George F. Kennan: An American Life

John Lewis Gaddis's biography is an important examination of a man who shaped the current American way of life.

If there were one word to encapsulate the life of George Frost Kennan, it would be ?conflicted.? Starting with his youth in Milwaukee in the first decades of the 20th century, and throughout a career that stretched from a foreign service position with the Coolidge administration, on through to the latter years of the Reagan presidency (when the president, as biographer John Lewis Gaddis laments, ?had little need of Kennan"), Kennan was often conflicted in his world view, though indeed ahead of his time ? in his thoughts, actions, and policy positions.

Skip to next paragraph

Gaddis, a Cold War scholar at Yale University and prize-winning author of several books on the subject, has provided an important, if not indispensable biography of Kennan in George F. Kennan: An American Life. Kennan was a figure alternately admired and reviled, but he was nonetheless an influential foreign serviceman, ambassador to both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and a foreign policy strategist. In this context, it is not an overstatement to say that Kennan ? through the formulation of his Cold War ?Containment? strategy, his role as an architect of the post-World War II ?Marshall Plan?, and his passionate opposition to ?McCarthyism? ? was a central figure of the 20th century who alternately mirrored and molded our modern American way of life.

Gaddis?s account is refreshing in the sense that his interpretation of Kennan, his personality and beliefs, and his writings, is seemingly free of the ideological taint, sophistry, and hagiography that has so invaded political discussion in this early part of the new millennium. It is a very frank and open account. Gaddis undertook this project 30 years ago at the request of Kennan himself, with the provision that it not be published until after his passing. Within this tome?s nearly 1,000 pages, Gaddis has provided an extraordinary portrait of Kennan, which includes not only a wide range of Kennan?s views on political topics, but also throws light on his internal struggles and confessions about such deeply personal topics as morality and mortality, sex, loneliness, depression, and many others. Kennan does not hold back and Gaddis is both very faithful and fair to his subject.

In the earlier pages, Gaddis speaks about his methodology and his own philosophy about writing biography. In one instance, Gaddis discusses views of Kennan that could be viewed today as anti-Semitic. ?Biographers have an obligation ? to place their subjects within the period in which they lived: it is unfair to condemn them for not knowing what no one at the time could have known.? That sense of obligation extends to other characterizations of Kennan as well. Although Gaddis notes instances of solipsism and self-indulgence ? seasoned with occasional histrionics ? in Kennan's writing, Gaddis also makes clear that Kennan was likewise possessed of a powerful intellect, disciplined rectitude, and a remarkable prescience that produced, among other documents, the so-called? ?Long Telegram? ? a dispatch Kennan sent to soon-to-be US Atomic Energy Chairman David E. Lilienthal from Moscow in March of 1946. This was the single most important document that formulated America?s post-war Cold War policy toward the Soviet Union.

1?|?2?|?3?|?4?|?5?|?6?|?7

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/k0rwaPQSzFk/George-F.-Kennan-An-American-Life

earthquake california earthquake california crimson tide crimson tide day light savings time curmudgeon daylight savings time 2011

LG plant in eastern China hit by strike

Workers at an LG Display factory in eastern China have gone on strike, halting some production, the company said yesterday, in the latest show of strength by China?s increasingly assertive labor force.

The front gate of the LG factory was guarded by police who lined up along the street, obscuring what was happening inside, while two black police trucks waited nearby. However, there were no signs of outright confrontation.

A spokeswoman in Seoul for the South Korean company, Claire Ohm, confirmed the labor dispute after an earlier report by the New York-based China Labor Watch that said the strike began on Monday, triggered by anger over year-end bonuses that workers say favored South Korean staff.

?Some of our production has been suspended,? Ohm said about the Nanjing plant.

She did not confirm that bonus issues were the cause of the strike.

Ohm did not say how many workers had stopped work or how much production had been curtailed.

?We and the Nanjing city government are jointly negotiating with workers to smoothly reach an agreement and we expect the problems to be resolved soon,? she said.

Officials in several Nanjing government departments contacted either said they had not heard about the strike or referred inquiries to other departments.

While South Korean staff at the factory received the equivalent of six months? wages, Chinese workers received the equivalent of one month?s pay, China Labor Watch said in an e-mail. The non-governmental organization campaigns for improved labor conditions.

?The strike is still ongoing, despite threats made by management to close the plant entirely and prosecute the leaders of the strike,? China Labor Watch said of developments up to yesterday.

It said that 8,000 workers at the factory were on strike.

LG Display, the leading flat-screen maker, produces LCD modules for notebook computers and monitors at the Nanjing plant, Ohm said. The company has two other module plants in China.

Chinese Internet sites circulated pictures said to be from the Nanjing plant, with hundreds of workers massed at a factory building and standing around a toppled Christmas tree. It could not be confirmed whether the pictures were from the plant.

China?s industrial workers, many of them migrant workers from villages struggling to establish a foothold in urban areas, have increasingly resorted to strikes in recent years.

Earlier this month, nearly 1,000 workers at a Japanese-owned factory in southern China protested to demand compensation in accordance with their length of service after a change in the plant?s ownership, according to media reports at the time.

A succession of strikes last year disrupted production at Japanese-owned vehicle parts plants across southern China.

Source: http://libertytimes.feedsportal.com/c/33098/f/535603/s/1b56cff2/l/0L0Staipeitimes0N0CNews0Cbiz0Carchives0C20A110C120C290C20A0A3521860A/story01.htm

barney frank 2012 grammy nominations stephen sondheim los angeles news grammys 2011 mike leach mike leach

Ex-`Saturday Night Live' writer Joe Bodolai dies (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Former "Saturday Night Live" writer Joseph Bodolai has committed suicide in a Hollywood hotel room, the Los Angeles coroner's office said Tuesday.

Coroner's office spokesman Craig Harvey said room service staff found the body of the 63-year-old Bodolai at 1:30 p.m. Monday in a room at Hollywood's Re-Tan Hotel. He checked into the hotel Dec. 19.

Harvey said Bodolai drank a mixture of Gatorade and antifreeze. The death, first reported by celebrity website TMZ, has been ruled a suicide.

Besides writing on 20 episodes of "Saturday Night Live" in 1981 and 1982, Bodolai was the TV producer for 20 episodes of "The Kids in the Hall" Canadian sketch comedy troupe.

Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said there was no suicide note, however Bodolai apparently foreshadowed his suicide online.

The Los Angeles Times cited a lengthy post published Friday on a WordPress blog that appears to be registered to Bodolai. It was titled "If This Were Your Last Day Alive, What Would You Do?" and included Bodolai's accomplishments and regrets.

A message on the Twitter account (at)joebodolai said "Goodbye" and had a link to the blog.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the authenticity of the online posts.

___

Online:

http://qualityshows.wordpress.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_en_ot/us_obit_bodolai

matt schaub fire island fire island diaspora social network diaspora breaking dawn premiere rock center

NKoreans salute, cry for late leader Kim Jong Il (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea's next leader escorted his father's hearse in an elaborate state funeral on a bitter, snowy day Wednesday, bowing and saluting in front of tens of thousands of citizens who wailed and stamped their feet in grief for Kim Jong Il.

Son and successor Kim Jong Un was head mourner on the gray day in Pyongyang, walking with one hand on the black hearse that carried his father's coffin on its roof, his other hand raised in salute, his head bowed against the wind.

At the end of the 2 1/2-hour procession, rifles fired 21 times as Kim Jong Un stood flanked by the top party and military officials who are expected to be his inner circle of advisers. Kim then saluted again as goose-stepping soldiers carrying flags and rifles marched by.

Although analysts say Kim Jong Un is on the path toward cementing his power and all moves in North Korea so far ? from titles giving him power over the ruling party and military and his leading position in the funeral procession ? point in that direction, his age and inexperience leave questions about Kim's long-term prospects. Whereas his father was groomed for power for 20 years before taking over, the younger Kim has had only about two years.

He also faces the huge challenges of running a country that struggles to feed its people even as it pursues a nuclear weapons program that has earned it international sanctions and condemnation.

Kim Jong Il ? who led with absolute power after his father Kim Il Sung's death in 1994, through a famine that killed hundreds of thousands and the pursuit of nuclear and missile programs ? died of a heart attack Dec. 17 at age 69.

Mourners in parkas lined the streets of Pyongyang, waving, stamping and crying as the convoy bearing his coffin passed. Some struggled to get past security personnel holding back the crowd.

"How can the sky not cry?" a weeping soldier standing in the snow said to state TV. "The people ... are all crying tears of blood."

The dramatic scenes of grief showed how effectively North Korea built a personality cult around Kim Jong Il despite chronic food shortages and decades of economic hardship.

A large challenge for North Korea's propaganda apparatus will be "to counter the public's perception that the new leader is a spoiled child of privilege," said Brian Myers, an expert on North Korean propaganda at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea.

"Having Kim Jong Un trudge mournfully next to the hearse in terrible weather was a very clever move," Myers said.

Even as North Koreans mourned the loss of the second leader the nation has known, the transition of power to Kim Jong Un was well under way. The young man, who is in his late 20s, is already being hailed by state media as the "supreme leader" of the party, state and army.

Kim wore a long, dark overcoat as he strode alongside his father's hearse accompanied by top party officials behind him and key military leaders on the other side of the limousine ? a lineup that was a good look at who will be the core leadership in North Korea.

North Korea now turns to Thursday's memorial ceremony. Although there will be tributes to Kim Jong Il, the country will be turning toward Kim Jong Un, analysts said.

"The message will be clear: Kim Jong Un now leads the country and there is no alternative," said Kim Yeon-su, a North Korea expert at the state-run Korea National Defense University in South Korea.

There will also be more attention paid to the inner circle forming around Kim Jong Un.

On Wednesday, he was accompanied by Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law and a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, who is expected to be crucial in helping Kim Jong Un take power.

Also escorting the limousine were military chief Ri Yong Ho and People's Armed Forces Minster Kim Yong Chun. Their presence indicates they will be important players as the younger Kim consolidates his leadership. Top Workers' Party officials Choe Thae Bok and Kim Ki Nam and senior military officer Kim Jong Gak also took prominent positions.

The early part of Wednesday's funeral ceremony was shrouded in secrecy, as in 1994, when Kim Il Sung died. Back then, Kim Jong Il and top officials held a private, hourlong ceremony inside the Kumsusan palace before the procession through the city, according to his official biography.

Pyongyang's foreign diplomats were invited to attend the procession, though few other outsiders appeared to be allowed into the country for the funeral. One foreign diplomat in Pyongyang, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of her work, said funereal music played and people wept as the convoy left Kumsusan followed by a large number of vehicles and army jeeps.

After showing taped footage of mourners and documentaries of Kim Jong Il, state TV began airing the procession, showing cars moving slowly through the snowy city, led by a limousine carrying a huge portrait of a smiling Kim Jong Il.

Wednesday's procession had a stronger military presence than 1994.

Kim Jong Il, who ushered in a "military first" era when he took power, celebrated major occasions with lavish, meticulously choreographed parades designed to show off the nation's military might, such as the October 2010 display when he introduced his son to the world.

Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party last year.

After the funeral, the young Kim is expected to solidify his power by formally assuming command of the 1.2 million-strong military, and becoming general secretary of the Workers' Party and chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.

Kim Jong Il's two other sons, Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Chol, were not spotted at the procession.

___

Associated Press Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee and writers Hyung-jin Kim, Foster Klug, Scott McDonald and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/newsjean, twitter.com/APKlug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il_the_funeral

brownback salvia cybermonday deals cybermonday deals steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus

Tonight?s Saints win means 49ers can?t coast in St. Louis, which is where Gruden might become Rams next coach [MN-HR]

Posted by Cam Inman on December 26th, 2011 at 10:01 pm | Categorized as Uncategorized

The 49ers could have clinched the NFC playoffs? No. 2 seed tonight if the New Orleans Saints lost on ?Monday Night Football.? Instead, the Saints pummeled the Atlanta Falcons 45-16, Drew Brees broke Dan Marino?s 27-year-old record for single-season passing yards and the stakes loom large on Sunday for both the Saints (12-3)?and 49ers (12-3).

Two ways the 49ers can still wrap up the No. 2 seed: They win at St. Louis against the 2-13 Rams, or the Saints lose at home to the Cam Newton-led Carolina Panthers. (Sidebar: The Panthers have won four of their past five, and Newton is only 107 yards shy of 4,000 passing yards.)

Both the 49ers and Saints will kick off at noon in their respective domes (10 a.m. PST). Jim Harbaugh said tonight?s outcome could dictate whether the 49ers sit out some personnel, an option that now has disappeared. Had the Falcons won, the Saints? regular-season finale would have been moved to 1:15 PST. Had the Falcons won, the 49ers could have rested key players such as Patrick Willis (he?ll still likely sit with a hamstring injury), Ted Ginn, Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Isaac Sopoaga, Carlos Rogers, Donte Whitner, Joe Staley, Frank Gore and Alex Smith.

* * *

A fascinating backdrop with the St. Louis Rams has emerged. The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that Jon Gruden might return to the coaching ranks next season with the Rams. I can?t fathom that Gruden would prefer St. Louis over San Diego (or Miami or New York or Andrew Luck-led Indianapolis or the other jobs that might become vacant). But U-T reporter Kevin Acee says Chargers GM A.J. Smith could be fired, along with coach Norv Turner, and that Smith is tight with Gruden, who coached the Raiders and Buccaneers before becoming an ESPN analyst. One other note in the U-T article: former 49ers assistant Greg Manusky also is on the hot seat as the Chargers? defensive coordinator.

?

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5666635681

bcs standings 2011 rhodes scholarship rhodes scholarship ufc 139 results lee corso lee corso thanksgiving appetizers

Hackers target supporters of security firm

NEW YORK?? Victims of a data breach at the security analysis firm Stratfor apparently are being targeted a second time after speaking out about the hacking.

Stratfor said on its Facebook page that some individuals who offered public support for the company after it revealed it was hacked "may be being targeted for doing so."

The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday through Twitter that it had stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to the company's clients. Anonymous members posted links to some of the information Sunday and more on Monday.

Stratfor, based in Austin, Texas, said its affected clients and its supporters "are at risk of having sensitive information repeatedly published on other websites." The company has resorted to communicating through Facebook while its website remains down and its email suspended.

Here's more from Stratfor's Facebook-posted warning:

It's come to our attention that our members who are speaking out in support of us on Facebook may be being targeted for doing so and are at risk of having sensitive information repeatedly published on other websites. So, in order to protect yourselves, we recommend taking security precautions when speaking out on Facebook or abstaining from it altogether.

A message posted online Monday by a group asserting it spoke for Anonymous mocked victims who spoke to The Associated Press about the experience of learning that their credit card information was stolen and used to make unauthorized charitable donations. The message also ridiculed someone who criticized the hacking on Facebook, saying "we went ahead and ran up your card a bit."

A Stratfor spokesman would not say whether the information was encrypted in its database or what the company has learned since the incident began.

Anonymous has said the data was not encrypted. If true, that would be a major embarrassment for a security-related company.

The spokesman, Kyle Rhodes, said the company could not discuss any details because several law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident.

The data was posted in a series of releases in links embedded in online messages that, in turn, were linked to from Twitter.

Some of the files appear to be alphabetical listings of Stratfor clients with related credit card information. The amount posted suggests that information about more than 100,000 individuals and thousands of companies was exposed. The posts also contain files of emails within Stratfor's information technology department, and what appears to be a list of passwords for Stratfor IT staff.

The posted data identifies thousands of major financial, defense and technology firms, media companies, government agencies and multiple units of the United Nations as Stratfor clients. The hackers said this was evidence that they had breached Straftor's "private clients," a claim the company denied.

"Contrary to this assertion, the disclosure was merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications and does not comprise a list of individuals or entities that have a relationship with Stratfor beyond their purchase of our subscription-based publications," Stratfor said in an email and on Facebook.

Stratfor clients around the world were trying to assess whether they were impacted by the hacking.

In New Zealand, the lead government agency, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, is checking whether it has suffered any problems from the hacking. The department, New Zealand's police and fire services and national carrier Air New Zealand are among New Zealand agencies and companies using Stratfor for security purposes.

Department spokesman Ron Mackey said checks were under way to determine "whether its systems have been compromised," Radio New Zealand reported Tuesday.

Earlier, New Zealand technology commentator Colin Jackson said the hacking must be "really, really embarrassing for Stratfor."

"The government departments and (New Zealand) companies ... are going to have to go around and get those credit cards stopped, and decide whether to continue dealing with this outfit Stratfor," he said.

Stratfor "has made a press statement saying 'oh, this kind of thing happens to everybody and it's pretty hard to keep these guys out.' Yeah, right, well, you are supposed to be security experts," Jackson told Radio New Zealand.

The hackers initially claimed their goal was to use stolen the credit information to donate to charities at Christmas, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions were made from their credit accounts in recent days. The messages also said the hackers are targeting companies "that play fast and loose with their customers' private and sensitive information."

Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce cyber security risks, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.

The company's home page carried a banner Monday that said its "website is currently undergoing maintenance."

Anonymous warned it plans more attacks this week. The movement has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on credit card processors Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal, as well as banks, groups in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a watchdog that tracks data breaches, made the Stratfor hacking its 121st such incident of the year targeting credit cards.

Anonymous, reported to be a loose-knit group of hackers, became famous for attacking the companies and institutions that oppose anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The message Monday said the attacks could be averted. "Have you given our comrade Bradley Manning his holiday feast yet, at a fancy restaurant of his choosing?" Manning is the Army private facing court martial for allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of diplomatic documents and Iraq and Afghanistan war zone field reports to WikiLeaks. A seven-day hearing into the biggest national security leak in U.S. history ended Thursday.

Related: 'Anonymous' hackers target US security think tank

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45791528/ns/technology_and_science-security/

black friday 2011 rhodium uppity uppity stuffing brandon mcinerney brandon mcinerney

Global stocks mixed on concern about US, Europe (AP)

BEIJING ? Global stock markets were mixed Tuesday amid worries about weak Christmas sales in the United States and Europe and a warning by Japan's central bank about possible risks from the European debt crisis.

Tokyo lost 0.5 percent to 8,440.56 while China's benchmark Shanghai index dropped nearly 1.1 percent to 2,166.21. Seoul, Taipei, Singapore and Jakarta declined. Hong Kong and Sydney were closed.

In Europe, France's CAC 40 opened up 0.3 percent at 3,111.37 while Germany's DAX also gained 0.3 percent to 5,897.57.

Pessimistic Asian investors expect upcoming indicators including Chinese manufacturing and Christmas retail sales in key Western markets to be lackluster, said Peng Yunliang, a market strategist for Shanghai Securities.

"The markets expect these data will be no good," Peng said. "Some people think sales data from Christmas in the United States and Europe will not be as good as last year."

China's government reported Tuesday that profit growth slowed at its major industrial companies. Total profit in the January-November period rose 24.4 percent over a year earlier, down 0.9 percent from the growth rate for the first 10 months of the year.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 declined after the Bank of Japan released notes that showed a Finance Ministry representative warning at a November meeting the world's third-largest economy faces "significant downside risks" due to Europe's debt problems.

Wall Street and European stock markets were closed Monday because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year.

Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul's Kospi shed 0.8 percent to 1,842.02 while Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.1 percent to 7,085.03. Singapore's benchmark was off 0.1 percent at 2,673.18. Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur also declined.

Chinese losses were led by media, information technology, food and travel-related companies.

Dairy shares fell after China's biggest milk producer said Monday it destroyed a batch found to be contaminated with a potentially cancer-causing toxin. Zhejiang Beingmate Scientific Industrial Trade Co., an infant formula producer, lost 6.8 percent while Bright Dairy & Food Co. shed 4.1 percent.

Asian investors are closely watching Europe, whose debt crisis already has hurt demand for exports from China and other major producers.

In the last pre-holiday U.S. trading day on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average added 1 percent while the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.7 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.9 percent.

Benchmark crude for February delivery was down 14 cents at $99.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currencies, the euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.3065 while the dollar held steady at 77.91 yen.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

madoff bernie madoff anna chapman kim kardashian ghost hunters honda generator honda generator

The 5 best non-fiction books of 2011 (The Week)

New York ? As the year draws to a close, critics honor histories of the global economic collapse, the perils of Nazi Germany, and the late, great Steve Jobs

1. Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson
(Simon & Schuster, $35)
Steve Jobs was both brilliant and a "complicated, peculiar personality," said Michael S. Rosenwald in The Washington Post. Granted full access to the Apple CEO during his last months, Walter Isaacson this fall put the finishing touches on a comprehensive biography that gives us a Jobs who's "charming, loathsome, lovable, obsessive, maddening." Isaacson "clearly admires" his subject ? crediting the late business innovator with revolutionizing how we interact with technology and "putting him in a league with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford." Yet the veteran author doesn't hesitate to throw light on Jobs's boorishness. Isaacson's finely detailed portrait in fact never manages to truly reconcile "Bad Steve and Good Steve," said Casey Common in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Still, the former Time editor understands the power to inspire that was crucial to Jobs's success. "When he gave people seemingly impossible tasks, it was often with the message: 'You can do this.' Often, to their own surprise, they could."
A caveat: Isaacson tends to oversell his arguments, and he writes in a "dutiful, lumbering journalese," said Sam Leith in the London Guardian.

2. In the Garden of Beasts
by Erik Larson
(Crown, $26)
"How do we know implacable evil when we see it?" asked Mary Ann Gwinn in The Seattle Times. Erik Larson's "eerie and disturbing" book re-creates the inadequate response of one American family who had an early chance to confront the Nazi threat. William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, believed na?vely that he could provide a moderate voice in Adolf Hitler's ear. But if Dodd was na?ve, his daughter, Martha, was "oblivious," carrying on affairs indiscriminately with various Nazi officers. The increasing persecution of Jews and the 1934 political purge known as the Night of the Long Knives finally brought the Dodds to their senses, said Jeff Bailey in the Orlando Sentinel. "As the events leading up to World War II go," the U.S. ambassador's too-slow transformation into an alarm-ringer may rank "pretty low in importance." But Larson turns this historical sideshow into "a terrific storytelling vehicle," giving us an inside feel for a troubled Berlin.
A caveat: It's a little hard to warm up to the hapless Dodd and his "feckless, flirtatious daughter," said Gwinn.

SEE MORE: The 4 biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011

?

3. Boomerang
by Michael Lewis
(Norton, $26)
Michael Lewis can make "virtually any subject both lucid and compelling," said Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times. Lewis's travelogue on the hot spots of the recent global economic collapse offers a clear analysis of the financial chicanery and irresponsibility that produced economic crises in places like Greece, Iceland, Ireland, and here at home. He makes topics like sovereign debt "not only comprehensible but fascinating," even to those who don't regularly read the business pages. America, "it turns out," was not the only nation behaving badly in the 1990s and beyond, said Chuck Leddy in The Boston Globe. In Greece, paying taxes seemed to have been regarded as optional. In Ireland, the inbred pessimism of the culture was overwhelmed by an unsustainable housing boom. For every stop, Lewis has a few tales of human greed and misdeed, and all point to the possibility that the current mess is "not just a problem of public deficits but of moral deficits."
A caveat: Lewis builds much of his analysis on odd or ugly cultural stereotypes, said Carlos Lozada in The Washington Post. "It's not a pretty sight."

4. Blue Nights
by Joan Didion
(Knopf, $25)
"Joan Didion seems to think she's entering her final act," said Nathan Heller in Slate.com. If so, she's making a strong finish. Blue Nights is Didion's "haunting" attempt to share the pain she experienced upon losing her daughter, Quintana, less than two years after the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. But this isn't just a grief memoir. Didion uses Quintana's death as a jumping-off point to explore her own failures and late-life anxieties. In doing so, she "lets us see something readers aren't often allowed to see: a writer calling her own choices into question, a relentless cultural critic turning an unsqueamish eye on her own life." The book is a "devastating companion volume to The Year of Magical Thinking," Didion's 2005 memoir about Dunne's death, said Heller McAlpin in The Washington Post. "The marvel of Blue Nights is that its 76-year-old, matchstick-frail author has found the strength to articulate her deepest fears ? which are fears we can all relate to."
A caveat: Didion comes across as a snob, as "consumed with high-end brand names" and name-dropping as with her personal losses, said Evelyn Theiss in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

SEE MORE: The 8 craziest lawsuits of 2011

?

5. Pulphead
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16)
John Jeremiah Sullivan might be "the best essayist of his generation," said Lev Grossman in Time. In the pieces collected here, the 30-something Kentucky native handles a range of assignments ? covering a Christian rock festival, musing on the strange career of Axl Rose, hanging out with the cast of MTV's The Real World. In every setting, he proves to be possibly "the closest thing we have right now to Tom Wolfe, and that includes Tom Wolfe." Then again, the "better comparison" might be to the late David Foster Wallace. Sullivan is in fact "kinder than the former, and less neurotic than the latter," said James Wood in The New Yorker. What he shares with Wolfe and Wallace are "a very good eye," an ironic tone, and a gift for poignant anecdotes that "fly off the wheels of his larger narratives." Yet he's distinguished by his ability to avoid condescension. Sullivan is "a writer interested in human stories" ? a patient listener "hospitable to otherness."
A caveat: Sullivan is not superhuman, said Kristofer Collins in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Even he cannot wring pathos from doing Jell-O shots" with the cast of The Real World.

?

SEE MORE: The 7 biggest political downfalls of 2011

?

---

How the books were chosen
Rankings are based on end-of-year recommendations published by The Atlantic, CSMonitor.com, GQ, The Kansas City Star, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR?.org, Publishers Weekly, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Salon.com, The Seattle Times, Slate.com, Time, and The Washington Post.

View this article on TheWeek.com
Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Other stories from this topic:

Like on Facebook?-?Follow on Twitter?-?Sign-up for Daily Newsletter

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111227/cm_theweek/222711

joe walsh zsa zsa gabor heavy d dead heavy d dead alaska weather alaska weather election results

Argentina's leader faces thyroid cancer surgery

BUENOS AIRES?? President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer, but test results Tuesday show that it remains limited to a lobe in the right side of her neck, and has not metastasized or spread into her lymph nodes, her spokesman said.

Alfredo Scoccimarro said the cancer was discovered during a routine exam on Dec. 22, and that Fernandez received the results from follow-up tests hours before the announcement.

Fernandez, 58, will undergo surgery on Jan. 4 at the Hospital Austral in Buenos Aires and then take 20 days of medical leave, during which Vice President Amado Boudou will run the country. Meanwhile, she will keep up her normal routine, Scoccimarro suggested, noting that she will appear at several events on Wednesday as planned.

This kind of thyroid cancer is highly survivable, with more than 95 percent of patients living at least 10 years after detection, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The usual treatment is to surgically remove as much of the cancerous material as possible, and then follow up with radioactive iodide treatments, taken orally. This substance helps to destroy any remnants of the cancerous gland and provide for clearer images showing any additional cancer, the NIH said on its Web site.

After surgery, patients usually must take medicine ? levothyroxine sodium ? for the rest of their lives to replace a hormone that the thyroid glands produce. Blood tests every six to 12 months to measure thyroid levels also are recommended.

Fernandez is only the latest South American leader to be diagnosed with cancer. Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil all have undergone treatments recently.

Presidential doctors Luis Buonomo and Marcelo Ballesteros said the operation will be led by Dr. Pedro Saco, chief of the surgery department at Hospital Austral and chief of the Head and Neck Service of the oncology institute at the University of Buenos Aires. Saco also trained in cancer centers in Houston and New York, the hospital said.

Thyroid surgery is not without risk: the NIH says a nerve that controls the vocal cords can be damaged, and doctors sometimes accidentally remove the parathyroid gland, which helps regulate blood calcium levels.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45800437/ns/world_news-americas/

kennedy center honors bcs championship heath bell tiger woods greg oden eddie long ncaa bowl schedule

Fitness and Health-Related Quality of Life Dimensions in Community-Dwelling Middle Aged and Older Adults.

Abstract

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND:

The aim of the present study was to identify the physical fitness (PF) tests of a multi-component battery more related to the perception of problems in each dimension of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessed by the EuroQol 5 dimensions 3 level questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L) in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults

METHODS:

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 7104 participants (6243 females and 861 males aged 50-99 years) who were recruited in the framework of the Exercise Looks After You Program, which is a public health program designed to promote physical activity (PA) in community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults. Participants were assessed by the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire and a battery of fitness tests. The responses to each EQ-5D-3L dimension were collapsed into a two-tier variable consisting of "perceive problems" and "do not perceive problems". Correlation coefficients for the relationships between the HRQoL variables, between the PF variables, and between the HRQoL and PF variables were obtained. Two logistic regression models, one adjusted and one unadjusted, were developed for each EQ-5D-3L dimension.

RESULTS:

There were significant correlations between all variables except anxiety/depression and the back scratch test. The PF tests that correlated best with the HRQoL dimensions were the Timed Up-and-Go Test (TUG) and the 6-min walk; pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression correlated less well. All PF tests correlated, especially the TUG and 6-min walk tests. Unadjusted logistic models showed significant goodness of fit for the mobility and pain/discomfort dimensions only. Adjusted logistic models showed significant goodness of fit for all dimensions when the following potential confounding variables were included: age, gender, weekly level of PA, smoking and alcohol habits, body mass index, and educational level. For all dimensions, the highest odds ratios for the association with PF tests were with the TUG; this was observed with both the unadjusted and adjusted models.

CONCLUSIONS:

The perception of problems, as measured by the EQ-5D-3L dimensions, was associated with a lower level of fitness, particularly for those dimensions that relate more closely to physical components. The PF tests that associated most closely with the perception of problems in the HRQoL dimensions were the TUG and the 6-min walk. This information will aid the design and assessment of PA programs that aim to improve HRQoL.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?tmpl=NoSidebarfile&db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=22192520&dopt=Abstract

bérénice marlohe google offers tim gunn tim gunn death clock death clock cerebral palsy

Energy Explosion - ?????? ????? 2010

Energy Explosion - ?????? ????? 2010

Jamendo Album #077459

Tracklisting:

01 - Energy Explosion - Music in night reflection
02 - Energy Explosion - Failure of a server
03 - Energy Explosion - High voltage
04 - Energy Explosion - Integration

Please read the Readme.txt and License.txt files for important origin and licensing information.

This audio is part of the collection: The Jamendo Albums Collection

Date: 2010-10-16

Individual Files

Format	Size
jamendo-077459_files.xml	Metadata	[file]
jamendo-077459_meta.xml	Metadata	1.1 KB

Source: http://www.archive.org/details/jamendo-077459

hines ward warren jeffs phaedra parks oklahoma earthquake new madrid fault current time earthquake today

~Watch NCAA FOOTBALL Purdue vs Western Michigan Live stream Little Caesars Bowl

Hey NCAAFB Fans ! Watch live NCAAFB match on your PC. Watch Little Caesars Bowl game Western Michigan vs Purdue will be exiting and interesting. Wellcome to watch Western Michigan vs Purdue live NCAAFB match online. Yes man watch your hot sports match Western Michigan vs Purdue in a NCAAFB match. Watch Western Michigan vs Purdue live streaming NCAAFB match today. Watch this important and favorite match of NCAAFB Western Michigan vs Purdue on your PC

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Western Michigan vs Purdue LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Match details

NCAA College Football
Western Michigan vs Purdue
Kick off Time : 4:30 PM ET
Date: December 27 2011

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Western Michigan vs Purdue LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Watching sports on the go has never been easier. Watch all the big games, match highlights and player interviews live on any computer! Access all sports all the time! Waiting in the airport or on a long train ride? Watch your favorite sport on your laptop!
Western Michigan vs Purdue Live Streaming, Western Michigan vs Purdue Live Video, Western Michigan vs Purdue online, Watch Western Michigan vs Purdue NCAA

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f9/watch-ncaa-football-purdue-vs-western-michigan-live-stream-little-caesars-bowl-83971-new/

lindsay lohan playboy cover shooting at virginia tech shooting at virginia tech blagojevich rod blagojevich rod blagojevich harry morgan

Oscar voters: Your ballots are in the mail (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Academy Awards season is officially on. Nominations ballots for the 84th Oscar show have just gone in the mail.

Oscar organizers mailed ballots Tuesday to 5,783 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ballots are due back Jan. 13, and Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 24.

The Oscar ceremony is set for Feb. 26, with Billy Crystal returning as host for the first time in eight years.

Among this season's best-picture prospects are the black-and-white silent film "The Artist," the Deep South drama "The Help," George Clooney's family tale "The Descendants" and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_en_mo/us_oscar_ballots

caroline manzo caroline manzo the haunting in connecticut ashram ashram merce cunningham saints

Nation Energy Investments Sell Us Short

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.energytribune.com --- Sunday, December 25, 2011
On December 12th, Canada said it would become the first country to excuse itself from the Kyoto Protocol. What they really should have said is that Canada decided to double down on its investment in tar sands. According to the government of Alberta "Royalties from the oil sands ($1.9 billion in 2009-10) -- Albertans'' share of the revenues from oil sands production - help fund many public programs and services, including infrastructure, health and education. According to CERI, Alberta can expect $184 billion in royalties over the next 25 years." ...

Source: http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/9442/Nation-Energy-Investments-Sell-Us-Short-

pumpkin seeds mark herzlich malawi malawi angela davis angela davis zombie apocalypse

PFT: For four teams, it's win and get in

Reuters

All I wanted for Christmas was 14 NFL contests on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

And I got it, primarily since there was little or no danger of shooting my eye out.

The best part about it?? The ability to write 10 things about what I saw while enjoying the 14 games-a-playing.

1.? ?Playoff turnover trend continues.

While the final postseason field isn?t quite yet settled, it?s already obvious from the teams that made it ? and the teams that won?t ? that the trend of 50-percent playoff turnover most likely will once again hold true.

In the AFC, the Patriots, Steelers, and Ravens have made it back again to the playoffs.? But the Colts, Chargers, and (most likely) the Jets will be left behind.

Replacing them will be the Texans and some combination of the Broncos, Raiders, Bengals, and Titans, with the Jets having a far-slimmer-than-Rex chance of dropping the turnover rate to 33 percent.

In the NFC, the Packers, Saints, and Falcons will be back.? Dumped from contention are the Eagles, Seahawks, and Bears.? Taking their places will be the Cowboys or the Giants, along with the Lions and 49ers.

Maybe we should quit calling this a trend.? Maybe it?s now the rule, and any situations in which more than half of the playoff field makes it back the next year should be regarded as the exception.

For the NFL, it?s a great development, because it creates annual hope for the 20 teams that end up on the outside looking in.? Every year, the fans of those franchises can take some solace in the notion that nearly a third of them will be playing for a Super Bowl title the following year.

Even the Bills and the Browns.

2.? Steelers face tough decision on Ben.

It?s hard to gauge the overall impressiveness of the Steelers? 27-0 win over the Rams, due to the quality of the competition.? But the decision to sit Ben Roethlisberger and start veteran Charlie Batch at quarterback couldn?t have gone much better.

So why not do it again?

The Steelers, after all, are playing the lowly Browns.? And while Pittsburgh?s arch-rivals from Cleveland would love nothing more than to keep the Steelers from winning the AFC North and clinching the No. 2 seed (even if it means seeing the even-more-hated Ravens pocket those prizes), the Steelers have the weaponry to handle the Browns with Batch or Dennis Dixon or even Terry Hanratty at quarterback.

On the other hand, getting a bye and securing home field advantage for at least the division round and possibly, if the Pats lose to the Bills in Week 17 or at home in the conference semifinals, the AFC title game carries with it tremendous value.? If, in the end, the Steelers indeed are on a collision course to play the Ravens again, it?s important for that game to be played in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers have beaten the Ravens twice in the last three postseasons.

The fact that the Bengals can get in with a win, which gives them even more motivation to beat the Ravens, should make the Steelers more willing to load up the cannon in order to beat the Browns.? Thus, while it was reckless for the Steelers to go with Roethlisberger only 11 days after he suffered the sprained ankle, Sunday?s game invites a calculated risk that, if it works out, could generate a great reward.

If it doesn?t pay off, the Steelers will be in no worse shape, since they?re locked in as the fifth seed.

Unless, of course, Roethlisberger aggravates the ankle with as little as six days to get ready for a game in Denver or Oakland.

In the end, it won?t be an easy call.? Maybe the answer will be to use Roethlisberger until the game against the Browns seems to be decided ? or until the scoreboard shows that the Ravens are handling the Bengals.

3.? AFC playoff field is flawed.

Not that long ago, all the best teams resided in the AFC.? Now, the once top-heavy conference has teams at the top that are littered with warts.

The Patriots, currently the top seed, possess a porous defense and not much of a running game.? Last time I checked, those were two key components of any serious playoff run.

The Ravens seem to be the most dangerous team of the bunch, as long as they can put it all together.? But they seem only to put it all together when playing good teams.? Saturday?s dilly-dallying with the Browns shows that the Ravens could be ripe for an upset if/when a lesser franchise comes to town.

Not long ago, the Texans were the ?it? team.? Now, many of their fans want to add an ?s? and an ?h? to that description.? With scant playoff experience on the roster, the Texans will need to make a quick adjustment when it?s time to play the big boys in the conference.

The Steelers have the tools to beat anyone, but they?re in danger of having to do it the hard way, with three hurdles to clear ? all of which most likely will come on the road ? before a earning a return trip to the Super Bowl.

The Broncos can beat anyone on any given day.? As we saw in fairly dramatic fashion on Saturday, they can lose to anyone, too.? Including a team that was riding a seven-game winning streak.? Even if the clock is striking twelve on Tebow Time, it?s hard to see this team winning in Pittsburgh/Baltimore, New England, or even Houston.

Ditto for the Raiders, who have at times looked good enough to barely win and at other times bad enough to be blown off the field.

That means the team poised to pocket the last ticket to the party ? the Bengals ? could be the most dangerous.? With a capable defense, a better-than-expected rookie quarterback, and a better-than-most rookie receiver, the team with the least to lose and the lowest expectations could string together one win after another, thanks to the deeply flawed field of candidates.

Of course, this could mean that the winner of the conference will end up being the sacrificial lambs for the Packers, Saints, or 49ers.? Unless, of course, the Ravens avoid playing down to the competition in their own conference long enough to earn a crack at the best teams in the league.

4.? Tough year for top two tailbacks.

Entering the 2011 football season, running backs in the NFL fell into two categories:? (1) Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson; and (2) everyone else.

And the season started very well for both men, who took two very different paths to getting paid a lot of money.? Johnson held out of training camp and the preseason, getting his big-money deal only days before the start of the season.? Peterson happily entered the final season of his rookie contract without creating any overt drama, even though it privately was known he wouldn?t react well to being subjected to the franchise tag in 2012.

Once the games started, it became clear that the holdout hampered Johnson.? Peterson performed well as usual, but he was underutilized at times by a Vikings team that kept blowing second-half leads.

Now that Peterson has suffered a serious knee injury, which seemed inevitable given his hard-charging running style, both men have a long way to go to prove that they remain the best tailbacks in the game.? Johnson needs to rediscover the explosiveness that allowed him to slide through a crease and hit the nitrous button; Peterson needs to get healthy.

Their experiences demonstrate that, unlike the quarterback position, which produces a tight nucleus of elite players who remain at that level for years, the best running backs have become a revolving door, with each year producing new guys who?ll enter the next season at the top of the league ? and who?ll have only a limited window to remain there.

5.? Cruz control in New York.

In his team?s first game of the 2010 preseason, undrafted rookie receiver Victor Cruz created a major stir for the Giants, with a performance that featured 145 yards and three touchdowns against the Jets in their annual exhibition.? But then the regular season started, and Cruz disappeared from view, making zero receptions before suffering a season-ending injury.

The 2011 campaign began far more inconspicuously for Cruz, with no touchdowns in the preseason and no receptions in the regular-season opener.? In Week Two, Cruz had only two catches for 17 yards.

Then came the explosion.? In the past 13 games, Cruz has generated 1,341 receiving yards.? Combined with the paltry 51 feet from the first eighth of the season, Cruz now has become the single-season receiving yardage leader in the storied history of the Giants franchise.

And the breaking of Amani Toomers? record came in perhaps the biggest regular-season game the Giants have had in years ? a cross-town/cross-stadium rivalry with the loud-mouthed Jets, in which Cruz?s nine-yard catch and 90-yard run turned the tide of a game in which the ?home? team in Green seemed to be overpowering the team that had won only one of six games.

As a result, Cruz needs to be taken seriously as one of the best young receivers in the game.? It?s a great story for a New Jersey kid who simply wanted to play in the NFL.? Cruz, through two NFL seasons, is on track not just to play but to dominate.

6.? Heaping helping of humble pie for the Ryans.

It?ll be interesting to see the relationship between the outcome of the 2011 regular season and the extent to which the Ryan twins keep talking.? For Rex, the Jets head coach, he had a chance to put up or shut up against the Giants.? Rex didn?t put up; now we?ll see whether he shuts up.

For Rob, the Cowboys defensive coordinator, another ugly loss to the Eagles and a looming winner-take-all game against the team that just beat Rex should induce caution and, relatively speaking, silence.

But guys who like to talk tend to find ways to keep talking.? Even after a season in which the Eagles scored a total of 99 points against the Ryans in three games, and with both the Jets and Cowboys facing a strong possibility of no postseason appearance for either team, it?s unlikely that they?ll change.

They can?t change; they are who they are, which is the source of their appeal to the men who play for them.? And as long as their players respond well to Rex and Rob, they?ll have a place in the league.

Besides, there?s still a chance ? slim as it may be ? that both men will extend their seasons past January 1.? For Rob, it?s a simple win-and-in proposition.? For Rex, the odds are longer, but it?s no huge stretch to think that the Jets will beat the Dolphins, the Ravens will beat the Bengals, the Texans will beat the Titans, and the Raiders or the Broncos will lose to the Chargers or the Chiefs, respectively.

If that all happens, Rex will find a way to quickly and completely digest his Christmas Eve portion of humble pie.? And now that the Jets have bottomed out for the third time this year, the boomerang effect could carry them deep into that deeply flawed AFC playoff field.

7.? It?ll be hard to keep Raheem.

The Buccaneers nearly made it to the postseason in 2010.? But for a surprising (at the time) home loss to the Lions, the 10-6 Bucs would have claimed the last seat at the NFC table, bouncing to the curb the eventual Super Bowl champions.

This year, expectations were higher, even though they were tempered by the reality that the Bucs compete with the Falcons and Saints in the NFC South.? A 4-2 start to the season, including wins over said Falcons and Saints, created a sense that the ?yungry? team from Tampa could take over the division.

And then the bottom dropped out.

Nine straight losses later, including two to a Carolina team that won only two total games a year ago, the Bucs have clinched the basement.? With coach Raheem Morris having only one year left on his contract and receiving no public or (by all appearances) private assurances that he?ll be back in 2012, it?s safe to assume that ownership will move on.

With the Jon Gruden buyout completed and Morris being paid nowhere near the top of the coaching food chain, it?ll be no problem to pay him not to coach the team in 2011.? And with the Bucs on track to finish the year with as many consecutive losses as total victories a year ago, it?ll be virtually impossible for a team that struggles to sell tickets to bring Raheem back.

But then who will they hire to run the team?? The up-and-coming coordinator who happens to be the younger brother of the guy the Bucs fired three years ago?? Another young assistant coach with low recognition, low salary demands, and, in turn, a limited ability to put butts in seats?

Or will the Glazer family decide to spend some of the money that hasn?t been devoted to player costs over the past several years on a big-name coach whose mere presence will help market the team?

We?ll all find out the answer soon.? The end result could result in even more empty seats next year at Raymond James Stadium.

8.? Lions peaking at the right time, but will it matter?

After the Lions slumped from 5-0 to 7-5, serious questions hovered regarding the team?s true ability to compete.? The loss of running back Jahvid Best to a season-ending concussion and the decision of opposing defenses to blanket receiver Calvin Johnson took the sting out of the offense.? The Ndamukong Suh imbroglio created a torrent of negative publicity, and a sense that the Lions simply weren?t ready to compete at the highest levels of the league.

Three straight wins in a row later, the Lions have made it to the postseason for the first time since 1999, and they?re being regarded as a serious threat to make some major noise when the playoffs start.

But will they?? Though Saturday?s thumping of the Chargers arguably was the most impressive victory of the season, the Lions barely held on to beat a bad Vikings team and found a way to steal a road win over the up-and-down Raiders.

It?s entirely possible that the bolt of momentum coming from the knockout blow that the Lions administered to the Chargers will help the Lions win a game or two, or maybe more, when it counts the most.? Ultimately, the Lions? fate could be influenced heavily by whether they enter the playoffs as the No. 5 or No. 6 seed.

If they can hold off the Falcons for the primary wild-card spot in the NFC, the Lions will play at Dallas (where the Lions won during the season) or New York (where the Giants have a hard time holding serve, at least when they?re not the visiting team).? But if the Lions slide into the sixth spot, Detroit will have to return to New Orleans, where they lost badly in early December.

The Saints seem to be unbeatable in the Superdome.? Perhaps the Lions could find a way to beat them there, but the Lions would surely prefer not to be forced to try.

And that creates an interesting dilemma for the Packers next week.? With the top seed clinched, should Green Bay rest their starters for the postseason, or should they do everything they can to force the Lions? postseason tour to commence with the possibility of inevitable failure in New Orleans?

9.? Eventual Super Bowl teams dodged a bullet.

In less than a month, we?ll know the identities of the teams who?ll qualify for the biggest event in all of sport.? Whoever makes it should look back to Week 16, and breathe a deep sigh of relief.? (Not to be confused with the many other types of sighs.)

On Christmas Eve, two of the most potentially disruptive teams summarily were erased from postseason contention, when the Chargers saw their three-game winning streak end in Detroit and when the Eagles saw their own three-game run rendered irrelevant by the Giants? win over the Jets.

Either team could have wreaked major havoc in January.? Just as the Packers barely made it to the playoffs as the NFC?s sixth seed in 2010 and then won the whole thing, the Eagles and Chargers could have parlayed late-season surges into postseason pillaging.

Now, none of the other playoff teams have to worry about the two teams who were the hottest in the league entering Week 16.? The Eagles have gotten even hotter, and the Packers, 49ers, and Saints should be thrilled that the Eagles won?t get a chance to extend that vibe beyond Sunday.

10.? The bloom is off the Tebow.

Eight days ago, Tim Tebow had reached the pinnacle of pro football popularity and/or notoriety.? The Broncos quarterback had become the biggest name in football, joining only a small handful of football players who can cross over into major mainstream consciousness.

Today, with a pair of ugly losses in which Tebow and the Broncos offense started strong but ultimately collapsed, the national buzz has diminished, significantly.? Though Tebow can get it back by leading the Broncos to a win over the Chiefs and former Denver starter Kyle Orton, the past two weekends prove that the flavor of the month sometimes is only the flavor of the week.

At some point, Tebowmania likely will return to the top of the non-sports news cycle.? Also, he remains the hottest thing going in Denver.

Still, his inability to deliver further heroics at home against the Patriots or to stay within 20 points of a bad Buffalo team on Christmas Eve has served as a stark reminder that the latest big name in sports is at any given time only a couple of bad games away from again becoming just another face in the crowd.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/25/with-18-games-to-go-nfl-playoff-scenarios-coming-into-focus/related/

war eagle pawn stars restrepo nba news nba news florida gators erin brockovich

Giants pound Jets

Bradshaw's strong running powers Big Blue; Week 17 vs. Dallas will decide NFC East

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.

updated 7:27 p.m. ET Dec. 24, 2011

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Rex Ryan was brash and confident all week, insisting his Jets were the kings of New York.

Well, the Giants shut him up in a big way ? taking the city bragging rights and setting up an even more important showdown with the Dallas Cowboys next weekend with a 29-14 victory Saturday.

"I hate to use that cliche, but this is a huge one," left tackle David Diehl said. "This is about the city, the city of New York and what team wants to be responsible. They have talked all week and said what they wanted to say. From Day 1, they're our big brother and other stuff. We went out there and played our game and showed whose stadium this is."

Ryan said the Jets were the better team the last two years, based on their consecutive trips to the AFC championship game and the Giants missing the postseason. Tom Coughlin responded by saying, "Talk is cheap. Play the game."

It was the Giants who did.

"They were the better team today, and they're the better team this year," a humbled Ryan said. "Clearly, I was wrong."

The Giants kept their postseason hopes alive, helped by Victor Cruz setting two franchise receiving records and Ahmad Bradshaw running for two touchdowns. While neither team looked much like playoff material, the Giants (8-7) are now in position to win the NFC East with a victory at home next Sunday against Dallas.

"Given everything that was at stake, and all the noise that has been coming out of Florham Park," Giants co-owner John Mara said, "yeah, it means a little more."

Running back Brandon Jacobs said he had an exchange with Ryan after the game in which the coach approached him, used an expletive and said, "Wait till we win the Super Bowl."

Added Jacobs: "And I told him I'll punch him in the face. I told him out of all these Giants players on this team you're talking to the wrong one. And that was that."

Ryan acknowledged that he and Jacobs "had a private conversation. He doesn't like me; I respect him."

The back-and-forth went on even in the hours before the game, when Jacobs and kicker Lawrence Tynes both removed black curtains placed by the Jets over the Giants' Super Bowl logos. The Jets said it was simply their standard practice to cover those logos for every one of the team's home games, regardless of opponent, because it is the players' entrance.

Week?15 in the NFL Top images ??Some of the best photos from this week in the NFL.

"We knew early what we were going to get no matter what happened as soon as he had the opportunity to run his big fat mouth," Jacobs said of Ryan's boasts throughout the week.

Meanwhile, the Jets' playoff hopes took a devastating hit, and at 8-7 they'll need to win at Miami next week and get major help from several other teams. They have to hope for Cincinnati and Tennessee to lose, and have either Oakland or Denver lose.

"I mean, we don't deserve to control our own destiny," Jets linebacker Bart Scott said. "We haven't played good enough football to do that. We need to try to finish strong, but if you don't make it to the playoffs, you've got nobody to blame but yourself."

Cruz, who had three catches for 164 yards, broke Amani Toomer's single-season mark for yards receiving ? and the team's record for longest touchdown reception, a 99-yarder that gave the Giants the lead for good in the second quarter.

"It's just amazing," Cruz said, "and to beat the Jets in the process is added incentive."

It was a brutal game at times, with both offenses sluggish and prone to mistakes. The Jets were also penalized 10 times, including a late hit call on Aaron Maybin, who plowed into D.J. Ware in the fourth quarter ? a play on which Coughlin was injured out of bounds. The Giants coach needed to be checked out on the bench briefly before limping back to the sideline.

"Never better," a smiling Coughlin said when asked how he was feeling.

Eli Manning finished just 9 of 27 for 225 yards. Mark Sanchez completed 30 passes on a career-high 59 attempts but put up only 258 yards and was intercepted twice. The Jets were also a brutal 4 for 21 on third-down conversions.

"I left a lot of completions out there," Sanchez said.

The sloppiest stretch came midway through the fourth quarter with wild swings of momentum.

The Giants thought they had stopped the Jets on fourth down, but a pass interference call gave them new life. Plaxico Burress ? playing against the Giants in the regular season for the first time since they cut him in 2009 and he served a 20-month prison sentence on a gun charge ? thought he had scored a touchdown, but offensive pass interference called it back. The Giants thought they'd recovered a fumble by Sanchez, but officials reversed the call on a challenge, saying his arm was going forward.

The Giants got their turnover moments later, though, when Sanchez fumbled the snap in the end zone.

The Jets weren't done. David Harris intercepted Manning's pass that tipped off Hakeem Nicks' hands, and the Jets had another apparent fumble by Sanchez reversed on review.

On third-and-12 from the 13, Sanchez scrambled for 11 yards ? and Antrel Rolle was called for holding, putting the ball at the 1. Sanchez dived into the end zone, making it 20-14 with 7:17 left.

But the Jets wouldn't get any closer. Chris Canty sacked Sanchez for a safety, and after an onside free kick by the Jets was recovered by the Giants, Bradshaw had a 19-yard TD run with 2:04 left.

"It's real sad right now," Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We needed this win. We made some mistakes and they outplayed us."

Cruz's 99-yard catch ? the longest scoring pass in team history ? came with the Giants in dire straits facing third-and-10 from the 1. Manning, standing in the back of the end zone, zipped a pass to Cruz, who dodged tackle attempts by Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson and took off down the right sideline. Eric Smith was the only one with a chance to get him, but Cruz outran him to give the Giants a 10-7 lead with 2:12 left in the opening half.

It was also the longest offensive play against the Jets in team history.

Now the Jets will prepare for the Dolphins ? and keep their fingers crossed.

"If the gates open," wide receiver Santonio Holmes said, "we're going to walk right through them."

Notes: DE Jason Pierre-Paul had two of the Giants' five sacks, giving him 15? this season. ... Jets S Brodney Pool said he experienced migraine symptoms during the game, worsened after a hard hit in the third quarter when Bradshaw slammed into him. He said he was fine. ... Jets LB Garrett McIntyre hurt his knee covering the opening kickoff, and there was no immediate word on the injury.

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More newsJoe Robbins / Getty Images

For four teams, it's win and get in

PFT: After all the Christmas Eve fun, the Bengals, Broncos, Giants and Cowboys control their own playof destinies heading into the final week of the regular season.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45784300/ns/sports-nfl/

top chef just desserts jamarcus russell sister wives st louis weather jack the cat frank lucas lego man

IMF's Lagarde warns global economy threatened (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? The head of the International Monetary Fund said the world economy was in danger and urged Europeans to speak with one voice on a debt crisis that has rattled the global financial system.

In Nigeria last week, IMF Christine Lagarde said the IMF's 4 percent growth forecast for the world economy in 2012 could be revised downward, but gave no new figure.

"The world economy is in a dangerous situation," she told France's Journal du Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday.

The debt crisis, which continues into 2012 after a European Union summit on December 9 only temporarily calmed markets, "is a crisis of confidence in public debt and in the solidity of the financial system," she said.

European leaders drafted a new treaty for deeper economic integration in the euro zone, but it is not certain that the accord will stem the debt crisis, which began in Greece in 2009, and now threatens France and even economic powerhouse Germany.

"The December 9 summit wasn't detailed enough on financial terms and too complicated on fundamental principles," said Lagarde.

"It would be useful for Europeans to speak with a single voice and announce a simple and detailed timetable," she said. "Investors are waiting for it. Grand principles don't impress."

Part of the problem, she said, has been national calls for protectionism, making it "difficult to put in place international coalition strategies against it."

Lagarde added: "National parliaments grumble at using public money or the guarantee of their state to support other countries. Protectionism is in the debate, and everyone for themselves is winning ground."

She did not specify which countries she was referring to.

Emerging countries, which had been growth engines for the world economy before the crisis, have also been affected, said Lagarde, citing China, Brazil and Russia.

"These countries, which were the engines, will suffer from instability factors," she told the newspaper.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/bs_nm/us_france_imf

20/20 maps directions josephine baker pumpkin patch troy polamalu boo at the zoo when is daylight savings time 2011

Training stepped up for Afghan special forces (AP)

CAMP SCORPION, Afghanistan ? "Attention! Attention! You are surrounded by Afghan forces. Come out with your hands up."

The order barked by an Afghan soldier launched a training exercise last week that pitted members of the nation's growing elite force against actors posing as Taliban fighters.

Afghanistan and the U.S.-led coalition have stepped up training of the Afghan special forces unit to fill the vacuum that will be left by foreign troops slated to end their combat mission in 2014. In the future, it will be Afghan special forces countering insurgents in villages across the country.

As the force expands, they will also lead more of the controversial house searches ? something that could mitigate Afghan President Hamid Karzai's intense opposition to the nighttime raids by international troops that Afghans have found culturally offensive.

Even though Afghan troops have been along for the more than 2,800 raids during the past year, Karzai has argued that the teams often treat innocent Afghans as if they were insurgents and violate citizens' privacy in the conservative Afghan society.

Karzai wants all raids halted. He wants foreign troops to stop entering Afghan homes. The thorny issue is being negotiated by U.S. and Afghan officials crafting a strategic agreement that will govern how remaining American forces operate in Afghanistan after 2014.

A recent national assembly of elders advised the Karzai government to allow the raids to continue as long as they are conducted solely by Afghans. If so, many more Afghan special forces soldiers need to be trained.

Neither NATO nor the Afghan Ministry of Defense would disclose how many Afghan special forces had been trained or how large the force will become. Jalaluddin Yaftali, a special forces team leader at the training site, said the force currently numbered 1,000 to 1,500.

"It takes time. It's like nation-building ? an endless task. It will take years, but the will is there and right now the force is growing," said Afghan army Col. Mohammad Farid Ahmadi.

"The program started two years ago, but now we are jointly working with the coalition forces to Afghanize as soon as possible. We have already started. It's growing."

So far, most have been recruited from the Afghan National Army Commandos, a quick reaction force regarded as the most professional unit in the Afghan army. Commandos receive 10 weeks of training on top of the roughly 10 weeks they completed to become an Afghan soldier. Moreover, Afghan soldiers usually serve about four years as commandos before being selected for special forces training.

Their training is further refined while partnered with American forces. Eventually, they will be tasked with a variety of operational missions, including night raids, throughout the country.

"It not only takes a long time to select the right people for the job, but also to bring them through a training program so they are capable of operating with other special forces or on their own," German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a NATO spokesman, said at the training site on the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital.

While some are already conducting solo operations, the Afghan special forces will continue to need coalition air power, intelligence and other support for years to come, he said.

Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. political scientist who advised the commander of U.S. Special Operations forces in Afghanistan, said it's hard to rush special forces training.

"The Afghan program, which was first conceptualized in 2009 and established in 2010, is relatively new. I remember participating in the brainstorming sessions as we helped build the Afghan special forces," Jones said.

"Focusing on numbers, rather than quality, and trying to mass produce Afghan special forces would be a serious mistake. I'm not suggesting anyone is doing this yet, but it should be monitored very closely."

The Afghan soldiers conducting the training exercise crouched in shadows at the foot of man-made hills surrounding the practice compound. The residential compound resembled a western cowboy movie set.

"Drop your weapons!" the Afghan soldier barked into a bullhorn. "Keep your hands raised and come out."

Trying to give the occupants time to cooperate, the more than 20-man Afghan special forces team waited patiently, their guns drawn. When nobody came out, they tossed two harmless grenades that made loud bangs when they landed in front of the house.

A few minutes later, an actress covered in a red shawl slowly emerged with her hands raised. The soldier with the bullhorn asked her to reveal her face so the troops could be sure she was a woman and not a man. When it was clear that she was female, she was led away to be searched by a female Afghan soldier.

Having male troops search females is taboo in Afghanistan. So is touching a family's Quran, the Muslim holy book, or entering a home without being invited ? things that foreign forces have learned in the decade-long war.

Soon after the woman left, two men walked from the house with their hands held high. Making sure they weren't armed, the troops ordered them to lift their shirts and pant legs. The would-be Afghan suspects then were cuffed and taken away.

"We are asking the Defense Ministry to make one special forces platoon of just female soldiers so they can go talk to the families, the children, the women," Yaftali said. "If you are a female, you can talk openly with the family."

It was clear to onlookers that the more than 20 Afghan special forces soldiers who conducted the house search and did a live ammunition training exercise with M4 rifles and 9mm pistols were the best of the elite force. With their dark glasses, night vision headsets, microphones and radios, they looked just like their U.S. Special Operations forces counterparts.

Jones said the first Afghan special forces soldiers trained were very competent because they were recruited directly from the Afghan National Army Commandos.

"In practical terms, this suggests that there will be some variation in the competence of Afghan special forces by 2014," Jones said. "Some will be fully capable ... but others may struggle."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_elite_force

nfl power rankings week 12 nfl power rankings week 12 brine turkey brine turkey uc davis super committee walmart black friday ad 2011

WNY Business and Foundation Leaders Announce Free College Tuition for Buffalo Public Schools

Say Yes To Education Announces Commitment to Invest Additional $15 Million to Increase Graduation and College-Going Rates and Bolster the Economy

BUFFALO, N.Y. ?December 20, 2011?Hundreds of students and community leaders cheered the announcements today from local business and foundation leaders and the New York City-based nonprofit foundation Say Yes to Education, Inc. that they will partner to invest millions of dollars to bolster the Western New York economy and increase high school graduation and college-going rates for students in the Buffalo Public Schools.

Say Yes to Education committed to bring an initial $15 million to partner with local providers to deliver comprehensive supports to all schools, including free after-school and summer programming, counseling, legal services, and health care. The Say Yes commitment is boosted by additional financial and in-kind supports provided by The Wallace Foundation and the American Institutes for Research to bolster planning, research and evaluation efforts.

Joining Say Yes in its commitment to Buffalo, Western New York business and foundation leaders extended an invitation to the community to join them in a ?promise? to fund scholarships for students in the Buffalo Public School system to cover up to 100 percent of their tuition at a post-secondary institution for the next 20 years.? The class of 2013 will be the first class eligible for the scholarships.

The Buffalo school board, local government officials, teachers union officials, the heads of local colleges and universities, leaders in the business community, and private funders have been working collaboratively over the past several months to recruit Say Yes to Education? to pick Buffalo as their next Say Yes City.?

Combined, the Say Yes Buffalo Promise initiative will invest millions of dollars toward improving student services throughout the city, helping to increase graduation rates and providing the promise of a college education to each of the city?s students.

Specifically, Say Yes will: ???

• Provide students who graduate from a Buffalo Public School (traditional or charter) with up to 100 percent of the tuition needed to attend a SUNY post-secondary institution.? The amount of tuition support is based on financial need and length of time in the public school system which at a minimum can be four years of high school.
• Provide comprehensive out-of-school supports?including after-school tutoring and summer learning opportunities?that extend learning time for students and place service coordinators in every school.
• Support research and professional development to strengthen instruction and school performance; and
• Create tools and strategies to help improve fiscal responsibility in spending and promote improved transparency for school and district performance.

A ?Turning Point? for Student Success and the Region

?Say Yes Buffalo will reward every child with the promise that if they work hard in school, graduate from high school and want to go to college, they will have the money to do so.? There is also an economic development component to Say Yes Buffalo that encourages families to stay or relocate to the city.? We welcome this new resource that will assist our children and families and improve academic achievement in Buffalo Public Schools,? said Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown.?

?We selected Buffalo because of its willingness to bring the entire community together to commit resources and rally around a single vision of change for all of its young people,? Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey, President of Say Yes To Education, Inc. ?Local leaders have established commitments across sectors to support success for an entire generation of students.?

?Family finances should not be a barrier to a bachelor?s degree; nor should anything else,? said George Weiss, founder of Say Yes to Education. ?Say Yes Buffalo will not only provide the incredible support of tuition guarantees, it will lessen the struggles children must overcome to succeed.?

Since its founding in 1987, Say Yes has provided scholarships and key supports to large cohorts of students in Philadelphia, Hartford, Conn., New York City and Cambridge, Mass. Since the program was implemented for all students in an entire city (Syracuse, New York), nearly 1,000 recent high school graduates have taken advantage of the scholarship, and Syracuse City School District high school students are showing promising signs of academic progress.

?The tuition guarantee and establishment of an expectation that all Buffalo Public School students can aspire to a postsecondary education are powerful incentives which bring hope and promise to every one of our 30,000 students. Say Yes?s impressive track record in working with inner-city youth coupled with their generous financial contribution and the support of local donors will serve as inspiring catalysts for change-and as a member of the Buffalo Board of Education, I am honored to pledge our commitment to this exciting effort,? said Lou Petrucci, president of the Buffalo School Board.

?We welcome Say Yes as a partner in transforming Buffalo Public Schools and ensuring more students are prepared for college and careers,? said Interim Superintendent Amber M. Dixon.

"The University at Buffalo has a strong partnership with the Buffalo Public School district to create a better future for Buffalo's next generation, and the Say Yes initiative builds in important ways on that partnership.? Ensuring equitable access to a first-rate education is vital to our mission as a public university, and this program is a valuable way for us to open the doors of opportunity to even more students in our region," said Satish K. Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo.

Alphonso O?Neil-White, President and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York stated, "Today, I am proud to represent Western New York?s business and community leaders who know that ultimately, an investment in our kids is an investment in the future of our region.? If you want to do something good for Buffalo, support this effort.? We can?t do it alone and so on behalf of all of the contributors who have committed to funding scholarships, I want to issue a challenge to others:? Join us.???

?I am incredibly excited about the promise of the Say Yes initiative here in Buffalo.? As a teacher, to have the ability to walk into your classroom and tell your kids if you work hard, and you want to go to college or trade school money is not going to be a barrier for you achieving your dream.? This is going to give our kids opportunities that they would otherwise not have had,? said Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore.

Next Steps

Among its next steps, Say Yes Buffalo also will reach out to broad segments of the community to engage parents and other adults, the faith community, leaders of minority- and youth-serving organizations, and educators to be part of the effort.

?An unprecedented cross-section of this community has stepped up and declared that together, we will unleash the potential of every child,? said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, President of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and a key organizer of the initiative. ?We want all young people to know that if they work hard and graduate from high school, college is possible for them.?

?Our work is just beginning,? said Robert Gioia, President of The John R. Oishei Foundation, which also played a key role in bringing Say Yes to Buffalo. ?In the next few months, Say Yes will begin regular meetings - with community and non profit leaders to think through implementation steps that will affect every student, school, and neighborhood.?

For more information about the Say Yes Buffalo Promise initiative visit www.SayYesBuffalo.org or call 877-YES-BFLO.

####

About Say Yes to Education:

Say Yes to Education, Inc. (Say Yes) is a national, non-profit education foundation committed to dramatically increasing high school and college graduation rates for our nation's urban youth. Say Yes provides comprehensive supports, including the promise of free college tuition, aligned with what research indicates is needed to enable every child in the program to achieve his or her potential. Learn more at www.sayyestoeducation.org

About Say Yes Buffalo:

Say Yes is a landmark collaboration that brings the Buffalo Public Schools, SUNY, Say Yes to Education, Inc., the Buffalo Teacher?s Federation, the City of Buffalo, Erie County, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, The John R. Oishei Foundation and a diverse group of Buffalo-area corporate, non-profit, and philanthropic organizations together to organize people, time, money and resources to increase post-secondary completion rates. Learn more at www.sayyesbuffalo.org

Source: http://southbuffalo.wgrz.com/news/business/61870-wny-business-and-foundation-leaders-announce-free-college-tuition-buffalo-public-schools

cbs news manny pacquiao fight pacquiao marquez pacquiao marquez penn state game radiohead tour cbsnews