Stingy 49ers hold down Drew Brees, Saints 36-32 (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? What a way to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of "The Catch."

Joe Montana to Dwight Clark then.

Alex Smith to Vernon Davis now.

Smith completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Davis with 9 seconds left just after Drew Brees had put the high-powered Saints ahead, and resurgent San Francisco capitalized on five New Orleans turnovers for a thrilling 36-32 playoff victory Saturday.

"This is huge for us," Davis said. "It's history, legendary, anything you can describe."

Smith ran for a 28-yard TD with 2:11 left and threw another scoring pass to Davis in the first quarter. Coach Jim Harbaugh's NFC West champions (14-3) proved that a hard-hitting, stingy defense can still win in the modern, wide-open NFL by holding off one of league's most dynamic offenses.

Brees completed a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham with 1:37 left and the Saints seemed poised to rally from an early 17-point deficit when Smith and Davis delivered once more. It was a wild back-and-forth finish featuring an impressive passing duel over the waning moments.

Their highlight show came in the opposite end zone from where Clark caught a stretched-out 6-yard pass from Montana on Jan. 10, 1982. Saturday's game-winner by a leaping Davis ? who plowed over a defender as he landed ? came in the same end zone where Steve Young hit Terrell Owens for a winning TD with 3 seconds left in a 30-27 wild-card win over the Packers in the 1999 playoffs. T.O.'s grab became known as "The Catch II."

How about this one?

"You've got to call it the grab," Davis said of his play. "We were down. I had to make it happen to take my teammates where we want to go."

San Francisco triumphed in its first playoff game in nine years and will move on to face the New York Giants or defending champion Green Bay Packers, who play Sunday. A win by the Giants would give the 49ers the home field.

The 49ers pulled off another last-second win in a season full of them ? and on a day former coach George Seifert served as honorary captain for the coin toss. San Francisco came from behind for five victories during the regular season, four on the road.

Davis, who wept on the sideline afterward days after saying he was overwhelmed early by Harbaugh's thick playbook, finished with seven catches for 180 yards. It was the most yards receiving by a tight end in a playoff game. He averaged 25.7 yards per catch.

Brees came up big down the stretch just as he did throughout a record-setting season, also hitting Darren Sproles for a 44-yard TD with 4:02 remaining ? one of Sproles' 15 catches for 119 yards.

"It stings right now because of the expectation level that we had coming into this tournament and understanding that if we win here we're into the NFC championship game and anything can happen," Brees said. "That's tough. Tough to swallow at this point."

The 49ers also showed that defense can still dominate in the days of big passers like Brees.

With Donte Whitner bringing the bruising hits and Dashon Goldson, Patrick Willis and their defensive mates pressuring Brees and forcing turnovers from every angle, surprising San Francisco is a win away from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since capturing the proud franchise's fifth championship after the 1994 season.

Brees, whose team was coming off consecutive 600-yard games, completed 40 of 63 passes for 462 yards and four touchdowns and was sacked three times. He also threw two interceptions, his first in the postseason in five years, and New Orleans (14-4) fell short again in its quest to get back to the Super Bowl after winning it all two years ago. The Saints are still searching for the first postseason road victory in franchise history after falling to 0-5.

"Kind of an unbelievable game the way it went back and forth," New Orleans coach Sean Payton said. "It's obviously a difficult game to lose."

How far these 49ers have come since that 24-3 trouncing they took back in August at the Superdome in the teams' exhibition opener. Now, Harbaugh's "Who's got it better than us? No-body!" group is drawing comparisons to the good ol' days of Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and Steve Young. And of course, Dwight Clark, who came through with "The Catch" to beat Dallas in the NFC title game on Jan. 10, 1982.

All-Pro David Akers, the Niners' most experienced playoff veteran whose 44 field goals set a single-season record, kicked three more when it mattered most ? from 25, 41 and 37 yards.

The underdog 49ers made the big plays on both sides of the ball and on special teams.

"Guys were so confident, as long as we had time we had a shot," Smith said.

They also had a towel-waving sellout crowd of 69,732 behind them at Candlestick Park on a beautiful sunny winter day in the Bay Area. It was 62 degrees at kickoff.

Who Dat? It's the Saints headed home to the Big Easy empty-handed.

A year ago, New Orleans came out West and suffered a stunning loss to the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks in the NFC wild-card round.

The Saints had lost five fumbles all season, then gave three away Saturday against San Francisco's opportunistic defense that pressured all day.

Harbaugh's theme "don't overcook it," rang true as the 49ers relied on what got them here ? perhaps the league's best defense and special teams.

Brees drove the Saints close to the goal line on their opening drive but Pierre Thomas lost that fumble and was lost for the game to a head injury after being hit by Whitner. Two other turnovers came on special teams.

Smith, the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick booed so often his first six seasons, hit Davis on a 49-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and then Michael Crabtree on a 4-yard TD strike as the 49ers jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead. He finished 24 for 42 for 299 yards with a 103.2 passer rating.

"It shows he's becoming an elite quarterback. I'm glad the world could see what he did today," Willis said.

Smith and his offense were determined to make their mark on these playoffs after being overlooked all season, and showed a little flair of their own. Davis dunked the football over the goal post after his score to make the Niners' most significant game on the NFL's big stage since rallying to stun the New York Giants in January 2003.

Brees threw two first-half interceptions and had his NFL-record streak of 226 postseason passes without an interception snapped on Goldson's pick in the opening quarter. Brees' streak dated to the NFC championship game against Chicago five years ago.

But he hit a well-guarded Graham for a leaping 14-yard touchdown catch at the 9:32 mark of the second quarter, then had a 25-yard TD completion to Marques Colston to send the Saints into halftime trailing only 17-14.

Any momentum New Orleans gained was hurt when Colin Jones forced return man Sproles to fumble after the 49ers punted on their first possession of the second half. That set up Akers' second field goal of the day.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_saints49ers

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Israel?s Cabinet approves free pre-K education

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/jta/breaking-news/~3/pF9xK1pnnvM/israels-cabinet-approves-free-pre-k-education

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Giants Have A Shot To Pull Off Mammoth Upset In Green Bay, Continue Playoff Run

Despite lifting the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win in 2007, the football world didn't fully accept Eli Manning among the game's elite. In fact, Giants fans were often the first to criticize him for being inconsistent. However, a stellar showing this year has made it increasingly difficult not to count him as one of the top players at his position. An increasingly self-assured Manning even went as far as to proclaim himself Tom Brady's equal this year -- a position that will prove even harder to refute if the Giants knock off the Packers.

In the years since that improbable victory, the younger Manning has been a consistently solid force. He's never missed a start (since taking over in 2004) and has been named to two Pro Bowls. But, he also hasn't won a playoff game since, and last season, he threw 25 interceptions and struggled down the stretch while New York missed the postseason for the second straight year. His almost exaggeratedly boring demeanor during games irritates a passionate fan base that perhaps misinterprets his shrugged shoulders and calmness for disinterest.

After what was by far his best season as a pro and a thrashing of a hot Atlanta team last Sunday though, Eli has proved himself all over again. His three touchdown passes were three more than he'd ever thrown at home in the playoffs before and with the 24-2 win, he also notched his first-ever home playoff victory.

Perhaps it would be just as lofty a statement to compare this current Big Blue team to 2007, but it's hard not to at least acknowledge some of the similarities.

Aside from Manning's greatness, we are witnessing the rebirth of a defensive line that hasn't been this dominant in five years. Back then, Justin Tuck was the new kid on the block emerging as a menacing beast on the outside. He was flanked by Osi Umenyiora and the elder statesman in his final year, Michael Strahan. The new kid on the block now is clearly Jason Pierre-Paul, only in his second season but already an All-Pro selection. While the injury-laden Umenyiora isn't at the level of old, he and Tuck present a formidable pass-rushing presence that tied for second in the league in sacks and helped keep Falcons' quarterback Matt Ryan from ever developing a rhythm in Sunday's win.

The other interesting element to this team right now is the play of Brandon Jacobs, the massive running back who has run more like the Pillsbury Doughboy over the past couple seasons than the bruising force we had grown accustomed to seeing. But over the past month or so, Jacobs has come alive. He is running much harder and attacking defenders as opposed to going down after first contact. Against Atlanta, he amassed 47 yards in such situations, according to ESPN Stats & Information, finishing with 92 yards on just 14 carries. One of Manning's most lethal weapons is the use of play-action; if Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw continue to run effectively, he will have his fair share of shots down the field with Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz.

Speaking of taking downfield shots, no team this season has been more consistently dominant than the Green Bay Packers. At 15-1, they have the best quarterback in the league, excellent receivers, a fantastic pass rush and an all-pro cornerback. Even still, are we safe to assume that no 15-1 team in the history of the game has ever been this vulnerable either?

The Packers -- without injured safety Nick Collins since September -- have the worst pass defense in the NFL, giving up 300 yards per game. They have a pair of young corners in Tramon Williams and Sam Shields who are very talented but equally green and at times undisciplined as well.

For all the talk of home-field advantage at Lambeau Field, this is a Green Bay team that actually is not built to win in super cold weather. Aaron Rodgers will throw upwards of 35 times per game because the rushing tandem of James Starks and Ryan Grant has been ineffective throughout the year, ranking 27th in yards per game. Because neither is a burner, the lack of a home run threat can allow New York to vary more blitz schemes and coverages, something that defensive coordinator Perry Fewell did with great success against the Falcons.

The Packers have been the superior team in either conference this season; there is not an argument that can be made against that. But the Giants are the one team built to beat them at Lambeau because they are so balanced right now on the offensive side of the ball. Rodgers will try early and often to exploit what has been a suspect secondary since Week 1 and he has the tools around him to do so, but if New York can control tempo with the run, they will have a shot to pull off the mammoth upset.

Then, a fully validated Eli Manning can say he beat the NFL's best quarterback ... in his own house.

Email me at jordan.schultz@huffingtonpost.com or ask me questions about anything sports-related @206Child for my upcoming mailbag.

Plus, check out my new HuffPost sports blog, The Schultz Report, for a fresh and daily outlook on all things sports and listen to our new radio show Sports Blitz Now every Wednesday afternoon.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/giants-have-a-shot-to-pull-off-mammoth-upset-in-green-bay_n_1196666.html

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Deadly rains, scant preparation in Brazil (AP)

RIO DE JANEIRO ? Brazil's tropical storms bring death every summer as torrential rains unleash floods and mudslides that can bury whole communities in minutes. A single storm killed nearly 1,000 people last year.

This season was going to be different. Government officials promised money would flow to prevent these catastrophes. But with the rains and deaths already starting, the government's own figures show funds are not going where officials say they are needed.

Brazil's Congress set aside $282 million last year for the federal disaster-prevention program, a jump from the $236 million allotted in 2010. On orders of President Dilma Rousseff, government geologists drew up a list of cities at greatest risk for a natural disaster.

That came in response to torrential rains at this time last year that dissolved hillsides and turned creeks into rampaging rivers in the mountains near Rio de Janeiro, tearing through and burying entire neighborhoods. A total of 918 people died, and the bodies of 215 are still missing.

Yet only 30 percent of the new disaster money has been spent, and little of it has gone to the highest-risk areas, according to the independent group Contas Abertas ? "Open Accounts" ? which campaigns for transparency in government.

It found that so far, disaster-prevention funds have gone to only two of the 56 cities that the new survey listed as high risk. Sao Paulo obtained $86,000 and $171,000 went to Florianopolis, the capital of Santa Catarina state, where 135 people died in floods in 2008.

The Brazilian Geological Service survey found nearly 180,000 people living in dangerously fragile areas, mostly in southeastern states such Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

But the city awarded the most disaster prevention money from the 2011 budget is Recife, which got $14 million from the Ministry of National Integration. The northeastern city is not even on the new list of areas at risk, though it is the capital of Pernambuco, the home state of National Integration Minister Fernando Bezerra Coelho.

Pernambuco got more funding than any other state for disaster prevention this past year. Flood-devastated Rio de Janeiro was 10th.

Bezerra has denied improperly favoring his state, noting that the money will help build dams to control rivers that flooded and killed 20 people in 2010.

"You can't discriminate against Pernambuco because it's the state the minister comes from," he told a news conference last week. "Any Brazilian citizen sitting in this chair would have done the same."

While Rousseff has stood behind Bezerra, Congress grilled him Thursday about allegations of improper spending. He insisted the decision to allocate disaster funds to his state was a technical decision, not political, and said the president and the Planning minister also knew of the investment.

Meanwhile, dangerous hillsides are going without reinforcement and perilous rivers are undredged.

"The president doesn't want more people to die, but more people will die. There will be more deaths," said Eduardo Macedo, vice president of Brazil's association of geologists. "We're making advances, but we are not even close to having in place the structure we need."

According to Contas Abertas, officials have spent just about a quarter of the money the Congress has allocated to disaster relief each year from 2004 to 2011, following a pattern of under-spending that is common among federal ministries.

Small municipalities often don't have the resources to draw up acceptable proposals for federal money, and Brazilian bureaucracy snarls projects even when funding has been granted, said Gil Castello Branco, founder of Contas Abertas.

He said the money that is paid often flows to areas with political ties to those disbursing the funds.

"The saddest part of this is seeing history repeat itself over the years: the disasters, and the poor use of public resources meant to prevent them," Castello Branco said.

The small Rio de Janeiro town of Sapucaia, where 20 have died this week, has not gotten any federal help, although it suffered a flood two years ago, said Mayor Anderson Zanon. The municipal government doesn't have the resources to take on major projects to contain denuded slopes and build new homes for people living in risky areas without federal funding, he said.

"We can't continue having these tragedies," he said. "This could have been prevented. We need to build, do containment work, so this doesn't happen again next year."

Minister Bezerra Coelho visited some of the flooded parts of Rio state this week and announced $12 million would sent to help victims there as part of a $244 million emergency response package announced by the president for the southeastern states.

To Rita de Cassia Mendes Morais, who lost four family members and "every brick" of her home in Sapucaia, the promise rings hollow.

"It's not just about going on television and talking, and making promises," she said. "They come here now, then they disappear, and the money too. I want the government to have more heart, to look out for us who have survived the worst."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120112/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_deadly_rain

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Should Obama make Hillary VP and give Biden State? (Americablog)

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

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Five Hidden Dangers of Obesity (preview)

Feature Articles | Health See Inside

Excess weight can harm health in ways that may come as a surprise

By Christine Gorman ?| January 10, 2012?|

By now it is common knowledge that being severely overweight puts people at increased risk of suffering from heart disease, stroke and diabetes and that obesity?defined as weighing at least 20 percent more than the high side of normal?is on the rise. According to one estimate, the U.S. will be home to 65 million more obese people in 2030 than it is today, leading to an additional six million or more cases of heart disease and stroke and another eight million cases of type 2 diabetes. Many clinicians have already begun seeing families in which the grandparents are healthier and living longer than their children and grandchildren.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Christine Gorman is the health and medical editor for Scientific American.

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Washington Humane Society Announces 11th Annual Sugar & Champagne Affair

?

From?Jacquie Toppings:

The 11th?Annual Sugar & Champagne Affair benefiting the Washington Humane Society (WHS) will be held February 1, 2012 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The Washington Humane Society will honor its Law Enforcement Officers, Animal Control Officers, Humane Educators and a select few community Humane Heroes at this annual dessert and champagne reception. For the 11thyear, hosts Chef Todd and Ellen Gray of Equinox & Watershed Restaurants and Muse at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, with Trade Center Management Associates, will welcome gourmands and animal lovers as well as their four-legged friends for an evening of fine wines, savory treats and gourmet desserts from some of the metropolitan area?s most talented chefs and pastry chefs.

The benefit will be emceed by 94. 7 Fresh FM Radio Host Tommy McFLY. New this year, guests will have the opportunity to meet contestants from TLC's hit show?Next Great Baker, and four-legged guests will enjoy fresh fare at the 'Doggie Bar.' In addition, an assortment of free-flowing champagne and sparkling wines will be available in both the VIP and General Receptions. The VIP Chefs? Tasting Room will feature a selection of savory bites from restaurants including Equinox, Watershed, Think Food Group, Restaurant Eve, The Source, Brasserie Beck and Kushi. The VIPevent will also offer an exclusive, ultra-premium Scotch Whiskey?tasting?presented by?DIAGEO, the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of alcoholic beverage brands across spirits, beer and wine.

?

Tickets to the general reception are $90. VIP tickets to the Chefs? Tasting Room are $150; these include a special 90-minute savory reception prior to the unveiling of the desserts. All proceeds from the Sugar & Champagne Affair benefit the animals and the critical programs and services of the Washington Humane Society. For more information, visit?www.sugarandchampagne.org.

Source: http://forestville.wusa9.com/news/events/87811-washington-humane-society-announces-11th-annual-sugar-champagne-affair

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Video: Overboard, Part 5

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/45903206#45903206

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2011 Jobs Snapshot: Good News for Architects, Cabinet Makers

By Lauren Weber

The Department of Labor released its annual average unemployment figures for 2011 on Friday, tracking the jobless rates for more than 500 occupational categories, including chief executives (2.8%), barbers (9%), and mathematicians (25.4%).

The data included some good news for workers in one of the nation?s most embattled industries: construction. After several crushing years, in which unemployment rates for many building- and housing-related jobs hovered in the mid-20s or even higher, demand for some professional and trade skills rose in 2011 over the previous year.

In some cases, the improvement was significant. The unemployment rate for cabinetmakers plunged 9.1 points, from 20.3% to 11.2%. Electricians and carpenters saw jobless rates decline more than 6 points each, from 19% to 12.1% and from 22.1% to 16%, respectively.

The upturn in those fields is consistent with a recent bump in home remodeling, says David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. Spending on new kitchens and other renovations was up 3.5% year-over-year in November. ?It?s all relative and [that] growth is respectable, given the status of the economy and housing in particular.?

The trend held in some of the high- and low-skill professions in the industry as well. More than 10% of architects were unemployed in 2010, but that rate fell to 7.3% last year. And while around 1 in 5 construction laborers was still out of work in 2011 ? the annual unemployment rate for those jobs was 21.2% ? that was an improvement from the 25% rate the year before.

Mr. Crowe recommended caution when viewing the numbers. While other indicators also show that construction activity is recovering, progress has been bumpy and most of the growth is recent. Housing starts for multi-family homes were strong this autumn, but those projects require far less labor than single-family homes, which have been much weaker. ?It?s conceivable that the improvement we?re looking at [in the unemployment rates] is loaded in the last quarter,? says Mr. Crowe.

Mirroring adjustments made recently to occupational categories used for Census Bureau surveys ? and reflecting some of the changes in the nature and composition of work in the United States ? the Labor Department added and deleted some classifications in its 2011 report. For instance, solar panel installers now get their own designation (their unemployment rate is 9.5%), while farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers ? previously separated into two categories ? now have one classification code, and an unemployment rate of just 2%.

The BLS data found noteworthy gains in some manufacturing-related fields, including tool and die makers, where the unemployment rate declined from 9.5% to 5.1%. However, reflecting Americans? desire to cut back on major new purchases, the rate for home appliance repairers fell 5.5 points, from 11.2% to 5.7%.

Other professions took a beating. Not surprisingly, given budget troubles at the U.S. Postal Service, the unemployment rate for postal service mail sorters, processors and processing machine operators jumped to 10.7% from 6.3%.

And crossing guards, those protectors of children at crosswalks everywhere, saw unemployment rise 6 points, from 11.6% to 17.6%. Most school-related categories, including pre-school, kindergarten and secondary teachers, lost jobs, though unemployment rates generally rose by less than 1%.

?This is not surprising at all,? said Noelle Ellerson, assistant director for policy analysis and advocacy at the American Association of School Administrators. ?School district budgets have reached a point where personnel cuts are inevitable.?

Click here for a table of unemployment rate by job.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/01/06/2011-jobs-snapshot-good-news-for-architects-cabinet-makers/?mod=WSJBlog

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Nick Lachey: Business Before Babies

They may have tied the knot, but don?t look for a baby bump just yet! According to The Sing-Off host Nick Lachey, he and his Wipeout hostess wife, Vanessa Minnillo, are a little too preoccupied right now to be parents. ?There?s a lot going on,? Nick told In Touch when asked about expanding their family at the Tostitos Fiesta in the Square event benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York. ?We?re just enjoying being newlyweds.?

Despite the delay, Nick is certain that he and Vanessa, who wed in a fairy-tale Caribbean ceremony in July, will be the perfect mom-and-dad pair. ?We both take parenting seriously,? he explained. ?We very much look forward to that chapter of our lives when it comes.?

And more than six years after their split, Nick has only kind words for his expectant ex-wife, Jessica Simpson. ?I wish her all the best,? he said. ?And I mean it!?

For more on Nick's parenting plans ? and Vanessa?s reaction to his hesitation ? pick up the new issue of In Touch.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InTouchWeekly/~3/BrKrvG3-6RU/nick_lachey_business_before_ba.php

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Planet-hunters kick off 2012 with four new worlds

We're only a few days into 2012 and already some new exoplanet discoveries have been announced.

As 2011 ended, there were a total of 716 confirmed exoplanets and 2,326 planetary candidates, found by both orbiting space telescopes like Kepler and ground-based observatories. The pace of new discoveries has accelerated enormously in the past few years. Now there are four more confirmed exoplanets to add to the list.

The four planets, HAT-P-34b, HAT-P-35b, HAT-P-36b and HAT-P-37b, all have very tight orbits around their four different stars, taking only 5.5, 3.6, 1.3 and 2.8 days to complete an orbit. Compare that with Mercury, which takes 87.969 days to make one orbit ? and then 365 days, of course, for Earth.

1. More space news from msnbc.com

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      A dazzling display of "shooting stars" kicked off the 2012 skywatching season early Wednesday, thrilling amateur astronomers around the world with views of the Quadrantid meteor shower.

   2. One moon's forecast: Chance of methane rain
   3. Russia says space probe will fall on Jan. 15
   4. Conspiracy theory: Obama went to Mars as teen

They were found by astronomers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which operates a network of ground-based telescopes known as the HATNet project. The first exoplanet discovery by HATNet, the planet HAT-P-1b, was in 2006.

They are all "hot Jupiter" type planets, gas giants which orbit very close to their stars and so are much hotter than Earth, like Mercury in our own solar system. Mercury is a small rocky world, but in some alien solar systems, gas giants have been found orbiting just as close to their stars as Mercury is to our sun, or even closer. HAT-P-34b may have an "outer companion" and is in a very elongated orbit. The other three are more typical hot Jupiters. They were discovered using the transit method, when a planet is aligned in its orbit so that it passes in front of its star, from our viewpoint.

So what does this mean? If exoplanet discoveries continue to grow exponentially as expected, then 2012 should be a good year, not only for yet more new planets being found, but also for our understanding of these alien worlds and how such a wide variety of solar systems came to be. We?ve come a long way from 1992 and the first exoplanet discoveries. Things promise to only get more exciting in the future.

If you want to get your exoplanet news quickly this year, I recommend the Exoplanet App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. You can also follow @ExoplanetApp on Twitter.

The abstract and paper are here.

Paul Scott Anderson is a freelance space writer and blogger and has been a long-time member of The Planetary Society. His blog The Meridiani Journal is a chronicle of planetary exploration and he also writes for Universe Today and Examiner.com.

This report was published on Universe Today as "Four New Exoplanets to Start Off the New Year!"

Copyright ? 2012 Universe Today. Republished with permission.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45894586/ns/technology_and_science/

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Summary Box: France, Italy to discuss debt crisis

(AP)? GRIM TIMES: The leaders of two European powerhouses, France and Italy, faced increasing pressure as they prepared to discuss the spiraling debt crisis that threatens to engulf both of their economies.

ECONOMIC DETIORATION: The interest rate on Italy's 10-year bond rose above 7 percent again Friday, a level that has eventually forced other countries to seek bailouts. Meanwhile, new data showed economic sentiment and retail sales are falling across the region, while unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone is stuck at 10.3 percent.

THE PLAYERS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy had pressed Rome to adopt stringent austerity measures last year. Italian leader Mario Monti said ahead of Friday's talks that Italy would meet its target of balancing its budget by next year. France, meanwhile, faces the loss of its prized AAA credit rating, which would have far-reaching consequences for Europe.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsWebMD/~3/jRl1BMXc-30/

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Mexico Closes Giant Landfill, Aims to Make Waste Management System Green : TreeHugger

Mexico closed one of the world's largest landfills this month, but it's not just going to stop accepting trash: The Mexico City government is looking to build a biogas plant to turn the methane produced by the waste in the dump into energy, as well as open a recycling plant to salvage some of the waste and find it a second life.

Source: http://www.siswebs.org/water/story.php?title=Mexico_Closes_Giant_Landfill_Aims_to_Make_Waste_Management_System_Green__TreeHugger

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With focus on Iowa, Huntsman continues NH effort (AP)

NASHUA, N.H. ? Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman said Monday that his intense focus on New Hampshire is paying off, though he's still being met by some blank looks.

Watching Huntsman enter a Nashua diner surrounded by television cameras, voter Jimmy Pacheco at first mistook the former Utah governor for New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, and not a flicker of recognition crossed his face when he heard Huntsman's name. But by the time Huntsman reached his booth, the former truck driver greeted him like an old friend, complimented him on his "pretty wife" and said afterward that he probably would vote for Huntsman.

Noting that Huntsman is skipping Iowa's Tuesday caucuses and staking his hopes on a strong showing in New Hampshire's Jan. 10 primary, Pacheco said, "He cares about us."

Two minutes earlier, Pacheco had said he was leaning toward former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has long been the front-runner in New Hampshire.

After stopping by several Nashua businesses and restaurants, Huntsman told reporters that New Hampshire is a place where an underdog can come from behind and beat expectations.

"It happens time and time again here in New Hampshire. It's where message matters, it's where grass-roots politics is rewarded, and this is a state that is finely tuned to finding leaders and then sending them south," he said.

While he lags far behind Romney in polls, Huntsman said Romney won't necessarily pull off a big win in New Hampshire.

"I think there will be more than a single ticket leaving New Hampshire. We're not concluding at all at this point that anyone is going to win this big," he said. "I don't think anyone's looking for a coronation. I don't think anyone wants the establishment to tell them for whom to vote."

At another restaurant, GOP voter Matt Dobski said he was closer to backing Huntsman after meeting him but remained undecided. He said he likes Romney but doesn't like the health care law he enacted in Massachusetts, finds former House Speaker Newt Gingrich too polarizing, and thinks Texas Rep. Ron Paul is too extreme.

Huntsman, in contrast, "is probably one of the only candidates who's been consistent in all his policies and what's needed to change America," Dobski said. "That's important because, right now, everybody's waffling to say what they need to say to get votes. ... So a guy like Huntsman could really come through and steal the show, if he gets the media exposure he needs."

After having the state to himself last week, Huntsman soon will have plenty of company. Only seven days separate the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann plan to head straight to South Carolina after Iowa and then return to New Hampshire for two debates just before the primary.

Huntsman downplayed those debates, saying there have been too many already.

"I think with each passing debate, they're less and less important," he said. "People see them more as show business."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120102/ap_on_el_pr/us_huntsman

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Storage Wars Texas: 01 - Snake, Rattle, and Roll - 02:01-02:31AM

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Snake, Rattle, and Roll

Episode: 1

Date: December 20 2011

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WATCH CLIPS EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS From stadiums to amusement parks, Arlington has the Texas buyers on the lookout for memorabilia and collectables. Ricky and Bubba play up their country roots in an attempt to juke the competition. Lesa Lewis treads on a snakeskin ensemble. And Victor Rjesnjansky goes after a scooter with a three thousand dollar potential. Though the buyers search for storage gold--in this arena, it's a silver item that takes first place.

Snake, Rattle, and Roll

From stadiums to amusement parks, Arlington has the Texas buyers on the lookout for memorabilia and collectables. Ricky and Bubba play up their country roots in an attempt to juke the competition. Lesa Lewis treads on a snakeskin ensemble. And Victor Rjesnjansky goes after a scooter with a three thousand dollar potential. Though the buyers search for storage gold--in this arena, it's a silver item that takes first place.

Episode: 1

Date: December 20 2011

Source: http://aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=1279175&airingid=157442

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Mimo Magic Touch screen combined with WP7 emulator to make impromptu Windows Phone tablet

When Mimo's Magic Touch monitor came out it was pitched as just that: a secondary, USB-powered display. But Windows Phone developer Social Ebola immediately eyed it as a potential programming tool. In a video demo, you can watch him drag and drop an emulator onto the Mimo display, and use it as the WP7 tablet we always wanted. As you can see, the emulator doesn't fit the Magic Touch's 10-inch screen perfectly, but gestures like scrolling and pinch to zoom seem buttery smooth from where we're sitting. Self-explanatory, yes, but oh-so mesmerizing. Have a look for yourself, just past the break.

Continue reading Mimo Magic Touch screen combined with WP7 emulator to make impromptu Windows Phone tablet

Mimo Magic Touch screen combined with WP7 emulator to make impromptu Windows Phone tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

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Rhino Poaching Hits New Record High in South Africa

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In terms of poaching, elephants had an awful year in 2011, and now we learn that the same thing can be said for rhinos.

Reuters reports that rhino poaching in South Africa increased 33% in 2011, with 443 rhinos killed and half of that poaching occurring in Kruger National Park:

The street value of rhinoceros horn has soared to about $65,000 a kilogram...as a belief?with no basis in science?has taken hold in recent years in parts of Asia that ingesting it can cure or prevent cancer.

South Africa, home to 90% of the African rhino population at about 20,000 individuals, was losing about 15 animals a year a decade ago. But poaching increased dramatically from about 2007 as a growing affluent class in places such as Vietnam and Thailand began spending more on rhino horn for traditional medicine.

I quote those two paragraphs because to the casual follower of the plight of the rhino due to poaching, and the causes of that poaching, it ands a wrinkle to the story as commonly told.

1) Though rhino horn has been removed from the official pharmacopeia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (where it had previously been prescribed for a variety of ailments, though not impotency as sometimes believed), the erroneous belief that rhino horn has anti-cancer properties is part of the reason for the rise in rhino horn prices and therefore poaching; and 2) It's not just Chinese demand, but also Vietnamese and Thai use of rhino horn. Which is all to say, contrary to the verbal finger pointing that I sometimes hear about China this and China that in regards to rhino horn or whatever endangered species (often with a very very thinly veiled bit of xenophobia underneath it all), it's a bigger issue than that, though does not let China off the hook either.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/treehuggersite/~3/HmM3Ra5O1gw/rhino-poaching-new-record-high-south-africa-2011.html

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Inside the Iowa caucus poll numbers: Good news for Romney, bad for Gingrich

Days before the Iowa caucus, the latest CNN/Time/ORC poll has Romney ahead of Paul, with Gingrich falling way behind his earlier strong standing and now trailing Santorum.

With the Iowa caucuses just six days away, the latest poll is good news for Mitt Romney and bad news for Newt Gingrich. It also shows a bit of a surge for Rick Santorum, who now leads the second tier of candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination ? particularly among evangelical Christians drawn to his clear and consistent positions on such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage.

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A CNN/Time/ORC International Poll Wednesday finds these results among Republicans who say they?re likely to participate in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses: Romney 25 percent, Ron Paul 22 percent, Rick Santorum 16 percent, Gingrich 14 percent, Rick Perry 11 percent, Michele Bachmann 9 percent, and Jon Huntsman 1 percent.

The three-point spread between Romney and Paul is within the survey?s margin of error, so the two can legitimately claim to be front-runners.

Romney and Paul are each up five points among likely caucus goers from a CNN/Time/ORC poll conducted at the start of December, reports CNN.

Meanwhile, Santorum and Gingrich passed each other going in opposite directions: Former US Senator Santorum is up 11 percentage points, former House Speaker Gingrich plunged 19 points.

"Most of Santorum's gains have come among likely caucus participants who are born-again or evangelical, and he now tops the list among that crucial voting bloc, with support from 22 percent of born-agains compared to 18 percent for Paul, 16 percent for Romney, and 14 percent for Gingrich," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Still, Wednesday?s poll does not cement any likely outcome next Tuesday.

Santorum and Paul may benefit from lower turnout, since they lead among likely voters who say that ?nothing at all? would prevent them from attending the caucus, the poll finds. For his part, Romney appears to have an edge among those who attended the caucuses four years ago, and he does best among older Republicans in Iowa.

"Add in the fact that nearly half of Iowa respondents say they are undecided or could change their minds and it looks like Iowa is a wide open contest," says Mr. Holland.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/dw7gO60cb6c/Inside-the-Iowa-caucus-poll-numbers-Good-news-for-Romney-bad-for-Gingrich

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Is It Time to Overhaul the Calendar?

Egyptian calendar of Kom Ombo temple, in Egypt. Image: Flickr/guillenperez

Forget leap years, months with 28 days and your birthday falling on a different day of the week each year. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland say they have a better way to mark time: a new calendar in which every year is identical to the one before.

Their proposed calendar overhaul ? largely unprecedented in the 430 years since Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar we still use today ? would divvy out months and weeks so that every calendar date would always fall on the same day of the week. Christmas, for example, would forever come on a Sunday.

"The calendar I'm advocating isn't nearly as accurate" as the Gregorian calendar, said Richard Henry, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins who has been pushing for calendar reform for years. "But it's far more convenient."

New versus old

The trouble with designing a nice, regular calendar is that each Earth year is 365.2422 days long, leaving extra snippets of time that don't fit nicely into a cycle of 24-hour days. If this time isn't somehow accounted for, the calendar "drifts" relative to the seasons, and the next thing you know, Christmas Day is coming after the spring thaw.

The Gregorian calendar deals with this by adding an extra day (Leap Day) to February about every four years, correcting for the seasonal drift. ?

"It's really incredible that in the Middle Ages, they were able to invent a new calendar that was so accurate," Henry told LiveScience. What bothers him about the Gregorian calendar, though, is the frustrating tendency for days of the week to jump around. Because 365 is not a multiple of seven, 7-day weeks don't fit evenly into the Gregorian calendar. That means that each year, dates shift over one day of the week (two during leap years).

"Everybody has to redo their calendars," Henry said. "For sports schedules, for schools, for every damn thing. It's completely unnecessary."

Under the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar (named after Henry and Steve Hanke, a Johns Hopkins economist who also advocates calendar overhaul), every date falls on the same day of the week ? forever.

The calendar follows a pattern of two 30-day months followed by one 31-day month. That means the old rhyme, "30 days hath September, April, June and November," would need to be revised to "30 days hath September, June, March and December."

To account for extra time, Hanke and Henry drop leap years and instead create a "leap week" at the end of December every five or six years. This extra week, dubbed "Xtr", would adjust for seasonal drift while keeping the 7-day cycle on track.

"The new calendar can be fairly often off as much as three days on the seasons, but looking out, could you tell?" Henry said. "Of course you couldn't tell."

The economics of time

For Henry, the new calendar is worth it because of how much time and effort goes into revising the calendar each year. He first got into the idea of calendar reform while having to yet again update lecture dates and syllabi for his students. He quickly discovered that there were calendar-reform advocates with suggestions on how to do away with that problem, he said.

"My heart sank, and I thought, 'Oh my god, I don't want to get involved in calendar reform. It's the stupidest waste of time. It's hopeless,'" Henry said.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b8d1a91ab53f3ea662b1ef69b318eaa4

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