Sunday 29 January 2012

[OOC] Felis Silvestris

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Felis Silvestris?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Felis Silvestris"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

Red is mai favorite colour because it reminds me of roses.

User avatar
KuruLesperance
Member for 1 years



Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Who is online

Registered users: [Soma], Agent*, ajemokid, Alexa [Bot], allimagination, amanita100, Anansi, Annaky, Annalysa Jones, aod0209, Archlkan*, ArcticFox, Armageddon, AzricanRepublic*, Azure Limit, Bashie L. Craft, BekaL101, Belphegor, BilgeWater, Black, blackwolf, Calvazara, Carlos_Joaquin, Chulance*, dig17*, DivineBitterness*, Draruto, Eiris*, EmbracingIllusions, Eteles, Fatal_Flaw_Enki*, FelixVerricht*, Forensic_Anthro, Gaunt88, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, GotDraggedIntoThis*, Hadespwr*, Hitomi-san, Iamdeadpool, Ikiros, Imagine That!, ItchySweater, kathrin*, lostamongtrees*, Lucentfir*, Mader, Magix, MarchHare*, Mr_Doomed, MSN [Bot], MSNbot Media, NasiaWords*, Nevan*, nltniko, Nocte*, Otowar*, pathfinder Z*, peachyme123, Phoenix6000, PirateofPie*, PolarOpposites*, Porecomesis*, Princess Awinita*, Qetzo, QueenShibby, RadicalDreamer*, Rawr413*, Rem?us*, Ropeburn*, RPSavior, Ryand-Smith*, Ryeke74, Saikua, Scythe Massak?r*, shmband, SilverStar89, Smokescreen, Sora112112*, spudjohnson*, Starryskies*, Steppin' Razor*, Stilts*, SuperQ19, sweet_angle66, sweetgal, Sylwyn, Talisman, The Angry Penguin*, The Illusionist*, The Painkiller, the_judged, TheDarkWorgen*, Thepyromaker, Tiko*, Tyliana*, Tyro, unmog, Usui*, Vyral, Wake*, wednesdaysun, Wet Matches*, whimsicallyJT, Wing06Twilight, Wudgeous, XianEvermor*, xXChocobeanXx, Yahoo [Bot], zody*, ? ????????? ?, ? Reality ?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/uN6LFJkPd5w/viewtopic.php

avignon asn dukan diet non hodgkin lymphoma lymphoma ciara world trade center memorial

Saturday 28 January 2012

Long road ahead for US home invasion survivor

FILE - This June 2007 file photo provided by Dr. William Petit Jr., shows Dr. Petit, left, with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, center rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, on Cape Cod, Mass. Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife and two daughters were killed during a home invasion in Cheshire, Conn., July 23, 2007. Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 for the crimes, and will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/William Petit, File)

FILE - This June 2007 file photo provided by Dr. William Petit Jr., shows Dr. Petit, left, with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, center rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, on Cape Cod, Mass. Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife and two daughters were killed during a home invasion in Cheshire, Conn., July 23, 2007. Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 for the crimes, and will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/William Petit, File)

FILE - This March 14, 2011 file photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Joshua Komisarjevsky, convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 on several counts related to the beating of Dr. William Petit Jr., and killing his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their two daughters in a July 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, Conn. Komisarjevsky will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Connecticut Department of Correction, File)

William Petit Sr., right, stands with his wife Barbara and family outside Superior Court in New Haven after the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. William Petit Jr. is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Barbara Petit, mother of William Petit Jr., stands with family outside Superior Court in New Haven after the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. William Petit Jr. is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Dr. William Petit Jr. arrives at Superior Court in New Haven for the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. Petit is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

(AP) ? How does a man move on with his life after losing his wife and daughters to two ruthless home invaders who tormented, then killed them?

For more than four years, a nation both disgusted and captivated by a chilling crime in prototypical suburbia has wondered that. Only one man ? Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor ? can provide the answer.

On Friday, with the second killer sentenced to death and the book closed after two long, graphic trials, Petit gave a clue as to how he copes with pain he has been forced to revisit continually in court.

"My only hope is for justice to be served and to do my best to honor the lives of my family, who should all still be here to share their gifts and love with the world," Petit said Friday right before a judge sentenced Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, to death.

"I hope to continue to honor my family," said Petit, who survived being beaten with a baseball bat and tied up. "I push forward in the hope that good will overcome evil, and feel the need to tell the world that evil lives among us and we need to rid the world of it."

The gruesome crime evoked comparisons to Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," about the brutal murders of a Kansas farmer and his family.

Komisarjevsky admitted in an audiotaped confession played for the jury in his trial late last year that he spotted Petit's wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their 11-year-old daughter, Michaela, at a supermarket and followed them to their house in Cheshire, a suburb of New Haven.

After going home and putting his own daughter to bed, he and Steven Hayes, now 48, returned to the Petit house in the middle of the night, while the family was sleeping, to rob it.

Dr. Petit was beaten, tied up and taken to the basement. Michaela and Hayley, 17, were tied to their beds. In the morning, Hayes took Jennifer to the bank to withdraw money, while Komisarjevsky stayed at the house.

It's believed that's when he sexually assaulted Michaela, the 11-year-old. Hayes was convicted of sexually assaulting the mother.

After Hayes arrived back at the house with the girls' mother, she was strangled. The pair doused the house and beds with gasoline, set it ablaze and left. The sisters, bound helplessly while flames and fumes rose around them, died of smoke inhalation.

Dr. Petit managed to escape the basement and hop, roll and crawl across a yard to a neighbor's house for help ? too late to save his family.

"July 23, 2007, was our personal holocaust," Petit said Friday. "A holocaust caused by two who are completely evil and actually do not comprehend what they have done."

Petit called his wife a friend, confidant and wonderful mother. He noted that Hayley would be in medical school by now and that Michaela loved to cook and sing.

"I lost my family and my home," he said. "They were three special people. Your children are your jewels."

Petit said he has difficulty sleeping and trusting. Family gatherings are subdued, he said, with no one quite sure what to do or say.

Jennifer's sister, Cynthia Hawke-Renn, said via a video played in court that everyday items like gas, rope and bedposts conjure horrific memories.

"There is no escaping the horrors of that night," she said.

Petit's father, William Petit Sr., said his son is not the same person now as he was in the days when he was a happy husband and father.

"Not only did we lose Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela, we have lost the Bill that we knew, and it is heartbreaking daily to watch him," Petit said. "He puts on a brave face and tries to hide his anguish and despair by working hard."

Petit has found what he calls occasional moments of peace, dedicating himself to a charity named for his family that raises money for education, the chronically ill and those affected by violence; and by campaigning for tougher laws, including the death penalty.

He has admitted he contemplated suicide many times. But this month he became engaged to a woman who volunteered at foundation events.

Petit has maintained his composure in court through three trials, even as the defense referred to him and his family as the "Petit posse."

Komisarjevsky's lawyers had worked to spare him the death penalty by describing sexual abuse their client endured as a child. The jury and the judge ? who had been subjected to grim evidence including pictures of charred beds, rope used to tie up the family and autopsy photos ? were unmoved.

The crime led to the defeat of a bill to outlaw the death penalty in Connecticut and sparked tougher state laws for repeat offenders and home invasions.

"This is a terrible sentence, but it is in truth a sentence you wrote for yourself with deeds of unimaginable horror and savagery on July 23, 2007," Judge Jon Blue said.

Komisarjevsky conveyed a mixture of regret and insistence in court Friday, saying that he didn't intend for anyone to die, that he didn't rape Michaela and that he didn't start the fire.

"I wonder when the killing will end," he said of his death sentence.

He described regrets and the devastating consequences of his decisions ? but blamed Hayes for the killings.

"I know my responsibilities, but what I cannot do is carry the responsibilities of the actions of another," Komisarjevsky said. "I did not want those innocent women to die."

The state's last execution in 2005 was the first since 1960, and Komisarjevsky and Hayes will likely spend years, if not decades, in prison.

William Petit and his relatives left the courtroom before Komisarjevsky spoke. The killer noted that "forgiveness is not mine to have" but said it wasn't the forgiveness of the victims' relatives he needed to find.

"I have to learn how to forgive my worst enemy ? myself," he said.

Petit's sister, Hannah Chapman, said Komisarjevsky tried to blame others when he planned and carried out the crime, escalating it by attacking her brother and molesting her niece.

"Either way, he will be damned to hell for what he did," she said, "and that is where he belongs."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-27-Home%20Invasion/id-0dc1054c769a4b84839bec36d345c6bf

ted haggard ted haggard neutrino carly fiorina girl with the dragon tattoo trailer girl with the dragon tattoo trailer parks and rec

Investing in stock exchange trading for starters | Chess Improvement

Investing in stocks and options usually comes with many volume of risk. However there are several professionals informing regarding how to invest in the stock market, no person really derives passion for the responsibility of cutbacks encountered by shareholders. And so, you?ll need to be in charge of your actions inside the supply markets. In case your real question is how to invest in stocks and options for beginners, then the evident solution can be via a great deal of supply analysis in addition to coaching. It is possible to understand how to invest in stocks and options solely immediately after reliable train in addition to enthusiastic involvement in trading in addition to starter supply committing activities. The advice with purchasing the stock market for beginners will assist you to inside the undertaking regarding committing.

Novice Share Expense Guideline

Make a decision the quantity for being Expended
However discovering our prime yield stocks and options is important, deciding the amount of money you?d be committing is also equally important. Initially, newcomers can start together with touch in addition to gradually improve their profile price as analyzed articles to read many people gain self-confidence. Newcomers and in many cases encountered dealers must not purchase stocks and options with took out income from lenders and banks.

Begin with Secure Stocks and shares
ought to focus on safe and sound stocks and options which aren?t vulnerable to industry risks with a degree. Newcomers are those with under three years regarding direct supply committing knowledge plus they need to understand the benefits helpful urls to read regarding shielding your funds inside the markets. Secure substantial cap stocks and options can promise around an even dozen to help one-fifth annual amazing text to know results which aren?t negative whatsoever. To increase that, you can even receive the personal advantage by way of rewards in addition to bonus explains to you from corporations. Since newcomers don?t invest in huge amounts generally, they should be discover .

Put money into Diverse Industries
Investing in the stock market for beginners can be largely prosperous if they can effectively change up their particular investments. People should stay clear of in addition to choose the dependable stocks and options from just about every industry. I . t, bank, polishing, petrochemicals in addition to pharmaceutic sectors are viewed for being the very best to the years into the future on account of large expansion prospective in addition to fast growth. For people enthusiastic to know , investments within customer goods or perhaps durable will be a desired solution.

Having the Valuations Evidently
Your supply estimations written by authorities possess laid a fantastic increased the valuations regarding stocks and options. Stock trading game for beginners can bring about cutbacks as long as they end up in costly stocks and options at the proper time. Novice can study the fundamental definitions and ideas for example selling price to help publication percentage, earnings every talk about percentage and also the selling price to help earnings ration in addition to learn how to review supply valuations together with that relating to corporations of various other industry.

Attend Instruction Sessions in addition to Work spaces
Stock trading game committing for beginners can be done much easier by becoming a member of training sessions with supply markets. Today, several broker agent businesses perform online times in which the doubts in addition to difficulties encountered by list shareholders are sorted out by encountered stock exchange professionals in addition to expense consultants. Your realistic trading times in addition to interaction together with older persons will assist you to within realizing .

Preferably, this short article with purchasing the stock market for beginners in addition to methods for stock exchange newcomers will assist you to in becoming a professional investor in addition to individual. And so, test your good fortune here and be prosperous. Take care!

DISCLAIMER: This information is just by referrals purposes and doesn?t suggest almost any stock exchange purchases.

Related posts:

  1. Automatic Foreign Exchange Robots Are They For newbies ? Simplest Technique with Automatic Forex Trading How might you like with read about Accurate Forex Signals?...
  2. Learn about the Signs of a Current market Top I would say approximately 90% or extra of all traders...
  3. Cautiously Select Forex Trading Software What is the ideal Forex trading software to take if...
  4. How To Find A Florida Resources TI-84 And also Ti 84 Plus in stock Are you searching for the ideal graphing calculator? If that?s...
  5. Foreign exchange Signals ? It is possible to Immediately Trade Like You Have Decades of Foreign Currency Markets Experience Forex Data ? Best ways to Immediately Trade Like You...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Source: http://uhcclub.com/chess-strategy/investing-in-stock-exchange-trading-for-starters/

listeriosis bonobos recent earthquakes club paradise earthquakes today twilight breaking dawn trailer shaker

Friday 27 January 2012

Hello i'm Carcino!

  • Reputation:
    Words written:
    Words per post:
    Joined:
    Last visit:
    Location:
    Website:

Topic Tags:

New (or returning) members post here to announce your arrival and be greeted by our wonderful community. Also, if you're going away on leave, post here and we'll say our goodbyes.

First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1

Hello i'm Carcino I have recently found this web site and its pretty damn well set up I hope I can stay on this site for a long time. - Carcino

User avatar
Carcino
Member for 0 years



First post: ? 1 post ? Page 1 of 1

Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests

Our Sponsors



RolePlayGateway is proudly powered by obscene amounts of caffeine, duct tape, Wordpress, Moodle, phpBB, AJAX Chat, Mantis, and the efforts of many dedicated writers and roleplayers. It operates under a "don't like it, suggest an improvement" platform, and we gladly take suggestions for improvements or changes.

The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

? RolePlayGateway, LLC

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/Vq-1jUN2fgo/viewtopic.php

giants game rick santorum santorum atlanta falcons new hampshire debate brandon jacobs brandon jacobs

Adolescents with autism spend free time using solitary, screen-based media

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be fascinated by screen-based technology. A new study by a University of Missouri researcher found that adolescents with autism spend the majority of their free time using non-social media, including television and video-games.

"Even though parents and clinicians have often observed that children with ASD tend to be preoccupied with screen-based media, ours is the first large-scale study to explore this issue," said Micah Mazurek, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions and the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. "We found that 64 percent of adolescents with ASD spent most of their free time watching TV and playing video and computer games. These rates were much higher than among those with other types of disabilities. On the other hand, adolescents with ASD were less likely to spend time using email and social media."

The majority of youths with ASD (64.2 percent) spend most of their free time using solitary, or non-social, screen-based media (television and video games) while only 13.2 percent spend time on socially interactive media (email, internet chatting).

This is the first study to examine the prevalence of screen-based media use within a large nationally representative sample of youths with ASD. Data were compiled from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2, a group of more than 1,000 adolescents enrolled in special education. The study includes youths with ASD, learning and intellectual disabilities, and speech and language impairments.

The findings affirm that solitary screen-based media use represents a primary and preferred activity for a large percentage of youths with ASD, Mazurek said. Previously, researchers found that excessive use of these media in typically developing children is detrimental to outcomes, with regard to academic performance, social engagement, behavioral regulation, attention and health.

"This is an important issue for adolescents with ASD and their families. Studies have shown that excessive use of TV and video games can have negative long-term effects for typically developing children," Mazurek said. "In future studies, we need to learn more about both positive and negative aspects of media use in children with ASD. We need to look for ways to capitalize on strengths and interests in screen-based technology."

Mazurek is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Psychology. The study was co-authored by Paul Shattuck, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University; Mary Wagner, principal scientist at SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute; and Benjamin Cooper, a graduate student at the Brown School.

The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The research was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Organization for Autism Research.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Missouri-Columbia.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Micah O. Mazurek, Paul T. Shattuck, Mary Wagner, Benjamin P. Cooper. Prevalence and Correlates of Screen-Based Media Use Among Youths with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2011; DOI: 10.1007/s10803-011-1413-8

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/0LAyyFIrLqM/120125143115.htm

paranormal activity 4 andrew luck andrew luck love and hip hop 2012 nfl mock draft iowa caucus chris jericho

Thursday 26 January 2012

Atheist Announcements (slacktivist)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191538608?client_source=feed&format=rss

neil degrasse tyson neil degrasse tyson bears lions bears lions heavy d heavy d taser gun

A daring raid, and US, Danish hostages on way home (AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia ? Held captive since last fall, an ailing American woman and a Danish man will soon be safely on their way home after a bold, dark-of-night rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs. The commandos slipped into a Somali encampment, shot and killed nine captors and whisked the hostages to freedom.

The raid's success was welcome news for the hostages and their families, for the military and for President Barack Obama, who was delivering his State of the Union speech and beginning a five-state tour as the mission wrapped up. He did not mention it in his address but dropped a hint upon arriving in the House chamber by telling Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, "Good job tonight."

It was the second splashy SEAL Team 6 success in less than a year, following last May's killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

The SEALs encountered some degree of resistance from the kidnappers at the encampment, two U.S. officials said, and there was a firefight during an approximately 1- to 1 1/2-hour operation.

One defense official said it was likely that the SEALs killed the kidnappers rather than capture them because they encountered armed resistance or the threat of resistance.

The Pentagon was mostly tight-lipped about details on Wednesday, citing a need to preserve the secrecy that can give SEALs and other special operations forces an edge against the terrorists, criminals and others they are ordered to kill or capture around the world under hazardous and often hostile conditions.

Special operations forces, trained for clandestine, small-team missions, have become a more prominent tool in the military's kit since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Obama administration is expected to announce on Thursday that it will invest even more heavily in that capability in coming years.

After planning and rehearsal, the Somalia rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret mission. The same outfit did the bin Laden mission, the biggest counter-terror success of Obama's presidency. It was not clear whether any team members participated in both operations.

One official said the SEALs parachuted from U.S. Air Force aircraft before moving on foot, apparently undetected, to the outdoor encampment where they found American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane, who had been kidnapped in Somalia last fall. The raid happened near the town of Adado.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the captors were heavily armed and had "explosives nearby" when the rescuers arrived on the scene, but he was not more specific. He declined to say whether there was an exchange of gunfire and would not provide any further details about how the rescue was completed beyond saying all of the captors were killed by the Americans.

The American raiders caught the kidnappers as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were "taken away."

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby, said U.S. officials could not confirm that the kidnappers were engaged in piracy. He referred to them simply as "criminals."

Little said the decision to go ahead with the rescue was prompted in part by rising concern about the medical condition of Buchanan. He said he could not be specific without violating her privacy but did say U.S. officials had reason to believe her condition could be life-threatening. Mary Ann Olsen, an official with the Danish Refugee Council, which employed Buchanan and Thisted in de-mining efforts in Somalia, said Buchanan was "not that ill" but needed medicine.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel, "One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved." Soevndal did not provide any more details.

U.S. officials "within the last week or so" had collected enough information to "connect the dots" that led Obama to authorize the mission on Monday, Little said.

A Western official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to Camp Lemonnier in the nearby Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly. The hostages will remain in Djibouti Wednesday but will be leaving "fairly soon," one U.S. official said. They will then travel to another location for medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home, the official said.

Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti hosts the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, a U.S.-led group organized under U.S. Africa Command.

In a statement after the rescue, Africa Command said Buchanan and Thisted were being held for an undisclosed ransom. It said the rescue team managed to confirm the hostages' presence in the camp before launching the assault. The mission was directed by Army Gen. Carter Ham, head of Africa Command, from his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Panetta and other members of Obama's national security team monitored the mission from the White House before traveling up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol for the president's annual message to Congress and the nation.

Obama, Panetta and Ham all praised the skill and courage of the SEALs and expressed gratitude for the safe return of the hostages.

"We should remember that Mrs. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted were working to protect the people of Somalia when they were violently kidnapped," Ham said in a written statement. "It is my hope that all those who work in Somalia for the betterment of the Somali people can be free from the dangers of violent criminals."

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that Buchanan and Thisted were "on their way to be reunited with their families" on Wednesday.

Minutes after Obama completed his State of the Union address he was on the phone with Buchanan's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

"As commander in chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday.

"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."

The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success. The head of the council, Andreas Kamm, said he would have preferred to see the two hostages freed peacefully "but we're happy with the outcome. This is a day of joy indeed."

Buchanan lived in neighboring Kenya before Somalia and worked at a school in Nairobi called the Rosslyn Academy from 2007-09, said Rob Beyer, the dean of students. He described the American as quick to laugh and adventurous.

"There have been tears on and around the campus today," Beyer said. "She was well-loved by all her students."

Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

___

Houreld reported from Nairobi and Burns from Washington. Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier, Lolita Baldor and Julie Pace in Washington, Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

___

Follow Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld and Robert Burns at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_af/af_somalia_raid

hemlock hemlock mark rothko mark rothko wiccan pumpkin carvings mcrib

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Groundbreaking jazz manager John Levy dies at 99 (AP)

ALTADENA, California ? John Levy, the first prominent African-American personal manager in the jazz or pop music field, whose clients included Nancy Wilson and Ramsey Lewis, has died at age 99.

Devra Hall Levy posted on his website that her husband died Friday in his sleep at his home in Altadena, California, less than three months before his 100th birthday.

An accomplished bassist, the New Orleans-born Levy performed with such jazz greats as Stuff Smith, Billie Holiday, Erroll Garner and Billy Taylor in the 1940s before joining pianist George Shearing's original quintet. In the early 1950s, he became Shearing's full-time manager and later went on to form his own management agency, John Levy Enterprises Inc.

Levy's client roster over the years included more than 85 artists, including Wilson, Lewis, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal and Abbey Lincoln as well as comedian Arsenio Hall.

In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Levy as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_en_mu/us_obit_john_levy

tyler bray san antonio weather austin box austin box the academy is the academy is colorado avalanche

Lab mimics Jupiter's Trojan asteroids inside a single atom

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? Rice University physicists have gone to extremes to prove that Isaac Newton's classical laws of motion can apply in the atomic world: They've built an accurate model of part of the solar system inside a single atom of potassium.

In a new paper published this week in Physical Review Letters, Rice's team and collaborators at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Vienna University of Technology showed they could cause an electron in an atom to orbit the nucleus in precisely the same way that Jupiter's Trojan asteroids orbit the sun.

The findings uphold a prediction made in 1920 by famed Danish physicist Niels Bohr about the relationship between the then-new science of quantum mechanics and Newton's tried-and-true laws of motion.

"Bohr predicted that quantum mechanical descriptions of the physical world would, for systems of sufficient size, match the classical descriptions provided by Newtonian mechanics," said lead researcher Barry Dunning, Rice's Sam and Helen Worden Professor of Physics and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Bohr also described the conditions under which this correspondence could be observed. In particular, he said it should be seen in atoms with very high principal quantum numbers, which are exactly what we study in our laboratory."

Bohr was a pioneer of quantum physics. His 1913 atomic model, which is still widely invoked today, postulated a small nucleus surrounded by electrons moving in well-defined orbits and shells. The word "quantum" in quantum mechanics derives from the fact that these orbits can have only certain well-defined energies. Jumps between these orbits lead to absorption or emission of specific amounts of energy termed quanta. As an electron gains energy, its quantum number increases, and it jumps to higher orbits that circle ever farther from the nucleus.

In the new experiments, Rice graduate students Brendan Wyker and Shuzhen Ye began by using an ultraviolet laser to create a Rydberg atom. Rydberg atoms contain a highly excited electron with a very large quantum number. In the Rice experiments, potassium atoms with quantum numbers between 300 and 600 were studied.

"In such excited states, the potassium atoms become hundreds of thousands of times larger than normal and approach the size of a period at the end of a sentence," Dunning said. "Thus, they are good candidates to test Bohr's prediction."

He said comparing the classical and quantum descriptions of the electron orbits is complicated, in part because electrons exist as both particles and waves. To "locate" an electron, physicists calculate the likelihood of finding the electron at different locations at a given time. These predictions are combined to create a "wave function" that describes all the places where the electron might be found. Normally, an electron's wave function looks like a diffuse cloud that surrounds the atomic nucleus, because the electron might be found on any side of the nucleus at a given time.

Dunning and co-workers previously used a tailored sequence of electric field pulses to collapse the wave function of an electron in a Rydberg atom; this limited where it might be found to a localized, comma-shaped area called a "wave packet." This localized wave packet orbited the nucleus of the atom much like a planet orbits the sun. But the effect lasted only for a brief period.

"We wanted to see if we could develop a way to use radio frequency waves to capture this localized electron and make it orbit the nucleus indefinitely without spreading out," Ye said.

They succeeded by applying a radio frequency field that rotated around the nucleus itself. This field ensnared the localized electron and forced it to rotate in lockstep around the nucleus.

A further electric field pulse was used to measure the final result by taking a snapshot of the wave packet and destroying the delicate Rydberg atom in the process. After the experiment had been run tens of thousands of times, all the snapshots were combined to show that Bohr's prediction was correct: The classical and quantum descriptions of the orbiting electron wave packets matched. In fact, the classical description of the wave packet trapped by the rotating field parallels the classical physics that explains the behavior of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

Jupiter's 4,000-plus Trojan asteroids -- so called because each is named for a hero of the Trojan wars -- have the same orbit as Jupiter and are contained in comma-shaped clouds that look remarkably similar to the localized wave packets created in the Rice experiments. And just as the wave packet in the atom is trapped by the combined electric field from the nucleus and the rotating wave, the Trojans are trapped by the combined gravitational field of the sun and orbiting Jupiter.

The researchers are now working on their next experiment: They're attempting to localize two electrons and have them orbit the nucleus like two planets in different orbits.

"The level of control that we're able to achieve in these atoms would have been unthinkable just a few years ago and has potential applications in, for example, quantum computing and in controlling chemical reactions using ultrafast lasers," Dunning said.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Robert A. Welch Foundation, the Austrian Science Fund and the Department of Energy. Paper co-authors include S. Yoshida of the Vienna University of Technology; C.O. Reinhold of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee; and J. Burgd?rfer of Vienna University of Technology and the University of Tennessee.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124162351.htm

floyd mayweather kate upton winter solstice r. kelly x factor finale pro bowl voting kindle fire update

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Exercise has charms to soothe a savage boss

Exercise has charms to soothe a savage boss [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Joan Robinson
joan.robinson@springer.com
49-622-148-78130
Springer

Moderate exercise minimizes supervisors' abusive behaviors towards their subordinates

If your boss is giving you a hard time - lying, making fun of you in public and generally putting you down, he or she may benefit from some exercise, according to a new study by James Burton from Northern Illinois University in the US and his team. Their work shows that stressed supervisors, struggling with time pressures, vent their frustrations on their employees less when they get regular, moderate exercise. The research is published online in Springer's Journal of Business and Psychology.

In the current economic climate, it is not unusual to come across stressed supervisors. But does that mean that they have to transfer their frustrations onto the people they supervise? Research shows that when a supervisor experiences workplace stress, his or her subordinates feel they bear the brunt of that frustration. Burton and his team's study is the first to examine how exercise can buffer the relationship between supervisor stress and employee perceptions of abusive supervision or hostile behavior towards them.

A total of 98 MBA students and their 98 supervisors from two universities in the Midwestern United States completed questionnaires. Students rated their perceptions of how abusive their current supervisor was, for example "my supervisor tells me my thoughts or feelings are stupid" or "my supervisor puts me down in front of others." Supervisors answered questions about how often they exercised and about their workplace stress, for example "working my current job leaves me little time for other activities" or "I have too much work and too little time to do it in."

The researchers found that, as expected, when supervisors were stressed, their subordinates felt more victimized. However, analyses also showed that when supervisors experienced stress, but engaged in exercise, their subordinates reported lower levels of abusive supervision. Interestingly, only moderate levels of exercise were necessary to minimize abusive supervision, such as one to two days of exercise per week, and the type of exercise seemed to make little difference.

The authors conclude: "It appears that the simple act of exercising minimizes the negative effects of supervisor workplace stress on subordinates. Wellness programs, often inclusive of exercise components, have been advocated to control workplace stress for years. This study adds support to their specific relevancy in smoothing supervisor-subordinate relationships."

###

Reference
Burton JP et al (2012). Supervisor workplace stress and abusive supervision: the buffering effect of exercise. Journal of Business and Psychology. DOI 10.1007/s10869-011-9255-0

The full-text article is available to journalists on request.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Exercise has charms to soothe a savage boss [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Joan Robinson
joan.robinson@springer.com
49-622-148-78130
Springer

Moderate exercise minimizes supervisors' abusive behaviors towards their subordinates

If your boss is giving you a hard time - lying, making fun of you in public and generally putting you down, he or she may benefit from some exercise, according to a new study by James Burton from Northern Illinois University in the US and his team. Their work shows that stressed supervisors, struggling with time pressures, vent their frustrations on their employees less when they get regular, moderate exercise. The research is published online in Springer's Journal of Business and Psychology.

In the current economic climate, it is not unusual to come across stressed supervisors. But does that mean that they have to transfer their frustrations onto the people they supervise? Research shows that when a supervisor experiences workplace stress, his or her subordinates feel they bear the brunt of that frustration. Burton and his team's study is the first to examine how exercise can buffer the relationship between supervisor stress and employee perceptions of abusive supervision or hostile behavior towards them.

A total of 98 MBA students and their 98 supervisors from two universities in the Midwestern United States completed questionnaires. Students rated their perceptions of how abusive their current supervisor was, for example "my supervisor tells me my thoughts or feelings are stupid" or "my supervisor puts me down in front of others." Supervisors answered questions about how often they exercised and about their workplace stress, for example "working my current job leaves me little time for other activities" or "I have too much work and too little time to do it in."

The researchers found that, as expected, when supervisors were stressed, their subordinates felt more victimized. However, analyses also showed that when supervisors experienced stress, but engaged in exercise, their subordinates reported lower levels of abusive supervision. Interestingly, only moderate levels of exercise were necessary to minimize abusive supervision, such as one to two days of exercise per week, and the type of exercise seemed to make little difference.

The authors conclude: "It appears that the simple act of exercising minimizes the negative effects of supervisor workplace stress on subordinates. Wellness programs, often inclusive of exercise components, have been advocated to control workplace stress for years. This study adds support to their specific relevancy in smoothing supervisor-subordinate relationships."

###

Reference
Burton JP et al (2012). Supervisor workplace stress and abusive supervision: the buffering effect of exercise. Journal of Business and Psychology. DOI 10.1007/s10869-011-9255-0

The full-text article is available to journalists on request.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/s-ehc012412.php

homeland packers giants game golden globe winners 2012 ricky gervais golden globes epidermolysis bullosa miss wisconsin law abiding citizen

Monday 23 January 2012

Buffett sings in video for China's New Year gala (AP)

BEIJING ? A hugely popular Chinese Lunar New Year variety show has a special guest star playing the ukulele: American billionaire Warren Buffett.

Buffett is shown wearing a dark sweat shirt and singing the folk song "I've Been Working On The Railroad" in the video posted on state broadcaster CCTV's "Spring Festival Gala" website Sunday.

There are no details on the website about where the 45-second clip was shot, but Buffett appears to be sitting in a small room with an elaborate model railroad set up in the background.

The video's simplicity contrasts with other performances posted on the website of the gala, which is usually a flashy extravaganza that draws 800 million viewers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_buffett

monsters vs aliens jeremy maclin nascar news emmys 2011 emmys 2011 emmy nominations 2011 knowshon moreno

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.0.1] [Video]

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.0.1]The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.0.1] Jailbreaking is a process that changes little by little with each iOS upgrade. Rather than always publishing new guides, we're simply going to keep this one up to date. If you want to jailbreak your iOS device, you've come to the right page.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although you can jailbreak both A5-based and non-A5-based devices running iOS 5.0.1, the method differs. Be sure to follow the instructions for your device.

Current Untethered Version: iOS 5.0.1
For additional jailbreak options for older versions of iOS, please see the list at the bottom of this page. As this guide is updated, previous versions of the guide will be archived there as well.

Current Tethered Version: iOS 5.0.1
We do not recommend tethered jailbreaking, as it requires you to connect your iDevice to your computer to boot it every time. This is especially bad with new operating system releases, as they tend to freeze up a bit more. You probably don't want your device freezing up and becoming unusable while you're out and about, so you really should wait until an untethered jailbreak is available for iOS 5. That said, if you're jailbreaking for development purposes or carry a laptop with you everywhere, this post will show you can do it.

Not sure if you should jailbreak?
We love jailbreaking our iDevices, but it's not for everybody. If you're not sure, you should read both our reasons not to jailbreak and why jailbreaking is awesome.

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.0.1]

How to Jailbreak Older (Non-A5-Based) Devices: The Step by Step Process

The video above will show you how the whole process works, both on your computer and your iOS device, but read on for the steps for non-A5-based devices.

1

Before getting started, make sure you are running iOS 5.0.1, as this jailbreak will only work on iOS 5.0.1 and not 5.0.0. If you're still running 5.0.0, update to 5.0.1. Also, be sure your iDevice does not run on an A5 chip. (This means iPad 2s and iPhone 4S'.) Any earlier device that can run iOS 5.0.1 should work just fine. (This means the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPhone 4 CDMA, iPad 1, iPod touch 3G, and iPod touch 4G.)


2

Download redsn03 0.9.10b1 for Mac OS X or Windows.


3

Connect your iDevice to your computer, open up the redsn0w application, and turn off your iDevice.


4

On the redsn0w application window you'll see a Jailbreak button. Click it. You'll be told you'll need to put your iDevice into DFU mode and to click the Next button when ready. When you are ready, go ahead and click it.


5

Hold down the power button at the top of your iDevice for three (3) seconds. Next, continue holding down the power button but also hold down the home button for a total of 10 seconds. Finally, let go of the power button but continue holding down the home button for another 15 seconds, or until redsn0w changes screens and tells you it's exploiting your device for the jailbreak.


6

Once redsn0w has finished doing its business, it'll ask you what you want to do for this jailbreak. By default, only Cydia will be checked. Most of the other options are irrelevant, but you might want to check Enable multitouch gestures if you want additional multitouch gestures on your iPhone or iPod touch.


7

Wait a few minutes for the jailbreak to finish and for your iDevice to reboot. Once it has booted, you'll see the Cydia icon on your home screen (although it may not be on the first page, so look around). Open it up and you'll have access to a bunch of jailbreak hacks.


And you're done! Launch it and you're ready to go. Not sure what to do next? Check out our jailbreaking tag page for some ideas.

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Jailbreaking Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad [iOS 5.0.1]

How to Jailbreak Newer (A5-Based) Devices: The Step by Step Process

The video above will show you how the whole process works, both on your computer and your iOS device, but read on for the steps for A5-based devices.

1

The greenpois0n absinthe method is pretty simple. You just plug in your iPhone or iPad (there's no need to enter DFU mode or even turn it off), open the absinthe jailbreak app on your Mac or Windows PC, and click the jailbreak button.


2

Wait for a while. Your device will go into a fake restore session and reboot. When it reboots, DO NOT TOUCH IT. The jailbreak process isn't over yet. You will be notified on-screen when absinthe has finished its work. It will tell you to find the quote-unquote jailbreak app on one of your home screen pages. The app is not labeled jailbreak, but rather absinthe. Tap that app and it should cause your device to reboot with the jailbreak complete.


3

If that doesn't happen, however, just open up the Settings app on your device and flip the VPN toggle switch to on (it'll be towards the top of your main settings options). You'll receive an error, which you need to dismiss, and then after a few seconds your device will reboot.


Once you're done jailbreaking, you'll now find Cydia on one of your home screen pages. Open it up and start installing whatever you want. Not sure what to install first? Check out our jailbreaking tag page for some ideas.


Jailbreaking Options for Older iOS Devices


You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ERDRjnarBnQ/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-jailbreaking-your-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad-%5Bios-433%5D

va tech shooting 2011 cj wilson coriolanus coriolanus jon corzine v tech the three stooges

Sunday 22 January 2012

Film reveals new 'West Memphis 3' witnesses

Danny Johnston / AP file

Jessie Misskelley, Jr., James Baldwin, and Damien Echols were set free in August after serving nearly 20 years in prison.

?

By Kurt Orzeck, The Wrap

Peter Jackson's "West of Memphis" documentary reveals fresh allegations in the 1993 murder case of of three young boys in Arkansas.

In the documentary, screening at Sundance Friday, three new witnesses undergo polygraph tests. They declared under penalty of perjury that the nephew of Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young victims, told them his uncle was behind the murders.

According to lawyers working on the so-called West Memphis 3 case, three friends of Michael Hobbs Jr. came forward a few weeks ago after seeing a "48 Hours" special on the case. Damein Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. have long professed their innocence of the killings, and the case, and fight for their release has been chronicled in a trilogy of documentaries, most recently "Paradise Lost."?

In August 2011, they were freed after nearly two decades behind bars and intense celebrity lobbying for their release.

'West Memphis Three' Killers Freed After 18 Years

Lonnie Soury, part of the investigative team being financed in part by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, told TheWrap that the new information came from a Dec. 11 call on the confidential tip line set up three years ago.

"Three eyewitnesses placed Terry Hobbs with the children immediately before they disappeared," Soury said.

This contradicted Hobbs' statement under oath that he didn't see the children the day they were murdered. The team quickly brought the witnesses to Washington, D.C. for polygraphs, he told TheWrap.

"This is critical new information," Stephen Braga, an attorney for Echols, said. "With the secret now out, let?s hope that someone in the Hobbs family has the heart, the soul and the courage to come forward to tell the truth directly."

Braga has given the new investigative materials to a district attorney for review.

The earlier convictions were not overturned completely. Rather through a legal maneuver, the three men will ?maintain their innocence, while acknowledging that there was enough evidence against them for a murder conviction.

A district court judge said the men had served their time, but issued a 10-year suspended sentence against them.

Soury said that the information was released Friday in advance of the screening, because the film covers some of the recent developments. "Once the information was out there, it would not be confidential."

According to an account by law firm Ropes & Gray, one witness that recently came forward said Hobbs Jr. picked up his friends in his truck.

"He was very quiet and upset," the witness said. "Michael then said to us, ?You are not going to believe what my dad told me today. My Uncle Terry murdered the three little boys.? According to Michael, his dad called this ?The Hobbs Family Secret,? and he asked us to keep it a secret and not tell anyone.?

Another witness recounted said that, while playing pool with Hobbs Jr. in his basement, he made the same revelation.

A third witness said that, while he was at Hobbs Jr.?s home in 2003 or 2004, he was told he couldn't go to the basement to play pool because Michael Hobbs Sr. and Terry Hobbs were talking. The witness said he ? listened with Michael Jr. at the top of the stairs. I heard two men talking. One appeared to be very upset even crying and he said ?I am sorry, I regret it.? The other man was trying to console him and said, ?You are in the clear, no one thinks you are a suspect, those guys are already in prison.? ?

Eyewitnesses have said they saw Hobbs Sr. with the three boys on the day of the murders. DNA consistent with Hobbs was found in the knot of a shoelace that was used to tie another one of the victims.

Hobbs has insisted he's innocent, saying he didn't see the boys the day they were killed.

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201031-film-reveals-new-west-memphis-3-witnesses

oman unforgettable metta world peace hpq raising hope fullerton police beating fullerton police beating

Saturday 21 January 2012

European soccer's fight against racism not yet won (AP)

PARIS ? For fans of soccer, Feb. 1 promises to be a sad day.

John Terry, one of the most rugged, fearsome and admired defenders anywhere in the world, a natural leader who captains his club, Chelsea, and his country, England, will appear at a London courthouse to face a criminal charge that he abused a black colleague with a torrent of vile, racially insulting language.

Terry insists the whole affair is a misunderstanding. Born and raised in the ethnic melting pot of east London, he has played with or alongside black players all of his sporting life. Yet video from an Oct. 23 Premier League match appeared to show him shouting, "You ------- black ----" at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand, whose brother, Rio, has long been Terry's partner in the England defense.

Terry was quick to issue a statement: "People have leapt to the wrong conclusions about the context of what I was seen to be saying." He vowed to "fight tooth and nail to prove my innocence" at the West London Magistrates' Court.

Still, this and other incidents in England and elsewhere in Europe are raising questions about whether efforts to stamp out racist behavior in the world's No. 1 sport have taken a big step backward after having made so many strides forward in the past decade or more. Have racist fans and players simply been lurking, unrepentant, under the surface, instead of being hounded out? Have soccer authorities, led by world governing body FIFA and its European cousin, UEFA, eased up too early in their often-stated determination to rid the global sport of all forms of discrimination?

"We were winning," said Steve Rotheram, a British lawmaker who successfully lobbied for a parliamentary committee to take a new look at racism in sports, following the Terry case and others. However, "people have started to ask about institutional racism and, you know, whether or not the sort of improvements that we'd all hoped have happened over the past 20 years are actually embedded."

The inquiry will start gathering evidence in March. "We've got to be ever vigilant, to make certain that racism doesn't make a comeback," Rotheram said in a phone interview.

Some countries fight soccer extremists with greater determination than others. Some believe the only effective way to punish and ostracize extremist fans is by punishing their clubs. For others, a long-term solution is to educate fans so they police themselves and no longer tolerate bigots in their midst.

"One of the reasons why the UK and Germany, I would say, have been so successful in tackling this problem is through the peer pressure that was exerted toward those fans who were being racist ? when people used the logic of 'Well, how can you abuse the opposition black player when we have black players of our own?'" said Piara Powar, executive director of the FARE network, European soccer's anti-discrimination group, partly funded by UEFA.

"When that became the dominant feeling on the terraces and in the stands that was the start of a dynamic, which, in footballing terms, one couldn't challenge," he said in a phone interview. "It was nonsensical to abuse black players because they were also your own black players."

Nir Inbar, CEO of Israeli first division team Hapoel Tel Aviv, is a proponent of punishment. At a Dec. 28 game, Beitar Jerusalem fans racially abused his Nigerian-born striker, Toto Tamuz.

"They were singing, 'Give Toto a banana,'" Inbar, who was at the game, said in a phone interview. "It is horrible to have racism in a country (where) most of its citizens are Jews. It shouldn't be here. Racism is in our dark history. We suffered a lot from racism."

Rather than merely fine Beitar, Israel's Football Association docked two points from the six-time champion, a significant punishment for a club in danger this season of relegation from the top division.

"That's what needs to happen to tackle racism. That is how supporters understand the lessons, you know?" Inbar said. "Because they did not learn the lesson when the club is getting fined, they say, 'OK, the club has enough money.'"

"If it was up to me, yes, I would use this punishment more often."

In Spain, no club has ever been docked points because of racist chants or behavior by fans. Yet there have been occasions when such punishment might have been warranted. Most recently, supporters of Espanyol made monkey sounds ? "hoo-hoo-hoo" ? at Daniel Alves, Barcelona's defender from Brazil, in a Jan. 8 league match. The grunts grew as the game progressed and rolled from one section of the crowd to another, tracking Alves' moves across the pitch when he had the ball.

Esteban Ibarra of Spain's Movement Against Intolerance believes not only that Spanish soccer authorities are lax against racist behavior but that clubs knowingly turn a blind eye to extremist supporters because their chanting lends ambiance to games.

"Every team in the top flight has these ultras. They are the essence of these racist taunts and chants, and their idea is to try and get the stadium swept up in their cries, and sometimes that works," said Ibarra, spokesman for the lobbying group. "They are more aggressive and louder than the rest of crowd, which is generally passive in Spain. They are admitted because it helps (club) directors feel strong and powerful, these intimidating voices filling the stadium."

"At the moment, the ultras are able to get away with impunity and it's up to the bodies and club directors to change this. Neither are taking precautions to curb this," he said in a phone interview.

Espanyol took no action following the Alves incident even though club president Ramon Condal said, "If we can do something about those chants, we will."

The Spanish Football Federation said it won't investigate because the referee did not mention the monkey sounds in his official match report and because Alves said he didn't hear them.

In England, the Football Association also has never deducted points from a club for fans' racist behavior, although its rules allow it to do so.

"This course of action would very much be a last resort and in only the most serious of circumstances," the FA emailed in response to questions from the AP. "And instances of racist abuse have been very rare in the last 20 years."

Which is one reason why Terry's case and another involving Liverpool striker Luis Suarez came as such a surprise. An FA disciplinary panel found that during a Premier League match in October, Suarez used the words "Negro" or "Negroes" seven times in heated tussles with Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, who is black and who complained. The panel banned Suarez for eight matches.

That case plus the Terry incident have "shone a light into an area which we know is a problem, we know historically has been a huge problem, but that remained hidden ? that of player-on-player abuse, that of racialized interaction, racially abusive interaction, between players," said the FARE network's Powar.

However, he also said: "The biggest surprise for me was the way that Liverpool reacted."

The American-owned club's vehement support for Suarez ? players and manager Kenny Dalglish wore T-shirts featuring his picture and the team complained bitterly about the FA ? looked insensitive, crass and misguided to critics. Liverpool also had to apologize this month to an Oldham player who was reduced to tears by insults from its fans during an FA Cup match.

"Liverpool, probably, with hindsight, might well have acted differently," said Rotheram, the lawmaker elected by voters from the city. Liverpool versus Manchester United is one of the biggest rivalries in European soccer, "and because it was that particular football club and Liverpool Football Club, I think that the reaction was tribal," he added.

"In regard to its impact on the city, it's not been a positive impact, I can tell you."

In England, at events unconnected to the Terry and Suarez incidents but feeding into the debates they caused, a white woman was filmed spouting racial abuse on a London tram, footage viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube.

This month, a judge also sentenced two white men for the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black 18-year-old stabbed and left to die at a south London bus stop.

"The truth is that most people don't say overtly racist things at sporting events anymore because it is socially unacceptable. But that doesn't mean to say that there aren't racists in football crowds because, at the end of the day, football crowds reflect society," Rotheram said. "It is a societal problem."

___

AP Sports Writer Paul Logothetis in Madrid contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_sp_so_ne/soc_racism_bites_back

ijustine visionary guy kawasaki jani lane the exorcism of emily rose the exorcism of emily rose fort knox

Jailed Cuba dissident dies in hunger strike (Reuters)

HAVANA (Reuters) ? A 31-year-old jailed dissident, Wilmar Villar Mendoza, died on Thursday in eastern Cuba from the effects of a 56-day hunger strike and what fellow opposition activists believe was mistreatment by the Cuban government, a Cuban human rights activist said.

Villar launched his hunger strike shortly after he was arrested in November, put on trial and sentenced to four years in prison for crimes including disobedience, resistance and crimes against the state, said Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights.

He said Villar joined an opposition group in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba called the Cuban Patriotic Union last summer and had been an active dissident since then.

He was placed in solitary confinement under difficult conditions which, combined with his hunger strike, caused serious health problems that led to his death, Sanchez told Reuters.

He was been taken to a hospital in the city of Santiago de Cuba on January 14 as his condition deteriorated, and died there.

"We hold the Cuban government categorically responsible because he died under their care. We consider this another avoidable death," he said.

Cuba drew international condemnation when another imprisoned dissident, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died in February 2010 after an 85-day hunger strike.

President Raul Castro said Zapata was just a common criminal, but his death is believed to have contributed to Castro's decision in the summer of 2010 to release 130 political prisoners in a deal brokered by the Roman Catholic Church.

Zapata was classified a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International, but Villar's case has drawn little attention.

The Cuban government has not yet said anything about Villar's death, but pro-government blogger Yohandry announced it in his blog, saying "the delinquent Wilmar Villar Mendoza died."

He predicted the death would bring criticism of Cuba from opponents of the Cuban government in the United States.

"The scavengers are beginning to arrive. Another campaign against Cuba starts to take off," he wrote.

Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez tweeted the news of Villar's death and asked "How many more have to die? How many more?"

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_cuba_dissident_death

texas rangers marie osmond st louis cardinals josh hamilton beavis and butthead cardinals jennifer nicole lee