Book review: Suffering Succotash.

What is the deal with the picky eater?

Is she simply being willful, choosing the dinner table as a battlefield on which to fight for her right to self-determination? Or, is the behavior that those purveyors of succotash and fruit cup interpret as willfulness actually rooted in factors that are beyond the picky eater?s control? If the latter, is the picky eater doomed to a lifetime of pickiness, or can help be found for it?

These are the questions at the center of Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater?s Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate. Its author, Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic, survived a childhood of picky eating, grappled with the persistence of pickiness into adulthood, went to culinary school, became a cheesemonger and food writer, and then mounted her quest for explanations of pickiness.

Her book tries to illuminate the origin story of picky eaters. Is it in their taste buds, and if so, due to the number of taste buds or to their sensitivity, to genetic factors driving their detection power or to environmental impacts on their operation? Is it rather their keen sense of smell that triggers pickiness? An overachieving gag-reflex? Their ?emotional? stomachs? Or maybe how they were raised by the people feeding them when they were young? Are there good evolutionary reasons for the pickiness of picky eaters ? and will this pickiness again be adaptive when the zombie apocalypse renders our food supply less safe in various ways?

As well, Lucianovic inquires into the likely fates of picky eaters. Are picky eaters destined to spawn more picky eaters? Can picky eaters find lasting love with humans who are significantly less discriminating about what they eat? Can picky eaters ever get over their pickiness? (Spoiler: The answers to the last two of these questions here are both ?To a significant extent, yes!?)

One of the joys of this book is how Lucianovic?s narrative weaves along the path of science-y question she was prompted to ask by her troubled relationship with yucky foods as with the people trying to feed them to her. Lucianovic leads us on a non-scientist?s journey through science on a quest to better understand features of her everyday life that mattered to her ? and, which likely matter to readers who are themselves picky eaters or have picky eaters in their lives. After all, you?ve got to eat.

Suffering Succotash explores a wide swath of the science behind the foods people like, the foods people hate, and the various features that might make some of us pickier eaters that others, without ever seeming like a science book. Indeed, Lucianovic is candid about the usefulness (and limits) of the scientific literature to the lay person trying to find answers to her questions:

When you?re in search of very specific information, pawing through scientific papers is like disemboweling one of those Russian nesting dolls. The first article makes a claim and gives just enough information to be intriguing and useless, unless you look up the source article behind that claim. The source article leads to another claim, and therefore another source article that needs to be looked up, and another and another until you finally reach the tiniest of all the dolls, which hopefully is where all the answers will be found since the tiniest of all dolls can?t be opened. (31)

The literature, thankfully, was just one source of information in Lucianovic?s journey. Alongside it, she partook of a veritable smorgasbord of test-strips, questionnaires, genotypying, and interviews with scientists who work on very aspects of how we taste food and why we react to foods the way we do. She even got to try her hand at some of the relevant laboratory techniques at the Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia.

What she found was that there are not simple scientific answers to the question of why some people are pickier eaters and others are not. Instead, there seems to be a complicated interplay of many different kinds of factors. She also discovered some of the limitations of the scientific tools at our disposal to identify potential causal factors behind pickiness or to reliably sort the picky from the not-so-picky eaters. However, in describing the shortcomings of taste-tests, the imprecision of questionnaires, the sheer number of factors that may (or may not) be at play in making peaches a food to be loathed, Lucianovic manages to convey an enthusiasm about the scientific search to understand picky eaters even a little better, not a frustration that science hasn?t nailed down The Answer yet.

There are many other strands woven into Suffering Succotash along with the scientific journey, including personal reminiscences of coping with picky eating as a kid ? and then as an adult trying very hard not to be an inconvenient houseguest, interviews with other picky eaters about their own experiences with foods, a meditation on how parenting strategies might entrench or defuse pickiness, consideration of the extent to which eating preferences can be negotiable (or non-negotioable) in relationships, and practical strategies for overcoming one?s own pickiness ? and for moving through a world of restaurants and friends? dinner tables with the elements of pickiness that persist. These other strands, and the seamless (and often hilarious) manner in which Lucianovic connects them to the scientific questions and answers, make Suffering Succotash the perfect popular science book for a reader that doesn?t think he or she wants to read a popular science book.

Plus, there are recipes included. My offspring are surely not the world?s pickiest eaters, but they have strong views about a few notorious vegetables. However, when prepared according to the recipes included in Suffering Succotash, those vegetables were good enough that my kids wanted seconds, and thirds.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=40e14da939c406408d5c4d4fd438d8b8

usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton bowling green marysville tornados

AP: Kings take Robinson 5th overall in NBA draft

??Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments

Published 6/29/2012 in Sports

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? Thomas Robinson embraced his 9-year-old sister and broke down as soon as Commissioner David Stern announced the Sacramento Kings had taken him fifth overall in the NBA draft.

It had been quite an emotional ride for Robinson to get to Thursday night.

"I worked hard to get here and to see it all right in front of me, I got emotional," he said. "It was everything. everything that I had been holding in came out."

In January 2011, Robinson received a phone call from his younger sister Jayla, who told him that their mother had died of a heart attack in his hometown of Washington, D.C. The two had been raised by their single mother, Lisa Robinson. In a span of three weeks, they had also lost their grandfather and grandmother, and Robinson's father had never really been involved in his life.

Robinson endured through the hardship on the court as a valuable sixth man at Kansas in 2010-11 and then one of the best players in the country this past season.

Robinson, the first unanimous first-team All-American since Blake Griffin, led the Jayhawks to the national championship game against Kentucky, where they lost 67-59. He averaged 17.9 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in 31.8 minutes in his junior season and led the nation with 27 double-doubles.

He was considered perhaps the most NBA-ready player in the draft and the Kings need plenty of immediate help after missing the playoffs for a sixth straight season.

While Anthony Davis was the expected No. 1 pick, Robinson was in the running to go as high as second, but the Kings were fortunate he fell to their spot.

"It kind of went based on team needs," Robinson said. "The teams that skipped me didn't need me at that position. The Kings took a chance on me and took me at five. I'm going to make the best of it."

The Kings are coming off another disappointing season, finishing the shortened campaign 22-44 to miss the postseason once again. Coach Paul Westphal was fired after just seven games and replaced by Keith Smart, who will be back for his first full season next year.

With a run of high draft picks, the Kings have some pieces already in place, most notably center DeMarcus Cousins, who averaged 18.1 points and 11 rebounds per game in his second season.

Tyreke Evans, the 2010 Rookie of the Year, had career lows with 16.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, and ended the season as a small forward after playing point guard for his first two seasons.

Isaiah Thomas, the final pick of last year's draft, took over the starting point guard role and averaged 11.5 points per game. He was much more effective than first-round pick Jimmer Fredette, who averaged 7.6 points per game and shot 39 percent from the field.

Robinson will provide a big boost defensively to the team that allowed the most points per game in the NBA last season.

"They're a talented team with Tyreke at the guard spot and DeMarcus down low," Robinson said. "I'll try to build them up with rebounding and energy."

KU's Tyshawn Taylor was the No. 41 selection in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers who then promptly sold the rights to Taylor to the Brooklyn Nets.

Taylor and Robinson were two of the mainstays of the Jayhawks' surprising run to the NCAA Championship game where they lost to Kentucky. The Wildcats had a record six players drafted.

Source: http://www.gctelegram.com/news/NBA-Draft---T-Robinson-6-29-12

masters live johan santana viktor bout ncaa hockey role models ferdinand porsche gregg williams

Effortless Fear Of Public Speaking Programs ? Updated Guidelines ...

Staff Writer Colleen L. O. Hathaway ? General public speaking techniques are really usually overlooked by individuals because being unimportant or perhaps they might think they definitely will never be labeled as to talk in general public, that?s precisely why they do not bother to get themselves acquainted with any Public Speaking Skills. Truth is, more often then not, it is all these individuals that often get tongue fastened and also being in a state of total meltdown whenever faced with the potential that they will likely to be asked to present a topic in public, even a topic they know inside away.

To some individuals, they do not place high value or regards to the importance of having good general public speaking techniques due to the fact they have some sort of impression which good general public talking techniques are really just for people in sales or advertising. This is certainly untrue. Good general public communicating techniques are really additionally a hallmark of good correspondence abilities as well as having good communication abilities is really important for any profession, unless of course you are really truly the only individual inside the entire office. For example, if you are signing up for a brand new job, just about any job at just all, you will possibly have to choose an interview. During the course of the interview, the interviewer does not simply judge you based on your own training, your own capacity to communicate, both talked as well as unspoken, also comprises a part of the choice making process of whether or not you are accepted or otherwise not. Should you decide are a definite college student in university, your capacity to deliver a good general public speaking session will additionally generally be tested in regular basis. A particular example of this is the different class presentations which you ought to do over the course of the semester and the grading criteria definitely will practically certainly have some kind of element of ?lucidity of delivery? on it. By not knowing just how to give a clear as well as effective presentation using good public communicating techniques definitely will only shortcoming your self because if you are unable to communicate clearly to your own potential clients, it is as though you have got never learnt the topic at just all.

This is one of the reasons perhaps precisely why a significant ideas by a few of the many intelligent individuals in the earth are only discovered numerous a very long time after their death. One of several possible factors is the fact that though they might be highly smart and have authored extremely useful information, they simply are not able to seem to place through to the people whatever they tend to be thinking about due to their absence of capability to communicate to a big group of individuals using public communicating techniques.

General public speaking techniques are not just utilized in circumstances that you need to address a big group of people. Communication techniques as well as public speaking abilities are really inter-related, hence, if you improve your general public communicating skills, you additionally invariably improve your own interpersonal correspondence techniques alongside your own peers and family.

Subsequently, should you decide are really ever delivered alongside a chance to practice general public communicating or understand public speaking skills, don?t shy away from this. Regardless of whether you may be in class, within the office or in almost any kind of style that requires you to provide a message to some sort of audience, choose up your courage and go for it. General public talking is an expertise and the more you use it and additionally practise it, the better you will become. To enhance the public communicating abilities or whether or not you will be an unique beginner, there are certainly a significant general public speaking audiobooks or guide books to educate yourself on from. By choosing up a good general public speaking expertise, you have some kind of edge over other people who don?t.

Source: http://communitypaintball.com/2012/06/effortless-fear-of-public-speaking-programs-updated-guidelines/

lana del rey saturday night live focus on the family packers vs giants giants score aaron rodgers 2012 golden globe nominations houston texans

Jordin Sparks Pays Tribute To Whitney Houston In 'Celebrate' Video

'Sparkle' star opens up to BET about filming the clip after the superstar passed away in February.
By Jocelyn Vena

Whitney Houston in Jordin Sparks' video for "Celebrate"
Photo: RCA Records

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1688645/whitney-houston-jordin-sparks-celebrate.jhtml

target target walmart jcpenney loft old navy cyber monday best deals

Businesses seeing increased consumer ... - Simply Security

You are here: Home / Internet Safety, Spotlight / Businesses seeing increased consumer awareness of data protection, study says

Posted on June 28th, 2012 in Internet Safety, Spotlight by Noah Gamer | Be the first to comment | Tags: Internet Safety, Spotlight

Customer awareness is increasing when it comes to data protection.

The Internet landscape is becoming more complex and with its evolution comes new cybersecurity risks. The consumerization of IT, for example, has led more organizations to allow employees to use personal mobile devices to perform work-related tasks, a trend that can invite unforeseen vulnerabilities to the network and increase the potential for data loss. Meanwhile, Anonymous-like hacktivists and cybercriminals plague the web with threats that companies can easily fall victim to if they are unprepared.

In addition to these concerns, more consumers are becoming aware of the importance of data protection and may threaten to leave a company that doesn't do enough to protect personal information. A new study by Canon Europe found that only 12 percent of customers think businesses do enough to ensure the safety of confidential records. Interestingly, this concern does not deter people from using an organization's services. The study noted that 64 percent of consumers still label cost as the No. 1 priority when choosing a company, while only 30 percent look deeply at the firm's data security policies.

The study found that only 36 percent of consumers read key points in a business' data privacy program. Only 19 percent of people scan the entire security policy, while 13 percent of customers don't look at any information safety procedures.

Still, the data protection observation rates are higher than they have been in the past, suggesting consumers are becoming more aware of the evolving cyberthreat landscape.

"There is clearly an opportunity for organizations to raise consumer confidence by clearly communicating security credentials to help everyone become more aware of the importance of data security," Canon Europe director of information security Quentyn Taylor said.

The research revealed that more than three-quarters of consumers are willing to drop a company's services if it leaks sensitive information. While respondents believe all information should be protected, the majority are most concerned about financial data, like credit card numbers and bank details, being exposed.

After hearing about the Global Payments breach last month, which exposed hundreds of thousands of financial records, people are becoming increasingly worried about falling victim to identity theft, according to a separate report by the Wall Street Journal. Since many consumers choose to pay with plastic cards over cash, businesses often handle large quantities of confidential records that could lead to severe problems if made public. As a result, individuals are being more diligent than ever when it comes to data protection.

"However, if the planned [European Commission] reforms go ahead and mandatory breach disclosure is enforced, we may see a greater increase in the number of data breaches reported; there is a risk that consumers could start to become indifferent to what constitutes a serious breach," Taylor said.

In other words, consumers could fall victim to "disclosure fatigue," Taylor asserted. This means that if organizations continue to report breaches, the incidents will become less significant and lead individuals to not be as worried about the exposure of personal information.

As a result, businesses are burdened with the responsibility of ensuring they uphold the strictest protection policies, including implementing data-centric security during the era of consumerization and cloud computing. With more organizations adopting BYOD (bring your own device) programs, the chances of important information slipping through unforeseen cracks increases.

"The proliferation of increasingly complex, sophisticated and global threats to information security, in combination with the compliance requirements of a flood of computer- and privacy-related regulation around the world, is driving organizations to take a more strategic view of information security," IT Governance chief executive officer Alan Calder said in a separate report.

Data Security News from SimplySecurity.com by Trend Micro

Source: http://www.simplysecurity.com/2012/06/28/businesses-seeing-increased-consumer-awareness-of-data-protection-study-says/

brine turkey brine turkey uc davis super committee walmart black friday ad 2011 nl mvp nl mvp

A look at recent tech-industry earnings

Here is a summary of recent earnings and reports for selected technology companies and what they reveal about the state of spending and the overall economy:

April 6: Samsung Electronics Co. says it is expecting a record operating profit of $5.1 billion for the first quarter. It says the result would be a 97 percent rise from its operating profit a year earlier. Samsung estimated that its first quarter sales rose 21.6 percent from a year earlier. More details will come when Samsung releases its full quarterly results.

April 12: Google Inc. reports adjusted earnings and adjusted revenue that beat expectations. Google's revenue was helped by a 39 percent increase in "paid clicks," but the prices of its search-driven text ads continued to decline. CEO Larry Page called the first quarter "very strong," but acknowledgehd there's more work to do.

April 17: Yahoo Inc.'s first-quarter earnings show signs of modest progress under recently hired CEO Scott Thompson. Net income grew 28 percent from the same time last year and exceeded expectations. Revenue grew less than 1 percent, but represented a breakthrough because the company's revenue has been steadily falling for years.

IBM Corp. says first-quarter net income grew 7 percent, helped by strong profit margins in its services business and strong revenue growth across its software and services businesses. Revenue was flat overall because of declines in the hardware and financing segments, and revenue fell short of analysts' expectations. IBM increases its full-year guidance to at least $15 per share, above the $14.93 expected by analysts.

Intel Corp. says its net income in the first quarter fell 13 percent as spending on research and marketing rose while sales were flat.

April 18: EBay Inc. says its first-quarter net income grew 20 percent thanks to higher revenue from its PayPal business and brisk sales at its e-commerce websites. The results beat Wall Street's expectations.

Mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. says its quarterly profit more than doubled as strong demand for smartphones boosted its sales; but it expects costs to increase as it makes more chips.

April 19: Microsoft Corp. fares better than analysts anticipated in its latest quarter, boosted by a surprising rise in sales of its Windows operating system for personal computers

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reports adjusted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations. AMD's revenue forecast for the current quarter was at $1.59 billion to $1.68 billion, while analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $1.59 billion.

Nokia Corp. reports a huge net loss, one of the company's worst ever quarters, and blames tougher-than-expected competition. It has faced stiff competition from the likes of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handset makers using Google Inc.'s popular Android software.

April 23: Netflix Inc. says it suffered its first quarterly loss in seven years, but the setback was far smaller than analysts expected. Netflix had rising licensing fees and a bill for an international expansion. Netflix predicted that it would make money during the current quarter. Still, Wall Street was worried about tougher competition. Skittish investors keyed on a second-quarter forecast that calls for a slowdown in subscriber growth during the spring and early summer.

Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. says first-quarter net income fell 60 percent from a year ago as revenue shrank. But the results still beat analysts' expectations.

Xerox Corp. says first-quarter net income fell 4 percent as the company spent more on building its services business, which now makes up more than half the company's revenue. The company says it's investing in new offerings and long-term contracts in order to increase growth. In the short term, that has hurt profitability.

April 24: Apple Inc. reported blowout iPhone sales ? 35 million in the latest quarter, almost twice as many as it sold a year ago and above analyst expectations. Net income nearly doubled to $11.6 billion, and revenue was up 59 percent at $39.2 billion. IPad sales came in below analyst expectations, at 11.8 million units. But that was still two and a half times as many as it sold in the same quarter a year ago.

April 25: Motorola Solutions Inc., which sells communications equipment to government and corporate customers, says first-quarter net income declined from a year ago, when the company recorded a large tax-related gain. Revenue grew thanks to strong demand from the company's government customers.

April 26: Amazon.com Inc. reports strong quarterly earnings and says its Kindle Fire tablet computer remains its best-selling item. However, its outlook for revenue growth was slower than expected.

Online games company Zynga Inc. reports adjusted earnings of 6 cents a share, a penny better than what Wall Street expected. Revenue grew 32 percent.

April 27: A surge in Galaxy smartphone sales fueled earnings at Samsung Electronics to a record high in the first quarter, usually a tough season for the global consumer-electronics industry. The South Korean company outshined handset rivals such as Nokia Corp. Strong demand for high-end smartphones, such as the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S2 introduced last year, helped mask lower profit from memory chips, another Samsung flagship business.

May 1: Mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. reports a slightly larger net loss in the first quarter as expenses grew more than revenue. Motorola says it still expects its acquisition by Google to close by the end of June. The deal still needs to be approved by authorities in China.

May 3: LinkedIn Corp. says its first-quarter net income more than doubled, and its revenue doubled from a year ago. Adjusted profit and revenue beat expectations. During the quarter, revenue grew across the company's divisions. The business-networking company also announces plans to buy presentation-sharing website SlideShare for $118.8 million.

May 9: Cisco Systems Inc. says its quarterly earnings surged 20 percent in the latest sign that a recently completed overhaul is paying off for the world's largest maker of computer-networking equipment. However, Cisco raised the specter of a sharp slowdown in technology spending, rattling investors already fretting about the economy's fragile condition. Cisco made a sobering forecast for the current quarter and traced it to skittish customers who are waiting longer to close deals and spending less money because of growing uncertainty about the economy, particularly in Europe and India.

May 14: Online deals company Groupon Inc. says it had a smaller net loss and sharply higher revenue in the first quarter, helped by increased demand from a growing customer base.

May 17: Salesforce.com Inc., which makes Web-based business software, says it had a net loss in the first quarter, but adjusted profit and revenue beat expectations. It raises its forecast for full-year results.

May 22: Dell Inc. reports disappointing first-quarter results and forecasts weak sales in the current quarter. The computer maker says sales to big businesses, consumers and the public sector decreased.

May 23: Hewlett-Packard Co. says it will cut 27,000 workers, or 8 percent of its work force, by October 2014. News of the cutbacks overshadowed the release of HP's latest quarterly results. The company's earnings and revenue were both better than analysts projected.

June 18: Oracle Corp says net income increased 8 percent and topped analysts' predictions. Oracle also posted a 7 percent gain in its sales of new software licenses, indicating there is still strong demand for technology that helps businesses automate their administrative tasks.

June 19: Software company Adobe Systems Inc. says net income in the latest quarter fell 2 percent, amid higher expenses. Revenue grew with strong sales of its Creative Suite product.

Thursday: Research in Motion Ltd. reports triple bad news: It's cutting 5,000 jobs, or about 30 percent of its workforce. It's delaying the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet again, to the first quarter of next year. It also reported worse results for its latest quarter, which ended June 2, than analysts had expected.

secret service prostitute rich ross april 20 jennifer love hewitt secret service prostitution

Glasgow business networking - Abica Business Telecoms in ...

---

The 28th June is the exciting launch of the Southsiders in Business evening networking events The Social Club.

The Southsiders in Business networking community began 5 months ago with a monthly coffee morning which operates on the last Tuesday of each month between 10am and 12pm. The Coffee Club is hosted in the Touchbase Business Centre

The aim of the Southsiders in Business community is to bring local businesses together to create a trusted network of business advisers, suppliers and customers and with that in mind we are branching out in to other events to help the group to grow. Our new monthly event ?The Social Club? will be held in the The Bungo in Shawlands on last Thursday of each month.

See who is coming?

?

luol deng culkin wooly mammoth no child left behind no child left behind neurofibromatosis steve jobs fbi file

Aid Your self With Some Home Improvement Suggestions ...

Know your own capabilities, and know way too when you ought to contact a specialist. This informative article provides advice about probably the most preferred do-it-yourself jobs and identifies which projects work best remaining to some specialist.
Are you tired of checking out that same exact furniture piece? You can easily restore the one you have by sanding and refinishing it. When you refinish older household furniture, you get a fresh look at a lower price. There are several colors of stains from which you can opt for.
Ac units are bulky naturally, but they are a necessary evil on very hot summer days and nights. You can easily cover it with many good latticework or another feature. Decorative grasses like pampas lawn are another choice it is important to keep approximately one particular ft . of room in between the beginnings and the fringe of the device.
Make sure there are no reduced-telling lies places, and make certain doubly positive there are actually not any around your home?s foundation. You need to fill up these regions with compacted dirt in order to prevent deterioration and pooling of water. If h2o is able to stay and drain in around the base of your house, you can get severe architectural problems to your property.
When considering any home remodeling venture, you should think of the spot and climate of your home. Say, if you reside in Cal, it really is more valuable to have core air conditioner more than possessing a fire place. An outside swimming pool area will add a lot of worth into a home in southern California, Arizona or Florida. A swimming pool will not be valuable during most months in says which are recognized for winter weather.
Recall the painting within a room before you make other adjustments. It is advisable to color rooms before you decide to put in any flooring in all those rooms. Your floors might get painting upon it, even when you have fall cloths put down.
Come up with a bookcase unique by making use of some wallpapers into it. Initial, choose a wallpapers style you see special and desirable. Implement the chosen wallpapers inside the bookcase. This way, the look will probably be apparent behind the guides. You will not have only a fantastic bookcase, but a fantastic addition to any room.
Almost all materials which are employed in assignments with regards to redesigning are targets for a thief. When effort is not occurring, all constructing items should be guaranteed. When the property is secure ? all doors and windows in position and lockable ? products might be placed inside of. If the house has no locking mechanism, then a storing container with a secure will assist.
Have a movement triggered lighting to your front side deck that will help you keep the electricity fees low, while keeping your garden safely and securely lit up. It can be nevertheless possible to change light on by hand, and also the sensitivity is adjustable.
Keep your balance! Assist calm the irritating sound an away-well-balanced roof supporter can make. A noisy roof supporter usually requirements harmony aid. You can just merely change the screws about the blades and on the motor. At the same time you work towards the anchoring screws, spend some time to make certain the rotor blades are nice and clean, since even a little dust may toss off the fan?s calibration.
If you are searching for a great way to provide your home?s walls an encounter daily life, consider using paneling. This can be a fast and fairly inexpensive strategy to make your residence seem brand new. If you decide that you simply do nothing like the look of the panels, you could always remove them with minimum harm.
When you are unfamiliar with redecorating projects, you may want to look for the assistance or assistance of the expert. Using the advice offered to you on this page can help you make residence improvements by yourself, which can save you cash.

If for any reason you crave more points about bats in attic check out Frank A. Kyseth?s site there?s loads of points not covered in this article, visit Author?s site to discover extra information.

the duchess spice katy perry mike starr ufc 141 fight card gli joseph gordon levitt

Summer heat: Week's events could drive election

WASHINGTON (AP) ? If you pay attention to election 2012 at all this summer, make it this week.

Decisions out of Washington are sure to have an impact on the major issues driving the presidential and congressional elections: Jobs. How much is in your wallet. Health insurance, immigration, campaign finance and more.

Lawmakers face deadlines on legislation determining the interest rate students pay for loans, overhaul of the federal transportation program, and money for the system that provides insurance for homes and businesses in flood-risk areas. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, is rendering judgment Thursday on the health care overhaul law, President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

"I saw some story about (how) this is the week that could make or break Barack Obama. I don't buy it," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health committee, who personally invested considerable time into passage of the health care law. "It's an important week, sure."

In opinion polls, voters put the economy at the top of their list of concerns along with unemployment, which stands at 8.2 percent. They worry about federal spending at a time of record-breaking deficits, how to pay for their health care, and immigration policy. And in interview after interview, respondents say they are extremely concerned about their personal finances.

These are the substantive issues the presidential and congressional candidates are certain to focus on in the fall as they battle for the presidency, congressional majorities and the loyalties of persuadable voters. There are plenty of those ? a quarter of registered voters have yet to commit to Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll this month. The ranks of the undecided will shrink before Election Day, but this group could make the difference in a close presidential race and in congressional contests.

Republicans need a net four seats to seize control of the Senate from the Democrats. In the House, Democrats need a net of 25 seats to oust the GOP majority.

The action in Washington also affects key constituencies both parties are trying to woo, including Hispanics, women, seniors and small businesses.

In the near term, lawmakers want to complete the outstanding legislation and avoid having to explain to constituents over the weeklong July 4th break why Congress failed to protect jobs in the transportation industry, students with loans and homes threatened by flooding.

"We have lots to do and a very short time to do it," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday from the Senate floor.

By June 30, the House and Senate must pass a highway spending bill ? or extend current law ? that negotiators say would save or create more than 2 million jobs. Other congressional bargainers are working fast to head off a July 1 doubling of interest rates on federal loans to 7.4 million college students. The government's flood insurance program expires at the end of July if not renewed, and a Senate vote is expected this week.

Across the street, the Supreme Court handed down a mixed decision on immigration Monday, tossing out major parts of Arizona's tough crackdown on illegal immigrations while unanimously approving the requirement that police check the immigration status of those they stop for other reasons. The court also upheld unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.

Though the economy remains the No. 1 worry for voters, the health care ruling could have the biggest near-term political impact. Both parties have big strategic guns at the ready.

If the Supreme Court upholds the Obama health care law, it would mean validation for the president and the Democrats in Congress who muscled the legislation to passage in 2010, when they controlled both houses of Congress. But the overhaul mobilized small-government advocates and was a big force behind the GOP takeover of the House that year. So if the law is upheld, Republicans have a clear case to make for strengthening their numbers and their power to overturn all or parts of it.

But if the court strikes any part down, the defeat for Obama could mean uncertainty for both parties.

Congressional Republicans intend to seek quick repeal of any parts of the health care law that survive the court's ruling, but they don't plan to push replacement measures until after the November elections. Obama and congressional Democrats haven't said what they would do in the event the court rejects the law.

"We remain confident that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional and we are ready for whatever decision is rendered by the Supreme Court," White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

The high court's decision to throw out key provisions of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants guarantees that the issue has a high profile in the elections as Obama tries to protect his party's substantial lead among Hispanics, and Republicans seek to narrow the polling advantage.

Democrats howled that the Arizona immigration law decision clears the way for racial profiling, while Republicans said the decision upholds states' rights to enforce their own immigration policies. Both sides insisted that Congress needs to pass a long-term immigration policy that applies to the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, an issue that has divided lawmakers for years.

"No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like," said Obama, who won two-thirds of the Latino vote in 2008 and recently issued a directive that protects young immigrants who came illegally to the United States as children. Obama pledged in 2008 to push for passage of comprehensive changes in immigration laws, but the effort stalled in Congress and Obama turned his attention to addressing the economy and pressed ahead with passing an overhaul of health care laws.

Romney, campaigning in Arizona on Monday, blamed Obama for lack of action on immigration. He also said states have the right to secure their borders, "particularly when the federal government has failed to meet its responsibilities."

Within a few hours of the court's ruling on immigration, Republican Rep. John Mica, who's in a tough GOP primary race in Florida against Rep. Sandy Adams, asked his constituents in a letter to "stand with me for Arizona's state rights."

"P.S.," Mica added. "Will you consider making a contribution to my campaign today?"

daytona race the cutting edge fox 8 news indy 500 angelina jolie leg daytona jeff gordon

Day & Night

Private rp for airedeiagrace and wyndancer

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Day & Night?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Day & Night"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

Wynddancer

Member for 0 years

---

---

Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Who is online

Registered users: <3MyMarine, 7achary*, AceofSpade*, Adantas*, Agafan*, airedeiagrace*, Akionakamura, Akita*, Alexa [Bot], almostinsane, Alycat123*, Ang-cat*, angel51897*, AngelBell*, Arabella13*, Aramay*, arcadegames&sodapop*, Arceius*, ArcticFox*, Armageddon*, Ashes, AsilverSnowleopard*, AsuraDeWinters*, AugustArria*, Augustinsect, Auricambrflaym, austyn101, AzricanRepublic*, Basta, Beach-Born-Boy, BekaL101*, Blackbird26*, blacksky, BleedingLover*, Blue-red*, BlueWind_22, Brantley92*, brighteyedbelle*, brokenxfate, Byte*, Caelus, CaesarTheSeventh*, CakeKitten, candykitten*, carefreex3*, Caylx Ebony Frost, ceh12*, CelticCat*, cha-kun, ChaosxChild13*, Cheza, Chiharu*, Child of the Winged, Choclate~Pyrus*, Chuckles*, CielleAmor*, cirrus_sd, Coloratura*, ColorMeCrimson, Cooper*, CryoShot211, DA_SHADOW_PHOENIX*, Dante Angelico*, deathrisesagain, DeeDeeLuxXx*, demoniclysayra, desire99600, diabloc, Digital_Muse, DivineFantasy, Doug*, DreamerOnTheStars*, dropdead19*, Eisenhorn*, Elite-Tiger, Elrith Eldwind, Emerald.x*, Everscale*, Fallo?*, Fearful-lover*, Fencer, Finalhazard3*, Firewind*, Flamingo*, Fortune Walking, freakofnature*, Fredalice*, Free_Polity*, freemixer25*, Freimeier*, Fruity_Loopsxx, Furry Dragon, gabriellaluvscanada, Gazimu, Genesis Rhapsodos, Ginko, GoodJobDino, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Grrbot*, hanybanany*, Hinasil*, HisDyingBride*, Hitomi-san*, HitoriRaven*, hurricania*, Hypnosis, ikuto1998*, ilikepurplezebras*, Imagine That!, ImmortalEcstasy, Insomniatic, InuYashaLuver98*, iowa90, Ironman11, IronPhoenix, jackrules158*, JimmyKnoles*, JimmyTheRat*, Jinx911*, Jo_Tunn, jrobbins1993*, Jrskooch, JubilousOccasion*, Juvenile-River*, KayEyeEmm*, Keita*, KILLERZARIC*, KiraArsenic*, Kokonoe*, Korrye*, krumbla*, Kuril*, Kuro Neko*, KuruLesperance, Kuukakulily*, Lady_Blood92243*, Lilacwest*, LillytheWhiteWolfess, Little Fox*, Lloyd999, lom.conor, LSunday, Lufia*, Lyndie, madisontaylorjb, Malan, MaliceInWonderland, Malzberry*, MarchHare*, Mataulvr, mechanimated*, missjmiles, Modesty, moomyon, Mr. Baneling Squishy*, Mr_Doomed, MSN [Bot], MSNbot Media, mummydove, Nannyhap, ncDragonfire*, Negative Bowser, Nekohina*, NeonDreamer*, NewKidOnTheBlock*, nibblesnbits, Nightmare2Dream, Nightmaric_Angel*, Nikolai*, Norias*, Nowfaleena*, Noxize, Nyghtfang*, Oborosen*, OpalePhantasmagoria, OxiriusZoom, parallelzero*, peace_love_dance, pieluver*, Popuph8r*, Porecomesis, PreachingLegionary, Princess Awinita*, PrincessBoy, Puppette, qbsuperstar03*, QuarantinedThoughts, R.T.M.X.*, RawrImaPanda, ReaperGirl4, RedheadZombie, Rem?us*, reveries*, RichterGotz*, Rulke*, RydeDawg, sabrinalove3001, SaintAndSinner, Saken*, SakuraXx*, SarcasticIrony*, SasoriRinku, ScarnyLuv*, Scorpion01*, Script*, Setsugie, Seveneleven*, Shadow303*, Shiva*, Shpleem*, silentawakening*, SilverInk*, skindeep, Skwidge, slcam*, SlightlyInsane*, Smokescreen, smrtazz13*, Sneakyrio*, Sokka25, Something?, Sophia & Sovia*, Sorella*, souloe, StandardFiend, Stark Contrast, Starryskies*, Steppin' Razor*, Stilts*, StitchSaysHi*, stormwolf321*, SugarPlum2*, Sullenkiller, SuperQ19, Tainted Twinkee*, Talisman*, tallyrebel, Tayloremond*, Tech Jam*, The Angry Penguin, The Cynic, The Great Thundorz*, The Illusionist*, The_Fallen_Ones*, TheFinalOne*, TheHappyHag*, theMoonlightTheory*, TheNoremac42, TheTragicHeroine, throne*, Tiko*, True Grave*, TRUE-ASSASSIN, Twigs180*, Twisty*, Tyliana, Uncle Shortbus, Usui*, Vanillasugar41*, Vejisama*, Velgreth763, ViceRicePres, ViceVersus, VindicatedPurpose, vintagedarksoul, Vio-Lance*, VitaminHeart*, Wake*, waterbabe1, White.Lie., Wing06Twilight, WittyWriter88, WordSail, Wudgeous, Wynddancer*, X64, XavierDantius32*, xTheSmokex*, XxChristinaxX*, Yahoo [Bot], yogitheambrangyl, ZacharyTC, Zenia*, Zentose*, Zitacamron95, ZoeyAutopsyx*, ~Living-Dead Doll~

matt flynn denver news frozen planet creighton new smyrna beach st. joseph walking dead

Indie film "Beasts" a fearless success

NEW YORK (Reuters) - On the first day newcomer director Benh Zeitlin began shooting his mythical, apocalyptic low-budget film, "Beasts of the Southern Wild," he had a real life disaster to deal with - the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The sense of impending danger only served to heighten the rugged, mystical tension Zeitlin was aiming for in his acclaimed indie film that stars non-actors as a father and daughter facing environmental threats on the impoverished watery fringes of southern Louisiana.

"The oil spill happening created this sort of strange, life imitates art on set that was going on as we were shooting," Zeitlin told Reuters in an interview for the film that opens in the United States on Wednesday. "The whole time you would wake up in the morning and check the oil and it would get closer and closer ... it was really eerie."

But the struggles to make Zeitlin's debut feature film have clearly paid off.

"Beasts" has had a dream run this year, coming from nowhere to win best film at the Sundance Film Festival to the Cannes festival where it won best debut. And just last week, it won the audience award for best narrative feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Influential American critic Todd McCarthy initially called it "one of the most striking films ever to debut" at Sundance, adding that "Zeitlin's directorial debut could serve as a poster child for everything American independent cinema aspires to be but so seldom is."

Zeitlin, 29, who co-wrote and directed the feature after his 2008 25-minute short film "Glory at Sea" was made in reaction to Hurricane Katrina, likened all the praise to "just like falling off a cliff."

"It was a great feeling when we sort of started to realize that the film was speaking; people were understanding what it was trying to do," he said. "The farther away from Louisiana you go, the more it plays as a fantasy movie."

HUSHPUPPY A FEARLESS HERO

"Beasts," filmed in a poetic, cinematic style that has been compared to Terrence Malick, follows a 6-year-old heroine called Hushpuppy, played by a charismatic unknown, Quvenzhane Wallis. With her father, Wink - depicted by fellow newcomer Dwight Henry - they struggle to survive in a town of poor, hard-drinking outcasts called The Bathtub.

The film, made with a budget of around $1.5 million, includes striking images of the Ice Age melting and extinct giant aurochs coming to life. Zeitlin dispelled reports they were computer generated, saying he relied on 1980s' style special effects using miniatures because, "we wanted everything to be organic and we used a minimum of technology."

Adding to the film's hardships was that "it was always an impossible film to explain or pitch," said Zeitlin.

He made the film with the help of an art collective he helped form and after basing himself in New Orleans following a stint in Europe.

"It's about a little girl and her father living cut off from the world by a giant levee, living in this off-the-grid town called 'The Bathtub'," he said. "It is about a series of mythological and environmental catastrophes that she has to learn how to survive and he has to teach her."

The film has been called both an exploration of contemporary Americana and an environmental statement, but Zeitlin said it is not "an issue-based call to action." Rather he wanted to make a universal movie for people who can relate to "the idea of their home being taken off the map and their culture being gone from the planet."

And in the face of traditional heroes that Zeitlin sees "getting bastardized" in Hollywood films - including that fictional British detective Sherlock Holmes - the young filmmaker wanted to create an authentic modern hero in the character of Hushpuppy.

"She is about standing by her culture, standing by her family, both being totally defiant but absolutely sweet and caring," he said. "She is a hero that represents fearlessness and I think so much of America is controlled by fear."

Apart from the film's visual and sensory style, it is Wallis' turn as Hushpuppy, cast at the age of 5 from nearly 4,000 auditions, that has also caught the eyes of critics.

"From the first moment we saw her - we have the footage of that first audition - you can see this look in her eyes that is so intense and so focused with so much wisdom behind it and poise," said Zeitlin.

Both Wallis and Henry, who initially turned down his role to run his bakery shop, have now attracted the attention of big Hollywood producers. But Zeitlin says, "they are both extremely grounded people and neither are trying to run away to Hollywood."

As for Zeitlin, who was born in Queens, New York, and raised by folklorist parents, he hopes to start shooting an unannounced feature film later this year.

"It will be in the same cannon as this film. Not a sequel, but we are trying to preserve the method. We want to shoot it in Louisiana. It's going to be another folk tale."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Andre Grenon)

taylor swift zac efron the scream stephen colbert new madrid fault rihanna and chris brown affirmative action helicon

What we're expecting from Google today

Featured

5 days

Sean Fallon , Nerd Approved

Are you your own worst enemy? If so, the following gadgets might be able to help you overcome some?relatively minor shortcomings. That is to... Read more

2 hrs.

Rosa Golijan

Google I/O, the search engine giant's annual developer conference is taking place in San Francisco, California this week. The show kicks off today, with a keynote event, and I'm here to report live on all that we're expecting Google to unveil,?including its latest and greatest mobile operating system, a new tablet and more.

Here's what we think might be announced.

Android Jelly Bean
Jelly Bean is the code name for latest version of Google's popular mobile operating system. Even though the rumor mill has been steadily churning out little tidbits about this new Android build here and there, we don't really know too much about it.

Word is that Jelly Bean's alternate label is Android 4.1 ??rather than Android 5.0 ??and that it is full of little tweaks, instead of being a total revamp of Ice Cream Sandwich.

It's believed that Jelly Bean will bring improved battery life, a better search function, a native Chrome browser, and something dubbed Google Assistant ??an Android-flavored counterpart to Apple's Siri.

Nexus (7?)?tablet
We've been hearing that Google and hardware maker Asus are working on a tablet for quite a while, and documents discovered by Gizmodo Australia seemingly support everything we think we know about this device.

The documents ??which are allegedly an instruction manual of some sort ??detail that the tablet will be called the "Nexus 7" and that it will be a 7-inch device, with a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM. The tablet will supposedly?come in 8GB and 16 GB versions, which will be priced at $199 and $249, respectively.?

(Observant sci-fi lovers will note that while the "7" could indicate the screen size, Nexus 7 is the the model of replicant that Deckard himself is suspected of being, in the classic "Blade Runner.")

Chrome OS
Google's been revamping the Chrome OS, particularly its look, and it would make sense if the company were to bring it closer to Android. After all, Apple and Microsoft have taught us that there's something appealing about unified mobile and desktop operating systems, especially as this desktop OS hasn't exactly taken off.

Google Cloud
Google introduced Google Drive, its long-anticipated cloud-storage service, about two months ago.?It wouldn't be surprising if the search engine giant talked about how it plans to integrate the technology into future services or apps.

Google Maps for iOS
As you may know, Apple has ditched Google Maps in iOS 6. Many are hopeful that Google will announce an iOS app which will allow them to continue easily accessing Google Maps in the future. In theory, such an app could include an offline feature similar to the one now offered to Android users.

Google TV
Google TV hasn't been a big hit so far, but Google might be looking to mix things up. How the search engine giant might go about doing that is anybody's guess at the moment ? there could be new hardware, a revamped interface and?appealing content partners. One such partner was announced today: Sirius XM, with its star Howard Stern, will turn up in an app for Google TV.

Google Glass
Google's been pretty shy about showing off its augmented reality glasses, which are part of something dubbed "Project Glass," but perhaps it'll grant developers a closer look at the technology this week.

???
Of course, Google could always throw some curveballs and announce something none of us expected. So for that, keep your eyes glued to our Gadgetbox blog for?live?coverage of the Google I/O keynote. (And if you want to hear some of my personal thoughts on the event, feel free to follow my on Twitter. I'm @rosa on there.)

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

nba all star weekend malin akerman jeff carter chomp national enquirer kate gosselin helicopter crash

What does a kiss on the cheek mean - Kiss meanings | Love, Life ...

What does a kiss on the cheek mean? What does it mean if he kisses me on the cheek? Are there hidden meanings to kisses on the cheek? He / she kissed me on the cheek, what does that mean?
A kiss on the cheek can symbolise different things and depends entirely on whether you're in a relationship with the other person or not.

You're dating / in a relationship

A kiss on the cheek can be a fun way of showing affection. It symbolises friendship and friendship is often associated with fun. By him / her kissing you on the cheek it could show that not only?are you lovers / boyfriend and girlfriend, you also have a bond of friendship which is important to any relationship. Friendship makes a relationship even better because it allows you to communicate better, confide in each other deeper, trust each other more and never get bored of spending time together.

You're not in a relationship or dating

• A kiss on the cheek could be a result of him / her having feelings for you but not being sure how you may react if he / she kissed you on the lips. It might be to him / her a quick alternative to the obvious kiss on the lips but providing the same closeness for him / her in that he / she still got to kiss you.
• A kiss on the cheek could also be a really great first kiss as it allows the other person to know that you find interest in him / her without moving too fast.
• A kiss on the lips could be the way he or she greets people in his / her culture as this is often practised as a form of greeting in many cultures or traditions.

ravens ray lewis steven tyler national anthem penn state paterno newt gingrich joe paterno dead

Colon cancer is quickly gaining pace in Kuwait | Kuwait Times

KUWAIT: ?It is very difficult to ignore the facts,? said Dr. Abdullah Al Haddad, Specialist of General Surgery and Colon and Rectum surgery at Dar Al Shifa Hospital. ?Colon cancer is quickly gaining pace as the number one type of cancer found in Kuwait.? ?A patient starts off with fear of diagnosis, and quickly panics or loses hope right after they discover the truth,? he continued. ?What usually works to get them through is by understanding exactly what is happening to them, and the options they have for treatment.?

What is cancer staging all about?
Generally, doctors use staging as a way to assess the required treatment by defining first the extent to which the cancer has spread. Factors taken into account include the size of the tumor, penetration level, effect on adjacent o as well as distant organs, and number of lymph nodes.

On diagnosis & treatment
In terms of diagnosis, the gastroenterologists report is very crucial, as it mainly is used to accurately allocate the lesion or cancer. If the patient has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, then a CT or MRI will be done before surgery. Apart from colonoscopy and surgery, the other existing diagnostic tools that can be used are virtual colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy, or barium enema.

Most colon cancer cases require surgery, after which the doctor can assess whether the patient requires chemotherapy. The only exception to a change of treatment order is in the case of metastases being present. For rectal cancer, depending on the depth of the tumor and the close proximity to the anus, the decision will be made in terms of giving chemotherapy or radiotherapy before the surgery.

?Here at Dar Al Shifa Hospital we understand that a fundamental comfort factor during a time like this is being sure that treatment is being conducted by the best talent available; and so it is our first priority.? There are a number of advanced methods used in surgical intervention, such as the conducting endoscopy and removal of the tumor through the rectum ? a procedure which is unique to Dar Al Shifa Hospital. Patients usually return to practicing their normal routines within a few days post-operation.

Life after surgery
Post treatment, most people lead normal lives. The rate at which recovery happens depends on a number of factors, mainly starting with the level of advancement in surgery, as well as the patient?s adopted lifestyle after surgery. Patients are advised to do a blood test every three months for 2 years and go for a check-up every 6 months after their surgeries.

?It is important to conquer the fear that comes with these situations, which is achieved by a acquiring knowledge on the matter? continued Dr. Al Haddad. ?At Dar Al Shifa Hospital the doctors are very diligent at helping our patients by explaining the process and what comes with it, ensuring that they feel safe to ask whatever questions they might have.?

Read by 788

?

williams syndrome hoya casa de mi padre

Life: is it inevitable or just a fluke?

* Required fields

* First name

* Last name

* Country

* Email address

* Password Password must contain only letters and numbers, and be at least 8 characters

* Confirm password

oakland pinnacle airlines kansas vs kentucky joe posnanski michael kidd gilchrist national championship calipari

Three Avatar Sequels Filming Back-to-Back?

Fans of James Cameron?s Avatar?have been eagerly awaiting a sequel since the film was released in 2009. Cameron has been teasing us with the slightest details of what the next Pandora-set adventures might involve, but he has been very coy about story specifics and start dates. However, it now looks like Cameron is finally about to start shooting THREE new Avatar movies back-to-back.

Avatar SPOILERS follow.

Sigourney Weaver divulged the details to Showbiz 441 at the premiere of her new Clinton ?inspired series, Political Animals. The actress stated that once she completes work on the series, she will feature in a short run of a Christopher Durang play and then segue into James Cameron?s three Avatar sequels. This again confirms Weaver?s involvement in the Avatar world ? even though her character died in the last film. It should be noted that when the actress was asked about a timeline for the production of these movies, she said that she didn?t know, replying ?I just show up?. However, it does look like a second series of the six-part Political Animals will have to wait until Cameron completes work on this new trilogy.

This mammoth undertaking is probably one of the reasons why Avatar 2 was bumped from its intended Christmas 2014 release date, and it gels with what we heard last month when Cameron said:

?I?m not interested in developing anything. I?m in the Avatar business. Period. That?s it. I?m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I?m not going to produce other people?s movies for them.?

The move to shoot three Avatar sequels at the same time makes sense for a number of reasons. Avatar wasn?t cheap to produce (over $200 million), and three films would come at a reduced cost if Cameron concentrated on one extended shoot, rather than dismantling everything only to have to rebuild (and re-hire) a few months later. Peter Jackson shot the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the same time, a move which kept costs to a minimum ? and we all know how that turned out. The move also ensures the availability of cast and crew. One blocked time-frame means that you may not have to recast roles, or shoot around actors who are busy elsewhere (hence the reason why Political Animals will have to wait for Weaver).

However, there could be a downside to this plan. Avatar was so successful ($2.7 billion globally) because audiences had never seen anything like it before ? it was a ?game changer?. The effects, coupled with the use of 3D, made it a true cinematic experience, but Cameron risks cheapening the brand, (if you will) by flooding the market with too many Avatar films. Sure, there is pent-up demand for Avatar 2 now, but will fans be so willing to part with their cash to see parts three and four in quick succession?

Screen Rant readers will know that Cameron likes to keep his Avatar cards close to his chest and this should be treated as speculation until it is confirmed or denied by the director. After all, how many times has Tom Arnold said that True Lies 2 was on the way?

Source: Showbiz411

"Follow us if you want to live."

patrice o neal. osteopathy osteopathy diphtheria diphtheria del rio

Romancing the firefly

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) ? The twinkling of fireflies heralds summer romance for these magical insects. While courting on-the-wing, male fireflies attract females' attention with bioluminescent flashes.

But new research from biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences, published online in Proceedings of the Royal Society -- Biological Sciences, reveals that, after the lights go out, female fireflies prefer substance over flash. They seem to choose mates able to give them the largest "nuptial gift" (a high protein sperm package that helps females produce more eggs) without regard to flashes. Those generous males are also more likely to succeed in becoming the fathers of the next firefly generation.

Previous work on Photinus fireflies shows that females are very picky during the on-wing stage of courtship. These females will only flash a response toward select males that light up with especially attractive courtship flashes. After a lengthy back-and-forth exchange, the flashing stops, the lights go out, and firefly pairs spend the night together.

A night of firefly romance also includes gifts, called spermatophores, that each male donates to his sweetheart. But the next night these females are likely to mate again with a different male.

After a female has mated with several males, the big evolutionary question becomes: which male gets to pass along his genes to the next generation of firefly babies?

"Lots of people don't realize that sexual selection is happening not only before mating, but also during and even after mating," said Professor of Biology Sara Lewis, an expert on the evolutionary process of sexual selection and senior author on the paper. "Focusing on what happens after contact, we wanted to examine how much a male's success -- in both mating and fathering offspring -- depended on his flashes or on his nuptial gift offering."

Lewis and coauthor Adam South, who studied in the Lewis lab and recently received his Ph.D. from Tufts' Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, set up an experiment using infrared video and paternity testing based on firefly DNA to determine what makes certain males more successful after the lights go out.

To get the female fireflies in the mood, the researchers relied on LED lights programmed to make two kinds of flashes. Some females saw only artificial male flashes determined by previous research to be highly attractive to females; others saw unattractive flashes.

Male fireflies were also split into two groups: virgins whose nuptial gifts were large since the males had never mated and males whose spermatophores were smaller because they had mated the previous night. After several minutes of courtship flashing, males and females were put together in pairs, and the Tufts biologists videotaped their close-up courtship behaviors under infrared illumination. Because they take place under cover of darkness, many of these behaviors had never before been observed.

Analysis of hours of firefly video revealed that once a female was in close quarters with a male, she was much more likely to mate with males that had larger nuptial gifts to offer, as determined by the researchers' later examination. The females didn't seem to care what kind of male flashes they had seen.

"We were surprised to discover that attractive flashes only seem to benefit males during the early stages of firefly courtship," said South. "Initially, flashes are important. Female fireflies preferentially respond to males based on temporal flash characteristics. Once males make physical contact, however, females switch to an alternative cue -- one that's related to male nuptial gift size. What makes this especially intriguing is that females have no way to directly evaluate gift size, since it's created and transferred internally."

Furthermore, when females mated sequentially with two different males, paternity testing of their offspring revealed yet another benefit for big gift-givers. Males that gave larger nuptial gifts fathered more of their mate's offspring compared with rival males. South and Lewis say that's probably because larger gifts contain more sperm.

So not unlike human romance, love remains a mystery among fireflies and first impressions are only part of the story. While a female's initial assessment of potential mates is based on males' luminescent flashes, the Tufts research shows that once a pair makes contact, sexy flashes no longer matter. Instead, it's those males that have larger nuptial gifts to give that win out with higher reproductive success. Males with limited resources may face a trade-off between investing either in sexy flashes or in costly gifts.

The work was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Tufts University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. A. South, S. M. Lewis. Determinants of reproductive success across sequential episodes of sexual selection in a firefly. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0370

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

madonna super bowl performance superbowl commercials best superbowl commercials madonna half time m.i.a super bowl coin toss madonna super bowl halftime

Retirement Spots With Year-Round Pleasant Weather

Many people dream of a retirement in which they will never again have to shovel snow or defrost a car. But at the same time, not many retirees want to swelter through or pay the air conditioning bills associated with several months' worth of 95-degree days.

To find some places with year-round pleasant weather, U.S. News used National Climatic Data Center figures to find places where the average high temperature in July is less than 90 degrees and the average low in January is above freezing (32 degrees). That's not to say these places have never had a very hot or cold day, but average temperatures generally remain within this range. Here are some places where the weather is typically nice throughout the year:

California

You'll find warm winters and moderate summers in the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas, where January's average lows are in the upper 40s and July's average highs are in the low 80s. "The coast of southern California, San Diego for instance, is characterized by year-round pleasant conditions," says Charles Wax, a meteorology and climatology professor at Mississippi State University and state climatologist for Mississippi. "This area is under the Mediterranean-climate type, which is a moderate climate with a summer dry period. The lack of rainfall in the summer is conducive to outdoor activities, wine-growing, and the movie and air industries."

It's cooler in the San Francisco Bay and Santa Barbara areas, where average temperatures can drop into the lower 40s in winter and hit highs in the low or mid-70s in summer. "Anywhere in California offers relatively mild winters, but the heat in the summer can vary dramatically," says Eugene Cordero, an associate professor of meteorology at San Jose State University. "For example, Sacramento or any inland place in California during the summer can often go over 100 degrees, while San Francisco can be in the 50s and 60s because of the cool clouds from the ocean." Other places with year-round pleasant weather include San Diego, Santa Maria, and Eureka.

Florida

Key West, Tampa, and Palachicola each experience an average high of 90 degrees in July. All three cities have much cooler winters, with an average January low of 65 degrees in Key West, 52 degrees in Tampa, and 43 degrees in Palachicola.

Georgia

In July, Atlanta's average high is 89 degrees. During the winter, the temperature declines to an average low of 34 degrees. David Stooksbury, an associate professor of engineering and atmospheric sciences at the University of Georgia in Athens, says his current city is his first choice for a retirement spot. "Located in the northern Piedmont region of gently rolling hills, the spring and fall seasons are long and pleasant. The winters are mild with an occasional snow," says Stooksbury. "Because of the University of Georgia being located in Athens, the city has many free to inexpensive cultural and academic opportunities. With the growth of the medical program at UGA, medical options are expanding throughout the city."

Hawaii

If you're looking for a place to retire that has consistently pleasant weather, Hawaii is your best bet. In Honolulu, for example, temperatures ranged from an average low of 66 degrees in January to an average high of 88 degrees in July. Temperatures are also consistently pleasant in Hilo, Kahului, and Lihue. "Hawaii does have a seductive temperature range," says Gary Barnes, a meteorology professor at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. "The air has a soft and wonderful feel." However, housing prices in Hawaii reflect the pleasant climate. "I would not retire in Hawaii simply because I could not begin to afford it," says Barnes. "Cost of living wins out, unfortunately, over Hawaii's great weather."

North Carolina

Summer temperatures in Cape Hatteras hit an average high of 85 degrees in July, which offers plenty of opportunities to visit the impressive Atlantic Ocean beaches and wildlife refuge. January's average low is 39 degrees. "If I had retired in the USA, and based only on weather and leaving out the west coast, Asheville would have been my choice," says Peter Robinson, an emeritus geography professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is now retired in the UK.

Oregon

Temperatures range from an average low of about 33 degrees in January to an average high of 82 degrees in July in Eugene and Salem. Astoria is generally cooler in the summer (67 degrees) and slightly warmer in the winter (37 degrees).

Puerto Rico

San Juan has a tropical climate that can get very humid in the summer, with an average high of 87 degrees in July. It doesn't cool down much in the winter in this Caribbean island city. January's average low temperature is a pleasant 71 degrees.

South Carolina

Hot summers are common in Charleston, which has a semi-tropical climate. July's average high temperature is 89 degrees, but winters cool down significantly to an average low of 42 degrees.

Texas

Winters are mild in Galveston, where the average January low is a pleasant 50 degrees. Summer can be sweltering, with an average high in July of 89 degrees. John Nielsen-Gammon, an atmospheric sciences professor at Texas A&M University and the Texas State Climatologist, recommends the South Texas coast, from Corpus Christi to Brownsville. "The area is far enough south that it avoids many of the cold-air outbreaks that plague the rest of the central and eastern United States, and it's also along the main path of tropical Atlantic air flowing northward into North America," he says. "This means that the South Texas coast almost always has a decent breeze blowing, even in summertime, making its summer climate similar to that of a Caribbean island."

Washington

Seattle's legendary rainfall is largely confined to the winter months. The city averages just five days of precipitation in both July and August. Most places in Washington have fairly cool summers, with July's average high of 75 in Seattle and just 68 in Quillayute. January lows in both cities are in the mid-30s.

Of course, not every retiree wants to live in a place with placid weather. Some may find the change of seasons and large shifts in weather interesting, and feel like something is missing without them. Nielsen-Gammon has no intention of retiring somewhere with year-round pleasant weather. "I'd much rather be entertained by the weather," he says, suggesting that he might prefer witnessing 50-knot wintertime gales on the Oregon coast, thunderstorms in South Florida, tornado-producing supercells forming over the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, or the steady accumulation of lake-effect snow in Michigan. "Now those would be good weather destinations for retirees," he says.

Twitter: @aiming2retire

tri international criminal court ios 5.1 apple tv update new ipad release pregnant jessica simpson international womens day