Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/155506016?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
A look at Bulgaria's presidential candidates (AP)
A look at the candidates in the run-off for Bulgaria's presidency:
ROSEN PLEVNELIEV:
Supported by the ruling center-right GERB party of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, Plevneliev, 47, is an engineer and former entrepreneur. As minister for regional development in the current government, he has been lauded for pushing through several large-scale infrastructure projects. Plevneliev pledges to support the government's drive to reform Bulgaria, which is plagued by corruption and economic crisis. He is seen as calm and pragmatic, but there are concerns that he will be overshadowed by the influential prime minister.
IVAILO KALFIN:
The candidate of the opposition Socialist party, Ivailo Kalfin, 47, is a former foreign minister and a current member of the European Parliament. Kalfin is one of the few leading left-wing politicians seen as largely untainted by the Socialist party's communist past. He built his campaign on warnings that a victory by his opponent risks giving one party a monopoly over all state institutions. Kalfin has promised to safeguard democracy and support the rule of law.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Man City cuts Tevez fine in half after union move
By ROB HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
Associated Press Sports
updated 8:14 p.m. ET Oct. 28, 2011
LONDON (AP) -Manchester City reduced its fine of four weeks' wages handed out to Carlos Tevez to just two weeks' pay on Thursday after England's footballers' union backed the player in his dispute with the Premier League club.
City planned to fine Tevez four weeks' salary, which equates to around 800,000 pounds ($1.3 million), after finding him guilty of misconduct over a touchline dispute during a 2-0 loss at Bayern Munich last month.
However, under English football rules, fines that are greater than two weeks' wages need to be ratified by the players' union, the Professional Footballers Association. City's request for a fine of four weeks' wages was refused by PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor, who backed the Argentina international and attended his disciplinary hearing.
Unable to apply the larger fine, City said Thursday it would halve the punishment.
But it also criticized the PFA for what the club saw as a conflict of interest - with Taylor supporting Tevez at his hearing and then having the authority to decide whether or not to ratify the larger fine.
"Manchester City is disappointed by the apparent PFA conflict of interest evident in this process," it said in a statement. "Carlos Tevez has been personally represented throughout by the PFA Chief Executive, on whose considerations the Club has been informed that the PFA has made its decision (to not support a four-week fine)."
City ended its statement by saying: "Without recourse to the PFA decision available, the maximum two-week fine provided for in standard player contracts will now be applied in relation to the misconduct of Carlos Tevez."
The PFA had disputed the charge leveled by City that the striker had refused to play.
"The charge was momentarily refusing to resume warming up - he never refused to play, he was desperate to play," Taylor said earlier Thursday. "They are trying to portray he refused to play, which is serious and why he was vilified. No evidence that they presented suggested that.
"If the evidence was strong and irrefutable, that's gross misconduct, as serious as it gets and could be a termination of contract. That's not the case."
Tevez was suspended for two weeks by City after the row in Germany, but despite manager Roberto Mancini initially declaring that the Argentina international would never play for the club again, he received no further ban from the club's disciplinary panel.
The 2009 recruit from Manchester United was City's top scorer during its run to the FA Cup title last year that ended a 35-year trophy drought.
But has been largely out of favor since a failed attempt to secure a transfer in the offseason back to Brazilian club Corinthians, which he left in 2006 to join West Ham.
City maintains that Tevez will only be sold in the January transfer window if a club meets its asking price of around 40 million pounds ($80 million) for a player with almost three years remaining on his contract.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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No saint, but no racist
Cesc Fabregas says he is no saint but he did not direct any racist abuse toward Frederic Kanoute.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44691932/ns/sports-soccer/
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Brown to seek sweeping Calif. pension rollbacks
SACRAMENTO, Calif.?? Gov. Jerry Brown is set to propose sweeping rollbacks to public employee pension benefits, including raising the retirement age to 67 for new employees who are not public safety workers and requiring employees to pay more toward their retirement and health care.
A draft proposal of the plan obtained by The Associated Press late Wednesday says the governor will also propose a mandatory "hybrid" system in which future retirees would get their retirement from a guaranteed benefit as well as a 401(k)-style plan subject to market whims.
The plan being unveiled Thursday also would end so-called pension "spiking" that lets employees boost their payouts by including overtime and other benefits, and end the practice of buying additional service credits.
The administration estimates its proposal would save about $900 million annually.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45055997/ns/us_news/
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Automotive CRM Solution ? Your Automotive Business Control ...
Posted on 26 October 2011.
Perhaps you have heard the term ?CRM? which is an acronym for ?Customer Relationship Management?. In a nut shell it is organizational software specifically designed for real estate and automotive industry. It is intended to keep your customer database up to date, along with appointment making and inventory management capabilities. Although the CRM solution can be used cross platform and industry, but there are few key features that is industry specific for automotive CRM solutions. For one, the dealers using a CRM solution is generally speaking fair in size and willing to make this kind of investment in software because they understand the potential revenue and profit a good CRM can generate. There is a lack of solution providers when it comes to smaller dealerships and lower budget, this gap is becoming more obvious in today?s economy where big dealerships are having a hard time justifying the spending on CRM solutions.
One of the most important things to a smaller dealership is online advertising, with ever growing competition and lowered prices on cars, you as a small dealer must be able to update your inventory, online advertising, manage your customers with ease. The system that is suitable for a smaller dealership is much like a control panel in your windows. You should be able to delete, update, modify your inventory quickly, print the necessary documents and input a customer with just few clicks. These types of systems are no longer CRM solutions, it does have some similarities to a CRM, but it is a hybrid system that mimics the functions of a DMS or ?Dealership Management Software? at the same time.
All the customer management functions will be essentially from a well developed CRM, but printing legal documents, and extract reports or user management all fall under DMS functionalities. There are very few selected CRM hybrid systems on the market today, especially build for the smaller dealerships. One thing to keep in mind, it is always a good idea to keep your web hosting, web design, and CRM solutions all within one solution provider. That will save you tons of headaches and cost in the long run.
Thank you for reading this article, it is brought to you by Dealer Elite CRM, a Canadian based automotive CRM and DMS solution provider. Visit us online for your video walk through at http://www.dealertemplate.ca or http://www.dealerelites.com
Source: http://www.riredistricting.org/automotive-crm-solution-your-automotive-business-control-center.html
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New approach to overcome key hurdle for next-generation superconductors
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2011) ? Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new computational approach to improve the utility of superconductive materials for specific design applications -- and have used the approach to solve a key research obstacle for the next-generation superconductor material yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO).
A superconductor is a material that can carry electricity without any loss -- none of the energy is dissipated as heat, for example. Superconductive materials are currently used in medical MRI technology, and are expected to play a prominent role in emerging power technologies, such as energy storage or high-efficiency wind turbines.
One problem facing systems engineers who want to design technologies that use superconductive materials is that they are required to design products based on the properties of existing materials. But NC State researchers are proposing an approach that would allow product designers to interact directly with the industry that creates superconductive materials -- such as wires -- to create superconductors that more precisely match the needs of the finished product.
"We are introducing the idea that wire manufacturers work with systems engineers earlier in the process, utilizing computer models to create better materials more quickly," says Dr. Justin Schwartz, lead author of a paper on the process and Kobe Steel Distinguished Professor and head of NC State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. "This approach moves us closer to the ideal of having materials engineering become part of the product design process."
To demonstrate the utility of the process, researchers tackled a problem facing next-generation YBCO superconductors. YBCO conductors are promising because they are very strong and have a high superconducting current density -- meaning they can handle a large amount of electricity. But there are obstacles to their widespread use.
One of these key obstacles is how to handle "quench." Quench is when a superconductor suddenly loses its superconductivity. Superconductors are used to store large amounts of electricity in a magnetic field -- but a quench unleashes all of that stored energy. If the energy isn't managed properly, it will destroy the system -- which can be extremely expensive. "Basically, the better a material is as a superconductor, the more electricity it can handle, so it has a higher energy density, and that makes quench protection more important, because the material may release more energy when quenched," Schwartz says.
To address the problem, researchers explored seven different variables to determine how best to design YBCO conductors in order to optimize performance and minimize quench risk. For example, does increasing the thickness of the YBCO increase or decrease quench risk? As it turns out, it actually decreases quench risk. A number of other variables come into play as well, but the new approach was effective in helping researchers identify meaningful ways of addressing quench risk.
"The insight we've gained into YBCO quench behavior, and our new process for designing better materials, will likely accelerate the use of YBCO in areas ranging from new power applications to medical technologies -- or even the next iteration of particle accelerators," Schwartz says.
"This process is of particular interest given the White House's Materials Genome Initiative," Schwartz says. "The focus of that initiative is to expedite the process that translates new discoveries in materials science into commercial products -- and I think our process is an important step in that direction."
The paper was co-authored by Dr. Wan Kan Chan, a research associate at NC State. The paper is available online from IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. The research was funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
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Journal Reference:
- Wan Kan Chan, Justin Schwartz. Three-Dimensional Micrometer-Scale Modeling of Quenching in High-Aspect-Ratio YBa2Cu3O7-d Coated Conductor Tapes -- Part II: Influence of Geometric and Material Properties and Implications for Conductor Engineering and Magnet Design. IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 2011; DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2011.2169670
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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/rvrTlXjz1i8/111027112901.htm
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
NYC's Friars Club unhappy about blasting plans (AP)
NEW YORK ? It's known for shaking up celebrities at its comedy roasts. But the Friars Club says it's not laughing about plans to blast dynamite under its 102-year-old clubhouse in midtown Manhattan.
Club officials are worried about plans by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build a ventilation shaft under the building, the club's lawyer, Sid Davidoff, said Monday. They fear the blasts may hurt the building, and that construction on the street and sidewalk will discourage customers from coming to the club's restaurant.
Club officials are hiring an engineering firm to go over the transportation authority's plans and are hoping they can persuade the agency to choose a different street, Davidoff said.
"You're going to be talking about blasting, noise, dust, traffic," Davidoff said. "We're really worried about the club."
The building on 55th Street hosts about 175 events a year, including stand-up comedy shows, concerts, a film festival and the club's famous roasts, in which comedians pepper a celebrity with good-natured insults. Its restaurant is open six days a week.
Transit officials say the clubhouse is in no danger.
"We do not anticipate any impact of construction on the building," said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the agency.
The ventilation shaft is part of the East Side Access project, a system of tunnels that will allow the Long Island Rail Road to run trains to Grand Central Terminal. The transit agency plans to install grates for the shaft in the sidewalk near the clubhouse.
The agency says it will close parts of some streets during the construction but is taking pains to protect buildings. To minimize the area needed for construction crews, workers will take dirt and muck through a tunnel to Queens instead of lifting it out in Manhattan.
The transit agency plans to hire a contractor for the ventilation shaft before the end of the year. Construction will take about two years.
The club's concerns were first reported Monday by the New York Post.
The Friars Club was founded in 1904 by a group of public relations agents who worked on Broadway. The group grew to include actors, comedians and other show-business workers. The club members called themselves "friars" after the Latin word for brother, "frater."
In 1957, the group moved into its current clubhouse on 55th Street between Madison and Park avenues.
The five-story English Renaissance house was built in 1909 as a home for investment banker Martin Erdmann.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
It's known for shaking up celebrities at its comedy roasts. But the Friars Club says it's not laughing about plans to blast dynamite under its 102-year-old clubhouse in midtown Manhattan.
The club says it's worried about plans by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build a ventilation shaft under the building.
The MTA says the group has nothing to fear.
But Friars Club lawyer Sid Davidoff says members are hiring engineers to determine if the building is at risk. The club also wants to know if the work will disrupt business at its restaurant.
The ventilation system is part of a new tunnel that will allow the Long Island Rail Road to run trains to Grand Central Terminal.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Coroner: Amy Winehouse died from too much alcohol
Amy Winehouse's father Mitch, center and his partner Jane, right, arrive at St Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Amy Winehouse's father Mitch, center and his partner Jane, right, arrive at St Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Amy Winehouse's mother Janis, left, arrives at St Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Amy Winehouse's mum Janis, left, arrives at St. Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Amy Winehouse's mum Janis, left, arrives at St. Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Amy Winehouse's father Mitch, left, and his partner Jane, second left, arrive at St Pancras Coroner's Court for a hearing into the singer's death in London, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. A British coroner will hear about the final hours of Amy Winehouse's life at the inquest into the soul diva's death. The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
LONDON (AP) ? Amy Winehouse died as the unintended consequence of drinking too much alcohol, a British coroner ruled Wednesday.
Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying the singer died of accidental alcohol poisoning. "The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.
The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27. An initial autopsy proved inconclusive, although it found no traces of illegal drugs in her system.
Pathologist Suhail Baithun told the inquest into the singer's death that Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" ? the level in her blood put her more than five times over the legal drunk-driving limit.
Police Detective Inspector Les Newman, who was called after a security guard found Winehouse, said empty vodka bottles were scattered around her bedroom.
Winehouse's doctor, Dr. Christina Romete, said the singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after a period of abstinence.
Romete, who saw Winehouse the night before she died, said the singer was "tipsy but calm." She said Winehouse had not spoken of suicide, and talked about her upcoming birthday.
Romete said Winehouse had been prescribed drugs including the sedative Librium to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, but the coroner said these had played no role in her death.
Winehouse family spokesman Chris Goodman said it was a relief to the family "to finally find out what happened to Amy."
"The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain to us that she could not win in time," he said.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Aussie coast fears rogue shark may have killed 3 (AP)
CANBERRA, Australia ? The sudden death of an American diver in the jaws of a great white shark off Australia's southwest coast has raised the specter of a rogue man-eater preying on a renowned aquatic playground and killing three men in two months.
Scientists say three sharks more likely are responsible, and the three cases are sheerly unfortunate encounters with nature.
Australia's southwest corner has been better known for whale and dolphin-watching cruises, white sandy beaches, world-class surf breaks and the peppery shiraz of its Margaret River premium wineries than for fatal shark attacks.
"This is a unique set of circumstances, and I'm desperately ... praying this is not the beginning of a new trend ... and we're going to have these on a regular basis," Western Australia state Fisheries Minister Norman Moore said Sunday, referring to the three recent deadly attacks.
The latest was Saturday when American George Thomas Wainwright, 32, was attacked while diving solo off a boat near Rottnest Island, a few miles (kilometers) from the city of Perth in Western Australia state.
As a child, family members said Wainwright was always on the water pursuing his loves: boating, fishing and diving.
In Panama City, Florida, he was only 17 or 18 years old when he became among the youngest residents to get his captain's license, his younger sister Wanda Brannon, 30, told The Associated Press on Sunday. He later ran a charter boat business.
"His love and passion was being on the water," she said.
Wainwright, who went by the name Thomas, also helped with the oil spill cleanup and even appeared in a BP video, after an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year, she said.
He moved to Australia six months ago, taking a job as a project manager with a marine company. Brannon said her brother loved Australia's beautiful landscapes and relished his new adventures there. He had recently emailed family members about returning to Florida for a Christmas visit.
"He was just an amazing individual with a love and a passion for the outdoors and for his family," Brannon said through tears.
The Western Australia state government set tuna-baited hooks off the island Sunday, the first time authorities have used an emergency legal exemption from the state protection of great whites as an endangered species in the interests of protecting the public.
Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett also said his government would consider shark culls, responding to locals' complaints that shark numbers are increasing off bustling beaches in one of Australia's fastest growing population areas.
But Barry Bruce, a federal government marine biologist with extensive research experience in tracking the movements of tagged great whites via satellite and in examining their behavior, said it was unlikely that a single, lurking predator killed the three recent victims.
"What we've seen tragically is three cases of people by sheer bad luck being in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
"If you're in the path of a white shark that is in the process of hunting its natural prey, that's an exceptionally dangerous situation to find yourself in," he added.
He said the great white population was not growing but shifting around the world for reasons that scientists do not fully understand.
Great whites are known to follow whale migration up the west Australian coast through the current spring and return south late in the summer.
Bruce dismissed theories of a single man-eater as unfounded speculation.
"A more plausible explanation is that this is the time of year when sharks move along the coast, and there are undoubtedly multiple sharks out there following this exact pattern," Bruce said.
Barbara Weuringer, a University of Western Australia marine zoologist and shark researcher, agreed. She urged against a shark hunt, saying there was no way of telling which shark was the killer without killing it and opening its stomach.
"It sounds a little bit like taking revenge, and we're talking about an endangered species," Weuringer said.
But a southwest coast-based diving tourism operator called on the state government to kill sharks that pose a threat to humans.
"The nuisance sharks ? the problem sharks that move into an area and are aggressive ? should be dispatched to remove the risk of future attack," Rockingham Wild Encounters director Terry Howson told the AP.
Howson has been campaigning for government action on sharks since one of his tour guides, Elyse Frankcom, was injured in a shark attack last year.
"It's absolutely hurting the tourist trade," he said. "Australia is getting a name for itself as being full of dangerous animals."
Wainwright's two companions said the diver was already dead when his body surfaced beside their boat moments after a flurry of bubbles had erupted on the gray ocean surface.
The shark, a 10-foot (3-meter) great white, surfaced and even nudged the dive boat as Wainwright's friends hauled in his remains and powered for shore, officials said.
A great white of the same size is believed to have taken a 64-year-old Australian swimmer off Perth city's premier Cottesloe Beach on Oct. 10. The beach is 11 miles (18 kilometers) east of Rottnest Island.
The man's remains were not found, but his shredded swimming trunks suggested the size and type of shark that took him.
Both attacks followed the Sept. 4 death of a bodyboarder attacked by a shark described as 15 feet (4.5 meters) long at a beach south of Perth. Witnesses were unsure of the type of shark.
The continent averages little more than one fatal attack a year along an expansive 22,000-mile (35,000 kilometer) coast. But it is a primary home of the fearsome great whites, a large species in which some animals can grow to 20 feet (6 meters) in length.
The film classic "Jaws" famously used a mechanical shark for close-up action, but live shark footage was filmed in Australia. One is a scene in which Richard Dreyfuss is in an underwater shark cage, and live sharks doubled for the movie killer in long-range shots as well.
___
Associated Press writer Kelli Kennedy in Miami contributed to this report.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
'Paranormal Activity 3': Seven Burning Questions Answered
From how to top the 'cabinet scare' in 'PA 2' to the setup behind Bloody Mary, the film's directors reveal their secrets.
By Eric Ditzian
Lauren Bittner in "Paranormal Activity 3"
Photo: Paramount Pictures
On Friday, after the directors of "Paranormal Activity 3" helped us reveal 10 secrets about their horror sequel, we promised that on Monday, once fans had actually be able to check out the movie, we'd deliver a slew of answers to burning questions.
And check it out, fans most certainly did. "PA 3" reeled in $54 million at the box office over its first weekend. That's a lot of money for a lot of screams and, likely, a lot of sore throats today. So you guys deserve it: Read on for directors Henry Joost's and Ariel Schulman's answers to many of the eye-popping moments in the flick (needless to say, major spoilers exist below).
How did they make everything fall in the kitchen?
Henry Joost: "All summer, people were like, 'How do we top the cabinets blowing open?' [from the previous film]."
Ariel Schulman: " 'The cabinet scare! The cabinet scare!' "
Joost: "It was just so regular. We all have cabinets, but they've never done that before. It's the last thing you expect to happen. So we were brainstorming and brainstorming. I wanted Randy's dead body to drop from the ceiling. And [screenwriter] Chris Laden was like, 'What about all the stuff in the kitchen?' That was massive rigging for special-effects crew. It was so beautiful. It was like an art installation. It was all practical."
Schulman: "We did one take. We rigged everything to a hinge and had one button. You say go and it just launches."
Joost: "The release is staggered. The stuff gets closer to the camera, which is something you don't even register, but it is 100 times better than everything falling at once."
Wait, you were going to kill Randy?
Schulman: "We never killed Randy. We talked about it. The character who knows something is wrong and leaves and then meets his death somewhere else because the demon has followed him. But we never killed him."
Where did the idea for Bloody Mary come from?
Schulman: "Chris Laden had been wanting to bring back Bloody Mary, which was a great idea. And we'd been wanting to do a scene in total darkness."
Joost: "We shot that scene three different ways. We shot the version that's in the trailer, where it's just the girls. And then we shot it with Dennis, Randy and Katie. The first two times were good, but we felt like we could take it to the next level. On set, we came up with the rattling door. We were like, 'Can you make something in the room fly out of the room?' "
Schulman: "Not only is the acting improvised, but a lot of the writing is. That scene starts off with Randy and Katie playing Bloody Mary and Randy gets scratched. End of scene. But it felt like it could get scarier. So we huddled and said, 'What if the demon is right outside the door and just slamming on it?' And we just went from there."
Where is Julie's husband? Will we ever see him again?
Schulman: "Maybe. Gotta leave some questions kind of unanswered!"
What exactly happened at the end?
Schulman: "The grandmother is the leader of a coven that is calling forth a demon. That demon is requesting a male host, a child. Someone has made a deal with the devil in return for a boy somewhere along this family lineage. That hasn't happened yet. It happens in 'Paranormal 2.' In 'Paranormal 2,' the grandma is forcing the issue. Once that boy is had, she will be there with her coven and the demon in order to deliver the baby."
Joost: "Dennis is in the way, and ultimately Julie is too."
So at the end, the creepy women are going to have a séance?
Schulman: "Well, not exactly. It's not in the movie. I think a lot of this movie is left up to your imagination. So much had been done within the genre. People know a lot more about demonology than they realize. You actually don't need to show it. You just insinuate it and people are like, 'Oh yeah, that's going to be a séance later. I know how those work.' "
Joost: "It's a huge thing in this movie that now, not only are you afraid of a demon, you're also afraid of a bunch of people in cahoots with the demon."
Schulman: "The women in the coven are very sweet. But if you look at their IMDb credits, they each have played 'creepy lady' many times. Talk about being pigeonholed."
Will you guys return for "Paranormal Activity 4"?
Schulman: "I had a blast. I'd do it again."
Joost [laughing]: "We have some ideas. It's going to be just drawings. Calligraphy and watercolors. And set in the 1800s." Schulman: "Found watercolors!"
Check out everything we've got on "Paranormal Activity 3."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related VideosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673027/paranormal-activity-3-answers.jhtml
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
DrawTop Turns Your Laptop Into A Handy Whiteboard [Laptops]
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Unvaccinated Kids Behind Largest U.S. Measles Outbreak in Years: Study (HealthDay)
THURSDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- The largest U.S. outbreak of measles to occur in 15 years -- affecting 214 children so far -- is likely driven by travelers returning from abroad and by too many unvaccinated U.S. children, according to new research.
The finding could highlight the dangers of a trend among some U.S. parents to skip the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine for their children, out of what many experts call misguided fears over its safety.
Dr. Andrew Pavlo, professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah and spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), said, "The good news is that we are seeing introductions of measles that are being contained as small outbreaks."
Pavlo credits containment to high levels of vaccination and the rapid response by public health officials. However, if an outbreak occurred in a "really susceptible population the outcome could be very different," he said.
"What would happen in an area with a lot of vaccine refusers? Then you might see a much larger outbreak," he said.
Several measles-related studies were unveiled at the annual IDSA annual meeting, currently being held in Boston.
In the first report, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers chronicled the nation's ongoing outbreaks in 2011.
Most of those sickened were not vaccinated against the disease, CDC researchers said.
Before the vaccine became available in the 1960s, some three to four million people contracted measles every year. Of those, 48,000 were hospitalized, 1,000 were permanently disabled and about 500 died, the CDC said.
Unfortunately, "we have experienced an increased incidence of measles this year," said Huong McLean, lead researcher and CDC epidemiologist. "Typically we see 60 to 70 cases a year, this year we have 214 as of Oct. 14."
Among those people infected, 86 percent were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Thirteen percent were under one year old -- too young for vaccination.
Throughout the United States, 68 of the patients have been hospitalized, 12 with pneumonia.
Most of these cases occurred among people who traveled overseas to Western Europe, Africa or Asia, where vaccination rates are lower, and the disease is an ongoing problem, the researchers note.
McLean said that the vaccination coverage in the United states remains relatively high, about 90 percent. "However, measles is very contagious and can spread quickly in communities where people aren't vaccinated," she said.
"The vaccine is very safe and effective in preventing the disease," McLean said. The MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella (German measles), is designed to be given to infants 12 to 15 months old with a second shot given when the child is four to six, according to the CDC.
The Minnesota Department of Health released figures on a state outbreak, which started in March with an unvaccinated child, aged two and a half , who had traveled to Kenya. The child attended a drop-in Minnesota child care center. Overall, 21 people were infected and 14 hospitalized.
"Health care providers together with public health and community leaders must address growing vaccine hesitancy to ensure high immunization rates in all communities," Pam Gahr, a senior health department epidemiologist, said in an IDSA news release.
Not only is measles highly contagious, it's also expensive to contain its spread, according a third meeting presentation.
Dr. Karyn Leniek, deputy state epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health, said an outbreak occurred when one unvaccinated high school student, who had been to Europe, brought measles back with him.
Although only nine people became infected, the cost of containing the outbreak was about $300,000. Costs included infection control in two area hospitals and intervention by local and state health departments. Costs also included physician and staff time, vaccines, immunoglobulin and blood tests, according to the study.
Containing the outbreak meant contacting 12,000 people about possible exposure and quarantining 184 people, including 51 students. Of the teens not vaccinated, including the European traveler, six were unvaccinated due to personal exemptions.
"Personal exemptions include philosophical or any other unspecified non-medical exemption," the researchers noted.
"It is always a concern to have a large number of unvaccinated people in close proximity," Leniek said in an IDSA statement. "Our goal is to have as many people vaccinated as possible to protect those who cannot receive the vaccine and who are not fully immunized."
Another Thursday presentation centered on a large measles outbreak in Quebec, Canada: the largest since 1989, with 757 cases as of October 5.
That outbreak started with 18 people who traveled abroad, most to Europe. Among those infected, 505 had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was not known, and 70 had received only one doses of the vaccine, according to the report.
"This outbreak is being fed largely on unvaccinated or undervaccinated people, but we were concerned that a significant number had received the recommended two doses of MMR vaccine," Philippe Belanger, an epidemiologist at Ministere de la Sant? et des Services Sociaux du Quebec, Montreal, said in the releases.
To keep measles at bay, Pavlo said public health officials should be on the outlook for measles and the high level of vaccination needs to be maintained.
"The ongoing fear of the measles vaccine and the myths about measles vaccine and autism just won't go away -- and put us at continuous risk," Pavlo said. One such myth, according to most experts, is that the shot might cause autism in children. That notion spread after a British researcher, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, published a study in The Lancet in 1998 claiming a link. The research was later discovered to be fraudulent, however, and the journal has since retracted the article.
Pavlo stressed that when parents decide against vaccinating their child, their action may affect other kids, as well.
"Your child might get measles and do well. But if you are the one who brings measles back into the community and your child infects someone else in the classroom who can't be vaccinated because of being immunocompromised, you might be responsible for the death of another child or an infant who can't be vaccinated," he said.
More information
For more information on measles, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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National health care scorecard: United States scores 64 out of 100
ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? The U.S. health care system scored 64 out of 100 on key measures of performance, according to the third national scorecard report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, released October 18. The scorecard finds that -- despite pockets of improvement -- the U.S as a whole failed to improve when compared to best performers in this country, and among other nations. The report also finds significant erosion in access to care and affordability of care, as health care costs rose far faster than family incomes.
At the same time, the scorecard highlights some bright spots for the U.S., with notable gains in quality of care in areas that have been the focus of public reporting or collaborative improvement initiatives. For example, 50 percent of adults with high blood pressure had it under control in 2007-2008, compared with only 31 percent in 1999-2000. In addition, hospital quality indicators for treatment of heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia, and prevention of surgical complications, have improved substantially across the country since hospitals began publicly reporting their quality data through a federal website.
The report, Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011, measures the U.S. health care system across 42 key indicators of health care quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. The scorecard compares U.S. average performance to rates achieved by the top 10 percent of U.S. states, regions, health plans, hospitals or other providers or top-performing countries. The 2011 score of 64 was slightly below the overall score of 67 in the first national scorecard published in 2006, and the score of 65 in the second scorecard, in 2008. The authors note that latest data in the scorecard primarily fall between 2007 and 2009, before enactment of the Affordable Care Act. They point out that provisions in the new law target areas for improvement where the U.S. falls short, particularly in access to care, affordability of care, and support for more patient-centered, coordinated care.
"If we target areas where we fall short and learn from high-performing innovators within the United States, we should see significant progress in the future," said Commonwealth Fund Commission Chair David Blumenthal, M.D., Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System and Harvard Medical School. "The Affordable Care Act and investments in information systems offer the potential for rapid progress in areas like adoption and use of health information technology, safer care, and premature deaths from preventable complications."
The scorecard finds that the U.S. is failing to keep up with gains in health outcomes made by other countries: the U.S. ranks last out of 16 countries when it comes to deaths that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care. If the U.S could do as well as the leading country, as many as 91,000 fewer people would die prematurely every year.
Quality Initiatives Showing Promise
According to the scorecard, public reporting of quality data on federal Web sites and collaborative initiatives, like the Advancing Excellence nursing home improvement campaign and Premier hospital quality initiatives, have resulted in substantial and rapid improvements on some quality indicators. For example:
- The proportion of home health care patients who gained improved mobility grew from 37 percent to 47 percent from 2004 to 2009.
- 96 percent of hospitals reported providing the right care to prevent surgical complications in 2009, up from 71 in 2004.
Despite these improvements, quality of care still varies widely across the country. For example, despite a 13 percent drop in hospital admissions for heart failure and pediatric asthma from 2004 to 2007, rates vary twofold to fourfold across states.
"This scorecard illustrates that focused efforts to change the health care system for the better are working and are worth our investment," said Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and a Commonwealth Fund Board and Commission member. "Yet, the U.S. still spends up to twice as much on health care as other high-income countries, but too often fails to deliver what people need -- timely access to high quality, efficient health care. The places in the U.S. and around the world that set the benchmarks prove that it is possible to do better."
Failing To Improve
Despite some quality improvements, the scorecard finds that in many areas U.S. health system performance has either failed to improve, or declined over time.
Steep Decline in Access and Affordability
Access to health care and health care affordability stand out for how quickly and significantly they deteriorated. By 2010, 81 million adults -- 44 percent of all adults under age 65 -- were either underinsured or uninsured at some point during the year -- up from 61 million in 2003. For those with insurance, premiums rose far faster than incomes. In 2003, a majority of people (57 percent) lived in a state where health insurance premiums averaged less than 15 percent of average (median) incomes. By 2009, only four percent of the population lived in such states. In addition, by 2010, 40 percent of working-age adults had medical debt or faced problems paying medical bills up from 34 percent in 2005.
Broad Evidence of Inefficient Care
The U.S. also does particularly poorly on measures of health system efficiency, scoring only 53 out of a possible 100. This area of the scorecard includes such issues as evidence of duplicative services, high rates of hospital readmissions, relatively low use of electronic information systems, and high administrative costs. This low score translates into significant costs to the health care system. For example, the scorecard finds that the U.S. could save $55 billion a year if it could lower insurance administrative costs to the average of administrative costs in other countries with mixed public-private insurance systems.
Other areas of concern include:
- Primary care and preventive care: Forty-four percent of adults report that they didn't have an accessible primary care provider in 2008, and only half of adults received all recommended preventive care -- which is on par with what was reported in the 2006 Scorecard.
- Childhood obesity: Childhood obesity rates are high, with about one-third (32%) of children ages 10 to 17 overweight or obese, ranging from one-quarter to 39 percent between the top and bottom five states.
- Infant mortality: The average U.S. infant mortality rate is more than 35 percent higher than the rates achieved in the best states, and rates in even the best states are twice as high as those in other countries.
- Safe care: One-quarter of elderly Medicare beneficiaries were prescribed a potentially inappropriate drug.
- Rehospitalizations: Rehospitalization rates failed to improve and varied widely, with 20 percent of Medicare patients hospitalized for certain conditions or procedures readmitted within 30 days in both 2003 and 2009. Rates in the highest-rate regions were 50 percent higher than in the lowest-rate regions.
Potential for Improvement
The scorecard identifies pockets of high performance which illustrate the potential for the nation if others could learn from these high performers. Improvements would add up to significant gains in lives and dollars saved. For example, if the entire nation could do as well as the top performers:
- Thirty-eight million more adults would have a primary care doctor and 66 million more would receive all recommended preventive care.
- Reducing health insurance administrative costs to the average level achieved in countries with mixed private-public insurance systems, like the U.S., would save $55 billion a year. Achieving benchmarks of the best countries would save an estimated $114 billion a year.
- Up to 91,000 fewer people would die before age 75 each year of conditions amenable to health care, include screenable cancers, diabetes, and infections.
Moving Forward: The Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act will lay the groundwork for wider reforms by providing all families access to affordable and comprehensive health insurance regardless of where they live. The report notes that access to insurance is "the essential foundation for improvement" as access, health care quality, and efficiency are interrelated. In addition, the Affordable Care Act includes reforms that seek to strengthen primary care, improve care coordination, invest in prevention, and to ensure access to high quality care that focuses on improving health.
"Health care reform is already beginning to improve health system performance by expanding access to care, reducing administrative costs in health insurance, and piloting projects that could improve health care quality and achieve savings," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. "This year's scorecard makes it clear that changes in the Affordable Care Act designed to reduce waste, cut costs and help people afford the care they need are on target. The health and future economic security of the country depend on moving forward with these crucial reforms."
Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011, is authored by Commonwealth Fund researchers Douglas McCarthy, Sabrina K. How, Ashley-Kay Fryer, David C. Radley, and Cathy Schoen.
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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Commonwealth Fund.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018121836.htm
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mountain biker attacked by antelope: ?It was scary?
The massive hartebeest antelope that inhabit the plains of South Africa usually go out of their way to avoid human contact. But to the surprise and pain of one competitive mountain biker, at least one of the 300-pound-plus creatures apparently dreams of becoming a National Football League linebacker.
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- Updated 80 minutes ago 10/17/2011 1:15:01 PM +00:00 Mountain biker attacked by antelope: ?It was scary?
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South African Evan van der Spuy was peddling through the bush lands of Kwazulu Natal in a biking competition Oct. 9 when a horse-sized hartebeest charged at him at an estimated 30 mph. Leaping into the air, the animal clotheslined the 17-year-old, plowing a hoof? into his head and sending him splaying onto the ground before racing out of view out onto the plains.
The surreal attack was captured on video by a biking teammate trailing van der Spuy and became an Internet hit. It has become one of the quickest viral sensations in YouTube history, now approaching 10 million views just a week after it was first posted.
Video: Mountain biker vs. antelope (on this page)Appearing live on TODAY Monday via satellite from Johannesburg, van de Spuy said he can now laugh at becoming an unwitting viral smash, now likely forever known as ?that guy that got hit by a deer on YouTube.? But that was only after learning he wasn?t seriously injured.
?The first time I watched it was (at the) hospital, after I received X-rays and I knew I was safe,? van der Spuy told Matt Lauer. ?I actually had a bit of a laugh myself just out of (seeing) how enormous the animal was. (But) it was scary.?
Story: South African biker and beast collide, helmet winsIndeed, the antelope attack was anything but funny at the time. Van de Spuy has been mountain biking competitively since age 12, racing for the Team Jeep South Africa team along with racing partner Travis Walker. The pair were just a few kilometers into the race when the marauding buck enters the video picture from van der Spuy?s right side.
?Dude, are you all right??
As Walker yelled out ?Watch the buck!? van der Spuy barely knew what hit him ? and by the looks of the antelope?s sharp antlers, he can be thankful the beast first hit him from its shoulder rather than skewering him.
Walker bellowed: ?Whoa, holy cow! Dude, are you all right?? as his teammate crumbled into a heap after impact. On camera, van der Spuy can be heard moaning before rising and checking out his helmet, which was broken but luckily absorbed the brunt of the buck?s attack.
Van der Spuy told Lauer most of what happened is a blank. ?From the moment that buck hit, I don?t remember anything from then until the ambulance on the way to the hospital,? the cyclist said. ?So between the buck hitting me and the ambulance, I don?t have any recollection of that.?
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Pug who ate, pooped 100 rocks is contest front-runner
If pooping out rocks was a skill, a pug from Rhode Island would be the most talented dog in the country.
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That the attack was captured for posterity and became one of the most-watched YouTube videos in history was a stroke of happenstance. Race organizers chose two riders at random to attach cameras to their bikes for promotional use, and one of them was Walker.
?It was just by pure chance,? Walker told Lauer, adding when he saw the collision, ?I was in total shock.?
Video: Cyclist hit by antelope laughs about it (on this page)Van der Spuy escaped serious injury, though he did suffer a concussion and a fairly severe case of whiplash. Still, the cyclist said he plans on competing once again when he gets doctor?s clearance.
In his five years of competing, van der Spuy said he had never heard of any racer getting struck by any animal. Race organizer Max Cluer told Johannesburg?s Beeld newspaper it was indeed a freak accident.
?It was a case of wrong place, wrong time for Evan, and for the buck, obviously,? Cluer said. ??It was just totally unexpected.?
? 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44928583/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/
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