Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to China with Dual GSM/CDMA Support

Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to China with Dual GSM/CDMA Support After revealing a duo of dual-SIM handsets yesterday in the form of the Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos, Samsung will add to their lineup of handsets with expanded radio capabilities. A new variation on the Samsung Galaxy S II is headed to China and will support both GSM and CDMA2000. The phone is known as ? you guessed it Read complete Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to China with Dual GSM/CDMA Support >>

Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to Chine with Dual GSM/CDMA Support

December 23, 2011

Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to Chine with Dual GSM/CDMA Support After revealing a duo of dual-SIM handsets yesterday in the form of the Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos, Samsung will add to their lineup of handsets with expanded radio capabilities. A new variation on the Samsung Galaxy S [...]

Samsung Announces Dual-SIM Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos

December 22, 2011

Samsung Announces Dual-SIM Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos Take the Samsung Galaxy Y and Galaxy Y Pro, slap on dual-SIM support, and you have the pair of handsets announced by the Korean manufacturer today. Just with the original lineup of Galaxy Y phones, the new handsets feature 830MHz [...]

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Samsung GT-B7722 Unboxing Video - Phone in Stock at www.welectronics.com

Source: http://wwdn.org/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-duos-headed-to-china-with-dual-gsmcdma-support.html

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Considering Consumer Credit Counseling and Debt Management Options

(SkyNewswire.com) Consumer credit counseling debt management services are a wonderful means of assisting customers with managing their overwhelming debt. Unfortunately, many individuals rely heavily on credit cards to pay for monthly living expenses because salaries cannot meet their needs. Unemployment is forcing many people to live on unemployment pay and most jobs that are available are only part time.

Debt Counselor Help

These are tough financial times and changing your financial system of bill paying needs to be considered. Consumer counseling agencies and debt management services have been assisting clients for decades with wonderful outcomes. Relax and fill out a preliminary application online to begin the process and receive their services.

Struggling to pay bills each month is very taxing when there is not enough money, hence the need for effective debt solutions. People become discouraged and confused about where to go for help. Rely on the financial experts at Consumer credit counseling and debt management services to be your advocate, and address your creditors concerning your plan of debt repayment. Each counselor will contact creditors to get the best pay off amount on each account.

Credit Counselng Non Profit

While not exactly a credit card bailout, they will also negotiate to remove late fees and penalties. They are working on your behalf, and are not carrying around the emotional burden that their clients feel. As soon as the negotiation process with creditors has been completed, a meeting will take place to discuss the total amount of indebtedness, the amount of each monthly payment, and the schedule and length of repayment time.

Notwithstanding the American Jobs Act, the benefits of using a Consumer credit counseling or debt management service are many. Making one payment directly to the agency, is a real plus when bill paying time rolls around. No longer will you need to miss payments or make partial payments. Begin the process today and trust the experts to send you on the path to financial recovery and debt relief. By researching and comparing the best credit counseling services in the market, you will determine the one that meets your very specific financial situation. Debt resolution can be yours.

National Debt Relief offers a free debt analysis which can be taken advantage of at their website:

www.nationaldebtreliefprogram.org

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reriani4/~3/YsBh9GBejYg/article.php

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East Africa famine: Somali prime minister denies food shortage

The United Nations says that 250,000 Somalis are suffering from famine in three regions including Mogadishu, a fact that Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, who leads Somalia?s officially recognised government, has denied.

"I don?t believe there?s a famine in Mogadishu. Absolutely no," he told The Daily Telegraph. "You know the aid agencies became an entrenched interest group and they say all kind of things that they want to say.?

Mr Ali leads a government that depends almost completely on outside donations. Our reporter visited a UN feeding centre in the city, where he found hundreds of starving women with their children seeking food.

Despite the prime minister's claims, Britain today announced it will be providing more than 9,000 tonnes of food supplies and medicines to drought-ravaged regions in the Horn of Africa this Christmas.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/569076/s/1b300546/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Cafricaandindianocean0Csomalia0C89726370CEast0EAfrica0Efamine0ESomali0Eprime0Eminister0Edenies0Efood0Eshortage0Bhtml/story01.htm

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3 Broadway shows hum happily after Grammy nods (AP)

NEW YORK ? Move over Adele, Kanye West and Bon Iver. One of the livelier contests at next year's Grammy Awards will pit Harry Potter, Cole Porter and a pair of Mormon missionaries.

The cast recordings of "The Book of Mormon," "Anything Goes" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" ? an eclectic group of shows still going strong on Broadway ? each earned Grammy nominations Wednesday night.

"We're in very rarified company," said Kathleen Marshall, who directed and choreographed the Porter-driven "Anything Goes," which stars Sutton Foster and Joel Grey and features such songs as "I Get a Kick Out of You" and "You're the Top."

Robert Lopez, who together with "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone created "The Book of Mormon," was generous in his praise for his rivals. "I've seen them both and I thought they were great," he said. "They're two big classics and they did a really good job casting and remounting them."

"The Book of Mormon" goes into the Grammy contest as the favorite, having already captured the best musical Tony Award among its haul of nine awards. Its cast album also hit the top 10 on Billboard's pop charts, which hasn't happened in decades.

But Lopez, who was last nominated for "Avenue Q," isn't predicting victory quite yet.

"I don't make any assumptions," he said. "I thought we were in good shape going in with `Avenue Q' and we got smoked by `Wicked.'"

Only three shows were nominated this year, a quirk of the process.

Only 25 cast albums were submitted, meaning only three nominations were allowed. If 24 were submitted, the whole category would have been passed over. If 26 albums were turned in, five nomination slots would have been created. In one of the biggest shocks, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," with songs by U2's Bono and The Edge, did not get a Grammy nod.

For Robert Sher, the record producer who put together the cast album for "How to Succeed," getting a Grammy nomination is familiar territory. He's earned six over his career and has now gotten one four years in a row.

When recording the album featuring John Larroquette and former wizard Daniel Radcliffe, Sher said he wanted to avoid having a studio sound to his CD, which he finds cold and impersonal.

"When I do a show, I think about the period it's set in and I try to get that feeling of period on the album because you don't have the visuals," said Sher, who hopes this year will mark his first Grammy victory. "The idea is to inject the theatricality of the proceedings in a dynamic way."

One funny twist this year is that "The Book of Mormon" CD comes with warning stickers on the cover due to expletives and vulgarity. Marshall laughs that one its songwriting rivals, Cole Porter, hardly needs any parental cautions.

"He's naughty but in a much more innocent way," she said. "He relies on the double entendre and lets us use our imagination."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_en_mu/us_grammy_nominations_theater

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New thinking required on wildlife disease, experts say

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2011) ? A University of Adelaide scientist says much more could be done to predict the likelihood and spread of serious disease -- such as tuberculosis (TB) or foot-and-mouth disease -- in Australian wildlife and commercial stock.

Professor Corey Bradshaw and colleagues have evaluated freely available software tools that provide a realistic prediction of the spread of disease among animals.

They used a combination of models to look at the possible spread of TB among feral water buffalo in the Northern Territory.

Buffalo can harbour bovine tuberculosis, which poses a threat to commercial cattle livestock. They were introduced to northern Australia in the 1800s from Timor-Leste. In the 1980s and 1990s the government of the time began a broad-scale culling program, culling tens of thousands of buffalo.

"The cull successfully reduced or eradicated buffalo from major pastoral lands in the Northern Territory, taking tuberculosis with it, but since then there has been no major follow-up culling. The buffalo population is re-invading the formerly culled areas," says Professor Bradshaw, who is Director of Ecological Modelling at the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.

"Although Australia now trades its livestock under the `TB-free' banner, the disease is prevalent throughout Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Realistically, it's only a matter of time before it rears its ugly head again here. If it does, it could potentially cost our cattle industry billions of dollars."

Professor Bradshaw says Australia needs to implement tools such as those combining disease and population models to help plan the response to any potential return of TB -- or other, nastier diseases, such as foot-and-mouth.

"We found that the probability of detecting a disease as well known as TB in buffalo was extremely small, even for thousands of `sentinel' animals culled each year. Current monitoring programs by the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (part of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service -- AQIS) could definitely benefit from the use of these software tools, which are freely available for anyone to download," Professor Bradshaw says.

"If the goal of culling programs is to reduce prevalence of TB to near-zero, our prediction is that somewhere between 30-50% of the current buffalo population would have to be culled each year for about 15 years. That's a lot of buffalo -- at least 100,000 killed over the first five years."

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Journal Reference:

1. Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Clive R. McMahon, Philip S. Miller, Robert C. Lacy, Michael J. Watts, Michelle L. Verant, John P. Pollak, Damien A. Fordham, Thomas A. A. Prowse, Barry W. Brook. Novel coupling of individual-based epidemiological and demographic models predicts realistic dynamics of tuberculosis in alien buffalo. Journal of Applied Ecology, 2011; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02081.x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129112345.htm

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MF Global trustee seeks to pay out $2.1 billion more (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd's broker-dealer unit asked a federal bankruptcy judge to authorize the distribution of another $2.1 billion to former commodities customers, roughly doubling the total payout to $4.1 billion.

James Giddens, the trustee for MF Global Inc, said the increased payout should restore at least two-thirds of U.S. segregated customer property pro rata to the former customers.

Giddens said the latest transfer could take two to four weeks and would require help from CME Group Inc's Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other derivative clearing organizations.

The payout requires approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who authorized two transfers this month. A hearing is set for December 9, court records show.

Once run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, MF Global filed for Chapter 11 protection on October 31 after the New York-based company revealed a $6.3 billion bet on European sovereign debt. That worried investors, credit rating agencies and trading partners, and spurred a liquidity shortfall.

Former FBI director Louis Freeh was asked on Friday to become the trustee for the MF Global parent company. He would also work to return money to creditors, and coordinate with investigators looking for missing customer funds.

Giddens' has estimated that this shortfall could total $1.2 billion, and on Tuesday said the amount remains uncertain.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111129/bs_nm/us_mfglobal_trustee

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Clinton offers Myanmar first rewards for political reform (Reuters)

YANGON (Reuters) ? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered Myanmar the first rewards for reform on Thursday, saying the United States would back more aid for the reclusive country and consider returning an ambassador after an absence of some two decades.

Clinton said she had "candid, productive" conversations with President Thein Sein and other Myanmar ministers, and told them Washington stood ready to support further reforms, and possibly lift sanctions, as the country seeks to emerge from decades of authoritarian military rule.

But she also urged Myanmar to take further steps to release political prisoners and end ethnic conflicts, and said better U.S. ties would be impossible unless Myanmar halts its illicit dealings with North Korea, which has repeatedly set alarm bells ringing across Asia with its renegade nuclear program.

"The president told me he hopes to build on these steps, and I assured him that these reforms have our support," Clinton told a news conference after her talks in Myanmar's remote capital, Naypyitaw.

"I also made clear that, while the measures already taken may be unprecedented and welcomed, they are just the beginning."

Clinton's landmark visit to the country also known as Burma marks a tentative rapprochement after more than 50 years of estrangement from the West.

She traveled later to the commercial capital of Yangon where she went barefoot in line with Buddhist tradition to tour one of Myanmar's most revered shrines, the Shwedagon Pagoda.

She later held the first of two meetings with veteran pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"BEGINNING STEPS"

Following meetings with Thein Sein and other officials in Naypyitaw, Clinton unveiled several incremental steps to improve ties and said the United States would consider returning an ambassador to the country.

The United States downgraded its representation in Myanmar to a charge d'affaires in response to the military's brutal 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protests and voiding of 1990 elections swept by Suu Kyi's party.

"This could become an important channel to air concerns, monitor and support progress, and build trust," Clinton said. "These are beginning steps, and we are prepared to go further if reforms maintain momentum."

The United States would consider easing sanctions if it saw concrete reforms, she said.

"I told the leadership we will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together ... It has to be not theoretical or rhetorical, it has to be very real, on the ground, that can be evaluated."

Clinton also said the United States would support new World Bank and International Monetary Fund assessment missions to help Myanmar jumpstart its feeble economy and new U.N. counter-narcotics and health cooperation programs.

Seeking to pull Myanmar more closely into a region increasingly united by its wariness over regional heavyweight China, Clinton invited Myanmar to become an observer to the Lower Mekong Initiative, a U.S.-backed grouping aimed at discussing the future of Southeast Asia's major waterway.

But she dismissed any suggestion that engagement with Myanmar was driven by competition with China.

"We are not about opposing any other country. We're about supporting this country," she said, adding that the United States regularly consulted China on its engagement in Asia, including Myanmar.

Clinton also said the United States and Myanmar would discuss a joint effort to recover the remains of Americans killed during the building of the "Burma Road" during World War Two -- echoing steps taken with Vietnam as Washington and Hanoi sought to put their differences behind them.

Rights groups and some lawmakers in the U.S. Congress have been concerned that Washington may be moving too swiftly to endorse the new leadership, and Clinton made clear that the United States needed to see more progress.

"It is encouraging that political prisoners have been released, but over 1,000 are still not free," Clinton said.

"Let me say publicly what I said privately earlier today: no person in any country should be detained for exercising universal freedoms of expression, assembly and conscience."

A U.S. official who sat in on the talks cited Thein Sein as saying the government considered the release of such prisoners "part of the effort of having an inclusive political process" and it was looking at the possibility of more releases.

Clinton also said it would "be difficult to begin a new chapter" until Myanmar began forging peace with ethnic minority rebels and started allowing humanitarian groups, human rights monitors and journalists into conflict areas.

Underscoring a key U.S. diplomatic objective, Clinton pressed Myanmar to halt what U.S. officials say are illicit contacts with North Korea, including trade in missile technology, and to honor U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang because of its renegade nuclear program.

"Better relations with the United States will only be possible if the entire government respects the international consensus against the spread of nuclear weapons," she said. "We look to Naypyitaw to honor U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874 and sever illicit ties with North Korea."

Clinton said she received "strong assurances" regarding Myanmar's commitments to U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea and its obligations on non-proliferation. U.S. officials have played down fear Myanmar's ties with North Korea had broadened to include a nuclear program.

SUU KYI BACKS U.S. ENGAGEMENT

Suu Kyi said on Wednesday she fully backed Washington's effort to gauge Myanmar's reforms since the military nominally gave up power to civilian leaders following elections last year.

"I think we have to be prepared to take risk. Nothing is guaranteed," Suu Kyi told reporters in Washington in a public video call from her home in Yangon, where she was held in detention for 15 of the last 21 years before being released in November last year.

But Suu Kyi -- a Nobel peace laureate and towering figure for Myanmar's embattled democracy movement -- said the United States must remain watchful that the army-backed government did not halt or roll back reforms, and "speak out loud and clear" if people engaging in politics were arrested.

Suu Kyi confirmed she would run in upcoming by-elections, ending a boycott of Myanmar's political system.

Clinton's trip follows a decision by President Barack Obama last month to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw "flickers of progress." Clinton said it was up to Myanmar's leaders to decide what came next.

"We know from history that flickers can die out. They can be stamped out," she said.

(Editing by Jason Szep and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/wl_nm/us_myanmar

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The worst iPhone games of 2011 (Appolicious)

When a game app isn?t bad because it?s unplayable or impossibly broken but because you can see its potential squandered right in front of your eyes, it can be hard to take. A game that?s broken is easily discarded, but a game that?s disappointingly incomplete keeps calling you back only to disappoint you repeatedly until you?ve finally had enough. Here are five games that did that to me in 2011.

I don?t even dislike DoubleDragon, really. It?s about as close as you can get to playing the original DoubleDragon on your iPhone, which I guess is cool if you?re not looking for even the slightest hint of a worthwhile gameplay addition. Sure, the environments got a little visual makeover, but so what?

DoubleDragon isn?t short enough to beat in a single sitting but isn?t long enough to last more than a couple of hours, which puts it in a strange position considering you can?t save your progress in the middle of the game. DoubleDragon is a retro app that doesn?t feel nostalgic, it just feels dated.

Playing Mazeus is like playing through a tech demo for a small part of a much larger, more interesting experience. Except the larger experience never comes and you?re left running a ball through a maze over a black background.

There are plenty of interesting Labyrinth style games on the iPhone, so it?s not exactly the lack of a story that feels like wasted potential, but rather it feels like there wasn?t even a hint of thought put into the game that wasn?t maze related. Even offering up a few varied backgrounds would make Mazeus feel more like a complete experience.

Let?s make a pact right now to not create any more games on the iPhone where a major gameplay element will involve your entire finger obstructing the screen. Unlike a Fruit Ninja style app where you?re constantly sliding your finger across the screen and therefore not limiting your view, Time Crisis 2nd Strike has you tapping over enemies in over to shoot them.

Great in theory, but tapping an enemy only to inadvertently touch another enemy who suddenly is firing away at you is beyond irritating. There?s simply no great way to recreate the sights in a light gun-oriented game on the iPhone. Plenty of people have criticized SEGA for not putting out a House of the Dead app but I think a quick look at Time Crisis 2nd Strike shows why it?s probably wise to stay away.

Remember when I just praised SEGA for staying away from a genre when they knew better? Well, in Virtua Fighter 2, they took a concept, iPhone fighting games, that could?ve (and has been) executed fairly well before, and essentially messed it up right out of the gate. It?s not a surprise they?d want to bring their storied fighting franchise to the mobile arena, but why Virtua Fighter 2? Why a 2-D SEGA Genesis version in 2011?

The iPhone can handle some pretty tricky visuals these days, and even if Sega would have had to dumb-down a SEGA Saturn version of Virtua Fighter slightly to work on the mobile platform, that would seem preferable to the ugly mess that is Virtua Fighter 2.

The Galaga 30th Collection commemorates an historic achievement in time for one of the most storied games in history not by offering up some cool literature on the making of the game, or some videos with the game?s original developers, or any other information at all. ?Instead, players get to play the original version of Galaxian, the true, original iteration of Galaga, for free. They can then purchase Galaga or its two subsequent sequels for nominal fees.

Setting aside the amazing bait-and-switch of calling your app Galaga but not actually offering up Galaga to play for free, Galaga 30th Collection doesn?t have the feel of a tribute or celebration at all. If someone in real life celebrated a 30th anniversary of anything else so carelessly, they?d never get to see a 31st anniversary.

Love iPhone games? Create a list of your favorites here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10306_the_worst_iphone_games_of_2011/43749700/SIG=12gvfr97q/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/games/articles/10306-the-worst-iphone-games-of-2011

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Video: Ferrari's Business Strategy

Sharing the strategy behind Ferrari's record revenues, and Italy's debt crisis, with Luca di Montezemolo, Ferrari chairman.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45475315/

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Ringling circus agrees to $270K fine by USDA

VIENNA, Va. (AP) ? VIENNA, Virginia (AP) ? The owner of the Ringling Bros. circus has agreed to pay a $270,000 fine to settle allegations that it violated federal animal-welfare laws in its handling of elephants, tigers, zebras and other exotic animals.

?????The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the civil penalty announced Monday is the largest ever assessed against an animal exhibitor under the Animal Welfare Act.

?????Vienna-based Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus and other well-known acts such as Disney on Ice, said it does not admit to violating the law and agreed to the settlement as a cost of doing business to resolve its differences with the USDA.

?????"We look forward to working with the USDA in a cooperative and transparent manner that meets our shared goal of ensuring that our animals are healthy and receive the highest quality care," said a statement released by Kenneth Feld, chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment.

?????In inspection reports from 2007 through this year, inspectors said circus handlers made elephants perform when they were ill and used the same wheelbarrows to feed meat to tigers and haul away their waste, among other allegations.

?????An inspection report from August alleged that a 35-year-old female Asian elephant, Banko, was forced to perform at a show in Los Angeles despite a diagnosis of sand colic and observations that she appeared to be suffering abdominal discomfort. Circus officials told the inspectors that separating Banko from the performing elephants would have been even more distressing to her.

?????The inspection reports also cited splintered floors and rusted cages used to contain big cats such as tigers, and an incident in March 2008 where two zebras briefly got loose from their enclosure at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore. In 2010, another zebra escaped its enclosures in Atlanta and had to be captured by area law enforcement, according to the reports.

?????Feld spokesman Steve Payne said that, generally, the circus has seen an increase in recent years in inspections not only by the USDA but also by state and local regulators. He said that from June to September, one of the circus' traveling units was inspected 82 times by 18 different agencies.

?????"We're highly regulated. We accept that regulation. We embrace it," Payne said.

?????Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has filed numerous complaints with USDA against the circus, especially for its handling of elephants, said the fine is a good first step. But it called on the government to confiscate the elephants.

?????"What remains to be done is for the public to be made aware of this history of abuse so that people will know to keep their children away from the circus," PETA said.

?????As part of the settlement, Ringling also agreed to hire a compliance officer who will ensure that all employees follow the rules outlined in the Animal Welfare Act. All employees who handle animals will also have to undergo compliance training.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-28-Ringling-Fine/id-08c5421473f045788edcbee355e371d7

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Computers as furnaces?

Some ecological economists are proposing putting large, heat-generating supercomputers, which normally require cooling,? into residential basements as heating sources. Is this a clever new way to recycle energy, or too far-fetched to work?

Neo-classical environmental economists have a strange relationship with our ecological economics brethren. ? The ecological economists seem to believe that natural capital is the ultimate limit to sustainable growth while neo-classical economists posit that new ideas and innovation can continuously allow us to avoid "limits to growth". ?We believe that through endogenous innovation that capitalism helps to accelerate the discovery of new ways to produce basic things we need such as food and energy services. ?In a salute to Paul Romer and other growth thinkers, we believe that new ideas can and will arrive that will save the day so that we do not starve and do not suffer in a changing world.

Skip to next paragraph Matthew Kahn

Mathew is an economics professor at UCLA and has written three books: Green Cities (Brookings Institution Press); Heroes and Cowards (Princeton University Press, jointly with Dora L. Costa); and in fall 2010, Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter World (Basic Books).

Recent posts

Today's NY Times has an example of ecological economics that I understand. ?The ecological economists are eager to turn waste (an output) into a productive input. ?Such general equilibrium flows would lead to a more efficient capitalism. ?As this article highlights, ?computers are major producers of heat. ?We all know that computers get hot and that big firms must run air conditioners to keep them cool. This NY Times article posits that a "win-win" would be to lock such computers in people's basements so that their furnace would no longer be needed. Instead, people would get their heat from the electric furnace (the computers). ?This is a groovy idea but it raises a couple of issues.

1. ?How would the home's electricity consumption be disaggregated into that which is consumed in the basement versus that which is consumed by the occupants of the home?

2. What do you do to minimize the probability that the basement floods? ?How do you minimize the probability of vandalism by outsiders?

3. What happens to the family ping pong table?

4. How does the family who lives in the home guarantee that no teenagers will break in and play around with the computers? ?How will two sided liability work?

5. Is there fire risk from all of these computers? How often would nerd technicians be entering the home to tinker around to make sure that the data centers are safe and clean? ?

But, I do like that the nerds are thinking outside the box of how to turn waste into a productive input. If energy prices rise, this would be even more attractive for households who want some heat coming up from the floor boards. ?Perhaps the ecological economists and the NBER economists can make the peace!

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on greeneconomics.blogspot.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/cyShvQoaWso/Computers-as-furnaces

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ECB joins central banks to bolster global finance - The Local

The European Central Bank joined monetary authorities around the world on Wednesday in a concerted effort to reduce strains on the financial markets and boost lending to businesses and consumers.

The central banks of the eurozone, Canada, Britain, Japan, United States and Switzerland said in a joint statement they were lowering the cost of providing dollars to banks, pushing stocks in Europe and the euro sharply higher.

The central banks said they were engaging in "coordinated actions to enhance their capacity to provide liquidity support to the global financial system."

"The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity," they added.

The arrangement allows the central banks to lend dollars to commercial banks that might be finding it hard to borrow them directly from other banks and is aimed at easing tensions in the crucial interbank lending market.

The banks said they were not only reducing the cost of this operation, but also extending it until February 1, 2013. They also agreed to allow cash swap arrangements in any of the participating countries' currencies if market conditions require them.

"At present, there is no need to offer liquidity in non-domestic currencies other than the US dollar, but the central banks judge it prudent to make the necessary arrangements so that liquidity support operations could be put into place quickly should the need arise," it said.

Such dollar operations were used to ease a credit crunch during the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and resumed in September in response to a dollar shortage among eurozone banks hit by the debt crisis.

European stocks surged on the news, with the German equity market up more than four percent, Spain and Italy more than three percent and France over four percent.

This "will probably help banks to get necessary liquidity to run their domestic operations in a smooth way," an Italian trader told Dow Jones Newswires.

The euro also bounced sharply on the foreign exchange markets.

AFP/mry

Source: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20111130-39211.html

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11.11.29 10:00 COMMUNITY EVENT - Story Time - Tuesday November 29, 2011 starting at 10:00 am @ Woodruff Memorial Library

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Source: http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/popup.php?op=view&id=42844610&crd=ljevents

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Bunny's Blog: Pet Owners Use GPS Devices to Find Lost Pets

Via The Seattle Times - Houdini the dog lived up to his name.

The lab-shepherd mix, known as a crafty escape artist, was placed in a foster home by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Despite his new owner's best efforts to keep him close, the dog pushed an air conditioner out of a window and made his getaway.

Fortunately the staff at Best Friends anticipated Houdini's wandering ways and had outfitted his collar with a GPS tracking device. The device worked as promised, and Best Friends adoption manager Kristi Littrell found the errant dog in an overgrown lot in Kanab.

About half of the pets that enter animal shelters each year are strays or lost animals, but the growing use of GPS technology may offer owners a new option for trying to track down roaming cats, missing dogs and other runaway pets.

Several GPS devices are now being marketed that attach to collars and can be monitored by handsets, cellphones or computers with relative ease. Kristi Littrell, adoption manager at Best Friends, said Houdini was "the same color as the weeds" in the lot where she found him.

"I would never have found him without the GPS device on his collar," she added. Best Friends is still hoping to find a home for Houdini, and plans to give the GPS device to the new owners to help make sure that if he ever does get out again, he'll be easily tracked down.

"It's great these devices are available to us now," Littrell said. "They will undoubtedly help in a lot of cases where pets would otherwise not be found and returned home."

Read more: http://bit.ly/vjwK9I

Written by Sue Manning
Image via Seattle Times

Source: http://bunnyjeancook.blogspot.com/2011/11/pet-owners-use-gps-devices-to-find-lost.html

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Egypt's post-Mubarak poll peaceful, high turnout (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptians voted Monday in the first election since a popular revolt toppled Hosni Mubarak's one-man rule, showing new-found faith in the ballot box that may sweep long-banned Islamists into parliament even as army generals cling to power.

Voters swarmed to the polls in a generally peaceful atmosphere despite the unrest that marred the election run-up, when 42 people were killed in protests demanding an immediate transition from military to civilian rule.

"We want to make a difference, although we are depressed by what the country has come to," said Maha Amin, a 46-year-old pharmacy lecturer, before she voted in an upscale Cairo suburb.

The ruling army council, which has already extended polling to a second day, kept voting stations open an extra two hours until 9 p.m. "to accommodate the high voter turnout."

The Muslim Brotherhood's party and other Islamists expect to do well in the parliamentary election staggered over the next six weeks, but much remains uncertain in Egypt's complex and unfamiliar voting system of party lists and individuals.

Political transformation in Egypt, traditional leader of the Arab world, will reverberate across the Middle East, where a new generation demanding democratic change has already toppled or challenged the leaders of Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Parliament's lower house will be Egypt's first nationally elected body since Mubarak's fall and those credentials alone may enable it to dilute the military's monopoly of power.

A high turnout throughout the election would give it legitimacy. Despite a host of reported electoral violations and lax supervision exploited by some groups, election monitors reported no systematic Mubarak-style campaign to rig the polls.

"We are very happy to be part of the election," said first-time Cairo voter Wafa Zaklama, 55. "What was the point before?"

In the northern city of Alexandria, 34-year-old engineer Walid Atta rejoiced in the occasion. "This is the first real election in 30 years. Egyptians are making history," he said.

ISLAMISTS SCENT POWER

Oppressed under Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties have stood aloof from those challenging army rule in Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere, unwilling to let anything obstruct a vote that may bring them closer to power.

In the Nile Delta city of Damietta, some voters said they would punish the Brotherhood for its perceived opportunism.

Nevertheless, the Brotherhood has formidable advantages that include a disciplined organization, name recognition among a welter of little-known parties and years of opposing Mubarak.

Brotherhood organizers stood near many voting stations with laptops, offering to guide confused voters, printing out a paper identifying the correct polling booth and showing their Freedom and Justice Party candidate's name and symbol on the back.

"At least they are not giving people fruit inside the polling station," said Mouna Zuffakar, of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, noting widespread breaches of a ban on campaigning near polling stations.

Many voters engaged in lively political debate as they waited patiently in long queues.

"Aren't the army officers the ones who protected us during the revolution?" one woman asked loudly at a polling station in Cairo's Nasr City, referring to the army's role in easing Mubarak from power. "What do those slumdogs in Tahrir want?"

One man replied: "Those in Tahrir are young men and women who are the reason why a 61-year-old man like me voted in a parliamentary election for the first time in his life today."

The world is closely watching the election, keen for stability in Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, owns the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia, and which in Mubarak's time was an ally in countering Islamist militants in the region.

Washington and its European allies have urged the generals to step aside swiftly and make way for civilian rule.

The U.S. ambassador to Cairo, Anne Patterson, congratulated Egyptians "on what appeared to be a very large turnout on this very historic occasion." British ambassador James Watt told Reuters the election was "an important milestone in Egypt's democratic transition" that seemed to have gone smoothly so far.

SEGREGATED VOTING

In Alexandria and elsewhere, men and women voted in separate queues, a reminder of the conservative religious fabric of Egypt's mainly Muslim society, where Coptic Christians comprise 10 percent of a population of more than 80 million.

Myriad parties have emerged since the fall of Mubarak, who fixed elections to ensure his now-defunct National Democratic Party dominated parliament. The NDP's headquarters, torched in the popular revolt, still stands like a tombstone by the Nile.

Individual winners are to be announced Wednesday, but many contests will go to a run-off vote on December 5. List results will not be declared until after the election ends on January 11.

About 17 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in the first two-day phase of three rounds of polling for the lower house.

Egyptians seemed enthused by the novelty of a vote where the outcome was, for a change, not a foregone conclusion.

"It's easy to predict this will be a higher turnout than any recent election in Egypt," said Les Campbell, of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute. "We are seeing clear signs of voter excitement and participation."

The army council has promised civilian rule by July after the parliamentary vote and a presidential poll, now expected in June -- much sooner than previously envisaged.

But one of its members said Sunday the new parliament could not remove a cabinet appointed by the army.

Kamal Ganzouri, named by the army Friday to form a new government, said he had met the ruling army council Monday to discuss setting up a "civilian advisory committee" to work with his new cabinet, which he said could be unveiled by Thursday.

Polling day calm was reflected on financial markets battered by this month's unrest. The cost of insuring Egyptian debt edged lower, with five-year credit default swaps slipping 10 basis points to 539. The Egyptian pound, which last week hit its lowest point since January 2005, held steady.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair, Maha El Dahan and Tom Perry in Cairo, Marwa Awad in Alexandria, Shaimaa Fayed in Damietta, Yusri Mohamed in Port Said and Jonathan Wright in Fayoum; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Peter Millership)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/wl_nm/us_egypt_election

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12 Little Daily Tricks To Find Your Healthy Weight

"Buy natural varieties of peanut butter and pour off the oil sitting on top. Each serving will have 20 fewer calories and 2 to 3 fewer grams of fat. It's a small difference that'll add up to a couple of pounds per year."
--Amelia Winslow, personal chef in Los Angeles and founder of the healthy food blog Eating Made Easy More from Health.com: 7 Gadgets for Perfect Portion Sizes Which Foods Burn the Most Fat? 25 Ways to Cut 500 Calories a Day

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/little-weight-loss-tips_n_1110917.html

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Did You Know?

WWE IS Making Networks

WWE broadcasts to approximately 12 million fans per week in the U.S.

*Nielsen Media Research

WWE?s audience is approximately 65% male and 35% female.

*Nielsen Media Research

Nearly 74% of WWE?s audience is 21 and over.

*Nielsen Media Research

WWE programming can be seen in more than half a billion television households worldwide.

*WWE International?

Monday Night Raw on USA Network is among the most-watched regularly scheduled programs on primetime cable television and helps make USA a top-rated network.

*Nielsen Media Research???

Raw is the longest running, weekly episodic television program in the U.S. with more than 900 original episodes; more than Lassie and GunsmokeFriday Night SmackDown is regularly Syfy?s most-watched program every week and was the most-watched regularly scheduled program on primetime cable Friday nights among males under 65 in the third quarter of 2011.

*Nielsen Media Research?

SmackDown has become the second longest running weekly episodic program in primetime TV history, behind only WWE?s ?Monday Night Raw.?

*Nielsen Media Research?

WWE IS Global

WWE has offices in London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Istanbul and Tokyo.

In October 2011, WWE broadcast Monday Night Raw and SmackDown from Mexico for the first time, making it one of only four countries outside of North America to have ever hosted WWE?s weekly flagship TV shows.

Within the past year, WWE has performed for audiences in cities like London, Mexico City, Rome, Cape Town, Munich and Shanghai.

In 2011, WWE programming began airing in Brazil and Russia and continues to reach television audiences across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

WWE IS Live and Local

In the third quarter of 2011, WWE held 64 live events domestically and 15 internationally, entertaining approximately 425,000 fans.

*WWE Live Events?

WrestleMania XXVII, held on April 3, 2011, grossed more than $6.6 million in ticket sales, becoming the highest grossing and attended entertainment event ever held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. 71,617 fans from all 50 states and 30 countries attended the sold out event.

SummerSlam, held on August 14, 2011, attracted a sold out crowd of 17,404 and grossed more than $1 million, making it the highest-grossing SummerSlam ever held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

WWE IS the Pay-Per-View Leader

Since 2000, WWE pay-per-views have generated an average of approximately $95 million in revenue and 5+ million buys annually.

*WWE Finance

WrestleMania XXVII generated more than 1 million pay-per-view buys.

WWE IS a Digital Powerhouse

WWE.com averaged 13 million monthly unique visitors worldwide over the past 12 months.

* comScore Media Metrix/ *OmnitureSite Catalyst

?WrestleMania? was the #1 non sponsored worldwide trend on Twitter the Sunday WrestleMania XXVII took place.

*Twitter.com

WWE Superstar Slingshot became the #1 Kids Game App in the U.S., Egypt, Belgium, Jordan, Turkey and India after its debut in April 2011.

More than 130 million videos per month are watched on WWE.com, YouTube.com/WWE and Hulu.com/WWE combined.

*Omniture

WWE Superstar John Cena is the No. 7 most-followed athlete in the world on Facebook with more than ninth million fans.

*Facebook.com

WWE ?s Facebook network has more than 42 million total followers across 110+ pages, making it the #3 most-followed sports brand on Facebook.

*Facebook.com

WWE IS Hollywood

That?s What I Am, starring Ed Harris, Chase Ellison, Amy Madigan and WWE Superstar Randy Orton, was selected as the Centerpiece Gala by the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

WWE has always been a force in pop culture where celebrities like Hugh Jackman, The Muppets, Kellan Lutz, Ryan Phillippe, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Piven, Shaquille O?Neal, Kristen Wiig, Snoop Dogg, Floyd ?Money? Mayweather, Donald Trump, Ashton Kutcher, Jewel and Maria Menounos enjoy WWE entertainment.

WWE Music Group has worked with Cee Lo Green, Sean ?Diddy? Combs and Diddy-Dirty Money, Trace Adkins, Kid Rock, Aretha Franklin, John Legend, Nicole Scherzinger, Keri Hilson and Ozzy Osbourne.

WWE Superstars and Divas appear in non-WWE programming including:

• Saturday Night Live- Triple H, John Cena
• Tonight Show- Big Show, John Cena, The Miz, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, John Morrison, Sheamus
• CONAN- The Miz, Sheamus
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon- Triple H, John Cena, Big Show, The Miz
• Jimmy Kimmel Live- CM Punk, Santino Marella, The Miz, Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H
• Bloomberg Enterprise- ?Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H
• The Price Is Right- Kelly Kelly, The Bella Twins
• The Talk- John Cena
• Family BrainSurge- The Miz, John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Eve
• Project Runway- Layla
• Dinner: Impossible- Stephanie McMahon, Big Show, The Miz, Santino Marella
• Cake Boss- Santino Marella, WWE Divas
• Royal Pains- Big Show
• Warehouse 13- Cody Rhodes
• PSYCH- John Cena, The Miz
• Burn Notice- Big Show
• Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred- John Cena

?

WWE IS the Publishing Master

WWE Magazine is a global publication that reaches more than 5.1 million monthly readers in the United States and has local editions in the UK, Mexico, Greece and Turkey.

*MRI Research

WWE Kids reaches more than 1.3 million readers per issue and has licensed editions in the U.K., Mexico and Turkey.

WWE has published more than 40 books, with 23 hitting The New York Times Best Sellers list, and three at number one.

WWE IS Award Winning

WWE was named one of America?s hottest brands by Advertising Age.

WWE has won many industry and philanthropic awards including:

• Forbes 200 Best Small Companies
• Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award
• USO Legacy of Hope Award

?

WWE IS Giving Back

In April 2011, The Creative Coalition and WWE cofounded a new nationwide anti-bullying alliance, ?be a STAR? ? which stands for ?Show Tolerance And Respect,? ? to promote positive methods of social interaction and encourage people to treat others as equals and with respect.

John Cena, who serves as a Wish Ambassador, is rapidly approaching his 300th wish granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which will make him the only celebrity to have ever accomplished this achievement.

Since 2002, WWE has produced its annual ?Tribute to the Troops? holiday special, with WWE Superstars and Divas performing before troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States.

Triple H is a spokesperson for the Muscular Dystrophy Association?s ?Make A Muscle, Make A Difference? awareness campaign.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/standupforwwe/didyouknow

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Obama, Bush, Clinton to participate in AIDS talk (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama and two former presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, are joining top anti-AIDS advocates for a panel discussion to observe World AIDS Day.

The discussion will take place Thursday at George Washington University and will be streamed live on YouTube. Bush and Clinton will participate via satellite.

Organizers say they hope to build on progress already made in the fight against the devastating virus. The event is sponsored by two organizations, ONE and (RED), that combat global poverty and AIDS. Among the panelists will be Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 and co-founder of ONE and (RED).

Other participants include Tanzania's President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee of California.

___

Online:

http://www.ONE.org .

http://www.joinred.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_us/us_presidents_aids

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Ben Whishaw Is Bond's New Q

One character that has yet to pop up in the rebooted James Bond universe (first established in Casino Royale)?is ?Q,? MI6?s resident tinkerer who creates all the wonderful spy?gadgets?that Bond uses in his perennial quest to thwart evil and save the world.

Q?s four decades? worth of onscreen appearances have largely been monopolized by actor Desmond Llewelyn (who passed away in 1999), with the last onscreen iteration of the character having been inhabited by John Cleese in the 2002 Bond film, Die Another Day.?However, as with many aspects of the rebooted Bond, the character of Q is getting an injection of some new (read: young) blood in the upcoming Bond flick, Skyfall.

BBC News?recently reported that actor Ben Whishaw will be taking on the role of Q in Skyfall. If the name is not familiar to you, it?s probably because the actor has been featured in projects that are more popular across the pond than here in the states, namely TV series like Nathan Barley and Criminal Justice -?though he has also had parts in big-screen fare like I?m Not There, Brideshead Revisited, The International, and Julie Taymor?s adaptation of Shakespeare?s The Tempest. Still, as far as the majority of American audiences are concerned, Whishaw is largely a mystery.

Modern Bond movies have been bold in their updates to some of the franchise staples ? most notably changing Bond?s boss M from male to female (played wonderfully by Judi Dench). Those changes will continue in Skyfall, as Q will ? for the first time ? actually be younger than Bond (Whishaw is 31 while Daniel Craig is in his early forties). While it?s a miniscule alteration to some (like myself), those ?Bond purists? who always seem to be waiting in the woodwork will likely be upset that a change is once again being made to Ian Fleming?s sacred material.

The many faces of Q

Since I have little knowledge of Whishaw as an actor, or what the script for Skyfall?entails, it?s hard to say what the latest take on Q is going to be: will he be the dry-wit character we?re familiar with? Or will this younger Q be less confident than his previous counterparts? Does Whishaw have the timing and talent for sharp banter? Will the gadgets that Q invents be more grounded and fitting with this rebooted Bond that Craig plays? Or will we see a return to the more over-the-top futuristic technology we saw in Die Another Day??(Please, no more invisible cars, that?s all we ask!)

We?ll find out for sure when Skyfall?hits UK theaters on October 26th, 2012. It will open in the U.S. a few weeks later on November 9th.

Source: BBC News

?

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924022/news/1924022/

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Same Sex Romance Comes to a Galaxy Far, Far Away (Newsarama.com)

Same-sex relationships are coming to the "Star Wars" universe, courtesy of video game developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts' new massively multiplayer online role- playing game (or "MMORPGs" or "MMOs" for short), "Star Wars: The Old Republic," and the decision is getting people talking.

MMOs are games that create immersive virtual environments in which millions of players can interact with computer-generated characters as well as characters created by fellow gamers. While this is BioWare's first MMO, the developer is known among fans for the emphasis they place on romantic relationships between characters in their single-player role-playing games. In the past, BioWare games have featured same-sex relationships between men and women, and in the case of the immensely popular sci-fi game "Mass Effect," relationships between men and women with an asexual alien.

BioWare originally announced that players and their companions in "Star Wars: The Old Republic" would only be able to experience mixed-gender romantic relationships. After many inquiries from fans asking the developer to explain the decision, earlier this week a new forum post by Stephen Reid, the senior online community manager for the game, showed up on the company's official website announcing that those fans had been heard and same-sex romance will be added to the game.

BioWare's statement explained that while the game will still launch with only male/female relationships, they will be adding same gender romance options in future updates.

"Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in 'Star Wars: The Old Republic' will be a post-launch feature. Because 'The Old Republic' is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options."

"Companion characters" are computer-controlled characters that follow player-created characters around the virtual world, aiding them as gamers maneuver through the story.

The response to BioWare's announcement has been massive. There are 326 pages of comments as of Friday afternoon on the official "Star Wars: The Old Republic" forum alone. They range from "thank you for listening to our requests" to "how dare you expose my children to this."

The game has no firm release date, only a release window of "holiday 2011." It has also already received an ESRB rating of "T for Teen," meaning the game is recommended for players 13 and older. Neither facts have stopped detractors from crying foul, such as John Nolte on the blog "Big Hollywood," who starts his post on the subject with "Say goodbye to your child's innocence," and ends with the inaccurate proclamation, "Announcing the gay relationships AFTER the game has been sold is pure bait and switch."

The game already has reportedly broken preorder records for publisher Electronic Arts.

Got a comment? There's lots of conversation on Newsarama's FACEBOOK and TWITTER!

Related Stories:

Newsarama.com is the go-to source for the latest comic book and genre entertainment news, reviews and commentary. Newsarama's passionate audience contributes to lively discussions ranging from classic and new comics to movies, TV, manga, anime and more. Watch previews, interviews and more on our video player, sneak peeks of new comics on our Comic Book Viewer and sign up for our RSS feeds. And be sure to join our community so you can voice your opinion on our articles and in our lively forums.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/newsarama/20111128/en_newsarama/samesexromancecomestoagalaxyfarfaraway

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DroidGamers: Playstation Network Store app tweaked and running in limited fashion on the Xperia Play. http://t.co/F8qxbXq2 #android #gaming

Playstation Network Store app tweaked and running in limited fashion on the Xperia Play. Il y a environ 3 heures via web

Source: http://twitter.com/DroidGamers/statuses/140907351162093570

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JK Rowling says press left her feeling under siege (omg!)

LONDON (AP) ? Author J.K. Rowling has told a U.K. media ethics inquiry she felt under siege from intrusive journalists who staked out her house and went as far as to slip a letter into her 5-year-old daughter's school bag.

The creator of boy wizard Harry Potter says Thursday that media interest began shortly after the publication of her first novel in 1997, and soon escalated, with photographers and reporters frequently stationed outside her home.

Once, her daughter came home from primary school and Rowling found a letter from a journalist in her backpack. Rowling says she felt a huge sense of invasion at the move.

___

Leveson Inquiry: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) ? Actress Sienna Miller told a media ethics inquiry Thursday that she was left paranoid and scared by years of relentless tabloid pursuit that ranged from paparazzi outside her house to the hacking of her mobile phone.

Miller said the surveillance, and a stream of personal stories about her in the tabloids, led her to accuse friends and family of leaking information to the media. In fact, her cell phone voice mails had been hacked at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

Miller, 29, became a tabloid staple when she dated fellow actor Jude Law. She said the constant scrutiny left her feeling "very violated and very paranoid and anxious, constantly."

"I felt like I was living in some sort of video game," she said.

She called the paparazzi focus on her terrifying.

"For a number of years I was relentlessly pursued by 10 to 15 men, almost daily," she said. "Spat at, verbally abused.

"I would often find myself, at the age of 21, at midnight, running down a dark street on my own with 10 men chasing me. And the fact they had cameras in their hands made that legal."

Miller, the star of "Layer Cake" and "Alfie," was one of the first celebrities to take the News of the World to court over illegal eavesdropping. In May, the newspaper agreed to pay her 100,000 pounds ($160,000) to settle claims her phone had been hacked.

The newspaper's parent company now faces dozens of lawsuits from alleged hacking victims.

Miller, who looked confident as she gave evidence at London's Royal Courts of Justice, said challenging Murdoch's media conglomerate had been a difficult decision.

"I was very nervous about taking on an empire that was richer and far more powerful than I will ever be," she said. "It was very daunting."

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, who has campaigned to keep her children out of the media glare, is due to give evidence later Thursday about media intrusion.

Prime Minister David Cameron set up the inquiry amid a still-unfolding scandal over illegal eavesdropping by the Murdoch-owned tabloid. Murdoch closed down the News of the World in July after evidence emerged that it had illegally accessed the mobile phone voice mails of celebrities, politicians and even crime victims in its search of scoops.

More than a dozen News of the World journalists and editors have been arrested over allegations of illegal eavesdropping, and the scandal has also claimed the jobs of two top London police officers, Cameron's media adviser and several senior Murdoch executives.

The inquiry, led by Judge Brian Leveson, plans to issue a report next year and could recommend major changes to media regulation in Britain.

Miller took the stand after another witness was allowed to give evidence in private. The courtroom was cleared of the press as the witness, identified only as HJK, testified about suffering intrusions while in a relationship with a well-known figure, whose identity was also kept secret.

Former Formula One boss Max Mosley, who has campaigned for a privacy law since his interest in sadomasochistic sex was exposed in the News of the World, broadened the focus in testimony Thursday, discussing the difficulty of squashing malicious stories in the Internet age.

Mosley successfully sued the News of the World over a 2008 story headlined "Formula One boss has sick Nazi orgy with five hookers." Mosley has acknowledged the orgy, but argued that the story ? obtained with a hidden camera ? was an "outrageous" invasion of privacy. He said the Nazi allegation was damaging and "completely untrue."

Mosley said he has had stories about the incident removed from 193 websites around the world, and is currently taking legal action "in 22 or 23 different countries," including proceedings against search engine Google in France and Germany.

"The fundamental thing is that Google could stop this appearing but they don't or won't as a matter of principle," he said. "The really dangerous things are the search engines."

"You work all your life to try and achieve something or do something useful," Mosley added. "And suddenly something like this happens and that's what you're remembered for."

High-profile witnesses still to come include CNN celebrity interviewer Piers Morgan, who has denied using phone hacking while he was editor of the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The hearings have heard allegations of media malpractice and intrusion that extend far beyond the News of the World.

Witnesses have included celebrities like actor Hugh Grant and ordinary people pursued in times of grief, including the parents of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, whose voice mails were accessed by the News of the World after she disappeared in 2002.

Her parents said the hacking gave them false hope their daughter was still alive during the investigation into her disappearance.

On Wednesday, the parents of missing child Madeleine McCann said they were left distraught by false stories and the publication of private information by the tabloid press.

Kate and Gerry McCann told the inquiry they felt powerless in the face of stories, based on concocted evidence, suggesting they had killed their daughter. Madeleine had vanished when she was three during the British family's 2007 vacation in Portugal.

___

Leveson Inquiry: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_jk_rowling_says_press_left_her_feeling_under154711988/43705257/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/jk-rowling-says-press-left-her-feeling-under-154711988.html

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Newsmaker: Technocrat "oil man" takes charge of Libya lifeline (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Libya's new oil minister is seen as the right kind of technocrat, deeply experienced yet not too closely tied to the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi, to help restore the OPEC member's economic lifeline after eight months of war.

Abdulrahman Ben Yazza is in his mid-50s and brings experience from both Libya's oil industry and Italian firm Eni, the largest foreign oil producer in Libya before the war.

He worked at Libya's Waha Oil company and at the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), culminating in a seat on the management committee. He then headed a joint venture between NOC and Eni.

"He's an excellent oil man," NOC Chairman Nuri Berruien told Reuters. "He's a first-class professional ... The most important (thing) is that he's from the oil patch. It is very important, it is good to work with people who speak your tongue."

A source close to Ben Yazza said the married father of four from Tripoli had been living in Milan for the last few years and traveling frequently to Libya.

"Ben Yazza is an old guy, well known and well liked. He knows Eni very well but that doesn't mean he will be pro-Eni ... he will be pro-Libyan," one Libyan oil industry source said.

"He's more a technocrat politician. Remember this is a transitory government, a bit like the Monti government in Italy ...It doesn't represent the power equilibrium and none of the big shots are in it."

Of all the new appointments in Prime Minister Abdurrahim El Keib's government, set to lead the country to elections next year, analysts and industry sources said Ben Yazza is seen as the most technocratic and least colored by the country's regional politics.

"In meetings he would listen to everyone's opinion," a person who worked with him at the NOC said, describing Ben Yazza as "very respectable."

NEW FACES

Before the February revolt, Libya's oil policy was run by the NOC headed by Shokri Ghanem, who defected in June and is believed to be living in Europe.

Officials have since indicated there will be changes, with plans to split commercial arrangements from policy.

Ben Yazza himself is seen as somewhat independent despite his NOC history, as a man who reportedly clashed at one point with Ghanem and who carries no strong affiliation with the ousted regime.

He is "very competent with a strong personality," one diplomatic source said.

"There were other candidates in the sector who had good international pedigrees, but they were often very closely associated with Col. Gaddafi - or they amplified their connections with Gaddafi in order to increase their prestige," said Geoff Porter, a U.S. independent expert on Libya.

"In the new post-Gaddafi Libya, they are tainted and would have been rejected by the Libyan population and by the hydrocarbon sector workers in particular."

The new set of faces will have to sustain the revival of the industry, which is returning to the international market faster than expected.

Libya holds Africa's largest oil reserves and was pumping 1.6 million barrels per day before the revolt.

Questions remain about the future, with a potential shake-up that would give more power to the oil ministry and carve up the NOC's responsibilities.

Berruien said the oil ministry and NOC would "complement each other."

Ben Yazza's appointment could see a number of former Libyan state oil company executives return to the public sector, according to political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"Highly experienced and extremely well-connected, we expect Ben Yazza to announce the recruitment of a number of his former NOC colleagues and friends to the NOC and the ministry," it said.

"The implications for the sector are good. Separating the regulatory and oversight functions from operations will remove some conflicts of interest," it said.

"Ben Yazza (will have) the opportunity to root out some of the more entrenched examples of corruption."

Still, he could encounter opposition from some workers still wary of former NOC officials. Waha Oil workers just recently ended a strike after their demands for a new chairman were met.

"Lack of experienced personnel has long been a retarding factor in the Libyan oil and gas sector and Ben Yazza will see the return of senior officials currently with IOCs (independent oil companies) as important if the sector is to reach its full potential," Eurasia said.

(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun and Christian Lowe in Tripoli, Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Jessica Donati in London; editing by Jason Neely)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/ts_nm/us_libya_oil_minister

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