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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Look for Less: Knox Jolie-Pitt?s Casual Cool
Angelina Jolie's little guy looks adorable in his La Miniatura gray cardigan. Check him out, plus our look for less.
Puck to be honored by James Beard Foundation (AP)
The so-called Oscars of the food world this year will give the ultimate nod to a man best known for feeding celebrities at the real Oscars.
The James Beard Foundation's Lifetime Achievement award this year will go to Wolfgang Puck, whose menu for The Academy Awards Governors Ball is almost as eagerly anticipated as the awards themselves.
Puck ? who has won multiple honors from the foundation and is the only chef to have twice received its Most Outstanding Chef award ? was chosen for his talent as a chef and restaurateur, as well as for his history of revolutionizing how American chefs think about food, foundation president Susan Ungaro said in a release.
Puck, whose cooking combines classic French technique with a focus on seasonal and local ingredients, has been an iconic voice in California cuisine. Born in Austria, he moved to Los Angeles in 1975. In 1982, he opened Spago, the restaurant for which he remains best known. Today, he has 20 restaurants around the country.
The award will be presented during the foundation's annual awards gala on May 7 in New York.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Hang Up and Listen: The Rhodes to Nowhere Edition
In this week?s episode of Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss Novak Djokovic?s marathon win over Rafael Nadal, Victoria Azarenka?s blowout of Maria Sharapova, and other Australian Open doings with Sports Illustrated?s S.L. Price. They also talk about the New York Times? report on the sexual assault allegation against Yale quarterback (and one-time Rhodes scholarship candidate) Patrick Witt. Finally, they evaluate the HBO documentary Namath: Beaver Falls to Broadway.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=41857d99a96d6cd5f686e82522230e75
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MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269
Looking to add some muscle to your mobile recording kit? MOTU waited to pull the curtain back on the MicroBook II until after NAMM, revealing a revamped portable audio interface for those who fancy tracking on-the-go. The studio-quality kit plays nice with both Mac and PC, offering a compact 4-input / 6-output, bus-powered recording option with 96kHz recording and playback support. Sporting inputs for mics (XLR), guitar, keyboard and powered speakers, the MicroBook II connects to your computer of choice via USB 2.0 and boasts on-board volume controls. All four inputs can be recorded simultaneously while internal CueMix tech allows for a unique stereo mix for each output pair. Speaking of outputs, the diminutive box houses six of said channels alongside TRS 1/4-inch, stereo mini, S/PDIF, and 1/4-inch headphone offerings. You'll have to wait until Spring to snag one, but for now hit the PR after the break for a full list of specs.
Continue reading MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269
MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Peru: 26 killed in fire at rehab center
LIMA, Peru?? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 26 people and critically injuring six as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.
The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.
Six men rescued from the building were hospitalized in critical condition, said Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, adding that most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.
The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.
"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."
One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.
Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.
"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.
AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.
Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.
"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.
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Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.
The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.
'Dantesque proportions'
Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.
She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.
Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.
Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.
Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.
"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.
Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.
One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.
"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46174608/ns/world_news-americas/
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Monica Spannbauer, Bachelor Castoff, Takes Shot at Ben Flajnik and Courtney Robertson
Monica Spannbauer, The Bachelor's most recent castoff, says star Ben Flajnik and Courtney Robertson are a perfect match. Aww. So nice to say, right?
No. She means that quite negatively.
"I absolutely think she's wrong for Ben, but the more I watch - obviously I don't get to see everything that happens - they deserve each other," she said.
Courtney Robertson, who's like a model, has made a nasty habit of hating on other girls while pursuing Ben. And saying "winning" like a complete tool.
Monica Spannbauer, who ruffled a few feathers herself in The Bachelor house, says she had no beef with Court personally ... but is still not a fan. At all.
"Courtney isn't a very nice person and I think she deserves everything that's coming toward her," Monica said, ominously. "Hands down, I think she's somebody different around other women and somebody different around a man."
Spannbauer also had a nice parting shot for Ben Flajnik.
"Courtney is really manipulative and good at what she does. Clearly that's the kind of girl Ben's looking for ... If they end up together, they deserve each other, because if he's that shallow and she's that manipulative, then they totally work."
Meow!! You tell us ... Courtney Robertson:
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Peter, Paul and Mary bassist Dick Kniss dies at 74 (AP)
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. ? Dick Kniss, a bassist who performed for five decades with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and co-wrote the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders," has died. He was 74.
Kniss died Wednesday of pulmonary disease at a hospital near their home in the Hudson Valley town of Saugerties, said his wife, Diane Kniss.
Kniss was born in Portland, Ore., and was an original member of Denver's 1970s band. He also played with jazz greats including Herbie Hancock and Woody Herman.
Active in the 1960s civil rights movement, Kniss performed at benefits for a range of causes and played during the first celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday.
Peter, Paul and Mary's Peter Yarrow said in a statement that Kniss was "our intrepid bass player for almost as long as we performed together.
"He was a dear and beloved part of our closest family circle and his bass playing was always a great fourth voice in our music as well as, conceptually, an original and delightfully surprising new statement added to our vocal arrangements," Yarrow said.
Visiting hours are set for 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Seamon-Wilsey Funeral Home in Saugerties, with a service at 2 p.m.
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Romney, Gingrich focus on Hispanic voters in Fla.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney smiles as his wife Ann introduces him at The Hispanic Leadership Network's Lunch at Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney smiles as his wife Ann introduces him at The Hispanic Leadership Network's Lunch at Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Fla., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during Hispanic Leadership Network conference at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, participates in the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum participates in the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Astrotech Space Operations in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
DORAL, Fla. (AP) ? Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney urged conservatives to back off aggressive anti-immigration policies as the Republican presidential candidates vied for Hispanic votes Friday, a day marked by heightened tensions entering the final weekend before Florida's primary.
"I'm very concerned about those who are already here illegally and how we deal with those 11 million or so," Romney said. "My heart goes out to that group of people. ... We're not going to go around and round people up in buses and ship them home."
The compassionate approach, like Gingrich's calls for politically practical reform, was aimed at improving the Republican Party's tarnished reputation among Hispanics. Both men delivered speeches Friday to the same group of Hispanic leaders gathered in Miami but avoided ? at least briefly ? criticizing each other in what now looks like a two-man race for the nomination.
Any calls for temperance on immigration didn't apply to personal attacks elsewhere.
The former House speaker released a new television ad in Florida using former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to question Romney's integrity. "If a man's dishonest to get a job, he'll be dishonest on the job," Huckabee says in the ad.
However, Huckabee said he didn't approve of his appearance in the ad and had been quoted out of context. Reiterating his stand against making a primary endorsement, he wrote on his PAC website: "My hope is to defeat Barack Obama and win majorities in both the House and Senate, not to attack any of the presidential candidates who might be our nominee."
Romney flashed a newfound confidence as he campaigned the day after delivering a strong debate performance. "I've had the fun of two debates where I had to stand up and battle, and battling was fun and battling was won," he told cheering supporters gathered at Cape Canaveral.
He later likened Gingrich's complaints to "Goldilocks," the fairy tale character who complained of the temperature of her porridge.
Tensions boiled over between the Gingrich and Romney representatives at a stop in Delray Beach. Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond confronted Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is among several high-profile Romney surrogates tailing the former House speaker.
Surrounded by reporters and cameras, Hammond goaded Chaffetz for employing a tactic that even 2008 presidential nominee John McCain has called into question. McCain is a Romney backer who on Friday said he would discourage that type of infiltration.
"What you're saying is you're disregarding the advice of one your top endorsers?" Hammond asked Chaffetz.
"Speaker Gingrich has routinely said he would follow the president from place to place. We think it's a good idea," Chaffetz responded, referring to Gingrich's threat, if he wins the GOP nomination, to follow President Barack Obama from city to city to get the last word.
The outburst overshadowed a detailed discussion about immigration, in which the rivals called for democracy in Cuba and across Latin America, touching a theme that caused clashes between the GOP front-runners at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville.
Immigration is a flashpoint issue in Florida for the GOP candidates, who are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate toward immigrants and firm about stemming the tide of illegal workers. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters.
Gingrich pushed for a measured approach to revising the nation's immigration laws, "because any bill you write that is comprehensive has too many enemies." The former House speaker says he wants stricter border control, faster deportation proceedings and a guest-worker program for certain immigrants.
If elected, Gingrich said he would bring to bear "the moral force of an American president who is serious about intending to free the people of Cuba and willingness to intimidate those who are the oppressors and say to them, 'You will be held accountable.'"
Romney said the United States needs to work harder to promote democracy across Latin America and elsewhere. He compared it to selling soda: "We convince people around the world to buy a brown, caramel-colored water called Coca-Cola and to pay like a half day's wage for it. And they'll buy it. It's unbelievable. We're able to convince people of things that sometimes you scratch your head. ... And yet democracy, we don't sell that so well."
Military dictatorships allied with the United States ruled much of South America in the 1970s, but most nations returned to democracy in the 1980s.
Romney also pledged to appoint a Latin American envoy and to create a task force to focus on drug trafficking and other issues.
Hours after the speech, Romney also won the coveted endorsement of Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno, who joined Romney at an Orlando campaign stop late in the day. Romney and Gingrich said earlier that Puerto Rico should be granted statehood if local voters approve a looming referendum.
Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney. Two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, were far behind.
Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller states that cost less to campaign in. On Friday, he began a two-day visit to snowy Maine.
Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off at home, sitting at his kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.
Outside advisers were urging him to pack up completely and not spend another minute in Florida, where he is cruising toward a third straight loss.
Associated PressFriday, January 27, 2012
Video: Does the Buffet rule have a new poster boy?
Surprising 30 percent rise in home births
A small, but growing trend of women in the US are choosing home births, a new government report finds. These mostly over 35, non-Hispanic white women are "consciously rejecting the system" of hospital deliveries, says the researcher.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46154786#46154786
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Pro Bowlers want game to stay in Hawaii (AP)
HONOLULU ? Many NFL stars are hoping that when it comes to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, aloha doesn't mean goodbye.
The NFL all-star game doesn't have a home beyond Sunday's game. League and Hawaii officials are negotiating a deal to keep the game in the islands, which is hosting it for the second straight year after it was played in Miami in 2010, breaking a 30-year run in Hawaii.
"It takes away from the game when it's somewhere else," said Miami Dolphins receiver Brandon Marshall, who also selected to the Miami game two years ago. "It's always a privilege. It's always an honor to be selected to a Pro Bowl. But this is what the Pro Bowl is about ? paradise. So it would (stink) definitely if we no longer come out here."
Some players went as far as saying they wouldn't participate if the Pro Bowl was moved.
"That's a lot of the players' attitude, I think. If it's in an NFL city, you're in those cities quite often," Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said.
Allen and other players said the game belongs in Hawaii, where it's more family oriented, relaxed and considered a reward for the hard work they put it during the season.
Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew's first Pro Bowl was in Miami, which he said was a great experience.
"But it's nothing like coming over to Hawaii. This is my first time here for the Pro Bowl, and it's great," he said.
In Hawaii, the players are treated to a beachside hotel to themselves. They sip on colorful, tropical drinks and lounge around the pool, golf or wade in one of the white-sand lagoons at Ko Olina Resort.
"In Miami, we didn't have the whole hotel. You're signing autographs 99 percent of the time at the hotel. It was just chaotic," Allen said. "Guys weren't showing up. You had a lot of alternates in and out. Over here, it's kind of what everybody looks forward to. ... I like it here. I'm a big fan of tradition. It started here. We should keep it here."
But the Pro Bowl wasn't born here. It was hosted for years in Los Angeles before jumping around the country in the 1970s, going everywhere from the Kingdome in Seattle to the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
The game was first played at Aloha Stadium in 1980 with New Orleans Saints running back Chuck Muncie leading the NFC to a 37-27 victory. The winners earned $5,000. On Sunday, the winners earn nearly 10 times that amount.
The state is paying the NFL $4 million per game for the rights to hold this year's game. About seven months ago, Gov. Neil Abercrombie opposed the cash-strapped state paying millions to host the Pro Bowl when the money could be used for education.
"You can't do things like give 4 million bucks to a $9 billion football industry and not give any money to children," Abercrombie said then. "You've got this spectacle of these multimillionaires and billionaires out there arguing about how they're going to divide it up, and then they come and ask us to bribe them with $4 million to have a scrimmage out here in paradise.
"We've got to get our values straight and our priorities straight."
On Tuesday, however, Abercrombie changed his tune when he crashed the NFL's press conference and spoke in favor of keeping the game here. The governor said the state would like to continue hosting the game, "and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that comes about in a fashion that will make everybody very, very happy."
A House economic development committee on Thursday will discuss establishing a Hawaii Sports Task Force to coordinate efforts to keep the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, as well attract other pro sporting events.
Last year's Pro Bowl attracted 17,000 visitors to the state, generated $28.2 million in visitor spending and created $3.1 million in state taxes from people who traveled to attend the game.
Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO Mike McCartney said the agency is still in discussion with the NFL for the future of the Pro Bowl beyond 2012.
"We have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the NFL and we look forward to continuing this relationship as well welcoming the NFL players, their families and all the fans for an exciting game on Sunday," he said in a statement.
Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey is no stranger to the islands. Bailey is making his 11th trip to the Pro Bowl.
"A lot of people wouldn't come to Hawaii if not for the Pro Bowl," Bailey said. "It would be disappointing if they moved it, but I have no say in it. If I did, I would say keep it here because I love it here."
Perhaps no one is enjoying it more this week than Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who is making his first trip to the Pro Bowl in a dozen seasons in the league.
"Twelve years," he said. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Hopefully many more to come. Every time somebody asks me how many times I've been here and I say it's my first, they seem to be surprised and shocked. I'm just happy I got here, finally."
___
Follow Jaymes Song at http://twitter.com/JaymesSong
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
AP Interview: Haitian leader could pardon Duvalier (AP)
DAVOS, Switzerland ? Haiti's president suggested Thursday that he might pardon former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, saying reconciliation for his nation is more important than making the man known as "Baby Doc" pay for his bloody rule.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Michel Martelly pledged to respect the independence of the judge expected to rule within days on whether Duvalier should face trial on corruption and human rights violations. Duvalier was driven into exile in 1986 and returned to Haiti a year ago.
But Martelly suggested he has little appetite for a trial that could be explosive for the Caribbean nation, recovering from decades of political turmoil and a devastating earthquake two years ago.
"My way of thinking is to create a situation where we rally everyone together and create peace and pardon people, to not forget about the past ? because we need to learn from it ? but to mainly think about the future," he said. "You cannot forget those who suffered in that time, but I do believe that we need that reconciliation in Haiti."
Martelly also said he will build a Haitian security force to maintain order without U.N. peacekeepers ? more than 11,000 foreign military and police officers who have patrolled Haiti since 2004, and who have come under fire for allegations of sexual abuse and suspicion of being the source of a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 7,000 people and sickened a half-million.
The president refused to blame the United Nations for the problems, saying individual troops are responsible for their own misdeeds. But he said he wants to build a Haitian security force that will create jobs for 3,000-5,000 Haitian youths and help Haiti become self-sustaining.
Martelly refused to put a time frame on an exit for the peacekeepers, saying he'll need foreign cooperation to fund and train his security force.
"We are working with them to establish a calendar where they can retreat," he said. "I don't want to force the peacekeeping nations to feel like I'm pushing them out."
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Scott Brown Silent On Obama's Call For Congress To Drop Stocks That May Cause Conflict Of Interest
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is touting President Barack Obama's call for legislation banning insider trading by members of Congress as a personal victory, having authored the Senate bill to stop such unscrupulous activity. But Brown is studiously ignoring a similar ethics reform Obama pushed during Tuesday's State of the Union speech -- perhaps because Brown himself has run afoul of it.
"Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow," Obama pledged in his speech, an opening that Brown then used to press the president on his bill.
"My insider trading bill is on [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid?s] desk right now. Tell him to get it out," Brown told Obama during a post-speech handshake, according to the Boston Globe. Obama appeared to agree: "I'm going to tell him. I?m going to tell him to get it done."
After the State of the Union, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that he would send the STOCK Act to the Senate floor this year. "Well, I think people should have enough sense not to do it [insider trading] without legislation, but I will support legislation," he said.
Brown's proposed bill would limit stock trading by members of Congress to prevent abuses in which lawmakers profit from their own legislative favors or access to nonpublic economic information.
But during the State of the Union, Obama also called to "limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact." And this kind of ownership would still be legal under the STOCK Act. Brown's bill focuses narrowly on information gained by members of Congress during hearings and meetings, but does not prevent them from holding long-term investments in companies that may benefit from their legislative actions. So long as lawmakers don't sell their holdings while in office, however, they're in the clear.
Brown himself performed major legislative favors for big banks during the final round of debate over 2010's Wall Street reform bill. According to Brown's latest personal financial disclosure form, the Massachusetts Republican owns up to $50,000 of Bank of America stock. As the financial overhaul approached passage, Brown was the deciding vote determining whether the bill would clear a filibuster in the Senate. He used that position to leverage several changes to the bill that helped large financial institutions, carving out an exemption to the Volcker Rule that allows big banks to continue placing risky bets in the securities markets with taxpayer money, provided they do so through private equity firms and hedge funds. Brown also saved Bank of America and others billions of dollars in up-front costs by axing a plan that would have required them to pay into an emergency fund to cover the costs of big bank failures.
Sen. Brown's office did not respond to requests for comment from The Huffington Post.
Faced with a Democratic challenge for his seat from consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Brown has repeatedly attempted to cast himself as a financial reformer. During Tuesday night's speech, he literally stood up for consumer protection as the sole Republican to rise and applaud Obama's mention of Richard Cordray, the new director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB was the brainchild of Warren, who set up the nascent agency before running for Senate.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Yahoo delivers another listless performance in 4Q (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? Yahoo slipped further behind in the online advertising race during the fourth quarter as the Internet company entered the fourth year of a revenue slump.
The results announced Tuesday marked the latest in a succession of disappointing performances. The persisting malaise led to the firing of Carol Bartz as CEO four months ago.
Yahoo Inc. recently replaced Bartz with PayPal executive Scott Thompson, anointing him as the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to snap the company out of a funk that has depressed its stock. Thompson, who was hired just three weeks ago, promised to move quickly to fix the problems.
"There is no question we need to do better and we will," Thompson assured analysts in a Tuesday conference call.
The company earned $296 million, or 24 cents per share, in the October-to-December period. That is down 5 percent from $312 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.
The earnings matched analysts' estimates, but the company missed Wall Street's revenue target.
Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 13 percent from the previous year to $1.32 billion. After subtracting advertising commissions, Yahoo's revenue totaled $1.17 billion, or $20 million below analyst projections. It's the 13th straight quarter that Yahoo's net revenue has declined from the prior year.
Although Thompson said it was still too early to share precise details about his turnaround strategy, he said he will close some Yahoo services. That could mean layoffs among Yahoo's workforce. The company added 300 employees in the fourth quarter to end the year with 14,000 workers.
Bartz had also closed or sold some of Yahoo's less popular services while jettisoning jobs to cut costs and sharpen the company's focus. Those moves, though, didn't increase Yahoo's revenue or stock price, leading Yahoo to fire her in September with more than 15 months left on her contract.
Besides closing services, Thompson said Yahoo will expand into some fields where he sees opportunities to make money. He didn't elaborate on that or on which services to close.
Thompson also pledged to develop more innovative products to keep Yahoo's audience of 700 million users on its websites for longer periods. Accomplishing that could make Yahoo more attractive to online advertisers. Thompson said he hopes to harness the data that Yahoo collects about its audience to help advertisers do a better job of putting their marketing messages in front of the people most likely to buy their products.
"I'll always ask a lot of questions and I'll immerse myself in the details but when it comes to making decisions, I make them quickly and then push to move fast, fast, fast," Thompson said.
But Yahoo isn't promising a quick start under Thompson's leadership. Yahoo predicted its net revenue in the current quarter will range from $1.02 billion to $1.1 billion. The mid-point of that target works out to $1.06 billion, unchanged from last year's first quarter.
Investors appear to be taking a wait-and-see attitude with Thompson. Yahoo's stock shed 15 cents to $15.54 in extended trading after the report came out. The stock price has fallen by about 40 percent from five years ago.
Yahoo's downturn in revenue has occurred as advertisers are shifting more of their budgets to the Internet as people spend more of their time on the Web. The biggest beneficiaries of this boom so far have been Internet search leader Google Inc. and Facebook, the owner of the largest online social network.
While Yahoo continued to struggle during the final three months of last year, Google's revenue rose 25 percent from the same period in 2010. As a privately held company, Facebook doesn't disclose its financial results, but data compiled by independent research firms show that its website has been luring advertisers away from Yahoo.
Google has become so dominant in Internet search that Yahoo teamed up with another rival, Microsoft Corp., in an effort to become more competitive and save money. Yahoo's search engine now relies on Microsoft's technology to handle most requests. The alliance, forged in mid-2009, hasn't generated as much revenue so far as Yahoo had hoped, although there were signs of progress in the fourth quarter.
Net revenue from search totaled $376 million in the fourth quarter, a 3 percent decrease from a year earlier. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., had been suffering year-over-year declines of more than 10 percent in previous quarters.
As it tries to boost its revenue and lift its stock price, Yahoo is considering selling its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is pursuing those negotiations with "great enthusiasm," according to Tim Morse, the company's chief financial officer. Neither Morse nor Thompson elaborated on when a deal might be reached.
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Tebow sings with Paisley at concert (video)
Just in case you were wondering what Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been doing with his free time, it appears that he?s been attending Brad Paisley concerts.
Tebow was recently at the country star?s concert in Denver over the weekend and Mr. Paisley decided to invite Tim on stage (not Courtney Cox-like) to help him sing.
Due to the insane amounts of screaming, it?s tough to tell what Tim says but I?ll assume that he?s a good singer from previous reference:
***
Tim Tebow Sings On Stage With Brad Paisley [Throw The Flag]
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Police: 185 killed in north Nigeria sect attack
Muslim men pray for peace and for people who lost their lives during the recent attacks, at a mosque in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday along with local people for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Muslim men pray for peace and for people who lost their lives during the recent attacks, at a mosque in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday along with local people for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Emir of Kano, Ado Bayaro, is seen at his palace in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Emir of Kano, Ado Bayaro, right, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, The governor of kano state, front left, prior to offering a prayer for peace and those who lost their lives during the recent attacks, at a mosque in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Muslim men pray for peace and for people who lost their lives during the recent attacks, at a mosque in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday along with local people for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
Muslim girls sell kolanuts along a street in Kano, Nigeria, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, following recent sectarian attacks. The emir of Kano and the state's top politician offered prayers Monday for the more than 150 people who were killed in a coordinated series of attacks on Friday by the radical Islamist sect called Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? Police say 185 people were killed in an attack by a radical Islamist sect on the northern Nigeria city of Kano.
In a statement issued late Monday, the department said 150 of the dead were civilians, 29 were police officers, three were secret police officers, two were immigration officers and one was a customs officer.
The announcement comes as police say they have found 10 unexploded car bombs in the city.
Friday's attack in Kano saw Boko Haram members hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police, leaving corpses in the streets across the city.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? A police spokesman says authorities have found 10 unexploded car bombs in a northern Nigeria city where an attack by a radical Islamist sect killed more than 150 people.
Kano state police spokesman Magaji Musa Majiya said Monday that officers found one near a police station in the state capital of Kano, which was attacked by the sect known as Boko Haram. Majiya said officers have disarmed the explosive.
Majiya also said officers have found other locally made explosives.
The Nigerian Red Cross estimates more than 150 people died in Friday's attack in Kano after at least two Boko Haram suicide bombers detonated explosive-laden cars. The attack hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police, leaving corpses in the streets across the city.
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Stem Cell Study May Show Advance
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A treatment for eye diseases derived from human embryonic stem cells might have improved the vision of two patients, bolstering the beleaguered field, researchers reported.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a6fb96e0efb415a9c2f1dc26465ea137
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Monday, January 23, 2012
The Furious Dogfights of George Lucas' Red Tails
In limbo for nearly 25 years, Red Tails?George Lucas' sweeping aerial epic about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II?finally hits theaters today. Red Tails spends much of its time in the cockpits of P-51s as the Airmen fight and dodge their way through a flurry of fire. And because Lucas spent a quarter century and millions of his own dollars to bring to the movie to life, it's no surprise that his team obsessed with getting the World War II?era details just right.
"There's historical footage everywhere," says visual effects supervisor Craig Hammack. "You can watch old John Wayne movies that were shot with real airplanes. So people have a general idea of the capabilities of the planes, and how to tell that story and stay true to those dynamics is a challenge."
The visual effects team started its research by analyzing historical footage and flight simulator games to get a good understanding of P-51 flight dynamics. Then Lucas called in Ed Shipley, an acrobatic pilot of P-51s, to help. "He's an absolute expert," Hammack says. "And so he was always made available to talk through dynamics of the scenes." The actors who portrayed Tuskegee pilots also studied with real surviving airmen to learn how they controlled their planes.
On set, the crew built cockpits?and, in some cases, entire mocked-up planes?for the actors to sit in. To get the jumpy, jolted look of 1940s combat, the crew relied on a hand-operated gimbal?a platform equipped with extenders that crew members could hold and manipulate. "The thing about these planes, especially in the first part of the movie, is that they're supposed to be kind of just buckets of bolts up there," Hammack says. "You want a little bit of shimmy, a little bit of unexpected rattling kind of going on." The hand-operated gimbal delivered this kind of imprecise, organic movement perfectly, and it was faster to use, too.
Back at Industrial Light & Magic, VFX artists replaced everything in the cockpit except for the actor and the seat?the guages and switches you see are digitally created. "Reality is not always as exciting or as good-looking as you would want," Hammack says. "The thing about the mockup planes and even the real planes is that they're very functional, which means they're very sparse, and they're built for function. And it ends up looking not as realistic." But even more important was that in order for the shots to look realistic, animators had to have completely control of how the light played in the cockpits. "One of the really recognizable things about aerial photography is the play of shadows across everything as you maneuver," Hammack says. "You're typically up above the clouds or in the clouds, so you get really pure light direction. In real photography, you don't always have the ability to control light to simulate the high-speed maneuvers in the air. So we chose to replace it all so that we could get the right kind of light kicks and emphasize the action more." Making sure the finished result was photo-real was incredibly important. "You couldn't let the audience even begin to think that the cockpits might be CG because they show up so much throughout the movie," Hammack says. "It would have taken viewers out of the story."
When it came time to build VFX sequences for the dramatic aerial battles between the Red Tails and the Germans, Hammack's team faced a unique challenge: making the dogfights feel fast-paced and exciting while keeping the dynamics of the planes true to life. "Dogfights in movies are always tricky because these days we have a video game culture," Hammack says. "Things need to move faster than they normally would to keep your attention. So it's a little bit of a struggle, design-wise, to keep the action very fast-paced and to keep 14-year-old boys entertained while still showing that these planes built in the '40s are kind of lumbering machines and only have a certain amount of maneuverability."
And Lucas challenged his team to stay true to history. "I think that some of the initial Star Wars space scenes with the X-Wings and the TIE Fighters are based on World War II footage, so he's had a lot of experience studying it," Hammack says. "It was very important to him specifically to get the speeds right. There were times where we would push it beyond and he would say, ?You know, you guys are making it exciting but you're starting to break the reality of what the planes could do, you know, so just dial it back a little bit.'?"
The final result was dogfights that floored real Tuskegee airmen. At a panel for the film, Hammack sat next to one of the airmen while filmmakers showed the dogfight footage for the first time. "You could see him almost maneuvering the controls in his seat," Hammack says. "Afterward he told me that it felt very, very real to him, and that was a huge compliment."
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Reed Grimm Covers Family Matters Theme Song on American Idol
Family matters to Reed Grimm. The 26-year old has been singing on stage with his parents and siblings since the age of two.
So it was only appropriate that the American Idol hopeful auditioned last night via the Family Matters theme song, harmonizing and scatting his way through this unique track, much to the amusement of all three judges.
Steve Tyler referred to Grimm as "genius." Randy Jackson said he was "enthralled" by the performance. Watch it for yourself now and come up with your own description:
Grimm, of course, was not the only standout in Pittsburgh. We also were huge fans of Hallie Day and Eben Franckewitz.
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Police: American kidnapped by gunmen in Somalia
By msnbc.com news services
Updated at 10:40 a.m. ET
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Gunmen kidnapped an American man in the northern Somali town of Galkayo on Saturday, officials said.
The gunmen surrounded the man's car shortly after the man left the airport, said policeman Abdi Hassan Nur, who witnessed the incident, The Associated Press reported. He said they then forced the American into another vehicle.
Local government officials said ?they believed the assailants had been the man's own guards and might be linked to a pirate gang.
"Gunmen kidnapped the foreigner and we understand they took him to Hobyo," Abshir Dini, interior minister of the semi-autonomous region, told Reuters, referring to a coastal town that is a known pirate base.
Galkayo is on the border between the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland and a region known as Galmudug. It is ruled by forces friendly to the U.N.-backed Somali government.
A minister from the Galmudug administration said the kidnapped man is an American engineer who came to Somalia to carry out an evaluation for building a deep water port in the town of Hobyo. The gunmen severely beat the foreigner's Somali companion when he begged them not to take the man, said the minister.
The minister spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
However, Col. Mohamed Hussein, a local military official, said the hostage had been part of a two-man group who had been in the region under the pretext of being journalists, but that their exact mission was unclear.
"He was kidnapped by his own guards. We understand the clan militia have a link with a pirate leader in Haradheere," Hussein said, in reference to a second pirate lair just south of Hobyo.
A staff member at the Embassy Hotel, where the man was staying, said the American had gone to the airport to drop off an Indian colleague. The hotel said that the man had both American and German citizenship. The staff member asked not to be identified because he was not supposed to give out information about guests.
In October, gunmen kidnapped an American woman and a Danish man working for the Danish Demining Group from the same town. They are still being held.
Kidnapping for ransom is has become increasingly common in Somalia over the past five years. Currently at least four aid workers, a French military official, a British tourist taken from Kenya and hundreds of sailors are being held captive.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Italian Nanni Moretti to head Cannes jury (Reuters)
PARIS (Reuters) ? Acclaimed Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti will head the jury at the 2012 Cannes film festival in May, organizers said on Friday.
The 58-year-old has had a long association with the world's most important cinema showcase, appearing in competition in 1978 with "Ecce Bombo."
He was back in 1994 with "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary), for which he won the best director award, and in 2001 with "La Stanza del figlio" (The Son's Room), which won the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture.
Five years later came "Il Caimano" (The Caiman), a film that criticized aspects of Italian political life in the era of Silvio Berlusconi.
"This is a real joy, an honor and a tremendous responsibility to preside over the jury of the most prestigious festival of cinematography in the world," said Moretti, who served on the Cannes jury in 1997.
"As a spectator, fortunately I still have the same curiosity that I had in my youth and so it is a great privilege for me to embark on this voyage into the world of contemporary international film," he added in a statement.
The 2012 festival runs from May 16-27.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
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Samsung Galaxy S II HD getting a UK release?
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150501541149422&id=189627474421
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Wall Street gains on banks, pullback seen (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, putting the S&P on track for its third straight advance after earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley lifted financials and strong demand at European bond auctions eased concerns over Europe.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) climbed 4.6 percent to $7.11 and was the top boost to both the benchmark S&P and the Dow Industrials. The bank swung to a fourth-quarter profit, helped by one-time items and lower expenses for bad loans. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) reported a quarterly loss that was narrower than expected, sending shares up 4.5 percent to $18.13.
With Wednesday's forecast-topping earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), results from the three big financials lessened some concerns about the sector's exposure in debt-strained Europe.
Some analysts would not be surprised by a pullback in the S&P 500 from highs not seen since last July, especially after recent weak results from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Citigroup Inc (C.N).
"No question we've seen some encouraging news with earnings and Europe, but the question is whether we're getting ahead of fundamentals," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio.
"Clearly things have improved, but it remains to be seen if there really has been a turn, or if this is just a January thaw ahead of more winter storms," McCain said. "There are still a lot of parts of the world with significant problems and concerning trends."
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 15.89 points, or 0.13 percent, at 12,594.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) added 4.99 points, or 0.38 percent, at 1,313.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 20.39 points, or 0.74 percent, at 2,790.10.
Financial shares have rallied since the start of the year. The S&P financial index (.GSPF) is up 8 percent for 2012, helping to push the S&P 500 up more than 4 percent. The financial index was up 0.7 percent for the session.
In a sign of optimism about Europe, Spain and France both drew strong demand at government debt auctions.
The Nasdaq got a boost from eBay Inc (EBAY.O), which reported better-than-expected results after the close on Wednesday. The stock was up 4.2 percent to $31.63.
After the close, quarterly reports are due from technology bellwethers Google Inc (GOOG.O), International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O) as well as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).
Transportation stocks moved higher after Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) reported higher quarterly profit and revenue that beat estimates. Union Pacific was up 3 percent to $113.05, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average (.DJT) gained 1.8 percent.
The number of Americans filing for new jobless benefits dropped to a near four-year low last week and factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic expanded, suggesting the economy maintained its momentum early in the year.
However, housing starts dipped, indicating the sector was still a ways from strengthening.
(Reporting By Ryan Vlastelica; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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Little change in U.S. obesity rates in recent years (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? The number of kids and adults in the United States who are obese has held steady over the last few years, two reports out Tuesday suggest.
Government researchers found that in 2009 and 2010, about one in three adults and one in six kids and teens were obese. The rates represent no change from 2007 and 2008 figures, and only a slight increase among specific demographics over rates from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
"I'm not very surprised, but I think this is a kind of encouraging finding, given all the efforts we have been making," said Dr. Youfa Wang, head of the Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity in Baltimore, who was not involved in the new study.
"The general public for sure nowadays has become more aware of the health consequences of obesity, and industry has been heavily influenced by all the efforts," Wang told Reuters Health.
With rates of overweight and obesity in the U.S. increasing throughout the 1980s and 1990s, some researchers projected those trends would continue into the next century and that type 2 diabetes and heart disease risks would rise with them.
The most recent obesity data come from two nationally-representative studies of about 6,000 adults and 4,000 kids and teens who had their heights and weights measured in a mobile exam center in 2009 and 2010.
From that data, researchers calculated each person's body mass index, or BMI -- a ratio of weight to height. A BMI of 30 or over -- equal to a five-foot, six-inch adult weighing 186 pounds or a kid in the 95th percentile or higher on growth charts -- is considered obese.
Cynthia Ogden from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and her colleagues found that between 35 and 36 percent of both men and women were obese. While obesity rates in men were similar across races, that wasn't the case in women: 32 percent of white women were obese, compared to almost 59 percent of black women.
Compared to data from 1999 to 2000, the numbers represented a less than one percent annual increase in the rate of obesity in men overall, and no net increase in women. The exceptions were black and Mexican American women, who also had slightly higher obesity rates in 2009 and 2010 than a decade earlier.
Ogden said that the long-term results suggest rates of obesity in men have slowly caught up to rates in women.
But, she added, there was no change in obesity rates in any demographic compared to the most recent prior data, from 2007 to 2008.
Seventeen percent of kids and teens were obese, a rate that varied from 14 percent in white kids to almost a quarter of black kids. Overall rates were similar to those reported in 1999 and 2000 for girls, with a slight uptick in obesity among teen boys since then, Ogden and her colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"I think that you can be fairly comfortable in saying that even if there is an increase, it's small relative to the increases in the 1980s and 1990s," Ogden said.
She told Reuters Health that there's also evidence that obesity rates are leveling off in some countries in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
RATES 'STILL QUITE HIGH'
Amika Singh, who has studied childhood obesity at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, said it's too early to draw conclusions on a more global scale.
"The basic thing is that, even if things are leveling off, these are still quite high numbers," Singh, who was not involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
Ogden said it's difficult to point to one reason why the rate of obesity in the U.S. has seemed to stabilize, while some projections figured it would continue to rise.
"It was hard to know exactly why (the increase) was happening in the first place, because obesity is very complex and there are so many factors that contribute to it," she said.
Wang pointed toward efforts made by First Lady Michelle Obama to combat childhood obesity, as well as more funding going to research on obesity and how to prevent it.
"The impact is dramatic," he said. "I think this obesity data shows that a combination of many efforts can make some difference."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hwxtTL Journal of the American Medical Association, online January 17, 2012.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
US calls on S. Africans to prevent Sudan crisis (AP)
PRETORIA, South Africa ? The U.S. is calling on South Africa to help prevent a humanitarian disaster in Sudan.
Speaking Wednesday in South Africa, Princeton Lyman, the special U.S. envoy on Sudan, said civilians caught up in fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile and South Kordofan states are running out of food and medicine. Lyman says South Africa should pressure Sudan to allow in international humanitarian agencies.
Lyman says he fears "the prospect of hundreds of thousands of people dying with no access to food or medicine."
Fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels who want to topple the Khartoum government started last year in the states. Groups in both states, which border the new country of South Sudan, sided with the south during a lengthy civil war but remain part of the north.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Scientists set to drill into buried Antarctic lake
A team of four British engineers recently returned from a 10-day trip to a desolate, windswept plain in Antarctica, setting the stage for a project that could uncover previously unknown life that has been cut off from the world for millennia.
Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey are seeking to drill through the continent's thick covering of ice to a giant, hidden lake, cut off since before modern humans first evolved, which may house life forms invisible to human eyes. They could be unlike anything scientists have seen before.
"We expect to find microorganisms," said Martin Siegert, the principal investigator on the project, "because there's water and where there's water on planet Earth, there's life."
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The lake, Lake Ellsworth, is 7 miles (12 kilometers) long, a mile (3 kilometers) wide, and 500 feet (150 meters) deep. Buried beneath nearly 2 miles (3 kilometers) of ice, the lake has likely been cut off from any outside influence for several hundred thousand years, said Siegert, a glaciologist and professor at the University of Edinburgh.
Any microbes living in the lake may have evolved and adapted in strange ways, since they live in total darkness, and have likely been left to their own evolutionary devices for thousands of years. If they are anything like Antarctica's only native wildlife, they could be strange indeed.
Cold set-up
The window to work in Antarctica is short, limited to the comparatively balmy months of austral summer, from November to late January. This season, engineers brought more than 70 tons of equipment to the remote Lake Ellsworth site, about an hour's flight from the closest research station, so that all will be ready to begin drilling at the start of the next season, in November of this year.
When the first half of the team arrived, the site was completely empty, said Andy Tait, an engineer and the designer of the drill that will be used to reach the lake below.
"There was some fuel that had been buried a year before, but there was nothing to be seen on the surface at all," Tait told OurAmazingPlanet. "Within an hour and a half, the plane took off again, leaving us there in this pristine white, rather unforgiving landscape."
Tait and an assistant were joined three days later by two more engineers, who hauled the many tons of equipment overland by tractor-train on an arduous three-day trek from the closest research station. [Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth]
Within 12 hours of their arrival, the team built up large mounds of snow, to serve as natural lifts for the equipment containers during the winter. Blowing snow quickly buries anything not raised above the surface of the ice sheet.
For the remainder of the trip, the team spent their days winterizing equipment to survive the bitter months of endless darkness ahead, when temperatures plunge to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 50 degrees Celsius), and high winds rip across the vast ice sheet.
The team's prize tool is its hot-water drill, likely the largest ever built ? the hose on the drill is 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) long.
Water, water everywhere
Lake Ellsworth is one of 387 lakes scientists have discovered secreted beneath the Antarctic ice.
"My opinion is there are several hundred more we haven't discovered yet," Siegert said.
And although the British team is on track to be the first to sample one of these lakes with a hot-water drill, a Russian team has been drilling into Lake Vostok in Eastern Antarctica for several years. Lake Vostok, about the size of Lake Ontario, is the largest lake in Antarctica, and it's possible the Russian team may breach its surface by the end of January.
The team was poised to reach the lake before the close of the 2011 field season, but came up somewhere between 16 feet (5 meters) and 65 feet (20 meters) short, according to news reports.
In a Jan. 12 press release from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the Vostok team said drilling began this season on Jan. 2, progressed by 5.7 feet (1.75 meters) a day, and was halted on Jan. 12. It's not clear if work is over for the season, or if the halt is temporary.
Siegert said that it's not particularly important who samples ancient Antarctic lake water first.
"It's not a race for penetrating a glacial lake," he said. "We're not adventurers. We're doing science. There are questions we're asking and trying to answer."
The British team will return to Lake Ellsworth in November 2012, and will drill down to the lake over the course of three days. Once the drill pierces the ice all the way through, "we'll get the samples back in 24 hours," Siegert said. "We'll get a pretty good understanding straight away whether there's life in the lake."
Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet? and on Facebook.
? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46007859/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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