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According to market analysis firm comScore, South Korean-based Samsung remains the top OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in the U.S. smartphone market, with 25.6 percent of all smartphone subscribers. Coming in at No. 4 is Apple with its iPhone, with 11.2 percent of subscribers, as TechCrunch reports. Samsung took the crown of worldwide top smartphone OEM by revenue in the third quarter of 2011, and has held the position ever since.
While Apple remains second place to Samsung in the U.S., there are some telling caveats to comScore?s numbers. For one, Samsung?s share of the market in the three months ending in November 2011 was only 0.3 percentage points. Meanwhile, Apple increased its chunk of the U.S. market by a decent margin by comparison, going from 9.8 percent to 11.2 percent. It?s not a massive increase, but it is notable.
ComScore?s numbers also notably leave out the holiday season, which has been a substantial one for both Apple?s iOS platform and for Google?s Android operating system. Flurry Analytics noted that on Christmas Day alone, 6.8 million new mobile devices were activated on both platforms, and Google?s Andy Rubin announced on Twitter that over the Christmas weekend, 3.7 million Android devices were activated. We don?t know just how many devices Apple activated (or how many of those were iPhones), so it?s too early to be sure if the holidays will have an effect on the market share slider, but it?s definitely possible.
Coming in with the No. 2 smartphone OEM slot was LG, which lost 0.5 percentage points of market share to fall from 21 percent of subscribers to 20.5. After that was Motorola with 13.7 percent of subscribers. It fell 0.3 percentage points from August, when it held 14 percent.
Obviously, the Android mobile operating system continues to reign supreme in the U.S., with Google?s mobile platform taking 47 percent of the mobile market, but both Android and iOS increased their dominance of the mobile operating system market at the expense of rivals. Android increased to 46.9 percent of mobile devices, from 43.8 percent in August, while iOS rose from 27.3 percent to 28.7 percent. Meanwhile, every other player in the mobile operating system game losing ground. Blackberry maker, No. 3 Research In Motion, saw its share drop from 19.7 percent in August to 16.6 percent in November; Microsoft?s Windows Phone fell from 5.7 percent to 5.2 percent; and Nokia?s slowly dying Symbian went from 1.8 percent to 1.5 percent.
Apple saw some growth in the last few months, and that?s mostly without the aid of the holidays or the iPhone 4S. When numbers roll around for the final quarter of 2011, they might show a clearer picture of what gains Apple is making with its popular devices, but it doesn?t seem like it?ll be able to take down its biggest rivals anytime soon, regardless.
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Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:19p.m.
An internet company has sued one of its former employees, saying the worker cost the company thousands of dollars in lost business when he took 17,000 Twitter followers with him when he left the firm.
PhoneDog LLC filed a lawsuit in July against Noah Kravitz, a writer who worked for the Mount Pleasant, SC, company from 2006 until last year. Attorneys for the website, which reviews mobile devices like phones and tablets, said Kravitz owes them US$340,000.
The company said when Kravitz resigned, he changed his Twitter name from PhoneDog-Noah to noahkravitz, and kept his 17,000 followers. The company said the followers should be treated like a customer list, and therefore PhoneDog's property.
PhoneDog said Kravitz should pay US$2.50 per follower per month for eight months, or a total of US$340,000.
Steve O'Donnell, a patent and intellectual property attorney, said he hadn't heard of a similar case. He doubted that each follower is worth the US$2.50.
"On Twitter, if you hang out long enough, you'll get hundreds of follows from people who are just gathering accounts and broadcasting their own content - people who aren't necessarily paying attention to anything PhoneDog has to say," said O'Donnell, who practices law in Lancaster, Pa. "Twitter followers can come and go. ... It's very transient. It's going to be hard for them to put a dollar number on something that's so ethereal."
Kravitz, who now lives in Oakland, California, eventually went to work for a competitor website and now boasts nearly 24,000 Twitter followers.
In court documents, Kravitz said he used the Twitter account in question mostly for personal musings about sporting events and pop culture and, after leaving the company, even sent out messages at PhoneDog's behest about the company's contests and giveaways. Kravitz said he sent such messages as recently as December 2010 and that PhoneDog only objected to his use of the account after he sued them in June for unpaid wages in an ongoing case.
"Only after that do they come out of the woodwork for the first time and say, `Hey, you converted our property,'" Cary Kletter, Kravitz's attorney, said Thursday. "That case is without merit."
PhoneDog's valuation is flawed and inflated, he said.
"To claim that they're entitled to US$2.50 per follower per month defies reason," Kletter said. "If that's the case, Kim Kardashian's account would probably be worth billions of dollars of year."
Celebrities can get paid for tweets, sometimes US$10,000 or more per post.
Erik Heels, a patent and trademark attorney in Boston, said the lawsuit may provide a monetary determination, but the most valuable outcome could be in helping companies in setting up their own social media guidelines.
"The lesson for employers is to make sure you define these things in advance for your employees," Heels said. "Don't make any assumptions because you may end up on the wrong side of the lawsuit."
A hearing in the case is set for next month in San Francisco. An attorney for PhoneDog president Tom Klein did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
AP
Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5682918508&f=378
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The NFL has recently taken important steps to keep its players safer: from harsher penalties for helmet-to-helmet hits to stricter return-to-play guidelines, to now, the appointment of an independent athletic trainer to sit up in the press box and spot players who might be suffering the symptoms of a concussion or other injuries on the field.
These solutions are commendable. But they still fall short. To make certain that players are fully protected, the NFL should give these new trainers a referees shirt and let them make the calls that save a player down the road. (See photos of NFL players return to training after a lockout.)
During the Dec. 8 nationally televised Thursday night game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy absorbed a stinging helmet-to-helmet hit from Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, one of the most vocal critics of new NFL safety rules. (For the McCoy hit, Harrison, who has previously been fined for other hits, was suspended for a game.) But because McCoy did not immediately show concussion symptoms, and Browns trainers and doctors were attending to other players on the sideline and claimed they did not see the violent blow, he was not tested for a concussion, and returned to the game two plays later. By the next day, McCoy was in fact diagnosed with a concussion, and he missed last week's game; he still has not been cleared to practice, and he'll sit out Cleveland's Week 16 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
In response to this embarrassing incident, the NFL implemented a new policy this week that places a certified athletic trainer in the press box. The trainer, who won't be affiliated with either team playing in the game, will have access to video replay to better pick out players who might be woozy or showing other concussion symptoms. This vantage point gives this trainer a huge advantage for monitoring injuries: it's hard to see everything from the sideline. This new policy also gives the trainers direct lines of communication to both sidelines, so they can advise team medical staffs.
This independent trainer, however, needs to be more than a consultant. The new NFL policy states: this individual will not diagnose or prescribe treatment, nor have any authority to direct that a player be removed from the game. But why not make these trainers a kind of concussion referee, replete with the black-and-white striped shirt and give them power to order injured players to the sideline, to at least be tested for a concussion? Let them wave the concussion flag. Aren't head injuries as serious as holding? (See the top 10 sports moments of 2011.)
Take it a step further. Once a player is ordered to the sideline, why not also have a neurologist down on the field, unaffiliated with either team, diagnosing concussion symptoms and ordering that dinged-up players be benched. And why shouldn't they also have zebra stripes to send the message: they have the authority to make the right call. One more step: Why shouldn't there be a neurologist in the press box as well? No offense to certified athletic trainers, many of whom are quite qualified to pinpoint concussion symptoms. But neurologists are specialists, and an extra set of eyes can only help.
These measures aren't a condemnation of current team medical staffs. They are doing a better job than ever of pinpointing concussed players, diagnosing the injuries and keeping players out of games in line with NFL rules. But let's be honest ? these doctors and trainers are inherently conflicted, possibly subconsciously biased, since they work with team personnel whose livelihoods depend on playing, and winning. And you would hope that under the new NFL rule on the books, team personnel will follow the recommendation of the press-box trainer to remove players. But as the McCoy incident shows, costly slipups can happen.
Such a new layer of security further reduces safety risks, and both the NFL and its players need maximum protection. On Thursday former NFL players Jamal Lewis, Dorsey Levens, Fulton Kuykendall and Ryan Stewart filed a federal lawsuit against the NFL, claiming that before last year, the NFL tried to hide the concussion problem and mislead players about concussion risks. Brain injuries, these players say, have caused postcareer medical issues. Any allegation that the NFL intentionally sought to mislead players has no merit, the NFL responded in a statement. (Read "Head Cases: NFL to Add Concussion-Only Trainers to Games.")
When asked about the possibility of a concussion ref, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello responded in an e-mail: "We will continue to review our procedures and make any changes that would be beneficial. Our medical advisors are not recommending your proposal. Our team medical staffs are removing players from games when they are diagnosed with concussions, and they are not returning to play until they are medically cleared. " Dr. Robert Cantu, co-director of Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy and one of the world's leading concussion experts, is commending the NFL on its latest step but agrees that it's not ideal. He's disappointed, according to Aiello, that the press-box trainer will not have authority to send players to the sidelines for an assessment. "If it's simply another set of eyes, it's not as a big a step as I thought," says Cantu. The NFL has done a really good job of trying to rectify weaknesses. Is this as good as a neurologist on the sideline? No. But you can understand why the NFL would be taking incremental steps.
We hope the next one comes before another Colt McCoy.
Gregory is a staff writer at TIME. Keeping Score, his sports column for TIME.com, usually appears on Friday. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmgregory. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
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MEXICO CITY ? Mexican federal police said Wednesday they detained one of the United States' most-wanted drug traffickers, Luis Rodriguez Olivera, at Mexico City's international airport.
U.S. authorities had offered a reward of up to $5 million for Rodriguez Olivera, who is known by the nickname "Blondie," according to Mexico's Public Safety Department.
Olivera and his brother Esteban are accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into Europe and the U.S., mainly through Texas. Esteban was extradited to the United States in March.
Luis Rodriguez Olivera, 39, was indicted in U.S. federal court in 2009 on cocaine-smuggling conspiracy and related charges. The red-haired suspect was arrested Tuesday, officials said.
His gang, known as "The Blondies" formed temporary allegiances with bigger Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, officials say. He is being held until a hearing on a U.S. extradition request.
Also Wednesday, Mexican authorities seized 120 metric tons of a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamines at the Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas, the fifth such large shipment seized so far in December.
The Attorney General's Office said the shipment, like the previous four, came from China and was destined for Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala.
The chemical, which filled eight shipping containers, was identified as methylamine.
The latest bust brings to almost 675 metric tons the amount of meth precursors seized in Mexico in December, more than half of the entire amount ? 1,200 tons ? seized in Mexico in all of 2011.
Experts familiar with meth production call it a huge amount of raw material, noting that under some production methods, precursor chemicals can yield about half their weight in uncut meth.
Authorities said they seized 205 tons of the chemical at Lazaro Cardenas over several days in early December, and on Dec. 19 they announced the discovery of almost 100 metric tons. On Dec. 23, authorities announced the seizure of 229 metric tons of precursor chemicals at the port, and on Dec. 26 another 21 tons were found at another port.
Experts familiar with meth production call it a huge amount of raw material, noting that under some production methods, precursor chemicals can yield about half their weight in uncut meth.
Authorities have not said which cartels the shipments may have belonged to.
The port of Lazaro Cardenas is located in the home territory of the Knights Templar drug cartel, but the Sinaloa and Zetas cartels have been more active in Central America. Officials say the Sinaloa cartel in particular has moved into meth production on an industrial scale.
Mexico has busted a few huge meth laboratories, and traffickers could be looking for other locations to install production.
"When controls over precursors were strengthened in the United States, manufacture shifted to Mexico," according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime 2011 World Drug Report. "As Mexico has responded with strong counter-methamphetamine initiatives, manufacturing activities are increasingly reported from countries in Central and South America."
In Guatemala, National Police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said Puerto Quetzal has tightened controls after a period in which traffickers had moved shipments "with ease" at the terminal.
"Now it is more difficult for that to happen, because better control measures have been implemented," Gonzalez said.
The National Police have reported seizing 7,847 barrels of precursors so far in 2011, with 3,876 of those seized at Puerto Quetzal. No weight measure of those seizures was immediately available, but if those were standard shipping drums, which usually contain 55 gallons or 208 liters, that would suggest Guatemala's total seizures may have equaled or surpassed Mexico's.
___
Associated Press Writer Sonia Perez contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The mother of an Iranian-American detained in Iran for four months on espionage charges says his alleged confession was made under duress.
Behnaz Hekmati says her son, Amir, a former U.S. military translator, was in Iran to visit his two grandmothers and that the charges against him make no sense.
Iranian prosecutors say Hekmati was working for the CIA. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Behnaz Hekmati appealed to Iranian authorities to treat him fairly and provide him due process.
"It is clear to me and our entire family that Amir is speaking under duress," she said.
"The statement from the courts that Amir planned on permanently leaving the United States to reside in Iran is totally false. It is an indication that he is not speaking freely but being forced to say something that isn't true."
Behnaz Hekmati said her son has financial and business investments in the U.S. and "would never walk away from them."
"In this environment Amir is a victim. We are convinced that there is a mistake or misunderstanding," she said. "We pray and hope he will be allowed to come home soon."
The State Department has called for Hekmati's release and said on Wednesday that it was still waiting for Iranian authorities to grant Swiss diplomats access to him in prison.
Spokesman Mark Toner said the Swiss, who represent U.S. interests in Iran, have been denied access to Hekmati three times. Hekmati has been detained since August.
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BERLIN (Reuters) ? A well-known expert on mobile phone security says a vulnerability in a widely used wireless technology could allow hackers to gain remote control of phones, instructing them to send text messages or make calls.
They could use the vulnerability in the GSM network technology, which is used by billions of people in about 80 percent of the global mobile market, to make calls or send texts to expensive, premium phone and messaging services in scams, said Karsten Nohl, head of Germany's Security Research Labs.
Similar attacks against a small number of smartphones have been done before, but the new attack could expose any cellphone using GSM technology.
"We can do it to hundreds of thousands of phones in a short timeframe," Nohl told Reuters in advance of a presentation at a hacking convention in Berlin on Tuesday.
Attacks on corporate landline phone systems are fairly common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines that hackers set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones, then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified.
The phone users typically don't identify the problem until after they receive their bills and telecommunications carriers often end up footing at least some of the costs.
Even though Nohl will not present details of attack at the conference, he said hackers will usually replicate the code needed for attacks within a few weeks.
T-MOBILE, SFR LEAD RANKING
Mobile networks of Germany's T-Mobile and France's SFR offer their clients the best protection against online criminals wanting to intercept their calls or track their movements, shows a new ranking Nohl will demonstrate at his presentation.
The new ranking, at gsmmap.org, lets consumers to see how their operators are performing and lets anyone to participate in measurement of their carriers' security.
Researchers reviewed 32 operators in 11 countries and rated their performance based on how easy it was for them to intercept the calls, impersonate someone's device or track the device.
"None of the networks protects users very well," Nohl said.
The sample is set to grow from 32 carriers dramatically next year as the tool enables anyone to participate in gathering of the data.
Nohl said mobile telecom operators could easily improve their clients' security, in many cases by just updating their software.
"Mobile network is by far the weakest part of the mobile ecosystem, even when compared to a lot attacked Android or iOS devices," he said.
Researchers reviewed operators in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Morocco, Slovakia, Switzerland and Thailand.
(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Matt Driskill and Vinu Pilakkott)
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2011 was the year of market uncertainty. Investors flocked to safe haven investments like gold, U.S. treasuries and the U.S. Dollar as volatility rocked global markets and the European sovereign debt crisis unnerved investors who dumped stocks and jumped ship. Quite frankly, 2011 left a sour taste in many investors' mouths, and most are more than happy to bid good riddance to another dissatisfying year of little or negative returns.
Josh Brown, a vice president at Fusion IQ and author of the Reformed Broker blog, shared what he thinks will be the big investing themes of 2012 with The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task.
#1: Return of Emerging Markets
Brown says that despite a lackluster 2011, investors will return to emerging markets in full force next year as Europe and the U.S. offer little growth and opportunity. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries got crushed in 2011, with their major indices falling 20 percent or more.
"People have been wiped out of these stocks," said Brown but "they can make a comeback in 2012." Investors can no longer blindly put their money in an emerging markets basket, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM), Brown said, but instead must choose these markets with a discerning eye.
"A BRICs concept will be put on ice?and probably won't work?so investors need to focus at the country level" like Taiwan or Korea, Brown said. Emerging markets are "susceptible" to the problems in Europe but the continuation of interest rate easing in Brazil, China and India will lead to more growth and increased foreign investment.
#2: Actively Managed ETFs
Brown said the proliferation of ETFs will continue again next year as more top-rated mutual fund managers move into the ETF space. "ETFs will be the new wrapper of choice in 2012," Brown said. ETFs attracted the majority of investor cash in 2011 pulling in at least $5 billion in net inflows, according to data compiled by Strategic Insight. Bond ETFs proved to be the most popular among retail investors. Brown said ETFs will become less expensive and easier to buy in 2012 and investors will also have the option of picking a particular manager or strategy.
#3: Income Worship
Investors desperate for yield returned to old favorites like Microsoft and IBM this year and the appeal of stable, safe dividend plays wont' stop in 2012, Brown said. The risk-off trade will continue to lose steam with investors as the outlook in Europe and the U.S. remains murky.
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(NEWSER) - "Tiger Mother" Amy Chua may have been strict with her daughters, pushing academics ahead of sleepovers, but she's practically a kitten compared to "Wolf Dad" Xiao Baiyou, who has written a bestselling book in mainland China originally called Beat Them Into Peking University, reports NPR . Xiao boasts of having more than 1,000 rules for his four children?from how to hold chopsticks to how to sleep and use a quilt. "If you don't follow the rules, then I must beat you," Xiao says. He uses a feather duster, however, not a belt. More?
Source: http://www.newser.com/story/136167/tiger-mom-im-a-paper-tiger-when-it-comes-to-college.html
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Speaker Nabih Berri threatened to question the Lebanese cabinet?s performance if it does not issue relevant decrees to put in action the oil exploration bill, which was approved by parliament in 2010.
?I will call on the parliament to convene and carry out its role in questioning [the cabinet?s performance], even if the parties concerned are my allies and friends,? Berri said in an interview with As-Safir newspaper published on Tuesday.
He added that ?Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Energy Minister Gebran Bassil voiced commitment to issue the decrees [to implement the oil projects].?
?I will not allow this commitment to be broken,? the speaker said.
?Cyprus and Israel began the procedures to launch oil exploration while we keep wasting time? I will no longer bear this issue.?
Lebanese Parliament in August 2010 passed an oil exploration bill, which calls for the establishment of a treasury and a committee to oversee exploration and drilling off Lebanon?s coast.
-NOW Lebanon
Source: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=346410
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QALACHOWLAN, Iraq (Reuters) ? Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, wanted on charges he led death squads, called the case a plot to destroy opponents of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that could reignite the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07.
Iraq has been plunged into a political crisis in the week since the final U.S. troops withdrew, after Maliki's Shi'ite-led government unveiled an arrest warrant for Hashemi, who left Baghdad for the semi-autonomous Kurdish north of the country.
Maliki also asked parliament to fire his Sunni deputy prime minister, sidelining Iraq's two most powerful Sunni Arab leaders and potentially undoing a shaky power-sharing deal that Washington hoped would keep peace after nine years of war.
"Today the outcome of this crisis, which was unfortunately blown up by the prime minister, is very dangerous," Hashemi told Reuters in an interview at a guesthouse of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, in the Kurdish north's Sulaimaniya province.
"Today Iraqis live under the atmosphere of sectarian tension that we lived through in the hard years of 2005-2007," he said.
Speaking about himself and his Sunni Arab community, Hashemi added: "Mr Maliki knows the supporters of Tareq al-Hashemi and which community he belongs to, and therefore he should have thought about the negative consequences of these issues."
Violence in Iraq has subsided since the sectarian civil war of 2006-07, when Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militia killed thousands of civilians each month, but without U.S. troops to act as a buffer, many Iraqis now fear a return to those days.
At least 72 people were killed in bombings across Baghdad in mainly Shi'ite neighborhoods on Thursday, in the first sign of a possible violent backlash against Maliki's moves.
The main goal of U.S. policymakers in the final years of the war was to prevent a recurrence of that bloodshed by ensuring that Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds all remained represented in the government in Baghdad.
A power-sharing deal reached a year ago kept Maliki in office at the helm of a fragile unity coalition. But that appears to have unraveled just as the final U.S. troops pulled out a week ago. Hashemi's Iraqiya bloc, the main Sunni-backed group has suspended its participation in parliament.
"POLITICAL HIT"
Hashemi said the timing of the accusations against him to coincide with the U.S. withdrawal was "deliberate."
"The target is clear, a political hit for Tareq al-Hashemi... The political dimension for this is to get rid of all those who oppose Nuri al-Maliki, it is clear. So Iraq can stay in the grip of one-man rule and one-party rule."
Shi'ite leaders say the case against Hashemi is criminal and not motivated by politics. It cannot be negotiated because it is now with the courts.
Iraq's interior ministry broadcast taped confessions it said were from Hashemi's security detail, talking about payments Hashemi made to them to carry out assassinations and bombings.
Hashemi denied all charges which he said were "fabricated." He said the three bodyguards worked for him but the confessions showed on Iraqi TV were "taken by force."
Hashemi said he had no plans to seek political asylum or flee Iraq, but had requested that the case against him be moved to a court in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, rather than Baghdad where "the executive power controls the judiciary."
"If they are seeking justice, let them agree to my request and I will stand trial and will accept any verdict by Kurdistan's courts," he said. "They are not part of Maliki's project and they are not part of Hashemi's project. Kurdistan will be the fair judge in this issue."
Asked if he would consider leaving Iraq or seeking asylum, he said: "This is my country, these are not my thoughts and not in my plans... I will not run from justice."
Looking weary during the interview, Hashemi said he had initially come to Sulaimaniya with a small suitcase and two suits - and had told his wife he would be back in Baghdad after 48 hours.
He planned to stay in the semi-autonomous Kurdish zone for now, and his family had left Iraq after a wave of raids by security forces on his house and office and arrests of his staff, he said.
(Editing by Patrick Markey)
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I keep feeling like I should be buying a holiday present my mother neither wants nor needs. First because we didn't celebrate Christmas, and second because she died last month. We had the most Christian of all reasons not to celebrate the holiday, a faction of Evangelicals took to heart the fact that Christmas was designed to merge a new religion with worship of the birthday of Nimrod, possible builder of Babel and grandson of Ham. Not the meat. Circa 300, Christianity added the tree, the presents and viola - the holiday most Americans know as Christmas.
Our Too Religious for Christmas policy didn't always take. We lived on 40 acres with enough spare evergreens to drag one into the house and lean against a tree at some point mid-December. And you could certainly buy presents, you just weren't going to get any. To make up for the guilt trip that only a house full of non-celebrating kids can give you, we traveled the world. But it doesn't matter where I was, if at the ocean, I would kick the sand and curse Nimrod. If at home, my mom would fire up the 4 wheeler, tie an inner tube to the hitch and spin out as I hung on for dear life. You can't curse Nimrod when you're that dizzy.
In the meantime, my parents waited to shop the after-Christmas sales. As a child of the Depression, my dad couldn't imagine any other option. He had lied about his age, served in World War II and sent money home to his family before he could vote or drink. That giving spirit didn't die. He bought the town roller rink. And an oversized pony / casual horse. We caught bass from our pond, baked bread from our wheat and grew vegetables in a quarter-acre garden. My mother dressed us in L.L. Bean sweaters guaranteed to outlive their recipient. I still have a red velour model, circa 1980. It was mortifying. I wanted nothing more than flammable clothing with butterfly sleeves and platters of fast food. But she held her ground.
Asked for any holiday wishes, all my mother would ever say is: "The health and happiness of my family." She had a deft hand with sarcasm, so I always wondered if it was a trick to make us even more of a non-gift household. My first holiday with my New Orleans boyfriend's family, I took the drama up to a Heidi of the Alps level. "And what do you call this, Grandfather, Tin-sill?" He bought me too many presents. I married him a year later. We have a holiday home.
But this year we're doing something different in honor of my late parents. No gifts. No cards. No tree. Just gathering with family and wishing for the health and happiness of friends and loved ones. If there's enough karma sailing behind me, I'll throw in a wish for peace and earth, good will toward humans and other living things.
Because, really, who can stay mad at Nimrod her whole life?
?
Follow Karen Dalton-Beninato on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kbeninato
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-daltonbeninato/damn-you-nimrod-a-christm_b_1166725.html
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December 22, 2011 |??
Pirate flag of Blackbeard. Creative Commons image. Click on image for license and link.
Avast, ye landlubbers! I have some exciting news: there will be pirates in the next edition of the Open Lab! AiP?s own examination of the Jolly Roger as a ?pirate brand? made the cut!
This anthology collects 50 of the best examples of science writing online, and the line-up this year is amazing. Many thanks to supreme-editor-in-chief Jennifer Ouellette of Cocktail Party Physics for her hard work. (Full disclosure: I also served as an editor, but we were not permitted to review our own pieces.) You can view the finalists here. And you can also view some of the other stellar posts that didn?t quite make the cut for one reason or another. My personal favorites from the latter list are ?The Case of the Jaundiced Terrier? and ?The Importance of Failure in Graduate Student Training.?
I can?t wait to see the final product. Congrats to all with whom I?ll share a binding in 2012.
About the Author: Krystal D'Costa is an anthropologist working in digital media in New York City. You can follow AiP on Facebook. Follow on Twitter @krystaldcosta.More??
The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=19695b029181a65825d71a24e5c54eae
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LONDON, December 22, 2011 (AFP) ? World road race champion Mark Cavendish claimed Britain?s BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Thursday, beating off competition in a public vote from golfer Darren Clarke and athlete Mo Farah.
The 26-year-old, also the Tour de France?s green jersey winner, became only the second road cyclist to take the award, following the late Tommy Simpson?s win in 1965.
Northern Irish golfer Clarke, this year?s British Open champion, was voted into second place with world 5,000-meter gold-medalist Farah third.
The build-up to this year?s showpiece event was overshadowed by a row over the lack of any women on the 10-strong shortlist despite a 2011 that produced several British female world champions.
Cavendish, one of Britain?s top hopes for a home gold at next year?s London Olympics, topped the 2011 Tour de France?s points table after winning five stages and followed it up with a thrilling win in the world road race championships in Denmark in September.
?I am absolutely speechless. Some of my teammates here will say that is a rare thing,? joked Cavendish. ?This award is a landmark for cycling,? he added. ?For cycling to be recognized in a non-Olympic year is unheard of.?
The BBC award capped off a fine year for the Isle of Man-born cyclist, awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) medal in November.
Elsewhere, England?s cricketers were named Team of the Year, with their coach, Andy Flower, winning the Coach of the Year award, in recognition of their rise to the top of the world Test rankings.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon tennis champion Novak Djokovic won the Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
Five-time Olympic rowing gold-medalist Steve Redgrave won the Lifetime Achievement award and former Grand National winning jockey Bob Champion was given the Helen Rollason Award in recognition of the money he?d raised for cancer charities since overcoming the disease himself.
Related: Beating Mark Cavendish
Tags: Mark Cavendish, Tour de France, World Championships
Source: http://bicycling.com/blogs/thisjustin/2011/12/22/mark-cavendish-is-bbc-sports-personality-of-2011/
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APPLETON - Appleton resident John Mielke says growing up across the street from Riverview Country Club was like having nature at his back door.
Now, the nature of the Country Club is changing.
The golf course and club property was recently purchased by COTS, an Appleton area homeless shelter, for $2.6 million.
The plan is to transform the fairways and greens into a place filled with nature trails and organic gardens, where job-skills can grow.
"What's unique about the project is it's really addressing the root causes we have by providing job, job training, and by providing living skills and opportunities that (people) can learn on the property," said COTS Board President John Schmidt.
This won't be the first time the property has helped feed others.
Mielke remembers eating food from a community garden that was set up on the course during World War II.
"We ate off the land from the victory gardens, right over there, and so, going forward, to have this land preserved, it pleases me that this will be open space for our community," said Mielke.
COTS is the property owner, but other area shelters and organizations can also use the gardens.
But some say the project can hurt the community more than it can help.
In a statement from Appleton Taxpayers United, Perry Bovee says,?We support projects that support the community. But the sale removes valuable property from the city tax rolls at a time that the city needs it.?
But neighbors of the country club-turned gardens are excited for the change.
"I think this is a win-win,? said Ferrell Hope, who lives across the street from the golf course.
?I shouldn't say win-win, because win implies a loser. I think this is a gain-gain, for everybody."
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna says while he doesn't like to see property come off the tax roll, the city supports its non-profits.
Construction on the gardens will begin in early spring.
Source: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/big-plans-for-what-golf-course-can-grow
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- It's prudent to limit the use of over-the-counter cold and flu medications during pregnancy, experts say.
This is because some medications may contain substances that are potentially harmful to developing fetuses, or that have not been well-studied for use in pregnant women.
"Every year around this time, we get a significant number of calls from pregnant and breast-feeding women in California who are battling colds and are worried about which meds they can and can't take," said Christina Chambers, professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Diego and program director at the California Teratogen Information Service.
To help expectant mothers who are sick this holiday season, Chambers offered these cold medicine safety tips:
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about medication use during pregnancy.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? A new report on the earthquake-damaged Washington Monument details extensive cracking and chipped stones on the top portion of the 127-year-old structure that make it vulnerable to rain.
The report released Thursday suggests that standing water could collect on the upper floors during storms.
The report was prepared by the engineering firm whose employees rappelled down the sides of the monument in September to inspect the damage. The monument has been closed to visitors since a 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the nation's capital on Aug. 23.
The report does not estimate how long repairs would take or how much they would cost. The recently approved federal spending bill allocates $7.5 million to fix the monument and directs the National Park Service to raise an equal amount through private donations.
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?2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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HONG KONG (AP) ? Hollywood independent studio Lionsgate and media mogul Haim Saban's investment firm said Thursday they're teaming up with a Malaysian-owned company in a pay TV joint venture to tap the expanding Asian entertainment market.
Saban Capital Group Inc. said it will provide "significant capital investment" for Celestial Tiger Entertainment, which it is forming with Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. and Celestial Pictures Ltd., a Hong Kong-based film and TV company owned by Malaysian pay-television operator Astro Holdings.
Celestial Tiger, based in Hong Kong, will offer three pay TV channels from Tiger Gate Entertainment, an existing Asian partnership set up by Lionsgate-Saban in 2010. Celestial Pictures will contribute three Chinese-language pay TV channels.
Celestial Tiger plans to expand by adding new channels or buying other operators with the money from Saban, which did not disclose the amount.
The company also plans to produce its own TV shows as well as remakes of movies from the Shaw Brothers Film Library, the world's biggest collection of Chinese-language movies. The collection, owned by Celestial Pictures, includes more than 760 films produced over half a century.
The joint venture is the latest in a string of partnerships with Asian entertainment companies formed recently by Hollywood studios looking for growth in Asia, where a burgeoning middle class is driving demand.
"We really see Asia as a very strategically important region for our investment activity," Saban Capital President Adam Chesnoff said. "When you look at the growth in the media sector, particularly in the pay TV and free TV markets throughout the region, we think the fundamentals are very ripe and strong for investment opportunities."
The Asia-Pacific region is already the world's biggest pay TV market, with 57 percent of global subscriptions, which were forecast to exceed 745 million in 2011, according to an ABI Research report earlier this year.
Celestial Tiger's main markets are Southeast Asia and China and it will also be the sole sales agent for Lionsgate movies and TV shows for those regions.
Lionsgate follows two other Hollywood studios, Relativity Media and Legendary Entertainment, that announced Chinese partnerships this year.
Recent Lionsgate releases include the films "The Expendables" and "Margin Call" and the hit TV series "Mad Men."
Saban Capital is best known for licensing the Power Rangers from Japan in the 1990s.
__________
Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman
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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ff68a6bd2269197287861c5e364ca88b
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By Athima Chansanchai
If you're reading this on Chrome, you're part of a wave that has ditched Internet Explorer or Firefox and helped vault Google's browser to the top Web browser spot worldwide.
We've been watching for a while now as reports have shown a consistent rise in Chrome's popularity. We saw how in one report, it's already gone past Firefox, knowing it was just a matter of time before it usurped one of the longest reigning dynasties in the browser world, IE.
But wait, there is a caveat to this: Chrome 15 beat IE 8, specifically, this one week at the end of November, with 23.6 percent of the worldwide market, compared to IE 8's at 23.5 percent.?With all the versions of IE floating around, IE is still No. 1 in the world, but Chrome is right behind it.
StatCounter
Ireland-based?StatCounter???which posts Web analytics based on aggregate data it collects from a?sample exceeding 15 billion pageviews per month (including 4 billion in the U.S.),?collected from the StatCounter network of more than 3 million websites???released a statement?about Chrome 15's ascension, humbling the initial enthusiasm of any Google devotee when it also made it clear that in the?U.S., reports of IE's demise are still premature. According to StatCounter, It was still able to capture?27 percent of browser action last week, compared to 18.1 percent for Chrome 15.
Which Web browser are you using?
171054
IE. Why mess with a classic?
22%
171055
Firefox. Mozilla all the way!
34%
171056
Chrome. So far it's working for me.
39%
171057
Safari. Ok, I'm old school, alright?!
5%
VoteTotal Votes: 4875
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
Different companies will issue different stats on just how much of a lead IE still has on Chrome, with companies such as?NetMarketShare?showing?IE's year-long steady free fall, but still at about 52 percent a month ago.?
Chrome has made a steady rise as IE declines, but Firefox still stands in its way. But not by much. And by StatCounter's measure, in the world outside the U.S., Chrome already brushed past Firefox in November, when it wrested the No. 2 spot with 25.69 percent of the worldwide market (up from 4.66 percent in November 2009) compared to Firefox's 25.23 percent.?
Will 2012 be the year that sees the fall of IE everywhere, including the U.S.? Take our poll and let us know which browser you're using.
More stories:
Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.
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Highlights of legislation renewing payroll tax cuts, jobless benefits:
_Extends 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax through Feb. 29. Cost: $20.4 billion.
_Renews jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed through Feb. 29. Cost: $8.4 billion.
_Prevents 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors and extends miscellaneous health policies through Feb. 29. Cost: $4.1 billion.
_Increases home loan guarantee fees charged to mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by one-tenth of 1 percentage point. Raises $35.7 billion over 10 years.
_Requires President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days unless he declares the project would not serve the national interest.
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NASHVILLE (Reuters) ? Country singer Rodney Atkins has denied accusations he tried to suffocate his wife with a pillow in November and also has filed for divorce, his attorney said in a statement on Thursday.
Court records show that back on November 21, Atkins' wife of 13 years, Tammy Jo, called police and claimed he attempted to smother her with a pillow and threw her down a hallway after he had been drinking. The events took place in front of their 10-year-old son, the documents show.
Atkins was arrested by police and later released on bail.
But Atkins lawyer, Rose Palermo, issued a statement on Thursday saying the altercation was nothing more than an "unfortunate verbal dispute" between husband and wife.
"When Mr. Atkins realized their child was in hearing range of the argument, his first priority became getting out of earshot of the child," Palermo said in the statement.
Palermo called the claims by Atkins' wife, "completely untrue."
"Mr. Atkins realized that he would have no recourse but to file a complaint for divorce. Since filing the complaint...he has exercised substantial parenting time with the parties' son and he will continue to do so while the divorce is pending."
The singer's songs include "Cleaning This Gun," which looked at raising teen daughters, and his hit "Watching You." His wife appeared in his recent video for "Farmer's Daughter."
In her statement, Palermo said Atkins "requests privacy at this time" and he "wants to thank his fans for standing by him as he is confident that the truth will prevail."
Atkins is scheduled to appear on the Fox TV special, "American Country New Year's Eve Live" airing December 31. He also has three live performances scheduled in coming days in the northeastern U.S.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Android 4.0.3 announced, bringing 'variety of optimizations and bug fixes' to phones and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/16/android-4-0-3-announced-brings-variety-of-optimizations-and-bu/
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- The new president of the Amateur Athletic Union said Wednesday the organization will give complete access to two independent task forces established to review child safety protocols, policies and procedures in the wake of child sex abuse allegations against the AAU's former president.
The AAU announced the measures at its headquarters near Orlando, Fla. as Memphis police investigate decades-old child molestation allegations against ex-president Robert "Bobby" Dodd.
ESPN reported Friday that two former basketball players have accused Dodd of molesting them as children in the 1980s. One of the players, 43-year-old Ralph West, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" he was assaulted in Memphis in 1984.
AAU President Louis Stout said the AAU notified Memphis police on Dec. 9 about three alleged victims after hiring a private investigator to look into anonymous emails and voicemail messages received by the AAU. Stout said the private investigator was hired sometime between Nov. 9 and Nov. 14.
"We've opened up every process to them," Stout said. "...We did exactly as we were asked to do."
Memphis police said Monday that investigators are trying to follow up allegations that Dodd molested children, but they have not received a formal victim complaint.
Stout said the AAU has severed ties with the 63-year-old Dodd, with the exception of about $15,000 still owed him. No phone number was listed at a Florida address for Dodd, and it was not clear whether he had consulted an attorney. Dodd, who has colon cancer, did not respond to ESPN's requests for comment.
Stout said the organization has never had any previous cases of child sex abuse, and he's confident the AAU acted decisively in turning over the allegations to police.
"It's about trust. We're here to redefine trust," Stout said. "...Were we caught off guard? Yes. Will we do everything we can to prevent another tragedy of this nature? You betcha."
Stout said the task forces -one focused on youth protection and the other on adult volunteering screening - are expected to recommend any changes to AAU's current policies by February.
The AAU oversees about 30 sports programs for all ages nationwide, including major sports like football, basketball and baseball to bocce ball, baton twirling and competitive jump rope. It says 500,000 athletes and 50,000 volunteers participate in its programs.
Asked if the AAU currently has any policies in place requiring background checks of its employees, AAU national compliance chair Henry Forrest said that there is some random screening of AAU officials, but it's not mandatory. Stout also pointed out that the AAU doesn't have authority over many of the groups that bring kids to AAU events.
Forrest said a recommendation to make background checks mandatory won't be heard until AAU's board of directors meets in March.
A pair of retired law enforcement officials will lead the screening task force. Lauren Book, founder of the Lauren's Kids child abuse advocacy foundation, is leading the youth protection task force, along with National Child Advocacy Center executive director Chris Newlin.
Book said background checks won't solve the problem.
"It's still not enough," she said. "We know some things here aren't perfect, but this is national teaching moment here."
Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BKO_AAU_ABUSE?SITE=TXCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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