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Holiday - University Offices Closed Enter description here |
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| Calendar Name: | Department of Mathematics |
| Event Category: | University Announcements |
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| Event Begins On: | Monday, January?2, 2012 |
| Event Ends On: | Monday, January?2, 2012 |
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Source: http://events.colostate.edu/event_view.asp?EID=34364&ID=0
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Japanese retail sales decreased by 2.3% to JPY10.94tn ($140.6bn) year-on-year in November, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
On a monthly basis, retail sales fell by 2.1% in November after an increase of 1.4% in October and fall of 1.4% in September.
Year-on-year, sales from large-scale retailers slipped 2.5% to JPY1.637tn ($21.03bn) after falling 1.4% in the previous month.
Commercial sales lost 2.5% on year to JPY41.703tn ($535.96bn). Wholesale sales fell an annual 2.6% to JPY30.762tn ($395.35bn).
Source: http://markets.retail-business-review.com/news/japan-retail-sales-down-yoy-in-november-281211
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Many of you have already had your Fantasy Football league championship game, but for those who started their playoffs a little later, here's a final installment of my Fantasy Football picks to perform.
Click on the photo of Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer (Santa Margarita High, USC), the 2002 Heisman Trophy winner, for one last suggested lineup for 2011.
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/football-333622-fantasy-perform.html
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In parallel storylines, two of Glee's teenage power couples -- Rachel and Finn, Kurt and Blaine -- experience their first time "going all the way." For both Kurt and Rachel, this is a major decision resulting in the loss of their virginity. This controversial episode explores their positive and negative motives and expectations, as well as out-of-control moments of heightened arousal. In the end, these heterosexual and homosexual pairings are intercut in a sweet and sexy montage as the two couples consummate their love, showing both sexual orientations as equally natural expressions.
How did/do you imagine your first time to feel? The exact moment is not always clear for everyone. Traditionally, going all the way refers to penile-vaginal penetration. But certain sexual partners, like lesbians and gay men, may consider losing virginity to be frottage to climax, oral sex, or penetrative vaginal or anal sex, active or receptive. Survivors of sexual abuse may decide to define their first time as consensual sex with the partner of their choice. How much do any of us really make consciously driven choices rather than submitting to the circumstances? It's possible that any and every sexual activity steers our individual psychological patterns toward definite habitual expression and resulting experience. After all, the first impression of any new event sets the standard, and while this will certainly change over time, the very first impression might still overshadow subsequent experiences. I wonder what kind of sexual footprint we are making on our paths.
--By Alexandra Katehakis, M.F.T., C.S.T., C.S.A.T., Clinical Director of Center for Healthy Sex
How did/do you imagine your first time to feel? The exact moment is not always clear for everyone. Traditionally, going all the way refers to penile-vaginal penetration. But certain sexual partners, like lesbians and gay men, may consider losing virginity to be frottage to climax, oral sex, or penetrative vaginal or anal sex, active or receptive. Survivors of sexual abuse may decide to define their first time as consensual sex with the partner of their choice. How much do any of us really make consciously driven choices rather than submitting to the circumstances? It's possible that any and every sexual activity steers our individual psychological patterns toward definite habitual expression and resulting experience. After all, the first impression of any new event sets the standard, and while this will certainly change over time, the very first impression might still overshadow subsequent experiences. I wonder what kind of sexual footprint we are making on our paths.
--By Alexandra Katehakis, M.F.T., C.S.T., C.S.A.T., Clinical Director of Center for Healthy Sex
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandra-katehakis-mft/the-year-in-good-sex_b_1170240.html
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That didn't take long.
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick got engaged this month, for real, after over a year of rumors that they would do so. Everybody is really happy for them (maybe not Jason Alexander, but everyone else it feels like).
That said, some celebrity gossip publications have already moved onto the next round of rumors: When will they have a baby together!?
The two have not set a date yet that we know of, and don't appear to be in a rush with things, which is probably smart. The same likely applies to having children.
Britney already has two sons, Sean Preston (6) and Jayden James (5), with her former spouse K-Fed. That may be enough to handle for herself and Jason Trawick.
One thing we hope is that with her tour finally over with, she takes the time to relax and enjoy her engagement. Family first - whether it's a growing one or not.
What do you think? Will she have another baby? Should she?
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/will-britney-spears-have-another-baby/
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The tornado watch has been canceled for Wilson County by the National Weather Service ... Source: http://twitter.com/TheWilsonTimes/statuses/151757018569523201
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DETROIT/HAMBURG ?? The United Auto Workers union is staking its future on the kind of struggle it hasn't waged since the 1930s: a massive drive to organize hostile factories.
This time, the target is foreign car makers, whose workers have rebuffed the union repeatedly. Specifically, Reuters has learned, the union is going after U.S. plants owned by German manufacturers Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG, seen as easier nuts to crack than the Japanese and South Koreans.
It's a battle the UAW cannot afford to lose. By failing to organize factories run by foreign automakers, the union has been a spectator to the only growth in the U.S. auto industry in the last 30 years. That failure to win new members has compounded a crunch on the UAW's finances, forcing it to sell assets and dip into its strike fund to pay for its activities.
In dozens of interviews with union officials, organizers and car company executives, a picture has emerged of UAW President Bob King's strategy. By appealing to German unions for help and by calling on the companies to do the right thing, King hopes to get VW and Daimler to surrender without a fight and let the union make its case directly to workers.
Central to this effort is the belief that if car companies refrain from actively opposing a UAW organizing push, workers at German-American factories will gladly join the union.
Volkswagen tops the 10 best car ads of 2011But that belief may be off-base. Workers know that almost every job lost at U.S. car factories in the last 30 years has occurred at a unionized company, while almost every job gained has come at a non-union company. And most of the factories the UAW is targeting are in the South, which is historically hostile to unions.
"People have a different opinion in the South about unions," said Robert Plisko, a retired autoworker who helped UAW organizing efforts at German and Japanese plants in the 1970s and 1980s. "It's a lot harder now than it has ever been, and I don't see it getting any easier."
German auto executives declined to talk in detail about the UAW's push. Privately, they remain wary of the union and its confrontational past. "They view the UAW as a disaster," said a Wall Street banker who has worked extensively with the industry.
King dismisses skeptics of his plan, but on one point he agrees with his fiercest critics: If the UAW fails to crack the transplants, as it calls foreign car factories in the United States, the union has no future. "I have said that repeatedly, and I believe it," he said in one of several interviews.
US automakers revved up for the new yearThis do-or-die imperative helps explain why his offensive sometimes feels passive.
In early December, the UAW's executive board convened at its riverfront headquarters in Detroit in a room outfitted with Swedish midcentury furniture. King, 65, had set a goal of winning one of the organizing battles by year end, and auto executives expected him to ratchet up the pressure by naming a target. But by the end of the meeting King concluded that naming a target would be seen as a hostile act and could undo the progress made behind the scenes with VW and Daimler.
"It really is ultimately up to the companies," King told Reuters after the meeting.
Whatever the outcome, King's march through the South will be a milestone in U.S. labor history. Famous for winning hard-fought campaigns at General Motors, Chrysler and, eventually, Ford between 1937 and 1941, the UAW was once one of the mightiest unions - and political forces - in the country.
But its membership has fallen 75 percent in the past three decades, and last year it started dipping into its strike fund. If it fails to boost its ranks, the richest union in the United States will hit a cash crunch.
Winning over 'heathens'
A decade ago, King led a campaign to organize a union at a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee.
As part of the campaign, Nissan employee Chet Konkle recalls visiting hundreds of workers in their homes. He sat in their kitchens, shook their hands and asked for signatures on union cards.
"Sometimes I felt like I was a Baptist preacher trying to win over the heathens," he said of his efforts as a labor evangelist in a southern state.
In October 2001, Nissan workers rejected the union by a two-to-one vote, with hundreds defecting from the UAW cause. For Konkle, that was an epiphany. "The UAW in its current form is on its deathbed," he said.
Now 47, Konkle leads a team that cuts waste at the plant and which is credited with saving over $10 million for Nissan.
Tennessee is once again a union battleground. At the geographical midpoint of a band of foreign auto factories stretching from Texas (Toyota) to Ohio (Honda), the state has worked hard for its piece of the U.S. auto industry.
In 1979, Gov. Lamar Alexander flew to Tokyo to meet with Nissan executives, showing them a picture of the United States with the Eastern seaboard lit up. When they asked where Tennessee was, Alexander recalled pointing to a relatively dark spot "right in the middle of the lights." Tennessee looked like an industrial blank slate within a short ride of a big market. Nissan also liked the state's law preventing mandatory union membership, he said.
A quarter century later, when VW was looking for a place to build a new plant, Alexander again made the case for Tennessee, this time as a member of the U.S. Senate. As part of the charm offensive, the state's junior senator, Bob Corker, invited VW executives to his home, where Alexander serenaded them on the piano.
The offensive worked. In July 2008, VW announced that it would invest $1 billion to build a plant near Chattanooga, the city where Corker had been mayor until 2005.
That plant is now at the top of the UAW's list. King traveled to Chattanooga himself in late November to meet with workers sympathetic to the union.
"The German companies have a better history of recognizing workers' rights around the world," King said.
But in a state with 9 percent unemployment, the task is daunting. For 2,500 jobs paying $30,000 a year, VW turned away 83,000 hopefuls at Chattanooga, which started up this year. Statistically, an applicant to Harvard University had a better chance of admission.
On the site of an old munitions depot, the plant is gleaming new, and a natural creek flows through the property. There is no obvious sign of the stresses that can drive workers to organize.
Rodney Barrett, a 42-year-old production worker, said there was no need for a union. "Things would have to change drastically for me to change my mind," he said in an interview arranged by VW.
German connection
Even some UAW officials concede that, if it comes to a vote at an automaker that is hostile to the UAW, the union will lose. Instead, the goal is to convince the automakers to open their doors and let the union make its case at town hall meetings.
That approach helped the UAW organize parts supplier Dana Holding Corp in 2007, including a plant in Kentucky that had voted the union down four years earlier.
Key to winning that kind of cooperation is the backing of the German union IG Metall, union leaders say.
In recent months, King has traveled to Germany to meet with IG Metall. In August, a pair of German union officials visited a Mercedes SUV factory in Vance, Alabama, another plant the UAW is focusing on. In November, representatives of both unions met again at a summit of union leaders in India.
IG Metall, which wants to keep the United States from becoming a cheap-labor alternative to Germany, is also helping the United Steelworkers try to organize a ThyssenKrupp steel plant that opened in Alabama last year.
"We will support the UAW, but we will not do the UAW's work," said Peter Donath, an IG Metall official.
Back in 1978, IG Metall helped the UAW organize the first big foreign factory in the United States, VW's Westmoreland Assembly Plant in Pennsylvania.
In that instance, a former senior VW executive recalled, IG Metall told VW to look favorably on the UAW's efforts. The message was, "Help them organize, or else," said the former executive, who asked not to be identified.
King is eager to show IG Metall and the foreign automakers that a new UAW has emerged from the wreckage of Detroit and that the union can be a better partner with management. He points to new contracts with U.S. automakers as an example of the UAW's flexibility.
But the GM contract alone runs to over 1,800 pages. IG Metall has proposed that the UAW agree to work rules for up to 15 years with the German automakers, which would be a radical break from laborious plant-by-plant negotiations every four years.
In public, VW executives maintain their neutrality on whether the UAW should represent its workers. But they note that workers already take part in corporate decisions, under policies first enforced by British military officers in Germany after World War Two. "Volkswagen has proven good at this," VW Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn told Reuters in September.
VW managers also have more recent history in mind.
The company closed its Westmoreland plant in Pennsylvania in 1988, in part because of flagging demand for the VW Rabbit and its successor, the Golf. Unauthorized walkouts in the first two years and chants of "No money, no bunny" left a bitter taste.
If he had the chance again, the former VW executive said, he would have argued to build that plant somewhere in the South.
Daimler, too, maintains an impartial stance. "Our legal requirement is to remain neutral in these questions. That's what we are," Chairman Dieter Zetsche told Reuters.
But Daimler has its own history with the UAW. In 2006, Zetsche pleaded with the union for concessions at Chrysler, before giving up and selling the company the next year. The UAW already represents workers at Daimler's Freightliner truck plants in several states, including North Carolina. Its Mercedes installation in Alabama is Daimler's only other plant in the United States.
Won't be easy
Other companies are more overtly hostile. Hyundai, Honda and Nissan have not taken King up on his offer for talks, people close to the effort say.
Hyundai Vice Chairman Yoon Yeo-cheol was blunt when asked about the chances for the UAW at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama. "It will not be easy," he told reporters in Seoul. "Hyundai employees there don't like it."
The UAW knows it has a fight with Hyundai ahead. Late last month, the union sent pickets to more than 80 U.S. Hyundai dealers in a show of support for the automaker's South Korean union over a complaint by a woman who said she was harassed by her supervisor at a factory there.
In a conflict, foreign automakers can turn to an army of outside consultants to hammer home the message that the union needs members more than members need a union.
"When we spin this to employees, we say, 'What do you think they want? They want your dues money and they need it," said Walter Orechwa, chief executive of Projections Inc, a consulting firm that has worked with BMW and Toyota.
On one crucial front, the effort to keep wages at union plants above those at non-union plants, the UAW has already lost a lot of ground.
Newly hired workers earn $14.50 an hour at VW in Chattanooga. That is just below the $14.78 that a new hire would make at a unionized GM plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Adjusted for monthly dues at Spring Hill, the VW worker is behind by only about $15 per month.
King concedes the UAW's past mistakes contributed to Detroit's near-demise.
Since 2001, the Detroit Three have slashed over 200,000 jobs, eliminating more than 60 percent of their hourly work force. In the same period, Japanese, South Korean and German automakers have opened eight assembly plants in the United States, creating almost 20,000 factory jobs.
Even the UAW's friends recognize the union's past as a problem.
"Obviously, the union lives with the legacy of all that's happened," said Ron Bloom, a member of the Obama administration task force that oversaw the bailout of GM and Chrysler in 2009, saving thousands of union jobs. The UAW backed President Obama in the 2008 election, but the White House has said nothing on the UAW's organizing drive.
Myth of the south
Top union officials say it is a myth that the South cannot be organized. But the UAW has been overly confident before. Just before the vote at Smyrna, King's predecessor, Ron Gettelfinger, privately predicted a UAW victory.
Then workers were shown a message from Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn. "We'll be making decisions on where future growth will occur in the U.S. and in Mexico based on the efficiency of operations," Ghosn said in a video, shown to workers in groups. "Bringing a union into Smyrna could result in making Smyrna not competitive."
The message swayed "the middle 40 percent" of workers, said Konkle, the former UAW supporter, and the fight was lost by a vote of 3,103 to 1,486.
Now, Konkle's job is to find ways to save money for Nissan. Two years ago, he and others noticed Nissan had been using the same device to take a car off the line for inspection since 1992. In the intervening years, the cars had become heavier and harder to handle, and the device took up to five workers to operate.
So Konkle and his team devised a lift that could be operated by a single worker, at a cost of about $1,800. Konkle's supervisor handed over his credit card to make the needed purchases - an on-the-spot fix that would have been unimaginable in a unionized factory.
Thanks to such innovations, it took 18.6 hours to build a car at Smyrna in 2008, compared with 20.6 hours at GM's plant at Spring Hill, according to The Harbour Report.
As well as saving money, giving workers a say in how work gets done makes for a happier labor force.
"You've eliminated, for the most part, the reasons people organize," said John Hancock, a management-side labor attorney at Butzel Long in Detroit.
At Smyrna, Nissan is expanding. It is opening a battery plant and adding production of the all-electric Leaf.
Many of the new jobs are lower-wage temporary positions working for contractor Yates Services. Those workers wear brown uniforms to distinguish them from Nissan's regular hires in blue or gray. In some parts of the Smyrna complex, temporary workers now account for up to 60 percent of the jobs.
At a pair of hiring fairs this month, about 5,000 people applied for temporary jobs at the plant. About one in five applicants would get jobs that pay about $26,000 per year.
One of the new temporary workers is Konkle's 19-year-old daughter, who makes $12.50 per hour. Although he has no patience for the UAW, Konkle worries the lower wages are "generating renters, people who will never be able to buy their house."
Others had more immediate worries.
Ben Nurse, 42, stood in line on a cold Saturday morning to apply for a contract position. A father of two, he said he was three months behind on his mortgage payments and had been out of work for a year since he left the U.S. Army.
"A year without a job, you'll take anything," he said. "I don't have a problem not working with a union. A job is a job."
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45815126/ns/business-autos/
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FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act _ whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil. American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act _ whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil. American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act ? whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil.
American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. Fearful of appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands, the Obama administration was trying to ensure that Saleh visits only for medical care and doesn't plan to stay, U.S. officials said.
Washington's hesitation reflects the shifting alliances and foreign policy strategy prompted by a year of upheaval in the Arab world. Saleh has served as an American ally against al-Qaida and will soon transfer power under a U.S.-backed deal with Yemen's opposition aimed at ending months of instability. He isn't subject to any U.S. or international sanctions.
But he also is accused of committing gross human rights violations during a year of internal conflict, and the U.S. is trying not to burn any bridges with Yemeni political groups likely to take part in future governments. Political asylum for Saleh in the United States, or the appearance of preferential treatment from an administration that has championed peaceful and democratic change, would be highly unpopular with Yemenis who've fought to depose their dictator of 33 years.
Officials close to the Saleh said Washington's suspicion that he may seek political asylum was delaying approval of his trip. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. But American officials appeared to substantiate those concerns and said they were troubled by Saleh's recent comments portraying his trip as a move designed to ease the political transition.
"What we're looking at now is a request to come to the United States for the sole purpose of medical treatment," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, refusing to go into the specific of the evaluation. "That permission has not been granted yet."
Toner declined to elaborate on the assurances the United States wanted from Saleh or offer a timetable for a decision. He also couldn't say whether any provisions existed under U.S. law to prevent the Yemeni leader from visiting the country ? provided he assures officials he demonstrates he'll only stay temporarily.
In that case, Saleh almost surely will be granted entry, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because visa evaluations are supposed to be confidential. It's unclear when, if ever, the last time the head of state of a friendly government was blocked from visiting the United States.
One official went so far as to say Saleh's exit from Yemen might be beneficial by lowering the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to planned February elections. The U.S. is committed to doing everything it can to ensure those elections take place, the official said, but President Barack Obama's national security team was expected to make the final decision on Saleh's request. Obama was being briefed on developments while on vacation in Hawaii.
The Obama administration's attempts to tightly contain its internal debate over whether to allow Saleh into the country were quickly thwarted.
With Obama vacationing, the administration waited almost two days before responding to Saleh's assertion that he would be traveling to the U.S. Officials at the White House and State Department initially insisted that while Saleh's request was being considered, no decision had been made.
But reports that the U.S. already had decided to approve Saleh's request quickly surfaced, forcing officials in both Washington and Honolulu to issue repeated denials.
The botched handling of the sensitive debate frustrated some officials, who worried about fallout in the Middle East.
Demonstrators began protesting against Saleh and calling for his ouster in February. The Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead, and stoking fears of instability in a nation grappling with burgeoning extremism. Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken advantage of the vacuum to expend its presence in the south of the country.
International pressure has mounted for months for Saleh to step aside. A June rocket attack on his compound left him badly burned and wounded, and led Saleh to seek medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned and violence worsened anew.
Last month, Saleh agreed to a Saudi-backed deal to hand power to his vice president and commit to stepping down completely in exchange for immunity. The deal further angered Saleh's opponents, who demanded he be tried for his attacks on protesters. Opponents also lament that he has continued to wield influence through loyalists and relatives remaining in positions of power, and many fear he may find a way to continue his rule.
Protests have expanded recently to include labor strikes, calls for Saleh to be put on trial and demands that his loyalists to be removed from office. Activists said troops commanded by Saleh's relatives attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa over the weekend, killing at least nine people. Tens of thousands demonstrated the following day.
Saleh's immediate plans are unclear. The wily leader of three decades has maintained his rule over a country divided by tribal and regional loyalties by consistently outsmarting his opponents, but Toner said the U.S. is trying to remind everyone of the "importance of continuing along this agreed-upon path of political transition that will lead to the next election."
"We need to see that process continue regardless of where President Saleh is," Toner said.
An American official said Saleh's office informed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa that the outgoing leader would leave Yemen soon and travel elsewhere abroad first, before possibly coming to the U.S.
The situation offers an eerie parallel to three decades ago, when President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. The decision contributed to rapidly worsening relations between Washington and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Tehran, with Iranian students occupying the U.S. Embassy in Iran a month later.
Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.
___
Pace reported from Honolulu. Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa contributed to this report.
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Elvis, a giant saltwater crocodile swims next to a lawnmower in his pool at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The 16-foot (5-meter), 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) crocodile lunged out of its lagoon at a park worker tending to the lawn before stealing his lawn mower. (AP Photo/Libby Bain) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Elvis, a giant saltwater crocodile swims next to a lawnmower in his pool at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The 16-foot (5-meter), 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) crocodile lunged out of its lagoon at a park worker tending to the lawn before stealing his lawn mower. (AP Photo/Libby Bain) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Visitors watch as Elvis, a giant saltwater crocodile swims next to a lawnmower in his pool at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The 16-foot (5-meter), 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) crocodile lunged out of its lagoon at a park worker tending to the lawn before stealing his lawn mower. (AP Photo/Libby Bain) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
SYDNEY (AP) ? A giant saltwater crocodile named Elvis with an apparent affinity for household machinery charged at an Australian reptile park worker Wednesday before stealing his lawn mower.
Tim Faulkner, operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park, north of Sydney, was one of three workers tending to the lawn in Elvis' enclosure when he heard reptile keeper Billy Collett yelp. Faulkner looked up to see the 16-foot (5-meter), 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) crocodile lunging out of its lagoon at Collett, who warded the creature off with his mower.
"Before we knew it, the croc had the mower above his head," Faulkner said. "He got his jaws around the top of the mower and picked it up and took it underwater with him."
The workers quickly left the enclosure. Elvis, meanwhile, showed no signs of relinquishing his new toy and guarded it closely all morning.
Eventually, Faulkner realized he had no other choice but to go back for the mower.
Collett lured Elvis to the opposite end of the lagoon with a heaping helping of kangaroo meat while Faulkner plunged, fully clothed, into the water. Before grabbing the mower, however, he had to search the bottom of the lagoon for two 3-inch (7-centimeter) teeth Elvis lost during the encounter. He quickly found them and escaped from the pool, unharmed and with mower in tow.
Though many may question the wisdom of going after a couple of teeth with a massive crocodile lurking just feet away, Faulkner said finding them was critical. "They clog up the filter systems," he said.
And, he said, "They're a nice souvenir."
Elvis has a history of crankiness and has lunged at staff before, though this is the first time he has stolen something from one of the workers. The croc was initially captured in the northern Australian city of Darwin, where he had been attacking fishing boats. He was then moved to a crocodile farm, where he proceeded to kill his two crocodile girlfriends.
In 2008, he was moved to the reptile park, where he has enjoyed solitary confinement in his own enclosure.
"When they are the dominant croc, they're just full of testosterone," Faulkner said. "He's got his beautiful own yard, he wants to be a solitary creature. He's happy."
Despite having to give up the lawn mower, Elvis was clearly pleased with himself, Faulkner said.
"He's beaten us today ... he's kingpin," Faulkner said. "He's going to be walking around with his chest puffed out all day."
As for the staff at the reptile park?
"I can't lie, the bosses are not going to be happy about the cost of a new lawn mower," Faulkner said with a laugh. "(But) we love it. No one's injured ... and when you get scared and it all turns out to be good, it's actually quite enjoyable."
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LOS ANGELES ? Derrick Rose drove the lane and lofted home a smooth floating shot for the winning points in the Chicago Bulls? opener, just in case anybody doubted the youngest MVP in NBA history can
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Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20111226/SPORTS/111225014/1018
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- BlueStacks has announced that its App Player for PC will now run on all Windows XP systems. Prior to now the software has only run on Windows 7 machines. A Mac version is expected next year.
"We have 135,000 fans on Facebook and they've been asking for this every day," said...
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Somehow Shane Battier got into the NBA's latest "Big Head" commercial. sportsgrid.com/nktep 
SportsGrid Source: http://twitter.com/SportsGrid/statuses/151469514687655936
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Story Published: Dec 24, 2011 at 4:39 PM MST
Story Updated: Dec 24, 2011 at 4:39 PM MST
With just two weeks remaining in the NFL's regular season, the Denver Broncos try to stay on top of the AFC West.
Your source for local and surrounding area scores and sports news.
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Source: http://www.kulr8.com/sports/local/Saturday-KULR-8-Sports-On-Demand-12-24-136191048.html
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? See Separate Table For Details Of Individual Forecasts
TOKYO (MNI) ? Japanese retail sales in November are likely to be
unchanged on-year, after showing +1.9% in October and -1.1% in
September, according to the median forecast by economists polled by
Market News International.
The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry will release the data at
0850 JST on Wednesday, Dec. 28 (2350 GMT Tuesday).
The November retail sales are expected to have been weaker than
October, as relatively high temperatures dampened demand for winter
clothing, and sales of household electronics sharply declined.
skodama@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4838 **
[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/forexlive-rss/~3/4CfJMZOxzIw/
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PERRYSBURG, Ohio?? Told that his unborn son had only half a heart and little chance to survive, the lead singer of the Christian rock band Sanctus Real began pouring his fears and doubts into music.
The songs were meant to comfort his family while they searched for answers and sought to understand God's role during the months before and after the baby's birth that were filled with surgeries and life-threatening complications.
It didn't take long for him to realize that his words needed to be shared so that others struggling with life would know they're not alone.
What came out of the heartache was "Every Falling Tear," a solo album that's meant to touch and console during the hardest of times.
"People want to know that their pain has a purpose," said Matt Hammitt, one of the founding members of Sanctus Real, a band with two Grammy-nominated albums since 2008.
"That's the biggest part of sharing our story," he said. "That there is a purpose."
Hammitt and his wife, Sarah, knew something was wrong minutes after finding out during an ultrasound in April 2010 that their third child would be a boy, following two girls. They saw the sorrow on their doctor's face even before she spoke.
Doctors later confirmed the baby had a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which causes the left side of the heart to be severely underdeveloped. For five months, the couple contemplated all of the possible procedures and treatments while weighing the odds of what could go wrong.
Their baby would face multiple surgeries and an uncertain future at best.
They also didn't know how to deal with a flood of emotions ? the anger, the doubt, the feeling of being alone. Hammitt, 32, decided he needed to tell God how he was feeling, so he started writing songs about their journey.
"I began writing about all that I was learning about struggle and faith," he said.
During a Friday court appearance, she was accused of felony battery and possession of a controlled substance.
Each song tells of a moment or a series of events leading to the baby's birth ? there's a father's fear of holding back his love for a son he may never know and a mother's hope of finding peace in the midst of despair.
"I wanted to write songs that would speak to him someday about how much his father loved him no matter how long or short his life would be," Hammitt said, his voice trailing off.
The album released in September was his first solo work. On tour during the fall with the band, he included the song "All of Me" in their sets. It starts: "Afraid to love, something that could break. Could I move on if you were torn away?"
Hammitt was a high school sophomore when he and guitarist Chris Rohman and drummer Mark Graalman started the band 15 years ago. They've stayed together, playing in coffee shops, churches and now arenas.
Sanctus Real will be one of nearly a dozen Christian artists taking part in the Winter Jam tour that starts in January, with stops in 47 cities.
The song from "Every Falling Tear" that means the most to Hammitt is "Trust," a worship song that reminds people not to lose faith "even in the darkness, even in the questions, even when the hardest times of life are at hand."
The lyrics were born out of a time when Hammitt was feeling isolated and alone.
"Sometimes we need to be reminded of the truth," he said. "And for me, the truth is that I trust God."
Bowen Matthew Hammitt was born on Sept. 9, 2010. His first open heart surgery came four days later and the next night he went into cardiac arrest. A team of doctors and nurses spent an hour performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation until they were able to revive him and get him on life support.
Complications and a stroke kept him in the hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for just over two months.
While there, the couple played demos of the songs Hammitt had written "so Bowen could hear his dad's voice," his wife said. Night-shift nurses often turned up the music when most families would leave for the evening.
"They felt it was good for all the babies to be soothed," Sarah said. "We'd come back in the morning and it'd be really loud."
Hammitt recorded the songs for the album soon after the family brought Bowen home to suburban Toledo. His only unease was that they might be critiqued like any other work.
"Originally I just wanted them recorded for us at the hospital," he said. "I realized they're meant to comfort other people too."
So far, the response has been what he hoped for. They've even received notes from parents who've played the songs at their children's funerals.
Now, the Hammitts want to take their work a step further by starting the Whole Hearts Foundation, a source of financial, emotional and spiritual help for families with children suffering from congenital heart defects. They see the foundation becoming their life's work.
"It's amazing to see even beyond the album what's come out of this," Hammitt said. "We had a vision in the hospital, how can we help other families, let them know they're not alone."
Bowen, who turned 1 in September, faces one more surgery now slated for 2013 to repair his heart. Eventually, he'll likely need a new heart before he reaches middle age.
He's growing, but not as fast as doctors would like. Sarah watches him closely for any signs of heart failure. He only has a single ventricle pumping oxygen to his body and lungs so she looks to see if he sweats when he eats or if his skin turns blue or red.
When Matt brought him downstairs after a nap, a look of worry crossed her face when she saw that his hair was matted with sweat. But it turned out there was no cause for concern.
"We know at any moment things could change even though he's stable now," Sarah said. "It's ultimately God's will."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45786026/ns/today-entertainment/
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For the record, Taylor Lautner is not gay. It would be absolutely acceptable and far from a big deal if he were, but it simply isn't the case.
However, for a few hours yesterday, many Internet users believed this Twilight Saga star had revealed an intimate detail on his life to People Magazine, due to the following fake cover, which leaked online:
Heck, music mogul Russell Simmons even Tweeted how he was "proud of Taylor Lautner for his bravery and his courage" after he saw the headline, later learning the whole thing was a hoax and adding:
"disappointed that people would joke about someone coming out about their sexuality. Let Taylor Lautner be whoever he wants to be..."
No word yet from Taylor's camp, though the magazine has come out and said the issue is "fake." So you may go ahead and continue to scream and dream over the actor, female members of Team Jacob. There remains the slimmest chance he might someday be yours.
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TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's navy began a 10-day drill Saturday in international waters near the strategic oil route that passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
The exercises, dubbed "Velayat 90," could bring Iranian ships into proximity with U.S. Navy vessels in the area.
The war games cover a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch of sea off the Strait of Hormuz, northern parts of the Indian Ocean and into the Gulf of Aden, near the entrance to the Red Sea, state TV reported.
The drill will be Iran's latest show of strength in the face of mounting international criticism over its controversial nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Tehran denies those charges, insisting the program is for peaceful purposes only.
Navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari said Iran is holding the drill to show off its prowess and defense capabilities.
"To show off its might, the navy needs to be present in international waters. It's necessary to demonstrate the navy's defense capabilities," state TV quoted Sayyari as saying.
The Strait of Hormuz is of strategic significance as the passageway for about a third of the world's oil tanker traffic. Beyond it lie vast bodies of water, including the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet is also active in the area, as are warships of several other countries that patrol for pirates there.
Both the U.S. and Israel have not ruled out a military option against Iran over its nuclear program. Iranian hard-liners have come out with occasional threats that Tehran would seal off the key waterway if the U.S. or Israel moved against the country's nuclear facilities.
Iran regularly holds war games and has also been active in fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
Sayyari said submarines, surface-to-sea missile systems, missile-launching vessels, torpedoes and drones will be employed in the maneuvers.
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CNBC-TV18 Exclusive Govt Sources Say:Only Such Dollar Swap Facility That India/RBI Has cnbc-tv18.com #moneycontroloniPad 
CNBCTV18news CNBC TV18
Source: http://twitter.com/CNBCTV18news/statuses/151104210325344257
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#Kabul hosts #football #competition with #US, #UK, #Bulgaria, #Mongolia, #Croatia, #Turkey, #Malaysia & #Afghanistan - wp.me/p1v1HR-2hH 
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Source: http://twitter.com/NTMA_CSTCA/statuses/150831685494243328
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After 21 years of serving students at a satellite campus, the Pierce College Continuing Education Program will move back to the main campus.
Yet Lisa Reeves, director of Continuing Education, said it?s bittersweet.
?We like being located out in the community away from the campus,? she said, ?but, due to budget cutbacks, it is in the best interest that we move back to campus to save college money.?
Reeves said Continuing Education moved to the 112th Street location in 1990, then to the South Hill Park location in 2004.
?This has been a great location for us,? she said, noting easy access to parking and the building suited their needs at the time.
At the same time, Reeves and the other instructors are excited about the move. More campus resources will be available to support students, including campus safety, staff members to take care of classrooms and updated computer classrooms.
Project Management instructor Betty Boushey said she?s looking forward to moving back to Pierce College Puyallup?s main campus. Although the South Hill campus provided easy access to the freeway, Boushey said the classrooms were old.
?The Pierce College campus has rooms with bright walls and wonderful equipment,? she said.
There was such a wide selection of classes offered at the South Hill campus that Boushey said it sometimes made teaching a bit of a challenge. Right across the hall from her class was a men?s choral group, and the Celtic fiddlers were down the hall.
?You could really get into the fun of it all,? she said. ?But we had to close doors and ears because there was so much going on.?
Suzanne Fletcher-Petrich, who teaches medical coding classes, said the move will be positive.
?It will be good for the new students to connect with people in the field, and it will be good for the more experienced students to connect with the college,? Fletcher-Petrich said. ?Several of the ?smart? classrooms have document cameras, which will be great to show students with code books exactly what I am looking at without having to go to each student in turn.?
To celebrate the move and to help continuing-education students get into the groove at the main campus, Pierce College will offer a series of free classes.
?We thought it would give our students and potential students a taste of what we offer,? Reeves said.
The free classes will run from Jan. 12-14. They will include a painting session on how to choose the right medium, one on making the right choice between Yoga and Piyo, an introduction to Tai Chi, and one on buying a new computer.
?I?m ready for the move,? Reeves said. ?It is time to be engaged and reconnect with the staff on campus.?
Free Classes offered at Pierce College
For more information or how to register for continuing education classes at Pierce College, call 253-840-8452 or visit www.pierce.ctc.edu.
Joan Cronk is a freelance reporter for The Herald.
Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/16/1947880/continuing-education-program-at.html?storylink=rss
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Published: 12:25PM Sunday December 25, 2011 Source: Reuters
Tom Brady led the New England Patriots back from a 17-point deficit to beat the Miami Dolphins 27-24 today (NZT) and clinch a first-round bye in the National Football League (NFL) playoffs.
Brady rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another as the Patriots clawed their way back after trailing 17-0 at halftime to improve to 12-3 with just one week of the regular season to go.
The win ensured New England would get a rest in the first week of next month's playoffs and a home game in the second week, though the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens could overtake them for the top seeding in the AFC if the Patriots lose their last game at home next week to the Buffalo Bills.
The Steelers and the Ravens, who are already assured of their spots in the playoffs, both won on Christmas Eve to improve to 11-4.
Pittsburgh, last season's Super Bowl runners-up, thrashed the struggling St. Louis Rams 27-0 despite resting their injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Baltimore, who hold the tie-breaker on the Steelers in the AFC North division, raced away to a 20-0 lead then survived a late comeback from the Cleveland Browns to win 20-14.
Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos (8-7) missed their chance to secure a spot in the postseason when they were beaten 40-14 by the Bills and were then joined at the top of the AFC West standings by the Oakland Raiders after Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 36-yard field goal in overtime to seal a 16-13 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Giants (8-7) won their New York showdown against the Jets 29-14 to set up a sudden-death clash with the Dallas Cowboys next week for the top spot in the NFC East division after Eli Manning's 99-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz.
The loss all but ended the Jets' prospects of making the playoffs when they fell one game behind Cincinnati (9-6) in the race for the AFC wildcard after the Bengals beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-16.
Tennessee quarterback Matt Hasselbeck passed for 350 yards in the Titan's 23-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that kept alive their playoff hopes, while Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton broke Peyton Manning's NFL record for the most passing yards in a rookie season.
The 22-year-old Newton surpassed Manning's mark of 3,379 yards, set in 1998, in his team's 48-16 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, adding yet another record to his impressive start in the NFL
Copyright ? 2011, Television New Zealand Limited. Breaking and Daily News, Sport & Weather | TV ONE, TV2 | Ondemand
Source: http://tvnz.co.nz/othersports-news/patriots-secure-first-round-bye-in-playoffs-4668690?ref=rss
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