Tim and Eric drop a 'Billion' at Sundance

Writer/directors Tim Heidecker, left, and Eric Wareheim, from the film "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," pose for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Victoria Will)

Writer/directors Tim Heidecker, left, and Eric Wareheim, from the film "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," pose for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Victoria Will)

From left, James Murphy, Kate Sheil, Eric Wareheim, diretor Rick Alverson, Alexia Rasmussen, and Tim Heidecker, from the film "The Comedy," pose for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Victoria Will)

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim are guilty of a bit of exaggeration with the title of their Sundance Film Festival premiere.

In "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie," the writer-directors play filmmakers who squander the biggest movie budget ever on helicopter rides to work, a personal guru and other extravagances.

In truth, their own expenses were in line with the low budgets on which Sundance filmmakers typically get by.

"Imagine what goes into the cost of one of these gifting suites at Sundance. It's probably close to the budget we had," Heidecker said, referring to the merchandise hotspots that pop up at the festival for stars to stop by and collect free swag.

"Billion Dollar Movie" marks the directing debut for Heidecker and Wareheim, the comedy team behind TV's "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" The movie is playing in Sundance's midnight section, a collection of over-the-top horror, action, comedy and other extreme films for night-owl crowds.

They also co-star in "The Comedy," director Rick Alverson's tale of aging, directionless Brooklyn hipsters that is among the 16 films in Sundance's U.S. dramatic competition.

Debuting on video-on-demand Friday and in theaters March 2, "Billion Dollar Movie" centers on efforts by Wareheim and Heidecker's characters to renovate a derelict shopping mall to earn back the $1 billion they owe for their cinematic misadventure.

The movie features such pals of the filmmakers as Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Will Forte, who all have appeared on Heidecker and Wareheim's TV show.

Both 35, Heidecker and Wareheim met in film school at Temple University in the mid-1990s. They found they shared a warped sense of humor and have been partnered up ever since.

"Billion Dollar Movie" blends the gross with the grosser, featuring gags about crude sex, penis piercings, scabby skin conditions and other crudities. It also includes subtler, off-kilter jokes.

"We like mixing some of those potty jokes with things that have some awkwardness," Wareheim said in an interview alongside Heidecker. "One of my favorite parts in the movie is when Tim takes a man's son and claims him as his own. So that kind of father-son awkwardness is something we really love."

"We try to mix the lowbrow with the highbrow and the no-brow. All over the place," Heidecker said. "Weird stuff and stuff that's manipulating the editing and sounds. Really kind of create a general seasickness feeling for the audience."

Co-star Forte said there's a late-night indigestion quality to Heidecker and Wareheim's comedy.

"I described it at some point as your dreams when you've eaten right before you went to sleep. Everything's a little crazier, a little more insane," Forte said. "It's hard to explain. They're definitely people, and they're saying words, but it's bonkers, the way they put everything together."

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-23-Film-Sundance-Tim%20and%20Eric/id-18f346954bab41ac98d09c46d2e36a38

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Five Unusual Friendships from '80s Teen Movies

The new DVD, Dirty Girl, is an homage to 80?s teen films and tells the story of the unusual friendship between a force of nature played by Juno Temple, and an awkward, social outcast played by Jeremy Dozier. After watching the movie, it got me thinking about the films of that era and other unusual teen friendships in 80?s teen movies. Sounded like a way to kick off a new series inspired by Nick Hornby?s seminal novel, High Fidelity. Without further ado, here are the top 5 unusual friendships in 80?s Teen Movies? in my humble opinion.

5. Gary and Karen in The Last American Virgin

Gary (Lawrence Monoson) is an all around good guy who hangs around with Rick (Steve Antin), a ladies man, and David (Joe Rubbo), who fills the heavy set comic relief role so prevalent in early 80?s teen romps. On the surface, The Last American Virgin is the basic story of three guys trying to get laid while some great 80?s music provides the soundtrack. The movie takes a turn when Karen (Diane Franklin) transfers to their high school. Gary quickly falls for her, but she only sees him as a friend. Slick Rick is more her type, which is convenient since he really wants to bang her. After Rick gets Karen pregnant, he promptly dumps her. Who does Karen turn to when she decides to have an abortion? You guessed it, Gary. Because he cares for her so much, Gary scrounges the money to pay for the procedure and then takes care for her while she?s recovering. Often overlooked in the teen film genre, The Last American Virgin may have all of the hallmarks of your typical sex film, but it also shows how complicated and painful friendship is when you?re in high school.

4. Sam and Farmer Ted in Sixteen Candles

John Hughes classic brings together birthday girl, Sam (Molly Ringwald), and Farmer Ted, the king of the geeks (Anthony Michael Hall). Their unusual friendship comes about after she confesses her love for hunky Jake (Michael Schoeffling) and Ted relays info that Jake?s been asking about her. Sam is so ecstatic that she lends the freshman her panties so that he can win a bet for some floppy discs. Ted also becomes Jake?s confidant and for his friendship gets to drive home the prom queen. The hunk and the sweet sixteen girl may wind up together, but it?s Ted who really wins. I mean, a girl?s underwear, a stack of floppys and and sex with a snobby blond? Legendary.

3. Bill and Ted in Bill & Ted?s Excellent Adventure

What, you think this list can only have the opposite sex? Bill and Ted?s adventure through time is one of the 80?s best bromance pics. While the plot of Ted passing history so he doesn?t get sent to military school so that he can eventually form Wyld Stallyns is the driving force behind the pic, the core of the movie is the unique friendship and love between the two dimwits in the title. Ted completes Bill and vice versa. This is one great friendship, unusual and charming thanks to the performances of Alex Winter and one Keanu Reeves. When you watch the film, keep and eye out for Diane Franklin, from The Last American Virgin, as one of the princesses.

2. Lane and Monique in Better Off Dead

Better Off Dead is director Savage Steve Holland?s bizarro world of clamation hamburgers, snow sniffing weirdos, Howard Cossell loving Korean drag racers and a psychotic newspaper boy. John Cusack is Lane, a heartbroken high school kid whose girlfriend has dumped him for the captain of the ski team. Lane spends half the film trying to kill himself until Monique, a French foreign exchange student who doesn?t speaks English, moves in with his creepy neighbors. Monique is played by (wait for it) Diane Franklin! These two strike up a friendship in which she helps him restore a classic Camaro and also helps him regain his confidence. Cusack is at his goofiest best and Franklin oozes innocence, sexiness and charm. After an insane ski-off in the final act, is it any wonder that Lane and Monique ultimately wind up together in the final frames?

1. Andie and Duckie in Pretty in Pink

What John Hughes touched upon in Sixteen Candles he perfects in Pretty in Pink. Molly Ringwald?s Andie is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who falls for rich kid, Blane (Andrew McCarthy). While she struggles to fit in with all of his snobby friends, she also tries to keep her best friend, a flamboyant young man named Duckie (played with flare by Jon Cryer). Andie and Duckie share the same music, the same sensibilities and I believe they share the same clothes (not confirmed, though). Sure, Duckie pines for her throughout the movie, but we all know that these two are better off as friends. Hughes and the director, Howard Deutch, felt the same way, changing the original ending of Duckie and Andie getting together (they would go back to the original when they made the mirror version of Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful) and gave us the Hollywood moment of Blane and Andie kissing in the parking lot. Works for me. You know the romance won?t last. And when Andie needs a shoulder pad to cry on, she?ll have Duckie. She?ll always have weird, unusual, loving and understanding Duckie, her best friend.

About the author: Scott Malchus View all posts by Scott Malchus

When he isn't obsessing over the Cleveland Indians or the latest Springsteen album, Scott Malchus writes screenplays, novels, comic books and occasionally directs movies. His feature, "King's Highway," is available on DVD and streaming on Netflix. The first issue of "Wendover,"a horror-noir comic he co-wrote, was released in 2010. Issue 2 is due in late 2011.Scott and his family are heavily involved in fund raising to find a cure for cystic fibrosis. For more information about cystic fibrosis and how you can help, please visit http://www.cff.org/home.Scott Malchus is an employee of Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting. The opinions expressed on Popdose are his own and do not reflect those of his employer.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924358/news/1924358/

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South Carolina GOP primary races to dramatic close (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are not ceding one inch of South Carolina as the unpredictable campaign for the South's first presidential primary concludes ? and certainly not Tommy's Ham House.

Romney is fighting a suddenly surging Gingrich, while rivals Rick Santorum and Ron Paul look to surprise in a four-man race that has spun wildly in its last 48 hours.

Seen as Romney's to lose just days ago, South Carolina's primary has become a close contest between Romney, the former Massachusetts governor portraying himself as the best able to beat President Barack Obama, and Gingrich, the confrontational former House speaker and former Georgia congressman.

Both were scheduled to hold dueling campaign events at Tommy's, in Republican-rich Greenville, late Saturday morning. And neither campaign was stepping back from a primary day showdown.

It's "neck and neck," Romney declared Friday, moving to lower expectations for a race he led by double digits as of midweek.

Even as Romney was touting his electability in November, he continued to try to stoke doubt about Gingrich's ethics.

Gingrich, buoyed by the endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry as he left the race Thursday, called Romney's suggestion that his chief rival release documents relating to an ethics investigation from the 1990s a "panic attack" brought on by sinking poll numbers.

Romney's demand was turnabout from Gingrich's that Romney release his income tax returns before the weekend primary. Gingrich argues that GOP voters need to know whether the wealthy former venture capital executive's records contain anything that could hurt the party's chances against Obama.

The stakes were high for Saturday's vote. The primary winner has gone on to win the Republican nomination in every election since 1980. And voters were faced with stamping Romney, who has led in national polls since December, as the party's front-runner, or reshuffle the contest.

Romney won the New Hampshire primary by a wide marign on Jan. 10, and was thought to have edged Santorum in a photo-finish in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. However, the certified count from Iowa on Thursday showed Santorum had received more votes, although a handful of precincts remained uncertain and no winner was declared.

Romney, Gingrich and Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator vying to be the preferred conservative, all planned to campaign in South Carolina's conservative upstate as the voting got under way. Paul, the Texas congressman who has campaigned lightly here, had no campaign appearances scheduled but was expected to visit campaign volunteers.

Behind the flurry of public events around the state Friday, telephones and televisions crackled with attack messages. Some of South Carolina's notorious 11th-hour devilry ? fake reports in the form of emails targeting Gingrich and his ex-wife Marianne ? emerged in a race known as much for its nastiness as for its late-game twists.

"Unfortunately, we are now living up to our reputation," said South Carolina GOP strategist Chip Felkel.

State Attorney Gen. Alan Wilson ordered a preliminary review of the phony messages to see if any laws had been broken.

Gingrich's ex-wife burst into the campaign this week when she alleged in an ABC News interview that her former husband had asked her for an "open marriage," a potentially damaging claim in a state where the Republican primary electorate includes a potent segment of Christian conservatives. The thrice-married Gingrich, who has admitted to marital infidelities, angrily denied her accusation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Asthma Meds Likely Safe During Pregnancy: Study (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new study found no statistically significant link between asthma medication use during pregnancy and common birth defects.

However, the study did find a positive association between some rare birth defects and mothers with asthma, and potentially with their medication use. But, the researchers couldn't tease out whether the problem was a loss of oxygen from less than well-controlled asthma or an effect of medications.

"Worsening asthma is a risk to the mom and the fetus. Hypoxia (a lack of oxygen) we know is a problem for a developing fetus. And, the potential risk they found here is very small. Even if it turns out to be a true increase, the risk is so small. This study raises more questions than it answers," said Dr. Natalie Meirowitz, chief of the division of maternal fetal medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

What's most important, she said, is that expectant mothers with asthma don't just stop their medications. "That's really a problem, and then they end up needing more medication," she said.

Findings from the study were published online Jan. 16, ahead of February print publication in Pediatrics.

Between 4 percent and 12 percent of expectant mothers have asthma, according to background information in the article. Current guidelines recommend that women keep taking their asthma medications during pregnancy.

There are two main types of asthma medications: bronchodilators (also known as rescue medication) and anti-inflammatories, which include inhaled and oral steroids, as well as several other medications. Anti-inflammatory medications are generally used long term to help control asthma symptoms.

For the study, the researchers compared nearly 2,900 infants born with birth defects to more than 6,700 babies born with no birth defects. Mothers of these infants were asked to recall their medication use one month before and during pregnancy.

For most birth defects, the researchers found no statistically significant associations between asthma medication use and the development of birth defects.

They did, however, find a positive association between asthma medication use and certain rare birth defects. The risk of isolated esophageal atresia -- an abnormality of the esophagus -- was more than doubled in women who used bronchodilators. The risk of isolated anorectal atresia -- a malformed anus -- was more than doubled with maternal anti-inflammatory use. And, the risk of omphalocele -- a defect in the abdominal wall -- was more than quadrupled for either type of asthma medication.

But, the authors wrote, the "observed associations may be chance findings or may be the result of maternal asthma severity and related hypoxia rather than the medication use."

They added that it's also important to keep these findings in context. The rate of these birth defects ranged from 1.2 to 4.6 per 10,000 births. So, even a four-fold increase in the risk of having one of these defects results in far less than a 1 percent chance for any individual woman and her child.

"As obstetricians, we need to pay attention to this, but it's really important to oxygenate mom. We really need to make sure that there's oxygen flowing freely between mom and baby," said Dr. Mary Rosser, an obstetrician with Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Also, Rosser pointed out that there was a lot that wasn't known about the expectant mothers. The authors weren't able to assess the severity of their asthma. They also didn't know anything about the medication doses.

Asthma expert Dr. Jennifer Appleyard agreed with Rosser and Meirowitz. "They really couldn't tease apart what was the medicine and what was the asthma," she said.

"You need to treat the asthma. There's more risk to uncontrolled asthma than a slight possible risk of a rare birth defect," said Appleyard, the chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit.

"No matter what type of patient you're treating -- expectant mom or not -- the goal is to treat patients with the minimum amount of medication necessary," she added.

Rosser and Meirowitz said that, ideally, women should visit their obstetrician/gynecologist before getting pregnant to review their medication use and to make sure that their asthma is well controlled.

More information

Learn more about asthma during pregnancy from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120121/hl_hsn/asthmamedslikelysafeduringpregnancystudy

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Will Michelle Williams' 'sexy' GQ cover help her Oscar chances? (The Week)

New York ? The My Week With Marilyn star and Best Actress hopeful turns her demure "pixie-mom persona" on its head with an arguably strategic cover shoot?

The image: Indie darling Michelle Williams, on the Oscar campaign trail for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, poses seductively in barely-there lingerie for this month's GQ. (See the image below.) The?"sexy" and uncharacteristically risque cover photo?? paired with the objectifying headline "Who knew Michelle Williams had this body?" ? will surely raise the actress' profile in the run-up to the Oscars, and is reminding pundits of Kate Winslet's nearly-nude 2009 Vanity Fair cover, which some?consider a factor in her narrow win over Meryl Streep in a tight Best Actress race that year. This year, the category is once again neck and neck. At last week's Golden Globes, both Streep and Williams took home trophies: Streep for Best Actress in a Drama (The Iron Lady), Williams for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy (Marilyn).?

The reaction: Sadly, when it comes to the Best Actress Oscar, you can often boost your chances by titillating voters with a sexy photo,?says Sasha Stone at Awards Daily. The typically demure Williams is wise to fire up her sexuality ? she "might pull off an upset after all." She's certainly garnering "attention at just the right time," says Guy Lodge at HitFix. But keep in mind: Williams?not only looks unexpectedly sexy, she comes off as "smart and engaging" in the interview, too. In the end, though, this shoot may be too much of a "far cry from Williams' perpetual pixie-mom persona," says Jen Yamato at Movieline, and backfire. Check out the cover:

SEE MORE: Should stars of bad movies win Best Actress Oscars?

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Is Camille leaving 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'?

Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images

According to Radar, Camille Grammer might not be back on "RHOBH."

By Anna Chan

Fans of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" have watched Camille Grammer go through some trying times on the hit?Bravo reality show. And now, Radar Online is reporting that the reality personality may not return next season.

"Producers are asking Lisa Vanderpump, Adrienne Maloof and Kyle Richards if any of their wealthy female friends would be interested in appearing on the show," a network insider reportedly told the website. "It's an open secret that Camille most likely won't be back for a third season."

A source close to the show told us that casting decisions have not yet?been made.

Bravo had no comment on Camille's rumored exit on Friday.

Would you miss Camille if she left? Who do you think should leave the show? Take our poll, and share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

{"contentId":"10201860","totalVotes":"2789"}

If one person had to leave 'RHOBH,' who should it be?

?

Related content:

Dana Wilkey	? 31.8% (888 votes)
Kim Richards	? 25.6% (715 votes)
Taylor Armstrong	? 18.4% (514 votes)
Brandi Glanville	? 14.2% (396 votes)
No one should leave. The cast is great!	? 4.4% (122 votes)
Camille Grammer	? 2.5% (70 votes)
Kyle Richards	? 1.5% (41 votes)
Adrienne Maloof	? 0.9% (26 votes)
Lisa Vanderpump	? 0.6% (17 votes)

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201860-is-camille-leaving-real-housewives-of-beverly-hills

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FACT CHECK: History flubs in Republican debate (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney perpetuated one unsubstantiated claim, about his record at Bain Capital, and more or less corrected himself on another, about President Barack Obama's health care law, in the latest Republican presidential debate.

His rivals flubbed history, Newt Gingrich blaming a Democratic president for a jobless rate he never had, and Ron Paul painting an idyllic picture of life before Medicare that did not reflect deprivations of that time.

A look at some of the claims in the debate Thursday night and how they compare with the facts:

___

ROMNEY: "We started a number of businesses; four in particular created 120,000 jobs, as of today. We started them years ago. They've grown ? grown well beyond the time I was there to 120,000 people that have been employed by those enterprises. ... Those that have been documented to have lost jobs, lost about 10,000 jobs. So (120,000 less 10,000) means that we created something over 100,000 jobs."

THE FACTS: Romney now has acknowledged the negative side of the ledger from his years with Bain Capital, but hardly laid out the full story. His claim to have created more than 100,000 jobs in the private sector as a venture capitalist remains unsupported.

Romney mentioned four successful investments in companies that now employ some 120,000 people, having grown since he was involved in them a decade or ago or longer. From that, he subtracted the number of jobs that he said are known to have been lost at certain other companies.

What's missing is anything close to a complete list of winners and losers ? and the bottom line on jobs. Bain under Romney invested in scores of private companies that don't have the obligation of big publicly traded corporations to disclose finances. Romney acknowledged that he was using current employment figures for the four companies, not the number of jobs they had when he left Bain Capital, yet took credit for them in his analysis.

___

GINGRICH: "Under Jimmy Carter, we had the wrong laws, the wrong regulations, the wrong leadership, and we killed jobs. We had inflation. We went to 10.8 percent unemployment. Under Ronald Reagan, we had the right job ? the right laws, the right regulators, the right leadership. We created 16 million new jobs."

THE FACTS: Sure, inflation was bad and gas lines long, but under Carter's presidency unemployment never topped 7.8 percent. The unemployment rate did reach 10.8 percent, but not until November 1982, nearly two years into Reagan's first term.

Most economists attribute the jobless increase to a sharp rise in interest rates engineered by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in an ultimately successful effort to choke off inflation. Unemployment began to fall in 1983 and dropped to 7.2 percent in November 1984, when Reagan easily won re-election.

The economy did add 16 million jobs during Reagan's 1981-1989 presidency. Gingrich's assertion that "we created" them may have left the impression that he was a key figure in that growth. Although Gingrich was first elected to the House in 1978, his first Republican leadership position, as minority whip, began when Reagan left office, in 1989.

___

PAUL: "I had the privilege of practicing medicine in the early `60s, before we had any government (health care). It worked rather well, and there was nobody on the street suffering with no medical care. But Medicare and Medicaid came in and it just expanded."

THE FACTS: Before Medicare was created in the mid-1960s, only about half of the elderly had private insurance for hospital care, and they were facing rising costs for those policies on their fixed incomes. Medicare was hugely contentious at the time, seen by many doctors as a socialist takeover, but few argued that the status quo could be maintained.

A Health, Education and Welfare Department report to Congress in 1959, during the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower, took no position on what the federal government should do but stated "a larger proportion of the aged than of other persons must turn to public assistance for payment of their medical bills or rely on `free' care from hospitals and physicians."

Paul advocates a return to an era when doctors would treat the needy for free. But even in the old days, charity came with a cost. Research from the pre-Medicare era shows that the cost of free care was transferred to paying customers and the insurance industry.

___

ROMNEY: "I could have stayed in Detroit, like him, and gotten pulled up in the car company. I went off on my own. I didn't inherit money from my parents. What I have, I earned. I worked hard, the American way."

THE FACTS: It's true there's no evidence Romney's wealthy family gave him a trust fund, or helped him secure a job at Bain Capital, where he would ultimately make his fortune. But it's not entirely the case that his success is wholly the result of his own hard work.

Romney's father, George, was an automobile industry CEO and a Michigan governor. He paid for Mitt to attend the Cranbrook School, a private boarding school in the Detroit area. The education didn't hurt Romney's ability to get into Harvard, where he earned law and business degrees in 1975.

While Romney appears to have gotten a job at Bain out of college on his own, the Boston Globe book "The Real Romney" reports that Romney's parents helped him and his wife buy their first home when he was in his early 20s.

On Thursday night, the Romney campaign did not dispute the finding that Romney's parents helped pay for that house, in the Boston suburb of Belmont.

___

ROMNEY: "The executive order is a beginning process. It's one thing, but it doesn't completely eliminate Obamacare. ... We have to go after a complete repeal. And that's going to have to have to happen with a House and a Senate, hopefully, that are Republican."

THE FACTS: With that statement, Romney essentially corrected his repeated suggestions in early debates and speeches that he would eliminate President Barack Obama's health care law with a stroke of the pen on his first day in office ? a power no president has.

In one variation of the claim, he had vowed in a Sept. 7 debate that on Day One, he would sign an executive order "granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states." This, despite the fact that the law lays out an onerous process for letting individual states off the hook from its requirements, and that process cannot begin until 2017.

Now he acknowledges the political reality that a Republican president would need Republican control of Congress to have a strong shot at repealing the law.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples, Jim Drinkard, and Christopher S. Rugaber contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_fact_check

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New Definition of Autism May Exclude Many, Study Suggests

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Changes to the way autism is diagnosed may make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, researchers say.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6f3563a04347cd01f986cd8e605f518d

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Mozilla Challenges Prove Crowdsourcing Still Works for Fundraising (Mashable)

The Mozilla Firefox Challenge has named a winner -- but the real champion is the public, who yet again proved that crowdsourcing and grass roots campaigns are an effective way to raise money for charity. The Challenge, hosted on the Crowdrise fundraising platform, pitted 12 celebrities in a race to see who could raise the most money for a charitable cause. Users could donate directly to the charities or sign on as co-fundraisers through Crowdrise.

[More from Mashable: Lady Gaga Joins Google+ [VIDEO]]

Sophia Bush won the challenge, which ran for a month, in support of F- Cancer, raising $117,405. Seth Rogen and Hilarity for Charity came in a close second, raising a total of $114,465. These numbers, however, are all the more impressive for how they were reached.

Bush's campaign attracted 63 independent fundraisers who, through their own steam, decided to help F- Cancer win the contest. More over, 83% of the Challenge's total donations were less than $100, said a Mozilla spokesperson. That means that instead of several wealthy donors running the contest, the results were truly a result of everyday people giving what they could to help a cause.

[More from Mashable: Celebrity Social Media Campaign Rallies for Haiti, Two Years After Quake]

Not all the charities broke the $100,000 mark -- most landed somewhere between $50,000 and $20,000. That's not too shabby, considering the Challenge raised a total of close to a quarter million dollars, all through small donations and good will. To help, Mozilla will be giving Bush and F- Cancer an additional $25,000. Because of the contest, F- Cancer has been fully funded through 2012.

Should charities look to the crowd for financial support or should they still rely on big donors and big money? Share your thought in the comments below.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/linux/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120118/tc_mashable/mozilla_challenges_prove_crowdsourcing_still_works_for_fundraising

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Suspect in Montana teacher's abduction has long criminal record (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? One of two men charged with abducting a Montana teacher reported missing and presumed dead was previously convicted in Florida of nearly a dozen crimes, including burglary and drug offenses, and served time in that state's prison system, legal records show.

Sketchy details from the lengthy criminal record of Lester Vann Waters, 47, came to light as FBI agents and police in Montana and North Dakota pressed their search for possible sites where the remains of the missing woman might have been buried.

Sherry Arnold, 43, a high school math instructor from the northeastern Montana farming community of Sidney, vanished on January 7 after setting off for a predawn run along a truck route on the outskirts of town. She was later reported missing by her husband, and one of her shoes was recovered during an initial search of the area.

Waters was arrested Thursday night in Williston, North Dakota, about 45 miles east of Sidney, following an anonymous tip to a hotline set up in the investigation.

A second man, Michael Keith Spell, 22, was detained for questioning in Rapid City, South Dakota, on Friday, the same day that Arnold's spouse was informed by authorities that his wife was presumed dead.

Over the weekend, authorities named Spell as a second suspect, and the two men, both from Parachute, Colorado, were charged with aggravated kidnapping. Both were being held in Williston.

The FBI on Sunday confirmed that Arnold may be dead even though her body has not yet been found. Investigators have asked landowners in Williston and adjacent rural areas near Sidney to check for possible burial sites where there are mature or rotted trees.

Meanwhile, legal records in Florida, where Waters resided for at least 22 years, showed he was arrested in that state on suspicion of dozens of misdemeanors and felonies dating from 1986 to 2008, and amassed convictions for such offenses as dealing cocaine, burglary and a hit-and-run injury accident.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which listed his occupation as that of a construction worker, also documented that he served time in various county jails and the state penitentiary.

Arnold's disappearance and presumed death have shaken the sense of safety and security in Sidney, the seat of a Montana county known for leading the state in production of sugar beets and dry beans.

The town of 5,000 is experiencing rapid growth linked to a regional oil and gas boom related to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser told Reuters in a weekend interview that city officials are seeking to ease the fears "that some of the female population have right now" by reestablishing the neighborhood watch program and examining other kinds of surveillance.

"We hope the community remains the same as it was ... a community that accepts outsiders, knowing that 99.9 percent want a better life just like the rest of us," he said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Barbara Goldberg)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/us_nm/us_teacher_montana

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WWE Raw SuperShow results: Laurinaitis snaps!

?ANAHEIM, Calif. ? Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis unleashed a pipe bomb of his own on WWE Champion CM Punk. First he reversed the decision of the night?s main event. Then after saying he?s sick and tired of being disrespected, he admitted he?s going to try to screw Punk at Royal Rumble. At the end of his emotional tirade, the EVP then bashed WWE Legend Mick Foley in the head with a mic!

Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler & David Otunga? def. Chris Jericho, WWE Champion CM Punk & World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan (WATCH: PART 1 | PART 2 | PHOTOS)
In a marquee main event featuring some of Raw?s biggest Superstars, the odds changed when a fired up Chris Jericho curiously tagged out and simply walked away from the match. The balance of power shifted again, when World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry?s fight took them away from the ring. To even the odds, Mick Foley joined the fray ? claiming Laurinaitis gave him permission.

After a DDT, followed by Mr. Socko, Foley put away Otunga for the win ? or so he thought.

After the bell, John Laurinaitis came to the ring and announced he never gave Foley permission to be the match and reversed the decision. After the controversial call, Punk berated the GM for being uncharismatic and vanilla. But Laurinaitis, snapped and declared he would soon be the permanent GM and he will not be intimated by Punk. Things came to a head when Foley forced the GM to admit he?s going to screw Punk at Royal Rumble.

"Damn right I will," Laurinaitis declared, then smashed Foley in the head with the mic!

Brodus Clay def. JTG (WATCH | PHOTOS)
After dancing his way to the ring, Brodus Clay took on JTG. Relying on an aresenal of hard-hitting moves, "The Funkasaurus" made quick work of JTG.

A John Cena vs. United States Champion Jack Swagger Non-title Match ended in a No Contest (WATCH | PHOTOS)
Right from the start, John Cena launched a brutal assault against the newly crowned United States Champion. After relentlessly pummeling Swagger, Cena was ready to deliver a particularly vicious blow with the steel ring steps ? when The Big Red Monster Kane appeared on the arena screen to instantly command Cena?s attention. ?I think you?re getting it,? Kane growled, referencing Cena appearing to embrace hate as their Royal Rumble Match looms. (PREVIEW)

R-Truth won an Over-the-Top Rope Challenge (WATCH | PHOTOS)
After R-Truth revealed pictures from his trip to Disneyland (WATCH), Wade Barrett quickly lost interest. Next, The Miz and Barrett attacked Truth, but Sheamus charged in to help fend them off. Before total chaos erupted, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long emerged to announce the four would do battle in an Over the Top Rope Challenge. The first to be eliminated was Wade Barrett by all three competitors. Later, when Sheamus was poised to eliminate The Miz, Truth rushed in and flipped both Superstars over the rope to seize the win. After the bout, Sheamus dropped Miz to the arena floor with a brutal Brogue Kick.

Kelly Kelly & Alicia Fox def. The Bella Twins (WATCH | PHOTOS)
With celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton acting as the special guest ring announcer, Hilton thwarted twin magic by causing a distraction, allowing Kelly Kelly to capture victory for her team. Afterward, The Bellas dropped Hilton to the canvas, who promptly hid behind Kelly Kelly & Fox to escape more twin wrath.

Jack Swagger def. Zack Ryder to win the United States Championship (WATCH | PHOTOS)
Even though he was injured at the hands of Kane on last week?s Raw SuperShow (MORE), United States Champion Zack Ryder was forced to defend his title against Jack Swagger. The match was made in the interest of ?fairness?? by the GM, who felt a ref made a bad call in Swagger?s match with Punk on last week?s Raw SuperShow (MORE). After punishing and humiliating his injured opponent with three gutwrench powerbombs, Swagger dethroned Ryder. The win was especially sweet for Swagger, who has been chasing championship glory since losing the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010. After the match, Interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis apologized after revealing Ryder was not medically cleared to compete (WATCH).

The Interim Raw GM Laurinaitis changed the main event
The night's main event was changed by the GM to: Chris Jericho, WWE Champion CM Punk & World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler & David Otunga.

WWE Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico def. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne (WATCH | PHOTOS)
In their first title defense since winning the WWE Tag Team Championships yesterday at a WWE Live Event in Oakland?s Oracle Center (WATCH), Primo & Epico downed former champions Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne, when Epico blasted Bourne with a backstabber. After the match, Rosa helped the duo celebrate.

?

Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis denied Mick Foley?s request to be in the Royal Rumble Match (PHOTOS)
After Mick Foley kicked off Raw SuperShow by expressing his desire to be in the 2012 Royal Rumble Match ? so that his two kids could see him compete ? he was quickly criticized for such a lofty dream by former United States Champion Dolph Ziggler. Foley clarified that his goal was to be in the Royal Rumble Match to win it. After more harsh words for the WWE Legend, Ziggler told Foley to ?just go away.?

Next, Ziggler?s Royal Rumble opponent, WWE Champion CM Punk, came out to greet his fellow ?unconventional? Superstar, pointing out that neither hide behind a woman. The WWE Champion also called Ziggler out for having the Interim Raw GM in his back pocket for their match at Royal Rumble.

As tensions grew in the ring, Interim Raw GM Laurinaitis emerged and said although he considered Foley?s request to be in the Royal Rumble Match, his answer was ?no?! After the blunt answer, Vickie cackled in Foley?s face.

MATCHES

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-01-16/results

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Seminoles hand UNC its worst loss under Williams (AP)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? Deividas Dulkys' childhood dream came true Saturday. And you couldn't blame him if he might have believed it had been a dream.

The senior Florida State guard scored a career-high 32 points and was 8 of 10 from 3-point range to key the Seminoles' 90-57 victory over No. 3 North Carolina that snapped a nine-game winning streak and was the Tar Heels' worst loss under coach Roy Williams.

"Every little kid has a dream when you're playing on a big stage like I did today," Dulkys said. "I guess today was my day."

And that was an understatement.

Dulkys, a native of Lithuania whose previous career-high was 22 points, was 12 of 14 from the field overall and added four steals and a blocked shot. His eight 3s were a Florida State record in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

"We tried to keep him from scoring if we could but he just kept getting so open and our guys were running into screens," Williams said. "It was a great performance shooting the basketball."

It was an unexpected turnabout for a Florida State team that lost 79-59 at Clemson just a week ago and came into Saturday's game with the poorest 3-point shooting mark in the conference at 30.2 percent.

But behind Dulkys, the Seminoles hit 12 of 27 from long distance while the Tar Heels were simply off while playing on the road for the first time in six weeks. North Carolina made only 9 of 20 free throws and were beaten 43-35 on the boards despite Tyler Zeller's 14 rebounds. North Carolina had not been beaten on the boards in its previous seven games.

Micahel Snaer added 17 points and Okaro White contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Seminoles.

Dulkys said he made 28 straight from beyond the 3-point arc while warming up earlier in the day with the help of two student managers who took care of rebounding the shots.

"He shoots this well every day in practice," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "He's had a difficult time transferring that to the game. Sometimes when he misses that first shot, he gets a little tight."

The Seminoles (11-6, 2-1) started the second half on a 30-8 run to take a 66-36 lead en route to handing North Carolina its most lopsided conference loss since a 96-56 defeat at Maryland in 2003, the season before Williams took over. Harrison Barnes scored 15 points and Zeller added 14 for North Carolina (15-3, 2-1), which finished 4 of 21 from 3-point range.

Williams took his team ? except for five walk-ons who finished the game ? from the court with 14.2 seconds left in expectation of the court-storming by the Florida State fans.

"We just tried to be cautious," Williams explained. "It's been shown that's it not always been safe in some scenarios."

Hamilton said he had suggested Williams remove the players as a precaution.

The Seminoles never trailed after Dulkys' first 3-pointer 43 seconds into the game.

Florida State led by as many as 12 points in the first half, grabbing a 31-19 lead on Dulkys' fourth 3-pointer with 7:35 remaining and then again with 6:08 left on Bernard James' riveting dunk on a put back. The 6-foot-10 James, who had six rebounds in the early going, drew his second foul just 5 seconds later and sat the rest of the half.

Dulkys was 6 of 7 from the field in the first half, including 4 of 5 from 3-point distance.

North Carolina had reeled off nine straight wins during a 35-day home stand, shoring up on defense and rebounding that contributed to early season losses to UNLV and Kentucky. But those deficiencies returned to haunt Williams' club in a big way Saturday.

"Princeton's defense must be a hell of a lot better than ours," Williams said. "They can hold them to 10 points in a half and we give up 8,000."

It was the first win of the season over a ranked team for Florida State, which returned nine key players from last season's team that advanced to the NCAA's regional finals.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/bkc_t25_ncarolina_florida_st

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Rare tomb of woman found in Egypt Valley of Kings (AP)

CAIRO ? In a rare find, Egyptian and Swiss archaeologists have unearthed a roughly 1,100 year-old tomb of a female singer in the Valley of the Kings, an antiquities official said Sunday.

It is the only tomb of a woman not related to the ancient Egyptian royal families ever found in the Valley of the Kings, said Mansour Boraiq, the top government official for the Antiquities' Ministry in the city of Luxor,

The Valley of the Kings in Luxor is a major tourist attraction. In 1922, archaeologists there unearthed the gold funerary mask of Tutankhamun and other stunning items in the tomb of the king who ruled more than 3,000 years ago.

Boraiq told The Associated Press that the coffin of the female singer is remarkably intact.

He said that when the coffin is opened this week, archaeologists will likely find a mummy and a cartonnage mask molded to her face and made from layers of linen and plaster.

The singer's name, Nehmes Bastet, means she was believed to be protected by the feline deity Bastet.

The tomb was found by accident, according to Elena Pauline-Grothe, field director for excavation at the Valley of the Kings with Switzerland's University of Basel.

"We were not looking for new tombs. It was close to another tomb that was discovered 100 years ago," Pauline-Grothe said.

Pauline-Grothe said the tomb was not originally built for the female singer, but was reused for her 400 years after the original one, based on artifacts found inside. Archaeologists do not know whom the tomb was originally intended for.

The coffin of the singer belonged to the daughter of a high priest during the 22nd Dynasty.

Archaeologists concluded from artifacts that she sang in Karnak Temple, one of the most famous and largest open-air sites from the Pharaonic era, according to evidence at the site.

At the time of her death, Egypt was ruled by Libyan kings, but the high priests who ruled Thebes, which is now within the city of Luxor, were independent. Their authority enabled them to use the royal cemetery for family members, according to Boraiq.

The unearthing marks the 64th tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/fossils/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_antiquities

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UFT outlines legal strategy to combat Bloomberg's SIG plan ...

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew responded forcefully to Mayor Bloomberg?s plans to circumvent a collective bargaining requirement, saying union?lawyers had a?multi-pronged approach to push back against the city?s tactics.

First,?the union said it would petition a state labor board to force the city to accept a mediator in talks over new teacher evaluations. The union suggested arbitration two weeks ago when evaluation talks broke down, but the city has rejected the request.

And regardless of what the board decides, Mulgrew indicated today in a press conference that he would sue over the gambit the city has proposed to get around the evaluation requirement. That plan would switch the status of 33 schools in a federal improvement program and require half of their teachers to be replaced.

?If the Department of Education tries to implement changing these schools from their current status, we will be taking appropriate legal action,? Mulgrew said.

The city can not move forward yet without approval from the state education department, which administers federal funding attached to the school improvement strategies. Walcott detailed the plans in a letter to Commissioner John King yesterday but King has yet to respond.

In the meantime, Mulgrew ratcheted up rhetoric against Mayor Bloomberg, who took the UFT head-on several times during his education-centered speech.

?What I saw yesterday inside of his state of city speech was so sad,? Mulgrew said at a press conference where he announced that the UFT officially submitted an impasse petition to the state?s Public Employee Relations Board. ?What I saw was a man who is trying to set up a smoke screen about the decade of disaster that he has? put upon our city schools.?

?He would rather start a fight with us so people will stop talking about how bad his legacy on the schools has been during his mayoralty,? Mulgrew added.

PERB can only be roped in on collective bargaining issues, not other conflicts between the city and union. Settling on new teacher evaluations does require collective bargaining, and that?s why the union is asking for PERB?s intervention.

But the city is arguing that its decision to switch the 33 schools to a federal improvement strategy that doesn?t require new evaluations, turnaround, makes the union?s PERB appeal moot. ?PERB has?no jurisdiction in this matter,? Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.

In addition, the DOE is acting hastily to establish that the 33 new turnaround schools no longer require teacher evaluations to secure the federal funding. Walcott distributed parents letters explaining the current situation to each of the schools today.

We are proposing to convert your school from its current model to a model called ?Turnaround.? This will allow for a school-based committee to measure and screen existing staff using rigorous standards for student success, and to re-hire a significant portion of those staff. We believe that the Turnaround model can enhance the quality of teaching learning in your school.

The letter was apparently produced so quickly that the DOE didn?t have time to translate it into different languages for homes where English is the second language. Only English versions were issued today, with translated copies to be ready on Tuesday, a DOE spokeswoman said.

Mulgrew responded to the letter by writing one of his own to union members working in the 33 schools that received Walcott?s note.

Dennis Walcott?s letter home to parents of Banana Kelly H.S. regarding the status of SIG schools.

Source: http://gothamschools.org/2012/01/13/uft-outlines-legal-strategy-to-combat-bloombergs-sig-plan/

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First class graduates from Oprah's South Africa school (Reuters)

HENLEY ON KLIP, South Africa (Reuters) ? Talk show host Oprah Winfrey proudly saw the first class of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds graduate on Saturday from her $40 million school in South Africa.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girl celebrated the graduation of 72 girls. Wearing white dresses, the girls were cheered on by their families.

"The pride that I feel today is overpowering," Winfrey said at the graduation. "I have been on a mission my whole life to be able to give back what I have been given. Today I am fulfilling that mission."

"This class will prove that when you invest in the leadership of girls, you invest in a nation," said Winfrey, who herself emerged from childhood poverty to become one of the most influential women on American television.

The facility opened to much fanfare in 2007 with former South African President Nelson Mandela on hand along with U.S. celebrities including singer Tina Turner, filmmaker Spike Lee and comedian Chris Rock.

The graduation celebration, attended by Mandela's wife Graca Machel, was a rarity for the country's high schools.

"I'm very glad. I'm very happy. I feel blessed, you know. The girls look like angels," said a grandmother of one of the graduates.

Winfrey said, however, that if she had to do it over again she would not build a school from scratch, after a series of cost overruns drove up prices for the campus located about an hour's drive south of Johannesburg.

The school admits girls who show leadership qualities, have strong grades and come from poor families. Its facilities include a middle and upper school, state of the art laboratories, classrooms, a yoga studio and beauty salon.

"There are a lot of people, liberals, who lower their expectations and think that if you come from a disadvantaged background ... you have a disadvantaged brain. I know that is not true," the American entertainer told Reuters this week.

Winfrey's school was rocked when a matron was arrested about four years ago for suspected sexual abuse of students. She was later acquitted.

The school was among a handful in the country where all of the students passed a high-school graduation exam. All of its graduates will enter university, mostly in South Africa but with some going to the United States.

Despite a heavy investment in education since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa's overall system fares poorly, with thousands of schools still lacking basics such as books, desks, electricity and running water.

Most girls who enter the school system do not finish, and only about a quarter of all graduates do well enough on exams to qualify for entry to university.

"I was tested. We all were tested," Winfrey said, adding that now she is "a proud, proud momma."

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120114/wl_nm/us_oprahwinfrey

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New England Communications achieves Avaya Connect Gold ...

Portland -

PORTLAND, Maine ? New England Communications announced today that it has been named a Gold-certified Channel Partner by Avaya, a global provider of business communications and collaboration solutions and services. The Avaya Connect Gold certification demonstrates that the New England Communications (NEC) team has developed comprehensive skills to help small and large size businesses transform their operations with unified communications, collaboration, and contact center solutions.
In recognition of the multi-vendor nature of today?s business networks, Avaya Connect Gold channel partners earn their status by certifying staff members in the operation of Avaya systems and software and in the operation of solutions offered by other major information technology vendors. Gold-certified channel partners must meet rigorous service delivery and customer satisfaction criteria, develop comprehensive marketing plans, and meet annual revenue commitments for the sale of Avaya solutions and services.

Headquartered in Portland, Maine; New England Communications sells, installs, and maintains Avaya business communications solutions to businesses throughout New England. Beyond delivering integrated business solutions, NEC?s reputation has been built on commitment to quality, service, and excellence.

?For over 20 years, New England Communications has provided superior customer service to valued customers throughout New England. Achieving this level of Avaya certification demonstrates how committed we are to ensure that our customers continue to get the highest quality solutions from us,? said Eric Nason, president, New England Communications. ?I am very proud of our associates and tremendously grateful to all of our customers.

?Avaya Connect certifications help us ensure that customers have a consistent, quality experience from purchase through implementation and ongoing support,? said Karl Sunderland, vice president, US Channels, Avaya. ?We are very pleased that New England Communications has aligned with Avaya to provide the expertise to customers to help us extend our reach and deliver the kinds of complete, end-to-end solutions that meet the challenges businesses and organizations face today.?

About New England Communications:
Founded in 1990, New England Communications provides specialized voice and data products and services for businesses of all sizes. NEC can design, engineer, and integrate hardware, software, and network systems and solutions, to meet the increasingly complex operational needs of enterprises today. For more information, please visit: www.necomm.com.

About Avaya:
Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications, providing unified communications, contact centers, networking solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit: www.avaya.com.

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as ?anticipate,? ?believe,? ?continue,? ?could,? ?estimate,? ?expect,? ?intend,? ?may,? ?might,? ?plan,? ?potential,? ?predict,? ?should? or ?will? or other similar terminology. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to Avaya?s filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. Avaya disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For More Information:

Contact Name: Mindy Dubay

Telephone Number: (207)523-1828

Website: http://www.necomm.com

Email: mdubay@necomm.com

Source: http://pressrelease.bangordailynews.com/other/new-england-communications-achieves-avaya-connect-gold-certification/

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Scientists discover the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an anthropologist from the University at Albany teamed up to use ultra-modern chemical analysis technology at Rensselaer to analyze ancient Mayan pottery for proof of tobacco use in the ancient culture. Dmitri Zagorevski, director of the Proteomics Core in the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) at Rensselaer, and Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman, a doctoral candidate at the University at Albany, have discovered the first physical evidence of tobacco in a Mayan container. Their discovery represents new evidence on the ancient use of tobacco in the Mayan culture and a new method to understand the ancient roots of tobacco use in the Americas.

Their research will appear in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, in an article titled "The detection of nicotine in a Late Mayan period flask by GCMS and LCMS methods."

In recent years, archaeologists have begun to use chemical analysis of residues from ancient pottery, tools, and even mummies in an attempt to piece together minute clues about ancient civilizations. Among the potential problems with isolating a residue for analysis is preservation and contamination. Many vessels serve multiple purposes during their lives, resulting in muddled chemical data. Once the vessels are discarded, natural processes such as bacteria and water can destroy the surface of materials, erasing important evidence. Additionally, researchers must be attentive to archaeological field handling and laboratory treatment of the artifacts that might lead to cross contamination by modern sources.

To make their discovery, the researchers had a unique research opportunity: a more than 1,300-year-old vessel decorated with hieroglyphics that seemingly indicated the intended contents. Additionally, the interior of the vessel had not been cleaned, leaving the interior unmodified and the residue protected from contamination.

The approximately two-and-a-half-inch wide and high clay vessel bears Mayan hieroglyphics, reading "the home of his/her tobacco." The vessel, part of the large Kislak Collection housed at the Library of Congress, was made around 700 A.D. in the region of the Mirador Basin, in Southern Campeche, Mexico, during the Classic Mayan period. Tobacco use has long been associated with the Mayans, thanks to previously deciphered hieroglyphics and illustrations showing smoking gods and people, but physical evidence of the activity is exceptionally limited, according to the researchers.

Zagorevski used the technology within CBIS at Rensselaer, usually reserved to study modern diseases and proteins, to analyze the contents of the vessel for the chemical fingerprint of tobacco. The technology included gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Both are analytical chemistry techniques that combine the physical separation capabilities of gas or liquid chromatography with the analysis capabilities of mass spectrometry. The latter is used to determine molecular weights of compounds, their elemental composition, and structural characteristics.

Zagorevski and Loughmiller-Newman's analysis of the vessel found nicotine, an important component of tobacco in residues scrapped from the container. Both techniques confirmed the presence of nicotine. In addition, three oxidation products of nicotine were also discovered. Nicotine oxidation occurs naturally as the nicotine in tobacco is exposed to air and bacteria. None of the nicotine byproducts associated with the smoking of tobacco were found in the vessel, indicating that the vessel housed unsmoked tobacco leaves (possibly powered tobacco) and was not used as an ash tray. No other evidence of nicotine has been found, at this time, in any of the other vessels in the collection.

This discovery "provides rare and unequivocal evidence for agreement between a vessel's actual content and a specific ichnographic or hieroglyphic representation of that content (on the same vessel)," Loughmiller-Newman states in the paper. She is in the anthropology department at the University at Albany, studying ritual food stuff consumed by the Mayans.

Both Loughmiller-Newman and Zagorevski would like to see this technique used to analyze a greater variety of vessel types.

###

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: http://www.rpi.edu/News

Thanks to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116637/Scientists_discover_the_first_physical_evidence_of_tobacco_in_a_Mayan_container

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'Artist' wins 4 trophies at Critics' Choice Awards (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? "The Artist" waltzed away with its first wins of Hollywood's awards season.

The black-and-white ode to the silent-film era directed by Michel Hazanavicius led winners with four honors at Thursday's 17th annual Critics' Choice Awards, which are presented by the 250 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

"The Artist" took the evening's top prize, best picture, as well honors for best score, costume design and director.

"I made a silent movie," French director Hazanavicius joked in English while accepting the award for best picture. "I don't like to speak so much."

"The Help," the adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about black maids speaking out about their white employers during the civil-rights movement, followed behind "The Artist" with three wins in the ceremony's acting categories: Viola Davis as best actress, Octavia Spencer as best supporting actress and the film's cast as best acting ensemble.

"I absolutely knew I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to be somebody," an emotional Davis said accepting her award. "I wanted to dream big and make a mark somehow. That's something absolutely that Aibileen was not afforded. I considered it my honor to pay homage to these women at this time period who were not allowed to dream and not allowed to find their purpose."

Others who accepted trophies at the lavish Hollywood Palladium ceremony included George Clooney as best actor for "The Descendants," Christopher Plummer as best supporting actor for "Beginners" and Thomas Horn as best young actor for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."

"Frankly, I didn't even imagine I would get this, but I have," beamed a surprised Horn.

Funnymen Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel hosted the ceremony, which was broadcast live on VH1.

Other winners included "Bridesmaids" as best comedy movie, "Drive" as best action movie, "Rango" as best animated feature, "Midnight in Paris" as best original screenplay, "Moneyball" as best adapted screenplay, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for best editing and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" for best makeup and best sound.

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VH1 is owned by Viacom Inc.

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AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

___

Online:

http://www.criticschoice.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_en_mo/us_critics__choice_awards

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Obama cuts troops, shifts focus

By ROBERT BURNS

January 06, 2012 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON ? Looking beyond the wars he inherited, President Barack Obama on Thursday launched a reshaping and shrinking of the military. He vowed to preserve U.S. pre-eminence even as the Army and Marine Corps shed troops and the administration considers reducing its arsenal of nuclear weapons.

The changes won't come without risk, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. But he called it acceptable and, because of budget restraints, inevitable.

In a presentation at the Pentagon, Obama said the U.S. is "turning a page" after having killed Osama bin Laden, withdrawn troops from Iraq and begun to wind down the war in Afghanistan. He outlined a vision for the future that some Republican lawmakers quickly dubbed wrong-headed.

"Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority," Obama said with Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, at his side.

In a presidential election year the strategy gives Obama a rhetorical tool to defend his Pentagon budget-cutting choices. Republican contenders for the White House already have attacked him on national security issues including missile defense, Iran and planned reductions in ground forces.

Obama unveiled the results of an eight-month defense strategy review that is intended to guide decisions on cutting hundreds of billions from planned Pentagon spending over the coming decade. The eight-page document contained no details about how broad concepts for reshaping the military ? such as focusing more on Asia and less on Europe ? will translate into troop or weapons cuts.

Those details will be included in the 2013 defense budget to be submitted to Congress next month.

In about every major war or defense speech Obama hits themes intended to resonate with American voters ? mainly, that the United States is turning a page from two wars, and that any nation-building will focus on improving the United States, not strategic allies abroad.

The economy is more likely to determine Obama's re-election fate than national security. To keep his promises to shrink the deficit and to prove he is serious about fiscal management to voters wary of enormous government spending, Obama must show the oft-protected Pentagon is not exempt.

The political danger, though, is that his opponents will use any slashing of spending to paint the president as weak on security.

Both Panetta and Dempsey said they anticipate heavy criticism of their new strategy, which was begun last spring by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates after Obama called for defense spending cuts. The Pentagon now faces at least $487 billion in cuts in planned defense spending over 10 years.

The criticism from Republicans came quickly.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, issued a statement saying, "This is a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America." He called it a "retreat from the world in the guise of a new strategy."

Panetta said that smaller military budgets will mean some trade-offs and that the U.S. will take on "some level of additional but acceptable risk." But in a changing world the Pentagon would have been forced to make a strategy shift anyway, he said. The money crisis merely forced the government's hand. Obama wants the new strategy to represent a pivotal point in his stewardship of defense policy, which has been burdened by two expensive wars begun under President George W. Bush. The drag those conflicts placed on military resources has deferred other priorities.

Obama said his administration would not repeat the mistakes made after World War II and Vietnam when defense reductions left the military ill-prepared.

"As commander in chief, I will not let that happen again," he said. "Not on my watch."

Obama's involvement in the defense review and his decision to personally announce it at the Pentagon underscore that he is not just a commander in chief coping with a slimmer military in debt-ridden times. He is also an incumbent president seeking a second term and wanting to show who's in charge.

Dempsey praised the military strategy and the work of crafting it, calling it inclusive and comprehensive.

"It's not perfect," the general said. "There will be people who think it goes too far. Others will say it doesn't go nearly far enough. That probably makes it about right. It gives us what we need."

Obama said the military will be reshaped between now and 2020 with an emphasis on countering terrorism, maintaining a nuclear deterrent, protecting the U.S. homeland and "deterring and defeating aggression by any potential adversary."

Those are not new military missions, and Obama announced no new capabilities or defense initiatives. He described a U.S. force that will retain much of its recent focus, with the exception of fighting a large-scale, prolonged conflict like the recently ended Iraq mission or the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

"U.S. forces will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations," the strategy document said, referring to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Left unsaid: The military was not sized for those unexpectedly long wars when they began. The Army had to be expanded by tens of thousands of soldiers and the Marine Corps also grew. The military at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was being shaped in somewhat the same form as Obama's vision for 2020: agile, flexible, reliant on high-tech weaponry and dependent on allies.

The new strategy moves the U.S. further from its longstanding goal of being able to successfully fight two major regional wars at the same time.

It said the U.S. will maintain a robust nuclear arsenal but hinted at reductions.

"It is possible that our deterrence goals can be achieved with a smaller nuclear force, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our inventory as well as their role in U.S. national security strategy," the strategy said.

The new strategy strongly suggests a reduced U.S. military presence in Europe, notwithstanding a continuing close relationship with NATO, and says Asia will be a bigger priority. It also emphasizes improving U.S. capabilities in the areas of cyberwarfare, missile defense, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised the U.S. strategy, calling it consistent with the alliance's vision for collective defense.

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Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120106/NEWS/201060354/-1/rss01

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Sexual satisfaction in women increases with age

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A new study of sexually active older women has found that sexual satisfaction in women increases with age and those not engaging in sex are satisfied with their sex lives. A majority of study participants report frequent arousal and orgasm that continue into old age, despite low sexual desire. The study appears in the January issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System evaluated sexual activity and satisfaction as reported by 806 older women who are part of the Rancho Bernardo Study (RBS) cohort, a group of women who live in a planned community near San Diego and whose health has been tracked for medical research for 40 years. The study measured the prevalence of current sexual activity; the characteristics associated with sexual activity including demographics, health, and hormone use; frequency of arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and pain during sexual intercourse; and sexual desire and satisfaction in older women.

The median age in the study was 67 years and 63% were postmenopausal. Half the respondents who reported having a partner had been sexually active in the last 4 weeks. The likelihood of sexual activity declined with increasing age. The majority of the sexually active women, 67.1%, achieved orgasm most of the time or always. The youngest and oldest women in the study reported the highest frequency of orgasm satisfaction.

40% of all women stated that they never or almost never felt sexual desire, and one third of the sexually active women reported low sexual desire. Lead investigator Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, Distinguished Professor and Chief, Division of Epidemiology, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, comments, "Despite a correlation between sexual desire and other sexual function domains, only 1 in 5 sexually active women reported high sexual desire. Approximately half of the women aged 80 years or more reported arousal, lubrication, and orgasm most of the time, but rarely reported sexual desire. In contrast with traditional linear model in which desire precedes sex, these results suggest that women engage in sexual activity for multiple reasons, which may include affirmation or sustenance of a relationship."

Regardless of partner status or sexual activity, 61% of all women in this cohort were satisfied with their overall sex life. Although older age has been described as a significant predictor of low sexual satisfaction, the percentage of RBS sexually satisfied women actually increased with age, with approximately half of the women over 80 years old reporting sexual satisfaction almost always or always. Not only were the oldest women in this study the most satisfied overall, those who were recently sexually active experienced orgasm satisfaction rates similar to the youngest participants. "In this study, sexual activity was not always necessary for sexual satisfaction. Those who were not sexually active may have achieved sexual satisfaction through touching, caressing, or other intimacies developed over the course of a long relationship," says first author Susan Trompeter, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Staff Physician at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.

"Emotional and physical closeness to the partner may be more important than experiencing orgasm. A more positive approach to female sexual health focusing on sexual satisfaction may be more beneficial to women than a focus limited to female sexual activity or dysfunction," Trompeter concludes.

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Elsevier Health Sciences: http://www.elsevierhealth.com

Thanks to Elsevier Health Sciences for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116377/Sexual_satisfaction_in_women_increases_with_age

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