Monday, December 31, 2012

Tradition: Cranachan & Crowdie, Edinburgh - Total Food Geeks ...

Last month Total Food Geeks sought refuge from the cruel, cold weather in the warm wonderland of Cranachan & Crowdie, a recent addition to Edinburgh?s locally-focused food purveyors.

What is Cranachan & Crowdie?

The brainchild of Beth and Fiona, Cranachan & Crowdie resulted from the pair receiving frequent requests from visitors to their Royal Mile self-catered apartment to recommend nearby spots to purchase genuine, quality Scottish food and drink. Open just over six months, the shop has already become popular with tourists and locals alike.

Why do we love them?

What we like about Cranachan & Crowdie is that they are so much more than purveyors of Scottish Food & Drink, they give every shopping experience character with their considered recommendations, wonderful stories and passionate approach.

Cranachan & Crowdie also approach their involvement in the Scottish food and drink industry with great invention ? respecting the traditions of Scottish fare but also trying to develop new and interesting food combinations.

In recent months they?ve even been working with Ann Scott to develop recipes from their products that vistors can make at home, as well as connecting different suppliers to great ingenious and completely new combinations such as Hebridean Sea Salt and Charlotte Flower Chocolate.

For some of Ann?s fantastic Scottish Canape recipes click here.

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OUR CRANACHAN CROWDIE TOP PICKS?

Some of our Cranachan & Crowdie favourites?

- Forage infused chocolates such as the very pretty Charlotte Flower Chocolate.

- Huntley Herb Mini Chutneys (we stole the last two boxes!)

- Elderflower Sparkling drink by Cairn O?mhor (first tried during a perfect recent visit to Pomegranate)

The TFG Edinburgh Open Night

During the course of our Open Night for new and passionate foodies we enjoyed sampling everything from shortbread to infused oils, mulled Thistly Cross Ginger Cider and Cairn O?mhor Elderflower non-alcoholic fizz with Edinburgh Raspberry Gin. It was wonderful to meet so many new faces and find even more TFGE kindred spirits!

We would like to thank Beth & Fiona for all of their help in organising such an enjoyable evening. We would also like to thank all of the lovely folks who turned up ? you?ll be seeing a lot more of them on the site in 2013! And don?t just take our word for it? check out the delightfully named Hungry Romantic blog post about the evening here.

NEW YEAR?S DAY EVENT@ CRANACHAN & CROWDIE

Cranachan & Crowdie will be opening their shop from 12noon today, New Year?s Day and offering all their visitors free drinks and, of course, samples of their products!

VACANCY: FOOD & DRINK EVENTS INTERN

Cranachan & Crowdie are looking for an events intern to help then think about 2013 and particularly evening events in Feb and March when it?s far too quiet on the Royal Mile. For more information please email Beth & Fiona on beth.edberg [at] cranachanandcrowdie.com

Photo credit: The lovely Emma at Hungry Romantic who attended the blog ? check her beautiful blog out here.

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About Georgia

To me, food means great comfort, enticement, fun, joy, and almost always making a mess. Edinburgh is my haven; we've enough eateries and food fanatics to keep every waking hour of life deliciously fulfilled. You'll find me discussing the delights of baking, discovering our city's restaurants and devouring homely comforts. I geek out over: culinary events, foodie photos and my grannie's fairy cakes Twitter: @ideaspotting Blog: www.bakenation.com

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Source: http://totalfoodgeeks.com/2013/01/01/tradition-cranachan-crowdie-edinburgh/

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Stone Canyon offers custom-built homes surrounding golf course ...

New builders and new leadership have brought a new energy to Stone Canyon, a community of custom-built homes surrounding Stone Canyon Golf Course on the border between Blue Springs and Independence.

Stone Canyon, once the victim of an uncertain economy, is now a thriving new-home community.?Fourteen homes have closed since this new team took over last year. We have five custom new construction sales pending and multiple others in the design and negotiation process,? said Sally Moore with Keller Williams Eastland Partners, who exclusively markets the community.Stone Canyon has much to offer new-home buyers, she added. It is built around the Stone Canyon Golf Course, the only Greg Norman Signature Design golf course in Missouri, which is ranked as one of the top three public courses in Missouri. Stone Canyon has a Blue Springs address and children attend Blue Springs schools, including the nearby Sunny Pointe Elementary and Sunny Vale Middle schools. However, since Stone Canyon is officially within the borders of Independence, residents enjoy lower city taxes and lower utility rates.?Stone Canyon is just minutes from the new Centerpoint Medical Center, great shopping and services along with some of the best restaurants in eastern Jackson County,? Moore said. ?Access to Interstate 70 is just down the street. It only takes about 15 minutes to get to downtown Kansas City.?But even with minutes-away access to all the urban conveniences, Stone Canyon is nestled in a quiet area with little traffic or congestion and expansive views of the surrounding area.?We are on a ridge that allows you to see for miles,? Moore said. ?The sunsets are spectacular. At night you can see city lights in all directions.?These factors have contributed to Stone Canyon?s recent success and allowed it to take early advantage of the resurging real estate market.?As others are just now starting to feel the positive effects of our continually improving economy, we here at Stone Canyon have already been experiencing the rebirth of new construction for many months,? Moore said. ?That?s because we understood from the very beginning that the secret to success is delivering a customized home building experience with an unprecedented level of service and quality.?To provide that level of quality, Stone Canyon chose two builders with stellar reputations, Robert Foushee of Foushee Homes Inc. and Kevin Stallings of Dreams & Design Building. Foushee has 17 years of building experience and Stallings has 20.?Building my first spec house to sell in the early years was an eye opener, but I maintained the attitude that if I did it well and offered my customers something better, I would develop a reputation for quality and treating people right,? Foushee said.That attitude has brought Foushee success, rave reviews from his past clients and repeat customers. His promise to his clients is to provide them with quality construction and a friendly experience.The name of Stallings? business, Dreams & Design Building, says it all. ?If a customer dreams it, I can usually design and build it,? he said.Stallings takes pride in listening to customers, then showing them a template design that will meet most of their needs, but taking that template and modifying it so that customers get exactly the home they envisioned.?I never build the same home twice,? Stallings said, adding that he refuses to cut corners to hold down costs. ?I build every home as if it were mine. I won?t accept less than quality construction, I won?t rush the process and I won?t cut corners.?Stallings also knows the importance of building energy-efficient homes and has his homes independently inspected to meet Energy Star standards, providing a finished home that is between 45 and 50 percent more efficient that homes built to current building codes.Foushee and Stallings offer clients a variety of home designs, including ranch, 11/2-story, reverse 11/2-story and two-story plans with prices starting at $275,000. Prospective buyers can see the quality of Stallings? construction by visiting the model home at 4211 S. White Sands Court. They can also visit Foushee?s completed inventory home that is now available. Foushee also has another inventory home under construction that will be move-in ready in about 90 days. Stallings is just starting construction on two inventory homes that should be completed by summer.Prospective buyers also may see a variety of home plans from both builders at the model home that can be used as a basis for a custom designed and built home, Moore said.?It is amazing to see how these builders take a home from concept to design to completion for their clients,? Moore said. ?And they walk their customers through the process every step of the way. Each home is individualized.?One client, whose mother will be living with them, needed a home that was ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliant and that home was designed with an elevator,? she continued. ?Another customer wants to live in his home forever, so he is also having an elevator installed.?Stone Canyon is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For information, call Sally Moore at 816-268-3828 or visit stonecanyonkc.com.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/30/3983296/stone-canyon-offers-custom-built.html

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Golf-Jimenez out for several months after breaking leg skiing

MADRID | Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:30pm GMT

MADRID Dec 30 (Reuters) - Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez will be out of action for at least three months after breaking his leg in a skiing accident on Saturday.

"I was skiing in Sierra Nevada, I lost control and fell," Jimenez was quoted as saying in local media on Sunday.

"I felt a huge stab of pain and I knew straight away I had broken something," he said, adding that he had been operated on at a clinic in his native Malaga.

"I broke the top of the tibia in my right leg, just where it meets the knee, and they put in two pins.

"It will take three, four or five months to recover and be able to return to competition. I was playing very well but ... these things happen in life."

Jimenez, who will be 49 on Saturday, was named European Tour golfer of the month in November after his victory at the Hong Kong Open made him the oldest winner in Tour history at 48 years and 318 days.

A lover of fine wines and cigars and known for his trademark ponytail, he said he had fashioned a love of skiing some years ago and was well aware of the risks. (Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Justin Palmer)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/UKGolfNews/~3/m4FDXnduMfg/golf-jimenez-idUKL5E8NU32420121230

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How Neuroscientists Observe Brains Watching Movies

Image: Todd Davidson/Stock Illustration Source

  • How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

    Read More??

Unless you have been deaf and blind to the world over the past decade, you know that functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) can look inside the skull of volunteers lying still inside the claustrophobic, coffinlike confines of a loud, banging magnetic scanner. The technique relies on a fortuitous property of the blood supply to reveal regional activity. Active synapses and neurons consume power and therefore need more oxygen, which is delivered by the hemoglobin molecules inside the circulating red blood cells. When these molecules give off their oxygen to the surrounding tissue, they not only change color?from arterial red to venous blue?but also turn slightly magnetic.

Activity in neural tissue causes an increase in the volume and flow of fresh blood. This change in the blood supply, called the hemodynamic signal, is tracked by sending radio waves into the skull and carefully listening to their return echoes. FMRI does not directly measure synaptic and neuronal activity, which occurs over the course of milliseconds; instead it uses a relatively sluggish proxy?changes in the blood supply?that rises and falls in seconds. The spatial resolution of fMRI is currently limited to a volume element (voxel) the size of a pea, encompassing about one million nerve cells.

Neuroscientists routinely exploit fMRI to infer what volunteers are seeing, imagining or intending to do. It is really a primitive form of mind reading. Now a team has taken that reading to a new, startling level.

A number of groups have deduced the identity of pictures viewed by volunteers while lying in the magnet scanner from the slew of map?like representations found in primary, secondary and higher-order visual cortical regions underneath the bump on the back of the head.

Jack L. Gallant of the University of California, Berkeley, is the acknowledged master of these techniques, which proceed in two stages. First, a volunteer looks at a couple of thousand images while lying in a magnet. The response of a few hundred voxels in the visual cortex to each image is carefully registered. These data are then used to train an algorithm to predict the magnitude of the fMRI response for each voxel. Second, this procedure is inverted. That is, for a given magnitude of hemodynamic response, a probabilistic technique called Bayesian decoding infers the most likely image that gave rise to the observed response in that particular volunteer (human brains differ substantially, so it is difficult to use one brain to predict the responses of another).

The best of these techniques exploit preexisting, or prior, knowledge about pictures that could have been seen before. The number of mathematically possible images is vast, but the types of actual scenes that are encountered in a world populated by people, animals, trees, buildings and other objects encompass a tiny fraction of all possible images. Appropriately enough, the images that we usually encounter are called natural images. Using a database of six million natural images, Gallant?s group showed in 2009 how brain responses of volunteers to photographs they had not previously encountered could be reconstructed.

From Images to Movies
These reconstructions are surprisingly good, even though they are based on the smudged activity of hundreds of thousands of highly diverse nerve cells, each one firing to different aspects of the image?its local intensity, color, shading, texture, and so on. A further limitation I have already alluded to is the 1,000-fold mismatch between the celerity of neuronal signals and the sedate pace at which the fMRI signal rises and falls.

Yet Gallant?s group fearlessly pushed on and applied Bayesian reconstruction techniques to the conceptually and computationally much more demanding problem of spatiotemporal reconstruction.

Three members of the group each watched about two hours? worth of short takes from various Hollywood movies. These data were used to train a separate encoding model for each voxel. The first part of the model consisted of a bank of neural filters. These filters are based on the cumulative research that has been conducted over two decades into the way nerve cells in the visual cortex in people and monkeys respond to seeing visual stimuli with varying positions, size, motion and speed. The second part of the model coupled these neuronal filters to the blood vasculature, describing how the neuronal activity is reflected in much slower fMRI signals.


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c18a3f4e0f8a99d8a713abdd891545c2

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Board Game Family Great Board Games to Go Around ? The ...

We hope you had a fantastic Christmas break and are looking forward to a nice New Year?s break as well (if even for only 1 day). We had a great time with family and friends and even got to play a few board games during the festivities.

With a whole week off of work I had great plans to catch up and post a few board game reviews that we?ve filmed. But, as you can tell, that hasn?t happened. It?s just been so fun and relaxing to kick back and simply enjoy time with family. So all the editing and writing was placed on the shelf for a while.

Snowshoeing

Donuts here we come!

Last weekend we spent a bunch of time together leading up to Christmas ? including going with the kids as they bought presents for each other (each child getting their own 1-on-1 time at the crowded stores). The day before Christmas we started with sledding in new fallen snow and ended Christmas Eve at grandparents house decorating gingerbread trains and trees, reading new Christmas storybooks, playing chimes, playing carols with kazoos, feasting, and eating too many desserts. And Christmas day brought more fun times with the kids and extended family (and more food).

Snowshoeing

The Donut reward!

The last few days we?ve spent new toys, reading books, watching movies, and going snowshoeing. With almost 4 steady days of snow, the snowshoeing was fantastic! It?s the first time we?ve gone as a family and we had a great time. There?s a place up a canyon near our home called Donut Falls that?s a great family hike both in summer and winter (3 miles RT). So we bought a dozen donuts and hiked to Donut Falls to eat them. It was a great treat/reward for making it to the falls.

Oh ? and I recall playing a board game or two this week as well.

In fact, one board game that we got for Christmas has been played daily by the boys with constant talk of playing again and again. And at 1:30 am this morning it was almost played yet again ? but, we decided sleep was a good option too.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition board game

Bring on the dungeon monsters!

What the big board game hit this Christmas? Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition.

It?s the first ?dungeon crawler? game that our family has played and it has been an immediate hit. And with the amount of open-ended possibilities with the game, I think it will continue strong well into the future. With how big a hit it?s been, we?ll get a full review up as soon as we can. But to give you a quick glimpse, it?s a game with heroes venturing into dungeon-type scenarios to battle monsters and accomplish quests.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition board game

Battles in progress.

One person plays the side of the Overlord who controls the monsters and the rest are the heroes. The game is chuck-full of miniatures, cards, tokens, and double-sided board pieces to make up the dungeons. There?s 23 page Rulebook and a 43 page Quest Guide. So getting up and running took quite some time (for dad at least ? going through it in preparation). But, the boys are hooked and can?t get enough. And even though we?ve only played a handful of scenarios so far, Trevor?s already wanting to create his own scenario.

Memoir ?44 ? above and beyond
One of the items I had at the top of my Christmas board games with list was an expansion for Memoir ?44. And while I didn?t receive one of the expansion sets, I got something completely unexpected and fantastic from my Dice Tower Secret Santa ? the Memoir ?44 Campaign Book Volume 1. The Campaign Books add a new level of fun to Memoir ?44 and the Volume 1 is out of print. So it was very sweet to get this gift and after playing it this week, I?ll agree that it?s a great addition to my Memoir ?44 fix.

The next board game gift we opened on Christmas was the 7 Wonders: Cities expansion. It hasn?t hit the table yet, but we?re looking forward to playing it soon ? once we can clear the big table of Descent. :)

Caleb was also given the R2-D2 Star Wars game of Trouble. It?s still the same luck-driven simple game of rolling dice and moving your pieces around the board, but I have to admit that the R2-D2 sounds when you pop the dice popper adds some spice to the game.

The gift of time together.

Another gaming gift came from Jaden in the form of a coupon book. It seems he took a page out of Trevor?s gift book from last year and gave me coupons for game time with him. With a book almost constantly in his hands, he?s sometimes the toughest to get to sit down to play games with. Now I have an ace up my sleeve with his game coupon book.

Thursday night we also had some of our neighbor father and sons come over for some fun and games. We didn?t introduce them to any of the new games but instead pulled out a few older ones and ended with a full 7-player game of Shadows Over Camelot ? in which the knights were defeated by the traitor amongst us. Even though the 6 brave knights lost, we had a great time playing.

And that?s what board games are all about ? having fun with family and friends.

So whether we play old games are new games, simple games or more involved games, many games once or one game many times, it?s all about enjoying the time together.

We hope you have a very enjoyable time with your family as you start the New Year 2013!

?

Source: http://www.theboardgamefamily.com/2012/12/great-board-games-to-go-around/

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F.D.A. Approves Eliquis From Bristol and Pfizer

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Eliquis is the third anticlotting medicine to be approved recently and it is expected the backers will aggressively market their products.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/business/fda-approves-eliquis-from-bristol-and-pfizer.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Long Distance Relationship Advantages and disadvantages | Oister ...

You have probably arrive. Some sort of troubled relationship can drive you upset, disturb your ideas, along with pin you straight down from living a new gratifying living. In fact , most of the romances become bitter plus end in agonizing break ups because no attempts have already been meant to save it. Many believe that so that the relationship to become steady as well as long-term the newlyweds must check out the excitement they may have believed early on and once you may have lost that thrill there isn?t a solution to create your relationship on phones. They will not recognize that a superb relationship is not merely concerning fascination; it is in regards to the respect as well as mutual affection that you can get between newlyweds. Your better half or significant other should be your very best pal, backed by you via bad and the good. You must do similar for the coffee lover. You should know which for successful connection tips. Its including you and never from outside the house sources. Under no circumstances assume that since you happen to be together for some time for you to not anymore must take the time exactly where your relationship can be involved. KK Select Tips And Tricks his brain is for the subject. Wholesome relationships will surely boost an individual?s subconscious, emotionally charged, even natural state, as opposed to unhealthy even poisonous relationships can be the cause of irritation, unhappiness along with depression. No cost relationship tips signify that once the relationship is going for a short time most people then start noticing the things which irritate us. Behind your man?s solid facade may then lie uncertainty and fear of screwing up. Usually in these predicaments, you can seek by having a a third party, keep in mind not all people provides you with helpful advice for vehicle relationship, a few advices and ways can worsen your personal relationship. Aim to keep each and every exchange as fun and upbeat as you possibly can. Believe in gets the very best issue in an extensive distance marriage and you?ll probably be tempted to investigate about his fidelity. When he?s shady, there?s a great odds he?ll sit. When ever believe in gets that large an concern and occur to be going insane thinking about what he could be just as much as each individual weekend.

Firstly, you cannot force any person into liking anyone. However , that is not right nor your best option. Receiving a girl in order to like you will be simpler than you believe. You will not prefer to appear to be an fool during this process hence these tips will likely help you get the outcomes you desire. To be able to receive the girl of the dreams you will have to start off putting these pointers to make use of now. The very first thing you should do is usually be yourself. It is important that you simply always be true to yourself. And you also should try to learn how to love who you are could use one that really enjoy other people. Do you really shop around and see no adult females are looking for people? When which is situation, reconsider that thought. If you believe that will no one recognizes you when you?re out you ought to check more properly. Healthy Relationship with Oregon Atsa it become look since desirable as they can. Dressed in a simple t-shirt with jeans will not enable you to get the women you need. Bringing in beautiful women is really as effortless as changing the way that you dress by putting on different clothing. Lots of guys will simply don what they feel safe whereby is free fitting apparel. Start with picking clothes that suits our bodies type considerably better. You wish to look their best, i remember? In order to attract more women to remember a person, this is the moment you begin adopting the steps on top of. No cost dating can am often nerve-racking. To make the a bit a lot easier, try a little wonderful pictures that will present the best unique plus good areas of the body. It will also often be a way to getting as numerous persons for your profile as it can be who are interested in ontmoet facile dating. Where you reach put your data.

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Source: http://oister.org/?p=2105

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San Francisco Cable Car Painter Dies Of Cancer ? CBS San ...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ? For 30 years, Efren Bernal painted San Francisco?s world-famous cable cars. The longtime artist died from cancer this week.

?Yesterday, my dad passed away peacefully,? Mariel Bernal Perales, Bernal?s daughter told CBS 5 on Friday. Perales and her sisters went through their father?s things from his Muni locker, including paintbrushes and stencils.

Bernal was diagnosed with cancer only a few months ago.

Painting the cable cars was the only job he could find after immigrating to the United States. Family told CBS 5 he was even turned down for a fast food job.

Undeterred he kept looking. ?He heard about the San Francisco Civil Services,? Perales said.

Bernal got the job with the city as a painter. Even when he filled out applications, his talent was evident.

?His penmanship really stood out, it looked like it was in print,? Perales said.

The painter put his creative skills to work on the internationally famous icons. ?What my dad did was the finer details, like the designs, the etching,? Perales said.

His long run ended with the painting of Cable Car no. 26, which Bernal signed.

?He truly is part of San Francisco,? Perales said.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/12/28/san-francisco-cable-car-painter-dies-of-cancer/

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

LIR: Secrets of Georgia Traffic Law and Legal Update. | Overlasting

LIR: Secrets of Georgia Traffic Law and Legal Update.
Legal  Law
Image by Old Shoe Woman
Members learned about recent legislation related to driving issues which came into effect this past July. In addition, they also learned about some of Georgia?s best kept traffic law secrets. Judge John K. Edwards, Jr., Instructor

LIR: Secrets of Georgia Traffic Law and Legal Update.
Legal  Law
Image by Old Shoe Woman
Members learned about recent legislation related to driving issues which came into effect this past July. In addition, they also learned about some of Georgia?s best kept traffic law secrets. Judge John K. Edwards, Jr., Instructor

LIR: Secrets of Georgia Traffic Law and Legal Update.
Legal  Law
Image by Old Shoe Woman
Members learned about recent legislation related to driving issues which came into effect this past July. In addition, they also learned about some of Georgia?s best kept traffic law secrets. Judge John K. Edwards, Jr., Instructor

LIR: Secrets of Georgia Traffic Law and Legal Update.
Legal  Law
Image by Old Shoe Woman
Members learned about recent legislation related to driving issues which came into effect this past July. In addition, they also learned about some of Georgia?s best kept traffic law secrets. Judge John K. Edwards, Jr., Instructor

Source: http://overlasting.dyndns.org/lir-secrets-of-georgia-traffic-law-and-legal-update/

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Stocks tumble as 'fiscal cliff' deadline nears

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Floor traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012, in New York. Stocks are edging higher on Thursday as hopes dim that a budget deal will be reached before a deadline at the end of the year. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Stocks were heading lower Friday, for a fifth day, on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a year-end deadline. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks fell for a fifth day on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a self-imposed year-end deadline.

The five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones industrial average was the longest since July.

The Dow dropped 158.20 points to 12,938.11 points, with losses accelerating in the last 20 minutes of trading as reports circulated that President Barack Obama would not be making a new budget proposal in a meeting with congressional leaders.

The Standard & Poor 500 index fell 15.67 points to 1,402.43, its longest losing streak in three months, and the Nasdaq dropped 25.59 points to 2,960.31.

"The reality, late in the day, is that a deal is just not going to get done," said Ryan Detrick, a senior technical strategist at Schaeffer Investment Research. "We could be greeted by a big sell-off at the start of January."

President Barack Obama returned from a Christmas break in Hawaii to meet with congressional leaders at the White House to try thrash out the terms of a deal that would prevent across-the-board tax increases for millions of Americans as well as simultaneous government spending cuts beginning Jan. 1. Those measures, if implemented, could push the economy back into recession, economists say.

Stocks closed lower Thursday but erased most of an early loss after Republicans said they would reconvene the House of Representatives Sunday in hopes of piecing together a last-minute budget deal.

Traders have been focusing on Washington, and the budget negotiations, since the Nov. 6 presidential election returned a divided government to power.

"I can't wait till this is done, so we can start talking about markets again and not just about politics," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management. Cote doesn't expect lawmakers will manage to reach a deal before the deadline and says that when people assess the extent of tax increases on the way, "the market is going reel."

Cote also expects slowing earnings growth to hit stocks.

Despite the fiscal gridlock in Washington, major stock indexes are holding on to gains for the year. The Dow is up 5.9 percent, the S&P 500 index is 11.5 percent higher and the Nasdaq is up 13.6 percent.

Stocks rose in 2012 on optimism that a housing market recovery, coupled with an improving job market, will support economic growth. The Federal Reserve has also extended its bond purchasing program, which is intended to lower borrowing costs and encourage spending and investment.

Stocks declined despite reports that suggested the outlook for the economy is improving.

A measure of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes increased last month to its highest level in two and a half years, the latest sign of improvement in the once-battered housing market. The National Association of Realtors said Friday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose to its highest since April 2010.

The Institute of Supply Management's Chicago-area purchasing managers index for December came in at 51.6, beating estimates for a gain to 51.

Bond prices rose as investors moved money into defensive investments. The yield on the benchmark rise 10-year Treasury note, which falls when bond prices rise, dropped to 1.70 percent from 1.75 percent late Thursday.

Among stocks making moves:

Hewlett-Packard fell 36 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $13.68 after the computer and printer maker said the Department of Justice is investigating H-P's business software unit Autonomy. H-P bought Autonomy for $10 billion in 2011 and has accused the company's former management of fudging its accounting before the acquisition. H-P has lost almost half its market value this year, making it the biggest decliner among the 30 stocks in the Dow average.

Barnes and Noble rose 62 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $14.97 after the U.K. publishing and education company Pearson said it is making an $89.5 million investment in the company's Nook Media division, as the two companies look to make a bigger digital push into the education sector.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-28-Wall%20Street/id-4ae78e943c9b409eb8cd400cdfb9e4e9

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Couple loses adoptive daughter after Russia signs ban

After a roller coaster week, Kendra Skaggs sat down to vent on her blog. She had used that space to document her 13 month journey of adopting a young girl named Polina from Russia. But now, with that dream just weeks away from fulfillment, she described her frustration, fear and anger as she watched it being snatched away.

"I have no control. I'm on the other side of the world and I can't hold and comfort my daughter as I wait to hear if we will forever be separated," she wrote in a passionate entry

Her writing seemed to speak for hundreds of American parents whose hopes of adopting a Russian orphan were dashed today when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial ban on adoptions to the United States. The move is part of Russia's retaliation for a set of human rights sanctions passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Obama earlier this month. Critics, including the U.S. State Department, say the adoption ban is playing politics with the lives of children.

Russia is the third most popular country for Americans to adopt from, but in recent years the issue has become a political football in Russia. Americans have adopted over 60,000 Russian children since the fall of the Soviet Union, but Russian officials have seized on the cases of 19 children who died after being adopted by Americans.

Soccer Player Kick-Starts New Career After Viral Video Watch Video

In 2010, a 7-year-old adopted boy named Artyom was put on a plane back to Russia alone by his adoptive mother from Tennessee with little more than a note saying she did not want him anymore. The case touched off a wave of fury in Russia and adoptions to the United States were nearly halted.

Just a week ago Kendra and her husband visited Polina at her orphanage outside Moscow. The bubbly 5-year-old suffers from spina bifida, a condition that has left her numb from the waist down and unable to walk. They showed Polina photos of her new bedroom and told her about her new family. They played together, hugged each other, and promised to see each other soon when they returned in January to bring her home to Arkansas.

The adoption ban legislation, meanwhile, had just been introduced by Russian lawmakers. Kendra had hoped their case, which was nearly completed, would sneak in under the wire. She held out hope again after a Moscow court approved her adoption on Monday. All that was needed was a 30 day waiting period before they could bring Polina home.

It appears even that was too late. The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, but Russian officials have said even cases of 52 children who are within weeks of traveling to the United States are now frozen. Authorities have pledged to find new homes for them in Russia.

For the Skaggs family, it is agonizing to be so close to bringing her home, yet so far. Kendra fears Polina will think she was abandoned again.

"It's the fear of what she is going to think, that we forgot her," she said in an interview with ABC News.

"She's out there and I can't take care of her," she said, crying softly. "I can't help her. I can't tell her I love her. So it's really hard."

She also worries what will happen to Polina in Russia, a country with scarce accommodations for the handicapped.

"Russia really isn't set up for people with disabilities. You can't get into the metro even to get around because it's just levels and levels of stairs that you have to go up and down and there's no handicapped access to the buildings," Kendra said.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/putins-adoption-ban-makes-american-mom-cry/story?id=18082631

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Embodied Cognition: Our Inner Imaginings of the World Around Us Make Us Who We Are [Excerpt]

Editor's note: This excerpt of a chapter from Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning by Benjamin K. Bergen (Basic Books, 2012)? relates that our brain?s capacity to both perceive a pig and then imagine what the animal is like, even one that flies, points to an essential cognitive skill that makes humans different from all other species.

Excerpted from Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning?by Benjamin K. Bergen. Available from Basic Books, a member of The Perseus Books Group.? Copyright ? 2012.

Starting as early as the 1970s, some cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and linguists began to wonder whether meaning wasn?t something totally different from a language of thought [Call it Mentalese, whichtranslates words into actual concepts: a polar bear or speed limit, for instance]. They suggested that?instead of abstract symbols?meaning might really be something much more closely intertwined with our real experiences in the world, with the bodies that we have. As a self-conscious movement started to take form, it took on a name, embodiment, which started to stand for the idea that meaning might be something that isn?t distilled away from our bodily experiences but is instead tightly bound by them. For you, the word dog might have a deep and rich meaning that involves the ways you physically interact with dogs?how they look and smell and feel. But the meaning of polar bear will be totally different, because you likely don?t have those same experiences of direct interaction.

??? If meaning is based on our experiences in our particular bodies in the particular situations we?ve dragged them through, then meaning could be quite personal. This in turn would make it variable across people and across cultures. As embodiment developed into a truly interdisciplinary enterprise, it found footholds by the end of the twentieth century in linguistics, especially in the work of U.C. Berkeley linguist George Lakoff and others; in philosophy, especially in work by University of Oregon philosopher Mark Johnson, among others; and in cognitive psychology, where U.C. Berkeley psychologist Eleanor Rosch?s early work led the way.

???? The embodiment idea was appealing. But at the same time, it was missing something. Specifically, a mechanism. Mentalese is a specific claim about the machinery people might use for meaning. Embodiment was more of an idea, a principle. It might have been right in a general sense, but it was hard to tell because it didn?t necessarily translate into specific claims about exactly how meaning works in real people in real time. So it idled, and it didn?t supplant the language of thought hypothesis [Mentalese] as the leading idea in the cognitive science of meaning.

???? And then someone had an idea.
???? It?s not clear who had it first, but in the mid-1990s at least three groups converged upon the same thought. One was a cognitive psychologist, Larry Barsalou, and his students at Emory University, in Georgia. The second was a group of neuroscientists in Parma, Italy. And the third was a group of cognitive scientists at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, where I happened to be working as a graduate student. ?There was clearly something in the water, a zeitgeist. The idea was the embodied simulation hypothesis, a proposal that would make the idea of embodiment concrete enough to compete with Mentalese. Put simply:

  • Maybe we understand language by simulating in our minds what it would be like to experience the things that the language describes.

???? Let?s unpack this idea a little bit?what it means to simulate something in your mind. We actually simulate all the time. You do it when you imagine your parents? faces, or fixate in your mind?s eye on that misplayed poker hand. You?re simulating when you imagine sounds in your head without any sound waves hitting your ears, whether it?s the bass line of the White Stripes? Seven Nation Army or the sound of screeching tires. And you can probably conjure up simulations of what strawberries taste like when covered with whipped cream or what fresh lavender smells like. You can also simulate actions. Think about the direction you turn the doorknob of your front door. You probably visually simulate what your hand would look like, but if you?re like most people, you do more than this. You are able to virtually feel what it?s like to move your hand in the appropriate way?to grasp the handle (with enough force to cause the friction required for it to move with your hand) and rotate your hand (clockwise, perhaps?) at the wrist. Or if you?re a skier, you can imagine not only what it looks like to go down a run, but also what it feels like to shift your weight back and forth as you link turns.

???? Now, in all these examples, you?re consciously and intentionally conjuring up simulations. That?s called mental imagery. The idea of simulation is something that goes much deeper. Simulation is an iceberg. By consciously reflecting, as you just have been doing, you can see the tip?the intentional, conscious imagery. But many of the same brain processes are engaged, invisibly and unbeknownst to you, beneath the surface during much of your waking and sleeping life.? Simulation is the creation of mental experiences of perception and action in the absence of their external manifestation. That is, it?s having the experience of seeing without the sights actually being there or having the experience of performing an action without actually moving.

???? When we?re consciously aware of them, these simulation experiences feel qualitatively like actual perception; colors appear as they appear when directly perceived, and actions feel like they feel when we perform them. The theory proposes that embodied simulation makes use of the same parts of the brain that are dedicated to directly interacting with the world. When we simulate seeing, we use the parts of the brain that allow us to see the world; when we simulate performing actions, the parts of the brain that direct physical action light up. The idea is that simulation creates echoes in our brains of previous experiences, attenuated resonances of brain patterns that were active during previous perceptual and motor experiences. We use our brains to simulate percepts and actions without actually perceiving or acting.

??? Outside of the study of language, people use simulation when they perform lots of different tasks, from remembering facts to listing properties of objects to choreographing a dance. These behaviors make use of embodied simulation for good reason. It?s easier to remember where we left our keys when we imagine the last place we saw them. It?s easier to determine what side of the car the gas tank is on by imagining filling it up. It?s easier to create a new series of movements by first imagining performing them ourselves. Using embodied simulation for rehearsal even helps people improve at repetitive tasks, like shooting free throws and bowling strikes. People are simulating constantly.

??? In this context, the embodied simulation hypothesis doesn?t seem like too much of a leap. It hypothesizes that language is like these other cognitive functions in that it, too, depends on embodied simulation. While we listen to or read sentences, we simulate seeing the scenes and performing the actions that are described. We do so using our motor and perceptual systems, and possibly other brain systems, like those dedicated to emotion. For example, consider what you might have simulated when you read the following sentence... :

  • When hunting on land, the polar bear will often stalk its prey almost like a cat would, scooting along its belly to get right up close, and then pounce, claws first, jaws agape.

???To understand what this means, according to the embodied simulation hypothesis, you actually activate the vision system in your brain to create a virtual visual experience of what a hunting polar bear would look like. You could use your auditory system to virtually hear what it would be like for a polar bear to slide along ice and snow. And you might even use your brain?s motor system, which controls action, to simulate what it would feel like to scoot, pounce, extend your arms, and drop your jaw. The idea is that you make meaning by creating experiences for yourself that?if you?re successful?reflect the experiences that the speaker, or in this case the writer, intended to describe. Meaning, according to the embodied simulation hypothesis, isn?t just abstract mental symbols; it?s a creative process, in which people construct virtual experiences?embodied simulations?in their mind?s eye.

{break]

??? If this is right, then meaning is something totally different from [a given] definitional model ... If meaning is based on experience with the world?the specific actions and percepts an individual has had?then it may vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture. And meaning will also be deeply personal?what polar bear or dog means to me might be totally different from what it means to you. Moreover, if we use our brain systems for perception and action to understand, then the processes of meaning are dynamic and constructive. It?s not about activating the right symbol; it?s about dynamically constructing the right mental experience of the scene.

??? Furthermore, if we indeed make meaning through simulating sights, sounds, and actions, that would mean that our capacity for meaning is built upon other systems, ones evolved more directly for perception and action. And that in turn would mean that our species-specific ability for language is built up from systems that we actually share in large part with other species.

??? Of course, we use these perception and action systems in new ways. We know this because other animals don?t share our facility with simulation?The capacity for open-ended simulation is something much more human than ursine, not just in language, but pervasively throughout what we do with our minds. You can simulate what you would look like if you covered your nose with your hand, just as easily as you can simulate what you?d look like if you had two heads or if you had a pogo stick in place of your right leg. If simulation is what makes our capacity for language special, then figuring out how we use it will tell us a lot about what makes us unique as humans, about what kind of animal we are, and how we came to be this way.

??? One of the important innovations of the embodied simulation hypothesis?and one way in which it differs from the language of thought hypothesis [Mentalese]?is that it claims that meaning is something that you construct in your mind, based on your own experiences. If meaning is really generated in your mind, then you should be able to make sense of language about not only things that exist in the real world, like polar bears, but also things that don?t actually exist, like, say, flying pigs. So how we understand language about nonexistent things can actually tell us a lot about how meaning works.

??? Let?s consider the case of the words flying pigs. I?d wager that flying pigs actually means a lot to you, even without thinking too hard about it. Over the years, I?ve asked a lot of people what flying pigs means to them, informally. (One of the luxuries of being a university professor is that people tend to be totally unsurprised when you ask questions like How many wings does a flying pig have?) According to my totally unscientific survey, conducted primarily with the population of individuals with time on their hands and a beverage in their glass, when most people hear or read the words flying pigs, they think of an animal that looks for all intents and purposes like a pig but has wings. The writer John Steinbeck imagined such a winged pig and named it Pigasus. He even used it as his personal stamp. What do you know about your own personal Pigasus? It probably has two wings (not three or seven or twelve) that are shaped very much like bird wings. Without having to reflect on it, you also know where they appear on Pigasus? body?they?re attached symmetrically to the shoulder blades. And although it has wings like a bird, most people think that Pigasus also displays a number of pig features; it has a snout, not a beak, and it has hooves, rather than talons.

??? There are a couple things to draw from this example. First, flying pigs seems to mean something to everyone. And that?s important because there?s no such thing as an actual flying pig in the world. In fact, part of the meaning of flying pigs is precisely that flying pigs don?t exist. What all of this means, not to be too cute about it, is that the Mentalese theory that meaning is about the relation of definitions to real things in the world will only work when pigs fly.

??? Second, if you?re like most people, what you did when you understood flying pigs probably felt a lot like mental imagery. You might ask yourself, did you experience visual images of a flying pig in your mind? Were they vivid? Were they replete with detail? Of course, consciously experiencing visual imagery is just one way to use simulation?you can also simulate without having conscious access to images. But where there?s imagined smoke, there may be simulated fire. If you?re like most people, when you simulate a flying pig, you probably see the snout and the wings in your mind?s eye. You may see details like color or texture; you might even see the pig in motion through the air. The words flying pigs are not unique in evoking consciously accessible visual detail. The same is true for lots of language, whether the things it describes are impossible like flying pigs or totally mundane like buying figs or somewhere in between, like the polar bear?s nose.

??? Third, and I don?t expect that this occurred to you because it only became clear to me through my extensive research?flying pigs doesn?t actually evoke something of the genus Pigasus for everyone. For some people, flying pigs don?t use wings to propel themselves, but instead conscript superpowers. If your flying pig is of this variety?let?s call it Superswine?then it probably wears a cape. Maybe a brightly colored spandex unitard, too, with some symbol on the chest, like a stylized curly pig tail or, better yet, a slice of fried bacon. And what?s more, when it flies, Superswine?s posture and motion are different from those of winged flying pigs. Whereas winged flying pigs hold their legs beneath their body, tucked up to their bellies or hanging below them, Superswine tend to stretch their front legs out in front of themselves, ? la Superman.

??? I?ll be the first to admit that the respective features of Pigasus and Superswine are not of great scientific value or vital public interest in and of themselves. But they do tell us something about how people understand the meanings of words. People simulate in response to language, but their simulations appear to vary substantially. You might be the type of person to automatically envision Superswine, or you might have a strong preference for the more common Pigasus. We observe individual variation like this not only for flying pigs, but equally for any bits of language. Your first image of a barking dog might be a big, ferocious Doberman, or it might be a tiny, yappy Chihuahua. When you read torture devices, you might think of the Iron Maiden or you might think of a new Stairmaster at your gym. Variation in the things people think words refer to is important because it means that people use their idiosyncratic mental resources to construct meaning. We all have different experiences, expectations, and interests, so we paint the meanings we create for the language we hear in our own idiosyncratic color.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=18ad24f45b774dd1f7add1ac31a25990

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Friday, December 28, 2012

German FinMin says worst of euro debt crisis over

(AP) ? Germany's finance minister says the worst of euro area's debt crisis appears to be over after three years of worries over Greece and other members of the group of 17 European Union countries that use the single currency.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted Thursday as telling the Bild newspaper: "I think we have the worst behind us."

Schaeuble says Greece and others have recognized that they can only overcome the crisis by implementing reforms and that the Greek government ? which has received two bailouts ? "knows that it cannot financially overburden the other euro states".

Some in Germany have expressed concern about the economy of neighboring France. But Schaeuble says the government there "knows very well that every country must constantly conduct reforms to remain competitive."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-27-Europe%20-Financial%20Crisis/id-024cfee53f944f50a7d06263f100be1b

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The year's top ancient mysteries (and missteps)

New questions are being raised about whether Jesus was married after Harvard historian Karen King found an ancient papyrus with words apparently referring to Jesus' wife. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.

By Alan Boyle

Long-ago lore still has the power to ignite modern-day controversies: Witness the tempests that were stirred up this year over the Maya calendar, the purported "Gospel of Jesus' Wife," a bone box linked to early Christians, a disputed dinosaur skeleton and the plan to clone a woolly mammoth.

It turned out that there was much more to each of these cases than met the eye. Or sometimes much less. Either way, we'll be hearing more about ancient mysteries in the year to come. Here's a status report on six of 2012's most controversial mysteries (and missteps) in the realms of archaeology, anthropology and paleontology.


Gospel of Jesus' Wife: Harvard historian Karen King stirred up a sensation in September with the unveiling of a papyrus that apparently quotes Jesus talking about "my wife." The claims quickly sparked questions about the murky origins of the papyrus, and the Vatican suggested that the controversial text was faked. Most other experts on textual analysis were similarly skeptical.

The Harvard Theological Review withdrew plans to publish a scholarly article about the papyrus in its January issue, and this month a spokesman for the journal said tests to authenticate the document were not yet complete. The Smithsonian Channel has delayed broadcasting a documentary on the find, pending further testing. Status: In limbo.

The Jonah box: In February, researchers announced that they used a camera-equipped robotic arm to study an ossuary, or funerary bone box, within a sealed underground tomb in Jerusalem. They said the box was engraved with a picture of a fish, as well as allusions to "Jonah" and resurrection. Their conclusion was that the inscriptions served as evidence that early Christians were buried in the tomb ? but skeptics disputed that interpretation. Did the picture really show a fish, or was it an upside-down tower, or an urn? The controversy was stoked by the fact that the "Jonah box" team was also behind the even more hotly debated "Jesus Tomb" project a couple of years earlier.

Months later, the findings are still in dispute. One of the researchers behind the find is James Tabor, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. ?He says some experts have told him privately that they agree with his interpretation, but they're reluctant to speak out because of the acrimony surrounding the original reports. One expert who has voiced cautious support for the "Jonah and the fish" interpretation is Princeton Theological Seminary's James Charlesworth. (That support, too, has come under criticism.) Tabor acknowledges that more evidence is needed. "What we really need to do is enter the tomb and bring those ossuaries out. ... But that would have to be maybe next year," he said today.?Status: In limbo.

Maya calendar: 2012's most publicized ancient mystery has to do with the Maya calendar, and the fact that Dec. 21 apparently marked the end of a series of cycles ? including the 394-year baktun cycle as well as the 5,126-year "cycle of creation." Somehow, those calendrical cycles got mixed up with worries about the end of the world. Did the ancient Maya really think the cosmos would blink out of existence when the calendar ended? And if they did, why should we believe them?

Nothing happened on Dec. 21, other than some New Age-style celebrations of the new age. But the controversy did attract some extra attention for archaeological finds???including the discovery of a calendar workshop that clearly referred to dates beyond 2012, and an inscription that refers to the end of a calendar cycle in 2012, but not the end of the world. Status: Case closed.

Heritage Auctions via Reuters

An 8-foot-tall dinosaur skeleton is tied up in federal court proceedings.

Disputed dinosaur: You could argue that the world's hottest dinosaur fossil is currently in federal custody in New York. The 24-foot-long skeleton, nicknamed Ty, was said to come from a tyrannosaur-like species known as Tarbosaurus bataar. Fossil dealer Eric Prokopi sold it for more than $1 million in May, but experts claimed that the bones must have been smuggled out of Mongolia years earlier. Federal authorities seized the skeleton and filed criminal charges against Prokopi.

The civil and criminal proceedings yielded some surprises: Prokopi's lawyers said the skeleton was assembled from bones that were gathered up from various sources, leading to a new nickname: "Franken-saurus."?Government prosecutors, meanwhile, said they have photos and forms to back up their claims that the dealer was "a participant in the black market" in Mongolia. Just today, Prokopi pleaded guilty to the smuggling charges and agreed to give up the dinosaur skeleton. That means Ty will eventually be sent back to Mongolia. Prokopi could be sentenced to up to 17 years in prison, but today's plea may win him leniency from the court.?Status: Case essentially closed.

Pyramids on Google Earth:?Researcher Angela Micol made a splash in August with claims that Google Earth imagery appeared to show pyramid-type structures in the Egyptian desert. She suggested that these were previously unknown sites ? but it turns out that archaeologists have known about them for decades, and have studied them up close. The most intriguing formations are natural mounds, topped by structures that may have served as watchtowers and/or wells, said Italian Egyptologist Paola Davoli.

Another formation that Micol saw in the imagery is thought to be an oddly shaped natural butte.?Micol told me in September that she was working with contacts in Egypt to get a closer look, but there haven't been any new revelations lately. Status: Case close to being closed.

Cloning a woolly mammoth: Is it really possible to bring the woolly mammoth back to life, tens of thousands of years after the species went extinct? It's highly doubtful, but Korean and Russian researchers are still trying. The project, unveiled in March, would involve recovering viable cells from a mammoth specimen pulled from the Siberian permafrost, implanting the cells' genetic material into an elephant egg, creating a cloned embryo, then transferring the embryo to an elephant womb for gestation. Each of those steps is fraught with difficulty ??and the South Korea scientist in charge of the project is none other than Woo-Suk Hwang, who was disgraced several years ago in a scandal surrounding faked cloning results.

Last month, The Siberian Times reported that samples of mammoth bone marrow, hair, muscles and fat tissue were taken from Yakutsk to Seoul, to find out whether living cells could be extracted. Sources at the lab in Seoul did not respond to phone or email inquiries this week, but even if the cells turn out to be viable, don't expect to see a mammoth resurrection anytime soon. Russian researcher Semyon Grigoriev said it would be "years before we learn to choose the suitable cells or to re-create an extinct DNA molecule." Status: Case not yet closed. Or should that be, "not yet cloned"?

Dinosaurs ... and more: Science writer Brian Switek (a.k.a. @Laelaps) rounded up the year's top stories in paleontology at his "Dinosaur Tracking" blog, just before shifting over to Phenomena, National Geographic's new online science salon. In an email, he highlighted a few of his favorite stories:

"I was particularly interested by Nyasasaurus (confirming an earlier origin for dinosaurs), Yutyrannus (showing that feathers were not just for small dinosaurs)?and mammal bones adding new evidence that dinosaurs may have been endothermic," he told me. "In other fossil news, the two that jump to mind are: fossil turtles caught in the act of mating; and?a new fossil shark species which shows that Carcharocles megalodon was not a giant ancestor of today's white shark, but a member of a different lineage altogether."

I've included the fossil turtle-sex tale in our annual roundup for the Weird Science Awards, but here are 30 more ancient mysteries that should keep you clicking into the new year:

Ten top paleontology tales from Cosmic Log and NBC News:

Ten top anthropology tales from Cosmic Log and NBC News:

Top 10 discoveries from Archaeology magazine:


Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. 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. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. 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.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/27/16173366-the-years-ancient-mysteries-and-missteps-put-into-perspective?lite

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Mandela close to medical care at home

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The doctors treating former South African leader Nelson Mandela believe he should remain in Johannesburg for now to be close to medical facilities that can provide care to the 94-year-old, the government said Thursday.

Mandela left a hospital Wednesday evening after nearly three weeks of treatment there, and was brought to his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton. The anti-apartheid icon, also known by his clan name, Madiba, has spent more time in recent years in the rural village of Qunu in Eastern Cape province, where he grew up.

Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, said he hopes "it won't be too long before he's with us back in Qunu, where he belongs," but acknowledged that the doctors' assessment is critical to any decision to travel.

"It can be a strenuous trip," the grandson said in an interview with eNCA, a South African television news channel. "We will await the feedback from the doctors as to when he will be fit and ready to come back home."

Mandela was admitted Dec. 8 to a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Johannesburg. The ex-president was treated for a lung infection and also had a procedure to remove gallstones.

"Where Madiba goes, in which period, in which times, is a matter that is entirely dependent on his own wishes. Whatever he wishes, we will do," presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told eNCA.

"But right now, the doctors have considered it necessary and good that he should be in Houghton so that he's close to all the facilities where we can give him high care," Maharaj said.

Maharaj noted that Mandela had been in good spirits while receiving President Jacob Zuma and other visitors while he was hospitalized.

"Madiba was doing well, but as you know, when you're recovering there are ups and downs, slight ups and downs, and the doctors are looking for a steady progress and that began to be registered over the last few days," the spokesman said.

Mandela is revered around the world as a symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation, his legacy forged in the fight against apartheid, the system of white minority rule that imprisoned him for 27 years. The Nobel laureate served one five-year term as president after South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994.

Maharaj said Mandela is able to see his family "more easily" now that he is at home, but he appealed to the public to respect the former president's privacy "to allow the best possible conditions for his full recovery."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mandela-close-medical-care-home-130234303.html

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PHOTOS: Sexy Santa! John Mayer Poses as Saint Nick

Whether they're decking the halls or lighting the menorah, these celebrities are happy to share their seasonal shots

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrity-christmas-and-holiday-twitter-photos/1-b-507868?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrity-christmas-and-holiday-twitter-photos-507868

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'White Christmas': People create holiday magic for others

The movie 'White Christmas' isn't just a holiday classic because Bing Crosby croons that title song. Check it out for an example of a holiday movie with no supernatural elements, no sudden miracles ? just people making something kind of magic happen for others.

By Molly Driscoll,?Staff Writer / December 25, 2012

'White Christmas' stars Bing Crosby (l.) and Danny Kaye (r.).

Enlarge

Don?t get me wrong: I?m a big fan of holiday magic.

Skip to next paragraph Molly Driscoll

Staff writer

Molly Driscoll is a Books and the Culture staff writer.

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Many classic stories feature otherworldly behavior and happenings, such as the title character flying through the air with the other reindeer in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or an angel coming down to Earth to help George Bailey realize he wants to live in "It?s a Wonderful Life." The holiday season, it seems, is as much about blurring the line between our world and others as it is about a pine tree or a menorah.

But in my holiday movie viewing, I?m also a fan of movies where average, everyday people make something kind of special happen for others ? and that?s why I love the movie "White Christmas."

Now, I think this movie is a pretty acknowledged classic, but I also come from a family that owns the 1938 movie "Bringing Up Baby" on both VHS and DVD, so I recognize that our film preferences may run a little older than most. In case younger generations aren?t familiar with the 1954 film, "White Christmas" follows Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby, he who you have heard singing the title song on the radio a million times) and Phil Davis?(Danny Kaye), buddies who served under the same general during World War II. At the end of the war, they begin performing together in nightclubs and get fairly famous. They meet two sisters who also work in entertainment, and the four head up to Vermont to a scenic inn. But ? surprise! ? the inn is run by Bob and Phil?s old general, who?s not doing too well financially and is feeling a bit left behind by life.?

Spoilers ahead if you haven?t seen the movie??

Kindhearted Bob and Phil hatch a plan to get as much of their regiment up to the inn as possible on Christmas Eve to show the general he?s not forgotten. They manage to keep him in the dark, and ? well, try not to get a tear in your eye when the general rounds the corner and encounters a room full of men who used to be under his command and have traveled miles to see him and show him how much he meant to them. His struggle not to cry is enough to get me and most of my female relatives blubbering.

It?s a 1950s musical and there?s a lot of songs ? including the lilting lullaby "Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep)" ? which I find charming and fun, but then, I?m a musical fan. If you?re not as much into the song-and-dance, go get a snack or something while Danny?s tap-dancing, because the end is worth it.

I?m all for Christmas miracles and ghosts coming back to show misers how much they?re missing in life and nutcrackers turning into fairy princes. But sometimes human-made magic is the best kind of all.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/IAiPb21z1B8/White-Christmas-People-create-holiday-magic-for-others

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Healthy Pasta Recipes

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Posted on by Lizzie Fuhr ?

Cooler temperatures and the busy holiday season lay the cravings on heavy. While pasta certainly isn't an everyday food, for anyone looking for a little Winter comfort, each of these lightened-up pasta dishes will hit the spot.

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Source: http://www.fitsugar.com/Healthy-Pasta-Recipes-26305178

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Kate Winslet Secretly Marries Ned Rocknroll!

Kate Winslet Secretly Marries Ned Rocknroll!

Kate Winslet pictures“Titanic” star Kate Winslet has married her boyfriend Ned Rocknroll in a secret ceremony in New York. The 37-year-old actress was given away by her “Titanic” co-star Leonardo DiCaprio at an intimate ceremony in New York. Winslet’s rep confirmed the wedding, stating, “I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned RocknRoll in NY earlier this ...

Kate Winslet Secretly Marries Ned Rocknroll! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2012/12/kate-winslet-secretly-marries-ned-rocknroll/

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