90 Days Without a Cell Phone, Email or Social Media? (ContributorNetwork)

Could you live with daily electronic conveniences -- Twitter, Facebook, email, texting and more -- for 90 days? Jake P. Reilly, a 24-year-old college student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, did just that.

From October to December, he unplugged from social media, email, texts, and cell phones because he felt that we spend more quality time with gadgets and keyboards than we do with the people we really care about.

During his social experiment, he found that some people he counted among his close friends really weren't that close after all. He also discovered that taking a break from his relationship with social media and really paying attention to the people around him can revive real-life romance.

I spoke with Reilly over the phone this weekend about his 90-day project, what he learned from living without electronic leashes and how it changed his life.

You say you spent three months completely cut-off from the virtual world. What steps did you take to do that?

Reilly: I called Verizon and suspended service for my cell phone. I deactivated Facebook. I deactivated Twitter, deactivated Linked-In, deactivated Spotify, and anything where there was a social component. I put up an out-of-office on both of my email accounts, like, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I won't receive this until the end of the year."

Did you ever cheat and check to see what messages came in?

Reilly: I never went back on any of the social stuff. There were a few times when the bank would send me an email verification. My roommates would see me checking something like that, and they'd see me with my hands up to shield my eyes from the bulk of the screen, like a girl would do when she's watching a horror movie that she doesn't want to see. I genuinely didn't want to see what was there, because once you look you've got an urge to read it.

Before what you called "The Amish Project," how much time would you typically spend on social media sites, texting, and so forth every day?

Reilly: It was pretty bad. I was reading every single Tweet and I follow 250 people. Then, I would waste a good hour and a half on Facebook. I was sending more than 1,500 texts a month. I never really counted minutes on the phone, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was 600 to 900.

What about now, has it changed?

Reilly: I mean, I struggle with that because everyone wants to know about it, and wants to know how different it is. It's hard, because I was just going to turn off my phone at first. That was the thing that bothered me most, but I realized that if I turned off the phone, people were just going to email me all the time or send me a million Facebook messages. It's kind of a hard thing, because we're getting to the point where if you're not responding to people's text messages within an hour of when they send them, or within a day for emails, it's just socially unacceptable. It's been hard for me since I've been back. I've been bad with my phone and people are, like, "What the hell? I text messaged you?" So I haven't been up to social standards in terms of responding and people don't really understand that, I guess.

In the opening of your "Going Amish" presentation, you say that you had friends over and realized what was going on. Describe what you noticed and your feelings right at that moment.

Reilly: I live with three guys and we had two of our best friends in visiting from New York City. We only see these guys once a year, maybe every six months. We were at the University of Wisconsin watching a Badgers basketball game or something like that. Every single person had either a laptop or a cell phone. That's just kind of funny to begin with, then, I was like, "What are we all doing?" I asked everyone what they were doing and somebody's playing Words with Friends, somebody's playing Angry Birds, somebody's playing online trivia. Nobody's really doing anything, just sitting quiet. It's like this was what we were all looking forward to and we're just sitting here numbing our minds.

That's the thing that drives me crazy. People go out to dinner with a crowd and everyone's on their phone. I mean, what else are you looking for?

How did you communicate with family, friends and business associates during your "Amish" period?

Reilly: Ha! Not well, to say the least.

Do you have a landline?

Reilly: At first, we didn't, but my mom started freaking out a little bit and we got a landline. For the first three weeks, there was a hospital right next to my apartment. I went into their waiting room where there's a courtesy phone for their patients. I was using that to call people. I had written a little address book with all the important people that I needed to have their phone numbers, but, you know, most people don't answer their phones. Most people just use them to see who called. Then, they'll text you, or they'll call you back when they have time. So, I'd either sit at the hospital waiting for people to call back or I'd go home. I was in and out of this stupid hospital waiting room all the time for the first couple of weeks.

Then, we started to have more fun with it. I started to carry chalk around with me. I ride my bike a lot, so, I'd ride my bike over to people's houses and leave them messages in chalk on their sidewalk. I set up a couple of systems with people where, when they got home, they would put something in the window, like a stuffed dog, or put a pumpkin up on the ledge that meant "Hey, I'm here. Come talk." I started having fun trying to dream up different ways to get people's attention.

Were there people who said, "I'm just not going to participate in this. If you can't answer my texts, I don't need to talk to you."

Reilly: Yeah, I mean, I definitely just lost complete contact with people that normally would have been part of my life. I mean it's also an interesting metric for your life to see who some of your closest friends are, you know, and who's willing to take the time. I started to feel bad for them, too, because it definitely became a nuisance, but, yeah, it definitely changed the level of, or the number of friends that I had and the level of contact that I had with them.

So, with some people it clearly decreased your level of interaction, but were there others with whom your contact increased in either quality or quantity while you were disconnected from the virtual social society?

Reilly: That was my other favorite part. I had so much free time on my hands. I also wasn't watching TV, because that felt sort of counter-productive. I would go to school, and then there was really nothing for me to do at home, so I would just ride my bike to people's houses, all these people that I would usually text or just see on the weekends or whatever. I would just ride by and chat with them, face to face. So, that was really cool, reconnecting, doing things you'd never normally do like having breakfast with someone's parents.

You posted several of the notes you received from friends during your isolation. One note read "Jake, I'm pregnant. Call me." What was that about?

Reilly: Ha! At the school, there's an elevator. No matter where you're going, everyone has to use the elevator on the ground floor. So, for the people that I went to school with, that was the first place we'd post projects or memes. I didn't say this is my message board, but one of the girls just started leaving messages, like, "Hey. I'm on the fourth floor. Come find me," or "Jake, where are you?" It's a very public forum, so everybody can read it. It became my message spot.

Then, people almost treated it like a Facebook wall. It evolved from leaving messages for each other, to joking around, like, "Jake, your mother called. She said she doesn't love you anymore," and "Jake, the cops are looking for you," and all this stuff. It turned into a funny thing.

At one point there was a Christmas greeting trampled in the snow? What were the circumstances around that?

Reilly: Yeah, that was mine for my long-term girlfriend who I had kind of stopped seeing, but then this whole thing kind of, I think, helped us get back together because whenever we were together there was no pressure. It was, OK, we're just going to enjoy each other right now, because I don't know when I'm going to see you again. There was no drunken text messaging and jealousy from Facebook. It was just her and I.

So we started seeing each other again, and I did a lot of cheesy stuff like writing a big chalk message on the street in front of her office building and sending her a cookie with a message written in frosting and stuff like that. On the last week that she was in Colorado I went out and wrote Merry Christmas to her -- that picture was taken from the roof of the apartment we were staying at.

Do you think that those who rely so heavily on social media to interact with others are training themselves to communicate only at the most superficial level?

Reilly: Yeah, for sure. I think that Facebook is the biggest waste of time, because everyone is just presenting such a filtered picture of themselves. You only put up your best pictures. People only check in when they are at the fanciest restaurant in the city. They only keep things up there that are flattering to themselves. I just think it's like keeping up with the Joneses, but for life. You're never going to get on top of it. Someone's always going to have a better job than you, go on better vacations than you, have a better looking wife than you, or whatever it is. So, it's superficiality on top of superficiality. You never get to see the real parts of people.

Did you have to relearn skills to function without electronic communications? Writing letters, for example. I know my son has nearly illegible penmanship because he has been typing everything instead of handwriting since he was very little.

Reilly: I really don't have good penmanship at all. The funny thing is that I had written like 15 or 20 letters, and I just held them for two weeks until one time I dropped my pack and realized that I had lost the letters. I had taken all the time to write the letters and then lost them, because I didn't take the time to go mail them. You know, when's the last time I sent a letter? Never. So, I had to remember to stamp it right away and get it in. Then, it's going to take a week to get there. So when you need to say something to someone, you need to get it right in on time.

You said that you had much more free time when you stayed off Facebook and social media sites. Did this extra time translate into higher productivity or better grades at school?

Reilly: Yeah, a hundred times over. Like I said, there wasn't really much to do at the house, so I stayed at school most nights until 10 when everyone else leaves around 6, without a doubt. I think what's so hard for people and so distracting for people is that where they work, there are social media distractions on the same machine that they are supposed to be using to do their work. I'm sure every office in the country suffers from these things. I couldn't go to these sites, and when you can't distract yourself, all you can do is work.

How did you fill all this extra time? What's one thing you would have never accomplished if you hadn't taken this break in your relationship with social media?

Reilly: I did a lot of things that I don't know [?] other people would say they want to do. But I think, if they actually did them, they'd be of incredible value. I started meditating. People give you a lot of books that you can take time for, like "The Power of Now."

The best part for me was just the difference between riding your bike to work and going for a bike ride just for the fun of it. I would sit in the park a lot, throw the football with my friends, go ice-skating, and all that kind of silly stuff that you take for granted. It's all around you. I think that was the best part and most people really overlook that.

So you ended up not only with more time for work, but more time for play as well.

Reilly: Yes, absolutely. It was weird, because you had to think of how to play. Most people think more time for play means let's watch a whole series of video clips or tag some pictures, but when you don't have all that stuff, you expand your mind about what you want to do with your free time.

There's a real difference in the quality of that time. If I sit and play Angry Birds for an hour a day, I don't look back and say "You know, I had a really great Angry Birds session three weeks ago. That was a really great time," but if I share a sunset walk on the beach with someone, that's a memory that I can treasure forever.

Reilly: Yeah, sometimes you just sit on the internet and four hours goes by, and you're, like, I really didn't do one single thing. Maybe I looked at an article, looked at pictures, watched some dumb videos and got stuck in a YouTube black hole for an hour, just looking, looking, looking. I think you'd have a hard time finding anyone who thought that was really enriching your life.

I mentioned your story to my father-in-law the other day, he said "You want to interview somebody, talk to me. I've been doing that for 69 years!"

Reilly: Ha! I think that's what's so much fun about it. I've had a lot of action on Twitter for the last few days and a lot of people send me emails saying exactly that. I think adults really relate to it and think it's cool that someone from my generation is choosing to do it. They all say, "That's how we lived for 40 years. Can you imagine our whole life is like that?" That was interesting to me. I asked my grandparents, "How did you guys find each other when you wanted to go out or something?" They said stuff like throwing window pebbles and just driving by people's houses, and having a diner that you would go and turn up at where people were always there. I mean, they obviously managed just fine, and I was anxious about it and didn't like it for the first few weeks. Then, I didn't even think about my phone or miss it at all. You just find new ways.

I understand your father, ESPN sportswriter Rick Reilly, had a suggestion about your experience?

Reilly: Yeah, he's tweeted it out on his account and he's gotten a lot of reaction to it, too. He's been talking about trying to do a romantic comedy about it. There were so many missed connections. I mean, at first, I would meet girls out at the bar, and they'd be, like, "Here, take my phone number." I would have to explain that I didn't have an email address or Facebook?

?but if they'll give you their address you'll stop by sometime?

Reilly: Yeah, and they were, like, "Screw you. If you don't want to call me just say so." I'd say "No, no. Tell me where your office is, and I'll send you a bike courier message or whatever." I think there's a lot of funny stuff like that. I keep telling people the hardest part was having to send all of my sexts by USPS. I mean, I didn't actually send pictures?

In the end, having finished this whole thing, is your life different now or did you fall right back into old habits?

Reilly: It's definitely different, but I catch myself doing exactly what I hated. Someone is talking to me and I'm half-listening and reading a text under the table. For me, it's trying to be more aware of it. It kind of evolved from being about technology to more of just living in the moment. I think that's what my biggest thing is: There's not so much chasing for me now. I'm here now, and let's just enjoy this. You can be comfortable with yourself and not have to go to the crutch of your phone. For me, that's more what I will take away from this.

Do you have future projects planned?

Reilly: I keep telling everyone I should do another 90 days where I don't speak to anyone in person and only communicate by internet or through technology, but that's just a joke. It's really changed my life. Like I said, I'm back with this girl. Everything's a lot simpler. I'm more than happy that I did it.

What else did you learn?

Reilly: I think the letters were the coolest part and how people were really into it. I think I wrote 75 letters and nearly, I'd say, 85 percent came back with responses. Now all these people are responding to the video online. All the appreciation, I think the coolest part is that all these people really see this in themselves and wish that there was a different way and we weren't so tied to all that stuff.

Let me ask you one more question about the letters. What's the difference in the level of thought and feeling that you put into writing a letter compared to typing 140 characters?

Reilly: What we do now, on e-chat, is people just flying off with whatever comes to mind. It's so much different to have it really thought-out. I'm a writer, so it's time consuming. I think it takes 20 minutes or half an hour to write a letter and really get it the way I want it. I think it's a better, purer way to communicate. People appreciate it so much more when you send them a handwritten letter or even a thank-you note showing that you're taking the time to think about them.

Conclusion:

With modern technology, texts and Facebook wall posts can serve as an attractive veneer making relationships seem more genuine than they really are. Conversely, social media can interfere with our most intimate real-life relationships. How many of your closest relationships would suffer if people had to invest more effort than sending a text to stay in touch? How much better could your relationship with your significant other be if you could give your partner your full attention whenever you're together? There's one way to find out, if you dare.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/us_ac/10900789_90_days_without_a_cell_phone_email_or_social_media

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Mitt Romney's Grand Entrance And Big Finish Before Florida Primary

Traveling with the GOP presidential hopeful, you will hear the words to 'America the Beautiful' ... a lot.
By Gil Kaufman

Mitt Romney talks to supporters in Florida
Photo: Gil Kaufman/ Getty Images

DUNEDIN, Florida — "How many times have we heard this song already?" That's what a beat reporter who's been traveling with the Mitt Romney campaign said Monday afternoon (January 30) at the day's second campaign stop in Florida. With less than 24 hours to go before Tuesday's primary, Romney was about to take the stage to the strains of one of his signature warm-up songs, Toby Keith's "Made in America," and the press corps knew what was going to happen next with their notebooks closed.

"I'm gonna wake up in the middle of the night singing it," the reporter sighed as the crowd in Pioneer Park filed in on a picture-perfect winter day. But for the writers and camera people slogging it out on the trail, it was "Groundhog Day" all over again: new town, same routine.

While the patriotic country tune kept pumping, the crowd of several hundred suddenly turned around en masse as Romney's bus pulled up about 15 minutes late. It seems that like college parties, for presidential candidates, it's all about showing up just a bit late — and making a cool entrance.

Fittingly, Romney referred to the Obama administration as the "groundhog presidency," because, the former Massachusetts governor said, "He keeps saying the same thing, but nothing ever changes."

Romney talked about the trips he used to take with his family as a child — including a visit to Florida's Cypress Gardens — but you could feel the press tuning out as they waited for the obligatory recitation of the candidate's favorite lines from "America the Beautiful."

Following a loss in South Carolina last week, Romney was making his final appearances before Tuesday's crucial Florida vote and he seemed loose and spirited, perhaps thanks to the comfortable lead he opened up against rival Newt Gingrich in the polls as the primary approached.

He left the audience with a stark message about the man he wants to ensure is a one-term president. "He didn't cause the recession," Romney said of President Obama. "But he made it worse."

MTV is on the scene in Florida! Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage of the primaries and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678188/mitt-romney-florida-primary.jhtml

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Box Office Guru Wrapup: The Grey Takes the Top Spot

This weekend, audiences turned out for Liam Neeson's latest thriller The Grey which topped a busy frame that saw three new action entries attack a North American box office that already had plenty of action offerings. Marking the first number one debut for rookie distributor Open Road, the R-rated Alaskan survival pic bowed to an estimated $20M from 3,185 theaters for a solid $6,279 average. Following Taken and Unknown, Neeson has emerged as a more cerebral action hero and has now anchored three number one hits over the past three years which is more than most other Hollywood stars like Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Matt Damon, or Denzel Washington.

Reviews were favorable for The Grey but audiences were not too thrilled with the outcome as the wolf attack flick earned a disappointing B- grade from CinemaScore. Social media chatter on Twitter included plenty of disappointment from people who thought that Neeson would have a bigger presence in the film given his prominence in the advertising campaign. But after the shocking $24.7M debut of Taken over Super Bowl weekend in 2009 and the brawny $21.9M debut of Unknown over last year's Presidents Day holiday frame, it made sense that Neeson was far and away the top commercial selling point for the $25M production which boasted no other major stars. Coming up on his 60th birthday, the busy Irish actor could possibly star in a whopping five number one hits this year thanks to the February 10 re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the March 30 bow of Wrath of the Titans, the May 18 launch of Battleship, and the July 20 release of The Dark Knight Rises.

Despite all the action competition, last week's box office champ Underworld: Awakening held up incredibly well dropping 51% to an estimated $12.5M for the lowest sophomore decline in the history of the four-film franchise. The first three pics each fell by 55-65% after their debuts and generally fourth chapters in a sci-fi or horror series draw such a big part of the built-in audience upfront that they crumble in the second frame. Sony has taken in $45.1M after ten days with its Kate Beckinsale vehicle and can expect a final take in the $65-70M range helped in part by 3D surcharges.

Katherine Heigl landed in third place with a respectable debut for her latest film One for the Money which bowed to an estimated $11.8M from 2,737 sites for a decent $4,293 average. Lionsgate refrained from screening the PG-13 action-comedy for critics but reviews that eventually came out were brutal making it the front-runner for next year's Razzie Awards at this early stage in the race. Heigl's films routinely open in double digit millions despite horrible reviews and lame plots although this one lacked a notable male lead. Money, which finds the actress playing a bail bondswoman hunting down an old flame, skewed heavily towards women with studio research showing that the audience was 79% female and 74% over 25. With a lackluster B- CinemaScore, the road ahead looks grim.

The fighter pilot actioner Red Tails dropped 45% from its impressive debut and took fourth place with an estimated $10.4M. Fox's release of the George Lucas production has collected $33.8M in ten days and a final tally of $55-60M seems likely which is more than most expected.

Scoring the worst opening of the frame's three new releases, but the best audience feedback, was Summit's Man on a Ledge with an estimated $8.3M. The PG-13 film averaged a weak $2,752 per theater from 2,998 locations and just couldn't compete with the wide range of other action offerings in the marketplace. Reviews were dull and lead actor Sam Worthington has never anchored an action hit outside of pre-existing brands like Clash of the Titans or James Cameron. But Ledge did have broad appeal with men and women represented equally and 56% of the crowd being under 25. The CinemaScore grade was a decent B+ and the Friday-to-Saturday increase was 44% - both tops among the freshmen.

A pair of Oscar nominees for Best Picture followed, each exploiting the nominations in a different way. The Tom Hanks-Sandra Bullock drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close dipped only 29% to an estimated $7.1M in its second weekend of wide release to raise the cume to $21.1M. Warner Bros. has used a Million Dollar Baby-style strategy with this 9/11 pic by opening in just a small number of theaters in late December in order to qualify and then waiting until nomination time to go nationwide letting others duke it out during awards season in hopes that it will be a fresh new option for voters and mainstream audiences alike. The plan worked for Baby which triumphed over the presumed front-runner The Aviator that year. But it may not be repeat this time as Loud only scored one other Academy Award nomination and was left out of the Director race. Still, the Oscar heat could help the film's legs at the box office over the next few weeks as mature audiences catch up on Academy-endorsed films.

George Clooney's The Descendants expanded on Friday more than tripling its run on the heels of earning five Oscar nods and jumped back into the top ten at number seven with an estimated $6.6M. Now getting a second life in its 11th week of release, the Fox Searchlight film boosted its theater count by 257% from 560 locations to 2,001 and watched its weekend gross jump 176% although its average fell by 23%. The Alexander Payne-directed pic has banked $58.8M to date and could rake in a lot more thanks to the Oscar heat and the fact that it has some star power and mainstream appeal.

Former number one Contraband followed with an estimated $6.5M, down 46%, giving Universal $56.4M to date for the Mark Wahlberg actioner. Disney's 3D makeover of Beauty and the Beast dropped 39% to an estimated $5.3M for $41.1M so far. The animated film's lifetime gross including the 1991 original release plus the 2002 special edition is now $212.5M. Rounding out the top ten was Steven Soderbergh's action thriller Haywire which fell a sharp 53% in its second weekend to an estimated $4M putting the Relativity title at $15.3M in ten days.

Oscar nominees all hustled this past week to turn nominations into extra box office. Distributors worked hard to cash in as Academy endorsements and media hype can translate into broader moviegoer interest, especially for smaller films that need more convincing. But with this game comes added expenditures as more prints are needed and additional advertising is purchased so the net "Oscar bump" is nearly impossible to calculate.

The undisputed front-runner The Artist expanded from 662 to 897 theaters and saw its weekend take rise 40% to an estimated $3.3M giving The Weinstein Co. a total of $16.7M with plenty more to come. Its average of $3,696 was not too impressive but it did inch up 3% from last weekend. A near-impossible sell in the U.S. market, The Artist is now fully in the spotlight and positioned to pull in audiences that would not have purchased tickets before. There will still be resistance to the silent 1930s-set French-produced film from the broader mainstream crowd so the cume will only rise so high. But with numerous wins including the top film prizes from both the PGA and DGA, the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Comedy or Musical, Critics Choice awards for Picture and Director, plus ten Academy Award nominations, The Artist is clearly the film to beat and can extend its box office fortunes past Feb 26 if it pulls off a big victory.

Martin Scorsese's Hugo, which led all films with 11 Oscar nods, enjoyed a similar expansion from 650 to 965 sites and grossed an estimated $2.3M. Its boost of 143% was much greater as the 3D film is more accessible and includes characters speaking to each other. Paramount's total is $58.7M. The incredibly expensive production did not fare too well during its initial run but now has a chance add to its cume by reaching those who missed it the first time around. Fellow Best Picture contender War Horse did not benefit much as the Spielberg pic fell 37% to an estimated $2M raising the sum to $75.6M. The war drama lost nearly 700 screens but also saw its average drop too.

Following its qualifying run, Glenn Close's Albert Nobbs opened in limited release after nabbing three Oscar nominations and grossed an estimated $773,000 from 245 theaters for a sluggish $3,155 average. The overall cume is $823,000 for Roadside Attractions and reviews have been mixed for the film but solid for Close's performance as a woman playing a man.

Elsewhere below the top ten, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol achieved a pair of notable milestones this weekend. The domestic haul broke the $200M mark with $202.6M thus far while the international run continued to shine raising the overseas tally to $369M. The action hit is now the top-grossing installment of the popular franchise with a global gross of $571.6M and counting thanks in part to a solid debut in China where it raked in $12.7M in only two days more than quintupling the opening of the last Mission: Impossible picture there. The $600M barrier will be crushed soon.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $92.5M which was up 6% from last year when The Rite opened in the top spot with $14.8M; but down 11% from 2010 when Avatar stayed at number one yet again in its seventh frame with $31.3M.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924398/news/1924398/

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Wrecked Italian liner will not be moved for months (Reuters)

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) ? The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday.

Divers searching for bodies in the hulk, which lies half submerged a few meters from the shore, suspended work on Sunday after heavy seas and strong winds caused the vessel to shift noticeably, authorities said.

Bad weather had already delayed plans to begin removing the 2,300 tonnes of diesel fuel in the ship's tanks, an operation expected to take from three weeks to a month once it gets under way, probably by the middle of next week.

Civil Protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli, who is in charge of the operation, said removing the massive wreck from its position outside the port could take up to a year.

"We already knew that this was a very long, drawn out case but I think it's important that everyone is very aware that it will have a very significant timeframe," he told reporters.

Salvaging or moving the ship cannot begin until the fuel and lubricating oil is removed and the risk of an environmental disaster is averted. Even after that, other preliminary work must be done before a company is awarded the salvage contract.

"Just for that, we'll need not less than two months. From that date, we'll move to the operational phase, which will last from 7-10 months," Gabrielli said.

The delay could have a dramatic effect on tourism on the island, a popular holiday spot in a marine reserve off the mainland coast of Tuscany.

"I really fear a drastic fall in arrivals next summer, also because of the problems the ferries have getting into port," said local hotel owner Paolo Fanciulli.

The mayor of Giglio, Sergio Ortelli said the island would seek government help of the delay in moving the ship proved significant and he expressed some annoyance at the forecast.

"It would have been better to wait before talking about the timeframe until there is a firm project in place," he said.

VERY UPSET

The disaster struck more than two weeks ago when the 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia hit a rock which gashed its hull after it sailed to within 150 meters of the shore to perform a display manoeuvre known as a "salute."

Its captain, Francesco Schettino, faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation of more than 4,200 passengers and crew was complete.

"The captain is well, he's reflecting on what happened and he is profoundly upset," his lawyer Bruno Leporatti said after meeting his client, who is under house arrest near Naples.

Divers found a 17th victim on Saturday, the body of a woman identified as a member of the crew, leaving 15 people still missing after the disaster on January 13.

The search was halted on Sunday after measuring instruments placed on board the 290 metre long ship showed about 3.5 centimetres of movement in six hours, compared with a normal movement of one or two millimetres.

Officials have said it is stable and faces little immediate risk of sliding from its resting place in about 20 meters of water into deeper waters.

But even the slight movements posed a risk to divers exploring the ship's dark interior, which is filled with floating debris, including furniture, bedding, curtains and the personal effects of passengers and crew.

An extended legal battle is now in prospect after lawyers in the United States and Italy launched class action and individual suits against the ship's owner Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, the world's biggest cruise operator.

Schettino has said he accepts his share of responsibility for the accident but says he was in constant touch with Costa Cruises during evacuation operations which have been widely criticised as slow and uncoordinated.

"What hurts the most is that there would have been time to save everybody of the order to evacuate had been given more quickly and not an hour and a half after the impact," said Maria Cristina Meduri, a passenger who escaped from the wreck.

She returned with her husband to Giglio on Sunday to thank local people who helped with shelter and warm clothing in the aftermath. However, she was bitterly critical of Costa, which is offering 11,000 euros in compensation - and will reimburse the ticket and other travel costs - in return for an agreement to drop any legal action.

"No, we will not accept it, it's nothing at all," she said. "I left objects with inestimable sentimental value on the ship, like the diamond engagement ring my husband gave me. We're not going to accept this."

(Additional reporting by Laura Viggiano in Naples; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Alison Williams/David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_italy_ship

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Need for courtroom artists fade as cameras move in (AP)

CHICAGO ? One marker in hand and one in his mouth, Lou Chukman glances up and down from a sketchpad to a reputed Chicago mobster across the courtroom ? drawing feverishly to capture the drama of the judge's verdict before the moment passes.

Sketch artists have been the public's eyes at high-profile trials for decades ? a remnant of an age when drawings in broadsheet papers, school books or travel chronicles were how people glimpsed the world beyond their own.

Today, their ranks are thinning swiftly as states move to lift longstanding bans on cameras in courtrooms. As of a year ago, 14 states still had them ? but at least three, including Illinois this month, have taken steps since then to end the prohibitions.

"When people say to me, `Wow, you are a courtroom artist' ? I always say, `One day, you can tell your grandchildren you met a Stegosaurus," Chukman, 56, explained outside court. "We're an anachronism now, like blacksmiths."

Cutbacks in news budgets and shifts in aesthetic sensibilities toward digitized graphics have all contributed to the form's decline, said Maryland-based sketch artist Art Lien.

While the erosion of the job may not be much noticed by people reading and watching the news, Lien says something significant is being lost. Video or photos can't do what sketch artists can, he said, such as compressing hours of court action onto a single drawing that crystallizes the events.

The best courtroom drawings hang in museums or sell to collectors for thousands of dollars.

"I think people should lament the passing of this art form," Lien said.

But while courtroom drawing has a long history ? artists did illustrations of the Salem witch trials in 1692 ? the artistry can sometimes be sketchy. A bald lawyer ends up with a full head of hair. A defendant has two left hands. A portly judge is drawn rail-thin.

Subjects often complain as they see the drawings during court recesses, said Chicago artist Carol Renaud.

"They'll say, `Hey! My nose is too big.' And sometimes they're right," she conceded. "We do the drawings so fast."

Courtroom drawing doesn't attract most aspiring artists because it doesn't afford the luxury of laboring over a work for days until it's just right, said Andy Austin, who has drawn Chicago's biggest trials over 40 years, including that of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

"You have to put your work on the air or in a newspaper whether you like it or not," she said.

The job also involves long stretches of tedium punctuated by bursts of action as a witness sobs or defendant faint. It can also get downright creepy.

At Gacy's trial, a client asked Austin for an image of him smiling. So, she sought to catch the eye of the man accused of killing 33 people. When she finally did, she beamed. He beamed back.

"The two of us smiled at each other like the two happiest people in the world until the sketch was finished," Austin recalled in her memoirs, titled "Rule 53," after the directive that bars cameras in U.S. courts.

There's no school specifically for courtroom artists. Many slipped or were nudged into it by circumstance.

Renaud drew fashion illustrations for Marshall Field's commercials into the `90s but lost that job when the department store starting relying on photographers. That led her to courtroom drawing.

Artists sometime get to court early and sketch the empty room. But coming in with a drawing fully finished in advance is seen as unethical.

Some artists use charcoal, water colors or pungent markers, which can leave those sitting nearby queasy. Most start with a quick pencil sketch, then fill it in. Austin draws right off the bat with her color pencils.

"If I overthink it, I get lost," she said. "I have a visceral reaction. I just hope what I feel is conveyed to my pen."

These days, Chukman and Renaud fear for their livelihoods. They make the bulk of their annual income off their court work. Working for a TV station or a newspaper can bring in about $300 a day. A trial lasting a month can mean a $6,000 paycheck. Chukman does other work on the side, including drawing caricatures as gifts.

Austin is semiretired and so she says she worries less. She also notes that federal courts ? where some of the most notorious trials take place, like the two corruption trials of impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich ? seem more adamant about not allowing cameras.

Still, though Rule 53 remains in place, federal courts are experimenting with cameras in very limited cases.

"If federal courts do follow, that will be the end of us," Austin said.

Renaud holds out hope that, even if the worst happens, there will still be demand from lawyers for courtroom drawings they can hang in their offices. Lien plans to bolster his income by launching a website selling work from historic trials he covered, including of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Chukman, a courtroom artist for around 30 years, jokes that if asked for his opinion, he'd have told state-court authorities to keep the ban in place a few more years until he retires.

"I recognize my profession exists simply because of gaps in the law ? and I've been grateful for them," he said wistfully. "This line of work has been good to me."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_us/us_camera_in_courts_sketch_artist

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David Arquette To Join Courteney Cox On 'Cougar Town' (omg!)

David Arquette is heading to "Cougar Town."

ABC confirmed to Access Hollywood on Friday that David will play a hotel concierge who assists Courteney Cox's character, Jules.

PLAY IT NOW: Josh Hopkins On Slapping Courteney Cox?s Butt On ?Cougar Town?: ?I Should Have Done It Harder!? (2011)

"Can't wait to work with you ladies!" David Tweeted on Friday to Courteney, and Christa Miller, who plays Ellie.

"I can't wait to work with you. You better not be late," Courteney - who just joined Twitter this week, wrote back.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Courteney Cox & David Arquette Over The Years

David will appear in the show's Season 3 finale.

Courteney and David separated in 2010.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com , "Cougar Town" returns on February 14 at 8:30 PM on ABC.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Lovely Ladies Of Primetime Television

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_david_arquette_join_courteney_cox_cougar_town230012614/44332657/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/david-arquette-join-courteney-cox-cougar-town-230012614.html

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Survey suggests family history of psychiatric disorders shapes intellectual interests

Survey suggests family history of psychiatric disorders shapes intellectual interests

Friday, January 27, 2012

A hallmark of the individual is the cultivation of personal interests, but for some people, their intellectual pursuits might actually be genetically predetermined. Survey results published by Princeton University researchers in the journal PLoS ONE suggest that a family history of psychiatric conditions such as autism and depression could influence the subjects a person finds engaging.

Although preliminary, the findings provide a new look at the oft-studied link between psychiatric conditions and aptitude in the arts or sciences. While previous studies have explored this link by focusing on highly creative individuals or a person's occupation, the Princeton research indicates that the influence of familial neuropsychiatric traits on personal interests is apparently independent of a person's talent or career path, and could help form a person's basic preferences and personality.

Princeton researchers surveyed nearly 1,100 students from the University's Class of 2014 early in their freshman year to learn which major they would choose based on their intellectual interests. The students were then asked to indicate the incidence of mood disorders, substance abuse or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in their family, including parents, siblings and grandparents.

Students interested in pursuing a major in the humanities or social sciences were twice as likely to report that a family member had a mood disorder or a problem with substance abuse. Students with an interest in science and technical majors, on the other hand, were three times more likely to report a sibling with an ASD, a range of developmental disorders that includes autism and Asperger syndrome.

Senior researcher Sam Wang, an associate professor in Princeton's Department of Molecular Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, said that the survey ? though not exhaustive nor based on direct clinical diagnoses ? presents the idea that certain heritable psychiatric conditions are more closely linked to a person's intellectual interests than is currently supposed.

During the past several decades, Wang said, various researchers have found that, in certain people and their relatives, mood or behavior disorders are associated with a higher-than-average representation in careers related to writing and the humanities, while conditions related to autism exhibit a similar correlation with scientific and technical careers.

By focusing on poets, writers and scientists, however, those studies only include people who have advanced far in "artistic" or "scientific" pursuits and professions, potentially excluding a large group of people who have those interests but no particular aptitude or related career, Wang said. He and lead author Benjamin Campbell, a graduate student at Rockefeller University, selected incoming freshmen because the students are old enough to have defined interests, but are not yet on a set career path. (Princeton students do not declare a major until the end of sophomore year.)

"Until our work, evidence of a connection between neuropsychiatric disorders and artistic aptitude, for example, was based on surveying creative people, where creativity is usually defined in terms of occupation or proficiency in an artistic field," Wang said. "But what if there is a broader category of people associated with bipolar or depression, namely people who think that the arts are interesting? The students we surveyed are not all F. Scott Fitzgerald, but many more of them might like to read F. Scott Fitzgerald."

The Princeton research provides a new and "provocative" consideration that other scientists in this area can build upon, said Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatry and behavioral science professor at Johns Hopkins University and co-director of the university's Mood Disorders Center.

Jamison, who is well known for her research on bipolar disorder and her work on the artistic/mood disorder connection, said that while interests and choice of career are presumably related, Wang and Campbell present data suggesting that intellectual interests might also be independently shaped by psychiatric conditions, which provides the issue larger context.

In addition, the researchers focused on an age group that is not typically looked at specifically, but that is usually included in analyses that span various ages. Such a targeted approach lends the results a unique perspective, she said. Though the incidence of psychiatric conditions in the Princeton study was based on the students' own reporting and not definitive diagnoses, the rates Wang and Campbell found are not different from other populations, she noted.

"This is an additional way of looking at a complex problem that is very interesting," said Jamison, who played no role in the research project. "This work provides a piece of the puzzle in understanding why people go into particular occupations. In this field, it's important to do as many different kinds of studies as possible, and this is an interesting initial study with very interesting findings. It will provoke people to think about this question and it will provoke people to design other kinds of studies."

An implied connection between psychiatric conditions and a flair for art or science dates to at least Aristotle, who famously noted that those "eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry and the arts have all had tendencies toward melancholia."

Modern explorations of that relationship have examined the actual prevalence of people with neuropsychiatric disorders and their relatives in particular fields.

Among the most recent work, researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry in November that of the 300,000 people studied, people with bipolar disorder, as well as their healthy parents and siblings, were more likely to have a "creative" job ? including a field in the arts or sciences ? than people with no familial history of the condition. Parents and siblings of people with schizophrenia also exhibited a greater tendency to have a creative job, though people with schizophrenia did not.

Various other studies in the past few decades have found a similar correlation between psychiatric disorders and "creativity," which is typically defined by a person's career or eminence in an artistic field such as writing or music. In their work, however, Wang and Campbell present those criteria as too narrow. They instead suggest that psychiatric disorders can predispose a person to a predilection for the subject matter independent of any concrete measure of creativity.

Jamison, in an editorial regarding the Karolinska study and published in the same journal issue, wrote that "having a creative occupation is not the same thing as being creative." Wang and Campbell approached their project from the inverse of that statement: Being creative does not necessarily mean a person has a creative occupation.

"A person is not just what they do for a living," Wang said. "I am a scientist, but not just a scientist. I'm also a guy who reads blogs, listens to jazz and likes to cook. In that same respect, I believe we have potentially broadened the original assertion of Aristotle by including not just the artistically creative, but a larger category ? all people whose thought processes gravitate to the humanistic and artistic."

As past studies have, Wang and Campbell suggest a genetic basis for their results. The correlation with interests and psychiatric conditions they observed implies that a common genetic path could lead relatives in similar directions, but with some people developing psychiatric disorders while their kin only possess certain traits of those conditions. Those traits can manifest as preferences for and talents in certain areas, Wang said.

"Altogether, results of our study and those like it suggest that scientists should start thinking about the genetic roots of normal function as much as we discuss the genetic causes of abnormal function. This survey helps show that there might be common cause between the two," Wang said.

"Everyone has specific individual interests that result from experiences in life, but these interests arise from a genetic starting point," Wang said. "This doesn't mean that our genes determine our fate. It just means that our genes launch us down a path in life, leading most people to pursue specific interests and, in extreme cases, leading others toward psychiatric disorders."

###

Princeton University: http://www.princeton.edu

Thanks to Princeton University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117145/Survey_suggests_family_history_of_psychiatric_disorders_shapes_intellectual_interests

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Egyptians mark 1st anniversary of 'Friday of Rage'

Egyptian protesters sit in front of graffiti showing protesters chat slogans and the on the right side the face of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), with arabic writing, center, that reads "if you see the fangs of the lion bared, then don't think the lion is smiling," at a rally to mark the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptian protesters sit in front of graffiti showing protesters chat slogans and the on the right side the face of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), with arabic writing, center, that reads "if you see the fangs of the lion bared, then don't think the lion is smiling," at a rally to mark the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptian protestor Khalid Ali, 14, his face painted in the colors of his national flag, attends a rally to mark the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

An Egyptian protestor holds a placard depicting Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak encircled in a noose that reads, in Arabic, "rule of the people," during a rally to mark the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Nathalie Bardou)

An Egyptian protestor camping in Tahrir Square, walks out of a tent toward a rally marking the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Egyptians protesters wave the national flag from their perch atop a lamp post at a rally to mark the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Some 10,000 Egyptian protesters converged on Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of "Friday of Rage," a key day in the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

CAIRO (AP) ? Large marches of protesters chanting antimilitary slogans streamed from mosques around Cairo to join tens of thousands massed in central Tahrir Square in a new uprising anniversary rally Friday, with many demanding an early transfer of power by the ruling military and the trial of generals for the killing of protesters.

Tensions erupted when one march of hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the Defense Ministry and were confronted by dozens of supporters of the military. The two sides chanted slogans outside the building, which was guarded by barbed wire and armored vehicles, until a series of loud booms went off. The protesters scattered, and several said they saw a military supporters throw homemade bombs and that one protester was injured.

"We broke the barrier of fear, we delivered a message to the military that we are not scared," Milad Daniel, whose brother Mina was killed in a military crackdown on protesters in October, said after the ministry protest. "They have tanks and armored vehicles but we have God."

Divisions also boiled over in Tahrir Square, where scuffles broke out between the Muslim Brotherhood and secular protesters, who have been in competition over the gatherings this week to mark the one year anniversary of the protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Many in the leftist and secular camp are suspicious of the Brotherhood, believing that now that it won domination of parliament it intends to strike a deal with the generals to give them continued power. The Brotherhood denies any deal.

The political differences have translated into a dispute over the very meaning of the anniversary. The Brotherhood has presented this week as a celebration of the revolution's successes. The secular groups say there is nothing to celebrate when so many demands of the revolution are left unachieved and killings of protesters have gone unpunished.

The fights erupted because of a giant stage the Brotherhood set up in the square since protests Wednesday, which some protesters complain has sought to dominate the gatherings there by blaring religious anthems and music. Others were angered a celebratory banner on the stage proclaiming, "Holiday of the Revolution."

Arguments over the music and banner turned to pushing and shoving, then fistfights and bottles and rocks thrown back and forth, witnesses said. When Brotherhood supporters formed a human chain in front of the state, protesters raised their shoes in the air at them in a show of contempt, chanting, "out, out, out," and "dogs of the military council."

The day's protests, which included mass rallies in other Egyptian cities, commemorated the first anniversary of the "Friday of Rage," one of the bloodiest days of the 18-day wave of protests a year ago that ousted Mubarak.

In last year's "Friday of Rage," Mubarak's security forces fired on protesters marching toward Tahrir from around the capital, killing and wounding hundreds. Protesters battled back for hours until Mubarak's widely hated police forces collapsed and withdrew from the streets.

A year later, protesters' focus is now on demands that the military, which has ruled since Mubarak's Feb. 11 ouster, leave power.

But here too, Islamists and leftist, secular-leaning "revolutionary" protesters are divided. The revolutionaries want the generals out immediately. The Brotherhood, which is now the most powerful bloc in parliament with just under half the seats, is willing to wait for the military's promises to step aside by the end of June.

The leftists and secular groups accuse the military of being as dictatorial as Mubarak and of intending to preserve their power even after handing over their authority to civilians. Regardless of the timetable, there is widespread resentment that little has been done to dismantle Mubarak's regime and prosecute security officers for the deaths of hundreds of protesters during and after the anti-Mubarak uprising.

Amid the crowds in Tahrir, a Muslim cleric delivered a boisterous Friday sermon, proclaiming that the protesters, not the military, have the right to determine the country's course.

"Our right is to dictate the decisions of the revolution," said the cleric, Muzhar Shahine, speaking from the "revolutionaries" stage, as the crowd cheered and cried, "God is great."

He gave a litany of the unrealized changes sought by the revolution.

"A year later, has State Security really been dissolved," he said, referring to Mubarak's feared internal security force that was the backbone of his police state. "Has our land been freed?" He said state media, a key mouthpiece for Mubarak and now the military, must be purged, a constitution must be written that is "shared by all political parties and that gives rights for all of Egypt's children," and Christians must be given the same rights as Muslims.

Rallies of thousands of protesters moved from main mosques all around Cairo to Tahrir, chanting "we want civilian, not military." Some young men had shaved the words "down with military rule" in their hair cuts.

"This is a day of mourning, not celebration," said Abdel-Hady el-Ninny, the father of a slain protester, Alaa Abdel-Hady. He and his family carried large posters of his son around Tahrir.

Friday's protests come two days after hundreds of thousands packed into Tahrir to mark the Jan. 25 start of the uprising against Mubarak. That rally, too, was marked by similar divisions.

There were increasing calls among many protesters for presidential elections to be moved up to April to select a civilian for the military to give its powers as head of state. Under the military's timetable, presidential elections would be held by late June after a new constitution is written, and after the election it would step down.

A youth umbrella group of liberal political forces and activists named "Our Egypt" or "Masrana" issued a statement Thursday calling for a presidential vote before the constitution, a demand repeated in a large banner in Tahrir on Friday.

Supporters of the idea says the constitution should be written under the rule of a civilian president, because the military may try to force provisions that give it a political say or prevent civilian oversight.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-ML-Egypt/id-11be899ada944897a90fdf70a2affeca

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Baylie Brown American Idol Auditions: Then and Now

Baylie Brown enjoyed a triumphant return to American Idol last night.

Five years after her initial appearance on the show - during which she advanced to Hollywood, was paired with uncooperative teammates ere and then forgot the lyrics on stage - this 21-year old Texan showed off a new hair color and a great voice yesterday as one of the 54 Golden Ticket recipients (along with Kristine Osorio and Ramiro Garcia) to make it out of The Lone Star State.

Watch her first try out below, lament how much we miss Simon Cowell by watching him once again in action, and then compare it to her version of "Bed of Roses" from this week's audition.

Baylie Brown Season 6 Audition for American Idol

Baylie Brown Season 11 Audition for American Idol

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/baylie-brown-american-idol-auditions-then-and-now/

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French election front-runner makes deficit pledge (AP)

PARIS ? The front-runner in France's presidential race vowed Thursday that if elected he'll bring the state's bloated deficit under the European Union's 3-percent target by next year by slashing tax breaks for corporations and the rich.

Socialist Francois Hollande said he was "in the same frame of mind" as U.S. President Barack Obama about the need to ask more of the wealthy at a time of hefty state-budget burdens and sluggish economic growth.

Laying out a 60-point program, Hollande said his tax plan could raise euro29 billion ($37.5 billion) in new income and help offset the cost of new initiatives to the tune of euro20 billion to support jobs, public housing and healthcare.

"Those who have benefited from crazy pay levels will have to make an effort," he said, promising to raise the tax bracket for the highest earners to 45 percent and to cap tax breaks for individuals at euro10,000 per year.

Hollande's appearance at a Paris news conference put meat on the bones' of his platform ? mostly on economic issues ? at a time when most polls show him with a comfortable lead over President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The conservative incumbent has not yet announced whether he will run for the two-round election in April and May, but nearly all political observers expect he will.

Hollande elaborated on a theme that he laid out at a campaign rally on Sunday, taking a pronounced leftist posture by announcing that his "real adversary in this campaign is the world of finance."

He also picked up a theme mentioned by Obama during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, when the U.S. leader spoke about how billionaire investor Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate than Buffet's secretary.

"Obama said he wants the secretary of a billionaire to not have to pay more than the billionaire," Hollande said. "I want the same thing."

Hollande didn't mention Sarkozy by name, but implicitly targeted his tenure by citing a litany of gloomy French economic indicators and missed budget targets.

"And they want to give us lessons about budgetary responsibility?" Hollande said of Sarkozy's conservative government.

Hollande also slammed economic forecasts of the government's 1-percent growth target this year as too rosy. He predicts 0.5 percent growth ? much closer to independent forecasts from the IMF and World Bank.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_france_election

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Lytro open to partnering with smartphone makers, executive suggests

Now that its famed light field camera has finally become official, Lytro is looking to the future, with an eye, apparently, toward the cellphone market. During a recent interview with PC World, Lytro executive chairman Charles Chi described his company's new sensor in greater detail, and talked at length about its purportedly superior battery life. He also divulged a few hints about Lytro's roadmap. When asked whether the firm would ever license its technology to a smartphone manufacturer, Chi confirmed that Lytro has "the capital to do that, the capability in the company to do that, and... the vision to execute," before launching into an explanation of what it would take for such an initiative to succeed:

If we were to apply the technology in smartphones, that ecosystem is, of course, very complex, with some very large players there. It's an industry that's very different and driven based on operational excellence. For us to compete in there, we'd have to be a very different kind of company. So if we were to enter that space, it would definitely be through a partnership and a codevelopment of the technology, and ultimately some kind of licensing with the appropriate partner.

Far from a confirmation, to be sure, but it seems like the handset market is at least on Lytro's radar. Read the full Q&A at the link below.

Lytro open to partnering with smartphone makers, executive suggests originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/25Of9w88fZQ/

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The Best Resources of Communications Degree Scholarships and ...

Find out the different institutions you can check out for communications degree scholarships and grants.

Are you looking for grants and scholarships for a communications degree?
Numerous jobs are vacant that welcome those with degrees of communication, and as such, grants and scholarships can be found everywhere.
To save money, you should know all about these financial aids offered for those taking up masters in communication.

The main reason why there are plenty of grants and scholarships for this field is that communications degree students can work on a variety of career fields.
Do you know what you can do with a communications degree?

People with advanced degrees in communication can pursue jobs in the fields of photography, graphic design, publishing, advertising, journalism and radio announcing, just to name a few.

With the wide range of possible jobs that this degree offers, you will realize that there is no shortage of financial assistance that can be obtained to help you with this degree.
So how do you earn these scholarships and grants?
You can earn them the same way that you would earn them in other programs.

You can earn a grant or scholarship through easy application.
However, not all schools require the traditional way of application.
Because this is a special field, the application process often requires a demonstration of your communication ability.

Similar to scholarships for English majors, most financial aid given to students will be based on your ability to speak your thoughts.
You may be requested to present your speaking ability or to write essays.
The application will be most likely a persuasive scholarship essay.

This test allows devoted communications students to stand out from others who, perhaps, are not cut for the field.
When you truly love the field of communications, then this form of application will let you present the culmination of your capabilities to shine.
After you have decided to pursue a communications degree scholarship, you should start considering the kind of skills you presently have to make sure your application stands out from the rest.

Many institutions offer financial aids.
You should visit the communications program website of the universities you are interested in.
There are also private scholarships available, which are a great source of funding as they usually offer them to students with specific majors.

The Electric Document System Foundation (EDSF) provides communications scholarships known as EDSF David Hoods Memorial Scholarship.
They offer 30 scholarships every year to students (fulltime) with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Other popular private scholarships for communications degree students include the Betty Endicott/NTA-NCCB Student Scholarship and the James Lawrence Fly Scholarship.

The communications department at each college or university usually offers some form of financial aid that is specifically aimed at communication majors.
Currently, some schools have a good number of scholarship sources for their students.
Some of the most popular universities include the University of Miami and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Not everyone who decides to pursue some part of the communications field gets a communications degree.
In some cases, they go to other related degrees.
Use this factor to your advantage by applying to as many scholarships or grants that are exclusively aimed for those taking up degrees in communications.

Source: http://www.atthefulton.org/2012/01/23/the-best-resources-of-communications-degree-scholarships-and-grants/

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Gabrielle Giffords to Resign from Congress (Michellemalkin)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/190079178?client_source=feed&format=rss

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New Genetic Clues to Breast Cancer? (HealthDay)

SUNDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have identified three new genomic regions they believe are linked with breast cancer that may help explain why some women develop the disease.

All three newly identified areas "contain interesting genes that open up new avenues for biological and clinical research," said researcher Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with about 1 million new cases annually worldwide and more than 400,000 deaths a year.

Scientists conducting genome-wide association studies -- research that looks at the association between genetic factors and disease to pinpoint possible causes -- had already identified 22 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Locus is the physical location of a gene or DNA sequence on a chromosome.

"The three [newly identified] loci take the number of common susceptibility loci from 22 to 25," said Easton.

However, the three new susceptibility loci might explain only about 0.7 percent of the familial risks of breast cancer, bringing the total contribution to about 9 percent, the researchers said.

Michael Melner, scientific program director for the American Cancer Society, said this current research adds some important new clues to existing evidence, but he agreed that the number of cases likely associated with these three variants is probably low.

"So the total impact in terms of patients would be fairly small," Melner said.

The study is published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics.

To find the new clues, Easton's team worked with genetic information on about 57,000 breast cancer patients and 58,000 healthy women obtained from two genome-wide association studies.

The investigators zeroed in on 72 different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A SNP -- pronounced "snip" -- is a change in which a single base in the DNA differs from the usual base. The human genome has millions of SNPs, some linked with disease, while others are normal variations.

The researchers focused on three SNPs -- on chromosomes 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21.

Easton's team found that the variant on the 12p11 chromosome is linked with both estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (which needs estrogen to grow) and estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. The other two variants are only linked with ER-positive cancers, they said.

One of the newly identified variants is in an area with a gene that has a role in the development of mammary glands and bones. Easton said it was already known that mammary gland development in puberty is an important period in terms of determining later cancer risk. "But these are the first susceptibility genes to be shown to be involved in this process," he said.

One of the other SNPs is in an area that can affect estrogen receptor signaling, the researchers found.

Melner, noting some of the research is "fine tuning" of other work, said in his view the new understanding of the signaling pathways and their genetic links is the most important finding.

"When you delineate a pathway, you bring up new potential targets for therapy," he said. "The more targets you have, you open up the potential for having multiple drugs and attacking a cancer more easily, without it becoming more resistant."

Overall, Melner added, the results underscore the complexity of the different mechanisms involved in breast cancer development.

More information

For more about the genetics of breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120122/hl_hsn/newgeneticcluestobreastcancer

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