Oil price down to near $96 as traders wait for Fed

The price of oil fell to near $96 per barrel Tuesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for June delivery was down 60 cents to $96.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 69 cents to close at $96.71 on Monday.

On Wednesday, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress and the central bank will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting. Traders will be looking for hints on what the Fed might be preparing to do in light of recent data that has pointed toward a sustained economic recovery.

There is ongoing speculation that the Fed might want to scale back or modify its super-loose monetary policy and its massive, $85 billion-a-month program of bond purchases intended to keep interest rates low and prop up the recovery.

"We hear some testimony from Big Ben Bernanke this week and we can only think that he's going to stick to his mantra. Meaning that he's status quo; the economy is moving along well, we would like to see it move faster, but we're doing all we can," said Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions in an email commentary.

Investors will also be monitoring fresh information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.

Data for the week ending May 17 is expected to show draws of 1.2 million barrels in crude oil stocks and of 200,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration ? the market benchmark ? will be out on Wednesday.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, was down 76 cents to $104.04 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

? Wholesale gasoline fell 2.9 cents to $2.8634 a gallon.

? Heating oil lost 1.28 cents to $2.9283 a gallon.

? Natural gas added 3 cents to $4.12 per 1,000 cubic feet.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-price-down-near-96-traders-wait-fed-120752087.html

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Tamra Barney to Star in Real Housewives of OC Spinoff?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/tamra-barney-to-star-in-real-housewives-of-oc-spinoff/

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Cat-App Fever: 3 Ways to Turn Your iPad Into a Cat Toy

Your cat gets to do whatever it wants everywhere else in the house, so why not give it control of the iPad, too?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/kHQNPMraVRw/

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Video: Oklahoma Congressman Weighs in on Tornado

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51946374/

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Aggressive behavior linked specifically to secondhand smoke exposure in childhood

May 21, 2013 ? Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke in early childhood are more likely to grow up to physically aggressive and antisocial, regardless of whether they were exposed during pregnancy or their parents have a history of being antisocial, according to Linda Pagani and Caroline Fitzpatrick of the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine hospital. No study to date has controlled for these factors.

"Secondhand smoke is in fact more dangerous that inhaled smoke, and 40% of children worldwide are exposed to it. Moreover, exposure to this smoke at early childhood is particularly dangerous, as the child's brain is still developing," Pagani said. "I looked at data that was collected about 2,055 kids from their birth until ten years of age, including parent reports about secondhand smoke exposure and from teachers and children themselves about classroom behaviour. Those having been exposed to secondhand smoke, even temporarily, were much more likely to report themselves as being more aggressive by time they finished fourth grade."

The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health on May 21, 2013.

Given that it would be unethical to exposure children to secondhand smoke, Pagani relied on longitudinal data collected by Quebec health authorities from birth onward on an annual basis. Because parents went about raising their children while participating in the study, the data provided a natural experiment of variations in the child population of household smoke exposure throughout early childhood. Although no direct causal link can be determined, the statistical correlation suggests that secondhand smoke exposure does forecast deviant behavior in later childhood. The very detailed information collated for the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development enabled her to do something no other researcher has done to date: distinguish the unique contribution of secondhand smoke exposure on children's later deviant behavior. "Previous studies looking at groups of children have generally asked mothers whether they smoked or not, and how much at each follow-up, rather than asking whether someone smoked in the home where young children live and play," Dr. Pagani said. "Furthermore, few studies have looked at antisocial behaviour in the parents and even fewer have investigated the subsequent influence of prolonged exposure to secondhand smoke over the long term. None have taken into account the fact that disadvantaged families are less likely to participate in a long study like this one, which of course skews the statistics."

The statistics are backed by other biological studies into the effects of smoke on the brain. Secondhand smoke comprises 85% sidestream smoke emanated from a burning cigarette and 15% inhaled and then exhaled mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke is considered more toxic than mainstream smoke because it contains a higher concentration of many dispersed respirable pollutants over a longer exposure period. "We know that the starvation of oxygen caused by smoke exposure in the developing central nervous system can cause low birth weight and slowed fetal brain growth," Dr. Pagani said. "Environmental sources of tobacco smoke represent the most passive and preventable cause of disease and disability. This study suggests that the postnatal period is important for the prevention of impaired neurobehavioral development and makes the case for the promotion of an unpolluted domestic environment for children."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universit? de Montr?al.

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Journal Reference:

1. Linda S Pagani, Caroline Fitzpatrick. Prospective associations between early long-term household tobacco smoke exposure and antisocial behaviour in later childhood. J Epidemiol Community Health, 2013 DOI: 10.1136/jech-2012-202191

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/kRJ7JOBiU-k/130521132116.htm

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Mechanism linking key inflammatory marker to cancer identified

May 20, 2013 ? In a new study described in the journal Oncogene, researchers reveal how a key player in cell growth, immunity and the inflammatory response can be transformed into a primary contributor to tumor growth.

Scientists call this Jekyll-and-Hyde molecule NF-kappa B. In healthy cells, it is a powerful "first responder," a vital part of the body's immune and inflammatory responses. It spends most of its life in the cell's cytoplasm, quietly awaiting orders. But when extracellular signals -- of a viral or bacterial invasion, for example -- set off chemical alarms, the cell unchains this warhorse, allowing it to go into the nucleus where it spurs a flurry of defensive activity, including the transcription of genes that trigger inflammation, promote cell proliferation and undermine cell death.

Researchers have known for years that a hyperactive form of NF-kappa B that gets into the nucleus and stays there is associated with various cancers. But they didn't know what was keeping it active in the nucleus.

"Normally in the cell NF-kappa B is in the cytosol, it's not in the nucleus, and it's not activated," said University of Illinois medical biochemistry professor Lin-Feng Chen, who led the new study. "You have to stimulate normal cells to see NF-kappa B in the nucleus. But in cancer cells without any stimulation you can see this nuclear form of NF-kappa B. The cell just won't die because of this. That is why NF-kappa B is so important in cancer."

In the new study, Chen's group found that another molecule known to help regulate gene expression, called BRD4, recognizes a specific amino acid on a subunit of the NF-kappa B protein complex after the amino acid has been marked with a specific tag, called an acetyl group. This "acetylation" allows the BRD4 to bind to NF-kappa B, activating it and preventing its degradation in cancer cells.

Previous studies had shown that BRD4's recognition of the acetylated subunit increased NF-kappa B activation, but this recognition had not been linked to cancer.

BRD4 belongs to a class of molecules that can recognize chemical markers on other proteins and interact with them to spur the marked proteins to perform new tasks. Chemical "readers" such as BRD4 are important players in the field of epigenetics, which focuses on how specific genes are regulated.

"In epigenetics, there are writers, there are readers and there are erasers," Chen said. The writers make modifications to proteins after they are formed, without changing the underlying sequence of the gene that codes for them. These modifications (such as acetylation) signal other molecules (the readers) to engage with the marked proteins in various ways, allowing the proteins to fulfill new roles in the life of the cell. Epigenetic erasers remove the marks when they are no longer of use.

Such protein modifications "have been shown to be critically involved in transcription regulation and cancer development," the researchers report.

To test whether BRD4 was contributing to the sustained presence of NF-kappa B in the nucleus of cancer cells, Chen and his colleagues exposed lung cancer cells in cell culture and in immune-deficient mice to JQ1, a drug that interferes with BRD4 activity. Exposure to JQ1 blocked the interaction of BRD4 and NF-kappa B, blocked the expression of genes regulated by NF-kappa B, reduced proliferation of lung cancer cells and suppressed the ability of lung cancer cells to induce tumors in immune-deficient mice, the researchers found.

The researchers also discovered that depletion of BRD4 or the treatment of cells with JQ1 induced the degradation of the NF-kappa B subunit recognized by BRD4.

Chen said that BRD4 likely prevents other molecules from recognizing the hyperactive NF-kappa B in the nucleus and marking it for degradation.

"This is an example of how epigenetic regulators and NF-kappa B may one day be targeted for the treatment of cancer," he said.

Researchers from Illinois biochemistry professor Satish Nair's laboratory and from the laboratory of James Bradner at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute contributed to this study.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/gX3-B62y22w/130520095320.htm

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Liberator gun made with consumer 3D printer, plastic pistol fires nine shots successfully (video)

Defense Distributed's plan is to put the power of guns in the hands of every person with access to the internet and a 3D printer. Until now, however, we'd only seen the Liberator pistol built using an expensive industrial-grade printer -- despite the fact that the blueprints for gun have been downloaded by thousands of people who don't have access to such a high-end machine. One of those folks decided to put the Liberator in the hands of the printing proletariat by making it with a consumer-level Lulzbot A0-101 3D printer, a nail and some common screws.

This new version, called the Lulz Liberator, differs from the original in that it's got a rifled barrel and uses metal hardware to hold it together (as opposed to printed plastic pins). Printing it took around two days and used about $25 worth of generic ABS material, and the pistol produced was fired successfully nine times, but its creator claims it could've shot more. It's still a far cry from a Glock or Beretta, of course, as the gun misfired several times, and removing spent shell casings required the use of a hammer. So, it's not quite ready for prime time, but it's one more bit of proof that the age of printed pistols is officially upon us.

[Image Credit: Michael Guslick]

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Source: Forbes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/20/liberator-gun-made-with-consumer-3d-printer-plastic-pistol-fire/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Russian oligarchs foot most of 2014 Sochi Olympics

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 file photo, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, accompanied by Interros Investment Company President Vladimir Potanin visits the Roza Khutorski resort that is under construction for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia. Metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin, whose fortune is an estimated US dlrs 14.3 billion, started building the Roza Khutor ski resort before Sochi was picked to hold the Olympics. Infrastructure required by the International Olympic Committee costing US dlrs 500 million boosted his total bill to US dlrs 2.5 billion. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 file photo, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, left, accompanied by Interros Investment Company President Vladimir Potanin visits the Roza Khutorski resort that is under construction for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, near the Black Sea resort of Sochi, southern Russia. Metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin, whose fortune is an estimated US dlrs 14.3 billion, started building the Roza Khutor ski resort before Sochi was picked to hold the Olympics. Infrastructure required by the International Olympic Committee costing US dlrs 500 million boosted his total bill to US dlrs 2.5 billion. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, File)

President Vladimir Putin, right, shake hands with Thorbjoern Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, Pool)

President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting on energy issues in Russia's Economy, at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, Pool)

SOCHI, Russia (AP) ? The mountains of Sochi are now home to Potanin's slope, Gazprom's gondola lift and Sberbank's ski jump. The nicknames used by locals and an army of construction workers leave no doubt about who is paying for the 2014 Winter Games: Russia's business powerhouses.

Other countries that have hosted the Olympics have overwhelmingly used public funds to pay for the construction of needed venues and new infrastructure. The Russian government, however, has gotten state-controlled companies and tycoons to foot more than half of the bill, which now stands at $51 billion and makes the 2014 Winter Games by far the most expensive Olympics in history. In contrast, the much-larger 2012 Summer Olympics in London cost about $14.3 billion and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing cost about $40 billion.

For President Vladimir Putin, the games have been a matter of pride. He has entrusted the country's top businessmen with Sochi's key projects. He himself is spending increasing amounts of time in the southern Russian city, hosting world leaders at his luxurious presidential palace.

Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister under Putin, described the tycoons' participation as a sort of tax imposed by the president.

"If you want to carry on doing business in Russia, here's the tax you need to pay ? the kind of a tax that he wants you to pay," Kasyanov, now an opposition leader, told The Associated Press.

This is particularly true of those like metals tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, who made their fortunes in the rags-to-riches privatizations after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. For others who have grown fabulously wealthy since Putin came to power in 2000, the 2014 Olympics have been a chance to reap the profits through lucrative state contracts.

Most of the projects the tycoons are involved in are not profitable ? and many businessmen are making no secret of the losses they are incurring. But anyone who does business in Russia today is acutely aware of the importance of maintaining good relations with the government ? and especially with Putin. The tycoons remember well how Putin in 2008, with one verbal attack, sent the stock of metals company Mechel tumbling 40 percent, cutting $6 billion from its shareholder value.

"Russian big business is heavily dependent on the government and often has to follow Putin's requests and take on projects that are important for top officials," said Vladimir Milov, an economist and former deputy energy minister who also is now part of the anti-Putin opposition.

The tycoons and state-owned companies dismiss claims that they were pressured to invest in Sochi or that they did so in exchange for promises of preferential treatment.

Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer and a publicly traded company, said in a written statement to the AP that its work in Sochi is "both a business project and serious social responsibility." Gazprom's Sochi projects are vast. It is building a pipeline to bring gas supplies to the Sochi area, a power station in a Sochi suburb, an Alpine ski resort, one of the three Olympic villages and a cross-country skiing and biathlon center. Its total costs run to $3 billion.

Andrei Elinson, deputy general director at Deripaska's Basic Element investment vehicle, insists its Sochi projects were all designed to be profitable. The company is building an Olympic village and a seaport and has just finished revamping the Sochi airport, for a combined cost of $1.4 billion.

"We are a strategic investor in the area. We believe in the development of the area on the whole," Elinson said. After the games, Basic Element plans to convert the Olympic village into apartments and the sea port into a marina.

Even so, some tycoons are grumbling that they have been hit up with unexpected demands that are stretching their funds more than anticipated. Their balance sheets have been dragged down by a flow of requests from the state contractor Olimpstroi to build more infrastructure than originally planned.

Potanin started building his Roza Khutor ski resort even before Sochi was picked in 2007 to host the 2014 games. He is spending $2.5 billion, including $500 million on infrastructure required by the International Olympic Committee. In addition, the Alpine resort had to close to tourists for months at a time while hosting Olympic tests events during the past two winter seasons, costing it $3.2 million in lost revenue each month it was closed, according to Roza Khutor general director Sergei Bachin.

When Potanin's Interros holding company first committed to the games, "we had no idea what exactly would be required from us," Bachin said. Now delivering everything on time has become "a matter of honor," he said. Still, looking back, Bachin said Roza Khutor should not have been so compliant.

"When we were asked to build this or that, we were probably too yielding in taking up those requests," he said.

Potanin was the first to raise his voice. Last year he said he expected the Russian government to compensate him for at least the $500 million he is spending doing work that he said should have been the government's responsibility.

Roza Khutor has asked the government to create a special economic zone in the Sochi area. Tax rebates would allow the resort to be "operationally sound" and help it repay loans to the state-owned VEB bank more quickly, Bachin said.

The frustrations have been shared by Deripaska's Basic Element, which is suing Olimpstroi for about $50 million, the amount it had to fork out when Olimpstroi questioned the quality of the gravel used to protect the coast at the sea port. Deripaska's company also complained that the sea port it built is receiving only 20 percent of the cargo load that had been promised by the government, leaving revenues far lower than expected.

"It's pretty frustrating," Elinson said. "But we think it's curable if the government takes certain responsibly for those actions and comes up with a solution that would allow the project and the investor to recover."

He said at this stage all investors are concerned about the additional costs they have faced in Sochi.

Last month, Basic Element, Interros, Gazprom and state-owned Sberbank asked the government for help in covering some of their losses. Although there has not been an official response to the plea, the government has said in the past that investors bear full responsibility for any losses.

"Those are the risks of those who made the decision," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is overseeing the Sochi preparation, said in response to complaints last year.

In contrast to the Boris Yeltsin-era oligarchs like Deripaska and Potanin who are involved in capital-consuming projects with uncertain commercial prospects, the new generation of billionaires with close ties to Putin seems actually to be making money in Sochi.

One man who stands to profit from the games is Arkady Rotenberg, who has known Putin since he was 12.

Through a majority-owned subsidiary, Rotenberg holds nearly 39 percent of the Mostotrest company, which has amassed a dozen Olympics-related state contracts to build nearly all of the highways in the area. Its projects include a $1.6 billion bypass for Sochi, as well as tunnels, bridges and railroads for a total of at least $3.4 billion.

"Those who became billionaires before Putin's rise to power now have to pay the price, and that's why they're being forced to invest and build," Kasyanov said. "Those of Putin's generation are out there to make money. They use public funds. They don't invest their own money but simply work on state contracts."

One Russian businessman in charge of an Olympic project was publicly disgraced when he failed to deliver. On a tour of Olympic sites in February, Putin harshly scolded officials for the huge delays and cost overruns in building the ski jump, a project run by real estate developer Akhmed Bilalov, who had once owned 90 percent of it. The state-controlled Sberbank had taken a controlling stake in 2012 when it was clear the project was in trouble, and Bilalov's younger brother handed over the remaining 40 percent stake after Putin's televised dressing down.

Bilalov was immediately stripped of his position as a vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, but Putin still was not done with him. In April, prosecutors charged Bilalov with abuse of office in relation to his work as chairman of a state company that is building ski resorts elsewhere in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. Facing up to four years in prison if convicted, Bilalov left Russia.

At least one company has already acknowledged the futility of its investment in Sochi.

During his inspection tour in February, Putin asked the chairman of mining giant UGMK, Andrei Bokarev, whether he would give the new $100 million hockey arena that UGMK has built to the state after the games.

"There's nothing standing in the way of you doing it," Putin commented.

That was not a direct order but its intent was clear.

Putting aside previous pledges that the stadium would be dismantled after the Sochi games and moved near an UGMK facility to benefit the company's workers, Bokarev responded with gusto to the suggestion.

"We're ready!" he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-20-Sochi-Oligarchs/id-4ba88455c2c042f08e9f099ed5d66336

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Earn 1000 Bonus United Miles for Joining the Small Business Network

United launched their new?Small Business Network, where small businesses can earn bonus United miles when shopping at the program?s network partners.? Small business members can now earn award miles for day-to-day?spending, like paying utilities, buying office supplies or for shipping packages etc.

This program is separate from United?s PerksPlus business frequent flyer program, and is intended for small business owners or those who work in small businesses. However to join it?s a pretty informal process since they do not ask for a tax ID number, so anyone can join this as long as you consider yourself a sole?proprietor. Right now they have a special offer where once you join the network and make a purchase that earns 100 miles with a partner,?you?ll earn 1,000 bonus United miles.

United Small Business Network

To take advantage of this offer, you must first enroll in the MileagePlus Small Business Network and then complete qualifying earning activity for 100 miles or more with Small Business Network partners. This offer runs now through August 17, 2013. Some of the partners that you can earn miles at include Staples, The UPS store, Dell, Avis and Vistaprint to name a few.

Earning rates vary and can be anything from 1-6 miles per $1 spent, to 75 per car rental with Avis to individual bonuses worth well over 1,000 miles.

Earn bonus United miles through their Small Business Network.

Terms and Conditions:
This account will be separate from personal MileagePlus member accounts
*Enrollment bonus terms and conditions

• To qualify for 1,000 mile bonus, prior to 11:59PM CENTRAL on August 17, 2013, a business must:
  • Enroll in MileagePlus Small Business Network
  • Complete qualifying earning activity for 100 miles or more with Small Business Network partners
• Member must be a business that is duly organized and validly existing in the United States under the laws of the jurisdiction of its organization
• Offer?subject to terms & conditions?of the MileagePlus Small Business Network
• Bonus offer available one time per member account
• Earning points in connection with United PerksPlus will not count as qualified earning activity toward earning the enrollment bonus.

Miles accrued, awards, and benefits issued are subject to change and are subject to the rules of the United MileagePlus program. Please allow 6-8 weeks after completed qualifying activity for bonus miles to post to your account. United may change the MileagePlus program including, but not limited to, rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers or terminate the MileagePlus program at any time and without notice. Bonus award miles, award miles and any other miles earned through non-flight activity do not count or qualify for Premier? status unless expressly stated otherwise. United and its subsidiaries, affiliates and agents are not responsible for any products and services of other participating companies and partners. Taxes and fees related to award travel are the responsibility of the member. The accumulation of mileage or Premier status or any other status does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to the program. United and MileagePlus are registered service marks. For complete details about the MileagePlus program, go to www.united.com.

Though this might not be your primary means of earning United miles, business frequent flyer programs can still be a good way to rack up a lot of miles on small business purchases and to take advantage of category spending bonuses as well as double dipping on your purchases and travel.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

Source: http://thepointsguy.com/2013/05/earn-1000-bonus-united-miles-for-joining-the-small-business-network/

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Prenatal exposure to traffic is associated with respiratory infection in young children

May 20, 2013 ? Living near a major roadway during the prenatal period is associated with an increased risk of respiratory infection developing in children by the age of 3, according to a new study from researchers in Boston.

"The connection between in utero and early life cigarette smoke exposure and adverse infant respiratory outcomes is well-established, but the relation of prenatal ambient air pollution to risk of infant respiratory infection is less well-studied," said lead author Mary Rice, MD, a pulmonary and critical care fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "Our study extends previous findings by showing that proximity to a major roadway during the prenatal period is associated with increased risk of subsequent respiratory infection in children."

The study results will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference in Philadelphia.

The study included 1,271 mother-child pairs enrolled during the first trimester of pregnancy between 1999 and 2002 in Project Viva in eastern Massachusetts. The distance from home addresses to the nearest Federal class 1/2A ("major") roadway was calculated using geographic information system software. Respiratory infections were defined as maternal report of any doctor-diagnosed pneumonia, bronchiolitis, croup or other respiratory infection from birth until age 3.

Statistical analyses of the relationship between exposure to a major roadway and respiratory infection were adjusted for gender, birth weight, maternal education, household income, neighborhood income and education, maternal smoking during pregnancy, postnatal household smoking, breastfeeding, daycare attendance, presence of other young children in the household and season of birth. Of the 1,271 mother-child pairs studied, 6.4% lived less than 100 meters, 6.5% lived 100 to 200 meters, 33.7% lived 200 to less than 1000 meters and 53.4% lived 1,000 meters or more from a major roadway. By the age of 3, 678 (53.3%) of the children had had at least one doctor-diagnosed respiratory infection. After adjustment for possible confounders and risk factors for respiratory infection, children whose mothers lived less than 100 meters from a major roadway during pregnancy were 1.74 times as likely as those living 100 meters or more from a major roadway to have had a respiratory infection. Those living 100 to 200 meters from a major roadway were 1.49 times as likely to have had a respiratory infection.

"In our study, living in close proximity to a major roadway during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of respiratory infection in children, adding to the growing body of evidence linking exposure to traffic with adverse effects on health," said Dr. Rice. "Future research will need to clarify whether the apparent harmful postnatal effects of living close to a major road during pregnancy is due to air pollution from traffic or other exposures related to roads. We plan to further explore this connection using a measure of black carbon, a component of traffic-related air pollution. Using black carbon measures, we also plan to disentangle the associations of pre- vs postnatal air pollution exposures with respiratory infection in early life."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/m5GcSR10byk/130520142747.htm

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NASA Mars rover Curiosity drills second rock target

May 20, 2013 ? NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."

Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars. The first was Curiosity's drilling at a target called "John Klein" three months ago. Cumberland resembles John Klein and lies about nine feet (2.75 meters) farther west. Both are within a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay."

The hole that Curiosity drilled into Cumberland on May 19 is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters) deep.

The science team expects to use analysis of material from Cumberland to check findings from John Klein. Preliminary findings from analysis of John Klein rock powder by Curiosity's onboard laboratory instruments indicate that the location long ago had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. The favorable conditions included the key elemental ingredients for life, an energy gradient that could be exploited by microbes, and water that was not harshly acidic or briny.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess the history of habitable environmental conditions inside Gale Crater. After a few more high-priority observations by the rover within and near Yellowknife Bay, the rover team plans to start Curiosity on a months-long trek to the base of a layered mound, Mount Sharp, at the middle of the crater. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/B0Lxli31_qY/130520173205.htm

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Toronto mayor urged to step down if crack allegations true

By Julie Gordon

TORONTO (Reuters) - The mayor of Canada's largest city, facing allegations that he smoked crack cocaine, and made racial and homophobic slurs on video, must either refute the accusations or step down, fellow city politicians say.

"If the allegations are false, then the mayor is owed some apologies," said Councilor Josh Matlow, who has clashed with Ford on transit issues, but who usually takes a centrist line in a polarized city council.

"If the allegations are proven true beyond a reasonable doubt, then the mayor should resign."

An editor from U.S. media outlet Gawker and two reporters from the Toronto Star said separately they saw a cell phone video that appeared to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

Ford, who is no stranger to controversy, was elected mayor of Toronto more than two years ago after serving as a Councilor for 10 years. He called the allegations "ridiculous" on Friday and suggested they were part of a broader campaign against him by the left-leaning Toronto Star newspaper.

Dennis Morris, Ford's lawyer, told Reuters on Monday that it was still too early to consider legal action over the allegations and that if there is a video, it needs to be made public so that Canadians can judge the content for themselves.

"We're all waiting to see whether there's anything within this video and whether or not it's been doctored, edited, altered, that type of thing," he said.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the existence of the video or its contents.

Ford's brother, Doug, his closest ally on City Council, broke a brief and uncharacteristic silence on Saturday, telling local radio station Newstalk 1010, "I have never seen my brother involved with anything like coke."

The brothers canceled their regular Sunday appearance on a radio show at the same station.

The controversy made headlines across Canada and around the world, although some focused as much on Ford's crude remarks as the allegations of crack use.

"The allegations that have been leveled at Mayor Ford are not just serious, but they are also criminal," Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam told CBC News. "I would encourage the mayor to resign and to seek help as soon as possible should this be true."

The Toronto Star reporters who watched the video said Ford calls Liberal leader Justin Trudeau a "fag" and derisively refers to players on the high school football team he coaches as "minorities".

"If the mayor the of world's most diverse city is proven to have uttered racial and homophobic slurs, then he's not fit for the office," Councilor Matlow told Reuters.

Toronto City Council contains both left-leaning councilors, mostly from the city's core, and right-leaning candidates like Ford, who are mostly from suburban areas like Etobicoke.

The two groups tend to take different approaches on issues from transit to unionized labor, with often comical policy flip flops. In one example, City Council imposed a 5-cent fee on plastic grocery bags, then ignored Ford's plea to remove the fee and voted to ban the bags completely.

They then reversed that decision, leaving the issue exactly where it was before the whole debate started.

Elected on a platform to stop the gravy train at City Hall, Ford has courted controversy on many occasions; the Toronto Star on Friday published a list of 42 "extraordinary moments" in his political career.

(http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/05/17/rob_ford_42_remarkable_moments_from_toronto_mayors_career.html)

The list includes accusations that Ford skipped City Council meetings to coach high-school football and engaged in a confrontation outside his home with a reporter.

He was briefly ordered out of office in 2012 after he was found guilty of conflict of interest, but won an appeal and was allowed to finish his four-year term as mayor.

In 2008, assault charges brought against Ford by his wife Renata were withdrawn by the Crown because of inconsistencies in Renata's story. The couple later reconciled.

The rumblings of scandal have eroded Ford's popularity, although polls conducted before the reports of the video still enjoyed support from some 50 percent of the population, most of them from in Toronto's suburbs.

Both Gawker and the Star say the video is being shopped around by people with connections to the drug trade.

In an effort to buy the video and post it online, Gawker launched a "Crackstarter" campaign last week to raise $200,000. It has so far raised more than $76,000.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/toronto-mayor-urged-step-down-crack-allegations-true-191103463.html

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Chesapeake Energy hires Anadarko executive as CEO

By Anna Driver

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp on Monday named a top executive at rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp to head the No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer, which has suffered a governance crisis and liquidity crunch over the last year.

Chesapeake hired Robert Douglas Lawler, senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at Anadarko, to fill the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon in April.

Shares of Chesapeake were up 4 percent as Lawler's appointment ends a three-month search for McClendon's replacement.

Lawler, who takes over as CEO on June 17, faces a number of challenges in his new job. Several years of low natural gas prices and Chesapeake's heavy spending to acquire oil and gas properties in shale formations have left the company saddled with about $13 billion in debt.

Chesapeake has forecast a funding shortfall of $3.5 billion this year and said it will sell up to $7 billion in assets to help cover the expected gap between operating cash flow and capital expenditures.

"He is coming into a company that has serious challenges," said Fadel Gheit, an oil company analyst Oppenheimer. It's a mine field that he has to navigate through, but he's very experienced and I feel he will live up to the challenge."

Lawler, 46, worked for 25 years at Anadarko and Kerr-McGee, which Anadarko acquired in 2006. The petroleum engineer has experience in both onshore and offshore operations and was mostly recently responsible for big projects including Anadarko's liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique.

Lawler should help "to turn the page on the Aubrey McClendon saga that has consumed the story for the past year," Wells Fargo analyst David Tameron said in a research note and others noted that he would bring needed capital discipline to Chesapeake.

Under the watchful eye of top shareholders O. Mason Hawkins of Southeastern Asset Management and Carl Icahn, Chesapeake has cut spending this year and is focusing on drilling its best properties while producing higher quantities of more valuable crude oil.

Hawkins and Icahn took control of the board last June after McClendon was stripped of his title as chairman of the company he co-founded in 1989.

McClendon's departure came after a tumultuous year during which a series of Reuters investigations led to civil and criminal investigations of the company.

Chesapeake also faces probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into a perk that gave McClendon a stake in company wells, and by the U.S. Department of Justice into possible antitrust violations over Michigan land deals.

A internal probe by Chesapeake into the land deals and the well program found no intentional wrongdoing on the part of McClendon, the company said in February.

Steven Dixon, Chesapeake's chief operating officer has been acting as interim CEO. At the time of his appointment in late March, the company created a three-person office of the chairman, that included Dixon, Chairmen Archie Dunham and Chief Financial Officer Domenic Dell'Osso. With the appointment of Lawler, the office of the chairman will be discontinued, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma company, said.

Dunham will continue as the company's non-executive chairman, Dixon will continue as COO and Dell'Osso remains CFO.

Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said the company would name a replacement for Lawler soon.

Chesapeake shares rose 82 cents to $21.09 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has gained 22 percent so far this year.

(Reporting By Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Maria Ajit Thomas in Bangalore and Ernest Scheyder in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Jeffrey Benkoe and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chesapeake-energy-hires-anadarko-executive-ceo-wsj-052728182.html

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'Star Trek' boldly goes to $84 million at box office

Movies

Pamela McClintock Hollywood Reporter

10 hours ago

Paramount Pictures

Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as Kirk in "Star Trek Into Darkness."

Paramount and Skydance Productions' "Star Trek Into Darkness" topped the box office chart with a solid four-day opening of $84.1 million -- even if it didn't engage warp speed and hit $100 million.

Overseas, the J.J. Abrams-directed tentpole took in another $40 million over the weekend for an early global total of $164.6 million, including $80.5 million internationally. The 3-D pic, playing in 40 markets, tied with "Iron Man 3," which took in $40.2 million in its fourth weekend.

But it was Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" -- benefiting from being the only female-skewing event pic -- that topped the foreign chart, grossing a solid $42.1 million as it opened in 49 markets following its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival May 15.

There was plenty of action overseas all the way around. Universal's "Fast & Furious 6" tore out of the gate as it debuted in the U.K. and Ireland, grossing $13.8 million to score the biggest opening ever for a Universal title in those countries and boding well for the film's domestic bow over Memorial Day weekend and its continued expansion offshore.

Heading into the weekend, many box office observers believed "Into Darkness" had a shot at hitting $100 million in North America, easily outpacing the $79.2 million opening of Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek," which reinvigorated the sci-fi film franchise. Paramount had hoped for $100 million, but hedged its bets by estimating an $80 million to $100 million debut.

VIDEO: "Star Trek Into Darkness" Trailer: The Enterprise Is "Dead"

Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said he was "extremely pleased" with the sequel's performance, both domestically and internationally, where the studio waged a massive marketing campaign to improve the franchise's standing ("Star Trek" has never been as popular overseas).

"'Into Darkness' did 6 percent better than the 2009 'Star Trek' and received an 'A' CinemaScore, so we know people love the movie," Moore said. "And overseas, it is pacing 82 percent ahead of Abrams' first film."

In Russia -- where sci-fi often suffers, but 3-D is enormously popular -- "Into Darkness" debuted to $8 million, four times the opening of the 2009 reboot, which topped out at only $4 million.

Moore says "Into Darkness" could ultimately double the $127 million earned by "Star Trek" in its entire run internationally.

"Into Darkness" returns Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the roles of Captain James T. Kirk and Spock. Other returning castmembers include Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Karl Urban. This time out, a scheming villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch resorts to terrorism to threaten Earth.

Paramount and Skydance co-financed the $190 million tentpole, and produced alongside Abrams' Bad Robot. The script was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.

In the U.S., "Into Darkness" skewed male (64 percent) while 73 percent of the audience was over the age of 25.

IMAX theaters turned in big numbers thanks to Trekkies who wanted to see the film in a large-format, with 336 theaters taking in $13.5 million.

There is no doubt but that "Into Darkness" faced tough competition from "The Great Gatsby" and "Iron Man 3." In its third weekend, Disney and Marvel Studios' "Iron Man 3" came in No. 2 domestically with $35.2 million. The billion-dollar baby has now taken in $337.1 million in North America and $736.2 million internationally for a total $1.07 billion, the No. 9 film of all time.

"The Great Gatsby," from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, placed No. 3 domestically, falling 53 percent in its second weekend for a handy cume of $90.2 million.

13 photos to get you in the mood for "Star Trek Into Darkness"

Warners' belief that "Gatsby" would serve as counterprogramming to action fare is paying off and already marks Luhrmann's biggest success to date in North America, not accounting for inflation (his previous best was the $57.4 million grossed by "Moulin Rouge!")

"Gatsby" also marks Luhrmann's best opening overseas, coming in 38 percent ahead of Australia ($30.4 million) and "Moulin Rouge!" ($13.8 million). The 3-D film did nice business in numerous markets, including earning $6.2 million in Russia and $6.1 million in the U.K., despite "Fast and Furious." It placed No. 1 in France with $4.7 million, buoyed by its premiere in Cannes.

At the U.S. specialty box office, Noah Baumbach scored with the debut of his black-and-white independent film "Frances Ha,"which grossed $134,000 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a location average of $33,500.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/star-trek-darkness-boldly-goes-84-million-box-office-1C9984550

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Invasive crazy ants are displacing fire ants in areas throughout southeastern US

May 16, 2013 ? Invasive "crazy ants" are displacing fire ants in areas across the southeastern United States, according to researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. It's the latest in a history of ant invasions from the southern hemisphere and may prove to have dramatic effects on the ecosystem of the region.

The "ecologically dominant" crazy ants are reducing diversity and abundance across a range of ant and arthropod species -- but their spread can be limited if people are careful not to transport them inadvertently, according to Ed LeBrun, a research associate with the Texas invasive species research program at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory in the College of Natural Sciences

The study by LeBrun and his colleagues was published in Biological Invasions.

"When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back," said LeBrun. "Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound."

LeBrun said that crazy ants, by contrast, "go everywhere." They invade people's homes, nest in crawl spaces and walls, become incredibly abundant and damage electrical equipment.

The crazy ants were first discovered in the U.S. in 2002 by a pest control operator in a suburb of Houston, and have since established populations in 21 counties in Texas, 20 counties in Florida, and a few sites in southern Mississippi and southern Louisiana.

In 2012 the species was formally identified as Nylanderia fulva, which is native to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. Frequently referred to as Rasberry crazy ants, these ants recently have been given the official common name "Tawny crazy ants."

The Tawny crazy ant invasion is the most recent in a series of ant invasions from South America brought on by human movement. The Argentine ant invaded through the port of New Orleans in about 1891. In 1918 the black imported fire ant showed up in Mobile, Ala. Then in the 1930s, the red imported fire ant arrived in the U.S. and began displacing the black fire ant and the Argentine ants.

The UT researchers studied two crazy ant invasion sites on the Texas Gulf Coast and found that in those areas where the Tawny crazy ant population is densest, fire ants were eliminated. Even in regions where the crazy ant population is less dense, fire ant populations were drastically reduced. Other ant species, particularly native species, were also eliminated or diminished.

LeBrun said crazy ants are much harder to control than fire ants. They don't consume most of the poison baits that kill fire ant mounds, and they don't have the same kinds of colony boundaries that fire ants do. That means that even if they're killed in a certain area, the supercolony survives and can swarm back over the area.

"They don't sting like fire ants do, but aside from that they are much bigger pests," he said. "There are videos on YouTube of people sweeping out dustpans full of these ants from their bathroom. You have to call pest control operators every three or four months just to keep the infestation under control. It's very expensive."

LeBrun said that in northern Argentina and southern Brazil, where the ants are native, populations are likely held in check by other ant species and a variety of natural enemies. In the U.S. there is no such natural control.

Here the crazy ants can attain densities up to 100 times as great as all other ants in the area combined. In the process, they monopolize food sources and starve out other species. LeBrun said the crazy ants, which are omnivorous, may also directly attack and kill other ant and arthropod species.

The overall result is a significant reduction in abundance and biodiversity at the base of the food chain, which is likely to have implications for the ecosystem as a whole.

"Perhaps the biggest deal is the displacement of the fire ant, which is the 300 pound gorilla in Texas ecosystems these days," said LeBrun. "The whole system has changed around fire ants. Things that can't tolerate fire ants are gone. Many that can have flourished. New things have come in. Now we are going to go through and whack the fire ants and put something in its place that has a very different biology. There are going to be a lot of changes that come from that."

LeBrun said a great deal about the Tawny crazy ants remains unknown, including their potential range. So far, most of the colonies are in fairly wet environments with mild winters, near the coast, so it may be the case that they can't thrive in drier or colder climates, and that fire ants will remain dominant in those areas.

The spread of the Tawny crazy ants may also be limited, even within the more hospitable climates, by caution from humans. The reproductive members of the species don't fly. So when left to their own devices, crazy ant colonies can only advance about 200 meters a year. That means they're dependent on humans to colonize new areas.

"They are opportunistic nesters," said LeBrun. "They can take up residence in everything from a house plant, to an empty container left outside, to an RV. So they're easily transported by us. But the flip side of that is that if people living in or visiting invaded areas are careful and check for the crazy ants when moving or going on longer trips, they could have a huge impact on the spread." Nursery products also appear to be a key way these ants spread, so both buyers and sellers should be watchful for these ants.

LeBrun said that cutting down on the number of transplantation events could slow the spread by years or decades. And that extra time could give the ecosystem time to adapt and researchers time to develop better control methods.

"We can really make a difference," he said, "but we need to be careful, and we need to know more."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/NMEk72jeZow/130516123916.htm

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Seen and heard in Cannes

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and director Baz Luhrmann arrive for the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and director Baz Luhrmann arrive for the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Dancers perform on the red carpet ahead of the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Jury president Steven Spielberg poses for photographers during a photo call for the jury at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

From left, director and jury president Steven Spielberg, actress Nicole Kidman and actor Daniel Auteuil attend the opening ceremony ahead of the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

From left, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Leonardo DiCaprio, director and jury president Steven Spielberg, actress Nicole Kidman and actor Daniel Auteuil stand on stage as the jury is presented during the opening ceremony ahead of the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

CANNES, France (AP) ? Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the Cannes Film Festival:

LUHRMANN: JAY-Z KEY TO 'GATSBY'

Not everyone is a fan of "The Great Gatsby'''s hip-hop flavored soundtrack, but director Baz Luhrmann says using modern music was essential to capturing the spirit of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel.

"We wanted the film to feel like how it would have felt to read the novel in 1925," the director told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival, where the movie provided opening-night screen fireworks and red-carpet glamor.

"Fitzgerald put music front and center in his novel. He took African-American street music called jazz and he put it right as a star in the book. People said, 'Why are you doing that? It's a fad, it'll be gone next week.' And he said, because I want this book to feel right here, right now."

Luckily for Luhrmann, "Gatsby" star Leonardo DiCaprio introduced him to Jay-Z, and the superstar agreed to help score the film. Two of Jay-Z's own tracks ? "$100 Bill" and the Grammy-winning jam "No Church in the Wild" ? feature on the soundtrack, and he elicited contributions from the likes of wife Beyonce, Emeli Sande and Lana Del Rey.

Luhrmann also used the soundtrack to counter criticism of the absence of African-American speaking characters in the movie ? as in Fitzgerald's book.

"Jay said that music is a star in the film so I think there is a great African-American presence in this film and I am very, very grateful for it," he said.

?Jill Lawless, Twitter: http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

CANNES: WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

The French Riviera is a magnet for gamblers, so it's no surprise oddsmakers are speculating furiously about who will win prizes from the Cannes Film Festival jury headed by Steven Spielberg.

Journalist and Cannes betting expert Neil Young ranks "Grisgris," by Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, the early favorite for the Palme d'Or at 5-1, followed by "The Past," from Iran's Asghar Farhadi ? who won an Academy Award for "A Separation" ? at 11-2 and U.S. director James Gray's 1920s New York story "The Immigrant" at 13-2.

Other frontrunners are "Like Father, Like Son" from Korean director Kore-eda Hirokazu; Arnaud Desplechin's "Jimmy P," with Benicio del Toro as a traumatized Native American war veteran; and Alexander Payne's road movie "Nebraska."

But none of those films has even screened yet, and the odds are sure to change often before the prizes are handed out on May 26.

?Jill Lawless, Twitter: http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

MOORE EXPRESSES ADMIRATION FOR JOLIE

Add Julianne Moore to those who are commending Angelina Jolie for her decision to reveal her choice to have a double mastectomy.

"I think that I'm very impressed. I'm impressed with her and I'm impressed with her announcement particularly because I feel there are so many women who are facing the same kind of choice, and it's a way to kind of validate and have solidarity with women who are having the same issue," Moore said in an interview from Cannes on Wednesday.

"It's obviously a really, really complicated (decision), and so I think her decision to go public about something like that can only help other women."

Jolie announced this week that she had her breasts removed recently because she had a very high chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Jolie has since had reconstructive surgery. Jolie's mother had breast cancer and died of ovarian cancer, while her grandmother suffered from ovarian cancer.

?Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Twitter: http://Twitter.com/nekesamumbi

CUISINE GETS A STARRING ROLE AT CANNES:

The chefs who prepared the dinner for the Cannes Film Festival's opening gala were as starry as the guests.

Anne Sophie Pic, who is a three-star Michelin chef, and Bruno Oger, who has two, collaborated for the four-course meal after the festival's opening night film of "The Great Gatsby" on Wednesday night. Guests were treated to a menu that included King crab with shrimp and sea bass with rhubarb and celery. Select media were given a preview on Tuesday.

Pic and Oger will join other chefs during the festival at the Electrolux Agora Pavillion to ensure VIPs get top cuisine in the resort town.

?Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Twitter: http://Twitter.com/nekesamumbi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-16-France-Cannes%20Notebook/id-0a83dd05949a410fbe1900f6a4ece62f

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Rise of the stay-at-home dad - MercatorNet

? 10:28:00 PM Rise of the stay-at-home dad Tamara Rajakariar | 15 May 2013 | tags : Popular culture that conveys the modern family likes to depict single-parent households, homosexual couples, the younger woman with the much older man, and so on. More recently, another "character" has been added into the mix - the stay-at-home dad, and not only as a means for comedic respite. One only needs to look at the success of current Australian TV show?House Husbands?to see that this a growing trend. These dads may still make up the minority but as the reports show, numbers are definitely on the rise. A recent article points out that?the Australian Bureau of Statistics lists 39,300 stay-at-home dads. I?m actually quite surprised at this number, even with 426,000 stay-at-home mums still in the picture. It makes sense though, with the breaking down of traditional roles and women becoming more career-driven. The concept of stay-at-home has been left rather?unexplored until recently, and so it still seems a fascinating new world. So much so that I can't even claim a readily-held opinion on the whole thing. I do know that a father holds such an important role in a child's life; one that definitely cannot be replaced. As for them being the dominant care-giver while mum's at work - every family functions differently and I guess that research (years into the future) will one day show us if that was a good idea or not. Personally I can't see harm in this choice. And so far, research and media on the subject only point to the differences between the way a man and woman approach the running of a house: generally silly little things. What could be problematic however is the cultural view held towards stay-at-home dads. Even though we don't like to admit it, there tends to be a perception of men in this role as weak and not so masculine. There?s something so charming about a man with his child, but putting him in the role of stay-at-home dad doesn't have the same appeal. The fathers themselves are airing these kinds of concerns through the new ?daddy bloggers?.?Forget mummy bloggers, we can now be a fly on the wall while dad takes control of the house. What do you think of the stay-at-home dad concept? Is it the woman?s job to have the dominant child-rearing role, or it completely fine for the father to take this on? ?

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Source: http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/12205

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Movie Reviews: The Sapphires & Iron Man Three | Gay Richmond ...

Shirtless Guy Pearce and a sprinkling of hot soldiers

Read More: Iron Man Three, The Sapphires, tv jerry

The Sapphires

(Top photo)

Director: Wayne Blair
Writers: Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson
Stars: Chris O?Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy

As late as the 60s, Australian Aboriginals were scorned by many of the white inhabitants. This based-on-fact film is about 4 young women who form the eponymous group (along with manager Chris O?Dowd) and go to Vietnam to entertain the troops. It?s a mostly feel-good story about their mostly fun adventure, but the toll of racial discrimination always hovers. The script is sometimes clunky, but the performances are plucky. I?m a big fan of 60?s soul and this soundtrack is packed with classics. It?s slight-but-sweet.

GAY ANGLE: A sprinkling of hot soldiers.

?

Iron Man Three

(Bottom image)

Director: Shane Black
Writers: Drew Pearce (screenplay), Shane Black (screenplay)
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) almost loses it all,? but the plot doesn?t really matter. There are certain things we?ve come to expect from this franchise and this installment delivers (possibly the best yet). Cool gadgets and flashy effects. Big action sequences. Enjoyable characters. Genuinely funny interactions. It snaps along with great skill and lots of fun! Everything a comic book flick should be. NOTE: Of course, stay thru the credits for a funny cameo? Best Bet.

GAY ANGLE: Even covered in special effects, Guy Pearce shirtless is always a treat.

Jerry Williams reviewed movies for WTVR-TV for 14 years and for Style Weekly for 10 years. When he launched his own website in 1998 at TVJerry.com, he took his reviews to the Internet. Through those hundreds of reviews, Jerry kept his sexual orientation muted. So, he's excited to be adding "gay angles" to his postings for GayRVA.com.

Source: http://www.gayrva.com/arts-culture/movie-reviews-the-sapphires-iron-man-three/

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PFT: Ex-Saints, Chargers RB Muncie dies at 60

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Safety Bernard Pollard isn?t simply done talking about the Ravens.? He?s done talking to the Ravens.? Well, at least some of them.

Pollard tells 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore that he won?t be attending Baltimore?s post-Super Bowl visit to the White House.

?I?m not gonna be there,? Pollard said.? ?I gotta sit this one out, man.? I actually have a vacation with my family and then I?m coming back to get [my ring].? If I didn?t have a vacation, I wouldn?t come in anyway.?

So what?s the problem?

?It?s not my teammates,? Pollard said.? ?It?s not my teammates at all.? I would celebrate with them any time, any day of the week I would celebrate with them.? But at the end of the day, I know what happened, I know what took place. . . . I?m sorry, I just don?t want to be in the room with certain people.?

Pollard didn?t name the ?certain people? with whom he doesn?t want to share space.? But he heaped praise on G.M. Ozzie Newsome and owner Steve Bisciotti, so it?s apparently not them.

?Ozzie is great,? Pollard said.? ?Ozzie is amazing.? I love Ozzie, man, he gave me an opportunity.? Mr.? Bisciotti.? It?s just one of those things where they made some moves, they cleaned house, Ozzie put together a really, really good defense as we see on paper right now.?

Pollard still seems to be particularly troubled by the situation that has been characterized in the media as ?practically a mutiny,? along with its potential link to his release.

?I?m just a player where you ask me my opinion, I?m gonna tell you,? Pollard said.? ?And for you to get upset or whatever afterwards, you know, you asked me.? That?s that. . . .? We were just asked our opinion about something.? And we let the coach know our opinion. . . .? It was us as players. . . .? We were asked, the floor was open.? And we responded, and let the coaches know how we felt, and that?s how it has to be as a football team.? We can?t walk around on eggshells as a football team.?

Though Pollard didn?t specifically mention coach John Harbaugh, it?s likely that he?s one of the people against whom Pollard holds a grudge.

Then again, Harbaugh and the Ravens ultimately may be in the right.? Pollard will never admit ? indeed, he may not even realize ? that he was out of line or over the top in anything he said or did while with the Ravens.? Still, Pollard has a reputation for being outspoken, for complaining, and for drawing too much attention to himself.

?Three teams in how many years,? one source said in the wake of Pollard?s release. ?Soon four.? What does that tell you??

The Ravens surely didn?t expect Pollard?s habit of complaining to suddenly change once he was released.? Still, if he can manage not to complain his way off the roster in Tennessee until 2014, it?ll be well worth the price of admission to see the Ravens and Titans get together in Baltimore.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/14/chuck-muncie-dies-at-60/related/

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After Earth Clip: Jaden Smith vs. Angry Monkeys

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/after-earth-clip-jaden-smith-vs-angry-monkeys/

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Most Human Males Never Retired (they just died) | The Big Picture

Click to enlarge

Source: The Motley Fool

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?The entire concept of retirement is unique to the late-20th?century. Before World War II, most Americans worked until they died.?

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The quote above is from Morgan Housel. He has become the most?consistently interesting writer on Motley Fool (a site I never really grokked).

I was reminded of this over the weekend when I finally got around to reading a post of his on the flight back from the West Coast. The chart above is from a longer piece on savings for retirement ? and we all know all the usual memes on that subject all to well.

But here is the crazy thing we often forget: Throughout history, most people never really got to retired. Men typically were working at age 65 and beyond. In 1880, 78% of Men over the age of 65 were still working. Most men worked til they dropped. Only recently ? since the 1940s ? have less than a majority of over 65 year old men not been employed in some capacity.

That is an astonishing data point. Retirement as we know it today is a less than century old phenomena. The truth of the matter is that most Humans (particularly males) never had the opportunity to retire. They simply worked until they died. You could not work, but then you wouldn?t eat ? leading to the same resolution.

The combination of Social Security, private pension funds, IRAs and 401(ks) are the funding mechanisms. They are quite imperfect, but what they require is tweaking, not undoing. Raise the FICA cap on Social Security, and that becomes financially sound. In IRAs and 401(k)s, you can replace high cost under-performing active funds with low cost passive ETFs and see an immediate improvement in returns. There are simple fixes for what are essentially actuarial issues.

One last thing: Note that after 120 years of the labor force participation rate dropping for the over 65 male, it has begun ticking up again. The key question is whether this is merely a post-crisis catch up caused by 3 crashes ? Stocks, houses & stocks again ? or whether it represents a fundamental change in society.

We probably won?t know for another 5 years or so, but it is worth watching closely.

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Source:
The Biggest Retirement Myth Ever Told
Morgan Housel
Motley Fool May 2, 2013?
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/05/02/the-biggest-retirement-myth-ever-told.aspx

Category: 401(k), Employment, Investing, Mathematics

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Source: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/05/most-human-males-never-retired-they-just-died/

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