Saturday, December 31, 2011

'Bridesmaids' star Chris O'Dowd is engaged

Tis the season for engagements!

"Bridesmaids" actor Chris O'Dowd -- who wooed Kristen Wiig as lovable Irish cop Nathan Rhodes in the 2011 flick -- will soon tie the knot with his girlfriend, British TV personality Dawn Porter.

PHOTOS: Celebs who got engaged in 2011

Proposing the day after Christmas during the couple's vacation in Guernsey, an island in the English Channel, O'Dowd, 32, took to Twitter to confirm the happy news Thursday.

  1. More Entertainment stories
    1. As year closes, open your eyes to 5 standouts

      While some people spent 2011 "winning," GTL-ing and marrying (and quickly divorcing), there were events in pop culture hap...

    2. Russell Brand, Katy Perry are divorcing
    3. It's a 'Dancing With the Stars' reunion!
    4. Rancic on double mastectomy: 'It was hell'
    5. Movies to look forward to in 2012

"I'm so bored of all this happiness and sex. I'm getting married," he wrote. Added his 32-year-old fiancee, via Twitter : "I guess he liked it, coz he put a ring on it. #engaged."

PHOTOS: How A-listers celebrated the holidays

That ring, Porter tells the local Guernsey Press, is not the traditional engagement diamond, but an emerald.

PHOTOS: Stars' blingy engagement rings

"The ring is gorgeous -- an emerald, as he is Irish, and green to replace a green ring of my mum's that I have worn on that hand since I was 16," the bride-to-be told the paper.

According to Porter, the couple is considering a summer 2012 wedding.

Copyright 2011 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45826344/ns/today-entertainment/

safeway standing rib roast powerball rajon rondo its a wonderful life its a wonderful life rex ryan

'Hillbillies'' Elly May settlin' suit over Barbie

The actress who played tomboy Elly May Clampett on 1960s television show "The Beverly Hillbillies" has settled her lawsuit against Mattel over a Barbie doll based on her character.

Actress Donna Douglas, now 78, sued the toy company in May as well as the consumer products division of CBS Corp. seeking a minimum of $75,000 in damages.

Her complaint said Mattel was "engaging in the unauthorized use" of her name, likeness and image to promote and sell the "Elly May" Barbie.

Attorneys in the case filed court papers on Tuesday in Louisiana indicating the lawsuit had been settled. The financial terms were not revealed

Douglas starred in "The Beverly Hillbillies" which ran from 1962 to 1971 on CBS television. She played the beautiful but naive Elly May Clampett, in the show about a family that struck oil and ditched their backwoods home for life in California.

Philip Shaheen, an attorney for Douglas who now lives in Louisiana, said he could not comment on the details of the settlement. California-based Mattel could not be reached for comment.

CBS Consumer Products had argued in court papers that it had exclusive rights to use the Elly May character, and did not need Douglas' permission before entering into an agreement with Mattel for the doll.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45816997/ns/business-us_business/

juan manuel marquez penn state stanford oregon joe paterno velasquez vs dos santos velasquez vs dos santos manny pacquiao vs. juan manuel marquez

New Year Twitter Honours List

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

Source: http://richardlittledale.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/new-year-twitter-honours-list-3/

oregon stanford oregon stanford jon huntsman darrell hammond darrell hammond boxer rebellion boxer rebellion

Ally?s most-used iPhone and iPad apps of 2011

Some of my most-used apps have managed to stay the same year after year, but app updates and new contenders are always finding their way onto my device....


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/_bEPppRBtdw/story01.htm

big ten championship game big ten championship game ultimate fighter 14 ultimate fighter 14 2011 bowl projections michigan state michigan state

iPhone_Italia: #tizi Remote: trasforma l?#iPhone in un telecomando remoto con Siri per #iPad: Con questo? http://t.co/21UDf6vN

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
#tizi Remote: trasforma l?#iPhone in un telecomando remoto con Siri per #iPad: Con questo? goo.gl/fb/Tf7Fj iPhone_Italia

iPhoneItalia

Pied de page

Source: http://twitter.com/iPhone_Italia/statuses/152157581438226433

aaron hernandez portland news portland news tibetan mastiff manny pacquiao pacquiao blanche

Friday, December 30, 2011

pbnewsbr: Banda Forr? dos Pivo far? show nesta quinta em Jo?o Pessoa http://t.co/r7gc3le4

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
Banda Forr? dos Pivo far? show nesta quinta em Jo?o Pessoa bit.ly/rPcNzb pbnewsbr

PBNews.com.br

Pied de page

Source: http://twitter.com/pbnewsbr/statuses/152170222864961537

miami heat van halen pro bowl sinead oconnor celtics braylon edwards jimmer fredette

Yemen's leader causes headaches in Washington (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act ? whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil.

American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. Fearful of appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands, the Obama administration was trying to ensure that Saleh visits only for medical care and doesn't plan to stay, U.S. officials said.

Washington's hesitation reflects the shifting alliances and foreign policy strategy prompted by a year of upheaval in the Arab world. Saleh has served as an American ally against al-Qaida and will soon transfer power under a U.S.-backed deal with Yemen's opposition aimed at ending months of instability. He isn't subject to any U.S. or international sanctions.

But he also is accused of committing gross human rights violations during a year of internal conflict, and the U.S. is trying not to burn any bridges with Yemeni political groups likely to take part in future governments. Political asylum for Saleh in the United States, or the appearance of preferential treatment from an administration that has championed peaceful and democratic change, would be highly unpopular with Yemenis who've fought to depose their dictator of 33 years.

Officials close to the Saleh said Washington's suspicion that he may seek political asylum was delaying approval of his trip. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. But American officials appeared to substantiate those concerns and said they were troubled by Saleh's recent comments portraying his trip as a move designed to ease the political transition.

"What we're looking at now is a request to come to the United States for the sole purpose of medical treatment," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, refusing to go into the specific of the evaluation. "That permission has not been granted yet."

Toner declined to elaborate on the assurances the United States wanted from Saleh or offer a timetable for a decision. He also couldn't say whether any provisions existed under U.S. law to prevent the Yemeni leader from visiting the country ? provided he assures officials he demonstrates he'll only stay temporarily.

In that case, Saleh almost surely will be granted entry, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because visa evaluations are supposed to be confidential. It's unclear when, if ever, the last time the head of state of a friendly government was blocked from visiting the United States.

One official went so far as to say Saleh's exit from Yemen might be beneficial by lowering the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to planned February elections. The U.S. is committed to doing everything it can to ensure those elections take place, the official said, but President Barack Obama's national security team was expected to make the final decision on Saleh's request. Obama was being briefed on developments while on vacation in Hawaii.

The Obama administration's attempts to tightly contain its internal debate over whether to allow Saleh into the country were quickly thwarted.

With Obama vacationing, the administration waited almost two days before responding to Saleh's assertion that he would be traveling to the U.S. Officials at the White House and State Department initially insisted that while Saleh's request was being considered, no decision had been made.

But reports that the U.S. already had decided to approve Saleh's request quickly surfaced, forcing officials in both Washington and Honolulu to issue repeated denials.

The botched handling of the sensitive debate frustrated some officials, who worried about fallout in the Middle East.

Demonstrators began protesting against Saleh and calling for his ouster in February. The Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead, and stoking fears of instability in a nation grappling with burgeoning extremism. Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken advantage of the vacuum to expend its presence in the south of the country.

International pressure has mounted for months for Saleh to step aside. A June rocket attack on his compound left him badly burned and wounded, and led Saleh to seek medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned and violence worsened anew.

Last month, Saleh agreed to a Saudi-backed deal to hand power to his vice president and commit to stepping down completely in exchange for immunity. The deal further angered Saleh's opponents, who demanded he be tried for his attacks on protesters. Opponents also lament that he has continued to wield influence through loyalists and relatives remaining in positions of power, and many fear he may find a way to continue his rule.

Protests have expanded recently to include labor strikes, calls for Saleh to be put on trial and demands that his loyalists to be removed from office. Activists said troops commanded by Saleh's relatives attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa over the weekend, killing at least nine people. Tens of thousands demonstrated the following day.

Saleh's immediate plans are unclear. The wily leader of three decades has maintained his rule over a country divided by tribal and regional loyalties by consistently outsmarting his opponents, but Toner said the U.S. is trying to remind everyone of the "importance of continuing along this agreed-upon path of political transition that will lead to the next election."

"We need to see that process continue regardless of where President Saleh is," Toner said.

An American official said Saleh's office informed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa that the outgoing leader would leave Yemen soon and travel elsewhere abroad first, before possibly coming to the U.S.

The situation offers an eerie parallel to three decades ago, when President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. The decision contributed to rapidly worsening relations between Washington and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Tehran, with Iranian students occupying the U.S. Embassy in Iran a month later.

Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.

___

Pace reported from Honolulu. Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_yemen

big ten acc challenge scott disick kourtney kardashian kourtney kardashian lipitor lipitor kourtney kardashian pregnant again

Iowa voters hold sway over how president is chosen (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? All across Iowa next Tuesday, tens of thousands of Republican voters will travel through a chilly Midwestern night to the warmth of a local church or gymnasium for caucus meetings to select presidential candidates, the first voting in the 2012 election campaign.

These Midwestern, mostly white voters hardly resemble America as a whole, and their voting system puzzles most people. Yet Iowa holds substantial sway over how the nation chooses the president.

"Iowa will choose the next president of the United States in their early caucuses," Republican hopeful Michele Bachmann said recently. "This is the cannon shot."

The caucuses ? essentially community meetings ? have served as a launching pad to the nomination, and often to the White House, for the past 40 years, though they've been around since the 1840s. Candidates tend to lavish attention on Iowa, hoping that a good showing will give them a burst of publicity to improve their chances in New Hampshire, which votes Jan. 10, and in other early voting states.

It's this contest that helped propel Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore to their parties' nominations in 2000. It also helped Democrat John Kerry become Bush's challenger in 2004. And the caucuses gave Democrat Barack Obama his first win in 2008, though Mike Huckabee won on the Republican side, not the eventual GOP nominee, John McCain.

The caucus process seems arcane and mysterious, even to people in Iowa. That is in part because most people don't even participate. About 359,000 people ? 17 percent of registered voters in Iowa ? showed up for Democratic and Republican caucuses in 2008. Turnout will certainly be lower this year, since Obama is unopposed. And the GOP turnout may not exceed the record-setting 120,000 attendees that the party's contest saw four years ago.

Caucuses are held in all of the state's 1,774 voting precincts, some in remote spots where only a handful of voters gather, others in big community centers or schools that host several precincts under one roof. In all, Republicans will gather in about 800 locations.

This relatively small number of voters, and their overwhelmingly white makeup, routinely bring Iowa's caucuses under attack by outsiders who want more clout for their own states. Only 5 percent of Iowa's electorate is Hispanic and only 3 percent is black, compared with a national electorate that is 16 percent Hispanic and 12 percent black.

For their part, Iowans jealously guard their first-in-the-nation nominating contests.

While both parties in Iowa use the caucus system to choose candidates, Republicans and Democrats go about things differently.

For the GOP, the caucuses are simply a straw poll, meaning the results are not binding. While Democrats use the caucuses to choose delegates who are expected to support their favored candidate, Republicans handle that later at county and district conventions.

After electing a temporary chair to run the meeting and a secretary to record the proceedings, any Republican who chooses can briefly speak in favor of a candidate. Ballots are then passed out and participants mark their choices in private. Those ballots are quickly counted and the results called into party headquarters, where they are posted online as they are received.

Any Republican voter can participate, including those who register when they arrive at the event. People too young to vote can also take part if they will be 18 by the general election.

Democrats, when there are multiple candidates, take a more convoluted approach.

Democrats break into preference groups at their caucuses, publicly declaring which candidate they favor. Candidates must get support from 15 percent of those attending the caucus in order to receive votes. Once they break into those groups, activists try to attract those whose candidates have fallen short of the 15 percent threshold.

After the results are reported to party headquarters, the numbers are run through a formula that changes the value of votes based on a county-by-county analysis of Democratic performance in the last gubernatorial and presidential elections.

"The Republican caucuses and Democratic caucuses are two different beasts," said Democratic strategist Phil Roeder. "In the big picture, it makes for a very different result."

Democratic strategist Jerry Crawford put it another way: "Democrats always like to make things more difficult."

Although the Republicans have a simpler system, caucuses by both parties require more time and greater participation than in a primary election.

Activists said that level of commitment means that for a candidate to be successful, he or she must make connections with voters, then build an organization that can get them to their precinct gatherings.

"People still expect to see the candidates in person," said Steve Scheffler, who heads the influential Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. "The candidates who have spent the most time here will benefit."

___

Associated Press writer Libby Quaid in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_el_pr/us_iowa_caucuses_how_they_work

referendum scarlett johansson glee project winner kris humphries remember the titans wale wale

Odd notes, mad-dash trips mark Iowa closing sprint (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Iowa's GOP presidential contest remains deeply unsettled, if not downright strange, five days before the Jan. 3 caucus.

Rep. Ron Paul, drawing big crowds, got a surprise endorsement Wednesday night from Rep. Michele Bachmann's now-former state chairman.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who has languished for months, suddenly seems to have momentum, just as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may be losing his.

And Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who began the campaign by de-emphasizing Iowa, might be poised to finish on top, according to some new polls.

Romney now is making an unabashed push in Iowa. His rivals are scrambling to deny him huge momentum heading into the Jan. 10 primary in New Hampshire, his second home.

Paul, the 76-year-old libertarian-leaning Texan, drew about 500 people at the Iowa State fairgrounds in Ames late Wednesday. A group of Occupy activists tried to interrupt the rally, but that wasn't the main surprise.

State Sen. Kent Sorenson, who had campaigned a few hours earlier with Bachmann as a state chairman of her bid, announced he would support Paul instead.

Paul's anti-government appeal appears to tap into the desire of a frustrated electorate for profound change in an era of high unemployment and an economy that has only slowly recovered from the recession.

"In the last couple of weeks I fell into Ron Paul's camp," said Bob Colby of Newton, who spent 21 years in the military and is a former employee of a now-shuttered Maytag plant in town.

Paul, who is airing TV ads hitting Romney and Gingrich, planned a town hall meeting Thursday in Perry, Iowa, plus stops in Atlantic and Council Bluffs.

There were other odd campaign notes Wednesday.

Two politically active pastors in Iowa's robust evangelical conservative movement disclosed an effort to persuade either Santorum or Bachmann to quit the race and endorse the other. "Otherwise, like-minded people will be divided and water down their impact," said Rev. Cary Gordon, a Sioux City minister and a leader among Iowa's social conservatives.

Neither candidate appeared interested.

Meanwhile, an ever more confident Romney scheduled stops Thursday in Cedar Falls, Mason City and Ames. He has air support: TV ads say he has the best chance to beat President Barack Obama in November.

Asked Wednesday about the prospects for back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney demurred. "I can't possibly allow myself to think in such optimistic terms," he said. "I just have to put my head down and battle as best I can."

Santorum seems to be gaining steam, according to a Time-CNN survey and some private polls. "We're very, very happy with the new numbers," he told reporters in Dubuque.

Acknowledging widespread voter anger in an age of high unemployment, Santorum told an audience Wednesday: "If you want to stick it to the man, don't vote for Ron Paul. That's not sticking it to anybody but the Republican Party."

Santorum, who planned events Thursday in the eastern Iowa towns of Coralville, Wilton, Muscatine and Davenport, says he believes his improved showing reflects voters belief that he "can be trusted" and that "we've got a record to back it up."

He said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show Thursday that he's the only one in the Republican field who "has a track record" of winning elections in states, like Pennsylvania, where it was necessary for GOP candidates to attract independents and Democrats.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry adjusted his position on abortion for a second straight day, telling reporters he would allow abortion if a woman's life were at risk. On Tuesday, he had told a pastor that he had undergone a "transformation" on abortion rights and now opposed the procedure in cases of rape or incest after having recently met a woman who said she was conceived by a rape.

Asked if a mother's life was the only instance when he would allow abortion, he was concise as he boarded his bus Wednesday: "That's correct."

Perry planned Thursday events in Washington, Cedar Rapids and Marshalltown.

Gingrich, who has suffered a barrage of TV attack ads lately, also took aim at Paul. "I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that the commander in chief would think it was irrelevant to have an Iranian nuclear weapon," he said Wednesday.

Gingrich planned events Thursday in Sioux City, Storm Lake, Denison and Carroll.

Bachmann took aim Wednesday at her two rivals from Texas. She said Perry has spent "27 years as a political insider," and Paul would be "dangerous as president" because of his hands-off views on national security.

Bachmann scheduled events Thursday in Des Moines, Marshalltown and Nevada, Iowa.

___

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont, Brian Bakst, David Espo, Philip Elliott, Beth Fouhy, Mike Glover, Kasie Hunt and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

padma lakshmi juelz santana juelz santana greg halman greg halman dancing with the stars results there will be blood

Car import policy at odds with energy agenda - Lessons fom Southern California

Trevor Campbell, Contributor

The photo accompanying this article - capturing the gridlock on the Portmore toll road - graphically illustrates the social, spatial, environmental and political contradictions that have accompanied the private automobile-centred process of suburbanisation of the working class since the 1960s.

Of course, this development is not peculiar to Jamaica; this has been the pattern, with similar results, in many countries throughout the world. California, particularly its southern region, is the quintessential expression of this phenomenon.

I am going to spend some time discussing the impact of the automobile on daily life in Southern California as a way of providing a broader context for the conversation on transportation and energy conservation in Jamaica. This analysis is informed by 45 years of living, studying and working here.

How the auto-centric environment was created

This writer received his first lessons on how ownership of a car had become one of the basic requirements for earning a living in Southern California within days after arriving from New York City in August of 1967. The first two questions that appeared on every job application form were: Do you have a driver's licence? Do you have access to a reliable vehicle? The human resource representatives were making it abundantly clear to the prospective worker that he/she could not rely on any sort of mass transit system for the journey to and from work. In other words, no car, no work!

This was an entirely new experience for me as I had never been asked to produce a driver's licence for any of the jobs I held in Manhattan during the year I lived in the Bronx borough. Wherever one lived in New York City, there was access to public transportation (bus or train). I now had to quickly secure a California driver's licence and borrow some money from friends to purchase my first used car.

There is a widely held belief among many of the residents of Southern California, and elsewhere in the country, that General Motors - along with the major oil companies (notably Standard Oil of California, now known as Chevron) and the rubber producers (particularly Firestone) - began to conspire from the late 30s onwards to destroy the existing mass transit system in the Southern California region, which was then the largest system of 'interurbans' (heavy-duty inter-city trolleys) in the US, carrying some 80 million passengers a year in the late 1930s.

Some theoretical lessons

Based upon the process that I have just described, here are some of the conceptual points and theoretical lessons that I have tried to convey over the years to students in my class on 'The Political Economy of Scientific Research and Technical Innovations in a Capitalist Economy'.

The social and physical infrastructures that were developed to serve the needs of a particular set of industries in one period later become an impediment to the development of new industries. This is one of the objective contradictions within the historical process of capitalist accumulation. The attempts toward the resolution of this contradiction incite political struggles between those capitalists, and workers, who are tied to the older industries and who continue to receive significant amounts of subsidies from their political allies in the state bureaucracy, on the one hand, and the newer group of capitalist entrepreneurs and their intellectual allies who are associated with the emerging industries, on the other.

This is an integral part of what is commonly referred to as restructuring. This restructuring involves the shedding/destruction of the old to make way for the new. Needless to say, this can be, and is, usually a very convulsive process.

The economist, Joseph Schumpeter, termed it 'creative destruction'. The political managers of the capitalist state are then called upon to manage the social contradictions which are inevitable consequences of the process of capital accumulation.

The reader should keep in mind that I am not making a value judgement here as to whether the automobile should have been allowed to develop. I am describing some aspects of the process of how a new industry emerges within capitalist society and the complex challenges and contradictions that are associated with this process. Most academics and journalists seem to believe, or would have us believe, that technical innovations or social progress can occur without intense struggles among and between the contending social classes in capitalist society.

All of this recent fanciful talk by several of our more prominent columnists concerning whether the State should play a more activist role in economic development only serves to obscure the fact that the no-class-conscious section of the capitalist class is politically opposed, per se, to having the capitalist state assume an activist role!

The real issue is this: On whose behalf will the State play this activist role? All sections of the capitalist class are compelled to engage in a battle over where and how the taxes that are collected by the State (or the loans to the State by financial institutions) will be invested.This is part and parcel of the battle for the subsidies that are channelled into various infrastructural projects that directly or indirectly serve the needs of a particular industry or group of companies. Can it be otherwise in a capitalist society, democratic or not?

As we now know, almost the entire physical and social infrastructure of Southern California, since the 1940s, has been organised to facilitate the use of the automobile as the primary means of transporting people throughout the region, which contains roughly 22 million people. (The total population of the state is estimated to between 37 and 38 million.)

As the science and technology-based, finance and media industries developed, the price of land close to the facilities that housed these activities spiralled, and this pushed the working class, including many of its professionalised segments, further and further away from where they worked, in search of affordable housing. The only means of transport that they had to get to and from work was the automobile.

This laid the conditions for what became the legendary Southern California morning and evening freeway gridlock. It is not unusual for individuals to spend over two hours each way, to and from work. This has taken its toll on individuals' mental and physical health, as well as on family life.

A mixed blessing

While the automobile industry helped to stimulate allied industries (such as car parts, etc.) and gave birth to a host of entirely new industries (and, certainly, it has played a major role in the phenomenal expansion of the global capitalist economy in the post-World War II era), we shouldn't overlook the negative impact it has had on both the natural and built environment.

By the 1960s, Southern California had earned the unflattering title 'smog capital of the world'. The unrelenting emission of carbon dioxide related to the use of fossil fuel was a major contributing factor to the widespread pollution of the air throughout the region. The population, particularly older people and young children, began to complain that they were having problems breathing. (For an interesting commentary on the health problems associated with the use of polluting vehicles see 'Cars, Trucks, Air Pollution and Health', Environment and Human Ecology, October 2011.)

It is within this context that the emerging environmental movement of the 1970s gained traction in the Southern California region and the rest of California. This social movement forced the legislators within the state government to introduce several regulatory measures that were designed to improve the air quality in Southern California. Many of these measures were, of course, opposed by the automobile companies and their allies, who argued that they were being over-regulated, which would undermine their ability to meet the competitive challenges that were coming from their Japanese rivals.

By the late 1980s, just about all of the automobile factories (including several GM and Ford plants) had been closed. Also closing were the tyre factories and the steel plants. These were relatively well-paying union jobs. To give you an idea of how significant these highly unionised jobs were, you would have to be aware of the fact that most, if not all, of the so-called blue-collar workers in these plants were, in many cases, making higher incomes than university professors with their PhDs. In other words, they were the ones producing the enormous wealth for the owners of the means of production.

These plants were closed not only to escape higher wages but also to avoid the increasing cost of meeting the environmental standards. Many were relocated to Mexico where the standards and the wages were much lower. These closings had a devastating impact on many working-class communities throughout Southern California. Although the Southern California region still remains one of the primary manufacturing centres in the United States, most of these manufacturing entities are relatively small and mainly employ immigrants from Latin America and Asia.

TO BE CONTINUED

Trevor A Campbell is a political economist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tcampbell@eee.org.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111225/focus/focus6.html

jordy nelson hot chelle rae guile alton brown weather los angeles caleb hanie nascar

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wedding Magician

18271359

Wedding Magician - Magician for Wedding - Wedding Entertainment - Magician Wedding - Wedding Magicians - Corporate Magician

Member of: The Magic Circle, Equity, The International Brotherhood of Magicians & The Surrey Society of Magicians

Every couple wants their wedding day to be as enjoyable and memorable as possible.
Theo's Wedding entertainment is his highest percentage rise of any of his forms of Professional Magic.
To make your Wedding Day extra special and Truly Magical for yourselves and your guests, Theo will help draw the two families coming together for the first time.
Whether young or old by creating a "talking point" with his Fun Interactive Award Winning Close Up Magic known as Mix and Mingle Magic or Table Magic. This acts as an amazing ice breaker, while the photographs are being taken at the beginning of a Wedding, as well as performing at the Wedding Breakfast or Evening Reception keeping your guests highly entertained.

Testimonial from Lisa and Steve Highsted's Magical Wedding
I just wanted to write you a very quick email to say thank you for your involvement in making our wedding day so special - we had a fabulous day and everyone commented on what a wonderful wedding it was and what a brilliant idea it was to have a magician, and just how brilliant you are - you have earned yourself about another 40 fans I think. our little Sophie being the main one!!!
We are just back to work after having a perfectly brilliant time in Kenya and now I have nothing to worry about for the minute. well apart from Christmas approaching!
Anyway - as I said, I just wanted to send you a quick email to express our genuine appreciation and thanks for your input in making everything soooooooo perfect for us!
With kind regards,
Lisa Bovis (now Highstead), Larkfield Priory Hotel, Maidstone, Kent

Mobile:07711 724129
Email:theo@magictheo.com
Web: http://www.magictheo.com

Source: http://services.vivastreet.co.uk/event-planning+sutton-sm1/wedding-magic/18271359

cma awards 2011 western black rhino western black rhino jefferson county alabama marine corps marine corps veterans day 2011

GOP campaign for Iowa caucus enters final week (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? An Iowa caucus campaign that has cycled through several Republican presidential front-runners entered its final week Monday, as unpredictable as the day conservatives began competing to emerge as Mitt Romney's chief rival.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, released a new television commercial for the state in which he cited a "moral imperative for America to stop spending more money than we take in. It's killing jobs," he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry countered with an advertisement that said four of his rivals combined ? none of them Romney ? have served 63 years in Congress, "leaving us with debt, earmarks and bailouts."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who has invested more time in Iowa than any other contender, countered that "most Americans now believe that a little bit of experience going into a job like president is probably a good thing."

Santorum was the only presidential candidate in the state during the day.

That changes Tuesday, with bus tours planned by Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, all eager to energize their existing supporters and attract new ones.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul arrives Wednesday. Recent polls suggest he is peaking as caucus day approaches, a rise that has him tied with Romney or even ahead, and drawing more scrutiny for his views.

The result figures to be a short but intense stretch of campaigning through small towns and even smaller towns, the sort of one-on-one politicking that has largely vanished in the electronic age.

Failing that, it will pay tribute to the types of cuisine that prosper in early 21st century America.

The Perry bus will belly up to Doughy Joey's in Waterloo and to the Fainting Goat in Waverly, an establishment whose website says "After 10 p.m., we are the type of place your mothers warned you about." Perry also will visit a vineyard and winery in Carroll.

Bachmann will make an early-winter stop at a Dairy Queen, as well as Pizza Ranch establishments in Harlan, Red Oak and Atlantic, three localities with a combined population of 17,282.

It's not all about the food, though.

Perry has a stop arranged at the Glenn Miller Museum in Clarinda, population 5,301, where the great bandleader was born.

The Texas governor also has a distinction that none of his rivals can boast, a town that shares his name. Thus, Perry will visit Perry.

There were signs of strategic shifts as candidates struggled to stand out in advance of the straw poll next week that inaugurates the round of primaries and caucuses that will pick a nominee to oppose President Barack Obama next fall.

Perry's new ad shows images of Gingrich, Paul, Santorum and Bachmann as it criticizes Congress and renews the governor's call for halving lawmakers' pay and time spent in Washington.

Despite the commercial's implication, Gingrich and Santorum were out of Congress when the multibillion-dollar financial bailouts of 2008 occurred. Paul and Bachmann voted against the legislation.

Still, the approach taken suggests the Texas governor is more concerned with outpacing Paul, Bachmann, Santorum and Gingrich on caucus night that he is in defeating Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor, making his second try for the White House, has a well-funded and well-organized campaign nationally and in Iowa, as well as allies who are spending heavily on television advertisements through an independent organization known as a super PAC.

While others have periodically risen to challenge him, Romney has kept his support from seriously eroding in the polls, consistently remaining near the top.

A victory in Iowa does not necessarily translate into the Republican presidential nomination. Yet history suggests that contenders who finish farthest behind next week will quickly drop out, underscoring the significance of the struggle to emerge as Romney's chief rival.

The most recent presidential hopeful to surge and then falter is Gingrich. The former House speaker's campaign imploded last summer and still shows the after-effects: a shortage of funds to counter attack ads in Iowa, and failure to qualify for the primary in Virginia in March.

After insisting he would run a purely positive campaign, Gingrich let it be known he was about to attack Romney on one of his presumed areas of strength, his economic proposals.

R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Gingrich, said the candidate would make the case that Romney has advanced "very timid ideas that will do little to get people back to work."

Gingrich favors an end to taxes on investment income and dividends, while Romney wants to end them only for individuals with incomes of $200,000 or less.

Gingrich also has proposed an optional 15 percent flat tax on income. Under the plan, taxpayers could stay in the current system, which has a top tax rate of 35 percent on taxable income above $379,150, or switch to the new flat rate, which would apply to income at all levels.

Romney favors retaining the current graduated income tax system, with lower rates than currently exist.

Gingrich is at least the fourth front-runner to falter since the campaign began in earnest in Iowa earlier this year.

Bachmann, who won a straw poll at the Iowa State Fair last summer, was briefly atop polls in the state. So, too Herman Cain, who subsequently suspended his campaign after a woman claimed she and Cain had a long-term extramarital affair.

Perry also soared to the top of the surveys when he entered the race last summer, then fell after a string of subpar debate performances.

Santorum has yet to experience the type of sudden surge that others in the race enjoyed but has doggedly campaigned in all 99 of the state's counties in hopes of rallying social conservatives to his side.

___

Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_el_ge/us_gop_campaign

while you were sleeping while you were sleeping happy halloween happy halloween history of halloween eagles cowboys eagles cowboys

Aging Brains Match Youth in Some Mental Tasks

Since physical abilities decline as people age, many people think the elderly are also less able to perform mental jumping jacks as they age. New research indicates this might not be true with all brain-powered tasks: In some ways the elderly are fit to compete with their younger counterparts.

Both young and old brains take longer to reach decisions in some settings, the researchers say, because they make the conscious choice to choose accuracy over speed.

"Many people think that it is just natural for older people's brains to slow down as they age, but we're finding that isn't always true," study researcher Roger Ratcliff, of Ohio State University, said in a statement. "At least in some situations, 70-year-olds may have response times similar to those of 25-year olds." [5 Reasons Aging Is Awesome]

Brain games

The researchers studied how people of different ages performed when put through a battery of cognitive tests, which included guessing the number of asterisks on a screen (fewer or more than 50) and identifying strings of letters as either words or non-words.

The new research added young kids into the mix, from elementary-school age through college age. They found the very young kids slower at decision-making tasks, with performance improving with older groups. "Younger children are not able to make as good of use of the information they are presented, so they are less accurate," Ratcliff said. "That improves as they mature."

Individuals aged 60 and older also had a slower response time for these tasks, but the researchers found that instead of just taking longer to follow the same thought process as young people, the older people took longer to make sure they responded accurately. These older people even could be trained to respond quicker in some decision-making tasks without hurting their accuracy, similarly to younger adults.

"Older people don't want to make any errors at all, and that causes them to slow down. We found that it is difficult to get them out of the habit, but they can with practice," study researcher Gail McKoon, also from Ohio State, said in a statement. "For these simple tasks, decision-making speed and accuracy is intact even up to 85 and 90 years old."

Memory in old age

Some memory tasks do decline with age, though. "If you look at aging research, you find some studies that show older people are not impaired in accuracy, but other studies that show that older people do suffer when it comes to speed," Ratcliff said.

Previous research has shown that a mental facility called "associative memory" ? remembering two connected memories together ? declines as people age. There's still hope for other types of brain tasks, though. Perhaps not all brainpower declines at the same rate in the aging brain, the researchers suggest.

"The older view was that all cognitive processes decline at the same rate as people age," Ratcliff said. "We're finding that there isn't such a uniform decline. There are some things that older people do nearly as well as young people."

The study was published in the January issue of the journal Child Development.

Copyright 2011 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4404a9136d9ab8a5c76067602b695cf0

occupy san francisco occupy san francisco top chef just desserts jamarcus russell sister wives st louis weather jack the cat

PIOLI: New Coach (Last post on 12/27/2011 at 01:50 AM PST)

Things to do:

Things to buy:

Copyright ? 2011? WarpaintIllustrated.com and Scout.com. All rights reserved. This website is an unofficial independent source of news and information, and is not affiliated with any school, team, or league.

Scout with Foxsports.com on MSN

Source: http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=115&F=1837&T=8483744&P=1

best buy black friday deals thanksgiving crafts matt cassel snowman google music willis mcgahee willis mcgahee

Arab monitors arrive in Syria

The first group of Arab monitors arrived in Syria on Monday to assess whether Damascus is adhering to a plan to end a nine-month crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, a member of the Arab delegation in Damascus said.

  1. Only on msnbc.com

    1. What's next for Russian protests?
    2. Christmas around the world in pictures
    3. Take a sleigh ride on the space station
    4. Comet takes its place as 'Star of Wonder'
    5. Attorney, accountant taken off Huguette Clark estate
    6. What kids around the world feed Santa
    7. After Katrina, a promise is kept

"They arrived at about 8 p.m.," said the source, who was speaking by telephone from Damascus after meeting the monitors at the airport.

Their arrival came as violence escalated. At least 23 people were killed as Syrian tank forces battled opponents of Assad in Homs on Monday, residents said.

Fifty monitors and 10 officials from the Arab League secretariat were flying on a private Egyptian airplane, a Cairo airport source said before the aircraft took off. The observer mission will eventually include about 150 people, League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told Reuters last week.

The head of observer mission, Sudanese General Mustafa al-Dabi, arrived in Damascus on Saturday. He went to Syria shortly after an advance team of Arab League officials went to Syria to arrange terms and logistics for the mission.

On Monday, four army defectors were killed by security forces in a town near the Turkish border, an activist network said. Nine soldiers killed in fighting in Homs were buried, state media reported.

There was no sign of Assad carrying out a plan agreed with the Arab League to halt an offensive against protests and start talks with the opposition.

STORY: Syrian opposition calls for UN role to end crisis

Amateur video posted on the Internet by activists showed three tanks in the streets next to apartment blocks in the Baba Amr district. One fired its main gun and another appeared to launch mortar rounds.

Video showed mangled bodies lying in pools of blood on a narrow street. Power lines had collapsed and cars were burnt and blasted, as if shelled by tank or mortar rounds.

"What's happening is a slaughter," said Fadi, a resident living near the flashpoint Baba Amr neighborhood. He said it was being hit with mortar shells and heavy machinegun fire.

Story: Syrian opposition calls for UN role to end crisis

An armed insurgency is increasingly eclipsing civilian protests in Syria. Now many fear a slide toward a sectarian war pitting the Sunni Muslim majority, the driving force of the protest movement, against minorities that have mostly stayed loyal to the government, particularly the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs. Fighting in Homs has intensified since a double suicide bombing in Damascus on Friday that killed 44 people.

Fadi told Reuters via Skype that trenches the army dug around the neighborhood in recent weeks had trapped residents and rebel fighters. "They are benefiting from trenches. Neither the people nor the gunmen or army defectors are able to flee. The army has been descending on the area for the past two days."

Video: Another vicious Syrian crackdown

Two-way fight
Other residents said the fighters have still been able to inflict casualties on the army.

"The violence is definitely two-sided," said a Homs resident who named himself only as Mohammed to protect his safety. "I've been seeing ambulances filled with wounded soldiers passing by my window in the past days. They're getting shot somehow."

Parts of Homs were defended by the Free Syrian Army, made up of defectors from the regular armed forces, who say they have tried to protect civilians.

"There are many casualties," activist Yazen Homsi told the Avaaz opposition group from Homs. "It is very difficult to access them and provide treatment as a result of the heavy shelling throughout the neighbourhood."

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented names of those reported killed in Monday's clashes. It also reported three people killed on the outskirts of Hama, north of Homs, as security forces fired on protests.

It said explosions went off in Douma, a Damascus suburb, as the army clashed with rebel fighters. In a town near the Turkish border, four army defectors were killed by security forces, the Observatory reported.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45790450/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

top chef powerball winner powerball winner narwhals narwhals gmail app gmail app

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Early Florida Primary Could Sow Confusion, Not Clout

A woman votes in the Jan. 29, 2008, Florida primary in Miami Shores. Enlarge Marc Serota/Getty Images

A woman votes in the Jan. 29, 2008, Florida primary in Miami Shores.

Marc Serota/Getty Images

A woman votes in the Jan. 29, 2008, Florida primary in Miami Shores.

Four years ago, Florida played a key role choosing the Republican presidential nominee with a crucial early primary in violation of party rules. Next month, Florida Republicans are poised to do it again ? once again breaking rules with an early primary. Only this time, their decision could confuse the race, rather than clarify it.

To understand why political parties set rules for presidential primaries, and why states break those rules, it's helpful to appreciate what it means for the campaigns to descend on a small state like Iowa or New Hampshire.

Beyond the glad-handing and ring-kissing of retail politics, there's also the sound of money. Millions of dollars are spent at restaurants, on campaign workers, and radio and television advertising ? all injected into the local economy.

When mega-state Florida moved its primary date to Jan. 31 to increase its influence, it forced South Carolina and other official early states to move even earlier in January to preserve their place in line.

"No candidate's going to ignore Florida, no matter what," says South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Chad Connelly. "And so their whole premise of compressing the calendar and creating this chaos was that they want to be more relevant. I thought that was just silly. They already are relevant."

When it comes to flouting primary rules, Florida is a repeat offender.

Winner-take-all kind of short-changes [the] process. It can make a front-runner become the inevitable nominee more quickly than ... the party is ready for him to win.

When the state did this last time, in 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain was the beneficiary.

It was a winner-take-all contest, which gave McCain all of the state's GOP delegates, even though he barely won a third of the votes cast. The second- and third-place finishers got nothing.

McCain's win triggered his even-bigger delegate haul a week later on Super Tuesday, which featured many similar winner-take-all events. In effect, McCain locked up the nomination that night.

But later that year?

McCain couldn't carry Florida and lost decisively to Barack Obama. Many conservatives blamed that compressed schedule packed with winner-take-all contests ? the exact opposite of the proportional primaries on the Democratic side that drew out Obama's race against Hillary Clinton into early summer.

"Winner-take-all kind of short-changes that process. It can make a front-runner become the inevitable nominee more quickly than ... the party is ready for him to win," says Rob Ritchie, who heads the elections reform group FairVote.org.

Enter the Republican National Committee, which in 2010 wrote a new rule to slow things down. The early states ? Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina ? would not vote until February.

The other states could start March 6, but only if they awarded delegates proportionally, limiting their influence. States that wanted winner-take-all had to wait until April 1. Rule-breaking states would lose half of their delegates.

But Florida saw no use for that schedule.

"We ought to go early and we ought to be by ourselves so that our voice has a much larger impact due to the size and the diversity of our state," says Florida GOP Chairman Lenny Curry.

Just as in 2008, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina all moved their dates to stay ahead of Florida.

But Florida did something else the others did not: insisting, despite the new rule, on winner-take-all.

It's that second violation that really has Connelly livid, because the rules do not automatically impose any additional penalty.

"So they need to lose all the delegates, or they need to be proportionally allocated ? something that makes them go: 'Wow, we don't want to do to this,'" he says.

That's not likely to happen. Party officials and observers believe Florida ? the host for next summer's GOP convention ? will escape any further consequence.

That is unless the Republican race winds up close and the delegate count actually starts to matter.

Come summer, party rules allow any Republican voter in Florida to challenge the state's winner-take-all scheme at the Tampa convention, potentially complicating and confusing the nomination itself.

"Let's suppose that a person supporting say Ron Paul ... says, 'Look, my candidate was entitled to 10 percent of the 50 delegates. We're entitled to five delegates. And I'm going to file a challenge asserting that we get our five delegates.' I think that's a very plausible scenario," says John Ryder, an RNC member from Tennessee who was on the committee that wrote the latest rules.

And that possibility, Ryder thinks, could dramatically lessen the momentum and media value of winning next month's Florida primary.

"Anybody reporting the results from Florida would have to award the delegates won on their Jan. 31 primary with an asterisk, and say: 'But, it could be subject to a challenge,'" Ryder says.

In other words, Florida could find itself making much less of a difference than if it had simply followed the rules.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/27/143467282/it-s-complicated-projecting-the-relevance-of-florida-s-gop-primary?ft=1&f=3

coriolanus jon corzine rick perry v tech the three stooges top model all stars americas next top model

LA coroner says Heavy D died of natural causes (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? The Los Angeles coroner's office says Jamaican-born rapper Heavy D died of natural causes.

The self-proclaimed "overweight lover" of hip hop, who became one of rap's top hit makers with a combination of humor and positivity, collapsed outside his Beverly Hills home on Nov. 8. The 44 year-old rapper, whose real name was Dwight Errington, died later at a hospital.

Coroner's office spokesman Craig Harvey said Tuesday that weight and a transcontinental jet flight were contributing factors.

The cause of death was pulmonary embolism and deep leg vein thrombosis. He also had arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Heavy D became one of the genre's most integral stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His hit "The Overweight Lover's in the House" played up his hefty frame.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_en_mu/us_heavy_d_autopsy

dr conrad murray verdict take care childish gambino camp drake take care tracklist drake take care tracklist dr murray trial take care drake

Survey: Home prices down in most major US cities

(AP) ? U.S. home prices fell in most major cities for the second straight month, further evidence that the housing recovery will be bumpy.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index shows prices dropped in October from September in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. Prices in a majority of cities declined for the second straight month. Prior to that, they had risen for five consecutive months in at least half of the cities tracked.

Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis posted the biggest monthly declines. Prices in Atlanta and Las Vegas fell to their lowest points since the housing crisis began. Prices rose in Phoenix after three straight monthly declines.

The Case Shiller index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-27-Home%20Prices/id-0da443a9334142ada28f0ab560510a4b

issue 2 ohio election results 2011 election results 2011 board of elections board of elections senate bill 5 senate bill 5

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ford Focus Electric

.

A terceira gera??o do Focus ? a mais bonita de todas at? agora. Lembra um pouco a gera??o anterior, mas tem v?rias coisas diferentes. Esta terceira gera??o ? a base do Focus Electric, vers?o totalmente el?trica que come?ou a ser vendida este ano, ainda que de maneira limitada. 2012 o Focus Electric estar? dispon?vel em mais estados americanos, ainda em 2012, dependendo da procura e produ??o, est? previsto a chegada do carro ? Europa. Aqui no Brasil? Acho dif?cil. Se vier, vem como show car, como a GM fez com o Volt.

ford-electric

O que o FFE (Ford Focus Electric) tem de especial, al?m de ser el?trico? Bom, ele tem um conjunto de baterias de l?tio-?on de 23kWh que ? refrigerada por um l?quido. J? o motor el?trico ? de 100 kW (cerca de 130hp), mas acaba fazendo apenas 92 kW (ou 125 ps) e torque aproximado de 25 kgfm. A autonomia da bateria garante cerca de 160 km e a velocidade m?xima ? de 135 km/h.

A bateria foi desenvolvida em parceria da LG e leva 4 horas para ser recarregado utilizando um carregador de 6.6 kW de 240v. Se a voltagem baixar para 110v o tempo de carga total na bateria sobe para 20 horas.

E o pre?o? O pre?o ? uma tristeza. O modelo movido ? gasolina nos EUA fica em torno de 17-23 mil d?lares. J? o modelo el?trico, fica na casa dos 40 mil d?lares. Claro que ainda tem incentivos do governo federal e estadual nos EUA, o que faz o carro baixar at? 10 mil d?lares, mas ainda assim, caro se comparado ao modelo ? gasolina.

Ford Focus Electric

Esta compara??o ? muito ruim, pois o consumidor vai saber que o carro ? mais caro. A Ford pode ter errado em sua estrat?gia, ou n?o. GM e Nissan criaram carros novos exatamente para evitar esta compara??o, j? a Ford aproveitou um projeto de engenharia pronto e adaptou o motor el?trico e baterias.

Voltando ao carro, a Ford fez com ele o que anda fazendo com seus demais carros. Banho de tecnologia. No caso do FFE, os freios s?o regenerativos e recarregam as baterias quando se est? pressionando o pedal para diminuir a velocidade do carro. Conectividade com o seu smartphone tamb?m est? na lista do ?banho?. Atrav?s dele voc? pode ver a carga da bateria entre outras fun??es. Por fim, o painel interno de instrumentos e no console central tem indica??es de como o carro est? funcionando.

?

Com informa??es da Wikip?dia.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bernabauer/~3/M91ZABSYVkE/

mary did you know seattle seahawks grammy nominations philadelphia eagles vince young vince young john carter

Rumor: Completely redesigned iPhone coming in fall of 2012

BRG claims that sources close to Apple are telling them that the next iPhone will be released in the fall of 2012, bringing in a completely new design with an all-aluminium back.
We have also learned that Apple is planning to use a rubber or plastic material ?
...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/vO-CJq3g3tI/story01.htm

iraq war over maurice jones drew golden globe nominees megyn kelly unclaimed money richard hamilton richard hamilton

DomainerBlog: Next Sony Ericsson smartphone may be named Xperia Ion according to trademark http://t.co/Q6hdCW60

  • Passer la navigation
  • Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
  • Passer cette ?tape
  • Connexion
Loader Twitter.com
  • Connexion
Next Sony Ericsson smartphone may be named Xperia Ion according to trademark goo.gl/OBbec DomainerBlog

Pied de page

Source: http://twitter.com/DomainerBlog/statuses/150754409557655553

gabrielle giffords austin rivers austin rivers ows kindle fire review community matt schaub

Auto, Energy Sectors to Lead U.S. Steel Industry Growth in 2012

The U.S. steel industry showed signs of recovery in 2011, but rising raw materials prices and low capacity utilization rates continue to challenge the sector. The industry is not expected to reach a full recovery until 2013, according to Fitch Ratings. Demand is picking up in the auto, energy and heavy-equipment manufacturing segments, while construction has bottomed out, Fitch reports. Capacity-utilization rates below 80% combined with high raw materials costs could negatively impact margins in 2012, the rating agency says. Flat-rolled capacity increases from mill expansions in the United States may take up to 18 months to be absorbed. Steel producers are being cautious about how much inventory they're stocking, including raw materials, on fears of a downturn, said Monica Bonar, senior director at Fitch. Demand from the auto industry should continue to increase in 2012, said Larry Kavanagh, president of the Steel Market Development Institute, a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute. Sales in NAFTA countries should grow by approximately 1 million units in 2012 to 14 million, Kavanagh said. "There's a lot of pent up demand for automobiles because the population has been conserving cash," Kavanagh said. Weakness remains in the residential-construction market, which isn't expected to gain strength until mid-decade, Kavanagh said. Growth will likely be at the low end of construction industry projections of 17% to 34% growth in 2012, he said.

Displaying 1 of 3

Page:Next >>

View article on one page

Source: http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=26244

johnny knox monday night football monday night football bonjovi bonjovi kim jong un antonio brown

Monday, December 26, 2011

Maharaja of Patiala, wearing a diamond and platinum parade necklace created by Cartier in 1928

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

Source: http://theedwardians.blogspot.com/2011/12/maharaja-of-patiala-wearing-diamond-and.html

magic johnson involuntary manslaughter stevens johnson syndrome verdict in michael jackson trial verdict in michael jackson trial brian urlacher matt forte

2012 NFL Mock Draft: When Will Rams Look At Cornerback?

Thanks to a rash of injuries in their secondary, the St. Louis Rams have cycled through approximately 60 cornerbacks this season. Despite having to reach deep into their practice squad, the Rams have given up the sixth least passing yards per game in the NFL, though the argument could be made that's as much a function of the NFC West as it is the true talent of the Rams' defense.

Nonetheless, it is expected that the Rams will look at cornerback at some point in the 2012 draft, seeing as they don't currently have a young, "franchise" player at the position. LSU's Morris Claiborne is the consensus No. 1 corner prospect, and the Rams may look at him in the top three. But if they opt for a player such as OT Matt Kalil or WR Justin Blackmon, the Rams may opt to choose a corner in subsequent rounds, and in their current mock draft, Drafttek has the Rams taking North Alabama CB Janoris Jenkins with the second pick of the second round.

Jenkins is an ex-Florida Gator who left Gainesville because of repeated issues with marijuana, but he has long been considered a top NFL prospect, and is expected to go high in the 2012 draft, despite his background.

For more on the Rams, check out Turf Show Times, SB Nation's St. Louis Rams blog. For more details on the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft, be sure to drop by Mocking the Draft.

Source: http://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-rams/2011/12/25/2660750/st-louis-rams-2012-nfl-mock-draft

david blaine jordy nelson hot chelle rae guile alton brown weather los angeles caleb hanie

Trump leaves Republican Party after debate snub (reuters)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178617813?client_source=feed&format=rss

words with friends roy orbison red solo cup xbox live update new planet new planet green bay packers stock