Koleksi Blog

History of this blog

2011-09-02T12:38:00.004+07:00

After I wrote the article about my adsense,now it's time to sharing about history.Well,today I am enthusiastic to update new article because i want to apply my english writing.Ok friends,I would prefer to say friend than another because we are friend no enemy.

I decided to start writing down experience last year.But at first i made a blog just for consolation,then i tried to register google adsense and first time i was rejected then i tried to register again and accepted.I thought that i wanted to produce money from google adsense but in fact my purpose had gone when i knew that earning from GA is very difficult because you had to have a earn as big as 100$ whereas my earn just had 30$,it's less 70$ to earning,it was difficult in my mind if you aren't really serious to get it.

I wrote down the article about news,information,download software,then i started to blogwalking adn exchange link until my blog was more increase.My article was more copas(copy paste) than pure article.

So right now i want to make the original article from author is me,although my english is so bad but i want to improve than before,therefore i start to learn english.

so this my story of this blog,so thanks for reading this article,im very grateful to you...

My adsense has been three years

2011-09-02T09:13:00.004+07:00

Hello friends,I'm back to update my blog,How are you today ? Today is special day because I can post article hehehe just intermezzo.

Ok in my holiday,I don't go anywhere,so I'm in home ,therefore I'm using my time to learning.Do you know what I learn ?Well,I learn about english grammar,so that I can write my blog very well than before hehehehe.

Now is my adsense.My adsense(google adsense) has been three years but I never haven't earned from my adsense,you know why ? it's because my dollar hasn't reached 100$ because the rule of google adsense said,"You can earn your money if it hasn't reached 100$",so that until today I can't do that(earning my adsense).I like writing experience with english so fun

Thanks for reading my article,i will be back with another one

The author is very lazy to update the blog

2011-08-27T06:48:00.003+07:00

Now in August,Long time no update because there are many problem that is still confused me.I don't have idea to update new article.the author is still learning english in order to update this blog So stay tuned but I want to start from here that I will start to write english article in here.In my holiday I don't go anywhere just stay at home and my entertainment is my laptop.Because it makes me no bored.I can look the world with internet.

I have good the book of learning engish.What is the title of it ? it's "53 English Grammar For the utterely confused" I could this book from internet and I am still learning it.

I hope that there is no grammartical incorrect because im still learning.

Have a nice day friends

The social networking Google+

2011-07-06T20:17:00.008+07:00

After google released button+ which is very interesting,suddenly google released something new is google plus which is similiar with facebook.We can write on wall like facebook,We can separate between friends with the boss is very fantastic,isn't ?the feature which not owned by facebook.Many users don't want to be seen by public and in google plus it can be done.

the more review about google plus

Now facebook has a rivaval.The google plus still beta so no everyone who be able register.To register have to is invited.

website of google plus

srry if my english is so bad,I'm still learning english.

PageRank up become 3

2011-06-28T09:48:00.001+07:00

I haven't already updated my blog,because I were bored to update the contain of this blog.Now I am studying english through internet such as : youtube,www.engvid.com(this web is very good to study english) for my future.I was lazy to blogwalking because of my activity.

Suddenly,time I visited my blog and tried to check my pagerank that before my pagerank is 2,at moment I checked my pagerank,it will become 3 it was nice...

Although I rarely updated but it's amazing my pagerank up one....

as thanksgiving for you whom always visited my blog I will give one video.

This video about my dog whom named minnie.Minnie will give us danced that will make us to laugh heehehehhe....

Please watch this video

Obama to supporters: I understand your frustration

2011-04-21T14:46:00.000+07:00

SAN FRANCISCO – Easing into his 2012 campaign, President Barack Obama is telling his supporters he understands their frustration over the compromises he's made with Republicans, while preparing them for more to come.

It's a timely warning given the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling and the ongoing debate over long-term deficit reduction, both issues Obama says can only be solved if Republicans and Democrats work together. But further compromises could prove a tough pill to swallow for many of Obama's liberal backers, who have grown tired of watching the president cede ground to the GOP on spending cuts and tax breaks for the wealthy.

During a raucous fundraiser focused on young people in San Francisco Wednesday night, Obama said his supporters are not alone in their frustration.

"There are times when I've felt the same way you do. It's a big, complicated, messy democracy," he said. "We knew this wouldn't be easy."

Obama's three-day West Coast swing — his most extensive travel since announcing his re-election bid — offered a glimpse of how Obama will seek to reenergize the independents and first-time voters who carried him to victory in 2008. Obama's rallying cry is that more work needs to be done in order to make the vision of America he promised a reality, and he is the only one who can see those hopes through.

"It is going to take more than a couple of years," Obama said. "It's going to take us more than one term to finish everything that we need to do."

Obama senior adviser David Plouffe offered a more sobering political forecast to the hundreds of young supporters gathered for the nighttime rally.

"This is going to be a close campaign," Plouffe said. "The one thing we better assume is that it's going to be closer than the last one."

After a third fundraiser here Thursday morning, Obama was to make stops in Reno, Nev., and Los Angeles. The president was scheduled to return to Washington Friday afternoon.

Obama was coupling his fundraising efforts with a series of town hall meetings aimed at selling his plan for cutting deficit spending directly to a wary public.

"The deficit is real, our debt is real. We've got to do something about it. But how we do it is going to make a huge difference," Obama said during a smaller, high-dollar fundraiser Wednesday night.

The president and Republicans have both offered plans for bringing down the deficit, but vast differences exist over how to do so. The president is calling for $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 12 years, through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes on the wealthy, while House Republicans have passed a plan that would reduce the deficit by nearly $6 trillion in a decade, in part by overhauling Medicare and Medicaid.

The president and Republicans have accused each other of pitching "radical" plans.

"I think it's fair to say that their vision is radical," Obama told a town hall gathering Wednesday at the headquarters of Facebook, the huge social network company.

Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, returned fire. "What's radical is piling up $9 trillion more in debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids," he said, echoing a GOP criticism that Obama's plan would accomplish too little.

Obama's mixing of politics and policy on this West Coast swing is a harbinger of things to come as he balances campaigning with the duties of the presidency.

White House aides insist the president is only involved in the reelection campaign from a distance at this point. But with fundraisers and campaign-style town hall meetings quickly becoming staples in his schedule, it's clear Obama is already in re-election mode.

SOURCE:YAHOO!NEWS

Officials: Pressure rises again in Japan reactor

2011-03-20T12:29:00.000+07:00

FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Technicians prepared to vent radioactive gas into the air Sunday because of a new spike in pressure at Japan's crippled, leaking nuclear complex, while a safety official said protective iodine pills should have been distributed near the plant days earlier.

Radiation, a danger for days in areas around the plant, already has seeped into the food supply, with the government warning that tests of spinach and milk from areas as far as 75 miles (120 kilometers) away exceeded safety limts. Tap water farther away turned up tiny amounts of radioactive iodine in Tokyo and other areas.

Amid concerns of wider contamination, a nuclear safety official said the government was caught off-guard by the accident's severity and only belatedly realized the need to give potassium iodide to those living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

The pills help reduce the chances of thyroid cancer, one of the diseases that may develop from radiation exposure. The official, Kazuma Yokota, said an explosion at the plant's Unit 3 reactor last Sunday should have triggered the distribution. But the order only came three days later.

"We should have made this decision and announced it sooner," Yokota told reporters at the emergency command center in the city of Fukushima. "It is true that we had not foreseen a disaster of these proportions. We had not practiced or trained for something this bad. We must admit that we were not fully prepared."

While four of Fukushima's six nuclear reactors have been dangerously overheating since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disrupted cooling systems, Unit 3 has proved particularly troublesome.

After the government said Saturday that the unit appeared to be stabilizing after being doused with water, nuclear safety officials said the efforts may not have worked. Pressure was rising again inside the reactor's containment vessel, requiring a release of radioactive gas to prevent a more dangerous buildup, said safety agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama.

The venting is an "unavoidable measure to protect the containment vessel," Nishiyama said. He warned that a larger amount of radiation would have to be released than when similar venting was done a week ago because more nuclear fuel have have degraded since then.

While battling Unit 3, emergency teams used an unmanned vehicle to spray water at another at-risk reactor — Unit 4 — while preparing to switch power back on for the first time since a March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's crucial cooling systems.

However, there was no guarantee the cooling systems would still work, even once power was restored.

Japan has been struggling with an overwhelming chain of disasters prompted by the 9.0-magnitude quake. The quake spawned a tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeastern coast, killing more than 8,100 people and knocking out cooling systems at the plant, prompting overheated reactors and fuel to leak radiation.

More than 12,000 people are still missing, and more than 452,000 are living in shelters.

__

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo, as did Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Tim Sullivan, Joji Sakurai, and Jeff Donn.

Source Yahoo!News

Obama budget: Some cuts, not the slashes GOP asks

2011-02-15T11:02:00.001+07:00

WASHINGTON – Putting on the brakes after two years of big spending increases, President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.7 trillion budget plan Monday that would freeze or reduce some safety-net programs for the nation's poor but turn aside Republican demands for more drastic cuts to shrink the government to where it was before he took office.

The 10-year blueprint makes "tough choices and sacrifices," Obama said in his official budget message. Yet the plan, which sets the stage for this week's nasty congressional fight over cuts in the budget year that's already more than one-third over, steers clear of deeply controversial long-term problem areas such as Social Security and Medicare.

The budget relies heavily on the recovering economy, tax increases and rosy economic assumptions to estimate that the federal deficit would drop from this year's record $1.6 trillion — an astronomical figure that requires the government to borrow 43 cents out of every dollar it spends — to about $600 billion after five years.

Obama foresees a deficit of $1.1 trillion for the new budget year, which begins Oct. 1, still very high by historical benchmarks but moving in the right direction.

The president claims $1.1 trillion in deficit savings over the coming decade for his plan, a 12 percent cut from the federal deficits the administration otherwise projects. But that figure includes almost $650 billion in spending cuts and new transportation revenues the administration won't specify.

Obama would trade cuts to some domestic programs to pay for increases in education, infrastructure and research as necessary investments that he judges to be important to the country's competitiveness in a global economy.

But he also raises taxes by $1.6 trillion over the coming decade, much of it from allowing recently renewed tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year to expire in two years — he signed a two-year extension of them into law just two months ago — and from curbing their tax deductions for charitable contributions, mortgage interest and state and local tax payments.

Despite his spending cuts and tax increases, the government's total debt would still mushroom from $14.2 trillion now to almost $21 trillion by 2016. Republicans assailed his blueprint for failing to take the lead on the nation's daunting fiscal problems.

"People vote for presidents because they want leadership," House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in an interview. "They expect presidents to take on the greatest challenges facing the country. Well, the biggest crisis we have is the debt, and he's doing absolutely nothing to get it under control."

While Obama's budget total of $3.7 trillion would be down slightly from this year's estimated $3.8 trillion, lower war costs and naturally declining stimulus spending are chiefly responsible.

A year after appointing a bipartisan commission to recommend ways to deal with the debt, Obama would bypass almost all of its painful prescriptions to cut huge benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare. But the president said he understood more must be done.

"The only way to truly tackle our deficit is to cut excessive spending wherever we find it, in domestic spending, defense spending, health care spending and spending through tax breaks and loopholes," Obama said at a middle school outside Baltimore. "So what we've done here is make a down payment."

The White House and its allies said the administration was willing to go further in taking on the long-term problems of Social Security, Medicare and other huge benefit programs. But for Obama to go out on a limb and propose them now, they said, could be counterproductive. It would invite partisan attacks and rally interest groups in opposition.

Instead, Obama appears to be counting on private talks with lawmakers to spark action on the deficit this year, especially in the Senate, where a bipartisan group including several members of the Obama's debt commission are trying to be that catalyst.

"Ultimately the best strategy for getting a result is if we demonstrate in the Senate — Republicans and Democrats — that there's some serious prospect of taking this on," said Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who's taking part in the Senate talks.

The $1.1 trillion in claimed budget savings over the coming decade combines cuts in domestic agency budgets with tax increases and modest curbs to benefit programs like Medicare. But the administration claims more than $300 billion of that savings — to pay for preventing a cut in Medicare payments to doctors — without specifying where it would come from. An additional $328 billion would come from unspecified "bipartisan financing" to pay for transportation infrastructure projects like high speed rail lines and road and bridge construction.

To reduce the annual deficit to a relatively manageable $607 billion by 2015, or 3.2 percent of gross domestic product, the White House gives optimistic estimates for the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and relies on significantly rosier economic predictions than does the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The White House estimates economic growth averaging 4 percent over 2013-2016; CBO predicts a more modest 3.4 percent.

"They are certainly on the upbeat side," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

The rosy economic projections help the administration project significantly more tax revenues than otherwise would occur — on the order of $1.7 trillion over the upcoming decade when compared with CBO estimates.

While the budget deficit would drop to $645 billion in 2014, Obama's policies have virtually nothing to do with it. In fact, his promised $36 billion in deficit reduction in 2014 could be erased by higher war costs than the administration estimates. In the current year, the administration's policies actually would increase the deficit by $31 billion, in part by proposing a $250 payment to Social Security beneficiaries that's already been rejected on Capitol Hill.

The president's projected $1.6 trillion deficit for the current year would be the highest dollar amount ever, surpassing the $1.4 trillion deficit hit in 2009. It would also represent 10.8 percent of the total economy, the highest level since the deficit stood at 21.5 percent of gross domestic product in 1945, reflecting heavy borrowing to fight World War II.

The president's 2012 budget projects that the deficits will total $7.2 trillion over the next decade with the imbalances never falling below $607 billion. Even that would exceed the deficit record before Obama took office of $459 billion in 2008, President George W. Bush's last year in office.

Obama's budget would also raise $46 billion over 10 years by eliminating various tax breaks to oil, gas and coal companies — proposals that went nowhere when Democrats controlled Congress and are even less likely to pass now that Republicans control the House.

While Obama's budget avoided painful choices in entitlement programs, it did call for $78 billion in cuts from the Pentagon's future plans, to kill a program opposed by Obama to build an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a move opposed by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, whose state is a principal beneficiary. Obama would also terminate a new amphibious assault vehicle for the Marine Corps; it's well behind schedule and way over budget.

Administration officials also said that the savings from limiting tax deductions for high income taxpayers would be used to keep the Alternative Minimum Tax from hitting more middle-class families over the next two years.

The budget proposes cutting grants for airports and funding awarded to states for water treatment plants, and proposes cutting energy subsidies for the poor in half, reversing huge gains awarded by Democrats the past two years.

Obama's budget for next year comes as House Republicans are trying to slash current-year spending by $61 billion, a proposal that would cut domestic agencies funded by Congress each year by almost one-quarter over the second half of the budget year.

Republicans are taking on many of the very programs Obama wants to increase. Obama is seeking $53 billion for high-speed rail over the next few years; Republicans are trying to pull back $2.5 billion that's already been promised. He's seeking increases for his "Race to the Top" initiative that provides grants to better-performing schools; Republicans on Friday unveiled a 5 percent cut to schools serving the disadvantaged.

___

AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

Source Yahoo!News

FACEBOOK WILL END ON MARCH 15th! why ?

2011-01-09T14:01:00.002+07:00

PALO ALTO, CA –Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.

“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said that the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

Some Facebook users were furious upon hearing the shocking news.

“What am I going to do without Facebook?” said Denise Bradshaw, a high school student from Indiana. “My life revolves around it. I’m on Facebook at least 10 hours a day. Now what am I going to do with all that free time?”

However, parents across the country have been experiencing a long anticipated sense of relief.

“I’m glad the Facebook nightmare is over,” said Jon Guttari, a single parent from Detroit. “Now my teenager’s face won’t be glued to a computer screen all day. Maybe I can even have a conversation with her.”

Those in the financial circuit are criticizing Zuckerberg for walking away from a multibillion dollar franchise. Facebook is currently ranked as one of the wealthiest businesses in the world, with economists estimating its value at around 7.9 billion.

But Zuckerberg remains unruffled by these accusations. He says he will stand by his decision to give Facebook the axe.

“I don’t care about the money,” said Zuckerberg. “I just want my old life back.”

The Facebook Corporation suggests that users remove all of their personal information from the website before March 15th. After that date, all photos, notes, links, and videos will be permanently erased.

Source weeklyworldnews.com

Obama sets mission for new team: Accelerate growth

2011-01-08T09:58:00.003+07:00

WASHINGTON – His presidency tied to the fate of the economy, Barack Obama is revamping his economic policy team and signaling cooperation to ascendant Republicans and the business community at a pivotal moment in the nation's recovery and Washington politics.

The president is surrounding himself with veterans of the Clinton administration. Chief of staff William Daley, economic overseer Gene Sperling and recently confirmed budget director Jacob Lew form an inner circle with a history of bipartisanship and experience in the art of the deal.

"Our mission has to be to accelerate hiring and accelerate growth," the president declared Friday at a window manufacturing plant in suburban Maryland.

It's a mission facing political and economic crosscurrents, underscored Friday by a mixed bag of an unemployment report and a relatively upbeat but cautionary assessment of the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Labor Department said unemployment dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent and private employers added a net total of 103,000 jobs last month. But the drop in unemployment was due partly to people who stopped looking for work.

Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee that there's rising evidence that a self-sustaining recovery is taking hold. "Overall, the pace of economic recovery seems likely to be moderately stronger in 2011 than it was in 2010," he said.

Continued high unemployment and slow growth into 2012 would certainly haunt Obama's reelection campaign. But the ability to shape an economic policy is complicated by a divided Congress where Republicans are demanding deficit reductions while many Democrats seek more spending to spur the economy.

Obama has moved to have it both ways, and to appeal to Republicans and business leaders who find value in international trade deals. To that end, he is wielding an economic message centered on competitiveness that spends on education initiatives to retool the workforce, embraces trade and provides tax breaks to businesses.

At the same time, with a new chief of staff and a new director of the National Economic Council in place at the White House, Obama also is turning his focus toward tackling the deficit and debt.

"Everybody knows that the long-run fiscal situation facing the country is one that we've got to address, and the president's not afraid of that," White House economist Austan Goolsbee said. "You will see when the president releases his budget in the coming weeks that he's got a tough-minded approach."

With Daley, Sperling and Lew, Obama enters the second two years of his presidency counseled by Clinton era officials who have worked across party lines to cut economic deals. They recall a happier time, when unemployment was low, budgets were balanced and the economy was humming.

Sperling was a key player in the bipartisan negotiations in December that extended Bush era tax rates for all taxpayers, including the wealthy — a Republican priority — but also included Obama priorities such as an extension of a refundable earned income tax credit and a 2 percent, year-long payroll tax cut.

As director of the White House National Economic Council, Sperling will have a hand in shaping the course of nearly all of the administration's economic policies, including looming battles with Republican lawmakers on spending cuts and raising the debt ceiling.

"He's a public servant who has devoted his life to making this economy work — and making it work, specifically, for middle-class families," Obama said.

Daley, a member of the Chicago political family dynasty, brings his record as a banker and political insider to the White House. As Clinton's Commerce Secretary, he was a champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement — a pact that left a legacy of bitterness among some sectors of the Democratic Party.

Before joining the White House Daley has advocated a moderate path for Obama and is a board member of the centrist group Third Way.

On Friday, Obama also nominated Katharine G. Abraham to his Council of Economic Advisers and Heather Higginbottom as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. Those two posts require Senate confirmation. Obama also elevated economic adviser Jason Furman to assistant to the president for economic policy.

The changes set the stage for Obama's State of the Union speech later this month. Expected to emphasize economic themes, it will be a blueprint not only for governing but an initial marker of his reelection campaign.

But first, the president is engaging in some high-profile outreach to the business community. On Tuesday, he will go to Schenectady, N.Y., to tour a future GE battery manufacturing plant with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt. In four weeks, he will cross Lafayette Park in front of the White House to address the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade group that has battled his top policy initiatives on health care and financial regulation.

But the Chamber can also be a potential partner for Obama, supporting greater spending on infrastructure and helping push trade deals in Congress.

The president also has been prodding businesses to shake loose untapped corporate cash and create more jobs.

At the Thompson Creek Window Company in Landover, Md., on Friday, Obama took note of the recent tax deal that allows businesses to expense 100 percent of their investments in 2011. The president made a direct appeal to other companies, telling them now is the time to capitalize on that opportunity.

"If you are planning or thinking about making investments sometime in the future, make those investments now, and you're going to make money," Obama said.

-----

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Source Yahoo!News ^^

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T15:19:00.005+07:00

I on behalf of the owner of this blog to congratulate Christmas, God bless you

Regard Steven Gunanto.

Cache in Chinese Mountain Reveals 20,000 Prehistoric Fossils

2010-12-23T14:34:00.002+07:00

A giant cache of nearly 20,000 fossil reptiles, shellfish and a host of other prehistoric creatures unearthed from a mountain in China is now revealing how life recovered after the most devastating mass extinction on Earth.

This research could help point out which species might be more or less susceptible to extinction nowadays, and how the world might recover from the damage caused by humanity, scientists added.

Life was nearly completely wiped out approximately 250 million years ago by massive volcanic eruptions and devastating global warming. Only one in 10 species survived this cataclysmic end-Permian event.

Much was uncertain regarding the steps life took to piece itself back together after this disaster, or even how long it took. Now the clearest picture yet of this recovery has been discovered by a team of researchers, who excavated away half a mountain in Luoping in southwest China to unearth thousands of marine fossils, the first fully functional ecosystem seen after the end-Permian.

"The pattern and timing of recovery can tell us something about how life today might recover after human-induced crises," said researcher Michael Benton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England.

[Learn more: What exactly is a fossil, anyway?]

A trove of fossils

The 50-foot-thick (16 meters) layer of limestone that held these fossils dates back to when south China was a large island just north of the equator with a tropical climate. A smattering of fossil land plants suggest this marine community lived near a conifer forest.

Click image to see photos of the prehistoric fossils

Shixue Hu, Chengdu Geological Center in China

The fossils are exceptionally well-preserved, with more than half of them completely intact, including soft tissues. Apparently they were protected across the ages by mats of microbes that rapidly sealed their bodies off from decay after death.

"Soft tissues can give us more profound information about larger patterns of evolution and relationships, such as the feathers on dinosaurs," Benton said. "Soft tissues in some of the marine creatures may help us understand diet and locomotion."

Ninety percent of the fossils are bug-like creatures, such as crustaceans, millipedes and horseshoe crabs. Fish make up 4 percent, including the "living fossil" known as the coelacanth, which is still alive today nearly 250 million years later. Snails, bivalves (creatures including clams and oysters), squid-like belemnoids, nautilus-like ammonoids and other mollusks make up about 2 percent of the fossils.

The largest creature the scientists found was a thalattosaur, a marine reptile about 10 feet (3 meters) in length, which would have preyed on the larger fishes there, which reached lengths of about 3 feet (1 m). Other predatory marine reptiles the scientists found include dolphin-bodied ichthyosaurs.

"Every time we find a new site like this, we get closer to what life in the past was really like," Benton told LiveScience.

A long time to heal

This extraordinarily detailed snapshot of a diverse bygone ecosystem reveals that life took a long time to heal from the massive damage it received - 10 million years, which is even more than it took life to recover after the K-T event that claimed the dinosaurs.

"Recovery after most mass extinctions, including the K-T, seems to have taken 1 million to 4 million years," Benton said. "The end-Permian event was so profound, killing perhaps 90 percent of species, that ecosystems had nothing left to hang their structure on."

"The importance of the discovery that ecosystems took 10 million years to recover completely reflects the unequalled severity of the event," Benton said.

Some marine animals such as the ammonoids did recover fast, within 1 million to 2 million years, but "physical environmental conditions continued to suffer setbacks for the 4 million to 5 million years of the Early Triassic, with four or five pulses of sudden heating and ocean stagnation," Benton said, referring to severe climate changes and reduced ocean water circulation. "The Luoping site and evidence from older locations in south China shows that ecosystems in total had not recovered until some 10 million years after the crisis."

[Rewind: Fossil evidence reveals existence of gigantic penguins]

The researchers now plan to explore the recovery over the ecosystem's entire life span to see which species recovered when and how the food web rebuilt itself. In addition, "we hope to now explore all the amazing fossil organisms from Luoping - this has only just begun and will take many years to document in detail," Benton said.

The scientists, led by Shixue Hu of the Chengdu Geological Center in western China, detailed their findings online Dec. 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Source Yahoo! News ^^

'Spider-Man' stunt goes awry; is show in peril?

2010-12-22T12:56:00.001+07:00

NEW YORK – Broadway might need a superhero to save the new Spider-Man musical. "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," the most expensive production in Broadway history, suffered its fourth accident in a month when a stuntman playing the web-slinger fell about 30 feet into a stage pit during a preview Monday night. The safety tether that clips to his back failed to prevent the spill.

The performer, Christopher W. Tierney, was wheeled out of the Foxwoods Theatre on a stretcher, still in his costume, and taken by ambulance to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries. He suffered broken ribs and internal bleeding, said a castmate, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the musical.

An uncle in Florida, Michael Tierney, said when reached by phone Tuesday night that he had spoken with his nephew a few hours ago. "He sounded pretty good," Tierney said, adding that his nephew was still at the hospital when he spoke with him.

In a statement, Actors' Equity said investigators determined that the accident was caused by human error. It gave no details but said additional safety measures are being undertaken.

A state Department of Labor spokesman said the cause was under investigation.

The fall was the latest setback for the troubled, $65 million show.

Conceived by Tony-winning director Julie Taymor and U2's Bono and The Edge, who wrote the music, "Spider-Man" has been more than eight years in the making. It has been plagued by delays, money woes and several other accidents, including one in which an actress suffered a concussion and another in which a performer broke his wrists in an aerial stunt. Its official opening has been postponed twice, to early February.

The huge costs — a 41-member cast, 18 orchestra members, complicated sets and 27 daring aerial stunts, including a battle between two characters over the audience — mean the 1,928-seat theater will have to virtually sell out every show for several years just to break even. The weekly running bill has been put as high as $1 million. (Tickets are $67.50 to $135 for weekday performances, $67.50 to $140 on weekends.)

A spokesman for "Spider-Man," Rick Miramontez, said in a statement that new safety measures ordered by the government after the latest accident have been adopted. Wednesday's matinee was canceled, but Wednesday night's show will go on, Miramontez said. (No performance had been scheduled for Tuesday.)

Leo Rosales, spokesman for the New York Department of Labor, said the show's producers had not yet presented new safety protocols and would do so on Wednesday. If the measures were inadequate, he said, the state won't let the show perform the complicated aerial maneuvers.

"If it takes longer, it will need to take longer," he said of the show's timing. "We need to be satisfied."

Taymor, the director, said in a statement: "An accident like this is obviously heartbreaking for our entire team and, of course, to me personally. I am so thankful that Chris is going to be alright and is in great spirits. Nothing is more important than the safety of our Spider-Man family and we'll continue to do everything in our power to protect the cast and crew."

One audience member who attended Monday's performance, Brian Lynch, said he knew of the previous mishaps and still wanted to come.

"I was making jokes about it earlier in the day," said Lynch, visiting from Hollywood, Calif. "I said if anyone got hurt I was ready to jump in and help out. I never thought it would happen, I thought they probably worked it all out. I really didn't think it would happen like it did. It was pretty horrific."

The accident happened during the show's big finale, when the Green Goblin drops Mary Jane and Spider-Man leaps to her rescue.

"But then he just kept falling, it seemed, and then everything went dark and then people, crew ran up to the stage and we heard the girl playing Mary Jane screaming from the pit," Lynch said.

"Spider-Man" might yet prevail. Other Broadway shows have struggled with getting their sets and stunts to work during previews, including "Mary Poppins," whose house set went off track in 2006, and "Titanic," which was plagued by numerous technical problems during a month of previews in 1997. Both were hits.

Mary Martin, who starred many times in productions of "Peter Pan," had numerous accidents, "beauts," as she flew about the stage. A year before she died, in a 1989 interview with the Chicago Tribune, she recalled smashing into a concrete wall during a rehearsal as she was trying to show the children in the cast that they shouldn't fear being in the air.

"It was like a cannon shot," Martin said. "I thought, `My God, these kids will never fly now,' never thinking that my arm might be broken. So we went right back and I said, `Now we're going to fly it like it should be,' and we did, and it went perfectly."

But "Spider-Man" — whose costs beat the previous most expensive Broadway show, the $25 million "Shrek The Musical" — has reached a dangerous level of attention: fodder for comics. Online, where parodies by "Saturday Night Live" and "Conan" poking fun of the musical's early technical problems had recently been eagerly passed around, the tone shifted Tuesday from jokey schadenfreude to mild outrage.

An actor from TV's "Modern Family," Jesse Tyler Ferguson, wisecracked: "I'm torn between wanting to see `Spider-Man' on Broadway and not wanting to see someone literally die doing musical theater."

The production — supervised by Juniper Street Productions, a management firm that has overseen such Broadway and Las Vegas productions as "The Producers" and "Promises, Promises" — has been under investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration since Nov. 2 at the request of the state Labor Department, according to OSHA.

"It's certainly going to be continuing as a result of the latest incident," OSHA spokesman John Chavez said.

The state Department of Labor inspected 37 separate aerial maneuvers planned for the show at rehearsals in November and approved the use of all equipment in the show, Rosales said. "From what we saw back then," he said, the maneuvers appeared to be safe.

Miramontez said OSHA, Actors' Equity and New York State labor officials met with the "Spider-Man" company on Tuesday to discuss additional safety measures, and "it was agreed that these measures would be enacted immediately."

Tierney, who appeared in the national tour of "Moving Out" and in "Dirty Dancing" in Toronto, is the show's main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man and the villains Meeks and Kraven the Hunter. The castmate who spoke on condition of anonymity said the cable to Tierney's harness snapped. But one special-effects expert raised the possibility that the rope was not hooked up securely.

Scott Fisher, president of Fisher Technical Services Inc. of in Las Vegas, which builds equipment for aerial stunts for the show, said the rope was supposed to be clipped to the stage at one end and the performer's back at the other.

"The stage crew would have been responsible for making the connection for hooking him up," Fisher said. "The actor is responsible for making the final check that he's good to go. It's sort of like packing your own parachute."

He said the script called for the stuntman to lurch forward at the end of a ramp as if leaping to Mary Jane's rescue. "He runs and stops and freezes in a position that you wouldn't normally be able to hold unless you had a little support from behind him," Fisher said. "If that's not hooked up and he leans forward, he's going to fall forward."

Fisher said the rope was not part of his company's onstage flight systems. But he said it was unlikely to have snapped: It is a 10,000-pound line.

After the actor fell, screaming could be heard coming from the pit.

"A voice yelled, `Someone call 911!' Then there was a silence," an audience member, fashion blogger Mariana Leung, wrote on the website NearSay.com. "A minute later, the stage was still dark. Then there was an announcement that the show would be delayed. A few minutes later, a second announcement that the performance would not continue. The lights came up."

Just last week, the show's lead producer, Michael Cohl, delayed the official opening for the second time, pushing it back from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7. He cited "some unforeseeable setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member."

The first preview on Nov. 28 did not go well. The musical had to be halted five times because of technical glitches, and actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man's evil love interest Arachne, was hit in the head by a rope and suffered a concussion. She was sidelined for two weeks.

___

Associated Press writers John Carucci, Tom McElroy, Karen Matthews, Ula Ilnytzky and Sara Kugler Frazier, Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Broadcast correspondent Warren Levinson and AP news researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.

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Dog in Germany gives birth to 17 puppies

2010-12-21T22:46:00.001+07:00

BERLIN – A dog in Germany has given birth to 17 puppies, leaving their owner thrilled but fatigued after having to feed them with a bottle for several weeks because their mother couldn't cope with the demand.

Owner Ramona Wegemann said Monday she barely slept for more than a couple of minutes without interruption during about four weeks in an "exhausting" struggle to make sure all of the purebred Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies would survive.

She said when she was "finished feeding the last puppy, the first was hungry again."

Wegemann's dog Etana gave birth to eight female and nine male puppies on Sept. 28 in Ebereschenhof, which is near Berlin.

At least five times a day, Wegemann gave the dogs a bottle with special milk because their mother's nipples could have never coped with the demand, and when the puppies were not hungry, they wanted to be entertained, she said.

Wegemann said when dogs give birth to so many puppies several of them die within the first week. "But all of our puppies survived. This is incredible and wonderful," the 32-year-old added.

It was the second time that Etana gave birth. She gave birth to eight puppies in her first pregnancy, not uncommon for the dog's breed, Wegemann said.

"The birth of the puppies was very special. All puppies were born naturally, no cesarean was necessary," she added. It took Etana a full 26 hours to give birth to all of the puppies — and Wegemann was as baffled as amazed.

But caring for 17 puppies turned out to be a full-time job: Wegemann put her work as an independent animal psychiatrist on a hold and her husband took as much vacation as he could.

Their lives have been turned upside down by the puppies, and their living room is now occupied by a giant box that houses the puppies.

But even Wegemann still struggles to recognize them: The females puppies are called Bahati, Binta, Bahya, Bashima, Batouuli, Binki, Bora, Bisa and the male ones are Baakir, Banjoku, Belay, Bruk, Bundu, Bayo, Bukekayo, Biton and Bulus.

Wegemann gave them all African names because the Rhodesian Ridgeback is an African hunting dog. Wegeman and her husband now plan to give most of the puppies away.

A price of ?800 ($1,050) per puppy would only cover the expenses for the veterinary, vaccinations, food and the mandatory paperwork, Wegemann said. She hopes to get about ?1,000 ($1,315) per dog, but said they would only give them to families with children, not breeders.

Four of the puppies have been sold, two more are already paid for and will leave their siblings shortly.

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North Korea says won't react to South drill

2010-12-20T21:12:00.002+07:00

YEONPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea said it would not react to "reckless" military drills by the South on Monday, despite an earlier threat to retaliate, and CNN reported that Pyongyang had agreed to the return of nuclear inspectors.

Air-raid bunkers on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong shook during the live-fire artillery exercise, which went on for just over 90 minutes, but the North Korean guns that had shelled the island after a similar drill last month stayed silent.

"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation," the official KCNA news agency said, quoting a communique from the North's Korean People's Army Supreme Command that dismissed the drills as a "childish play with fire."

The U.N. Security Council was deadlocked in its efforts to ease tensions on the divided peninsula, but the lack of North Korean response and the nuclear offer reportedly made to U.S. troubleshooter Bill Richardson offered some breathing space.

"The situation is very tense," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. "There can be no optimism in this situation."

South Korean financial markets took the day's events in their stride, recovering from early falls, but international investors remained concerned, with the cost of insuring South Korean sovereign debt for five years rising 10 percent.

The mercurial North had threatened it would strike back if its neighbor went ahead with the live-fire exercise.

On November 23, North Korean artillery had shelled Yeonpyeong, close to the disputed maritime border off the west coast of the Korean peninsula, killing four people, in the worst attack on South Korean territory since the Korean war ended in 1953.

"It's a perfectly natural thing for a sovereign nation and a divided country to conduct military exercises to defend its territory in the face of military conflict," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a statement.

Monday's artillery exercise came hours after a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Korean peninsula crisis ended in an impasse, with Russia and China resisting an explicit condemnation of the North for last month's attack.

China's foreign ministry responded to the drills with a statement that said: "We strongly call for the relevant parties to maintain the greatest degree of restraint and adopt a responsible attitude to prevent the deterioration and escalation of the situation."

POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGH

But amid the diplomatic gloom, New Mexico Governor Richardson, visiting Pyongyang to try to ease tension, won agreement from North Korea to allow U.N. nuclear inspectors to return, according to CNN, which has a team traveling with him.

Pyongyang "agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency personnel to return to a nuclear facility in the country and agreed to negotiate the sale of 12,000 ... fuel rods and ship them to an outside country, presumably to South Korea," CNN said, quoting correspondent Wolf Blitzer in Pyongyang.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it could not confirm the agreement.

"We do not have the specific details yet, so it is too early to make an official evaluation," a spokesman said.

Richardson was visiting in an unofficial capacity, the traditional means of communication between the two sides, but it was unclear whether the reported agreement meant real progress, particularly given Pyongyang's poor record of honoring deals.

North Korea expelled inspectors in April 2009 after ripping up a previous disarmament-for-aid agreement.

"It means that they are prepared to give up, at least in part, the plutonium programme, which has been the source of the fuel rods they came up with," said North Korea expert Kim Yong-hyun of Dongguk University. "It would be considerable progress, if true."

However, North Korea last month unveiled major technical progress in uranium enrichment, suggesting another reason it could be willing to end the plutonium programme.

"There is obviously a large element of gamesmanship in North Koreans reported offer," said Mark FitzPatrick, a nuclear expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"It's a way to entice the U.S. and its allies to return to six-party talks, to discuss what the North Koreans would expect in exchange for these offers."

In Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had no immediate comment.

"The question is: what would the IAEA be asked to do?" said a diplomatic source, adding that one possibility was that North Korean wanted the IAEA to "tell the world" about its uranium enrichment programme.

NERVOUS MARKETS

Tension ahead of the military drills initially hit Korean markets when they opened on Monday, with the won falling nearly 2 percent to a four-week low against the dollar and stocks also down 1 percent in early trade.

But shares recouped most of their losses to close down just 0.3 percent, slightly outperforming the region as a whole, while the won ended local trade higher against the dollar.

Sunday's announcement that Seoul would impose a levy on the foreign debt of banks from late 2011 also weighed on markets. The move was Seoul's latest attempt to discourage too much speculative hot money flowing into South Korean assets, a reminder that local markets are bullish despite the tension.

Both sides have said they will use force to defend what they say is their territory off the west coast, raising international concern that the standoff could quickly spiral out of control.

Five-year credit default swaps for South Korean sovereign debt rose 9 basis points to 100 bps.

Russia had called Sunday's emergency Security Council meeting to try to prevent an escalation, but major powers failed to agree on a draft statement because of differences over whether to lay the blame on Pyongyang.

"The gaps that remain are unlikely to be bridged," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Other diplomats, however, said it was possible the Council could return to the issue as early as Monday.

Western diplomats said China and Russia were pushing for an ambiguous statement that would not have blamed North Korea for the crisis, but would have called on both sides to exercise restraint. Rice said the "vast majority" of council members did not want an ambiguous statement.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim, Yoo Choonsik and Jeremy Laurence in Seoul, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, Chris Buckley in Beijing and Frederik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Andrew Marshall and Alex Richardson; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Bones found on island might be Amelia Earhart's

2010-12-18T14:43:00.001+07:00

NORMAN, Okla. – The three bone fragments turned up on a deserted South Pacific island that lay along the course Amelia Earhart was following when she vanished. Nearby were several tantalizing artifacts: some old makeup, some glass bottles and shells that had been cut open.

Now scientists at the University of Oklahoma hope to extract DNA from the tiny bone chips in tests that could prove Earhart died as a castaway after failing in her 1937 quest to become the first woman to fly around the world.

"There's no guarantee," said Ric Gillespie, director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, a group of aviation enthusiasts in Delaware that found the pieces of bone this year while on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, about 1,800 miles south of Hawaii.

"You only have to say you have a bone that may be human and may be linked to Earhart and people get excited. But it is true that, if they can get DNA, and if they can match it to Amelia Earhart's DNA, that's pretty good."

It could be months before scientists know for sure — and it could turn out the bones are from a turtle. The fragments were found near a hollowed-out turtle shell that might have been used to collect rain water, but there were no other turtle parts nearby.

Earhart's disappearance on July 2, 1937, remains one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries. Did she run out of fuel and crash at sea? Did her Lockheed Electra develop engine trouble? Did she spot the island from the sky and attempt to land on a nearby reef?

"What were her last moments like? What was she doing? What happened?" asked Robin Jensen, an associate professor of communications at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., who has studied Earhart's writings and speeches.

Since 1989, Gillespie's group has made 10 trips to the island, trying each time to find clues that might help determine the fate of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Last spring, volunteers working at what seemed to be an abandoned campsite found one piece of bone that appeared to be from a neck and another unknown fragment dissimilar to bird or fish bones. A third fragment might be from a finger. The largest of the pieces is just over an inch long.

The area was near a site where native work crews found skeletal remains in 1940. Bird and fish carcasses suggested Westerners had prepared meals there.

"This site tells the story of how someone or some people attempted to live as castaways," Gillespie said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "These fish weren't eaten like Pacific Islanders" eat fish.

Millions of dollars have been spent in failed attempts to learn what happened to Earhart, a Kansas native declared dead by a California court in early 1939.

The official version says Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed at sea while flying from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, which had a landing strip and fuel.

Gillespie's book "Finding Amelia: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance," and "Amelia Earhart's Shoes," written by four volunteers from the aircraft group, suggest the pair landed on the reef and survived, perhaps for months, on scant food and rainwater.

Gillespie, a pilot, said the aviator would have needed only about 700 feet of unobstructed space to land because her plane would have been traveling only about 55 mph at touchdown.

"It looks like she could have landed successfully on the reef surrounding the island. It's very flat and smooth," Gillespie said. "At low tide, it looks like this place is surrounded by a parking lot."

However, Gillespie said, the plane, even if it landed safely, would have been slowly dragged into the sea by the tides. The waters off the reef are 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. His group needs $3 million to $5 million for a deep-sea dive.

The island is on the course Earhart planned to follow from Lae, New Guinea, to Howland Island, which had a landing strip and fuel. Over the last seven decades, searches of the remote atoll have been inconclusive.

After the latest find, anthropologists who had previously worked with Gillespie's group suggested that he send the bones to the University of Oklahoma's Molecular Anthropology Laboratory, which has experience extracting genetic material from old bones. Gillespie's group also has a genetic sample from an Earhart female relative for comparison with the bones.

The lab is looking for mitochondrial DNA, which is passed along only through females, so there is no need to have a Noonan sample.

Cecil Lewis, an assistant professor of anthropology at the lab, said the university received a little more than a gram of bone fragments about two weeks ago. If researchers are able to extract DNA and link it to Earhart, a sample would be sent to another lab for verification.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That's why we're trying to downplay a lot of the media attention right now," Lewis said. "For all we know, this is just a turtle bone, and a lot of people are going to be very disheartened."

Under the best circumstances, the analysis would take two weeks. If scientists have trouble with the sample, that time frame could stretch into months, Lewis said.

"Ancient DNA is incredibly unpredictable," he said.

Other material recovered this year also suggested the presence of Westerners at the isolated island site:

• Someone carried shells ashore before cutting them open and slicing out the meat. Islanders cut the meat out at sea.

• Bottles found nearby were melted on the bottom, suggesting they had been put into a fire, possibly to boil water. (A Coast Guard unit on the island during World War II would have had no need to boil water.)

• Bits of makeup were found. The group is checking to see which products Earhart endorsed and whether an inventory lists specific types of makeup carried on her final trip.

• A glass bottle with remnants of lanolin and oil, possibly hand lotion.

In 2007, the group found a piece of a pocket knife but didn't know whether it was left by the Coast Guard or castaways. This year, it found the shattered remains of the knife, suggesting someone had smashed it to extract the blades. Gillespie speculated a castaway used a blade to make a spear to stab shallow-water fish like those found at the campsite.

Following Earhart's disappearance, distress signals picked up by distant ships pointed back to the area of Nikumaroro Island, but while pilots passing over saw signs of recent habitation, the island was crossed off the list as having been searched, Gillespie said.

In 1940, a British overseer on the island recovered a partial human skeleton, a woman's shoe and an empty sextant box at what appeared to be a former campsite, littered with turtle, clamshell and bird remains.

Thinking of Earhart, the overseer sent the items to Fiji, where a British doctor decided they belonged to a stocky European or mixed-blood male, ruling out any Earhart connection.

The bones later vanished, but in 1998, Gillespie's group located the doctor's notes in London. Two other forensic specialists reviewed the doctor's bone measurements and agreed they were more "consistent with" a female of northern European descent, about Earhart's age and height.

On their own visits to the island, volunteers recovered an aluminum panel that could be from an Electra, another piece of a woman's shoe and a "cat's paw" heel dating from the 1930s; another shoe heel, possibly a man's, and an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas.

The sextant box might have been Noonan's. The woman's shoe and heel resemble a blucher-style oxford seen in a pre-takeoff photo of Earhart. The plastic shard is the exact thickness and curvature of an Electra's side window.

The body of evidence is intriguing, but Gillespie insists the team is "constantly agonizing over whether we are being dragged down a path that isn't right."

___

Associated Press Writer Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.

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USC defeats No. 19 Texas 73-56

2010-12-06T18:43:00.002+07:00

LOS ANGELES – Nikola Vucevic scored 16 of his career-high 24 points in the first half and Southern California beat No. 19 Texas 73-56 on Sunday night.

The Trojans (5-4) led the entire way in their biggest win of the season, snapping a two-game skid in front of about 25 NBA scouts. Alex Stepheson added 14 points and 11 rebounds, Maurice Jones had 12 points and Marcus Simmons 11 for USC in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series matchup.

J'Covan Brown led Texas with 17 points. Jordan Hamilton, from nearby Compton, was held to 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting, well off his average of 21.7 points. The Longhorns (6-2) came in averaging 78.6 points and had outscored their opponents by an average of 17.7.

But they were clearly riled by USC's defensive pressure, with Simmons keeping Hamilton in check and the Trojans contesting shots while capitalizing on fast-break chances.

The Trojans opened the second half with a 14-3 run, including nine straight points, to build 49-30 lead. Stepheson had six points in the spurt and freshman Bryce Jones provided the biggest highlight, taking a pass from Maurice Jones and scoring on a play that began when the Trojans blocked a shot at the Longhorns' end.

Texas twice got within 10, the first time by outscoring USC 11-2 midway through the half. Two free throws by Brown again drew them to 59-49 with 5:44 to play.

But Simmons continued harassing Hamilton, and Maurice Jones scored nine of USC's final 15 points. The Trojans made 13 of their final 16 free throws.

The Trojans built their largest lead of the first half, 33-20, on three consecutive 3-pointers, including two by Vucevic. Hamilton's only basket came on a goaltending call.

SKorea to boost troops as NKorea issues warning

2010-11-25T17:20:00.002+07:00

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea – South Korea's president vowed Thursday to boost troops on an island targeted by a North Korean artillery barrage, while the North stridently warned of additional attacks if the South carries out any "reckless military provocations."

Seoul and Washington ratcheted up the pressure on China to use its influence on ally North Korea to ease soaring tensions after an exchange of fire Tuesday that left four South Koreans dead — including two civilians. China urged both sides to show restraint.

The North's bombardment of this tiny South Korean island along a disputed maritime frontier — the first such attack on a civilian area — alarmed world leaders, including President Barack Obama, who reaffirmed plans for joint maneuvers with Seoul involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea starting Sunday.

"We should not let our guard down in preparation for another possible North Korean provocation," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said during an emergency meeting in Seoul on repercussions of the attack, presidential spokesman Hong Sang-pyo said. "I think a similar North Korean provocation could come at any time."

Yeonpyeong Island, home to military bases as well a fishing community of 1,300 residents, looked like a war zone Thursday, with homes and shops completely flattened and the streets strewn with blackened rubble, mangled window frames and shattered glass.

Hundreds of residents have already fled the devastation for the mainland, but a few were still rooting around the rubble looking for personal belonging and spending cold nights in underground shelters.

Hong said that South Korea will boost ground troops on Yeonpyeong and four other islands in western waters in response to this week's attack, reversing a 2006 decision calling for an eventual decrease. He declined to discuss specifics for the increase, but said troops there currently amount to about 4,000.

His comments came as South Korea's defense chief visited the island, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the port of Incheon west of Seoul but just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores.

The military was analyzing debris from North Korea's artillery and has not ruled out North Korea's use of thermobaric bombs, which burn more violently and increase casualties and property destruction, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. He asked not to be identified, saying he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The two Koreas are required to abide by an armistice signed at the close of the three-year war, but the North does not recognize the maritime line drawn by U.N. forces in 1953 and considers South Korean maneuvers near Yeonpyeong island a violation of its territory.

The attack added to animosity from the March sinking of a South Korean warship in nearby waters that killed 46 sailors in the worst military attack on the nation since the Korean War.

Skirmishes occur from time to time around the sea border, but Tuesday's attack was the first to target civilians and raised concerns about escalating hostilities leading to another war.

The shelling also comes as North Korea is undergoing a delicate transition of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his young son Kim Jong Un. The son, who is in late 20s, was made a four-star general and nominated to high-ranking Workers' Party posts in the first steps toward eventually succeeding his father.

The previously scheduled U.S.-South Korean drills set to begin Sunday and involving the carrier USS George Washington are sure to infuriate North Korea.

The North made no specific mention of those exercises in its statement but warned that its military would "launch second and third strong physical retaliations without hesitation if South Korean warmongers carry out reckless military provocations."

The North also said Washington was to blame for the South Korean artillery drills on Yeonpyeong that prompted the North to respond with its artillery barrage Tuesday.

Washington "should thoroughly control South Korea," it said. The warning was issued by North Korea's military mission at the truce village of Panmunjom and was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea says its artillery exercises Tuesday were aimed away from North Korea, and a top military official on the island Thursday showed reporters a trajectory heading to the southwest.

"North Korea argues that we fired at them first, but this is the direction that we fired," Lt. Gen. Joo Jong-hwa said.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration urged China to rein in ally North Korea, with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, saying: "We really think it's important for the international community to lead, but in particular China."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called on all sides to show "maximum restraint." He repeated calls for renewed six-nation talks aimed at persuading North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs. Wen said those talks, involving the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States, are the best way to ensure stability on the peninsula and its denuclearization.

Wen's remarks were made in Russia on Wednesday on a state visit and posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.

South Korea said it will increase diplomatic efforts to get China, which supplied North Korea with troops during the Korean War and remains its main ally and biggest benefactor, to put pressure on Pyongyang.

On Thursday, the coast guard transported two white coffins carrying the bodies of civilians pulled from the rubble Wednesday.

In Seongnam, just outside Seoul, military officers and family members mourned the two marines killed in the attack, laying flowers and burning incense at an altar. Funerals are to take place Saturday.

Yeonpyeong residents arrived in Incheon with harrowing tales of fiery destruction and narrow escapes.

Survivor Ahn Ae-ja said the artillery barrage caught her by surprise.

"Over my head, a pine tree was broken and burning," Ahn told AP Television News on Wednesday. "So I thought 'Oh, this is not another exercise. It is a war.' I decided to run. And I did."

About 10 homes suffered direct hits and 30 were destroyed in the barrage, according to a local official who spoke by telephone. She asked that her name not be used.

"I heard the sound of artillery, and I felt that something was flying over my head," said Lim Jung-eun, 36, who fled the island with three children, including a 9-month-old strapped to her back. "Then the mountain caught on fire."

The shower of artillery from North Korea was the first to strike a civilian population. In addition to the two marines and two civilians killed in the exchange, at least 18 people — most of them troops — were wounded.

Officials in Seoul said there could be considerable North Korean casualties but there was no mention in North Korean state media of casualties.

___

Kwang-tae Kim reported from Seoul. Matthew Lee contributed to this reported from Washington.

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Box Office: Will 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' beat the 'New Moon' record?

2010-11-21T21:23:00.000+07:00

It's no surprise that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" dominated the box office this weekend. Fans dressed as Harry, Snape, and Luna Lovegood lined up outside theaters for access to midnight screenings across the country -- in fact, those midnight screenings alone raked in $24 million.

"Harry's" Friday total amounted to an estimated $61.1 million, which gives the film a strong projection for the weekend... and a fighting chance at breaking the November opening-weekend record set by "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" last year.

Films in the "Potter" franchise have typically done extremely well throughout Saturday and Sunday on their opening weekends because of the appeal to children, though many reviewers have suggested that "Deathly Hallows" may not be the most kid-friendly fare.

To best "New Moon," the movie will have to rake in $142.8 by midnight on Sunday.

Will you be hitting theaters this weekend? Take a peek at Friday's Top 10 below and let us know your pick.

1. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" - $61.1 million
2. "Unstoppable" - $4m
3. "Megamind" - $3.7m
4. "Due Date" - $2.9m
5. "The Next Three Days" - $2.2m
6. "Morning Glory" - $1.6m
7. "Skyline" - $1m
8. "Red" - $720,000
9. "For Colored Girls" - $675,000
10. "Fair Game" - $375,000

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Photo/Video credit: WB Pictures

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Chicken Butternut Squash Soup

2010-11-18T16:56:00.000+07:00

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut in 3/4-inch pieces (4 cups)
• 1 small red onion, cut in 1/2-inch wedges
• 1 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 14-oz. cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 15- to 16-oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
• 1/3 cup dried apricots, snipped
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated or ground nutmeg
• 1 deli-roasted chicken, cut up
• Fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In shallow roasting pan toss squash and onion with curry powder and the 1 tablespoon oil. Roast, uncovered, 20 minutes or until tender. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

2. In 4-quart Dutch oven combine roasted vegetables, broth, beans, and apricots. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Cook about 5 minutes. Transfer half the soup to food processor or blender. Cover; process or blend until smooth. Return to Dutch oven; heat through.

3. Meanwhile, in bowl toss walnuts with 1 teaspoon oil and the nutmeg. Spread nuts on baking sheet. Bake 7 minutes or until golden and toasted. Reheat chicken according to package directions, if needed.

4. To serve, top soup with nuts, chicken, and cilantro. Makes 6 main-dish servings.

Recipe Source

Time after time just sharing

2010-11-16T18:12:00.003+07:00

Here author use help google translate,so if you find sentence which wrong please excuse the author okey thanks.

Now I will sharing about "time",what's that time ? let I answer time is time which have meaning day,date,ETC.Why I choose time word ?because I believe everytime which the pass will always and never back.Here I very disappointed time use for the thing which useless,because what ? Every time that we use for things that are not useful tantamount to wasting time.We life in world just while !!! for it not to do things that disappoint.How ? with closer to the Lord and do something positive.

conclusion we have time and we use well

Fresh iPhone Games for Nov: 11: Space Miner Blast, MMA Pro Fighter, Spider-Man

2010-11-11T19:18:00.000+07:00

Fans of the popular Space Miner: Space Ore Bust should check out Space Miner Blast, which heads up today’s Fresh Games list and is free for a limited time. Meanwhile, iPad owners should check out the phenomenal Spider-Man: Total Mayhem at a discount. Read more below and get your spider sense tingling.

Space Miner Blast (iPhone) Free

A spin-off of Space Miner: Space Ore Bust, Space Miner Blast simplifies the RPG/space shooter down to its base elements -- flying around in a ship, shooting asteroids and collecting items. Built with some interesting physics controls, you steer your ship with one stick and fire its thrusters with one button, while blasting away the ships guns with another. Your job is to track down asteroids and blow them apart for the ore inside, and use the money you earn to upgrade your ship.

Space Miner includes integration with Game Center for achievements and leaderboard support, and while the base app is free, you can also buy up to three fully-upgraded alternate ships for 99 cents each, or spend $1.99 and get all of them. Any purchase you make also strips the ads from the app as well.

MMA Pro Fighter (iPhone) Free

Here’s another spin-off -- this one’s an iPhone version of the Facebook app of the same name, which lets you cultivate a mixed martial arts fighter and battle other players using a ton of different moves.

You can purchase a full version of the app, and can customize your fighter and increase his training in order to win more fights. The app includes leaderboards, additional martial arts styles, and Facebook integration so you can battle your friends and humiliate them in your newsfeed.

Spider-Man: Total Mayhem HD (iPad) $6.99

There’s already an extremely well-received version of this Spider-Man action game on the iPhone, but today marks the webhead’s debut on the iPad.

Based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, Total Mayhem uses virtual controls to let players battle through several different levels with beat-em-up style combat. You’ll have access to 20 different combo moves with all of Spider-Man’s standard abilities like wall-crawling and web-slinging. Through the course of the game, you’ll fight through 12 different levels and take on six iconic Spider-Man villains.

Obama voices concerns about Mideast peace talks

2010-11-09T21:25:00.001+07:00

JAKARTA, Indonesia - President Barack Obama, visiting the world's most populous Muslim nation, expressed deep concern Tuesday that Israelis and Palestinians aren't making the "extra effort" to secure a breakthrough for achieving Middle East peace.

Obama said he hasn't seen the kind of progress in negotiations that "could finally create a framework for a secure Israel living side by side in peace with a sovereign Palestine." Asked at a news conference with Indonesia's President Suslilo Bambang Yudhoyono about Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem, Obama said, "Each of these incremental steps can end up breaking that trust between these parties."

Obama raised his Mideast concerns while appearing with Yudhoyono during his first visit to Indonesia as president to the country where he lived for four years as a child. He marveled over "sights and sounds" that evoked memories of the past and said that Indonesia's landscape of today barely resembles the land where he went to live at age 6 in 1967.

The U.S. sees Indonesia as a counterweight to China's growing strength, though Obama said Tuesday he's not seeking to stop China's growth.

"We think China being prosperous and secure is a positive," Obama said. "We're not interested in containing that process."

Still, with the controversy over how China values its currency looming as Obama heads to the G-20 economic summit in South Korea later this week, Obama said all countries must operate within, "an international framework and sets of rules in which countries recognize their responsibilities to each other."

Obama will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, but officials say they don't expect the currency issue to be resolved.

Speaking in the world's largest Muslim country, Obama said he believes the administration has improved relations with the Muslim work, but called it an "incomplete project," saying much more work needs to be done. Obama said policy differences with Muslim countries will linger, but that building better ties between the people of the United States and the Muslim world will foster improved overall relations.

He voiced support for Yudhoyono's efforts to nurture a rapidly growing society even in a time when Indonesia has been hit by earthquakes, a tsunami, and now a volcanic eruption. Concerns about volcanic ash caused the White House to shorten Obama's stay here and expedite his takeoff Wednesday for the G-20 summit in Seoul.

Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most volatile volcano, began erupting two weeks ago, unleashing a flood of volcanic gas, rock and debris that smothered whole villages and cut down people who tried to fleeing. More than 150 people have died.

As scheduled, the trip was less than 24 hours, with Obama arriving late afternoon Tuesday and leaving midday Wednesday. The trip was shoehorned into a jam-packed 10-day Asia trip, between three days spent in India and economic meetings in South Korea and Japan that start Thursday.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived on a gray, humid day in Indonesia's capital, and were greeted by dozens of dignitaries at Istana Merdeka, a white columned presidential palace reminiscent of the White House. Obama greeted some of the officials in Indonesian as he shook their hands.

Indonesians all over this country of more than 17,000 islands gathered around television sets in their houses, coffee shops and office buildings as Obama's plane touched down.

Notwithstanding the likely change in schedule for his time here, Obama's quick stop to visit a country that is increasingly important player in Asia allowed him to speak to the values of democracy and religious tolerance and reflect on his time here as a boy.

The U.S. has increasingly embraced Indonesia as a moderate Muslim nation and partner in counter-terror efforts in the wake of attacks in Bali, Jakarta and elsewhere in the region between 2002 and 2005. The nation of 250 million people is made up of a string of islands stretched through the Indian Ocean between Australia and Malaysia.

"Lots of U.S. interests and lots of challenges and opportunities intersect in Indonesia," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters Monday.

Obama's abbreviated schedule doesn't allow time for him to visit childhood haunts, but he intends to speak to his personal biography at an address to a large crowd at the University of Indonesia scheduled for Wednesday morning. The future president moved to Jakarta when he was 6, after his divorced mother remarried an Indonesian, and lived here until he was 10.

Obama's stepfather was Muslim, and during his time in Indonesia Obama occasionally studied the Quran and visited a local mosque. Although Obama is Christian, that background helped foster enduring rumors in the U.S. about the president's religion.

Bieber says he won't wear his namesake nail polish

2010-11-02T21:39:00.001+07:00

LOS ANGELES - Justin Bieber's music has inspired a collection of nail polish, but the 16-year-old singer says he won't be wearing any of the Bieber-riffic shades.

"It's not really my nail polish line. Like, I think it's weird to think about that," he said at a recent event to promote his autobiography, "First Step 2 Forever: My Story."

Bieber says the nail polish from Nicole by OPI, which is set to hit stores next month, is inspired by his hit songs. "Like, there's names like named after my music," he said.

"I don't know," he said. "It's like a really weird concept."

The collection, called One Less Lonely Girl, is set to include a bright red shade called OMB! and a glittery polish named Step 2 the Beat of My Heart.

Members of Bieber's team chimed in to add that the impetus for the nail polish line was OPI's willingness to donate to Pencils of Promise, a school-building organization Bieber has supported before.

"So do you want me to say that?" Bieber asked, then turned to a reporter and said, "Yeah, a portion of it goes to charity, so that's always good."

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Online:

http://www.justinbieberneversaynever.com/

SOURCE : YAHOO! NEWS

Saw 3D' takes top box-office slice with $24.2M

2010-11-01T13:57:00.001+07:00

LOS ANGELES - Psychokiller Jigsaw has come back to life at the box office.

Lionsgate's "Saw 3D," billed as the final installment in the series about Jigsaw's legacy of bloody terror, debuted as the Halloween weekend's No. 1 movie with $24.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That was $10 million more than the debut of last year's "Saw VI," the first dud in the annual horror franchise.

"Last year, a lot of people said, 'OK, that's it. Put a fork in it, it's done,'" said David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate. "The following week, we were all disappointed and thought, what can we do to reinvigorate the franchise? So we shot the movie in 3-D and said this is the final chapter."

It paid off, though "Saw 3D" still brought a modest return compared to earlier chapters in the "Saw" series, whose second, third, fourth and fifth movies all topped $30 million over opening weekend.

"Saw 3D" also had a soft debut compared to the previous weekend's No. 1 movie, Paramount's "Paranormal Activity 2," a newer fright franchise that opened with $40.7 million. "Paranormal Activity 2" slipped to No. 2 this weekend, raising its total to $65.7 million.

"Seven years into it, obviously, that's a long time for one franchise to hold up year after year," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "Other types of horror movies have come into vogue. `Saw' is part of that whole torture-porn genre, which has gone from great success to lesser success. But they've had a good run. There's nothing to complain about here."

"Saw 3D" also had the benefit of premium prices for 3-D screenings, which cost a few dollars more than tickets for 2-D movies. According to Lionsgate, 3-D projection accounted for roughly 77 percent of "Saw 3D" screenings but 92 percent of the movie's revenues.

Summit Entertainment's action comedy "Red" continued to hold up well, finishing at No. 3 with $10.8 million and lifting its total to $58.9 million.

Another franchise playing in 3-D for the first time, Paramount's "Jackass 3D," crossed the $100 million mark, coming in at No. 4 with $8.4 million. The stunt and prank comedy raised its haul to $101.6 million.

In narrower release, Fox Searchlight's legal drama "Conviction" broke into the top-10 after two weeks in a handful of theaters. Starring Hilary Swank in the real-life story of a woman who put herself through law school to free her brother on a murder rap, "Conviction" was No. 10 with $1.8 million, playing in 565 theaters and averaging a modest $3,230 a cinema.

That compared to an $8,618 average in 2,808 theaters for "Saw 3D."

Also in narrower release, Music Box Films had solid results for "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," which follows "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire" to finish the trilogy based on late author Stieg Larsson's best-selling thrillers.

"Hornet's Nest" took in $735,000 in 121 theaters, averaging $6,074 a cinema. The Swedish-language film has Larsson's troubled savant Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) targeted by ruthless conspirators.

Director David Fincher is shooting Sony Pictures' English-language remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. The movie is due in theaters in December 2011.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Saw 3D," $24.2 million.

2. "Paranormal Activity 2," $16.5 million.

3. "Red," $10.8 million.

4. "Jackass 3D," $8.4 million.

5. "Hereafter," $6.3 million.

6. "Secretariat," $5.1 million.

7. "The Social Network," $4.7 million.

8. "Life as We Know It," $4 million.

9. "The Town," $2 million.

10. "Conviction," $1.8 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice
SOURCE YAHOO! NEWS