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Friday, February 3, 2012

Giants' DeOssie will start Super Bowl with: Tails (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? One word from Giants special teams captain Zak DeOssie will begin the Super Bowl.

With more than 100 million people watching in the United States alone, the long snapper from New York, other Giants captains and their counterparts from New England will see referee John Parry display both sides of a special commemorative coin for the opening toss.

Then, DeOssie will choose his side.

"I've called `tails' every single time this year, and that's what it's going to be this weekend," DeOssie said in an interview Thursday.

Chances are, he'll be right.

The National Conference has won the last 14 Super Bowl coin flips, though that hasn't turned out so well in the end. The American Conference has won nine of those 14 title games.

Want to pick the Super Bowl winner? Might as well just flip a coin. The team that's won the opening toss is only 22-23 in the title game, evidence that it has very little impact on whatever happens next.

It's still a special moment, one that gamblers lay money on and businesses build promotions around. One chain is offering its rewards program customers a free pizza if the coin comes up heads.

It's also significant in another way: A rare game decision left entirely up to the players.

"I'm out of that one," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Thursday. "We have our captains and they decide who's going to make that call. We do keep track of who wins and who loses, thank you very much."

DeOssie, whose father Steve also played in the NFL, got the honor on a whim.

He and the other two Giants captains ? quarterback Eli Manning and defensive end Justin Tuck ? were walking toward midfield before the season opener in Washington when the subject came up for the first time.

"Eli turned to Tuck and said, `You want to call it?'" DeOssie said. "And Tuck said, `Nah, I don't feel like it. I don't need to call it. Zak, you want to call it?' I said yeah, sure."

It was his job the rest of the way.

In the NFL, the visiting team gets to call the coin flip. DeOssie went 4-4 during the regular season, and the Giants chose to receive the kickoff rather than defer all four times. It came up heads during a second-round playoff win at Green Bay, but DeOssie got the coin to land his way twice during a win at San Francisco in the NFC title game, including overtime.

Coughlin wouldn't say what he'll pick if it comes up tails on Sunday. He has chosen to receive the kickoff most times.

Like everything else in the NFL, coin flips are tracked for trends.

During the 2011 regular season, teams that won the flip and chose to take the ball went 71-79, according to STATS LLC. Teams that deferred to the second half were 64-42. Weather and home-field advantage play into those results.

The first Super Bowl coin flip landed on the grass at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1967. Green Bay captains Bob Skoronski and Willie Davis met Kansas City's captains at midfield, won the toss and the game.

Two years later, the Jets' Joe Namath guaranteed a victory. The Jets won the coin toss and fulfilled the guarantee, too.

There have been a couple notable changes in the pregame flip since those early title games.

During a Thanksgiving game in Detroit in 1998, Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called tails for the overtime coin flip. The referee thought he heard heads and decided the Steelers lost the flip. They then lost the game 19-16 on a field goal, prompting a rule change.

Now, the captain calls it before the coin leaves the referee's hand.

The league changed its coin flip rule again for the 2008 season, allowing the winner to defer its choice to the second half.

Recent history between the Giants and Patriots suggests the flip will be a midair starting point for something spectacular.

Four years ago, New England was one win away from completing a perfect season when Eli Manning drove the Giants to a winning touchdown. David Tyree made an incredible third-down catch, trapping the ball against his helmet for a 32-yard gain. Manning threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left for a 17-14 win.

There was more Manning magic when the teams played again on Nov. 6 in Foxborough. He threw a 1-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds to go for a 24-20 win.

No wonder Patriots quarterback Tom Brady cares less about who gets the ball first than who has it last.

"It wouldn't surprise me if this game came down to the last 2 minutes," Brady said. "I hope we have the ball. I hope Eli doesn't have the ball."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120203/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_flipped_out

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Romney Ralston Rodeo (TIME)

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Puppet dictator? Syrian satirists mock Assad

BEIRUT?? Throughout 40 years of Assad family dictatorship, one thing united Syrians ? the culture of self-censorship, fear and paranoia.

But the uprising against President Bashar Assad has unleashed a burst of blunt irreverence and black humor that would have been unthinkable before, when any satire had to be indirect or hidden.

"The type of expression has now shifted, the subtlety has gone," said Rime Allaf, associate fellow at London's Chatham House. "Today, for the first time in recent Syrian history, people are able to get out and say it openly."

Watch YouTube video of Assad puppet show

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Opposition Syrians are pouring contempt on Assad using whatever medium they can, with a humor that also helps them get through the death and destruction in a crackdown that has killed more than 5,400, according to the U.N.

The Internet provides a layer of anonymity, which is vital when retribution is a real danger, but the creativity has also spilled into the streets in the banners, signs and songs of the protesters.

Slideshow: Struggle in Syria (on this page)

"Top Goon: Diaries of a Little Dictator" is one of several new online shows. It was created by 10 young professional artists inside Syria. It uses finger puppets that impersonate Bashar Assad ? nicknamed Beeshu in the series ? and his inner circle.

World Blog: Latest violence could signal new phase in Syria conflict

In one episode, Beeshu competes against Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi on "Who wants to Kill a Million," a play on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

His final question: Will you be able to crush the protests? He answers yes. When he's told that's the wrong answer, he flies into a petty rage, wrecking the set.

Video: Clinton: 'Syria belongs to its citizens' (on this page)

In another, he consults with two devils about how to deal with the uprising. They suggest he kill a single protester to scare the others. He proclaims he will kill 30 protesters a day, torture children and shell cities.

"You are completely insane," the devils shriek, running away. "I want to get the hell out of here."

Story: Clinton: Syria not another Libya, political solution needed

The director of the series, who goes by the online name of Jameel, says the idea is to "break down the wall of fear."

"When you see the shabih (pro-government militiaman) or the president as puppets, you can't take them seriously anymore," he said, asking that his name and location not be used to protect him from retaliation.

More simply, it "elicits a little laugh" from people who are suffering from the crackdown, he said.

'Every protest is a thrill'
Even in the darkest places, Syrians seem to try to extract some fun. The central city of Homs has been one of the worst hit by the regime's crackdown. But as in many rallies, giant protests there often saw crowds dancing, linking arm in arm and doing a sort of joyous simultaneous hop, along with circles of the traditional "debke" dance.

The song "Yalla Irhal, ya Bashar!" ? a simple yet powerful rendition which translates into "Come on, Bashar, leave" ? is often heard shouted by exultant protesters to the beat of a drum.

It's the most popular, but an entire catalogue of protest songs has arisen, full of puns and references to members of Assad's inner circle.

"We are discovering ourselves for the first time," said a 28-year-old Syrian who goes by the name of Samer Lathkani, from the coastal town of Lattakia. "The uprising has awakened patriotic sentiments among young people, now every protest is a thrill."

Kfarnebel, a rebellious village in northern Syria, has become famous for coming up with colorful, amusing banners.

"Aleppo will not rise even if it took Viagra," said one recent banner, criticizing Syria's second largest city, where anti-government protests have yet to take hold.

Some have paid the price for taking it too far.

In August, Syria's renowned political cartoonist Ali Ferzat, 60, was beaten by gunmen who broke his fingers and dumped him on a road outside Damascus after he posted cartoons satirizing Assad on his website.

Ibrahim Qashoush, a Syrian firefighter who wrote the "Come on, Leave, Bashar" song, was murdered in July, his vocal cords cut out and his body dumped in the river in the city of Hama.

Interactive: Young and restless: Demographics fuel Mideast protests (on this page)

Syria had a flourishing theater and comedy scene in the 1970s and 1980s, despite the autocratic regime of strongman Hafez Assad, which his son Bashar inherited in 2000. Syrian productions were popular around the Arab world for their black, satirical humor.

But it had to be indirect and confined to certain limits.

In one of the 1970s' most famous Syrian political plays, "Kasak ya Watan," or "Toast to the Homeland," the country's top comedian Dureid Lahham kept his satire broad.

His character, swigging from a liquor bottle, has a dialogue with his dead father who chides him over the failures of his Arab generation, particularly the failure to free Palestine.

They get into a debate over which is better, Heaven or Earth, and Lahham argues, "We don't lack a thing here ... Just a little bit of dignity."

It's a far cry from a blunt banner at one recent protest: Assad's face plastered on a pack of Marlboros, reading "the Syrian regime is a main source of cancer and heart and lung disease."

Donatella Della Ratta, a PhD fellow at Copenhagen University and the Danish Institute in Damascus, said the uprising has changed Syria dramatically.

"The sacredness of the leader has been broken. Even widely considered taboo topics such as the Hama massacre of 1982 are openly mentioned and desacralized using dark humor," said Della Ratta, who is focusing her research on the Syrian TV industry.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46216153/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Video: Time to Add Cash Cows?

David Sowerby, Loomis Sayles, and Chris Konstantinos, Riverfront Investment Group, discuss whether investors should pick up stocks for companies with lots of cash and no debt.

Surprise finding redraws 'map' of blood cell production

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A study of the cells that respond to crises in the blood system has yielded a few surprises, redrawing the 'map' of how blood cells are made in the body.

The finding, by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, could have wide-ranging implications for understanding blood diseases such as myeloproliferative disorders (that cause excess production of blood cells) as well as used to develop new ways of controlling how blood and clotting cells are produced.

The research team, led by Drs Ashley Ng and Maria Kauppi from the institute's Cancer and Haematology division, investigated subsets of blood 'progenitor' cells and the signals that cause them to expand and develop into mature blood cells. Their results are published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Dr Ng describes blood progenitor cells as the 'heavy lifters' of the blood system.

"They are the targets for blood cell hormones, called cytokines, which Professor Don Metcalf and colleagues have shown to be critical for regulating blood cell production," Dr Ng said. "In times of stress, such as bleeding, during infection or after chemotherapy, it is really the progenitor cells that respond by replacing lost or damaged blood cells."

Dr Kauppi said the research team was particularly interested in myeloid progenitor cells, which produce megakaryocytes, a type of bone marrow cell that gives rise to blood-clotting platelets. "We used a suite of cell surface markers specific to these progenitor cells that allowed us to isolate and characterise the cells," she said.

The researchers were surprised to find that progenitor cells believed only to be able to produce megakaryocytes were also able to develop into red blood cells.

"We were able to clearly demonstrate that these mouse megakaryocyte progenitor cells have the potential to develop into either megakaryocytes or red blood cells in response to cytokines such as thrombopoietin and erythropoietin, which was quite unexpected," Dr Ng said. "In addition, we discovered that other progenitor populations thought to really only make neutrophils and monocytes [other immune cells], were capable of making red blood cell and platelets really well. In effect, we will have to redraw the map as to how red cells and platelets are made in the bone marrow."

Dr Kauppi said the researchers found they could regulate whether the progenitor cell became a megakaryocyte or a red blood cell by using different combinations of cytokines. "Now that we have properly identified the major cells and determined how they respond to cytokine signals involved in red blood cell and platelet production, the stage is set for understanding how these progenitors are affected in health and disease," she said. "We can also better understand, for instance, how genetic changes may lead to the development of certain blood diseases."

Dr Ng said the findings would also help researchers discover new ways in which the progenitor cells can be controlled.

"This research is the first step in the future development of treatments for patients with blood diseases," Dr Ng said. "This may occur either by limiting blood cell production when too many are being made, as with myeloproliferative disorders, or stimulating blood production when the blood system is compromised, such as during cancer treatment or infection." Dr Ng said.

###

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute: http://www.wehi.edu.au/

Thanks to Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117206/Surprise_finding_redraws__map__of_blood_cell_production_

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Santorum denounces 'gutter politics' of opponents

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum uses a bullhorn to speak to an overflow crowd who couldn't get into an auditorium to hear him speak during a campaign stop Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum signs a yard sign for a supporter after speaking during a campaign stop Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during a campaign stop Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

COTTLEVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum denounced the "gutter politics" of his opponents Monday as he turned his campaign away from a potentially futile effort in Florida in hopes of regaining momentum in the Midwest.

After spending what he described as a stressful weekend with his sick 3-year-old daughter, Santorum resumed his campaign at a suburban St. Louis community college ? assuring people that his daughter was improving and forecasting a political revival in swing states such as Missouri. He was to appear later Monday at a campaign event in Minnesota, which also is holding its caucuses next week.

The former senator from Pennsylvania carefully avoided naming Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich ? he trails them in polls heading into Tuesday's primary in Florida ? but nonetheless directed a scolding toward them for what he said is devolving into a negative campaign.

"I'm sick and tired of candidates who think they have to do anything that's necessary ? anything ? to win an election," Santorum told more than 300 people packed into an auditorium at St. Charles Community College. "We deserve better than the gutter politics that we've been seeing in this race."

Santorum is the first Republican candidate to appear in Missouri in advance of its Feb. 7 primary, which will essentially be a statewide public opinion poll. The Republican Party plans to award its presidential delegates in Missouri through a series of caucuses that begin in mid-March. Gingrich didn't get on Missouri's primary ballot while others who have since dropped out of the race will be listed alongside Romney, Santorum and Ron Paul.

Santorum said he still considers Missouri's primary to be important. Because of Gingrich's absence, it could allow Santorum to test his political strength more directly against that of Romney, who has been building a network of prominent Republican endorsements in Missouri.

"I think doing well in the primary well help us in the caucus," Santorum told The Associated Press after his Missouri campaign event.

Democratic President Barack Obama narrowly lost Missouri in 2008 to Republican Sen. John McCain.

Santorum campaigned Monday in one of Missouri's fastest-growing and staunchly Republican counties. Because the crowd exceeded the capacity of the auditorium, he later took a bullhorn to speak to an additional 150 people outside, then lingered to hold babies, pose for photos and sign autographs.

During his campaign speech, Santorum touted his plan to eliminate the corporate income tax for manufacturers and waive taxes on money earned by companies overseas if it is brought back to the US and invested in new equipment at plants. He pledged to repeal all regulations enacted during Obama's presidency, to enforce trade laws against China and to support fundamental change to the education system, though he offered few specifics beyond combining numerous federal education programs under large block grants to states and local schools.

Among those at his Missouri campaign event was Marty Leitner, a longtime Republican who said she appreciated the family emphasis of both Santorum and Romney but had become turned off by reports about Romney's wealth.

"I think Santorum's a little more like most normal people, and Romney's a little out of touch with most average Americans," said Leitner, 43, of St. Charles.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-30-US-Santorum/id-6c5bac244afb429c92d01616fb5ac26f

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Qmadix iharmonix Q-i-sound Wireless Bluetooth Speakers

The iharmonix Q-i-sound Bluetooth Speakers from Qmadix are compact little speakers that can travel with you in their carrying case. ? (See the bottom image; click for a larger view.)? The lithium-polymer battery charges in about 3.5 hours and provides up to 8 hours continuous playback time or 240 hours of standby time.? The speakers [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/31/qmadix-iharmonix-q-i-sound-wireless-bluetooth-speakers/

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