For those who do not know it yet, Boston marathon is an annual marathon [...]]]> Boston Marathon is coming again. Seems like yesterday that I post something special about Boston Marathon, but alas it is actually a year back. I never thought that I will wrote the same topic about Boston marathon again, but anyway here we go.

For those who do not know it yet, Boston marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April. This Boston marathon is hosted by Boston Athletic Association (BAA). According to Wikipedia, this event roughly attract more than 500,000 spectators each year.

Read more after the break for more details about Boston Marathon

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The Run for the Hoses. The Duel in the Sun. The Inferno.

As the prospect of 80-degree temperatures looms over Monday’s Boston Marathon, race organizers are hoping the heat will forge a classic contest to rank among the legends of the event’s 116-year history even as they prepare for a potential medical crisis if runners wilt under the scorching sun.

The forecast forced organizers to offer a largely unprecedented deferment to the entire field of 27,000 that had spent the last year qualifying, registering and training for what is often a once-in-a-lifetime experience in Boston Marathon.

“We’re asking runners of Boston Marathonwho haven’t run previously to think about tomorrow and maybe coming back next year,” Boston Mayor Tom Menino told the attendees at the traditional pre-race pasta dinner on City Hall Plaza on Sunday night. “We don’t want have any accidents out there, or anybody overtaken by the heat.”

The Boston Athletic Association which hosted Boston Marathon also offered a deferment in 2010, when the Icelandic volcano eruption stalled air traffic in Europe and prevented about 300 runners from making getting to Boston. There is no way of knowing how many will take them up on the offer this year until Monday morning, when the number of no-shows is calculated.

B.A.A. co-medical director Pierre d’Hemecourt warned runners with underlying medical issues, such as a cough or a cold or a recent stomach virus that left them dehydrated: “Please don’t run the Boston Marathon on Monday.” Those who have not run a full marathon before, or who have not run in the heat, should also sit this one out, race organizers said.

Boston Marathon

One year after cool temperatures and a significant tailwind – perfect running weather – helped Geoffrey Mutai finish in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds for the fastest marathon ever, the heat has elite runners preparing for a slower pace and the recreational runners trying to figure out how to finish at all.

Forecasts call for 73 degrees at the 10 a.m. start in Hopkinton, 80 degrees at the halfway point in Wellesley by 11 a.m. and 82 degrees at the Back Bay finish line at noon. For the recreational runners expecting to be out on the course later that afternoon, temperatures are expected to peak at 84 by 3 p.m.

Although Mutai said he has never run a hot Boston Marathon, fellow Kenyan and defending women’s champion Caroline Kilel said she was used to training in warm weather. But Kilel said the typical conditions were more like 73 degrees – hot for a marathoner, but not quite what’s expected on Monday.

“The heat affects everybody. Nobody runs fast in the heat. Nobody benefits from the heat,” 1968 winner Amby Burfoot said this weekend as the weather on Boston Marathon became the dominant topic of conversation. “If anyone’s been training in Miami, that would be great for them.”

The Boston Marathon has had its share of hot weather, with the thermometer hitting 97 degrees during the 1909 race that came to be known as “The Inferno” and the 1976 “Run for the Hoses” that started in 100-degree heat and finished with spectators sprinkling winner Jack Fultz with garden hoses to cool him down.

“It’s just the worst thing a marathoner can face,” said Burfoot, who ran with Fultz for half of the `76 race before fading in the heat. “I hate that the Boston Marathon is such a crapshoot. You train for 4-6 months, and the only thing that matters is the weather.”

There were only 2,188 entrants in the `76 race, and still just 7,647 six years later when Alberto Salazar won the “Duel in the Sun” against Dick Beardsley.

This year’s field of 27,000 presents organizers with a new challenge.

Because of qualifying requirements, most of the field will have run a previous marathon in a time that can be as low as 3 hours, 5 minutes for men aged 18-34. But the times go up – to 5:25 for an 80-year-old woman – and several thousand other runners receive entries with no requirement to have run a marathon by raising money for charity.

And even those who have run good times in the past could be caught unprepared by the hot weather.

The last on-course death of a Boston Marathon participant was in 2002, but the Chicago Marathon stopped its 2007 race after 3 1/2 hours when a runner died after temperatures climbed to 88 degrees.

The B.A.A. renewed warnings on Sunday night to drink enough – but not too much – water, and to recognize the symptoms of heat stroke: confusion, headaches, nausea, vomiting and excessive fatigue.

Race director Dave McGillivray said organizers will have double the water on the course, along with more ice and more emergency staff to deal with problems from the heat. Emergency rooms along the course are also preparing for a potential influx of heat-related problems, and Menino said the city will also boost the police presence.

Also a concern are the hundreds of thousands of spectators who line the 26.2-mile course.

“The message out there is bring your own stuff,” Grilk said. “We have a lot of water on the course, but we need to conserve it for the runners.”
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Temperatures were 20 to 30 degrees above normal on Monday across the Northeast — including the Boston area where thousands were participating in the Boston Marathon even though organizers encouraged the less-prepared runners to sit out the race until next year.

Boston is forecast to hit 86 degrees F by early afternoon — a record for an April 16 and about 30 degrees above normal.

The Boston Athletic Association which hosted Boston Marathon, in a note to the 27,000 entrants, warned: “We have determined that the race will occur in a ‘red zone’ which is considered an increased risk but acceptable for high-level elite runners for Boston Marathon. However, it is not considered safe for unfit and novice runners.”

The 26.2-mile course was lined with extra water, ice, Red Cross stations, ambulances and medical buses. Fire departments even have spray hoses in places for runners to cool down.
Reuters quoted the Boston Athletic Association’s co-medical director as saying participants should be vigilant about headaches, dizziness, confusion, fatigue, nausea or vomiting, which can be symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

“If you have underlying medical problems, such as cardiac disease or respiratory disease, think about not running,” said Pierre d’Hemecourt. “If you have a cough or cold, or had recent gastro-enteritis, don’t run.”

Weather.com reported that the heat is coming in with southerly winds ahead of the same system that saw twisters in the central U.S.

A few areas were expected to break their records for an April 16. New York City is forecast to reach 87 at Central Park, 26 degrees above normal, but that’s still four degrees shy of tying the record there,

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If you want to view video about Boston Marathon, you can refer to below video :

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According to wikipedia, Shabazz Muhammad (born November 13, 1993) [...]]]> Shabazz Muhammad become the most search player on the internet. It is no brainer actually, if you asked me. Shabazz Muhammad is already become top target by many top University in the US. Shabazz Muhammad winning on 2012 McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest also provide him with additional fame.

According to wikipedia, Shabazz Muhammad (born November 13, 1993) is an American basketball player. He is a senior at Bishop Gorman High School and is one of the top rated basketball players in the class of 2012. On this post, I also provide video about Shabazz Muhammad performance in 2012 McDonald’s All American Dunk Contest featuring Shabazz Muhammad, Archie Goodwin, Anthony Benneth, Breanna Stewart, Marcus Smart.

Read more about Shabazz Muhammad after the break.

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The Kentucky Wildcats have already cut down the nets in New Orleans, but if Shabazz Muhammad commits, the Wildcats are in position to repeat.

The Wildcats already figure to be returning some quality performers that we didn’t see a lot of, like Jarrod Polson, Sam Malone and Kyle Wiltjer. The Cats have already secured three of the top 50 high school players in the nation.

Archie Goodwin, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley have already committed to Kentucky. Goodwin and Poythress both competed in the McDonald’s All-American game.

Add the addition of former N.C. State point guard Ryan Harrow and the team only gets stronger.

Also, it is still possible that either Doron Lamb or Marquis Teague could return. Lamb is a bit of a tweener, and Teague—though talented—could still improve.

If just one of them returns with the Wildcats’ current commits, they will be formidable.
Throw into that mix a special talent like Shabazz Muhammad , and the nation can get the ladders ready again.

Shabazz Muhammad is the most refined offensive player I’ve seen coming out of high school in a while. He uses a great combination of off the dribble moves, with above average athleticism and shooting range, to fill it up.

Shabazz Muhammad has a great chance to be college player of the year in 2012—he’s that good. As usual, John Calipari will rebound from one and done players by bringing in a host of others with the same potential.

Shabazz Muhammad will not make his official decision until April 10, but Kentucky is considered one of the front-runners along with Duke and UCLA, per Rivals. It would shock me if Muhammad chose any place other than Lexington.

Want to hear the news get even sweeter for Calipari and Kentucky about Shabazz Muhammad?

Shabazz Muhammad isn’t the only prized recruit set to make their decision near April 10. Dominant defensive big man Nerlens Noel has set his date of declaration for April 11. He also has the Wildcats as a favorite, along with Syracuse and Georgetown (via Rivals).

It seems that the Wildcats, fresh off a national championship have a great shot at grabbing both star recruits.

If, and when this happens. prepare for the Wildcats to be the most talented team in the country again.
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Shabazz Muhammad will make his highly anticipated college decision on April 11 at 7:30 pm on ESPNU. Last week, the second-ranked player in the class of 2012 narrowed his list of schools down to UCLA, Kentucky and Duke. Shabazz Muhammad was dominant last week at the McDonald’s All American Game, finishing with 21 points and six rebounds to earn the MVP award.

In what has been one of the most interesting recruitments in recent memory, UCLA and Kentucky are thought to be the two favorites to land the 6-foot-6 swingman. Acclaimed UCLA inside sources still feel confident that Shabazz Muhammad will be in Westwood this fall, while the national sentiment seems to be that he will end up being Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s next one-and-done superstar. Duke has never been perceived as the favorite in Shabazz Muhammad’s recruitment, but has been a persistent player for quite some time. Whatever school he chooses, they will likely become a national title contender as Shabazz Muhammad is expected to be one the best college players from day one next season.

Shabazz Muhammad

Duke prospects Amile Jefferson and Tony Parker also had strong showings at the McDonald’s All American Game. Parker finished with ten points and seven boards, while Jefferson scored eight points and grabbed three boards. Both Blue Devil targets should make their college decisions very soon.

Parker has indicated that he is currently favoring UCLA, Duke and Kansas, although he is still very much considering Georgia and Ohio State. The Jayhawks’ chances of landing the 6-foot-9 Georgia big man may have taken a hit when assistant coach Danny Manning, who coached the post players in Lawrence, took the head coaching position at the University of Tulsa last week.

Former Connecticut forward Alex Oriakhi has not released a list of schools that he is considering. North Carolina, however, appears to have strong interest in him given their front court losses Tyler Zeller, John Henson, Harrison Barnes and possibly James Michael McAdoo. The Blue Devil coaching staff has reached out to Oriakhi, but it is still unclear whether Oriakhi has genuine interest in Duke.

As spring rolls on, look for recruiting to heat up on Tobacco Road. The class of 2013 could be one for the ages as the Blue Devils as they are firmly in the mix for prep superstars Jabari Parker and Julius Randle, who are the top two players in the class.

The recruiting contact period kicks off April 5th and goes through April 18th.
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Shabazz Muhammad has done all he can to prove he is the nation’s top basketball recruit. His latest feat was scoring a game-high 21 points in the 35th McDonald’s All-American Game, securing MVP bragging rights as he led his West squad to a 106-102 victory.

Next up is the not-so-small task of bringing respect back to the once-mighty Pac-12.

Granted, Shabazz Muhammad is yet to make a decision on what college will get his temporary services before he moves onto his NBA career. Perennial powers Duke and Kentucky will certainly argue the virtues of helping continue their winning tradition.

But what kind of mark can Shabazz Muhammad make on a program that is already seen as elite? He would be just another nameplate in their current basketball powerhouse.

However, should Shabazz Muhammad opt to stay on the west coast, he has the opportunity to claim responsibility for rebuilding a once-mighty UCLA dynasty, and with it change the Hoops fortunes of the Pac-12.

Yes, the mighty on the left coast have fallen. The UCLA Bruins haven’t advanced to the Sweet 16 since their Final Four run in 2008. They have missed the tournament two of the last four years, and sat at home this postseason.

The only bright spot for the conference was advancing two teams to the Final Four of the NIT, capped by Stanford’s commanding win over Minnesota.

Shabazz Muhammad will make a collegiate decision next week. He could opt to travel across the country to play for current power, but he will succumb to the attraction of staying close to home to rebuild a dynasty.

UCLA is poised to be a prominent program next season. They have already secured F Kyle Anderson and G Jordan Adams, while C Tony Parker from Milton High in Georgia is strongly considering the Bruins.

Perhaps all that is keeping Shabazz Muhammad and Parker from joining is a promise from head coach Ben Howland that he is prepared to let the freshman play.

The program has several quality players that will be entering their junior seasons. Led by 6’10” “Twin Tower” forwards Travis and David Wear, this recruiting class could be enough to put UCLA back at the top of the NCAA food-chain.

Shabazz Muhammad made a comment following the McDonald’s All-American Game that reveals a priority: “When you come to any event you want to be known as the best player.”

He’ll have that opportunity in Los Angeles. An improved UCLA program will be a desired recruiting stop for the game’s top talent. As players visit one Pac-12 program, they will inevitably consider the PAC-12 conference as a whole.

The 2011-12 season was one to be quickly forgotten by the Pac-12, but a Shabazz Muhammad decision to stay out west will help the conference regain its street cred.
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According [...]]]> New York Auto Show is now on from Apr 6 to 15. For those who do not know it yet, the event which some said to be the biggest car event on the US, New York Auto Show is happening. And as predicted many great cars is exhibited by famous car makers around the world.

According to Wikipedia, New York Auto show (formally known as New York International Auto Show) is an annual auto show held in New York City in late March or early April. It is usually held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. In 2012 the NYIAS will take place from April 6 through April 15

Despite some uneasy feeling due to bleak economy forecast in Europe, I got impression from news below that car makers is still thinking that the business still can profitable. Otherwise, it shall be not many car makers in New York auto show.

Read more about New York Auto show after the break.

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Ford chose the New York auto show Monday to unveil its redesigned Lincoln MKZ, a first step to reinventing Lincoln as a competitive luxury brand. The 2013 MKZ, a bold midsize sedan, is the first of seven new or refreshed models coming to market by 2014. Sculpted by a team led by former Cadillac designer Max Wolff, MKZ incorporates one of the industry’s largest retractable glass roofs and is meant to attract a younger buyer.

Lincoln was the best-selling U.S. luxury brand as recently as 1999. Now it is eighth, with a stodgy reputation defined more by the bulky Town Car airport limousine than anything hip. Ford is looking to change that.

Lincoln unveiled its all-new 2013 MKZ midsize sedan Monday night on New York Auto Show, taking the most important step yet in the beleaguered luxury brand’s reinvention.

“The new Lincoln MKZ represents the future of Lincoln in both style and substance,” Jim Farley, Ford’s top global marketing executive, said in a statement. “It is proof of our commitment to deliver a new breed of Lincolns for a new generation of Lincoln clients.”

To build buzz, Lincoln chose to show the car in the curvaceous glass headquarters of InterActive in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Lincoln hopes the building, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, serves as a metaphor for its transformation.

new york auto show

Sculpted by a team led by former Cadillac designer Max Wolff, the MKZ incorporates one of the industry’s largest retractable glass roofs.

Drivers will be able to choose from three powertrains:

• A 2.0-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost engine that delivers 20% better fuel economy compared with the 2012 MKZ.

• A 3.7-liter V6 engine that produces 37 more horsepower than the V6 it replaces.

• A 2.0-liter four-cylinder hybrid powertrain that is expected to enable the 2013 MKZ Hybrid to remain North America’s most fuel-efficient premium sedan. The 2012 MKZ Hybrid is rated at 41 m.p.g. in the city and 36 m.p.g. in highway driving.

The 2013 MKZ and MKZ Hybrid must take sales from Cadillac, Audi and other luxury brands, and keep current Ford owners in the family when they want a more premium vehicle.

But restoring Lincoln to a leadership position among luxury brands in the U.S. could take a decade or longer.

Lincoln must overcome an image that its cars are for older buyers, and that its cars and crossovers are little more than dressed-up Ford models.

“Lincoln’s resurgence isn’t going to be … a two- or three-year project,” said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ auto test center. “It’s going to take five to 10 years of continually good products.”

Lincoln was the best-selling U.S. luxury brand as recently as 1999, the year Ford created the Premier Automotive Group, after an acquisition binge that left Lincoln to languish in the shadow of Jaguar, Volvo, Aston Martin and Land Rover, all since sold off in Ford’s turnaround. Now Lincoln is eighth, having sold only 85,643 vehicles last year, compared with 117,561 for Audi, 152,389 for Cadillac and 198,552 for Lexus.

“They have a similar problem to what Buick has,” said Edmunds.com analyst Michelle Krebs. “Even if they can come out with great product, there is the image that they are for older people.”

Lincoln has shrunk its dealer network from about 500 to 350 stores and focused on the 130 largest metro markets that account for 90% of luxury vehicle sales.
Source : http://www.freep.com/
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We’ve seen GM’s updated versions of the GMC Acadia and the Chevy Traverse on New York Auto Show, and now the company’s luxury three-row crossover gets similar enhancements. Most noticeable is a reworked hood running into an industrial-styled grille and, as is par for the course these days, LED running lights.
The back gets similar LED lights and a few other slight tweaks you can see in the photos below, and there are some new wheel choices, but the Enclave will probably be the hardest to tell apart from its predecessor of the three.

The interior gets similar updates as the other two but with a higher grade of leather finishes and more wood. Stylistically, the biggest change comes to the dashboard with a ring that runs from the tops of the front doors across the bottom of the windshield. It’s a similar design to newer Buick sedans as well as Jaguar on its XJ flagship sedan.

GM’s new multimedia system, IntelliLink, is standard with an LCD touch-screen, Bluetooth, USB input, voice recognition, Sirius XM satellite radio and HD radio standard. A navigation system and a 10-speaker Bose stereo are options.

On the safety front, a new center airbag for front-seat passengers is standard, along with a backup camera.

Under the hood, things remain the same with the 288-horsepower V-6 engine from the 2012 model powering things, but the six-speed automatic transmission has been revised for a “smoother” driving experience, the company says. Mileage remains the same at 17/24 mpg city/highway for front-wheel drive and 16/22 mpg for all-wheel drive.

We’ll have a firsthand look at the Enclave from New York later today. The media preview officially kicks off Wednesday.
Source : http://blogs.cars.com/
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The strong yen and ongoing debt crisis in Europe will force Nissan Motor Co and Renault PA to operate in “crisis mode” in two of the world’s major auto markets, their chief executive said on Tuesday on New York Auto Show.

“Over (a) period of five to 10 years, I have no doubt that the lack of restructuring in Europe, particularly for those carmakers who need it, is going to be a drag on their potential strategy in the future,” CEO Carlos Ghosn told car dealers ahead of the New York Auto Show.

He also said that the strength of the yen continues to put Nissan at a disadvantage.

While Ghosn was cautious about markets in Japan and Europe, Nissan continues to make gains in the United States. U.S. data released on Tuesday showed a 12.5 percent increase in sales for March.

Additionally, automakers overall are earning more profit per vehicle. Incentives continued to trend downward last month while the average transaction price per new vehicle rose, autos consultant TrueCar.com said.
Source : http://www.reuters.com/
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If you want to watch video about New York Auto show, you may refer to below video

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Read more about Mauritania [...]]]> Mauritania is on the top spot of the latest global news. This time, it is related with Libya late leader actually, Muammar Gaddafi. It is officially reported that Mauritania on Saturday arrested Moammar Ghadafi’s former intelligence chief, 63-year-old Abdullah al-Senussi. When caught in Mauritania, Abdullah al-Senussi is holding a fake Malian passport.

Read more about Mauritania news after the break.

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Late former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s intelligence chief has been arrested in Mauritania, one of Africa’s newest oil producers countries, the Al Jazeera reported Saturday.
The 63-year-old Abdullah al-Senussi has been described as a hardliner and one of Gaddafi’s closest aides. He fled Libya after Gaddafi was deposed and then killed in an uprising last year.
According to Mauritania security officials, Al-Senussi who is also Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, was detained at Nouakchott airport as he arrived from the Moroccan city of Casablanca on a false Malian passport.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted Senussi on two counts of crimes against humanity
source : http://www.prokerala.com/
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Mauritania on Saturday arrested Moammar Ghadafi’s former intelligence chief, accused of attacking civilians during the uprising in Libya last year and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner. The International Criminal Court, France and Libya all said they want to prosecute Abdullah al-Senoussi.

Mauritania state information agency said in a statement that al-Senoussi was arrested at the airport in the capital Nouakchott upon arrival from the Moroccan city of Casablanca. It said he was carrying a fake Malian passport.

A spokesman for Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, Mohammed al-Hareiz, confirmed that the ex-intelligence chief had been captured by Mauritania officials.

As Gadhafi’s regime crumbled in the second half of 2011 after more than four decades of rule, many of the dictator’s inner circle fled from advancing rebels toward the Sahara, where the regime had long cultivated ties with desert groups both in Libya and in neighboring countries.

A Libyan military official said al-Senoussi, who is also Gadhafi’s brother-in-law, likely fled to Chad just before the opposition captured the capital Tripoli in October and passed through Mali and Morocco before heading to Mauritania. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the details.

Some Libyan officials reported last year that al-Senoussi had been captured and was being held in the southern city of Sabha. But some later cast doubt on that assertion, and his whereabouts have not been known – a reflection of the confusion in post-Gadhafi Libya, where “revolutionary militias” hold local control in many towns and cities with little accountability to the Tripoli government.

mauritania

The Libyan government said in a statement Saturday it has requested from Mauritania officials that the spy chief be handed over to them for trial, but the line to prosecute al-Senoussi is long.

Judges at the Netherlands-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for al-Senoussi last June on two counts of crimes against humanity – murder and persecution – for allegedly masterminding attacks on civilians in the early days of the uprising that eventually toppled Gadhafi from power.

He is wanted in Libya for a number of crimes, including his alleged role in the Abu Salim prison massacre of more than 1,200 prisoners by Gadhafi’s regime in 1996.

A spokesman for the ICC, Fadi El Abdallah, said the court was seeking official confirmation from Mauritania of his arrest.

“We will ask them for their cooperation in order to surrender him (to the court),” he said.

El Abdallah said that while Mauritania is not a member of the court, all UN member states have been urged by the Security Council to cooperate in the court’s efforts to prosecute suspects indicted in Libya.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is leading a delegation to the region, told reporters in Tripoli that the U.S. had a “particular interest (in seeing him arrested) because of his role with the Lockerbie bombing.”

The 1988 airplane bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland killed 270 people. The only person convicted in the bombing was returned to Libya in 2009.

France also quickly lobbied Mauritania to get custody of al-Senoussi. He was one of six Libyans convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1989 bombing of a passenger jet over Niger that killed all 170 people on board including 54 French people. The French government asked last year that he be handed over to France when captured.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said Saturday that France would be handing over an extradition request for al-Senoussi to Mauritania authorities in the next few hours. The French leader said his arrest was the result of a joint French-Mauritania effort.

Families of victims of the deadly plane bombing said they hoped he would be sent to France to stand trial.

“Twenty-two years after the attack, we never lost hope that those responsible for this attack, the most deadly attack to target France, would be judged,” said Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, who heads a group of victims’ family members.

Rights group Amnesty International said Mauritania authorities should give priority to the ICC arrest warrant against the former intelligence chief because “the Libyan justice system remains weak and unable to conduct effective investigations into alleged crimes.”

If al-Senoussi is handed over to the ICC, he would be the first suspect indicted for alleged atrocities in Libya to be taken into their custody.

The court also indicted Gadhafi but the ousted leader was killed by rebel fighters in October. Libyan authorities say they want to put Seif al-Islam, one of Gadhafi’s sons, on trial at home instead of turning him over him to the court.

Libyan officials are currently holding al-Islam, who was arrested in November by fighters in Libya’s remote southern desert. The former heir apparent has been held largely without access to the outside world ever since.
Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com
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Mauritania said Saturday it arrested former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi, who was one of the most prominent figures from the ousted regime of Moammar Gadhafi and is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Al-Senoussi helped direct efforts to quash the rebellion against Gadhafi’s rule last year, and the ICC has indicted him along with Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam, on charges of crimes against humanity.

Mauritania’s state information agency said in a statement that al-Senoussi was arrested at the airport in the capital Nouakchott upon arrival from the Moroccan city of Casablanca. It said he was carrying a fake Malian passport.
Source : http://articles.boston.com/
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Read more after the break if you want [...]]]> Pi day is today and believe it or not, it has been celebrated by many. Unlike previous years ago, when no one heard about Pi Day, this year many influenced people already heard about Pi day and they had decided to make special occasion to celebrate the pi day.

Read more after the break if you want to know more about pi day.

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Happy Pi Day! Here’s a refresher: Pi is the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle. By the way, the world record for memorization stands at 67,890 digits, according to the Pi World Ranking List. For Sara Seager, professor of planetary science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pi day is part of everyday work in characterizing and searching for planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets.

Here’s her basic formula: The volume of a planet is about 4/3 pi times the radius3.

pi day is also involved in calculations regarding an exoplanet’s atmosphere, since it can be described spherically, and spheres always involve pi.

“Coincidentally, pi is useful to estimate the number of seconds in a year (on Earth): There are approximately pi times 10 million seconds in a year,” Seager says.

On pi day, Pi helps describe the shape of the universe, says David Spergel, chairman of Princeton University’s astrophysical sciences department.

4pi is the ratio of the surface area of a sphere to the square of its radius, in geometrically flat space.

The Large Hadron Collider

Joe Incandela, spokesman for the collider’s Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, explains one way that pi shows up at the LHC:

In particle physics, if we can measure particle properties, like masses, very very precisely, we can sometimes find tell-tale evidence of undiscovered new particles. That’s because particles can transform themselves into other particles, and then come back together to make the original particle again. This is called a loop.

When you calculate the contribution of this process to the particle’s mass, a factor of something like 1/(16pi2) comes out, along with other factors that depend on the properties of the particles in the loops.

Scientists are hoping to see these kinds of particles directly which requires very high-energy particle accelerators like the LHC to make them. Gravity, energy and mass

On pi day, pi appears in Einstein’s equation for how energy and mass lead to the curvature of spacetime:

R_ij – (1/2)R g_ij = 8pi*G T_ij.

“Long story short: in Newton’s equation for gravity, the constant is just G; in Einstein’s equation, it’s 8pi*G,” he says.

Why? Voila – pi comes into the expression, because pi relates distances (straight lines) to spheres.

How DNA folds

Pi plays an important role in the way the genome is folded, says Leonid Mirny, associate professor at MIT.

The answer is about 1.5pi (or about 5) times!

Mathematics

More amazingly still, this value is 6/pi2!”

Studying crickets

Engineering

pi day is involved in calculating the surface area and volume of round three-dimensional objects. Drug design

The formulas for molecular surface area and volume involve pi day, and often appear in Bajaj’s calculations.
Source : http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/
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Pi Day

Today, 4,000 years after people first discovered how useful pi could be, we are about to celebrate International Pi Day. (See picture of Larry Shaw, “Prince of Pi,” at right.)

Since then, this museum and many others, as well as universities, schools and individuals have celebrated Pi Day by performing pi-related activities; some serious and some less so, such as creating pi puns; baking, throwing and eating pies; and singing pi songs. What is Pi?

Without pi there is no theory of motion and no understanding of geometry. Pi occurs in important fields of applied mathematics such as Fourier analysis and image reconstruction. Pi goes global

Public interest in pi came to a head in 2009 when the U.S. House of Representatives formally declared March 14 National Pi Day, in House Resolution number 224. The growing interest in pi has seen it become firmly established in popular culture. pi day has been featured in such TV shows as The Simpsons and Star Trek, as the title of a Kate Bush song, in the movies The Matrix, and Pi; and in the 2001 novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel. If you’re better with numbers than words, some folks prefer to memorise pi for themselves. The current Guinness World Record for remembering pi is well in excess of 60,000 digits. What makes things really interesting is that pi day is an irrational number, so its digits never terminate or repeat. When we draw a picture, pi seems very random.
Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
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It’s a holiday for math teachers: March 14 = 3.14 = Pi Day, named after the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a Euclidean circle’s circumference to its diameter. On Pi Day, we celebrate mathematics and things that are round — but instead of rounding up for pi, students relish every digit. Here’s how you can celebrate, even after you’ve graduated.

1. Memorizing as many digits of Pi as you can: Your Style blogger, who has not had to do any math more complex than calculating a tip at a restaurant since her freshman year of college, failed miserably at this task, remembering only up to 3.1415. Many math students will be competing against each other in classrooms across the country today to see who can recite the most digits correctly. But none of them will come close to the world record set by Chao Lu, who recited 67,890 digits of pi over 24 hours in 2005. Check out other pi record-holders at Pi World.

2. Rapping: There’s something about the wholesomeness of math class and pi that, when set to rap, creates the perfect ratio of nerdiness to cool.

3. Eating Pi(e): You do not need any excuses to eat pie, which is a dessert that surpasses its more popular relative, the cupcake, in so many ways. Our food section has dozens of recipes for you. Try the upside-down three-chocolate brownie pie, the pecan pie, the cappuccino cream pie, the banana peanut butter s’mores icebox pie, the buttermilk pie with rhubarb compote, the stroganoff muffin pie (for something savory), the simple-but-comforting apple pie, and my favorite, the petite hand pie.

0.14 Perfecting your pie crust: Adding on to that last suggestion with a little sliver of a tip: Today’s a good day to learn how to make a proper pie crust, something that can elude home cooks

Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Read more after the break for [...]]]> Patricia Heaton is doing it again. If the damage that was done by Rush Limbaugh is not enough, Patricia Heaton do something like putting gasoline into the fire. It is all about their comment on Georgetown student Sandra Fluke caused such an outrage that she had to cancel her Twitter account.

Read more after the break for more news about Patricia Heaton

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Rush Limbaugh is losing advertisers for his radio show one after the other in the wake of his controversial comments about a Georgetown law student, and now he’s lost a prominent advocate on Twitter: Patricia Heaton

The star of “The Middle” and “Everybody Loves Raymond” pulled an Alec Baldwin and temporarily deleted her Twitter account after siding with Limbaugh’s criticisms of Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke last week via a series of barbed tweets. Patricia Heaton returned on Monday to apologize to Fluke.

On Feb. 29, the actress wrote, “Hey G-Town Gal: Plz let us also pay for your Starbucks, movie theater tickets and your favorite hot wings combo deal at KFC! Anything else?”

“Hey G-Town Gal: If your parents have to pay for your birth control, maybe they should get a say in who you sleep with! Instant birth control!”

“If every Tweaton sent Georgetown Gal one condom, her parents wouldn’t have to cancel basic cable, & she would never reproduce – sound good?”

The controversy began after Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” after she advocated for expanded access to birth control. In the wake of those comments, Limbaugh has been blasted from nearly all quarters, including by Republican House Speaker John Boehner, and has shed a string of high-profile advertisers, including AOL.

Limbaugh publicly apologized, and so did Patricia Heaton, who offered her regrets Saturday before making her account inaccessible.

“Mea culpa Sandra! Wasn’t being respectful 2 u re my tweets as I hope people wd b w/me. Don’t like you being dissed -so sorry,” she wrote.

Patricia Heaton reiterated that apology again on Monday, telling readers, “I apologized to Ms Fluke last week. I may not agree with her views but I didn’t treat her with respect and I’m sorry. I was wrong. Mea Culpa.”
Source : http://news.bostonherald.com/
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Patricia Heaton

How far to the right? Rush Limbaugh far.

Just like that conservative talk show host, this actress went off on Sandra Fluke not long after the Georgetown Law School student appeared at a press conference last week and pleaded her case for why contraception should be covered by health insurance companies.

As you can see in the sample Tweets below, Patricia Heaton continually, condescendingly mocked Fluke’s supposed reliance on others:

But then also like Limbaugh, Patricia Heaton issued an apology via Twitter, writing: Mea culpa Sandra! Wasn’t being respectful 2 u re my tweets as I hope people wd b w/me. Don’t like you being dissed -so sorry.”

Perhaps realizing that a Mea Culpa written like a second grader was equally disrespectful, Patricia Heaton gave it another try and finally struck the right tone:

“I apologized to Ms Fluke last week. I may not agree with her views but I didn’t treat her with respect and I’m sorry. I was wrong. Mea Culpa.”

Source : http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/
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Actress Patricia Heaton proved that she wasn’t tough enough to play with the political big dogs when her scathing comments about Georgetown student Sandra Fluke caused such an outrage that she had to cancel her Twitter account.

The Everybody Loves Raymond star joined Rush Limbaugh and other outspoken right-wingers to criticize the Georgetown University law student and reproductive rights advocate after she testified before Democratic members of Congress on why contraception should be covered by insurance companies, reported MSNBC.com.

“If every Tweaton sent Georgetown Gal one condom, her parents wouldn’t have to cancel basic cable, & she would never reproduce — sound good?” Patricia Heaton posted.

Patricia Heaton went on to write a slew of offensive taunts to Fluke’s Twitter handle, such as “Hey GTown Gal: How about only having sex on Wednesday? (Hump day!),” and “Hey G-Town Gal: turn your underwear inside out! Then u only have to do laundry every 2 weeks—saves on detergent & trips to Laundromat!”

Another biting bash read: “If your parents have to pay for your birth control, maybe they should get a say in who u sleep with. Instant birth control.”

At first Patricia Heaton refused to back down from her online verbal attack even when Limbaugh was forced to apologize in light of advertisers pulling out of his radio show, and instead bluntly pulled her plug on her Twitter account

Eventually Patricia Heaton, 54, saw the error of her ways – no doubt encouraged by a damage-controlling publicist – and made a less-than heartfelt retraction on the social networking site.

“I apologized to Ms Fluke last week. I may not agree with her views but I didn’t treat her with respect and I’m sorry. I was wrong. Mea Culpa,” she tweeted on Monday.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Limbaugh caused a firestorm by saying that Fluke’s support of health insurers being required to offer birth control to their subscribers made her “a slut” and “a prostitute”.

“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke,” the controversial right wing radio host wrote on his website on Saturday.

Source : http://www.radaronline.com/
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The Cat in the Hat [...]]]> cat in the hat maybe the most influencal book in the children literature. At least, that is my opinion. Cat in the hat character itself is very interesting and I believe no children in the world who not love the visualization of Cat in the hat and his orange hat

The Cat in the Hat visited Jane Nick’s class to share — appropriately — “The Cat in the Hat.” “I think the big picture is promoting reading and enjoyment of reading,” Nick said. Nick said Valdez has earned time in his classroom that he uses to work with the children in Nick’s room.

The Cat in the Hat is a children’s book by Dr. Seuss and perhaps the most famous, featuring a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white-striped hat and a red bow tie. With the series of Beginner Books that The Cat inaugurated, Seuss promoted both his name and the cause of elementary literacy in the United States of America

Southern preaching style seems the proper way to orate the rhyming books by the late Theodor Seuss Geisel. Like the Good Book, Dr. Seuss’ cat in the hat writings often have a moral.

cat in the hat

There have been numerous adaptations of his books, including 11 television specials, four television series, a Broadway musical and four feature films. A fuzzy, mustachioed, orange woodland creature, the newest cat in the hat film Lorax was a protector of trees. Heartthrob Zac Efron (“High School Musical”) co-stars as the boy named Ted and singer Taylor Swift (“Valentine’s Day”) as the girl of his dreams named Audrey (just like author and his wife).

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Natalie Perkins, 6, loves to read. One of her favorite authors is Dr. Seuss. Each student received [...]]]> Dr. Seuss books seems still has many admirer even today, years after its publication. As you can see on below post, Dr Seuss is still loved by many and still become inspirational source for other creative medium, including films.

Natalie Perkins, 6, loves to read. One of her favorite authors is Dr. Seuss. Each student received a free book, listened to Mayor Dennis Tyler read about trees, played a game of rhyming Jeopardy and, of course, read Seuss books with loved ones.

Directed by Chris Renaud and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio for Illumination Entertainment’s Chris Meledandri, this version of dr. seuss “The Lorax” certainly creates a lively and colorful — some would say too colorful — visual landscape, with special attention being paid to the dazzling, cotton-candy topped Truffula trees.

“This is our third family reading night this year,” said South View Principal Kara Miller. South View third-grade teacher Judy Woodson, who helped plan Thursday’s event, agreed.

Dr. Seuss

Meyer said the library celebrates the Read Across America every year. Read Across America, developed by the National Education Association (NEA), is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

Back when he was a youth, the Once-ler relates in flashback how he came to this place when it was thick with Truffula trees and cheerful creatures like Bar-ba-loots and Humming-Fish. “I speak for the trees.”

The dr. seuss Lorax might have been speaking, but the Once-ler wasn’t listening. “Who cares if a few trees are dying?” he said.

If you want to know more about Dr. Seuss, especially its video, you can refer to below video :

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