Geeky gifts that glow

Black Light World

Uranium marbles glow with a greenish hue under ultraviolet light, but they're said to be safe — despite the radioactive sticker on the container.

By Alan Boyle

Glow-in-the-dark uranium marbles have emerged as the top Science Geek Gift of 2011, but you don't have to go radioactive to get that greenish glow.

To be sure, there's something slightly subversive about marbles that are slightly radioactive.? "Definitely geeky, but non-geeks would also love them because they glow and have a risk factor appeal," one commenter wrote.

That's probably a big reason why the suggestion from Richard-1971294?won out over Joel Davis' Star Trek pizza cutter in this year's 10th annual Science Geek Gift roundup.

The totally unscientific?tally was close: The margin of victory was less than 50 votes out of more than 3,000 cast. But the green glow of victory means that Richard is eligible to receive a pile of geek-friendly books, including?"The Cult of Lego," "Science Ink," "The Physics Book" and "The Case for Pluto."?Because Joel came so close, I'm sending him an autographed copy of "The Case for Pluto" as well.

Now, about that uranium: In the old days, pigments containing uranium used to be found in things ranging from ceramic tiles to dinnerware?and glassware. Today, uranium isn't used as a coloring agent, but probably not for the reason you'd suppose. Natural, unprocessed?uranium isn't all that radioactive ??but because it's?a heavy metal, it's as toxic as lead. And we all know what happened to lead paint. On the Health Physics Society website, Washington State University's Ron Kathren says "chemical toxicity is the overriding consideration" when it comes to limiting the use of?natural uranium.

Uranium marbles, which glow green under ultraviolet light,?are still available from Black Light World as well as eBay vendors. If you're?serious about?the nuclear option?? for example, in the form of a spinthariscope toy or a chunk of trinitite ? you'll want to check out United Nuclear's wares?as well.

A healthier glow
The health risks of radioactive inks and paints have been known since the 1920s, due to the?illnesses suffered by the "Radium Girls" who painted the dials on glow-in-the-dark watches.?Today, few manufactured items make use of radioluminescence, which involves converting radioactive emissions into visible light. (Exceptions include some types of watch dials, keychains and gunsights that?glow due to?paints containing tritium or promethium rather than radium.) Virtually all of the glow-in-the-dark items you see today take advantage of electroluminescence, chemiluminescence or photoluminescence.

Electroluminescence?is?behind?the greenish glow in pushbutton timepieces such as Timex's Indiglo line. Chemiluminescence relies on a chemical process ? for example, the mixing of chemicals in a glow stick. Photoluminescence involves "charging up" a chemically treated?object such as a glow-in-the-dark Godzilla by shining a light on it.

The key substances in?most glow-in-the-dark items are phosphors, chemical compounds that are good at?taking in?energy and emitting it as light. Zinc sulfide and strontium aluminate are the most commonly used glow-in-the-dark ingredients, and new glow-in-the-dark compounds continue to be developed. They're relatively safe: That's why you see so many kids' toys that glow in the dark, as well as these geekier items:

You can?set your own?environment?aglow?with phosphorescent?paint from ThinkGeek or United Nuclear. For the final frontier in glow-in-the-dark geekery, check out this ghostly green space shuttle?at MakerBot's website. If it's bioluminescence you're into, GloFish has been offering fluorescent fish for years, but?don't look for glowing kittens?or puppies?to enter the market anytime soon.?In fact, ethical debates over genetically altered organisms like?glow-in-the-dark zebrafish?have been raging for years. The?prudent?product for your kids?might be a glow-in-the-dark?coloring book?that?teaches them?about totally natural bioluminescence.

Speaking of bioluminescence...

Previous Science Geek Gift Guides:

More science gifts:

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You don't need to buy me a present. All I ask is that you connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/28/9054712-get-into-geeky-gifts-that-glow

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With sifting of GOP field, do voters want safe Romney or risky Gingrich? (Seattle Times)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/166528727?client_source=feed&format=rss

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12 Little Daily Tricks To Find Your Healthy Weight

"Buy natural varieties of peanut butter and pour off the oil sitting on top. Each serving will have 20 fewer calories and 2 to 3 fewer grams of fat. It's a small difference that'll add up to a couple of pounds per year."
--Amelia Winslow, personal chef in Los Angeles and founder of the healthy food blog Eating Made Easy More from Health.com: 7 Gadgets for Perfect Portion Sizes Which Foods Burn the Most Fat? 25 Ways to Cut 500 Calories a Day

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/little-weight-loss-tips_n_1110917.html

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Occupy movement targets Black Friday; 10 arrested

KHNL-TV

Occupy Honolulu protesters demonstrate at a Wal-Mart store in Honolulu early Friday,

By msnbc.com staff

Updated 2:57 p.m. ET: The Occupy Wall Street movement is taking its anti-corporate directly to Black Friday shoppers.

Ten Occupy Oklahoma City protesters were arrested Friday morning after a protest at a Wal-Mart store in Del City, Okla., The Oklahoman reported.?

Del City police Capt. Jody Suit told the newspaper that officers working off-duty security jobs at the store called for assistance about 2 a.m. because the protesters were causing disturbances in the back of the store.

One of those arrested, Mark Faulk, 55, of Oklahoma City told the newspaper that he was filming the group's "mike check" ? in which one member of the group shouts something and then the others in the group repeat what the speaker said ? when??Del City police ran and started tackling people from behind.?

---

Police Lt. Steve Robinson told The Associated Press that no excessive force was used.

Occupy protests targeted other retailers across the country.

More than a dozen Occupy Honolulu protesters demonstrated in front of a Wal-Mart store in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the predawn hours, NBC station KHNL of Honolulu reported.

They accused Wal-Mart of supporting child labor and suppressing its work force.

"Sweat shops in China and around the world produce these products," said Alala Zusman, one of the protesters. "People are paying low prices at Wal-Mart, and when Wal-Mart came in here, this neighborhood lost a lot of mom-and-pop stores."

Meanwhile, Occupy Eugene protesters were moving from store to store in Eugene, Ore., urging shoppers to spend less money on what they call "Buy Nothing Day," NBC station KMTR of Springfield reported.

Shoppers at Valley River Center said they wished the demonstrators, who chanted and sing reworded Christmas carols, would just go away.

"I think it's a waste of time," one shopper said. "People are still buying."

Story: Crazed weekend launches crucial retail season

Occupy Seattle planned to hold a rally from noon to 5 p.m. local time at Westlake Park in the downtown retail core, The Associated Press reported. The Seattle group said it was promoting homemade gifts and local businesses as an alternative to what it called "rampant consumerism that plagues society, destroys the environment and supports the 1 percent."

Occupy Atlanta planned to go even further, setting up its own "really, really free market" downtown as an alternative to Black Friday shopping.

PhotoBlog: Black Friday shopping starts Thursday

Organizer Tim Franzen told the AP that the market, which was scheduled to open in Woodruff Park at 3 p.m. ET, would feature free food, clothing and other items.

He said demonstrators want to focus on the people who are struggling to make ends meet while banks and corporations bring in millions during Friday's shopping tradition.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/25/9018571-occupy-movement-targets-black-friday

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Closer to a cure for eczema

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Scientists have found that a strain of yeast implicated in inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema, can be killed by certain peptides and could potentially provide a new treatment for these debilitating skin conditions. This research is published today in the Society for Applied Microbiology's journal, Letters in Applied Microbiology.

20% of children in the UK suffer from atopic eczema and whilst this usually clears up in adolescence, 7% of adults will continue to suffer throughout their lifetime. Furthermore, this type of eczema, characterized by dry, itchy, flaking skin, is increasing in prevalence. Whilst the cause of eczema remains unknown, one known trigger factor is the yeast Malassezia sympodialis.

This strain of yeast is one of the most common skin yeasts in both healthy individuals and those suffering from eczema. The skin barrier is more fragile and often broken in those suffering from such skin conditions, and this allows the yeast to cause infection which then further exacerbates the condition. Scientists at Karolinska Institute in Sweden looked for a way to kill Malassezia sympodialis without harming healthy human cells.

The researchers looked at the effect on the yeast of 21 peptides which had either; cell-penetrating or antimicrobial properties. Cell-penetrating peptides are often investigated as drug delivery vectors and are able to cross the cell membrane, although the exact mechanism for this is unknown. Antimicrobial peptides, on the other hand, are natural antibiotics and kill many different types of microbe including some bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Tina Holm and her colleagues at Stockholm University and Karolinska Institute, added these different peptides types to separate yeast colonies and assessed the toxicity of each peptide type to the yeast. They found that six of the 21 peptides they tested successfully killed the yeast without damaging the membrane of keratinocytes, human skin cells.

Tina commented "Many questions remain to be solved before these peptides can be used in humans. However, the appealing combination of being toxic to the yeast at low concentrations whilst sparing human cells makes them very promising as antifungal agents. We hope that these peptides in the future can be used to ease the symptoms of patients suffering from atopic eczema and significantly increase their quality of life."

The next step will be to further examine the mechanism(s) used by the peptides to kill yeast cells, in order to develop a potential treatment for eczema and other skin conditions.

###

Wiley-Blackwell: http://www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell

Thanks to Wiley-Blackwell for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 97 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115464/Closer_to_a_cure_for_eczema

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Earlier deals, longer hours woo Friday shoppers (AP)

NEW YORK ? Move over turkey ? it's time to shop.

Black Friday began in earnest as Target, Abercrombie & Fitch and other stores opened their doors at midnight ? a few hours earlier than they normally do on the most anticipated shopping day of the year. A few retailers even had lines of shoppers when they opened on Thanksgiving Day.

Herald Square in New York was bustling at 6 p.m. with shoppers looking to snag discounts at Old Navy and other stores that were open on the Thanksgiving. By 9:45 p.m., more than 300 people were waiting outside a Best Buy in New York before it opened at midnight. An hour later, nearly 2,000 were in line at another Best Buy in St. Petersburg, Fla., ahead of its midnight opening.

Roberto Rubi, 24, of Seminole, Fla., had been standing in line since 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and hoped to score a cheap TV and laptop. He ate dinner with his family at home while three of his buddies took his place in line.

"It's hard times," Rubi says. "So, any discount helps."

Retailers hope the earlier openings will make shopping more convenient for Americans who are more likely to be worried about high unemployment and the other challenges they face in the weak economy. Black Friday is important to merchants because it kicks off the holiday shopping season, a time when they can make 25 to 40 percent of their annual revenue. It's expected that shoppers will spend nearly $500 billion during the holiday shopping season, or about 3 percent more than they did last year.

"It's a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money," says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

About 34 percent of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, up from 31 percent last year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and 16 percent had planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself. For the weekend, 152 million people are expected shop, up from 138 million last year.

To get people to shop, merchants pulled out of their bag of tricks. A few opened last year at midnight, but several other stores are doing so this year. Some are matching the prices of their competitors. Others are offering layaway plans that allow shoppers to pay as they go.

But the deals are what's driving many early shoppers into stores. After all, Americans are focusing more on bargains these days, a habit they picked up during the economic downturn.

The Gap is offering discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items. Old Navy has pea coats for $29 and jeans for $15. Toys R Us is selling a Transformers Ultimate Optimus Prime action figure for $30 off at $47.99 and a Power Wheels Barbie vehicle for $120 off at $199.99. And Best Buy has a $499 42-inch LCD HDTV for $199 and a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99.

Millie Ayala, 28-year-old receptionist, began standing in line at a Toys R Us in New York at 5:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, armed with the retailer's circular and a plan for how she and her sister would scour the store for deals. On her list? An interactive dog named Cookie and dolls for her two young daughters.

"Finances have been tough," she says. "Things are a lot more expensive but with Black Friday deals, things are more affordable."

After showing up at Best Buy in New York on Wednesday at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Merced, 27, and his brother were the first in line when it opened. On their list was a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199, a PlayStation 3 console with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced says he likes camping out for Black Friday and he figures he saved 50 percent.

"I like the experience of it," says Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.

It remains to be seen whether that enthusiasm will linger throughout the holiday shopping season. But analysts seem to agree that if retailers want shoppers to keep coming back, they'll have to keep discounting.

"The consumer is continuing to spend and shop and look for the bargains," says said John D. Morris, BMO Capital Markets analyst. "If it's the right product at the right price, she's shopping and buying."

_____

Anne D'Innocenzio in New York and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_black_friday

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Obama acknowledges tough economy this Thanksgiving

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is urging Americans facing tough economic times this Thanksgiving to believe in the nation's ability to overcome its challenges.

In a taped Thanksgiving message, Obama says the partisanship and gridlock in Washington may make people question whether unity is possible. But he insists the nation's problems can be solved if all Americans do their part.

Obama is also encouraging Americans to remember the men and women of the military who are spending the holiday serving overseas. And he thanks those who are taking time out of their Thanksgiving celebrations to serve in soup kitchens and shelters.

The president will celebrate Thanksgiving with family at the White House.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-24-Obama-Thanksgiving/id-b8354479b14a49e28fd30cda5471b45f

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Insert Coin: Twine connects your whole world to the internet

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.

Wouldn't it be great if your laundry emailed you when it had finished? You got a tweet every time the room got too cold, or your basement sent you a text if it began to flood? "Easy," says the Arduino expert in the peanut gallery, but what about those with neither the time nor inclination to solder and program it from scratch? Fortunately, the gentlemen who founded Supermechanical feel our pain and have just the tonic for our maladies -- head on past the break to find out more.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Twine connects your whole world to the internet

Insert Coin: Twine connects your whole world to the internet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kickstarter  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/24/insert-coin-twine-connects-your-whole-world-to-the-internet/

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Save That Black Friday Shopping for Small Business Saturday

Today may be traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, but don?t forget it?s Saturday when customers can do the most for small businesses and benefit the most from doing business with them. If you?re a small business owner, it?s important to make the most of your opportunities. Here are some links to help you do just that this Holiday season.

News & Trends

Hold up on those Black Friday plans! Small Business Saturday is just around the corner. The special day dedicated to helping out small business rounds out a long shopping weekend. Read more about what Small Business Saturday is and who it helps. The Times Herald

Occupy Wall Street to support small businesses? Protesters say that in addition to demonstrations against big retailers during the biggest shopping day of the year, some will also be encouraging customers to buy locally and from small businesses. But how?happy are small business owners about the idea? New York Daily News

Why It Matters

Small Business Saturday benefits local communities. If you want to learn more about how Small Business Saturday will benefit small businesses in your community and by extension the community itself, you may?want to have a look at this video clip where customers and small business people tell their stories.??Fox Providence

Don?t let controversy blur the focus. A controversy among some of the groups behind last year?s successful Small Business Saturday movement threatens to divide supporters of the day?s activities.?It?s important to stay focused on the benefits.?WSJ

Small Business Saturday

Make the most of your Holiday marketing. Large companies like Facebook, YouTube, FedEx and American Express are also lending a hand. They provide a number of helpful resources for small business owners participating in the event. Washington Post

Want to learn more about the big event? We thought you?d never ask! As one of the partners helping to promote the Small Business Saturday, Facebook has created a special page with more information and resources. We hope you?ll drop by and have a look. Facebook

Tips & Tactics

Last minute Holiday marketing tips. The big guys are ready! How about you? Some simple but critical strategy will improve your results with customers this Holiday. What ideas do you have in place to bring them in and encourage them to buy from you? We?ve got suggestions from the experts. Retail Solutions Online

This checklist could boost your bottom line. If you want to be sure you?ve done all you can or want to add that perfect final touch, here?s a checklist that cannot fail. These last minute tweaks will improve your readiness and help you maximize your results. Marketing Daily

More To Remember

And while you?re at it, don?t forget. Monday is an important shopping day too. Cyber Monday is for those trying to avoid the lines and, if your business has an Internet presence, this is an opportunity you must not miss. Fortunately, there are some simple tips to get your Website ready. Small Business Trends

Service over splash? Despite a special day set aside for them, the fact remains that small businesses remain in competition with larger businesses during the Holiday season as they do through the rest of the year. However, they also possess a secret weapon. Denverpost.com

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/11/save-that-black-friday-shopping-for-small-business-saturday.html

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James Murdoch steps down from newspaper boards

Handout / Reuters

News Corp executive James Murdoch speaks to parliamentarians in London November 10, 2011. The Evening Telegraph reports that Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the companies that publish his family's media empire's newspapers.

By Reuters

James Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the publishing units within News Corp's British newspaper arm, which used to include the now-defunct News of the World tabloid at the centre of the phone hacking scandal, regulatory filings show.

Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert and deputy chief operating officer of News Corp, remains chairman of News International, the News Corp unit that houses its British newspapers, and a member of the Times editorial board.

The News International unit has been damaged this year by the revelation that people working for the popular Sunday tabloid hacked into the phones of thousands to generate news.

Slow-burning investigations into the matter became front-page national news when it was revealed in July that one of the victims was missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who appeared to have been picking up voicemails but was later found murdered.

Ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International the following week, and was replaced by Tom Mockridge, the former head of News Corp-owned Sky Italia, on July 15.

"Following the appointment of Tom Mockridge as CEO of News International, in September James Murdoch stepped down from the boards of a number of News International subsidiary companies including News Group Newspapers (NGN) and Times Newspapers Ltd (TNL)," News International said in a statement.

Mockridge replaced Murdoch on the two company boards.

The filings show that Murdoch resigned on Sept. 13 from Times Newspapers Ltd and on Sept. 19 from NGN. Sept. 13 was the date on which he discovered he would be recalled by a British parliamentary committee to answer more questions.

NGN is the company that has been sued by many of the phone-hacking victims, including Hollywood star Jude Law and his ex-girlfriend, actress Sienna Miller.

Media lawyer Mark Stephens said he did not believe the move had any legal implications for the phone-hacking cases. "He's either liable for what happened under his watch, or he's not," he told Reuters.

James Murdoch survived a vote to remain on the News Corp board last month only thanks to support from his family and another loyal shareholder.

Next week, he faces shareholders of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB, who will have to decide whether he should remain as non-executive chairman.

Some News Corp investors would like to see the company sell its newspapers, in which media interest is disproportionate to the small contribution they make in revenues and profits.

Ivor Gaber, professor of political journalism at London's City University, said the move could indicate that Murdoch was still worried over his own exposure to the phone hacking scandal or that News Corp was preparing to sell its UK newspaper holdings.

"The Sun is now the only thing keeping the ship afloat, in commercial terms," he told Reuters.

James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, resigns from the boards of News Group newspapers amidst fallout from an alleged phone hacking scandal. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/23/8974416-james-murdoch-steps-down-from-newspaper-boards

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Fitch cuts Portugal rating on high debts, worse outlook (Reuters)

LISBON (Reuters) ? Fitch downgraded Portugal's credit rating to junk status on Thursday, citing large fiscal imbalances, high debts and the risks to its EU-mandated austerity program from a worsening economic outlook.

The ratings agency cut Portugal to BB+ from BBB-, which is still one notch higher than Moody's rating of Ba2. S&P still rates Portugal investment grade.

Fitch said a deepening recession makes it "much more challenging" for the government to cut the budget deficit but it still expects fiscal goals to be met both this year and next.

"However, the risk of slippage - either from worse macroeconomic outturns or insufficient expenditure controls - is large," Fitch said.

The challenging economic environment was clear in a Reuters poll on Thursday, where economists forecast Portugal's economy will contract by 2.9 percent next year, the deepest recession since the 1970s, and 1.6 percent this year, in line with the government's estimates.

Portugal's 10-year bond prices plunged, sending yields surging more than 100 basis points to 13.85 percent -- the second highest level in the euro zone after Greece. The spread to German Bunds also rose more than 100 basis points to 1,168.

The downgrade of Portugal came after the dramatic deterioration of the euro zone crisis in recent weeks as it spread to bigger countries like Italy and Spain.

"The worsening regional outlook helped inform the downgrade (of Portugal)," Rabobank said in an analyst note. "This, in turn, underlines the mounting risk of systemic downgrades."

Portugal sought a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union and IMF earlier this year and has adopted sweeping austerity measures to bring public accounts under controls.

Under the loan program Portugal must cut the budget deficit to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product this year from around 10 percent in 2010. Next year it must cut the deficit further to 4.5 percent.

STATE COMPANIES A RISK

Fitch said the state-owned "enterprise sector is another key source of fiscal risk" and has caused a number of upward revisions to the country's debt and budget deficit figures this year. The government has said there was an unexpected fiscal shortfall of about 3 billion euros this year.

"Given these downside risks, Fitch sees a significant likelihood that further consolidation measures will be needed through the course of 2012," Fitch said.

It sees Portugal total debt peaking at 116 percent of GDP in 2013 from 93.3 percent at the end of last year.

Filipe Garcia, an economist at Informacao de Mercados Financeiros, said that while the downgrade does not change the government's financing conditions as it is under a bailout, it could worsen the situation for companies.

"Where (the downgrade) has an impact is on companies, such as banks and other issuers like EDP or Brisa, whose ratings are greatly influenced by the sovereign rating, leaving them in a more difficult situation," said Garcia.

The agency said Portugal's debt crisis poses big risks for the country's banks. "Recapitalisation and increased emergency liquidity provision from the ECB to Portugal's banks will, in Fitch's view, be needed and provided," it said.

Under Portugal's bailout, 12 billion euros has been set aside for funding banks if necessary.

Fitch said a worsening fiscal or economic situation could lead to further downgrades. "Furthermore, although Portugal is funded to end-2013, sovereign liquidity risk may increase materially toward the end of the program if adverse market conditions persist," Fitch said.

The government hopes to return raising debt in financial markets at the end of 2013.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Rua; Editing by Toby Chopra/Anna Willard)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/bs_nm/us_portugal_fitch

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Review: Samsung Chromebook for Your Small Business

Have you noticed lately that many laptops? screens are almost as big as desktop monitors? No doubt you can find a small and lightweight one, but some of the least expensive laptops are huge. I went searching for lighter and slimmer solutions for the mobile small business owner. The Samsung Chromebook offers an interesting option and is the focus of this review. Samsung provided a 30-day loaner unit for this review.

If you?re not familiar with the new Chromebooks, you may find this review interesting and these machines a good alternative to more powerful, and expensive, computers. The Chromebook is a laptop that runs only the Chrome browser from Google. That?s it. No operating system of any type that you may have seen before. It starts up in 8 seconds-yes, only 8 seconds.

The closest device I?ve seen to rival its weight, speed and design is the MacBook Air. However, before the Mac community flips out, let me say the Chromebook is clearly not a MacBook Air. But if you live your life in Web applications for the most part, then this device may save you money and save your back from toting larger laptops.

What I really like:

• Light and fast. Did I already mention that?

• WiFi but also 3G access (free 2-year 100Mb per month plan from Verizon, then based on a pay-as-you-go option).

• Multiple user profiles so your employees can just grab it and start working. I could see a bunch of these stacked in a warehouse or in a place like thinkspace, which is a shared office environment for entrepreneurs.

• Up to 8.5 hours of continuous use. Granted, that?s because you are running a browser and no traditional apps, but that rivals an iPad with a separate keyboard.

What I?d like to see:

• A little bit more work on the keyboard and mouse. It was sometimes a little jerky with the touchpad.

• A bit of work to make Chrome more user-friendly as an OS ? you can download PDFs and files, but it isn?t easy to figure out how to get to them. This is not a Samsung Chromebook issue, by the way, so no criticism of them here. Chrome as an operating system is disorienting until you realize, and let it sink in, that it?s all you have. It takes a few minutes to wrap your head around.

Many small businesses don?t need more than a browser-based solution. The Samsung Chromebook is a solid contender for your technology purchase budget. With the many, many apps on Google?s marketplace, you can run your business from the Web.

With prices starting around $429 (at publication time), you get a device that rivals the more powerful netbooks on the market (less power, less cost), minus the full-scale OS and traditional apps. Like everything in business today, in my humble opinion, you have to take a closer look at why and how you operate your company.

Do you need to spend $1,000-plus on a simple laptop? Do you need a more powerful desktop? It?s fine if you do, but the options exist to reduce costs with machines like these.

Learn more about the Samsung Chromebook.

About the Author

TJ publishes Tech Biz Talk, a site that reviews business apps of all types and provides how-to posts and tutorials. Share your application or service at his Facebook page and share details about your company/app in the comments below. TJ actively studies all searching for new apps to write about. Learn more about TJ.

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Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/11/samsung-chromebook-product-review.html

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KKR to buy oil company Samson for $7.2 billion

NEW YORK (AP) ? The energy resources trapped in shale formations across the U.S. continue to attract investors. But now investors are after oil, not natural gas.

Private equity firm KKR & Co. LP and three partners announced Wednesday say they have agreed to buy the privately held oil and gas company Samson Investment Co. for $7.2 billion.

KKR's partners include the investment firms Natural Gas Partners and Crestview Partners and the Japanese trading company Itochu Corp. Financial details, including how much each partner is paying and whether they are borrowing money or paying in cash, stock, or some combination, were not disclosed.

Sampson, founded in 1971, owns interests in more than 10,000 wells and operates 4,000 of them in the U.S. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company has large positions in shale formations that are rich with oil and other liquid hydrocarbons.

Samson's wells in the deep water Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast are not included in the deal and will remain with the Schusterman family.

Several shale formations in the U.S. have been found to hold enormous amounts of natural gas. After small drillers learned to tap these resources profitably, a wave of acquisitions swept the industry, capped by Exxon Mobil Corp.'s $31 billion purchase of XTO Resources announced in 2009. The huge new supplies of natural gas have pushed prices low, however, and made drilling for natural gas only slightly profitable.

But drillers have found some formations, such as the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in South Texas, to contain large amounts of oil. Drillers have learned to apply what critics say is an environmentally questionable method to tap natural gas to also tap oil. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow the oil and gas to flow up.

Because oil molecules are sticky and larger than gas molecules, engineers thought the process wouldn't work to squeeze oil out fast enough to make it economical. But drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost.

Oil prices have been driven to historic highs because of growing demand in China and other developing nations, so drilling for oil is far more profitable than drilling for gas. Exploration and production companies in the U.S. such as Samson have been snapping up leases in oil-rich formations and moving rigs there as fast as possible.

Oil companies around the world including China National Offshore Oil Corp., Korea National Oil Corp. and Norway's Statoil ASA have announced investments in U.S. shale oil formations in recent months.

Samson owns oil-producing wells and assets in several locations, including North Dakota's Bakken formation and Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

KKR has a history of investing in U.S. oil and gas companies. It invested in the shale gas producer East Resources in 2009 and later sold it at a huge gain to Royal Dutch Shell. Earlier this year KKR acquired assets in the Barnett Shale, located in North Texas, from ConocoPhillips.

KKR, co-founded by the Tulsa native Henry Kravis, said Samson will remain based in Tulsa. After the deal is closed, David Adams will be named CEO and the company will be renamed Samson Resources.

The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-23-KKR-Samson%20Investment/id-46a723a726e74dcf9d015122ba6f3861

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Navy to lay off 3,000 mid-career sailors

By Lea Sutton, KNSD

SAN DIEGO -- Imagine joining the Navy ten years ago with a career in mind. Now, sailors with that career plan are getting pink slips as the military looks for places to save money.

Since June, 16,000 mid-career sailors have been waiting to find out if they will be forced out early.

Last week, the Navy began its layoffs when the first of two rounds of personnel cuts were announced.

Read the original story at nbcsandiego.com

"Nobody ever wants to pass this sort of bad news to somebody," said Captain Winton Smith, Naval Station San Diego's commanding officer. "It's a very difficult thing for any commanding officer to sit down with a hard charger and to tell them to prepare for the next chapter of their life.?

Smith had to do that with two of his sailors last week. The Navy recently reviewed 16,000 sailors in 31 job categories where it had surpluses; all had served between 7 and 14 years. The Navy was looking for extra sailors to layoff.

"It can come down to a particular rating is simply over-manned, and we just have to reduce the number of people within that rating", said Smith.

These jobs range from aviation electricians to religious program specialists. In June, the Navy allowed sailors to apply to transfer to under-manned ratings, like medical professionals, to avoid being let go. But about 3,000 in the Navy will have to leave. To ease the transition, the Navy provides services including programs that help sailors translate their skills to public sector certifications.

"Our sailors have amazing leadership skills, and they've already started to make their own plans, and we're just here to help augment them and get them connected with all those resources that can help them with their goals", said Mary Kirby of Naval Station San Diego?s Fleet and Family Services.

The second round of lay-offs is expected to be announced near the end of this month, and those will affect the more senior sailors in the group up to the senior chief level.

The San Diego Fleet and Family Support Center is ready to help sailors who find their Navy careers ending early. Here is the contact information:

Phone: (619) 556-7404 Website: http://www.cnic.navy.mil/SanDiego/FleetAndFamilyReadiness/SupportServices/index.htm

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/22/8962737-navy-to-lay-off-3000-mid-career-sailors

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Superlouse

John Clark, professor of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Massachusetts, knows his lice. This is a man who keeps a colony alive on what?s essentially a giant fake human head, and he wasn?t surprised by our malathion fail. Some lice have a genetic mutation that leaves them immune to malathion, he said when we chatted; in Israel, the U.K., Denmark, and for that matter pretty much everywhere outside the United States, natural selection has long since favored lice with this resistance. The malathion lotion sold in the United States is slightly different than that used in other countries, however, and so far this has proved to be a saving grace: Three of the ?inactive? ingredients intended to improve the smell of the American formulation turn out to also kill lice, as does the 78 percent isopropyl alcohol that makes up the rest of the bottle.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c4480daf6d7784c9330f8be14f79a972

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GOP presidential rivals to debate foreign policy

Republican presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman speaks during an employee town hall event at CCA Global Partners in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Republican presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman speaks during an employee town hall event at CCA Global Partners in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With new trouble appearing in the Middle East and the Pentagon facing possible budget cuts, the Republican White House contenders are debating for the second time in as many weeks how they would do better than President Barack Obama in protecting and extending America's national security.

Six weeks to the day before the first nominating contests in Iowa, the candidates were looking to use the pre-Thanksgiving holiday debate to build or ? for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at the head of the pack ? sustain momentum in the battle to pick a 2012 election challenger for Obama.

Businessman Herman Cain, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Reps. Ron Paul of Texas and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania also were meeting in Tuesday night's forum put together by CNN, the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.

With unemployment stubbornly high and the economy sluggish to recover from recession, the candidates also were likely to drive the foreign policy discussion back to pocketbook issues at home.

A day earlier, the congressional deficit supercommittee declared an impasse, and that could trigger deep cuts in 2013 spreading across military as well as domestic spending.

Many of the presidential candidates have called the nation's $15 trillion government debt a national security threat, especially since China is the single largest creditor. Obama's own defense secretary, Leon Panetta, has said big Pentagon cuts "would lead to a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned."

The GOP contenders also were ready to criticize Obama on the Middle East. The administration ordered new sanctions this week aimed at forcing Iran to halt a suspected nuclear weapons program, and protests are under way again in Cairo against the military government.

The Iran sanctions target that country's oil industry as well as companies linked to nuclear activity and Iran's banking system.

They, however, were unlikely to satisfy the GOP contenders who are far more hawkish than Obama and have pledged to carry out military strikes against suspected Iranian nuclear facilities to defend U.S. ally Israel.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-22-US-GOP-Debate/id-db5b836787e646fab8d320078d86302c

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Russell Pearce Recall: President Officially Removed From Arizona Senate

With the signatures of three officials sitting around a Phoenix conference room Monday morning, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) was officially removed from office.

Pearce, the state's former Senate president, was voted out in a Nov. 8 recall election, but he remained in office pending certification of the election. Gov. Jan Brewer (R), Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) and Attorney General Tom Horne (R) officially certified the election Monday.

"We have notified the Senate of these results," said Matthew Roberts, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

Roberts said today's actions were primarily ceremonial in nature, but did serve a key legal function. Until the results were certified, Pearce retained all the powers of a state senator and control of the Senate gavel. The Senate has not met since the recall election.

The last Senate session occurred on Nov. 2 when senators voted to uphold Brewer's removal of Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission Chairwoman Colleen Coyle Mathis, a move that was overturned by the state Supreme Court last week. Pearce played a role in the lawsuit and was officially named as a defendant by Mathis for his role in leading the Senate response to the suit as the body's president.

The Senate is not scheduled to meet again until January.

Monday's certification ceremony marks what might be the end of Pearce's political career in Arizona. Pearce was a state representative from 2001 to 2009, while serving as a deputy sheriff in Maricopa County, and heading the state's motor vehicle agency under former Govs. Fife Symington (R) and Jane Dee Hull (R). While serving as chief deputy sheriff in Maricopa County, he helped create the county's tent city jail.

Pearce was recalled from the Senate primarily due to his sponsorship of the state's controversial immigration law, which Brewer signed in 2010.

Pearce has not indicated if he will seek reimbursement for his recall campaign from the state. State Rep. John Harper (R-Paradise) has suggested that Pearce could be owed money for recall election expenses under an obscure clause in the state constitution. Democrats have indicated they would block such a move, which would likely require legislative approval.

While Pearce was not officially out of office until today, the Senate had already started to move past his era of leadership. Within days of the recall Sen. Steve Pierce (R-Prescott) was elected to the Senate presidency. Pierce, the former majority whip, defeated Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs (R-Gilbert) by one vote to capture the president's chair. Pierce, a rancher, has served in the Senate since 2009.

Pearce is being replaced in the Senate by Republican Jerry Lewis, who defeated him in the recall. Lewis is slated to be sworn in as a senator on Tuesday morning in Phoenix.

Pearce's election was the only race that Brewer, Bennett and Horne tackled during the meeting.

"It was just the recall," Roberts told HuffPost. "That was the only election that we dealt with."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/russell-pearce-recall-certified_n_1106233.html

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Roots welcome Bachmann with pointed song (AP)

NEW YORK ? Jimmy Fallon's house band the Roots didn't have a warm welcome for Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann when she appeared on the NBC show early Tuesday.

As Bachmann strode on to the stage at Fallon's "Late Night," the show's band played a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song called "Lyin' Ass B----."

The song begins with a distinctive "la la la la la la la la la" refrain ? the only words audible before Bachmann, smiling and waving to the audience, sat down.

The song itself, about a relationship gone wrong, isn't political. Among its cleanest lyrics: "She always says she needs you, but you know she really don't care."

Roots' bandleader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson said later Tuesday that the song was a "tongue-in-cheek and spur of the moment decision.

"The show was not aware of it and I feel bad if her feelings were hurt," Thompson said. "That was not my intention."

Bachmann's campaign had no immediate comment.

Fallon joked on Twitter that Thompson was grounded. The show itself didn't have any comment.

The Roots frequently make sly, often obscure, song choices as Fallon's guests are introduced.

When Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs came out, they played part of Genesis' "Illegal Alien," a reference to Dobbs' frequent commentaries on the topic. Current TV host Keith Olbermann, formerly of MSNBC, heard part of Klymaxx's "I Miss You." Kathie Lee Gifford was saluted with UB40's "Red Red Wine," a reference to the drink she often shares on-air with "Today" co-host Hoda Kotb.

___

AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_en_mu/us_bachmann_song_choice

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George W. Bush to raise cancer awareness in Africa (AP)

DALLAS ? Former President George W. Bush will travel to Africa next month to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a "natural extension" of a program launched during his presidency that helps fight AIDS on the continent.

Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and officials with the George W. Bush Institute are heading to Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia from Dec. 1 through Dec. 5, where they'll visit clinics and meet with governmental and health care leaders.

"We believe it's in our nation's interest to deal with disease and set priorities and save lives," Bush told The Associated Press.

In 2003, Bush launched the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, to expand AIDS prevention, treatment and support programs in countries hit hard by the epidemic.

The new program, called the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, seeks to expand the availability of cervical cancer screening and treatment and breast care education in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Bush said existing AIDS clinics will be used to screen and treat cervical cancer, which is four to five times more common among those living with HIV than those who don't have the virus. Last year, 3.2 million people received antiretroviral treatments as a result of PEPFAR.

The initiative is a partnership among several organizations, including the Bush Institute, PEPFAR and the United Nations' program on HIV and AIDS. Its goal is to reduce deaths by 25 percent in five years among women screened and treated through the initiative.

"We want to show what works and hopefully others across the continent of Africa will join us,'" Bush said.

Dr. Eric G. Bing, director of global health at the Bush Institute, said it's often more difficult for African women to reveal they have cancer of the reproductive organs than to reveal they have HIV. There are more support groups and treatment available for HIV than cancer, he said.

"There's silence around cancer for many of these communities and in many of these nations. And that's one of the things that we hope to change," Bing said.

Bush moved to Dallas after leaving office in 2009. The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which is set to be completed in 2013 on the campus of Southern Methodist University, will include his presidential library and the already-operating policy institute. Besides global health, the institute focuses on education reform, human freedom and economic growth.

Bush said he and the former first lady will be "pouring our hearts" into the Bush presidential center as it grows.

"This is where we will spend the rest of our lives in the sense of being involved with public policy," Bush said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_us/us_bush_africa

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Michael Giltz: Theater: "White Christmas" Early Present For Holidays

IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS *** out of ****
PAPER MILL PLAYHOUSE

Almost any Christmas-themed property you can name is being turned into a musical with an eye to touring it year after year. It's rather depressing to see Elf and A Christmas Story get musicalized whether they need to or not. But the breezy, confident musical Irving Berlin's White Christmas has enough old school pizazz to chase away any cynicism and let you enjoy this crowd-pleaser on its own terms.

The show began in 2004 and has toured the country (and even overseas) while stopping on Broadway twice. But this is my first time, which surely helps in enjoying this trifle, based on the Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney film (itself spun off from Holiday Inn, the original source of the Irving Berlin classic song).

It begins with a glimpse of soldiers in the trenches in 1944, where two guys are entertaining their pals with that tune, a nice way to remind people of the standard's original impact. (Soldiers overseas and their families back home could only dream of a white Christmas together because they were separated by thousands of miles; this knowledge gives the tune a yearning, sad context modern listeners might otherwise overlook.)

Those two guys quickly become Broadway stars, with Bob (James Clow) a romantic and Phil (Tony Yazbeck) the lady killer. Before you know it, they're looking for new talent, spot a sister act and darned if each guy doesn't seem perfect for a sister, with Phil eyeing Judy (Meredith Patterson) and Bob clashing with Betty (Jill Paice). The guys follow the gals to an inn in Vermont and -- what do ya' know? -- their beloved General from the war owns the place, though not for long if the bills keep piling up.

Before you can say "hey kids, let's put on a show," they really are putting on a show (in the barn, no less) and inviting all their old Army buddies to drop everything and come on by. Mild misunderstandings will arise and be dismissed with a song and a dance before the happy finale on Christmas Eve. If you're wondering whether snow will fall, you've never seen a Hollywood movie.

Paper Mill continues its run of Broadway quality shows with the sets and costumes and choreography and especially cast more than up to snuff. It's easy to overlook the professionalism of the four leads, but they smoothly make this fluff work nicely. Clow and Paice are the stars, with Paice shining in her big solo number and Clow making decency affably charming (no simple task). Yazbeck (a charmer) and Patterson have even more fun, especially on their tap-crazy act two opener "I Love A Piano," where Patterson reminds us what a presence she was on Broadway in the revival of 42nd Street.

Lorna Luft handles the larger than life comedy with aplomb as the inn's concierge and belts out "Let Me Sing And I'm Happy" with convincing gusto. Perhaps the only surprise in the show is that she and the General (a solid Edward James Hyland) don't make it official before the curtain falls. Jacob Ben Widmar is first among equals in the strong chorus of singers and dancers, but everyone is solid.

The choreography gets stronger as the show goes on (especially the second act opener) and the costumes amusingly silly (like the aggressive holiday sweaters in the finale). Director Marc Bruni knows the show inside and out, but doesn't let it sink into a rut, from an amusing train scene to smoothly engineered set changes right up to the finale.

The only awkward fit among the songs is the act one finale "Blue Skies." Bob has just been angrily dismissed by Betty and he doesn't know why but it obviously upsets him. So to follow that by breaking into a song of pure joy (including a chorus of backup singers and dancers) makes no emotional sense in the otherwise smooth book by David Ives and Paul Blake. He could start off singing the song sadly and then segue into a full production as they rehearse the number, delivering it with gusto by the end though we know deep down he's worried. Or he might blithely dismiss the fight because he's crazy about the gal and certain he'll fix whatever is wrong, leading into a buoyant version. In either case, it would only take a few lines to set it up properly. As it is the tune makes no sense.

None of White Christmas is earth-shaking. It's just a pleasant diversion delivered with professionalism by a solid cast happy to be working and singing great songs by Irving Berlin. You wouldn't want to revisit it every year the way you do Miracle On 34th Street or It's A Wonderful Life, but it's a happy change of pace from the umpteenth edition of A Christmas Carol and a reminder of when Hollywood turned out fluff like this with regularity. It's not so easy, as countless Broadway shows hoping "merely" to entertain can attest. The show finishes with a sing-along on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm," but we can go to the original, Bing Crosby.

The Theater Season 2011-2012 (on a four star scale)

The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs ** 1/2
All-American **
All's Well That Ends Well/Shakespeare in the Park **
The Atmosphere Of Memory 1/2 *
Broadway By The Year: 1997 ** 1/2
Chinglish * 1/2
Crane Story **
Cymbeline at Barrow Street Theatre ***
Follies *** 1/2
Fragments ***
Godspell ** 1/2
Hair ***
Hand To God ***
Hero: The Musical * 1/2
Hugh Jackman: Back On Broadway ***
Irving Berlin's White Christmas ***
King Lear at Public with Sam Waterston **
Lake Water **
Love's Labor's Lost at the PublicLab ** 1/2
Man And Boy * 1/2
Master Class w Tyne Daly ** 1/2
Measure For Measure/Shakespeare in the Park ***
Milk Like Sugar ***
The Mountaintop ** 1/2
Newsies **
Pigpen's The Nightmare Story *** 1/2
Olive and The Bitter Herbs ** 1/2
One Arm ***
Other Desert Cities on Broadway ** 1/2
Private Lives **
Queen Of The Mist ** 1/2
Radio City Christmas Spectacular ** 1/2
Relatively Speaking * 1/2
The Select (The Sun Also Rises) ** 1/2
Seminar **
Septimus & Clarissa *** 1/2
Silence! The Musical * 1/2
69 Degrees South * 1/2
Sons Of The Prophet *** 1/2
Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark * 1/2
Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays **
The Submission **
Sweet and Sad **
Unnatural Acts ***
Venus In Fur ***
We Live Here **
Zarkana **

NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 2011

Blanche: The Bittersweet Life Of A Wild Prairie Dame *** 1/2
Central Avenue Breakdown ** 1/2
Crazy, Just Like Me ***
Cyclops: A Rock Opera *
Ennio: The Living Paper Cartoon ** 1/2
F---ing Hipsters **
Ghostlight **
Gotta Getta Girl ** 1/2 for staged reading
Greenwood *
Jack Perry Is Alive (And Dating) * 1/2
Kiki Baby ** 1/2
Kissless * 1/2
Madame X **
The Pigeon Boys ***
Time Between Us * 1/2
Tut **

FRINGEFEST NYC 2011

Araby *
The Bardy Bunch **
Books On Tape ** 1/2
Civilian **
Hard Travelin' With Woody ***
Leonard Cohen Koans *** 1/2
The More Loving One **
The Mountain Song *** 1/2
Paper Cuts ***
Parker & Dizzy's Fabulous Journey To The End Of The Rainbow ** 1/2
Pearl's Gone Blue ***
Rachel Calof ** 1/2
Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending **
2 Burn * 1/2
Walls and Bridges **
What The Sparrow Said ** 1/2
Yeast Nation ***

Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.

Note: Michael Giltz was provided with free tickets to this show with the understanding that he would be writing a review.

?

Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/theater-white-christmas-e_b_1104670.html

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49 penguins freed after rescue from NZ oil spill (AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ? Forty-nine penguins rescued from an oil spill off New Zealand have been freed after being cleaned and nursed back to health by wildlife officials.

The birds released Tuesday are among 343 little blue penguins that have been cleaned of oil since a cargo ship ran aground on a reef near Tauranga on Oct. 5 and spilled some 400 tons of fuel oil.

More than 2,000 sea birds died in the spill.

The penguins were nursed to health at a wildlife facility manned by specialists from New Zealand, Australia and the United States. They were fitted with microchips so they can be monitored after their release.

Wildlife Response Manager Kerri Morgan says it's important wild penguins do not remain in captivity for too long because they can develop injuries and illnesses.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_penguins_released

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Windows Phone Marketplace inches over 40,000 app mark

Windows Phone continues to shore up its app and game selection, hitting 40,000 apps in just over a year since its inception. Granted, there's still plenty of catching up to do before Microsoft's third way can go toe-to-toe with Android and iOS, but it's another (substantial) step in the right direction. According to All About Windows Phone, new content is now being added at the heady rate of around 165 apps per day, although it notes that a chunk of previously released apps are now non-existent, subtracting around 5,000 from the scores we have here. However, app devs have cranked it up a gear, adding around the same amount of new apps in only the last month -- presumably galvanized by Nokia's much-publicized WinPho debut and other Mango-powered delights arriving in stores. Will it crack the 50k mark by the end of the year? We're sure Mr. Ballmer won't be betting against it.

[Image credit: Jim Merithew/Wired.com]

Windows Phone Marketplace inches over 40,000 app mark originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yTKmNbbum4o/

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Ali Fedotowsky, Roberto Martinez Split: 'Bachelorette' Couple Calls Off Wedding

www.people.com:

Sorry, "Bachelorette" fans: there will officially be no wedding for Ali and Roberto.

Read the whole story: www.people.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/ali-fedotowsky-roberto-martinez-split_n_1105745.html

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Nook Tablet Rooted, Android Free-For-All Coming Soon [Nook]

Who would have predicted that Barnes and Noble's new Nook Tablet would be rooted? Oh, everyone? Well, it still happened, and that's good news for modders who are looking forward to hacking the bejeezus out of these low-cost tablets. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mNiBkczrt8Y/nook-tablet-rooted-android-free+for+all-coming-soon

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Oakland protesters defiantly set up new tent city (Reuters)

OAKLAND (Reuters) ? Anti-Wall Street protesters took over a vacant lot and adjacent park in downtown Oakland on Saturday and erected a tent camp to replace one torn down by police, setting the stage for a potential showdown.

Protesters marched to the lot and tore down a chain-link fence before pitching tents as a light rain started. Police on the scene did not immediately intervene, and the camp later expanded into an adjacent public park.

"Occupy Oakland has a new home at 19th and Telegraph," organizers said in a message to supporters, adding there would be a big "housewarming" party. "Bring tents!"

The move appeared to be a direct challenge to Oakland police who less than a week ago forcibly dismantled a similar protest camp nearby, and risked igniting a confrontation. Police have said they would not allow another encampment.

Previous unrest surrounding protests in Oakland, a West Coast Occupy hot spot, has helped rally support nationwide for the Occupy Wall Street movement launched in New York in September to protest economic inequality and excesses of the financial system.

The lot and adjacent park are in a rapidly gentrifying area, and protesters said establishing a camp there would be a symbolic move in a city they complained looked out most "for the interests of big business and developers" over ordinary residents.

Oakland police had said they had a "non-confrontational strategy" for preventing a new campsite from being established, but did not elaborate.

"While peaceful forms of expression and freedom of speech will be facilitated, acts of violence, property destruction and overnight lodging will not be tolerated," police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said in a statement.

There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence.

Police on Monday evicted protesters from their camp in Frank Ogawa plaza after weeks of indecision over how to deal with the protests, spurred to act after a fatal shooting nearby fueled pressure on the city to close the camp down.

"I support the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and I am a passionate supporter of freedom of speech. However, camping on city property - whether it is in a park or in open space - is illegal and won't be allowed," Mayor Jean Quan said in a statement on Friday.

An earlier attempt to remove the camp in October had sparked clashes between protesters and police that wounded a former U.S. Marine and evolved into one of the most violent episodes linked to the Occupy movement.

CALL TO SHUT PORTS

The Oakland protesters also announced plans to shut down all West Coast ports on December 12, cooperating with protesters in Los Angeles. The Oakland group had briefly forced the northern California city's port to close earlier this month.

As a cold, wet night enveloped the new camp on Saturday, a few hundred protesters took shelter under a canopy of blue tarps and huddled in about 25 tents as police watched from a distance.

One man, pushing a shopping cart, passed out rocks and sticks "just in case" as organizers pleaded for protesters to stay and "defend" the encampment.

"I think it's important to be able to show an ongoing presence. It's to show our physical numbers. It makes a visual statement," said Thandiwe Satterwhite, a Berkeley music teacher who carried a placard saying "Do Not Disturb Occupants."

To the north in Davis, the University of California campus in that city said it would launch an investigation over video footage that appeared to show campus police using pepper spray against seated student protesters at close range.

"Yesterday was not a day that would make anyone on our campus proud," UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi wrote in a public statement. "The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this."

(Writing and additional reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111120/us_nm/us_protests_westcoast

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