Students at Layton Junior High get their game on | The Salt Lake ...

(Carol Lindsay | The Salt Lake Tribune) Devin Smith and Miriam Wilson play Ingenious during an after-school board games club at Layton Junior High.

After-school club ? Teacher Stephen Olson loves sharing his passion for board games.

Layton ? Growing up, Stephen Olson loved board games ? all kinds of board games.

He played them with his family and friends. When he went to college at the University of Utah, he started a board game club with fellow students.

Eventually Olson?s friends gave up board games for girlfriends, wives, children and other activities, and the club died out. But Olson?s love for games never diminished.

Fast forward to 2012, and Olson is a math teacher at North Layton Junior High. It?s his first year on the job, and he discovered there is no math club, so he volunteered to supervise one. He then discovers there is no chess club. It?s one of the few board games he doesn?t love, so he asked his administration if he could have a combination chess and board game club.

They consented.

On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the board game club meets after school from three to five. Olsen is a happy teacher?he gets the chance to play board games and share his knowledge and love of the game with students.

Olsen visited his parents? home and retrieved an assortment of his favorite games from youth including Ingenious, Small World and Tsuro. Other students play trading card games and still others play chess.

"I can?t resist playing games," Olson said. "I play while I?m correcting papers."

The games help students with reassigning skills and logic. Small World teaches them about combination and how things can synergize or work against one another. Olson said the students also have to learn to put on their poker faces when playing.

While the majority of game playing is friendly, tension can break out.

story continues below

"Small World gets a little heated," Olson said.

Seventh-grader Alex Chipman loves the structure of board games.

"I have Asperger?s so this is one of the few times I can open up and enjoy myself," said Alex, who flits around the room checking out all the games. "I don?t like it when people don?t follow the rules. Here I don?t have to worry about people going against the rules because if they don?t follow them, the game won?t work."

Alex?s father, David Chipman, is a resource teacher at North Layton Junior High. He enjoys having Alex participate in the club. "It keeps him occupied and forces him to interact socially," he said. "I think it gives the kids a way of expressing their own personality without having to be afraid of what anybody else thinks about it because they all have a shared interest in the games. If you are passive or aggressive in your play it?s OK, it?s a game, and no one gets hurt."

Eighth-grader Miriam Wilson has always loved board games, and she has not missed a single day of club. At home she played Monopoly and Sorry. The club has introduced her to new games.

"I like playing with other people," Miriam said. "After I?ve played with them for a while, I know what they are thinking and what their next move is going to be."

At another table sit the trading-card gamers. Two brothers, Braden and Cameron Putnam, are in the club. They enjoy playing games with each other and their brother, but they joined the game club to play against new people.

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Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55294777-78/games-club-board-game.html.csp

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NYC fast-food workers demand better pay

7 hrs.

Martha White

Occupy the drive-thru: Fast-food workers in New York City staged a walkout on Thursday to demand better pay and the right to unionize?in another recent example of labor stretching muscles made moribund by disuse.

Organizers?of the Fast Food Forward movement said they expected hundreds of workers would walk out or not show up for work at dozens of McDonald?s, Burger King and other fast-food chains.?

Late Thursday, Fast Food Forward, one of the organizations behind the effort, released a statement saying about 200 people had participated in the strike.

At one early?morning demonstration, roughly 75 percent of shift workers were outside protesting, leaving managers to staff the registers and preparation equipment, said Jonathan Westin, organizing director with New York Communities for Change, one of the groups coordinating the walkouts.

?Workers are sick and tired of making poverty wages,? despite working for multibillion-dollar corporations, he said. ?I don?t think this is a short-term fight.?

Joshua Williams, 28, works at?a Wendy's restaurant in Brooklyn and?told Reuters he planned to participate in the walkout. He said?he still earned minimum wage, despite working 30 to 40 hours a week for more than a year.

In seeking a $15 hourly wage and the right to unionize, the movement joined a growing conversation about the financial challenges faced by the working poor.

?During the recession there was the assumption that people should just get a job, any job... I think you see the movement towards unionization as a demand-side response, in a sense,? said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute. ?Employees are saying, ?No, we want better jobs.??

The Fast Food Forward action, which is supported by the Service Employees International Union along with civil rights and community groups, comes less than a week after a union-backed effort to draw attention to wages and working conditions at Wal-Mart led to protests at stores across the country on Black Friday.?

Organization United for Respect at Walmart called on the nation?s largest retailer to pay a minimum $13 hourly wage. Sales associates there currently make an average of $8.81 an hour, according to third-party research cited by workers? rights groups.

Earlier this week, the National Domestic Workers Alliance released a report that found nearly a quarter of nannies, housekeepers and caregivers earn less than the state minimum wage, and 70 percent make less than $13 an hour.

?We must create a more equitable economic environment for all low-wage workers,? the?report said. ?It is difficult to advocate for the rights of domestic workers in an economic and political environment in which the rights of low-wage workers more broadly are so badly frayed.?

Advocates for higher wages say the focus on minimum and low-wage workers is important because there are more people earning less today. The National Employment Law Project found that about 20 percent of?jobs lost during the recession were?low-paying positions, but nearly 60 percent of the jobs?added since then.

?In my mind, if we?re going to reduce inequality in the United States, it?s going to have to address the low wages and lack of benefits in the restaurants and retail sectors,? said Annette Bernhardt, policy co-director at NELP. ?There?s a profound larger question being posed, which is how the American labor market is going to look in the 21st century.?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 60 percent of workers who earned minimum wage or less last year worked in ?service occupations,? primarily food preparation and serving.

At more than double the current national?minimum wage of $7.25, the $15 sought by Fast Food Forward might seem like a pie-in-the-sky goal, but others are pushing to increase New York state's?minimum wage to $8.50 next year. According to the National Women?s Law Center, if the minimum wage rose at the pace of inflation, it currently would be $10.60.

The National Restaurant Association opposes this and other legislation to raise minimum wages. The position statement on its website says, ?Wage mandates are an ineffective way to reduce poverty and cause restaurant operators to make very difficult decisions to eliminate jobs, cut staff hours or increase prices.?

Richard Adams, a McDonald's franchise adviser, told Reuters $15 an hour would be an "insane increase" that would add as much as $2 to the price of menu items.

"The majority of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by independent business men and women who offer pay and benefits competitive within the quick service restaurant industry," the company said in a statement.

David Neumark, a professor of economics at University of California, Irvine, said campaigns to increase wages for minimum and low-wage workers miss the mark.

?A lot of the fast-food workers aren?t in poor families ? they?re just kids,? he said. ?Targeting low-income families through what they?re trying to accomplish is a really scattershot way to do it. Why should an owner... have to pay more to the kids of middle-class families??

Galinsky said higher wages are important, but companies also need to explore other ways to improve the experience of low-wage workers, since the jobs they are filling make up an increasing percentage of labor market demand.

?Traditionally, people who work in jobs like fast food or retail? have been seen as expendable, particularly in a time of economic insecurity,? she said. The institute?s research found that access to training and advancement opportunities, flexible schedules and supportive managers help to improve productivity and reduce turnover at companies that employ low-wage workers.

?There are things that employers can do, most of which don?t cost money, that could benefit employees and that could benefit their own organization,? she said. ?It?s a mindset change.?

Information from Reuters was included in this report.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/fast-food-workers-nyc-flex-their-muscle-better-pay-1C7333668

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Understanding the issues of long-distance loving relationship

Everyone understands how hard it is to get a long distance commitment because it lacks some aspects like touch in intimacy, that are undoubtedly vital for creating a strong in durable commitment. However, even in the event making long distance ex love work requires a significant effort, there is a learn that says that type of commitment has the similar potential of working out as proximal Corporate Relationship Issues. So, persistence in perseverance are a couple of of the major things you want to make your long distance affair work. Now, if you are not aware of those things to try to do wearing a long distance commitment to make it previous, then here they are:

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Now, these are only a few concerns you really need to agree upon. However, you have to Interesting facts about online relationships in speak about such things in order to understand everything you in your boyfriend can expect from your commitment in what your limits are. Also, in recent studies conducted of the Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationship, 70# of partners involved in LDR, who don?t establish an contract in who don?t plan for the long run, end up dropping apart.

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Source: http://koorosh82.com/understanding-the-issues-of-long-distance-loving-relationship/

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Solar Super-Flare Likely Sparked Ancient Tree Mystery

Something big happened in the year A.D. 774.

Scientists studying tree rings found a sharp increase in the amount of radioactive carbon-14 recorded in the rings of ancient Japanese cedar trees between 774 and 775. Carbon-14 can be created by cosmic ray particles arriving from space, but what causes such cosmic ray increases?

At first, experts were at a loss to explain the event, and the team that unearthed the tree ring data earlier this year dismissed the sun as a possible explanation.

Now a new team of scientists argues that a solar flare is the most likely culprit.

Blast from the sun

The sun could have released a huge and powerful blast of plasma into space called a coronal mass ejection, which, when it hit Earth, could have sparked the creation of carbon-14, suggest astrophysicists Adrian Melott of the University of Kansas and Brian Thomas of Washburn University, also in Kansas, in a paper published the Nov. 29 issue of the journal Nature.

Carbon-14 is a variant of the normal form of carbon (carbon-12) that is common on Earth and throughout the universe. When cosmic ray particles hit Earth's atmosphere, they can produce showers of particles such as neutrons. Some of these neutrons, in turn, hit the nitrogen nuclei that are rife in the atmosphere, and a chemical reaction occurs that transforms the nitrogen into carbon-14.

This carbon variant is unstable and decays with a half-life of about 5,730?years (meaning half of any amount of carbon-14 will be gone in that time). For this reason, it's a useful date marker: A tree, for example, will stop absorbing carbon once it dies, so the amount of carbon-14 left in it is a reliable indicator of how old it is.

It had been widely known that a jump in carbon-14 occurred in the eighth century, but researchers first pinpointed this rise and fall on a year-to-year basis by looking at tree rings in a paper by Fusa Miyake of Japan's Nagoya University and colleagues, published in the June 14 issue of Nature.

"They found that whatever made that carbon-14 bump happened really fast, and took less than one year, which called out for some really major, powerful event," Melott told SPACE.com.

The Japanese researchers considered that it might be a solar flare, but calculated that it would have had to have been thousands of times more powerful than the greatest one ever known, which made such a scenario unlikely.

Now, in a new calculation, Melott and Thomas say a solar flare is a reasonable explanation.

"Their mistake was, they assumed that the energy shot out by the sun in one of these coronal mass ejections goes out in all directions, like the light from a light bulb, but in fact it's kind of shot out in blobs," Melott said.

That adjustment meant that a solar flare need have been only about 10 or 20 times more powerful than the greatest flare on record, the so-called Carrington event of 1859. [The Sun's Wrath: Worst Solar Storms in History]

Other possibilities

Still, the scientists can't completely rule out other explanations, such as the possibility of a supernova star explosion, or a special type of supernova called a gamma-ray burst. Both could have created a strong wave of cosmic rays as well.

However, a nearby supernova would have been extremely bright, and likely noticed by the residents of Earth at the time, who largely noted nothing unusual. A gamma-ray burst, which condenses much of the radiation released from a supernova into two strong beams, could conceivably have packed the punch necessary for the carbon-14 spike, but Melott says this scenario is still less likely than a strong solar flare.

Miyake did not respond to a request for comment, but Melott said the Japanese team "didn't argue" with the new calculation.

Interestingly, while a strong sun flare would have had little effect on people in 774, a similar event could wreak significant havoc today. That's because our modern technology, including satellites, radio transmissions and power grids, could be seriously hampered by the particles sweeping in from a coronal mass ejection.

"We're not prepared for this sort of thing," Melott said. "It needs a lot more work to really check it out. And we need better warning if something like this is on the way."

Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter?@ClaraMoskowitz?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?&?Google+.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/solar-super-flare-likely-sparked-ancient-tree-mystery-181440199.html

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Accounts, clothing show Disney, Wal-Mart, Sears clothes made at ill-fated Bangladesh factory

They've technically been around for centuries, but a small group of Cossacks recently returned to officially patrol the streets of Moscow. We're like Chuck Norris!" Cossack patrol leader Igor Gulichev said, comparing his colleagues to the role made famous by Norris in the 1990's television sitcom "Walker, Texas Ranger." According to the Russian 2010 census, [...]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/accounts-clothing-show-disney-wal-mart-sears-clothes-064341783--finance.html

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US Patent Chief to Step Down - Ask Any Law Question for

By ASHBY JONES

U.S. patent chief David Kappos, who will step down in January, is leaving his successor a couple of gifts: an overhauled patent code and a somewhat smaller application backlog.

Mr. Kappos, 51 years old, took over as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in August 2009. He will leave around the end of January, according to an email to employees Monday. He is widely credited for making the federal agency more efficient during his 3? year tenure and for helping put into place some of the biggest changes in decades to the system of granting patents.

The agency?s backlog of patent applications has fallen to about 605,000 from 750,000 at the end of 2008?despite the fact that applications are increasing by about 5% every year.

Mr. Kappos hasn?t announced any plans, a PTO spokesman said. Earlier, he worked at International Business Machines Corp. for 25 years, including as top patent attorney.

Teresa Stanek Rea, the patent office?s deputy director, will be its acting director until a permanent appointment is made. Before joining the agency as deputy director in 2011, Ms. Rea was a partner in law firm Crowell & Moring LLP?s Washington, D.C., office.

The America Invents Act of 2011, which Mr. Kappos helped guide through Congress, fundamentally changed how inventors and companies receive patents. The law has largely brought the U.S. in line with European and Asian countries, which award patents on a ?first to file? basis. Historically, the U.S. has awarded patents on a ?first to invent? basis, and the law was designed, in part, to eliminate costly legal disputes over who invented something.

Mr. Kappos was responsible for crafting a variety of rules to implement the act. He also hired dozens of new patent examiners at the patent office, based in Alexandria, Va., and helped set up the PTO?s first satellite offices, in Detroit, Denver, Dallas and San Jose, Calif., which are set to open next year.

The PTO is still often criticized for issuing too many patents, especially on software innovations. Critics say that too often such patents don?t break new ground and clog the courts with unnecessary lawsuits.

In a recent address at the Center for American Progress, Mr. Kappos pointed to provisions in the America Invents Act that he said would better enable patent examiners to reject unworthy software patents. He encouraged critics to give the new law a chance to work.

Mr. Kappos ?and his team have set the PTO on course to implement the key provisions of the Act, which will improve the patent system for decades to come,? said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D. Vt.), one of the bill?s co-sponsors.

In a statement Monday, Mr. Kappos, said: ?I believe we have made great progress in reducing the patent backlog, increasing operational efficiency, and exerting leadership in [intellectual property] policy domestically and internationally,? he said.

Write to Ashby Jones at ashby.jones@wsj.com

Source: http://justasklegal.com/u-s-patent-chief-to-step-down/7863/

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Potentially toxic flame retardants found in many US couches

Public release date: 28-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tim Lucas
tdlucas@duke.edu
919-613-8084
Duke University

DURHAM, N.C. -- More than half of all couches tested in a Duke University-led study contained potentially toxic or untested chemical flame retardants that may pose risks to human health.

Among the chemicals detected was "Tris," a chlorinated flame retardant that is considered a probable human carcinogen based on animal studies.

"Tris was phased out from use in baby pajamas back in 1977 because of its health risks, but it still showed up in 41 percent of the couch foam samples we tested," said Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

More manufacturers in recent years are treating their couches' foam padding with chemical flame retardants to adhere to California Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117), she said. TB 177 requires all residential furniture sold in California to withstand a 12-second exposure to a small open flame without igniting, to help reduce deaths and injuries from accidental home fires. Over the years, the statewide standard essentially has become a de facto national standard, due to the economic importance of the California market.

In many cases, the manufacturer may not know what chemicals have been used. Most manufacturers buy their foam padding from a vendor who, in turn, buys the chemicals used to treat it from another vendor. The identity of the chemical flame retardants often gets lost along the way, or is protected under law as proprietary.

Stapleton and her colleagues analyzed 102 polyurethane foam samples from couches purchased for home use in the United States between 1985 and 2010. They published their findings in a peer-reviewed study released Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

In addition to finding Tris, the tests revealed that 17 percent of the foam samples contained the flame-retardant pentaBDE, which is banned in 172 countries and 12 U.S. states and was voluntarily phased out by U.S manufacturers in 2005.

PentaBDEs are long-lasting chemicals that over time migrate into the environment and accumulate in living organisms. Studies show they can disrupt endocrine activity and affect thyroid regulation and brain development. Early exposure to them has been linked to low birth weight, lowered IQ and impaired motor and behavioral development in children.

PentaBDE and Tris were the only flame retardants found in couches purchased before 2005. After 2005, Tris was the most common flame retardant found. In addition, Stapleton and her colleagues identified two new flame-retardant chemical mixtures in more recently purchases couches for which there is little or no health data available.

"Overall, we detected flame-retardant chemicals in 85 percent of the couches we tested and in 94 percent of those purchased after 2005," Stapleton said. "More than half of all samples, regardless of the age of the couch, contained flame retardants that are potentially toxic or have undergone little or no independent testing for human health risks."

"If a couch has a California TB 117 label, you can all but guarantee it contains chemical flame retardants," Stapleton said. "But this is where labeling requirements get confusing: the lack of a TB 117 label on a couch does not guarantee the absence of chemical flame retardants. It's not that cut-and-dried."

Stapleton said that so many new proprietary chemical flame retardants have been introduced in recent years that it has become very difficult for scientists to identify them all or determine their presence consumer products.

###

Co-authors of the study were Smitri Sharma, Gordon Getzinger and P. Lee Ferguson of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment; Thomas Webster of Boston University School of Public Health; and Michelle Gabriel and Arlene Blum of the Green Science Policy Institute and the University of California-Berkeley.

Funding for the study came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a private donation to the Nicholas School from Fred and Alice Stanback.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Public release date: 28-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tim Lucas
tdlucas@duke.edu
919-613-8084
Duke University

DURHAM, N.C. -- More than half of all couches tested in a Duke University-led study contained potentially toxic or untested chemical flame retardants that may pose risks to human health.

Among the chemicals detected was "Tris," a chlorinated flame retardant that is considered a probable human carcinogen based on animal studies.

"Tris was phased out from use in baby pajamas back in 1977 because of its health risks, but it still showed up in 41 percent of the couch foam samples we tested," said Heather Stapleton, associate professor of environmental chemistry at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

More manufacturers in recent years are treating their couches' foam padding with chemical flame retardants to adhere to California Technical Bulletin 117 (TB 117), she said. TB 177 requires all residential furniture sold in California to withstand a 12-second exposure to a small open flame without igniting, to help reduce deaths and injuries from accidental home fires. Over the years, the statewide standard essentially has become a de facto national standard, due to the economic importance of the California market.

In many cases, the manufacturer may not know what chemicals have been used. Most manufacturers buy their foam padding from a vendor who, in turn, buys the chemicals used to treat it from another vendor. The identity of the chemical flame retardants often gets lost along the way, or is protected under law as proprietary.

Stapleton and her colleagues analyzed 102 polyurethane foam samples from couches purchased for home use in the United States between 1985 and 2010. They published their findings in a peer-reviewed study released Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

In addition to finding Tris, the tests revealed that 17 percent of the foam samples contained the flame-retardant pentaBDE, which is banned in 172 countries and 12 U.S. states and was voluntarily phased out by U.S manufacturers in 2005.

PentaBDEs are long-lasting chemicals that over time migrate into the environment and accumulate in living organisms. Studies show they can disrupt endocrine activity and affect thyroid regulation and brain development. Early exposure to them has been linked to low birth weight, lowered IQ and impaired motor and behavioral development in children.

PentaBDE and Tris were the only flame retardants found in couches purchased before 2005. After 2005, Tris was the most common flame retardant found. In addition, Stapleton and her colleagues identified two new flame-retardant chemical mixtures in more recently purchases couches for which there is little or no health data available.

"Overall, we detected flame-retardant chemicals in 85 percent of the couches we tested and in 94 percent of those purchased after 2005," Stapleton said. "More than half of all samples, regardless of the age of the couch, contained flame retardants that are potentially toxic or have undergone little or no independent testing for human health risks."

"If a couch has a California TB 117 label, you can all but guarantee it contains chemical flame retardants," Stapleton said. "But this is where labeling requirements get confusing: the lack of a TB 117 label on a couch does not guarantee the absence of chemical flame retardants. It's not that cut-and-dried."

Stapleton said that so many new proprietary chemical flame retardants have been introduced in recent years that it has become very difficult for scientists to identify them all or determine their presence consumer products.

###

Co-authors of the study were Smitri Sharma, Gordon Getzinger and P. Lee Ferguson of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment; Thomas Webster of Boston University School of Public Health; and Michelle Gabriel and Arlene Blum of the Green Science Policy Institute and the University of California-Berkeley.

Funding for the study came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a private donation to the Nicholas School from Fred and Alice Stanback.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/du-ptf112612.php

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Was the Bogus ICOA Press Release Actually a Clever Stock Scam?

Earlier today, a press release was floating around that claimed Google had bought Wi-Fi hotspot company ICOA for $400 million dollars. It was bogus but a lot of us bought it. So what gives? Why would someone do this? Probably to make a killing on stocks. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SBLfv2Jt660/was-the-bogus-icoa-press-release-actually-a-clever-stock-scam

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Obama may get chance to end Benghazi PR disaster

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House could finally have its chance to close the books on its Benghazi public relations disaster, as key Republicans signal they might not stand in the way of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state.

"I think she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself and her position," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told "Fox News Sunday." ''But she's not the problem. The problem is the president of the United States," who, McCain said, misled the public on terrorist involvement.

Rice is widely seen as President Barack Obama's top pick to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as the nation's top diplomat. But Rice's reputation took a serious hit this fall when she relied on unclassified talking points provided by the intelligence community that portrayed the attack in Benghazi, Libya, as a spontaneous assault by a mob angered by an anti-Muslim video posted on YouTube.

Intelligence officials quickly amended their assessment to conclude the attack hadn't been related to other film protests across the Middle East. But that revised narrative was slow to reach the public, prompting Republicans to allege a White House cover-up ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

The attack killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, a State Department computer specialist and two former Navy SEALs who were working as contract security guards.

McCain's remarks were in contrast to his previous stance that Rice wasn't qualified to replace Clinton, who is expected to step down soon, and that he would do "whatever is necessary" to block Rice's possible nomination.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, McCain's close friend and colleague on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told ABC's "This Week" he still suspects the White House intentionally glossed over obvious terrorist links in the attack to keep voters from questioning Obama's handling of national security.

But instead of repeating his prior assertion that he was "dead set" against a Rice promotion, Graham suggested he looked forward to hearing her out. If Rice were nominated, "there will be a lot of questions asked of her about this event and others," said Graham, R-S.C.

The subtle shift in GOP tenor on Rice could be the result of internal grumblings on how far to take party opposition. Democrats picked up extra Senate seats in the election to maintain their narrow majority, making it that much harder for the remaining 45 Republicans to block the president's nominees.

One senior GOP Senate aide said Sunday that Republicans hadn't united against Rice and were not convinced she was worth going after. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to speak publicly on internal GOP deliberations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-may-chance-end-benghazi-pr-disaster-082741024--politics.html

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Inside America's Tax Battle by Laura Tyson - Project Syndicate

BERKELEY ? America?s recent presidential election answered the question of whether an increase in revenues will be part of the country?s long-run deficit-reduction plan. The answer is yes: there is now bipartisan agreement on the need for a ?balanced? approach that includes revenue increases and spending cuts.

But there are still deep political and ideological divisions about how additional revenues should be raised and who should pay higher taxes. If a preliminary agreement on these questions is not reached by the end of the year, the economy faces a ?fiscal cliff? of $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that will shave about 4% from GDP and trigger a recession.

The majority of citizens agree with President Barack Obama that tax increases for deficit reduction should fall on the top 2-3% of taxpayers, who have enjoyed the largest gains in income and wealth over the last 30 years. That is why he is proposing that the 2001 and 2003 rate cuts for these taxpayers be allowed to expire at the end of the year, while the rate cuts for other taxpayers are extended.

So far, Obama?s Republican opponents are adamant that the cuts be extended for all taxpayers, arguing that increases in top rates would discourage job creation. This claim is not supported by the evidence. Recent research finds no link between tax cuts for top taxpayers and job creation. In contrast, tax cuts for the bottom 95% have a positive and significant effect on job growth.

During the past three decades, income inequality in the United States has increased significantly; indeed, the US now has the fourth-highest level of income inequality in the OECD, behind Chile, Mexico, and Turkey. At the same time, as the largest tax cuts have gone to high-income taxpayers, the US tax system has become considerably less progressive. The US needs fiscal measures that both curb the deficit and contain rising income inequality ? and the inequality of opportunity that it begets.

But how should additional revenues be raised from top taxpayers to achieve these two goals? Most economists believe that increasing revenues by reforming the tax code and broadening the tax base is ?probably? better for the economy?s long-term growth than raising income-tax rates. The analytical case for this belief is strong, but the empirical evidence is weak.

In theory, higher marginal tax rates have well known negative effects ? they reduce private incentives to work, save, and invest. Yet most empirical studies conclude that, at least within the range of income-tax rates in the US during the last several decades, these effects are negligible.

A recent Congressional Research Service report, withdrawn under pressure from Congressional Republicans, found that changes in the top income-tax rate and the rate on capital gains had no discernible effect on economic growth during the last half-century. A recent review of the economic literature by three distinguished academics found no convincing evidence that real economic activity responds materially to tax-rate changes on top income earners, although such changes do affect their tax-avoidance behavior. So Obama has evidence on his side when he says that allowing the tax cuts for high-income taxpayers to expire at the end of the year will not affect economic growth.

Republicans have proposed tax reforms in lieu of rate hikes on high-income taxpayers to raise revenues for deficit reduction. Obama has signaled that he is willing to consider this approach, provided it increases tax revenues from the top 2-3% by at least the same amount as higher rates while protecting other taxpayers.

The federal tax system is certainly in need of reform. Tax expenditures ? which include all deductions, credits, and loopholes ? account for about 8% of GDP. Indeed, the US tax code is riddled with special preferences and contains large differences in effective tax rates across individuals and economic activities. These differences distort decisions about investment allocation and financing. Reforms that made the tax system simpler, fairer, and less distortionary would have a beneficial effect on economic growth, although economists concede that the size of this effect is uncertain and impossible to quantify.

Because tax expenditures are so large, limiting them could raise a significant amount of additional revenue that could be used both for deficit reduction and to finance across-the-board cuts in income-tax rates. Analysis of the Simpson-Bowles and Domenici-Rivlin deficit-reduction plans by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center confirms that this approach is arithmetically feasible. Reducing large regressive tax expenditures like preferential tax rates for capital gains and dividends and deductions for state and local taxes, and replacing deductions with progressive tax credits, could generate enough revenue to finance rate cuts for all taxpayers, increase the tax code?s overall progressivity, and contribute meaningfully to deficit reduction.

But the odds of such an outcome are very low: what is arithmetically feasible is unlikely to be politically possible. Efforts to cap popular tax expenditures will encounter strong opposition from Republicans and Democrats alike. Nonetheless, some tax reforms are likely to be a key component of a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal, because they provide Republicans who oppose increases in tax rates for high-income taxpayers with an ideologically preferable way to increase revenue from them.

Unfortunately, it will take time to negotiate tax reforms ? more time than remains until the end of the year, when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are scheduled to expire for all taxpayers. But there is still time to negotiate an agreement that extends these cuts for the bottom 98%, and that contains temporary measures to cap deductions and credits for high-income taxpayers in 2013. Such an agreement could help to break the political impasse over whether and how much these taxpayers? rates should rise next year, thereby preventing the US from falling over the fiscal cliff and back into recession.

Reprinting material from this Web site without written consent from Project Syndicate is a violation of international copyright law. To secure permission, please contact us.

Source: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/how-america-can-avoid-the-fiscal-cliff-by-laura-tyson

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Design and Partial Realization of the China Arrow Information ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Computerforensics technology with the network technology and the increase of the crime to thedevelopment direction of the following:(1) forensics tools to diversification,specialization and automation direction;(2) the integration of other theories andtechniques;(3) the computer forensics tools and process standardization. ... Audit Trail Computer Forensics, data recovery and destruction, network audit, Sensitive information detection No Comments. Recieve new post ...

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The iPad Owned Black Friday, So Let?s Start Seeing Better Shopping Experiences Designed For It

The iPad seems to have dominated online shopping from tablets, according to an IBM report, and in fact won out over all other devices in mobile e-commerce. Arguably, that's because it offers more of a full-web experience, and is more pleasant for browsing standard online retailer sites than a smartphone. But tablet-based shopping continues to be a less than optimal experience.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ri_7bdZTKEY/

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Divided Kuwait limps toward boycott-hit elections

A Kuwaiti woman walks past a board with the names and photos of next December's election candidates in Salwa, Kuwait, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. There is little middle ground but plenty of high-stakes tension as Kuwait stumbles toward elections for the most politically empowered parliament among the Gulf Arab states. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)

A Kuwaiti woman walks past a board with the names and photos of next December's election candidates in Salwa, Kuwait, Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. There is little middle ground but plenty of high-stakes tension as Kuwait stumbles toward elections for the most politically empowered parliament among the Gulf Arab states. (AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari)

KUWAIT CITY (AP) ? The message from Kuwait's emir is blunt heading into this week's parliamentary elections: Opposition factions should express dissent in the legislature, and not in the streets. The response from the opposition is equally uncompromising: We're not satisfied with what we can accomplish through parliament, so we're boycotting the vote.

There is little middle ground as Kuwait stumbles toward its second election this year for the most politically empowered parliament in the Gulf Arab states, which serves as a check on the emir, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. Violent protests and crackdowns on activists ? until recently rare in Kuwait ? have contributed to the high-stakes tension.

The outcome Saturday is certain to hand the ruling family and its allies a near-sweep of friendly lawmakers. Yet that is not necessarily good news for the stability of a country that has ricocheted from one political crisis to the next for nearly a year, including street clashes between security forces and an opposition coalition that ranges from hardline Islamists to youth activists.

For years, that legislature has served as a forum for the opposition to press their demands. But with the opposition's boycott likely to take them into self-exile from the political system, the worry is their new soapbox will be the street demonstrations like those that have engulfed many other Arab states in the past two years.

The potential fallout goes well beyond its borders. Any major upheavals in OPEC member Kuwait have potential repercussions on oil prices and the Pentagon's plans to use the nation as its hub for ground forces in efforts to counter the growth of Iran's military.

Gulf Arab rulers have so far ridden out the Arab Spring uprisings through a combination of factors including crackdowns and payouts to buy off potential dissenters. But the Gulf's biggest unrest by far ? a 21-month-old revolt against Bahrain's Western-allied monarchy ? shows no sign of easing and poses some the same quandaries as Kuwait for Washington: the need to maintain critical security alliances, but also to pay attention to shifting political forces in the region.

"There is a danger that the tensions between a ruling family (in Kuwait) intent on preserving its power and privilege and an energized opposition bent on security meaningful reform might escalate into open confrontation," said Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen, a research fellow who follows Gulf affairs at the London School of Economics.

"The example of Bahrain shows how everyone loses out in this scenario," he added, "but that alone is no guarantee that Kuwaitis can or will pull back from the brink."

Kuwait's protest alliance is held together by claims that the emir Al Sabah overstepped his authority by changing voting laws in an apparent attempt to undermine opposition and reformist electoral chances. Beyond that, there are a wide range of demands from all the different factions involved in the boycott, from Islamists wanting a greater say in the government to liberals wanting more openness in general.

The showdowns take forms similar to those in other parts of the region: clampdowns on Web activists and arrest sweeps against perceived backers of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that now leads Egypt and has a resurgent profile since the Arab Spring.

Last week, Kuwait's Interior Ministry announced the arrest of four people on charges of insulting the emir with posts on Twitter. Similar arrests have taken place across the Gulf and, earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates imposed new Internet laws that can bring jail time for Web posts deemed offensive to rulers.

Kuwaiti authorities also have echoed fears from other Gulf palaces over what they view as expanding threats from the Muslim Brotherhood. Dubai's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has warned of an "international plot" to overthrow the Gulf rulers.

The Islamists in Kuwait ? while a powerful force ? insist they are a distinctive, homegrown group that does not seek to topple the ruling system but wants a greater say in how the country is run. Their critics worry that this means a push toward stricter Islamic codes such as limits on non-Muslim worship or censoring artists and writers in one of the most politically open societies in the Gulf.

The past year has brought almost nonstop ? and highly complex ? political turmoil.

Islamists and their tribal allies won parliament elections in February and immediately pushed for greater clout in policy-making affairs. The Constitutional Court later disbanded parliament amid claims of flaws in the electoral district map, and reinstated the former government-friendly chamber from elections in 2009. That body, however, never managed to convene a session.

To further complicate things: The emir stunned the nation by wiping out the country's unusual four-votes-per-person system in favor of the standard one vote. Opponents say the new formula dilutes the ability of opposition groups to forge alliances and will increase the risks of vote buying and bribery.

"We will have puppetry, not a real parliament," said Mohammed al-Hatlani, a former lawmaker supporting the election boycott.

Liberal and youth groups ? while deeply opposed to the Islamist agenda ? have joined the boycott drive as a way to press for their Arab Spring-inspired demands for greater political and social freedoms. The unexpected alliance with Islamists and conservative tribes has startled even veterans of Kuwait's pugnacious politics.

Abdullatif al-Duaij, a prominent Kuwait liberal figure now living in the U.S., worries that fellow liberals looking for more openness have "lost their compass" by siding with the Islamists and others pushing the boycott.

"Today it's either you vote or you don't," he said. "There is nothing in between."

A series of protests and street clashes in recent months led the emir to order a ban on political gatherings of more than 20 people. In a message last week, he tried both threats and patriot appeals to cool down tensions.

"It is a great tragedy to have calls to take to the street," the emir said in comments carried by the official Kuwait News Agency. "Why the chaos and riots? Why the screaming and wailing and disrupting the business of the state and harming the interests of the people?"

It's all likely to leave Kuwait even more politically fractured and the new parliament facing challenges over its legitimacy.

In most of the Gulf, a parliament under pressure would matter little since elected bodies have very limited powers. Kuwait, however, stands out. Its 50-seat parliament has wide authority to pass laws and question ? or even dismiss ? members of the government.

Opposition lawmakers have publicly accused top officials, including members of the ruling family, of charges such as corruption and attempts to muzzle dissent. But even many protesters were stunned last month when an opposition leader, Musallam al-Barrack, broke taboos and openly denounced the emir. He was later arrested.

"He crossed all the red lines and shattered the boundaries of permissible opposition," said the researcher Coates-Ulrichsen. "The experience from North Africa and elsewhere in the Arab Spring shows that once these barriers are broken it is impossible to reconstruct them."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-25-Kuwait-Election/id-3fbf398fd1da48e3b32eff8b8b4d8141

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OHS inductions for the city cousins? | The Milk Maid Marian

?City cousin season? is fast approaching for many farmers. It?s a time we look forward to here but we do have to be extra careful. With new safety laws emphasising the need to include volunteers and visitors to the farm in safety systems, I asked Kevin Jones, OHS consultant, freelance writer and editor of the award-winning SafetyAtWorkBlog.com what it all means.

Kevin Jones

Some media has been reporting anger and outrage about the Government imposing new work health and safety duties on small business, volunteers, farmers and many others. There are new safety laws in many States but largely these reflect the moral and safety responsibilities that have always existed. If farms have been doing the right thing in the past, they are likely to be doing the right thing in the future.

OHS laws are always going to be seen as an imposition from the city when things were pretty good the way they were. Things may have seemed to be pretty good but plenty of families lost relatives in farm accidents, many lost limbs or struggle to cope with economic stress. There is plenty of statistical evidence to show that things in the country weren?t as good as many thought and the Government felt obliged to act. Perhaps the original work health and safety laws, developed in the cities in the 1980s, were not suited to the country or the application of these laws needed a different approach from that in the city. But the intention of these laws is always to reduce harm, injury, death and the related impacts on farming families.

These occupational health and safety (OHS) laws may also require paperwork but so does public liability insurance, Business Activity Statements, and a range of other paperwork all businesses are obliged to provide. Paperwork has always felt to be a major distraction to why we set up our businesses in the first place.

Over the last twenty years OHS laws have broadened from the physically-defined workplace to include the impact of work on others such as visitors, neighbours and customers. But the workplace has also changed to an extent where it is hard to know where a workplace starts and a workplace ends. Many in the city struggle with these laws but farming communities have always worked with an almost invisible delineation between a workplace and a home. Where others went outside for a smoke, farmers often went for a smoke and checked on the animals. Farmers are hardly ever not working, and this means that farms are almost always workplaces, so when visitors come to the farm for a weekend break, they are visiting a workplace and so OHS laws will apply.

This unreal demarcation is a major reason why the new laws focus on Work and not the workplace. Dealing primarily with the work activity focuses on the reduction of harm to the worker rather than making a workplace safe. Often the best, most tidy, most organised workplaces still had unsafe work being done.

Do the new laws mean that all visitors require a safety induction before entering the farm and to sign a document saying they understand the rules? Usually, no, but if they come to undertake farming activities (ie. work), maybe there should be an introduction to the farm ? where to go, where not to go, what to touch, what not, what to drive, what to keep away from. Maybe the signs in the milking shed need to be written for visitors instead of in family shorthand. Maybe pits should be covered instead of assuming the pit will be in the same state next morning.

If WorkSafe is called to a farm, for whatever reason, showing the inspectors that you know about your OHS obligations and apply basic safety procedures to equipment, tractors, quad bikes, and industrial and agricultural chemicals is going to reassure them that you know what you?re on about and that you are active about managing the safety of your workers, visitors and family. Will you be found to be in compliance with the OHS laws? Probably not, but neither are most of the small businesses in the cities either.

OHS is often dismissed as only common sense. But OHS is almost always common sense, after an incident. Why didn?t we cover that pit? Why did I leave the keys in the quad bike? Why didn?t I chain up the dog when I knew kids were coming over? These and many other daily questions are all made safer through the common sense of covering or fencing the pit, hanging up the keys, chaining the dog. If safety is only common sense why then don?t we apply it?

The new Work Health and Safety laws are not yet active in all States and Safe Work Australia, or your local OHS regulators, are a good place to watch and see if and when these laws apply to specific circumstances and industries.

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Source: http://milkmaidmarian.com/2012/11/26/ohs-inductions-for-the-city-cousins/

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My Wife Has a Migraine Headache - Profound Health Blog

My wife has been dealing with a migraine headache for the last three days. My heart is broken for her because I know that this has got to be a very painful experience. She asked me if I would be willing to drive her to nyc chiropractors for her appointment. Of course, I told her that I would do whatever I could. I have been trying to help her by cooking dinner and doing household chores so that she can relax.

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Source: http://www.profound-health.com/health-and-fitness/my-wife-has-a-migraine-headache/

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Norway mass killer criticizes prison conditions

OSLO, Norway (AP) ? Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik accused prison officers of trying to drive him to suicide in conditions he describes as "a mini Abu Ghraib."

Breivik wrote a 27-page letter addressed to prison officials, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I am an exceptionally patient person, I would most likely have lost my mind in pure frustration," Breivik said in the letter dated Oct. 15 that was updated on Oct. 26 and Oct. 30. "Anyway, there are limits to what a person can take."

Breivik wrote that he is frustrated that guards do not cooperate with his carefully planned daily schedule, where he times his various activities down to the minute.

"One cannot exclude that Ila Prison's leadership has assured itself that 'loyal social democrats' dominate the ward to prevent possibly benevolent people gaining access," Breivik said. He also alleges that the prison director keeps the security regime tight out of personal vengefulness against Breivik.

The 33-year-old right-wing fanatic killed 77 people in twin attacks last year in Norway's worst peacetime massacre. He detonated a car bomb outside government offices in Oslo killing eight people and then drove to the island of Utoya where he massacred 69 in a shooting spree at the summer camp of the governing Labor Party's youth wing.

Ellen Bjercke, spokeswoman at Ila Prison where Breivik is being held, said the prison had not lifted any security restrictions on Breivik in response to his letter, although he had recently been allowed a normal pen instead of a rubber safety pen, which he had also avidly used during the 10-week trial to make notes.

Breivik said the experience of having to use the stab-free pen was as "an almost indescribable manifestation of sadism."

The self-confessed killer described numerous prison practices as "degrading" in his letter, including that he is watched when swallowing his vitamin pills, that he's not allowed a mop to clean his cell and that he is subjected to daily strip searches, sometimes by female prison guards.

Keeping up his personal hygiene is also a challenge, he said.

"Use of a toothbrush and electric shaver is always under supervision. One is therefore under mental pressure to finish quickly as the guards are tapping their feet outside the cell ... This limits brushing to once a day and shaving to once a week in order not to have to go through the mental ordeal more often than necessary," he wrote in the letter.

"Therefore there is the likelihood that Norway's own 'mini Abu Ghraib,' in the cellars of Ila Prison, are being kept a secret and that Norway's human rights ambassadors' work to spread the 'world's most humane principles' are avoiding being embarrassed."

Breivik was referring to a prison in Iraq that became notorious in 2004, when photos were released of detainees being abused by U.S. soldiers.

In a handwritten note sent with the 27-page typewritten letter, Breivik said he had sent copies of it to the AP, the International Press Center in Oslo, select Norwegian media and Amnesty International.

Bjercke said that Breivik was given an electric typewriter earlier this month but that it was not connected to his letter of complaint.

During his pre-trial detention he was allowed a computer that could not be connected to the Internet, but it was taken away from him when he started serving his sentence.

The Oslo District Court found Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for the July 22, 2011 attacks. He was given a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended if he's considered a threat.

The self-styled anti-Muslim militant denied criminal guilt, saying he's a commander of a resistance movement aiming to overthrow European governments and replace them with "patriotic" regimes that will deport Muslim immigrants. Police said they found no evidence of Breivik belonging to any such group.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-23-Norway-Massacre/id-cd0b4bed0d534a228a3dadab27844d47

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Mongolian Economy and Finance: Property tax to increase

Property tax law for companies and units is supposed to be implemented by the 1st January, 2013.?

Depending on the location of the industrial or service properties, 0.6-1 percent of property tax is to be imposed.

For instance, if your business property is located in the ?A? level area of the city center you should pay 1 percent worth tax on your property. Properties located in the 2nd or 3rd level area will be subject to 0.8 percent tax. Properties located in the 5th level area are supposed to be subject to 0.6 percent tax, said the Deputy Major of Ulaanbaatar City, N.Bataa, during his interview with News.mn.

Companies and units should pay the property tax once a quarter; an individual should pay once a year.

No property tax are imposed on citizen`s own house, ger or apartment. But any citizens who uses their property as a shop, office or service to make money should pay the property tax.

According to currently existing law business related properties are subject to 0.6 percent tax. The Mongolian Parliament passed the property tax law in 2001. But amendments submitted to the law in 2010 are expected to be implemented by the 1st January 2013. The property tax imposed differs depending on the property location.

Ulaanbaatar city administration is seeking ways to raise capital in order to collect their budget independently for coming years. Imposing 0.6-1 percent property tax depending on location in the city appears to be one way they intend to do this. Ulaanbaatar city authorities estimate that property tax will bring 3.8 billion MNT capital into the City budget. Currently the Ulaanbaatar city income is estimated to be upto 390 billion MNT a year.

Source: http://mongoliaeconomy.blogspot.com/2012/11/property-tax-to-increase.html

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Apple Reportedly Changes Battery Suppliers As Samsung Walks

Apple has reportedly changed its battery suppliers for the iPad and MacBook lines to Amperex Technology Limited and Tianjin Lishen Battery, both Chinese firms, after Samsung SDI (Samsung's battery-producing subsidiary) stopped supplying Apple, the China Business News reports. If accurate, this would be just the latest in a series of rifts between the two companies.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/VlnbMGT6UKQ/

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Libya gives Tunisia $200 mln for development: Marzouki

GENEVA (Reuters) - Kris Kristofferson -- Oxford scholar, athlete, U.S. Army helicopter pilot, country music composer, one-time roustabout, film actor, singer, lover of women, three times a husband and father of eight -- seems ready to meet his maker. At least, that was the clear impression he left with an audience of middle-aged-and-upwards fans at a concert in Geneva this week, a message underscored by his 28th and latest album, "Feeling Mortal" and its coffin-dark cover. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libya-gives-tunisia-200-mln-development-marzouki-074302843--finance.html

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Griffin shines, Redskins hold off Cowboys, 38-31

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) escapes from Dallas Cowboys strong safety Charlie Peprah (26) for a first down during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. The Redskins won 38-31. (AP Photo/The Waco Tribune-Herald, Jose Yau)

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) escapes from Dallas Cowboys strong safety Charlie Peprah (26) for a first down during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. The Redskins won 38-31. (AP Photo/The Waco Tribune-Herald, Jose Yau)

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) and Kory Lichtensteiger (78) celebrate a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon (88) outruns Dallas Cowboys' Mike Jenkins (21) as he heads for the end zone for a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Strasen)

Washington Redskins' Alfred Morris (46) celebrates his touchdown run against the Dallas Cowboys in the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) passes under pressure from Washington Redskins outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan (91) in the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Robert Griffin III raised his fists, took a knee for a quick prayer, jumped up and pointed to the sky.

That's the routine on touchdown passes for the Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor, and he got to do it four times in his impressive return to Texas.

Griffin threw for 311 yards and Washington built a huge halftime lead against Dallas before holding on for a 38-31 victory that conjured memories for some of a rally that helped make Cowboys vs. Redskins on Thanksgiving famous.

"He's kind of like 'Cool Hand Luke,'" Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. "He doesn't get too upset about anything."

Griffin made the Cowboys look like an overmatched college team in the second quarter, throwing for three scores in Washington's first 28-point quarter in 13 years as the Redskins (5-6) built a 28-3 halftime lead.

After Tony Romo threw the longest touchdown of his career ? an 85-yarder to Dez Bryant late in the third quarter ? Griffin answered by becoming the first Redskins quarterback with four touchdown passes in consecutive games.

And finally, when the Cowboys got within a touchdown and really had people thinking back to Clint Longley's miracle TD to Drew Pearson in the final seconds of a one-point Dallas victory over Washington on Thanksgiving in 1974, Griffin calmly led the Redskins on a clock-killing drive to a field goal and a 38-28 lead in his first pro game in Texas since his sparkling run at Baylor.

"Anytime you have a guy like him, you never worry about him," said Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who set up a first-half score with an interception. "You worry about the guys around him being able to keep up with the pace."

Romo lost for the first time in six starts on Thanksgiving, despite a career-high 441 yards and three second-half touchdowns. After the long TD to Bryant, who matched his career high from last week with 145 yards receiving, Romo ran in a 2-point conversion after a TD throw to Felix Jones and threw another scoring pass to Bryant to help Dallas close to 35-28 with 8:24 remaining.

"I thought we had a good chance," said Romo, who tied a career high with 62 pass attempts.

Griffin responded by completing three passes for first downs, including one on third-and-1 near midfield ? and the Redskins ran nearly 5? minutes off the clock before Kai Forbath's 48-yard field goal with 3:03 remaining.

"I told the guys that that was probably the drive that saved our season," Griffin said. "You have a huge lead, the other team's roaring back, they have all the momentum, and then you go out there and you convert third down after third down after third down and get in field goal range."

Dallas drove to a field goal with 23 seconds left, but Hall easily picked up the onside kick and ran untouched before sliding down short of the goal line, clinching Romo's third loss in three career 400-yard games. It also was the Cowboys' first loss to the Redskins in seven games on Thanksgiving.

"That quarterback is obviously a very good player, and they use him well," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said of Griffin. "It was challenging for us to slow those guys down. We didn't do enough offensively to keep up with them in the first half."

The Cowboys (5-6) actually contained Griffin in the first quarter, getting a sack and forcing an intentional grounding penalty that gave them good enough field position for an easy drive to a 3-0 lead.

Everything changed on Griffin's first big NFL play in Texas. He hit Aldrick Robinson in stride for a 68-yard touchdown and a 7-3 lead to spark the first 28-point quarter in 13 years for the Redskins (5-6).

Griffin's next big throw wasn't nearly as accurate, but Garcon somehow came down with it and outran the Dallas defense the final 45 yards on a 59-yard score for a 21-3 lead.

"As Pierre is running on his long touchdown, and I was like, 'Man, that was a great catch.'" Griffin said. "I had to throw it to only that spot, and you don't see many guys make catches like that."

Romo's first interception in four games gave the Redskins a chance to get one more score before halftime when Hall returned it to the Dallas 33 with 30 seconds left. Out of timeouts at the Dallas 6 with 10 seconds left, the Redskins trusted Griffin to try to get a touchdown, and Moss kept both feet in while falling out of bounds for a 28-3 lead with 5 seconds left.

Griffin completed 12 straight passes from the middle of the first quarter to the middle of the third and finished 20 of 28.

It was hard to tell with his final numbers, but the Cowboys did manage to put some pressure on Griffin. They sacked him four times, forced him to sprint out of the pocket a number of times and delivered hard hits after several throws.

The Dallas offense, playing most of the game without Miles Austin after he injured a hip early, never could answer in the decisive second quarter. The Cowboys had only two first downs while the Redskins were scoring four touchdowns.

The Cowboys' best possession came right after Griffin's first big play, but Bryant fumbled in the open field at the end of what would have been a first-down catch. DeJon Gomes returned the fumble to the Dallas 49, and Alfred Morris scored from the 1 for a 14-3 lead. Morris had 113 yards on 24 carries.

NOTES: Redskins LB London Fletcher, who also had an interception, extended his consecutive games streak to 235 and made his 190th straight start. He left the game later after re-injuring the ankle that put his streak in jeopardy. ... With Morris' 100-yard day, the last 10 such games for the Redskins have been by rookies.

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-11-22-Redskins-Cowboys/id-34d082c7acde49b8ab64655ae434e3a5

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