Sunday, March 31, 2013

Three easy, small herb garden ideas | MNN - Mother Nature Network

Photo: Creative Cain Cabin/Hometalk.com

?

Building a small herb garden is a great way to get started with gardening. Vertical herb gardens don't take up much space, and they are fairly low-maintenance. If you start early enough, you can?start your herb garden from seeds. Don't worry if you get a later start on your vertical herb garden. You can still transplant starter plants, which you can buy at a nursery. I recently saw herb starter plants at my local farmer's market for about $3 per plant. That's more than the cost of seeds, but reasonable for a few plants. Remember that small containers need to be watered often. Since there is so little soil and water inside the containers, the sun can quickly dry out the plants. Be sure to water your small vertical herb garden daily. Ready to get started? Here are three ideas for vertical herb gardens that DIY-ers of any level can make.

?

Mini kitchen herb garden with bunting: The lovely Dawn from?Creative Cain Cabin?posted this project, which is an attractive kitchen herb garden in an enameled metal tub. To make an herb garden like hers, thickly plant herbs in a rectangular trough, place the trough on a small plastic container in a large metal tub. That's it! Make sure that your garden gets plenty of sun. Rotate to expose all sides of the plants to equal amounts of sun.

?

?

Shoe bag vertical garden: An over-door shoe rack or magazine holder makes a perfect "frame" for a vertical garden. Fill the pockets with potting soil, and tuck plants into the soil. This is a very space-efficient way to grow a garden, and the idea for using an over-door magazine holder comes from?Two Succulent Sisters via Crafts a la Mode.

?

Whether you are?remodeling?your deck and want to create an herb garden on it, or if you are starting a garden on your kitchen windowsill, you can use these three ideas for small herb gardens to maximize your space while growing delicious herbs.

?

?

Related gardening stories on MNN:

Source: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/stories/three-easy-small-herb-garden-ideas

deep impact miesha tate vs ronda rousey idiocracy usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton

Skype for Windows 8 gains contact blocking and performance improvements

Skype for Windows 8 gains contact blocking and performances improvements

Those of you using Skype in Windows 8 will be happy to know that Microsoft's just bumped the app to version 1.6. It's been a few months since the last update, and this revision brings more features to the table, including contact blocking and a slew of performance tweaks. You're now able to block users, with an option to remove or report the offending party. Speed and reliability have been improved, especially when loading contacts, and a number of bugs have been fixed, including one where the outgoing video was not always displayed after switching cameras. The update's available in Windows Store, so what are you waiting for?

Filed under:

Comments

Source: Skype Blogs

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4Z5MGj82FJU/

paris jackson paris jackson US weekly amelia earhart Sally Ride Ichiro minka kelly

Aplia Econ Blog: News for Economics Students: How Much Does It ...

?Buyers know what goods cost.? Some version of that assumption comes up in the very first weeks of just
about every introductory econ course. It becomes one of the few assumptions that we make to build the model of consumer demand. But every once in a while, life gets in the way and asks ?Is that something you really can assume??

I had to test that assumption recently. I just moved and after unpacking, I was in the mood to make dessert for myself. Of course, I?hadn't?brought many kitchen supplies with me, so that quickly posed a problem. To make cookies, I needed to buy some wooden spoons, measuring cups, and a cooling rack. None of those are hard items to find, and I happened to live just minutes away from a shopping center that had a regional grocery store, a Wal-Mart, a Target, and a regional department store. I knew that all four stores should have what I want, so the question of where to go really came down to where it would cost the least. And that?s when I realized that one of the most basic assumptions of microeconomics?didn't?hold true. I?didn't?know which store would be the cheapest, or even what the prices of the goods should be!

I had some free time on a Saturday and a strong enough curiosity that I wanted to sample prices from each store. Here?s what I found:

STORE WOODEN SPOON
(Dollars per spoon)
COOLING RACK
(Dollars per rack)
MEASURING CUPS
(Dollars per cup)
GROCERY STORE $1.50 $4.50 $1.22
WAL-MART $2.97 $2.99 $1.32
TARGET $2.03 $3.67 $4.97
DEPARTMENT STORE $12.00 $7.00 $7.50

I was also shocked by the spread in prices. While I did expect to see some markup at higher-end stores, the range was wider than I expected. I was also surprised that there?wasn't?one store that had the cheapest prices, across-the-board, for all the goods.

When economists create models, the goal is to make a few assumptions about the world to describe the ?typical? human response and show how that response leads to a ?general? outcome. My behavior in this case is not what economists would call ?typical.? (My friends might even call it weird!) But even for the typical consumer, are the assumptions of the supply and demand model always appropriate?

In a lot of cases, the classic supply and demand model does gives accurate results, but sometimes the assumption that consumers know the distribution of prices?isn't?appropriate. In those cases, it?s important to understand how behavior will change if an assumption is violated. The classic model does not involve consumers looking for prices, they just know them. As economists, we often say we are assuming ?complete information.? When consumers don?t have complete information the market price typically?doesn't?match the equilibrium price the model predicts. Most of the time the market will be inefficient (contrary to what the model suggests) and both producer and consumer surplus will be lost.

Throughout economics, every conclusion that we draw from a model depends on the assumptions that are used to build that model. Whenever I learn about a new model, I always list the assumptions made and focus on how the results change if the assumption would be removed. Understanding the relationship between assumptions and results is the critical step to applying what we learn from theory and using it to understand what happens in the real world.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:?

1. When I was getting my information I found that stores rarely carry the exact same goods. (Even if they are the same brand, the packaging might be different. It?s why I calculated my information in per unit prices.) Since I was able to find the goods in multiple locations, but they were not identical, which market structure is the most appropriate to describe kitchen supplies: Monopoly, Oligopoly, Monopolistic Competition, or Perfect competition? Why?

2. While my shopping behavior was a bit different than most people for kitchen supplies, people do ?search? when they buy certain goods. Name some items where the supply and demand model?isn't?as appropriate as a consumer search model would be. Why is it more appropriate to think about consumers searching for these goods?

3. An important part of search theory talks about the cost of searching. Suppose I?didn't?live near a shopping center and the stores were all 20 minute drives apart. How do you think that distance (and the opportunity cost associated with traveling between them) would change my behavior when I search? How would it change the pricing behavior of the stores?

Labels: Assumptions, Economics of Search, Supply and Demand

Source: http://econblog.aplia.com/2013/03/how-much-does-it-cost-to-make-cookies.html

kirk cousins ovechkin one world trade center bks new dark knight rises trailer khloe and lamar oklahoma city thunder

New technologies combat invasive species

Mar. 28, 2013 ? A new research paper by a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative (ECI) demonstrates how two cutting-edge technologies can provide a sensitive and real-time solution to screening real-world water samples for invasive species before they get into our country or before they cause significant damage.

"Aquatic invasive species cause ecological and economic damage worldwide, including the loss of native biodiversity and damage to the world's great fisheries," Scott Egan, a research assistant professor with Notre Dame's Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics Initiative and a member of the research team, said. "This research combines two new, but proven technologies, environmental DNA (eDNA) and Light Transmission Spectroscopy (LTS), to address the growing problem of aquatic invasive species by increasing our ability to detect dangerous species in samples before they arrive or when they are still rare in their environment and have not yet caused significant damage."

Egan points out that eDNA is a species surveillance tool that recognizes a unique advantage of aquatic sampling: water often contains microscopic bits of tissue in suspension, including the scales of fish, the exoskeletons of insects, and the sloughed cells of and tissues of aquatic species. These tissue fragments can be filtered from water samples and then a standard DNA extraction is performed on the filtered matter. The new sampling method for invasive species was pioneered by members of the ND Environmental Change Initiative, including David Lodge and Chris Jerde, Central Michigan University's Andrew Mahon, and The Nature Conservancy's Lindsay Chadderton.

Egan explains that LTS, which was developed by Notre Dame physicists Steven Ruggiero and Carol Tanner, can measure the size of small particles on a nanometer scale (1 nanometer equals 1 billionth of a meter). LTS was used in the research for DNA-based species detection where the LTS device detects small shifts in the size of nanoparticles with short single-stranded DNA fragments on their surface that will only bind to the DNA of a specific species.

"Thus, these nanoparticles grow in size in the presence of a target species, such as a dangerous invasive species, but don't in the presence of other species" Egan said. "In addition to the sensitivity of LTS, it is also advantageous because the device fits in a small suitcase and can operate off a car battery in the field, such as a point of entry at the border of the U.S."

The Notre Dame researchers demonstrated the work with manipulative experiments in the lab for five high-risk invasive species and also in the field, using lakes already infested with an invasive mussel, Dreissena polymorpha or the zebra mussel.

"Our work implies that eDNA sampling and LTS could enable rapid species detection in the field in the context of research, voluntary or regulatory surveillance and management actions to lower the risk of the introduction or spread of harmful species," Egan said. "In the Great Lakes alone, 180 nonindigenous species have been established since European settlement, with about 70 percent arriving through the ballast tanks of transoceanic ships. Ballast water monitoring is one of many potential applications for LTS with ramifications for environmental protection, public health and economic health."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Notre Dame. The original article was written by William G. Gilroy.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Scott P. Egan, Matthew A. Barnes, Ching-Ting Hwang, Andrew R. Mahon, Jeffery L. Feder, Steven T. Ruggiero, Carol E. Tanner, David M. Lodge. Rapid invasive species detection by combining environmental DNA with Light Transmission Spectroscopy. Conservation Letters, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/conl.12017

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/OSYpN0dQ_yk/130329090622.htm

whitney houston found dead i will always love you whitney houston 2012 grammy awards powerball results pebble beach golf beverly hilton roland martin

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Student'U presents: The Student'U creative writing course

creative writing

Our very own blogger is a passionate Short Story and poetry writer. From now on he will offer an Online Creative Writing Course for our readers. Every week on this blog he will discuss another part on how to bring a story to life and adding literary value to your imagination. Today the art of creating your main character.

Okay, your characters are the core of any literary story. They are the vehicles through which the story evolves. The core of a short story is the struggle of your protagonist. A traditional story has the following structure:

  1. The main character is introduced. The writer shows certain character trades that define him or her;
  2. He or she is confronted with a situation or person that challenges his/her character trades and doesn?t allow him or her to keep on acting the same as before;
  3. The main character seeks for solutions for the conflict that arose between his character trades and the situation/other person;
  4. A solution or action that ends the conflict.

The first step to start off the story is to create your main character. What is his or her personality and what the appearance? What does he or she does in everyday life and what is the history of your main character?

This requires some deep diving into your imagination. There are many ways to do that. One way is to go on the street and observe people there. Notice the details. What are they wearing? How are they moving and what are they speaking about? Write down all these details and memorize them in your mind?s eye. The most important question is always ?why?? Why does the person dress, move and talk the way he does? How did it grow to be like that and what is he trying to express by it? By answering the ?Why? question you are starting to create your character?s background story.

Another way is to completely make up a character. This requires to dive deeper into yourself. Lying in your bed with your eyes closed while listening to some relaxing music might be the best way to start the process of creation. While you are closing your eyes you should imagine yourself sitting in a bar. There is somebody sitting next to you. Take a close look. What is he or she wearing? What details do you notice first? What is your first impression about the emotional state of this person and what about him/her makes you think that?

The main things you will have to formulate about your main character are:

  1. Specific details about his/her appearance (this makes him more identifiable for the readers)
  2. What emotions are most dominant in him and how does he show that in his movements, use of language and interaction with others?
  3. What is events in his life had the most impact on him/her?

First assignment:

You are in the park with your main character. He has a secret that he is hiding from you. Write a scene in which you show through dialogues and events how he is hiding the secret from you, what you are doing to find it out and what it turns out to be.

comments powered by

Source: http://www.studentu.me/studentu-presents-the-studentu-creative-writing-course/

rail gun harrisburg top chef texas great pacific garbage patch ben affleck and jennifer garner google privacy changes windows 8 preview

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Coming soon: lockers for shoppers at Walmart

SAN BRUNO, California -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., facing growing competition for quick delivery of physical goods from online retailers like Amazon.com Inc, said on Tuesday it would start using its stores to get Internet orders to customers faster.

While Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer by overall sales, on the Internet its revenue is a small fraction of Amazon's, adding some urgency to its e-commerce efforts.

Wal-Mart said it would soon test having lockers to hold goods ordered on the Internet in stores until shoppers pick them up. It is also doubling the number of stores that can fill orders placed online, an attempt to match the reach of Amazon's distribution network.

Those tests, along with services such as letting shoppers pay for online orders in stores with cash, are some of the ways Wal-Mart is trying to link its online business with its thousands of stores, executives told reporters at the company's first global e-commerce media day in San Bruno, Calif.

While Amazon had $61 billion in sales last year, Wal-Mart is on track to surpass $9 billion in annual online sales this year, said Neil Ashe, chief executive of its e-commerce unit.

Until recently, Wal-Mart had not broken out its online sales, but Ashe insisted the company would be able to build a competitive e-commerce business.

Starting this summer, it will put lockers in about a dozen U.S. stores to hold goods ordered online until shoppers pick them up.

Lockers are a growing trend in e-commerce. As more packages turn up on shoppers' doorsteps theft has increased, especially in urban areas, spurring demand for secure places nearby to store them.

Amazon, which has no stores, has installed lockers in grocery, convenience and drug stores for several years. Google Inc acquired a delivery locker start-up called BufferBox in November.

Wal-Mart is also planning a small expansion of a running test to ship online orders from physical stores. In 2013, the company plans to double the program to about 50 stores, a fraction of its nationwide footprint.

Using stores as fulfillment centers that are closer to customers lets Wal-Mart offer same-day delivery and next-day delivery of online orders "at very low cost," said Joel Anderson, chief executive of Walmart.com.

Two-thirds of the U.S. population live within five miles of a Wal-Mart store. That said, the company will likely expand this approach to hundreds of stores rather than thousands.

For example, in the Dallas area, Walmart has more than 100 stores. It would only need two or three of those stores to act as distribution centers to get the financial benefit of this approach, said Jeff McAllister, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. innovations.

The expansion is another part of Wal-Mart's efforts to compete with Amazon's successful Prime subscription service, which provides free two-day shipping in the United States for $79 a year. Another front in that battle is the expansion of what Wal-Mart's website sells.

Product assortment on Walmart.com grew 35 percent to 40 percent to two million items in 2012 and the company plans to double that this year, said Kelly Thompson, a Wal-Mart merchandising executive.

But Wal-Mart's digital efforts are not without growing pains.

The retailer asked reporters who were tweeting comments on Tuesday to use the hashtag #WMTinnovate. Along with tweets from the reporters, #WMTinnovate tweets were being sent from groups and individuals speaking out against the retailer.

The union-backed group Making Change at Walmart posted on Twitter: "@WalmartNewsroom Why don't you start by empowering the women in your stores with equal pay for equal work? #equality #wmtinnovate."

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a07296f/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ccoming0Esoon0Elockers0Eshoppers0Ewalmart0E1C90A9270A6/story01.htm

Opie modern family george strait how i met your mother Jordan Pruitt real housewives of new jersey Kanye West sex tape

Kim Kardashian Pregnancy Style Uncovered!! And the family's latest ...

It?s no secret that I am a serious Kardashian Klan fan! Mock them all you will but it can not be denied that the show is definitely entertaining and you have to admire their ruthless business savvy- ?they formed an entire empire out a B-list reality show that has catapulted each member to stardom and earned the family millions of dollars in the process! Fashion, make up, management, reality shows, cosmetics, sponsorship deals, magazine covers.. you name it they?ve conquered it! And if I?m being honest, I kinda just like looking at them! Perfectly turned out at all occasion, the girls display their curves to the max, flaunt their fashion style in a really wearable (and copy-able!) way and have a gorgeous Armenian skin colouring that I would die for!

And then came the news of Kimmy K?s pregnancy with beau Kanye and ?the world held bated breath in hopes of a fashion revolution for expecting mama?s everywhere! but what they got, wasn?t exactly what the critics or the public had in mind! Join us as we take a further look into the supposed Kim K fashion pregnancy flops, the winners and the reason this gorgeous girl is struggling so much to find her usual stylish niche!

One of Kim?s favorite looks throughout her pregnancy has been all black, but as she says herself that?s nothing new for the starlet!

?It?s crazy, because I love to wear black just in general, and so I?ll see people be like, ?you?re only wearing black. Are you trying to hide it? Are you ashamed?? I?m like, I?m wearing a skintight black something to show it off,?

j q qeeeeeee qax

Something I?m not so sure I?d be eager on is the sky high Manolos, Louboutins and six inch stilettos this sexy mama to be has been rocking since trimester one! I wince a little every time blogs point out the height but it seems Kim isn?t going to give up that easily!

?I still want to be chic, wearing heels.. People are like, ?You should start wearing flats.? And I?m like, OK, I just went and bought flats for the first time this week and I can?t wear them. They?re not me. Heels make me feel so good.?

What we all have to admire about Ms Kardashian is that she is being honest about her struggles with dressing her new body as it expands and adjusts for her little one!

??I?m not going to lie and be like, ?Oh, it?s been amazing and I?ve adjusted great?.?

?At the beginning it was tough for me when your body changes so much. I don?t think anyone will really prepare you for what the changes are, but once you kind of grasp that and embrace it, it?s amazing.?

?There are maybe two or three covers just this week that say I am 200 pounds. I?m like, ?You are 60 pounds off here?.?

??It wouldn?t even bother me if I gained all the weight.?

??This is the time when everyone?s like ?you should be pigging out, eat whatever you want.? And I have the biggest sweet tooth and I love junk food.?

??Being pregnant I don?t like any of it? I?m waiting for the moments when someone?s like let?s go to McDonald?s and Taco Bell ? that?s not happening for me and I?m kind of sad about it.?

For a celebrity who built her name and entire brand around the fantasy of her stunning curves and sexy looks, it was always going to be a challenge to make a smooth transition to attractive working mother without crossing any major fashion lines! This is most likely the reason we?ve been seeing a lot of:

Skin-tight trousers:

ww

See-through blouses:

qaaa

Low-cut tops (showing off that ample cleavage!!):

images

Layered leather trousers:

uj

Cut out panelled dresses:

uu

Pencil skirts:

h

However you can?t deny she has been onto some real winners with flowy shirts and monochrome style fashion!

d rd

All in all I think it?s about time the press gave this girl a break! Women everywhere know the hazards of pregnancy style and adjusting to new bodies and we think all in all Kim is doing a pretty good job :)

Eve xxx

Sources: huffingtonpost, eonline, justjared, sun.co.uk

Like this:

Like Loading...

Source: http://thebeautydial.com/2013/03/26/kim-kardashian-pregnancy-style-uncovered-and-the-familys-latest-lawsuit/

Walmart Black Friday 2012 Paula Broadwell Tilted Kilt Barbara Palvin Yahoo Fantasy Football Nick Foles Auguste Rodin

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

LG adds free Spotify trial to its latest range of home theater gear

LG adds free Spotify trial to its latest range of home theater gear

If you needed any more enticement to splash out on one of LG's new home entertainment products, then perhaps some streaming music might turn your head. The other Korean behemoth has added Spotify to its 2013 range of home theaters, with a month's free trial offered up to anyone who has yet to sample the online radio service's delights. The gear will start arriving on shelves in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand next month, and if you'd like to know more, there's PR after the break.

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Via: Far East Gizmos

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/26/lg-adding-spotify-to-2013-lineup/

halftime super bowl 2012 super bowl score madonna super bowl performance madonna half time m.i.a super bowl coin toss best superbowl commercials

Obama calls for April debate on immigration bill

President Barack Obama greets new US citizens during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama greets new US citizens during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama watches as the Oath of Allegiance is administered at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama listens as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivers the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members and civilians, Monday, March 25, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. At right is Alejandro Mayorkas, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama challenged Congress Monday to "finish the job" of finalizing legislation aimed at overhauling the nation's immigration system.

With members of the House and Senate away on spring break, Obama made his most substantive remarks on the difficult issue in more than a month, saying he expects lawmakers to take up debate on a measure quickly and that he hopes to sign it into law as soon as possible.

"We've known for years that our immigration system is broken," the president said at a citizenship ceremony at the White House. "After avoiding the problem for years, the time has come to fix it once and for all."

The president spoke at a ceremony for 28 people from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, China and Mexico. Thirteen of the new citizens are active duty service members in the U.S. military. The oath of allegiance was administered by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

While Obama has hosted citizenship ceremonies in previous years, Monday's event was laced with politics, given the ongoing debate over immigration reform on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of eight senators is close to finishing draft work on a bill that would dramatically reshape the U.S. immigration and employment landscape, putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. The measure also would allow tens of thousands of new high- and low-skilled workers into the country.

The president applauded the congressional effort so far, but pressed lawmakers to wrap up their discussions quickly.

"We've got a lot of white papers and studies," Obama said. "We've just got to, at this point, work up the political courage to do what's required."

Immigration shot to the forefront of Obama's domestic agenda following the November election. Hispanics made up 10 percent of the electorate and overwhelmingly backed Obama, in part because of the tough stance on immigration that Republicans took during the campaign.

The election results spurred Republicans to tackle immigration reform for the first time since 2007 in an effort to increase the party's appeal to Hispanics and keep the GOP competitive in national elections.

Obama and the bipartisan Senate group are in lockstep on some key principles of a potential immigration bill, including the need for a pathway to citizenship, strengthening the legal immigration system, and cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants. But they're at odds on other important areas, including whether to link border security with starting the citizenship pathway, which the Senate supports.

The White House has largely backed the Senate process, but says it has its own immigration bill ready if the debate on Capitol Hill stalls.

Obama touted the benefits of immigration at Monday's ceremony, saying it keeps the U.S. vibrant and prosperous.

"It is part of what makes this such a dynamic country," he said at the event in the White House East Room.

Among those being sworn in as a new citizen was Nikita Kirichenko, who came to the U.S. from Ukraine at age 11 and later joined the Air Force. The president also singled out Kingsley Elebo, who pursued a master's degree in information technology after coming to the U.S. from Nigeria at age 35. Elebo is now studying for his doctorate.

The president then read a quote from Elebo about what it means to become a citizen.

"What Kingsley said is, 'What makes this country great is that if you're a citizen you're part of something bigger than yourself'," Obama said.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-25-Obama-Immigration/id-1418005a9cb04590a5006eeb895852cf

rimm pauly d project adrienne rich autism cesar chavez day raspberry ketone ron burgundy

Rapper Gucci Mane A Wanted Man After Violent Assault On Fan

Rapper Gucci Mane A Wanted Man After Violent Assault On Fan

Gucci Mane picturesAn arrest warrant has been issued for Gucci Mane after a fan told police the rapper whacked him in the head with a champagne bottle at a downtown Atlanta nightclub. James Lettley, a soldier from Fort Hood, Texas, said he was in Atlanta for his birthday and heard that Gucci Mane was going to be ...

Rapper Gucci Mane A Wanted Man After Violent Assault On Fan Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/rapper-gucci-mane-a-wanted-man-after-violent-assault-on-fan/

Felix Baumgartner Little Nemo gawker Romney Bosses Day 2012 Arlen Specter Winsor McCay

Monday, March 25, 2013

Retired New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis dies at 85

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - Anthony Lewis, both a champion and a critic of the U.S. legal system and press rights in a newspaper career spanning more than 50 years, died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Monday. He was 85.

A retired New York Times reporter and columnist who won two Pulitzer prizes, Lewis died of complications of heart failure and renal failure, said his daughter, Mia Lewis. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

He joined the Times in 1948 and, with the exception of a three-year stint at a Washington daily, spent his entire career at the newspaper, serving as London bureau chief and penning the "Abroad at Home" and "At Home Abroad" columns for more than three decades. He retired in 2001.

During his years as a columnist, Lewis took a number of positions at odds with his friends and colleagues, including criticizing Israel's relations with the Palestinian territories and questioning how much liberty the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gave the U.S. press to protect anonymous sources.

His views on the First Amendment, while sometimes unpopular with colleagues, grew out of the respect the Bronx, New York-born reporter developed for the court system while covering the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1960s, recalled a former colleague.

"In his later years he turned a little bit against the press, which he loved. But he disagreed with those of us who felt that we couldn't just trust the courts to defend our freedom," said Max Frankel, who worked side-by-side with Lewis in the Times' Washington bureau early in his career and rose to become executive editor of the paper, retiring in 1995.

'IDEALIZATION OF THE COURT'

After retiring from the Times, Lewis spoke out in favor of a 2005 court decision to jail a New York Times reporter for 85 days over her refusal to reveal the source that had helped her to publicly identify a CIA agent.

"He felt that, no, the courts and the judges were the ultimate protectors of a free press," Frankel said. "His idealization of the court, I think, grew mainly out of a court that he worshipped, which was the Warren Court ... I'm not sure how enthusiastic he would have been were he still writing now."

Lewis wrote frequently on the importance of the First Amendment. In his 2007 book "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate," he wrote of America's longstanding tolerance for words that shock and disgust.

"There will always be authorities who try to make their own lives more comfortable by suppressing critical comment," Lewis wrote. "But I am convinced that the fundamental American commitment to free speech, disturbing speech, is no longer in doubt."

Lewis did two stints at the Times, first from 1948 to 1952 in the paper's Sunday department, before joining the Washington Daily News, where he won his first Pulitzer. He returned to the Times in 1955 as a Washington reporter and later went on to become London bureau chief.

He won his second Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for his coverage of the Supreme Court.

His column carried the heading "Abroad at Home" or "At Home Abroad," depending on where he was working. He was the author of the book "Gideon's Trumpet," an account of the Supreme Court's 1963 decision guaranteeing all poor defendants the right to a lawyer under the U.S. Constitution's 6th amendment.

This month marked the 50th anniversary of that decision, which involved an indigent Florida man, Clarence Earl Gideon, who was charged with breaking into a poolroom. Gideon, who could not afford a lawyer and represented himself at trial, was convicted.

Gideon appealed to the Supreme Court, which used his case to declare that every person charged with a serious crime is entitled to the assistance of a lawyer.

'OPTIMIST ABOUT AMERICA'

In his final column, written in the months following the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, Lewis mused on how the United States would balance its tradition of free expression with a renewed concern about national security.

"I am an optimist about America. But how can I maintain that optimism after Vietnam, after the murder of so many who fought for civil rights, after the Red scare and after the abusive tactics planned by government today?" he wrote. "I can because we have regretted our mistakes in the past, relearning every time that no ruler can be trusted with arbitrary power. And I believe we will again."

Lewis is survived by his second wife, Margaret Marshall, former chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; daughters Eliza and Mia, son David and seven grandchildren. Marshall resigned from the court in 2010 to care for Lewis after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Lewis was a lover of music, the arts, gardening and food, recalled his daughter Mia, who noted that her father loved to make fruit jellies, which won prizes at fairs on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

"Growing up, we all got the sense that the things that he cared about in the world, that he wrote about, he really felt very deeply and cared about tremendously, and he passed that on to us," Mia Lewis said.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, additional reporting by Joan Biskupic in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller and John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/retired-york-times-columnist-anthony-lewis-dies-85-193608435--finance.html

Red Widow MIRIAM MAKEBA casey anthony dennis rodman history channel mila kunis hugo chavez

Frauding the cradle: Identity theft a growing problem for children ...

BY THE NUMBERS

$21 billion: Estimated cost of all U.S. identity theft incidents in 2012

$1.5 million: Amount of fraud perpetrated over a decade against a 19-year-old girl discovered in a 2012 survey by AllClear ID

35-51: How many times more likely children are than adults to be identity theft victims

$1,727: Average value of fraud in child identity theft cases

334: Time in days to detect the average case of child identity theft

56: Percentage of child identity theft cases involving a stolen Social Security number

27: Percentage of reported child identity theft cases that were perpetrated by a family member or friend

44: Average time in hours to resolve cases of child identity theft

12: Average time to resolve cases of adult identity theft

5: Age in months of the youngest victim discovered in the CyLab report

Sources: Javelin Strategy & Research 2013 Identity Fraud Report, AllClear ID Child Identity Theft Report 2012, Carnegie-Mellon CyLab, IdentityTheftAssistance.org, Robert Chappell

PREVENTION AND DETECTION

Author and child identity theft expert Robert Chappell offers the following suggestions for preventing your child's identity from being stolen or detecting any problems. Many of these tips also apply to parents.

? Never place Social Security numbers on school, medical or insurance forms. Ask if you can substitute the final four digits of the number instead, and find out how any forms you submit will be stored and to whom they will be disclosed.

? Keep critical papers bearing personal information at home in a locked container, not in your wallet or purse. If you must dispose of documents with this information, cross-shred (horizontally and vertically) to prevent their reconstruction.

? Teach your children -- and yourself -- to practice discretion on social media and avoid sharing dates of birth or Social Security numbers on your profile.

? To provide adequate time to address any errors, visit www.annualcreditreport.com and ask for a free manual search of your child's credit report about the time they turn 16. A manual search will check for files relating to their name and Social Security number and could detect discrepancies a regular check would miss. Depending on the crediting bureau, this may require parents to submit several identifying documents.

? Monitor mail for any increase in or the sudden appearance of credit card offers to your child, especially if you haven't recently opened a savings account in their name.

DAMAGE CONTROL

If your child's identity is stolen, the process of repairing the damage often can be lengthy and frustrating. Here are the first few steps parents should take immediately to get the ball rolling:

1. Keep a detailed journal with contact information for all correspondences you have with creditors, crediting bureaus and other agencies.

2. Send a letter to the three nationwide crediting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) requesting they remove accounts, inquiries and collection notices associated with your child's name and personal information. Include a copy of the Uniform Minor's Declaration Status (available at consumer.ftc.gov).

3. Contact creditors where accounts have been opened and request that they be closed. Follow up that request in writing.

4. File an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission and print off an identity theft affidavit to gain certain protections and rights with debt collectors or companies and to help file an extended fraud alert on the credit report.

5. Take the printed FTC complaint to local law enforcement to generate a police report of the incident. In many cases, this report is required by the crediting bureaus before they will take further action.

6. Ask one of the agencies to place a fraud alert on your child's credit report. That agency will share the request with the other two. Consider requesting a 90-day, renewable credit freeze to prevent further activity on the account.

Sources: FTC, various internet sites, Robert Chappell

For many 18-year-olds, receiving the first credit card offer is a rite of passage, a promise of access to adult financial resources accompanied by flattering statements of pre-approval.

Even as her friends' mailboxes in Ringgold were being clogged by bulky envelopes with rectangular bulges, however, Brittany Marston's remained mysteriously empty.

Growing up, her grandmother taught her to be wary of the dangers of abusing credit, so she wasn't in a hurry to apply for one. Still, she remembers, the absence of any offers was worrisome.

"I was curious as to why I wasn't getting them since I knew I hadn't done anything to mess my credit up," recalls Marston, now 22. "My grandmother suggested that I get my credit report, so I did and saw that there was a Capital One card in my name."

Confused, she called to inquire about the account, which had been maxed out and had fees that amounted to more than double the $400 credit limit. Capital One informed her that she had been making charges at gas stations, grocery stores and banks in Alabama.

Even worse, Marston says, she knew who was to blame, and the person was related to her.

"Having [a family member] do that to you is really not a great experience," she says.

Just days into adulthood, the credit score Marston had been taught to so carefully safeguard was in shambles. Like many victims of identity theft, restoring her financial good name was a frustrating experience and, because she was a minor, took far longer to resolve.

A Growing Problem

About 500,000 identity theft cases are reported annually involving victims under the age of 18, says Robert Chappell, veteran Virginia law enforcement agent and author of "Child Identity Theft: What Every Parent Needs to Know."

As with adults, uses of a stolen identity vary widely with kids, from opening lines of credit and applying for loans to escaping criminal persecution and obtaining illegal employment. The difference for minors is that violations often remain undetected for much longer than for adults -- up to 61/2 times longer, according to the 2012 Child Identity Fraud Report by the Identity Theft Assistance Center.

"There are very few signs, and parents don't know to look for the signs that are there," Chappell says.

Because of the ease of evading detection -- sometimes for years -- recent studies of childhood identity theft have found that minors are 35 to 51 times more likely than adults to be the victims of identity fraud. The ITAC report estimated that 2.5 percent of American households with minors will experience child identity fraud before children turn 18.

A compromised Social Security number was the most common inroad to stealing a child's identity, according to the report. Chappell says these numbers are acquired in a variety of ways, from network/computer hacking and purse snatchings to contractors illegally accessing records at schools, doctors' offices or insurance providers.

Experts say the problem is getting worse.

According to a 2012 report by identity-theft protection firm AllClear ID, more than 10 percent of the 27,000 children whose credit reports the company scanned had evidence of someone fraudulently using a child's Social Security number. The same report found that possible cases involving victims under the age of 5 increased by 105 percent between 2011 and 2012.

One of the main contributing factors to children being targets of identity thieves is that parents don't know what information to protect, Chappell says.

"Parents need to know one basic fact: A child's information is worth something," he explains. "Until they become 18 and above or get out in the work force, we think that information isn't of value, but criminals have figured out that, yes, in fact, it is."

Leech Your Children Well

As in Marston's case, the guilty party often is a relative. Chappell says that's true in more than one-quarter of child identity theft incidents.

In addition to the usual complications resulting from identity theft, the complex relationship between victim and perpetrator means the damage done is twofold. As a result, Chappell says, cases of child identity theft by relatives are probably under reported.

"You leave the child with a feeling of violation," Chappell says. "Not only have they been victimized ..., but they have the inability of cleaning it up without following through with the police agency, who will often want to prosecute. Often, they don't end up doing anything at all."

Many times, the violation starts when a relative faces a mountain of overdue bills and uses their child's Social Security number to restore a vital service they see as being in the family's best interest. The situation often snowballs, however, and Chappell says relatives deserve little sympathy for taking that route.

"In all likelihood, the parent can't pay the new bills either, and the child's credit is ruined," he says. "It is far from a victimless crime."

After her daughter gave them up to the foster care system in 2005, Ooltewah resident Debra Fisher, 58, adopted all four of her grandchildren. As they turned 18, Fisher says she discovered their mother had used each of their Social Security numbers to open fraudulent accounts.

There were magazine subscriptions, unpaid electric bills and cable bills. Some charges were years old and had been sent to collection agencies. One granddaughter's Social Security number had also been stolen by a second party in an unrelated case and was being used to claim dependency for Food Stamps.

Fisher says she faced obstacle after obstacle to correct the situation.

Because the offenses occurred in a different county, obtaining a police report was next to impossible, even though credit bureaus often require one, she says. The bureaus also balked at her requests because the names and Social Security numbers didn't match; nor would the agencies respond to the three letters she wrote seeking a resolution.

"I felt absolutely impotent," Fisher says. "It was very frustrating because no matter who you turned to ... no one would do anything."

Eventually, Fisher says, she had to bluff her daughter into believing she was facing jail time to convince her to call the crediting bureaus and claim the mistake was a clerical error. Fisher has not filed criminal charges and has not said she plans to do so.

A Hard Lesson

In Marston's case, all turned out well, but it took three years of writing letters, making calls and eventually threatening to involve an attorney before she convinced the credit bureaus to erase the black marks on her report.

In the meantime, she has steadily built up her credit by charging her wedding ceremony to a David's Bridal account, then paying it off in increments. Her grandmother, who warned her to avoid credit cards, helped out as well by naming her as an authorized user on a Sears card.

Even with a credit score that now is in the 700s, however, Marston says she will never forget the lessons she learned from her experience.

"It's most definitely changing my approach to raising my kid," she says of her 2-year-old son Corvyn. "Once he's 18, I will definitely be checking his credit score. It's hard to have to live on edge like this."

Source: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/mar/24/identity-theft-a-growing-problem-for/

may day protests tony nominations 2012 facebook organ donor jessica simpson gives birth carrie underwood blown away chk ryan seacrest

The Real Reason Why Pres. Obama VIsited Israel

He Ru Follow us: Make a7 your Homepage
Arutz Sheva

INR Announcements

Radio News Highlights

  • Jerusalem Music Conference
  • ROI Summit Unites Young Jews
  • British Jewry at the Knesset
  • Shavuot on Mount Zion
  • Rabbis March on Washington 1943
  • Live Knesset Update on Samaria

Latest Israel Newscast

Last Update:Mar 24, 3/24/2013

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/4583

miami heat march madness bracket ncaa basketball scores brian urlacher kate upton Harry Reems ncaa basketball

Ellen DeGeneres Wows Audiences In Australia

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Drew Barrymore ran some errands in New York City on March 22. Looking good post-baby!

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Ashley Greene was spotted leaving a gym wearing a pink top in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 20.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Eva Mendes, wearing a brown leopard print dress and brown boots, headed to a taping of "The Late Show with David Letterman" in New York City on March 19.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    "The Bachelor" star Sean Lowe and his fiance Catherine Giudici took a stroll at The Grove in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 19.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    A makeup-free Cameron Diaz sported black spandex pants as she got some exercise while hiking with a friend in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 19.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Emilia Clarke looked incredible at HBO's Season Three premiere of "Game of Thrones" held at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Calif., on March 18.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Selena Gomez showed off her legs in a a short skirt as she arrived at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City to promote her new film "Spring Breakers" on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on March 18.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Lindsay Lohan was seen leaving the court house in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 18 after showing up 45 minutes late.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara took a taxi to an office building in New York on March 18.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner took their kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel to a park in Brentwood, Calif., on March 17. How adorable are these sweet siblings?

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Taylor Swift rocked short shorts as she headed to a photo shoot in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 16.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    "Jersey Shore" star Pauly D was spotted this past weekend spinning some of today's hottest hits at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana's ORO Nightclub in the Dominican Republic.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Jessica Simpson, who recently confirmed she is expecting a boy, shopped at Bel Bambini Baby Boutique in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 15.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Khloe Kardashian left the One The Thirty restaurant in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on March 14. Looking good, Khloe!

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Jennifer Garner struck a pose at the Neutrogena Sun Summit (raising awareness on the changing environment's impact on overall skin health) in in New York City on March 13.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Camila Alves rocked a blue leather jacket, black top and black pants as she set out around New York City on March 13.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar filmed scenes on the beach in Malibu, Calif., for the TV show "Franklin & Bash" on March 12.

  • Celebrity PHotos: March 2013

    Pregnant reality star Kim Kardashian headed to an office to film scenes for 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 12.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Jessica Alba returned to her hotel in Soho in New York City on March 11.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    "Pretty Little Liars" actress Shay Mitchell prepped her skin with Bior? Acne Clearing Scrub in the green room in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 12.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Charlize Theron stopped for a sweet snack at Pinkberry with her son Jackson in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 11.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Maxxinista Giuliana Rancic picked up designer finds for spring at T.J.Maxx in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 11.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Ryan Gosling returned to his hotel after attending a press junket in New York City on March 10. The actor's girlfriend and co-star was close behind.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Camila Alves is seen with her kids, Levi and Vida in New York City on March 10.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Isla Fisher took her daughters, Olive and Elula, out for a shopping trip in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 9.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Eva Mendes walked her dog in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 7.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Hilary Duff stopped by Paquito Mas in Sherman Oaks, Calif., to grab some mexican food to go with her baby boy Luca on March 6.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Lea Michele and boyfriend Cory Monteith seemed upbeat as they arrived in New York City on March 5.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart was escorted by friends out of the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Calif., on March 5.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Selena Gomez grabbed a lot of attention as she posed on the set of a video shoot in Palmdale, Calif., on March 4.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Rihanna attended the launch of her River Island collection at the Oxford Street River Island store on March 4 in London. She donned a sexy sheer dress, of course.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Newly single Michelle Williams took daughter Matilda Ledger grocery shopping in Brooklyn, NY on March 4.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attended the Givenchy Fall-Winter 2013-2014 'Ready-To-Wear' collection show held at Halle Freyssinet in Paris on March 3.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Natalie Portman went casual in an all brown ensemble for a trip to the grocery store in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 3.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield strolled through Tribeca on a chilly afternoon in New York on March 2.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Britney Spears was seen playing with her two sons, Sean and Jayden Federline in Santa Barbara, Calif., on March 2.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Jessica Chastain attended the Viktor & Rolf Fall-Winter 2013/2014 Ready-to-Wear collection show held at Espace Ephemere des Tuileries in Paris, France on March 2.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Justin Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel took an arm-in-arm stroll through graffiti filled Soho together on March 1 in NYC.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Newly engaged "90210" star, Shenae Grimes, got her lips ready for her big day with eos Summer Fruit Lip Balm on March 1.

  • Celebrity Photos: March 2013

    Mariah Carey, wearing a very tight black dress and leather jacket, left a midtown hotel in New York City on March 1.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Justin Bieber left his hotel wearing a particularly colorful outfit that included two watches, purple leopard print trousers and a studded yellow baseball cap on Feb. 26 in London.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Olivia Wilde wore leather pants to open Brazillian store BoBo in Rio de Janierio on Feb. 26.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    "Private Practice" star Kate Walsh stopped by the Andy Lecompte salon in West Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 26.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Britney Spears was escorted out of a Target store in Los Angeles, Calif., by a security guard on Feb. 26.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Pink showed off her killer abs while on the beach with her family in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 25.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Lisa Rinna went makeup-free while out and about in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 25.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Gabrielle Union was spotted at Burger King picking up their new smooth roast coffee in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 25.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Anne Hathaway posed with her husband Adam Shulman as she carried her Oscar for best supporting actress at the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Feb. 24 in Hollywood, Calif.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Britney Spears wowed at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Party held at The Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 24.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Best Actress winner Jennifer Lawrence posed in the press room at the Oscars on Feb. 24 in Hollywood, Calif.

  • Celebrity Photos: February 2013

    Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux posed together on the red carpet at the Oscars on Feb. 24 in Hollywood, Calif.

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/ellen-degeneres-australia_n_2943692.html

    lawrence o donnell magic johnson jetblue pilot solicitor general neighborhood watch dodgers sale tami roman

    Sunday, March 24, 2013

    Police: No hazardous material at Berezovsky site

    British police officers cordon off a road near a residence in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Boris Berezovsky, 67, a self-exiled and outspoken former Russian oligarch who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead Saturday in southeast England. Thames Valley police said his death was being treated as unexplained. They would not directly identify him, but when asked about him by name they read a statement saying they were investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot. A mathematician turned Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990's. The one-time Kremlin powerbroker fell out with Putin and sought political asylum in Britain in the early 2000's. He has lived in the U.K. ever since. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

    British police officers cordon off a road near a residence in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Boris Berezovsky, 67, a self-exiled and outspoken former Russian oligarch who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead Saturday in southeast England. Thames Valley police said his death was being treated as unexplained. They would not directly identify him, but when asked about him by name they read a statement saying they were investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot. A mathematician turned Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990's. The one-time Kremlin powerbroker fell out with Putin and sought political asylum in Britain in the early 2000's. He has lived in the U.K. ever since. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

    FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2000 file photo Russian tycoons Boris Berezovsky, left, and Roman Abramovich, then both lawmakers, walk after the session of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, in Moscow, Russia. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

    British police officers cordon off a road near a residence in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Boris Berezovsky, 67, a self-exiled and outspoken former Russian oligarch who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead Saturday in southeast England. Thames Valley police said his death was being treated as unexplained. They would not directly identify him, but when asked about him by name they read a statement saying they were investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot. A mathematician turned Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990's. The one-time Kremlin powerbroker fell out with Putin and sought political asylum in Britain in the early 2000's. He has lived in the U.K. ever since. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

    FILE - A Wednesday, July 18, 2007 photo from files showing Russian exile Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned by Polonium 2-10, speaking to the media in a news conference in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

    FILE - A Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo from files showing Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky talking to the media after losing his case against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich as he leaves the High Court in London. United Kingdom police have said that Berezovsky has been found dead Saturday March 23, 2013.(AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

    LONDON (AP) ? Chemical and radiation experts found no hazardous materials in their search of the property where Boris Berezovsky's body was found, as British police on Sunday investigated the unexplained death of the self-exiled Russian tycoon who went from Kremlin kingmaker to fiery critic.

    Berezovsky, who fled to Britain in the early 2000s after a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead Saturday at the property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London. He was 67, and Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as "unexplained."

    Police said Sunday that officers specially trained in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials have given the scene the "all clear."

    "Officers found nothing of concern in the property and we are now progressing the investigation as normal," a statement from police said, adding that the majority of the cordon put in place around the property has now been lifted.

    Berezovsky ? who had survived a number of assassination attempts ? amassed a fortune through oil and automobiles during Russia's chaotic privatization of state assets following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

    Once a member of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, Berezovsky fell out with Yeltsin's successor, Putin, and fled Britain in the early 2000s to escape fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.

    He became a strident and frequent critic of Putin, accusing the leader of ushering in a dictatorship, and accused the security services of organizing the 1999 apartment house bombings in Moscow and two other Russian cities that became a pretext for Russian troops to sweep into Chechnya for the second war there in half a decade.

    Putin's spokesman acknowledged Sunday that the Russian president considered Berezovsky an enemy with clearly stated intentions to fight.

    "We know for certain that he spared no expense in support of processes, within Russia and beyond, that could be said to have been directed against Russia and Putin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the independent cable television channel Rain. "He definitely was Putin's opponent, and unfortunately not only his political opponent, but most likely in other dimensions as well."

    In recent years, Berezovsky fended off legal attacks that often bore political undertones ? and others that bit into his fortune.

    Russia repeatedly sought to extradite on Berezovksy on a wide variety of criminal charges, and the tycoon vehemently rejected allegations over the years that he was linked to several deaths, including that of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya and ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

    Berezovsky won a libel case in 2010 against a Kremlin-owned broadcaster that aired a show in which it was suggested he was behind the poisoning of Litvinenko, who had fled Russia with Berezovsky's help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.

    He took a hit with his divorce from Galina Besharova in 2010, paying what was at the time Britain's largest divorce settlement. The figure beat a previous record of 48 million pounds ($73.1 million) and was estimated as high as 100 million pounds, though the exact figure was never confirmed.

    Last year, Berezovsky lost a multibillion-pound High Court case against fellow Russian Roman Abramovich and was ordered to pay 35 million pounds ($53.3 million) in legal costs.

    Berezovsky had claimed that Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, cheated him out of his stakes in the oil group Sibneft, arguing that he blackmailed him into selling the stakes vastly beneath their true worth after he lost Putin's good graces.

    But a judge threw out the case in August, ruling that Berezovsky was a dishonest and unreliable witness, and rejected Berezovsky's claims that he was threatened by Putin and Alexander Voloshin, a Putin ally, to coerce him to sell his Sibneft stake.

    It also recently emerged that Berezovsky ran up legal bills totaling more than 250,000 pounds in just two months of a case against his former partner, Elena Gorbunova, with whom he had two children and who claimed the businessman owed her millions.

    Earlier this week, The Times of London newspaper reported that Berezovsky was selling property ? including an Andy Warhol portrait of the former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin ? to settle his debts and pay expenses owed to lawyers.

    News of Berezovsky's death has prompted conspiracy theories along with speculation as to his state of mind, given his recent financial setbacks.

    Ilya Zhegulev, a journalist with the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, said he spoke with Berezovsky the day before he died and discussed the tycoon's decision to flee Russia in 2000.

    The journalist quoted Berezovsky as saying that during his years in London he had lost the meaning of life.

    "I no longer want to be involved in politics," Zhegulev quoted Berezovsky as saying in a story published Saturday on the Forbes.ru website.

    He said Berezovsky told him that he wanted nothing more than to return to Russia. The former oligarch said he had changed his views on Russia, saying he now understood that it should not look to Europe as a model.

    "I had absolutely, idealistically imagined that it was possible to build a democratic Russia. And idealistically imagined what democracy was in the center of Europe. I underestimated the inertia of Russia and greatly overestimated the West. This took place gradually. I changed my understanding of Russia's path," he quoted Berezovsky as having said.

    ___

    AP writer Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report. Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-03-24-Britain-Berezovsky/id-6bdec1513e774bc199b38322c528ed4e

    Suki Waterhouse dancing with the stars Bates Motel Michelle Shocked ncaa bracket bracket Jason Terry

    Tuesday, March 19, 2013

    Pope Francis to get simple coat of arms, ring

    In this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis meets Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at the Vatican, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, with whom he has clashed over her socially liberal policies and what he has called the government's totalitarianism. Fernandez called on the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Monday at his temporary home, the Vatican hotel on the edge of the Vatican gardens, and the two later lunched together, a day before she and other world leaders attend his installation Mass in St. Peter's Square that some estimates say could bring 1 million people to Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

    In this photo provided by the Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis meets Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at the Vatican, Monday, March 18, 2013. Pope Francis' diplomatic skills were put to the test Monday as he met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, with whom he has clashed over her socially liberal policies and what he has called the government's totalitarianism. Fernandez called on the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires Monday at his temporary home, the Vatican hotel on the edge of the Vatican gardens, and the two later lunched together, a day before she and other world leaders attend his installation Mass in St. Peter's Square that some estimates say could bring 1 million people to Rome. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)

    (AP) ? Pope Francis is mixing his Argentine past with his Roman present to create his new papal coat of arms, while harking back to a pope associated with the Second Vatican Council for the simple ring that he will receive during Tuesday's installation Mass.

    The Vatican on Monday released details of the symbols of Francis' pontificate, which in its inaugural days has been marked by his preference for simplicity and aversion to Holy See splendor.

    The new pope chose to keep the same coat of arms he had as archbishop of Buenos Aires, and picked the simplest ring out of several models offered him. It is fashioned in gold-plated silver and was once a gift to Pope Paul VI, who presided over the second half of Vatican II, the meetings that modernized the church.

    The coat of arms has a necessary addition ? the papal symbols surrounding it: a gilded miter, and crossed gold and silver keys.

    The shield itself, in very simple almost modern heraldry, depicts a star, a grape-like plant, and a monogram of Christ at the center of a fiery sun. The symbols represent the three members of the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In religious writing, Mary is often referred to as a "star," while St. Joseph is often depicted holding a nard, a Middle Eastern plant. The monogram is the symbol of Francis' Jesuit order.

    His motto suggests even more about the root of Francis' message:

    "Miserando atque eligendo," Latin for "Having had mercy, he called him," comes from an episode in the Gospel where Christ picks a seemingly unworthy person to follow him.

    Francis has stressed the importance of mercy, saying that often people are unforgiving with one another, but that God is all-merciful. "And very patient," he ad-libbed from the window of his studio during his first Angelus prayer Sunday.

    In a written explanation of the coat of arms, motto and ring, the Vatican said that the inspiration for the motto stems from the calling Jorge Bergoglio heard at the age of 17, when "he experienced the presence of the love of God in a very special way," and decided to join the Jesuit order.

    Francis's official ring will look like gold, but in fact is only gold plated.

    Known as the fisherman's ring from the apostle Peter, who was a fisherman and the first pope, Francis's version depicts St. Peter holding the keys of the Holy See. Each pope picks his own ring, which will be destroyed at the end of his papacy.

    According to Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the ring was one of several offered to Francis. Fashioned in the 1960s by Italian goldsmith Enrico Manfrini, it was offered to Paul VI through his private secretary. Lombardi said it is not known if the pope ever used it.

    Paul VI presided over the second half of Vatican II, the 1962-65 meetings that paved the way for the liturgy to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin and revolutionized the church's relations with Jews.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-18-Vatican-Pope's%20Coat%20of%20Arms/id-5e40ebf346734517ab07af951c04ab3d

    kansas vs kentucky joe posnanski michael kidd gilchrist national championship calipari national archives brock lesnar