a bid to promote regional stability.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on a visit to China met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao here Sunday to work out the plans to restart talks with North Korea aimed at persuading it to end its nuclear weapons programme.

"With the passing away of Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, we are currently facing a new situation in East Asia," said Noda at a press conference after talks with the Chinese premier.

"Safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is in the common interest of our two countries," Noda emphasized. "On this issue, it is very timely to exchange views with the host of the six-party talks and the country with the most influence on North Korea."

The six-party talks is aimed at getting North Korea to stop its nuclear programme. In 2009, North Korea walked out of the six-party talks, which includes, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas. After disengaging from the talks, North Korea had exploded a second nuclear-test device.

Tension in the region escalated last year after two alleged military attacks by North Korea on South Korea.

Normally the bilateral talks would have revolved round issues of mutual concern, including territorial disputes to gain control over energy resources in the East China Sea.

But the death of North Korea's leader Kim on December 17 and the announcement of his younger son Kim Jong Un taking over as the "supreme leader" has shifted the focus to issues of greater regional concern.

Among the six-party group, China has the closest links with North Korea being its supplier of food and energy resources.

Premier Wen also underlined the need for both the countries to cooperate.

The visit of Noda, who came to power in September, was planned prior to the official announcement of Kim's death on December 19.

Noda is scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday before returning home. Earlier, in November Noda had met Hu on the sidelines of an Asian-Pacific regional meeting in Hawaii.

Marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between their countries, in 2012 both Japan and China are keen to work towards building closer cooperation.

To realize this objective, officials from both countries Sunday signed memorandums of understanding on youth exchanges and setting up an investment fund for promoting clean energy and environmental protection.

?

Source: http://www.argentinanews.net/story/202137063

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London subway strike delays Boxing Day shoppers

People rush into a department store as it opens for Boxing Day sales in central London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Despite disruptions caused by London's subway drivers striking over a pay dispute, large crowds of shoppers started flooding department stores in London as soon as doors opened early Monday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

People rush into a department store as it opens for Boxing Day sales in central London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Despite disruptions caused by London's subway drivers striking over a pay dispute, large crowds of shoppers started flooding department stores in London as soon as doors opened early Monday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

People crowd into a department store as it opens for Boxing Day sales in central London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Despite disruptions caused by London's subway drivers striking over a pay dispute, large crowds of shoppers started flooding department stores in London as soon as doors opened early Monday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

People queue early in the morning outside a department store ahead of it opening for Boxing Day sales in central London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Despite disruptions caused by London's subway drivers striking over a pay dispute, large crowds of shoppers started flooding department stores in London as soon as doors opened early Monday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

People rush into a department store as it opens for Boxing Day sales in central London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. Despite disruptions caused by London's subway drivers striking over a pay dispute, large crowds of shoppers started flooding department stores in London as soon as doors opened early Monday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Underground trains are parked during a 24-hour strike by train drivers over public holiday pay, at Mordern depot, south London, Monday, Dec. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

LONDON (AP) ? London's subway drivers walked out over a pay dispute Monday, causing trouble for thousands of shoppers out to take advantage of traditional Boxing Day sales.

Transport for London warned that shoppers seeking bargains in the capital's shopping centers face "significant disruption." Several subway lines have been suspended, and limited services are operating on the rest of the network.

The ASLEF union is staging the one-day strike to demand extra pay as well as a day off for members working on the public holiday.

The London Underground ? the organization that manages the subway system ? condemned the move, saying it was pointless and demonstrated "a complete disregard for our customers." Authorities said extra buses are running in the main shopping areas to cater to the increased flow of travelers on one of the year's busiest shopping days.

Despite the disruptions, large crowds of shoppers ? some lining up from midnight ? started flooding department stores in London and other British cities as soon as doors opened early Monday.

Selfridges, one of Britain's most popular department stores, reported its biggest ever first hour of trading Monday morning.

In northwest London, the Brent Cross shopping center said that 10,000 people had piled through its doors within an hour of opening.

The ASLEF union plans to stage three more strikes in January and February if the dispute is not resolved.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-26-EU-Britain-Subway-Strike/id-e3c0845bf3c14034a440d6e4e1f6a567

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Will retail campaigning help 'the others' rise? (AP)

DeWITT, Iowa ? Rick Perry drew standing-room-only crowds. Michele Bachmann lost her voice. Rick Santorum made a duel pitch _for votes and cash.

And all mixed serious policy talk with everyday chit-chat while doggedly, if not desperately, traveling the state, from Dubuque in the east to Council Bluffs in the west and back again in their individual quests for late-game surges in the Republican presidential race.

Running behind in the polls ahead of the Jan. 3, Iowa caucuses, this trio of conservatives campaigned the old-fashioned way, in town squares, coffee shops and community centers, with routes so well-trodden that they sometimes came within hours of crossing paths in the same city.

"I grew up with snow. I grew up a little farther north than most people realize," Perry told one packed diner here as snow began falling outside ? a Texas governor with a Southern drawl trying to connect with Midwesterners who craned their necks to snap pictures of him. He wandered through the Whisk Away Cafe to talk economics with patrons eating chicken and dumplings. Later, he walked through town and ducked into a barbershop to laugh it up with retired veterans in for a trim.

Hours after that, Bachmann was the center of attention in this eastern Iowa town, speaking to county Republicans at a community center and reminding them, as she does often, that she spent her childhood in Iowa. "This election is our last chance," the Minnesota congresswoman said, delivering a sober message in a raspy voice after shaking every voter's hand. "We cannot afford to get this election wrong. This is our exit ramp."

Bachmann and Perry each logged more than 1,000 miles last week aboard campaign buses that made stops at gas stations and catering companies, sports bars and churches. Santorum, who visited each of the state's 99 counties on his own tour earlier this year, is spending the run-up to the caucuses returning to many of those places.

"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," Santorum said, poking at Perry and Bachmann.

The three ? their presidential candidacies likely come down to strong finishes in Iowa_ are betting that Republicans here will reward them for engaging in the hand-to-hand, retail campaigning that Iowans typically demand of White House hopefuls. The leading contenders in polls ? Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul ? have simply bopped into the state on occasion to woo voters rather than planting themselves in the state.

To varying degrees, Romney, Gingrich and Paul have chosen to compete primarily through TV advertising, nationally televised debates and interviews on media outlets like Fox News Channel. And that strategy has seemed to pay off for them; they are clustered at the top of the GOP field ? at least for now.

Little more than a week before the caucuses, the race in Iowa is arguably any candidate's to win given that polls show that many likely caucus-goers are still undecided or willing to change their minds. So, it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone other than those three could get first, second or third place in the caucuses that typically winnow the presidential field ahead of the next-up New Hampshire primary.

To be sure, time is short for them to rise. And, for Bachmann and Santorum at least, money is, too.

Among the trio, Perry is the only one with the cash to run ads ? $4.4 million so far on the air here. Santorum, by contrast, has aired his first TV ad just twice so far for about $24,000, and just rolled out his second spot Friday. And the cash-strapped Bachmann is only just now starting to run radio and TV commercials in the homestretch, her first since before her August straw poll victory in Iowa. In them, she stresses her Christian values and that she's "an Iowa girl from Waterloo." The TV ads offer testimonials from voters she encountered so far on her 99-county tour. Until now, she'd largely been relying on constant interviews with national broadcast outlets to reach voters.

Given the time and money constraints, the candidates have little choice but to canvass Iowa's small towns to find votes with old-school persuasion ? and hope for the best.

Pack a bed and breakfast's living room for a rousing indictment of Washington? Perry is the guy to do it, even though his message isn't breaking through. Pose for pictures at a rest stop? Bachmann does it, even though only a dozen fans show up and she's there just minutes. Challenge Iowans on their knowledge of home-state trivia? Santorum is on it.

The schedules are tough.

In one day, Bachmann made 10 stops ? and a primetime appearance on Fox News Channel.

The voters are skeptical.

Dale Peters, a retiree, followed Perry from business to business hoping to hear him speak and was disappointed, complaining: "Is he going to do anything other than shake hands? People want to hear him, not just see him. So far, all he's done is smile."

For all three, the plea is the same in the closing days of the Iowa caucuses. And it's a humbling one.

"Don't defer to national polls or pundits," Santorum told supporters in an Iowa City living room. And Bachmann told the parents of high school students: "I need your support on Jan. 3 ... We are really going to surprise the nation on Jan. 3, Iowa."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans_the_others

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dennisl: @csunwebmaster Thanks for the tip! One of the 3 heaters the landlord brought over is oil filled. Cold mornings lately up here n NorCal...

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@csunwebmaster Thanks for the tip! One of the 3 heaters the landlord brought over is oil filled. Cold mornings lately up here n NorCal... Il y a environ 4 heures via Easy Chirp en r?ponse ? csunwebmaster

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Vote: Who plays the perfect Sarah Palin?

By Randee Dawn, TODAY.com contributor

NBC, HBO

Tina Fey, left, and Julianne Moore in character as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Who's the best Sarah Palin impersonator?

Well, until recently, Tina Fey -- of course! The "30 Rock" star practically wrote the book on the former Alaska governor, who lost her bid for the vice-presidency in 2008, running alongside John McCain.

Fey's impersonation alongside "Parks and Recreation" star Amy Poehler (as Hillary Clinton) on "SNL" went huge as a viral video, and Fey even earned the Associated Press Entertainer of the Year award for the portrayal.

But ... Fey may have some serious competition. HBO has recently released a clip of its upcoming "Game Change" film, which looks at McCain's presidential campaign -- and, of course, his pairing with the surprisingly telegenic Palin. But rather than hire Fey, the filmmakers went with ... four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore. And really, the appearance is truly striking.

So we ask you: Who is the better Sarah Palin?

{"contentId":"9630788","totalVotes":"10211"}

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Source: http://scoop.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/22/9630788-vote-who-plays-the-perfect-sarah-palin

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Rome Street Style with Serena Belcastro

Rome / Italiano

yesterday

Satellite Voices Rome's street style collaborator represents the city's creative youth with a new December series

Month after month, our guest photographer Serena Belcastro brings us suggestive portraits of the city's creative youth. Linking every character to their own favourite spot in the city, fashion stylist and photographer Serena brings a new take on street style photography. You can check out more of her ethereal images and get to know a little more about her creative world through her? blog and?Tumblr.

L - R?

Roberta
22, graphic designer - Piazza della Madonna dei Monti

Marco
22, student - Via Giulia

Valeria
27, student and sales associate at American Apparel - Piazza degli Zingari

Olga
24, writer and journalist - Via Panisperna

Daniela
26, American Apparel brand manager - Via dei Serpenti

Matteo & Giacomo?
24 & 22, Psych Out's promoters and members of the band Wildmen? - Piazza di San Calisto

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Source: http://www.satellitevoices.com/rome/fashion/1987/rome-street-style-with-serena-belcastro

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NY man sues airlines over 'underwear bomber' plot

NEW YORK?? A New York man is suing Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM for $10 million for injuries he says he sustained while helping to stop the so-called "underwear bomber" from blowing up a plane on Christmas Day 2009.

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In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday, Theophilus Maranga says he "risked his life" by jumping on the would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound flight from Amsterdam with a bomb stashed in his underwear.

Abdulmutallab's clothes caught fire after he tried to detonate the explosives.

The lawsuit said Maranga lost a tooth and suffered injuries to his ribs , permanent numbness in his hands and a pain in his neck that hampers his movements. It accuses Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, who are in an airline alliance, of negligence for "allowing a bomber to board their aircraft with an explosive device."

Maranga's attorney, Neil Grimaldi, called his client a "hero" in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

"Here's a guy who saves an airliner, saves hundreds of people's lives, gets hurt and they want to play cheap," Grimaldi said.

Grimaldi said Maranga had attempted to make a claim through a federal aviation insurance program, but that the settlement offered was insubstantial.

Maranga's work as an immigration attorney in Wappinger Falls, New York, has been hampered by the injuries, Grimaldi said. Maranga is also being treated for "numerous psychological injuries" resulting from his act, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also names Abdulmutallab, who has confessed to attempting to bomb the plane, as a defendant .

He is in prison awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in October to eight felonies, including conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He could not be reached for comment.

Abdulmutallab has said he wanted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, which had 290 people aboard as it approached Detroit to avenge the killing of innocent Muslims by the United States. Delta owned Northwest at the time of the incident.

A Delta spokeswoman said the airline does not comment on pending litigation. Air France-KLM did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. (Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Jerry Norton and Paul Simao)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45769588/ns/travel-news/

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France ponders removing risky breast implants (AP)

PARIS ? Emmanuelle Maria's breasts were burning and globules of silicone gel were protruding into her armpits. Her implants had exploded inside her. Yet her doctors, she says, told her nothing was wrong.

Now, she wants the French government to tell 30,000 women to get their implants removed ? at the state's expense ? to call attention to their risks and save others from potential pain and indignity.

Prompted by calls from implant wearers and leading doctors, French health authorities are considering a drastic and unprecedented move: recommending mass surgery to rid the country of a type of breast implant that investigators say was secretly made with cheap industrial silicone whose medical dangers remain unclear.

Governments around Europe are hanging on France's decision Friday. Tens of thousands more women in Britain, Italy, Spain and other European nations are walking around with the same pre-filled implants, made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP.

Health officials from several European countries held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the implants, Portugal's Director-General of Health, Dr. Francisco Jorge, told The Associated Press. European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said no decisions were made, but France informed the others of the situation.

The main concern in France is the risk of rupture ? more than 1,000 of the 30,000 such implants in France have burst, according to the French health safety agency AFSSAPS ? and uncertainty over what risks the suspected industrial silicone gel could pose when it leaks inside the body.

Meanwhile, eight cases of cancer among women with the implants, including one who died in November, have crystallized concerns and heightened pressure on the government to take action. Friday's government decision will depend partly on guidance from the French National Cancer Institute.

The implants in question were not sold in the U.S., where concerns about silicone gel implants overall led to a 14-year ban on their use. Silicone implants were brought back to the market in 2006 after research ruled out cancer, lupus and some other concerns.

In Britain, the law firm Hugh James solicitors said it is acting for over 250 women with PIP implants who are trying to sue clinics that provided the surgery. In a statement, the firm said the news have been worrying to its clients, many of whom "have already suffered terrible problems as a result of their implants," including ruptures and leakages.

Still, British health authorities say they see no reason so far to have the French-made implants systematically removed, and have said that there is not enough evidence of a link between silicone implants and cancer. Italy's Health Ministry is holding a meeting Thursday to discuss the French-made implants.

Experts from the French Health Ministry will meet Friday to decide what to recommend for women who have the implants. The implants were taken off the market last year after French authorities discovered the company misreported the type of silicone used.

Plastic surgeon Maurice Mimoun of Paris' Saint Louis Hospital said a rupture could leak the silicone gel internally. That in turn could require surgery on other parts of the body to remove it.

"The problem is that these implants are made with a gel that we don't know," he said in an interview. "Once these implants are removed, the story is not over ... we don't know" if there might be other consequences, he said.

Mimoun has recommended that the government push for implant removals, but insisted that the operations needn't be carried out in haste.

Women have filed more than 2,000 legal complaints since the implants were recalled last year, and an investigation into officials at PIP is under way. Investigators suspect the company used cheaper industrial silicone instead of silicone meant for medical use in the implants, cutting costs by up to euro1 million ($1.3 million) a year.

The company has suspended its activities and is being liquidated. Its phones are no longer functioning and emails sent to its staff were not answered.

Implant wearer Maria described wanting new breasts to improve her self-image after an adolescence troubled by a bone disease that left her covered in scars.

She was given the PIP silicone implants in 2007, and started developing burning pains in early 2010. She consulted her surgeon and another specialist he recommended. "They told me, 'There's nothing wrong,'" she recounted.

She then went to two other doctors who confirmed that both implants had burst. She had them removed, and at her own expense, had two new ones implanted ? made by another company.

"The product is dangerous. They told us there was nothing toxic," she told The Associated Press by telephone from her office in La Seyne-sur-Mer in southern France ? the same town where PIP was based.

She accused the company and surgeons of "playing Russian roulette with the health of others."

Tina, a retired Frenchwoman who had her PIP implants removed earlier this year, didn't experience any pain when they ruptured, but said she now worries about what might have leaked into her body in the months she lived unwittingly with the burst implants.

"It's time for surgeons to admit that these implants pose special risks. What we need is a bit of humanity," she said, embarrassed by her ignorance of the dangers and frustrated that doctors didn't warn her about the PIP implants after they were recalled last year.

She didn't want her last name used because some people in her entourage do not know that she had her breasts augmented.

Recommending implant removal for all 30,000 Frenchwomen with these artificial breasts would impose substantial costs to France's state health care system and pose logistical challenges in finding enough surgeons to perform the operations.

The French health system does not pay for cosmetic breast implants, which make up the majority of breast operations, but government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse said state health care would pay for implant removal operations "if it involves a health and public safety emergency."

It is unclear, however, whether the state would pay for replacement implants. About 40,000 women in Britain are believed to have the PIP implants as well. Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said its own testing had found no evidence of toxicity in the PIP implants and no evidence to suggest that women should have them removed.

But the agency said in a statement it "will consider any new evidence which comes to light as a priority."

The British Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons said the expected announcement by French medical authorities was "a precautionary measure."

"Surgeons will be in contact with any patient who has received this type of implant if any action is required," it said. "If women are worried or believe that their implants may have ruptured, they should contact their implanting surgeon."

The Italian Health Ministry says it is monitoring the "possible health risks linked to the PIP implants signaled by the French authorities" and it has convened a meeting of its top level health experts for Thursday.

Portugal's General Directorate for Health estimates 1,500-2,000 Portuguese women had the implants and is advising them to visit their doctor for a checkup, Jorge said.

In Denmark, authorities says less than 100 women had these breast implants and the Danish Medicines Agency is in close contact with French authorities.

The French company used to sell saline-filled implants in the United States but its authorization was revoked after a re-evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, mainly because of what the FDA deemed incomplete studies.

___

Lauran Neergaard in Washington, Jill Lawless and Sylvia Hui in London, Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_he_me/eu_france_breast_implants

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Omada Health Raises $850K From Esther Dyson & More To Take On Diabetes

Omada Health, a graduate of Rock Health's first batch of startups, is announcing today that it has raised $800K in seed funding from a number of angel and venture investors, including Esther Dyson, NEA, Aberdare, Kapor Capital, and TriplePoint Ventures to name a few. Omada Health, simply put, has turned its focus to one of the most pervasive diseases in the country: Diabetes. Well, really, prediabetes. The CDC estimates that 79 million people in the U.S. currently have prediabetes -- said another way, that's approximately 1 in 3 adults. And the majority of those people are not aware of their condition, which essentially means that they are suffering from blood glucose levels that are not irregular enough to be considered diabetes, yet still indicate an extremely high risk of progressing to full-blown diabetes.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/0eIsHYweMyw/

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New at ShopAndroid.com: Body Glove Icon Slide-On Case for Verizon Galaxy Nexus, we're giving two away free!

 

Just a quick heads up that the Body Glove Icon Slide-On Case is now available at ShopAndroid.com for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. It's a two-piece hard shell case that slides onto the phone, has access to all the ports and buttons and comes in either silver/black or purple/back.

And to celebrate, we're going to give a couple of these suckers away, because you're worth it. Just leave a comment on this post, and we'll pick a couple of winners at the end of the day. Good luck!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/yUK9uv5z6yU/story01.htm

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