Monday, January 28, 2013

Harry's Afghan downtime: movies, candy trades

LONDON (AP) ? Prince Harry's off-duty time in Afghanistan appeared to be full of war movies, board games and elaborate candy trades.

The 28-year-old helicopter pilot and fellow members of his squad swapped Kit Kats and Rice Krispies Squares for American soldiers' M&Ms, according to a British media pool report released Sunday.

Harry himself outlined one of his less-prestigious duties. The third-in-line to the U.K. throne said anyone who lost at Uckers ? a military game similar to Ludo or Parcheesi ? had to then wait on his comrades like a Buckingham Palace butler, ready with a fresh cup of tea whenever anyone rang their bell.

"Whoever loses ... then you have to make brews for everybody all day," Harry told journalists ahead of his return to Britain this week.

He also denied rumors that he was far better at PlayStation than at traditional board games.

"I don't know who told you that," he told reporters. "I lost two days ago, and yesterday, so since you guys have been here I've only lost."

Harry returned to Britain on Wednesday after a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan in which he acknowledged that he had targeted Taliban fighters from the cockpit of his Apache attack helicopter.

Asked in an earlier round of interviews whether he had killed anyone, Harry said: "Yeah, so, lots of people have." That admission disturbed some Britons and led to front-page headlines like the one in The Daily Mail that read: "Harry: I Have Killed."

This latest round of interviews, focusing on Harry's daily life at Britain's Camp Bastion military base in Afghanistan, is not likely to draw the same kind of headlines.

The report mainly carried glimpses of the prince's daily routine, including his favorite foods ? chicken and broccoli ? and his favorite movies ? "Full Metal Jacket," ''Apocalypse Now," and "Platoon."

In an interesting twist for an Apache pilot, "Black Hawk Down," the Ridley Scott film about a helicopter raid gone wrong in Somalia, was among the movies spotted in Harry's communal tent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/harrys-afghan-downtime-movies-candy-trades-090928405.html

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Popular Mechanics Death Race 1, 2 & 3 Triple Feature Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Download Combo Pack Giveaway Official Rules

January 25, 2013 11:35 AM Text Size: A . A . A

No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Death Race 1, 2 & 3 Triple Feature Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Download combo pack Giveaway. Sponsored by Hearst Communications, Inc. All entrants must have or create a Twitter account. If you are not an existing member of Twitter, you will be required to follow the directions and join Twitter. When you join Twitter, you are indicating that you have read and agree to accept the Twitter Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Membership to Twitter.com is free. To enter, you must sign in to Twitter.com using your Twitter account on January 25, 2013 at 12 p.m. E.T. and tweet I want to win a Death Race 3 Triple Feature Blu-ray/Combo Pack to hashtag #popmechdvd. The first 10 entries received by Sponsor will receive a Death Race 3 Blu-ray/Combo Pack (ARV: $77.24). One giveaway per person. While supplies last. Once all ten Combo Packs have been distributed, there will be no substitute product given away. Winners will be notified by a Twitter message. A notice will be posted on twitter.com/popmech when Sponsor has received 10 entries. Please allow four weeks for delivery. Must be 18 years or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or Canada. Void in the Province of Quebec and where prohibited by law.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/dvds/death-race-combo-pack-official-rules?src=rss

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Coca Cola's Low Calorie Beverages Will Kill You ... - Food Babe

When I saw Coca-Cola?s new anti-obesity ad, my jaw dropped wide open. Yes, you read that right? Coca-Cola is on a new mission to fight the obesity epidemic now, in what I call a desperate attempt to prevent declining sales. The sad part is that some people will actually believe their nonsense. In the advertisement they try to make a case that there is room for Coca-Cola products in people?s ?healthy? diets.

Coca-Cola is promoting the introduction of new low calorie beverages and using the failed logic of ?a calorie is a calorie? to convince people who need to loose weight to keep Coca-Cola products around in their diet.?But you know what? A calorie isn?t a calorie ? when it?s made up of chemicals that affect how much you eat and the way your body metabolizes those chemicals.

So I?m here to break that down for you and detail out why Coca-Cola?s low calorie beverages will not fight obesity ? and if anything ? the reliance on low calorie chemical-filled drinks just perpetuates the problem even more. Proving in fact, that these drinks will continue to be linked to the increase in obesity.

If you want to see the full advertisement video?it is at the bottom of this post?but I don?t recommend watching it (unless you want to get a good laugh) because it deserves no more attention and I want you to focus on the truth that I am about to share with you now.

(And when you see this advertisement being played during the Super Bowl coming up ? I suggest you yell loudly at the TV, like I plan on doing.)

Quotes from Coca-Cola?s Anti Obesity Advertisement:

?For over 125 years, we have been bringing people together??

Really?? How? By selling a products to adults and children that are linked to diabetes, heart disease and obesity? Hmmm?. What do you call spending millions of dollars against the consumer?s right to know ? i.e. GMO labeling ? Is this bringing people together? ?If anything ? it makes you an enemy company people should boycott.

?We?ve created smaller portion control sizes for our most popular drinks and we?ll have then in about 90% of the country by the end of this year?

A smaller can of poison will not solve obesity. Thank you.

?No matter where they come from, including Coca-Cola and everything else with calories.?And if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you?ll gain weight?

This is faulty logic and I?ll show you why in just a minute?

Across our portfolio of more than 650 beverages we now offer over 180 low and no calorie choices and most of our full calorie beverages now have low or no calorie versions.?Over the last 15 years, this has helped reduce the average calories per serving across our industries products in the US by about 22%?

This is where I want to take a closer look at exactly which low calorie beverages Coca-Cola is referring to? here are some examples and the ingredients these low calorie beverages include:

Slide03

Artificial Sugars ? Linked to Obesity and a?Myriad?of Diseases

Sure you can save some calories drinking beverages with artificial sugars, but you won?t reduce your risk of obesity or getting a tumor.

If someone is trying to lose weight, the consumption of artificial sweeteners is not the solution and will not work as long term strategy. Artificial Sweeteners are proven to stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings, and promote fat storage and weight gain.

That?s right ? consuming artificial sweeteners actually increases your appetite. Think about it ? when someone consumes something that is sweet, but it has little to no calories ? their brain receives a signal to want more calories because their body is not actually getting any energy (i.e. enough calories) to get satisfied. ?So that person keeps looking for gratification elsewhere and ends up craving more.

The fact that Coca-Cola and other food industry giants are getting away with this ?orchestrated deception? is unbelievable and then to say developing low calorie beverages using these artificial sweeteners is actually going to help the obesity epidemic? Seriously? Who are they kidding?

Furthermore, there are more dangerous side effects from artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame, which is considered one the most dangerous substances allowed in our food supply. Aspartame is found in Powerade, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Dr. Pepper, Fanta Light, Fuze, Minute Maid Light, etc.

Over 10,000 complaints have been filed with the FDA on this substance since 1980 and has actually never been proven to be safe before it was approved for use in our food supply. Aspartame is linked to diabetes, auto-immune disorders, depression (which can cause you to eat more ? once again), birth defects, and several forms of cancer.

?Erythritol? found in Vitamin Water Zero is a sugar alcohol the body does not easily digest and is linked to diarrhea, headache and other intestinal disorders.

Acesulfame Potassium or acesulfame K is the one of main sweeteners in Minute Maid Fruit Falls ? which is a low calorie beverage aimed at kids ? and Monster Zero for example. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) it is anything but safe.?CSPI reported?the?safety tests of acesulfame-K that were conducted in the 1970s were inadequate. Specifically, two rat studies suggest that the additive?might cause cancer,?but these studies were never addressed by the FDA before they approved the substance to also be used unregulated in soft drinks. In addition it is mentioned that large doses of acetoacetamide (a breakdown product of this sugar) have been shown to affect the thyroid in rats, rabbits, and dogs. As you might know ? the thyroid gland ? regulates the endocrine system, which is responsible the metabolism.

If Coca-Cola wanted to really improve their offerings ? they would immediately eliminate artificial sugars from their products.

Natural Flavors ? Trick Consumers To Drink More

By producing zero or low calorie drinks that taste like the ?real thing,? Coca-Cola is ?hijacking? your taste buds one by one. Food scientists can engineer natural flavors to cause the inability to stop eating or drinking. All of the Coca-Cola products listed above have added natural flavors.?These flavors scientists synthesize trick your mind into wanting more and more. They don?t want you to have the full essence of the strawberry or real coconut ? they want you to only experience the best 1 millionth part of the taste ? so you get ?addicted? and keep having to go back for more and more, searching continuously for gratification ? eating more of that product which in turns fills Coca-Cola?s pocket, as well as other big food companies.

This is an industry trick that is used in so many products ? beyond drinks ? but is the most prevalent in low calorie beverages. In a few versions of Coca-Cola?s product Zico ? a coconut water ? they have to use natural flavors to cover up the fact that they are getting coconuts from all over the world, that taste different, which they then process into ?concentrate.? The?coconut water is heated down to syrup and then reconstituted with water.?To keep the flavor consistent ? they have to add back in natural flavors and what you end up with is an inferior product that is a mix of several different species of coconuts that have lost their original integrity, taste and nutrition.

Artificial Colors ? Attract Adults and Children to Unhealthy Drinks?

Adding artificial colors into food, actually contributes to the obesity epidemic by attracting children (and adults) to fake sweetened drinks that provide almost zero nutrition. This is another marketing ploy by Coca-Cola to target more people to get addicted to their products.

Additionally ? it?s important to note ? the caramel coloring that Coca-Cola and other soda giants like Pepsi use ? is completely artificial ? not the stuff you make at home by cooking sugar.?This caramel color is manufactured by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure, which creates carcinogenic compounds. A high?dose of this known carcinogen is proven to cause?liver tumors, lung tumors, and thyroid tumors?in rats and mice.

When?The Center for Science in the Public Interest?released a study last year found dangerous levels of caramel coloring could be contributing to?thousands of cancers?in the US, it prompted Coca-Cola and Pepsi to quickly change their formulas so they didn?t have to include the cancer warning label on their products in California.

Regardless of the reformulation ? many of Coca-Cola?s products still contain this caramel coloring ? even if it?s in a lesser amount. How small of a dose of poison are you willing to take on a regular basis?

Overconsumption of Caffeine ? Causes Addiction and Adrenal Fatique

The reason why so many of Coca-Cola?s low calorie drinks contain caffeine ? is because they want you to become addicted. The stimulation you get from the caffeine, along with the taste of something sweet ? keeps you coming back for more and more. One of the most alarming drinks on the market is ?Monster Zero? which can be directly affect how your adrenal glands function and lead to persistent exhaustion. What happens when people are exhausted all the time? They stop moving? and likely gain weight.

Right now, Monster energy drinks is being sued by multiple families because it is suspected to have caused death of their loved ones. Despite these lawsuits and the recent FDA report about the dangers of energy drinks, Monster continues to be on the market.

Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO?s ? Linked to Obesity

Every single one of Coca-Cola?s products here are likely to have GMO?s. That?s because they have a hidden corn based product ? like sorbitol, fructose, aspartame, maltodextrin, or citric acid. And why in the world would they have spent millions fighting GMO-labeling in California, if their products weren?t full of them!

A study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences shows that GM food is indeed contributing to the obesity epidemic. The study found that GM corn fed to mice led to an increase in overall body weight of about 3.7 percent, while also increasing the weight of the liver by up to 11 percent.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), reported studies that show GMOs responsible for faulty insulin regulation and therefore advise their patients to have GMO-free diets.

Preservatives ? Accelerate Aging and Acidify The Body

Preservatives like sodium benzoate are in almost all of Coca-Cola?s products. The Mayo Clinic reported that this preservative may?increase hyperactivity?in children. Also, when sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) benzene can form a?carcinogen and kill DNA cells, and accelerate aging.

Preservatives cause accelerated aging because they acidify the body. Dr. Jameth Sheridan (D.H.M.) Doctor of Holistic Medicine,?states that it takes 36 glasses of water to re-alkaline your body after drinking just one diet soda. 36 glasses! Wow.

When your body is in an alkaline state your chances of developing disease is significantly lower than a body in an acidic state. This is because our bodies are made of up of billions of cells that are naturally alkaline according to it?s ph balance. When we consume more acidic foods (i.e. many of Coca-Cola?s low calorie drinks) vs. alkaline foods this upsets the balance and leads to all sorts of trouble for our bodies and the organs that regulate our metabolism and weight.

Bisphenol A (aka BPA)?in Cans ? Linked to Obesity

After reviewing the results of over 3,000 children and teens who had high urine BPA levels and high body mass index, a very recent study?determined that BPA is linked to childhood obesity.?BPA has already been banned in baby bottles ? however, kids across the country are still drinking Coca-Cola products tainted with this environmental toxin.

Coca-Cola has downright refused to eliminate BPA?from it?s products and even defends the use of this metabolism destroying compound on their website.

Fructose & Fruit Juice From Concentrate ? Too Much Sugar For the Body To Process

You?ll find crystalline fructose in Vitamin Water Zero, which is?made from (genetically modified) corn starch which is 20% sweeter than sugar.?Fructose is processed by the body differently than other sugars ? and is linked to fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, coronary arterial disease and obesity.

Coca-Cola claims that they have helped remove soda from schools by replacing them with juices. (This not entirely true ? they actually fought the removal of vending machines?in schools).?Nonetheless, these juices are mainly comprised of fruit juice concentrates and do little if anything to solve the problem of obesity.

Honest Kids is made with mainly organic fruit juice concentrate with added natural flavors and ?citric acid.? Citric acid is not organic and is an example of a possible hidden GMO in an organic product.

Honest Kids say ?No GMOs? on their boxes, but I?m not sure if we can entirely trust that. I have yet to see a formal statement from them to know for sure their citric acid is not made from GM corn, as they are not third part verified by the Non-GMO Project. Remember ? USDA organic certified products only have to contain 95% organic content to be labeled as such.

Besides having possible hidden GMOs ? consuming fruit juice concentrate on a regular basis actually overload sugar in the liver, which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

For instance, Minute Maid fruit juice might contain several ounces of straight fructose, with none of the fiber, pulp, or living enzymes that help the body properly digest the sugar.

A Cola Cola sponsored smoothie bar using real whole fruit in schools would be a MUCH better solution ? just a thought.

____________________________________________________

In summary, at the end of Coca Coca?s advertisement they invite you to?.

?To learn more, and visit coke.com/comingtogether?

Ha! That?s funny. When pigs fly!?That?s the last place anyone should go to learn about solving obesity.

If you know a friend or family member who still consumes Coca-Cola products ? especially these ?low or zero calorie? beverages ? please share this article with them.

You could be their hero!

Wishing you lots love, health and a longer life than this tortoise.

Food Babe

Source: http://foodbabe.com/2013/01/25/coca-colas-low-calorie-beverages-will-kill-you-before-they-solve-obesity/

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Helpful Tips On Using A Broker To Market Your House

Selling a house could be a difficult job in today?s current market and you will need someone to help you with the procedure to make it less stressful. Because this may be the greatest transaction of one?s life, you need to employ an expert realtor who has a verified track record. Nevertheless, there are many realtors in the real estate marketplace today of course, if you aren?t cautious, you may end up hiring the wrong one. You need to do an extensive search so that you don?t fall for the inexperienced and unqualified real estate agents who pose as legitimate and qualified ones. Here is a guide on employing a realtor to sell your home.

Requesting beneficial recommendation from buddies, family members and neighbors is a great method to begin your search. This may familiarize you with real estate professionals in your area, especially if this really is your first time to conduct this sort of transaction. The recommendations from these people will inform you of the real estate agents in your area who can be reliable and those to stay away from also. The internet can also be a good place from where you can get a good agent.

Right after getting names of several top rated real estate professionals in your area, schedule meetings with each. Hold these meetings in your home for sale so that the agent can have a glimpse at it and discuss with you how he will market it and represent you to possible purchasers. Ask the realtor for references of the previous clients he has assisted in such transactions. Also inquire concerning the kind of neighborhoods the agent usually works in and the number of homes he has successfully sold in the last year.

Once you have held meetings with several real estate professionals, select someone to represent you as well as your property. Here, consider things like the realtor?s experience and their price generally. You need also follow your gut instincts when creating this choice.Avoid any realtor you feel is not good enough and go for someone you are convinced will get the job carried out.

Lastly, sign a legal contract with the chosen real estate professional. Read and have an understanding of the contract before signing and give consideration to areas that talk about the agent?s commissions, changing realtors or even cancelling the agreement. By simply following the above tips, you are certain to get a good realtor to help you in selling your home.

Get more informative real estate info at www.trilogyatpowerranchhomes.com. Always perform your due diligence before hiring a Scottsdale realtor.

Source: http://www.villasandland.com/articles/helpful-tips-on-using-a-broker-to-market-your-house/

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Jen Remauro: Divorce Papers

I never thought the words "I do" would come out of my mouth at the age of twenty-two, but they did, and I blame the healthcare system for it. You see, I needed a root canal but didn't have dental insurance. The guy I was dating did, so we went down to City Hall, said our vows in front of a janitor and a city clerk and became husband and wife. Then we went to Burger King to celebrate our nuptials. It doesn't get any less fairytale than that.

Fast forward five years, and everything had completely fallen apart. The marriage had failed and so had my root canal (which I didn't even know could happen). My husband, who is eleven years my senior, was trying to control me in every way possible and I let him do it because I didn't know what else to do. I was in my twenties, still trying to discover who I was, and I thought that was what marriage was all about. It wasn't until I finally got my husband to agree to go to couples therapy that I realized what had gone wrong in our relationship. Within twenty minutes of our session, the therapist turned to me and said, "Get out! Pack up your belongings and leave. This is not a healthy marriage and you both need time apart." I couldn't believe my ears! I had my very own cheerleader (with a goatee) rooting for me and taking my side. It was at that moment that I began to feel strong and independent. I realized that I deserved better and I was done being bossed around. So I did what any newly independent woman would do, I packed up my stuff and moved back in with my parents. I let my husband keep the house, the cars and everything else we had accumulated over the five years we were married. Nothing but my happiness mattered and I had gotten it back.

It took me about two years to get back on my feet and when I finally got my own place I remember looking around the living room, trying to figure out how I was going to decorate with only two hundred dollars in the bank. The walls were bare and in need of some paint and photos. I rummaged through some hand-me-downs from my mom and found an empty 8"x10" picture frame, but the only picture I had large enough to fill the frame was my wedding photo --- which I had drawn horns and mustaches on. Then a brilliant idea came to me: I was going to frame my divorce papers and hang them smack in the middle the living room wall to remind me to never get married again! I ran up to my bedroom, retrieved the documents and quickly inserted them into the frame. I then realized I didn't own a hammer (or nails) but was too excited to put this idea on the back burner, so I jumped in my car, drove to my parent's house and borrowed the items I needed to put my brilliant idea into action. When I got back home I threw my keys on the couch, swiftly grabbed the picture frame and with a dance-like motion I twirled, spun and leaped my way over to the chosen wall. "Tap, tap, tap" was all it took to set the nail in place. I then hung the frame, took a step back, tripped over my pocket book and fell flat on my rear. As I sat there, on the living room floor, I stared up at the papers with a smirk on my face. Those papers were what set me free. They gave me my maiden name back, they allowed no one but me to control me and they helped me begin to discover who I really am.

Fast forward another four years and those divorce papers are still hanging in the exact same place. Hanging the divorce papers has been good for my mental health and the wedding photo has improved my aim -- it's hanging in my basement where, on occasion, I throw darts at it.

2013-01-25-photo.jpg

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Follow Jen Remauro on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenRemauro

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jen-remauro/post_4310_b_2490697.html

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Logix9 gives insight on domain name selections

Domain nameWhen it comes to selecting a domain name, there are still a lot of open options. Digital marketing firm Logix9 weighs in on a couple points that may make the difference between success and failure.

It may seem like every domain name that can possibly be thought of is gone, but new websites pop up every minute. There are plenty of decent names to pick from, and it?s not always the first one that comes to mind.

Logix9, a digital marketing firm, offers training on how to pick the perfect domain name for a website. Here are a few of its top tips.

First, make the domain name the same as the name of the web site. It is usually assumed that they are the same, so anything less will be difficult for customers to remember and won?t be as easy to find. Don?t have people looking for a site named XYZ have to type in XYB.com to get there.

The second step is just as important as the first. Logix9 says the domain name has to be short and to the point. Don?t leave a whole lot of room for typos and don?t use dashes or underscores. Throwing a dash in there might be the only way to get the name that seems perfect, but chances are most customers won?t use the dash and the other company will make that sale. Domain names with anything other than letters isn?t just confusing for some, it can look like spam and turn off potential visitors.

Also, pick top-level domains. Many Americans won?t even know that a website can end in anything other than .com, .net, .org or .edu. Websites will try to sell some top-level domains like .co, .biz, .info and more. The name that may seem perfect will probably be available with one of those endings, but choosing anything other than the standard could be bad for business. This depends heavily on what the business is, however. A business reaching out to a tech-savvy audience may not be turned off by a domain name that ends with .co.

Finally, make sure to use keywords. Use the keywords that will be frequented on the website as well. For example, if the website is all about selling pasta, pasta should really be one of the first words in the domain name. Ignoring keywords could really hurt a website?s search ranking.

Logix9 helps customers succeed in marketing their businesses online daily.

Source: http://www.indyposted.com/192092/logix9-gives-insight-domain-name-selections/

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Chameleon pulsar baffles astronomers

Chameleon pulsar baffles astronomers [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Daniel Cochlin
daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
44-161-275-8387
University of Manchester

Using a satellite X-ray telescope combined with terrestrial radio telescopes the pulsar was found to flip on a roughly half-hour timescale between two extreme states; one dominated by X-ray pulses, the other by a highly-organised pattern of radio pulses.

The research was led by Professor Wim Hermsen from The Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Amsterdam and will appear in the journal Science on the 25th January 2013.

Researchers from Jodrell Bank Observatory, as well as institutions around the world, used simultaneous observations with the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton and two radio telescopes; the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands and the Giant Meter Wave Telescope (GMRT) in India to reveal this so far unique behaviour.

Pulsars are small spinning stars that are about the size of a city, around 20 km in diameter. They emit oppositely directed beams of radiation from their magnetic poles. Just like a lighthouse, as the star spins and the beam sweeps repeatedly past the Earth we see a brief flash.

Some pulsars produce radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including at X-ray and radio wavelengths. Despite being discovered more than 45 years ago the exact mechanism by which pulsars shine is still unknown.

It has been known for some time that some radio-emitting pulsars flip their behaviour between two (or even more) states, changing the pattern and intensity of their radio pulses. The moment of flip is both unpredictable and sudden. It is also known from satellite-borne telescopes that a handful of radio pulsars can also be detected at X-ray frequencies. However, the X-ray signal is so weak that nothing is known of its variability.

To find out if the X-rays could also flip the scientists studied a particular pulsar called PSR B0943+10, one of the first to be discovered. It has radio pulses which change in form and brightness every few hours with some of the changes happening within about a second.

Dr Ben Stappers from The University of Manchester's School of Physics and Astronomy said: "The behaviour of this pulsar is quite startling, it's as if it has two distinct personalities. As PSR B0943+10 is one of the few pulsars also known to emit X-rays, finding out how this higher energy radiation behaves as the radio changes could provide new insight into the nature of the emission process."

Since the source is a weak X-ray emitter, the team used the most sensitive X-ray telescope in existence, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton on board a spacecraft orbiting the Earth. The observations took place over six separate sessions of about six hours in duration. To identify the exact moment of flip in the pulsar's radio behaviour the X-ray observations were tracked simultaneously with two of the largest radio telescopes in the world, LOFAR and the GMRT.

What the scientists found was that whilst the X-rays did indeed change their behaviour at the same time as the radio emission, as might have been expected, in the state where the radio signal is strong and organised the X-rays were weak, and when the radio emission switched to weak the X-rays got brighter.

Commenting on the study's findings the project leader Wim Hermsen says: "To our surprise we found that when the brightness of the radio emission halved, the X-ray emission brightened by a factor of two! Furthermore the intense X-rays have a very different character from those in the radio-bright state, since they seem to be thermal in origin and to pulse with the neutron star's rotation period."

Dr Stappers says this is an exciting discovery: "As well as brightening in the X-rays we discovered that the X-ray emission also shows pulses, something not seen when the radio emission is bright. This was the opposite of what we had expected. I've likened the changes in the pulsar to a chameleon. Like the animal the star changes in reaction to its environment, such as a change in temperature."

Geoff Wright from the University of Sussex adds: "Our observations strongly suggest that a temporary "hotspot" appears close to the pulsar's magnetic pole which switches on and off with the change of state. But why a pulsar should undergo such dramatic and unpredictable changes is completely unknown."

The next step for the researchers is to look at other objects which have similar behaviour to investigate what happens to the X-ray emission. Later this year there will be another round of simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of a second pulsar. These observations will include the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory.

###


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?


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Chameleon pulsar baffles astronomers [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Daniel Cochlin
daniel.cochlin@manchester.ac.uk
44-161-275-8387
University of Manchester

Using a satellite X-ray telescope combined with terrestrial radio telescopes the pulsar was found to flip on a roughly half-hour timescale between two extreme states; one dominated by X-ray pulses, the other by a highly-organised pattern of radio pulses.

The research was led by Professor Wim Hermsen from The Netherlands Institute for Space Research and the University of Amsterdam and will appear in the journal Science on the 25th January 2013.

Researchers from Jodrell Bank Observatory, as well as institutions around the world, used simultaneous observations with the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton and two radio telescopes; the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands and the Giant Meter Wave Telescope (GMRT) in India to reveal this so far unique behaviour.

Pulsars are small spinning stars that are about the size of a city, around 20 km in diameter. They emit oppositely directed beams of radiation from their magnetic poles. Just like a lighthouse, as the star spins and the beam sweeps repeatedly past the Earth we see a brief flash.

Some pulsars produce radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including at X-ray and radio wavelengths. Despite being discovered more than 45 years ago the exact mechanism by which pulsars shine is still unknown.

It has been known for some time that some radio-emitting pulsars flip their behaviour between two (or even more) states, changing the pattern and intensity of their radio pulses. The moment of flip is both unpredictable and sudden. It is also known from satellite-borne telescopes that a handful of radio pulsars can also be detected at X-ray frequencies. However, the X-ray signal is so weak that nothing is known of its variability.

To find out if the X-rays could also flip the scientists studied a particular pulsar called PSR B0943+10, one of the first to be discovered. It has radio pulses which change in form and brightness every few hours with some of the changes happening within about a second.

Dr Ben Stappers from The University of Manchester's School of Physics and Astronomy said: "The behaviour of this pulsar is quite startling, it's as if it has two distinct personalities. As PSR B0943+10 is one of the few pulsars also known to emit X-rays, finding out how this higher energy radiation behaves as the radio changes could provide new insight into the nature of the emission process."

Since the source is a weak X-ray emitter, the team used the most sensitive X-ray telescope in existence, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton on board a spacecraft orbiting the Earth. The observations took place over six separate sessions of about six hours in duration. To identify the exact moment of flip in the pulsar's radio behaviour the X-ray observations were tracked simultaneously with two of the largest radio telescopes in the world, LOFAR and the GMRT.

What the scientists found was that whilst the X-rays did indeed change their behaviour at the same time as the radio emission, as might have been expected, in the state where the radio signal is strong and organised the X-rays were weak, and when the radio emission switched to weak the X-rays got brighter.

Commenting on the study's findings the project leader Wim Hermsen says: "To our surprise we found that when the brightness of the radio emission halved, the X-ray emission brightened by a factor of two! Furthermore the intense X-rays have a very different character from those in the radio-bright state, since they seem to be thermal in origin and to pulse with the neutron star's rotation period."

Dr Stappers says this is an exciting discovery: "As well as brightening in the X-rays we discovered that the X-ray emission also shows pulses, something not seen when the radio emission is bright. This was the opposite of what we had expected. I've likened the changes in the pulsar to a chameleon. Like the animal the star changes in reaction to its environment, such as a change in temperature."

Geoff Wright from the University of Sussex adds: "Our observations strongly suggest that a temporary "hotspot" appears close to the pulsar's magnetic pole which switches on and off with the change of state. But why a pulsar should undergo such dramatic and unpredictable changes is completely unknown."

The next step for the researchers is to look at other objects which have similar behaviour to investigate what happens to the X-ray emission. Later this year there will be another round of simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of a second pulsar. These observations will include the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uom-cpb012213.php

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UPDATE 1-Family of former Chargers star Junior Seau sues NFL over suicide

(Adds details, background throughout)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The family of former San Diego Chargers star Junior Seau, who killed himself last year, sued the National Football League on Wednesday, claiming that his suicide resulted from brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head during his football career.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court by Seau's children and ex-wife, as well as the trustee of his estate, also claims that the NFL concealed the risks of brain damage in the sport, court documents showed.

"We know this lawsuit will not bring back Junior," the Seau family said in a written statement. "But it will send a message that the NFL needs to care for its former players, acknowledge its decades of deception on the issue of head injuries and player safety, and make the game safer for future generations."

An NFL spokesman, Greg Aiello, told Reuters the league's attorneys would review the lawsuit and respond to the claims appropriately through the court.

Seau, a 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the Chargers and two other teams, died in May 2012 after shooting himself in the chest at his beachfront house in his hometown of Oceanside, California.

A study by a team of independent researchers released earlier this month found that Seau, 43, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE - the same debilitating brain disease diagnosed in at least two other former NFL players who committed suicide.

The NFL has previously said the result of the examination of Seau's brain underscored "the recognized need for additional research to accelerate a fuller understanding of CTE." NFL clubs have already committed a $30 million research grant to the National Institutes of Health.

Increased awareness and knowledge about brain injuries have unsettled the National Football League, a $9 billion a year industry. The league has attempted to institute rule changes protecting player safety while still preserving the spectacle that fans enjoy, which is partly based on the speed and power of the athletes colliding with one another.

Several thousand former NFL players have sued the NFL in federal court in Philadelphia, accusing the league of fraudulently concealing from players the risk of brain injury in playing professional football.

Just weeks before Seau shot himself, former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling committed suicide, and family members described a long descent into dementia following his retirement from the NFL. An autopsy revealed indications of CTE.

In February 2011, four-time Pro Bowl safety Dave Duerson, who played most of his career with the Chicago Bears, shot himself in the chest. In a suicide note, he donated his brain for study, and it was found to exhibit signs of CTE.

CTE, once known as boxer's dementia, is caused by repeated impacts to the brain, and has been found in athletes who suffered head injuries as well as members of the armed forces with concussive injuries from blast waves.

Because the mild and moderate brain injuries do not show up on CT scans or other imaging, the condition can be definitively diagnosed only through an autopsy. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-family-former-chargers-star-junior-seau-sues-204958185--nfl.html

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Why Is The Government In The Flood Insurance Business? | WFPL

There's a quick, one-word explanation for why the federal government started selling flood insurance: Betsy.

Hurricane Betsy, which struck the Gulf Coast in 1965, became known as billion-dollar Betsy. Homes were ruined. Water up to the roofs. People paddling around streets in boats. Massive damage.

This would be the time when you'd expect people to be pulling out their flood insurance policies. But flood insurance was hard to come by. You could get fire insurance, theft insurance, car insurance, life insurance. Not flood.

"There was a lack of data," says Eric Smith, president and CEO of Swiss Re in the Americas. "One of the bedrock principles of insurance is it has to be something that's somewhat measurable. You have be able to calculate its frequency, its severity. How often this going to occur and how much damage is it going to do?"

A few years after Betsy, in 1968, the government decided it would take on the job of selling flood insurance. Some people hated this idea. If private insurance companies wouldn't sell policies to people who wanted to live in flood zones, they argued, why should the government?

This argument did not win the day. The government created flood maps, gathered data, and set up the National Flood Insurance Program.

"I think it generally worked out OK overall, until Katrina," says Mark Browne, a professor of risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Katrina was a major loss for the National Flood Insurance Program. It blew through its money and went into deficit.

"This is why flood insurance is a tricky business. You can have a quiet three decades, then a huge hurricane plows into a major city. Suddenly you're back in the red."

Over the past few years, the National Flood Insurance Program has had to borrow $17 billion from the government.

So were the critics right? Is the government running a bad business? Maybe not. After a big national disaster, Browne argues, the government is on the hook anyway. It might as well collect some money by selling insurance.

The head of the National Flood Insurance Program says the program plans to repay the money it borrowed from the government ? but it may take 20 or 30 years to do so.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Millions of Americans who live close to water have occasion to think about flood insurance. In the United States, if you want to buy flood insurance, the odds are you're going to be buying it from the United States government. The National Flood Insurance Program was intended to pay for itself, set the premiums at a rate that they finance the payments.

But the program is currently a money loser, which only got worse after Hurricane Sandy. David Kestenbaum of NPR's Planet Money team has this story about how the government got into the flood insurance business.

DAVID KESTENBAUM, BYLINE: There's a quick, one-word explanation for why the government started selling flood insurance. That word: Betsy.

WINDELL CURALL: Hurricane Betsy hit in 1965, September 9th.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Windell Curall runs a local levee district in Louisiana but he remembers that exact date for a different reason.

CURALL: It hit on my 14th birthday.

KESTENBAUM: Wow.

CURALL: The uninvited guest.

KESTENBAUM: Windell's family lived south of New Orleans, a place he describes as half land, half water. His family had lived there for generations. And on that day, in 1965, something like 30 relatives came over to take refuge.

CURALL: Uncles, aunts and first cousins. And they came up to, I say, the high country. They left land that was about three feet above sea level to come to our house, which about five feet about sea level.

KESTENBAUM: He remembers the storm hitting with terrifying winds. Then the eye of the storm. Then the winds, from the opposite direction.

CURALL: I remember attic door getting blown off from the wind pressure, and they actually out and nailed it shut.

KESTENBAUM: The storm became known as Billion Dollar Betsy. Homes were ruined. Water up to the roofs. People paddling around streets in boats. All that stuff. Massive damage.

And this would be the time when you'd expect people to be pulling out their flood insurance policies. But - they couldn't. Flood insurance was really hard to come by. You could get fire insurance, theft insurance, health insurance, car insurance, life insurance. But not flood insurance.

Eric Smith works in the insurance industry. He is president and CEO of Swiss Re in the Americas.

ERIC SMITH: There was a lack of data. One of the principles, the bedrock principles of insurance is its got to be something that's somewhat measurable. You have to be able to calculate its frequency and its severity and, you know, how often is this going to occur and how much damage will it do

KESTENBAUM: A few years after hurricane Betsy, in 1968, the government decided it would take it on the job of selling flood insurance. Some people hated this idea. If private insurance companies wouldn't sell policies to people who wanted to live in flood zones, why should the government.

That argument did not win the day. The government created flood maps, gathered data, and set up the National Flood Insurance Program.

MARK BROWNE: I think it generally worked out OK, overall, until Katrina.

KESTENBAUM: Mark Browne is a professor of Risk Management and Insurance at University of Wisconsin Madison.

BROWNE: Katrina came. And Katrina was a major loss for the National Flood Insurance Program. Now, blew through its money and went into deficit.

KESTENBAUM: This, frankly, is the other reason why flood insurance is a tricky business. You could have a quiet three decades - 30 years - and then, bam, a huge hurricane plows into a major city. Suddenly you got to pay out all this money.

And on the heels of Katrina there was - you may remember - Rita and Wilma. The National Flood Insurance Program had to borrow money from the government. A lot of money, $17 billion dollars.

BROWNE: That's a lot of money to borrow.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWNE: That's exactly right.

KESTENBAUM: The debt got worse after Sandy. So were the critics right? Is the government running a bad business. Mark Browne says maybe that's the wrong way to look at it. After a big national disaster, the government is on the hook anyway. It might as well collect some money by selling insurance.

And all that money the program had to borrow, David Miller, who oversees the National Flood Insurance Program, says the plan is to pay it back.

DAVID MILLER: If I look at the rates now, and where I am and what's expected and when I can project. We can repay the debt. It would be over a long time.

KESTENBAUM: He says it could take 20 or 30 years.

David Kestenbaum NPR News

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Think of this Public Radio station as your insurance that you get MORNING EDITION every day. But you can continue to follow us throughout the day on social media. We're on Facebook. We're also on Twitter. Among other handles we are @morningedition and @nprinskeep.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Source: http://wfpl.org/post/why-government-flood-insurance-business

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Of course the Tooth Fairy's real: How parents lie in the U.S. and China

Jan. 21, 2013 ? Almost everyone teaches their children that lying is always wrong. But the vast majority of parents lie to their children in order to get them to behave, according to new research published in the International Journal of Psychology.

The study by Gail Heyman of the University of California-San Diego and her colleagues found certain variations but generally similar trends in the way parents from the US and China use the slippery concept of 'truth' to their advantage:

The percentage of parents who reported lying to their children for the purpose of getting them to behave appropriately was higher in China (98%) than in the U.S. (84%), but rates for other types of lies were similar between the two countries. A possible explanation for this difference is that Chinese parents are more likely than in the U.S. to demand compliance from their kids, and will go to greater lengths to make it happen.

Both Chinese and American parents seem to be comfortable lying to their children in order to promote positive feelings, and to support belief in the existence of fantasy characters like the Tooth Fairy.

Parents in both countries reported telling lies about a wide range of similar topics, including ones designed to influence their children's eating habits, or to dissuade children's pleas for toys or treats when shopping!

Certain specific lies are extremely common among parents in both countries, such as a false threat to abandon a child who refuses to follow the parent while away from home.

There are good reasons however to be cautious about lying to children. Previous studies have shown that when young children are deciding whom to trust they are sensitive to people's history of being honest or dishonest with them personally, so when parents lie to their children it may undermine the child's sense of trust.

These findings suggest parents should choose their battles wisely: is it really that important for them to finish all their peas? Alternative ways to encourage children to behave -- such as a system of rewards -- might have less risk of confusing them with conflicting ideas about honesty. Above all this study shows the need to stimulate debate about the acceptability of lying under different circumstances, and how children should be best raised to understand the value of honesty.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Taylor & Francis, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Gail D. Heyman, Anna S. Hsu, Genyue Fu, Kang Lee. Instrumental lying by parents in the US and China. International Journal of Psychology, 2012; : 1 DOI: 10.1080/00207594.2012.746463

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/CQLnbhWHwxg/130121083219.htm

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Investing Blog Roundup: Blogger (Not This One) Goes Pro

Disclaimer: By using this site, you explicitly agree to its Terms of Use and agree not to hold Simple Subjects, LLC or any of its members liable in any way for damages arising from decisions you make based on the information made available on this site. I am not a financial or investment advisor, and the information on this site is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Copyright 2013 Simple Subjects, LLC - All rights reserved. To be clear: This means that, aside from small quotations, the material on this site may not be republished elsewhere without my express permission. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Source: http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/investing-blog-roundup-blogger-not-this-one-goes-pro/

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Al-Qaida carves out own country in Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Deep inside caves, in remote desert bases, in the escarpments and cliff faces of northern Mali, Islamic extremist fighters have been burrowing into the earth, erecting a formidable set of defenses to protect what has essentially become al-Qaida's new country.

They have used the bulldozers, earth movers and Caterpillar machines left behind by fleeing construction crews to dig what residents and local officials describe as an elaborate network of tunnels, trenches, shafts and ramparts. In just one case, inside a cave large enough to drive trucks into, they have stored up to 100 drums of gasoline, guaranteeing their fuel supply in the face of a foreign intervention, according to experts.

Now that intervention is here. On Friday, France deployed 550 troops and launched air strikes against the Islamists in northern Mali, starting battle in what is currently the biggest territory in the world held by al-Qaida and its allies. But the fighting has been harder than expected, and the extremists boast it will be worse than the decade-old struggle in Afghanistan.

"Al-Qaida never owned Afghanistan," said former United Nations diplomat Robert Fowler, a Canadian kidnapped and held for 130 days by al-Qaida's local chapter, whose fighters now control the main cities in the north. "They do own northern Mali."

Al-Qaida's affiliate in Africa ? al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM? has been a shadowy presence for years in the forests and deserts of Mali, a country hobbled by poverty and a relentless cycle of hunger. Last year the terror syndicate and its allies took advantage of political instability in Mali to push out of their hiding place and into the towns, taking over an enormous territory larger than France or Texas ? and almost exactly the size of Afghanistan.

The catalyst for the Islamic fighters was a military coup nine months ago by disgruntled soldiers, which transformed Mali from a once-stable nation to the failed state it is today. The fall of the nation's democratically elected government at the hands of junior officers destroyed the military's command-and-control structure, creating the vacuum which allowed a mix of rebel groups to move in.

After the international community debated for months over what to do, the United Nations Security Council called for a military intervention on condition that an exhaustive list of pre-emptive measures be taken, starting with training the Malian military. All that changed in a matter of hours last week, when French intelligence services spotted two rebel convoys heading south toward the towns of Segou and Mopti. Had either town fallen, many feared the Islamists would advance toward the capital, Bamako.

Over the weekend, Britain authorized sending several transport planes to bring in French troops. Other African nations have authorized sending troops, and the U.S. has pledged communications and logistical support.

The area under the rule of the Islamist fighters is mostly desert and sparsely populated, but analysts say that due to its size and the hostile nature of the terrain, rooting out the extremists here could prove even more difficult than it did in Afghanistan. Mali's former president has acknowledged, diplomatic cables show, that the country cannot patrol a frontier twice the length of the border between the United States and Mexico.

AQIM operates not just in Mali, but in a corridor along much of the northern Sahel. This 7,000-kilometer (4,300-mile) long ribbon of land runs across the widest part of Africa, and includes sections of Mauritania, Niger, Algeria, Libya, Burkina Faso and Chad.

"One could come up with a conceivable containment strategy for the Swat Valley," said Africa expert Peter Pham, an adviser to the U.S. military's African command center, referring to the region of Pakistan where Taliban fighters once dominated. "There's no containment strategy for the Sahel, which runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea."

The Islamists in northern Mali had been preparing for battle long before the French announcement, according to elected officials and residents in Kidal, Timbuktu and Gao, including a day laborer hired by al-Qaida's local chapter to clear rocks and debris for one of their defenses. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety at the hands of the Islamists, who have previously accused those who speak to reporters of espionage.

The al-Qaida affiliate, which became part of the terror network in 2006, is one of three Islamist groups in northern Mali. The others are the Movement for the Unity and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, based in Gao, and Ansar Dine, based in Kidal. Analysts agree that there is considerable overlap among the groups, and that all three can be considered sympathizers, even extensions, of al-Qaida.

The Islamic fighters have stolen equipment from construction companies, including more than $11 million worth from a French company called SOGEA-SATOM, according to Elie Arama, who works with the European Development Fund. The company had been contracted to build a European Union-financed highway in the north between Timbuktu and the village of Goma Coura. An employee of SOGEA-SATOM in Bamako declined to comment.

The official from Kidal said his constituents have reported seeing Islamic fighters with construction equipment riding in convoys behind 4-by-4 trucks draped with their signature black flag. His contacts among the fighters, including friends from secondary school, have told him they have created two bases, around 200 to 300 kilometers (120 and 180 miles) north of Kidal, in the austere, rocky desert.

The first base is occupied by al-Qaida's local fighters in the hills of Teghergharte, a region the official compared to Afghanistan's Tora Bora.

"The Islamists have dug tunnels, made roads, they've brought in generators, and solar panels in order to have electricity," he said. "They live inside the rocks."

Still further north, near Boghassa, is the second base, created by fighters from Ansar Dine. They, too, have used seized explosives, bulldozers and sledgehammers to make passages in the hills, he said.

In addition to creating defenses, the fighters are amassing supplies, experts said. A local who was taken by Islamists into a cave in the region of Kidal described an enormous room, where several cars were parked. Along the walls, he counted up to 100 barrels of gasoline, according to the man's testimony to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

In the regional capital of Gao, a young man told The Associated Press that he and several others were offered 10,000 francs a day by al-Qaida's local commanders (around $20), a rate several times the normal wage, to clear rocks and debris, and dig trenches. The youth said he saw Caterpillars and earth movers inside an Islamist camp at a former Malian military base 7 kilometers (4 miles) from Gao.

The fighters are piling mountains of sand from the ground along the dirt roads to force cars onto the pavement, where they have checkpoints everywhere, he said. In addition, they are modifying their all-terrain vehicles to mount them with arms.

"On the backs of their cars, it looks like they are mounting pipes," he said, describing a shape he thinks might be a rocket or missile launcher. "They are preparing themselves. Everyone is scared."

A university student from Gao confirmed seeing the modified cars. He said he also saw deep holes dug on the sides of the highway, possibly to give protection to fighters shooting at cars, along with cement barriers with small holes for guns.

In Gao, residents routinely see Moktar Belmoktar, the one-eyed emir of the al-Qaida-linked cell that grabbed Fowler in 2008. Belmoktar, a native Algerian, traveled to Afghanistan in the 1980s and trained in Osama bin Laden's camp in Jalalabad, according to research by the Jamestown Foundation. His lieutenant Oumar Ould Hamaha, whom Fowler identified as one of his captors, brushed off questions about the tunnels and caves but said the fighters are prepared.

"We consider this land our land. It's an Islamic territory," he said, reached by telephone in an undisclosed location.

He added that the Islamists have recruited new fighters, including from Western countries.

In December, two U.S. citizens from Alabama were arrested on terrorism charges, accused of planning to fly to Morocco and travel by land to Mali to wage jihad, or holy war. Two French nationals have also been detained on suspicion of trying to travel to northern Mali to join the Islamists. Hamaha himself said he spent a month in France preaching his fundamentalist version of Islam in Parisian mosques after receiving a visa for all European Union countries in 2001.

Hamaha indicated the Islamists have inherited stores of Russian-made arms from former Malian army bases, as well as from the arsenal of toppled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a claim that military experts have confirmed.

Those weapons include the SA-7 and SA-2 surface-to-air missiles, according to Hamaha, which can shoot down aircrafts. His claim could not be verified, but Rudolph Atallah, the former counterterrorism director for Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said it makes sense.

"Gadhafi bought everything under the sun," said Atallah, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, who has traveled extensively to Mali on defense missions. "His weapons depots were packed with all kinds of stuff, so it's plausible that AQIM now has surface-to-air missiles."

Depending on the model, these missiles can range far enough to bring down planes used by ill-equipped African air forces, he said. However, they will be far less effective against the forces of the West, with their better equipment.

Another factor in the success of military intervention will be the reaction of the people, who, unlike in Afghanistan, have little history of extremism. Malians have long practiced a moderate form of Islam, where women do not wear burqas and few practice the strict form of the religion. The Islamists are imposing a far more severe form of Islam on the towns of the north, carrying out amputations in public squares, flogging women for not covering up and destroying world heritage sites.

The Islamists' recent advances draw on al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb's near decade of experience in Mali's northern desert, where Fowler and his fellow U.N. colleague were held captive for four months in 2008, an experience he recounts in his recent book, "A Season in Hell."

Originally from Algeria, the fighters fled across the border into Mali in 2003, after kidnapping 32 European tourists. Over the next decade, they used the country's vast northern desert to hold French, Spanish, Swiss, German, British, Austrian, Italian and Canadian hostages, raising an estimated $89 million in ransom payments, according to Stratfor, a global intelligence company.

During this time, they also established relationships with local clans, nurturing the ties that now protect them. Several commanders have taken local wives, and Hamaha, whose family is from Kidal, confirmed that Belmoktar is married to his niece.

Fowler described being driven for days by jihadists who knew Mali's featureless terrain by heart, navigating valleys of identical dunes with nothing more than the direction of the sun as their map. He saw them drive up to a thorn tree in the middle of nowhere to find barrels of diesel fuel. Elsewhere, he saw them dig a pit in the sand and bury a bag of boots, marking the spot on a GPS for future use.

In his four-month-long captivity, Fowler never saw his captors refill at a gas station, or shop in a market. Yet they never ran out of gas. And although their diet was meager, they never ran out of food, a testament to the extensive supply network which they set up and are now refining and expanding.

Among the many challenges an invading army will face is the inhospitable terrain, Fowler said, which is so hot that at times "it was difficult to draw breath." A cable published by WikiLeaks from the U.S. Embassy in Bamako described how even the Malian troops deployed in the north before the coup could only work from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., and spent the sunlight hours in the shade of their vehicles.

Yet Fowler said he saw al-Qaida fighters chant Quranic verses under the Sahara sun for hours, just one sign of their deep, ideological commitment.

"I have never seen a more focused group of young men," said Fowler, who now lives in Ottawa, Canada. "No one is sneaking off for R&R. They have left their wives and children behind. They believe they are on their way to paradise."

___

Associated Press writer Baba Ahmed contributed to this report from Bamako and Mopti, Mali.

___

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Baba Ahmed can be reached at www.twitter.com/Babahmed1

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-carves-own-country-mali-194907091.html

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Snow forces 3,400 to spend night at Tokyo airport

TOKYO (AP) ? Tokyo's Narita International Airport operator says 3,400 travelers spent the night in the terminal after snow caused airlines to cancel 71 flights.

In the season's first snowfall in the Japanese capital, about 8 centimeters (3 inches) of snow fell in central Tokyo and around Narita on Monday ? a national holiday in Japan. The snow snarled traffic and caused train delays.

Airport officials distributed sleeping bags, water and crackers to stranded travelers. Normal flight operations at Narita resumed Tuesday, except for a few delays.

Major train operator JR East said trains were running on schedule Tuesday.

Sections of several highways around Tokyo were still closed Tuesday as workers cleared away snow and ice.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snow-forces-3-400-spend-night-tokyo-airport-060917429.html

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Grandpa Charlie? Charlie Sheen?s Daughter Cassandra Pregnant!

Grandpa Charlie? Charlie Sheen’s Daughter Cassandra Pregnant!

Charlie Sheen appears on David Letterman showCharlie Sheen is set to become a grandfather! The “Anger Management” announced the happy news that his 28-year-old daughter, Cassandra Estevez, is pregnant during his appearance on “The Late Show” last night. The 47-year-old star star was prodded by the talk show host to make the big announcement. “You are going to be, in the ...

Grandpa Charlie? Charlie Sheen’s Daughter Cassandra Pregnant! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/grandpa-charlie-charlie-sheens-daughter-cassandra-pregnant/

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TODAY.com: Celebrities

TODAY.com: Celebritieshttp://www.today.com/id/9409919/TODAY is America's favorite morning show on TV and the Internet. Get recipes and fashion tips, health and entertainment news, parenting, travel, and decorating advice and watch video clips any time from TODAY.com.Copyright 2013 msnbc.comen-ushttp://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/msnbc/Sections/TVNews/Today%20show/Miscellaneous/2008/TODAYContribs_Interactive/tdy-logo.vsmall.jpgTODAY.comhttp://www.today.com/Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:42:58 GMTNews60Natalie Wood's bruises led to new cause of deathSome of the bruises on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress wound up in the water off California's Catalina Island in 1981, leading the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to change her cause of death last year to "drowning and other undetermined factors."Some of the bruises on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress wound up in the water off California's Catalina Island in 1981, leading the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to change her cause of death last year to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
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http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16506921-natalie-woods-bruises-helped-coroner-decide-to-change-cause-of-death?liteSome of the bruises on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress wound up in the water off California's Catalina Island in 1981, leading the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to change her cause of death last year to "drowning and other undetermined factors."Some of the bruises on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress wound up in the water off California's Catalina Island in 1981, leading the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to change her cause of death last year to "drowning and other undetermined factors."Copyright msnbc.com 2013Some of the bruises on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress wound up in the water off California's Catalina Island in 1981, leading the Los Angeles Coroner's Office to change her cause of death last year to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:36:48 GMTNewshttp://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/14/16506921-natalie-woods-bruises-helped-coroner-decide-to-change-cause-of-death?lite
TODAY hosts take over Globes red carpetMatt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales are wrangling the biggest stars in Hollywood ahead of the main event.Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales are wrangling the biggest stars in Hollywood ahead of the main event.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16494748-today-hosts-take-over-golden-globes-red-carpet?liteMatt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales are wrangling the biggest stars in Hollywood ahead of the main event.Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales are wrangling the biggest stars in Hollywood ahead of the main event.Copyright msnbc.com 2013Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales are wrangling the biggest stars in Hollywood ahead of the main event.
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:19:19 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16494748-today-hosts-take-over-golden-globes-red-carpet?lite
Globe presenters would make fine couplesYeah, yeah, we know George Clooney and Stacy Keibler match up just fine, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have their thing going on. But the couples who looked best Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards were the unintentional ones, paired only as presenters.Yeah, yeah, we know George Clooney and Stacy Keibler match up just fine, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have their thing going on. But the couples who looked best Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards were the unintentional ones, paired only as presenters.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/14/16498491-golden-globe-presenters-would-make-for-some-fine-couples?liteYeah, yeah, we know George Clooney and Stacy Keibler match up just fine, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have their thing going on. But the couples who looked best Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards were the unintentional ones, paired only as presenters.Yeah, yeah, we know George Clooney and Stacy Keibler match up just fine, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have their thing going on. But the couples who looked best Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards were the unintentional ones, paired only as presenters.Copyright msnbc.com 2013Yeah, yeah, we know George Clooney and Stacy Keibler match up just fine, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have their thing going on. But the couples who looked best Sunday night at the Golden Globe Awards were the unintentional ones, paired only as presenters.
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:54:08 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/14/16498491-golden-globe-presenters-would-make-for-some-fine-couples?lite
Vote for the best Globes red carpet look
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http://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16497392-vote-for-the-best-golden-globes-red-carpet-look?liteCopyright msnbc.com 2013
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:13:16 GMTNewshttp://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16497392-vote-for-the-best-golden-globes-red-carpet-look?lite
Heavy metal: Shimmer and shine on the Globes red carpetFrom Julianne Hough to "Downton Abbey" star Michelle Dockery, the Golden Globes red carpet sparkled with celebrities' sleek and sophisticated metallic attire.From Julianne Hough to "Downton Abbey" star Michelle Dockery, the Golden Globes red carpet sparkled with celebrities' sleek and sophisticated metallic attire.
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http://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16494923-heavy-metal-shimmer-and-shine-on-the-globes-red-carpet?liteFrom Julianne Hough to "Downton Abbey" star Michelle Dockery, the Golden Globes red carpet sparkled with celebrities' sleek and sophisticated metallic attire.From Julianne Hough to "Downton Abbey" star Michelle Dockery, the Golden Globes red carpet sparkled with celebrities' sleek and sophisticated metallic attire.Copyright msnbc.com 2013From Julianne Hough to "Downton Abbey" star Michelle Dockery, the Golden Globes red carpet sparkled with celebrities' sleek and sophisticated metallic attire.
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:07:58 GMTNewshttp://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16494923-heavy-metal-shimmer-and-shine-on-the-globes-red-carpet?lite
'Jolie-ing': Showing some leg now a red carpet traditionAfter Angelina Jolie dramatically showed off her gams at the 2012 Academy Awards, a bold move that consequently launched a thousand memes, it seems the bare leg trend is here to stay.After Angelina Jolie dramatically showed off her gams at the 2012 Academy Awards, a bold move that consequently launched a thousand memes, it seems the bare leg trend is here to stay.
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http://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16496255-jolie-ing-showing-some-leg-now-a-red-carpet-tradition?liteAfter Angelina Jolie dramatically showed off her gams at the 2012 Academy Awards, a bold move that consequently launched a thousand memes, it seems the bare leg trend is here to stay.After Angelina Jolie dramatically showed off her gams at the 2012 Academy Awards, a bold move that consequently launched a thousand memes, it seems the bare leg trend is here to stay.Copyright msnbc.com 2013After Angelina Jolie dramatically showed off her gams at the 2012 Academy Awards, a bold move that consequently launched a thousand memes, it seems the bare leg trend is here to stay.
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:43:08 GMTNewshttp://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16496255-jolie-ing-showing-some-leg-now-a-red-carpet-tradition?lite
Red rules for Golden Globes fashionRed on the red carpet? How very appropriate. Scarlet was a trending color at the Golden Globes on Sunday, with everyone from Zooey Deschanel to Claire Danes rocking the strong, notice-me color.Red on the red carpet? How very appropriate. Scarlet was a trending color at the Golden Globes on Sunday, with everyone from Zooey Deschanel to Claire Danes rocking the strong, notice-me color.
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http://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16495008-red-rules-for-golden-globes-fashion?liteRed on the red carpet? How very appropriate. Scarlet was a trending color at the Golden Globes on Sunday, with everyone from Zooey Deschanel to Claire Danes rocking the strong, notice-me color.Red on the red carpet? How very appropriate. Scarlet was a trending color at the Golden Globes on Sunday, with everyone from Zooey Deschanel to Claire Danes rocking the strong, notice-me color.Copyright msnbc.com 2013Red on the red carpet? How very appropriate. Scarlet was a trending color at the Golden Globes on Sunday, with everyone from Zooey Deschanel to Claire Danes rocking the strong, notice-me color.
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Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:35:02 GMTNewshttp://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/01/13/16495008-red-rules-for-golden-globes-fashion?lite
Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis engagedThe actress and her hilarious "Saturday Night Live" beau are officially taking their relationship to the next level, a rep for the actress confirms.The actress and her hilarious "Saturday Night Live" beau are officially taking their relationship to the next level, a rep for the actress confirms.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/12/16484815-olivia-wilde-and-jason-sudeikis-engaged?liteThe actress and her hilarious "Saturday Night Live" beau are officially taking their relationship to the next level, a rep for the actress confirms.The actress and her hilarious "Saturday Night Live" beau are officially taking their relationship to the next level, a rep for the actress confirms.Copyright msnbc.com 2013The actress and her hilarious "Saturday Night Live" beau are officially taking their relationship to the next level, a rep for the actress confirms.
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Sun, 13 Jan 2013 02:47:19 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/12/16484815-olivia-wilde-and-jason-sudeikis-engaged?lite
Britney Spears calls off engagementBritney Spears and her fiance Jason Trawick have announced they're splitting after a one-year engagement. Their rep Jeff Raymond confirms to TODAY.com that the split was "mutual," and the two will remain friends.Britney Spears and her fiance Jason Trawick have announced they're splitting after a one-year engagement. Their rep Jeff Raymond confirms to TODAY.com that the split was "mutual," and the two will remain friends.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16470262-britney-spears-and-jason-trawick-call-off-engagement?liteBritney Spears and her fiance Jason Trawick have announced they're splitting after a one-year engagement. Their rep Jeff Raymond confirms to TODAY.com that the split was "mutual," and the two will remain friends.Britney Spears and her fiance Jason Trawick have announced they're splitting after a one-year engagement. Their rep Jeff Raymond confirms to TODAY.com that the split was "mutual," and the two will remain friends.Copyright msnbc.com 2013Britney Spears and her fiance Jason Trawick have announced they're splitting after a one-year engagement. Their rep Jeff Raymond confirms to TODAY.com that the split was "mutual," and the two will remain friends.
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Sat, 12 Jan 2013 02:44:25 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16470262-britney-spears-and-jason-trawick-call-off-engagement?lite
Evan Rachel Wood, Jamie Bell expecting babyIt's just the latest unexpected news for the Hollywood twosome, who got married in California on Oct. 30 in a top-secret bash.It's just the latest unexpected news for the Hollywood twosome, who got married in California on Oct. 30 in a top-secret bash.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16465768-evan-rachel-wood-and-jamie-bell-expecting-a-baby?liteIt's just the latest unexpected news for the Hollywood twosome, who got married in California on Oct. 30 in a top-secret bash.It's just the latest unexpected news for the Hollywood twosome, who got married in California on Oct. 30 in a top-secret bash.Copyright msnbc.com 2013It's just the latest unexpected news for the Hollywood twosome, who got married in California on Oct. 30 in a top-secret bash.
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Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:15:48 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16465768-evan-rachel-wood-and-jamie-bell-expecting-a-baby?lite
Ex-bodyguard says Bieber punched him, is suingThe singer's former bodyguard alleges that before a concert last October the singer used his fists, not his words, in settling an altercation.The singer's former bodyguard alleges that before a concert last October the singer used his fists, not his words, in settling an altercation.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16462692-justin-bieber-sued-by-former-bodyguard-who-claims-the-singer-punched-him?liteThe singer's former bodyguard alleges that before a concert last October the singer used his fists, not his words, in settling an altercation.The singer's former bodyguard alleges that before a concert last October the singer used his fists, not his words, in settling an altercation.Copyright msnbc.com 2013The singer's former bodyguard alleges that before a concert last October the singer used his fists, not his words, in settling an altercation.
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Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:28:55 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16462692-justin-bieber-sued-by-former-bodyguard-who-claims-the-singer-punched-him?lite
GQ names the 'Hottest Woman of 21st Century'She's a new mom, with obvious physical attributes, and a work ethic that got her to where she is today.http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/10/16448731-beyonce-is-gqs-hottest-woman-of-the-21st-century?liteThu, 10 Jan 2013 16:52:28 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/10/16448731-beyonce-is-gqs-hottest-woman-of-the-21st-century?liteMegan Fox tired of Twitter after one weekThe actress admitted that she was "late to the party" when she joined Twitter Jan. 3. Thursday on Facebook, she said she'd had enough.The actress admitted that she was "late to the party" when she joined Twitter Jan. 3. Thursday on Facebook, she said she'd had enough.
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http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/10/16450500-megan-fox-uses-facebook-to-say-she-hates-twitter-after-week-long-experiment?liteThe actress admitted that she was "late to the party" when she joined Twitter Jan. 3. Thursday on Facebook, she said she'd had enough.The actress admitted that she was "late to the party" when she joined Twitter Jan. 3. Thursday on Facebook, she said she'd had enough.Copyright msnbc.com 2013The actress admitted that she was "late to the party" when she joined Twitter Jan. 3. Thursday on Facebook, she said she'd had enough.
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Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:56:50 GMTNewshttp://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/01/10/16450500-megan-fox-uses-facebook-to-say-she-hates-twitter-after-week-long-experiment?lite
Access Hollywood sectionhttp://www.today.com/id/7358550/ns/today-entertainment/Newshttp://www.today.com/id/7358550/ns/today-entertainment/

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