Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Finnish, Swedish Games Heavily Favored At International Mobile ...
John Rich, director of TV comedies, dies at 86 (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Television director John Rich, who won an Emmy Award for the memorable "All in the Family" scene showing Sammy Davis Jr. planting a kiss on Archie Bunker, has died in Los Angeles at 86.
Rich also won an Emmy for "The Dick Van Dyke Show."
Directors Guild of America spokeswoman Sahar Moridani tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/yg21r5) that Rich died Sunday morning at his Los Angeles home after a brief illness. There are no other details.
His 50-year Hollywood career included "I Married Joan," "Our Miss Brooks," "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." He also directed episodes or pilots of "The Twilight Zone," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch," "Maude," "Good Times," "The Jeffersons," "Barney Miller" and "Newhart."
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Catty Elton John?s ?Advice? For Madonna (VIDEO)
Catty Elton John’s “Advice” For Madonna (VIDEO)
Sir Elton John still has his claws out, slamming Madonna in his interview with “Good Morning America” this morning. Elton’s partner David Furnish had finally [...]
Catty Elton John’s “Advice” For Madonna (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/nFwzIn2Xwnw/
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Ala. tornado survivors help after latest twisters
CLAY, Ala.?? Survivors still haunted by memories of last year's tornado outbreak that killed 250 in Alabama are writing checks, donating diapers and standing over hot grills to help victims of the latest twisters to pummel the state.
The April 27 outbreak of 62 tornadoes that swept across the state in waves caused more than $1 billion in damage, hurt more than 2,000 people and destroyed or damaged nearly 24,000 homes. The storms leveled neighborhoods and virtually wiped out some towns. The latest outbreak of at least 10 tornadoes this week ravaged central Alabama, killing two people near Birmingham and destroying or badly damaging more than 460 homes.
Rick Johnson is still living with relatives and friends after two tornadoes last year killed four people and splintered his home in rural Cordova, where the downtown area is still in shambles. When the latest twisters hit this week, Johnson stepped up. He volunteered to cook 200 pounds of donated chicken and help deliver hot meals to volunteers, workers and storm victims in Center Point, about 45 miles from his hometown.
"You know what they're going through. You know what they feel. It's hard to describe," said Johnson, 55.
Leaders from President Barack Obama on down praised the generosity and volunteering spirit of Alabamians after last year's deadly tornado outbreak. The people who needed help last year, many of whom are still removing debris and rebuilding, have been among those lending a hand this time around. The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said 2,511 victims of last year's storms were still living in temporary housing.
For Leah Bromley, helping out victims of the latest twisters is all about repaying kindness. Mountains of donated clothes and furniture flooded her hometown of Tuscaloosa after a twister killed nearly 50 people there last year.
"I just really believe in paying it forward," said Bromley, who started Rebuild Tuscaloosa, a nonprofit organization formed after last year's twisters to solicit donations and distribute money and services for relief. Now, it's helping out in communities far from Tuscaloosa.
A University of Alabama sorority from Tuscaloosa gave donations to help victims of the latest twisters northeast of Birmingham, and a group brought more from Cullman, which also got slammed last year. A school in a Walker County town that was hard hit last year donated supplies and made sandwiches for survivors in Oak Grove, which was battered both in 2011 and 2012.
Mary Foster couldn't go home for weeks after a tornado badly damaged her home in Tuscaloosa, and she's just now settling back into a normal routine nine months later. That didn't stop her from writing a check to a relief fund this week.
Foster said she was compelled to help because so many people helped her last year, including Bromley's organization and Habitat for Humanity, which helped fix her home.
"I was glad to be able to be a blessing to them because so many people were a blessing to me," Foster said.
Foster's house in east Tuscaloosa was badly damaged when a twister cut a wide swath through the city of nearly 90,000 last year, forcing her and her two daughters to move in first with a brother, then into a motel. Her home is now repaired, but broken trees and splintered, vacant homes dot the rolling hills all through her Alberta City neighborhood, providing a constant reminder of the terror that day.
"When I came out and saw people scream and hollering. ... Oh, my," said Foster, her voice trailing off.
Thanks to contributions from people in tornado-scarred towns and elsewhere, the gym is now full at Bridge Point Church in Clay, which opened a distribution center after a twister last Monday slammed neighborhoods including one where a 16-year-old girl was killed and scores of homes were destroyed or damaged. A steady stream of storm victims came by on Wednesday gathering items off of a gym floor covered with tables full of cleaning supplies and buckets, baby food and diapers, tarps and canned foods.
Pastor Mark Higdon said the outpouring of donations has been gratifying, particularly considering how many Alabama families are still struggling to recover from the tornadoes last year, which leveled entire neighborhoods and virtually wiped out some towns. The church's gym was empty at 8 a.m. Tuesday, a day after the twisters struck, and it was overflowing 24 hours later.
"The generosity of people is unbelievable," Higdon said. "They're just more than willing to give back."
A few minutes after Higdon spoke, two trucks and a trailer loaded with donations pulled into the church parking lot with donations from Rebuild Tuscaloosa, Bromley's group. Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a map of Alabama and the date of last year's twisters, Brian DeWitt helped unload boxes of food, kitchen supplies and other items. DeWitt's home was spared, but friends lost theirs and he's been helping with the relief.
DeWitt said news of the January twisters stirred up a lot of emotions from last year. Sitting back and letting someone else help wasn't an option.
"The tornadoes last April 27 kind of shook Tuscaloosa up pretty well," he said. "We all got a renewed sense of community, which is not only the people you live around and love but also anyone else you can touch in your everyday life. I knew it was important after hearing about the tornado to get up here and do what we can."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46176022/ns/weather/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Religious slights are the buzz as India marks Republic Day
Followers of India's three main religions - Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism - have balked loudly at cultural slights this week. There's a reason for it, and it's not all politics.
No one likes to have their religion slighted. This is especially true in India, where there are thousands of gods, and tensions are close to the surface when it comes to ill-considered comments about religion.
Skip to next paragraphLast week, author Salman Rushdie canceled his much anticipated visit to India?s biggest literary festival because of reported threats of assassination. Many Muslims regard his 1988 novel, "Satanic Verses," to be blasphemous, and some Muslim clerics threatened massive protests if Mr. Rushdie showed up at the festival in Jaipur. A handful of authors attempted to read the book ? which is banned in India ? on Rushdie?s behalf in a form of protest, but organizers stopped them.
Just the day before, American late night talk show host Jay Leno managed to offend India?s Sikh community with a satirical sketch, involving the Sikh faith?s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. In a video showing the homes of the GOP presidential candidates, Leno showed a photo of the Golden Temple, calling it ?Mitt Romney?s summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee.??
But that wasn?t all.
On Jan. 25, a Chicago-based sports commentator offended Hindus in his post-game description of a hockey match between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators. Sportscasters are famous for stretching metaphors to the breaking point, but the Chicago commentator was quoted by Indian websites as saying the Predators were ?swallowing up space like some weird Hindu god."
The objection is to the word ?weird,? which a Nevada-based Hindu community leader Rajan Zed ? president of the Universal Society of Hindus ? said was hurtful to the feelings of the world?s 1 billion Hindu people.
Offending all three of the main faiths of the world?s second largest country is quite a feat. In hockey games this is called a hat trick.
What outsiders generally don't quite grasp about India is that sacredness is woven into almost every act of every day. Unlike post-religious societies, where Westerners may attend church once a week (or once a year), many Indians are constantly aware of their religious duties at work, at play, at meal times. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in the back of a taxi cab, in fear, as a Delhi taxi driver takes his hands off the wheel and puts them together in a sign of respect as he passes a holy shrine.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Biden takes swipe at Republicans Romney, Gingrich (Reuters)
CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) ? Vice President Joe Biden took a rare public swipe at Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on Friday, criticizing them for comments about the poor and about the federal government's automaker bailout.
Biden and President Barack Obama have been careful so far not to insert themselves into the rough and tumble of the contest to pick a Republican presidential nominee.
"I don't want to get going on these guys because I know that's not appropriate," Biden told Democratic lawmakers at a retreat in Maryland before going on to chastise the Republican front-runners by name.
The vice president singled out comments by Romney arguing against the bailout of Detroit automakers in 2008 and that foreclosures should be allowed to run their course in a deeply depressed housing market.
Romney wrote a New York Times opinion piece titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" in 2008 as bailouts of General Motors Corp and Chrysler were being weighed by the Bush administration. In October, Romney said that the foreclosure process should be "allowed to run its course and hit the bottom" to clear the way for a housing market recovery.
Biden also criticized Gingrich for suggesting that some poor people have no work ethic. In December, Gingrich said "really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working" and have no knowledge of how to earn income "unless it's illegal."
"I think they actually believe what they're saying," Biden said, adding that he sees Romney's and Gingrich's stances on issues even more at odds with Democratic views than the "obstructionist" Republicans in Congress.
He said that voters are beginning to see the stark contrasts between Republican and Democratic visions for the country's future and are beginning to feel the benefits of President Barack Obama's policies.
"The big difference between us and them is we are strongly supportive of the private sector. They're strongly supportive of the privileged sector," he said.
Biden also told the group that he believed that because of greater voter appreciation of these issues, their party would regain control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans in the November 6 elections.
"I really think we're going to win back the House," Biden said. "I think we will win based purely on the merits of our positions."
(Reporting By David Lawder)
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CNN behind on TV ratings, ahead of rivals online (Reuters)
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (TheWrap.com) ? CNN may lag behind most of its competitors in the television ratings department, but digital is another story.
Citing comScore Media Metrix, CNN said in a blog post that it drew more than 73 million unique visitors across all platforms in 2011, while more than 100 million videos were started on its website.
And what would those numbers mean without a little dig at the competition?
According to CNN, those 73 million unique visitors outpace its main rivals in the TV news space, "beating MSNBC by 38 percent, Fox News by 187 percent, ABC News Digital by 217 percent and CBS Interactive by 260 percent."
If one goes by page views, those percentages balloon even more.
Oddly enough, those numbers might be inversely proportional to television ratings as MSNBC topped CNN in 2011, Fox beat both and the networks outpaced cable.
CNN also claims to be the top destination for mobile news, with 19.5 million unique visitors per month, and the most popular on both Facebook and Twitter.
On mobile and Facebook, Fox News is its closest competitor. On Twitter, it's the New York Times.
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Twitter Sets Feb. 1 As Date For Enhanced Profile ... - Business Insider
Coke's enhanced Twitter profile page.
Twitter is set to roll out enhanced profile pages after Feb. 1, a source tells us, and those pages will give brands the ability to build platforms on their pages that could include iFrame environments, allowing users to play games or shop on a brand's site without actually leaving the Twitter environment.In other words, Twitter's brand pages are going to start to function more like the way Facebook's brand pages do.
Twitter declined to comment.
Enhanced profile pages launched quietly in December, with a few invitation-only companies such as Coca-Cola (pictured) and HP being given the opportunity to test them. The pages are splashier and more visually appealing than the one-dimensional column of tweets that the rest of us have.
Enhanced profile pages are part of Twitter's Q2 product rollout plan, according to a person who received a briefing on the topic from a senior Twitter executive.
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Mr. Miyagi returns in Vita's Reality Fighters (Digital Trends)
Over at the official PlayStation Blog, the announcement of Mr. Miyagi?s return was accompanied by a few screenshots of the character and some details about the role he?ll play in the game.
?We specifically chose Mr. Miyagi for several reasons. Firstly, we needed someone who was a true fighting master who could easily take on the best fighters from around the world, but was also wise, and capable of teaching the player,? explained Mitsuo Hirakawa of SCE XDev Studio. ?Plus we had to consider the tongue-in-cheek nature of the game; some of our fight styles include ballet and break dance, as well as some unusual weapons like a toilet plunger. We needed someone who was tough, but also had a softer, more humorous side.?
Daniel-san?s Karate Kid mentor will serve as both instructor and playable character in the game, and be voiced by accomplished Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid voice actor Jim Ward. Players will not only be able to unlock Miyagi himself, but also his handyman uniform and family headband.
?Before we decided on Mr. Miyagi, we shortlisted various characters such as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jet Li and even Mike Myers,? added Hirakawa. ?It became clear that Mr. Miyagi ticked all the boxes for us in terms of a true master who has a humorous side. The Karate Kid movie being a worldwide hit and a film that we were all huge fans of also helped a little.?
Reality Fighters will hit shelves March 13 for the PS Vita.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mitt Romney's Income, Newt Gingrich's Freddie Mac Woes and Gabby Giffords' Farewell
Plus, how longtime Hollywood pals George Clooney and Brad Pitt are Oscar competitors, why Cynthia Nixon has angered the gay and lesbian community and the third annual iVillage Entertainment Awards.
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What would you do with $97 billion in the Apple bank? [Giveaway]
Following their Q1 2012 results, Apple now has a staggering, mind-boggling, almost unbelievable $97 billion dollars in the bank. That’s cash reserves bigger than most other companies and countries…
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Ei-U_JzZvGI/story01.htm
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
How cells dispose of their waste: Researchers reveal the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery
ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Max Planck researchers reveal the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery. Defective proteins that are not disposed of by the body can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry recently succeeded in revealing the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery (26S proteasome) by combining different methods of structural biology. The results of collaboration with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Z?rich) represent an important step forward in the investigation of the 26S proteasome.
The findings have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
At any given point in time, cells may contain only the proteins that are needed at exactly this moment. Otherwise, undesirable reactions can occur which could cause cancer or other diseases. Furthermore, the proteins have to be folded correctly to fulfill their tasks. Misfolded proteins can clump into aggregates, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's may be the consequence. In order to prevent this, several mechanisms in the body regulate the number of proteins in the cell and degrade proteins if necessary.
"Cellular waste disposal" -- the 26S proteasome -- plays an important role in protein degradation. First, misfolded and potentially dangerous proteins are tagged with molecules called ubiquitin. The 26S proteasome detects the tagged proteins and breaks them down into small fragments, which are then recycled. Scientists in the team of Wolfgang Baumeister, head of the research department "Molecular Structural Biology" at the MPI of Biochemistry, have now been able to reveal its structure.
Many puzzle pieces lead to one structure
"The structure of the 26S proteasome changes continuously," explained Friedrich F?rster, head of the research group "Modeling of Protein Complexes" at the MPI of Biochemistry. "That is why until now it could not be explained by means of traditional approaches, such as only using X-ray crystallography. We had to combine different methods to be successful." Electron microscopy and mass spectrometry helped to reveal the general structure of the 26S proteasome. X-ray crystallography provided detailed insights into specific areas of the molecule. The researchers then used computer software to integrate the different data and generate an overall picture.
Based on these results, the researchers next want to find out how the different mechanisms of protein degradation work in detail. "We have already developed a hypothesis of how exactly the 26S proteasome detects tagged proteins and processes them," said Stefan Bohn, scientist at the MPI of Biochemistry. The complete elucidation of the 26S proteasome and its underlying mechanisms could also be of medical importance: "Cellular waste disposal" is a therapeutic target for cancer und neurodegenerative diseases.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- Keren Lasker, Friedrich F?rster, Stefan Bohn, Thomas Walzthoeni, Elizabeth Villa, Pia Unverdorben, Florian Beck, Ruedi Aebersold, Andrej Sali, Wolfgang Baumeister. Molecular architecture of the 26S proteasome holocomplex determined by an integrative approach. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1120559109
- G. R. Pathare, I. Nagy, S. Bohn, P. Unverdorben, A. Hubert, R. Korner, S. Nickell, K. Lasker, A. Sali, T. Tamura, T. Nishioka, F. Forster, W. Baumeister, A. Bracher. The proteasomal subunit Rpn6 is a molecular clamp holding the core and regulatory subcomplexes together. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011; 109 (1): 149 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1117648108
- E. Sakata, S. Bohn, O. Mihalache, P. Kiss, F. Beck, I. Nagy, S. Nickell, K. Tanaka, Y. Saeki, F. Forster, W. Baumeister. Localization of the proteasomal ubiquitin receptors Rpn10 and Rpn13 by electron cryomicroscopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119394109
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152045.htm
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Putin warns ethnic tensions risk tearing Russia apart (Reuters)
MOSCOW/KISLOVODSK, Russia (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, warning ethnic tensions could tear Russia apart, said on Monday he would toughen migration rules and keep a tight rein on Russia's regions to prevent it following the Soviet Union into oblivion.
In a newspaper article and an address in southern Russia, Putin used the danger of ethnic discord to call for limits on electoral reforms.
"With the collapse of the country (the Soviet Union), we were on the edge -- and in some regions over the edge -- of civil war," Putin wrote in Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
"With great effort, with great sacrifice we were able to douse these fires. But that doesn't mean that the problem is gone," he wrote in the second of a series of articles promoting his leadership goals ahead of a March 4 presidential election.
Putin, in power since 2000 and favored to win a six-year presidential term in March, described a Soviet-style vision of a country in which the rights of ethnic minorities would be respected but Russian language and culture would dominate.
"The Russian people, the Russian culture is the glue holding together the unique fabric of this civilization," Putin wrote.
Putin is steering a fine line between Orthodox Christian ethnic Russians, some of whom fear labor migration and higher birth rates among Russia's Muslims, and ethnic tensions which could challenge his vision of a centralized, united, Russia.
Thousands of nationalists have protested in Moscow over migration and state subsidies to the mostly Muslim North Caucasus, where an Islamist insurgency rooted in the Chechen wars persists.
Comparing nationalism to a disease, Putin took aim at ethnic Russian nationalists, who have been among the 59-year-old prime minister's most vociferous critics.
"If a multiethnic society is infected by nationalism, it loses its strength and durability," Putin wrote. "We need to understand what far-reaching effects can be caused by attempts to inflame national enmity and hatred."
He said minorities must live under the umbrella of Russian culture, and migrants must pass exams in Russian language and history. Authorities should be given more power to vet migrants' professional skills and students should read some 100 national classics.
But he also said the best way to stem migration was by creating favorable conditions for citizens to work in their native regions.
Without naming names, he took aim at the idea of cutting federal subsidies for the North Caucasus, promoted by anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny.
"The goals of such activists are clear and they have nothing in common with the real attempts to solve ethnic problems, with Russia's development and interests of its citizens," Putin told the conference of Peoples of Russia's South in Kislovodsk.
In the article, he plugged his plan for a Eurasian Union linking Russia with other ex-Soviet republics including those in Central Asia -- the source of millions of labor migrants in Russia -- saying closer ties would help curb migration by helping to develop their economies.
Yet in a sign he will not reverse a consolidation of power in Moscow, Putin said he could not allow regional political parties because some could be created on ethnic lines, calling it a "direct path to separatism."
"What is omitted is even more important than what is included (in the article)," said Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center, told Reuters.
"There is no mention of federalism here and the idea here is that a centralized state should be stronger in order to prevent disintegration," he said.
President Dmitry Medvedev submitted a bill this month that would restore popular elections for Russia's regional governors. But Putin suggested on Monday that potential governors may need presidential approval to run.
"We need to tune this mechanism properly," he said.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Grove; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Puppy Bowl VIII Starting Lineup: Revealed, Super Cute!
Forget the Giants and the Patriots for a moment.
The stars of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl VIII have been revealed! The annual game, which is really just a bunch of tiny puppies running around a faux football field all day Super Bowl Sunday, has become a hit, and for good reason.
What's not to love about 11 adorable little dogs, doing dog stuff? For hours on end? It's at least worth checking out during the pregame ... or DVRing for the kids.
Check out these adorable dogs now!
From top to bottom and left to right, the stars of Puppy Bowl 8:
- PETER, Dachshund mix, 10 weeks
- TATTOO, Aussie mix, 14 weeks
- SWEETIE PIE, Catahoula mix, 11 weeks
- MARBLES, Dachsund, 13 weeks
- HUNTER, Boxer, 9 weeks
- HOLLIE, Border Collie, 11 weeks
- FUMBLE, Chihuahua-terrier mix, 9 weeks
- BRANDY, Pitbull/Collie mix, 11 weeks
- BASKIN, Jack Russell, 15 weeks
- AUGUSTA, Lab-Plott mix, 14 weeks
- ANTHONY, Pitbull mix, 12 weeks
The starters for the kitten halftime show are still TBA, BTW.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/puppy-bowl-viii-starting-lineup-revealed-cute/
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Why Sony's 'PlayStation Phones' Failed to Make a Splash (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | The tech world was abuzz when the original Sony-Ericcson Xperia Play was released last year, on Verizon and later on AT&T. People called it "the PlayStation Phone," before and after its release, because it was "PlayStation Certified" ... whatever that meant. Apparently, a slide-out game controller and a handful of PlayStation games, sold through apps called the PlayStation Suite.
Since then, a handful of other devices (like the Sony Tablet S) have been updated to receive the PlayStation Suite, and a couple of new PlayStation Certified devices were unveiled at this year's CES. Somehow, though, none of them have quite had the impact that one would expect of a "real" PlayStation device ... like the PlayStation 2, which caused people to line up outside Wal-Marts back around the turn of the century.
Why is that?
Lackluster hardware
First off, there is no one PlayStation Phone. There are a bunch of different devices now, with different looks and specs. Few of them bear all that much resemblance to an actual PlayStation, either, whether in looks or in quality. Just look at Engadget's review of the Xperia Play; the shoulder buttons on the game controller were "too sensitive," and the screen is "one of the worst screens we've seen" on any hardware they've reviewed.
The new Xperia handsets just announced by Sony, like the Xperia Ion, look a little bit more well-designed. But none of them have slider game controllers, which suggests that was only a passing fancy ... and will make it a bit harder to play certain PlayStation games on them.
Dearth of games
Which certain PlayStation games, you ask? Not too many, unfortunately. When the Xperia Play first came out, there were only a handful. As of last October, there were still just 10, according to the PlayStation blog. And these are PlayStation games in the sense that they were made for the original PlayStation ... you know, the PSOne. The one that was made more than 15 years ago.
A handful of other games were given support for the Xperia Play's slider gamepad. The trouble is, no other phones even have that, and it's not looking good that more will. And Android itself doesn't have many games to begin with, at least not great games. At least not compared to the iPad, or even the PlayStation Portable.
Misleading branding
David Hinkle of Joystiq says being PlayStation-Certified means a device can use "entertainment services from Sony Entertainment Network", and the Sony press release he quotes says that it guarantees " a high quality smartphone gaming experience.****" Yes, with four asterisks.
What does that even mean? Can a "PlayStation Certified" phone buy games from the PlayStation Network? No. Can it do PSN multiplayer? No. Will the games you buy on it be playable on your PSP or PS3 consoles? No, and no. So how is it anything but diluting the PlayStation brand, to sell a line of me-too Android smartphones and tablets that are only tangentially connected with it?
The new Xperia phones might do well on the market, but it's not because PlayStation gamers will buy them. And judging from Sony-Ericcson's recent performance, there's a ways it has to go before it's dug itself out of its hole.
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Offshore quake causes panic, no tsunami in Chile (AP)
SANTIAGO, Chile ? A magnitude-6.2 earthquake has struck just off the shore of south-central Chile, the area devastated by a massive temblor two years ago. There are no immediate reports of damage and authorities say it will not cause a tsunami.
Monday's quake was centered 31 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Concepcion, and was relatively shallow at 12 miles (20 kilometers) under sea level. But Chile's navy announced that it wasn't the kind of quake to generate a deadly tsunami of the kind that ravaged nearby coastal cities when an magnitude-8.8 quake devastated Chile in 2010.
The U.S. Geological Service says the quake struck at 1:04 p.m. local time (1604 GMT). Chile's national emergency office says there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Winter storm dumps snow on Chicago, Milwaukee (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? A winter storm dumping snow across the U.S. Midwest on Friday forced the cancellation of more than 600 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, while slick roads and poor visibility snarled traffic across the region.
The storm was expected to drop 1 to 8 inches of snow from the Dakotas to the lower Great Lakes, according to weather.com, with Chicago among the hardest hit among the big cities.
Up to 7 inches of snow was expected in Chicago, where Southwest Airlines also canceled all of its flights from 2 p. m. to 5 p. m. at Midway Airport and delayed flights scheduled for 5 p. m. to 7 p. m., according to the Chicago aviation department.
Milwaukee and Cleveland both were expected to be hit with up to 5 inches of snow. Several smaller school districts outside of Milwaukee have canceled after-school programs.
The storm dropped about an inch of snow Friday morning in the Twin Cities area, where there were reports of hundreds of minor accidents on slick roads and long morning rush hour delays. Snow fall totals were heavier south of the Twin Cities.
Reports of 4 to 6 inches were common from far southern Minnesota, across northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin, the National Weather Service said.
The snow is expected to push into the Northeast, with up to six inches of the white stuff expected from Pennsylvania through central Maine Saturday, and up to four inches in New York City, weather.com said.
In Washington state, which has seen unusually heavy snow Tuesday through Thursday, two climbers and two campers are missing in Mount Rainier National Park. Searches were suspended Friday afternoon because of the weather, which includes 40 mph winds, poor visibility, and thick fog.
The Purge Sound region continued to see scattered power outages Friday, affecting about 275,000 customers. Seattle is preparing for possible flooding, with crews clearing storm drains of snow and debris.
(Reporting by Laura Myers, Brendan O'Brien, Mary Wisniewski, Teresa Carson and David Bailey; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Paul Thomasch)
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AP IMPACT: Health overhaul lags in states
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Here's a reality check for President Barack Obama's health overhaul: Three out of four uninsured Americans live in states that have yet to figure out how to deliver on its promise of affordable medical care.
This is the year that will make or break the health care law. States were supposed to be partners in carrying out the biggest safety net expansion since Medicare and Medicaid, and the White House claims they're making steady progress.
But an analysis by The Associated Press shows that states are moving in fits and starts. Combined with new insurance coverage estimates from the nonpartisan Urban Institute, it reveals a patchwork nation.
Such uneven progress could have real consequences.
If it continues, it will mean disparities and delays from state to state in carrying out an immense expansion of health insurance scheduled in the law for 2014. That could happen even if the Supreme Court upholds Obama's law, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"There will be something there, but if it doesn't mesh with the state's culture and if the state is not really supporting it, that certainly won't help it succeed," said Urban Institute senior researcher Matthew Buettgens.
The 13 states that have adopted a plan are home to only 1 in 4 of the uninsured. An additional 17 states are making headway, but it's not clear all will succeed. The 20 states lagging behind account for the biggest share of the uninsured, 42 percent.
Among the lagging states are four with arguably the most to gain. Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio together would add more than 7 million people to the insurance rolls, according to Urban Institute estimates, reducing the annual burden of charity care by $10.7 billion.
"It's not that we want something for free, but we want something we can afford," said Vicki McCuistion of Driftwood, Texas, who works two part-time jobs and is uninsured. With the nation's highest uninsured rate, her state has made little progress.
The Obama administration says McCuistion and others in the same predicament have nothing to fear. "The fact of states moving at different rates does not create disparities for a particular state's uninsured population," said Steve Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
That's because the law says that if a state isn't ready, the federal government will step in. Larsen insists the government will be ready, but it's not as easy as handing out insurance cards.
Someone has to set up health insurance exchanges, new one-stop supermarkets with online and landline capabilities for those who buy coverage individually.
A secure infrastructure must be created to verify income, legal residency and other personal information, and smooth enrollment in private insurance plans or Medicaid. Many middle-class households will be eligible for tax credits to help pay premiums for private coverage. Separate exchanges must be created for small businesses.
"It's a very heavy lift," said California's health secretary, Diana Dooley, whose state was one of the first to approve a plan. "Coverage is certainly important, but it's not the only part. It is very complex."
California has nearly 7.5 million residents without coverage, more than half of the 12.7 million uninsured in the states with a plan. An estimated 2.9 million Californians would gain coverage, according to the Urban Institute's research, funded by the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Democrats who wrote the overhaul law had hoped that most states would be willing partners, putting aside partisan differences to build the exchanges and help cover more than 30 million uninsured nationally. It's not turning out that way.
Some states, mainly those led by Democrats, are far along. Others, usually led by Republicans, have done little. Separately, about half the states are suing to overturn the law.
Time is running out for states, which must have their plans ready for a federal approval deadline of Jan. 1, 2013. Those not ready risk triggering the default requirement that Washington run their exchange.
Yet in states where Republican repudiation of the health care law has blocked exchanges, there's little incentive to advance before the Supreme Court rules. A decision is expected this summer, and many state legislatures aren't scheduled to meet past late spring.
The result if the law is upheld could be greater federal sway over health care in the states, the very outcome conservatives say they want to prevent.
"If you give states the opportunity to decide their own destiny, and some choose to ignore it for partisan reasons, they almost make the case against themselves for more federal intervention," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
A conservative, Nelson was on the winning side of a heated argument among Democrats over who should run exchanges, the feds or the states. Liberals lost their demand for a federal exchange, insulated from state politics.
"It's pretty hard to take care of the states when they don't take care of themselves," said Nelson, who regrets that the concession he fought for has been dismissed by so many states.
The AP's analysis divided states into four broad groups: those that have adopted a plan for exchanges, those that made substantial progress, those where the outlook is unclear, and those with no significant progress. AP statehouse reporters were consulted in cases of conflicting information.
Thirteen states, plus the District of Columbia, have adopted a plan.
By contrast, in 20 states either the outlook is unclear or there has been no significant progress. Those states include more than 21 million of the 50 million uninsured Americans.
Four have made no significant progress. They are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and New Hampshire. The last three returned planning money to the federal government. In Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe ran into immovable GOP opposition in the Legislature. Beebe acknowledges that the federal government will have to run the exchange, but is exploring a fallback option.
In the other 16 states, the outlook is unclear because of failure to advance legislation or paralyzing political disputes that often pit Republicans fervently trying to stop what they deride as "Obamacare" against fellow Republicans who are more pragmatic.
In Kansas, for example, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger is pushing hard for a state exchange, but Gov. Sam Brownback returned a $31 million federal grant, saying the state would not act before the Supreme Court rules. Both officials are Republicans.
"It's just presidential politics," said Praeger, discussing the situation nationally. "It's less about whether exchanges make sense and more about trying to repeal the whole law." As a result, outlook is unclear for a state with 361,000 uninsured residents.
There is a bright spot for Obama and backers of the law.
An additional 17 states have made substantial progress, although that's no guarantee of success. Last week in Wisconsin, GOP Gov. Scott Walker abruptly halted planning and announced he will return $38 million in federal money.
AP defined states making substantial progress as ones where governors or legislatures have made a significant commitment to set up exchanges. Another important factor was state acceptance of a federal exchange establishment grant.
That group accounts for just under one-third of the uninsured, about 16 million people.
It includes populous states such as New York, Illinois, North Carolina and New Jersey, which combined would add more than 3 million people to the insurance rolls.
Several are led by Republican governors, including Virginia and Indiana, which have declared their intent to establish insurance exchanges under certain conditions. Other states that have advanced under Republican governors include Arizona and New Mexico.
For uninsured people living in states that have done little, the situation is demoralizing.
Gov. Rick Perry's opposition to the law scuttled plans to advance an exchange bill in the Texas Legislature last year, when Perry was contemplating his presidential run. The Legislature doesn't meet this year, so the situation is unclear.
McCuistion and her husband, Dan, are among the nearly 6.7 million Texans who lack coverage. Dan is self-employed as the owner of a specialty tree service. Vicki works part time for two nonprofit organizations. The McCuistions have been uninsured throughout their 17-year marriage, although their three daughters now have coverage through the Children's Health Insurance Program. Dan McCuistion has been nursing a bad back for years, and it only seems to get worse.
"For me it almost feels like a ticking time bomb," his wife said.
Dan McCuistion says he doesn't believe Americans have a constitutional right to health care, but he would take advantage of affordable coverage if it was offered to him. He's exasperated with Perry and other Texas politicians. "They give a lot of rhetoric toward families, but their actions don't meet up with what they are saying," he said.
Perry's office says it's principle, not lack of compassion.
"Gov. Perry believes 'Obamacare' is unconstitutional, misguided and unsustainable, and Texas, along with other states, is taking legal action to end this massive government overreach," said spokeswoman Lucy Nashed. "There are no plans to implement an exchange."
___
Online:
AP interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2011/healthcare
Urban Institute estimates: http://tinyurl.com/86py8nd
Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight: http://cciio.cms.gov
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!
The calm after the storm? No sir. CES may be over, but the tech news is still flowing like sweet, sweet strawberry wine. Tim and Darren are both in town for that little Apple event that unfolded earlier today, so they'll be doing a live, in-studio throw down with Brian, Engadget Podcast-style. Follow along in the chat, after the jump.
Continue reading The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!
The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
PFT: Jets owner praises Holmes, says WR will return
APTom Brady and Bill Belichick are the constants. ?But what makes this 2011 Patriots go as opposed to teams in the past? What defines them?
We?d argue this era of Patriots football started the day they drafted Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Wes Welker is a great piece to the puzzle, but the tight ends make the offense unique.
While Gronk Nation and Hernandez represent a very modern way of attacking defenses, Belichick in some ways has been working with this approach since the 1970?s. As a member of the Lions coaching staff, Belichick helped pair Charlie Sanders and David Hill in a two tight end attack that was the first of its era.
?Yeah, that was really the first ? I mean, honestly there wasn?t a lot of two tight ends in the mid-70s, there really wasn?t,? Belichick told Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports this week.
We highly recommend checking out Cole?s piece on the evolution of the two tight end attack. Hill and Sanders combined for half of the Lions? touchdowns in Hill?s rookie year of 1976. In the past, two tight ends would only be used together in short yardage situations. Sanders, a Hall of Famer, thanks Belichick every time he sees him.
?Bill always says back to me, ?No, thank you and David [Hill] for all you did,? Sanders told Cole. ?Without you guys, none of this would have happened.???
Falcons coach Mike Smith explains the matchup problems that Gronkowski and Hernandez create, calling them ?queens on the chessboard.?
?If you want to play standard personnel on defense, they flex one or both of those guys out and force you to cover them with linebackers. If you put extra defensive backs in, they line up in double-[tight end] and maul you. You never have the right personnel on the field,? Smith said.
That becomes an even bigger problem when the Patriots use their hurry up offense. Defenses can?t substitute to get the right matchups on the field.
We expect to see the Patriots play plenty of hurry up offense Sunday against Baltimore, with Gronkowski and Hernandez at the center of it all.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/19/jets-owner-says-santonio-will-be-back/related/
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Five Europeans killed in attack in remote Ethiopia (Reuters)
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) ? Gunmen killed five European tourists and kidnapped two further foreigners and two Ethiopians in northern Ethiopia's remote Afar region where separatist rebels have operated, the government said on Wednesday.
Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon said two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian died in the dawn attack Tuesday in an arid area prone to banditry.
Wednesday afternoon, 11 tired-looking survivors still dressed in trekking clothing arrived by plane in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Several hid their faces from the awaiting television cameras. One was pushed through the airport in a wheelchair, his knees and arms bruised, before the group was taken away in diplomatic vehicles.
Ethiopia blamed its neighbor and arch-foe Eritrea for the attack, saying it had trained and armed the gunmen. Ethiopia also blamed an Afar rebel movement for kidnapping five Westerners in the region in 2007.
The incident risked raising tensions in the volatile region, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government threatened "whatever action necessary to stop the activities of the Eritrean regime once and for all" if foreign powers failed to step in.
"The Ethiopian government's tolerance toward a regime that openly supports terrorist activity is inevitably wearing thinner by the day," Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It is the first time Addis Ababa has warned of action since March last year when it accused Asmara of trying to destabilize Ethiopia by backing rebels, and also supporting Islamist militants in Somalia.
Eritrea's envoy to the African Union, Girma Asmerom, rejected Ethiopia's latest allegation. "This is pathetic, an absolute lie," he told Reuters.
There was confusion over who had been hurt in the attack, and their nationalities. Addis Ababa initially said a Hungarian and an Italian had been wounded, but Rome later denied one of its citizens had been hurt.
Hungarian authorities confirmed one of their nationals was wounded. Belgium's Foreign Ministry spokesman said a Belgian and a citizen of another country who lived in Brussels had been injured and had been taken to a hospital in Mekele, northeastern Ethiopia's biggest city.
A VERITABLE LAND OF DEATH
Afar has some of the earth's harshest terrains. The highest average annual temperature ever recorded was in Afar's Danakil Depression at 34.4 Celsius (94 degrees Fahrenheit) with levels regularly exceeding 50 celsius in the summer.
Afar province's rock-strewn hills give way to vast deserts below sea level, and dry river-beds and acacia thorn-trees dot the landscape. Banditry is widespread in a region once described by the late British explorer Wilfred Thesiger as a "veritable land of death."
Foreigners who venture out into the area usually include researchers, aid workers and about 500 adventure tourists each year visiting geographical wonders such as the Danakil Depression, with ancient salt mines and volcanoes.
"The attack occurred at 5 a.m. Tuesday, in which Eritrean-trained groups also kidnapped four. Two of them are foreigners, one is a driver and the other a policeman," Bereket said.
Ethiopian state media said the victims were part of a 27-member party that included U.S. and Australian citizens.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman said Berlin was working with its embassy in Addis Ababa to clarify what had happened.
BITTER ENEMIES
Ethiopia said the four hostages might have been taken across the frontier into Eritrea.
In 2007, gunmen seized five Europeans and eight local people in Afar. The Europeans were handed to the Eritrean authorities less than two weeks later and Britain said Asmara had helped to secure their release. The eight locals were freed a few weeks later.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people, and the dispute still festers.
Addis Ababa routinely accuses Asmara of supporting Ethiopian separatist groups, while Eritrea says the accusations are lies designed to tarnish its reputation.
"It has become a trend for Ethiopia to fabricate sensational news against Eritrea whenever the summit is nearing," Girma told Reuters, referring to an African Union summit which begins in Addis Ababa next week.
Ethiopia accused Eritrea of plotting to bomb targets and disrupt an AU meeting in January last year.
(Additional reporting by Richard Lough in Nairobi, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Krisztina Than in Budapest and Ben Deighton in Brussels; writing by David Clarke and Richard Lough; editing by David Stamp)
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Ancient popcorn discovered in Peru
ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2012) ? People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Some of the oldest known corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels, dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were found at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two mound sites on Peru's arid northern coast. The research group, led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University and Duccio Bonavia from Peru's Academia Nacional de la Historia, also found corn microfossils: starch grains and phytoliths. Characteristics of the cobs -- the earliest ever discovered in South America -- indicate that the sites' ancient inhabitants ate corn several ways, including popcorn and flour corn. However, corn was still not an important part of their diet.
"Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," Piperno says. "Our results show that only a few thousand years later corn arrived in South America where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began. This evidence further indicates that in many areas corn arrived before pots did and that early experimentation with corn as a food was not dependent on the presence of pottery."
Understanding the subtle transformations in the characteristics of cobs and kernels that led to the hundreds of maize races known today, as well as where and when each of them developed, is a challenge. Corncobs and kernels were not well preserved in the humid tropical forests between Central and South America, including Panama -- the primary dispersal routes for the crop after it first left Mexico about 8,000 years ago.
"These new and unique races of corn may have developed quickly in South America, where there was no chance that they would continue to be pollinated by wild teosinte," Piperno says. "Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
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Journal Reference:
- A. Grobman, D. Bonavia, T. D. Dillehay, D. R. Piperno, J. Iriarte, I. Holst. Preceramic maize from Paredones and Huaca Prieta, Peru. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1120270109
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118143624.htm
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Hanlon Presents Offshore Investments in U.S. Equity and Debt Markets and U.S. Tax Evasion Today at NYU
? More on Mitt Romney's Inevitable Disclosure of His Tax Returns | Main | Call for Papers: Critical Tax Theory Conference ?
January 17, 2012
Hanlon Presents Offshore Investments in U.S. Equity and Debt Markets and U.S. Tax Evasion Today at NYU
Michelle Hanlon (MIT Sloan School of Management) presents "Taking the Long Way Home: Offshore Investments in U.S. Equity and Debt Markets and U.S. Tax Evasion" at?NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance?convened by?Daniel Shaviro?(NYU):
We empirically examine a form of offshore tax evasion in which U.S. individuals hide funds in entities located in offshore tax havens and then invest those funds in U.S. equity and debt securities. While their true nature is hidden from the authorities, such investments are reflected in foreign portfolio investment data routinely gathered by the Federal Reserve. We identify the tax evasion component in these data by examining how foreign portfolio investment varies with changes in the incentives to evade and the risks of detection. We find that foreign portfolio investment from tax haven countries is increasing in the U.S. tax rate, which reflects the incentive to evade, and decreasing in detection and enforcement efforts, our proxy for the expected risk of being caught. Both of these results are consistent with a portion of portfolio investment from haven countries being made by U.S. tax evaders and not from ?true? foreign investors. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence of investor-level tax evasion affecting cross-border investment in equity and debt markets. In addition, our results suggest that estimates of home bias may themselves be biased.
January 17, 2012 in Colloquia, Scholarship, Tax | Permalink
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
CBS Sports to open fantasy platform to developers
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? CBS Sports is opening its fantasy sports platform to third-party developers, allowing them to sell league-specific apps that will likely make this year's games a lot more competitive for millions of players and ? developers hope ? the $800 million per year fantasy sports industry even more lucrative.
The deal was expected to be announced Tuesday at an industry meeting in Las Vegas. It will allow developers to create and sell just about any fantasy sports-related apps they can think of to users of CBSSports.com, one of the world's three largest fantasy sports websites.
Fantasy sports games have become a huge marketing hit for professional sports leagues including the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA, because the seasonal games encourage fans to keep track of players throughout each sport and watch multiple games involving teams across the country each day. Roughly 34 million people in the United States and Canada participate in fantasy sports each year, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Many players gamble with friends on leagues made up of imagined teams of real-life athletes, with points scored according to those athletes' individual performances during games.
For players, the deal means tools to help with everything from draft advice to lineup analysis will be available right in the site, customizable for each specific fantasy league.
"It levels the playing field for an entire league to be more competitive," said Jim Lanzone, president of CBS Interactive.
Lanzone said right now, only the most dedicated fantasy players use tools that go beyond the site they use to pick players and keep track of their league. The vast majority of those tools are separate from leagues themselves. "Now, by bringing them all into the game, everyone's going to see them ? everyone's going to have access to them," Lanzone said. "Even that guy who comes in seventh place every year who usually is dead money to your league is going to have access to these incredible tools that can help him do a lot better."
As those playing fantasy sports get more competitive, many turn to software, magazines and other tools for help focus their draft strategy, keep tabs on athletes and obscure statistics and win their leagues.
The move by CBS Sports to embrace those tools is a play to attract users of other top fantasy sites, including free sites run by Yahoo and ESPN. CBS Sports' site is different from the others because most of its players pay fees to use the site to run their leagues.
Lanzone said the open platform will give fantasy sports companies a significant lifeline: Direct access to its millions of players.
The site's platform will open to developers Jan. 31 with six partners and about eight apps available, said Jason Kint, senior vice president and general manager of CBSSports.com. Kint said the site will get 30 percent of all app sales.
Paul Charchian, president of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, said smaller fantasy sports companies will be eager to market to CBS Sports' players because they pay for leagues and are more likely to spend money on the hobby.
"We're on it," said Charchian, the owner of LeagueSafe.com, a site that lets fantasy sports players manage league fees. "As soon as I first heard about it, we've been talking about it internally and plan to take advantage of it."
Charchian said he anticipates other fantasy sites may fully open their platforms in response to CBS Sports
CBS Sports officials said they hope opening the platform will lead developers to innovate in unanticipated ways, much like when Apple introduced its App Store and Facebook opened its platform.
MLB Advanced Media, for example, plans to tie CBS Sports leagues to its subscription MLB.tv service, letting users automatically jump between games to watch at-bats and pitches specifically by players on their roster.
Lanzone said he said he expects the apps to grow along with the entire industry.
"It's still growing leaps and bounds," he said. "I think it's because it's become less niche."
___
Oskar Garcia can be reached at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia .
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