Ryan Gosling: I Think Like a Girl and Like Ballet!

Ryan Gosling may be known for his intense performances in dramas like The Ides of March and his manly displays of courage off-screen, but the 30-year-old actor says inside he's really sensitive and "thinks like a girl."

What does he mean by that, you might ask? The Drive star tells the British newspaper The Independent that his upbringing shaped his perception of the world -- in a more feminine way.

"I think like a girl, I think," he said. "I was literally raised by my mother and my sister. And I feel like I wouldn't know how to think any other way."

That's right, ladies. The gorgeous leading man is fiercely dedicated to his mother and sister, whom he often takes as his dates to red-carpet events. He even has his sister Mandi Gosling to thank for one particular pastime: ballet dancing.

"My sister was my best friend and my hero growing up," he says. "Because I was home-schooled I didn't have a lot of friends and I did ballet, which was always just girls. All that stuff had an effect on my brain."

And Gosling isn't shy about his love of performing at the barre. He told the English paper he still goes to a Los Angeles dance studio whenever time permits.

"I practice whenever I can," he said. And he's yet to be overwhelmed by fan worship from the students -- or their mothers!

"A lot of the students are young girls so they're there with their moms but they just kind of watch and tell me to keep it up," he added. "They try and be positive but I'm so bad. I don't even know what I like about it but it's like acting, I'm just compelled to do it and I do it to find out why. The not knowing is interesting."

We know we can't be the only ones keeping fingers crossed for an upcoming film that shows off Gosling's dancing skills. (And if he can show off his abs at the same time, more power to him!)

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/ryan-gosling-i-think-girl-and-ballet/1-a-396630

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Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one

Worried that the lack of Street View functionality is going to spoil your impending N9 honeymoon? Fret not MeeGo fans, as Espoo's Labs outfit is here to save the day with Nokia City Scene. The Navteq-powered app looks much like a clone of Google's mobile offerings, except that it's tightly integrated with location based services (Foursquare, Facebook Places) highlighting venues your friends frequent. Currently restricted to "about a dozen" US cities and London -- with more European locales coming soon -- its usefulness may be limited unless you're a globetrotting jetsetter or super friendly with some gray-market importers. Hop past the break for a video demo, and then hit the source to get your download on.

[Thanks, Martin]

Continue reading Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one

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AP Newsbreak: Brown to seek sweeping pension cuts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? Gov. Jerry Brown will propose sweeping rollbacks to public employee pension benefits in California, including raising the retirement age to 67 for new employees who are not public safety workers and requiring state and local employees to pay more toward their retirement and health care, according to a draft of the plan obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The governor will also propose Thursday a mandatory "hybrid" system in which future retirees would get their retirement from a guaranteed benefit and a 401(k)-style plan subject to market whims. For employees with at least 30 years of service, retirement benefits would aim to replace about 75 percent of an employee's salary through retirement funds and Social Security, according to the draft.

The plan, as drafted, also would end so-called pension "spiking" that lets employees boost their payouts by including overtime and other benefits, and end the practice of buying additional service credits.

"It's time to fix our pension systems so that they are fair and sustainable over a long time horizon," Brown said in a prepared statement to the AP. "My plan raises the retirement age and bans abusive practices like "spiking" and "air time" while mandating that public employees pay an equal share of pension costs."

The administration estimates its proposal would save about $900 million annually.

Brown's plan would require approval from the Legislature, where union-allied Democrats are likely to balk at some of the significant rollbacks, and where Brown failed to win consensus on pensions with Republicans last spring.

Several parts of the plan would also require voter approval, including extending many of its provisions to employees at California's public university systems, and Brown's goal to add two independent, public members to the board of the California Public Employee Retirement System, the nation's biggest public pension fund. The board has come under scrutiny during an influence-peddling investigation by the attorney general's office alleging fraud and kickbacks through middlemen known as placement agents who seek investment business.

Kevin Bassett, chief of staff for Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, had not seen the governor's proposals but said many of them sound similar to ideas raised in discussions between Republican lawmakers and the governor last spring.

"We want to have a system that's sustainable, that's fair for employees, fair for taxpayers and that addresses our unfunded liabilities, that addresses our annual cost challenges," Bassett said.

Dave Low, chairman of the union-backed group Californians for Retirement Security, was lukewarm about the plans Brown outlined. Low and other labor officials were briefed on the plan Wednesday.

"The governor has indicated that labor will not like many of his proposals. He is right," Low said in a written statement.

"Many of the governor's proposals circumvent collective bargaining. Unions across California have negotiated major retirement concessions, including increased payments by employees and two-tier benefits. These concessions have already saved the state, cities, counties and other entities hundreds of millions of dollars," Low said.

Earlier Wednesday, a joint Senate-Assembly panel held a hearing on the crisis facing California, where the recession has pummeled once-flush government pension funds that have tumbled in value with the stock market and real estate prices. The state has promised government retirees billions of dollars in future benefits that it might not be able to pay.

Estimates for the gap between what is owed to current and future public retirees, and what will be available to pay them, have varied widely with the fluctuating economy.

A report last year by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research said that retirement funds for 2.6 million California teachers, state workers and university employees together faced long-term gaps of over $500 billion. The California Public Employees' Retirement System has $75 billion in unfunded future pension liabilities, and the state is on the hook for an estimated $51.8 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs.

Brown's latest plan would require new employees to work at least 15 years before they are eligible for any state-funded retiree health care. When retirees become eligible for Medicare, the state would pay only the premiums for that federal program, rather than the more generous benefits now offered.

The administration also wants to require all public employees to contribute at least half the annual cost of funding their pension benefits. Under current systems, some employees do pay that much but others pay little or nothing, leaving the full burden on taxpayers.

Pension talks with the GOP broke down this spring as Republican lawmakers sought deeper rollback than Brown had proposed, including the mandatory "hybrid" system he is now seeking and a statewide vote on permanent pension reform that would ensure changes made now couldn't be easily overturned in the future.

Some of the elements of the plan Brown will unveil Thursday were included in previous proposals, according to the draft. Other parts of the proposal include:

? Raising the retirement age from 55 to 67 for non-public-safety employees; public safety officials who can now retire as young as 50 would have to work longer, but the calculation would be based on their ability to perform.

? Prohibiting pension pay holidays, in which employers or employees suspend pension contributions.

? Calculating benefits based on the highest average compensation over a three-year period, rather than the current system which bases it on a single year of final compensation, which has been used to artificially boost pension payments.

? Prohibiting retired employees who serve on public boards and commissions from earning any retirement benefits for that service.

Union officials said at Wednesday's hearing that a typical state worker earns an annual pension of about $31,000, but benefits can vary widely. A highway patrolman with 28 years of service can take home a pension of more than $90,000 a year, said David Lamoureux, a deputy chief actuary with the state Public Employees' Retirement System. According to one tally cited by Republicans, more than 9,000 state employees are receiving six-figure pensions.

___

Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Carson, Calif., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-27-Pension%20Crisis/id-9fcfa4710f30458d90a6c15a1e4f80b7

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NBA marathon session ends after 15 hours

NEW YORK (AP) ? NBA owners and players ended a marathon negotiation session early Thursday after meeting for more than 15 hours in talks aimed at ending the lockout.

They'll return to the table Thursday afternoon.

"We were able to work through a number of different issues today regarding our system," union president Derek Fisher said. "We can't say that major progress was made in any way, but some progress was made on system issues. Obviously enough for us to come back at 2 p.m. (Thursday)."

Union executive director Billy Hunter said the two sides did not discuss the distribution of basketball revenue, which has been one of the biggest obstacles to a deal.

The revenue split emerged as such a roadblock last week that Hunter said they should "park" the issue and turn the discussions back to the system, saying that players might be willing to take a lower number if they found the system rules more favorable.

The sides returned to bargaining with a small group meeting less than a week after three intense days of mediation didn't produce a new labor deal. Wednesday's negotiations marked the second-longest bargaining session since the lockout began July 1. The talks stretched into early Thursday morning, the first time bargaining has gone past 3 a.m.

The first two weeks of the season already have been canceled, and there's little time left to save any basketball in November.

Both Fisher and Hunter expressed hope that a full 82-game schedule could still be played if a deal is reached by Sunday or Monday.

Talks broke down last Thursday when players said owners insisted they agree to a 50-50 split of revenues as a condition to further discuss the salary cap system.

The players have lowered their proposal to 52.5 percent of basketball-related income, leaving the sides about $100 million apart annually, based on last season's revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent of BRI under the previous collective bargaining agreement.

Seeking greater parity among their 30 teams, owners are looking to reduce the ways that teams can exceed the salary cap so that big markets won't have a significant payroll advantage. Players have feared that changes owners have been seeking would result in what would essentially be a hard salary cap, restricting player movement and perhaps even eliminating most guaranteed contracts.

Commissioner David Stern rejoined the talks Wednesday after missing last Thursday's session with the flu. He was joined by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, owners Peter Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York, and a pair of league office attorneys.

The union was represented by Hunter, president Derek Fisher of the Lakers and vice president Maurice Evans of the Wizards, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.

The sides also are struggling over items such as the length of the deal, players' contract lengths and the size of their raises.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-10-27-NBA%20Labor/id-5d9a056858b5444b856b9b937e8296eb

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Hey ladies, want a hit song? Bash a man!

?Mr. know it all/Well ya think you know it all/But ya don't know a thing at all.?

So go the lyrics to Kelly Clarkson?s recent Top 20 hit, ?Mr. Know It All,? the lead single from her fifth studio album, ?Stronger,? which dropped on Oct. 21. Another song on the album, ?Einstein,? has a chorus that goes ?I may not be Einstein/But I know dumb plus dumb equals you.?

Video: ?Idol? Kelly Clarkson targets ?Mr. Know it All? (on this page)

Depending on your point of view ? and perhaps your gender ? these songs are either female empowerment anthems or male-bashing songs. Whatever the case, this mini-genre has become fashionable among female artists, with songs like Pink?s ?U and Ur Hand,? Orianthi?s ?According to You? and Britney Spears? ?Womanizer? all becoming big hits in the past few years. Vibe Magazine?s female arm, Vibe Vixen, even put together a list of ?The 45 Greatest Male-Bashing Anthems? ? and that list didn?t even include any country songs (like Carrie Underwood?s ?Before He Cheats?).

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Although these types of songs had precursors, like Carly Simon?s ?You?re So Vain,? their widespread popularity today can be traced back to the riot grrrl feminist punk movement of the early 1990s, said Marisa Meltzer, author of the book ?Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music.?

?There were a lot of things happening culturally and politically then that bubbled over into music,? said Meltzer. ?What we started to see was underground music slowly becoming more and more part of the mainstream and mainstream music aping underground music. So suddenly angry women were kind of fashionable, and what happens with fashionable music is we tend to see many generations of it.?

Story: Kelly Clarkson says she's never been in love

Meltzer said it was Alanis Morissette?s 1995 album ?Jagged Little Pill,? with its aggressive, in-your-face lyrics, that opened the door for female artists and fans to ?get the message that it?s OK to be angry, that there are people who feel like them.?

Songs like ?Mr. Know It All? are also a way for female artists to attract more listeners, said Leah Greenblatt, senior editor at Entertainment Weekly.

?(Artists) want to reach the widest audience possible and that means reaching girls who are happy, girls who are lonely, and girls who are angry about a bad breakup,? Greenblatt said. ?These kinds of songs lend themselves to being really powerful.?

A TODAY exclusive: Listen to Kelly Clarkson's new song

Why are there so few hit ?angry guy? songs directed at women? Meltzer said that?s the way the pop cycle has turned lately.

?Men seem to be doing well with party music and love songs now,? Meltzer said. ?It seems to be women who are channeling the broad spectrum of emotions.?

But according to Glenn Sacks, a men?s issues expert, the lyrics of songs by Clarkson and others are indicative of anti-male stereotypes found today in sitcoms, movies, and commercials, where men are seen as inept and foolish.

?I think it speaks to something larger in the culture,? Sacks said. ?Where the man?s always wrong the woman?s behavior is never examined. I always found ?Womanizer? to be ironic because Britney had been married and divorced multiple times and is nobody to be pointing fingers about womanizing or being promiscuous or whatever.?

? 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45016586/ns/today-entertainment/

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Corning's 3Q profit rises 3 percent

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) ? Specialty glass maker Corning Inc. said Wednesday its profit rose 3 percent in the third quarter, lifted by surging sales of glass for flat-panel televisions and optical fiber.

The results handily beat Wall Street expectations. Its shares rose more than 6 percent in premarket trading.

The world's largest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass reported net income of $811 million, or 51 cents per share, in the July-September period. That's up from $785 million, or 50 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, earnings were 51 cents per share. That was well above Wall Street expectations of 42 cents per share.

Revenue jumped 30 percent to $2.08 billion from $1.6 billion. Analysts expected $2.03 billion.

Its shares rose 91 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $14.63 in premarket trading.

Sales of LCD glass jumped 26 percent in the quarter to $815 million, and sales of the telecommunications unit rose 21 percent to $560 million. Corning also saw growth in its other three business units ? cover glass, auto-pollution filters and research labware.

Corning commands more than 60 percent of the global market in LCD glass, which is its biggest business by far.

A soft economy has been cutting into U.S. demand for flat-screen televisions and, as a result, the glass Corning makes. But the company did better in glass production this summer than it projected in early September.

Volume in its wholly owned business increased in the mid-single digits compared with the second quarter and fell more than 20 percent in its joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics. The combined total glass volume fell about 10 percent sequentially.

Corning had warned that it expected volume in its wholly owned business to be level with the second quarter and volume in its joint venture to dip 30 percent.

Propelled by ultra-strong Gorilla glass, which is now migrating from handheld and tablet devices to high-end TVs, specialty materials revenue swelled almost 90 percent to $299 million.

Three months ago, Corning lowered its 2011 sales forecast for Gorilla to $800 million from $1 billion. Invented in 1962, Gorilla found commercial use only in 2008 and sales surged to $250 million in 2010.

Environmental technologies revenue jumped 19 percent to $247 million, driven by robust demand for auto-pollution filters.

Life-sciences revenue rose 22 percent to $153 million, reflecting Corning's acquisition of Axygen BioScience Inc. as it shifts beyond a heavy focus on display glass. It bought the maker of plastic labware and liquid handling products for research labs for about $400 million in September 2009.

Surging revenue in Corning's telecommunications unit was driven by a more than 30 percent increase in higher demand for fiber-to-the-home products in North America and Europe.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-10-26-Earns-Corning/id-c4453893fd7e4e249fa13d47b274b667

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Jared Bernstein: The Debt Crisis: It's All Connected, Man

Bill Marsh presents an interesting picture of interconnectedness in Sunday morning's New York Times. It's a great visual of the myriad connections through borrowing and lending across borders, but a few nuances to consider:

- Some folks who follow these numbers will be surprised to see US debt to GDP list as 100%. This is gross debt, including about 30% of GDP that the government owes to itself (more on that below).

The relevant metric for this picture should not be gross debt. It should be debt held by the pubic -- that's the number that markets care most about because that is a measure of our government's debt obligations to external creditors. According to CBO, debt held by the public as a share of GDP is expected to be 71% in 2012.

If you want to learn more about this important distinction, see this from the CBPP. As that analysis points out:

Such a focus on gross debt is seriously misguided and could inhibit the effort to address the nation's long-term fiscal challenges.

Debt held by the public consists of promises to repay individuals and institutions -- in the United States and abroad -- who have loaned the federal government money to finance deficits. Gross debt includes, in addition to the debt held by the public, so-called intragovernmental debt --money that one part of the federal government owes another part. More precisely, intragovernmental debt consists of promises to repay certain federal government accounts, such as the Social Security Trust Funds, for amounts they lent to the Treasury in years when their earmarked revenues exceeded their outgo for benefits and other costs.

Here's how CBO sees it:

Long-term projections of federal debt held by the public, measured relative to the size of the economy, provide useful yardsticks for assessing the sustainability of fiscal policies." In contrast, "gross debt . . . is not useful for assessing how the Treasury's operations affect the economy.

- The article states that American banks are heavily exposed to some of the countries with serious sovereign debt problems, including Spain, Ireland, and Italy. Not according to the figure below from Moody's. Which doesn't mean we're out of the European debt woods at all, however. Many US investors and funds are exposed, and we export a lot to the Eurozone. So contagion is a real worry, no question. But I don't think it comes mostly through our banks' exposure to the shaky debt.

- The most important question about all this in the near term is what happens next. From where I sit, European negotiators are slowly and haltingly moving the in right direction, but the process is really quite disconcerting. You hear about progress toward the only solution that I think will work -- rip the band-aid off Greece, creditors take big haircuts, a robust fund to backstop exposed institutions -- only to read the next day that it's hit a wall.

- The second more important question is a medium-term one: what measures must be taken to avoid being back here again soon. From where I'm still sitting, that's a question about debt, and I mean at every level: households, corps, banks, governments. I'm convinced there's a global misunderstanding of the concept -- as Minsky discovered decades ago: "stability is unstable." With booms, come destabilizing debt bubbles that have us stuck in the economic equivalent of the shampoo cycle: bubble, bust, repeat.

More on this in a forthcoming piece I wrote for the journal Democracy.

This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/euro-debt-crisis-_b_1027519.html

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Gallium nitride is non-toxic, biocompatible; holds promise for implants, research finds

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2011) ? Researchers from North Carolina State University and Purdue University have shown that the semiconductor material gallium nitride (GaN) is non-toxic and is compatible with human cells -- opening the door to the material's use in a variety of biomedical implant technologies.

GaN is currently used in a host of technologies, from LED lighting to optic sensors, but it is not in widespread use in biomedical implants. However, the new findings from NC State and Purdue mean that GaN holds promise for an array of implantable technologies -- from electrodes used in neurostimulation therapies for Alzheimer's to transistors used to monitor blood chemistry.

"The first finding is that GaN, unlike other semiconductor materials that have been considered for biomedical implants, is not toxic. That minimizes risk to both the environment and to patients," says Dr. Albena Ivanisevic, who co-authored a paper describing the research. Ivanisevic is an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and associate professor of the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Researchers used a mass spectrometry technique to see how much gallium is released from GaN when the material is exposed to various environments that mimic conditions in the human body. This is important because gallium oxides are toxic. But the researchers found that GaN is very stable in these environments -- releasing such a tiny amount of gallium that it is non-toxic.

The researchers also wanted to determine GaN's potential biocompatibility. To do this they bonded peptides -- the building blocks that make up proteins -- to the GaN material. Researchers then placed peptide-coated GaN and uncoated GaN into cell cultures to see how the material and the cells interacted.

Researchers found that the peptide-coated GaN bonded more effectively with the cells. Specifically, more cells bonded to the material and those cells spread over a larger area.

"This matters because we want materials that give us some control over cell behavior," Ivanisevic says. "For example, being able to make cells adhere to a material or to avoid it.

"One problem facing many biomedical implants, such as sensors, is that they can become coated with biological material in the body. We've shown that we can coat GaN with peptides that attract and bond with cells. That suggests that we may also be able to coat GaN with peptides that would help prevent cell growth -- and keep the implant 'clean.' Our next step will be to explore the use of such 'anti-fouling' peptides with GaN."

The paper, "Gallium Nitride is Biocompatible and Non-Toxic Before and After Functionalization with Peptides," is forthcoming from Acta Biomaterialia and was co-authored by Ph.D. students Scott A. Jewett and Matthew S. Makowski; undergraduate Benjamin Andrews; and Michael J. Manfra -- all of Purdue. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

NC State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, are part of the university's College of Engineering.

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Journal Reference:

1. Scott A. Jewett, Matthew S. Makowski, Benjamin Andrews, Albena Ivanisevic, Michael J. Manfra. Gallium Nitride is Biocompatible and Non-Toxic Before and After Functionalization with Peptides. Acta Biomaterialia, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2011.09.038

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/EDDAumdxp3M/111024113053.htm

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Microsoft inks tenth Android licensing deal (Appolicious)

Microsoft continues to leverage its technology patents by looking to companies that make smartphones and tablets using Google?s Android operating system, landing its tenth licensing deal last week.

The deal was struck with Chinese tech company Compal Electronics, according to a report from TechCrunch. Compal joins a list that includes Acer, Quanta, Wistron and General Dynamics Itronix, as well as Android?s two biggest smartphone makers, Samsung and HTC. TechCrunch reports this is Microsoft?s ninth patent deal signed in just the last four months.

Here?s a quote outlining the deal from TechCrunch:

According to the release, the patent agreement covers any tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other consumer-focused devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform. Similar to the Quanta deal, Compal Electronics will pay out royalties on phones, tablets or e-readers that run on Android or Chrome OS. As with many of these deals, the exact structure of the royalty fees is unknown.

Microsoft revealed in a blog post that with this deal, ?more than half the world?s ODM (original design manufacturer) industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft?s patent portfolio.?

The most notable of such deals was with Samsung a few weeks back that marked something of a tectonic shift in the patent discussion. With Samsung choosing to go with a license for its devices, it signaled that even the biggest companies have to pay Microsoft in order to make their devices. This pretty much signals that other, smaller device makers are going to have to pay as well. Microsoft makes its own operating system, Windows Phone 7, but even if it is out-competed by Android, it still gets to draw licensing fees on Android devices.

When Microsoft made the deal with Samsung, Google called it extortion. Samsung is the largest maker of Android devices and, as of last quarter, the smartphone maker with the biggest share of the market (it beat out Apple for the first time). Despite Google?s objections, it has the desired effect for Microsoft: users either pay to license Android, or they decide to make Windows Phone 7 devices.

Google, on the other hand, has said it will step up its work to back-up Android device makers when they go to court with companies like Microsoft and Apple, which is actively suing Samsung, HTC and Motorola Mobility. With nine companies having made contracts with Microsoft in just the last four months, Google has a pretty big problem ? Android is no longer free if device-makers have to expect to pay fees to Microsoft. Either Google works to stop these patent issues, or it risks Android losing its ?free? status, and thus loses some of its draw among device makers.

Android is still the most popular smartphone platform in the world, with Google saying that more than 190 million Android devices have been activated across the globe. But with patent issues such as this one with Microsoft or with Apple, Google could lose control over its own ?open source? business model, so expect the search giant to do everything it can to stop that from happening.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10003_microsoft_inks_tenth_android_licensing_deal/43371740/SIG=12slqti2j/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/10003-microsoft-inks-tenth-android-licensing-deal

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Fed bashing is back in vogue

The Federal Reserve is getting a lot of healthy criticism. But the moves by politicians are worrying.

Some believe the Federal Reserve has done too much ? that two rounds of quantitative easing, the new "Operation Twist," and myriad interventions during the depths of the financial crisis have set the stage for runaway inflation. As evidence, they point to the enormous expansion of bank reserves and the skyrocketing price of gold (at least, until recently).

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Others believe Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have done too little and that monetary policy remains too tight. They point to the 15 million Americans who are looking for work and the millions more who have dropped out of the labor force. Even more troub?ling, almost half of the unemployed have been without work for six months or more, something Mr. Bernanke rightly labeled a "national crisis."

The Fed's mandate is to strike a balance between these concerns ? to pursue full employment and stable prices. That's a difficult task, especially when the US is struggling to recover from the worst financial shock since the Great Depression.

So the Fed has been receiving a great deal of advice, mostly unsolicited, about what to do. Much of that advice is healthy and constructive. Financial market participants, monetary policy experts, and even economic columnists all bring important insights to the debate. For what it's worth, I think the Fed should continue its efforts to stimulate our moribund economy; unemployment is clearly a bigger threat than inflation.

But I worry when politicians get involved. Lawmakers need to ensure that Fed actions promote the public welfare. It was, after all, created by Congress. That doesn't mean that politicians should meddle in its policymaking.

History shows independent central banks do a much better job of controlling inflation than those that give in to political pressures. When the Fed caved into LBJ's desire for loose money in the 1960s, it set the stage for a decade of high inflation.

Low inflation is not the only benefit of independence. Once they've built a reputation for keeping inflation in check, central banks have greater ability to step in to support a troubled economy.

Unfortunately, a growing number of politicians are leaning on the Fed. Most egregiously, presidential aspirant and Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in August that it would be "almost treasonous" for it to pursue more monetary stimulus. The day before the Fed announced its September policy decisions, House Speaker John Boehner and three other GOP congressional leaders sent a letter discouraging it from "further extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy...."

On the other side of the aisle, US Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, is developing a proposal to strip the regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents of their role in monetary policy. (The policymaking committee has 12 seats, seven filled by Senate-confirmed, presidential appointees ? two of which are currently vacant ? and five that rotate among the regional banks.) Mr. Frank floated his proposal after three regional presidents voted against further policy easing, so it's widely viewed as an effort to sway those presidents into being more accommodating.

For all its flaws, the Federal Reserve does a better job of evaluating economic conditions and balancing short- and long-term economic goals than our elected leaders ever could. Politicians on both sides of the aisle should temper their impulse to influence what the Fed is doing. In hard times, its independence is more important than ever.

? Donald Marron is director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/r01FXvRws6Q/Fed-bashing-is-back-in-vogue

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How Several Cheap Car Insurance | thegreenapple.org

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Source: http://www.thegreenapple.org/how-several-cheap-car-insurance.html

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Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising Agencies 10/24 ...

This open business meeting offers an inside look into automotive advertising using cutting edge automotive advertising technology.

Today's show will discuss the formation of a new network of partnered companies revealed at the recent 11th Digital Dealer Conference - Automotive Resource Partners, (ARP). Sean Wolfington and David Boice shared their visions for the leveraged resources offered to a select and growing group of best in class technology based vendors at a private meeting before the Digital Dealer Conference.

Philip Zelinger was involved in the formative stages of developing the concept of ARP with Sean and David and he will be discussing their shared vision with today's audience of automotive advertising decision makers. Philip provides insights for automotive advertising agencies anxious to capitalize on the consolidation taking place in the technology sector that allows auto dealers to integrate selling processes between their online virtual showoorms and their real world counterparts. ARP is the next step in taking this concept to market.

http://AdAgencyOnline.Net is an automotive advertising portal for the auto industry that features cutting edge automotive advertising solutions like IntellaCar's mobile sales presentation tool that accelerates the sales process by empowering the sales consultant to better serve the customer and data base customer loyalty programs offered by software development teams like DrivingLoyalty. Both companies are members of ARP and their reasons for supporting the group will be discussed during the show.

Hosted by Philip Zelinger, President of AdAgencyOnline.Net, author of two books on the auto industry and a well known automotive advertising consultant..

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/adagencyonline/2011/10/24/lunch-with-phil-discussing-automotive-advertising-agencies

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Mona Elyafi: What Does It Mean to Be a Fan Today?

In a world where everything is based on instant gratification and the philosophy of "I want it and I want it now," we've become too consumed with living in fast-forward mode, racing through life instead of actually really living it.

While the galloping advances in technology are indeed making it easier for us to rapidly get through the numerous items on our to-do list, we're, nevertheless, not fully engaging with them deeply anymore. While all the latest high-tech gimmicks are indeed connecting us individually in more rapid and practical ways, paradoxically they are simultaneously disconnecting us personally. With all this speed surrounding us, we live way too fast -- faster than we ever lived before -- and more often than not, are consciously or unconsciously engaging our lives cultivating a model based on style more than substance.

Sadly, this epidemic of "hurry" has furiously contaminated every facet of our culture, redefining what relationship and loyalty mean. This, I believe, is particularly true when it comes to the definition of artist patronage.

In this Internet age where the digital media revolution is changing the "teen idol worship" experience, I can't help but think, what does it really mean to be a fan in 2011?

Admittedly, as a thirteen-year-old woman trapped in a forty-year-old body, and forever stuck somewhere in 1984 with a terminally fanatic addiction to George Michael, I want to vicariously approach the topic from the perspective of teenagers today.

I'm not at all denying the fact that every generation has its crop of teen idols to revere. Take a pick! There's plenty of mania to be had around: Justin Bieber, the Jonas Brothers, the Twilight actors, Lady Gaga or any of the Mickey Mouse Club darlings manufactured by the Disney "tween" idol hit-making machine. It's not so much what or whom teenagers are nowadays idolizing, as much as how they are choosing to align themselves with the object of their adulation.

It is undeniably easier nowadays to be a fan. Yet while the phenomenon certainly continues to fuel, it does not have the same implications. Clicking "like" on Facebook, hitting "follow" on Twitter, and/or posting YouTube music videos on any and all social media platforms does not necessarily qualify anyone as a "true loyal" fan -- at least not in the sense I understood the word to signify.

As a product of the MTV generation during which, historically speaking, teen idols were manufactured more aggressively than in previous generational cycles, being a fan was not just a matter of having an innocent ephemeral adolescent crush on an artist; it meant you were not only emotionally but also financially investing in that artist. The worship simply knew no bounds.

Evidently, I'm not talking about groupies who will go to impressive lengths to fulfill their erotic fantasies, nor am I talking about disturbed fans transgressing into stalking predators. I'm of course referring to the normal hormonal teenager with an ardent admiration, harmlessly obsessive adoration and intense devotion to his/her idol.

Focusing on how teen pop heartthrobs compare to their cry-worthy forefathers, the basic distinction, I believe, lies in the enduring loyalty factor from the fans.

Going as far back as teen idols in the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, David Cassidy or (not so long ago) Duran Duran, Madonna, Michael Jackson and of course, George Michael, the common thread they all share is that they succeeded in maintaining as strong a relationship with their fans now as they nourished back then. Why? Because their fans were able to grow with them and evolved from the screaming hysteria of the puberty phase to the less erratically mercurial, more mature but still intensely passionate level of adoration.

In their defense, today's teen idols (just like the old crop) still send crowds into insane levels of hysteria and have the potential to trigger riots. The mania syndrome still pervades and teenagers' bedrooms are still plastered with posters of whatever teen pop sensation is the latest zeitgeist du jour. But where will these fans be ten years from now? Look at the boy bands of the 90s -- have they, in retrospect, really earned the loyalty of their then adulating fans now all adults?

The distinction between yesterday's hysterical fans and today's is those artists' fame and success was based on more than solely being blessed with pretty faces, clean looks, sex appeal and massive media hype. It rested as well on the fundamental notion that they had to possess a modicum of talent. How can anyone in their right minds compare Justin Bieber to say The Beatles?

To be fair though, the rate at which the music scene is currently evolving makes it practically impossible for new talents to ensure career stability and longevity. Again, everything is manufactured and delivered at such a rampant pace that artists are constantly pressured to produce not only more but also faster. Songs are released one after the other with no clear breaks in-between. And because we are used to being fed new products at the speed of light, we're all always anxiously waiting for what's new and what's next.

The result, in my opinion, is that everything -- artists included -- becomes quickly perishable and quickly buried into "old news" graveyards. We are all affected with short-term memory being accustomed to having too much to choose from. How then can we be gaga about anyone when we're somehow programmed to easily move on to the next thing? Developing an allegiance to anything or anyone is not just impractical but very much impossible, and consequently the (fan) phenomenon known as the cult of personality no longer exists.

To me there was no better time for "fandom" than the 80s -- it was the best (and perhaps last) decade for teen idols. As a teenager, my world forever changed because of the arrival of one man into my life: George Michael.

It was then that I discovered the literal meaning of "idol" and got to demonstrate the highest manifestation of the ultimate fan.

Back in 1986, when I found myself spending my Easter vacation at my auntie's flat in London, I decided to put my visit with the Brits to good use and found nothing better but to convince my poor relative to drive me to the area George Michael's parents lived in with the high hopes of finding Mr. & Mrs. Panayiotou's house (that would be George Michael's real last name) and of course meet my idol.

Being such a hardcore maniac fan, I had meticulously cut out a photo of George's parents' residence that had been published in Podium (the French version of People Magazine), which also happened to mention the geographical area my pop icon reportedly grew up in. Evidently, It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, only an absurdly demented and very obsessively in love fifteen year old who just didn't know better!

Long story short, while my detective work extended over two full consecutive days, we did find the house and I got to meet his mother. Frankly, this was as hopeless as trying to find a needle in a haystack but when you're a fan you just don't EVER take no for answer.

And that's exactly the point.

Fans today are not -- literally and figuratively speaking -- following artists anymore, but merely following ephemeral trends.

?

Follow Mona Elyafi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ILDKMedia

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mona-elyafi/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a_1_b_1022121.html

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Anthony Conner Injury: Louisville Football Player Carted Off After Collision Against Rutgers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? Louisville coach Charlie Strong says cornerback Anthony Conner broke his neck when his head hit the knee of Rutgers receiver Mohamed Sanu.

Conner was carted off the field Friday night after going down on the first play of the second quarter, and team officials said a few minutes later that the senior was conscious with feeling in his extremities.

Strong gave an update after Louisville's 16-14 win.

"Anthony Conner, it's so sad," Strong said. "Our prayers go out to him and his family, but he ended up breaking his neck."

Conner came in low to tackle Sanu, and the cornerback flipped the Rutgers receiver. But Conner's helmet banged off Sanu's right knee, and he went down on the field. Trainers worked on him for several minutes, strapping him to a backboard. He did move his feet and a hand as he was carted off.

The Scarlet Knights all came out onto the field and knelt, watching as trainers worked on Conner. Just over a year ago, many of these players watched teammate Eric LeGrand carted off the field when the defensive lineman fractured two vertebrae tackling an Army kick returner.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/anthony-connor-injury-louisville-rutgers-college-football_n_1026108.html

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BlackBerry maker accused of infringing BBX trademark (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? BBX, the operating system that Research In Motion is counting on to revive its floundering BlackBerry franchise, has run into trouble even before the company could install the system in its smartphone line.

A New Mexico firm claims the "BBX" name is protected by trademarks it holds and is threatening to take legal action against RIM unless it stops using the moniker.

The firm, Abuquerque-based Basis International, said it had already trademarked the "BBx" name for its own software language, database and toolset.

"Our patent attorney has sent them a cease and desist letter, invoking the U.S. trademark act ... requesting a response by October 31," Basis Chief Executive Nico Spence told Reuters on Thursday. "Failing that, we'll take the next logical legal step."

While legal action may never materialize, the threat may prove yet another embarrassment for a company that has suffered its fair share of them recently. The latest was a three-day global outage of BlackBerry service, which followed a series of profit warnings and botched product rollouts.

On top of that, its management has been scolded for what its critics say is an arrogant and insular style.

Earlier this week, RIM announced the new BBX platform for its next-generation devices at a developers conference in San Francisco. It provided no timetable for the rollout, however.

RIM SEES NO PROBLEM

"RIM has not yet received a copy of the legal complaint described in Basis International's press release, but we do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business," the Waterloo, Ontario-based company told Reuters by email.

Basis, founded in 1985, operates on five continents but is focused mainly on the U.S. and Latin American markets.

The firm said it has thousands of product licenses installed worldwide with the "BBx" prefix that run on Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems, among others.

"We are fielding numerous customer inquiries voicing their confusion about the RIM announcement," Spence said.

RIM's BBX would replace the antiquated software that now powers the BlackBerry with a package built around the QNX system, already the engine behind the PlayBook.

RIM wants to reverse a growing consumer preference for faster and more intuitive devices by Apple and devices powered by Google's Android.

The San Francisco conference was the first public stage for the Canadian company since last week's global disruption of BlackBerry service, which added to a series of setbacks for RIM over the past year.

Law firms in the United States and Canada are exploring possible consumer lawsuits against RIM for the BlackBerry outages, which crippled email and messaging for tens of millions of users around the world.

(Reporting by Pav Jordan and Alastair Sharp; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111020/tc_nm/us_rim_bbx

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Kelsey Grammer plays Chicago mayor in 'Boss' (AP)

CHICAGO ? Kelsey Grammer makes it clear from the start: He's not playing Mayor Richard M. Daley in the new dramatic series "Boss" that debuts Friday night.

Sure, his mayor of Chicago talks about being in charge for 22 years ? the exact time Daley spent in office. For both men the job is also the family business, with Grammer's Tom Kane following his father-in-law and Daley his father. And if Grammer's character really wanted a disguise that nobody would have recognized, he would have put on a Cubs hat and not one bearing the logo of Daley's beloved White Sox.

"We were writing a show that is a derivative of Shakespeare (and) he's got 400 years on the Daleys," Grammer said this summer during filming in Chicago for the Starz drama (10 p.m. EDT).

Grammer told Daley as much, when the two met and he "tried to reassure him that we had absolutely no intention of taking pot shots at him and his father." And it is certainly true there is nothing about Kane's mannerisms, eloquent manner of speaking or look that even hint at Da Mayor.

At the same time, Daley and the hardball political world in which he grew up and then came to dominate are such an integral part of this story that Shakespeare's "Richard II" would have worked as a title instead of "Boss," which, just happens to be the name of the late Chicago columnist Mike Royko's famous biography of Daley's father.

Viewers around the country may not know the ins and outs of Chicago politics, but they understand this is a city where power, clout as they call it around here, is held in the hands of a few, from the days when Al Capone ran his bootlegging empire here with the help of judges and politicians he kept in his pocket to the better part of the last half century when the mayor's last name was always Daley.

Tom Kane's power is helped, for example, by the stories, legends, really, of how Daley's father had enough clout (not to mention the dead people he supposedly got to the polls) to put John Kennedy in the White House in 1960 and prompt Robert F. Kennedy eight years later to say the endorsement of Daley, a mayor of a single city in the middle of the country "means the ballgame" to his own chances at the presidency.

It is the same with the son who, though not the national force as his father, could flex his own political muscles, as he did when he got tired of talking about turning a lakefront airport into a nature preserve and simply dispatched bulldozers in the dead of night to carve huge Xs into the runway.

Even former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is about to be sentenced for trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama's old Senate seat, helps tell the story.

"The conceit of ours is to think of politics as cleaner now," said Farhad Safinia, the show's creator and executive producer. "Chicago shows it isn't."

"There's such a colorful backdrop to tell this story that just exists in Chicago, so the city itself becomes kind of a character," agreed Grammer. "We're borrowing Chicago as a kind of magic kingdom (in which) you can believe is full of intrigue, betrayal, plot twists, secret documents and all kinds of things."

Chicago's history, both that of recent years and the distant past, are all thrown into the story. Grammer's character Tom Kane, for example, in talking about digging up a cemetery to accommodate the expansion of O'Hare International Airport ? a real event ? brings up Abraham Lincoln and the Underground Railroad. Kane talks about how the city was built, telling of figures such as the Rev. Jeremiah Porter, one of the city's first reformers in the 1800s and Anton Cermak, a mayor in the 1930s.

"We have something occurring at night with bulldozers (after) an edict from the mayor," said Safinia, who would not elaborate. "I keep finding stuff like the Xs in the runway."

The filmmakers use many parts of the city, from the most violent and struggling neighborhoods to the sparkling lakefront and the jewel of that lakefront, Millennium Park.

"We went into neighborhoods that only people in Chicago know about," said Dan Clancy, the show's production designer who came up with some of the locations after talking to his father, a retired Chicago firefighter.

If the first two episodes are any indication, the show takes great pains to get the pronunciation of various names correct and when they talk about neighborhoods, they put them where they should be and use the shorthand that is commonly used, referring to the University of Illinois at Chicago as UIC, for example. And unlike other Chicago-based shows that put imagined addresses out in Lake Michigan, "Boss" was careful not to in the early episodes.

The crucial opening scene when viewers learn the meaning of the show's tag line ? "Betrayal Starts From Within" ? takes place in a building that represents the city's gritty and sometimes brutal past, complete with the hooks where slaughtered animals once hung that can be seen over Grammer's shoulder. That scene in which Kane learns he has a degenerative brain disease sets the tone for a story that is dark, certainly darker than the norm for Grammer, who is best known playing Frasier Crane in the comedies "Cheers" and "Frasier."

Grammer said he did not study Daley or any other mayor, explaining that what he needed to know about Kane he already knew after nearly three decades as a TV star.

"The requirement for this guy really is a person who understands what it's like to be famous and I think in some ways that made me perfectly suited to play this guy," said Grammer, whose marriages, divorces and personal problems have long been the stuff of gossip columns. "You need to understand a lifetime spent in the public consciousness, much of it negative, a lot of it positive. That sort of came along for the ride with me as an actor playing a mayor who is a very well-known guy."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111020/ap_en_ot/us_tv_kelsey_grammer_boss

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Nokia 800 press shots leak, Espoo's Windows Phone Mango lovechild now close at hand

Stephen Elop famously fumbled when shots of Nokia's "super confidential" Mango handset made their way to the interwebs. Since then, we've seen footage from the factory floor, and even teases of upcoming marketing materials outing the 800, or the phone formerly known as Sea Ray. Now, leaked press shots over on PocketNow, once again, treat us to a preview of the Espoo / Redmond mobile marriage and its candybar-shaped offspring -- available in blue, pink and black. From what we can see in these renders, the volume rocker, power button and apparent dedicated camera shortcut key are all placed on the right side of the handset, with a speaker grille located at the device's base. Of course, there's that familiar Windows Phone 7.5 live-tiled interface and three capacitive buttons on the handset's screen. For now, that's all she wrote, but is it enough to tide you over 'til its eventual reveal at Nokia World? Our trusty magic 8-balls says, "You may rely on it." We're inclined to agree.

Nokia 800 press shots leak, Espoo's Windows Phone Mango lovechild now close at hand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/u9wuZf5n_Kc/

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Motorola RAZR gets UK price and launch date

In all the excitement of the Ice Cream Sandwich launch, it's almost easy to forget that Motorola too launched a new device yesterday, the rebirth of the RAZR. 

The device has been declared as on sale from Nov. 1 in the UK by online retailer Clove. Announced via their blog, Clove have given the RAZR a £455 ($720) price tag off contract which probably isn't too far off the actual price of the phone. 

Launching with Gingerbread 2.3.5 will come as a disappointment to most given the day's other news, but don't write the RAZR off. If you've not seen it in action yet, be sure to check out our hands on at the launch event. 

Source: Clove blog
More: Hands on  with the Motorola RAZR 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Ic281gZXdFk/motorola-razr-gets-uk-price-and-launch-date

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Clinton heading to Pakistan, to push cooperation (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) ? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she was looking for a "reality check" on a visit to Afghanistan, where she also pushed for closer cooperation with neighboring Pakistan on both the war and economic development.

Clinton will fly on to Islamabad, a U.S. official said, where she will also urge officials to work more closely with counterparts across the border. She presented a new summary of the mission in both countries: "fight, talk, build."

The message is that all three countries should aim to fight against irreconcilable militants, talk with those willing to negotiate, and meanwhile keep building on the economic side.

"We're going to be fighting, we're going to be talking and we're going to be building. And they can either be helping or hindering, but we are not going to stop our efforts," Clinton said at a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"It is a time for clarity. It is a time for people to declare themselves as to how we are going to work together."

Clinton also said the door was still open to the Taliban to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan, but they would face "unrelenting" attacks if they did not.

Pakistan's cooperation was critical to any peace process, particularly ensuring that insurgents could not find shelter in the country, she said.

"We must send a clear, unequivocal message to the government and people of Pakistan that they must be part of the solution and that means ridding their own country of terrorists who kill their own people and cross the border to kill in Afghanistan," Clinton said.

Earlier in the day she told Afghan civil society leaders that she had seen progress in their country, and remained hopeful about the prospects for a peaceful and stable future.

"I'm here to have a reality check," Clinton said at a meeting at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

Clinton's arrival Wednesday on an unannounced visit to Kabul followed several high-profile attacks in the Afghan capital, including an assault on the U.S. embassy in September and days later the assassination of President Hamid Karzai's top peace envoy, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Ties between Kabul and Islamabad have been particularly strained since the assassination of Rabbani, who was killed by a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban reconciliation envoy.

Many Afghans, including senior officials, have accused the Pakistan government of having links to the killing, and say their neighbor is fomenting instability to further its own political interests. Pakistan denies this. Karzai has been more circumspect, but hinted after the killing that he had lost hope in pursuing peace talks with the Taliban and suggested negotiations with Pakistan instead. Top U.S. officials have also accused Pakistan of supporting insurgent groups in Afghanistan after September's 20-hour attack on targets in Kabul, including the U.S. embassy.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111020/ts_nm/us_afghanistan_usa

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Anne Hathaway signed for Jackman's "Les Miserables" (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Anne Hathaway is going from Catwoman to Fantine.

As TheWrap reported in August, Hathaway has long been in negotiations for Universal's Hugh Jackman-starring adaptation of the Broadway hit. On Tuesday morning, the studio confirmed it -- and set a release date of December 7, 2012.

Jackman plays the fugitive Jean Valjean and Russell Crowe plays Inspector Javert in Tom Hooper's version.

Hathaway has at least a little experience with the role: She sang "On My Own" from the musical when she hosted this year's Academy Awards. And she sang it to Jackman.

William Nicholson ("Gladiator") wrote the screenplay.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, among others, will produce.

Deadline first reported the news.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111018/film_nm/us_annehathaway

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[OOC] The Games: Royalties Televised

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