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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
RolePlayGateway?
I'm not sure who I should direct this message to, but I want to post this just to let you know my thoughts about the edit feature.
After a bit of reading on the forum, I discovered that old posts can no longer be edited. This is pretty much a problem regarding my lore threads. Basically, I organized all of them with a mindset that I can always edit them time to time. I believed I last edited them sometime around December. All in all, I left some unfinished work in those lore threads, and that it simply ruined my organization plans.
Although I can just easily make a new post with new information, it's uhh... how do I say it... it's an eye sore... to me, at least. Not sure about everyone else, but I don't like to have some text hanging around knowing for a fact that I cannot edit them. It feels like a mess of work with new stuff hanging out at the bottom of the page, not even categorized. For an example, here is a link to one of my lore threads: rotg-lore-meet-the-faeries-t65691.html
Instantly, you can spot a list of past and current roleplays in the center. With the edit restriction, the list stands there with only one roleplay there... by itself. Now, I can just make another post, right? I guess I can do that, but I don't prefer to update my lore threads like that. But that's only a small matter. Here are two more lore threads of mine: rotg-lore-the-power-elements-t66147.html and rotg-lore-don-afraid-the-dark-t66350.html
Both lore threads are unfinished. Again, I had the mindset that I can edit these posts whenever I want, like the villain I am. Except I can't.
To get straight to the point, I was caught off guard by this editing restriction, and I request some advice and tips on how to avoid such a matter. I understand that one can ask a moderator to edit their posts, but sooner or later I don't want to make them become my edit button all the time. The only solution I can imagine is keeping my lore work inside my document files until it is 99% complete and finalized. I'm okay with that except for the fact that my lore threads are already posted and I totally did not see this coming.
This may sound more of a rant or complaint, but please don't take it that way. I'm actually quite frustrated, but I'm willing to accept that restriction now that I have knowledge of it. The only thing I wish to do now is to fix and reorganize those threads.
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Milwaukee's Jackson suspended one game for abusing official (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Milwaukee Bucks forward Stephen Jackson has been suspended one game for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner, the National Basketball Association said on Saturday.
The incident occurred at the end of Milwaukee's 107-100 road loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
Jackson will serve his suspension on Saturday evening when the Bucks host the Los Angeles Lakers at the Bradley Center.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in San Diego; Editing by Julian Linden)
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Romney lead over Gingrich up in Florida: Reuters/Ipsos poll (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, was supported by 42 percent of likely Florida voters surveyed in the online three-day tracking poll, just down from 43 percent in the same poll on Saturday. Romney was at 41 percent on Friday.
But with just two days before the state's primary on Tuesday, Gingrich's support was at 30 percent, down from 32 percent in Saturday's results and 33 percent on Friday.
The gap between the two was 11 percent when poll respondents were asked about a hypothetical head-to-head race between the rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the general election in November.
If the race were between Romney and Gingrich only, Romney would be at 55 percent to Gingrich's 44 percent, according to the Sunday's results. On Saturday the gap between the two was eight percentage points and on Friday it was just two, when respondents were asked the same question.
"Newt Gingrich's position in the primary race is really starting to lose support," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos Public Affairs.
The poll results, similar to those of several other surveys, illustrated Romney's remarkable turnaround since South Carolina's primary on January 21, which Gingrich won in a surprise upset.
"Gingrich got a big boost out of South Carolina, but he's losing that," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak.
"It's clear that Romney's run a much more focused and effective campaign in Florida than Newt," he said. "Newt's playing defense every single day in every way and doesn't seem to be able to make Romney play defense."
Romney had two strong debate performances this week and has jumped to a solid lead over Gingrich, whom he had trailed in earlier opinion polls in Florida. He has taken steady aim at Gingrich on the debate stage and in attack ads as a politician who left government under an ethics cloud and has remained a Washington insider ever since.
GINGRICH FACES TOUGH FEBRUARY
Romney has a solid advantage in money and organization over Gingrich in Florida, and the month ahead does not look much better for the former speaker as the state-by-state race for the Republican nomination continues.
Four states with February contests - Nevada, Maine, Colorado and Minnesota - use caucus systems, which can require greater organization to rally voter turnout. That could help Romney take advantage of his superior financial and staff resources.
On February 28, Michigan and Arizona hold primaries. Romney was raised in Michigan, where his father was a governor and car executive.
"February does not look like a good month for Newt," Mackowiak said.
But his failure to gain more support among likely voters in Florida's primary, which is limited only to registered Republicans, shows that Romney is still not electrifying the party faithful. "He's not the guy that everyone loves and rallies behind," Jackson said. "He's not getting that huge rally of support."
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trailed well behind with 16 percent support, the same as Saturday's level. Santorum seemed to be gaining momentum as an "alternate" to Romney. Thirty-eight percent of likely voters said he would be their second choice if their first choice left the race, up from 33 percent on Saturday and 30 percent on Friday.
But it is probably too close to the January 31 vote to make a difference, Jackson said.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is not campaigning in Florida, was at 6 percent.
Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online surveys, but this poll of 726 likely voters in the Florida primary has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points for registered voters.
Sunday's Reuters/Ipsos survey is the third of four daily tracking polls being released ahead of Tuesday's Florida primary.
(Reporting By Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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Avastin's Failure in Breast Cancer: New Study May Explain Why It Happened (LiveScience.com)
A new study may explain why the cancer drug Avastin hasn't worked in the treatment of breast cancer patients. Although the drug stops tumor growth for a short time, it often leads to more invasive tumors in the long run.
The reason for this revved-up invasiveness, researchers concluded from experiments done in mice, is that drugs like Avastin increase the portion of a tumor made of breast cancer stem cells.
Although Avastin, when initially given, causes some cancer cells to die and tumors to shrink, what's left behind are the cancer stem cells, according to the study. These cells can then multiply, and they are among the most lethal cancer cells ? they can sprout new tumors more easily than run-of-the-mill cancer cells.
The finding suggests that clinicians could improve Avastin's effectiveness by blocking this unwanted effect of the drug. It's a potentially bright spot for the drug, after a November decision by the Food and Drug Administration that the drug should not be used to treat breast cancer?after studies showed the drug failed to lengthen patient's lives.
"This result explains why they don't work as well as we hoped it would, and it really points to what we need to do to develop drug combinations that are more effective," said Dr. Max Wicha, author of the new study and an oncologist at the University of Michigan.
The new findings, which may also apply to other drugs in the same class as Avastin, were published Monday (Jan. 23) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The seeds of a tumor
Avastin falls into a category of cancer drugs called antiangiogenic agents, which aim to work by blocking the growth of blood vessels that supply tumors with vital nutrients and oxygen. Without a blood supply, tumors will die, the thinking goes.
"There was a lot of excitement about using these drugs to block the blood supply to tumors," Wicha said. "But the first large studies showed that while Avastin seemed to be preventing tumors from progressing for a few months, the tumors would then start to grow again, and be even more aggressive."
Wicha said he and his colleagues suspected the cause of the new, aggressive growth, might be cancer stem cells. "These cells are the most dangerous, if they're left in the body," he explained. "They're like the seeds of a plant."
The researchers tested their theory by giving an antiangiogenic drug to mice with breast cancer tumors. As expected, the tumors shrank and had fewer blood vessels feeding them. When the team analyzed the cells within the tumors, however, the tumors of mice that had been treated with an antiangiogenic drug had five times more stem cells.
Further, the scientists found, the lack of oxygen ? called hypoxia ? in the tissues that followed the death of the blood vessels had the side effect of encouraging the growth of these dangerous cells. If doctors could combine drugs that kill the cancer stem cells with antiangiogenic drugs, they may have a winning formula, Wicha said.
"Our research suggests that it's going to necessary to target both angles of this at the same time," he said.
Two sides of a drug
The new findings didn't surprise Celeste Simon, a molecular biologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who studies the role of the body's low oxygen environments to human health.?
"Stem cells really like to reside in a low oxygen area," Simon said.
What the study adds, Simon said, is evidence that drugs like Avastin increase the pool of cancer stem cells living in these low-oxygen conditions.
"The notion is that by making the tumor more hypoxic, you're actually selecting for the more aggressive cells," she said. "This and other papers underscore a growing idea in the therapeutic world that, like all treatments, antiangiogenic drugs need to be very carefully evaluated in terms of their full impact on human health."
But more work is needed, she said, to flesh out the full molecular details of the observation. Tumors implanted into mice, such as the study used, aren't always a perfect mimic of human biology. "While these results are intriguing, they need to be followed up, from my point of view, with experiments on more sophisticated mouse models or primary tumors," Simon said.
Pass it on: ?Although Avastin successfully cuts off the blood supply of breast cancer tumors, it also increases the number of so-called breast cancer stem cells that can lead to tumor growth in the long run.
This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. ?Find us on?Facebook.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Geithner presses Europe to increase crisis firewall (Reuters)
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe on Friday to boost its bailout fund resources, citing the euro zone debt crisis and oil prices as the two main factors influencing the pace of the United States' economic upturn.
The U.S. economy is growing at an annual rate of around 2-3 percent, Geither told the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that it still faces big challenges to repair damage wrought by the financial crisis.
Earlier on Friday, euro zone finance officials voiced optimism at the Forum that key building International Monetary Fund could help support Europe through its debt crisis if the euro zone boosts its bailout funds, or "firewall," he said.
"Our view is that the only way Europe is going to be successful in holding this together is for them to bring a stronger firewall and that is going to demand a bigger commitment," Geithner told the Forum.
"If Europe is able and willing to do that we believe the IMF is ready to play a constructive role," he added. "I think you'll see the IMF (be) very supportive in those efforts but not as a substitute for blocks to resolve the sovereign debt crisis (that) are gradually fitting into place.
The health of U.S. business was better than expected, Geithner said, dismissing the suggestion that tighter regulations were hampering growth.
"Profitability across the US economy is very high," he added. "What is holding the US economy back still is the aftershocks of the financial crisis and the fiscal pressure on governments."
Turning to Iran, he said Washington's drive to cut Iran's oil exports was getting excellent support from Europe and that there were positive signs from China too.
"Even over the last 6 months you're seeing a substantial intensification in (cutting) dependence on Iranian oil and my sense is also that China wants to be part of that effort because it is in China's interests not to see Iran undo the delicate balance in the Gulf," he added.
On his own future, Geithner reaffirmed that he would not expect to be asked to continue as Treasury chief if President Barack Obama wins re-election.
"Generally anybody who takes these jobs serves at the pleasure of the president," he said.
"When he asked me to stay when I thought it was the right time to leave, I agreed to stay and I agreed I would stay to the balance of this term. He accepted that aspiration of mine, and that's where it's going to come out, I think."
Geithner declined to say what he would do next: "That feels like a long way away."
(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Janet McBride; editing by Patrick Graham)
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Gingrich vows to establish permanent base on moon by 2020, says little about paying for it (Star Tribune)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Video: First Read Minute
NBC?s Domenico Montanaro discusses the top political stories of the day, including the new NBC/WSJ poll that will be released tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams at 6:30pmET.
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Vegas casinos relying more on baccarat
Baccarat dealer Ramiro Nepomuceno, right, shuffles cards as floor supervisor Sam Insyxiengmay looks on while preparing a table for play at the MGM Hotel and Casino, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Baccarat dealer Ramiro Nepomuceno, right, shuffles cards as floor supervisor Sam Insyxiengmay looks on while preparing a table for play at the MGM Hotel and Casino, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Baccarat dealer Ramiro Nepomuceno, right, shuffles cards while preparing a table for play at the MGM Hotel and Casino, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
A couple looks over the Chinese New Year display inside the Conservatory at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Members of the Lohan School of Shaolin parade up and down Fremont Street while doing a dragon dance during Chinese New Years festivities, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Members of the Lohan School of Shaolin parade up and down Fremont Street while doing a dragon and lion dance during Chinese New Years festivities, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Las Vegas. There are generally more Asian gamblers in Vegas because of the Chinese New Year, and it means increased traffic at high limit baccarat tables. Though not widely known, baccarat is actually the most profitable table game for casinos which try to court Asian gamblers who tie luck and good fortune to the start of the Lunar Year. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? In the days before the Chinese New Year celebration began this week, six high rollers sat down at the private baccarat tables one day at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and began throwing down wagers of $100,000 to $200,000 a hand. It was a scene hardly out of place these days in Sin City.
Big-time gamblers, primarily from Asia, are flocking to Las Vegas to play baccarat and providing a big lift to the overall bottom line of the city's casinos.
Baccarat has easily surpassed blackjack in terms of casino revenue in Las Vegas and now represents nearly 60 percent of the MGM Grand's table games revenue over the past year. It's especially popular this week with tens of thousands of tourists from Asia in town to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
"For us to make money in gaming today without baccarat is almost impossible," said Debra Nutton, senior vice president of casino operations at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. "We need the big whales to make money."
In Las Vegas parlance, a "whale" is a big-time gambler who easily wagers more in one night at the tables than most American families make in a year. Casinos cater to them with plush, secluded gambling salons inside the top casinos ? with baccarat games that often start out at a minimum $10,000 per hand.
The whales typically favor baccarat ? a game romanticized in James Bond flicks and highly popular in Macau and Singapore.
The game is built on a simple premise: Who will end up with a better hand, the player or the banker? Gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker, typically a position that rotates among the players at the table. Smaller tables, known as midi-baccarat, start at $100 limits and look more like large blackjack tables, skipping the rotating banker and leaving that role to the dealer. Even smaller-limit tables are called mini-baccarat.
Nevada figures show that during the 12 months ending Nov. 30, casinos statewide won $1.27 billion from baccarat players, with the game offered at 258 total tables in 24 casinos. Blackjack, meanwhile, pulled in just $1.03 billion ? even though it was offered across 2,810 tables in 151 casinos.
While casinos hope to pocket 12 percent of the money wagered on baccarat, the large amounts played in fewer bets mean big swings in revenue quarter to quarter, depending on how lucky the gamblers are.
Slots are still the most popular and lucrative form of gambling in Nevada, with nearly 165,000 machines over 330 locations including supermarket, gas stations and airports.
Baccarat has been the most lucrative table game since 2009, and has been increasing its share since then, according to an analysis of gambling revenues by Dave Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
That's even though the game isn't widely offered, he said.
"The real high-end play is happening in maybe six or seven casinos," Schwartz said.
As Americans struggled during the Great Recession, Las Vegas casinos have worked harder to increase tourism from wealthy international visitors, especially Asians. Their game of choice, casinos say, is baccarat.
The MGM Grand is among those Strip casinos counting on their highest of high rollers coming to town this weekend for the Chinese New Year. Nutton said her casino could double the number of baccarat tables during the Chinese New Year and still be busy.
In addition to private flights and luxury accommodations, Nutton said casinos around Las Vegas attract baccarat play year-round by offering high-roller tournaments with million-dollar prize pools.
One three-day tournament held at the MGM Grand's mansion casino in early October cost $5,000 to enter and offered the winner $750,000, seven others at least $10,000 each, all participants a brand new tablet computer and a drawing among finalists for a 2012 BMW convertible.
Similar tournaments run several times a year around Sin City, Nutton said, in hopes that entrants will also play on their own and come back to each particular casino again.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Corp., which run two casinos each on the Las Vegas Strip, derive the majority of their revenue from Asia, where baccarat is the undisputed king of games.
Caesars Entertainment Corp., which owns or manages 52 casinos in 12 U.S. states and seven countries, reported $6.66 billion in revenue from baccarat during the first 9 months of 2011. Over the same time, Sands ? with four casino-resorts in baccarat-heavy Asia and three in the United States ? beat that with $6.87 billion.
The casinos are fiercely competing for a relatively small number of players who can afford five- or six-figure bets, Nutton said.
"There's only that select universe," she said.
Schwartz said that if casinos become more dependent on baccarat's bottom line, they're in for less predictable results. From 2004 to 2010, baccarat showed to have the biggest variance among casino games in its hold percentage, the amount of money casinos keep from the amount wagered.
Hold is generally governed by complex math, designed so gamblers slowly lose money and the house always wins overall.
Between 2004 and 2010, the average hold for baccarat was 11.7 percent, but casinos statewide saw monthly hold for the game as high as 19.5 percent or as low as 3.6 percent.
If a player gets lucky one day and quickly wins several million dollars, casinos are reminded of it when they report their quarterly results, Schwartz said.
"A lot of the more business-oriented folks don't like this kind of volatility in the company," he said. "It's lucrative, but it's also risky."
Steve Rosen, chief marketing officer at Santo Gaming , which runs the Plaza Las Vegas casino in downtown Las Vegas, said he still expects baccarat to become more popular as more people learn to play, casinos add more tables designed for smaller limits and companies keep pushing to attract Asian customers.
"I think a lot of casinos are trying to, they just don't understand how yet. You're going to see more and more baccarat and you're going to see baccarat become more mainstream," Rosen said. "You can't have 91 percent of revenues across the world coming from one game and not have people here paying attention to it."
Tim Fong, co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, said several cultural factors among Asians combine to encourage gambling, especially during the holiday.
Generations of Chinese citizens, for example, accept gambling in society and also strongly value notions of luck and predetermined destiny, Fong said. Many lived as farmers or peasants before China liberalized its economy, and looked forward to the new year in part because it was the only time they could take a genuine break from work.
"It's much more driven by (the idea that) things are predetermined. It's kind of, well, this is our opportunity to almost test the fates, test our luck as to what's in store for us for the next coming year," Fong said. "There's a lot of value placed on if you do and win really well ... then you're going to have a great year.
"It's kind of like a little litmus test, if you will," he said.
___
Oskar Garcia can be reached at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tax returns, business dealings fuel Fla. Campaign (AP)
TAMPA, Fla. ? The Republican candidates' fight for Florida and the states beyond stayed at a high boil Tuesday as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney each tried to turn a debate night of mutual sniping to his own advantage. At the center of a stew of personal attacks are Romney's investments and tax returns ? including a now-closed Swiss bank account ? and Gingrich's high-paid consulting work.
Romney, whose net worth is estimated as high as $250 million, closed a bank account in Switzerland in 2010, as he was entering the presidential race, according to records his campaign released Tuesday. He also kept money in the Cayman Islands, another spot popular with investors sheltering their income from U.S. taxes. Aides said Romney didn't avoid tax payments.
The former Massachusetts governor paid about $3 million on nearly $22 million in income in 2010 and indicated his 2011 taxes would be about the same, $3.2 million on nearly $21 million in income.
As Romney relented to pressure and released more than 500 pages of tax documents, Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was "outrageously dishonest" for accusing him of influence peddling for mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
The former House speaker said Romney's charges were ironic, given that it was revealed after Monday's debate that Romney himself was an investor in both Freddie Mac and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.
"I don't own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer," Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday.
The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney digging into each other's business dealings pleased Rick Santorum, who lags in polls for next week's Florida primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: "The other two candidates have some severe flaws."
During the debate, Romney predicted his tax information would generate chatter but not any surprises.
"You'll see my income, how much taxes I've paid, how much I've paid to charity," he said on the debate stage Monday night. "Will it be an article? Yeah. But is it entirely legal and fair? Absolutely. I'm proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes."
Romney had declined to disclose any tax releases until he came under mounting criticism from his rivals.
In 2010, he donated a combined $3 million to the Mormon Church and charitable causes and paid about $3 million in federal income taxes for an effective tax rate of about 14 percent, the records showed. For 2011, he'll pay an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners, reflecting the lower rate for long-term capital gains.
The tax records may silence Gingrich and others who argued that Republican voters should know the details of Romney's wealth before they select their presidential nominee and not after. But it also could open up new lines of attack.
In Monday's debate, Gingrich faced harsh questions about his own financial dealings. While comfortable as the aggressor in previous encounters with Romney and their rivals, he found himself battered by Romney's criticism as the pair clashed repeatedly in sometimes personal terms.
"You've been walking around the state saying things that are untrue," Gingrich told Romney.
After Gingrich's overwhelming victory in South Carolina last Saturday, Romney can ill afford to lose Florida's Jan. 31 primary, and he showcased a new aggression from the opening moments of the debate. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."
In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that Romney said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."
Romney also said Gingrich had lobbied lawmakers to approve legislation creating a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."
Romney counterpunched, referring to the $300,000 that Gingrich's consulting firm received in 2006 from Freddie Mac.
And when Gingrich sought to turn the tables by inquiring about the private equity firm that Romney founded, the former Massachusetts governor replied: "We didn't do any work with the government. ... I wasn't a lobbyist."
Romney will briefly turn his attention Tuesday morning to President Barack Obama, offering a "pre-buttal" to the president's State of the Union address before shifting to Gingrich's work for the federal mortgage giant at a campaign event focused on Florida's housing problems.
Gingrich has a busy day on the campaign trail planned as well, with rallies set for St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Naples.
Rep. Ron Paul, who's bypassing Florida in favor of smaller, less expensive states, returned to Texas after Monday's debate. Santorum will appeal to the tea party to help revive his candidacy, appearing at two tea party events.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
China: Overseas groups distort truth about unrest (AP)
BEIJING ? China on Tuesday accused overseas advocacy groups of twisting the truth about unrest in a politically sensitive Tibetan region in order to undermine the government.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said order has been restored in Luhuo county in southwestern China after a clash Monday between police and Tibetans that left one Tibetan dead and four others injured.
Five police were also injured in the clash, Hong said. He called the Tibetans involved in the violence in Sichuan province's Ganzi prefecture a "mob" and said authorities will act firmly to fight crime and maintain order.
"Overseas forces of 'Tibet independence' have always fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese government with issues involving Tibet," Hong said in remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The unrest comes amid high tensions following the self-immolations of at least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans in the past year. Most have chanted for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
Ganzi is a rugged, deeply Buddhist region filled with monasteries that has been at the center of dissent for years. It is among the traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan province and other parts of western China that have been closed to outsiders for months amid a massive security presence.
Tibet activist groups and witnesses said police opened fire on protesters in Monday's violence in Luhuo. The London-based International Campaign for Tibet said three Tibetans were killed and nine wounded, while another group, Free Tibet, said one died and up to 30 others were shot and wounded in Luhuo, also known as Draggo in Tibetan.
A Tibetan monk from Shouling monastery in Luhuo said in a phone interview that police fired at about 10,000 protesters, killing one Tibetan farmer and injuring 32.
"The protesters just want peace and religious freedom," said the monk who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation. He said the demonstrators were mostly local Tibetan residents plus a few monks and Han Chinese residents.
"Today it is quiet here, but we can see police patrolling around the government offices and the monasteries," he said.
Tuesday was a holiday for the Lunar New Year and calls to the local government and Communist Party offices rang unanswered.
Xinhua said more than 100 people, including monks, gathered to attack a police station after hearing rumors that three monks would set themselves on fire.
It said some were armed with knives and hurled stones as they smashed two police vehicles and two fire engines and stormed nearby shops.
In a sign of the government's sensitivity over the unrest, state-controlled domestic media did not report it. Hong's remarks were carried only by Xinhua's English-language service and were not posted on the Foreign Ministry's website.
Many Tibetans resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule and the large-scale migration of China's ethnic Han majority to the Himalayan region. While China claims Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.
___
Gillian Wong can be reached on http://twitter.com/gillianwong
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Health benefits of exercise may depend on cellular degradation, UT Southwestern researchers report
Health benefits of exercise may depend on cellular degradation, UT Southwestern researchers report
Monday, January 23, 2012The health benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism may come from the body's ability to devour itself, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the journal Nature.
Autophagy is a process by which a cell responds to starvation and other stresses by degrading damaged or unneeded parts of itself to produce energy. It is sometimes called the cell's housekeeping pathway.
"Exercise is known to have many health benefits but the mechanisms have been unclear. Autophagy is also known to have several health benefits, and these benefits correspond closely to the effects of exercise. We hypothesized that some of the health benefits of exercise might be explained through autophagy," said senior author Dr. Beth Levine, professor of internal medicine and microbiology who leads the Center for Autophagy Research at UT Southwestern.
Dr. Levine, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at the medical center, decided to focus on one specific health effect of exercise ? the ability of exercise to prevent blood sugar abnormalities in the face of a high-fat diet. Her mouse study provides the first evidence that exercise stimulates autophagy.
The researchers found that mice genetically unable to increase autophagy in response to short-term exercise have decreased endurance and fail to experience the normal benefits of exercise on blood sugar metabolism.
This discovery led the team to investigate whether autophagy is important in the protective effects of chronic exercise on diabetes. A high-fat diet induced diabetes-like changes in blood sugar metabolism in both control mice and in test mice that were genetically unable to increase autophagy above baseline levels, said Dr. Congcong He, lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Levine's lab. However, the researchers found that exercise reversed these blood sugar abnormalities in control mice but not in the autophagy-deficient mice.
"Our finding that exercise fails to improve glucose metabolism in autophagy-deficient mice strongly suggests that autophagy is an important mechanism by which exercise protects against diabetes," said Dr. Levine. "It also raises the possibility that activation of autophagy may contribute to other health benefits of exercise, including protection against cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and aging.
Dr. Levine has made fundamental discoveries previously that are in large part credited for expanding the field of autophagy research. In 1999, she identified the first mammalian autophagy gene, beclin 1, and its link to the suppression of breast cancer, which marked the first discovery of an association between defects in an autophagy gene and a human disease.
She similarly is credited with demonstrating that autophagy functions in innate immunity ? protecting against lethal viral encephalitis ? as well as initially reporting that autophagy plays a role in lifespan extension, shown in a study of C. elegans worms.
###
UT Southwestern Medical Center: http://www.swmed.edu
Thanks to UT Southwestern Medical Center for this article.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Roddick out of Australian Open with leg injury
Andy Roddick, left, of the US shakes hands with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt as he retires injured from their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Andy Roddick, left, of the US shakes hands with Australia's Lleyton Hewitt as he retires injured from their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Andy Roddick of the US slips over against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Andy Roddick of the US waves as he leaves Rod Laver Arena after retiring injured from his second round match against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Andy Roddick of the US reaches for a forehand return to Australia's Lleyton Hewitt during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
Serena Williams of the US hits a forehand return to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? Andy Roddick's bid to win another Grand Slam singles title nearly a decade after his first hit a roadblock Thursday when a hamstring injury forced him out of the Australian Open.
The former No. 1, whose lone major singles win came at the 2003 U.S. Open, was trailing Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 when he called the trainer to his courtside chair. He then walked over to Hewitt and shook the Australian player's hand.
Roddick had fallen to the court in the second set, but played despite being in obvious pain from the leg injury.
"It's a miserable, terrible thing being out there compromised like that," Roddick said of his attempt to play with the injury. "I wanted to see what I could do. You don't really have much time for clarity in that situation. He's a tough guy to play ... he knew what was going on."
Trailing 2-0 in the second set, Roddick moved suddenly to his right to retrieve a Hewitt forehand, and seemed to overstretch his right leg, rolling over on his right ankle. Hewitt won that point and the next two for a 3-0 lead, then Roddick took a medical timeout.
Hewitt said the injury was "a nightmare for both of us."
"Obviously, he stretched something," Hewitt said. "It's not easy for the person up the other end of the court. It's hard to concentrate when they're having injury timeouts.
"Andy's a great competitor ... he's similar to me. He plays with his heart on his sleeve, has that never-say-die attitude as well. It's never easy to play injured or to pull out of a match. It's not a good feeling."
Roddick looked lethargic in the second and third sets, rare chasing down shots and walking slowly between points with his head hanging down. He threw his racket into the wall at one point and argued with the chair umpire after a video replay showed that one of Hewitt's shots ? originally called out ? actually hit the line.
The 30-year-old Hewitt, who has won two major titles and was a finalist here in 2005, will play 21-year-old Milos Raonic of Canada in the third round.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced earlier Thursday, overcoming an early service break against Santiago Giraldo in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory at Melbourne Park.
"I maybe started a little too defensive because he was hitting the ball very strong," said Djokovic, who won three of the four majors last year. "But then after, it was the other way around."
A title in Melbourne would put him in select company. Only four players ? Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal ? have won three straight Grand Slam singles tournaments, and Djokovic could join them following his wins at last year's Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
Second-seeded Nadal and third-seeded Federer, who are in the other half of the draw here, play back-to-back matches at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
Earlier, five-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams notched her 500th career singles victory when she beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the third round. The left ankle she badly sprained two weeks ago wasn't an issue. However, near the end of the match, she tweak her other ankle and fell to the court.
"It's totally fine. It was my good ankle, so I'm good," she said.
Williams won the Australian Open in 2009 and 2010, but didn't defend her title in 2011 because she was injured.
Her older sister, Venus, has a win-loss record of 589-147, is sitting out the Australian Open because of an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.
Serena is grateful to get her 500th win.
"I knew I had to get there too, because I do everything she does," Williams said of her sister's accomplishment. "It's great, it's like the ultimate."
Martina Navratilova had a career record 1,442-219, and Chris Evert retired with a 1,309-146 win-loss mark.
"I never will get there either, but it's really cool," Williams said. "Five hundred is a lot of matches to play, let alone to win."
Fourth-seeded Andy Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the final here last year, also advanced Thursday, beating Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Murray is playing his first Grand Slam tournament since hiring eight-time major champion Ivan Lendl as his coach.
"It's been good, he's obviously one of the greatest players ever," Murray said. "He's got so much experience and he's a very funny guy. You wouldn't probably expect it by the way he was on the court, similar to myself."
With top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki having a day off, No. 2 Petra Kvitova moved into the third round with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Carla Suarez Navarro. Kvitova, who lost in the first round at the U.S. Open in the first major after winning Wimbledon, was down a service break in the third before recovering to beat the Spaniard.
"In the beginning it was OK, but I made many, many, many mistakes," Kvitova said of her 48 unforced errors. "It's part of my game but it's too many. It was very tough to get back in the third set."
Maria Sharapova, one of the three former champions in the women's draw, reached the third round after just two hours on court in two matches. The 2008 champion had a 6-0, 6-1 second-round win over U.S. qualifier Jamie Hampton in 64 minutes.
Sharapova did not play in any warmup events and spent nearly two weeks in Melbourne ahead of the season's first major while she rested an injured left ankle.
"It was more about getting my feet going," Sharapova said. "Yeah, started my preparations in the offseason a little late, took a bit of extra time in practice instead of rushing into a tournament."
She'll meet No. 30 Angelique Kerber, who beat Canada's Stephanie Dubois 7-5, 6-1.
Seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva, a two-time semifinalist at Melbourne Park, had a 6-1, 7-6 (3) over Lucie Hradecka. No. 21 Ana Ivanovic also advanced, beating Dutch player Michaella Krajicek 6-2, 6-3.
Ninth-seeded Marion Bartoli beat local hope and former quarterfinalist Jelena Dokic 6-3, 6-3 and No. 27 Maria Kirilenko of Russia topped Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat American Sloane Stephens 7-6 (6), 7-5.
Three seeded players were beaten: No. 23 Roberta Vinci lost to China's Zheng Jie, No. 29 Nadia Petrova fell to Sara Errani and No. 25 Kaia Kanepi lost to Ekaterina Makarova.
In the men's draw, sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost the 2008 final to Djokovic, advanced 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 over Ricardo Mello of Brazil, while No. 5 David Ferrer struggled early against American Ryan Sweeting before coming back to win 6-7 (4), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 9 Janko Tipsarevic, No. 23 Milos Raonic of Canada, No. 24 Kei Nishikori of Japan and No. 27 Juan Ignacio Chela also progressed. Frenchman Michael Llodra beat No. 32 Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4 and Portugal's Frederico Gil beat No. 26 Marcel Granollers in four sets.
In a night match, No. 14 Gael Monfils beat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 2-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-2 and will play Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazkakhstan in the third round. Kukushkin earlier beat No. 19 Viktor Troicki of Serbia 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
In an all-French match, Julien Benneteau beat 12th-seeded Gilles Simon 7-5, 7-6 (8), 1-6, 3-6, 6-2.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Obama names Zients as acting budget chief (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama named senior aide Jeffrey Zients on Tuesday to serve as acting chief of the Office of Management and Budget, the White House said.
Zients, a deputy director and chief performance officer in Obama's budget office, will step in for Jack Lew, named last week as White House chief of staff to replace Bill Daley.
There was no immediate word whether Zients' appointment, which comes as Obama prepares to roll out his new budget proposal in coming weeks, means he is in the running to be nominated as OMB director.
Obama's plans for filling the position remain unclear as he seeks re-election in November. Naming Zients on an interim basis could allow the president to avoid a contentious confirmation fight with Senate Republicans who have stalled many of his nominations.
"Since day one, Jeff has demonstrated superb judgment and has provided sound advice on a whole host of issues," Obama said in a statement. "I'm confident in his ability to help us rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility pay off and the middle class has a chance to get ahead."
Lew will be a hard act to follow. With Daley resigning after a troubled one-year tenure at the White House, Lew was chosen in part because he is well-versed in congressional politics and has forged strong relations with Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Zients has worked at OMB since 2009 and served briefly as acting director in 2010. His 20 years of business experience includes work as a management consultant. He was CEO of the The Advisory Board Company and chairman of the Corporate Executive Board.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Facebook, Researchers Reveal Gang Behind Koobface Virus
Facebook said Tuesday that it will share the data it has collected about the group of people behind the Koobface virus that hit the social network in 2008.
Koobface targeted Facebook users via fake friend messages that encouraged people to click on links that installed a malicious worm. The messages appeared to be from someone on a user's friends list and included subject lines like "Why do you look so stupid?" and "You look just awesome in this new movie."
"When Koobface first surfaced in 2008, our team worked non-stop until we were able to detect the virus, remediate affected users, and eventually identify those parties responsible; we have been tracking them ever since," Facebook said in a Tuesday note on its security Web site. "We will be sharing this investigation material, as well as information on how to best defend against the virus, with the larger security community. This will better enable sites still targeted by Koobface to more adequately protect their users."
Facebook said its site has been Koobface-free for the last nine months, ever since the social network took down a central "Command & Control" server, "which directed the compromised computers to do the gang's bidding," Facebook said. There have been no new Koobface sightings since then "and our teams are working hard to keep it that way."
Facebook did not provide details about this "Koobface gang" in its post. But in a separate blog post, security firm Sophos said Facebook's announcement and a New York Times article prompted it to also release the Koobface data it has amassed via independent researcher Jan Dr?mer and Dirk Kollberg of SophosLabs.
"Up until now, Dr?mer and Kollberg's research has been a closely-guarded secret, known only to a select few in the computer security community and shared with various law enforcement agencies around the globe," Sophos analyst Graham Cluley said. "At the police's request we have kept the information confidential, but last week news began to leak onto the internet about Anton 'Krotreal' Korotchenko - meaning the cat was well and truly out of the bag."
Security researcher Dancho Danchev has also posted his analysis of the Koobface gang online.
According to the research, Koobface scammers basically got sloppy.
"The Koobface botnet master's biggest mistake is using the Koobface infrastructure for hosting a domain that was registered with the botnet master's personal email address," Danchev wrote.
Sophos, meanwhile, said that on that "Command & Control" server, the Koobface gang accidentally revealed their file and directory names by enabling a Web server module. Later, they installed a Webalizer statistics tool in a publicly accessible way, providing even more insight, Sophos said.
The breakthrough, however, came in December 2009, "when the Webalizer statistics tool showed an unusual request to a file named 'last.tar.bz2,' which upon further examination turned out to contain a full daily backup of the Koobface Command & Control software," Sophos said.
The "Koobface Mothership" was found to be in Prague, but researchers also found that daily stats were being sent via text messages to Russian telephone numbers. Ultimately, the Koobface gang was identified by the researchers as Anton Korotchenko, Alexander Koltyshev, Roman Koturbach, Syvatoslav Polinchuk, and Stanislav Avdeik. According to the Times, the paper has not been able to contact the men, but Facebook "believes public namings can make it harder for such groups to operate and send a message to the criminal underground," the paper said.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398974,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05079TX1K0000992
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Top official dismisses concerns about Kim Jong Un (AP)
PYONGYANG, North Korea ? A senior North Korean party official dismissed concerns about Kim Jong Un's readiness to lead, saying he spent years working closely with his late father and helped him make key policy decisions on economic and military affairs.
In the first interview with foreign journalists by a high-level North Korean official since Kim Jong Il's Dec. 17 death, Politburo member and Kim family confidante Yang Hyong Sop told The Associated Press that North Koreans were in good hands with their young new leader. He emphasized an unbroken continuity from father to son that suggests a continuation of Kim Jong Il's key policies.
"We suffered the greatest loss in the history of our nation as a result of the sudden, unexpected and tragic loss of the great leader Kim Jong Il," he said in the interview Monday at Mansudae Assembly Hall, seat of the North Korean legislative body.
"But still, we are not worried a bit," he added, "because we know that we are being led by comrade Kim Jong Un, who is fully prepared to carry on the heritage created by the great Gen. Kim Jong Il."
Daily life in this cold, somber capital has begun to return to normal one month after Kim's death, reportedly from a heart attack while riding on his private train.
The white mourning bouquets and massive portraits of the departed leader have been cleared from Pyongyang's main buildings and monuments. People are busy getting back to daily life, with children whizzing down icy slopes on wooden sleds and workers running to catch morning buses and trams as the Kim Jong Un ode "Footsteps" blares over loudspeakers.
Vast Kim Il Sung Square, where a sea of mourners converged after Kim's death, was ghostly quiet except for a few people who scurried quickly across the frigid plaza.
In recent weeks, as North Koreans filled the capital's streets with their emotive mourning and the government staged elaborate funeral proceedings, party and military officials moved quickly to install Kim's son as "supreme leader" of the people, party and military.
Kim Jong Un had been kept out of the public eye for most of his life before suddenly emerging as his father's heir only in September 2010. Though still in his 20s, he was quickly promoted to four-star general and named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.
But the new ruler's youth and quick ascension to power have raised questions in foreign capitals about how ready he is to inherit rule over this nation of 24 million with a nuclear program as well chronic trouble feeding all its people.
Yang said he had no concerns about Kim's ability to lead.
"The respected comrade Kim Jong Un had long assisted the great Gen. Kim Jong Il," he told AP. "It's not a secret that he has helped the great general in many different aspects ? not only in military affairs but also the economy and other areas as well."
Yang, a soft-spoken octogenarian, is vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and a standing member of the powerful Political Bureau of the Communist party's Central Committee. He has long-standing ties with the Kim family that stretch back to his close alliance with the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung.
During a 2010 interview with Associated Press Television News in Pyongyang, he provided the first confirmation by a government official that Kim Jong Un would eventually become the nation's next leader.
"He knows what the exact intention of the great Gen. Kim Jong Il was," he said Monday.
His comments this week indicated there would be little change to major policies laid out by Kim Jong Un's father in the three years before his death. Yang said the new leader was focused on a "knowledge-based" economy and looking at economic reforms enacted by other nations, including China.
The North has increasingly looked to China for guidance on how to revitalize its moribund economy, particularly as South Korea, Japan and other nations have frozen trade and aid to the North amid concerns about its nuclear ambitions.
Little is known about Kim Jong Un's background and experience, though North Koreans have been told he studied at Kim Il Sung Military University and was involved in military operations such as the November 2010 artillery attack on a South Korean island that killed four South Koreans.
Earlier this month, North Korea's state-run broadcaster aired a documentary about the new leader that began filling in some blanks from before his public debut.
The footage shows him observing the April 2009 launch of a long-range rocket and quotes him threatening to wage war against any nation attempting to intercept the rocket, which North Korea claimed was carrying a communications satellite but the United States, South Korea and Japan say was really a test of its long-range missile technology.
It was the first indication of his involvement in that controversial launch.
A documentary Tuesday about Kim Jong Il's last field inspections showed Kim Jong Un was far more involved and active in those visits than previously revealed. And the website of the state-run Korean Central News Agency now contains a new section: Kim Jong Un's Activities.
Yet if Kim Jong Un was playing a prominent behind-the-scenes role prior to 2010, his training period would have been much shorter than that of his Kim Jong Il, who spent 20 years working under his own father, Kim Il Sung. Even after his father's death, Kim Jong Il observed a three-year mourning period before formally assuming leadership.
___
Follow AP's Korea Bureau Chief Jean H. Lee at twitter.com/newsjean and Chief Asia Photographer David Guttenfelder at twitter.com/dguttenfelder.
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tread carefully in Chinese art market, experts say (Reuters)
SINGAPORE (Reuters) ? Investors should not indiscriminately buy pieces by popular contemporary Chinese artists since commercial success has made some complacent and later paintings and sculpture may lack the originality of earlier work, art advisers warn.
Asia's wealthy have showed increased interest in art in recent years, pushing up prices and sparking concerns of a bubble -- particularly in the market for contemporary Chinese art as the country rises as an economic and political power.
In Hong Kong, auction market turnover skyrocketed 300 percent from 2009 to 2010. Citigroup estimates that Chinese buyers accounted for 23 percent of the $61 billion in global art sales last year.
Some collectors like to think values will continue to rise due to limited supply and continued strong demand as Asian collectors become more affluent, but not all pieces will necessarily do well, experts said.
"You can be buying the right name and the wrong pieces, and your collection is not going to increase in value," said Suzanne Gyorgy, a director at Citi Private Bank Art Advisory and Finance, who advises wealthy clients about their collections.
For example, a 1994 portrait by Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang from his Bloodline series -- stylized portraits of imaginary Chinese families with piercing eyes -- sold for $8.4 million last year at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, but a 2005 piece by the same artist fetched just $1.2 million at a Christie's event.
"The work they (the artists) are doing now is really just kind of miming the original work," Gyorgy added.
Part of the reason is artist wariness about trying new things for fear their income may take a hit.
"Some established artists are reluctant to go into experimental mode because they can easily sell what they produce," said Gil Schneider, managing director at consultancy firm ArtComplete.
Lorenzo Rudolf, the organizer of the annual Art Stage exhibition in Singapore, said that while the loss of originality is a genuine concern, collectors should not worry about works done with the help of many assistants.
What is important is that the artist remains creative, he said, noting that Andy Warhol employed a large number of artists to produce the pop art that bears his name.
OLD MASTERS, IMPRESSIONISTS
Schneider, previously with Sotheby's, said the Chinese contemporary art market has been overheated for the past five or six years and collectors might want to look at works by artists from countries such as the Philippines and Thailand instead.
Others agreed that investors might well want to look elsewhere for the best value.
Citi's Gyorgy said Impressionist and Old Master paintings are now more attractively priced compared with contemporary art.
"Those markets have been somewhat less popular so as a result, you can get wonderful, wonderful works of art for relatively, not that much money," she said.
"Look at highs of the contemporary market where the American painter Clyfford Still just had a painting that sold for $61 million... A recently discovered Velazquez painting came to market and sold for $4 to $4.5 million."
But many serious art collectors will stick to contemporary art, despite the investment risk, because they find works by artists who are still alive more relevant to their times.
"Art which has a certain age is established. It has gone through several stages of selection... Everybody wants to find fresh, new faces," Art Stage's Rudolf said.
(Editing by Elaine Lies and Yoko Nishikawa)
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Keep Your Pets Safe: 6 Holiday Hazards that are Toxic to Pets (Part ...
Home ? Your Pets ? Keep Your Pets Safe: 6 Holiday Hazards that are Toxic to Pets (Part 1)
January 8, 2012 by Admin ? ?
For those of us who have four-legged family members bounding around the house this holiday season, there are hidden-in-plain-sight dangers we must look out for. Im posting this and putting a copy of it on my fridge so all family members know how to keep our pets safe. I am a life-long pet person and I had no idea that some of these things could potentially kill our animals. I thought Id share this information for us all this season.
Also read Part II to learn what suprising holiday foods can seriously harm our pets.Read: 18 Holiday Foods Toxic to Pets
This comes from: Bramer Animal Hospital:
In many cases, if your pet has eaten or drunk something toxic, warning signs will include gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea. Other signs may include tiredness and lack of appetite, especially in cats that have eaten lilies. If your pet shows any of these signs, or if you think he or she has eaten something dangerous but is not showing any signs yet, please call your vet right away. Treating your pet as soon as possible is essential!
1. (No) Bones About It: Despite tradition, bones should never be given to pets. Even beef, ham, and other regular foods that are not considered toxic can cause illness in pets. If your pet is a moocher, keep a saucer of his regular treats on the table to offer when he asks. He probably wont know the difference!
2. Christmas Trees: Monitor your pets when they are around your holiday tree. Pets may eat the needles (even from artificial trees) or drink water from the base of the tree, which can be toxic (especially if there are preservatives in it). Keep electrical cords and decorative lights out of reach, too.
3. Deadly Holiday Plants: Hazardous plants include mistletoe, some evergreens (including some types of pine), and holly bushes and berries. Try to keep these plants away from pets, or at least supervise pets when dangerous plants are nearby.
4. Fire and Carbon Monoxide:Monitor pets near fireplaces, wood-burning stoves, candles, and portable heaters. Also, dont forget to check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they are functioning properly. Space heaters, furnaces, and idling cars (in a garage) can increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in pets and humans.
5. New Treats and Toys: Even a pet-safe treat can cause stomach upset if it is new to your pet. Offer only one of these at a time (ideally, separated by a few days). If your pet becomes ill after eating a holiday treat, it will be easier to trace the source and discontinue it. Also, check new toys for sharp edges, pieces that can be chewed off, or other potential hazards.
6. Toxic Tinsel: Tinsel, tree ornaments, ribbons, string, and garlands are some items that can be dangerous if eaten by pets. Keep these items away from pets especially when pets are unattended. Dont forget to cover any electrical cords or keep them out of reach.
For more information: Heres the ASPCAs Animal Poison Control information.
Or The Humane Society
Read Part II to learnmore urgent information to keep pets safe:18 Holiday Foods Toxic to Pets
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Lil Wayne writing prison memoir (omg!)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Lil Wayne is offering a literary tour of his prison days.
The million-selling rapper has signed with Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, for the memoir "Gone Till November." Hachette announced Thursday that the book will tell of his eight months spent at the Rikers Island complex on a gun possession charge. Scheduled to come out in November, two years after his release, the book will be an "internal monologue," based on diaries he kept while in prison.
Born Dwayne Carter Jr., Lil Wayne had the best-selling album of 2008 with "Tha Carter III," which won a best rap album Grammy.
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