NASA spacecraft exploring solar system's edge (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? More than three decades after launching, NASA's workhorse spacecraft is inching closer to leaving the solar system behind.

Currently 11 billion miles away from the sun, Voyager 1 has been exploring the fringes of the solar system since 2004. Scientists said Monday the spacecraft has entered a new region in the solar system that they have dubbed the "stagnation zone."

Voyager 1 still has a little way to go before it completely exits the solar system and becomes the first manmade probe to cross into interstellar space, or the vast space between stars.

The spacecraft has enough battery power to last until 2020, but scientists think it will reach interstellar space before that ? in a matter of several months to years.

Chief scientist Ed Stone of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the timing is unclear because no spacecraft has ever ventured this far.

"The journey continues," Stone told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

For the past year, Voyager 1 used its instruments to explore the new region. It appeared to be the cosmic doldrums where solar winds streaming out from the sun at 1 million mph have dramatically eased and high-energy particles from outside are seeping in ? a sign that Voyager 1 is at the doorstep of interstellar space.

Scientists expect to see several telltale signs when Voyager 1 finally crosses the boundary including a change in the magnetic field direction and the type of wind. Interstellar wind is slower, colder and denser than solar wind.

Even with certain expectations, Stone warned that the milestone won't be cut-and-dried.

"We will be confused when it first happens," Stone said.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 to tour the outer planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. After their main mission ended, both headed toward interstellar space in opposite directions. Voyager 2 is traveling slower than Voyager 1 and is currently 9 billion away miles from the sun.

___

Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

___

Online:

Voyager mission: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_sc/us_sci_nasa_voyager1

colts turkey the walking dead the walking dead turkey map walter isaacson walter isaacson

San Gabriel Valley still feeling effects of windstorm

Los Angeles County's most potent windstorm in recent years continued to dole out complications Saturday, depriving about 80,000 homes and businesses of power for a third day and sapping pre-holiday spirit in some foothill communities.

Nearly 74,000 Southern California Edison customers remained without power Saturday in about a dozen San Gabriel Valley communities, including Pasadena, Temple City, San Marino and Arcadia. Utility workers handed out flashlights, ice and bottled water to affected residents.

The storm ? a meteorological mutation of typical Santa Ana winds ? blasted the region with cold northerly winds instead of warm seasonal gusts, and it bowled over myriad trees and snapped power lines. At the wind event's peak, more than 400,000 customers throughout Los Angeles County lost power, about 235,000 of them in San Gabriel Valley cities.

Photos: Santa Ana winds

At night, large stretches of normally bustling commercial thoroughfares like Valley Boulevard were dim as cars crawled past dark traffic signals and closed gas stations, supermarkets and restaurants.

"This is probably the most severe windstorm event in terms of impact on the power grid in the last decade," said Gil Alexander, a Southern California Edison spokesman. "Looking at our history, this is one of the more significant ones."

Alexander said the utility hoped to return power to most homes by the end of Sunday, but he said crews were having problems reaching affected neighborhoods because of downed trees. Although the windstorm had moved away, he said it was possible that traditional Santa Ana winds could swoop in and aggravate the situation.

"We still see the potential for some ongoing wind damage," Alexander said. "We have more than 500 personnel involved in assessing the damage and working around the clock, so we're hopeful that most of our customers will have power restored by the end of the weekend."

Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said service had been restored by Saturday evening to nearly all of its more than 200,000 customers who lost power because of the storm. But, he said, an additional 5,000 customers in San Pedro lost power Saturday. He said he was not sure whether that outage was related to weather.

Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard, said there were some robust gusts Saturday, including winds clocked at nearly 50 mph in the Newhall Pass and in the mid-60s in the mountains.

Strong Santa Ana winds are expected to ramp up again Monday through Tuesday, though Seto said they were not predicted to be quite as forceful as the previous gusts. They are expected to come from the northeast, meaning they would sweep through San Fernando Valley communities and the Cajon and Newhall passes and spare the San Gabriel Valley from the most powerful gusts, which could top 60 mph.

"They'll still feel the gusty winds, but they won't feel them like before," Seto said of the already hard-hit communities. "When the winds were more northerly, they were coming right at them."

In towns such as Arcadia and South Pasadena, city crews worked to clear major streets of trees and other debris. City officials reminded motorists to treat blacked-out traffic signals like four-way stop signs. Some streets remained closed, as did the L.A. County Arboretum and several parks and libraries.

In Temple City, where about 75% of the town's roughly 10,000 homes had been without power, the situation has steadily improved, said Steven Masura, the city's community development director. About 3,700 homes were still without power early Saturday afternoon. Masura said he was hopeful that by Monday all would get electricity back.

Friday night, the city's big commercial corridor at Las Tunas Drive and Rosemead Boulevard was up and running after losing power during the storm.

"We're hoping that by late Sunday we'll be 99% up, but we don't know for sure," Masura said.

The windstorm created an uptick in patients at local hospitals. The emergency room at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena saw a 5% increase in patients Wednesday night through Friday night over the usual 170 patients it sees each day.

Several were injured in car accidents due to debris-strewn streets and nonworking traffic signals, said Dr. Robert Goldweber, assistant director of the hospital's emergency department. Emergency room staff also saw many elderly people who'd fallen in the dark. Some patients' oxygen generators failed.

"People needed oxygen and their oxygen generators went out. They didn't have the equipment they needed," Goldweber said.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/UIhy9szgNR4/la-me-wind-follow-20111204,0,2987057.story

peter marshall peter marshall zombie boy zombie boy harvard yale julia child the descendants

Limp Bizkit have been dropped by Interscope Records

The reformed Nu-metal band were let go from Interscope records after poor sales of their comeback album, ‘Gold Cobra’, although frontman Fred Durst said the group are glad to now be independent. He told radio show Poolside With Dean Delray: “One of the things with ‘Gold Cobra’ was it was a record for us to [...]

Source: http://www.celebritymound.com/limp-bizkit-have-been-dropped-by-interscope-records/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=limp-bizkit-have-been-dropped-by-interscope-records

mike wallace koch brothers dash diet weather phoenix dippin dots triumph the insult comic dog tucson weather

San Fran Burger Kings also charge for kids meals (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Burger King has joined McDonald's in charging for kids meal toys to comply with San Francisco's ban.

A new city law that took effect Thursday bans free toys with kids meals that are high in fat, sugar and salt. It's designed to encourage nutritional fast food for youngsters.

McDonald's and Burger King decided to charge a dime for the trinkets.

McDonald's is using the toy money to build a Ronald McDonald House for families of young patients at the new University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center at Mission Bay.

Burger King spokeswoman Kristen Hauser tells the San Francisco Chronicle ( http://bit.ly/sU7bag) that Burger King hasn't decided what to do with the toy proceeds.

___

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_he_me/us_kids_meal_crackdown

walmart jcpenney loft old navy cyber monday best deals cyber monday best deals brownback

Differing laws on trafficking impede US crackdown

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime.

In Connecticut, for instance, the strict penalties for sex traffickers are among the toughest in the nation. Neighboring Massachusetts, meanwhile, had no statute specifically targeting sex trafficking until one was signed into law days ago.

The report released Thursday by the advocacy group Shared Hope International said more than a dozen states have passed new crackdowns, but four states ? Maine, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming ? have yet to impose any specific restrictions on the crime.

"Each state's laws show omissions in protective provisions for child victims and (they) lack strong laws to prosecute the men who rent the bodies of other men's children," said Linda Smith, the group's founder and president.

As many as 15,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the U.S. each year, according to advocacy groups. They say there could be more than 100,000 victims in the country now.

Victims are sometimes smuggled in from outside the U.S., but many started out as young runaways or simply needed money. Human traffickers target men, women and children for forced labor or services, while sex traffickers make their victims work in the sex trade. The crimes range from smuggling immigrants into the U.S. to work in restaurants or homes to forcing young women to work as prostitutes.

Holly Austin Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel in New Jersey where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair.

"Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me," said Smith, now 33 and an advocate of stricter sex trafficking laws.

Federal authorities can prosecute traffickers under the Trafficking Victims Protections Act, enacted in 2000, which carries stiff penalties. The law also created a new visa allowing victims of the crime to become temporary U.S. residents. But prosecutors have limited resources and often have to rely on the states to crack down on the crime.

Some states have taken aggressive steps to strengthen their laws, the report said. Fifteen states now allow victims to seek civil damages from their traffickers in court. Four states ? Illinois, Maryland, Nevada and New York ? have laws that vacate convictions for sex trafficking victims.

Other states were criticized in the report for failing to pass strict laws. The report also found that 10 states have yet to adopt sex trafficking laws and that 19 don't make it a crime to buy sex acts with a minor. It also found that Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming have no laws making it a crime to use the Internet to purchase or sell sex acts with a minor.

Washington Attorney General Robert McKenna, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said policymakers have to play catch-up to establish consistent policies to rein in the crime.

"Having a strong, fairly uniform set of laws across the country is very important, because traffickers are mobile, their victims are mobile and we don't want traffickers to be moving their victims even more trying to evade stronger state laws, by moving to states with weaker laws," he said.

The state definitions of illegal trafficking that vary from federal standards can also make it more difficult to get additional protections and services from the U.S. government, said Kirsten Widner of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University's School of Law.

"And if they have no definition at all, that could be a real problem," said Widner.

One high-profile battleground was Massachusetts, which for years faced pressure from advocates to enact anti-trafficking laws. In November, Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill that would impose a life sentence on anyone found guilty of trafficking children for sex or forced labor. It also allows prosecutors to look at first-time offenders under 18 as victims rather than criminals.

"We have focused on the very people who have been victimized the most," said Attorney General Martha Coakley, who pushed for the bill. "What the bill does is change the lens around on that. That's why implementing this is going to be difficult. I think we can do it. It's a real change in the way we've approached it."

Some advocates, though, say more aggressive enforcement of the laws, instead of strict new ones, may help crack down on the crime. State authorities need to implement the laws on the books, better coordinate with federal prosecutors and spend more resources trying to identify victims, said Mary Ellison, a director of policy for the Polaris Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group.

"Traffickers make their money on the backs of the most vulnerable and there's not as much of a risk because laws aren't implemented as strongly as they want," she said. "Until they see these laws implemented, they're not going to be deterred because they're making tons and tons of money exploiting and enslaving people."

___

Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston, Manuel Valdes in Seattle, Wash. and Steve Helber in Midlothian, Va., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-01-Child%20Sex%20Trafficking/id-a092210d603b45698990619827437cd2

mark herzlich malawi malawi angela davis angela davis zombie apocalypse matt moore

Senate rejects, for now, extending payroll tax cut (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Senate Republicans on Thursday defeated a plan by President Barack Obama to renew a temporary cut in the Social Security payroll tax, even as all sides on Capitol Hill continue to promise an eventual compromise on a tax holiday before Congress leaves Washington for Christmas.

More than two dozen of the Senate's 47 Republicans also voted to kill an alternative plan backed by GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in a vote that exposed a wide split among the party over whether renewing an existing 2 percentage point payroll tax cut makes sense.

The defeat of the competing plans came as House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said for the first time that renewing the payroll tax cut would boost the lagging economy, a view many in his party don't share. Boehner also promised compromise on a renewal of long-term jobless benefits through the end of 2012.

The payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits are at the center of a costly, politically-charged year-end agenda in which Democrats seem poised to prevail in renewing a tax cut that many Republicans back only reluctantly. But Republicans are insisting ? in a switch from last year ? that the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits be paid for by cutting spending.

Both parties are seeking the political high ground as next year's elections loom, with Democrats accusing Republicans of siding with the rich, and Republicans countering that Democrats were taxing small business owners who create jobs.

The first payroll tax plan to fall was a Democratic measure that was the centerpiece of Obama's jobs package announced in September. It would cut the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 3.1 percent next year and also extend the cut to employers, with its hefty $265 billion cost paid for by slapping a 3.25 percent surtax on income exceeding $1 million.

Republicans and a handful of Democrats combined to kill the measure on a 51-49 tally that fell well short of the 60 required under Senate rules. For the first time, a Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, voted to support the millionaires' surcharge.

The White House issued a statement by Obama that accused Republicans of voting to raise taxes on 160 million people because they "refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share." The statement didn't mention the GOP alternative.

In a surprising result, Democrats and more than two dozen Republicans voted 78-20 to kill the $120 billion GOP alternative that would have simply extended the existing 2 percentage point payroll tax cut, financed by freezing federal workers' pay through 2015 and reducing the government bureaucracy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Republican opponents "insist on helping the very wealthy while turning their back on the middle class," while another member of the leadership, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans were in full-blown retreat just days after Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said on "Fox News Sunday" that "the payroll tax holiday has not stimulated job creation. We don't think that is a good way to do it."

On Thursday, however, Boehner disagreed.

"I don't think there's any question that the payroll tax relief, in fact, helps the economy," Boehner said. "You're allowing more Americans, frankly, every working American, to keep more of their money in their pocket. Frankly, that's a good thing."

Meanwhile, House Republicans readied legislation of their own that aides said likely would include the tax cut extension as well as renewed benefits for long-term victims of the worst recession in decades and a painfully slow recovery.

Boehner made clear that all costs must be paid for, and said higher taxes were a non-starter.

"Republicans are ready to work with the president and the Democrats to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance temporarily, but they must be offset with spending cuts elsewhere," he said.

A meeting between Boehner and Reid produced no progress, aides said, and House Republicans were considering a GOP-tilting version of the measure before Congress would settle on an eventual compromise that might not pass until just days before Christmas.

But Thursday's votes indicated there was lots of reluctance among Republicans to renew the costly payroll tax cut, which even some Democrats said hasn't much helped the economy.

"I can't find many people who even know that they're getting it, okay?" said Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who opposed both plans. "So with that being said, we're going to double down on something that we thought should have worked that didn't work."

There were other issues under negotiation as lawmakers looked toward the end of a highly partisan year, the first in a new era of divided government.

Boehner said lawmakers were discussing a bill to avoid a scheduled 27 percent cut on Jan. 1 in reimbursement rates for doctors treating Medicare patients.

The two parties also looked for agreement on a measure to fund the government through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year.

Boehner added that he likely would try to include some of the 20 House-passed bills that are part of a GOP jobs package in one of the year-end wrap-up bills. Most of the measures would block federal regulations on various industries, and are stalled in the Senate.

With unemployment hovering around 9 percent nationally, Obama urged Congress in September to renew and expand the Social Security payroll tax cut for workers that he signed a year ago, and called as well for an extension of benefits that can cover up to 99 weeks for the long-term jobless.

State unemployment insurance programs guarantees coverage for six months, but as in previous downturns, Congress approved additional benefits in 2008. Expiration of those payments would mean an average loss of $296 in weekly income for 1.8 million households in January, and a total of 6 million throughout 2012.

On the tax cut extension, Republicans prefer a simple one-year continuation of the existing law, jettisoning Obama's call to deepen the cut to 3.1 percentage points on workers' first $106,800 in earnings, while expanding it to cut in half employers' Social Security contributions for their $5 million in payroll.

To pay for the measure, Senate Republicans proposed freezing federal workers' pay through 2015 ? extending a two-year-freeze recommended by Obama ? and reducing the bureaucracy by 200,000 jobs through attrition.

The Democratic plan would give a worker earning $50,000 a more than $1,500 tax cut; the GOP plan would provide a $1,000 tax cut for such an earner. A two-income family making $200,000 would reap a $6,000 tax cut under the Democratic plan and a $4,000 tax cut under the GOP version.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_go_ot/us_congress_payroll_tax

traffic report opensky dia frampton dia frampton zook john elway john elway

Justin Bieber's Under The Mistletoe Debuts At #1

Rapper Wale comes in at #2 with Ambition.
By Gil Kaufman

Justin Bieber
Photo: Island Def Jam

It's going to be a very Justin Christmas. As predicted, Justin Bieber will land his second #1 album in a row next week when his holiday disc, Under the Mistletoe, nabs the top spot on the Billboard 200.

And though in recent days he's been facing ongoing questions about the paternity suit filed against him by a 20-year-old woman, Bieber has been promoting Mistletoe hard, which appears to have paid off with sales of 210,000 in its first week. That was more than enough to hold off the second effort from rapper Wale, Ambition, which will come in at #2 (164,000), according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

Country singer Miranda Lambert is at #3 with Four the Record (133,000), edging out former "Britain's Got Talent" star Susan Boyle, whose second effort, Someone to Watch Over Me, scores a #4 bow thanks to 132,000 units moved. English act Florence and the Machine make it into the top 10 at #6 with Ceremonials (105,000), while singer/actor Tyrese sneaks in at #9 with Open Invitation (76,000).

The rest of the top 10: Adele holds strong at #5 (108,000), Coldplay fall six spots in week two to #7 as Mylo Xyloto sales dropped 77 percent to 104,000, Michael Bublé moved another 89,000 copies of Christmas (#8) and Kelly Clarkson falls eight spots to #10 in her second week with Stronger, which slipped 69 percent on sales of 51,000.

Just outside the top 10, long-running metal act Megadeth come in at #11 with Th1rt3en (42,000), teen singer Jackie Evancho is at #16 with Heavenly Christmas (27,000) and Blink-182 offshoot Angels & Airwaves sneak in at #30 with Love, Part Two (16,000). Further down the line, a remastered version of U2's Achtung Baby lands at #35 (13,000), just barely ahead of the much-derided Lou Reed and Metallica album, Lulu (#36, 13,000).

Over on the iTunes charts, Wale wins the digital-album sales war, taking the #1 position over Bieber, with Florence and the Machine, Coldplay, Lambert and Adele coming in behind. Rounding out the albums list are Angels & Airwaves, Bublé, Tyrese and Clarkson.

Rihanna lords over the iTunes singles chart with "We Found Love," followed by LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It," Adele's "Someone Like You," Flo Rida's "Good Feeling," David Guetta's "Without You" and Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks." Maroon 5's summer smash, "Moves Like Jagger," holds on at #7, beating out T-Pain's "5 O'Clock," Gym Class Heroes' "Stereo Hearts" and Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain."

We will see how strong Mac Miller's pull is next week when his major-label debut, Blue Slide Park, hits the charts, along with the Now 40 collection and the "Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" soundtrack.

Related Videos

• MTV First: Justin Bieber
• MTV News Extended Play: Coldplay

Related Artists

• Justin Bieber
• Coldplay
• Mac Miller

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674037/justin-bieber-under-the-mistletoe-album-sales.jhtml

patti labelle

GM Blocks Technology In Proposed Saab Sale - Automotive News ...

POSTED: Monday, November 7, 2011

UPDATED: 4:28 pm EST November 7, 2011

STOCKHOLM -- General Motors Co. says it won't allow two Chinese companies to use its technology if they go ahead with a planned purchase of Saab Automobile, a former GM unit. Monday's announcement raises doubts about a rescue plan for the ailing Swedish brand, which is being reorganized under bankruptcy protection after running out of cash to pay suppliers and staff. Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. and Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. agreed last month to buy Saab from current owner Swedish Automobile for euro100 million ($140 million). GM, which sold the loss-making brand in 2010, said in a statement it would block existing technology licenses and stop supplying the GM-built Saab 9-4X crossover SUV "following the proposed change in ownership as it would not be in the best interests of GM."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.clickondetroit.com/automotive/29706157/detail.html

the lion king 3d the lion king 3d missoni maker faire the hub the hub pat robertson

Guardian Fiberglass Threatens Blogger With Legal Action For ...

Allison Bailes /via
Dr. Allison Bailes knows a bit about how insulation works; he has a PHD in physics. Now he consults on building science at Energy Vanguard, and when he shows a photograph of a fiberglass installation and points out how you shouldn't use pieces that are too long to fit, you can assume he knows what he is talking about.

But Guardian Fiberglass didn't think so; they went legal on him, writing:

Guardian disagrees with [the] assertion that it is difficult to install fiberglass insulation well. ? It is Guardian?s position that these comments by your company together with the picture of Guardian?s products constitute libel, slander, and commercial disparagement.

(you can see the whole legal letter on Green Building Advisor)

When Dr. Bailes complains that fiberglass insulation is difficult to install, he isn't saying anything particularly new or unusual; Martin Holladay wrote in Green Building Advisor two years ago:

Study after study has shown that most fiberglass batt jobs are sloppy. In 2002, the California Energy Commission contracted with researchers Marc Hoeschele, Rick Chitwood, and Bill Pennington to conduct a study of new California homes. In its March 2003 issue, Energy Design Update reported, ?The performance problems uncovered by the study were particularly disappointing in light of the fact that all 30 houses [studied by the researchers] were enrolled in programs promoting building-envelope improvements and duct tightness.?

Carl Seville, the Green Curmudgeon, has suggested that the stuff be outlawed.

Recently, I have inspected several homes that were insulated with fiberglass batts, and, not surprisingly, the quality of the installation was dismal. What I saw could have been an instruction manual on how not to insulate a house. Batts were cut 2 to 3 inches wider than the stud spacing and crammed into the cavities. Not a single batt was split around a wire or pipe, nor were they cut around electrical boxes. Air barriers everywhere were missing. In most cases, the contractor used batts because the homeowners were unwilling to pay the extra cost of a blown-in product, and the contractor was unwilling to absorb the cost of the upgrade.

I wrote in our guide to insulation on Planet Green:

A wall insulated with fiberglass rarely tests at the R-value it was designed for because of all the gaps, settling and vapor barrier issues.

Allison Bailes/via

Dr. Bailes' first reaction was to get out the photoshop felt pen and cover up Guardian's name in all of the photographs. But then the story went viral, or as viral as a story on insulation might get, being picked up by Green Building Advisor and as far away as Australia, so Dr. Bailes decided to fight back, writing yesterday:

It's also unfortunate that Guardian didn't just talk to me about what they wanted rather than pulling out the big guns immediately.....This story isn't big yet. If some of the bigger news outlets pick it up?say Grist or Treehugger or maybe even the big news networks?it could easily spiral out of control. With building materials sales already way down, can you really risk this?

Guardian isn't the first name that pops into mind when one thinks about fiberglass insulation; I was surprised to find that it is a huge international conglomerate with 28 float glass lines and 13 glass fabrication plants around the world.Its glass "covers the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world." In their ethics statement, they pledge:

We do not engage in behavior that we would not be comfortable explaining to our co-workers and families or having reported in the news.

Well I think they have some explaining to do. This behavior is egregious.

More at Energy Vanguard and Green Building Advisor

Follow me on Twitter and Friend me on Facebook

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/guardian-fiberglass-threatens-blogger-legal-action-showing-lousy-installation.html

xbox live update bloomberg tv bloomberg tv david koch the state republican debate republican presidential candidates

Good deed quickly repaid on Wisconsin highway (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/159043581?client_source=feed&format=rss

lumpectomy robin williams blaine gabbert netflix stock jacksonville jaguars jacksonville jaguars home affordable refinance program

China FX rate within reasonable level: Commerce Minister (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's yuan exchange rate is within a "basically reasonable level," and it is not the root cause of the China-U.S. trade imbalance, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in remarks published on Monday.

"If China shows an overall trade balance with other countries but only sees a relatively big trade imbalance with one particular country, that means it is not a result of an exchange rate issue," Chen said in an interview during the G20 Cannes summit.

"Currently, the yuan exchange rate is within a basically reasonable level and our country's trade surplus is just slightly above one percent of GDP," he said, according to the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece.

Chen said China faced difficulty in achieving an overall balance of payments because international calls for yuan appreciation had triggered abnormally large inflows of speculative foreign capital.

He also said that China's trade surplus in the first 10 months of 2011 had shrunk by 15 percent from a year-earlier period and he expected the full-year surplus to fall further.

China's trade surplus narrowed in September for a second straight month to $14.5 billion, compared with $17.8 billion in August.

The Administration of Customs is scheduled to publish the October trade figures on Thursday.

China's trade surplus has fallen as a share of GDP as Beijing has enhanced efforts to boost domestic demand and wean its economy from a reliance on exports.

Chen also said that the U.S. should lift restrictions on exports of high-tech products to China, which he regarded as one of the main reasons behind the big China-U.S. trade imbalance.

He also reiterated Beijing's official stance that China would support European countries' actions to cope with the debt crisis and may also consider expanding imports from the euro zone countries.

(Reporting by Aileen Wang and Nick Edwards; Editing by Ken Wills)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111107/bs_nm/us_china_economy_yuan

kristin davis phillies phillies philadelphia phillies sand dollar sand dollar just dance 3

Accusations not yet costing Cain in early states

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gestures as he walks toward the podium to speak at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gestures as he walks toward the podium to speak at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Joel Bennett, an attorney for a woman who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment while both worked at the National Restaurant Association, speaks during a news conference outside his office in Washington, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Bennett said she complained about a "series of inappropriate behaviors" in good faith and accepted a financial agreement. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential hopeful Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waits with his wife Callista before speaking at the Iowa Republican Party's Ronald Reagan Dinner, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. Herman Cain's presidential rivals focused Friday on anything but the decade-old sexual harassment allegations dogging the Georgia businessman's campaign. But Gingrich said the tough questions and intense scrutiny comes with a presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? Republicans in early voting states like Iowa seem to be giving Herman Cain the benefit of the doubt for now ? but they also say they need to know more, nearly a week after the disclosure that he was accused of sexually harassing women who worked for him in the 1990s.

"It's concerning, but it's not a big deal," said Cindy Baddeloo of suburban Des Moines, one of more than two dozen undecided Republican voters interviewed in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in the days since the allegations ? which Cain has repeatedly denied ? surfaced.

"Nobody's perfect," she said.

The same for LaDonna Ryggs, chairwoman of Spartanburg County GOP in South Carolina. "You give me some substance to the questions, and then we'll talk."

With the furor over the allegations showing no signs of abating, it's an open question whether supporters of Cain's presidential campaign will stick with him, or whether the one-time long shot can increase his base of support at a time when many early state GOP activists are making up their minds.

And while the Georgia businessman topped a national poll taken this week, the new round of questions follow doubts that had already begun to form about him before he became enmeshed in this latest controversy.

"Fair or unfair, is anybody more likely to vote for Herman Cain as a result of these allegations? The answer is no," said Phil Musser, a GOP strategist unaffiliated with any campaign.

Cain was sharply critiqued by his rivals over his tax proposal during a debate in Las Vegas last month. And questions later arose over his loyalty to the GOP base's most enduring litmus test, opposition to abortion, after he said in an interview the decision was a matter of choice.

And the timing is problematic for Cain, too, just two months before the Iowa caucuses and as Cain presumably should be seeking to close the deal with undecided caucus-goers in the state.

He's not slated to return to Iowa for another two weeks, and, if he follows through, he will have made just one trip to the leadoff caucus state over the course of three months. Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is stepping it up here, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's gung-ho on advertising and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is hitting his stride.

Cain denied all along that he made suggestive comments to female subordinates while serving as president of the National Restaurant Association. Yet, over the past five days, he has given conflicting accounts about what, if anything, he knew about the alleged incidents as well as whether he knew about financial settlements two of his accusers reportedly received from the trade group.

He's blamed the mainstream media, liberals and Perry's campaign, which said it had nothing to do with it. A black conservative, Cain has said his race has played a factor in the turmoil.

And Friday, a lawyer for one of Cain's accusers disclosed that she alleged "several incidents of sexual harassment" in a complaint filed more than a decade ago, a fresh accusation that complicated the Republican presidential hopeful's determined bid to lay the politically explosive controversy to rest.

"As far as I can see, it wasn't any different than Bill Clinton," said New Hampshire Republican Howard Burrows, arguing Cain could survive the episode.

Likewise, none of the Iowa Republican activists interviewed at a GOP banquet in Des Moines where most of Cain's rivals spoke Friday said the allegations disqualify Cain from their support, or that he should quit the race.

"People are so much more focused on the economy," said Des Moines area Republican Jason McKibben. "They're tired of gutter politics."

Republicans nationally haven't bolted the former national restaurant chain CEO who has recently risen from obscurity to near the top of national polls with Romney.

And a new Washington Post-ABC News survey taken after the allegations emerged Sunday showed Cain and Romney running nearly even atop the field of 2012 GOP presidential hopefuls, with most Republicans dismissing the harassment allegations. Seven in 10 Republicans say reports of the allegations don't matter when it comes to picking a candidate.

But in a sign of the possible danger ahead, the poll found that Cain slipped to third place among those who see the accusations as serious, and Republican women were significantly more likely than men to say the allegations make them less apt to support the businessman.

While the questions apparently haven't struck a blow against Cain in Iowa, their persistence is giving some GOP caucus-goers pause at a critical time.

A poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers sponsored by The Des Moines Register last week showed Cain narrowly leading in Iowa.

But Cain has a smaller campaign staff in the early states than many of his rivals. And he has only visited Iowa once in more than two months, while others are aggressively trying to claim an edge in the fluid caucus campaign.

The questions aren't discouraging Iowa state Rep. Henry Rayhons from siding with Cain ? yet.

"He's got to come clean, or people are going to keep harassing him about it," said Rayhons. "The longer it hangs out there, the less likely I am to support him."

___

Associated Press writers Jim Davenport in South Carolina, Phil Elliott in Iowa, Laurie Kellman in Washington and Holly Ramer in New Hampshire contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-05-Cain-Early%20States/id-d62516c7c2c74dbebd601db369183613

kraken calvin johnson calvin johnson kenyon martin kenyon martin lizard lick towing jenny mccarthy

How To Tell Your Prof You're Not Coming To Class

We've all done it--just as you press "send," you realize that you spelled your Professor's name wrong. The culture of email is inherently casual, yet we are in a delicate position when we are emailing our professors. CM talked to a few professors and got a sense of tips to consider and things to avoid like the plague.

Structure

"I inherently find myself thinking about the student as an organized person based on the structure of their emails. One student even went to the extent of color-coding their lengthy email to help me stay organized. Some might find that distracting, but I thought it was extremely helpful."

Professor Tsong > Economics > Cornell

DO stay organized in your email. Stay on topic and ensure that you are being both relevant and friendly; there has to be a balance between seeming put-together and sounding like you are bossing them around with requests.

DON'T ramble on in a long email about the various excuses that caused you to miss class. They might not care or worse, think you are lying. A simple "I couldn't make it to class" should suffice for most teachers if you demonstrate you are willing to meet and make up what you missed.

Language

"I almost threw my keyboard out the window when one of my students used 'gonna' in an email to me. Me, of all people!"

Professor Frasier > English > Tufts

Read the rest of this article at College Magazine!

'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/how-to-tell-your-prof-you_n_1075810.html

mike stoops end of the world end of the world jerome harrison ryan leaf ryan leaf carlos santana

Controversial Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega will probably win re-election (Time.com)

Daniel Ortega's closet is filled with skeletons that would terrify the bravest of campaign handlers. The 65-year-old Nicaraguan President ? once the mustachioed Marxist in olive fatigues who bedeviled the Reagan Administration in the 1980s ? has admitted to murdering a National Guardsman in 1967, been convicted of bank robbery, accused by a stepdaughter of sexual abuse and by Miskito Indians of genocide. He's been denounced for confiscating private property and using public office for personal enrichment, and blamed for the systematic undermining of Nicaragua's constitutional order ? including what many legal scholars call his illegitimate bid to win another five-year term this weekend.

With a resume like that, one might expect Ortega to have electability issues. But not in Nicaragua. Ortega, presiding over a record run of economic prosperity in his impoverished Central American nation, is expected to win re-election on Sunday, Nov. 6, by a landslide, even though critics say his candidacy is illegal, the elections are a sham and his victory will mean a return to dictatorship after more than 20 years of democracy. "You can say the Supreme Electoral Council has a dubious reputation and that the legality of Daniel Ortega's candidacy is also dubious, but what's undeniable is that [he] has more support than ever before," says Arturo Cruz, a political science professor at Managua's INCAE business school. "This is a total realignment."(See pictures from the historic Election Day.)

An M&R Consultores voter poll released last week shows Ortega at 58%, with a seemingly insurmountable lead of 40 points over his closest rival, octogenarian radio producer Fabio Gadea, who was a contra rebel supporter during Ortega's first presidency a generation ago. Former President Arnoldo Alem?n ? a conservative who was serving a 20-year sentence for a 2003 corruption conviction when it was overturned by the Ortega-controlled Supreme Court two years ago in what many called a political deal between him and Ortega ? is polling a distant third.

Ortega has engineered a stunning consolidation of political and economic power since his 2006 election. That victory marked a comeback, if not revenge, after he and his revolutionary Sandinista government were voted out of power in 1990 following a decade-long civil war against the U.S.-funded contras. He lost two more presidential bids in 1996 and 2001, before finally regaining the presidency in 2006 with a twiggy 38% of the vote. Since returning to office, Ortega has worked hard to recover traditional Sandinista support and recruit new voters among disenfranchised youth. His selective crackdown on dissidents, while offensive by modern-day Facebook standards, has been tame compared to the Sandinista authoritarianism of the 1980s. And even his brazen assaults on rule of law ? Ortega's questionable candidacy was born in a banana republic moment in 2009, when Sandinista judges amazingly ruled that the constitutional ban on consecutive re-election was unconstitutional ? have been met mostly with indifference in Nicaragua.

The Sandinistas of course insist they're playing by democratic rules and deny Ortega is acting like a dictator. "Imagine, a dictator with no political prisoners ? not one," Tom?s Borge, the Sandinistas' last living founding member and Ortega's feared Interior Minister in the 1980s, said recently. "No one has been exiled during this 'dictatorship.'" Ortega has also gotten an assist from his feckless foes. For the first time ever, Ortega is winning support from independent voters who are traditionally anti-Sandinista, but who have now given up on the opposition. As Ortega's opponents continue to point fingers, squawk and trip over their egos, indy voters realize Ortega is no longer the worst option.(See pictures of people around the world protesting Iran's election.)

Nor do they seem too concerned that the $2 billion in aid poured into Nicaragua since 2006 by Ortega's chief patron, Venezuelan President Hugo Ch?vez, has arguably enriched the party far more than the country. Ortega and Sandinista leaders, in fact, have unabashedly used chunks of the money to purchase private ownership of Nicaraguan companies, sometimes as mixed Venezuelan-Sandinista business ventures, and to corner entire industries in Nicaragua. It's startlingly reminiscent of the personal fiefdom that the Somozas ? the dictator family the Sandinistas overthrew in 1979 ? made of Nicaragua during their long rule. What's more, say critics, Ortega has spent a modest remainder buying votes through social programs and party giveaways like food supplies, roofing materials, basic healthcare services, microcredit loans and other party perks.

Political patronage isn't economic development, but it has helped satisfy the immediate daily needs of the "50 percent of the population whose top priority is survival," says veteran pollster Ra?l Obreg?n. And for Nicaragua's huddled masses, basic needs take priority over democracy. Obreg?n's M&R poll shows that 54.6% of the population thinks it's okay to sacrifice a little institutional democracy to resolve socioeconomic problems, while 33% claim they don't care how a leader gets into power, so long as he resolves peoples' hardships. "People are saying, 'Democracy doesn't feed me; it doesn't fill my stomach,'" says Obreg?n.

At the same time, Ortega has kept the wealthy happy by maintaining macroeconomic stability. Business profits are at all-time highs, and banks are rolling in dollars from the Ch?vez-led alliance of leftist Latin America governments called ALBA. On the streets of Managua, it's not uncommon to see an expensive BMW pass a rickety horse-drawn cart ? both waving Sandinista flags.

Making matters more bizarre is the recent, theatrical conversion of Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, to Christian fundamentalism, which at times seems to have the first lady speaking in tongues. And even though idealists like the international leftists who backed the revolutionary government of the 80s view Ortega's conversion to a Bible-thumping capitalist with sadness, Washington's old cold warriors are still disgruntled. "The developments in Nicaragua are a sad story from the perspective of human rights and respect for democracy," says Elliott Abrams, a controversial Assistant Secretary of State under Reagan. "Every human rights organization has reported on harassment of the press, curbs on freedom of assembly and expression, vast corruption, and manipulation of the courts and of the elections."

Still, few Nicaraguans care what U.S. neocons have to say anymore as Washington's influence flickers ? and especially since Washington's arrogant negligence of their war-torn country after 1990 helped lead to the economic misery that in turn led to Ortega's 2006 comeback. Showing up Uncle Sam might not be Ortega's primary goal ? and his escalating power is less the revenge of his leftist revolution than a confirmation of his caudillo bent ? but it's still a payback that few U.S. adversaries have pulled off as well as the Sandinistas.

Tim Rogers is editor of www.nicaraguadispatch.com.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

See the Cartoons of the Week.

View this article on Time.com

Most Popular on Time.com:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111104/wl_time/08599209872000

apple ii pixar growing pains growing pains cupertino htc flyer review westboro

Suspect in killing of Charice's father surrenders

MANILA, Philippines?? The suspect in the stabbing death of the father of singer Charice Pempengco of the TV hit show "Glee" surrendered Thursday and admitted responsibility for the crime.

Angel Capili Jr. turned himself in to the chief of his village in General Trias township south of Manila, said Gilbert Cruz, police chief of nearby Laguna province.

Police said Charice's 40-year-old father, construction worker Ricky Pempengco, was stabbed with an ice pick by a drunken man Monday after buying cigarettes at a store.

Story: 'Glee' singer Charice calls for justice for slain father

1. More Entertainment stories
   1. Don't worry, Lohan Playboy pics will be 'tasteful'

      Mom Dina Lohan says Lindsay "knows how to work" in front of the camera, but she may not land on mag's cover.

   2. Pregnant inmate gets into fight on 'Cellblock 6'
   3. Forget Edward, 'Twilight' needs Team Carlisle
   4. Fallon channels Bieber for '(It's Not My) Baby'
   5. 'X factor' judges dole out praise, few critiques

Cruz said Capili is also a construction worker but did not know Pempengco.

Teen songstress Charice canceled upcoming concerts and called for justice for her father. She plays a recurring role on "Glee" as exchange student Sunshine Corazon.

Capili told reporters in Manila he was conscience-stricken and ready to face the consequences.

"I had really planned to surrender because what I did was wrong," he told reporters. "I am seeking forgiveness from the family left behind by Mr. Pempengco.... I am prepared to suffer whatever is the judgment."

However, he did not respond when reporters asked why he stabbed the victim.

Story: 'Glee' singer Charice's dad killed in Philippines

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who spoke with Capili, said the suspect said he was assaulted by Pempengco.

"He was claiming that he was already backing away but then (the victim) continued to attack him so he got a screwdriver and he stabbed Mr. Pempengco," Robredo told ABS-CBN television. "We will compare the account of witnesses with the account of the suspect."

Charice flew back to the Philippines and paid respects to her father early Wednesday. She also apologized for canceling the rest of her tour dates, saying "my family comes first." She had been scheduled to perform in Singapore.

"Whoever did this must be brought to justice. Justice must be served, not just for my father but for everyone concerned," she told a radio interview.

Charice had been estranged from her father but said she still loved him.

"He's still my Dad after all," she wrote on Twitter.

The 19-year-old songstress, born Charmaine Clarice Relucio Pempengco, is known throughout Asia from concerts and TV talent shows in the Philippines and South Korea.

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

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45145812/ns/today-entertainment/

real housewives of atlanta tropic thunder justin bieber baby justin bieber baby usc football judy garland gabrielle giffords

Wall Street on edge over Greece but Bernanke soothes (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks rebounded from two days of sharp losses on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it is prepared to do more for the economy if conditions warrant, helping to stanch the panicky reaction to Europe's debt crisis.

Trading volume was light, however, possibly signaling that worries about Greece hold greater sway than the Fed at this time. Investors sold heavily this week after Greece said it would hold a referendum on an EU bailout crucial to stabilizing the euro zone's financial system.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was closely monitoring developments in Europe and left open the possibility that the Fed could expand its holdings of mortgage debt if U.S. economic conditions worsened.

"Bernanke was clear that they were prepared to do more, that they have the tools to do more," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York. "We remain in a very volatile situation."

The energy and financial sectors were among the strongest performers on Wednesday after having led the market lower in the previous two sessions.

Some 7.4 billion shares were traded on the NYSE, the Amex and Nasdaq, which was more than 10 percent below the 20-day moving average and well below Tuesday's high volume selloff when over 10 billion shares changed hands.

"There's no volume, which means there's no conviction in the move; the market remains 100 percent "macro" driven, and any news out of Europe could still shift markets," said Eric Lichtenstein, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey,

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 178.08 points, or 1.53 percent, at 11,836.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 19.62 points, or 1.61 percent, at 1,237.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 33.02 points, or 1.27 percent, at 2,639.98.

Also helping Wednesday's market gains, data showed U.S. private employers added more jobs than expected last month, continuing a recent pattern of better-than-expected economic data.

Conditions in Europe remained a wildcard as sources told Reuters the EU and IMF will not release an 8 billion euro payment to Greece until after the country has held its referendum, which could happen in December.

Among advancing stocks, Citigroup Inc gained 2.3 percent to $29.83 and JPMorgan Chase & Co added 2.8 percent to $33.64. The KBW Bank index climbed 3.3 percent.

MasterCard Inc shares jumped 7 percent to $357.66 after the credit card processor reported its quarterly profit easily beat estimates on double-digit increases in volumes.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111102/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

pumpkin seeds rumpelstiltskin rumpelstiltskin day light savings day light savings mark herzlich malawi

Los Angeles terminal closed over security breach

LOS ANGELES?? A busy terminal at Los Angeles International Airport was shut down for nearly an hour Wednesday morning after a man reportedly tried to evade security.

1. Don't miss these Travel stories

   1. List of 20 must-see places includes ... Pittsburgh?

      National Geographic Traveler in its current issue lists Pittsburgh as one of the world?s 20 must-see places to visit. It is the only U.S. city listed and just one of four cities on the entire planet.

   2. JetBlue apologizes to stranded fliers
   3. How to rent out your private vacation home
   4. Disabled vet says airline left her to sit in own urine
   5. Take a trip ... with a little help from friends

Transportation Safety Administration spokesman Nico Melendez says what could have been drug paraphernalia was spotted in the man's carry-on bag at around 6 a.m. at Terminal 1, which houses Southwest Airlines.

Melendez says the man was directed to secondary screening but instead grabbed the bag and dashed into the terminal.

It was shut down for about 45 minutes until the man was found.

Airport police Sgt. Belinda Nettles says he was arrested on an outstanding warrant, not for a security breach. His name wasn't immediately released.

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45133917/ns/travel-news/

moammar gadhafi harry connick jr rightnow maurice jones drew bf3 craigslist nc chronicle

Judge rejects Tribune Co's plan to exit bankruptcy (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Tribune Co, the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers, suffered a legal defeat on Monday after a judge late Monday rejected its plan to end its three-year stay in bankruptcy.

The judge also rejected a competing plan from the company's noteholders and but said the company's plan had stronger creditor backing and could be way out of bankruptcy.

"Neither the (company plan) nor the noteholder plan is confirmable. I am uncertain, at this point, what steps the debtors or other parties may take as a consequence of this decision," wrote Delaware's chief bankruptcy judge, Kevin Carey, in a 126-page opinion.

Carey was charged with deciding a range of legal questions, but the key issue was which plan was legally confirmable and offered the company the best path for repaying creditors and ending its bankruptcy.

Tribune, which also owns more than 20 television stations, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, one year after financier Sam Zell led a $13 billion leveraged buyout of the company.

The bankruptcy wiped out more than a billion dollars of the company's notes and the two bankruptcy plans essentially differed in how they treat legal claims from the buyout.

The company and lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co and hedge funds, proposed a settlement payment of around $500 million to noteholders. Noteholders, led by Aurelius Capital Management LP, an uncompromising hedge fund, rejected that as too cheap and wanted to sue those responsible for the buyout.

In a victory for Tribune and its lenders, Carey said the settlement was reasonable and should be approved.

He also acknowledged that the company-backed plan had overwhelming support from various creditors. However, said he was bound by bankruptcy law that essentially allowed the supporters of the company plan to torpedo the noteholder plan and vice versa, making both plans unconfirmable.

Carey also found other flaws with both plans. He wrote that if both the noteholders and the company presented him with plans that fixed the flaws he identified, he would approve the company's plan.

Under either plan, the company would emerge from bankruptcy under the control of lenders. The company also needs the Federal Communications Commission to approve the transfer of the ownership of the broadcast licenses before it can exit bankruptcy.

Carey issued a warning, however, that if a viable exit strategy did not present itself, he would appoint a trustee to replace Tribune's management and find a way to end the bankruptcy.

He set a status hearing for November 22.

Tribune is the fifth-largest U.S. publisher measured by the daily circulation of its papers, according to Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper brokerage firm.

The case is In re Tribune Co, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.

(Reporting by Tom Hals and Grant McCool; Editing by Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111101/media_nm/us_tribune

portia de rossi portia de rossi herman cain for president herman cain for president pumpkin bread pumpkin bread linus pauling

Report: SEC should have kept records it destroyed (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Securities and Exchange Commission should have kept thousands of documents it destroyed from preliminary investigations of financial firms over nearly two decades, according to a government report released Tuesday.

But the SEC inspector general found no definitive evidence that any of the investigations were harmed as a result.

Inspector General David Kotz said the agency violated federal rules by giving incomplete information to the National Archives last year about the records. The SEC failed to tell archives officials that the agency's 20-year policy had been to discard all documents in closed inquiries that didn't become formal investigations, the report says.

The report follows accusations from an SEC enforcement attorney, who said the agency improperly destroyed documents related to thousands of preliminary inquiries into big Wall Street banks, Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and other cases.

The report stopped short of saying no harm was done by the destruction of records. Kotz said he didn't make "an exhaustive audit or review" of the potential impact.

Kotz said he was referring the matter to the agency's enforcement director for instruction or counseling of the senior enforcement officials who dealt with the National Archives. The officials should be told of the importance of providing complete responses to requests from agencies like the Archives, Kotz said.

In addition, he recommended that the enforcement division take action to determine what documents from closed inquiries are capable of being retrieved.

The report was the latest hit to the SEC's reputation, which has suffered because of its failure to detect the Madoff scheme and other cases of fraud.

Darcy Flynn, the SEC enforcement attorney, has alleged that more than 9,000 records related to preliminary investigations were destroyed. Flynn said they included inquiries into Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Madoff.

Kotz's report mentions documents related to Madoff and the now-defunct Lehman Brothers, whose bankruptcy was a key milestone in the 2008 financial crisis. It says that from 1992 through July 2010, 10,468 preliminary inquiries were closed without developing into formal investigations.

The SEC acknowledged in September that some documents likely were destroyed under the former agency policy that was changed last year. However, the SEC said it didn't believe any current or future investigations were harmed by the policy, which allowed documents to be tossed out in cases that were closed when staffers decided a formal probe wasn't warranted.

The information contained in the documents that were discarded may be available from sources inside or outside the SEC, the agency said.

The SEC's current policy requires all documents to be kept whether they are part of a preliminary probe that is closed or one that develops into a formal investigation. The agency says the policy and practices meet its legal obligations.

SEC spokesman John Nester said Tuesday the agency was pleased that Kotz's review "found no evidence of any improper motive on the part of current or former SEC staff" or of harm to investigations.

"We will continue to work closely with (the National Archives) to resolve any outstanding issues," Nester said.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime critic of the SEC, said the documents issue "is a messy situation that the SEC needs to clean up, using the guidance and recommendations in this report as a start."

In addition, Grassley said, Kotz should conduct a separate audit of what records were destroyed and the potential effect on enforcement cases.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111101/ap_on_bi_ge/us_sec_documents

gunner kiel baby lisa baby lisa paranormal activity west virginia football west virginia football groupon ipo

Car Insurance Comparisons | Estate Of ?

If you are hunting for car insurance comparisons, then finding a web site with all the insurance policies providers can be really time consuming and tiresome. One particular way to hunt for a website which possibly lists or compares almost every single car insurance company, is to discover a web site which offers a comparison or record of other main comparison sites.

This way, you will be in a position to get motor insurance policy online quotations from the key comparison internet sites all below a single roof. You will be able to conduct a Car Insurance Cost Comparison, as well as review breakdown cover from most of the insurance policies organizations. This technique of making use of a website which homes numerous of the key comparison websites, must help save you significant time of heading back and forth by way of the search engines researching all the Car Insurance Comparisons web sites.

Apart from conserving substantial time of employing this research method, you will also be able to find top quality and inexpensive motor insurance policy much more effortlessly. This is simply because most of the car insurance comparison websites have capabilities that let you to compare rates and charges side by aspect. In addition, these car insurance on the internet quotations will be from a extensive range of insurance policy companies. From nicely known family manufacturers, to smaller and a lot more professional kinds of providers.

Locating a Motor Insurance policy Supermarket type of website, has a lot of benefits in contrast to other kind of mediums. For instance, when you make a get in touch with or go to a motor insurance organization, there is only so a lot they can do for you in the time readily available. For instance, you could invest 30 minutes on the phone or encounter to confront and discover at the conclude you are both ambigu-minded about the modest handful of quotations you acquired probably as well costly or inadequate cover, or you wanted to escape as speedily as achievable due to the fact of the pressuring pushy salesperson wanting to generate his/her commission. On the other hand, with a Car Insurance Comparisons internet site, all is effortlessly and peacefully accomplished on the web. No pushy salesperson to deal with, no need to have to repeat your information once more and once more, no require to listen to stay on the line with recorded messages. All is at your fingertips, review hundreds upon hundreds of rates on the web and most of all, within a really short room of time.

For some insurance policies companies, the complete approach from getting an online car insurance quote to finishing the paperwork, can be completed completely on-line. So, waiting ages on the telephone for your turn gets to be a point of the past. On the other hand, if you do choose to speak to a person, again, there are a lot of insurance firms which offer that option.

Auto Insurance policies Comparisons are built straightforward when you locate that one website which residences several of the significant on the internet automobile comparison sites.

Car Insurance Comparison

Source: http://estateof.com/2011/10/30/car-insurance-comparisons/

steve mcnair frank gore frank gore brooklyn bridge lady antebellum marques colston dez bryant