Indiana baby-sitter charged with murder of 9-year-old (Reuters)

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) ? Prosecutors charged a baby-sitter on Friday with murder and two other felonies in the grisly murder and dismembering of a 9-year-old Indiana girl.

Michael Plumadore, 39, faces 45 to 65 years in prison on the charge of murdering Aliahna Maroney-Lemmon, Allen County prosecutors said. He faces two other felony charges for abusing her body and moving it from the scene of a crime.

Plumadore is being held without bond in Allen County Jail and did not appear in court on Friday. He is scheduled to appear January 4 at an initial hearing in Allen Superior Court.

A neighbor and friend of the family, Plumadore was baby-sitting Aliahna and her two sisters last week near Fort Wayne when she was reported missing.

Plumadore was arrested on Monday after he confessed to killing Aliahna. He also confessed to dismembering her body with a hacksaw, dumping most of her in nearby trash and stashing her head, hands and feet in his freezer, according to court documents.

Officials in Indiana have not yet said what Plumadore's motive may have been for killing the girl.

Plumadore evaded a Florida-issued arrest warrant issued on a separate charge in 2000 for more than 11 years.

Plumadore had been given felony probation after he was charged with battery of a first-responder, which could mean a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician, but did not meet with his probation officer, complete his community service requirements or anger management.

Prosecutors said the investigation was continuing and the charges filed on Friday did not preclude additional charges in the future.

(Writing by David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/us_nm/us_crime_indiana_babysitter

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Boxer Mayweather completes plea deal in Vegas (AP)

LAS VEGAS ? Attorneys for boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. completed the second part of a plea deal Friday that let the championship fighter pay a $1,000 fine and avoid trial and jail time for a November 2010 scuffle with a homeowner association security guard in an argument about parking tickets.

Mayweather, 34, didn't appear in person before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Janiece Marshall while his lawyer, Karen Winckler, pleaded no contest on his behalf to misdemeanor battery and said the fine had been paid.

The plea acknowledged allegations that Mayweather poked the 21-year-old guard in the face several times with his finger during their argument in front of Mayweather's million-dollar-plus home in an exclusive gated community several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

Mayweather is scheduled to start a 90-day jail sentence Jan. 6 in an unrelated case, which raises doubts about a long-anticipated fight between Mayweather and Philippine fight rival Manny Pacquiao.

He pleaded guilty Dec. 21 to misdemeanor battery domestic violence and no contest to harassment for a hair-pulling, punching and arm-twisting argument with his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, while two of their children, ages 9 and 10, watched in September 2010 at the woman's home.

Mayweather spent two nights at the Clark County jail in downtown Las Vegas after an arrest in the domestic violence case and one night in jail after the poking incident.

Mayweather's lawyers have said they may ask the judge who sentenced Mayweather in the domestic violence case to reconsider the 90-day jail term, but Winckler declined comment after Friday's hearing for the other case.

Judge Melissa Saragosa sentenced Mayweather to six months in the Clark County jail but suspended half the term. She gave him credit for three days previously served and ordered him to complete 100 hours of community service, pay a $2,500 fine and complete a yearlong domestic violence counseling program.

The plea allowed Mayweather to avoid a trial on felony and misdemeanor charges that could have gotten him 34 years in state prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Police said good behavior could reduce Mayweather's jail term sentence by several weeks. But his time behind bars will likely cut into training time for a May 5 date that Mayweather's promoters have reserved for a bout against an as-yet unnamed opponent at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Mayweather and Pacquiao have a defamation lawsuit pending in federal court in Las Vegas stemming from statements by Mayweather that he suspects Pacquiao took performance-enhancing drugs.

Mayweather is also on the hook to complete 40 hours of community service by Jan. 31 with the Las Vegas Habitat for Humanity Project under a South Carolina federal judge's order for dodging a deposition in a music rights lawsuit.

And he faces a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas from two men who allege he orchestrated a shooting attack on them outside a skating rink in 2009. Police have never accused Mayweather of firing shots and he has never been criminally charged in the case.

___

Oskar Garcia can be reached at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_sp_ot/us_mayweather_vegas_jail

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Repair Work on George Washington Bridge Suspender Ropes to Start in 2013

Repair work on the George Washington Bridge's 80-year-old suspender ropes is expected to begin in 2013 and last eight to nine years, says the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Earlier this month, the Port Authority approved a $15.5-million investment in planning funds for the work, only a portion of the $1-billion to $1.2-billion needed for the overall GWB planned project. The $15.5 million is earmarked for engineering and consulting services to prepare the suspender rope project for construction, says an agency spokesperson.

"This is a big, important project because those ropes haven't ever been replaced," says Thomas DiGangi Jr., executive director of the Associated General Contractors of New Jersey, Edison.

The work will entail replacing the bridge's 592 suspender ropes; rehabilitating four main cables and 488 strands in the anchorages; relocating two sidewalks along their entire lengths; and replacing the necklace lighting attached to the main cables. The project will ultimately generate about 3,600 jobs, the Port Authority says.

The bridge, which handled more than 300,000 vehicles a day, is well-designed and engineered and remains structurally sounds, the agency says. However, the suspender rope replacement must be addressed to maintain its continued structural integrity, it adds.

The news follows the agency's approval earlier this month of its $7-billion preliminary budget that covers operating and capital expenses for 2012, about half of which will be put toward capital spending, DiGangi says.

"We are enthused about the capital plan because the [total] value of construction contract awards has increased for 2012," DiGangi says. The contracts will total about $650 million next year, as compared with about $500 million in 2011 and only $317 million in 2010, he says.

Source: http://newyork.construction.com/new_york_construction_news/2011/1228-repair-work-on-george-washington-bridge-suspender-ropes-to-start-in-2013.asp

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Investec Loyal faces protest in Sydney-Hobart race

In this photo provided by Rolex, supermaxi Investec Loyal crosses the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, finishing just three minutes ahead of favorite Wild Oats XI in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event. In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI and held on in a tight, tactical tussle crossing the line just ahead of its rival after 628 nautical miles of racing. (AP Photo/Rolex, Daniel Forster) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

In this photo provided by Rolex, supermaxi Investec Loyal crosses the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, finishing just three minutes ahead of favorite Wild Oats XI in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event. In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI and held on in a tight, tactical tussle crossing the line just ahead of its rival after 628 nautical miles of racing. (AP Photo/Rolex, Daniel Forster) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

In this photo provided by Rolex, supermaxi Investec Loyal, right, and Wild Oats XI race to the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event. In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI and held on in a tight, tactical tussle crossing the line just ahead of its rival after 628 nautical miles of racing. (AP Photo/Rolex, Daniel Forster) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

In this photo provided by Rolex, supermaxi Investec Loyal approaches the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, finishing in Hobart, Australia, just three minutes ahead of favorite Wild Oats XI in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event. In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI and held on in a tight, tactical tussle crossing the line just ahead of its rival after 628 nautical miles of racing. (AP Photo/Rolex, Kurt Arrigo) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

In this photo provided by Rolex, supermaxi Investec Loyal, center right, is escorted by spectator craft after crossing the finish line in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, finishing in Hobart, Australia, just three minutes ahead of favorite Wild Oats XI in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event. In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI and held on in a tight, tactical tussle crossing the line just ahead of its rival after 628 nautical miles of racing. (AP Photo/Rolex, Daniel Forster) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

HOBART, Australia (AP) ? Supermaxi Investec Loyal's victory Wednesday in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race was immediately placed under protest by the race committee amid allegations the provisional winner used a television helicopter pilot to spy on runner-up Wild Oats XI.

Investec Loyal beat Wild Oats by 3 minutes, 8 seconds in one of the closest finishes in the history of the prestigious ocean-racing event.

The protest under rule 41, which refers to the use of outside assistance, will be heard at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania on Thursday.

The race committee, chaired by Tim Cox, said the incident occurred at 6.30 a.m. Tuesday, 30 nautical miles south of Merimbula on the south coast of New South Wales State. The protest describes an "audio recording of conversation between ABC helicopter and Investec Loyal."

"Crewman from Investec Loyal seeking information from the helicopter of the sail plan in use on Wild Oats XI," the protest said.

In a dramatic final day, Investec Loyal overtook Wild Oats XI in the afternoon and held on in a tight, tactical tussle to reverse last year's finishing order.

The 100-foot Investec Loyal, skippered by Anthony Bell, finished at 7:15 p.m., completing the 628 nautical miles in 2 days, 6 hours, 14 minutes, 18 seconds.

The race was the first since 1997 to still be actively contested in the Derwent River that leads to the finish line off Constitution Dock in Hobart, capital of the island state of Tasmania.

The finish was the closest in a generation, but was well outside the narrowest margin in the race's history ? the 7-second gap between Condor of Bermuda and Apollo in 1982.

Third-place Lahana was about 50 miles from the finish line when the top two crossed and was expected to finish after midnight. Fifth-place Loki, which had 60 miles to run, was narrowly leading the race on handicap when Investec Loyal finished.

Loyal's narrow win capped an exhilarating final 24 hours in which the lead changed hands three times. Wild Oats led the 88-yacht fleet out of Sydney Harbour on Monday at the start of the 67th edition of the race and held that lead through a stormy first night at sea, then through all of the next day.

Investec Loyal closed, then overtook Wild Oats on Tuesday night and led by a little more than a mile when dawn broke over a reduced fleet Wednesday.

Wild Oats XI, skippered by Mark Richards, regained the lead Wednesday morning and opened a four-mile lead by mid-afternoon. But Investec Loyal again closed, then overtook Wild Oats XI in lighter wind, leading by 7 minutes when it rounded Tasman Island, heading for the mouth of the Derwent.

Wild Oats navigator Ian Burns described the tactical contest as it unfolded.

"They're doing a nice job down there keeping their options open, keeping as much distance between us and them as possible so that if they have an opportunity they can make the most of it," he said. "It makes it hard to match them. It's tough tactically, relatively easy sailing for the crew but hard tactically."

The yachts remained in sight of each other in the final hours of the race, and were seldom separated by more than a third of a mile. Wild Oats XI set the race record in 2005 and showed greater speed at times, but Investec Loyal was able to cover its every move in the last 20 miles.

Of the 88 yachts that started the race, 76 were still racing when the leaders crossed the line; 12 were forced to withdraw with gear failures or because of injuries to crew members.

The most high-profile casualty was the supermaxi Wild Thing, the 2003 line-honors winner, which withdrew Tuesday because of sail damage while running in third place.

Loki overcame a collision with a shark or a whale Wednesday to hold the lead on overall handicap.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-28-SAI-Sydney-Hobart/id-3da105ee00874206a78dd709e857bf88

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Fire kills 16 in Myanmar's main city of Yangon (AP)

YANGON, Myanmar ? A fire followed by several explosions engulfed many state warehouses and neighboring homes, killing at least 16 people and injuring 108 in Myanmar's main city of Yangon on Thursday.

The blasts occurred as firefighters were putting out the fire that had started in a state-owned warehouse before spreading to other warehouses and nearby homes and buildings before dawn.

The Yangon General Hospital's emergency ward was in commotion as dozens of injured people and dead bodies were brought in by ambulances and pickup trucks.

A total of 108 injured people were brought in and more were continuing to arrive, said a senior nurse. She confirmed that 16 people had died.

She said the dead include at least three firefighters who were caught in an explosion during the conflagration in Mingalar Tahung Nyunt township in eastern Yangon.

The nurse did not want to be identified because she is not authorized to speak to the media.

"Many of the dead were hit by flying debris of broken walls and stone slabs that were flung on to the streets due to the explosion," Maung Win, a 45-year-old resident, told the Associated Press.

The explosions knocked down buildings including a Buddhist monastery near the warehouse. Windows from the nearby buildings were shattered due to powerful explosions, witnesses said.

The explosions rocked the entire city, jolting residents from sleep. A 20-foot (6-meter) -wide and 15-foot (4.5-meter) -deep crater was visible at the site. Black smoke was seen billowing from the rubble Thursday morning.

Firefighters were searching for bodies from among the debris.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire and the explosion.

Residents said the fire started in a warehouse that stored electronic goods and spread to another warehouse that stored some kind of chemicals. Officials did not immediately given any details.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_as/as_myanmar_fire

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Kim Jong-un Hailed as Supreme Commander of North Korea?s Military

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Saturday, December 24, 2011
State-run media called the country?s new young leader, Kim Jong-un, ?supreme commander? in a commentary, which also urged him to continue the Military-first revolution. ...

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After the deadliest tornado in Bertie County's history struck in April, Samarita...

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Ponting, Hussey retained for first Test against India

AP Ricky Ponting plays in the nets during training at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Out-of-form veterans Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey have been retained in the Australia team to play India in the first cricket test beginning Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The 37-year-old Ponting has not scored a century in nearly two years, while Hussey has scored just 83 runs in his last seven Test innings.

David Warner, who scored a century on debut in the New Zealand test, will open with Ed Cowan, who will make his Test debut replacing the dropped Phil Hughes.

Australia has decided to take just four genuine bowlers into the test, with Shaun Marsh called up to the side ahead of all-rounder Dan Christian.

Marsh, who has been recovering from a back injury, has not played since the first Test in Cape Town against South Africa. He scored an unbeaten 99 in a Twenty20 match this week and will bat at No. 3.

Seamer Ben Hilfenhaus replaces 12th man Mitchell Starc.

Captain and selector Michael Clarke said he felt he has the right lineup to get 20 wickets at the MCG.

Clarke admitted it was a gamble to leave out Christian on a flat pitch, especially with fellow all-rounder Shane Watson declared unfit as he recovers from hamstring and calf strains.

?I?m confident we?ve got the best 11 to help us win this first test match,? Clarke said. ?I can use Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting and myself to bowl a few overs. David Warner can bowl a few legspinners.?

The 17-test veteran Hilfenhaus returns from an 11-month break out of the side with a remodelled bowling action, having recovered from knee tendinitis.

?He?s a very good new-ball bowler. He can bowl long spells and he?s had success against India,? Clarke said.

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Source: http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article2744187.ece

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[OOC] Vampires + Servants

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Assassins in Chains?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
So, once w have all the characters in, we will decide who is whose servant, ect.

How this will work; all vampires will post who they want, if someone wants the same person as another one, we can work it out.

We have to be fair, and make sure everyone is happy with who they get.

Nightmares

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Dawn spacecraft beams back new images of asteroid

This combination of three separate photos provided by NASA and released Wednesday Dec. 21, 2 011 shows a region of the asteroid Vesta taken from different altitudes. The images were snapped by the Dawn spacecraft, which entered orbit around Vesta in July 2011 on a mission to?better understand the origins of the solar system. (AP Photo/NASA/ JPL)

This combination of three separate photos provided by NASA and released Wednesday Dec. 21, 2 011 shows a region of the asteroid Vesta taken from different altitudes. The images were snapped by the Dawn spacecraft, which entered orbit around Vesta in July 2011 on a mission to?better understand the origins of the solar system. (AP Photo/NASA/ JPL)

This photo released by NASA on Wednesday Dec. 21, 2011 shows the asteroid Vesta, photographed by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in its low altitude mapping orbit, showing buried craters located within the equatorial region of the giant asteroid. The Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta in July 2011 on a mission to?better understand the origins of the solar system. (AP Photo/NASA/ JPL)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been a fervent photographer, snapping more than 10,000 pictures of the asteroid Vesta since it slipped into orbit around the giant space rock last summer.

The views were taken from a distance away ? until now. On Wednesday, the space agency released new images of the hummocky surface as Dawn circled from an average altitude of 130 miles (209 kilometers) above the surface ? the closest it'll get.

From this low orbit, scientists can count numerous small impact craters and see textured grooves and outcrops in sharp detail.

"We're totally thrilled with the data we're getting. It seems to get better," said mission deputy principal investigator Carol Raymond of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $466 million mission.

By inching this close to Vesta, Dawn will use other instruments to measure the gravity field and determine its chemical makeup to better understand its origins.

Dawn will spend the next 2 1/2 months at the current altitude before moving higher to take another round of pictures. By that time, the sun will hit Vesta at a different angle and illuminate sections of the northern hemisphere that had been shrouded earlier.

About the length of Arizona with a huge crater at its south pole, Vesta is the second largest body residing in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are leftovers from the solar system's birth some 4.5 billion years ago and studying these bodies could offer clues about how rocky planets like Earth formed.

Previous spacecraft have visited smaller asteroids before, but this is the first trip to Vesta.

Powered by ion propulsion, Dawn began orbiting Vesta in July after a 1.7 billion mile (2.74 billion kilometer) cruise. It will depart Vesta next summer and will fly to an even bigger asteroid, Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.

___

Online:

Dawn mission: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-12-21-Asteroid%20Mission/id-9ffaddd6fbc346d8a31e7ca99cc54304

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iMAME emulation app hits the App Store, humanity cheers in unison

No interest in snapping up an iCade? No sweat. Jim VanDeventer has just pushed today's app-to-end-all-apps into Apple's App Store, and while it's only been live for a few hours, iMAME is already on a mission to change the world. Built-in titles include Circus, Crash, Hard Hat, Fire One, Robot Bowl, Side Track, Spectar, Star Fire and Targ, and while it's not officially endorsed by Nicola Salmoria or the MAME Team, you can certainly pretend. It's available now in the source link for precisely nothing, and yes, both the iPhone and iPad (and iPod touch!) are supported. Get it while the gettin' is good.

[Thanks, Gary]

iMAME emulation app hits the App Store, humanity cheers in unison originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/imame-emulation-app-hits-the-app-store-humanity-cheers-in-uniso/

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Meteorite shockwaves trigger dust avalanches on Mars

Friday, December 16, 2011

When a meteorite careens toward the dusty surface of the Red Planet, it kicks up dust and can cause avalanching even before the rock from outer space hits the ground, a research team led by an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona has discovered.

"We expected that some of the streaks of dust that we see on slopes are caused by seismic shaking during impact," said Kaylan Burleigh, who led the research project. "We were surprised to find that it rather looks like shockwaves in the air trigger the avalanches even before the impact."

Because of Mars' thin atmosphere, which is 100 times less dense than Earth's, even small rocks that would burn up or break up before they could hit the ground here on Earth crash into the Martian surface relatively unimpeded.

Each year, about 20 fresh craters between 1 and 50 meters (3 to 165 feet) show up in images taken by the HiRISE camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, is operated by the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and has been photographing the Martian surface since 2006, revealing features down to less than 1 meter in size.

For this study, the team zoomed in on a cluster of five large craters, which all formed in one impact event close to Mars' equator, about 825 kilometers (512 miles) south of the boundary scarp of Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system. Previous observations by the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which imaged Mars for nine years until 2006, showed that this cluster was blasted into the dusty surface between May 2004 and February 2006.

The results of the research, which Burleigh first took on as a freshman under former UA Regents Professor H. Jay Melosh, are published in the planetary science journal Icarus. Previous studies had looked at dark or light streaks on the Martian landscape interpreted as landslides, but none had tied such a large number of them to impacts.

The authors interpret the thousands of downhill-trending dark streaks on the flanks of ridges covering the area as dust avalanches caused by the impact. The largest crater in the cluster measures 22 meters, or 72 feet across and occupies roughly the area of a basketball court. Most likely, the cluster of craters formed as the meteorite broke up in the atmosphere, and the fragments hit the ground like a shotgun blast.

Narrow, relatively dark streaks varying from a few meters to about 50 meters in length scour the slopes around the impact site.

"The dark streaks represent the material exposed by the avalanches, as induced by the the airblast from the impact," Burleigh said. "I counted more than 100,000 avalanches and, after repeated counts and deleting duplicates, arrived at 64,948."

When Burleigh looked at the distribution of avalanches around the impact site, he realized their number decreased with distance in every direction, consistent with the idea that they were related to the impact event.

But it wasn't until he noticed a pair of peculiar surface features resembling a curved dagger, described as scimitars, extending from the central impact crater, that the way in which the impact caused the avalanches became evident.

"Those scimitars tipped us off that something other than seismic shaking must be causing the dust avalanches," Burleigh said.

As a meteor screams through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, it creates shockwaves in the air. Simulating the shockwaves generated by impacts on Martian soil with computer models, the team observed the exact pattern of scimitars they saw on their impact site.

"We think the interference among different pressure waves lifts up the dust and sets avalanches in motion. These interference regions, and the avalanches, occur in a reproducible pattern," Burleigh said. "We checked other impact sites and realized that when we see avalanches, we usually see two scimitars, not just one, and they both tend to be at a certain angle to each other. This pattern would be difficult to explain by seismic shaking."

In the absence of plate tectonic processes and water-caused erosion, the authors conclude that small impacts might be more important in shaping the Martian surface than previously thought.

"This is one part of a larger story about current surface activity on Mars, which we are realizing is very different than previously believed," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator of the HiRISE project and one of the co-authors of the study. "We must understand how Mars works today before we can correctly interpret what may have happened when the climate was different, and before we can draw comparisons to Earth."

###

University of Arizona: http://uanews.org

Thanks to University of Arizona for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116106/Meteorite_shockwaves_trigger_dust_avalanches_on_Mars

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"Batman" star roughed up in bid to visit blind Chinese activist (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? Actor Christian Bale was roughed up by Chinese security guards as he attempted to visit a blind legal activist whose detention has sparked a domestic and international outcry, CNN reported on Friday.

Bale, who plays crime-fighting superhero Batman, and a camera crew from CNN were jostled by men in plainclothes in Dongshigu village in eastern Shandong province, where activist Chen Guangcheng has been under house arrest for 15 months, according to a video released by CNN on its website.

"Why can I not visit this man?" Bale asked several security officers, while they were pushing him.

"You know, I'm not being brave doing this," Bale told CNN. "The local people who are standing up to the authorities and insisting on going to visit Chen and his family and getting beaten up for it, and my understanding, getting detained for it and everything. I want to support what they are doing."

CNN said the guards shadowed its van for more than half an hour.

The fate of Chen, a self-schooled advocate who has campaigned against forced abortions, has become a test of wills, pitting the Communist Party's crackdown on dissent against activists championing his cause and that of artist Ai Weiwei.

In recent months, dozens of supporters have been blocked from visiting Chen. Many were beaten by men in plain clothes.

CNN said that Bale, in China for the premiere of his latest film "The Flowers of War" made by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, approached the news network to try to meet Chen.

They took an eight-hour car journey to Chen's village from Beijing.

"This doesn't come naturally to me," Bale said to CNN. "But this was just a situation, I said, I can't look the other way."

China's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a faxed inquiry about Bale's visit.

It was not clear if the incident would have any impact on "The Flowers of War," which is China's Oscar entry for next year, or the release of Bale's new Batman film in the country.

China's film regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

"INTRINSIC WEAKNESS"

In a later interview with CNN, Bale said: "It's amazing that a superpower like China is actually terrified of this man and shows such an intrinsic weakness within the fabric of the country."

"This kind of treatment ... represents the power structure and their attitudes towards their own citizens, which is disgusting," he said.

Internet users took to the Twitter-like microblogging service Weibo to applaud Bale's visit to see the "blind man." Authorities have blocked searches for "Chen Guangcheng."

"Mr Bale, I admire your courage and heart," said a microblogger called "Chen Xiaoying wants to support."

"But next time if you want to save a person, remember to wear your Batman suit. The Chinese official media will not report this, it's up to CNN to broadcast it."

Chen angered Shandong officials in 2005 by exposing a program of forced abortions as part of China's one-child policy. He was formally released in September 2010 after four years in jail on a charge of "blocking traffic."

"What I really wanted to do is to shake the man's hand and say 'thank you', and tell him what an inspiration he is," Bale told CNN.

Other Hollywood stars have also been active in criticizing Chinese policies. Actor Richard Gere is a strong supporter of Tibet, for example.

China does not take kindly to foreign criticism of its rights record. In 2008, Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" at a Shanghai concert after performing her song "Declare Independence," angering the government and local fans alike.

As a young boy, Bale starred in "Empire of the Sun," a film set in World War Two about a British family in Shanghai.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee, Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/en_nm/us_china_bale_activist

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Family Photo: The Wilkinson-Basketts ? A Merry Mood

Kendra Wilkinson, husband Hank Baskett and son Hank IV peruse the seasonal selections while Christmas tree shopping on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/1-g9pcML3XA/

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How to Find Meaning in a Maelstrom of Data

All of the data in the world?and the amount is growing at a frightening rate?won?t help researchers solve the big problems if they can?t make sense of it. Which is why a team of researchers from Harvard University and the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T. has developed analytical data-mining software that can find an oasis of meaning in a desert of numbers. They?ve used the software to find insights on the socioeconomic impact of obesity, bacteria in the gut and baseball.

The software teases out relationships among data points (potentially millions of them) and measures the strength of these connections. As the researchers report in a paper appearing in the December 16 issue of the journal Science, most data-mining tools used today can either find correlations between data or determine how solid those connections are?few can do both.

?When we started this project we wanted a way to summarize what was in these datasets in a very simple way, asking what were the variables in these datasets that are most strongly associated,? says David Reshef, a co-first author of the paper and graduate student in the Harvard-M.I.T. Health Sciences and Technology program. ?It?s a very simple question but it turned out to be very complicated because variables can be related in lots of different ways and there are various methods for finding different patterns.?

David Reshef?working with younger brother Yakir Reshef, Broad Institute associate member Pardis Sabeti and Harvard computer science professor Michael Mitzenmacher?tested the tool on social, economic, health and political data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. The data pool was large, covering 200 countries and containing 357 data variables per country, including household income and obesity.

The tool is part of a larger program the researchers call MINE (Maximal Information-based Nonparametric Exploration). It examined every possible combination of variables (more than 60,000 of them) and a list of relationships ranked by the strength of one variable?s statistical dependence on the other (i.e. how much one variable is related to the other).

One identified relationship, for example, was between household income and female obesity. From this pairing, the researchers saw that the data from many countries follow a parabolic curve, with obesity rates rising with income but peaking and tapering off after income reaches a certain level. However, in the Pacific Islands, where female obesity is a sign of status, the rate of obesity followed a completely separate trend from the rest of the countries in the world, climbing rapidly even at low incomes.

The idea is to use MINE to generate new ideas and connections that no one has thought to look for before, says Yakir Reshef, a co-first author of the paper and a Fulbright scholar at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. ?The interdisciplinary nature of the project shows to us the widespread application of this work,? he adds. ?It doesn?t matter whether it?s global health data, genomic data or Internet search statistics?on some level it?s all the same.? The researchers explain their work in more detail on their Web site and in a video accompanying their paper.

In another test, they took nearly 6,700 pieces of data related to microorganisms that live in the gut collected by Harvard colleague Peter Turnbaugh. The software made more than 22 million comparisons and narrowed in on a few hundred patterns of interest that had not been observed before.

The researchers also tested the software on baseball. They found that the statistics that most related to a player?s salary were hits, total bases and an aggregate statistic that reflects how many runs a player generates for a team. During the 2008 season the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Atlanta Braves and current world-champion Saint Louis Cardinals (not surprisingly) proved to have the fewest number of overpaid players compared to the number of ?overperforming? players on their rosters. Predictably, the New York Yankees finished dead last. It?s not easy to find overperforming players when your payroll is the highest in baseball.

Photo: Brothers David Reshef (second from left) and Yakir Reshef (right) developed MIC under the guidance of advisers Michael Mitzenmacher (left) of the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Pardis Sabeti (second from right) of the Broad Institute. Image courtesy of ChieYu Lin

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cd3e02f9c8205fa7cce86861821720fc

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Journey with Taliban shows militants' resilience (AP)

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN, Pakistan ? For 15 hours, we walked with Taliban fighters through territory supposedly controlled by the Pakistani army and frequently pounded by U.S. drone strikes. Avoiding roads and towns, we easily evaded soldiers and were shown recruits drilling with weapons, militant positions and ? from a distance ? a compound used by foreign fighters.

The rare trip to South Waziristan revealed the resilience of militants in the northwestern tribal areas, some of whom are also battling American soldiers across the frontier in Afghanistan. It also demonstrated that the insurgents, who once ruled much of South Waziristan from permanent bases with many hundreds of fighters, are now largely a guerrilla force there.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press reporter, photographer and videographer Ishtiaq Mahsud spent six days with fighters from the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. His account of their travels through South Waziristan offers a look at an area that the Pakistani military claimed had been brought under control after an army offensive two years ago.

___

The Pakistani Taliban had invited three Pakistani journalists to meet its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, at a time when splits have appeared in the movement. But Mehsud canceled, with his aides saying he was called into urgent meetings with a delegation of Afghan Taliban elders who had arrived from across the border.

The trip began in the capital of North Waziristan, Miran Shah, where the Pakistan army has yet to launch an offensive despite requests from Washington. Militants, including al-Qaida and Afghan Taliban factions, are in firmer control in this region than in South Waziristan. Extremists from other countries and other areas of Pakistan were visible on the streets of the town.

We then drove to the boundary with the south, and began our journey on foot, accompanied by four fighters.

South Waziristan was once home to about 500,000 people but its towns and villages are now mostly empty. The population was told to flee ahead of a major Pakistani army offensive in 2009. The army has declared victory, but most locals haven't returned. They do not believe official statements that their homeland is safe.

In one abandoned village, three men were living in a single room in a ruined house. They said they couldn't leave because they had no money and two of them were blind from birth. Their sole possessions were a dirty mat and some blackened cooking pots. One, 30-year-old Mafiq, said the Taliban gave them monthly rations and sometimes cooked food.

At night, we slept in empty houses. Once, we feasted on goat with about 40 fighters in a forest encampment.

The Pakistani military remains in South Waziristan in force but its men are often targeted in ambushes.

On the main roads there were army posts, vital for supplying the roughly 30,000 soldiers in the region. But it was easy to travel without being spotted or pursued so long as our group stayed off them.

"The army is confined to the roads," said Shameem Mehsud, the operational commander of the Pakistani Taliban. "All the surrounding areas are in Taliban control."

After 15 hours hiking, our group came to a semi-permanent forward position used to attack troops traveling on a main road below. About 30 fighters were armed with rocket launchers, sniper rifles and artillery. Through binoculars, Mehsud pointed out what appeared to be an anti-aircraft gun on a nearby ridge he said belonged to the Taliban.

As we chatted, the army fired mortars at the position, one round landing about 50 meters (yards) away.

On the return journey to the north, again on foot but using a different route, one of the fighters pointed to a collection of buildings that he said was used by fighters from Turkmenistan. He said fighters from other countries stayed at different places in the region.

The tribal regions, particularly North Waziristan, have become a magnet for Muslims wanting to fight jihad or "holy war." The area is also used by Afghan militants to stage attacks inside their homeland, knowing that U.S. and NATO troops cannot enter Pakistani territory.

The Pakistani army, which has several times flown reporters to South Waziristan and other Afghan border areas to show off its achievements against militants, was not available for comment on what we observed on our trip.

The army offensive in South Waziristan was launched after heavy American pressure, and was followed by operations in six of the seven tribal regions along the border. But as U.S.-led forces have found in Afghanistan, holding exposed and remote territory against insurgents who know the area and can count on local support is fiendishly difficult.

Eager to wipe out a safe haven for al-Qaida and protect American troops in Afghanistan, the United States has supplied Pakistan with money, weapons and expert assistance for its campaign against the militants. That cooperation has faltered badly this year amid a series of crises between the two nations, whose divergent interests in Afghanistan have proven hard to reconcile.

There is no love lost between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban, which is allied to al-Qaida and has carried out scores of suicide bombings around the country since 2007.

Some insurgent commanders in the northwest have said recently they were in peace negotiations with the Pakistani government. Militant attacks in major cities outside the northwest have been down sharply this year, a drop some have attributed to the success of army operations and the drone strikes.

The commanders in South Waziristan rejected any talk of peace. They said they would negotiate with the government only if Islamic law were implemented throughout the country, the army withdraws from the region and all Taliban prisoners are released.

"Despite all their resources and atomic power, America, NATO and Pakistan cannot defeat the Taliban as our suicide bombers will use their bones as bullets, their flesh as gunpowder and their blood as fuel," Mehsud said. "They have no way to counter to this spirit."

Pakistan's spy agency has been accused of aiding other militants, such as the Haqqanis and other factions in the Afghan Taliban who carry out attacks on U.S. troops across the border.

CIA drones, in turn, have targeted militants with missile strikes in the Pakistani tribal regions.

Although Mehsud said the militants often changed their training grounds because of fear of attack by American drones, he and his fighters didn't appear overly concerned about the missiles. There have been more than 60 such attacks this year, the vast majority in the Waziristans.

At one point on the trip, the militants showed us young recruits ? they called them trainee suicide bombers ? exercising on a flat piece of land in a deserted village surrounded by mountains. Wearing masks, they staged the mock capture of a man wearing the uniform of a Pakistani soldier.

"We will jump in the fire without any hesitation on the orders of our commander," they shouted in unison at the end.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_walk_with_the_taliban

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Who Is Barbara Walters' "Most Fascinating" Person?

Barbara Walters' ABC television special The Most Fascinating People of 2011 included some predictable newsworthy profiles, incluing the Kardashians, Simon Cowell, Katy Perry and Derek Jeter. But the most surprising entry was the person who earned the number one spot on Walters' list.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/barbara-walters-names-steve-jobs-most-fascinating-person-2011/1-a-411174?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abarbara-walters-names-steve-jobs-most-fascinating-person-2011-411174

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Foster The People, Florence Welch Pick Best Of 2011

As MTV unveils our year-end favorites, we ask 'Pumped Up Kicks' rockers and Florence and the Machine frontwoman for theirs.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Matt Elias

Foster The People's Mark Foster and Cubbie Fink
Photo: MTV News

In 2011, we saw new acts break through to the big time and formerly new ones continue on their paths toward superstardom. We welcomed the likes of the Weeknd and Frank Ocean to the party and watched with pride as Drake and Adele marched on to greatness.

But of all the year's brand-new stars, few broke out to the degree that L.A. rock trio Foster the People did, thanks in no small part to the success of their smash hit "Pumped Up Kicks," #7 on MTV's Best Songs of 2011. Of all the returning stars, none returned with the power and grace of Florence and the Machine, who wowed critics and fans with their sophomore album, Ceremonials, and stirring single "Shake It Out."

So, as MTV looks back on 2011, we're reaching out to a host of acts — who not only dominated the past 12 months, but also came to define them — to get their take on the year in music. And who better to ask than Foster and Florence, two artists who did both ... and then some?

We spoke to both bands about their favorite songs, albums and artists of 2011, and the rather diverse range of answers sort of sums up the year rather nicely. After all, outside of Adele, was there anything we could all agree on?

"I'd say probably my favorite album of the year is Bon Iver's new album, and I hope he sweeps the Grammys, because the guy's just killing it right now," Foster's Cubbie Fink said.

"We're competing with him!" frontman Mark Foster laughed.

"And I hope he wins!" Fink said. "I've listened to that album on repeat all year. It's really amazing."

As far as their favorite artist? Well, Iver ranks pretty high, but of all the acts they listened to this year, none resonated with Foster the People quite like Swedish electro act Little Dragon.

"They've been a favorite band of mine for a while, and we've got to play with them a couple times this year and see them live in a bunch of different settings," Foster's Mark Pontius said. "I'm always just so inspired by them live, and the new record that came out this year [Ritual Union] is pretty fantastic as well."

Florence Welch was inspired this year by the magnificent murk of Canadian R&B producer/singer Abel Tesfaye, better known as the Weeknd.

"My favorite song of the year was the Weeknd, 'High for This,' " she said. "That was this year, [right]? I've been obsessively listening to that song for the past few days on repeat. I must've listened to it about 700 times."

Of course, when it comes to her favorite artists of 2011, Welch kept things close to home, choosing a pair of British bands — one of which didn't even release an album this year.

"I'm really into this English band called the Alpines; I think they're really good," she said. "And I've just heard some of the Maccabees' new stuff, and I'm so excited about their new record coming out, because from the first song I've heard, it just sounds amazing. I'm such a big fan of theirs, so I'm really looking forward to that."

All this week, watch "AMTV" on MTV every day at 8 a.m. ET for our Best of 2011 lists. Then, come to MTVNews.com at 5 p.m. as we reveal our top picks of the year!

Related Videos

• Foster The People, Florence Welch, More Pick Their 2011 Favorites

Related Artists

• Foster the People
• Florence + the Machine

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675985/foster-the-people-florence-best-of-2011.jhtml

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Baldwin imitates '30 Rock' co-star Morgan

By Randee Dawn

The comic genius of Tracy Morgan baffles many. He's funny, but he's also usually appears to exist on a different plane than the rest of us. And even his co-workers over at "30 Rock" -- like Alec Baldwin -- aren't always privy to the inner workings of his brain.

On Monday night's "Conan," Baldwin explored some Morgan non sequiturs, such as the time he walked into Morgan's dressing room during the show's first season. It was 7 a.m. and Baldwin found a very tired Morgan watching old Michael Jackson specials from the 1970s.

Baldwin stood up and did a little Jackson 5 dancin' and singin' for the audience, then dropped into an impeccable imitation of Tracy Morgan's slightly zoned-out tones: "Michael, man. He was powerful."

"He's a man-child," said Baldwin of the comedian. "He's very sweet and very sensitive."

Check out the clip for some more top-notch impersonation!

What do you think of Tracy Morgan's comedy? What about Alec Baldwin's take? Tell us on our Facebook page!

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/06/9247501-alec-baldwin-does-a-spot-on-tracy-morgan-impression-for-conan

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4 aboard small plane that crashed in Colorado (Providence Journal)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/169684959?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Celebrating the Titanic by Going to See It

[unable to retrieve full-text content]There are many ways to mark the 100th anniversary of the world?s most famous shipwreck, but time is running out for a submersible trip to the deep.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d7feefd4713b48b32d12acaae716bcad

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Transparent crab shells could lead to better bendy screens, solar cells (Yahoo! News)

RQ-170 (File Photo, via Aviation Weekly)

A day after the Pentagon acknowledged that an unmanned American reconnaissance drone went missing while on an operation in western Afghanistan late last week, Defense officials still smarting from the incident have come forward to dismiss Iranian claims that the drone was brought down by hostile activity. And American cyber experts similarly expressed skepticism over Iranian contentions that hackers based in Iran brought down the drone by penetrating its software or jamming its signals.

"The one thing I can tell you is we don't have any indications that the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle], that we know we no longer have, was brought down by hostile activity of any kind," Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing Monday otherwise short of many further details on the embarrassing incident, ABC News's Luis Martinez reported. "As it says in the statement, the controllers lost control and, without getting into specific details, I think we're comfortable stating that there's no indication of hostile activity."

Likewise, the reported contention made by some Iranian military officials that an Iranian cyber-warfare unit commandeered the drone strains credulity, cyber-security expert James Lewis said.

"Iran hacking into the drone is as likely as an Ayatollah standing on a mountain-top and using thought waves to bring it down," Lewis, a former Reagan administration official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Yahoo News by email Monday. "The most likely explanation is that it crashed on its own."

"If you could hack into a drone, you wouldn't use it for some spontaneous fun, you'd save it for a rainy day," Lewis continued. "You'd need to be able to hack either the control network in the U.S. or a satellite.? Neither is easy, and both are probably not something the Iranians can do."Read More ?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20111205/tc_yblog_technews/transparent-crab-shells-could-lead-to-better-bendy-screens-solar-cells

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Water leaks from crippled Japanese nuclear plant (AP)

TOKYO ? Japan's crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.

The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end.

A pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.

TEPCO estimated about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.

Officials were checking whether any water had reached the nearby ocean.

The leakage of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean in the weeks after the March 11 accident caused widespread concern that seafood in the coastal waters would be contaminated.

The pooled water around the purification device was measured Sunday at 16,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-134, and 29,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-137, TEPCO said. That's 270 times and 322 times higher, respectively, than government safety limits, according to the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo.

Cesium-137 is dangerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radiation. The half-life of cesium-134 is about two years, while the half-life of cesium-137 is about 30 years.

TEPCO is using the purification devices to decontaminate water that has been cooling the reactors. Three of the plant's reactor cores mostly melted down when the March 11 tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling system.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear_plant

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