Fellas Check The Pics!! Jessica Alba Gets Bikini Sexy In Mexico!!

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Source: http://www.inflexwetrust.com/2012/01/01/fellas-check-the-pics-jessica-alba-gets-bikini-sexy-in-mexico/

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NKorea vows to defend Kim Jong Un 'unto death' (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea vowed Sunday to make an all-out drive for prosperity as it unites behind new leader Kim Jong Un, ushering in 2012 with promises to resolve food shortages, bolster its military and defend Kim Jong Il's young son "unto death."

The pledge in North Korea's annual New Year's message comes as the country enters a new era, with Kim Jong Un installed as supreme commander of the 1.2 million-strong military and as ruling party leader following his father's Dec. 17 death.

On the streets of Pyongyang, the mood was more somber than in past New Year's celebrations, as people gathered in large crowds to pay tribute to Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country for 17 years.

This New Year's message didn't include the North's routine harsh criticism of the United States and avoided the country's nuclear ambitions, a suggestion that Pyongyang may be willing to continue talks with Washington to win food aid.

This year is a crucial one for North Korea as it tries to build a "great, prosperous and powerful nation" befitting the April 2012 centenary of the birth of national founder Kim Il Sung, the new leader's grandfather.

"Glorify this year 2012 as a year of proud victory, a year when an era of prosperity is unfolding," said the New Year's message, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "The whole party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction that they will become human bulwarks and human shields in defending Kim Jong Un unto death."

In Pyongyang, the day was cold, snowy and gray, with splashes of bright color provided by flags, lanterns and banners reading "Happy New Year" that decorated the streets. The celebration, however, coming just days after the official mourning period for Kim Jong Il ended, was muted, unlike past years when cheerful people in their best holiday clothes thronged the streets.

From early morning, streams of people, their expressions solemn, bowed and laid bouquets and wreaths at monuments to Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung. Families trudged through the snow, carrying potted flowers and plants, to put their offerings beneath large portraits of a broadly smiling Kim Jong Il.

Workers at covered flower stands handed out yellow and red flowers to large crowds. Some slogans around the city repeated the official New Year's message, calling on citizens to glorify the coming year. Newly released posters urged people to "turn sorrow into strength and courage," a sentiment often heard from North Koreans since Kim's death.

"We lost the great Kim Jong Il because we did not do our work well. How can we have a rest?" Vice Minister of Mining Industry Pak Thae Gu told The Associated Press.

Kim Jong Un spent part of the day visiting a tank division, state media said, in what was apparently his first reported military field inspection since his father's death. Kim Jong Il regularly visited military units, factories and farms across the country, and his son's trip provides further evidence of the North's intention to link him closely with the military.

Kim Jong Un praised soldiers for closely watching enemy troops, KCNA reported. He was accompanied by his uncle and key patron Jang Song Thaek and Ri Yong Ho, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

The New Year's message said North Korea would boost its military and boasted that the country is "at the epochal point of opening the gates of a thriving country," with parts of Pyongyang "turned into socialist fairylands."

Still, the message acknowledged the country's food crisis, saying "the food problem is a burning issue." North Korea had been in talks with the United States on food aid, but they stopped because of Kim Jong Il's death.

The United Nations has said a quarter of North Korea's 24 million people need outside food aid and that malnutrition is surging, especially among children.

The message, a joint editorial appearing in the Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi newspapers, said North Korea must build on foundations laid last year and turn itself "into an economic giant."

"This year's message shows North Korea will focus on its economy and ideological solidarity to establish stability" for Kim Jong Un's leadership, said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.

"There is also no specific mention of the United States or the nuclear program, and that shows North Korea is leaving room for the chance of improved ties with the United States," Yoo said.

The traditional New Year's Day message is closely watched and takes on added significance this year, coming just two weeks after Kim Jong Il died.

North Korea in recent days has cemented Kim Jong Un's position as its new leader and on Saturday officially named him supreme commander of the military.

The New Year's message linked Kim Jong Un to the "songun," or military-first, policy of Kim Jong Il, and called him "the eternal center" of the country's unity.

The message spoke of a desire for reunification with South Korea ? a point North Korea often mentions ? but did not give specifics. The North warned Friday that there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea's government after Kim Jong Il's death.

North Korea, which has tested two atomic devices since 2006, has said it wants to return to long-stalled talks on halting its nuclear weapons program in return for aid. Washington and Seoul, however, have insisted that the North show progress on past disarmament commitments before negotiations can resume.

The six-nation nuclear talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.

The Korean peninsula remains technically in a state of conflict because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Kim Jong Un also received a boost from China, his country's biggest backer, as President Hu Jintao sent congratulations to Kim on his appointment as head of the military.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim and Scott McDonald in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Follow Klug at twitter.com/APklug.

(This version CORRECTS word in 7th paragraph to Year, not Near.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120101/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_new_year_s_message

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As the campaign unreels, voters feel dispirited (AP)

A decade ago, customers flocked to the store in the converted fire station on the east side of Toledo, Ohio, in pursuit of Old Glory.

Howard Pinkley established Flags Sales & Repair in 1960, and runs it with his daughter, Wendy Beallas. In days after Sept. 11, 2001, customers lined up outside the door. Americans wanted to show their pride, their determination, their Americanism.

It's all a fading memory now.

These days, folks are focused on paying bills. A new flag is a luxury, and the unvarnished patriotism of 10 years ago has been replaced by disgust with government.

A recent Wednesday saw just two walk-in customers. Father and daughter have cut their payroll, but talk openly about whether they should give up. They're no less dispirited than their neighbors.

"I go home and I refuse to listen to the news because it's frustrating," Beallas says. "To me, it's not coming together and getting things done."

When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election, his advertisements boasted that it was morning in America. Nearly three decades later, as another presidential campaign begins, it feels like twilight ? or, if it is morning, it is the kind of gray winter daybreak when the sun is only a rumor and only an optimist clings to hope that the clouds will break.

Listen to Americans in three closely contested states and you'll hear the same plaintive echoes, not just about politics or the upcoming election, but about the unsettling predicament that is America in 2011.

Republicans or Democrats, liberal or conservative, young or old, they lack confidence ? in the country's potential to be great again, in their elected leaders' ability to do the right thing, in the economy and in themselves.

It's not that they feel incapable of doing what needs to be done, as much as they are uncertain about what that right thing is and whether anything they can do will have any real impact.

In Mount Airy, N.C., where a quaint Main Street is merely a reminder of better days: "We need to get back to the `60s and the `50s, and we need to get ourselves back to where we used to be ? standing on our own two feet," says long-haul trucker Harry J. Moore, 57, punching a beefy fist into his open left hand to punctuate each syllable. "We're losing our pride. Our pride's gone away."

In North Las Vegas,, Nev., where the bursting of the housing bubble has forced hard choices: "People have lost a lot of spirit," says Elmer Chowning, 70, who had hoped to slow down in his golden years, but is instead still working in real estate while raising his 8-year-old granddaughter.

In Lima, Ohio, where people have seen America's industrial might falter: "I'm just waiting for China or somebody to take us over. That's the way it seems," says Becky Jamison, 36, who has watched her 18-year-old son look unsuccessfully for work for months. "Because we're just falling apart."

___

If you look, you can find optimism in Ohio.

The Armstrong Air & Space Museum is in Wapakoneta, hometown of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. It stands as a monument to an earlier, more hopeful time, and there are visitors who are convinced that those times can come again.

To Stephen Andrasik, a foam salesman from Indianapolis who has stopped in to the museum on his way back home from a business trip, the U.S. remains resilient, facing problems that can be solved by new leaders in Washington who will allow Americans to live up to their potential.

"I think we're still the same people we were back then," says Andrasik. He studies a display case filled with inventions that were spinoffs of the space program, everything from fireproof clothing to battery-powered hand tools.

"I'm assuming it's going to get better as long as the American people have the ability to do what they want, to invent things, to start new businesses, we'll be as great as we've always been."

But standing before a model of the Apollo 11 command module at the edge of the museum's parking lot, Jake Retter, a chimney cleaner from Blissfield, Mich., notes the irony of a country that once raced a communist rival to put a man on the moon and now relies on China to buy its debt.

Rather than pursuing national goals, politicians chase their own divisive agendas, he says. A nation built on hard work and thrift has lost sight of what really matters.

"This country's been falling apart for the last 50 years. It's taken time," Retter says. "It's not that capitalism is failing us. It's that we're failing capitalism."

For many years, this region provided the muscle of American capitalism. Its pride in its talent for making things is evident in Toledo place names such as Jeep Parkway and the Veteran's Glass City Bridge.

The long, slow decline of factory work has been a source of constant sorrow in the Rust Belt. Recent stirrings such as announcements by Chrysler and General Motors that they will add 1,400 new jobs at their plants in Toledo, and Ford's plans to ramp up engine production in Lima have offered some reason to hope.

"I can definitely feel like the forward momentum is there" ? jobs at the union hall are picking up, says Kurt Kaufman, 31. A union electrician, he worked steadily until 2006. He has since spent as much as nine months between jobs.

Still, he says, "I don't think it's ever going to be as good as it was around here."

But a bad economy, some say, is not at the core of what ails northwestern Ohio, and America. There have been hard times before, and there will be again. The real problem, they say, is in Americans and their leaders.

"What's different from this and the Great Depression is that the moral fiber has changed," says Russ Terry, a retired postal carrier who lives outside Lima and has stopped in for a morning break at The Meeting Place on Market, a coffee and sandwich shop downtown. "The reason we can't handle this is we don't have the moral backbone, the stick-to-it-tiveness, the collective people working together."

Terry, who describes his politics as very conservative, blames the federal government for printing too much money in an attempt to stimulate the economy. But at its heart, the country's failings reflect the will of individuals, he says. "The government is just a reflection of the people, is it not?"

Just down the road from Toledo's GM plant, Martin Ridener says his worries are based on more than 20 years of running a 16-unit apartment building he once thought would pay for his retirement. Instead, a building that used to generate a steady income is now barely covering its expenses, as many tenants lose jobs, fall behind on rent and move out.

Ridener, who is 75 and votes Republican, can't imagine voting for President Barack Obama given the state of the economy, but he can't see how Republicans taking over the White House will make things any better.

"I don't consider either side wrong in what they're doing. What I resent is that every Democrat thinks completely one way and every Republican thinks another way. They're afraid to talk over it and do what's best for the country."

Across town, most of the red-checked tables are full at the Hungarian hot dog purveyor Tony Packo's. But between bites, Pat Shupe, a 72-year-old homemaker, says she worries about the world her 3-year-old granddaughter will inherit with seemingly limited opportunities.

"I absolutely see no light at the end of the tunnel until something is done in this country to equalize opportunity for people to get a job," Shupe says.

While the 2008 election gave her hope that the country could work through its problems, the gridlock in Washington has robbed her of that brief optimism.

"I think we're just ruining ourselves," Shupe says, "destroying ourselves."

Not everyone shares that bleak outlook.

Terri Leary's employer eliminated her job as a senior housing manager in 2009, six months after her husband lost work in construction management. Leary, 44, was convinced that her lack of a college degree had made her expendable, so she enrolled at Owens Community College's campus in Perrysburg.

Days before her graduation ceremony in early December, she sat in the commons area of College Hall and described the tough times of the past few years as an opportunity, an outlook entirely decoupled from politics.

The job losses and belt-tightening, she is convinced, were "a good thing. It teaches the kids very valuable life lessons, you know, make good with what you have. ... We learned we can do more with less and be just as happy."

There are lessons to be learned, agrees 29-year-old Erin Tupper.

She and her husband, Marc, have much to be thankful for. They have been married just a week, they have a home of their own (albeit modest and worth less than it used to be), and Marc prizes his job as a police officer. But they look around, and see evidence of an America that has lost its way.

Erin, recalling her father's pride in his work as a truck driver hauling new Jeeps off the Toledo assembly line, says she and her friends talk now of employers who pile on hours while treating workers as expendable.

When she drives near her childhood home, she is dismayed by the big homes on what was once farmland, a sign of misplaced values centered on instant gratification and overspending. People seem to be more concerned with themselves and their own narrow interests than in working together for the common good.

"We're learning a lesson," she says. And if we don't, "we'll be right back to where we were."

___

"Your Community of Choice," reads the motto on signs spread around the city of North Las Vegas, and for a while it was.

Once among the fastest-growing places in the country, the city saw thousands of stucco and tile-roof homes sprout up to accommodate retirees and a middle-class workforce coming for jobs in the booming casino and construction industries. The city added workers, increased revenue and embarked on ambitious plans for redevelopment projects to keep pace with the growth.

Today the community is deeply in debt, cutting programs, laying off employees, fending off a possible state takeover and weighing still more difficult decisions that will directly affect the 220,000 people who live here.

Talk to people on the street, in the library, at the recreation center, and seemingly everyone knows someone who is out of work. If they own a home, its value has decreased substantially and their neighborhoods are filled with forsaken properties. You can't watch TV without seeing local commercials for help with loan modifications or from lawyers pledging to keep the banks from your assets.

The Neighborhood Recreation Center sits in the old part of town, a lifeline for senior citizens in need and young people whose parents can't afford fancy gyms. Over the summer, struggling to plug an overall $30 million budget deficit for the fiscal year and unable to reach a deal with police unions over cuts, the North Las Vegas City Council voted to close the center.

People who consider it a second home revolted, descending on council meetings with signs and petitions in hand.

The facility was saved only after the local police union agreed to defer for six months a cost-of-living increase and distribution of accumulated holiday pay. That was enough to keep the center open through next summer.

Recreation supervisor Neil Gallant sits at a desk littered with spreadsheets as he works to find grant money or other ways to subsidize the center's costs. He talks of his seniors feeling "abandoned" when the City Council voted to close the center and of a sense of disconnection between elected leaders and those they serve.

The politicians don't know the people, Gallant says. "They don't see them."

That sentiment was echoed by so many in North Las Vegas, but especially Gallant's struggling older clientele. They are women like Nita Hargis and Maxine Delisle, who live on meager Social Security checks and depend on the center's $1.50 hot lunch (rising to $3 come January) and the companionship they find in ceramics class.

One Thursday, instead of molding candy dishes, they vented about the state of their community and the country, and the overarching theme was one of neglect ? a feeling that every level of government is ignoring their needs and has failed them, despite so many promises to do otherwise.

For Hargis, a 65-year-old who has lived almost her entire life in North Las Vegas and worked a variety of jobs ? painter, gift shop clerk, remodeler ? recent efforts to attempt to modify her home loan left her exasperated and in worse shape than she started.

"They ran me around for nine months. They ruined my credit. I even got one of these government guys that was supposed to help me, and all he did was say, `Well, call `em back, call `em back.' He never did anything to help me," she says.

For Delisle, it's the glaring imbalance between people like her and those in government that leaves her feeling alienated. She notes that there hasn't been a cost-of-living increase in Social Security for three years, yet it took months of difficult negotiations to get the local police union to agree to forgo its adjustment for just six months.

Nineteen-year-old Oscar Corral works the front desk at the recreation center. He's a philosophical young man with an optimistic smile and outlook. Neither of his parents graduated from high school, and yet his mom is an accounting manager at a local cab company while his father works construction. His dad was laid off not long ago but soon found another job and is "hanging on a thread."

"There's this thing about humans. When they're pushed, I guess they go into survival mode and they really work hard," says Corral, who studies audio production at The Art Institute of Las Vegas.

He likens the many problems facing Americans right now to climbing a mountain. "From far away," he says, "it looks impossible. But when you start getting close up, you see there's cracks here that I can climb up and you just attack it little by little. ... Sometimes we just get caught up in the big problem."

It's true that in North Las Vegas, as is the case nationally, the problems are so big it's hard not to get caught up in them. Short-term fixes and eventual union concessions kept the city afloat this fiscal year, but already officials are predicting a $15.5 million deficit for the next budget cycle.

Says Elmer Chowning, the real estate agent: "We're a fast society. We want things to happen. And this is a thing that is lingering, lingering, lingering."

It's no wonder, he adds, that people have taken to streets and parks in the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"There is a tremendous feeling of camaraderie," he says, but also "hurt and madness."

A couple of weeks ago, North Las Vegas and its residents did their best to put all of that aside for a time. Hundreds gathered on an unusually blustery evening to celebrate the grand opening of a nine-story City Hall ? a project launched when the city was flush ? and watch as the town Christmas tree was lit.

It was a night meant to represent a fresh start, the promise of tomorrow.

Nita Hargis was there with some of her friends from the recreation center, wondering aloud why the city felt the need to hand out commemorative tiles and paperweights and what was the cost to taxpayers. The Chownings brought their granddaughter, and stood in the back as a children's choir sang Christmas carols and ballerinas danced on the shiny new granite floor.

Soon they, and everyone, were joining in the carols, applauding the entertainers, sipping hot chocolate.

Soon, their worries seemed to fade. At least for one night, anyway.

___

By comparison, Mount Airy is a bit of fantasy in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.

The hometown of Andy Griffith, it is Mayberry ? America as it used to be, or as we would like to believe it used to be, when the nation's industrial and military might was unquestioned and seemed unbounded; when a man, even one without a high school diploma, could earn enough to own a house, buy a new car every couple of years and send his kids to college for a better life than even he'd enjoyed. Stroll down Main Street, and you expect to meet characters like Aunt Bea, Goober and Floyd the barber.

They're not here. Instead, you'll find businessmen and women struggling to survive the recession by selling nostalgia, and real people eager to buy.

"They're looking for what we wish that times could be again," says Debbie Miles, who moved here with her husband from southern Indiana five years ago and opened Mayberry on Main, where the walls and shelves are lined with items like Aunt Bea's Kerosene Cucumbers and Otis's Moonshine Jelly. "That's the main thing that we hear. `We wish that it could be like that again ? like it was on the show.'"

Business is down about 10 percent from a couple of years ago. But Miles can't afford that kind of pessimism.

"You know, if you're an optimistic person, you think there's nowhere to go but up," she says with a laugh. "It probably does try everyone, but I think you still have to be optimistic, you know? That's what Americans are supposed to do ? think for the future."

Darrel Miles ? who, like his wife, is a registered Democrat but did not vote for Obama ? finds it a bit harder to be hopeful.

"I think they need to turn the whole upside down in Washington and shake it real good," says Miles, who worked 32 years for a company that made soda and ice dispensers. "I think we might have the wrong government, the wrong people trying to fix certain things. There's too many hands in the fire, as you would say. I mean they can't even come to agreement even within their own parties to fix certain things, you know?"

Across the street, at Snappy Lunch, business is down 20 percent or 30 percent over a couple of years ago, says Mary Dowell, whose husband, Charles, has owned the restaurant since 1960.

"We still have tourists who come in, but the bus groups have dropped a little bit," Dowell says over the sizzle of meat for the diner's "famous pork chop sandwich." "Last year, I did have to give everybody a day a week off, because we were so slow. And we'll probably do that this year."

On this sunny afternoon, Jennifer Brown stands outside Snappy Lunch and peers through the window. Her parents, Steve and Diane, both have good jobs in manufacturing. But the 27-year-old Cleveland-area woman, who has an associate's degree in office management, can't find permanent employment.

"I did telemarketing. I worked at a park. I even worked at a county fair for a week," she says. "I'm doing side jobs, some retail. But nothing that I wound up being able to keep."

Her mother, whose company was recently bought out by a European firm, can't help feeling that the U.S. is in decline.

"Because the average person can't graduate from high school and find a job," she says. "It's easier for somebody to come from another country and get started than it is for us who grew up here."

"Mmmm," her daughter nods in agreement. Jennifer Brown motions to the street scene around her.

"This is where it needs to go back to," she says. "Like the American dream. America, not the socialist stuff that's going on. And where you could just, you can get a job."

Around the corner from the bustle of Main Street, in front of the Andy Griffith Playhouse and Museum, Sheriff Andy Taylor and son Opie stride in bronze, hand in hand, rods over their shoulders, toward an imaginary fishing hole. A plaque at their feet reads, "a simpler time."

Inside the museum, the gauges on two vintage "ethyl" gas pumps are frozen at 17.9 cents a gallon. Oil worker Jeff Zwicker of Vacaville, Calif., poses for a photo with museum founder (and Griffith childhood friend) Emmett Forrest.

Zwicker, 55, a 20-year Air Force veteran who served on cargo planes in Operation Desert Storm, is worried about the deficit and American indebtedness to foreign creditors such as China. But if Washington can get those things under control ? and he's confident it can ? "I think the future's great for our country."

"We're a great nation," he says. "We have a lot of smart people here, and if we put all the smart people on this and get it going. But you've gotta get serious about it, you know? You've gotta really do it. You've gotta WANT to do it."

Forrest isn't so sure. The 84-year-old former electric company vice president says Obama has "taken us down the path to absolute ruin" and, if he's re-elected, "there'll be no recovery from it."

"Ten or 20 years ago, I think we were the shining star of the world, and our star has dimmed quite a bit," he says. "I guess I'm just cornpone patriotic. I love this country and hate to see it go down."

But to Pablo Hernandez, these are good times.

Hernandez, 45, came here from Mexico in 1987. He traveled the country, picking apples, oranges, tomatoes ? "everything" ? before landing a job at a chicken-processing plant in nearby Dobson.

For the past five years, he and his wife, Salustria, 33, have operated La Sierrita Tienda Mexicana in a strip mall on a bypass outside downtown. They sell everything from black beans and dried chilies to CDs from groups like Los Rancheros and Fortunato y sus Cometas.

Sure, Hernandez is concerned about the recent wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in places like Alabama and South Carolina. The couple's two daughters ? Lesley, 13, and Nadia, 6 ? were born here, but the parents have their green cards. But he is not a pessimist.

The American Dream "is still alive for me," he says, as Nadia reads a picture book beneath a ceiling dangling with colorful pinatas. "Because I'm still here, you know."

___

Pauline Arrillaga reported from North Las Vegas, Nev., Allen G. Breed reported from Mount Airy, N.C., and Adam Geller reported from Toledo and Lima, Ohio. They can be reached at features(at)ap.org.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_el_ge/us_america_on_edge

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Israel Offs Another Terrorist

Israel Offs Another Terrorist

The world is a better place today:

(JERUSALEM) ? The Israeli army says it has carried out an airstrike against a group of Palestinian militants preparing to launch rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The territory's Health Ministry says one man was killed and one wounded in the strike early on Friday.

The army says the airstrike thwarted an attempt by a group that had recently fired rockets at Israel.

Darn I don't have actual war porn of this strike but it probably looked something like this.

Update: The dead buy is identified as Momen Abu Daf

...Chief of the Army of Islam, among a loose network of Palestinian groups which profess allegiance to al Qaeda and have been reinforced by volunteers who slip in from the Sinai.

Update II: Look a dead Jihadi!

IMG_9617.jpg

Allahu Snackbar!

Source: http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/210590.php

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Old Microsoft patent details gaming console with DVR functionality

Can you imagine the original Xbox 360, with its 20GB hard drive, being used as a DVR? We really can't see it working, but in January of 2007 Microsoft was down with the idea.

Patents discovered by Tom's Guide detail plans for a gaming console similar to the Xbox 360 with a "digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component." In the alternate reality where Microsoft actually followed through with this patent, the console in question would be able to directly record content even when playing games or if "the gaming console is turned off."

Of course today the Xbox 360 can stream content in a number of ways, but does not allow for direct recording to the hard drive. Now that the ceiling for storage has been raised on the platform we'd be on board with such functionality, but if this languishing patent is any indication Microsoft is fine with the current state of things.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/29/old-microsoft-patent-details-gaming-console-with-dvr-functionali/

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Gulp down a swig of New Year's Eve science

EPFL via YouTube

Scientists found that several factors were key to the fluid dynamics of wine swirling.

By Alan Boyle

I don't advise playing any drinking games on New Year's Eve, but when scientists play with their drinks, the results can make for interesting cocktail-party conversation.

Here's a recap of research relating to the physics and chemistry of liquids in a glass:

Tweak your twirl: Swirling red wine in the glass aerates the vintage and facilitates the release of all those wonderful aromas that distinguish a Rothschild from rotgut. The ideal is to have one smooth wave breaking around the bowl of the glass, and?this year physicists at the ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne in Switzerland?figured out the fluid dynamics of the perfect swirl.

They used glasses of different shapes plus a healthy supply of cheap merlot to study the factors that determined the shape of the wave rolling around the glass. Three factors emerged, as described in this ScienceNOW summary: the ratio of the level of the wine poured in to the diameter of the glass; the ratio of the diameter of the glass to the width of the circular shaking; and the ratio of gravitational force pushing downward to the centrifugal force pushing outward.


A smooth wave can be achieved in glasses of widely varying sizes, as long as the three ratios are preserved. To get a feel for the right level of slosh, study the video below. Be careful not to swirl too vigorously, though: The researchers found that when the merlot was accelerated at 40 percent of the force of gravity, the slosh turned into an unwelcome splash.

Baby your bubbly: French researchers reported last year that the best way to baby?that New Year's Eve champagne is to pour it gently down the side?of your glass. This is one kind of wine you don't want to slosh: If you do, a lot of the carbonated bubbles are released before you bring the glass to your lips. And it's the bubbles that make champagne so pleasurable.?The researchers found that?champagne is best served when it's cold (39 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.8 degrees Celsius). Warmer temperatures cause faster CO2 loss. And besides, who wants to drink warm champagne?

When it comes to serving champagne, narrow-mouthed flutes are currently preferred to wide. saucer-shaped glasses for similar reasons. The greater surface area of the saucer bowl leads to faster CO2 dissipation.

The same research group found that smooth-walled flutes tend to tone down the bubbles in?poured champagne, while scratches in the glass promote bubble nucleation. Some glassmakers intentionally put microscratches in the?inner surface to?create showier special effects. If you want to do?something similar, try wiping the inside of the flute with a cloth towel; the?tiny fibers that are left behind produce a similar effect on nucleation. This video from the American Chemical Society tells you more about the chemistry of champagne:

Shaken or stirred? Physics and chemistry often determine whether an alcoholic drink takes flight or flops, as Harvard physicists Naveen Sinha and David Weitz explain this month in a report on cocktail physics for PhysicsWorld (free access with registration).

Straight shots of aquavit, vodka or other spirits are best served cold ? zero degrees F, or -18 degrees C ? because that reduces the burning sensation you get in the throat and chest when you toss the shot down the hatch. But?low temperatures also make it harder to savor the taste and aroma of other ingredients, which is why mixed drinks are usually served at higher temperatures.

A nice chill helps balance the taste of a gin martini, though. If it's anywhere close to room temperature, the gin?tends to?overwhelm the vermouth.

Speaking of martinis, The Straight Dope provides some words of wisdom about the "shaken-vs.-stirred" debate. The way Cecil's pals tell it, a gin martini is best stirred, not shaken???because shaking dissolves more air into the mix,?"bruising" the gin and?supposedly giving the martini more of a bitter taste.

On the other hand, a vodka martini (which some drinkers refuse to?recognize as a martini at all) is best served as cold as possible, and shaking?with?ice is a?more effective?way to cool down the drink. Also, shaking breaks down?the oils in the vermouth more completely.?In case you've forgotten,?Agent 007 James Bond preferred his martinis with vodka???and "shaken, not stirred." A decade ago, researchers found that shaking deactivates the hydrogen peroxide in?a martini?better than stirring does, producing more of an?antioxidant effect.?They?concluded that "007's profound state of health may be due, at least in part, to compliant bartenders."

If?you're making a manhattan, don't follow 007's lead. Sinha and Weitz observe that "a manhattan, which contains whisky, vermouth and bitters, can become cloudy when shaken."

"This results from small air bubbles introduced into the beverage while shaking, which are then stabilized by the bitters," they write. "A stirred manhattan, in contrast, is clear, which is why it is typically served stirred, not shaken, unlike James Bond's martinis."

For more about the physics of mixology, including a high-tech recipe for a hot and cold gin fizz, check out the full report from Physics World. Whatever you do, drink responsibly ... and have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.

More about the science of alcoholic drinks:


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/30/9839500-sip-some-science-on-new-years-eve

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PFT: Shanahan thinks Redskins won't fire him

New York Giants v Dallas CowboysGetty Images

It?s here.? The last week of the regular season.? And I have even worse of a chance to catch Rosenthal as the Jets do of making it to the playoffs.

But I can?t give up now.? With a two-game win in Week 16, the game is down to seven games.? We disagree on four this week.? With a sweep, the 11 postseason games could get interesting.

Last week, I finished 10-6.? Rosey was a pathetic 8-8.? For the year, he?s 159-81.? I?m 152-88.

Lions at Packers

Florio?s take:? The Lions should try to beat the Packers, in order to avoid having to go back to New Orleans for the first round of the playoffs.? The Packers should try to beat the Lions, in order to force them to return to the Superdome.? Green Bay remains the better team, as long as they go with their starters.

Florio?s pick:? Packers 34, Lions 24.

Rosenthal?s take: The Packers aren?t likely to play their starters four quarters.? That doesn?t mean this will be a cakewalk for Detroit.? Ask the 2004 Bills about playing a No. 1 seed?s backups.? Or the 2010 Patriots about facing Matt Flynn.? Still, Detroit wants to avoid a trip to New Orleans.? Their defensive line will make the difference.

Rosenthal?s pick: Lions 28, Packers 27.

Titans at Texans

Florio?s take:? Technically, it?s a meaningless game for the Texans.? But with two ugly losses in a row, the AFC South champs need to build some confidence and momentum before the postseason begins.? Though Tennessee still has a shot at the postseason, they?re not ready to beat a quality-yet-flawed team on the road.

Florio?s pick:? Texans 24, Titans 16.

Rosenthal?s take: I believe Gary Kubiak when he says he?ll play this game like any other. The Texans don?t want to hit the playoffs on a three-game losing streak.? T.J. Yates needs his defense and running game to carry him.? They will on Sunday.

Rosenthal?s pick: Texans 21, Titans 17.

Colts at Jaguars

Florio?s take:? If the Colts win, they lose.? If they lose, they win.? So they?ll lose.? And win.? The question, of course, is what they?ll lose.? And what they?ll win.

Florio?s pick:? Jaguars 10, Colts 6.

Rosenthal?s take: The Colts were in this spot in 1997.? They had a random two-game winning streak in late December to put the No. 1 overall pick in jeopardy.? They lost in Minnesota in the season finale, ensuring the top pick and Peyton Manning.? Expect history to repeat.? The Colts haven?t won on the road yet and the Jaguars aren?t lucky enough to lose.

Rosenthal?s pick:? Jaguars 16, Colts 13.

Jets at Dolphins

Florio?s take:? Of all the things that must happen for the Jets to make it to the playoffs, the hardest part could be the business to which the Jets must personally tend ? beating the Dolphins in Miami.? Once 0-7, the Dolphins have improved dramatically in the second half of the season.? But the Jets seem to be destined to swipe another playoff berth, which means that the Jets will have to find a way to punch their way out of a corner yet another time.

Florio?s pick:? Jets 20, Dolphins 17.

Rosenthal?s take: The Dolphins are playing well. The Jets are playing lousy, but I?m still convinced Rex Ryan?s lap band is made out of horseshoe particles. Don?t be surprised if the Jets still sneak in the playoffs.

Rosenthal?s pick: Jets 20, Dolphins 17.

Bears at Vikings

Florio?s take:? Last month, the Bears were 7-3 and poised to give the Packers a run for their money in the playoffs.? After injuries to Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, the Bears have lost five in a row.? Though the Vikings also have lost their starting tailback, they?re trying desperately to get a boost as they head into the offseason.? As long as Chris Kluwe doesn?t kick to Devin Hester, the Vikings should be able to give the Bears the boot.

Florio?s pick:? Vikings 27, Bears 20.

Rosenthal?s take: Josh McCown remains at quarterback for the Bears. Toby Gerhart and Kahil Bell will be the primary running backs. I used to think the 18-game season could work, but can you imagine two more weeks like this?

Rosenthal?s pick: Vikings 24, Bears 20.

Bills at Patriots

Florio?s take:? With a win, the Pats lock up the No. 1 seed.? With another huge passing performance, Tom Brady could leapfrog Drew Brees.? One will happen, and the other might.

Florio?s pick:? Patriots 35, Bills 17.

Rosenthal?s take: The way to beat New England:? Hit Tom Brady, keeping Brady guessing by changing up your looks, and play great man-to-man coverage against the Patriots receivers.? The Bills secondary can handle the last part of the equation, but Buffalo?s pass rush is non-existent.

Rosenthal?s pick: Patriots 37, Bills 21.

Panthers at Saints

Florio?s take:? The Saints plan to go ?full steam ahead,? and they?ll need every ounce of it to beat the up-and-coming Panthers.? Though it?ll take an epic upset by the Rams over the 49ers to help the Saints improve their playoff positioning, this one is as much about ensuring that Drew Brees will fend off Tom Brady for the all-time single-season passing yardage record.

Florio?s pick:? Saints 42, Panthers 31.

Rosenthal?s take: I first picked the Panthers in this game based on the logic that Sean Payton will pull his starters once he sees the 49ers take a big lead in St. Louis.? And then I remembered the Saints could score 30 in the first half.

Rosenthal?s pick: Saints 40, Panthers 38.

Redskins at Eagles

Florio?s take:? With four straight wins to finish the 2011 season, the Eagles will give themselves a significant boost heading into 2012.? Though neither team technically has anything to play for, the Eagles know the value of creating some doubt as to whether the best team will actually win the Super Bowl; there?s a chance that the best team as of right now won?t be in the playoff field at all.

Florio?s pick:? Eagles 34, Redskins 20.

Rosenthal?s take: The Eagles have saved some jobs with their effort the last three weeks. One more win, and they will finish in second place in the division because of a tiebreaker advantage over Dallas and New York. So that?s pretty exciting. The Redskins have clinched double digit losses for a third straight year.

Rosenthal?s pick: Eagles 26, Redskins 16.

49ers at Rams

Florio?s take:? If this were John Harbaugh?s team, we?d be worried about the Ravens playing down to the Rams? level.? Then again, the Ravens rolled the Rams in St. Louis earlier this year.? With the No. 2 seed hanging in the balance, the Niners will, too.

Florio?s pick:? 49ers 27, Rams 7.

Rosenthal?s take: The Rams aren?t competitive in a league where almost everyone is competitive. Only four of their losses were by less than a 12-point margin. Five losses were by more than 20 points. It?s almost impossible to survive a season like that when it comes in a coach?s third year.

Rosenthal?s pick: 49ers 24, Rams 3.

Seahawks at Cardinals

Florio?s take:? Before Week One, anyone would have assumed that a Week 17 battle between a pair of 7-8 NFC West teams would have involved a home playoff game for the winner.? But with the 49ers at 12-3, it?s one of Sunday?s few meaningless games, except as it relates to draft order.? With Kevin Kolb out, John Skelton has only one more chance to show what he can do.? Until Kolb gets injured again in 2012.

Florio?s pick:? Cardinals 23, Seahawks 20.

Rosenthal?s take: Both the Cardinals and Seahawks have reasons for optimism heading into 2011 after second-half runs that fell short of the playoffs.? Seattle?s success has a better foundation and is based less on lucky finishes.? The Seahawks defense is the best unit in this game.

Rosenthal?s pick: Seahawks 24, Cardinals 17.

Buccaneers at Falcons

Florio?s take:? The Buccaneers have played the Falcons tough in recent years.? But the Bucs currently are in a full-blown free-fall.? Even as they play for their coach?s job, the Bucs are struggling to simply remain competitive.? And if/when the Lions lose to the Packers, the Falcons will have an opportunity to avoid having to go back to New Orleans for the wild-card round.

Florio?s pick:? Falcons 35, Buccaneers 21.

Rosenthal?s take: If the Lions win in Green Bay early, the Falcons will be stuck in the No. 6 seed. That means Chris Redman could make an appearance in this game. And Chris Redman can throw on this Bucs defense.

Rosenthal?s pick: Falcons 30, Buccaneers 21.

Ravens at Bengals

Florio?s take:? The Bengals haven?t been able to take down the big boys in the AFC North.? But they lost by only seven points at Baltimore, and Sunday?s game has high stakes for both teams.? Still, since it?s essentially a playoff game for the Bengals and given that the Bengals are 0-2 in playoff games under Marvin Lewis, the Ravens? desire to secure the bye and a home game likely will prevail.

Florio?s pick:? Ravens 17, Bengals 16.

Rosenthal?s take: The Ravens can?t beat mediocre competition on the road (San Diego, Jacksonville, Tennessee, and Seattle.) The Bengals can?t seem to beat playoff teams. (They?re 0-5 against teams already in the playoffs.) Something has to give here. It?s more likely to include the team with the rookie quarterback.

Rosenthal?s pick: Ravens 21, Bengals 17.

Steelers at Browns

Florio?s take:? With or without Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers are the better team.? And with the Ravens-Bengals game possibly going down to the wire, any scoreboard-watching by the Steelers will point to maintaining the pedal to the proverbial metal.

Florio?s pick:? Steelers 20, Browns 10.

Rosenthal?s take: The combined record of the three teams that beat Pittsburgh this year: 33-12. The combined record of the Cleveland Browns: 4-11. The Steelers won?t need a lot from Ben Roethlisberger.

Rosenthal?s pick: Steelers 23, Browns 10.

Chiefs at Broncos

Florio?s take:? The Prodigal Son returns to Denver, with Kyle Orton looking to punish the Broncos for their good deed of giving him his freedom.? And if the Chiefs can topple the Broncos and knock them out of the playoffs, it?ll be a long offseason for anyone and everyone who was involved in the decision to let Orton walk away.? If Tim Tebow can save the front office from that fate, maybe he will end up with the starting job, for life.

Florio?s pick:? Broncos 14, Chiefs 13.

Rosenthal?s take: The Chiefs have the personnel to play man coverage on the outside and load up the box to stop Denver?s run game. They also have a quarterback competent enough to score on a suddenly vulnerable secondary. Tebow struggled last week, but it was also alarming to see the Bills offense score on four straight drives of at least 55 yards.

Rosenthal?s pick:? Chiefs 17, Broncos 14.

Chargers at Raiders

Florio?s take:? The Raiders have a shot at their first winning season since 2002, and with a little help a playoff berth.? The Chargers have no shot at saving the skin of Norv Turner.? Reeling after last weekend?s blowout in Detroit, the Chargers could be in for a similar fate in Oakland.

Florio?s pick:? Raiders 27, Chargers 10.

Rosenthal?s take:? San Diego?s no-show last week was the worst game by a team fighting for a playoff spot since . . . San Diego?s no-show in Cincinnati of Week 16 last season. The Raiders finally have their receivers healthy. Deion Sanders would call this a ?U-Haul? game for San Diego.? They are ready to go.

Rosenthal?s pick: Raiders 33, Chargers 30.

Cowboys at Giants

Florio?s take:? The 256th game of the 2011 regular season also will be the first game of the 2011 postseason.? Since I picked the Cowboys to win the division way back in September, I can?t abandon them now.? Even if logic and common sense points to the Giants finishing their unlikely late-season climb to the postseason.

Florio?s pick:? Cowboys 27, Giants 23.

Rosenthal?s take: They Giants are as dangerous as their pass rush allows. It was great last week, with Justin Tuck finally looking healthy. Osi Umenyiora returns this week. There is no figuring out this Giants team, but I took them to win the NFC East before the year and can?t give up now.

Rosenthal?s pick: Giants 24, Cowboys 21.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/29/mike-shanahan-has-no-doubt-hell-return-to-redskins/related/

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Teen charged in fatal Russian roulette game

A western Arizona teen has been charged with a felony stemming from the death of another teen who shot himself in the head while playing Russian roulette.

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The Mohave County Sheriff's Office says 15-year-old Edward Charles Angelo Jr. is charged as an adult with being a prohibited possessor of a gun, a felony because he previously was convicted of felony burglary and theft counts.

Investigators say Angelo took a .22-caliber gun to a Kingman home on Sept. 25 and a group of friends watched as 16-year-old Kevin Hudgens played Russian roulette, a game in which the player puts a single round in a gun, spins the cylinder, aims it at his head and pulls the trigger.

The group was in a travel trailer in the North Glen Road's home, officials said.

Hudgens was flown to Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas before dying of his injuries.

It's unclear whether Angelo has an attorney.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45819154/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Court rules for telecoms' role in domestic eavesdropping

A US appellate court has ruled that telecom companies have the right to legal immunity for helping the government eavesdrop on private communications.?But in a separate opinion, the court also ruled that customers can sue the government for tracking e-mail and phone calls.

In mixed decisions with important implications for government spying on US citizens, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled that telecommunications companies have the constitutional right to legal immunity for helping the government eavesdrop on e-mail and telephone communications.

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But in a separate opinion, the three-judge panel also ruled Thursday that telecom customers can sue the federal government for eavesdropping on private telephone and e-mail communications.

Ruling in Jewel v. National Security Agency (a case brought by Carolyn Jewel of Petaluma, Calif.), the Ninth Circuit judges wrote: ?In light of detailed allegations and claims of harm linking Jewel to the intercepted telephone, Internet and electronic communications, we conclude that Jewel's claims are not abstract, generalized grievances and instead meet the constitutional standing requirement of concrete injury.?

The case was brought on Ms. Jewel?s behalf by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco, a nonprofit digital-rights advocacy and legal organization founded in 1990.

"Since the dragnet spying program first came to light, we have been fighting for the chance to have a court determine whether it is legal," EFF legal director Cindy Cohn said in a statement. "The Ninth Circuit has given us that chance, and we look forward to proving the program is an unconstitutional and illegal violation of the rights of millions of ordinary Americans."

Under the Bush administration?s Terrorist Surveillance Program, federal officials bypassed the?1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which required the executive branch to obtain a court-authorized warrant from a special high-security court before engaging in surveillance that might include individuals in the United States.

In January, US District Judge?Vaughn Walker?in?San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit seeking to hold the government accountable for secret, warrantless electronic surveillance conducted in the US for four years after the 9/11 attacks. Plaintiffs failed to offer proof that they had been targeted by the wiretap program, Judge Walker ruled. This week, the Ninth Circuit panel reversed that ruling.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/uqrJ-kNLmFs/Court-rules-for-telecoms-role-in-domestic-eavesdropping

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Jason Sudeikis Takes Olivia Wilde on Date to College Basketball Game in Kansas

Truth rating: 10

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It looks like things are heating up between?Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde.

The ?Saturday Night Live? actor is spending part of his holiday break with Wilde in his home state of Kansas.

The couple was seen on Thursday taking in a University of Kansas men?s basketball game.

Sudeikis and Wilde proudly wore KU gear as they cheered on the Jayhawks against Sam Houston State University.

The duo were also all smiles when shown on the arena?s big screen during a timeout.

Earlier this month, Sudeikis brought Wilde to a ?SNL? after-party.

In March, Wilde filed for divorce from her husband of seven years,?Tao Ruspoli.

What do you think of Sudeikis and Wilde as a couple?

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Source: http://www.gossipcop.com/jason-sudeikis-olivia-wilde-basketball-game-date-kansas-university-college-december-2011/

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