What Caring Can Do for Your Business

What can caring do for your business? We?re sure everyone who has ever patronized a business where folks don?t care knows the answer to this question. But just in case you need some more help on the subject, here are some thoughts on how you can take things to the next level.

In the Trenches

What simple caring can do for your business. If you want to know what truly makes a difference with your business, the answer may just be caring. Think caring about the product you create and the service you offer doesn?t matter? Think again. Seth Godin?s Blog

Basic lessons in starting up. Follow one entrepreneur?s journey as he attempts to open a retail business in one of the toughest economies in the U.S. It doesn?t matter what kind of business you?re trying to start, you will find this story entertaining. Failure Club

Spreading the Word

Creating your own business media platform. Chris Brogan has created a brand new Website to help entrepreneurs to create a brand new media platform, no matter what business you happen to be running. Here?s a much more detailed look! Shhh! The Secret Show

Lessons from Hollywood. The thing that small business can learn from Hollywood?s recent obsession with piracy is simple?focus on facilitating sales, not loss prevention. Nobody is suggesting that theft is justified, but getting your product to customers is ultimately most important. Chris Brogan

Local Biz Renaissance?

Bypassing the big guy. Two kinds of small businesses are joining forces to supply food from farm to table without a layover at your local big supermarket chain. Small tech startups have focused on helping small food producers (farmers) bring what they raise and grow directly to the consumer. WSJ

Wealthy investors are targeting small businesses. Would America?s wealthiest investors rather put money in a locally owned bakery or restaurant than in a high-tech startup? Some recent indications say they might. What could big investment dollars mean to small local businesses like the one you own? Bloomberg Businessweek

Social Intelligence

Why your business needs video to thrive. As has been alluded to in earlier links, developing media platforms (including video) for your small business can be very important, particularly because it?s easier and cheaper than ever to get your message out. Youngentrepreneur

Always support your fans. Whether they are fans of your destination (as in this post) or fans of your product or service, understanding the importance of these people in spreading the word about your business can be critical. Make sure you help them in every way as they help you. Small Biz Survival

Standing Alone

Where differentiation really counts. It?s not enough for your product or service to be different. The real question is whether your product or service is different in a way customers care about. Remember, when it comes to setting yourself apart, the customer is what counts. Instigator Blog

Enchanting financial forecasts done right. This is a post looking at something you might not ordinarily equate with being magical or inspiring. Yet financial projections need attention and care that will raise them above the humdrum. How to Change the World

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/01/what-caring-can-do-for-your-business.html

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Allen West to national Dems: ???Get the hell out of the United States of America??? (Daily Caller)

Rep. Allen West did not mince words on Sunday, telling national Democrats to get out of Florida and, for that matter, out of the country.

In a speech at the Lincoln Day Dinner where Herman Cain endorsed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the Palm Beach Post reports that West drew the greatest applause with his fiery speech.

?We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and my dear friend the chairman of the Democratic National Committee [Debbie Wasserman Schultz], let them know Florida ain?t on the table.?

Schultz has spent the last number of weeks stalking the Republican primaries, seeking media appearances in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and, now, Florida, with efforts to garner media attention and knock GOP candidates off balance.

?Take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else,? West continued. ?You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.?

?This is not about 1 percent or 99 percent ? this is about 100 percent. This is about 100 percent of America, and I will not stand back and watch anyone defame, degrade or destroy that which my father fought for, my older brother, my father-in-law, my nephew and all my friends in uniform,? West concluded. ?I will not allow President Obama to take the United States of America and destroy it.?

?If that means I?m the number one target for the Democratic party, all I have to say is one thing: Bring it on.?

West is indeed a high-value target for Democrats. The Republican freshman and tea party favorite?s district has been redrawn since he won election, and the new district is more favorable to Democrats.

Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Allen West to national Dems: 'Get the hell out of the United States of America'

Laura Ingraham: 'Tea party doesn?t have the great strength that the old media believe' [VIDEO]

Global warming activists seek to purge 'deniers' among local weathermen

College to offer class on Beyonce

It's starting to look like maybe Occupiers really are kind of violent and stuff?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20120130/pl_dailycaller/allenwesttonationaldemsgetthehelloutoftheunitedstatesofamerica

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Davis, Dujardin win lead honors at SAG awards

Octavia Spencer, winner of award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for "The Help," left, and Viola Davis, winner of the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for "The Help," pose backstage at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Octavia Spencer, winner of award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role for "The Help," left, and Viola Davis, winner of the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for "The Help," pose backstage at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Jean Dujardin poses backstage with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for "The Artist" at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Christopher Plummer poses backstage with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for "Beginners" at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday Jan. 29, 2012 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the maids of honor at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where their Deep South drama "The Help" won them acting prizes and earned the trophy for overall cast performance.

Davis won as best actress and Spencer as supporting actress for "The Help," while Jean Dujardin was named best actor for the silent film "The Artist" and Christopher Plummer took the supporting-actor award for the father-son tale "Beginners."

The wins boost the actors' prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.

In "The Help," Davis and Spencer play black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.

"I just have to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It's all of our burden, all of us," Davis said, accepting the ensemble prize on behalf of her "The Help" co-stars.

Accepting her best-actress award, Davis singled out two performers in the audience who inspired her early in her career: "The Help" co-star Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Davis' co-star in the 2008 drama "Doubt" and one of the nominees she beat out for the SAG prize. Streep had been nominated as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," a role that won her the dramatic actress award at the Golden Globes over Davis.

A French film star who is a newcomer to Hollywood's awards scene with "The Artist," Dujardin played a silent-era screen idol fallen on hard times as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.

"I was a very bad student. I didn't listen in class. I was always dreaming," Dujardin said. "My teachers called me 'Jean of the Moon,' and I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream."

Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for "Driving Miss Daisy."

Backstage, Plummer joked when asked if he would like to win an Oscar, an honor so elusive during his esteemed 60-year career that he did not even receive his first Academy Award nomination until two years ago, for "The Last Station."

"No, I think it's frightfully boring," Plummer said. "That's an awful question. Listen, we don't go into this business preoccupied by awards. If we did, we wouldn't last five minutes."

Spencer, a veteran actress who had toiled in small TV and movie parts previously, had a breakout role in "The Help" as a brassy maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble.

"I'm going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed ? whether emotionally, physically or financially," Spencer said.

On the television side, comedy series awards went to "Modern Family" for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for "30 Rock"; and Betty White as best actress for "Hot in Cleveland."

"You can't name me, without naming those other wonderful women on 'Hot in Cleveland,'" the 90-year-old White said. "This nomination belongs to four of us. Please, please know that I'm dealing them right in with this. I'm not going to let them keep this, but I'll let them see it."

The TV drama show winners were: Jessica Lange as best actress for "American Horror Story"; and Steve Buscemi as best actor for "Boardwalk Empire," which also won the ensemble prize.

For TV movie or miniseries, Kate Winslet won as best actress for "Mildred Pierce," while Paul Giamatti was named best actor for "Too Big to Fail."

Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." The TV stunt award went to "Game of Thrones."

The winners at the SAG ceremony often go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars ? Colin Firth for "The King's Speech," Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for "The Fighter."

The same generally holds true for the weekend's other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for "The Artist." The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union's awards show.

The guild's ensemble prize, considered the ceremony's equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting what will win the top award at the Oscars.

While "The King's Speech" won both honors a year ago, the SAG ensemble recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.

Though "The Help" won the ensemble prize this time, "The Artist" and George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" are considered stronger contenders for the best-picture Oscar.

Both "The Artist" and "The Descendants" also were nominated for writing and directing Oscars, categories where serious best-picture candidates generally need to be in the running. "The Help" missed out on nominations in both of those Oscar categories.

Mary Tyler Moore received the guild's lifetime-achievement award, an honor presented to her by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

___

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.sagawards.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-29-SAG%20Awards/id-e3c572e6fd694ba995c448bc5fff0ef1

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Dennis Jett: It's Mitt Assertion That He Is Not Anti-Immigrant That Is Repulsive

The squawking heads were all in such a rush to declare Mitt Romney the winner of the debate on Thursday night that they forgot to listen to what he actually said. Romney, in parrying Newt Gingrich's charge that he is the most anti-immigrant candidate, forcefully declared: "I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive."

That defense is as phony as it is false. It is phony because Romney's father once ran for president. But wait a minute. The constitution says, "No person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to the office of president." Romney's father was able to run because his parents were American citizens and he therefore acquired citizenship at birth regardless of where he was born. Romney's father came to the United States for the first time, not as an immigrant, but as a full-fledged citizen who just happened to have been born abroad.

As for Romney's father-in-law, Edward Davies, he was born in Wales, but presumably came here as a legal immigrant and eventually attained citizenship. Davies went on to become the mayor of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He was also a life-long, avowed atheist, who had nothing but contempt for organized religion. Davies was "converted" to Mormonism by the Romeys in a ceremony 14 months after he died.

So Romney's defense was phony because his father was never an immigrant and his father-in-law was undoubtedly a legal one. His defense is false because he is anti-immigrant, at least the illegal ones. No one has suggested that any of the candidates oppose legal immigration.

When speaking to lily-white crowds in Iowa and South Carolina, Romney's line was basically let's deport all eleven million illegal immigrants. By this point in the debates, even the most casual observer could not have failed to conclude that the Republican Party has become the party of choice for racists. That's why Romney's remarks were clearly an attempt to tap into the xenophobia and racism of his listeners.

When he got to Florida, however, the complexion of his audiences and his remarks both changed dramatically. There are three and a half million immigrants in Florida and in Miami-Dade County there are as many immigrants as there are native-born Americans. So instead of rounding up all the illegals up and shipping them back to where they came from, Romney's talking point became they would all deport themselves once he took office.

Romney has ridiculed Gingrich's suggestion that some mechanism, like local draft boards of the past, be set up to consider making exceptions on a case by case basis. If his father-in-law had entered this country illegally and were still alive, would Romney want to send him back to Wales?

Once faced with voters who have some sympathy for people who came here from abroad, he changes his tune. He claims self-deportation will take care of the problem and he rewrites his family history to make his father an immigrant. His reputation for being someone who will say anything to become president is well deserved.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-jett/romney-immigration_b_1238193.html

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Group Wellness Insurance coverage ? No Examination to Be ...

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Source: http://www.fcsafekids.org/2012/01/29/group-wellness-insurance-coverage-no-examination-to-be-capable/

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Health Tip: Manage Pain During Childbirth (HealthDay)

(HealthDay News) -- Pain is a virtual certainty during childbirth, but there are ways to ease the discomfort without medication.

The womenshealth.gov website mentions these no-medication possibilities:

• Practicing relaxation and breathing techniques.
• Relaxing in a warm shower or bath, or getting a gentle massage.
• Receiving hot and cold therapy, including placing a cool washcloth on the forehead or a heating pad on the lower back.
• Seeking the care and support of a doula, nurse or loved one.
• Trying various positions to get more comfortable, from crouching to walking.
• Listening to soothing music.
• Using a labor ball.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120127/hl_hsn/healthtipmanagepainduringchildbirth

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How states fared on unemployment aid, at a glance (AP)

More people sought unemployment benefits last week, though the increase comes one week after applications fell to their lowest level in four years. Layoffs have fallen in recent months and fewer people are seeking benefits, signs of a healthier job market.

States with the biggest decreases:

New York: Down 27,713, due to fewer layoffs in the transportation, education and construction industries

Pennsylvania: Down 11,687, no reason given

North Carolina: Down 9,516 due to fewer layoffs in the textile, furniture and fixtures, services, construction and manufacturing industries

Georgia: Down 9,496, due to fewer layoffs in the service, construction, trade and manufacturing industries

Alabama: Down 7,639, due to fewer layoffs in the transportation, construction and apparel industries

Texas: Down 6,880, no reason given

States with the largest increases:

Florida: Up 2,711, due to layoffs in services, agriculture, construction and retail

California: Up 1,682, due to layoffs in services

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_unemployment_benefits_glance

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Behind Obama's financial aid 'shopping sheets' (AP)

NEW YORK ? President Barack Obama wants to make it easier to size up the cost of college.

As part of his broad plans to make college more affordable, Obama said Friday that he would push for financial aid "shopping sheets" that make it easier for families to comparison shop between schools.

Federal education officials say the goal is make adoption of the form mandatory for schools to maintain access to federal aid. That would be a powerful incentive, as the federal government issued more than $140 billion in grants and loans last year.

As it stands, officials say the financial aid award letters that schools mail out to students in the spring can be unclear or even misleading. That can result in students signing up for more debt than they realize.

For example, schools usually state an "out of pocket" cost in award letters after subtracting aid such as grants and scholarships. But some schools also subtract loans from the out-of-pocket cost. That's despite the fact that loans actually push up costs because of interest charges.

Schools also may not spell out the type of loans that's included in the aid package, even though the terms on federal and private loans can differ significantly.

To address the issue, the Department of Education and the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rolled out a model financial aid form in October and asked for the public's comments on how it could be improved. On Friday, the CFPB said feedback indicated the most important figure for students is the amount of debt they would have upon graduation.

The Department of Education was required to develop the model form as part of federal education reforms in 2008. The adoption of such a form has also been widely supported by student advocates.

The push to standardize financial aid award letters comes at a time when students are graduating with more debt than ever before. The Institute for College Access & Success estimates that two-thirds of graduates have student loans, with an average debt of about $24,000.

___

Follow Candice Choi at http://www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_comparing_college_costs

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Robert Reich: Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich to Get the GOP Nomination (Huffington post)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191969655?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Fed unlikely to raise rates until at least 2014 (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Reserve assured consumers and businesses Wednesday that they'll be able to borrow cheaply well into the future.

The Fed said it's unlikely to raise its benchmark interest rate before late 2014, extending its time frame by at least a year and a half. The Fed said record-low rates are still needed to help boost an improving but still sluggish economy.

Stocks, which had traded lower all day, quickly recovered their losses. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down about 60 points before the announcement, was up just three points shortly after it.

The central bank has kept its key interest rate at a record low near zero for three years. Later Wednesday, the Fed will release its quarterly economic forecasts. For the first time, those forecasts will show when policy members expect the first increase in the benchmark interest rate.

The Fed said in a statement after its two-day policy meeting that the economy is growing moderately, despite some slowing in global growth. It held off on any other new steps to boost the economy.

The statement was approved on a 9-1 vote. Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond regional Fed bank, dissented, saying he objected to the new time frame for the next rate increase.

The extended timeframe is a shift from the Fed's previous plan to keep the rate low at least until mid-2013. Some economists said the new late-2014 target could lead to further Fed action to try to invigorate the economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the Fed's forecasts and Fed policy at a news conference later.

Beyond the adjusted outlook for interest rates, Wednesday's statement tracked closely to the Fed's previous comments about economic conditions.

The central bank used the same language in describing Europe's debt problems and the impact on the world economy.

The economy is looking a little better, according to recent private and government data. Companies are hiring more, the stock market is rising, factories are busy and more people are buying cars. Even the home market is showing slight gains after three dismal years

Still, the threat of a recession in Europe is likely to drag on the global economy. And another year of weak wage gains in the United States could force consumers to pull back on spending, which would slow growth.

The Fed has taken previous steps to strengthen the economy, including purchases of $2 trillion in government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to try to cut long-term rates and ease borrowing costs.

The idea behind the Fed's two rounds of bond buying was to drive down rates to embolden consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more. Lower yields on bonds also encourage investors to shift money into stocks, which can boost wealth and spur more spending.

Some Fed officials have resisted further bond buying for fear it would raise the risk of high inflation later. And many doubt it would help much since Treasury yields are already near historic lows. But Bernanke and other members have left the door open to further action if they think the economy needs it.

The Fed said it would keep its holdings of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds at record levels and continue a program to further drive long-term rates lower by selling shorter-term securities and buying longer-term bonds.

The Fed announced no further bond buying efforts. But it held out the possibility of doing more. It said it was prepared to adjust its "holdings as appropriate to promote a stronger economic recovery in the context of price stability."

Many economists believe the Fed will launch a third round of bond buying, possibly as soon as its next meeting in March, especially if Europe's debt problems pose a bigger risk to the U.S. economy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_federal_reserve

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Nintendo posts loss on strong yen, weak sales

A boy plays Nintendo's 3DS video game at an electronics retailer in Tokyo Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Nintendo Co. sank into losses for the April-December period last year, battered by a price cut for its 3DS handheld machine and a strong yen that eroded earnings. The Japanese video game machine maker behind Super Mario and Pokemon franchises reported Thursday a loss of 48.35 billion yen ($627.9 million) for the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

A boy plays Nintendo's 3DS video game at an electronics retailer in Tokyo Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Nintendo Co. sank into losses for the April-December period last year, battered by a price cut for its 3DS handheld machine and a strong yen that eroded earnings. The Japanese video game machine maker behind Super Mario and Pokemon franchises reported Thursday a loss of 48.35 billion yen ($627.9 million) for the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO (AP) ? Nintendo Co. sank to losses for the April-December period, battered by a price cut for its 3DS handheld, a strong yen that erodes overseas earnings and competition from mobile devices such as the iPhone that offer games-on-the-go.

The Japanese video game machine maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises said Thursday it now expects to sell far fewer of its 3DS machines, which feature three-dimensional images. It is forecasting sales of 14 million machines for the fiscal year through March 2012, down from an earlier 16 million. That's despite a price cut for the 3DS in August.

Nintendo, which also makes the Wii home console, posted a loss of 48.35 billion yen ($627.9 million) for the first nine months through December. That was a reversal from a 49.56 billion yen profit the same period in 2010. Nintendo did not break down quarterly numbers.

The company said it will have Wii U, the successor to the Wii, ready in time for the year-end holiday season. Earlier, it had said the machine, which has a touch-screen controller, will go on sale in the latter half of this year. But some had been skeptical whether it would be ready. Nintendo hasn't announced prices.

Kyoto-based Nintendo also lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss, much larger than the 20 billion yen ($260 million) loss projected earlier. It posted a 77.62 billion yen profit the previous fiscal year.

Nintendo's past success has come from the appeal of its products to so-called casual gamers ? people who now turn to smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. to enjoy games.

The demand for the Wii has also diminished in recent months.

Nintendo is now expecting to sell 10 million Wii machines in the year ending March, down from an initial estimate of 13 million, which was revised lower to 12 million in July.

Nintendo's nine-month sales dropped 31.2 percent to 556.17 billion yen from the same period the previous year.

The numbers are a disappointment as they include the key year-end holiday season.

"Sales of the 3DS were strong in Japan, but Christmas shopping got to a late start overall in the U.S. and Europe," said Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa. "But we are upbeat about hardware and software sales for next fiscal year."

Worldwide sales of the 3DS for the nine months totaled 11.43 million, the company said. Game software for the 3DS like "Super Mario 3D Land" became million sellers, but games from outside companies did not fare as well, it said.

Competition in portable gaming is heating up with the arrival of the PlayStation Vita from Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. Vita went on sale in Japan in December and next month in the U.S. and Europe.

Nintendo has continuously outpaced Sony in portable game sales with its hit DS machines.

The strong yen has also hurt Nintendo's bottom line. The dollar has been trading at about 77 yen lately, down from about 83 yen a year earlier.

Nintendo stock slid 0.6 percent to 10,790 yen in Tokyo.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-26-AS-Japan-Earns-Nintendo/id-33acbce0922f457e80e59dfc5bbadb2b

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Obama's '8th grade reading level' SOTU address: By the numbers (The Week)

New York ? Tuesday's State of the Union had one of the lowest reading comprehension levels in decades. Did the president dumb things down too much?

"My message is simple," President Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. He may have been speaking literally. Using the Flesh-Kincaid readability test, which employs a mathematical formula based on the number of words and syllables in a text's sentences to determine its reading level, the University of Minnesota's Smart Politics blog calculated that Obama's speech was written at an "8th grade reading level" ? the fourth-lowest of any State of the Union since 1934. Here, a look at how that breaks down, by the numbers:?

8.4
Grade level of Obama's 2012 State of the Union address

SEE MORE: Obama's top 5 successes

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8.8?
Grade level of Obama's 2010 address

8.1?
Grade level of Obama's 2011 address

10.7
Average grade level for the 70 presidential State of the Union addresses delivered orally since 1934

16.6
Average words per sentence in Obama's 2012 and 2010 addresses. His 2011 address averaged 16.8 words per sentence.

SEE MORE: Obama's 'confrontational' State of the Union: 8 talking points

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67
Rank of Obama's 2012 address, according to its grade level, out of the last 70 State of the Union speeches

13
Obama's rank among the last 13 presidents when it comes to the average grade level of their State of the Union addresses

SEE MORE: The 'creepy' Barack Obama mannequin

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7
State of the Union addresses since 1934 that were below a ninth grade reading level, including all three of President Obama's

6
State of the Union addresses since 1934?that averaged less than 17 words per sentence, including all three of President Obama's

12.0
Average grade level of John F. Kennedy's State of the Union addresses, the highest of the 13 presidents measured. His speeches averaged 23.8 words per sentence.

SEE MORE: Obama's State of the Union: A viewer's guide

?

5
Presidents since 1934 who delivered at least one address at the 12th grade reading level: Harry S. Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower

7.5
Lowest grade level for any State of the Union address, delivered by George H. W. Bush in 1992. Obama's 2011 and 2012 speeches come in as the the second and third lowest, respectively.

SEE MORE: The many failures of Obama's Teddy Roosevelt speech

?

10.4
Average grade level of George W. Bush's addresses

9.5
Average grade level of Bill Clinton's addresses

SEE MORE: Obama's recess dilemma

?

14
Grade level of Gov. Mitch Daniel's (R-Ind.) State of the Union rebuttal Tuesday night, notes Mollie Hemingway at Ricochet

7.0
Grade level at which the average American reads,?according Robert Lehrman at?Politico. Perhaps "Obama's simple language is in part a reflection of his audience,"?says Byron Tau at?Politico.

SEE MORE: President Obama's rising approval rating: 4 theories

?

91
Percent of Americans who approved of Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to CBS News

Sources: CBS News, Politico (2), Ricochet, Smart Politics

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Julian Assange says he's launching TV chat show (AP)

LONDON ? You've read his leaks. Now watch his show.

International secret-buster Julian Assange says he's launching his very own television series. The guests haven't been disclosed, but the 40-year-old Australian has promised to give viewers more of what he's been supplying for years: Controversy.

WikiLeaks said in a statement late Monday that the show is intended to "draw together controversial voices from across the political spectrum ? iconoclasts, visionaries and power insiders ? each to offer a window on the world tomorrow."

How the show will be produced and who will carry it remain open questions.

WikiLeaks referred queries about the series to the hitherto obscure Quick Roll Productions, whose website appears to have been created only about two weeks ago.

___

Online:

WikiLeaks: http://wikileaks.org/

Quick Roll Productions: http://www.quickrollproductions.com/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_en_tv/eu_wikileaks_the_show

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The Arab League to Syria's President: It's Time for You to Go (Time.com)

The epithet that seemed to be perpetually attached to the Arab League was "toothless." On Sunday, however, the organization was baring fangs at Syria. In the absence of a detailed political roadmap from the Syrian opposition, the Arab League presented its own audacious plan, calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power to his vice president who would then form a national unity government within two months ahead of early parliamentary and presidential elections.

The proposal, outlined by Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani in a press conference at the League's headquarters in Cairo, also demands Assad begin a national dialogue with the opposition within two weeks, and that the unity government elect a council within three months of its formation to write a new constitution. "I call on Syrian authorities to accept their responsibilities before God, and their people and the Arab nation," Sheikh Hamad said, after a nearly-five hour meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. "We know that Syria has entered a period of violence and counter violence." He added that the members of the opposition "are arming to defend themselves." (PHOTOS: Syria's Ongoing Protests)

The Arab League had met to consider a report submitted by Sudanese General Mohammad Ahmad al-Dabi, head of the League's monitoring mission in Syria. The month-long mission, which wrapped up on Thursday, had been tasked with verifying if Assad had implemented a signed agreement with the League to withdraw his tanks and troops from Syria's cities and towns, cease violence, free political prisoners and start a meaningful dialogue with the opposition. A low-level committee had recommended that the League's foreign ministers extend the mission by a month.

But instead of diplomatic politesse, proceedings were thrown into disarray after Saudi Arabia, stepped out of the background role it has played so far in the Syria crisis, to forcefully push for an end to the Syrian government's ferocious crackdown against its opponents. For months, Qatar has taken the lead on Syria. In a move that likely persuaded other countries, especially Gulf states, to take a stronger line against Damascus, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told his counterparts that his country would withdraw its observers from the much-criticized League monitoring mission in Syria due to the continued shedding of "blood that is dear to us all." (READ: The Crisis in Syria: No Immunity for Bystanders)

Assad had failed to comply with an Arab League plan to end the violence, Prince Saud said, adding that "all possible pressure" should be applied on Damascus to cease a blistering offensive that has claimed well over 5,000 lives in the past 10 months, and according to Syrian rights groups, almost 1,000 since observers first arrived in Syria on Dec. 26. "We are calling on the international community to bear its responsibility, and that includes our brothers in Islamic states and our friends in Russia, China, Europe and the United States," Prince Saud said.

The strong Saudi remarks hardened deep divides within the 22-member Arab League over how to tackle the Syrian problem. Due to the disagreements, the foreign ministers' meeting, originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Cairo time, was delayed for several hours. When it finally convened, the meeting lasted for nearly five hours. The decision to take its initiative to the United Nations Security Council did not receive the support of Algeria, which abstained from supporting that clause; Lebanon, once again in the grip of its larger, stronger neighbor Syria, rejected the pan-Arab deal.

Sheikh Hamad acknowledged that the Saudi stance had influenced its Gulf allies. "Saudi is an important country in the Gulf Cooperation Council," Sheikh Hamad said, referring to the political and economic alliance of six Gulf states. "It is like a father to all of the countries. We have disagreed with it many times, but this is the reality; If there is a clear opinion from the kingdom, the GCC will follow it."

SPECIAL: TIME's 2011 Person of the Year: The Protester

Qatar reiterated its call for dispatching Arab peacekeeping troops to Syria. Sheikh Hamad said the League had not seriously discussed that proposal, likening such a deployment to that of the so-called Arab Deterrent Force (comprised almost entirely of Syrian forces) dispatched during Lebanon's civil war. That mission ended disastrously when the Syrian military quickly became a party to the Lebanese conflict, rather than a peacekeeper. Still, the mere suggestion of Arab boots on the ground was a clear indication of how forceful the Arab League is prepared to be. Sheikh Hamad said Assad should accept the plan. "I think this is an honorable exit because it is a Syrian-Arab solution."

Arab League secretary general Nabil el-Araby told the joint news conference that he would appoint a special representative to oversee the implementation of the plan and to negotiate between the Syrian government and the opposition. Sheikh Hamad likened the League's roadmap for Syria to that outlined for Yemen. That comparison may cause some Syrians to cringe. It took Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh months or so to sign off on that deal. (Ironically, or perhaps not coincidentally, Saleh left Yemen on Sunday, after months of clinging to power and surviving an assassination attempt that left his hands and parts of his scalp severely burned.) (WATCH: Why They Protest: Egypt, Libya and Syria)

The plan is bold but there is one clear catch: Assad must agree to it, and as El-Araby said, the violence must cease "before the political operation begins." Based on Assad's previous dealings with an Arab League he deeply despises, he may effectively buy time by studying the initiative and providing the veneer of cooperation, while continuing what he has termed his "security solution" to the country's problems. On the other hand, Assad called for a national unity government in his most recent speech. Still, having the condition imposed on him by the League is another matter.

The League's plan makes it clear that the Syrian leader has been sidelined by his peers and has few friends in the region -- other than Iran, the Lebanese militant group Hizballah and the Lebanese government it dominates. Russia and China have shielded Assad from serious censure at the U.N., but the emboldened Arab consensus against Damascus as well as its plan to go to the Security Council formally may put added pressure on Russia and China to let a resolution pass.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the main umbrella opposition group, welcomed the League's plan. In a late-night press conference following that of the Arab League, SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun said the Arab League's decision makes it clear "that most Arab countries now consider that the regime of Bashar al-Assad is over." El-Araby said that the League's roadmap was not discussed with the SNC. (In what was a long day of dramatic developments, the SNC had earlier called on the League to transfer the Syria file to the Security Council for referral to the International Criminal Court.) (LIST: Top 10 World News Stories of 2011)

The Arab League's new-found audacity, however, wasn't enough for one Syrian journalist present at the news conference. "You haven't listened to the Syrian people. The people want to execute Assad," he demanded of the Qatari foreign minister.

"Who has stopped them?" Sheikh Hamad retorted. "Have we stopped them?"

"You know Assad will reject this," the reporter continued.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Sheikh Hamad said.

And that is where the drama stands.

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Tuskegee airman buried at Arlington (omg!)

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) ? On the same day that retired Air Force Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr. took his resting place among other war and military heroes, his real-life story as a World War II aviator played out on movie screens across the country.

Weathers was buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in a service that began with a flyover of four F-16 jets in the Missing Man formation, a special honor reserved for pilots, by the 113th Wing of the D.C. Capital Guardians, the same unit that guards the airspace over the nation's capital.

Weathers died Oct. 15 in Tucson, Ariz., of pneumonia at age 90. His burial coincided with the official opening in theaters of "Red Tails," a George Lucas-produced movie retelling the story of the Tuskegee Airmen who debunked widely held beliefs that black pilots were incapable of fighting in combat.

Shortly after the flyover, in which one of the three jets departed from formation, a caisson pulled by six horses carried Weathers' body to his burial spot amid hundreds of the stark marble tombstones that cover the grounds of the national cemetery. An Air Force band accompanied the wagon, its drummer thumping a solemn beat as family followed on the chilly, overcast Friday morning. Family members wore red ties and scarves, as they had at Weathers' Memphis funeral, as a nod to the aviators who painted their aircrafts' tails red to set themselves apart.

Luke Weathers III, 61, said his father and other black Americans who fought in World War II did so to prove they were men, "and then they wanted their country to love them, but that didn't happen, either." Friday's ceremony, however, finally delivered recognition of his father as a national hero, Weathers said.

This kind of attention to the Tuskegee Airmen is what the elder Weathers wanted throughout his life, said his daughter, Trina Weathers Boyce. Weathers was not vain, but he wanted to share the lessons of the airmen's courage in war, their struggles for equality and their victory over a wartime enemy and over racism, she said.

"He would talk about his hard trials and tribulations to others, to children, because he never wanted us to feel like this (racism) is a reason we couldn't make it," Weathers Boyce said in a telephone interview Thursday. "He would tell us nothing good comes easy. He'd say there are going to be barriers ... and you can overcome them."

Before the Tuskegee Airmen were formed in 1941, black men were forbidden to fly for the U.S. military, even though they could be drafted. After years of struggle, the Army Air Corps began to allow African Americans to train for flight, albeit in still-segregated units.

Many of the tens of thousands of Tuskegee airmen, which included navigators, mechanics, medical personnel and others in support roles, trained from 1941 to 1949 at the Tuskegee Institute, which was founded by Booker T. Washington and was already home to an aeronautical engineering program. In the home state of the institute, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed a proclamation honoring the airmen, saying they changed Americans attitudes about race relations.

More than 900 Tuskegee Airmen were U.S. pilots, said Trent Dudley, an Air Force lieutenant colonel who is president of the East Coast Tuskegee Airmen Inc. chapter. An estimated 250 to 300 Tuskegee airmen are still alive. The exact number is not known because some have not registered with chapters.

"As with all the airmen, when we lose one of them, there is a chunk of history that goes with them," Dudley said.

Defying social norms was already a family trait when Weathers was born in Grenada, Miss.

At the time, the town's railroad track served as the economic dividing line. Weather's mixed-race father and black mother defied that dividing line, which led them to move to Memphis, where they opened their own grocery store.

Years later, Weathers was studying biology at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., when he stumbled on an article in an international newspaper about the Tuskegee Experiment, the federal government's name for the Army Air Corps training of African Americans, Weathers Boyce said.

His mother turned to the prominent Memphis family she worked for and, with the help of the family's connections, Weathers was considered and eventually accepted into their program.

He always talked about the maneuver that save his life, Weathers Boyce said. A skillful pilot, he was a target of the Germans. In one combat flight, German aircraft were pursuing him and firing. He was forced to dip down and make a few turns in his plane to keep from getting shot, she said.

Weathers flew P-51 and P-39 fighters during his service from 1942 to 1945 and earned a Distinguished Flying Cross, according to the National Guard Bureau. He and other Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.

After the war, Weathers went on to become the first African American air controller, run a coin-operated laundry, raise five children, open a flight school, provide vocational rehabilitation for veterans and write a book about his life story that has not yet been published, Weathers Boyce said.

"We are still educating people on the Tuskegee history," Weathers said, "because it's a big part of American history, not African American or black history, but American history."

___

Online:

Arlington National Cemetery: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/

___

Suzanne Gamboa can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa

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Former kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart engaged to marry (Reuters)

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) ? Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at age 14 from her Salt Lake City home and held for what she described as "nine months of hell," is engaged to be married and anticipates a wedding in early summer, a family spokesman said on Friday.

Smart, now a 24-year-old advocate for missing children and occasional TV news commentator, has not publicly identified her fiance, spokesman Chris Thomas said.

"Elizabeth got engaged this past weekend," Thomas said in a written statement. "A date for the wedding has not been set but the couple anticipates early summer."

"While she plans to be very publicly involved with her child advocacy work, she has decided she wants to keep the details of her personal life private," Thomas added.

Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in June 2002 by a homeless street preacher, Brian David Mitchell, and was repeatedly raped and forced to wander with her captor from town to town for nine months.

She was freed after being spotted by passers-by in a Salt Lake City suburb in 2003.

Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. He was sentenced in May to life in prison.

Smart testified during Mitchell's trial, describing her time as his captive as "nine months of hell."

Mitchell's wife, Wanda Barzee, was sentenced to a 15-year prison term in 2010 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and cooperating with prosecutors in the case against Mitchell.

ABC News announced in July it had hired Smart as a contributor on stories about missing persons.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/us_nm/us_usa_smart

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Florence Welch Wears Retro Bikini, Red Swimming Cap (omg!)

Florence Welch rarely strays from her love of vintage clothes -- even when she's frolicking on the beaches of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

PHOTOS: Winter's sexiest beach bodies

The 25-year-old Florence and the Machine frontwoman donned a '50s-inspired black bikini and a red swimming cap while vacationing in the South American country Tuesday. The "What the Water Gave Me" singer, who split with literary editor Stuart Hammond in 2011, was also photographed kissing a new mystery man on the beach.

PHOTOS: Guess the star abs!

Despite her modest swimwear, Welch -- who counts Gossip Girl star Blake Lively as a BFF -- isn't ashamed of her svelte figure.

"I was a really chubby kid! Really awkward until the age of 16, then I just got tall and leveled out," she told The Daily Mail in 2009. "I was even skinnier than I am now when I was 17."

PHOTOS: Florence and other stars who love Givenchy

"I have a tendency to lose weight -- everyone in my family has it, my dad's really skinny," Welch explained. "We get too distracted and forget about eating. People are always encouraging me to eat more."

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Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher (AP)

BEIJING ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/

The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair

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

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House Republican budget to seek Medicare reforms (Reuters)

BALTIMORE (Reuters) ? Republicans in the House of Representatives will put forward a budget plan this year that will seek substantial reforms to health benefits for the elderly and make aggressive strides toward reducing deficits, a senior lawmaker said on Friday.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said he wanted his budget plan to offer voters an alternative vision to the "cradle-to-grave welfare state" that he says Democratic President Barack Obama is promoting.

The House Republican budget resolution will contain reforms to Medicare, the healthcare program for Americans 62 and over, such as providing subsidies to help recipients pay for private insurance, based on their wealth and medical needs.

"We haven't written it yet, but we're not backing off on the kinds of reforms we've advocated," Ryan told reporters at a retreat for House Republicans in Baltimore.

Ryan said there was emerging bipartisan support for such "premium support" plans as the best way to save Medicare, which he said was going broke.

The Wisconsin congressman caused an uproar last year by proposing a plan effectively to privatize Medicare by turning the popular $525 billion fee-for-service program into a system of vouchers to be used by recipients to buy private insurance.

The plan was enough to rattle elderly voters and was cited as a key factor in the defeat of a Republican candidate in a normally conservative New York state congressional district last year.

In December, Ryan and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden unveiled a new approach to cut Medicare costs through a "premium support" model that allowed seniors to buy insurance through a regulated exchange while retaining Medicare's traditional fee-for-service model. The plan was viewed by critics as a ploy to soften opposition to future reforms.

The Obama administration has steadfastly opposed reforms that would end Medicare for seniors or amount to what it calls "radical privatization" of the program

Representative Tom Price, who heads the House Republican Policy Committee, said there was a lot of enthusiasm at the Baltimore retreat to tackle fundamental reform of "automatic spending programs" such as Medicare and Social Security.

BUDGET RERFORM PLANS

Ryan said his budget plan would aggressively shrink deficits

to put U.S. debt on a downward path, adding the United States would be in a situation similar to some debt-stricken European countries in a few years if no action was taken. He did not specify an amount for planned cuts.

"We feel we have an obligation to show the country our plan to pre-empt a debt crisis in this country. What matters most as is that we get the trajectory right," he said.

Despite the controversy raised about the House's last budget plan, Ryan insisted that Americans be offered an alternative as a vision of what the Republicans would accomplish if elected.

"People want to be bolder on the budget. People feel good about our budget experience and the budget we passed, even the Northeasterners, the people from the tough seats, they feel we did the right thing on the budget and they want to keep doing it."

Ryan also said he hoped to reform the budgetary process, which he said was outdated and broken, noting the Senate had not passed a budget resolution in nearly three years.

The House Budget Committee is working on 10 bills to reform the annual budget process, including a provision that would force the two houses of Congress, along with the White House, to work on a joint budget resolution early in the year, for votes later in the year.

In the process in place since 1974, the House and Senate work on separate budget bills and then work out the differences later.

Ryan said the panel would begin to refine some of the proposals in coming weeks, but the process would be halted for the committee's work on the fiscal 2013 budget plan, which will be unveiled in March. The reforms will resume later in the year once the budget plan is passed, he said.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/pl_nm/us_usa_congress_budget

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2-timing and hybrids: RUB researchers look back on 100 million years of evolution

2-timing and hybrids: RUB researchers look back on 100 million years of evolution

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Two-timing is nothing out of the ordinary for them: for about 100 million years, grass smut fungi have been breeding in a three-gender system. This was discovered by Dr. Ronny Kellner and Prof. Dr. Dominik Begerow of the RUB Geobotany Laboratory in cooperation with colleagues from the Heinrich Heine Universit?t in D?sseldorf. Using genetic analysis, they showed that the structure of the responsible regions in the genome has hardly changed since then. In the journal PLoS Genetics, the team also reports that the fungi in the experiment not only mate within their own species, but also form hybrids with other species ? and that after millions of years of separate evolution. "If you look at the time periods, it is almost as if mice could mate with humans" Begerow illustrates.

Gathering and genetically analysing fungi

Grass smut fungi live as parasites on plants such as corn, wheat, and grasses and cause various plant diseases. For the study, the researchers tested 100 species, which they partly gathered themselves in Ecuador, Mexico, or Germany. For all the species they decoded the area of the genome that contains the genes for pheromone receptors. These make it possible to distinguish one's own species from others. "What makes the work special is the successful synthesis of biodiversity research and functional genetics, which was made possible by the collaboration with Prof. Michael Feldbr?gge and with Dr. Evelyn Vollmeister of the University in D?sseldorf" says Kellner.

How genes change over 100 million years

The researchers analysed ten species especially thoroughly using complex sequencing technologies. Instead of the usual 1,000 DNA building blocks (base pairs), they sequenced 20,000 base pairs. "In this way, we were able to gain entirely new insights" explained Begerow. "Although the actual gene structure has changed little in the last 100 million years, within the structure, the genetic information has changed dramatically. That should really mean that different species can no longer mate with each other".

Mixing with other species

Nevertheless, in the experiment the team proved that grass smut fungi of different species can mate. Now they want to investigate whether this phenomenon also occurs in nature. "This is a fascinating discovery", says Kellner. "The hybrid formation would have far-reaching ecological consequences." A new species of fungus could, for example, be more harmful than its two predecessor species because it infests several different host plants. Leaps to new hosts would also be conceivable. "It's like in the current debate surrounding the bird flu virus, which could combine with another strain of the virus" explained Begerow. "Here, new 'super parasites' could emerge whose properties are completely unpredictable. If different species of fungi did actually mate, that would speed up evolution enormously."

###

Ruhr-University Bochum: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Thanks to Ruhr-University Bochum for this article.

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Android Central Podcast - Live!

We're back, ready to wrap up CES and look ahead to 2012! Show starts at 2 a.m. GMT / 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST! Join us!

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from Jude's Kitchen: Chinese Seafood

January 23 signals the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration, which lasts until the new moon rises on February 7, so it?s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some of the fresh and unusual flavours of Chinese cooking.

As in every culture, food plays an important role in these celebrations, with much entertaining and visiting?all involving food.

This is the year of the dragon, a particularly auspicious symbol in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac. It?s predicted that those born this year will be ambitious and dominant characters; driven risk-takers and leaders.

This dragon year features the element water, so seafood seems an appropriate way to celebrate its beginning.

A new campaign encouraging the purchase of sustainable fish was launched January 16, with local fishmonger, Jon Crofts of Codfathers putting his support behind the initiative?by putting a pic of Anne-Marie's especially silly fish face up on Facebook!

They're both big supporters of Ocean Wise, a program of the Vancouver Aquarium that now includes 3,000 partner restaurants, markets and food suppliers such as Codfathers Seafood Market at Guisachan.

By supporting shops displaying the Ocean Wise logo, you can be sure you?re choosing seafood that has been sustainably harvested rather than that which may have resulted in the unnecessary death of bycatch or other sea creatures, or that which targeted seafood unsustainably.

Called the Be Happy campaign, it features a facebook page (facebook.com/BeHappyFish) where you can take a pledge to try more sustainable seafood options and upload a pic of yourself making a silly fish face like Anne-Marie's.

Incidentally, enjoy the local Salmon candy bits prepared by the Okanagan Nation Alliance and now available at Codfathers.

For more Chinese-style recipes and recipes using local seafood, pick up a copy of my new book, Jude?s Kitchen at Codfathers, or wherever books are sold.?

Fish in Eggs with Ginger

This Peking-style dish has a very delicate flavour, and it cooks up very quickly. It?s excellent served with a dish of stir-fried vegetables on the side. I like to use a non-stick frypan to cook it in. Generally I would buy snapper or cod for this, but striped bass is the OceanWise choice and any white-fleshed fish would suit just as well.

1 lb. (454 g) red snapper fillets

1 tsp. (5 ml) salt

1 tsp. (5 ml) sesame oil

sprinkling of flour

2 eggs

drizzle of oil

1 tbsp. (15 ml) fresh ginger

1 large garlic clove

4 green onions

1 tbsp. (15 ml) chicken stock

1 tbsp. (15 ml) dry sherry

Slice fish fillets into two-inch strips, across the fillet. Sprinkle each with salt, sesame oil and flour, then dip each in beaten egg.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large non-stick frypan over medium-high heat.

Finely chop the ginger and garlic and slice up the green onions, keeping the white and green parts separate.

Add the minced ginger and the pieces of fish to the pre-heated frypan and brown the fish on both sides, then turn down the heat.

Add the garlic and the light parts of the green onion, reserving the green tops as a garnish.

Add the chicken stock and sherry and cover the pan, simmering for just a few minutes.

Serves four with a vegetable dish on the side.

Peppering Prawns

Lots of crunchy veggies in this dish, which could also be made with chopped chicken instead of the prawns. You may garnish it with a handful of toasted cashew nuts tossed in at the last minute.

1 onion

6 baby bok choy

2 celery stalks

1/2 red pepper

6 small mushrooms

1/2 lb. (227 g) prawns

2 tbsp. (30 ml) ginger root

1 large clove garlic

1 tbsp. (15 ml) dry sherry

1 tbsp. (15 ml) soy sauce

1 tbsp. (15 ml) light soy sauce

1/2 tsp. (2 ml) sugar

1/2 tsp. (2 ml) chilli flakes

2 tbsp. (30 ml) ketchup

drizzle of oil

3/4 c. (175 ml) water

1 tbsp. (15 ml) cornstarch

2 tbsp. (30 ml) cold water

Dice onion and slice bok choy into chunks, cutting the green tops into ribbons and keeping them separate. Slice celery and cut the pepper into small dice. Quarter the mushrooms.

Shell the prawns and mince the ginger and garlic. Combine the sherry or rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, chilli flakes and ketchup in a small bowl.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a wok or large frypan over medium-high heat and add half the ginger, then the onion. Stir fry for a few minutes, then add the bok choy stems and celery. Stir fry for a minute or two before adding the mushrooms; then stir fry and top with the bok choy greens and red pepper. Let cook for a minute, then stir and turn out onto the serving dish.

Heat another drizzle of oil and add the remaining ginger and the prawns. Cook for a minute, then turn over and leave for another minute. Add the sauce ingredients and stir fry for a minute or two.

Add the water and stir, then combine the cornstarch and cold water in a tiny bowl, push the prawns to the sides and add to the liquid in the middle of the wok, stirring until it thickens to a nice sauce.

Add the vegetables back and combine with the sauce.

Serves 3-4.

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Source: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/lifestyles/137194083.html

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