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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
Cavalette23: "...When it comes to earning your support, its on us." #Cavs Head Coach Byron Scott
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"...When it comes to earning your support, its on us." #Cavs Head Coach Byron Scott 
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Video: Teen shares his tragic struggle with the world
>>> back now with the remarkable story of a young man from austin, texas, who lived his life to the fullest while suffering from a dangerous heart condition that few have ever heard of. he shared his hopes and fears with friends and fans online, including a final inspiring message that has touched a lot of people. it was one of the most popular videos online today. the world listening to words from the heart.
>> thanks for watching breedrov tv.
>> reporter: from his austin, texas, home brad breedlove built a loyal following on youtube.
>> i'm here to give you the information back.
>> reporter: offering video advice on everything from school work to dating.
>> the main thing i want to go over for you girls is building up your confidence.
>> reporter: he also told the world about his life threatening heart condition .
>> it's cardio myopathy and i have a pacemaker.
>> reporter: the thickening of the heart muscle can lead to heart failure .
>> i'm not limited on anything, but i may have -- like i have to go in for check-ups and stuff. other than that it's not a big problem.
>> reporter: but it was a big problem. ben died on christmas day after a opening presents. but just before christmas, unbeknownest to anyone, ben sat down and quietly made a video with flash cards , sharing his hopes and fierce about his life long struggle with his failing heart. in his video, ben described how he had cheated death three times, beginning at age 4 and again this month when he collapsed at school. he wrote about a white light he had seen each time and the peace that he felt.
>> it was pretty overwhelming. because not only did we not know he had made it, but we could tell he was really speaking from his heart. we really appreciated the message he wanted to share with people.
>> reporter: on youtube, the world is responding. more than a million people have viewed the video. thousands have written comments and condolences, even creating their own flashcard videos. a phenomenon that didn't go unnoticed at ben 's funeral today, streamed online.
>> it seems like more than mere coincidence, the timing of everything and how ben 's message is now going literally to millions of people.
>> reporter: the unspoken words ben 's sister says, make the message more powerful.
>> i was noticing how perfect it was that he told his story through silence. and these cards instead of speaking a story because he was at peace when he was telling his story.
>> reporter: a teenager who gave advice, saving the best for last. ben breedlove was 18.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45819873/
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
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Activists: Syrian troops kill more protesters (AP)
BEIRUT ? Arab League monitors gathered accounts about the Syrian government's crackdown on dissent in the central city of Homs Wednesday as fresh violence flared just dozens of miles away. Activists said troops opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters, killing at least six.
Though President Bashar Assad's regime has made concessions to the observers, including the release of nearly 800 prisoners, the military was pressing ahead with a campaign to put down mostly peaceful protests.
In the two days since the Arab monitors arrived, activists said troops have killed at least 39 people, including the six shot in the central city of Hama on Wednesday. The continued bloodshed ? and comments by an Arab League official praising Syria's cooperation ? have fueled concerns by the Syrian opposition that the Arab mission is a farce and a distraction from the ongoing killings.
The opposition suspects Assad is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.
"This mission has absolutely no mandate, no authority, no teeth," said Ausama Monajed, a member of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group. "The regime does not feel obliged to even bring down the number of casualties a day."
The 60 monitors ? the first Syria has allowed in during the nine-month uprising ? are supposed to be ensuring the regime is complying with terms of a plan to end a crackdown the U.N. says has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
The plan, which Syria agreed to on Dec. 19, demands that the regime remove its security forces and heavy weapons from cities, start talks with the opposition and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country. It also calls for the release of all political prisoners.
On Wednesday, the government released 755 prisoners following a report by Human Rights Watch accusing authorities of hiding hundreds of detainees from the monitors. It was the second concession in two days.
The army on Monday pulled some of its troops back from the central city of Homs after bombarding it for days and killing scores of people. Monitors who were allowed into the city were met by tens of thousands of protesters who called for Assad's execution.
Images obtained by The Associated Press from the city in the days leading up to the monitors' visit show army defectors inside a bombed-out building, firing machine guns through gaping holes in a wall.
In another, a huge crowd fills the street for a nighttime rally behind a giant banner of the uprising's revolutionary flag. A row of women wear the flags and a large sign overhead reads: "All the doors are closed except your door, God."
There are also photos of wounded civilians lying on a floor in pools of blood, and being treated with crude medical equipment. Another shows an alleyway with blood smeared on a wall and pooled on the ground.
At a Dec. 21 protest, a banner reads: "To the Arab League: Your initiative cannot protect us from death." Young girls with headbands that read "Leave!" and sashes calling for the "execution of Bashar" protest under banners with "Freedom and Dignity."
The images show the intensity of the opposition against Assad's regime, which brought on the offensive against Homs that began on Friday and lasted until monitors arrived Tuesday to start their one-month mission with a visit to the city.
Several from the team of 12 stayed in Homs overnight and they continued to work there Wednesday. There was no word on whether other teams went to different cities.
According to officials and activists, the monitors went to several districts of Homs, including trouble spots in Baba Amr, Bab Sbaa and Inshaat.
Amateur video posted on the Internet showed the head of the team, Sudanese Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, walking in Baba Amr and stopping to talk to people. In one video, he is seen talking to a man who accuses the regime of killing his 64-year-old brother, a former official of Assad's ruling Baath party, and his wife, and then blaming it on armed gangs.
"Your excellency, they are killing influential people to draw a violent reaction from people," he tells al-Dabi.
Some amateur video showed the orange-jacketed observers in a white car, surrounded by people shouting for Assad's downfall and apparently objecting to the presence of a Syrian military escort in the car with them.
Other video showed the monitors visiting women and children who purportedly lost family members in recent violence. There were no reports of firing on protesters in Homs during the observers visit on Wednesday. Troops did open fire on the crowds on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the monitors are expected to visit Hama, Idlib and Daraa ? all centers of the uprising.
In Hama, several thousand protesters were trying to reach the city's main Assi square to stage a sit-in amid a heavy security presence when troops opened fire with bullets and tear gas to disperse them, activists said.
Hama-based activist Saleh Abu Kamel said he had the names of six people who were killed and many others wounded. The number could not be immediately confirmed. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees confirmed the protests and the shooting, giving conflicting casualty figures.
Violence erupted in several other parts of Syria, including the ambush killings of four soldiers by a group of military defectors, activists said.
Despite the ongoing crackdown, an Arab League official said cooperation by Syrian authorities with the monitors was "reassuring."
"The Syrian side is facilitating everything," Adnan Issa al-Khudeir told reporters in Cairo. He said the 60 observers who arrived in Syria Monday were divided into five groups to visit five locations: Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, Daraa and Hama.
Monajed, the SNC official, said the remarks were "unfortunate."
"They reflect the irresponsible behavior and attitude toward the massacres and atrocities committed by Assad's forces in the country," he said.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wives in ads, kids on the bus as GOP voting nears (AP)
CONCORD, N.H. ? Mitt Romney's wife gushes about his silly side and devotion to their five sons and 16 grandchildren. Rick Santorum's college-age daughter opines online about missing the campus coffee shop and chats with friends about their Friday night plans. Jon Huntsman's daughters generate much-needed buzz for him with a joint Twitter account and online videos, including at least one that went viral.
Days away from voting in the Republican presidential race, the path to the nomination is quickly becoming a crowded family affair with spouses and offspring pitching in and doing far more than just smiling from the sidelines.
Ann Romney, Anita Perry and Callista Gingrich are starring in new TV ads for the husbands they've loyally campaigned for. Romney extols her husband's character and says "to me that makes a huge difference" in a candidate. Perry tells the "old-fashioned American story" of how she and her husband were high school sweethearts who had to wait until he was done flying airplanes around the world for the Air Force before they could marry. Callista Gingrich wishes the nation a Merry Christmas "from our family to yours" in husband Newt Gingrich's new holiday-themed TV ad.
Candidate kids, including those born to Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, are helping, too, acting as surrogates, strategists and, in some cases, sounding boards for parents competing for the right to challenge President Barack Obama next fall.
"There are times when I wonder why I'm not sitting in the coffee shop on campus with my friends, lightheartedly discussing ('Saturday Night Live') videos, how bad the cafeteria is, what our plans are for Friday night or how absolutely swamped we are with school work," Santorum's daughter Elizabeth lamented in a recent blog post. "But this is where God wanted me."
She has taken time off from her junior year at the University of Dallas to serve as a self-described "field staffer/phone banker/chauffeur/surrogate speaker," for her father, primarily in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa.
Her father, who hopes Iowa's socially conservative voters turn out for him on caucus night Jan. 3, rolled out an ad late last week featuring the entire Santorum clan, including the family German shepherd, Schotzy. The spot highlights his 21-year marriage to his wife, Karen, notes that he has coached Little League and introduces viewers to the youngest of the couple's seven children, Isabella, born in 2008 with a genetic disorder.
Sometimes the family members campaign with the candidates and other times they go it alone.
Such family involvement carries risks and benefits. The stories they tell often humanize the candidates and help voters relate to them. But the things they say, and do, can sometimes cause headaches for the campaign advisers who are left to try to figure out a way out.
While Rick Perry spent several days campaigning in Iowa recently, his wife was hundreds of miles away in New Hampshire emphasizing his small-town upbringing and conservative values at a retirement community chapel. Audience members then peppered her with detailed questions about such subjects as taxes, immigration and the death penalty.
"She handled them quite well," said Sid Schoeffler, an independent voter from Concord. "When she knew the answer or knew the campaign's story line, she recited it. And when she didn't know, she said so. I thought that was refreshing."
"Compared to what I expected, she made a favorable impression," he said. "But whether it's enough to swing my vote, I don't know yet."
Earlier in the year, as Bachmann rose in public opinion, her husband, Marcus, was forced to defend his Christian counseling business from claims that its therapies included "curing" people of being gay. With Bachmann now near the back of the GOP pack in polls, Marcus Bachmann joined her at the start of her bus tour of Iowa's 99 counties but was quickly replaced by four of their five children.
"My husband had to go home. We're small-business owners and someone had to go home and mind the store," Bachmann told one crowd. And at one point, Bachmann, who began losing her voice in the middle of the jam-packed tour, turned over the microphone to son Harrison, a teacher who talks up his family's ties to the state, and teased: "Harrison, say some nice things about me and you'll get extra cookies."
In Paul's case, he's probably hoping validation from his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a favorite of the tea party, will give him a boost with that pivotal constituency in Iowa. Rand Paul is also appearing in a television ad for his father.
Romney's five-son family and wife of more than four decades have long been a part of his presidential campaigns. But the spotlight has been shining more brightly on his wife and their brood in recent weeks as the campaign seeks to cast the former Massachusetts governor as a person of "steadiness and constancy" while drawing a contrast with the thrice-married Gingrich.
Ann Romney also has spoken openly about how her husband supported her through her struggle with multiple sclerosis.
Huntsman's wife and the couple's three oldest daughters are near-constant companions in New Hampshire, the only state where the former Utah governor is earnestly campaigning. His daughters recently generated a huge amount of buzz with a video spoof of an ad by former rival Herman Cain. They donned oversized glasses and fake mustaches to look like Cain's campaign manager.
"We are shamelessly promoting our dad like no other candidate's family has," one daughter said in the ad. "But then again, no one's ever seen a trio like the Jon2012 girls."
___
Associated Press writers Philip Elliott and Steve Peoples contributed to this report.
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A Lazy New years Eve Washington DC Holiday and No School
A Lazy New years Eve Washington DC Holiday and No School ??
?????Monday 26th December, 2011??Source: brunei fm ??
| This New Years Eve Washington DC was a fun day. I was lazy for the first half of the day. I woke up around thirty five minutes after nine of the clock in the morning. That is considered sleeping in for me, for my children usually awake me around early seven or eight of the clock each day. Once I woke up, I lounged around the couch for almost an hou... | Breaking News |
|
Source: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid=202157262&cat=1948b3b9eadbd541
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
travelUSAgeek: In Transit Blog: Rome for the Holidays: The traditional inauguration of the Christmas season got underway this m... http://t.co/WOds3NWD
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NBA's return draws big TV ratings on Christmas
NEW YORK?? NBA fans seem more excited about basketball's return than bitter about the lockout based on television ratings for the league's delayed openers.
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'Teen Mom' Amber accused of 2 new felonies
The five Christmas games Sunday averaged 6.2 million viewers based on fast national ratings, up from 6 million last year.
The Bulls-Lakers matchup was the third most-watched regular-season game ever on ABC, behind only last year's highly anticipated Heat-Lakers showdown and another meeting between Miami and LA in 2004.
Chris Paul's Clippers debut in the nightcap against the Warriors earned a 2.2 rating, up 69 percent over last year's Portland-Golden State telecast in the same slot.
It was ESPN's highest-rated Christmas prime-time game. The day's first contest, Celtics-Knicks on TNT, was the most viewed Christmas game ever on cable. The 4.0 rating was up 48 percent from last year's Bulls-Knicks game on ESPN.
The first night game on ESPN ? Magic-Thunder ? drew a 1.8, up 29 percent from last year's Denver-Oklahoma City matchup. The afternoon's finals rematch on ABC, the Heat's rout of the Mavericks, earned a 4.9, up 7 percent from Boston-Orlando last year.
Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned to a program.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45791002/ns/today-entertainment/
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Michael Jacques Sentenced To 14 Years For Burning Black Church After Obama Election
The hate crime which Michael Jacques committed against the Macedonia Church of God in Christ stung not only the Springfield, Mass. region, but indeed the nation. Having been raised in Western Massachusetts, it stung me as well,? Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston FBI, said in a statement.
The church was rebuilt with help from volunteers and supporters from around the country and opened for services this summer.
After being implicated in the arson by Benjamin Haskell, one of his accomplices, Jacques was brought in for questioning by the Massachusetts State Police and admitted his involvement in the crime after a six-hour interrogation. Before his trial in April, Jacques told a federal judge he was pressured into a false confession while suffering withdrawal from painkillers and nicotine. The judge ruled that the confession was admissible.
Haskell told police that Jacques ?was angry that the country was going to have an African American president and that the blacks and Puerto Ricans would now have more rights than whites,? according to court documents.
After a three-week trial, Jacques was convicted of numerous federal civil rights charges, including destruction of religious property and conspiracy against civil rights. In addition to serving almost 14 years in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised released, he must pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution.
?This sentence sends a powerful message that racial violence and intimidation have no place in our society,? Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said in a statement.
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A's ship Gio Gonzalez to Washington
The Oakland Athletics have traded left-handed starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals for four of their top prospects.
The 26-year-old Gonzalez went 16-12 last season with a 3.12 earned-run average and 197 strikeouts in 202 innings pitched.
Gonzalez, a four-year veteran, has spent his entire big-league career with Oakland and has compiled a 38-32 record with a 3.93 earned-run average and 511 strikeouts in 535 innings pitched.
The A's included pitcher Rob Gilliam in the deal. The 24-year-old right-hander went 12-7 with a 5.04 ERA in 28 starts for Single-A Stockton last year.
In exchange for Gonzalez and Gilliam, the Nationals dealt right-handed pitchers A.J. Cole and Brad Peacock, catcher Derek Norris and left- handed pitcher Tom Milone.
According to MLB.com, Peacock is the Nationals' No. 2 prospect behind Bryce Harper, with Cole third and Norris fifth.
Milone made five starts for the Nationals last season and went 1-0 with a 3.81 earned-run average and 15 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/23/2559849/as-ship-gio-gonzalez-to-washington.html
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Report: Chinese activist charged with subversion (AP)
BEIJING ? A veteran Chinese activist has been charged with subversion, a human rights group said Saturday, after another dissident was jailed for nine years in a crackdown aimed at preventing Arab Spring-style democratic uprisings.
Chen Xi was arrested Nov. 29 and charged Friday in the southern province of Guizhou, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. The Hong Kong-based center said Chen, who left prison in 2005 after serving a 10-year sentence, was accused of writing 30 essays that incited subversion.
A man who answered the phone at the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court said he had no information about the case.
On Friday, activist Chen Wei was sentenced to nine years, also on subversion charges.
Communist leaders launched a sweeping effort to crush dissent early this year in response to anonymous online calls urging Chinese to imitate protests that toppled governments in North Africa and the Middle East.
Human rights activists have criticized the ruling party's use of vague subversion laws to jail its critics. Authorities began using the subversion law against activists after repealing a widely criticized law on counterrevolutionary activities.
Chen Xi, 57, was active in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and was sentenced to three years in prison, the Information Center said in a statement. It said he was jailed for 10 years in 1995 on charges of counterrevolutionary offenses.
After his release, Chen was the first activist to sign the Charter 08 manifesto calling for an end to one-party rule and advocating democratic reforms, according to the Information Center.
The charter's co-author, Liu Xiaobo, who also is imprisoned on subversion charges, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his pro-democracy activism.
Also this week, a government conference on politics and law called for a struggle against "hostile forces at home and abroad" and "illegal religious activities" next year, according to the Information Center, which is run by a mainland activist who lives in Hong Kong.
"Human rights conditions will continue to worsen next year," the Information Center said.
"Human rights conditions will continue to worsen next year," the center said.
China's communist leadership was spooked early this year when online messages called for a Chinese "Jasmine Revolution," the name of the uprising in Tunisia.
Even though few outright demonstrators responded to the protest calls, China launched one of its broadest campaigns of repression in years, rounding up dozens of bloggers, lawyers and intellectuals. Most have since been released.
Others rounded up include Beijing activist Wang Lihong, who was sentenced to nine months in jail in September for staging a protest on behalf of other activists, and Yang Qiuyu, a Beijing activist who was sentenced to two years of re-education through labor.
Chen Wei's sentence appears to be the heaviest meted out in the crackdown, said Wang Songlian, a researcher with Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based advocacy group.
Chen Wei, 42, previously served time for participating in the 1989 protests and was sentenced to five years in 1994 for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."
Amnesty International called for Chen Wei's release, saying his sentence was "clearly retaliation" for his criticism of the Communist Party.
___
Associated Press writer Gillian Wong contributed.
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Royal Dutch Shell Reports Oil Spill of Nigerian Coast
Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian division said it shut down an offshore drilling platform because of a leak involving transfer of oil to a shipping tanker.
"The company can confirm it is responding to an oil leak at the 200,000 barrel-per-day capacity Bonga deepwater facility, approximately 120 kilometers off the Nigeria coast. The leak occurred Tuesday, Dec. 20, during a routine operation to transfer crude oil from Bonga's floating production, storage and off-loading vessel to a waiting oil tanker," the company said in a statement.
"An export line linking the FPSO to the tanker has been identified as the likely source," Shell said.
The Daily Vanguard in Nigeria reported Friday Shell stands to lose $21.47 million daily based on the current price of $107.38 for Brent oil.
Shell said it responded quickly as the leak was discovered and "early indications show that less than 40,000 barrels of oil have leaked in total."
Also on Friday, the Nation reported Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Co.'s Oil Spill Response Procedure and Emergency Response Team was called in to manage the spill.
Source: http://www.thirdage.com/news/royal-dutch-shell-reports-oil-spill-of-nigerian-coast_12-22-2011
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Donald Cerrone interview: After nasty exchange, he?s hell bent on ruining Nate Diaz?s holiday season
Donald Cerrone isn't very big on Christmas and he's definitely not a fan being insulted. After an October run-in with Nate Diaz, it makes for the perfect blizzard of punches, knees and kicks next week at UFC 141.
Before UFC 137, there was no history between Cerrone and Diaz, until the younger half of the infamous Diaz brothers pulled a trick from his bag of anger.
During the workouts before UFC 137, Diaz was speaking Leonard Garcia, one of Cerrone's teammates at Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque.
"Leonard was over there talking with the dude, so I said 'oh, [expletive] I'll go over there.' They were laughing and joking around. I walked over and said 'what's up Nate, I'm 'Cowboy.' He slapped my hand away and called me a punk-ass [expletive]," Cerrone told ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas (NSFW). "He told me to get on. I don't know what his point [was]. I guess he doesn't want to be cordial."
Cerrone is slightly volatile and likes to fight. You need some major cojones to start something with him. There was a brief second there something bad was set to go down.
"I was getting ready to fight. Then he walked away. He just took off after that. It caught me by surprise," said Cerrone. "Don't know anything about the guy. I think they just wake up pissed off all the time for no reason. It just seems like they're always mad. Whatever he does to get his mind ready for the fight that must be it," said Cerrone.
If you think Cerrone is going to let it slide, you're dead wrong. He brought it even stronger during an interview on "Countdown to UFC 141" saying Diaz messed with the wrong guy.
"If you want to talk [expletive] to me, you're just gonna enrage me and piss me off," said Cerrone. "So feed my [expletive] flame. That's what I say. Let's go!"
At Cerrone's last fight, a dominant win over Denis Siver at UFC 137, he again got to witness the Diaz brothers' madness first hand as Nick ranted and raved about everything under the sun.
"I was exploding into laughter on some of the comments. I was waiting for someone to take the mic away from him, like 'that's enough before you completely ruin yourself. That'll be enough out of you.' I was just surprised he kept going on about compensation and no one knew what the [expletive] he was talking about," said Cerrone.
As far as Christmas goes, Cerrone is planning on hitting the road in the morning to drive from Albuquerque to Las Vegas. Cerrone, who's picked up $225,000 in post-fight bonuses this year, bought himself an early Christmas gift, an $80,000 RV.
Watch UFC 141 right here on Yahoo! Sports
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Linaro member boards get accelerated builds of Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Accelerated builds of Android Ice Cream Sandwich now available on Linaro member boards
Cambridge, UK - 21 December 2011 - Linaro, a not-for-profit engineering organization consolidating and optimizing open source software for the ARM architecture, today announced the availability of builds of Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) supporting accelerated graphics on two of its member's low cost development boards: the Samsung Origen and ST-Ericsson Snowball boards.
Just over a month ago, within a day of Google's release of the 4.0.1 ICS version of Android, Linaro showed videos of it running on the Texas Instruments (TI) PandaBoard and shortly after that on the Freescale i.MX53 Quick Start board, the Samsung Origen board and ST-Ericsson's Snowball board. The accelerated graphics support that has been made available today makes use of the ARM Mali-400 graphics processor used by two of these boards. This graphics processor is integrated with a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor: on the Samsung Origen board in Samsung's Exynos 4210 SoC, and on the ST-Ericsson Snowball board in ST-Ericsson's NovaTM A9500 SoC. Users of these boards can view videos of these latest builds on Linaro's YouTube channel and download the accelerated builds for the Snowball and Origen boards on Linaro's releases.linaro.org website.
Developers are able to create optimized Linux-based devices with the support of Linaro. For example, Linaro uses the latest GCC 4.6 toolchain to build Android, enabling Linaro's Android to outperform standard Android builds in benchmarks and real-world tasks. The 4.6 toolchain allows developers to optimize for the latest SoCs like ST-Ericsson's Nova A9500 processor and Samsung's Exynos4210, which leads to an improved user experience. Furthermore, the toolchain gives early access to the performance improvements Linaro has been developing in the next release of GCC, as well as the many correctness fixes identified and provided through working with the Linaro community. As an example, the Linaro 4.6 toolchain includes features to allow software to manually or automatically parallelize compute tasks across the multiple cores in the chips.
Linaro operates openly, and these accelerated builds are the latest downloads enabling advanced product development on hardware from its member companies. Linaro's goal is to provide consolidated and optimized open source software building blocks that provide companies with a foundation on which they can rapidly build and deliver innovative, differentiated solutions.
Join us for Linaro Connect Q1.12
Linaro Connect is held every three to four months to bring the Linux on ARM community together to work on the latest system-on-chip (SoC) developments, plan new engineering efforts and hold engineering hacking sessions. These events give the Linux community an opportunity to be a part of the Linaro team and help to define the ARM tools, Linux kernels and builds of key Linux distributions including Android and Ubuntu on member SoCs. Join us for our next event February 6-10th in San Francisco, California. Learn more at connect.linaro.org
About Linaro
Linaro is a not-for-profit engineering organization working on consolidating and optimizing open source software for the ARM architecture, including the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) toolchain, the Linux kernel, ARM power management, graphics and multimedia interfaces. Linaro's key value is in working on generic ARM technology that is common to all ARM SoC vendors. In this way engineering costs are shared, rather than each vendor having to implement core software technology themselves, which has historically resulted in fragmentation and overhead in maintaining code that cannot be upstreamed to the mainline Linux kernel and other open source projects. Linaro's output is used by its members, and by distributions including Android, Ubuntu and OEM/ODM customized versions of Linux. Linaro's goals are to deliver value to its members by enabling their engineering teams to focus on differentiation and product delivery, and to reduce time to market for OEM/ODMs delivering open source based products using ARM technology. For more information, please visit www.linaro.org
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/linaro-member-boards-get-accelerated-builds-of-android-ice-cream/
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Scientists Discover First Ever Earth-Sized and Smaller Planets (ContributorNetwork)
Researchers, scientists, and astronomers -- both amateur and professional -- have added hundreds of planets to the rolls of confirmed worlds orbiting other stars in the past few years, and the number is accelerating due to interest and thousands of sighted possible planets revealed by the various telescopes scanning the heavens.
But of all the hundreds of confirmed extra-solar planets thus far, not one of them had been found to be of Earth's size or smaller. This week, scientists announced in Nature that two such planets had been found, one of Earth's relative size and one somewhat smaller, and that those two Earth-sized planets were orbiting a Sun-like star as well.
Dr. Francois Fressin, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, led the study that found the two worlds. Noting that the discovery touched off a "new era" in extra-solar planet exploration, according to BBC News , Fressin noted that the worlds were found circling Keppler-20, a star that had previously been found to be the center of a planetary cluster of three planets.
The two planets, Keppler-20e and -20f, are believed to be rocky entities, much like the inner planets of our own Solar System. The outer world, -20f, is believed to perhaps once have had an atmosphere. Both were once further from their star and have gradually been drawn inward, the scientists believe.
"We know that these two planets may have migrated closer to their Sun," Fressin told BBC News. "(The larger of the two) might have been an Earth twin in the past. It has the same size as Earth and in the past it could have had the same temperature."
Keppler-20e is smaller than Earth, measuring at 0.87 of Earth's radius. The larger exoplanet is nearly the same size as earth and measures 1.03 of Earth's radius, making it just a bit bigger than Earth. Both lie outside the habitable zone -- and too close to their parent star -- that scientists believe is the most conducive to sustaining life as it is generally understood to exist.
What makes the Fressin, et. al., significant is that it marks the first discoveries of near-Earth-size planets. All other planets detected prior to the study had been fairly larger than Earth. In fact, according to the study, before the detection of Keppler-20e and -20f, the smallest extrasolar planet found had measured 1.42 times the size of Earth.
The search for Earth-like and Earth-sized planets has been ongoing from the start. But the detection of such small worlds is not as simple as it might seem. Although planets are found by studying the gravitational "wobble" of the parent star (a "wobble" generally means that something of mass is affecting the star's orbit and/or rotation), they are often confirmed via their transit shadow on their parent star. Relative size is determined in this manner as well.
Fressin was part of the team that announced in early December that they had found an Earth twin. The BBC reported that, although the planet, Keppler-22b, was 2.4 times the size of our own planet, it was found within the "Goldilocks" or habitable zone. Keppler 22b is about 15 percent closer to its sun than our planet and has a higher average temperature (22 Celsius as opposed to the 14-15 Celsius enjoyed by Earth).
The announcement was accompanied by news at the first Keppler Conference that the Keppler telescope had identified another 2,300 candidate planets. Of those, 207 were believed to be near Earth's size.
Fressin noted that the new discovery is possibly more important than that of Keppler-22b.
"With every new discovery we're getting closer to the 'holy grail' of an Earth-like planet around a Sun-like star," he said. That "holy grail" would be a planet that was similar in size, had a like composition, had a similar atmosphere, and orbited at the relative same distance from the sun -- a true Earth twin.
Prior to the Keppler-22b discovery, scientists had announced the finding of several super-Earths. The first, Gliese-581d, was announced in May. Then HD 85512 b was revealed in August.
Thus far, over 700 planets have been confirmed to exist, according to MSNBC. Of that number, only a small fraction have been found to be in the Goldilocks Zone of habitability. And now, two, one Earth-size and one smaller, can be added to the growing number of detected worlds, although not as candidates of supporting life conditions that are Earth-like.
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
California election results: Shielded from GOP wave, Democrats win Sacramento (ContributorNetwork)
The California 2010 midterm election has proved to be a rocky road for candidates, ballot initiatives and voters alike. California made election records in campaign contributions and spending. California results showed this election was still blue in the Golden State.
Nov. 2 proved to be a near sweep across the nation for the Republicans; however, California was not what the GOP had hoped for. The Democrats won the California election, taking over Sacramento.
Jerry Brown took over retiring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's seat, defeating Meg Whitman. Brown took in 53.8 percent of the votes, while Meg Whitman took in 41.2 percent.
Brown's experience bested Whitman's more than $150 million in personal spending. Brown raised just more than $60 million in support of his campaign. Brown makes only the second governor in California to have served for a third term.
The incumbent lieutenant governor, Abel Maldonado, was beat by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat; he will now join fellow Democrat Brown in Sacramento. Maldonado, a Republican, took in 39 percent, while Newsome took in 50.2 percent. This comes in time for the high-court hearing the ruling on Proposition 8, the anti-same sex marriage bill. Maldonado was a supporter of Proposition 8.
The strong race for Senate in California between incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbra Boxer and her opponent Carly Fiorina held out until the last minute. Boxer took in 52.2 percent while Fiorina took in 42.4 percent. An upset would have assisted the GOP in gaining a majority in the Senate. Boxer is one of the more liberal constitutes of the U.S. Senate. Fiorina refused to concede until the early hours of the morning, citing, "All the numbers are not in. It's too soon to tell," via telecast of her campaign celebration.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi kept control of her U.S. House seat. Pelosi with a landslide win gained 80 percent of the votes over her opponent John Dennis (R). Pelosi will lose her position of Speaker of the House because of the GOP taking over the majority in the House.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, remained in office. This came with a strong challenge by retired professional football player Damon Dunn. Bowen, a former senator, helped Democrats gain control of Sacramento.
California had many propositions on the ballot, including Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. Many of the propositions were set in place in attempts to close the $19 million budget deficit. The election proved a disappointment for the state has depleted budget.
Proposition 19, the controversial ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, went up in smoke, as 53.8 percent voted in opposition. Proposition 19 would have taxed the commercial sale of marijuana to help generate revenue in attempts to fix the budget deficit.
Proposition 19 was not the only budget ballot measure to fail. Proposition 21, the state park funding initiative through license surcharges, failed, only gaining 42.0 percent in support and 58.0 percent in opposition. The surcharge collected on license plates was an attempt to fund state parks and make up some of the budget cuts in recent years due to the depleted budget.
Proposition 23, the suspension of Air Pollution Control Law (SB 32), was not passed, as 61.3 percent opposed it. Proposition 23 was slated to create green jobs while promoting solar and hybrid energy.
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Havel, Czech anti-communist hero, has died (AP)
PRAGUE ? Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who wove theater into politics to peacefully bring down communism in Czechoslovakia and become a hero of the epic struggle that ended the Cold War, has died. He was 75.
His assistant Sabina Dancecova says Havel died Sunday morning at his weekend house in the northern Czech Republic.
Havel was his country's first democratically elected president after the nonviolent "Velvet Revolution" that ended four decades of repression by a regime he ridiculed as "Absurdistan."
As president, he oversaw the country's bumpy transition to democracy and a free-market economy, as well its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Report slams Dutch Catholic Church over sex abuse (AP)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? As many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday.
The findings detailed some of the most widespread abuse yet linked to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been under fire for years over abuse allegations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
Based on a survey of 34,000 people, the report estimated that 1 in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of sexual abuse ? a figure that rose to 1 in 5 among children who spent part of their youth in an institution such as a boarding school or children's home, whether Catholic or not.
"Sexual abuse of minors," it said bluntly, "occurs widely in Dutch society."
The findings prompted the archbishop of Utrecht, Wim Eijk, to apologize to victims on behalf of the Dutch church, saying the report "fills us with shame and sorrow."
The abuse ranged from "unwanted sexual advances" to rape, and abusers numbered in the hundreds and included priests, brothers and lay people who worked in religious orders and congregations. The number of victims who suffered abuse in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to the probe, which went back as far as 1945.
The commission behind the investigation was set up last year by the Catholic Church under the leadership of a former government minister, Wim Deetman, a Protestant, who said there could be no doubt church leaders knew of the problem. "The idea that people did not know there was a risk ... is untenable," he told a news conference.
Deetman said abuse continued in part because bishops and religious orders sometimes worked autonomously to deal with the abuse and "did not hang out their dirty laundry." However, he said the commission concluded that "it is wrong to talk of a culture of silence" by the church as a whole.
Colm O'Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland and a victim of clergy abuse, criticized the Dutch inquiry because it was established by the church itself.
"It is the Dutch government that should be putting in place a meaningful investigation," O'Gorman said.
Even so, he said the report "highlights widespread abuse on a scale I think would be shocking to most Dutch people."
But O'Gorman added that "the scale of the abuse is in and of itself not the significant issue. It is whether it was covered up and, significantly, this report suggests it was."
Nearly a third of the Netherlands' 16 million people identify themselves as Catholic, making it the largest religion in the country, according to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics for 2008.
The Dutch probe followed allegations of repeated incidents of abuse at one cloister that spread to claims from Catholic institutions across the country.
The investigating commission received some 1,800 complaints of abuse at Catholic schools, seminaries and orphanages. It then conducted the broader survey of 34,000 people for a more comprehensive analysis of the scale and nature of sexual abuse of minors in the church and elsewhere.
In one order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, the commission found evidence that "sexually inappropriate behavior" among members "may perhaps have been part of the internal monastic culture."
Bert Smeets, an abuse victim, said the report did not go far enough in investigating and outlining in precise detail exactly what happened.
"What was happening was sexual abuse, violence, spiritual terror, and that should have been investigated," Smeets told The Associated Press. "It remains vague. All sorts of things happened, but nobody knows exactly what or by whom. This way they avoid responsibility."
The commission said about 800 priests, brothers, pastors or lay people working for the church were identified in the complaints. About 105 of them are still alive, although it is not known if they remain in church positions. Their names were not released.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Deetman's inquiry had referred 11 cases to them ? without naming the alleged perpetrators. Prosecutors opened only one investigation, saying the other 10 did not have sufficient details and happened too long ago to prosecute.
The latest findings add to the growing evidence of widespread clergy abuse of children documented in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Belgium and other countries, forcing Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to victims whose trauma was often hidden by church cover-ups.
In September, abuse victims and human rights lawyers, upset that no high-ranking church officials have yet to be prosecuted, filed a complaint in the United States urging the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and top Vatican officials for possible crimes against humanity. The Vatican called the move a "ludicrous publicity stunt."
An American advocacy group involved in that case, the Center for Constitutional Rights, called the Dutch findings "yet another example of the widespread and systematic nature of the problem of child sex crimes in the Catholic Church."
"If similar commissions were held in every country, we would undoubtedly be equally appalled by the rates of abuse," it said.
Archbishop Eijk said the victims in the Netherlands would be compensated by a commission the Dutch church set up last month and which has a scale starting at $6,500 (euro5,000), rising to a maximum of $130,000 (euro100,000) depending on the nature of the abuse.
O'Gorman criticized the church-established compensation scheme.
"It is simply not appropriate for the church to be the decider" of compensation, he said. "It is important the Dutch government recognizes its responsibility to ensure access to justice ... to all victims."
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Turkish mosque collapse kills 1, injures 9 (AP)
ANKARA, Turkey ? An official says one worker was killed and nine others were rescued after the dome of a mosque collapsed.
Mayor Hasan Unver told NTV television that the dome of the mosque being built in an industrial area of central Turkish town of Acigol tumbled down during construction, trapping 10 workers under a pile of iron.
He says nine of the workers were rescued with injuries while the other was pulled out dead.
State-run TRT television showed images of rescuers, some carrying a bright orange stretcher, scrambling to rescue one trapped worker amid a pile of rubble and iron rods.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
FIRST PIC: See Britney's Stunning Engagement Ring! (omg!)
Britney Spears and her fianc? Jason Trawick made their debut as an engaged couple at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas on Friday evening.
The pair, who originally planned to be in the city to celebrate Trawick?s 40th birthday, made it a double celebration after getting engaged the night before. Us Weekly broke the news.
PHOTOS: Inside their romance.
Spears wore a pale pink dress as she proudly showed off the three carat Neil Lane sparkler given to her by her former agent beau.
PHOTOS: Britney's bikini body
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"This is something they've both wanted for a long time," a source explains to Us. "It's a way to cement their family. They're both extremely happy and can't wait to become man and wife."
?
Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly
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Video: RIMM Earnings Preview
Shaw Wu, Sterne Agee, explains why his earnings expectations for Research in Motion are slightly higher than the consensus.
Related Links:
Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45688078/
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Panetta formally shuts down US war in Iraq (AP)
BAGHDAD ? After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead and 100,000 Iraqi dead, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq ? a conflict that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said was worth the American sacrifice because it set Iraq on a path to democracy.
Panetta stepped off his military plane in Baghdad Thursday as the leader of America's war in Iraq, but departed as one of many U.S. and global officials who hope to work with the struggling nation as it tries to find its new place in the Middle East and the broader world.
Bombings and gun battles are still common. And experts are concerned about the Iraqi security force's ability to defend the nation against foreign threats.
In addition to the dead, the war left 32,000 Americans wounded and cost the U.S. more than $800 billion.
Still, Panetta said earlier this week, it "has not been in vain."
Panetta and several other U.S. diplomatic, military and defense leaders participated Thursday in a symbolic ceremony during which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was officially retired, or "cased," according to Army tradition. The U.S. Forces-Iraq flag was furled around a flagpole and covered in camouflage. It will be brought back to the United States.
"You will leave with great pride ? lasting pride," Panetta told the troops. "Secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to begin a new chapter in history."
During a stop in Afghanistan this week, Panetta described the mission as "making that country sovereign and independent and able to govern and secure itself."
That, he said, is "a tribute to everybody ? everybody who fought in that war, everybody who spilled blood in that war, everybody who was dedicated to making sure we could achieve that mission."
Iraqi citizens offered a more pessimistic assessment. "The Americans are leaving behind them a destroyed country," said Mariam Khazim of Sadr City. "The Americans did not leave modern schools or big factories behind them. Instead, they left thousands of widows and orphans."
The Iraq Body Count website says more than 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
A member of the political coalition loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr saw another message in the U.S. withdrawal. "The American ceremony represents the failure of the U.S. occupation of Iraq due to the great resistance of the Iraqi people," said Sadrist lawmaker Amir al-Kinani.
Panetta echoed President Barack Obama's promise that the U.S. plans to keep a robust diplomatic presence in Iraq, foster a deep and lasting relationship with the nation and maintain a strong military force in the region.
As of Thursday, there were two U.S. bases and about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq ? a dramatic drop from the roughly 500 military installations and as many as 170,000 troops during the surge ordered by President George W. Bush in 2007, when violence and raging sectarianism gripped the country. All U.S. troops are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of the year, but officials are likely to meet that goal a bit before then.
The total U.S. departure is a bit earlier than initially planned, and military leaders worry that it is a bit premature for the still maturing Iraqi security forces, who face continuing struggles to develop the logistics, air operations, surveillance and intelligence sharing capabilities they will need in what has long been a difficult neighborhood.
U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on legal issues and troop immunity that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain. U.S. defense officials said they expect there will be no movement on that issue until sometime next year.
Still, despite Obama's earlier contention that all American troops would be home for Christmas, at least 4,000 forces will remain in Kuwait for some months. The troops will be able to help finalize the move out of Iraq, but could also be used as a quick reaction force if needed.
Obama met in Washington with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this week, vowing to remain committed to Iraq as the two countries struggle to define their new relationship. Ending the war was an early goal of the Obama administration, and Thursday's ceremony will allow the president to fulfill a crucial campaign promise during a politically opportune time. The 2012 presidential race is roiling and Republicans are in a ferocious battle to determine who will face off against Obama in the election.
Panetta acknowledged the difficulties for Iraq in the coming years, as the country tries to find its footing.
"They're going face challenges in the future," Panetta said Wednesday during a visit with troops in Afghanistan. "They'll face challenges from terrorism, they'll face challenges from those that would want to divide their country. They'll face challenges from just the test of democracy, a new democracy and trying to make it work. But the fact is, we have given them the opportunity to be able to succeed."
The ceremony at Baghdad International Airport also featured remarks from Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Austin is leading the massive logistical challenge of shuttering hundreds of bases and combat outposts, and methodically moving more than 50,000 U.S. troops and their equipment out of Iraq over the last year ? while still conducting training, security assistance and counterterrorism battles.
The war "tested our military's strength and our ability to adapt and evolve," he said, noting the development of the new counterinsurgency doctrine.
Over the coming days, the final few thousand U.S. troops will leave Iraq in orderly caravans and tightly scheduled flights ? a marked contrast to the shock and awe that rocked the country on March 20, 2003, as the U.S. invasion began.
Saddam Hussein has been ousted, the reports of weapons of mass destruction largely laid to rest. And the future of a nascent democracy awaits.
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