Jenni Rivera's Memorial: Fans And Family Gathered To Celebrate Her Life

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) -- The life of Jenni Rivera was celebrated in song, as passionate fans chanted "Jen-ni! Jen-ni!" at the singer's memorial service billed by her family a "celestial graduation."

Rivera's children and singers Olga Tanon and Joan Sebastian performed during the nearly 2 1/2-hour service Wednesday at the Gibson Amphitheatre, where thousands of fans gathered to salute the "Diva de la Banda."

Famed Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solis and Ana Gabriel and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate del Castillo were also among the guests.

A red casket sat onstage amid a sea of white roses, as images of Rivera played on three big screens. Family members embraced and kissed the casket at the conclusion of the service, laying more white roses atop it.

While most of the speeches and songs were delivered in Spanish, Rivera's children spoke in English, often directly to their late mother.

"We're not here to mourn the death," said son Michael, 21. "We're here to celebrate the life and graduation of a singer, an entertainer, a diva, a fighter, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and more than anything, a mother - the best mother."

He then called for 27 seconds of silence for the victims of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.

Rivera's youngest child, 11-year-old Johnny, was heartbreakingly poised as he said, "The person that everyone's talking about is my mom."

"Mama, I've been crying so much these last few days. I miss you so much," said the little boy, wearing a red bow tie like many of his family members. "I hope you're taking care of my dad and I hope he's taking care of you, too."

Rivera's second husband, Juan Lopez, died in 2009. The couple divorced in 2003.

Rivera's brothers and sisters spoke lovingly of the singer, calling her "the queen of queens," "perfectly imperfect" and an "eternal diva." Her father said Rivera's "happiness, smile and care for the public will never be forgotten." He then performed a song he wrote about his daughter, a woman who rose from humble roots to become "la Diva de la Banda."

One of Rivera's brothers said his sister "made it OK for women to be who they are. Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing with the hopes of being something."

The family asked that Latin radio stations play Rivera's song "La Gran Senora" at noon Thursday in her honor.

Hundreds of Rivera's fans converged outside the venue, hoping to gain access to the service. Others bought advance tickets for $1.

The service was closed to most media, although a broadcast of the proceedings was made available.

The burial will be private.

Rivera and six other people died Dec. 9 in a northern Mexico plane crash that remains under investigation. Rivera, a mother of five children and grandmother of two, was 43.

Rivera sold more than 15 million copies of her 12 major-label albums. Her soulful singing style and honesty about her tumultuous personal life won her fans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was also an actress and reality TV star.

Born in Los Angeles, Rivera launched her career by selling cassette tapes at flea markets. By the end of the 90s, she won a major-label contract and built a loyal following.

Many of her songs deal with themes of dignity in the face of heartbreak, which Rivera spoke of openly with her fans.

She had recently filed for divorce from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and publicly apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/jenni-rivera-memorial_n_2332738.html

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Video: Brokaw on how Newtown changes nation

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Gaming Made Me: Tomb Raider | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By Cara Ellison on December 19th, 2012 at 9:00 pm.

June 2007: a remote jungle clearing outside Moshi, Tanzania. I am seventeen. It is sometime after midnight.

My skin is sticky with pesticide and sweat. In the treacle dark, my friend Rachael?s face presses hot against my shoulder. The hiss of the jungle soars into the sky in a cacophonous, unbearable symphony.

I need to pee.

Unzipping the tent door, I reach for my boots outside and hesitate, before upending them and shaking them vigorously. This lesson has been learned in machetes. Satisfied, I pull the boots on, grab a torch, and bind an emergency strip of toilet paper around my wrist. I press out through the long grass.

Wet air kisses bare skin. The remains of my once plain rice dinner is pitted with grass bugs: with no lid to prevent them jumping towards the heat, we had eaten the rice black and crunchy. I grimace at the thought of the swallowed bugs and stride through the grass into the murk. I can hear the insects screech, jump against my ankles. Fuck the jungle, I think. Everything here is trying to kill me. I think about machetes, hallucinate one in my hand. But I had left it behind with the Maasai.

A scream from above punctures my eardrum. I freeze. To my seventeen-year-old ears it sounds like the scream of a Velociraptor. I switch off the torch. Steven Spielberg told me there would be days like this.

Three more terrifying screams; I stand in the grass with the cold strands touching my exposed legs, exposed, exposed. They?re in the trees, I think. And I am here. And they can see me.

Freeze-framed by fear, my mind escapes to another place, an unreal place whose dangers nevertheless felt no less real?

That malfunctioning ATI card kicks me straight into that first desolate corridor. No cutscene. I am twelve, terrified. The computer screen looms over me. The soundloop kicks in ? hollow noises like huge footsteps boom in the background: creaks, low moans. I?m aware the woman on screen is wearing very little. You can see too much flesh on her ? she is miles away from help, shut in this cave. She can see wolf tracks, hear whispers? But she is on her own.

What is the worst that can happen to her? I glance at the manual. I draw Lara?s guns. I walk into the claustrophobic darkness.

At seventeen, standing in that grass alone in the jungle, I wonder if I am doing Lara Croft a disservice. I imagine that some small girl is watching me through the lens of a computer screen and I see everything map out before me. I think, if I don?t get over myself, that small girl watching will never do anything impressive like go exploring in a Tanzanian jungle; she will never block blows in a budoukan in Okinawa or climb temples and tree roots at Ta Prohm Kapok. She will never have the guts to do anything by herself. Get over yourself, I thought, just then. Lara got over herself.

I breathe the close air. I control my own body, where once I controlled Lara?s. I have developed the curves that denote adulthood. I no longer look like a tomboy girl: I am a grown woman. Women deal with things. They are in control. They are calm at all times. They are together.

Adulthood swells into my lungs: I am that composed woman; I can walk into that forest and deal with what happens just as she killed wolves and jumped into bear pits.

Lara: the impractical figure, the idealized sex object. Surely there?s no way she could offer anything but detriment to the way that young women look at themselves? Many regard Lara Croft as nothing more than a tool for male voyeurism. And while I didn?t notice the extent to which Croft was sexualised when I was twelve, I certainly notice now. That original game presented Lara?s figure at its worst, its most implausible. The painful outrageousness of her waistline; her breasts, so engorged they might carry more water than her measly backpack.

But what was more important to my young eyes was Lara?s frailty. She looked thin and incapable, those narrow gun-toting wrists like stems of a flower. Climbing seemed a labour. She stumbled on things, bumped into things with a dramatic ?oof!? Every animation blend glitch evidence to me that she was panicking, breaking. She was at the mercy of her environment. The fact that she had few supplies, little clothing, and nobody to help her: these made her task even more daunting. But that was what was amazing about her. All my life I?d thought only men put themselves in these dangerous, isolated positions. It didn?t matter to me that men might look at her. She is the doer now, and not the helper. She is the hero. For twelve-year-old me, Lara had chosen to take a risk for the sake of thrills. I admired that.

Women are routinely advised to be safe. You?re going out late at night? By yourself? In that? That?s dangerous. In London there is a campaign to ensure women only hire officially endorsed taxis, because minicab drivers have been known to sexually assault women on back roads. Take safer taxis, women. Don?t go alone ? anywhere. Don?t go alone.

Men, by contrast, are encouraged to do foolish, dangerous things. People thought it was funny when Steve Irwin poked a crocodile with a stick; if a woman did it for a laugh she?d be putting herself in danger. Which is stupid and might never be entertainment, right? Even with that charismatic grin. And certainly, if the female Steve Irwin had died doing what she loved (poking crocodiles with sticks) it wouldn?t be considered heroic. It would have been, ?Well. We told her so.? It?s taken as read that maybe a man might die as a consequence of putting himself in danger ? but that?s the life he chose. What a principled hero. If a woman dies, well, that?s her fault: we told her not to do that. It wasn?t safe.

In that jungle, at seventeen, I am so far from those voices. My gender makes no difference here, in the wild. It seems like a construction to pretend that we are anything but a set of consciousnesses traversing a fraught earth. It seems odd to regard Rob and Josh, whose tent is out of sight somewhere near, as being somehow able to cope better here, or as somehow in less danger.

At twelve, back in Tomb Raider, I was in the tight grasp of monophobia. For the first time, I?d been allowed to go out into town by myself. I was aware that some of my friends were still not allowed to do this ? because it is dangerous for little girls to go into town themselves. Everything seemed dangerous to me. The bus driver was dangerous. The people on the streets were dangerous. As I grew up that caution never waned. By sixteen, boys aren?t told as often to be careful any more, as equally unfairly, they become the danger. At twenty-six, I am still often told that being out alone at night is dangerous.

Tomb Raider encouraged me to be alone. The very act of playing it was solitary, away from friends. Our computer was shut in a tiny ?study? (a cupboard) at the top of our three-storey house (just next to the gymnasium with the secret entrances) and I always played it in the dark. My dad never set the heating to anything less than full blast as if he were an orchid threatened with wilting, so the study was always sweltering. I?d play until I couldn?t bear being afraid any more. And it was terrifying: I would scream at every bear and I was not particularly squeamish, not a ?girly? child. And still I was determined that I needed no help. I wanted to do it alone.

Outside of the study I came to realise that wanting to do things alone was not always a bad thing. If Lara Croft can raid tombs by herself, I figured, then I can go anywhere by myself. I started enjoying my own company more and stopped worrying what my friends were doing. I visited town by myself sometimes, not to meet anyone, but to buy ice cream and shop for clothes because I wanted the time to ponder things. I started to value my own judgement more. I wrote outrageous opinion pieces for the school newspaper. I became more active in identifying and chasing the things I wanted. I used to get frustrated that I didn?t have a boyfriend. Well. Lara didn?t have one either, I reasoned. She probably chose to be alone. The very idea that one could choose not to have a boyfriend blew my young mind.

Lara didn?t have a love interest in the original Tomb Raider. There was no ongoing romance beyond the romance of finding secrets, climbing colosseums, shot-gunning T-Rexes. Larson was shot dead, a footnote. Frustrated at missing jumps, terrified at being impaled on spikes, you willed her to jump farther, shoot faster, swim for longer. At twelve I was a competitive swimmer, and the thing you always strove for in the pool was a Personal Best time, not finishing a heat first.

Both Lara and I didn?t really need someone to help us out or encourage us. We competed against ourselves. Years later, Crystal Dynamics would ruin that in Tomb Raider: Legend by providing not one, but two or three different men supporting her, as if she couldn?t lop off an endangered species? head with the help of a good nutritious breakfast and her own sheer determination. It was as if a jaded Ripley had been put on an infested ship with three fratboys who?d read a report on Aliens and decided they?d come and help her out. Perhaps it was just bad writing. Perhaps it was an essential part of the game. Perhaps.

Is wanting to do things alone dangerous for women? Much of the ?danger? surrounding women and girls who dare to do things alone is framed as the threat of sexual assault. It is kind of terrifying that women are warned that men will be looking at us in a sexual manner in every situation ? and horrifying that all responsibility for men controlling their sexual or violent urges is absolved by an emphasis on keeping women in a safe space. Ultimately, if society started valuing self control and respect for others? personal space, we probably wouldn?t have to patronise women, who, let?s not forget, are also capable of sexual assault. This last fact is shrugged off constantly. It?s as if the threat of the male gaze penetrating our heroine is what makes Lara vulnerable. Is she being sexually assaulted by us, the viewer? As if the very act of seeing women turns the voyeur into the threat.

When I played I was Lara, experiencing everything through her character. My male friends sat there identifying with the camera ? with the looking, the controlling, with the interfaces. They were outside her body. I was her body. It was survival horror.

My most vehement wish was to keep Lara alive. This is the same wish I clutch now, in the jungle. I wonder: would I have taken as many risks in life if I hadn?t been Lara all those years ago?

My toes twitch in my boots. I master myself. The screaming is all around me, up in the trees.

If you were going to attack me, you?d have done it by now, I think. I unfreeze the frame and wade into the dark. I feel a guilt sting at having failed to match Lara Croft?s composure faced with similar peril. Fine barbs of vines cling to my skin, threatening to trap me, trip me up. Again I lust for a machete, licking dry, bug-stained lips. I forget the last time I saw my face in a mirror, but I imagine that my face, all grit and mosquito bites. I am Kurtz.

Unseen tree animals scream around me. No, I decide: here is where I stop and pee. I?m gonna do what I came here for. You hear that jungle? That is the sound of me pissing on you. Yeah? Well I hope it?s a freaking ant hill I?m pissing on. Your ant hill.

Oh god, it?s an ant hill.

I spend the rest of the night and the following two days picking the pincers of suture-strong Siafu ants out of my legs. I still have the scars. Rachael slept on through what I later found out, over a stiff pint of sugar cane liquor, was the Tanzanian equivalent of the Bush Baby mating season ? they have Velociraptor screams.

During warm weather I sometimes dream of machetes. Machetes and Lara Croft. I hear she?ll get a machete in the new one.

Source: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/19/gaming-made-me-tomb-raider/

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Fiscal cliff efforts ongoing, Boehner offers plan

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership, speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership, speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership, speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by the Republican leadership speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama following a closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner pushed ahead on negotiating a broad deal to avert the "fiscal cliff," even as the GOP leader readied a backup plan Tuesday to pressure the White House with little time left to avoid a double hit on the economy.

With exactly two weeks to automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, Boehner offered a measure, dubbed "plan B," that would cancel tax increases due to take effect Jan. 1 on everyone earning $1 million or less, while allowing tax increases on those earning more than that amount.

Boehner insisted that his plan would address the burgeoning deficits and that the president has failed to produce a balance plan in weeks of post-election negotiations.

But the speaker's alternative was a non-starter with the White House and Democrats, and perhaps more damaging to its prospects, got a frosty reception from rank-and-file House Republicans in a morning closed-door meeting.

"The president is willing to continue to work with Republicans to reach a bipartisan solution that averts the fiscal cliff, protects the middle class, helps the economy, and puts our nation on a fiscally sustainable path," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "But he is not willing to accept a deal that doesn't ask enough of the very wealthiest in taxes and instead shifts the burden to the middle class and seniors."

GOP aides said the leadership strategy is to pass the alternative plan in the House and send it to the Senate. There, Republicans would use their clout to block Democratic alternatives.

Even as he offered his alternative plan, Boehner indicated that negotiations with Obama continue on avoiding the fiscal cliff. Economists inside and outside the government have warned that the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes could stall a weak recovery and threaten a new recession.

"I continue to have hope that we can reach a broader agreement with the White House" that would cancel the tax increases and spending cuts now poised to begin in early January, Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters.

But he said when it comes to offering a package that balances tax increases with spending cuts, "The president is not there yet."

Boehner presented his alternative to his GOP caucus, which reacted coolly to any plan that includes an increase in the tax rate. Conservatives and tea partyers signaled that Boehner faces a tough time rounding up the votes.

"I think it's a terrible idea," said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. "For a lot of reasons."

When asked whether there was enough support among fellow Republicans to pass it, Labrador said, "I do not."

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said he is in favor of preventing tax hikes for as many taxpayers as possible, but he's not ready to support Boehner's plan.

"I didn't see enough specificity to support it," Chaffetz said.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the outgoing chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said, "I'm not doing cartwheels over it, that's for sure."

Jordan said Boehner's plan crosses a dangerous line by enacting higher tax rates for anyone.

"I think it's a mistake for the Republican Party, so that's what I think a lot of members are struggling with," said the Ohio Republican.

In the Senate, Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the Boehner plan could not pass and urged the speaker to work out an agreement with the president.

"Now is the time to show leadership, not kick the can down the road," Reid said. "Speaker Boehner should focus his energy on forging a large-scale deficit reduction agreement. It would be a shame if Republicans abandoned productive negotiations due to pressure from the tea party, as they have time and again."

In addition to allowing a tax increase for million-dollar earners, the Boehner plan would prevent an expansion of the alternative minimum tax that would otherwise hit 28 million middle- and upper-class Americans with an average $3,700 increase on their 2012 tax returns.

The plan also would extend the current maximum 35 percent tax rate on inheritance, exempting the first $5 million. That tax rate is slated to rise to 55 percent on Jan. 1, with only a $1 million exemption.

Under the plan, the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts of $1.09 trillion to domestic and defense programs would go into effect.

Boehner said GOP efforts to cull savings from Medicare by increasing the eligibility age from 65 to 67 could wait until next year. That source of savings had been an important demand from Republicans earlier in Boehner's negotiations with the White House.

Boehner aides said the call for a separate tax bill does not mean the Republican is cutting off negotiations with Obama on averting the full slate of tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect next year. Obama and Boehner have each made significant concessions in recent days, signaling a new stage in the negotiations.

Boehner's latest move is an attempt to give Republicans political cover if Washington fails to reach a deal before the end of the year and taxes increase on all income earners.

In the negotiations, the president has dropped his long-held insistence that taxes rise on individuals earning more than $200,000 and families making more than $250,000. He is now offering a new threshold of $400,000 and lowering his 10-year tax revenue goals from the $1.6 trillion he had argued for a few weeks ago.

Obama and Boehner met privately at the White House on Monday, and then spoke again on the phone later that night. Boehner huddled with House GOP members on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to discuss the status of the talks and review Obama's latest offer.

"We have to stop whatever tax rate increases we can," Boehner said in the meeting, according to prepared remarks released by an aide. "In the absence of an alternative, as of this morning, a "modified Plan B" is the plan."

Unless Congress acts, tax rates will increase on all income earners on Jan. 1. Boehner first opposed raising rates on any income earners, including the wealthiest Americans, but agreed on Friday to accept an increase in tax rates for taxpayers who earn more than $1 million. Boehner's plan would raise about $1 trillion in taxes over 10 years.

In return, Obama also abandoned his demand for permanent borrowing authority. Instead, he is now asking for a new debt limit that would last two years, putting its renewal beyond the politics of a 2014 midterm election.

And in a move sure to create heartburn among some congressional Democrats, Obama is proposing lower cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries, employing an inflation index that would have far-reaching consequences, including pushing more people into higher income tax brackets.

Those changes, as well as Obama's decision not to seek an extension of a temporary payroll tax cut, would force higher tax payments on the middle class, a wide swath of the population that Obama has repeatedly said he wanted to protect from tax increases.

As public posturing has given way to pragmatism, both sides still seem willing to lock in on a substantial agreement rather than just putting off a fiscal day of reckoning. To that end, Obama has conceded that a big bargain would require giving up some of his proposals.

"I understand that I don't expect the Republicans simply to adopt my budget," he said during his post-election news conference last month. "That's not realistic. So, I recognize we're going to have to compromise."

Despite signs of progress, there are still plenty of disputes to iron out. And people familiar with Obama's proposal were careful not to describe it as his final offer.

The Obama plan seeks $1.2 trillion in revenue over 10 years and $1.2 trillion in 10-year spending reductions. Boehner aides say the revenue is closer to $1.3 trillion if revenue triggered by the new inflation index is counted, and they say the spending reductions are closer to $930 billion if one discounts about $290 billion in lower estimated debt interest.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Stephen Ohlemacher and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

____

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Associated Press

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Home Spun Juggling: 12 Days of a Homeschooling Christmas, verse 6

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Conn. shooting: Global outpouring of support

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

The second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.

By John W. Schoen, NBC News

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- The outpouring of shock and grief from around the world over the horrific events in this picturesque New England town has given way to another widely felt, powerful emotion: the urge to support the shattered families of the victims. ??

?I just had a lady call from Montana,? said Scudder Smith, publisher of the Newtown Bee, the local paper. "She said she?s going to send me a box of bears to distribute when the time is right so the kids can hug some bears.?

---

As details of Friday?s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary continue to unfold, residents remain stunned by the mayhem unleashed by a lone gunman. On Saturday, authorities disclosed the names of the 12 girls, eight boys and six adult women who were killed?in the nation's second-worst school shooting.?

The scope of the tragedy has been matched by a torrent of offers to help.

Since just hours after the massacre, local churches and social service agencies have been besieged with phone calls and emails from around the country and the world -- as far away as Taiwan, Australia and West Africa. Some callers express a sense of powerlessness in trying to help shattered families rebuild their lives, along with a bewilderment in trying to know what to do.

Leo McIlrath, chaplain at the Lutheran Home of Southbury, said one way to support the wounded community is to ?pray from a distance.?

?That?s more powerful than anything they can do up close - including providing food or shelter," he said. "We do all that already in this community. We don?t need people to put something in a box, I don?t think, and send it here. We need to be as of one mind and one heart and one spirit. And I feel that?s coming across.?

The outpouring of global grief has generated a flood of offers of financial contributions, according to Newtown Savings Bank President John Trentacosta.

?We?ve been hearing from people all over the country asking how they can help and what they can do to support he families,? he said. ?This all happened so quickly.?

The small Connecticut town of Newtown is grieving in the aftermath of Friday's deadly school shootings. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.

In response, several groups have set up websites to accept contributions, including a joint effort between Newtown Savings and the United Way of Western Connecticut. The Sandy Hook School Support Fund?is accepting donations by via the Web, or by check mailed to Sandy Hook School Support Fund, Newtown Savings Bank, 39 Main St., Newtown CT 06470. Donations are also being accepted at the bank's local branches.

Local residents have also taken up the cause. Neighbors and friends have been preparing meals for the?bereaved?families, and counseling agencies have tapped an influx of volunteers to help cope with the psychological trauma. ??

Santas for Sandy Hook
Clad in Santa caps and armed with a handwritten "Santas for Sandy Hook" sign, Zoe Walter, 21, her sister and a friend stood outside a local coffee and donuts shop Saturday asking for donations to the newly created support fund.

As she briefly silenced her handbell, Walter said she was shaken by the killings.

"I just want them to know that we care and we're here, and we'll do anything that we can (to) help," said Walter, a college student, as she broke down in tears. "I just want them to know that we're thinking about them."

Countries that have experienced similar tragedies tonight stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America as it mourns the deaths of 28, most of them young children. NBC's Annabel Roberts reports.

At New Hope Community Church, pastor Jim Solomon has been fielding calls since shortly after the Friday morning tragedy.

?We?ve been getting what seems like literally thousands of inquiries,? he said. ?I?m touched by the level of support not only from all around our nation but from around the world. They want to do something practical.?

In response, Solomon has also set up a fund on the church?s Web site, asking contributors for suggestions on how the money should be spent.

Antonio Lacerda / EPA

A woman puts some flowers next to crosses on Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, on Saturday as a tribute to the shooting victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

?If they indicate what the funds are for, the church treasurer is going to dispense those funds to help each of the particular families,? he said. ?We?re going to use that money to help each family with food or funeral and memorial services, burial expenses or any other needs so we can help them in a very practical way."

Solomon, a counselor, is also a board member at Newtown Youth and Family Services, which is offering free counseling to victims? families and other residents.

In the aftermath of natural disasters, communities often see an influx of donated food, clothing and other emergency supplies. Local clergy say the school shooting in Newtown was a very different type of disaster, calling for a very different response.

?There?s an awful lot to just knowing that people care,? said Rev. Raymond Petrucci, a chaplain at nearby Danbury Hospital. ?If there?s any way people can communicate through the public media or whatever forms of saying, ?We truly are supporting and praying for you hoping for you,? that type of emotional support - especially for that community, it?s already close-knit - is the most appropriate way of approaching this.?

Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images

Gun control supporters take part in a candlelight vigil at Lafayette Square across from the White House on Saturday.

In a world awash in social media, grief also flowed online.

On Twitter, the #Newtown hashtag emerged almost immediately, promptly flooded with emotional outpouring and soon began trending. On Google+, many gathered around the topic "Sandy Hook" for consolation. Facebook users created multiple pages to share news and prayers with friends.

Reddit users inundated the Connecticut subreddit with fundraising initiatives, local news, and opportunities to "vent your fears, anger, frustration and anything else." By midday Saturday, the local NewtownPatch had drawn more than 500 ?I want to help? comments on a page devoted to supporting local residents.

In Newtown, some people are showing their support just by showing up.

At a Friday night vigil at St. Rose of Lima church, the crowd spilled out into the freezing weather, trying to make sense of the tragedy. Another townwide vigil is planned for Sunday night at Newtown High School.

Arshad / Zuma Press

Pakistani children light candles to pay tribute to U.S. elementary school shooting victims in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.

?I know people will be coming from out of town,? said McIlrath. ?There using the high school because there is no church big enough.?

McIlrath, who plans to speak at the service, was still working out what he wants to say. ???

?I heard a lot of people say the joy is gone,? said McIlrath. ?I want to say, ?No, the joy isn?t stolen from us - no more than Grinch stole Christmas. Death isn?t going to steal the joy out of this community.?

NBC's Miranda Leitsinger and?Rosa Golijan contributed to this report.

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Conservative party favored as Japanese vote

Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe speaks during a campaign rally for the Dec. 16 parliamentary elections in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The LDP ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 until it lost badly to the DPJ in 2009. If the LDP wins on Sunday, it would give the nationalistic Abe, who was prime minister from 2006-2007, the top job again. His hawkish views raise questions about how that might affect ties with rival China amid a territorial dispute over a cluster of tiny islands claimed by both countries. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe speaks during a campaign rally for the Dec. 16 parliamentary elections in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The LDP ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 until it lost badly to the DPJ in 2009. If the LDP wins on Sunday, it would give the nationalistic Abe, who was prime minister from 2006-2007, the top job again. His hawkish views raise questions about how that might affect ties with rival China amid a territorial dispute over a cluster of tiny islands claimed by both countries. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Right-leaning, populist Restoration Party of Japan leader Shintaro Ishihara waves to supporters on the final day of campaigns for parliamentary elections, in Tokyo Saturday, Dec. 16, 2012. Candidates made final impassioned appeals Saturday to Japanese voters a day before the elections that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled the country for most of the post-war era. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Anti-nuclear Tomorrow Party leader Yukiko Kada, left, and the party's candidate Ichiro Ozawa shake hands with supporters on the final day of campaigns for parliamentary elections in Tokyo Saturday, Dec. 16, 2012. Candidates made final impassioned appeals Saturday to Japanese voters a day before the elections that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled the country for most of the post-war era. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Children chuckle during a speech by Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe during a campaign rally for the Dec. 16 parliamentary elections in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. Candidates made final impassioned appeals Saturday to voters a day before Japanese parliamentary elections that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled the country for most of the post-war era. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Shinzo Abe acknowledges the crowd during a campaign rally for the Dec. 16 parliamentary elections in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. The LDP ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955 until it lost badly to the DPJ in 2009. If the LDP wins on Sunday, it would give the nationalistic Abe, who was prime minister from 2006-2007, the top job again. His hawkish views raise questions about how that might affect ties with rival China amid a territorial dispute over a cluster of tiny islands claimed by both countries. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japanese voted Sunday in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the once-dominant conservatives back in power after a three-year break ? and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China.

Major newspapers were predicting the Liberal Democratic Party, led by the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would win a majority of the seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, although surveys also showed that many voters remained undecided just days before the election.

Voters have soured on the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide victory in 2009 but could not deliver on a string of campaign pledges. They are also upset over Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's push to double the sales tax, a move he argues is necessary to meet rising social security costs as the nation rapidly grays.

Disillusionment with politics is running high in Japan, as is confusion over a hodgepodge of small, new parties that have sprung up in recent months espousing a variety of not always coherent policy views. One has a nationalistic image, while another is staunchly anti-nuclear, tapping into grass-roots opposition to atomic power in the wake of last year's disasters in Fukushima.

Toshiyuki Kataoka, a 67-year-old retiree from Chiba, east of Tokyo, said that the Democrats proved to be novices running the country. "It was someone driving on a learner's permit," he said. But he added that he's willing to support them again because he's worried about the nationalistic influence of the LDP.

"The LDP ruled for many years, and you can't expect the Democrats to fix everything in three years," he said. "Japan does seem to be turning to the right, and I don't want to be a part of that."

But not many Japanese were likely to be as forgiving as Kataoka.

With Japan stuck in a two-decade economic slump and pressured by an increasingly assertive China, voters may be turning back to the LDP, which guided the country for most of the post-World War II era, after taking a chance on the Democrats and being let down. The DPJ failed to carry out numerous promises, including cash handouts to families with children, eradicating wasteful spending and moving a controversial U.S. military base off of the southern island of Okinawa.

The country must also cope with an aging, shrinking population, a bulging national debt and intensifying competition from Asian neighbors such as South Korea, Taiwan and China, all of which have territorial disputes with Japan.

"This election is about punishing the DPJ," said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University, suggesting the LDP's appeal may be its "brand image" as the "perpetual, natural party in power."

"It seems to me that people are driven by nostalgia, as they seem to want to bring the LDP back to power because they lack better alternatives," he said.

One upstart party that is drawing a fair amount of interest and could be a part of a ruling coalition if the LDP doesn't get a majority is the populist, right-leaning Japan Restoration Party, led by two of the country's most outspoken politicians, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who at 80 is nearly twice Hashimoto's age. Both exhibit forceful ? critics would say dictatorial ? leadership styles. The party also wants to amend the constitution to elect the prime minister by popular vote and abolish the less powerful upper house of parliament, but is divided on nuclear power.

The brand new Tomorrow Party, led by a female governor, Yukiko Kada, wants to eliminate nuclear power plants within 10 years, opposes the tax hike and advocates more money for families. But its image has been tainted by linking up with former DPJ power broker Ichiro Ozawa, whom many Japanese voters don't trust.

If the LDP wins the most seats, the hawkish Abe would almost certainly get a second stab as prime minister. He would be Japan's seventh prime minister in about 6 1/2 years.

His previous tenure, a one-year stint in 2006-2007, was marked by a nationalistic agenda, pressing for more patriotic education and upgrading the defense agency to ministry status. Abe also said there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Chinese, Korean and other women into prostitution in military brothels during World War II. He later apologized but lately has suggested that a landmark 1993 apology for sex slavery may need revising.

During the campaign, Abe has taken a strong stand against China in an ongoing territorial dispute over some tiny, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. The LDP platform calls developing fisheries and posting permanent staffing of public officials on the islands, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

Beset with a host of domestic problems, Japan has been receding behind China as the region's most important economic player, and the promise of a strong, assertive country resonates with many voters, even if they are suspicious of doing that through military power.

"We want somebody who can be a tough diplomatic negotiator and who can take a strong leadership," Seishi Kobayashi, a company employee in his 40s who is wavering between voting for the LDP or the upstart Japan Restoration Party, said Saturday. "I still can't make up my mind. Plus, whoever you vote may team up with parties with totally different policies, so you have to be careful. In this country, the election is not really about policies. But this time around, we should make a sound choice, or we are going to suffer for 10, 20 years to come."

With so much turnover in Japan's leadership ? one prime minister a year over the last six years ? Kataoka, the retiree from Chiba, wonders if the public's expectations are too high.

"It seems like we're searching for a messiah," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-15-Japan-Election/id-398892afd3a740ab93d97229f6f01828

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Copy and paste data into Word as a table ? Business Management ...

If you copy and paste data into a Word document, but you would prefer to see it as a table, it takes only a couple of clicks. If your data are delimited by spaces, tabs, commas or paragraph markers (?), you can convert it to a multicolumn table.

Let?s say your list followed the pattern Name, Address, City, State, ZIP, Phone. Select all the data. Then, on the Insert tab, click the Table button. Choose Convert Text to Table and choose comma under Separate Text At. Presto! For a single column, multirow table, use the Paragraphs selection.

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Lieberman urges compromise in final Senate speech

FILE - This Dec. 10, 2012 file photo, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. gestures during a news conference at the state capitol in Hartford, Conn. Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman in his final Senate floor speech is urging Congress to put partisan rancor aside and reach across party lines to break Washington's gridlock. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

FILE - This Dec. 10, 2012 file photo, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. gestures during a news conference at the state capitol in Hartford, Conn. Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman in his final Senate floor speech is urging Congress to put partisan rancor aside and reach across party lines to break Washington's gridlock. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman on Wednesday used his final Senate floor speech to urge Congress to put partisan rancor aside to break Washington's gridlock.

"It requires reaching across the aisle and finding partners from the opposite party," said Lieberman. "That is what is desperately needed in Washington now."

The Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut is leaving the Senate in January after 24 years. He said strong bipartisan leadership is needed to solve the nation's most pressing problems, such as the looming fiscal cliff budget crisis. Washington gridlock stands as "the greatest obstacle" to finding compromises to make major progress on those problems, he said.

Lieberman, 70, nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with running mate Al Gore in 2000. He would have been the first Jewish vice president.

He also made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. Four years later, he was under serious consideration in 2008 to be then-Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate. He and McCain are friends known for their hawkish views on military and national security matters.

Lieberman's independent streak has often rankled Democrats, the party he aligned with in the Senate.

He lost the last time he ran for the Democratic Senate nomination in Connecticut, in 2006. But he rebounded and won a new term running as an independent in a three-way race after many of his Democratic allies, including former Sen. Chris Dodd, supported the party's nominee, Ned Lamont. After his re-election, Lieberman decided to caucus with Democrats in the Senate, who let him head a committee in return.

Yet in 2008 he supported McCain, drawing the ire of many Democrats. Lieberman's decision to speak at the 2008 GOP presidential nominating convention especially angered Democrats. The speech he gave contrasting McCain and 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, then a first-term senator from Illinois, struck a deep nerve with many Democrats.

"In the Senate, during the 3 1/2 years that Sen. Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to ... accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done," Lieberman said at the time.

After the 2008 election and at Obama's urging, Senate Democrats decided not to punish Lieberman for supporting the GOP ticket. They voted to let him keep his post as leader of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Obama was eager to strike a bipartisan tone for his presidency.

Lieberman drew national attention in 1998 when he gave a politically explosive speech on the Senate floor criticizing then-President Bill Clinton, his friend of many years and a fellow centrist Democrat, over the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Wednesday that while he did not always agree with Lieberman, he respected him.

"Regardless of our differences, I have never doubted Joe Lieberman's principles or his patriotism," Reid said. "And I respect his independent streak, as it stems from strong convictions.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-12-Congress-Lieberman/id-fb561f688622458e90018dda62ead83e

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Researcher finds gender differences in seasonal auditory changes

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Auditory systems differ between sexes in sparrows depending on the season, a Georgia State University neuroscientist has found. The work adds to our knowledge of how the parts of the nervous system, including that of humans, are able to change.

Megan Gall, a post-doctoral researcher with Georgia State's Neuroscience Institute, tested the peripheral auditory systems of male and female house sparrows, comparing the hearing of each gender during non-breeding seasons and breeding seasons.

Gall measured frequency selectivity ? the ability to tell sounds that are close in frequency apart, and temporal resolution, the ability to tell sounds apart that are very close together in time.

"We found that males have the same frequency selectivity and temporal resolution across breeding seasons," Gall said. "In the fall, males and females aren't different. But in the breeding season, females had better frequency selectivity, but this came at the expense of worse temporal resolution."

The study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a British scientific journal.

The difference shows "plasticity," the ability to change, she said. Plasticity is an important concept in neuroscience, as scientists have increasingly been able to show that neurological systems have the ability to change.

Gall said the work shows, for the first time, that there's seasonal plasticity in these properties in the periphery of the auditory system, the ear and the auditory nerve, not just inside the parts of the brain that control auditory function.

Similar changes happen in humans, she said. Women show different auditory sensitivities during the course of a menstrual cycle.

"I always like to say that if your husband says he can't hear you, it may be that he can't. His auditory system is different than yours," Gall said.

The changes might have evolved over time for different reasons, she said, with one reason being that it is harder for the body to maintain a certain kind of tissues involved in hearing.

"In the ear, there are huge electrical gradients between the hair cells and the fluid that's bathing the hair cells in the ear, and that's expensive to maintain," she said. "Another possible reason is that there are other stimuli that you are concerned about during the non-breeding season.

"These birds live in an environment where it gets cold, it's hard to find food and they make calls that tell other individuals where that food is. So everybody wants to hear the call in the same way so that they all respond to that signal."

Alarm calls, warnings that a predator or predators are coming, might also require different kinds of auditory processing.

###

The study is "Songbird frequency selectivity and temporal resolution vary with sex and season," Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Gall, M.D., Salameh, T.S. and Lucas, J.R., 2003, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2296.

Georgia State University: http://www.gsu.edu

Thanks to Georgia State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125852/Researcher_finds_gender_differences_in_seasonal_auditory_changes

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Fish sold in New York is routinely mislabeled: study

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly three in five New York City grocery stores and restaurants that sell seafood have mislabeled part of their stock, substituting varieties that could cause health problems, according to a new study.

Some 39 percent of the fish obtained for the study by the ocean conservation group Oceana was inaccurately identified, Oceana said. Sometimes cheap fish is substituted for more expensive varieties or plentiful species for scarce ones.

Forensic DNA analysis revealed 58 percent of 81 New York retailers and eateries sampled incorrectly labeled the seafood they sold, according to the study released Tuesday.

"It's unacceptable that New York seafood lovers are being duped more than one-third of the time when purchasing certain types of fish," Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana and an author of the study, said in a news release.

In some instances, consumers unknowingly purchased fish that could pose health risks.

Blueline tilefish masqueraded as halibut and red snapper. The FDA urges pregnant women, nursing mothers and small children to avoid tilefish given its high mercury content.

All but one of the 17 white tuna samples obtained from sushi restaurants turned out to be escolar, a fish whose diarrhea-inducing properties earned it the nickname the "ex-lax fish."

Mislabeled seafood can present a public health concern because many hazards are species specific, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spokeswoman said in an email. Allergic reactions and food-borne illnesses are some of the possible health hazards, the spokeswoman said.

New York's rate of seafood mislabeling was higher than Miami's (31 percent) but lower than that of Boston (48 percent) and Los Angeles (55 percent), according to recent Oceana investigations.

What distinguishes New York's seafood marketplace from those of the other American cities Oceana tested is the presence of smaller, independent food stores, 40 percent of which sold mislabeled fish, Warner said in an interview. In contrast, only 12 percent of seafood bought at national chain grocery stores in New York were labeled incorrectly.

The problem is not new. A study appearing in a 1992 issue of Consumer Reports found about a third of the seafood sampled in New York, Chicago, and San Jose was incorrectly labeled.

Nor is seafood mislabeling an issue that has gone unreported. The discovery in August 2011 that Zabar's, a gourmet food store on Manhattan, had been passing off crawfish as lobster in its lobster salad for at least 15 years was the subject of multiple, high-profile media stories.

(Additional reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fish-sold-york-routinely-mislabeled-study-052216947.html

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Greece to announce bond buyback results Wednesday

Athenians walk past a central Athens branch of National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Greece was expected to announce later Tuesday the results of a bond buyback hoped to cut some 20 billion euros off the country's 340 billion euro debt load. Domestic lenders will contribute strongly in the European-funded buyback, which if successful will open the way for disbursement of a delayed international rescue loan payment. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Athenians walk past a central Athens branch of National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Greece was expected to announce later Tuesday the results of a bond buyback hoped to cut some 20 billion euros off the country's 340 billion euro debt load. Domestic lenders will contribute strongly in the European-funded buyback, which if successful will open the way for disbursement of a delayed international rescue loan payment. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Athenians walk past a central Athens branch of National Bank of Greece, the country's largest lender, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Greece was expected to announce later Tuesday the results of a bond buyback hoped to cut some 20 billion euros off the country's 340 billion euro debt load. Domestic lenders will contribute strongly in the European-funded buyback, which if successful will open the way for disbursement of a delayed international rescue loan payment. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A man walks past a shuttered central Athens chemists' shop during a 24-hour strike by pharmacists Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Greece was expected to announce later Tuesday the results of a bond buyback hoped to cut some 20 billion euros off the country's 340 billion euro debt load. Domestic lenders will contribute strongly in the European-funded buyback, which if successful will open the way for disbursement of a delayed international rescue loan payment. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Greece will reveal the results of a key debt buyback deal Wednesday, after an extended deadline for private investors to decide whether they will sell back their Greek bond holdings at a discount expired without any official announcements.

Finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro held a conference call late Tuesday on the deal, which is designed to ease Greece's crippling debt load and unlock vital rescue loans.

There were no comments after the call, and the Greek debt management agency said it would issue a statement on investor response early Wednesday.

The deal offered attractive terms to foreign funds that had bought the Greek bonds at rock bottom prices during the worst period of the financial crisis and now stand to make a hefty profit. Greece's cash-starved banks, which own more than ?15 billion worth of the bonds, had little option other than to sign up as they depend on government rescue loans.

Greece's main stock index rallied Tuesday, closing 2.3 percent higher, on expectations that the deal would succeed.

The country's international bailout creditors ? fellow eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund ? had demanded the buyback as one of the conditions for paying out a long-delayed installment in rescue loans.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde told reporters in Colombia on Tuesday that she would leave it to the EU finance ministers to comment at length but expressed satisfaction with the deal.

"For the moment I can only welcome the results that have been produced by the debt buyback," she said.

If the buyback goes well, eurozone officials will approve Thursday the disbursement of ?34 billion. The money is earmarked to boost domestic lenders and pay some of the government's mounting bills to state suppliers.

Debt-crippled Greece has depended on international rescue loans for the past two and a half years, after it admitted its budget deficit was more than three times the initial forecast and swiftly lost access global bond markets. In exchange for the funds, the government repeatedly slashed incomes and raised taxes to tame the deficit ? but in the process created widespread public resentment.

That is expected to increase with the submission to Parliament Friday of a new tax bill incorporating many of Greece's latest austerity commitments, including a 15 percent tax on bank deposit earnings. The presentation will be delayed by three days to ensure its approval by the two small center-left parties in Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' uneasy conservative-led coalition.

The initial deadline for investors to declare interest in the buyback plan has been extended from last week, to encourage the biggest possible participation. The deal is hoped to shave some ?20 billion off Greece's ?340 billion national debt load.

Athens can use up to ?10 billion in European funds to rebuy about half its privately-held debt at a third of its nominal value. The proposal should be attractive to many investors, as the average price was higher than the market value of its bonds when the offer was announced, and some daring bondholders who bought during the summer could see their initial outlay triple.

Although the country is frozen out of long-term bond markets, it maintains a market presence with regular sales of short-term debt. The T-bills are mostly taken up by the liquidity-starved domestic banks that need them as collateral for their own borrowing needs.

Earlier Tuesday, Athens raised ?4.4 billion ($5.7 billion) in auctions of one-month Treasury bills ? an unusually short-term issue which Greece has resorted to twice in as many months ? and six-month paper.

In both cases, the yields were not significantly changed from the previous auctions of the same maturity.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-11-Greece-Financial%20Crisis/id-240190f09e054057a4f1d15bb6357f2e

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Building With the Boys: How Building a Home is, Honestly, Kind of ...

Here we go, part V or VI, I?ve had too much Pinot Noir to count. More on the new house saga over there on Azaela with Justin Kettler and Tim Loecker, who are still delightfully together even after and tell us why building is very much like plastic surgery:

Windows:? We are convinced windows can make the difference between a nice exterior and a fabulous exterior. And for modest upgrades in cost, you can have exponential aesthetic, and possibly efficiency, impacts. ?We gravitated to casement-style windows (versus single or double-hung sash) for an upgraded look without the big cost impacts.? Also, we lean towards fewer grids/dividers on the windows to keep windows from being too busy.? And as far as grids/dividers go, we recommend exterior grids instead of ones sandwiched between two panes of glass. ?We discovered wood casement windows with exterior clad aluminum provide a great combination of efficiency, durability, style, and value.? For an even better value, vinyl casement-style windows with exterior grids are the best value, but limited in color options. ?Solid wood windows, while gorgeous, are often the most expensive choice, and require periodic upkeep specifically with paint fade and rotting.

Exterior impact:? Choosing the style of your house will set the tone for many decisions to come.? However, this point is not a bias towards traditional, modern, or transitional styling.? Often, good intent turns into a mix-match of styles, themes, materials, and designs.? Step on up folks, this beauty has:? Brick! Stucco! Stone! Iron! Slate! Turrets! France! ?Italy! Tudor! Cedar! Copper! Scrolly pointy things galore!? Oh my!? It reminds me of turning the corner at Whole Foods, and coming face to face with the poster child for plastic surgery intervention.? Gasp!? Stop!? You were beautiful after your first two procedures.? If the goal is to make the Guinness Book of World records for most design elements, go for it!? Otherwise, less really is more.? Give your home an identity, not an identity crisis.

What?s that ?one thing:? Well, it is hard to put your finger on it, but you know it is there.? It makes a difference, but can?t be immediately explained.? That ?one thing? is a statement you make with a key design feature, whether inside or out.? It may be easier to define what that ?one thing? isn?t.? One thing is NOT having 20 different really cool latest and greatest design trends in your house. ?Look for ways to understate one design choice so another can shine and stand out.? ?For example, we wanted the fireplace to be the focal point in the living room.? Therefore, we chose muted and understated floor tiles, laid without pattern in a simple straight line.? Then, we chose a very unique marble with a walnut vein effect for the fireplace from floor to ceiling.? It pops!? The eye is drawn to it, and is not competing with a more opulent floor tile.? In the kitchen, some designers will do an elaborate backsplash, fancy countertops, and extravagant cabinetry.? In this case, materials are fighting each other to be the prettiest beauty queen. ?Instead, a simple backsplash with minimal pattern yields to the other design elements.? Forgo the metallic basket weave glass and travertine backsplash with intermittent hand-painted vegetable tiles for a simple marble pattern.? In the end, your house will have several ?one things? interspersed throughout, but they aren?t all competing for the blue ribbon.

?

Source: http://www.candysdirt.com/2012/12/10/building-with-the-boys-how-building-a-home-is-honestly-kind-of-like-really-great-plastic-surgery/

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Syrian rebels capture parts of army base in north

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels captured parts of another large army base in the country's north, just west of the city of Aleppo, tightening the opposition's grip on areas close to the Turkish border, activists said Monday.

Elsewhere, the rebels killed 13 soldiers in an ambush near a strategic northern town along a road linking Aleppo with Damascus, activists reported.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels entered the Sheik Suleiman military base on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of fighting around it.

The development was a significant boost for the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and defeat his military. Last month, they captured another base near Aleppo, the Syrian army's 46th Regiment base.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads to Observatory, said the rebels who stormed Sheik Suleiman belong to hardline Islamic militant groups.

Abdul-Rahman told The Associated Press that fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, Mujahedeen Shura Council and the Muhajireen group took part in the battle for the Sheik Suleiman base.

U.S. officials have said the Obama administration is preparing to designate the Jabhat al-Nusra group, which has alleged ties to al-Qaida, a terrorist organization.

The Observatory said the rebels seized key sectors of the base, home of 111th Regiment, including its command center.

About 140 Syrian troops fled to another, nearby base as the rebels advanced, Abdul-Rahman said, adding that rebels captured seven government troops and killed two soldiers in the fighting.

Amateur videos released by activists showed gunmen walking inside the base, carrying a militant black Islamic flag.

The footage also showed rebels driving around in a captured tank and manning heavy anti-aircraft machine guns. The activist videos appear genuine and correspond to AP's reporting on the events depicted.

Fighting around Syria has intensified in the past few months. The uprising, which began with peaceful protests against Assad's regime in March 2011, has escalated into a civil war that has killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists.

"This is what we captured from Assad's army," a rebel says in the video, carrying an automatic rifle and a walkie-talkie and pointing to the heavy machine guns.

Abdul-Rahman said the rebels tried to storm Sheik Suleiman base two weeks ago but were pushed back by troops who killed nearly two dozen rebel fighters.

The Observatory also reported heavy fighting Monday on the southern edge of the strategic rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan, captured from government troops in October. It said rebels ambushed an army unit, killing at least 13 soldiers.

The group said Syrian warplanes bombed the town after the death of the solders.

Mohammed Kanaan, an activist based in Maaret al-Numan said rebels stormed army positions south of the town and killed many soldiers.

"The town is witnessing some of the worst clashes in weeks," said Kanaan via Skype.

The town is on the highway that links the capital, Damascus, with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial center that has been the scene of clashes between rebels and troops since July.

Activists also reported violence in other areas, including the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, central region of Homs as well as villages and towns near Damascus International Airport south of the capital.

A resident in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal, told The AP that he was hearing cracks of gunfire and explosions inside and outside the capital early Monday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-capture-parts-army-north-095206021.html

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Reader Discussion: Do You Play PC Games On Your Television ...

During a recent interview with Kotaku, Valve's Gabe Newell discussed the popularity of Steam's Big Picture mode and the future of PC gaming on television sets.

"I think in general that most customers and most developers are gonna find that [the PC is] a better environment for them," said Newell. "Because they won't have to split the world into thinking about 'why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?' So in a sense we hopefully are gonna unify those environments."

Most modern HDTVs feature PC inputs, and DVI/VGA-to-HDMI cables are always an option for those that don't. Personally, I've loved playing PC versions of XCOM, Dishonored, and Far Cry 3 on my television. Is this an option you've personally used, or do you tend to stick to traditional consoles?

Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/12/10/steam-box-discussion.aspx

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M 1.7, 3km SSW of Tahoe Vista, California

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
Page URL: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc71901161
Page Contact Information: Contact Us
Page Last Modified: December 09, 2012 02:51:08 UTC

DOI and USGS link policies apply. Privacy Act Statement You are not required to provide your personal contact information in order to submit your survey. However, if you do not provide contact information, we may be unable to contact you for additional information to verify your responses. If you do provide contact information, this information will only be used to initiate follow-up communications with you. The records for this collection will be maintained in the appropriate Privacy Act System of Records identified as Earthquake Hazards Program Earthquake Information. (INTERIOR/USGS-2) published at 74 FR 34033 (July 14, 2009). Paperwork Reduction Act Statement The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.) requires us to inform you that this information is being collected to supplement instrumental data and to promote public safety through better understanding of earthquakes. Response to this request is voluntary. Public reporting for this form is estimated to average 6 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions and completing the form. A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. Comments regarding this collection of information should be directed to: Bureau Clearance officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 807 National Center, Reston, VA 20192.

Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc71901161

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National Council for Certified Personal Trainers 70% off | Groupon ...

$148 for an Online Course with Exam Included from National Council for Certified Personal Trainers ($495 Value)

An online training manual and videos prepare students for Certified Personal Trainer exam.

$148 for an Online Personal Trainer Course ($495 Value)

• Online study materials, including videos of exercises
• An online NCCPT Personal Trainer Manual
• PDF study guide
• PDF sample test
• One exam voucher and two exam re-take vouchers for the online exam
• Nationally Accredited Certified Personal Trainer certificate upon passing the exam

Accredited by the?National Commission for Certifying Agencies, the National Council for Certified Personal Trainers prepares aspiring fitness instructors to become professional trainers within commercial fitness facilities. Their curriculum centers on an in-home study course, in which students broaden their horizons with online materials including instructional textbooks, videos, and holographic spitballs. They cover key personal-training skills such as continuously evaluating clients, understanding nutrition, and properly operating most types of fitness equipment. Some?packages?also incorporate in-person workshops, during which professional instructors work one-on-one with students. The culmination of this curriculum is NCCPT?s exams?conducted online and in person?which transform students into nationally accredited certified personal trainers once they pass.

Aside from these core programs, NCCPT also offers classes that focus on specific areas of health and exercise, including topics such as?weight management,?agility, and?golf fitness. Customers can also pick up equipment such as?jump ropes?and?weight vests, a crucial tool for trainers who work on the moon.

National Council for Certified Personal Trainers

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Source: http://www.icoulduseadeal.com/2012/12/certified-personal-trainers.html

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