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Source: http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2012/01/29/random-pics-of-two-of-my-pets-mike-and-olive/
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Exclusive Preview: OK Go's New Thousand-Instrument Music Video [Video]
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Samsung Galaxy Note: Does the World Really Need a 5-Inch Phone With a Stylus?
The Samsung Galaxy Note's gigantic 5.3-inch, Super AMOLED display makes it the largest "smartphone" we've seen so far. It's practically a mini-tablet. Does the world really need a phone quite this large?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/24pCYPOHLas/
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Dr. Phil interviews parents of missing KC baby
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? The family of a missing Kansas City baby has taped an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show.
Viewers can tune in Friday to watch the interview with Lisa Irwin's parents and a private investigator who's searching for her.
Lisa was reported missing Oct. 4 when her father, Jeremy Irwin, came home from work around 4 a.m. and couldn't find her. Irwin and Deborah Bradley say they think someone broke into the house and took their daughter.
Deborah Bradley has said police have accused her of being involved in Lisa's disappearance. In tearful statements to the media early on, Bradley has repeatedly insisted she doesn't know what happened to her child.
No suspects have been named, despite an intensive search.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Canada Honor Killing Trial Verdict: Shafia Family Found Guilty
KINGSTON, Ontario ? A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor."
The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast.
After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.
Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online. Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.
The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.
Defense lawyers said the evidence suggested that the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride.
After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."
His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."
Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."
But Judge Robert Maranger was unmoved, saying the evidence clearly supported their conviction for "the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family."
"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime ... the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."
The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.
The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.
The prosecution presented wire taps and cell phone records from the Shafia family in court. In one phone conversation, the father says his daughters "betrayed us immensely."
The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.
But defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.
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Video: Michigan town for sale
>>> we learned today the u.s. economy continuing to grow now, though it's a slower pace than expected. gross domestic product bumped up 2.8% in the final three months of 2011 . that's disappointing some economis economists who have been looking for 3% growth. when companies have large inventories, they produce less in the feature, which could mean slower growth and fewer american jobs .
>>> the city of pontiac , michigan , used to stand for american manufacturing. so much so, it gave its name to a great line of automobiles. well, they don't make pontiacs any more, and tonight we'll show you what has become of pontiac , michigan , where the gm plants there are gone and the city is taking extreme measures to stay afloat, selling everything down to and including the walls. we get our report from nbc's kevin tibbles.
>> reporter: in a struggling city synonymous with the american car , a fire sale .
>> this building is for sale, the parking lot .
>> reporter: today in pontiac , michigan , you can buy the police station , library, golf course , cemetery, even city hall .
>> so far, nothing's sold.
>> nothing's sold so far.
>> this is the great one.
>> reporter: in its heyday, the city and the car that bore its name swaggered with the brawn and muscle of the post war boom in america.
>> built for you by pontiac , of course.
>> reporter: now, the fabled brand is gone and the city barely hanging on is forced to slash and down size. they don't make things here any more. even the silver dome, home of the 198 super bowl was unloaded. since vacant say for the occasional tractor pull.
>> we used to be a boom down.
>> reporter: what are you now?
>> getting close to be a ghost town .
>> reporter: former auto workers gather at the avon donuts as the last of the plant falls to the wreckers. what happened to your city?
>> gone. my city's gone.
>> it's like tearing part of me down, too.
>> reporter: in his garage near ann arbor , former gm vice chairman bob lutz shows part of his prized collection, including a solstace coup, one of the last made.
>> it's a tragic thing to see. i'm hoping that that trend is reverse i reversing.
>> reporter: but will any turnaround come in time for places like pontiac ?
>> i know we have a of good assets here and a lot of good people this. place will come back.
>> reporter: the mayor will entertain any offer. back at avon donuts, the owner works seven days a week. he wants the american dream for 3-year-old daughter annabelle.
>> what everybody hopes for, college, good job. education.
>> reporter: will you find it hooer in pontiac ?
>> probably not.
>> reporter: for the people in this company town , not many options, hoping anything or anyone can turn things around. kevin tibbles, nbc news, pontiac , michigan .
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46169922/
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
How the major stock indexes fared on Friday (AP)
The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index fell after the government reported that economic growth was slower at the end of last year than economists had expected. The Nasdaq posted a small gain. The Dow had its first down week of 2012 following three weeks of gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 74.17 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,660.46.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,316.33.
The Nasdaq composite rose 11.27, or 0.4 percent, to 2,816.55.
For the week:
The Dow is down 60.02 points, or 0.5 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 0.95 point, or 0.1 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 29.85 points, or 1.1 percent.
For the month and year so far:
The Dow is up 442.90 points, or 3.6 percent.
The S&P 500 is up 58.73 points, or 4.7 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 211.40 points, or 8.1 percent.
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Would your city want a nuclear waste site?
If the price is right, would your town want a nuclear waste site?
A panel of experts said today that finding a volunteer community is the best way to pick a place for a waste repository that could outlast human civilization. The site would store spent nuclear fuel that has been piling up at the nation's 104 nuclear reactors.
The President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future released its final report Thursday with eight key recommendations about how to kick-start a federal waste disposal policy that it says "has been troubled for decades and has now all but completely broken down."
Congress picked Yucca Mountain, Nev., as a permanent repository in 2002, but the Obama administration nixed the plan in 2010 after disputes with state officials. Even with the closure, the Department of Energy will have spent $10 billion on Yucca Mountain by 2020, according to estimates by the General Accountability Office.
The nuclear waste panel said that it's better to convince a local town or tribe to take the facility, rather than selecting a site and then trying to convince local residents afterward.
"I don't have a secret recipe," said Allison Macfarlane, a panel member and environmental science professor at George Mason University. "But the community should get what they want, jobs, university scholarships, the options are endless."
Macfarlane cited two successful examples. In the 1970s, residents of Carlsbad, N.M., agreed to host a disposal site for waste generated by the nearby nuclear weapons labs. After decades of delays, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) began taking shipments in 1998.
The town got 1,300 jobs, several factories and a youth sports complex ? as well as $300 million in highway funds.
In Sweden, federal officials tried several times to site a long-term waste disposal site until they asked for volunteers. Two communities vied for the project, which is now under way.
Macfarlane said that state governments have to be on board before moving forward. Opposition from state officials in both Nevada and Utah killed previous plans for nuclear waste sites.
ANALYSIS: Is Nuclear Energy Safe?
Consumers have been paying a tax on their utility bills from nuclear-generated electric power to build such a long-term storage site for several decades. Katrina McMurrian is executive director of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, a group of utilities, state officials and advocacy groups pushing for a disposal location. She says now it's time for the government to step up and get the job done.
-
More science news from msnbc.com
-
Library?putting the 3-D back into century-old photos
In a cool new undertaking, the ever-forward-thinking New York Public Library has pulled together a vast collection of roughly 100-year-old archival images for a very clever proto-3-D project.
- Deep-sea fish recordings reveal grunts and quacks
- Mesopotamian riddles of sex, beer and politics
- Camera-nabbing leopards caught on video
-
Library?putting the 3-D back into century-old photos
"Rate-payers across the country have been paying to have this taken care of in return for a resting place established for used nuclear fuel," McMurrian said. "We simply want the government to make good on its promise."
The new report said deep geologic disposal is the best way to safely store spent nuclear fuel, material that will remain radioactive for tens of thousands of years. Big metal canisters made of either stainless steel (France), copper-steel (Sweden) or a nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy (planned for Yucca Mountain) would be lowered into a mine 900 feet to 2500 feet below ground.
The canisters could be put into granite, clay or salt, as long as the surrounding formations are geologically stable, Macfarlane said. That means below potable groundwater, away from heat sources and fissures.
Ideas for putting nuclear waste under the seabed or in orbit were rejected as either in violation of international treaties (sea) or too risky (space).
"We can't send up every single rocket with a 100 percent guarantee that it won't blow up," Macfarlane said.
? 2012 Discovery Channel
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46168836/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Beware the legal risks of spreading gory scene photos
You wouldn?t do it, but let?s say an officer of your acquaintance uses his personal cell phone camera to record the gore of a fatal traffic smashup and emails the bloody photos to some buddies, and from there they eventually get posted forever on the Internet. Any legal problems with that?
It?s a good question, given the growing profusion of electronic recording devices?and their occasional irresponsible use ? among LEOs. A new report by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the leading source of legal information and training for officers and their agencies, provides the cautionary answer.
You can read AELE?s full documentation of the issue free of charge here. The article highlights, among other things, officers? liability for privacy violations under such circumstances, administrators? obligation to prevent unauthorized file sharing, and questions about whether officers should be allowed to wear personally owned mini-cams.
Particular attention is focused on a precedent-setting civil suit brought by survivors of an 18-year-old female who was decapitated when her car crashed into a West Coast tollbooth at 100 mph. She was so gruesomely mangled that the coroner wouldn?t permit her parents to see her body.
?For pure shock value,? two officers emailed nine ?grotesque images? from the scene to friends and family members as a Halloween prank, The photos were passed around and ultimately spread across the internet ?like a malignant firestorm, popping up in thousands of websites,? such as www.bestgore.com.
An appellate court panel ruled that officers involved could be sued by family members for inflicting ?extreme emotional distress? by violating the ?common law privacy right in the death images of a decedent.? AELE notes, ?Liability can attach even if [disturbing] photographs or videos are viewed only by curious coworkers.? Links are provided in the article to various pertinent cases.
The report also discusses wearable video cameras and provides reasons pro and con for departments permitting such devices that are personally owned vs. those that are department-issued.
Potential language for policies pertaining to mini-cams and audio-recording devices, both personal and professional, is also discussed.
In addition to its access through AELE, the article will also appear in the Law Enforcement Executive Forum for March, 2012, and in the IACP Net database.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Demi Moore seeks treatment for exhaustion (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? A spokeswoman for Demi Moore says the actress is seeking professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health.
Publicist Carrie Gordon says the decision is due to the stresses in Moore's life, and she looks forward to getting well.
Gordon did not release any other details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore. She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to Ashton Kutcher following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Study Finds Mercury in More Northeastern Bird Species
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Dangerously high levels have been detected in Northeastern songbirds as the most toxic form of the heavy metal moves through the food chain.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=03041e4d751724c9bdddd394c38671bb
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Roleplay Image Uploader Doesn't Work Right Sometimes.
This is a common caching issue that happens quite often. I assume that you're not getting an error message, but rather the imagine just isn't displaying after many refreshes.
Go into your browser's toolbar and clear your cache and cookies. Once you've done that, bring Gateway back up and log in again. You should be able to see the image now. If you can't, please let us know.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/4_r_OxdANDs/viewtopic.php
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Myanmar president says no turning back on reforms (AP)
YANGON, Myanmar ? Myanmar's president has told a U.S. newspaper that his country's democratic reforms are irreversible, as he urged the West to lift sanctions. He even dangled the possibility of giving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a Cabinet post.
"We are on the right track to democracy," President Thein Sein said in the interview with The Washington Post published Friday, his first with Western media. "Because we are on the right track, we can only move forward, and we don't have any intention to draw back."
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy responded to the newspaper report by saying it would be too early for the U.S. and its allies to lift economic sanctions because the reforms aren't complete yet. It also welcomed the notion of a Cabinet post for Suu Kyi, while saying it was too early to discuss the matter.
Thein Sein's government took office in March, ending a half century of military rule. Since then, it has rolled out reforms at a pace that has surprised even Myanmar's staunchest critics.
Thein Sein said he felt his government had met the West's conditions for lifting sanctions by releasing many political prisoners, scheduling parliamentary elections for April 1 and allowing Suu Kyi among others to participate.
"What is needed from the Western countries is for them to do their part," he said.
Thein Sein repeatedly called for the lifting of severe economic sanctions that the U.S., European Union and others imposed while Myanmar was under military rule. He said the sanctions hurt the people of Myanmar much more than the former junta leaders and were holding back the country's economic progress.
The U.S. and European Union have praised the recent reforms but said they will monitor how the April vote is conducted, among other considerations, before revising sanctions.
Suu Kyi has said she will personally contest the elections, a historic event that could usher the Nobel laureate and former political prisoner into her first parliamentary seat.
"If the people vote for her, she will be elected and become a member of Parliament. I am sure that the Parliament will warmly welcome her. This is our plan," Thein Sein said.
Asked if he would like to see Suu Kyi in his government, Thein Sein replied: "If one has been appointed or agreed on by the Parliament, we will have to accept that she becomes a Cabinet minister."
Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said it was premature to speak of a Cabinet post but that Suu Kyi "is a very capable leader and she could take any leading position." He also said it was too early to lift sanctions.
"We acknowledge that reforms have been made in the country and we welcome the reforms. However, we don't consider the reforms complete yet," Nyan Win said.
After a recent visit to Myanmar, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said he would take his cue on lifting sanctions from Suu Kyi. He said a key test would be free and fair conduct of April 1 elections. He also sought more moves to end ethnic violence, and for Myanmar to discontinue its relationship with North Korea, which is suspected to have sold it missiles in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Some in the U.S. Congress maintain that there is ongoing nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
Thein Sein said the two countries have diplomatic relations but denied any military ties with North Korea.
"These are only allegations," he said. "We don't have any nuclear or weapons cooperation with (North Korea)."
Thein Sein said that the government was committed to ending the country's long-running ethnic conflicts and was currently communicating with all armed ethnic groups. Cease-fire pacts have been signed with some, including the Karen.
"Soon we will try to achieve an eternal peace in country. However, this will require time," he said.
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Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.
The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for.
Both the Justice Department and Covington declined to say if either official had personally worked on matters for the big mortgage industry clients. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Holder and Breuer had complied fully with conflict of interest regulations, but she declined to say if they had recused themselves from any matters related to the former clients.
Reuters reported in December that under Holder and Breuer, the Justice Department hasn't brought any criminal cases against big banks or other companies involved in mortgage servicing, even though copious evidence has surfaced of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases.
The evidence, including records from federal and state courts and local clerks' offices around the country, shows widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures on the homes of thousands of active-duty military personnel.
In recent weeks the Justice Department has come under renewed pressure from members of Congress, state and local officials and homeowners' lawyers to open a wide-ranging criminal investigation of mortgage servicers, the biggest of which have been Covington clients. So far Justice officials haven't responded publicly to any of the requests.
While Holder and Breuer were partners at Covington, the firm's clients included the four largest U.S. banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co - as well as at least one other bank that is among the 10 largest mortgage servicers.
DEFENDER OF FREDDIE
Servicers perform routine mortgage maintenance tasks, including filing foreclosures, on behalf of mortgage owners, usually groups of investors who bought mortgage-backed securities.
Covington represented Freddie Mac, one of the nation's biggest issuers of mortgage backed securities, in enforcement investigations by federal financial regulators.
A particular concern by those pressing for an investigation is Covington's involvement with Virginia-based MERS Corp, which runs a vast computerized registry of mortgages. Little known before the mortgage crisis hit, MERS, which stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, has been at the center of complaints about false or erroneous mortgage documents.
Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and several other large banks. It was meant to speed up registration and transfers of mortgages. By 2010, MERS claimed to own about half of all mortgages in the U.S. -- roughly 60 million loans.
But evidence in numerous state and federal court cases around the country has shown that MERS authorized thousands of bank employees to sign their names as MERS officials. The banks allegedly drew up fake mortgage assignments, making it appear falsely that they had standing to file foreclosures, and then had their own employees sign the documents as MERS "vice presidents" or "assistant secretaries."
Covington in 2004 also wrote a crucial opinion letter commissioned by MERS, providing legal justification for its electronic registry. MERS spokeswoman Karmela Lejarde declined to comment on Covington legal work done for MERS.
It isn't known to what extent if any Covington has continued to represent the banks and other mortgage firms since Holder and Breuer left. Covington declined to respond to questions from Reuters. A Covington spokeswoman said the firm had no comment.
Several lawyers for homeowners have said that even if Holder and Breuer haven't violated any ethics rules, their ties to Covington create an impression of bias toward the firms' clients, especially in the absence of any prosecutions by the Justice Department.
O. Max Gardner III, a lawyer who trains other attorneys to represent homeowners in bankruptcy court foreclosure actions, said he attributes the Justice Department's reluctance to prosecute the banks or their executives to the Obama White House's view that it might harm the economy.
But he said that the background of Holder and Breuer at Covington -- and their failure to act on foreclosure fraud or publicly recuse themselves -- "doesn't pass the smell test."
Federal ethics regulations generally require new government officials to recuse themselves for one year from involvement in matters involving clients they personally had represented at their former law firms.
President Obama imposed additional restrictions on appointees that essentially extended the ban to two years. For Holder, that ban would have expired in February 2011, and in April for Breuer. Rules also require officials to avoid creating the appearance of a conflict.
Schmaler, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that "The Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General Breuer have conformed with all financial, legal and ethical obligations under law as well as additional ethical standards set by the Obama Administration."
She said they "routinely consult" the department's ethics officials for guidance. Without offering specifics, Schmaler said they "have recused themselves from matters as required by the law."
Senior government officials often move to big Washington law firms, and lawyers from those firms often move into government posts. But records show that in recent years the traffic between the Justice Department and Covington & Burling has been particularly heavy. In 2010, Holder's deputy chief of staff, John Garland, returned to Covington, as did Steven Fagell, who was Breuer's deputy chief of staff in the criminal division.
The firm has on its web site a page listing its attorneys who are former federal government officials. Covington lists 22 from the Justice Department, and 12 from U.S. Attorneys offices, the Justice Department's local federal prosecutors' offices around the country.
As Reuters reported in 2011, public records show large numbers of mortgage promissory notes with apparently forged endorsements that were submitted as evidence to courts.
There also is evidence of almost routine manufacturing of false mortgage assignments, documents that transfer ownership of mortgages between banks or to groups of investors. In foreclosure actions in courts mortgage assignments are required to show that a bank has the legal right to foreclose.
In an interview in late 2011, Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written about foreclosure practices said, "I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history."
Holder has resisted calls for a criminal investigation since October 2010, when evidence of widespread "robo-signing" first surfaced. That involved mortgage servicer employees falsely signing and swearing to massive numbers of affidavits and other foreclosure documents that they had never read or checked for accuracy.
Recent calls for a wide-ranging criminal investigation of the mortgage servicing industry have come from members of Congress, including Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., state officials, and county clerks. In recent months clerks from around the country have examined mortgage and foreclosure records filed with them and reported finding high percentages of apparently fraudulent documents.
On Wednesday, John O'Brien Jr., register of deeds in Salem, Mass., announced that he had sent 31,897 allegedly fraudulent foreclosure-related documents to Holder. O'Brien said he asked for a criminal investigation of servicers and their law firms that had filed the documents because they "show a pattern of fraud," forgery and false notarizations.
(Reporting By Scot J. Paltrow, editing by Blake Morrison)
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Flushed with Pride: 1850s Bathroom Boasts Early Plumbing Technology (LiveScience.com)
In 1850s America, most people relied on privies and outhouses for their bathroom needs. But the Davis family of Natchez, Miss., had something few other Americans did: indoor hot-and-cold running water and an indoor toilet.
Now this marvel of 19th-century technology is getting a new home, moving from the Dunleith Historical Inn to another mansion nearby operated by the National Park Service. The new lodging will give the public a chance to see a pre-Civil War version of a luxurious lavatory, complete with shower/bath combo.
"This is a rare example of a mid-19th-century bathroom that had survived for 150 years," said National Park Service historian Jeff Mansell.
Most 1800s bathrooms have been renovated out of existence, Mansell said ? and few families had indoor plumbing at the time, anyway. The White House only got running water in 1833, for example, and it wasn't until 1853 that the presidential family got running water in their second-floor washroom. [See Photos of 1850s Bathroom]
The best bathroom technology
The Dunleith bathroom consists of a washbasin with two faucets, a toilet and an L-shaped tub-and-bathtub combination, also with two faucets. Pipes pumped water up from the first-floor laundry room, where water was heated, Mansell said. The pipes led to three cisterns in the attic, which drained down to fixtures in the third-floor bathroom whenever someone opened the faucets or flushed the toilet. Waste from the toilet would have gone to a primitive septic system, Mansell said, joining waste from outdoor privies on the property.
The oval-shaped showerhead was large, about 10 inches (25 centimeters) across and would have created a rainfall effect, much like showerheads in upscale bathrooms today.
"In the 19th century, you had what everybody's trying for today, the rain shower," Mansell said.
A man named Alfred Vidal Davis, who, in 1859, bought the house that would become the Dunleith Inn, most likely installed the bathroom the year he moved in, Mansell said. When the preservation team was deconstructing the bathroom to remove it from its third-floor location, they found a packing slip from a New Orleans retailer called Price & Coulon, he said.?
"Davis could have seen it there or may have read about it," Mansell said. "We think there was a catalog that was advertising this particular system."
National Park staff isn't sure how much the system would have cost Davis, but indoor plumbing would have been a privilege reserved for the elite. ?
The future of the Dunleith bathroom
The Dunleith Historical Inn decided to donate the fixtures to the National Park Service because they are renovating the wing where the bathroom was. The bathroom was at the top of a steep stairwell, said Dunleith general manager John Holyoak, and because of its inaccessibility had been used for storage for the past 10 years.
"It's just not conducive for anybody to ever see the bathroom," Holyoak said.
To get the fixtures, including a 400-pound zinc-lined cistern, down from the third floor and attic, construction crews had to build a specially designed ramp. For now, the disassembled bathroom is in storage, but the National Park Service plans to reinstall them in the nearby estate of Melrose, another wealthy home from the same era. Historians know that Melrose had some sort of washroom in the 1850s, but they aren't sure whether it was as elaborate as the Dunleith one.
"There's some indication that they had had some sort of indoor plumbing system, but it was removed right after the turn of the century," Mansell said. "So we don't know what it looked like."
Soon, however, visitors will be able to see with their own eyes the private perks of pre-Civil War wealth.
"Most people, when they think of the mid-19th century, they don't think of this kind of technology existing," Mansell said. "Even as sophisticated as Natchez was, with people here with a lot of money, you didn't find a lot of indoor plumbing."
You can follow LiveScience?senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.
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Costa Concordia: What Went Wrong
The Costa Concordia cruise liner, which wrecked off the coast of Italy last Friday, remains stuck in the water with several passengers still unaccounted for. Facts are still emerging about the event, which claimed the lives of at least 11 people.
Italian prosecutors and the Costa cruise line company have both cited operator error, specifically, mistakes made by the embattled ship?s captain, Francesco Schettino, as potential causes of the disaster. Schettino has been roundly ridiculed in the wake of the incident for allegedly deviating from his course and edging too closely to rocks along the coast of the Isla de Giglio. He has also been lambasted for his seemingly abysmal handling of the emergency, including his alleged abandonment of the sinking ship before all the passengers were evacuated?and, according to a tape released this week, his refusal to go back on board to lead the effort.
On large cruise liners, luxury is the selling point. People come on cruises to be pampered aboard a floating palace, to be transported to many ports of call without abandoning the comforts of a single, comfortable resort. Safety drills can seem a boring intrusion into an otherwise relaxing vacation.
Investigators now say that Capt. Schettino made his course deviation closer to the Isla de Giglio to "salute" a former colleague who now lives on the island. One of the defenses Schettino has offered for his actions is that the rocks he hit weren?t marked on the charts he had onboard.
After the Costa Concordia hit the rocks, there was a significant delay between the impact and the order to evacuate?passengers and crew reported that the first announcements stated that there had been some electrical problems, and they should go about their business. But the captain and crew are ultimately responsible for crowd control, Hillin says, and it doesn?t help the situation to lie to them about the severity of an emergency. "Sometimes, if there was a small kitchen fire and the crew had it under control, then it might be okay to say everything is fine, but in this case we?re talking about a gaping hole in the side of a ship? I?d imagine that lying about it would probably cause more chaos later if passengers find out everything is not okay."
Maritime safety experts say that it will be a long time before we know the details of what happened on the night the ship crashed into a small island. Investigators must recover the ship?s data recorders, examine all the evidence, and take witness statements (there were more than 4000 people on board who could potentially be interviewed.)
But based on what we know now, PM talked to the experts about what went wrong on the Concordia, and what tools and training might have prevented this?or at least lessened the scope of the disaster.
Captain and Crew
Italian prosecutors and the Costa cruise line company have both cited operator error, specifically, mistakes made by the embattled ship?s captain, Francesco Schettino, as potential causes of the disaster. Schettino has been roundly ridiculed in the wake of the incident for allegedly deviating from his course and edging too closely to rocks along the coast of the Isla de Giglio. He has also been lambasted for his seemingly abysmal handling of the emergency, including his alleged abandonment of the sinking ship before all the passengers were evacuated?and, according to a tape released this week, his refusal to go back on board to lead the effort.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Costa Cruises issued a statement saying: "While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship?s master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences." Italian prosecutors have charged Schettino with manslaughter.
"If a captain did leave his ship, I think most [captains] would be disgusted by that." John Hillin, Safety and Security Division Chief of the United States Coast Guard who supervises foreign passenger ship inspections, says. Despite how poorly the captain is said to have acted, though, Hillin says that things could have been much worse. "Overall, it looks like the evacuation went pretty well, considering how many people were on board."
Of the over 4000 individuals onboard the ship, the fact that the death toll is not higher and that the majority of the passengers and crew were able to evacuate swiftly means that somebody was certainly doing something right. Yet early reports revealed passengers frustrated with crew members because they didn?t appear to be in control of the anxious crowd of passengers.
If the crew erred, it may have been due to panic or because their leader was missing, Hillin says. Although safety training is usually a simple step-by-step procedure, like a recipe in a cookbook, Hillin says a strong leader is needed to adapt that training to events as they happen and to coordinate rescue efforts. "In any kind of disaster, cruise or cargo, the captain is the ultimate authority. A captain leaving ship in a time of emergency, that would be a key level of oversight that would be missing," Hillin says. "In an emergency situation, there?s no cookbook answer. And that?s why the captain is so important."
"The cruise industry is very safe and they have an excellent track record. But when something happens it happens quickly, and when something happens it?s important for people to be trained" says Anthony Patterson, a former captain in the Canadian Coast Guard who has directed search-and-rescue operations.
Hillin and his counterparts around the globe examine cruise ships twice a year, issuing a certificate of compliance for safety drills before the ships can embark. "With these drills, we?re checking crew competency?their familiarity with the ship, familiarity with safe evacuation procedures . . . There are different training requirements for different crews," Hillin says. Crews go through fire drills, launch lifeboats, are interviewed to see if they have kept up with their training, and can cope with inspectors posing as panicked passengers to simulate a crisis.
Preparing Passengers
On large cruise liners, luxury is the selling point. People come on cruises to be pampered aboard a floating palace, to be transported to many ports of call without abandoning the comforts of a single, comfortable resort. Safety drills can seem a boring intrusion into an otherwise relaxing vacation.
Nevertheless, they are required by law. The Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea or SOLAS, an international treaty first drawn up after the Titanic disaster a century ago, says, "On a ship engaged on a voyage where passengers are scheduled to be onboard for more than 24 hours, musters of the passengers shall take place within 24 hours after their embarkation."
The Los Angeles Times reported that the Concordia held a lifeboat drill, in compliance with that law, after it departed from the ship?s port of origin, in Savona, a port in Northern Italy. But the 600 passengers who boarded at the port of Rome on Friday did not go through the lifeboat drill, which was reportedly scheduled for the next day?the ship wrecked before the drill could be held.
Some cruise lines require passengers to go through the lifeboat drills before the ship leaves port. Had the Concordia?s passengers done so, they might have been more prepared for the evacuation. However, since the ship crashed before it was 24 hours out of Rome, those passengers never got the chance.
Navigation Tools
Investigators now say that Capt. Schettino made his course deviation closer to the Isla de Giglio to "salute" a former colleague who now lives on the island. One of the defenses Schettino has offered for his actions is that the rocks he hit weren?t marked on the charts he had onboard.
What tools would a cruise ship captain have at his disposal to avoid a disaster like this? There would certainly have been GPS, giving the exact position of the ship. The ship?s radar should have alerted the officers on deck to any floating objects or obstacles jutting above the watermark. And the Concordia was probably equipped with at least one depth finder, but no sonar, which, according to the Coast Guard?s Patterson, is very rarely used on merchant vessels.
Many modern ships carry both paper and electronic charts, some of which are integrated into a display with GPS or radar overlays. "Both the radar and the ECDIS [chart-plotter systems] have alarm systems [that] can tell them what to watch out for," Patterson says. The ongoing Concordia investigation should reveal whether these rocks were charted or not.
However, according to John Konrad, a former ship?s captain, a ship should never rely solely on gadgets to navigate around an island. The best tool for spotting rocks and other hazards close to shore is surprisingly low-tech: the eyes of the officers on the bridge. "You should have at least five or six people on the bridge when you?re that close to shore," he says. Patterson agrees?any alarm system is inherently redundant because a commanding officer?s eyes should be trained on the water when the ship is so close to shore.
"The technology basically doesn?t do anything active; it only provides information. Humans have to take that information and make decisions," Konrad says. "The currents are always different, the winds are always different. One thing computers haven?t figured out is current. There?s no technological solution that?s 100 percent effective. He claimed that there was an uncharted rock, but the [Italian] Coast Guard claims that the rock was very well charted."
Evacuation
After the Costa Concordia hit the rocks, there was a significant delay between the impact and the order to evacuate?passengers and crew reported that the first announcements stated that there had been some electrical problems, and they should go about their business. But the captain and crew are ultimately responsible for crowd control, Hillin says, and it doesn?t help the situation to lie to them about the severity of an emergency. "Sometimes, if there was a small kitchen fire and the crew had it under control, then it might be okay to say everything is fine, but in this case we?re talking about a gaping hole in the side of a ship? I?d imagine that lying about it would probably cause more chaos later if passengers find out everything is not okay."
And no doubt the delay cost the passengers valuable time. Some escaped the disaster on lifeboats, but eventually the Concordia listed so severely that it was impossible to launch the remaining lifeboats. Passengers still on board had to scramble down rope ladders to waiting inflatable rafts, lifeboats, and rescue vessels that had been launched from shore.
Despite the cobbled-together nature of the evacuation process, circumstances on the Costa Concordia were ideal for an evacuation, probably saving lives. There were helicopters on hand from the Italian Coast Guard to evacuate people who couldn?t make it to the ladders or couldn?t climb down on their own. And some passengers were able to leap from the ship and swim to shore though the warmer, well-patrolled waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
After the evacuation, many survivors were quoted saying that the experience was like that of the Titanic, but Simoes Re says the Concordia?s passengers were much more fortunate than the people who were on board that luxury liner 100 years ago. "What if this had happened in the Arctic? You could not jump in the water because you?d freeze."
Indeed, it could have been worse. But the wreck of the Costa Concordia was also unnecessary. Hillin puts it simply: "It would have been prevented if they stayed away from the shore."
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Friday, January 20, 2012
landreport: Great news! RT @hallandhall: Despite drought, Texas #farmland values rose In 2011, via @BEEFMagazine
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What Is A vehicle Gap Insurance Policy?
Finding affordable auto insurances is merely a matter of sticking with the insurance company?s rules and following these guidelines. Insurance companies take many different factors into account to find out which drivers get good rates as well as which drivers get not-so-good rates. Several factors determine auto insurance rates. Gender, age and marital status are just a few of the more generally known examples. Being aware showing how these factors affect your coverage will assist you to recognize appropriate rates when you are price shopping.
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Make sure to have a written copy when you cancel an insurance policy. Having it in writing is your evidence, in the event that you should settle a argument. If this happens, it can affect both your credit score and your brand new premium.
Make sure that any vehicles you will no longer own are taken off your insurance plan immediately after you?ve gotten reduce them. Having insurance on something to become alarmed or use could be costly.
To qualify for lower insurance rates, make sure your credit score is in purchase. Like most companies, auto insurance vendors also check your credit report. Insurance companies often make rate decisions based in part on could be credit score. This is due to the fact that studies show people with low credit scores are sometimes prone to automobile accidents. Maintain a good credit score to keep your insurance premiums from being elevated.
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You may be capable of geting lower rates even if you are saddled with a bad driving checklist. If you total a driving course after getting into an accident, you can usually obtain a reduction on your own rate. Some insurance companies may also let you show your good traveling habits by installing a unique tracking device inside your car.
Even in case your teenager begs, absolutely do not purchase the teen a car. Instead, have your teen share a vehicle with other family. The cost of adding a new driver to your current insurance plan is cheaper than having to secure a brand new policy. Some insurance actually offer discounts for students that get good grades.
Inform your insurance company about driver changes inside your household immediately. The more drivers you might have on your insurance, the higher the premiums is going to be. Removing drivers that have no reason to be covered by your insurance policy can save you money.
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Car insurance rates rely on geography, so if you might be moving, it might be time for you to reevaluate your coverage. Insurance rates will depend upon if you live in a large city or within a rural town. For the the majority of part, rural and suburban areas generally have lower insurance rates than cities.
Insurance companies such as documentation, so make sure you might have this if you have an accident. You can use your cellular phone to record the time and place associated with any collision and the damage resulting from that. Another option is to leave a disposable camera inside your glove box so you have it on hand in case of an accident.
When signing up for your auto insurance, remember that only you might be covered unless you specifically add others for your policy. Insurance companies rarely pay money for accidents that occur whenever a friend or a few other party is behind the wheel of the automobile. There are coverage options that insure only the vehicle itself, rather than the car/driver combo, but you have to pay extra for these kinds of policies.
Find out who the top insurance companies are usually from asking the local body shop. People at body shops are used to dealing with insurance adjusters. They may become the most knowledgeable about which companies handle issues probably the most efficiently.
Moving to an additional city or state can lower the cost of your insurance strategy. The thinking behind this really is that different localities have different laws as well as demographics, thus different premiums. If you really want to save on your auto insurance, moving may be your best bet.
Maintaining a spotless driving record is easily the soundest advice you will ever get for car insurance. Your rates may increase quickly due to an accident. Know your limitations when driving, and avoid circumstances that put you in risk of an accident. For example, if you have trouble with your vision at night, avoid driving after hours of sunlight.
You may be contemplating dropping collision coverage to obtain your insurance premium cheaper, but if you might be at fault within an accident, you will need to pay the full bill to repair your car. Be sure that you can afford to spend on an expensive repair entirely before dropping collision coverage.
You should physical contact the authorities as soon as possible if you become involved in an automobile accident. Law enforcement is skilled in collecting information, and they can also inform you what the next step along the way is. When you have to file with your own insurance, a police report could be required. Contact the local police department as soon as possible.
Make sure that after you switch insurance providers, you cancel the last policy. Get the cancellation in writing, and hang onto it. This is because it can result in problems, if there is no written or recorded proof of your cancellation as well as transfer. This will lead to your credit rating decreasing!
Before buying car insurance, request policy rates from a number of different companies. You will likely have to check with many companies before you find a very good policy and cost to your requirements.Consider getting a 100/200/100 level of coverage for your car, particularly if you possess a nice automobile. In most states you are required to have a designated minimum level of liability coverage, so always ensure that you stay covered by this particular minimum amount in case of an accident.Now that you have read this post, take out your policy and appear it over. You might find places you need to add coverage, and most probably some where you will be able to save some money. .
Source: http://www.jamericanfilmfestival.com/?p=731
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Billionaire donates for Washington Monument repairs
WASHINGTON?? A billionaire history buff has stepped forward to donate the $7.5 million matching gift that's needed to start repairing cracks near the top of the Washington Monument from last summer's East Coast earthquake.
Businessman David Rubenstein told The Associated Press he was inspired to help fund the repairs to the 555-foot obelisk when it became clear how severely damaged it was by a 5.8-magnitude quake on Aug. 23. The monument received about 1 million visitors a year before the famous landmark was closed to the public after the quake.
The Park Service hopes to have a contractor begin work by the end of August. The repair work is expected to take a year to complete, likely keeping the monument closed for two years.
Largest gift
Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The National Park Service and nonprofit Trust for the National Mall are expected to announce Rubenstein's gift Thursday morning. It will be the largest gift to the nonprofit group, which aims to raise $350 million to restore the mall's grounds and facilities.
The combined $15 million in public and private funds is expected to cover the cost of repairing damage directly caused by the quake, said National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Repairing water damage will cost more, as would a seismic study or reinforcements to strengthen the obelisk against future earthquakes, she said.
Rubenstein, a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, began building the private equity firm's business in Washington and said he wanted to restore a symbol of the nation and hasten repairs to reopen the landmark.
"This Washington Monument is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the United States next to the Capitol and the Empire State Building," he said. "It could use a little repair work, and I wanted people to get to see it as soon as possible."
Experts have noted the monument needs more than just a little repair work, though it has been deemed structurally sound.
Extensive repairs needed
The August quake was centered some 40 miles west of Richmond, Va., and felt from Canada to Georgia. It damaged the Washington National Cathedral, where pieces of mortar rained down from its vaulted ceiling. At the Washington Monument, panicked visitors fled down flights of stairs on the day of the big shake, but there were no known deaths or serious injuries in the region.
The earthquake caused numerous cracks to form in the obelisk, which was the tallest man-made structure in the world when it was completed in 1884.
Surveillance video taken the day of the quake and later released by the park service showed the spire shaking violently. Daylight could be seen through some of the cracks, the largest of which was reported to be at least 4 feet long and about an inch wide.
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A report in December recommended extensive repairs and reinforcements to preserve the spire. It said some marble panels were cracked all the way through near the top portion of the monument. Cracks near its peak also have left the monument vulnerable to water damage from rain, engineers noted.
Last fall, daredevil engineers on a "difficult access team" rappelled from the top to conduct a visual inspection of the exterior of the obelisk.
Officials said it's unclear whether the work will require scaffolding to be built around the monument, similar to what was erected during a restoration project from 1999 to 2001.
'A true patriot'
Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall, called Rubenstein "a true patriot" and said his gift "demonstrates how much people care about this space." She said it should serve as an example for other philanthropists.
There has long been talk of sprucing up the mall at the heart of the nation's capital.
A design competition is under way to develop ways to improve the mall, including the Washington Monument grounds. Finalists will be chosen in May, and the group will seek funding for each project. The nonprofit group has targeted parts of the mall that are run down from over use and neglect as a focus for its restoration efforts.
Rubenstein has made large gifts in recent years to Washington's cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.
The monument, which he visited recently, was built with private $1 donations eventually totaling over $1 million, Rubenstein said. Construction began in 1848, but funds ran out during the Civil War when the monument was left as an embarrassing stump for years. It was finally completed in 1884 and was the world's tallest man-made structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower. It remains the tallest structure in Washington.
Rubenstein owns a copy of the Magna Carta, among other historical documents, and reveres George Washington.
"I like to remind people about American history," Rubenstein said. "George Washington is an incredible figure. When he was the head of the Revolutionary War Army, he could have stayed on as really the head of the government when we won the Revolutionary War, but he put down his arms."
___
Trust for the National Mall: http://www.nationalmall.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46050494/ns/us_news-giving/
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India army chief asks Supreme Court: How old am I? (AP)
NEW DELHI ? The Indian government and its army chief are asking the Supreme Court to answer a peculiar question: Just how old is the nation's top soldier?
Gen. Vijay Kumar Singh says he was born in May 1951 and will not reach the mandatory retirement age of 62 until next year. But India's Defense Ministry says its records show he was born a year earlier and must retire in four months.
The disagreement, the first time a serving general has dragged the government to court, is complicated because Singh's army records and school certificates show different dates. Like many Indians of his generation, Singh has no birth certificate.
Singh filed a Supreme Court petition Monday challenging the government's assertion that he is 61. On Tuesday, the Defense Ministry asked the court for time to present its own evidence.
Singh took over as army chief nearly two years ago and insists his case is not about getting an extra year in power.
"It's all about honor and integrity, not tenure," Singh was quoted as saying in the Times of India.
The Defense Ministry has said that it will stick to 1950 as Singh's year of birth.
Defense Minister A.K. Antony met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Cabinet members Tuesday to discuss the government's strategy in the dispute.
Opposition parties said the army chief's removal was likely to affect troop morale.
"The mindlessness of the government in handling a sensitive situation will have its consequences," Jaswant Singh, a former defense minister, warned Tuesday.
India has one of the world's largest armies, with 1.2 million soldiers and nearly another million in reserves.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Shuttle's Florida home is now under construction
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? NASA's retired space shuttle Atlantis is a step closer to completing its final journey.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex broke ground Wednesday for Atlantis' permanent home, a $100 million exhibit due to open in summer 2013. Schoolchildren waved red, white and blue Atlantis flags ? 33 flags representing each of Atlantis' space missions ? as state and local dignitaries joined former shuttle staff at the construction site.
The astronaut who commanded Atlantis' final spaceflight, Christopher Ferguson, told the more than 100 guests that Atlantis will serve as "a reminder of the limitless potential" of Americans and also inspire children, some of whom will become future space travelers.
Ferguson, who now works for Boeing on new space vehicles, made note of the effort to preserve the past while working toward the future: "I'd like you all to stay tuned as we turn to the next chapter of the journey that will never end."
Shuttle Discovery will actually be the first to ship out to museums. In April, it will head to the National Air and Space Museum's display hangar outside Washington. Shuttle Endeavour will travel to the California Science Center in Los Angeles in the second half of the year.
NASA's 30-year shuttle program ended last July with the voyage of Atlantis. Since then, workers have been getting them ready for display by draining hazardous fuel, disconnecting or removing some systems and replacing the main engines with replicas.
Delaware North Parks & Resorts, which runs the Kennedy visitor complex for NASA, used an industrial-size digger to unveil a huge picture of the planned exhibit hall. The six-story structure will feature two curved "wings" in orange and gold colors, representing the intense heat of re-entry.
Atlantis will be displayed as if flying in orbit, with the cargo bay doors open and the robot arm extended.
___
Online:
NASA: www.nasa.gov
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: www.kennedyspacecenter.com
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PFT: Driver says he won't retire
ReutersThe connection between new Rams coach Jeff Fisher, his agent Marvin Demoff, and Rams COO Kevin Demoff largely has been overlooked over the past two weeks.? We?ve pointed out the benefit to the Rams of having Kevin Demoff in position to trust the information he?s hearing from his father regarding the terms Fisher needed, and the terms the Dolphin were offering.? We?ve also observed that, in order for Kevin Demoff to escape scrutiny regarding the question of whether rolled over for his father and thus for Fisher, the Demoffs needed another team that would be offering similar bells and whistles to that which Fisher wanted.
Peter King of Sports Illustrated, who discloses that he?s also represented by Marvin Demoff (more NFL reporters and broadcasters should be willing to do the same regarding their own representation), writes in today?s Monday Morning Quarterback that King has heard in some circles an inference that ?the fix was in,? and that Marvin Demoff delivered Fisher to Demoff?s son.? King spoke with Fisher, who predictably but nevertheless credibly denied that he was steered to the Rams by Marvin Demoff, or by anyone.
?Under no circumstances at any time,? Fisher said.? ?I have 100 percent conviction on that.? This was my decision, and Marvin assisted me.? I was the one who decided.? No one pushed me anywhere.?
King also asked how the decision was made.? ?From day one, when I began this process after the season, I felt Miami and St. Louis were my best options,? Fisher said.? ?I did my research. I looked at every team that had an opening.? I looked at the personnel on each team, I looked at the owners, I looked at the cap situations, and I narrowed it to two.? Not Marvin.? Me.? Marvin didn?t push me.? I am convinced he was completely objective.?
Fisher?s response implies that more than two teams were chasing Fisher.? Still, when the time came to negotiate with the Rams, Fisher needed a second team in order to get the best deal possible from the Rams, without exposing Kevin Demoff to criticism for giving up too much to get his dad?s client.
King separately writes, contrary to reports from guys like Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports and Adam Schefter of ESPN, that Fisher didn?t want final say over the roster in either St. Louis or Miami.? ?All he wanted was the ability to ? in the event he was categorically opposed to a decision being made by the general manager ? have a mechanism in place for a third party, like an owner, to decide which way the team would go,? says King.
Apparently, Fisher wants to avoid a situation in which another Vince Young is shoved down Fisher?s throat.? But here?s the thing.? If Fisher wants the owner to settle any tie between Fisher and the G.M., it won?t save him from having a player taken against Fisher?s wishes if the owner wants to take that player.
After all, it was the owner in Tennessee who wanted to take Vince Young.
In the end, the Demoff connection helped St. Louis get Fisher.? But everyone knew about the Demoff connection going in; in the end, the Dolphins should have been far more vigilant about ensuring that they weren?t being served like potato salad at a father-son picnic.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/16/donald-driver-says-he-wont-retire/related/
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